Stealing Home

chapter 25



THEY WERE INVITED to a barbecue at Peter Kowalskin’s house. When they got there the driveway was already full of cars and Mark had to park down the street. He pulled his Range Rover over and parallel parked. It was absolutely gorgeous out and he was looking forward to the get-together because he had Lorelei with him. She alone made everything perfect.

“Does Peter tend to throw big bashes at his house during the season? Is this normal? Aren’t you guys supposed to be in some zone where you eat, breathe, and think only about your next game?” she asked as they walked hand-in-hand down the tree-lined sidewalk.

He glanced down to see her eyes sparkling up at him and grinned. “Well, the great thing about Kowalskin is that he’s a completely screwed-up individual. He never does things like a normal person. He said after the last game he thought we all needed an afternoon to chill, so here we are. Getting ready to chill.”

She wrinkled her nose in the cutest expression and said with a laugh, “It’s so not good that he’s the team’s unofficial leader. He’s more likely to get you all into trouble than keep any of you out of it.”

Mark tugged on her hand with his and pulled her up against his side. “That’s why we like him. Just pray he doesn’t have the kegs set out this time. Last time he got the brilliant idea for us all to do beer bongs, and Drake Paulson got so hammered he went swimming in the buff. The sight of his big hairy ass bobbing around on the back of that blow-up crocodile will haunt me till the day I die, I swear.”

She laughed over that and it made him smile. She made him smile. Every little thing about her.

“I could have lived happily for the rest of my life without that visual,” she said.

He regarded her out of the corner of his eye as they walked up the brick paved driveway. “Speaking of visuals, I’m still crushed you wouldn’t wear your cowboy boots today. You have to promise to wear them tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Naked.”

She tripped over the front step and he laughed as he kept her from falling. She sputtered, and just to see her flustered he added, “Then you’ve got to give me a lap dance in them, Ms. Rodeo. And after that you have to ride me like a bucking bronco so I’ll walk bowlegged for a week.”

She stopped and stared at him openmouthed. He was referring to the night they’d met. When she found her voice she muttered, “Oh God, I’d forgotten about that.”

“I haven’t. You were a real naughty girl that first night, Fonda Peters.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Mark didn’t knock on the front door. He just pushed it open. “Honey, I plan on reminding you as often as possible. I’m mean that way.”

The sound of live music and rowdy voices greeted them when they walked through the door. A crowd was gathered in the huge living room listening and shouting encouragement to Peter as he played a blues number on his acoustic guitar. A female voice began singing the words as Mark slid his hand to the small of Lorelei’s back and escorted her down the few steps of the sunken room. Instantly he recognized his sister’s voice.

Lorelei caught sight of who the performers were and pulled up short. “Wow. That’s a surprise.” She glanced up at him. “Leslie’s got a great voice.”

His sister did have a pretty awesome voice. She used to annoy the hell out of him with it as kids, though. “Yeah, she does.”

“Must run in the family,” she said.

Mark nodded in greeting to a few of his teammates and leaned down to say, “What do you mean?”

Light green eyes leveled on him and Lorelei smiled. “That you’ve got a great voice, too. It’s so raw and rough, just like a rock star’s. I got all gooey inside when I heard it.”

Joy flowed warm inside him at her words. “I tell you what,” he said against her ear, “I’ll sing for you like a rock star anytime you want if it’ll make you look at me like you did that night.”

The curve of her neck was calling his name so he kissed her below her ear as she asked, “How did I look at you?” She sounded a little breathless.

He nuzzled that sweet spot just below her ear because he couldn’t help himself. When he felt her shiver he grinned. “Like you were falling for me,” he said. Opening his mouth, he traced her ear with his tongue and then whispered, “Tell me, Lorelei. Are you?”

She bit her bottom lip and didn’t answer. Mark chuckled and slid his tongue over the curve of her ear and nipped. “Chicken,” he teased.

The crowd broke into enthusiastic applause and Mark raised his head reluctantly. All he wanted to do was touch Lorelei and if he couldn’t restrain himself he’d embarrass them both.

“Pete and Leslie play awesome together,” Lorelei murmured.

Kissing her hair, he agreed. “Yeah, they do. My sister’s been trying to get him to agree to playing a night at the club this fall after the season’s over. So far he’s held her off, but she’ll get her way. When she wants something she’s relentless.”

Pete set down his Gibson and strode toward the two of them.

“You and Leslie sounded fantastic, Peter. Have you two played together much?” she said when he reached them.

“Thanks, sweetie. We’ve jammed a few times before, but not too much. Leslie’s got a great voice, though, doesn’t she?” Peter said as he started to escort Lorelei down the hall to the back of his house.

Mark watched them go. Actually, he watched her butt go as the two of them chattered on like old chums as they walked down the hall. Releasing a slow breath as his gut tightened, he glanced around Pete’s house at the scattering of players and their significant others. Most everyone had plastic cups in their hands, which could only mean one thing: The beer kegs were back.

“Oh hell,” he muttered, and began his way down the carpeted hall to the kitchen. If Paulson got shit-faced again and decided to strip in front of Lorelei, Mark was going to have to hurt him. He entered the large, open kitchen and spotted Lorelei through the French doors out on the patio. He started walking toward her when he noticed she was standing next to Leslie and another player’s wife, holding a plastic cup of beer in a hand. And that reminded him about the kegs, had him changing direction and heading toward the group out by the pool.

Drake was over there lounging in a plastic chair with his feet propped on an ice chest. Granted, it was a little early in the season for swimming and Paulson was still dressed, but Mark wasn’t taking any chances. He wanted to make sure he’d get laid again sometime this century.

“Move your feet, Paulson, so I can grab a beer,” he said when he reached the first baseman’s side. “Looks like Pete hid the crocodile this time. Actually, he probably threw it away after the way you molested the poor thing.”

Paulson slid his feet off the ice chest and grinned. “Nah, he gave it to me and I named her Betty. She’s been living in my hot tub since last September.”

Mark pulled out a bottle of Guinness and smirked. “Whatever floats your crocodile, man. I just wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be a repeat performance. I’ve got a sweet little thing over there who’d get real embarrassed over seeing you naked.” He grabbed a chair nearby and sat down.

“Are you afraid she’d like it, sissy boy?” Drake said and scratched his chest. His Hawaiian shirt was halfway unbuttoned and his chest hair sprang out like a brown afro.

Mark eyed him and drawled, “Yeah, I’m real worried about that.” The guy was ugly as a mutt.

A woman he didn’t recognize appeared by the veteran’s side with a plate full of food. She looked about twenty-two and had a tight little body and huge smile. “Here you go, Drake. I got everything you wanted and I made the burger up just the way you like. Let me know if you want anything else, okay?” She spun to leave and said over her shoulder, “Oh, and I canceled my date tonight so go ahead and pick me up at eight. See you then. Bye boys.”

Mark stared after her, his bottle of ale suspended in mid-air. Then he blinked hard and looked at the guy in disbelief. “How in the hell do you do that?”

Paulson grinned over his shoulder at the girl’s retreating form and then at Mark, pure male ego in his eyes. “It’s a gift, brother. A great big goddamn get-me-laid gift.”

Yeah, it was something all right.

“You know, the beginning of this season I’d have given my left nut for that gift. Now, I’m cool and you can keep it, ’cause I’ve found something so much better,” he said, and his gaze slid over to it. To Lorelei.

“You ready to admit you’re in love yet?” Drake asked and took a pull on his beer.

Lorelei laughed over something one of the women said and the sound floated over to Mark, into him. Curled right around his heart and hugged it tight.

Was he ready to admit he was in love with her?

Maybe.

And he was a little shocked that it didn’t terrify the hell out of him. “I’m getting there, man.”

Paulson kicked Mark’s foot with one of his own to get his attention. His voice was dead serious. “Hey, I want you to listen to me.”

He tore his gaze from Lorelei and looked at Drake. “I’m listening.”

The first baseman hooked a thumb over his shoulder and said, “That one’s a keeper. She’s beautiful, funny, and she doesn’t take any shit from you. She’s not like what we normally date, brother. She’s better than that. So do us all a favor and don’t screw it up.”

HE WAS WATCHING her again. Lorelei knew it because the skin on the back of her neck began to tingle. Turning her head, she scanned the large backyard and the people until she spotted Mark by the huge, peanut-shaped pool. He was relaxing in a white patio chair with his long, muscular legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles. When he caught her gaze he raised his bottle of beer in a small salute and grinned.

She could practically feel the heat in his eyes as he stared across the cement patio at her. It melted her insides and began to warm her up degree by degree. In fact, it was getting pretty darn hot outside, period. Raising a hand, she grabbed her loose hair and twisted until she’d created a roll. Then she coiled it like a bun at the nape of her neck and let the breeze wash over the heated skin.

Out of the corner of her eye Lorelei watched him watching her. Tried to understand what that look was in his eyes. Couldn’t. So she stared at the rest of him instead. At his black “Big Willie’s Hand Jobs—Lubrication and Tire Rotation Specialists” T-shirt and distressed jeans. At his platinum Rolex and gray running shoes, and at the mass of dark blond hair that curled at his neck, framing his smooth-shaven face.

She was so in love with him it was almost pathetic. Lorelei felt like grabbing a notepad and scribbling his name all over it with little hearts. It was all she could do to keep from giggling like a schoolgirl. And if she wasn’t so damn thrilled about it she’d be seriously annoyed at her own behavior.

“Earth to Lorelei, hello?” Leslie elbowed her and jolted her back to reality. “Stop drooling over my brother for a moment so I can ask y’all a question.”

“When you say ‘y’all,’ do you mean all of us or just me?” she asked as she tore her gaze from Mark.

Leslie chuckled and tossed her pale blond hair over her shoulder with a feminine swing of her head. “I mean you. Do you think Peter is attractive? From a purely platonic standpoint and all since I know you’re crazy about Mark, of course.”

Lorelei thought about it for a second. “Absolutely. Not in a conventional way or anything, but in a rugged, rough-and-tumble sort of way. Why?”

“I was just wondering, that’s all,” Leslie said.

Lorelei just stared at her expectantly and waited. If Leslie was asking that kind of question it was because she was interested in the answer. And Lorelei wanted to know why she was interested.

“Oh, all right. I’ll give. There was this moment earlier when he was playing his guitar when I thought he looked kind of sexy.”

“It was kind of sexy.” Actually she had no idea what Leslie was talking about. She’d been too busy playing with Mark. But she figured that probably wasn’t what Leslie wanted to hear.

“What was kind of sexy?”

Both women turned at the voice. Mark stood right behind her. Lorelei dropped her hands and her hair spilled over her shoulders. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” he asked.

“Move without a sound. You’re huge.”

The rotten man laughed and winked at her. “It does my ego good to hear you say things like that.”

Leslie snorted and said, “He’s always been the humble sort. Can’t you tell?”

He reached out a muscular arm and hooked it around Lorelei’s shoulders, pulled her back against him. Lowering his head, he pointed his beer bottle at Leslie and said, “Has my sister been telling lies about me again? She’d lead you to believe that I’ve got an ego problem.”

Leslie looked down at her deep red fingernails and laughed. “You do have an ego problem. You’re a diva.”

He gave an exaggerated gasp. “I can’t believe you just said that.” The steel band of his arm tightened around Lorelei’s collarbone and he said in her ear, “This coming from a woman who prides herself on using her looks to get out of speeding tickets.”

Well, Lorelei thought, she’s beautiful. And if she looked like a tall, blond Nordic goddess she’d use it, too.

“But I’ve never been given one now, have I?” Leslie challenged.

“Hey, sis. How long did it take you to get ready today?” Mark teased, and took a pull of his beer.

“A lot less than you, pretty boy.”

Lorelei shook her head and laughed at their sibling banter. It sounded like how she and Logan used to be before his wife had died. And she hadn’t realized until just that moment how much she missed that ease and lightheartedness between them.

That in turn reminded her that she had to go home tonight. Which in turn reminded her that she’d been neglecting her duties there. And that made her think of sweet little Michelle.

In all the rush of emotions and excitement of falling in love with Mark she’d forgotten to put her family first. In fact, she’d sort of tossed them aside and pursued her own wants with no regard to them, and that was wrong. Her parents had taught her better than that.

So how did she balance it all?

Mark and Leslie continued to tease each other so she pondered the question. Could she find a way?

Maybe. Family was family, and with it came certain responsibilities. There were things you did no matter how you might feel. But there was also the fact that she deserved a life of her own, too. One full of happiness and enchantment and wonderful, blessed optimism. She wanted to be with Mark.

And that pretty much was that. She’d figure it out.

“Lorelei?”

“Hmm?” she said, tuning back in.

Mark hugged her close with his strong arm and kissed the hair just above her right ear. “What’s on your mind? You got pretty quiet there for a while.”

“I was thinking about Logan and Michelle and that I should check in. It’s been a few days since I’ve been home and I should see how everything’s going.” She tilted her head a bit as he kissed the side of her neck. Little tingles of pleasure darted down her throat. He had such a fantastic mouth.

He worked his way up to her ear, and when he spoke, moist breath washed over it, giving her goose bumps. “Your cell phone is in your purse. Here, you can use mine.” She felt him shift behind her. “Reach in my pocket and grab it. It’s fully charged.”

Now that was a loaded one. Lorelei laughed at the double meaning. Reaching behind her, she felt around for the opening to his pocket and heard his quick intake of breath. “You say the most romantic things, Mark. And those sweet words just capped it.” She found the opening, wiggled her fingers inside. “I’m officially in love.”

He went rigid behind her.

Too late she realized what she’d said. And it was too late to take it back. So even though her heart jumped up and started racing frantically she kept calm and slid her hand all the way into his pocket. “Ah, got it.”

“That’s not my cell phone, sweetheart,” he said, and his voice sounded strange, hoarse.

“Oops, sorry.” No she wasn’t. She’d done it on purpose because she was a bad, bad girl. And she’d wanted to divert his attention.

Suddenly her hand was cradling something fully charged in his pocket and it wasn’t his cell phone. Then his body jerked and he growled hotly against her ear, “You’d better not be screwing with me, Lorelei.”

They both knew what he meant.

If her heart beat any faster it could leap right out of her chest and run away. God, could she do it? Did she have the guts to say it? To tell him how she felt even though he probably didn’t feel the same way?

Absolutely.

She wasn’t ashamed of her feelings for Mark. “I’m not messing with you,” she said, and felt his chest expand on a deep breath against her back.

“Say it, then. Let me hear you say it,” he demanded.

Lorelei inhaled deep as she pulled the phone from his pocket, slid it in hers. Then she laced her fingers behind his head and pulled him closer, pressed her cheek to his.

Was this how she was going to declare her love to Mark for the first time?

It was, and her heart leaped at the thrill of it. “I love you, Mark.”

His whole big, strong body shuddered against her. Right there on the sun-warmed patio with thirty or so people milling around eating burgers and drinking from plastic cups. Laughing and having a good time. With Drake Paulson eyeing the pool a little too intimately for her comfort and Leslie a few feet away sitting on John Crispin’s lap drinking keg beer.

It was perfect. It was exhilarating and oh so right.

“God, Lorelei,” he breathed into the crook of her neck. His thick hair tickled the bare skin of her shoulder. “You undo me.”

They stood there, deep in the moment, until JP Trudeau walked in front of them near the pool looking like a surfer boy. He even had the bead necklace and baseball cap on backward to complete his look. It was hard to believe he wasn’t that much younger than Lorelei. He looked like a teenager. JP stopped and said something in French that Lorelei couldn’t understand. But she could tell by the naughty look on his face that it wasn’t very polite.

Suddenly Mark was laughing into her shoulder, his whole body releasing tension. He looked up and smiled at JP.

And that’s when it occurred to her that Mark had understood. “Hey, you speak French?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

She hadn’t known that interesting little fact. Maybe he’d talk dirty to her with it later. “What did the little punk say?”

Mark said something back in French to JP that had the rookie shaking his head and laughing. Then he said to her with a chuckle, “He called me a randy bastard and said if he wanted to watch porn he’d rent a video or hit Drake’s collection.”

Drake had a porn collection? Gross. “Oh yeah? Well, what’d you say back?”

“Didn’t you want to call your brother?” Mark said, effectively sidestepping her question.

Oh well, she’d let him have his way for now, but she’d find out later. There were ways to make a man talk. She palmed his phone. The plastic was still warm from his body. “Yes, I did and I do. Is there someplace quiet I can call from?”

He glanced around the patio. When he spotted Peter he called out, “Walskie, come over here for a sec.”

Peter looked up from near the grill and strolled over. When he passed the rookie, he grinned wickedly, whipped his arms out, and shoved hard. The kid hollered and went splashing into the pool. Peter just kept right on walking as JP came up shouting curses at him.

Laughing, Peter blew a kiss to the soaking shortstop and then slapped Mark on the back. “What can I do for ya?”

Men. Did they ever grow up? Lorelei stepped away from Mark and asked around a chuckle, “Is there someplace I can make a call from that’s quiet?”

Peter looked at her and nodded. She noticed for the first time that he had really awesome pale blue eyes. “Sure. If you go upstairs you’ll find a weight room directly on the left. No one should bother you in there. Want me to show you where it is?”

Mark was about to comment, so Lorelei jumped in and cut him off. “No thanks. I’m sure I can find it.” She looked at Mark. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting with bells on,” he said with a sexy grin.

Lorelei was still laughing when she hit the large staircase at the front of the house and jogged up. When she reached the open landing she turned and went left. Her sandals padded softly against the thick, cream-colored Berber. She found the weight room and stepped through, closed the door behind her.

Baseball posters and pictures of half-naked women decorated the beige walls, and super expensive-looking equipment filled the room. Lorelei took a seat on a black weight bench and dialed home. While waiting for Logan to answer she studied the baseball posters. The chicks in bikinis she skipped.

The answering machine picked up and Lorelei was about to hang up when the message came on. “Lorelei? Lorelei where are you? You’re not answering your cell phone. I left messages.” It was Logan’s voice, panicked and shaky.

Her stomach lurched and she gripped the phone until her knuckles were white. Her heart started beating hard as she listened.

“Michelle stopped breathing. Her lungs are failing and she’s been airlifted to Denver Children’s. ” His voice cracked and he continued, “Oh God, what do I do? What do I do if she doesn’t make it?”

Terror flooded her and she thought she was going to puke. Almost did.

Oh God no, please.

“Where the hell are you, Lorelei? You should be here. She needs you to be here.”

Lorelei felt the accusation down to the very core of her, felt it rip her in two. Looking frantically around the room she found a pen on a string by a chart board. But no paper to write on. She shot to her feet and lunged over to an unframed poster and tore off a corner. A sob racked her body as she reached for the pen and her vision blurred as tears pooled in her eyes and spilled over.

This can’t be happening. Oh God. Michelle.

With shaking hands she wrote down the directions that Logan left on the answering machine to the Denver Children’s Hospital. Then turned and raced from the room in utter panic to find Mark so he could drive.

Her mind went blank with shock and she turned the wrong direction in the huge house and wound up in a bedroom. Letting out a cry she ran back down the hall with the directions crumpling in a hand and a fist to her mouth to hold back the flood.

Pushing past people until she burst out on the patio, Lorelei pulled up short and whipped her gaze around until she found Mark.

He turned from a small group and the smile died on his face when he saw her. “Lorelei. What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

The concern in his eyes broke her and she couldn’t talk. Could barely see through the tears. But, God, she wanted him to hold her, comfort her. Tell her Michelle would be all right, that she wouldn’t die.

But she didn’t want him anywhere near her, too. Because all she could think was that it was happening, that her brother’s baby was dying and she hadn’t been there when she was needed the most. And if she’d loved her family as she should, if they’d have been first, she wouldn’t be at some backyard party with Mark.

Logan had left a message on the answering machine because he’d no way to get ahold of her. Because she hadn’t left Mark’s phone number. She’d been too wrapped up in him to even think about it.

“Lorelei. What’s happened? Tell me.” Mark took a step toward her and she shook her head, stopping him.

Finding her voice she said, “Here,” and held out the wrinkled piece of paper. Biting her bottom lip she waited for him to take the directions. She was very close to losing it.

He took the crumpled paper, looked down at it, and said, “What is this?”

She lost it. She didn’t know why, but Mark’s question pushed her right over the edge and she lashed out unnecessarily, viciously. “She’s going to die and it’s your fault!”

He slowly raised his head to look at her, hurt and confusion in his eyes. “What did you just say to me?” he said very quietly.

She hurt so bad inside for Michelle it felt like she was breaking apart. “I never got the money! Don’t you understand? You never let me get the money, and now she’s going to die.” She was being unfair and cruel. She knew it.

Knew it and couldn’t stop it.

MARK FELT THE swift lash of pain and thought he’d entered the twilight zone.

Lorelei stood staring at him, defiance in her watery eyes. How could she possibly think this was his fault? Why was she blaming him? Mark looked around at his friends, at his sister, at those who were witnessing his heart getting spit on by the woman who claimed to love him.

“What happened to Michelle?” he demanded, and wadded the paper into a ball. He wanted so much to go to her and give comfort, but the look she threw him was deadly.

He was about to mention the charity he’d founded and his plans when she rounded on him. “I don’t have time to explain it to you. You’ve already taken me away from where I was needed most, and I let you.”

That wasn’t fair. Didn’t she get that he needed her, too? “Lorelei, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mark jerked at the power of her response. She fisted her hands, began shaking, and yelled, “I did everything wrong! I got distracted by you, let you in. I let you be important. And this is my penance. This is what I get for being involved with you.”

He didn’t know what to say or do. Lorelei wasn’t thinking straight. “Why don’t you calm down, sweetheart—”

“I can’t calm down!” He took a step toward her. “Stay away from me.”

At a loss, he raised his hands, palms up, and said, “Lorelei, we didn’t do anything wrong. Michelle is just sick. This would have happened whether you were there or not.”

Lorelei turned to go and glared at him over her shoulder. “But you made me fall for you and I lost focus on my goal. I had one job to do and I f*cked up. I won’t make that mistake again.”

His throat closed up tight and everything went still. “What do you mean?”

She looked him square in the eyes, hers bright with unshed tears. “I mean that we’re through.”

He shook his head in denial. It couldn’t be. “What about what you told me earlier?”

She didn’t even blink. “I lied.”

Mark stared down at her as pain lashed through him like a bullwhip. She didn’t love him.

And the truth of it nearly killed him.

“Go to hell, Lorelei.” She was just like Dina, just like the rest. When was he ever going to learn?

“Leslie, will you take me to my car?” she stood and asked, dismissing him like he was nothing to her.

He was a fool after all.