Jake's child Read Online Free PDF Page B

all about? Nicholas said I cut the tires?" Jake laughed casually. "Kids. He saw me work out the spike I'd run over. Anyway, that's easy to check," he said, half rising. "Want to take a look? I'll wait here while you see for yourself." Her hesitancy amused him. She'd never make a poker player. "No?" He sank back into the kitchen chair.
    "You lied about Nicholas," she persisted. "Nicholas said you're not his father."
    "I never lied. I just said he was my boy." Jake frowned.
    "You know what the phrase implies. You know what I thought." She concentrated her attention on him. Slicking a strand of autumn brown hair behind her ear, she continued, "So why lie—pardon me, imply, that he was your son if you didn't have something to hide?"
    Buying time, Jake stretched out his legs, bumping her feet. There was the rub, of course. He did have something to hide. And he knew she had her own secrets. "Nicholas wasn't well, I didn't feel like going into a long explanation and I figured anybody running a fishing camp would be glad

    to help out. How was I to know you were here alone?" Half-truth.
    "But at midnight?" She wrinkled her nose.
    Jake shifted in his seat. "Yeah, well, look, this is embarrassing. I got lost. We were headed towards Moore Haven and stopped off at the reservation, wandered around a while and I guess I got off the main drag." Was he overplaying it?
    She rubbed her nose. The action was childlike and oddly appealing.
    Jake crossed his ankles, his toes brushing hers under the table. They were small, cold, the way her fingers had been when he put the quarter in them. "I don't know this area. I got lost. No street signs."
    She nodded slowly. "A lot of people get lost down here." She thought it through. "But what on earth possessed you to keep the boy out so late?" She was straightening with suspicion.
    "You know how it is with kids." His words brought vertical white lines around her mouth. "One thing leads to another. It got late, dark. I didn't know where I was."
    She frowned as she folded her hands in front of her on the table. The small ovals of her nails were glossy. "You look as though you always know where you are."
    Damn. "Yeah? Usually I do. The Glades are different, though, aren't they?"
    She nodded again. Then she returned to the original subject. "The boy's not your son?"
    He shook his head.
    "Who is he, then? What's he doing with you?"
    And wouldn't he just love to tell her? Wouldn't that frost her punkins? "His dad was a friend of mine." The less he said, the better. Watch out, Donnelly, or your rear'll be out on the porch so fast your face'll be left behind.
    " Wfas?" Her brows met in thought.

    He'd interested her. Jake observed her closely. "He died recently. I wanted to get the boy away from everything. Give him a change of scenery."
    "What about his mother? Why would she let him go off with you? Why wouldn't she want him with her, especially now? The boy must be grieving for his father. Surely this isn't the time to upset his routine? Why would his mother let you take him?" Her questions tumbled from lips gone white.
    Interesting that she should be so intense. "Whoa. One thing at a time." Jake looked around the kitchen. "Could I impose for a cup of coffee? Anything?"
    Her frown was scornful. "I don't think it will hurt you to wait, okay? Let's get the questions answered first."
    "Cautious little thing, aren't you? Not that I blame you." He scratched his chin. "How about a glass of water? Or is that too much trouble?" Deliberately he made his tone derisive.
    "Don't be unpleasant. It is, actually, under the circumstances, but all right. And another thing," she glared at him over her shoulder as she ran the faucet full blast, "don't patronize me by calling me a * little thing,' okay?" Water slopped onto the floor as she slammed the glass in front of him.
    He sipped. Brackish, like the lake.
    "I'm waiting." Water had splashed down the front of her blouse and through wet white spots skin glistened pink and