“You are playing with fire,” Emma told him as he came by to see her, to give Jacob a hug as the children left for school. His son submitted stiffly to the embrace, but his dark eyes were rebellious. A pang went through Jeremiah as he watched the boy take up his books and follow his cousins out the door, but he told himself not to be so sensitive. It was not as if Lorena would ever come to live with them, or take the place of Jacob’s mother. Even though Jeremiah ached to be with Lorena as much as he could, he knew better than that. All they could do was steal a few hours here and there, and then he must send her on her way at the first sign of trouble.
“I know that,” Jeremiah replied wearily as his sister handed him a much-needed cup of coffee. “And yet — is it so wrong, to take even a sma
