She had somebody who wanted to kill her and she was in love with the brother of the man who had fathered her children, a man who had made it clear in every way possible that she would never have a place in his life. Grace knew with a painful certainty that one way or another she wasn't going to leave here unscathed.

"The sheriff told me and Shirley to stay away," Justin exclaimed, his voice slightly slurred as if he'd already had too much to drink. "He said Grace was attacked last night and he thinks maybe me or Shirley had something to do with it. Jake, what in the h.e.l.l is going on?"

Jake pressed the cell phone closer to his ear. "Where were you both last night?"

"I was home in bed, and I a.s.sume Shirley was home in her bed. I left her place around eleven, tired of all the drama. She kept going on and on about how much baggage the kids were going to be and when were we going to get married and have our own kids and stuff like that. Jake, I'll be the first to admit that Shirley wasn't exactly happy to learn about Grace and the kids, but she wouldn't try to kill Grace. You know me, Jake, and you've known Shirley most of her life. How could you believe such a thing of either one of us?"

Jake had already heard from Greg earlier in the day that Justin and Shirley's alibis for the night before were shaky at best.

He glanced in the kitchen where the girls were once again in their high chairs and Grace was finishing up the dinner preparations. "I don't know what to believe, Justin," he finally said. "The only thing I know for sure is that twice somebody has tried to harm Grace, and I intend to make sure she stays safe until she leaves here to go home. If I were you and Shirley I'd make sure until Grace leaves town you're in the company of other people so you have a solid alibi if anything else happens."

Jake knew his words were harsh, but he wanted his brother to understand the reality of the situation. Greg was looking for an attempted murderer, and at the moment the only two suspects on his list were Justin and Shirley. Jake simply couldn't believe his brother had anything to do with this, but he wasn't so sure about Shirley.

"Where are you now, Justin?"

"Me and Shirley are at Tony's having a few brews."

"You really think that's a good idea? Maybe it's time you do a little less drinking, Justin. Maybe a stint in rehab wouldn't hurt."

"Whoa, buddy," Justin said with a forced laugh. "You're in a foul mood."

Jake released a tired sigh. "No, I'm not in a foul mood, Justin. I just want what's best for you and everyone else concerned. Sooner or later you're going to have to figure out how you're going to handle all this. But, for now, Greg is right. You and Shirley need to stay away from here."

"Problems?" Grace asked when he'd said goodbye to his brother and entered the kitchen.

"No, everything is fine," he a.s.sured her. The only real problem he'd had all day was his nearness to her. Watching her interact with the girls, enjoying the warmth of her smiles, the very fragrance of her, and remembering the fire of their kiss had set him on slow burn throughout the entire day. "Something in here smells good."

"Meat loaf, homemade mac and cheese, and peas," she replied as she stirred the peas simmering in a pot on the stove.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Just sit and relax. I've got it all ready to put on the table."

He sat, but it was almost impossible to relax as he watched her bustling about. She'll be gone tomorrow. The words jumped into his head unbidden, as they had off and on throughout the afternoon.

It's what you want, he reminded himself. All he'd ever wanted since the moment she'd arrived was to be out of her drama and left alone. Tomorrow morning he would get his wish, and he couldn't understand why he didn't feel completely happy at the prospect.

Maybe it was just because he didn't like mysteries, and the gunshots and the attack in the bedroom were certainly mysteries that hadn't been solved. And it didn't look as if they were going to be solved before she left town.

"You're very quiet," she said once she had everything on the table and had joined him there.

"I was just thinking that it's going to be pretty quiet around here once you and the girls leave." As if to punctuate his sentence, Bonnie squealed in delight as Grace set her plate of mac and cheese, and peas in front of her. The other two reacted in much the same way then grew silent as they began to eat.

"I'll bet you can't wait to get your house back to the peace and quiet it was before we arrived," Grace said.

"Yeah, right," he replied, not meeting her gaze as he began to fill his plate. Peace and quiet, that's what he wanted. No babies crawling on him, drooling kisses or giggling with glee. No hair or ear pulling, no batting eyelashes, nothing that would bring a smile to his lips or any warmth of connection to his heart.

No Grace scent muddying his mind, twisting him inside out with feelings he'd never had before. It would just be plain stupid to allow anything to develop with Grace and the girls. It would be counterproductive to everything he'd decided he wanted in his life.

"It's too bad Greg didn't have a definitive answer for you about the attacks before you left," he said when the silence between them had stretched for too long.

She paused with a forkful of macaroni and cheese halfway to her mouth. "He could call with an answer before I go in the morning. I don't believe your brother was behind the attacks, Jake. However, my verdict is still out on Shirley. There was no question that she thought I was somehow a threat to her relationship with Justin." Her green eyes darkened. "I guess that kind of jealousy and desperation can make an unstable woman capable of almost anything. Besides, it's the only thing that makes any kind of sense. I'm fairly certain that once I leave here tomorrow I won't hear from Justin again and Shirley will have no reason to feel threatened anymore."

Jake wished he could protest her words, tell her that he was sure his brother would not only get in contact with her but would be a supportive presence in his daughters' lives. But at this point he knew they would just be empty words.

The only thing they knew for sure about the attack was that a red bandana had been used as the gag in Grace's mouth, and they were sold at every store in the area.

And tomorrow she would be gone.

Jake felt as if there was an invisible presence in the room that made itself known in a sizzling burn in the pit of his gut.

Desire. It had chased him through the house all day, ached deep inside him as they finished the meal. It whispered want to him as they cleaned up the kitchen, and it grew noisier in his head two hours later when they put the girls down to sleep for the night.

There was a part of him that believed that if he had her, if he made love with her just one time, then she'd be out of his system for good and it would be easier for him to tell her goodbye the next morning.

But there was another part of him that feared it would never be enough, that if he made love to her once then he would want to repeat it again and again. And she represented everything he didn't want in his life.

With the girls in their cribs for the night, they went back down to the living room where she sat on the sofa and he sat in the chair opposite her. He wanted to maintain as much physical distance from her as possible and yet be in the same room.

"I'm sorry things worked out the way they did for you here," he said. "You know you could take Justin to court, force him to at least pay child support."

"I would if it meant my babies having something or nothing," she replied. "I absolutely believe every child has a right to have the financial support of both parents. But in this case, the girls are well taken care of. And, to be honest, I'm ready to walk away from Justin and not look back."

A flash of pain crossed her features. "He's obviously not ready to be a father, and making him pay child support isn't going to change that. Someday he'll have to answer to the girls, but he doesn't have to answer to me."

"You're a strong woman."

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, I am. And you're a strong man, and I hope the day comes when you can stop carrying the sins of your father on your back."

He sat up straighter and looked at her in surprise. "I'm not doing that," he protested.

"Of course you are," she countered. "I think we've both been doing more than our share of that," she replied. "Trying to make up to Natalie and Justin for things they didn't get in their childhoods, things we didn't get in our childhoods. Personally, I plan on making some changes when I get home where Natalie is concerned. She's going to have to learn to stand on her own. It's past time I cut the cord. I have three baby girls to focus my energy on."

"And what happens in the fall when you go back to work?"

"They go to a terrific day care." She gazed off into s.p.a.ce thoughtfully. "I have to admit there's a part of me that would love to be a stay-at-home mom until they got to be school-age. I have my contract for working next fall sitting at home on my desk. I haven't signed it yet. I love teaching, but I'm also aware that I can't get back the girls' toddler years. I'm lucky in that if I don't live lavishly and am smart, I can afford to make a decision rather than the decision being forced on me."

"Whatever choice you make, I'm sure it will be a good one. You strike me as a woman who only makes good choices."

She smiled with a touch of humor. "Don't forget there were two of us in that bed when the triplets were conceived. I acted as stupid and reckless as Justin did that night. I'm ashamed to admit I hardly have any memories at all after a certain point in the evening, but there's no question that I decided to throw caution to the wind and let the booze and Justin sweep me away."

"Tell me more about this MysteryMom who brought you here." He knew she was probably eager to go to bed so she could get an early start in the morning, but he wasn't ready to tell her good-night. There was a part of him that wasn't ready to tell her goodbye.

"I don't know a lot about her personal life. I connected with her in a chat room for pregnant and single women. I just lurked for about a week and I noticed that she gave good advice, seemed knowledgeable about pregnancy and single parenting. She even gave one of the women in the chat room enough information to help her find the father of her baby who had disappeared when he'd found out she was pregnant. I finally started posting and told a little bit about my situation. Then MysteryMom and I started emailing each other outside of the chat room."

"And you became friends," he replied.

She nodded. "Cyberfriends. Good friends. Especially when I found out I was having triplets. I was more than a little freaked out, and she saw me through some of my rough moments."

He wished he would have been there for her, when she needed somebody to rub her tired back, when she just wanted somebody to talk to, to fix her a cup of tea or whatever. "I'm sorry you had to go through it all alone except for the support of a cyberfriend."

"I have a feeling even if I'd found Justin the day I discovered I was pregnant I would have still gone through it all alone," she returned.

"What about other friends?" he asked.

"I have acquaintances, but true friendships have been a little difficult to maintain. First there was my involvement in Natalie's life, then the triplets' arrival pretty much chased away any of my other single women friends."

"That stinks," he replied.

She smiled. "Not really. It was mostly my fault. I was just too busy to be a friend." She raised a hand and yawned. "And now I should probably call it a night. I'd like to get an early start in the morning."

She got up from the sofa and a wild panic shot through Jake. These were the last moments they would have together alone. He knew she was right, that once she returned to Wichita the odds of them maintaining any kind of relationship were minimal. He'd send birthday presents to the girls, call to check in on them every once in a while, but for all intents and purposes his connection with Grace would be severed.

And that's what you want, he reminded himself as he got out of his chair. He'd said goodbye to dozens of women in his lifetime, and she should be no different than any of them.

And yet she was different, a little voice whispered in the very depths of his soul. The other women who had drifted in and out of his life hadn't made his heartache for something undefined, something he felt he needed and yet found that very need frightening.

"Go ahead and sleep in my bed again tonight," he said as they walked toward the stairs. "I'll bunk in Jeffrey and Kerri's room again." He didn't want her anywhere near the room with the sliding gla.s.s door, and he would sleep with one eye open throughout the night.

He'd taken necessary precautions to make sure that n.o.body got close to the house again. Jimbo was camping out on the front porch for the night, and Rick Carson, another ranch hand, was bunking down on the back porch. Bunking down wasn't really the right term. Both men had promised to keep their eyes and ears open throughout the dark hours of the night, and Jake trusted those men as much as he trusted anyone in his life.

Jake would stick to his promise; he'd keep her safe and sound until she left here to go home. As they climbed the stairs, he tried not to inhale the familiar scent of her that called to every raging male hormone in his body. He tried not to imagine that he could feel the heat of her calling to him, wanting to share with him.

As always she stopped in the girls' room and checked each little child. He thought of Bonnie's flirting with him, of how Casey tucked her head down when feeling particularly shy, of Abby laughing with delight as he played peekaboo with her. Grace wasn't the only female here who had found her way into his heart. Each and every one of the triplets had also crawled into tiny places that would make them hard to forget when they were gone.

How had this happened? How had he allowed them all to get so close? They weren't his...they were never meant to be his.

"Then I guess this is good night," he said when they finally reached the door to his room.

"It doesn't have to be good night," she replied. The green of her eyes shone overly bright in the hallway light.

"What do you mean?" His pulse stepped up its rhythm.

"You could sleep in here with me."

Her words, so unexpected and so enticing, caused his heart to momentarily skip a beat. His head filled with a vision of her between his sheets, her lips swollen from his kisses and her naked body pressed against his.

"Grace..." He wasn't sure what he intended to say, but his voice came out as a hoa.r.s.e whisper. He needed strength, but he wanted to be weak.

"Tonight we make love and we sleep in each other's arms, but you don't have to worry about anything changing, Jake." Her eyes shone with both desire and a promise. "I still leave here in the morning. You still get your life of being alone."

Wrong. It was all wrong, his conscience suggested. You're strong enough to resist this temptation. You need to be strong enough to resist. But he wasn't. He was weak where Grace was concerned, and at the moment he couldn't think of anything he'd rather do than make love to her.

Big mistake, he thought as he followed her into the familiar bedroom that suddenly felt like a strange and wondrous place.

Chapter 10.

As Jake turned on the lamp next to the bed, Grace took off her sling and placed it on the nearby chair. Her hands trembled slightly as she thought about what she was about to do.

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that they were going to make love. She wanted this, she wanted him, and even ultimately knowing that it was going to be just another one-night stand with a Johnson man couldn't change her mind.

She was doing this for herself, making a memory that would bring a smile to her lips, a warmth to her heart when she needed it in the weeks and months ahead.

Somebody had tried to kill her, and just for a little while, just for tonight, she wanted to pretend that somebody loved her.

Jake stood inches from her, frozen except for the burning hunger in his eyes, a hunger that filled her up with a heat she'd never known before.

"You don't have to worry. I'm on birth control," she said, wanting to get that issue settled right up front. There would be no set of triplets or even a single baby made tonight.

He took a step toward her, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s making contact with his broad chest. "This isn't right," he said, his voice low and filled with deep longing.

"But it isn't wrong, either," she countered. "We're both single. Our hearts belong to n.o.body. I want you, Jake. I want this before I leave here tomorrow."

His mouth crashed to hers at the same time he wound his arms around her and pulled her against him, and just that easily she was lost in him.

There was no thought of going home, or of taking care of babies. There was no worry about her sister or who might have tried to hurt her. There was only Jake. Sweet, strong Jake.

His scent smelled like home, like sweet comfort, and his kiss tasted of hot, wild desire. Everything seemed to be happening in a dream, a wonderful dream that she wanted to last forever.

She didn't remember taking off her clothes, but found herself naked in his bed. She didn't remember seeing him undress, but he was also naked with her beneath the sheet, his body all hot muscle beside her.

As he drew her into his arms for another searing kiss, her hands caressed the width of his back, loving the feel of muscle and hot flesh beneath her fingertips.

He kissed just as she'd imagined he would, with intensity, with command and yet with a gentleness that melted her senses even more.

A small moan escaped her as his lips left hers and began to blaze an exploratory trail down the side of her throat, along the line of her collarbone. When his tongue lightly flicked across one of her taut nipples, a flash fire of sensation shot through her.

His hands cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as his tongue loved first one nipple then the other. Tangling her fingers in his thick hair, she was lost to everything except the man and his caresses.

One of his hands left her breast and began to stroke slowly, languidly down her stomach. Every muscle in her body tensed with the antic.i.p.ation of his intimate touch.

Teasingly, he slid his fingers down the outside of her thigh, then moved to the inside of her thigh and stopped just short of where she wanted him most, where she needed him most.

She mewled in frustration and was rewarded by his husky chuckle. "This is a one-shot deal, Grace. I don't want to be in a hurry. I want us to take our time. I want this to last all night long."

His words caused a shiver of delight to race up her spine. Yes, she wanted to be in his arms, with his hands and lips touching her all night long.

When he gazed at her with those dark, intense eyes, when he stroked her skin with his slightly work roughened hands, she felt like the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth. No man had ever looked at her the way he did. No man made her feel like she did at this time.

There was a moment as his lips drank of hers that thoughts of leaving intruded, that her heart folded into itself in antic.i.p.ation of the pain it would feel the next morning when she bid him a final goodbye and drove away from here.

Still, she shoved the thought away, not wanting to think, just wanting to feel, to be in this moment with this man.