Page 64 of A Perfect Target

Seth laughed. “Well, I smell you, and so it’s bath time for you.” Seth got out of bed. “Come on, let’s take Lady out first, and then it’s into the tub. You can take Lady out in your pajamas. Just put on your coat.” Seth pulled on his jeans and shirt while Sammy got out of the bed.

The minute Seth opened the door to the room, he smelled the coffee, letting him know Suzanna was up. Suzanna…he didn’t even want to examine his feelings for her. Right now, he needed to focus on what all he needed to do concerning the fire.

“Good morning,” Suzanna greeted them all as they walked into her kitchen. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a royal-blue sweater. Her hair was shiny, but her eyes didn’t hold their usual brilliance. Still, she looked beautiful and all the complicated emotions he felt about her welled up inside him once again.

“Good morning to you,” he replied.

Sammy rushed over to her and gave her a hug around her waist and then stepped back from her. “I got to take Lady outside. We don’t want her to pee or poop in your house.”

Suzanna laughed. “I’ll understand if she has an accident or two in the house. Put on your coat before you take her out. It’s cold outside.”

Sammy ran into the living room, pulled on the coat Seth had brought with him the night before and then he was out of her back door. Seth stood guard, watching his son through the glass door.

“How did you sleep?” he asked Suzanna, who got up from her chair and went to one of the cabinets.

“In fits and starts,” she replied. “What about you?” She took a cup out of the cabinet and then filled it with coffee.

“To be honest, I collapsed into bed and slept like the dead,” he replied. She walked over and handed him the cup of coffee. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She placed her hand on his arm, her gaze soft. “I know last night had to be particularly hard on you given your past trauma with fire.”

“I froze.” The words whispered out of him. “When I saw those flames in the hallway, I completely froze. I couldn’t even run to my son because of my fear.” Tears moistened his eyes as he remembered that single moment.

“Oh, Seth, you would have saved your son. You might have frozen up for a minute, but when push came to shove, you would have gone through those flames to save Sammy.” She squeezed his arm. “I know what kind of a man you are, Seth, and there’s no doubt in my mind that if I hadn’t been there, you would have gotten to your son.”

“Thanks, Suzanna,” he said, her words making him feel a little better.

Sammy and Lady came running back into the house. Sammy shed his coat and walked over to Suzanna’s side. “Mrs. Michaels, Daddy said I stink. Can you smell my stink?”

Suzanna bent over and pretended to take a big whiff of him. “Whoo-wee. You definitely smell bad. If you get into a bath and give me your pajamas, then I’ll throw them into my washing machine and we’ll get the smell right out of them.”

As Seth watched the two of them interact, his heart expanded once again in his chest. There was no question that he was in love with Suzanna, but he insisted to himself that he didn’t love her enough to take the relationship any further. He had to protect Sammy at all costs.

Sammy took a bath, and Seth took the opportunity to call his insurance company about the fire. With the call made and Sammy out of the tub, the three of them sat down to a breakfast of oatmeal and toast.

The cupboards were fairly bare since she hadn’t been there in so long. Milk had to be thrown out, along with some vegetables and fruit. She had joked that when it came to toast it didn’t matter if the bread was fresh or stale.

By the time they’d finished the meal and cleaned up, it was after two o’clock in the afternoon. They had all slept late, and so the day already felt like it was slipping away. Thank goodness it was Saturday so nobody needed to go anywhere. Seth checked in with the two men who worked for him, telling them he’d be out of commission for a few days and detailing what needed to be done in the meantime.

They had just settled in the living room when a knock fell on the door. It was Dallas, and as Seth ushered the lawman in, he hoped like hell Dallas had some answers for them.

Chapter 13

“Sammy, why don’t you take Lady and go into the bedroom where we slept and play while the adults talk,” Seth said to his son.

“Okay,” Sammy replied. “Someday I’ll be an adult, and I’ll get to stay in the room.”

“That’s true,” Seth replied. “But you aren’t an adult yet.”

“I’m going. Goodbye, Mr. Policeman,” he said to Dallas, and then he picked up Lady and disappeared down the hallway.

Once Sammy left the room, Suzanna and Seth sat side by side on the sofa, and Dallas took the chair opposite them. She looked at Dallas intently. Deep lines were etched into the sides of his face. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all.

How bad had the fire been? Was Seth’s house only a pile of ashes now? Grief ripped through her at the very thought. Her fault…it was all her fault. She should have faced the danger in her life alone and not involved the farmer and his son.

“We managed to contain the fire away from the rest of the house, but the bedroom where Suzanna had been sleeping and the hallway burned pretty badly,” he said. “The point of ignition was outside the window to that room. An accelerant was used inside the house to cause the fire to follow a path directly into the hallway.”

“Inside the house?” Suzanna looked at him in surprise. “But how would an accelerant possibly get inside the house?”