No wonder she’d reacted as she had when they were introduced just after she moved to Deer Haven. Joy, hope, and just as quickly, despair and anger had raced through her expression.
It had confused him at the time, the memory of those flashing emotions, there then just as quickly gone. Replaced with that damned polite look she gave everyone else, as well as him, every time she saw him after that.
And now he knew why that pissed him off every time he saw her, and why the dreams had intensified in the past few years, that shadowed image slowly becoming Sallie’s. Because once he’d seen her again, known she was close, letting her go was impossible. That part of himself that he’d given her in Switzerland, refused to release her.
“Justice, get Lily to your place with Gram,” Jacob ordered. “You get info in later, call me immediately.”
A quick nod and Justice strode back to the study. A minute later Lily hurried into the room, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers she kept in his spare room. Sallie walked straight to Lily and gave her a quick hug.
The two women were close friends, something Jacob had used since Sallie had come into town, to ensure no other man poached on what he’d already claimed as his woman. Lily had kept him updated with what Sallie was doing, if any men were approaching her and how Sallie handled it. Until Jacob, she’d handled it the same each time, with complete indifference.
“I’m sorry, Lily,” Sallie whispered, her voice torn with regret. “I’m so sorry…”
Painful and filled with sorrow, her tone was heavy with the guilt she carried for any danger Lily had faced. Sallie’s heart, as Gram had told him a year ago, was far too soft, and her compassion and guilt complex too well defined.
“Don’t be,” Lily berated her gently. “Jacob will fix it, I promise.”
The confidence in her voice was almost humbling. He’d fought to protect his little cousins for as long as they’d been born, knowing the faith they had in him made that sometimes frustrating job worth it.
Now, if Sallie would just trust him to fix whatever she was running from. His cousins would end up making him crazy if there was anything left of him after Sallie drove him insane.
Pulling back, Lily shot Jacob a warning look. “You know I hate that biker wannabe you’re sending me off with.”
She and Justice had never had a friendly moment between them that he knew of.
“Be nice, fruitcake,” Justice drawled behind her. “Remember who controls access to my pool.”
“Like I’d so much as dip a toe in that orgy hole,” she stated disdainfully as they left the house. “Pervert.”
The door closed on her accusation and blocked Justice’s reply. Jacob was certain there would have been an equally sharp comment.
“Those two act like they hate each other.” Jacob shook his head at their relationship before breathing out roughly and turning back to Sallie. “You’ll stay here. But I bet you guessed that one.”
Sallie glanced at the floor a moment before meeting Jacob’s gaze squarely.
“You know John, don’t you? I saw Justice’s face. He recognized John’s name.” She’d seen it, the warning Jacob had shot the other man when he nearly said something about it.
“Sallie…” His expression was closed, implacable. And she hated it. There was no regret, no sense that it even bothered him that he’d forgotten her when she’d never been able to forget him.
“Forget it.” She sliced her hand through the air almost furiously. “Of course, you knew him. You remember him. You remember Rance as well, don’t you? You just forgot the stupid little fool you spent the weekend screwing, right?”
Sallie felt her heart breaking. Right there, staring back at the lack of emotion in his face, her heart shattered. And it shouldn’t have. She knew better … Still, she had to keep her lip from trembling, tears from filling her eyes because the pain was like daggers digging into her heart and twisting in vicious, gouging stabs.
“I need to contact Rance,” she forced herself to push the words past her lips. “He’ll send someone…”
“No!” The snap in his voice, the instant denial made no sense to her.
“Yes, Jacob.” She had some pride left, she assured herself. “I should have never stayed long enough for this to happen. One of his investigators will come for me and I’ll disappear. And you can just forget me once again.” It was all she could do not to sob as she spoke, not to completely break apart.
She should have left. But Jacob had been there, and she’d been unable to resist praying for just a little more time.
“You’re not leaving. You’re not running again,” he said it as though it were his choice to make. As though it were suddenly his business.
“I don’t have a choice…”
The smile that almost curled his lips had her taking a step back even as her body blazed with heat.
“Run then,” he growled, covering the distance between them far quicker than she could move to evade him. “See how far you get before I drag your ass right back here.”
She stared back at him in complete shock.
“Why?” The throttled cry tore from her throat, jagged and confused. “Why does it matter? It didn’t matter to you six years ago, so why let it now?”
She couldn’t escape his hold or the warmth of his larger body as he pulled her to him. One hand held the back of her head, dragging it back to stare into her gaze.
“Who do you think that bastard was looking for tonight?” Anger throbbed in his voice. “They may want John first, but as soon as they find him, want me to tell you what they’re going to do?”
Nose to nose, fury burning in his eyes, he glared down at her.
Sallie shook her head. Or tried to.
“They’ll send their assassins right back here.” The snarl in his voice matched the one on his face. “Because it’s not that fucker you married that Forefront’s after. It’s his partner. They’re after me. And I’d just as soon stop them here.”
John Dillon’s partner.
“No…” John’s partner? “You said you were CIA?”
“And John was my partner in Switzerland.” He released her slowly then stepped back, raking his fingers through his hair. When he turned back to her, a mocking smile curled his lips. “The same partner who assured me that all I forgot in an explosion that nearly killed me, was the information in my head. He never mentioned the woman he knew was waiting for me.”
She could barely process that information, process his declaration that he’d been hurt.
“John was CIA?” she whispered, barely able to push the question past her lips because she couldn’t deal with the information that he’d been hurt, nearly killed.
“John is still CIA as far as I know,” he informed her, pushing the fingers of one hand through his hair.
Regret, rage, and frustration flashed across his face then and when his gaze returned to her, she could have sworn she saw a dark, enraged sorrow.
“We were investigating a new militant group that had moved into Switzerland. They were kidnapping lower level employees attached to foreign political figures, torturing, and killing them. We spent months identifying the group behind the deaths and were attempting to identify senior members when I was caught in an ambush.” Jacob shook his head and turned his back on her, pacing to what appeared to be a newly installed window before turning back to her. “I forgot everything from that week, for years, then slowly, details began coming back, but nothing we hadn’t already known. Except you…”