Ill Take Forever

dinner? Should she let him sleep?
    A small twinge of guilt niggled at her. She had thought Brownley's new story a cover-up, faked to fool the drug growers into thinking the agent was weak. In fact, he was, but was it the result of a motorcycle accident or a gunfight?
    Jenny's gentle nature winced at the thought of bullets penetrating Kyle's flesh, going into the bone and sinew of the man. The picture was too distressing to envisage. She shook her head.
    Focus on dinner.
    'Do you always attack food when you're preparing it? You have every time I've seen you cook.'
    Jenny whirled around. Kyle stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb. He looked better than at her last glimpse; at least his face had some color in it.
    'Only when I'm fixing a meal for you! I suppose you think all this is a huge joke. Fool the stupid country girl!'
    'No.' He moved to the table, sat down and looked up at her, his face serious. 'I couldn't tell you last winter who I was, I didn't know who you were. Everyone was suspect. How was I to know if you were in on it, too?'
    'Me?'
    'I told you then, I got turned around in the storm. Last time I go anywhere without double-checking the weather. We've had you checked out since. You're clean. At least,' he qualified, 'we think you are.'
    'Oh, thanks a lot.' She scooped up pork chops, green beans and the potatoes she’d nuked in the microwave and placed his plate before him.
    'When we decided to focus on this location, I recommended your place to Brownley as a possible safe house. We checked you out before he approached you.'
    'Never telling me who he was sending.'
    Kyle smiled down at his plate. 'I did hope during the last few days that you wouldn't ask for more information. I wanted to see your face when you saw it was me.'
    'I hope you were suitably rewarded.' She slammed a glass of milk down in front of him.
    ‘What's that?'
    'Milk. Invalids get milk.' Her tone indicated she was longing for an argument.
    'Thank you,' he said meekly.
    'Once you knew I was okay as you say, you could have filled me in,' she said as she sat with her own meal and began to eat.
    He shrugged. 'Didn't see the need at the time. Later, as I said, you didn't ask. I was just waiting.'
    They ate in silence for a moment. Jenny leaned over to cut his pork chop when she saw him struggling with one hand.
    'And the kiss?' she couldn't resist asking, though she could feel the heat steal into her cheeks.
    He grinned. 'A perk of the job.'
    Jenny kept her eyes on her food, slowly cutting her own chop. Only a perk of the job! She would not show her disappointment. Let that be a lesson to you, my girl, she said silently. This man’s a professional, concerned with the job at hand, so don't expect anything from him and you won't be disappointed.
    Jenny again broke the silence. 'You won't get away with it.'
    'With what?'
    'The deception. If Nate Fisher and Jim Sellers were after you last February, you can't avoid seeing them if you stay around here. What's their connection?' She looked up in awareness. ‘They’re suspects?’
    'I don't think they got a good enough look at me to recognize me. We can find out easily enough. Have them over to meet me. If they recognize me, they'll likely give some sort of sign. If so, we'll have to fall back to another plan. If they don't, we’ll proceed with this one.'
    'How badly injured are you?'
    'Bad enough to keep me from doing anything for another couple of weeks. Brownley said I could get started here rather than convalesce at home. I’ll be able to meet people, get my background established, get people used to me. You're going to be invaluable for this.'
    ‘I have a hard time believing any of the people in town are involved.’
    ‘You’d be surprised by some of the people who don’t mind making money off drugs.’
    He surprised her when dinner was over by offering to help with the dishes. Jenny looked at him and shook her head. He still looked pale and tired. How much help could a one-armed man be?
    'I can manage. Why don't you go sit under the tree, by the side of the house? I have a chair there. I'll bring another one out and the coffee, after I finish these.'
    'Fine.'
    She was glad of the few minutes to herself. All during dinner she’d been acutely aware of Kyle. His good looks hadn’t diminished. The aura of invincibility had, however. She hoped he’d recover quickly, she didn’t like seeing like this. Helping him cut his pork chop had obviously rankled with him. He liked being