He’d slipped on a patch of wet ground. Zach sprawled on his belly in the dirt. She moved toward him. He pushed up into a sitting position.
“I told you to get the hell out of my life,” he growled. “You were supposed to be a quick study, but you’re having trouble understanding me. I don’t want you here.”
Dark hair hung nearly to his eyes. Lines of pain bracketed his mouth. Yet he would rather die of exposure than let her help him. All the old feelings of inadequacy returned.
She glanced at her rented four-wheel-drive vehicle. It would be easy enough to grab her stuff and leave. Her apartment was waiting in San Francisco.
“I don’t need this,” she muttered, and walked inside.
She headed for her bedroom, then paused halfway across the living room. No. She’d come here for a purpose. Zach was trying to scare her off because…well, she wasn’t sure why. Seven years ago, he’d been the one to dump her. If anyone had a right to be angry, she did. What was he so furious about?
Now it was her turn to swear. He needed her. Physically he couldn’t take care of himself. And like it or not, she needed him.
Jamie paced inside for nearly thirty minutes. She glanced out the window, but Zach hadn’t moved. Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore. She went out and walked toward him.
“Dammit, woman, can’t you understand what I’m saying? I don’t want you here. I don’t want your help.”
“Uh-huh.” She picked up the duffel bags and carried them inside.
When she returned for him, he really started in on her. An assortment of curses in an assortment of languages. She ignored them all and reached for his arms. Before she could get hold of him, he switched to Turkish and accused her of being the result of a union between a goatherder and his favorite charge.
Jamie stared at him for a second, then started to laugh. “A goatherder?” she asked. “Is that as original as you can get?”
He stared up at her. Something flickered in his dark eyes. A glint of humor and maybe something close to respect. She didn’t analyze it. Instead, she took courage where she could find it and figured she would wing it the rest of the time.
“I don’t know a lot of Turkish,” he said. “So it was either the goatherder or a snake charmer.”
She shuddered. “I still hate snakes.”
“I know.”
They both smiled, and the tension between them lessened. With a flash of insight, she realized this was what had been missing in her life. Pleasant human contact. Zach hadn’t had enough, either, she knew. The job might have its humorous moments, but for the most part it was intense and grim. Even their week together hadn’t allowed them to laugh. There had been too much passion.
That was the change she wanted to make. More laughter, like normal people had in their lives.
She stepped behind him and helped him to his feet. She was shocked at how much more weight he’d lost.
“Dammit, Zach, you haven’t been eating. How can you expect to get well?”
“You ever eat when you’re in the hospital?”
She thought about her brief stays for various injuries. “Not really.”
“I feel the same way about their food.”
It was their first civil verbal exchange in seven years. She told herself not to read too much into it, but she couldn’t help feeling relieved. Zach could make her stay pleasant or he could turn it into several weeks of hell. She hoped he chose the former.
She bent down and grabbed the cane, then looped his right arm over her shoulders and wrapped her left around his waist. Moving in slow, steady steps, she helped him into the cabin.
Once there, she moved him toward the large bedroom. She’d already pulled down the covers.
Zach sat heavily on the mattress and glared at her. “I want you out of here.”
So much for civil exchanges. Guess he wanted to make her as miserable as possible. Two could play that game. After all, she’d had a great teacher. “Yeah, right. You’re in no condition to take care of yourself.”
“I don’t need you or anyone.”
“Probably not, but you’re stuck with me.” She knelt on the floor and pulled off his boots.
“You’re just like every other woman. Butting in where you’re not wanted.”
She ignored the sting his words produced. How ironic that he thought she was just like other women. She
She shook her head. A child wasn’t likely. She wouldn’t trust herself to have one on her own. What did she know about being maternal? And no man had ever wanted her enough to commit.
She set the boots in the closet, then turned back to Zach. He was staring at her. She wished she could think of something witty to say, but her mind was blank. She could only stare at his handsome face and wish things had been different. If only he’d welcomed her back into his life. They could have healed together, him on the outside, her on the inside. Instead, they were to be adversaries.
She was about to concede defeat when something flickered to life in his eyes. Just as it had outside. She wasn’t sure if it was longing, or maybe pain. A need for connection. He blinked, and the emotions were gone. But she’d seen them.
“Sorry, Zach, you can complain all you want, but I’m staying.” She moved toward the door and paused there. “You should be grateful I’m willing to look after you. No one else wants to, and you would never have made it on your own.”
“I like being alone. I’m perfectly capable of surviving without help.”
He might like being alone, but she’d grown tired of the solitude. “You can whine all you want,” she said. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then I’ll take your car and leave myself.”
She smiled. “No problem. First you have to find the strength to get to my car. I don’t suppose that’s going to happen today.”
He curled his hands into fists. “Dammit, Jamie, I won’t put up with this.”
“What are you going to do about it? Try to beat me at arm wrestling? Face it, Zach, you don’t have a choice. You need watching, and I’m the only one here. It doesn’t have to be awful, you know. We could try to be friends.” When he didn’t answer, she shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m going to make you some lunch. Don’t go anywhere.”
Unintelligible curses followed her out of the room. Oddly his temper lightened her spirits. If he had the energy to resent her, he had the energy to heal.
Once in the kitchen, she opened a can of soup and poured it into a pot. After putting the butane flame on low, she grabbed a crescent wrench from the toolbox by the back door. Then she pulled a large green trash bag out of the box in the pantry and headed outside.
Ten minutes later, she wrapped the Bronco battery in plastic and set it into a shallow hole in the ground. She covered it up, then smoothed leaves in place. When she stepped back to survey her handiwork, she was pleased. No one would know that she’d buried something here. She glanced at the vehicle as she walked back to the house. Zach might want to leave, but he wasn’t going anywhere without her knowing about it first.
On her way to the kitchen, she poked her head into his bedroom. He’d collapsed on the bed and was sound asleep. Even resting, the lines of pain still bracketed his mouth. He shouldn’t have been traveling, but he was a stubborn man. Fortunately for both of them, she was just as stubborn. She paused long enough to pull the blankets over him and smooth the hair off his forehead. Then she went into the kitchen and turned off the soup.
Zach opened his eyes and tried to peer into the darkness. He couldn’t figure out where he was. For one horrifying heartbeat, he thought he might be back in his cell and the events of the past couple of weeks had just been a soul-destroying dream.
He sucked in a breath, held it, then relaxed. He inhaled again, smelling the mustiness of the room and the biting scent of trees beyond the walls. He knew this place. The cabin. Another breath brought an elusive scent… something he couldn’t quite place, something-
Jamie.
Memories crashed in on him like a collapsing building. He ducked to avoid them, but there was no escape. He remembered it all. The rescue, his time in the hospital, Jamie coming to visit him and him throwing her out. The
