There was a long pause on the line during which she could hear Jess yelling something in the background to one of his deputies and she wondered with a bit of chagrin if her brother-in-law had put Daniel up to making this call. Since Jess and Victoria had married and Ross and Bella had tied the knot, the whole family seemed to think she needed to find a beau.
But that thought quickly flew from her head. Daniel didn’t seem the sort of man to be manipulated. Even by his boss.
Finally he spoke, “I hope you’re right, Maggie. That’s why I feel like we need to talk. Can you meet me for lunch at the Wagon Wheel at about twelve-thirty? If nothing else comes up, I should be free by then.”
Meet him for lunch? That was the last thing Maggie should do. The man definitely had too much effect on her. But how could she politely decline when he wanted to discuss her child’s welfare? It would seem negligent if not insincere.
“All right. I’ll see you there at twelve-thirty,” she told him.
“Good,” he said, hanging up.
Slightly dazed, Maggie turned slowly and hung the receiver back on its hook.
Hannah studied her pale face. “Trouble?”
Maggie mentally shook her head and tried to pull her scattered senses together. “No. No trouble at all. Just a little something I need to take care of.” She wasn’t about to confess to the other woman that the chief deputy of San Juan County wanted to meet her for lunch. The nurse would be on the hospital grapevine before Maggie could walk back to Mr. Alvarez’s room.
The next hour and a half passed slowly for Maggie. She finished reading the Times to Mr. Alvarez and then walked down the hall to visit a young woman who’d gone through an emergency appendectomy the day before. By the time she left the hospital to walk the short distance downtown to the Wagon Wheel, her stomach was tied in knots and she kept trying to convince herself that she wasn’t the least bit happy about seeing Daniel again. But as she walked her heart sang and the corners of her mouth tilted into a subtle smile.
When Maggie entered the diner, she spotted him waiting on a bar stool. He noticed her immediately and she stood to one side of the entrance and waited for him to walk over and greet her.
“I’m glad you could make it,” he said, his eyes sliding warmly over her face. “Do you want to sit at the bar or in a booth?”
Maggie quickly scanned the busy room. Ranchers, businessmen and-women and longtime locals filled the tables, booths and bar stools lining the long Formica-covered bar.
“I’d like a booth, but it looks like we’ve stepped into the middle of the lunch rush. We might have to grab whatever we can find,” she said.
He inclined his head toward the back of the room. “I see a waitress cleaning a booth,” he said. “Let’s go for that one.”
He took her by the arm and led her toward the opposite end of the café. Maggie could feel glances being darted at them, but she wasn’t surprised by the interest the two of them were creating. Daniel had a presence about him that would make anyone look twice, and she was a Ketchum, a family that was always targeted for gossip.
Today Daniel was dressed for work. His khaki shirt with its San Juan County Sheriff’s Department emblem on the sleeve was tucked into a pair of dark blue Wranglers. The black high-heeled cowboy boots he was wearing made him seem that much taller than his six-foot frame, and the pistol strapped to his hips reminded Maggie that he was a man who sometimes put his life in the line of fire.
At the booth Daniel helped her into the vinyl bench seat, then took his place directly across from her. As they waited for a waitress, he allowed his gaze to travel leisurely over her face and the parts of her that weren’t hidden by the table. She was wearing a coral-colored blouse over a pair of white slacks. The pale smooth skin of her chest and throat peeked out from the open V of her blouse. Her curly hair tumbled like a red waterfall onto her shoulders and he felt himself reacting to her beauty in a totally primal way.
For the past week and a half he’d told himself that he needed to avoid this woman. She could cause him some major heartache if he allowed it to happen. Yet here he was, sitting across from her and enjoying every second of having her near.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what this is about,” he said finally.
Her delicate brows pulled together as she glanced at him. “Actually, I am. I haven’t had any trouble with Aaron. And—”
He held up a hand to stop her tumble of words. “I haven’t had any trouble with Aaron either. But I’m worried about him. I thought you should know.”
Maggie’s blue eyes widened just a fraction. “Worried? I don’t understand. Just because he ran off the other day, doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. I’ve had a long discussion with him about it and I truly think he’s sorry for his behavior.”
Daniel’s expression remained stoic. “Aaron’s jaunt into the mountains isn’t what I’m here to talk to you about.”
Surprise parted her lips. “Oh?” she questioned warily.
A rueful look suddenly crossed his dark features. “Aaron has been calling me,” he said bluntly. “Every day, at least once or twice. Sometimes at home. Sometimes at work.”
Maggie’s jaw dropped with shock at the same time her heart fell like a heavy rock to the bottom of her feet. Aaron had been calling this man? It didn’t seem possible. Even though Daniel had rescued him from the mountains, her son didn’t know the deputy well enough to be calling him, period, much less daily, she thought.
She couldn’t stop the groan in her throat. “Oh, Daniel, I’m so sorry. I had no idea this was going on. But you can bet his telephone privileges will be taken away immediately. You won’t be bothered with this again.”
He opened his mouth to make a reply when a waitress suddenly appeared beside their table. Impatient as she was to hear what he had to say, Maggie didn’t prod him to speak. This conversation was about her son and she wanted it kept private.
“What can I get for you two?” the young woman asked as she cast furtive glances back and forth between Daniel and Maggie. “You want to look at a menu or get the blue-plate special today?”
“What is it?” Daniel asked.
The lanky blonde looked at him as though she’d like to sit on his lap and recite the whole menu, which was an extensive one for a diner. But in spite of her obvious eyelash batting, Daniel didn’t seem to notice her effort to flirt. Which surprised Maggie. Most every man alive liked to flirt, even those that shied away from marriage.
“Beef tips and noodles. English peas and scalloped potatoes.”
“That will do for me. Put an iced tea with it,” he said. “What about you, Maggie?”
“The blue-plate will be fine with me. And I’d like coffee, please.”
The waitress pulled out a pad and pencil and scribbled down their order. Once she’d moved on to another table, Maggie scooted up on the edge of the seat and leaned toward Daniel.
“Like I said before, Daniel. I’m really sorry about this. I’ll talk to Aaron immediately.”
His bronze features remained unmoved as his brown eyes searched her face. “No. That’s not why I’m here…to have you scold him.”
Maggie’s brows lifted to faint question marks as her mind whirled with questions. “But he needs to be disciplined.”
A slight frown wrinkled his forehead. “Why? Because he called a friend? He wasn’t committing a sin, Maggie.”
Perhaps not a sin, Maggie thought. But Aaron’s behavior had caused her to meet with Daniel, had caused her to see his face and wonder what it would be like to kiss him again. As far as she was concerned that was close to a sin.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Then if you’re not here to complain about the phone calls, just what is it that you want to tell me?”
His eyes said he pitied her, and the look caused Maggie to stiffen her spine.
“That your son is lonely. He’s craving something. And I think he believes I can give it to him.”
“Lonely!” The wo
rd burst past Maggie’s lips and for a moment she forgot they were in a public place with people seated all around them. “For God’s sake, Aaron isn’t lonely! He has people near him all the time.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead he looked at her quietly, solemnly, as though he was trying to understand her but couldn’t. She’d never had a personal relationship with a Ute or any other Native American and she wondered if they all spoke in the same spare way that Daniel did.
“Sometimes a man can feel lonely even if his house is full of people.”
Maggie understood exactly what he meant. When Hugh had died there had been people all around her, hugging, kissing and reassuring her that she would survive her grief. But she’d been detached from their presence. Her heart had been craving her husband’s company. Was Daniel trying to tell her that Aaron’s heart was craving something, too?
With a heavy sigh she glanced toward the front of the room just in time to see the waitress approaching with their meal. Slipping back against the cushioned seat, she tried to collect herself as the young woman placed the plates of food on their table.
Once the waitress was gone, she slipped a hand into her hair and pushed it back from her forehead. “Daniel, this is so—embarrassing. What has my son been saying to you? Has he told you that he’s unhappy?”
Daniel frowned thoughtfully as Maggie picked up her napkin and spread it across her lap,
“Not in so many words,” he said.
At least she could be relieved for that much, Maggie thought. “Then why do you think he’s calling you?”
He picked up his fork and stabbed it into a chunk of roast beef. Maggie watched him for long moments until she finally told herself that she had to eat, also. She couldn’t just sit here and stare at him.
But, damn the man, he was just so big and strong, even more so than she remembered, and seeing him again was filling her with all sorts of feminine longings that she’d believed were long dead.
“He wants to talk about the camping trip and—things in general,” Daniel said. He wasn’t about to lay everything out to this woman at one time. Just hearing that Aaron had been making the phone calls had obviously shocked her. What would she think if he told her that the boy was longing for a father and he resented the fact that Maggie wasn’t looking for one?
“But you haven’t scheduled a camping date,” she argued. “What is he doing, begging you to take him?”
A wry smile slanted his lips. “Maggie, sometimes the planning is just as much fun as the doing. It’s fun for Aaron to talk about the things we might do together.”
Together. Maggie latched on to that one word and tossed it around in her head like a cat with a mouse. She realized that Aaron had wanted to go camping ever since Daniel had brought up the subject. He talked about it incessantly and he’d even asked her if she would call Daniel and make a date to go. Maggie had continually put her son off, telling him that they couldn’t pester Daniel when he had such important work to do.
Apparently Aaron had gone behind her back and taken the task of calling Daniel into his own hands. She didn’t know whether to be worried about her son or very, very angry, or both. Obviously, he wanted to be with Daniel, and she didn’t know what to make of that.
Nervously she licked her lips and reached for her coffee. After a careful sip, she said, “This has floored me.”
“You shouldn’t be worried, Maggie. As far as I can see, your son is just being a normal boy.”
Even though she was far from hungry, Maggie pushed her fork into the pile of peas on her plate. “Oh, yeah, making a pest of himself. Calling a man he hardly knows at his workplace! I guess you’re thinking I’m not much of a mother,” she said dourly.
“I don’t know. Are you usually home when Aaron comes home from school?”
Her fork stopped in midair as she stared at him with resentment. “Of course I am. Do you think I neglect my son?”
He didn’t look up as he continued to eat. “Not neglect. More like misunderstand.”
She gasped at his bold arrogance. “I guess now you’re going to tell me that you understand him better than his own mother?”
“Sometimes it takes an outsider to see things.”
Maggie’s blood began to simmer and the feeling amazed her. Other than the scare Aaron had given her the other day, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so angry and stirred up about anything.
“You’re talking like you have visions that tell you things about my son. But you told me that you don’t have those. Visions, I mean. So how can you see all this stuff that I supposedly can’t?”
He shook his head ever so slightly and looked at her with exaggerated patience. “I don’t have visions, Maggie. Not every person with Native American blood running through his veins is a magical medicine man or a prophet. I’m just using common sense.”
“I thought you’d never had children,” she blurted sharply.
The squint of his eyes told her she’d stepped into a place he wouldn’t allow her to go.
“I haven’t had a child,” he said coolly. “But I was a boy once. I know what it’s like to yearn to explore the outdoors. Thankfully my mother didn’t cosset me.”
Unlike you. He might as well have said the words. She could feel them hanging in the air between them like menacing storm clouds. Her first reaction had been to bark back at him, to put him in his place and maybe, just maybe see some sort of emotion cross his face.
“Maybe your father wasn’t killed like Aaron’s,” she said with a hint of bitterness.
His nostrils flared but that was the only emotion she could see on his face as he continued to eat.
After a long pause, he said, “He was killed. A few years after he deserted my mother and me.”
She suddenly felt awful, and every word that came to her mind sounded too trite to say out loud. “Go ahead,” she said ruefully. “Call me the B word. I deserve it.”
A tiny frown pulled his brows together as he glanced up at her. “You’re only thinking of your son. I understand.”
She wished he didn’t. And she wished she could take back all the sharp words that she’d spoken since they had taken their seats.
With a heavy sigh she said, “I’m sorry, Daniel. I realize that at times I’m…unreasonable. Especially where Aaron is concerned. I don’t know—” She glanced away from him and shook her head. “Hugh’s death changed me. For a long time I was afraid to let Aaron even step out of the house.” She turned her eyes back on his face to see he was watching her intently, as though he wanted to know everything she was feeling and thinking. The idea struck emotions deep inside her and she found it difficult to go on. In a slightly hoarse voice she said, “I guess I was desperately afraid that I would lose the only thing I had left of Hugh.”
His eyes probed hers. “You loved him very much,” he stated.
Dropping her head, Maggie nodded. “Very much.”
“That’s good. That’s the way it is supposed to be,” he said.
Something about his simple words released the tightness in her chest, and she looked up at him and smiled. “Yes. You’re right. And I’m learning to let go. It probably doesn’t seem like it to you, but I am. Little by little.”
He went back to eating, and Maggie tried to do the same. After a while he said, “Aaron is a good boy. I care about him. That’s why I called you. I want to keep the promise I made to him and take him camping.”
Maggie didn’t want to give in. She didn’t want her son to get involved with this man. Not when she could feel the sexual tension between them sizzling like a fuse on a stick of dynamite. But she had to stop and remind herself that Aaron had been talking with Daniel daily. He was already involved with the man. Trying to keep them apart now would only make matters worse.
“If you’re sure that’s what you want to do. Then it’s all right with me.”
He glanced across the table at her, and Maggie could see a faint flicker of surprise in his brown eyes.
“Something is wrong. I expected you to argue about this.”
Maggie nervously licked her lips. “Well, I’m not. It’s obvious that this is important to Aaron. And maybe once he gets past this camping thing, he’ll settle down.”
Daniel wasn’t so certain about that. Aaron’s problem couldn’t be solved with just one camping trip. But he wasn’t about to go into it now with Maggie. Getting her to agree to this much was enough for now. Besides, he really couldn’t give her the sort of advice she needed to deal with Aaron’s needs. The boy wanted male companionship. He wanted a father. And God knew that Daniel didn’t know one thing about having a father or being one.
“Okay. I’ll try to have everything ready to go by this coming weekend. We’ll drive over to Navajo Lake. Ever been there?”
Maggie nodded. “A long time ago. It’s beautiful.”
“I’m glad you think so. Maybe you’ll enjoy the trip, too.”
Her heart stopped as she looked at him with wide eyes. “Me? I won’t be going!”
He looked at her in his quiet, inspecting way. “I need for you to go.”
“You’re a big, strong man, Daniel. And Aaron isn’t a baby. He knows how to brush his teeth and wash his hands and all that sort of thing. You don’t need a woman tagging along and getting in the way.”
“I don’t expect you to get in the way. I expect you to join in. Having you along will be good for Aaron. And I want to make sure you’re along so that I don’t allow him to do something you might frown on. This way I can relax and you won’t have to worry, either.”
Relax! That was a laugh. Spending the weekend with Daniel Redwing would be the furthermost thing from relaxing. She could already see him now, standing at the lake’s edge, naked to the waist of his blue jeans as he cast a line. She’d be staring at him like she’d never seen an unclothed man before. And all the while she’d be thinking, wanting to relive the kiss he’d given her.
Putting her fork down next to her plate, she said, “Look, Daniel, I’m not really an outdoor person. I’d be a nuisance. And I’m not worried that you’ll allow Aaron to do anything foolish. You’re a lawman after all, you ought to know the rules of safety.”
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