Mercenary's Woman. Diana Palmer

cracked a smile yet. “See you.”

      Dallas nodded.

      Sally was staggered by the resemblance of the boy to the man, and almost remarked on it. But before she could, Eb caught her eyes. There was a look in them that she couldn’t decipher, but it stopped her at once.

      “We’d better go,” he said. He took Sally by the arm. “Come on, Stevie. We won’t be long, Jess,” he called back.

      “I’ll count the seconds,” she said under her breath as they left the room.

      Dallas didn’t say anything, and it was just as well that she couldn’t see the look in his eyes.

      * * *

      IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO TALK in front of Stevie as they drove through the massive electronic gates at the Scott ranch. He, like Sally, was fascinated by the layout, which included a helipad, a landing strip with a hangar, a swimming pool and a ranch house that looked capable of sleeping thirty people. There were also target ranges and guest cabins and a formidable state-of-the-art gym housed in what looked like a gigantic Quonset hut like those used during the Second World War in the Pacific theater. There were several satellite dishes as well, and security cameras seemingly on every available edifice.

      “This is incredible,” Sally said as they got out of the truck and went with him toward the gym.

      “Maintaining it is incredible,” Eb said with a chuckle. “You wouldn’t believe the level of technology required to keep it all functioning.”

      Stevie had found the thick blue plastic-covered mat on the wood floor and was already rolling around on it and trying the punching bag suspended from one of the steel beams that supported other training equipment.

      “Stevie looks like that man, Dallas,” she said abruptly.

      He grimaced. “Haven’t you and Jess ever talked?”

      “I didn’t know anything about Dallas and my aunt until you told me,” she said simply.

      “This is something she needs to tell you, in her own good time.”

      She studied the youngster having fun on the mat. “He isn’t my uncle’s child, is he?”

      There was a rough sound from the man beside her. “What makes you think so?”

      “For one thing, because he’s the image of Dallas. But also because Uncle Hank and Aunt Jessie were married for years with no kids, and suddenly she got pregnant just before he died overseas,” she replied. “Stevie was like a miracle.”

      “In some ways, I suppose he was. But it led to Hank asking for a combat assignment, and even though he died of a heart condition, Jess has had nightmares ever since out of guilt.” He looked down at her. “You can’t tell her that you know.”

      “Fair enough. Tell me the rest.”

      “She and Dallas were working together on an assignment. It was one of those lightning attractions that overcome the best moral obstacles. They were alone too much and finally the inevitable happened. Jess turned up pregnant. When Dallas found out, he went crazy. He demanded that Jess divorce Hank and marry him, but she wouldn’t. She swore that Dallas wasn’t the father of her child, Hank was, and she had no intention of divorcing her husband.”

      “Oh, dear.”

      “Hank knew that she’d been with another man, of course, because he’d always been sterile. Dallas didn’t know that. And Hank hadn’t told Jessica until she announced that she was expecting a child.” He shrugged. “He wouldn’t forgive her. Neither would Dallas. When Hank died, Dallas didn’t even try to get in touch with Jess. He really believed that Stevie was Hank’s child. Until about ten minutes ago, that is,” he added with a wry smile. “It didn’t take much guesswork for him to see the resemblance. I think we won’t go back for a couple of hours. I don’t want to walk into the firefight he’s probably having with Jess even as we speak.”

      She bit her lower lip. “Poor Jess.”

      “Poor Dallas,” he countered. “After the fight with Jessie, he took every damned dangerous assignment he could find, the more dangerous the better. Last year in Africa, Dallas was shot to pieces. They sent him home with wounds that would have killed a lesser man.”

      “No wonder he looks so bitter.”

      “He’s bitter because he loved Jess and though she felt the same, she wasn’t willing to hurt Hank by leaving him. But in the end, she still hurt him. He couldn’t live with the idea that she was having some other man’s child. It destroyed their marriage.”

      She grimaced. “What a tragedy, for all of them.”

      “Yes.”

      She looked toward Stevie, smiling. “He’s a great kid,” she said. “I’d love him even if he wasn’t my first cousin.”

      “He’s got grit and personality to boot.”

      “You wouldn’t think so at midnight when you’re still trying to get him to sleep.”

      He smiled as he studied her. “You love kids, don’t you?”

      “Oh, yes,” she said fervently. “I love teaching.”

      “Don’t you want some of your own?” he asked with a quizzical smile.

      She flushed and wouldn’t look at him. “Sure. One day.”

      “Why not now?”

      “Because I’ve already got more responsibilities than I can manage. Pregnancy would be a complication I couldn’t handle, especially now.”

      “You sound as if you’re planning to do it all alone.”

      She shrugged. “There is such a thing as artificial insemination.”

      He turned her toward him, looking very solemn and adult. “How would it feel, carrying the child of a man you didn’t even know, having it grow inside your body?”

      She bit her lower lip. She hadn’t considered the intimacy of what he was suggesting. She felt, and looked, confused.

      “A baby should be made out of love, the natural way, not in a test tube,” he said very softly, searching her shocked eyes. “Well, not unless it’s the only way two people can have a child,” he added. “But that’s an entirely different circumstance.”

      Her lips parted on the surge of emotion that made her heart race. “I don’t know…that I want to get that close to anyone, ever.”

      He seemed even more remote. “Sally, you can’t let the past lock you into solitude forever. I frightened you because I wanted to keep you at bay. If I didn’t discourage you somehow I was afraid that the temptation might prove too much for me. You were such a baby.” He scowled bitterly. “What happened wouldn’t have been so devastating if you’d had even a little experience with men. For God’s sake, didn’t they ever let you date anyone?”

      She shook her head, her teeth clenched tightly together. “My mother was certain that I’d get pregnant or catch some horrible disease. She talked about it all the time. She made boys who came to the house so uncomfortable that they never came back.”

      “I didn’t know that,” he said tautly.

      “Would it have made any difference?” she asked miserably.

      He touched her face with cool, firm fingers. “Yes. I wouldn’t have gone nearly as far as I did, if I’d known.”

      “You wanted to get rid of me…”

      He put his thumb over her soft mouth. “I wanted you,” he whispered huskily. “But a seventeen-year-old isn’t mature enough for a love affair. And that would have been impossible in Jacobsville, even if I’d been crazy enough to go all the way with you that day. You were almost thirteen years my junior.”

      She