Honor Bound(47)

At her condo, while she changed Tony and herself into more comfortable traveling clothes, Lucas loaded the things she had set aside to take with them into the bed of the pickup. As she went through the rooms of the condo one last time, she couldn't conjure up in iota of regret for leaving it.

It had been a residence, not a home. No sentiment had been attached to anything. The only thing she hated to leave was the nursery she had prepared for Tony. Love had been poured into that room.

"Got everything?" Lucas asked her as she entered the living room from the back of the house after making sure all the lights had been turned out.

"I think so."

He had changed clothes, too. He was wearing the same shirt, but the sleeves had been rolled to his elbows. His slacks had been replaced with jeans, his dress shoes with boots, and there was a bandanna tied around his forehead. He hadn't worn the earring that morning, but he had it on now. They locked the doors behind them, having agreed that for the time being they would leave her furniture there until they decided on the best way to dispose of it and the property. Knowing her husband might be sensitive about such things, she offered to leave her car in the garage. How much of a sacrifice that was soon became apparent.

"This damn thing isn't air conditioned," Lucas said of the truck. They were on the highway and the wind was wreaking havoc on Aislinn's hair. Tony rode in his carrier, which they had secured between them on the seat. He was protected by a light blanket. It was too hot to keep the windows rolled up. But it was a constant battle for Aislinn to keep her hair out of her face. She hadn't complained, but Lucas had noticed.

"It's not so bad," she lied.

"Open the glove compartment," he said. She did. Inside she found a variety of items. "Get that extra bandanna and tie it around your hair. That will keep it from blowing so much."

She removed the bandanna from the glove compartment and neatly folded it into a triangle, then into a narrow band. She twisted it before securing it around her head. Leaning forward, she checked her reflection in the rearview mirror. "Does this officially make me a squaw?"

She looked at him and smiled. At first he didn't know what to make of her question, but when he saw the teasing light in her blue eyes, he answered her smile with one of his own. It was slow in coming, almost as if his lips didn't remember how to form a smile. But at last it broke across his handsome face, relieving it of its foreboding austerity. He even gave a short laugh.

After that, the tension between them eased somewhat. Little by little, she drew him out. They exchanged stories about their childhoods, some funny, some painful. "In a way, I was as lonely as you," Aislinn said.

"After meeting your parents I can believe that."

"They don't have near the capacity to love that your mother does."

He only glanced at her and nodded.

As anxious as he was to get home, he consulted her frequently about stopping to rest, eat or drink. "We'll have to stop soon," she said shortly after noon. "Tony is waking up and he'll want to be fed."

He had been a perfect angel, sleeping in his carrier. But he woke up hungry and impatient for his lunch. By the time they reached the next town, his strenuous wails were echoing in the cab of the pickup.

"Where should I stop?" Lucas asked her.

"We can keep driving. I'll manage."

"No, you'd be more comfortable if we stop. Just say where."

"I don't know," she replied, gnawing her lip anxiously. She didn't want Tony's crying to aggravate Lucas. He might yet change his mind about wanting to be a parent. What if he quickly got tired of the everyday hassles?

"A rest room?" he suggested, his eyes scanning the buildings on the main street.

"I hate to take him into a public place when he's putting up such a fuss."

Lucas finally wheeled the truck into a municipal park. He found a private spot beneath a shade tree and parked. "How's this?"

"Fine." Aislinn hastily unbuttoned her blouse, adjusted her bra and positioned Tony against her breast. His cries ceased abruptly. "Whew," she said, laughing, "I don't know if we could have gone…"

Her sentence trailed off to nothingness because she had innocently lifted her gaze from her son's flushed face and looked up at his father. Lucas was staring down at his nursing son. The intensity on his face stopped whatever Aislinn was about to say. When he saw that she was watching him, his eyes flickered away to stare through the windshield.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Sort of."

"How about a hamburger from a drive-through window?"

"That's fine. Anything."

"As soon as Tony is, uh, taken care of, we'll find a place."

"Okay."

"Did I hurt you?"

She raised her head and looked at him. He was still staring through the windshield. "When, Lucas?"

"You know when. That morning."

"No." Her denial was so soft even her own ears could barely detect it.

He tapped the steering wheel with his fist. He wagged one knee back and forth in a steady rhythm. His eyes darted over the landscape. In any other man these symptoms would have indicated nervousness. But that was unthinkable. Lucas Greywolf didn't get nervous. Did he?