A Cold Day In Hell

Angel lived on an oxbow lake not too far from The Willows, the building project he was currently managing for Finn Duhon.

When Eileen had asked him why he’d chosen to buy an old house by the lake when oxbows disappeared eventually, he had said, “Because almost no one else lives there. Anyway, whoever built that place of mine had imagination. They knew it would stand, lake or no lake, and maybe there would always be someone to love it. I’m going to do a lot of the renovating myself.”

He had big hands. Eileen watched them on the wheel while they drove the winding road west and out of town. His hands gave her a funny feeling; she wanted to take and examine them, to find out how the bones and the veins and the muscles felt. “You do think it was okay to leave the boys like that?” she asked.

“They’ll be fine. Aaron’s a smart kid and Sonny knows a lot about how to look after himself. I pity anyone who tries to get in there after them. Anyway, Sonny would call me if he needed to.” He smiled at her. “We can’t keep them locked away. Learning to react effectively in bad situations takes practice.”

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “That’s good then, I guess. It’s quite a way from your house to your office.”

Angel worked with Finn in a suite at the old Oakdale Mansion but spent a lot of hands-on time at whichever building site needed his attention.

“I never liked living in towns.” He chuckled. “Not even little burghs like Pointe Judah.”

“How early do you start out when you come into town?”

“Early.” He smiled. “A lot earlier if I run. I don’t do that too often.”

The road narrowed and Angel took a half-right where tire tracks intersected shaggy grass and the old oaks made a tunnel. Ahead the area was black and rain continued to fall. Eileen didn’t relish the drive home once she’d dropped Angel off.

At last the headlights picked out the house, three stories of faded faux antebellum. The place might have been pretty if it were the real thing, but Angel said the land was a find and he intended his new house to sprout out of this old one and look similar—only better.

“Light by the door went out again,” Angel said. “I’ve got to take a look at the wiring.”

“Must be nice to be so handy with those things.”

He put on the emergency brake. “Anything you need done, just call and I’ll do it. You like gardening and plants?”

“Yes,” she said, smiling and looking toward sets of double doors to the left of the entrance where Angel was having a conservatory refurbished. “That’s going to be so lovely. Your conservatory. If I were you, I’d probably just about live out there.”

“Hey.” He turned sideways. “Christmas is coming. I was trying to think what to give you. How about a greenhouse? Unless I build it from a kit, it won’t be finished in time, but it wouldn’t take so long. I’d rather build one from scratch. That way I could help you design exactly what you want.”

She felt awkward, flustered. “I wasn’t angling for any favors. And a greenhouse is a ridiculously expensive gift, but thank you.”

“You’ve never angled for anything from me, Eileen. I often wish you would.”

She looked at her hands and blinked rapidly. He couldn’t know that she hadn’t had any practice asking for things from a man in her life.

“What is it?” Angel said. “Why do you look…scared, if I say I’d like to do something for you? There would never be any strings attached.”

“No! No, I would never think of that,” Eileen said. “I’m so unpolished. I never got all the finer points of interacting with people the way other girls did. I think I must have been the most unpopular girl in school. I’m so sorry if I insulted you.” She closed her mouth. Why did she babble like that? Well, she didn’t, except with Angel. And why was that?

“Eileen,” he said, leaning closer. “If you weren’t the most popular girl in school, then every guy in the place was dumb. I never saw a woman more beautiful than you.”

She grinned and immediately covered her face.

Angel chuckled softly and ruffled her hair. “I’d like to tell you all the ways you’re beautiful but you’d kick me out of the van and never speak to me again.”

“Why?” She frowned and slid her hands down enough to look at him.

He gave her an evil look. “Don’t ask. Ahh, you can ask. I’d describe all your positive points, and they are many, and then you’d slap my face.”

She punched his arm. “Get outa here, you soft soap. I’ve got to drive home.”

“Nope,” he said.

“Okay, enough joking around. It’s getting late.”

“I can get my motorcycle in the back of the van. Then I’ll drive you home and ride back.”

“You will not. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Don’t fib.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

He was very near to her. “I know,” he said. “Don’t you love it?”

Eileen didn’t answer. What she felt wasn’t new, just a little rusty. It shortened her breath and she was aware of a very strong man who could make light of almost anything, but a man who was tough and whom she barely knew. What did she know about him really?

“It won’t be any use arguing with me, Eileen. Besides, I’ve got your keys.” He pulled them from the ignition and rolled a little to put them into a pocket. “Let’s go in and have some coffee before you go home. This night has been hard on you.”

“Please give me my keys. I just need to get back.”

“No you don’t. Didn’t you hear Chuzah say he thought Aaron collapsed from shock? So if there was a gunshot, it missed him. That means we aren’t dealing with something to worry about—as long as we keep the boys out of the swamp after dark.”

Eileen processed what he’d said. “Anybody can miss a shot, can’t they?”

He looked straight ahead. Dim light caught in his eyes, and showed how his mouth turned down. “I should have known you were too smart to miss that slip. No, anyone can’t miss a shot. There are people who never miss.”

She swallowed. “What kind of people?”

He half-lowered his eyelids and she saw him bare his teeth. “The kind you’re never going to meet, thank God. Now, let’s get that coffee.”

“No.”

“Eileen.”

Now he was trying the forceful male on her and she was through with that stuff. “I don’t take crap from any man.”

He turned his head sharply toward her. Too much time passed for her to feel other than edgy. “Sorry,” he said finally. “You’re right. I got out of line there. Come on in and I’ll explain what I mean. I want you to accept one thing, though. Will you do that?”

“If I can.”

“Promise.”

“Angel, I don’t know. You haven’t told me what you want me to accept.”

He snorted. “I didn’t, did I? Trust that I can look after you and Aaron. Sonny already knows I can. I admit I had a moment earlier when I thought someone had gotten through the net, but I was wrong.”