“I’ve been watching teen movies. Who would have thought that teenagers liked sex?”
“Every counselor of teen pregnancy,” Mike said. “So what about the perfume?”
“Oh, sure.” Sara turned her head, and Mike leaned forward, his face on her neck.
When his lips touched her skin, she jumped away from him, frowning. “Don’t do that. I’m only human.”
Mike stepped back until he felt a tree. “Sara, you’re going to drive me insane.”
“That’s nice to hear, but I don’t believe you.”
He was trying to get himself under control. A warm evening, darkness, beautiful, desirable Sara in a white dress that seemed to be made of moonlight, and an erotic, enticing smell that surrounded them. “Where did your mother get that perfume?” he managed to ask, his voice low and throaty.
She was looking at him in speculation, and what she wanted to do most in the world was put her hands on his chest. “She …” Sara had to take a couple of breaths to calm herself. Greg, Greg, Greg, she silently chanted—and tried to forget that it had been months since they’d made love. It had been even longer since they’d kissed more than a parting peck.
“You’re looking at me oddly,” Mike said as he held out his hand to her.
Sara took a step back. “My mother.”
“What about her?” Mike took a step forward.
“She dabbles with making products, shampoos and such. But this is the only perfume she’s ever made. It’s called—”
“What?” Mike took another step toward her.
“Scarlet Nights.”
“Sara …” Mike held out both hands to her.
She started walking backward down the path she knew well, facing him, and she was talking fast. “My sisters and I have always been embarrassed by the name. About eight years ago my parents went away for a long weekend and they came back … well, giggling. Two days later, my mother made a perfume and named it Scarlet Nights.”
“I like it,” Mike said softly. “I like that scent, and I like the name.”
“My sisters and I said she couldn’t possibly call it that, but she just laughed at us and said …”
“Said what?”
“That every generation loves sex. I think we should go inside. It’s getting cold out here.” Before he could reply, Sara ran past him toward the house.
As for Mike, he needed to stay outside until he was fit to be seen in public. He knew he needed to get himself under control— all of him, mind and body.
At the moment, the situation he was in confused him. In the past, he’d made love to women for the sole purpose of getting information from them. Later, some of the women had been taken off to prison. But except for one time, Mike had been able to disassociate himself from them because he’d known that they’d be all right after he left. They’d all had money, children, and homes. They might t
ell Mike he’d broken their hearts, but he knew they’d recover.
But Sara was a whole different case. What would happen to her after Mike left? Especially if they did become intimate? He hoped the two Vandlos, mother and son, would be handcuffed and put in squad cars, but what then? Would Mike also get in his car and leave?
He visualized the scene. Would he wave good-bye to the people of Edilean? Luke and Joce? Tess and Ramsey, the brother-in-law he’d never met?
If he later returned to visit his sister and her kid, would the townspeople hate him for having deserted Sara?
And what about Merlin’s Farm? Could Mike live there after his retirement? Would Sara be married by then? To some local guy who smoked cigarettes and watched football all weekend? Some man who fried a turkey and set the house on fire? Or would she fall for another out-of-towner who’d slick-talked her into…
Mike ran his hand over his face. Long ago he’d trained himself not to get emotionally involved with his undercover subjects. He’d not always succeeded, but no matter what his feelings, in the end, he’d left them behind and gone on to another job. The thought of doing that to Sara made him feel queasy. Whereas he usually dealt with criminals, Sara was a true innocent.
Maybe it was this town that was bothering him. Or maybe it was the fact that he was facing retirement and didn’t have a clue what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He remembered standing in that old orchard at Merlin’s Farm and seeing a future that didn’t involve shooting people, or even betraying them. Maybe, just possibly, his sister knew what she was doing when she’d given Mike that old farm.
Turning, he looked back at the house. If catching the Vandlos weren’t so important, he’d leave now before anyone—especially Sara—got hurt.