Midnight Exposure (Midnight #1)(34)
He adjusted the lantern next to his reading chair in the far corner of the room, as far away from the stove as he could get while still keeping Jayne in sight. The temperature of the room hovered at sweat lodge, perfect for someone recovering from hypothermia, sweltering for anyone else. Usually insomnia drove him to his workshop until dawn broke, which explained the depressing nature of his work.
But tonight, Reed couldn’t leave the room.
The urge to watch over Jayne was too powerful to ignore. It thrummed through his veins, like the low-level hum of an electrical transformer. His brain insisted she was safe from her captor, insulated by the powerful storm that raged outside, but primal instinct overruled common sense.
That beautiful woman had been abducted and held prisoner and had nearly died yesterday. Like a warrior, she’d trained and valiantly fought her opponent. She’d rest safely if he had to guard her all night long. She’d earned it.
His instincts were also telling him there was a strong possibility Jayne’s abduction was related to the murder case that he was about to dive into. Cops didn’t believe in coincidence. The chance of two violent crimes of this nature occurring in this rural spot in such a short period of time was practically nil. Huntsville wasn’t a stranger to crime, but its violent troubles tended to be of the more personal variety: domestic disturbances, barroom brawls, and the like.
Reed turned to the page in his lap, but the words on the medical examiner’s report blurred, and the thick file felt heavier on his thighs. He could feel his carefully maintained low profile slipping away.
He could look at grisly crime scene photos. He could read autopsy reports. But the one thing he couldn’t handle was media exposure. Unfortunately nothing drew the press like kidnapping and murder. And if there was a juicy scandal attached, reporters would home in on Huntsville like buzzards on roadkill.
Reed was a walking, talking scandal. He needed to keep his name out of the reports and pass Jayne off to Hugh ASAP. Ironically, it was Jayne who had awakened something in him that wanted to do more than simply exist. Something that wanted to start living like the future was more than an endless stretch of sleepless nights.
Jayne snored softly and snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag. The window of the woodstove threw a flicker of light across her pale face, highlighting her scar. Reed watched, mesmerized. A dull ache spread through the center of his chest when he thought of her lucky escape—and what would have happened if she hadn’t managed to get away from her abductor this afternoon.
She’d be dead, just like that college kid from Mayfield.
The ache swelled, amplifying in the vast emptiness of Reed’s heart. Jayne’s courage, strength, and beauty called to him. They threatened to take hold, to root themselves in that place deep within that he’d closed off to everyone except Scott.
He couldn’t get attached to her. After his wife had died, he had vowed to never open his heart again. He couldn’t take another loss.
Jayne turned on her side with a soft sigh. A tendril of hair fell across her cheek. Reed suppressed the urge to sweep it from her face.
Barely.
His gaze dropped to her lips. Her mouth would be hot and soft. He already knew what her body felt like against his. All that was left to imagine was the way she’d taste. Every inch of her. The biggest decision would be whether he started at her slender feet and kissed his way to her core, or worked down from her mouth and across her breasts to get to her center. Blood rushed to his groin as he imagined licking inside her heat.
The strength of his desire shocked him, and his vulnerability pierced him to the soul.
Oh, yeah. The sooner he passed Jayne off to Hugh the better. He’d start clearing the driveway and paths at daybreak. If the storm weakened through the night, as the meteorologist on Reed’s radio predicted, he could get her to town by late afternoon. Then she’d be Hugh’s responsibility. Reed would be in the clear.
She’d be out of his life before the spark in his chest ignited.
But Reed knew the damage was done. He knew what he was missing, why one-night stands weren’t his thing. Closeness. Intimacy. The emotional bond that gave sex its zing.
The very thing he’d purposefully avoided since his life had imploded.
When Jayne left, how would he continue to ignore the giant, gaping hole in his existence?
Scott would leave next fall. Reed would be left with a dog and a hundred acres of lonely wilderness. That was what he wanted, wasn’t it? He’d purposefully bought a house in the middle of nowhere. After five years in it, he only knew a handful of people in town well. So why did time stretch out in front of him like an open road in the desert? No reason to move forward except that the future was unavoidable.
Shit. He was getting morose. Midnight was a very bad time for in-depth life analyses.
Death was the ultimate distraction, so Reed turned back to the preliminary autopsy report on Zack Miller. Hugh was right. The kid’s throat could’ve been slashed. But why? And by whom?
Reed’s brain flipped through the available scenarios. The college kids got lost. Weather conditions had changed rapidly that weekend, with an unexpected light snowfall. Zack was an Eagle Scout, and his father had insisted the boy had packed extra provisions. His son knew how to survive in the woods. But even experienced woodsmen weren’t immune to the dangers of the wilderness.
One or both of the teens could have been hurt. But being lost or hurt wouldn’t have taken them so far from their intended campsite that rescue crews couldn’t find them in the extensive search that had followed their disappearance.