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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: The Pretender and its related characters don’t belong to me. There is no money involved here and no copyright infringement is intended. Actually it is intended but I’m not making any profit so there’s really no point in suing me over it.
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Veil of Contentment - Part 8
- By Phenyx
- 05/15/04
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The flight from Blue Cove to Florida was a calm one. Jarod went forward to the cabin and chatted with the pilot for a time. When the pretender returned to his seat, Parker felt the need to tease him about it.
“Does he pass?” Parker asked wryly as Jarod refastened his seatbelt.
“Pass?” Jarod asked in confusion.
Parker smiled. “Does Captain Evers fulfill your requirements for a satisfactory pilot?”
“Dan is a good man,” the pretender answered with a casual shrug. “His eldest son was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and nearly died. Chad was confined to a wheelchair for more than a year. It was rough on the entire family.” Jarod smiled brightly. “But Dan tells me that his son is a young man now. He finished college last year and is engaged to a very nice girl.”
“Dan Evers has been flying Centre jets for more than ten years,” Parker shook her head in surprise. “I didn’t even know he was married. Here you’ve learned his life story in less than an hour.”
Jarod laughed. “I’ve know Dan for a while,” he admitted. At Parker’s suspicious frown, Jarod answered guiltily, “I may have helped with his son’s physical therapy just a bit.”
“Just a bit,” Parker stated with a knowing grin. “Years ago.”
“Several years ago,” the pretender confessed. “Knowing when jets were leaving Delaware was very helpful at times. Besides,” he added. “I’ve had to borrow one or two on occasion.”
“You sneaky s.o.b.” Parker scolded.
Jarod smiled. “You were just too good Parker,” he said. “I needed all the help I could get to stay out of your clutches.”
“It didn’t work,” Parker hissed playfully. “I’ve got you now.”
“Hmm,” the pretender’s voice dropped into a low rumble. “Yes you do. Be careful Parker, don’t let me get away.”
“Oh I won’t,” she replied in an equally husky tone. “I’ll tie you down if necessary.”
“Promises, promises.”
Since their discussion in the kitchen yesterday morning, this kind of verbal taunting had begun to bubble to the surface. What had once been a subdued sensuality between them had abruptly lost all traces of subtlety. They’d started to openly flirt with each other and it was quickly becoming damned erotic.
The plane landed in Miami uneventfully. A quick stop at a reservation desk provided the couple with a rented automobile and they were soon on the road toward their destination. With each passing mile, Parker could see Jarod grow more and more tense.
“Jarod,” Parker said softly. “If she’s there, I don’t have to stay.”
“No!” the pretender cried. With a sigh he took Parker’s hand in one of his own, controlling the steering wheel with the other. “I’m really counting on you to get me out of there. If Zoë’s still at the house, we’ll figure something out.”
“God Jarod, what if the boyfriend is there?” Parker groaned. This situation had an increasing potential for disaster. Parker could only imagine how awkward this was for her companion.
“So what?” the pretender said with a shrug. “There’s nothing left between Zoë and me. I wish her the best of luck. If this guy makes her happy...” Jarod shrugged again.
“You’re being terribly kind about all this,” Parker said.
“I’ve had time to get used to the idea. Besides, Zoë is not the only one at fault,” Jarod admitted ruefully. “I’m the one to blame. I screwed up royally.”
“How do you figure?” Parker gasped.
Jarod glanced away from the road just long enough to give Parker a piercing look. “I married the wrong girl,” he whispered.
“Then why did you marry her?” Parker asked.
“I knew she’d say yes when I asked,” was the reply.
Not knowing how to respond to that statement, Parker chose to remain silent.
When they arrived at their destination, Jarod pulled the car to a stop in front of the house. He opened the trunk and lifted out the two small cases that made up all the luggage they had brought with them. Carrying both bags under one arm he took Parker by the hand and led her to the front door.
As the pretender rang the doorbell, Parker gazed up at him knowingly. Jarod rarely did anything without reason. His actions now were intentional and well calculated. Standing on the front porch of his own house, Jarod was waiting for someone to let him in. Parker wondered if anyone in Jarod’s family would recognize the significance of what he did. To Parker the pretender’s meaning was as obvious as a neon sign. This place no longer belonged to him. This wasn’t his home anymore and he could not come and go as if it was.
Parker’s thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly opened. A young man stood before them, his dark eyes as searching and expressive as Jarod’s had always been. As the two men faced each other, Parker felt as though reality had slipped somehow. It was like looking through a window of time and seeing the young man Jarod had been decades ago. Even their clothes were similar.
“Hello Jack,” Jarod said with a smile.
“Jarod!” the other man cried gleefully. “Hot Damn! Jarod’s home,” he added yelling into the house. Throwing open the screen door, Jarod’s younger twin tackled him in a huge bear hug. “You had us really worried bro,” Jack said as he squeezed Jarod hard. “Ethan and I were laying bets as to where they’d find the body.”
Parker choked back her shock but Jarod only laughed. “You’ll have to forgive my little brother,” the pretender chortled. “But he’s never quite mastered the subtleties of polite society.”
The young man stuck his tongue out at Jarod and then turned toward Parker. “Admittedly ma’am, I am an asshole of the highest caliber,” Jack said with an exaggerated bow.
“You can’t possibly be as big a jerk as Jarod has always been,” Parker commented.
“I do my best,” the young man said with a grin. “But he has set the bar pretty high.”
“I think I’ve just been insulted,” Jarod gasped.
“A genius mind at work,” Jack snickered. He stepped forward and, much to her surprise, kissed Miss Parker’s cheek. “It’s nice to see you again Miss Parker,” he said.
Parker smiled. “I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.”
“I never forget a beautiful woman,” Jack drawled in an all too familiar voice. “Especially one who tried to protect me from the boogeyman.”
Jarod glanced from one face to the other, a frown of uncertainty creasing his brow. “I didn’t realize that you two had met,” the pretender said.
“Miss Parker tried to bust me out of the Centre just before you showed up in my life,” Jack explained with a shrug.
“I would have found a way to free him but you beat me to the punch,” Parker added with an offhanded air.
A delighted screech ended their conversation as Jarod’s mother burst from the house. What followed was a chaotic reunion and much excited chattering as Jarod’s family greeted their arrival. Parker lurked in the background for several minutes until Ethan showed up and dragged her into the fray.
Parker’s half-brother was happier now than when she had first known him. They had been in contact over the years and he had visited her on more than one occasion. Yet it was Jarod’s family that had helped him, calmed his tortured mind. Ethan had matured, now carrying with him a sense of serene wisdom rarely found in a man under the age of eighty.
It was Ethan who noticed the first signs of a problem. “This is all you’ve brought with you?” he asked, gesturing to the two small pieces of luggage.
“We left Parker’s little boy with ...” Jarod stumbled over his words barely long enough for anyone to notice. “A friend. We can’t stay more than a few days.”
“I see,” Jarod’s mother replied in a frigid tone.
Grabbing the suitcases, Jack asked, “Shall I put these both in your room?”
“Well,” Jarod frowned with indecision.
“It’s okay, son,” the Major said with a reassuring pat on Jarod’s shoulder. “She moved out a couple of months ago.”
The pretender breathed a heavy sigh of relief and nodded at this younger twin.
“Zoë took a lot of stuff with her,” Ethan offered.
Jarod waved off his brother’s concern. “I don’t mind,” the pretender said. “I won’t need it anymore.”
“You should find out what you’ve got left before saying that Bro,” Jack said with a grimace.
“If you had been around, you could have specified what she was or was not allowed to have,” Jarod’s mother scolded him.
“I honestly don’t care Mother,” the pretender told her.
“Jarod,” Parker spoke up. “Why don’t you show me around while you take inventory. Might as well get it over with.”
Ethan’s warning was well founded. Jarod led Parker through the kitchen and opened a thick paneled oak door. Stepping across the threshold, Parker realized that they were in a private section of the house. The wide, open area contained little furniture. The apartment had that empty, nearly echoing feeling of a space that had too few things.
The spacious living room held a single easy chair, one end table and a barren television stand. A brightly colored throw rug took up most of the floor in the center of the room.
With a wry smile Jarod said, “She always hated this pattern.”
They wandered upstairs where Jarod pointed out the restroom. Parker took a few minutes to freshen up and run a comb through her hair. When she came back into the hallway, Jarod was waiting for her.
“Hold this,” he said, gruffly handing over a silver case. “We’ll take it back with us.”
Parker nodded. “You’re lucky she left it,” she said. “She could have been bitchy and taken it with her. Or worse, she could have destroyed it.”
Jarod looked at her strangely. “Zoë didn’t know what it was,” he explained.
It was Parker’s turn to eye the pretender oddly. “You never showed her the DSAs?”
“No,”
“Not even one?” Parker pressed.
“There was never any cause to do so,” he said.
“Oh Jarod,” Parker sighed sadly. “You never really let her know anything about you, did you?”
Jarod shrugged. “There was just so much to explain,” he said. “I didn’t know how to start. So I never did.”
“What a load of crap,” Parker shook her head in understanding. “We are too much alike, you and I,” she said, softly caressing his cheek. “I know why you don’t want to talk about the past.”
Jarod’s eyelids fluttered closed as he stepped closer, nuzzling against Parker’s palm. “It frightens me,” he whispered. “The things I’ve done. The darkness that I am capable of.”
“I know,” Parker replied. She wrapped her arms around Jarod and held him close.
The pretender buried his face in Parker’s hair and inhaled deeply. “There’s one thing I never quite figured out,” he murmured into her ear.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Jarod pulled back and gazed intently into Parker’s upturned face as he spoke. “Are you a light in that darkness, or another one of the shadows?”
“You don’t want me to answer that question,” Parker’s voice was laced with years of sorrow.
Dark brown eyes twinkled with sudden mischief. “We’d probably disagree anyway,” Jarod said with a smile.
“You just like to be contrary,” Parker growled.
“Arguing with you is the high point of my day,” Jarod said with a devilish grin.
Parker laughed a low sultry sound and stepped forward. Not quite leaning against Jarod, Parker was so close that the heat from their bodies mingled, and yet they did not actually touch. Jarod’s long lashes fluttered closed once more as he sighed contentedly.
“We’ll have to see if we can’t find something more interesting for you to look forward to,” Parker whispered.
With a rumbling groan Jarod abruptly closed the space that separated them. Capturing Parker’s lips in his own he kissed her hungrily. Time evaporated as they stood in the empty hallway, breathing the air from each other’s lungs.
“Jarod,” Parker gasped after several long minutes.
“Hmm?” was the incoherent response.
“Are you trying to suck my fillings out?” she laughed.
“Mmm,” he replied as he nibbled a trail down Parker’s neck.
“Jarod,” Parker hissed. “Take me to bed.”
“Damn,” the pretender pulled away with great effort. “There isn’t one.”
“What?” Parker blinked, her body suddenly cold where Jarod was no longer pressed against it.
The pretender was panting as he answered, “The guestroom is completely bare and I’ll be damned if our first time is in my wife’s bed.”
Parker sighed in frustration. “You and your damned sense of honor,” she growled angrily.
“I’ll make it up to you, Parker,” Jarod promised. “I swear.”
“You’d better,” she snapped as she stomped down the stairs.
Jarod hurried after her. He caught up with her in the livingroom. Parker was standing in the middle of the rug, gazing morosely at the large blocks or color in the plush fabric. Her body radiated the severe ice queen chill; her back ramrod straight and her arms wrapped defensively across her chest.
“I’m sorry,” Jarod said in voice little more than a whisper.
Parker sagged at the sincere anguish in the pretender’s voice. “Don’t be,” she said as her eyes softened. “I can’t fault you for being true to your word. It may be misguided at times but your loyalty is a big part of who you are.”
“Even if it means being faithful to an unfaithful spouse?” Jarod said in a wry tone.
Parker smiled as she let her anger slip away. “I knew you weren’t as bright as you claim to be,” she teased.
Jarod laughed, a deep rich sound of pure delight. They stood there smiling at each other, neither aware that someone else had joined them in the room.
“I think I can worry about you less, eh big brother?” A pretty auburn- haired young woman stood in the doorway that led to the other half of the house. She was wearing shorts and a sleeveless blue blouse. Fashionable strap sandals graced her feet.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Em,” Jarod said as he bent to hug his sister.
“I can see that,” she snickered. With a curious glance at Miss Parker she continued, “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
Jarod glanced at Miss Parker with a heavy sigh. “Are you ready to face the gauntlet?” he asked.
“Piece of cake,” she replied with a careless toss of her head.
“Mom is more than a little upset,” Emily informed them. “She’s bound to be a little frosty.”
“Try having dinner with the Parker family some time,” Miss Parker drawled. “At least with your clan, “she added as she breezed past Jarod. “I’ll be the only one in the room who’s armed.”
Jarod chuckled at Emily’s raised eyebrows. “She’s kidding,” he assured his sister. “You are kidding, aren’t you?” he called anxiously after Parker’s retreating form.
--
Several hours later, Jarod stood in the darkened livingroom leaning against the window. Staring down at Miss Parker’s sleeping form, he wondered at the oddness of his situation. On one hand, having her here, stretched tantalizingly across a mound of quilts and blankets on the floor, was nearly driving the pretender mad. But on the other, Parker’s presence made things so much easier.
Dealing with his mother had become more difficult for Jarod as the evening had worn on. She was obviously saddened and confused by his choice to return to Delaware. Parker made for an easy target and Margaret quickly chose to blame the slim brunette for her son’s defection.
At first Jarod had done what he could to defend Parker from his mother’s petty jibs. But it had quickly become apparent that Parker needed no protection in this arena. Jarod knew that his Mother was being cold and unfriendly. Yet the snide comments and rude remarks slid off Parker’s thick hide like water off a duck.
Jarod pushed away from the window and moved through the shadows to crouch at Parker’s side. He gazed down at her and marveled at her tenacity. Parker had spent most of her life in a verbal and emotional brawl with her own family. A few veiled discourtesies from his mother would not faze her. Parker could hold her own against Lyle, Brigette and Raines. Margaret Lucht had no idea what she was up against.
With a heavy sigh, Jarod stood and quietly left the room. He walked softly through the house, giving up on his attempts to sleep. Moving in darkness, Jarod went to the kitchen and began preparing a pot of coffee. He was sitting at the table still nursing his first cup more than an hour later. The sky outside was just beginning to brighten when his mother came in to the room.
“Why are you sitting in the dark, dear?” she asked as she flipped on the light switch.
Jarod blinked against the sudden illumination and shrugged. “No reason,” he said with a smile. “I was just thinking.”
Margaret glanced at her son. “Thinking about anything in particular?” she pried.
“Not really.”
Pouring coffee into a mug of her own, Jarod’s mother added, “Someone in particular perhaps?”
“Maybe,” Jarod answered sheepishly.
Margaret’s displeasure was written on her face. “I don’t understand why you waste your time with those Parkers,” she grumbled.
“I’m not wasting my time,” the pretender snapped. With a sigh, Jarod softened his voice. “I know you don’t understand the relationship between me and her. Hell, I don’t completely understand it myself.” Jarod paused for a long moment, trying to find the words to explain the strange bond he shared with his ex-huntress. “I was about ten-years-old when she and I first met. Did you know that?”
Jarod’s mother shook her head.
The pretender leaned back and got a faraway look on his face, as though he was reliving the moment in his memory. “We met only a few months after I had been told that you were dead and a few months before her mother’s supposed suicide.” Jarod tilted his head, and gazed at his mother sadly. “We’d both been lied to. There had been no plane crash. Her mother was murdered long after that staged death in the elevator. But we were just children. How were we to know that our grief was based on lies?”
The pretender stared thoughtfully into his cold coffee. “There was no one else to turn to Mother,” Jarod finally went on. “So we gravitated toward each other and became friends. We learned to trust each other when there was no one else to believe in. As the years passed, we were taught to be on guard, to trust no one, ever. We learned our lessons well and we survived.”
“But no matter what they threw at us,” the pretender continued. “The pain they caused, the emotional security they stripped from us time and time again to keep us in line. None of that could eradicate the pure and simple faith that two lonely children forged in one another.”
“She’s dangerous,” Margaret whispered.
“Yes,” Jarod admitted. “I’ve found myself staring down the barrel of her gun more often than you want to know. But she never breaks a promise. I’ve placed my life in her hands many times and she’s never failed to come through for me when I needed her.”
Jarod reached out and clasped his mother’s hands between his own, squeezing them gently for emphasis. “I can depend on her Mother. You can’t begin to fathom how incredible it is for me to be able to count on someone.”
Margaret stood and moved to Jarod’s side. She wrapped her first-born child in her arms and held him close. Kissing the top of his head Margaret said, “You can depend on us, Jarod. We are your family.”
Sad brown eyes gazed up at the older woman. “I’m trying Mom. I really am,” Jarod told her.
“But you’re going back to Delaware anyway.”
The pretender buried his face in his mother’s shoulder. “Please don’t ask me to choose,” he begged in voice filled with anguish. “Please.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” Margaret choked back a sob.
“You won’t Mother. I promise,” Jarod sniffed. “I’ll visit often.”
Margaret straightened and stared intently into her son’s upturned face. “Does she make you happy?”
Jarod’s face burst into a brilliant smile. “She always has. I can’t explain it, but I’m happier when she’s snarling at me than I have ever been in her absence.”
Jarod’s mother sighed in defeat. “I’m going to have to learn to like this girl, aren’t I?” she asked.
“Give it twenty or thirty years, Mom,” Jarod chuckled. “She grows on you.”
-
Veil of Contentment - Part 8
- By Phenyx
- 05/15/04
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The flight from Blue Cove to Florida was a calm one. Jarod went forward to the cabin and chatted with the pilot for a time. When the pretender returned to his seat, Parker felt the need to tease him about it.
“Does he pass?” Parker asked wryly as Jarod refastened his seatbelt.
“Pass?” Jarod asked in confusion.
Parker smiled. “Does Captain Evers fulfill your requirements for a satisfactory pilot?”
“Dan is a good man,” the pretender answered with a casual shrug. “His eldest son was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and nearly died. Chad was confined to a wheelchair for more than a year. It was rough on the entire family.” Jarod smiled brightly. “But Dan tells me that his son is a young man now. He finished college last year and is engaged to a very nice girl.”
“Dan Evers has been flying Centre jets for more than ten years,” Parker shook her head in surprise. “I didn’t even know he was married. Here you’ve learned his life story in less than an hour.”
Jarod laughed. “I’ve know Dan for a while,” he admitted. At Parker’s suspicious frown, Jarod answered guiltily, “I may have helped with his son’s physical therapy just a bit.”
“Just a bit,” Parker stated with a knowing grin. “Years ago.”
“Several years ago,” the pretender confessed. “Knowing when jets were leaving Delaware was very helpful at times. Besides,” he added. “I’ve had to borrow one or two on occasion.”
“You sneaky s.o.b.” Parker scolded.
Jarod smiled. “You were just too good Parker,” he said. “I needed all the help I could get to stay out of your clutches.”
“It didn’t work,” Parker hissed playfully. “I’ve got you now.”
“Hmm,” the pretender’s voice dropped into a low rumble. “Yes you do. Be careful Parker, don’t let me get away.”
“Oh I won’t,” she replied in an equally husky tone. “I’ll tie you down if necessary.”
“Promises, promises.”
Since their discussion in the kitchen yesterday morning, this kind of verbal taunting had begun to bubble to the surface. What had once been a subdued sensuality between them had abruptly lost all traces of subtlety. They’d started to openly flirt with each other and it was quickly becoming damned erotic.
The plane landed in Miami uneventfully. A quick stop at a reservation desk provided the couple with a rented automobile and they were soon on the road toward their destination. With each passing mile, Parker could see Jarod grow more and more tense.
“Jarod,” Parker said softly. “If she’s there, I don’t have to stay.”
“No!” the pretender cried. With a sigh he took Parker’s hand in one of his own, controlling the steering wheel with the other. “I’m really counting on you to get me out of there. If Zoë’s still at the house, we’ll figure something out.”
“God Jarod, what if the boyfriend is there?” Parker groaned. This situation had an increasing potential for disaster. Parker could only imagine how awkward this was for her companion.
“So what?” the pretender said with a shrug. “There’s nothing left between Zoë and me. I wish her the best of luck. If this guy makes her happy...” Jarod shrugged again.
“You’re being terribly kind about all this,” Parker said.
“I’ve had time to get used to the idea. Besides, Zoë is not the only one at fault,” Jarod admitted ruefully. “I’m the one to blame. I screwed up royally.”
“How do you figure?” Parker gasped.
Jarod glanced away from the road just long enough to give Parker a piercing look. “I married the wrong girl,” he whispered.
“Then why did you marry her?” Parker asked.
“I knew she’d say yes when I asked,” was the reply.
Not knowing how to respond to that statement, Parker chose to remain silent.
When they arrived at their destination, Jarod pulled the car to a stop in front of the house. He opened the trunk and lifted out the two small cases that made up all the luggage they had brought with them. Carrying both bags under one arm he took Parker by the hand and led her to the front door.
As the pretender rang the doorbell, Parker gazed up at him knowingly. Jarod rarely did anything without reason. His actions now were intentional and well calculated. Standing on the front porch of his own house, Jarod was waiting for someone to let him in. Parker wondered if anyone in Jarod’s family would recognize the significance of what he did. To Parker the pretender’s meaning was as obvious as a neon sign. This place no longer belonged to him. This wasn’t his home anymore and he could not come and go as if it was.
Parker’s thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly opened. A young man stood before them, his dark eyes as searching and expressive as Jarod’s had always been. As the two men faced each other, Parker felt as though reality had slipped somehow. It was like looking through a window of time and seeing the young man Jarod had been decades ago. Even their clothes were similar.
“Hello Jack,” Jarod said with a smile.
“Jarod!” the other man cried gleefully. “Hot Damn! Jarod’s home,” he added yelling into the house. Throwing open the screen door, Jarod’s younger twin tackled him in a huge bear hug. “You had us really worried bro,” Jack said as he squeezed Jarod hard. “Ethan and I were laying bets as to where they’d find the body.”
Parker choked back her shock but Jarod only laughed. “You’ll have to forgive my little brother,” the pretender chortled. “But he’s never quite mastered the subtleties of polite society.”
The young man stuck his tongue out at Jarod and then turned toward Parker. “Admittedly ma’am, I am an asshole of the highest caliber,” Jack said with an exaggerated bow.
“You can’t possibly be as big a jerk as Jarod has always been,” Parker commented.
“I do my best,” the young man said with a grin. “But he has set the bar pretty high.”
“I think I’ve just been insulted,” Jarod gasped.
“A genius mind at work,” Jack snickered. He stepped forward and, much to her surprise, kissed Miss Parker’s cheek. “It’s nice to see you again Miss Parker,” he said.
Parker smiled. “I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.”
“I never forget a beautiful woman,” Jack drawled in an all too familiar voice. “Especially one who tried to protect me from the boogeyman.”
Jarod glanced from one face to the other, a frown of uncertainty creasing his brow. “I didn’t realize that you two had met,” the pretender said.
“Miss Parker tried to bust me out of the Centre just before you showed up in my life,” Jack explained with a shrug.
“I would have found a way to free him but you beat me to the punch,” Parker added with an offhanded air.
A delighted screech ended their conversation as Jarod’s mother burst from the house. What followed was a chaotic reunion and much excited chattering as Jarod’s family greeted their arrival. Parker lurked in the background for several minutes until Ethan showed up and dragged her into the fray.
Parker’s half-brother was happier now than when she had first known him. They had been in contact over the years and he had visited her on more than one occasion. Yet it was Jarod’s family that had helped him, calmed his tortured mind. Ethan had matured, now carrying with him a sense of serene wisdom rarely found in a man under the age of eighty.
It was Ethan who noticed the first signs of a problem. “This is all you’ve brought with you?” he asked, gesturing to the two small pieces of luggage.
“We left Parker’s little boy with ...” Jarod stumbled over his words barely long enough for anyone to notice. “A friend. We can’t stay more than a few days.”
“I see,” Jarod’s mother replied in a frigid tone.
Grabbing the suitcases, Jack asked, “Shall I put these both in your room?”
“Well,” Jarod frowned with indecision.
“It’s okay, son,” the Major said with a reassuring pat on Jarod’s shoulder. “She moved out a couple of months ago.”
The pretender breathed a heavy sigh of relief and nodded at this younger twin.
“Zoë took a lot of stuff with her,” Ethan offered.
Jarod waved off his brother’s concern. “I don’t mind,” the pretender said. “I won’t need it anymore.”
“You should find out what you’ve got left before saying that Bro,” Jack said with a grimace.
“If you had been around, you could have specified what she was or was not allowed to have,” Jarod’s mother scolded him.
“I honestly don’t care Mother,” the pretender told her.
“Jarod,” Parker spoke up. “Why don’t you show me around while you take inventory. Might as well get it over with.”
Ethan’s warning was well founded. Jarod led Parker through the kitchen and opened a thick paneled oak door. Stepping across the threshold, Parker realized that they were in a private section of the house. The wide, open area contained little furniture. The apartment had that empty, nearly echoing feeling of a space that had too few things.
The spacious living room held a single easy chair, one end table and a barren television stand. A brightly colored throw rug took up most of the floor in the center of the room.
With a wry smile Jarod said, “She always hated this pattern.”
They wandered upstairs where Jarod pointed out the restroom. Parker took a few minutes to freshen up and run a comb through her hair. When she came back into the hallway, Jarod was waiting for her.
“Hold this,” he said, gruffly handing over a silver case. “We’ll take it back with us.”
Parker nodded. “You’re lucky she left it,” she said. “She could have been bitchy and taken it with her. Or worse, she could have destroyed it.”
Jarod looked at her strangely. “Zoë didn’t know what it was,” he explained.
It was Parker’s turn to eye the pretender oddly. “You never showed her the DSAs?”
“No,”
“Not even one?” Parker pressed.
“There was never any cause to do so,” he said.
“Oh Jarod,” Parker sighed sadly. “You never really let her know anything about you, did you?”
Jarod shrugged. “There was just so much to explain,” he said. “I didn’t know how to start. So I never did.”
“What a load of crap,” Parker shook her head in understanding. “We are too much alike, you and I,” she said, softly caressing his cheek. “I know why you don’t want to talk about the past.”
Jarod’s eyelids fluttered closed as he stepped closer, nuzzling against Parker’s palm. “It frightens me,” he whispered. “The things I’ve done. The darkness that I am capable of.”
“I know,” Parker replied. She wrapped her arms around Jarod and held him close.
The pretender buried his face in Parker’s hair and inhaled deeply. “There’s one thing I never quite figured out,” he murmured into her ear.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Jarod pulled back and gazed intently into Parker’s upturned face as he spoke. “Are you a light in that darkness, or another one of the shadows?”
“You don’t want me to answer that question,” Parker’s voice was laced with years of sorrow.
Dark brown eyes twinkled with sudden mischief. “We’d probably disagree anyway,” Jarod said with a smile.
“You just like to be contrary,” Parker growled.
“Arguing with you is the high point of my day,” Jarod said with a devilish grin.
Parker laughed a low sultry sound and stepped forward. Not quite leaning against Jarod, Parker was so close that the heat from their bodies mingled, and yet they did not actually touch. Jarod’s long lashes fluttered closed once more as he sighed contentedly.
“We’ll have to see if we can’t find something more interesting for you to look forward to,” Parker whispered.
With a rumbling groan Jarod abruptly closed the space that separated them. Capturing Parker’s lips in his own he kissed her hungrily. Time evaporated as they stood in the empty hallway, breathing the air from each other’s lungs.
“Jarod,” Parker gasped after several long minutes.
“Hmm?” was the incoherent response.
“Are you trying to suck my fillings out?” she laughed.
“Mmm,” he replied as he nibbled a trail down Parker’s neck.
“Jarod,” Parker hissed. “Take me to bed.”
“Damn,” the pretender pulled away with great effort. “There isn’t one.”
“What?” Parker blinked, her body suddenly cold where Jarod was no longer pressed against it.
The pretender was panting as he answered, “The guestroom is completely bare and I’ll be damned if our first time is in my wife’s bed.”
Parker sighed in frustration. “You and your damned sense of honor,” she growled angrily.
“I’ll make it up to you, Parker,” Jarod promised. “I swear.”
“You’d better,” she snapped as she stomped down the stairs.
Jarod hurried after her. He caught up with her in the livingroom. Parker was standing in the middle of the rug, gazing morosely at the large blocks or color in the plush fabric. Her body radiated the severe ice queen chill; her back ramrod straight and her arms wrapped defensively across her chest.
“I’m sorry,” Jarod said in voice little more than a whisper.
Parker sagged at the sincere anguish in the pretender’s voice. “Don’t be,” she said as her eyes softened. “I can’t fault you for being true to your word. It may be misguided at times but your loyalty is a big part of who you are.”
“Even if it means being faithful to an unfaithful spouse?” Jarod said in a wry tone.
Parker smiled as she let her anger slip away. “I knew you weren’t as bright as you claim to be,” she teased.
Jarod laughed, a deep rich sound of pure delight. They stood there smiling at each other, neither aware that someone else had joined them in the room.
“I think I can worry about you less, eh big brother?” A pretty auburn- haired young woman stood in the doorway that led to the other half of the house. She was wearing shorts and a sleeveless blue blouse. Fashionable strap sandals graced her feet.
“You don’t have to worry about me, Em,” Jarod said as he bent to hug his sister.
“I can see that,” she snickered. With a curious glance at Miss Parker she continued, “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
Jarod glanced at Miss Parker with a heavy sigh. “Are you ready to face the gauntlet?” he asked.
“Piece of cake,” she replied with a careless toss of her head.
“Mom is more than a little upset,” Emily informed them. “She’s bound to be a little frosty.”
“Try having dinner with the Parker family some time,” Miss Parker drawled. “At least with your clan, “she added as she breezed past Jarod. “I’ll be the only one in the room who’s armed.”
Jarod chuckled at Emily’s raised eyebrows. “She’s kidding,” he assured his sister. “You are kidding, aren’t you?” he called anxiously after Parker’s retreating form.
--
Several hours later, Jarod stood in the darkened livingroom leaning against the window. Staring down at Miss Parker’s sleeping form, he wondered at the oddness of his situation. On one hand, having her here, stretched tantalizingly across a mound of quilts and blankets on the floor, was nearly driving the pretender mad. But on the other, Parker’s presence made things so much easier.
Dealing with his mother had become more difficult for Jarod as the evening had worn on. She was obviously saddened and confused by his choice to return to Delaware. Parker made for an easy target and Margaret quickly chose to blame the slim brunette for her son’s defection.
At first Jarod had done what he could to defend Parker from his mother’s petty jibs. But it had quickly become apparent that Parker needed no protection in this arena. Jarod knew that his Mother was being cold and unfriendly. Yet the snide comments and rude remarks slid off Parker’s thick hide like water off a duck.
Jarod pushed away from the window and moved through the shadows to crouch at Parker’s side. He gazed down at her and marveled at her tenacity. Parker had spent most of her life in a verbal and emotional brawl with her own family. A few veiled discourtesies from his mother would not faze her. Parker could hold her own against Lyle, Brigette and Raines. Margaret Lucht had no idea what she was up against.
With a heavy sigh, Jarod stood and quietly left the room. He walked softly through the house, giving up on his attempts to sleep. Moving in darkness, Jarod went to the kitchen and began preparing a pot of coffee. He was sitting at the table still nursing his first cup more than an hour later. The sky outside was just beginning to brighten when his mother came in to the room.
“Why are you sitting in the dark, dear?” she asked as she flipped on the light switch.
Jarod blinked against the sudden illumination and shrugged. “No reason,” he said with a smile. “I was just thinking.”
Margaret glanced at her son. “Thinking about anything in particular?” she pried.
“Not really.”
Pouring coffee into a mug of her own, Jarod’s mother added, “Someone in particular perhaps?”
“Maybe,” Jarod answered sheepishly.
Margaret’s displeasure was written on her face. “I don’t understand why you waste your time with those Parkers,” she grumbled.
“I’m not wasting my time,” the pretender snapped. With a sigh, Jarod softened his voice. “I know you don’t understand the relationship between me and her. Hell, I don’t completely understand it myself.” Jarod paused for a long moment, trying to find the words to explain the strange bond he shared with his ex-huntress. “I was about ten-years-old when she and I first met. Did you know that?”
Jarod’s mother shook her head.
The pretender leaned back and got a faraway look on his face, as though he was reliving the moment in his memory. “We met only a few months after I had been told that you were dead and a few months before her mother’s supposed suicide.” Jarod tilted his head, and gazed at his mother sadly. “We’d both been lied to. There had been no plane crash. Her mother was murdered long after that staged death in the elevator. But we were just children. How were we to know that our grief was based on lies?”
The pretender stared thoughtfully into his cold coffee. “There was no one else to turn to Mother,” Jarod finally went on. “So we gravitated toward each other and became friends. We learned to trust each other when there was no one else to believe in. As the years passed, we were taught to be on guard, to trust no one, ever. We learned our lessons well and we survived.”
“But no matter what they threw at us,” the pretender continued. “The pain they caused, the emotional security they stripped from us time and time again to keep us in line. None of that could eradicate the pure and simple faith that two lonely children forged in one another.”
“She’s dangerous,” Margaret whispered.
“Yes,” Jarod admitted. “I’ve found myself staring down the barrel of her gun more often than you want to know. But she never breaks a promise. I’ve placed my life in her hands many times and she’s never failed to come through for me when I needed her.”
Jarod reached out and clasped his mother’s hands between his own, squeezing them gently for emphasis. “I can depend on her Mother. You can’t begin to fathom how incredible it is for me to be able to count on someone.”
Margaret stood and moved to Jarod’s side. She wrapped her first-born child in her arms and held him close. Kissing the top of his head Margaret said, “You can depend on us, Jarod. We are your family.”
Sad brown eyes gazed up at the older woman. “I’m trying Mom. I really am,” Jarod told her.
“But you’re going back to Delaware anyway.”
The pretender buried his face in his mother’s shoulder. “Please don’t ask me to choose,” he begged in voice filled with anguish. “Please.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” Margaret choked back a sob.
“You won’t Mother. I promise,” Jarod sniffed. “I’ll visit often.”
Margaret straightened and stared intently into her son’s upturned face. “Does she make you happy?”
Jarod’s face burst into a brilliant smile. “She always has. I can’t explain it, but I’m happier when she’s snarling at me than I have ever been in her absence.”
Jarod’s mother sighed in defeat. “I’m going to have to learn to like this girl, aren’t I?” she asked.
“Give it twenty or thirty years, Mom,” Jarod chuckled. “She grows on you.”
