it began. Paul pulled away just an inch and their eyes met.
“We should have never stopped fighting,” Keren whispered.
They moved toward each other at the same moment and their lips met. Paul’s arms went around her and pulled her close, as close as they’d been this morning after he’d listened to a madman tell him about the impending death of his friend. Keren’s arms circled his neck.
“I’ve been dying to touch your hair.” He sank one hand deeply into it. It was as soft and thick as he’d imagined. He tugged on the heavy leather barrette, and as it came loose, her hair tangled in his fingers like living silk. It felt so perfect it shook him back to sanity.
“We have to stop.” He pulled away.
Keren took a second to understand the kiss was over. Then she nodded. “Yes, this is wrong. This isn’t going to happen.”
“Absolutely not,” Paul said with fierce sincerity. “It’s a terrible mistake.”
Then he kissed her again.
CHAPTER TEN
A bush rustled just behind Keren in a little stand of scraggly trees and shrubs. She jerked out of Paul’s arms and whirled to face the sound. Paul’s old cop instincts sprang to life. He grabbed for the gun he always wore in a shoulder holster.
It wasn’t there.
He dropped into a crouch and grabbed for Keren to shield her from danger.
She wasn’t there.
He heard her charging toward the noise and he went after her. Suddenly there was more rustling and Keren emerged from the dense undergrowth tucking a gun into the small of her back.
“It was nothing.” She was washed blue and black in the streetlights. Her hair danced free around her face, and Paul’s hand closed on her barrette.
The adrenaline that had surged through Paul’s veins and thrown him into action had no outlet, so it converted itself to anger. He marched toward her and grabbed her upper arm.
“What do you think you’re doing, dashing into the woods like that?” He shook her hard. “You didn’t even think.” He pulled her up to his face. “You just disappeared.” His nose almost touched hers. “He could have been there. Pravus could have been waiting!”
Keren laid her hand on Paul’s mouth. He fumed behind her hand. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I think—” She shrugged and smiled sheepishly at him. “I think I might have been running away from you as much as running to check on that noise.”
Paul growled under her fingers, and she uncovered his mouth. He lowered his lips to hers. She stepped away so quickly she almost did a dance step. “No, don’t. We lost our heads there for a minute; there’s no reason it should happen again.”
Paul advanced.
Keren moved away. “If you back me into that frog pond I won’t be responsible for the damage I do to your… uh… ego.”
Paul stopped. He crossed his arms firmly to keep from reaching for her. “You’re an aggravating woman, Keren.”
She held her hands up as if to surrender. “I know. Believe me, I’ve heard it before. Let’s go. I’ll call in this location and have patrols stepped up overnight, then tomorrow I’ll put it under constant surveillance.”
“Not good enough,” Paul said, shaking his head.
“It’s the best I can do. Arranging full-time surveillance takes time.”
He thought he might be pouting. It was humiliating. Still, he refused to budge. “Just go. I’m staying here.” He shoved her barrette into her hands.
“What about tomorrow?” She clenched her fist around the hair tie.
“What
“Sunday? You’re a reverend? Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?”
At her teasing, he felt the worst of his turmoil ease. How had he ended up kissing her anyway? “You know I haven’t kissed a woman since my wife died five years ago.”
Keren’s eyes widened. “Really? Five years?”
“Yup. And I didn’t do much of it then, ‘cuz my wife wasn’t overly fond of me. I wasn’t overly fond of her, either. I wonder what it means.”
“That you weren’t fond of your wife?”
“No, that I abandoned five years of peace and quiet to risk kissing a woman.”
“It means you should have waited a little longer. I’m not a candidate to break your fast, buddy.”
“Tell me about it,” Paul said. “Now go home. I’ve got this covered, and I have someone preaching for me tomorrow.”
“Ah, yes, I remember. Murray, the fire-and-brimstone specialist. Rosie wasn’t thrilled.” Keren latched onto Paul’s arm and hauled him toward the car.
“Murray does okay.” Paul didn’t tell her, but he was just escorting her. He was going to plant himself by this pond until he got his hands on Pravus or somebody came up with a better idea. “And there are others almost as good, although Murray’s the only one who does any preaching. Buddy is a good guy when he takes his medication, and Lou does okay. And we’ve got a Catholic priest who pitches in a lot, though there’s a Catholic mission he’s mainly involved with.”
Keren opened her car door.
Paul said lightly, “I’m staying.”
Keren narrowed her eyes at him. If they hadn’t been so close to a streetlight Paul might not have known how much danger he was in. An extended silence grew between them. Paul suspected she was trying to assess her chances of beating him into submission.
She must have thought her chances were poor because she pulled her keys out of her pocket and held them out to him. “Get in.”
He took the keys. “What are these for?”
“I figured you wouldn’t get in if you didn’t have them.”
“Because kidnapping me is so obvious?”
“Right.” She dropped onto the seat behind the wheel. “I’ll call around and get someone over here as soon as possible. In the meantime I’ll wait with you.”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“Of course I don’t have to, moron.” Keren snorted. “If you ordered me to do it, I’d be out of here like a shot, but since I thought of it myself, I’ll stay.” She slammed the door in his face.
Paul thought about arguing with her. Instead, he went around the car and got in. “Thanks, it’s kinda spooky out here.”
Keren laughed then looked across the front seat at him. Paul looked at her. He managed to get his thoughts together enough to keep from reaching for her… again. “So, you were trying to say something back there, back before”—Paul waved in the general vicinity of the pond—”whatever madness that was. I’ll listen. Fairest in the land?”
“Oh yeah, right. It’s my name.” She looked forward again and twisted her hair into a coil with such ease Paul knew she’d done it a thousand times before.
“Keren?”
“Yeah. Keren, with an
Paul sat up and turned to face her, “Do you have sisters named Kezia and Jemima?”
“Not that many people know the names of Job’s daughters. Well done. Nope, I’ve got two younger
