The barely restrained fury in his voice had her lifting her head. “You . . . you were inside me when she—It’s so creepy.”
“Here.” He nudged the water on her. “Creepy for both of us,” he agreed. “And a little incestuous for me. Jesus. Nothing like getting really close to your great-great-grandmother.”
“She wasn’t thinking of you that way. I don’t know if that helps.” Fighting off a shudder, she handed the water back to him. “She was . . . I felt like she was seeing him. Reginald. She was—I was—all turned on, you know, then it was like this spit of rage spewing up through that. But the kind that makes it more, sort of more exciting. Darker. Then it was all blurred together. Her and me, him and you. And I was so wound up I couldn’t get a grip on anything. Then you said you loved me, you kissed me and I could hold on to that.”
“She tried to use us. We didn’t let her.” He set the water aside before easing her back so he could lie beside her and draw her close. “It’s going to be okay.”
But even lying beside him, held firm and safe in his arms, she couldn’t quite believe it.
IT WAS AWKWARD, but Harper felt Mitch should know about any incident involving Amelia. Even if that incident had happened in bed with Hayley.
At least it was a man-to-man sort of thing. If his mother had to have the information, Harper would just as soon have it filtered through his stepfather.
“How long did it last?” Mitch asked.
“Maybe a couple of minutes. Seemed longer, considering the situation, but probably around that.”
“She wasn’t violent.”
“No. But you know . . .” He had to pause a moment and give his attention fully to the work board in the library. “Rape’s not always violent, but it’s still . . . Anyway, that’s what it felt like, to me. Like a kind of rape. Like a power thing. Got you by the dick, so I’m in charge.”
“It fits the kind of personality profile we’ve been building. She wouldn’t get that while what’s between you and Hayley is sexual, sex for the sak
e of sex isn’t the driving force. Must’ve shaken you up.”
Harper only nodded. There was still a coating of that raw sickness in his belly. “How much more do we need to know before we can stop this?”
“I wish I could tell you. We have her name, her circumstance. We know your bloodline comes down through her. We know her baby was taken, and we’re assuming without her consent. Or that after she gave it, she changed her mind. We know she came here, to Harper House, and we have to believe she died here. Maybe if we find out how, but that’s no guarantee.”
He’d never counted on guarantees, not in his life or in his work. His father had died when he’d been seven, which had put paid to any sort of traditional family warranty. His work was a series of experiments, calculated risks, learned skills, and sheer luck. None of those guaranteed success.
Harper considered failure a postponement at worst, and another step in the process at best.
But things were considerably different when it involved the woman he loved, and her welfare, her well-being.
He was reminded of that when he found her watering flats.
She wore the cotton shorts and tank that was a kind of summer uniform around the nursery. Her feet were tucked into thin, backless canvas shoes that could take a soaking, and her face was shaded by the bill of one of the nursery’s gimme caps.
She looked entirely too sad and thoughtful. The thoughtful part was proven right when she jumped nearly a foot off the ground when he said, “Hey.”
“God, you scared me.”
“That’s what you get for taking side-trips when you’re on the clock. Speaking of which, I’m going to start that hybridizing, and could use an assist.”
“You still want to do that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I thought maybe when you thought things through, you’d want to keep your distance for a while.”
He simply stepped up to her, cautiously nudging the watering wand aside and kissed her. “Guess you’re wrong.”
“Guess I am. Lucky for me.”
“Just come on over when you’re done. I already let Stella know I was stealing you for a while.”
He spent the time setting up for the work, lining up the tools, the plants he wanted to use. He logged the species, the cultivar, the name and characteristics of the desired plant in his files.