Wilder Days

Again Vic sighed, and then she nodded her head.

That taken care of, his mind took a more personal bent. While he was making sure Vic was safe, he had to get her out of his head. He wasn’t sure exactly how to do that. Concentrate on her faults and convince himself he was much better off without her? Remember the past and how much it had hurt?

Or sleep with her and get this obsession out of his system, once and for all?

More than once she’d tried to push him away, but she kissed as if she was interested. Very interested.

“Are you…seeing anybody?” he asked.

He felt her eyes on him but continued to stare out at the night. “No. Not at the moment.”

Del nodded. Good.

“You?” she asked.

“Not at the moment.”

He couldn’t tell if her soft hum was one of approval or not. Maybe. Maybe.

“I always figured you’d be married by now. Have a few kids,” she said.

So, she did think about him. “Nope. No time, I guess.”

“You really should. Noelle is the best part of my life.”

Del turned his head and looked at Vic, studied her moonlit profile. He wisely contained his first response— You’ve got to be kidding. “I’ll bet you’re a great mother.”

She smiled gently. “There was a time I thought maybe I was. The past couple of years I’ve had my doubts. I wonder if maybe Noelle wouldn’t be happier if I’d done something different.”

“We all rebel at that age, at least a little.”

“I guess,” she agreed in a low whisper. “Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have forgiven Preston, for Noelle’s sake. Maybe I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” he interrupted, his voice sharp. “You deserve better than that, Vic. Much better.”

She laid her eyes on him and smiled, gentle and confident and…every bit as stirred up as he was.

He didn’t play games, not anymore. He didn’t dance around delicate issues because he was shy or discreet. He’d never had either of those attributes.

“Vic, where am I sleeping tonight?”

Even in the moonlight, it seemed her face went pale. “You can have the bed,” she said. “I’ll take the couch.”

Not exactly the response he’d been hoping for. There were two bedrooms. Noelle was sleeping in one. The other had a queen-size bed and its own personal bathroom. And then there was the sofa in the main room. “I’ll take the couch,” he said.

“It’s too short for you,” Vic protested.

“It folds out into a bed.”

“Oh.”

Yeah, he’d sleep on the couch tonight, and maybe even tomorrow night, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t be there long.

Vic tossed in the bed, unable to get comfortable. Her nightgown twisted around her legs, frustrating her even more. The mattress was too soft, then too hard. The air in the confining room was too hot, then not hot at all. But deep down she knew it wasn’t the bed or the temperature that kept her awake. It was Del.

Where am I sleeping tonight? Why had he asked her that question? It could have been taken more than one way, but there had been nothing innocent about the tone of his deep voice, nothing innocent about the look in his eye as he’d asked that loaded question.

She’d been tempted, momentarily, to answer With me. But she hadn’t and she wouldn’t.

For good reason. Del had lied to her, he’d almost gotten her killed, and he thought he could come riding in here on his white horse and take over. She didn’t need him to protect her. She didn’t need any man to protect her.

More than all that, there was the issue of Noelle. If Del knew she was his daughter he’d never be out of their lives. He’d bring danger with him, the threat from criminals like the ones who’d kidnapped and almost killed her.

And then there was the danger to her heart, and Noelle’s. Preston’s leaving had hurt Noelle and the poor girl was still suffering. She didn’t need another man coming into her life, becoming a part of it and then walking away. And that’s what Del would do, in the end. Walk away. Maybe she could survive the hurt to herself, but to put Noelle through that again? She couldn’t.

Del could never know Noelle was his daughter. And Vic couldn’t get involved with him and continue to lie. It was too hard. So no matter what she wanted, no matter how tempted she was…

Hot once again, she threw off her covers and sat up. She hadn’t been with or wanted a man in years. She was alone, and had been long before the divorce. Alone, but never lonely. She didn’t mind that there was no man in her life. All she needed was her painting and her daughter. Life was simple that way. Simple was good. But Del made her feel lonely, as if she was missing something important. Something beautiful.

On bare feet, Vic slipped out of her room and down the hallway. Passing Noelle’s door, she heard her daughter’s deep, even breathing. As she neared the main room, she heard Del’s deeper, decidedly masculine breaths.

Just a peek, that’s all she wanted.

She stopped at the entrance to the main room and leaned against the wall. Del was sprawled across the sofa bed, which was indeed too small for him. He filled it, his feet hanging off the end, his out-flung arms and legs taking up the length and breadth of the mattress.

And that hair… She had always loved his long hair. It was beautiful and it suited him. Wild. Unconventional. He was definitely not the kind of man her father had envisioned for her.

He was definitely not the kind of man she needed in her life now. If she let him get too close, he would only complicate matters. But, oh, as she watched him sleep she wished again that when he’d asked Where am I sleeping tonight? she’d answered With me.

With a shake of her head she turned and silently returned to her bed. Stupid, she chided silently as she walked away. If she knew one truth, it was that Del Wilder was not for her and never would be.

Chapter 4

Del heard the steps, too cautious in the hallway. Noelle, he saw as he cracked one eye and caught sight of a young girl’s legs topped in yet another pair of black shorts. Her toenails, he noticed, were painted a dark red. At least she had a color scheme going for herself.

It wasn’t even seven in the morning, yet, and here she was, creeping through the cabin as if she had all sorts of nefarious plans. He had no doubt that nefarious was Noelle’s middle name.

The keys to Vic’s van were close, there on the coffee table he’d moved to the wall so the couch could be opened into an uncomfortable bed. He wondered if Noelle would be so bold, and pretended to sleep.

She came close but didn’t go for the keys. Instead she snagged his cell phone from an end table on the other side of a fat chair and headed stealthily for the kitchen.

When she was out of sight, Del left the sofa bed with just as much stealth and followed. He’d slept in a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, too warm for summer but all he had. He grabbed a T-shirt from the chair he’d tossed it over last night and pulled the garment on as he walked.

Who was Noelle calling? A boyfriend? Her friend Michelle? He wasn’t worried about her giving anyone directions to the place, attempting what she was sure to see as rescue. She’d slept most of the way to the cabin, dozing through the many twists and turns he’d taken to get here.

He was just about ready to jump out and give the girl a scare—no more than she deserved—when Noelle’s soft voice stopped him.

“Dad?”