Say No To Joe?

by Lori Foster

  “Who?”

  Dinah licked her lips. “Joe Winston.” Just saying his name gave her delicious shivers. Talk about a real man. Because she asked for very little—sexual satisfaction, a few laughs—few men had ever turned her down. Yet Joe Winston had looked at her with contempt. She wasn’t giving up on him, though. Not yet. “I assume he’s her lover. They’re not married, I know that much.”

  He stepped closer to her, crowding her back, his breath hot and angry, though his voice now remained cool. “What did you do, Dinah?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit.” His mouth tilted in a sneer. “Did you come on to him? Did you throw yourself at him?”

  Dinah wished the question wasn’t so humiliating. Usually men were easy to get, but there was nothing easy about Winston—and unfortunately, that only made him more appealing. He’d told her no, and meant it.

  Just as this man had.

  She couldn’t continue to meet his gaze and looked away. “They both took exception to the truth about the kids. I was explaining how they are, the trouble they cause, and they fired me.”

  Almost without thought, he brought her face back around to his, causing her heart to race and her womb to tighten. He stared into her eyes, but spoke more to himself than her. “That doesn’t make any sense. Those brats are nothing but trouble.”

  “I know.” He’d been generous with her, getting her the job, paying her extra on the side, in exchange for a little worthless information. He did everything under the guise of responsibility to the town, to his family. Dinah knew better. He cared only about himself. “What am I going to do now? I need a job.”

  His dark gaze narrowed, then he stepped away. “Give it a week. By then they’ll see what they’re up against, and they’ll either be at your door, begging you to return to help keep the kids in line, or they’ll have given up and agreed to move away. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “I know. Patricia was ready to leave with the kids until that idiot man asked her to marry him.”

  “Jealous?”

  He just stood there, damn him, impassive, detached, probably amused. Few people ever saw this side of him, but he could be such a cold bastard at times.

  Dinah thrust her breasts out and lowered her voice to a purr. “I can get any man I want.”

  He laughed softly. “Not me. And apparently not this Joe Winston fellow.”

  Anger roiled through her. “Within a week, he’d have been in my bed.”

  “But you didn’t get a week, did you?” His smile was malicious. “You didn’t even get a whole day.”

  It did her no good to fight with him. She’d realized from the first that he held no special reverence for women. To get what he wanted he’d trample over man, woman, or even child. “No, I didn’t, and now I’m out of a job. What am I going to do while waiting for Luna Clark to come to her senses? And what if she doesn’t? What if she decides she likes it here?” She pouted—but it had no effect on him. “I need money to live on.”

  He pulled out a wallet, flipped through several twenties, and handed them to Dinah. “Maybe I’ll speak to Mr. Winston. I’ll reason with him, and then we’ll see.”

  Dinah curled her fist around the money. “That might be harder than you think. I got the impression that Winston isn’t an easy man to reason with.”

  He gave her an indulgent grin. “Every man has his weakness. I’ll find his, and then you’ll see just how easy it is.”

  Dinah watched him walk away, that damn opalescent moonlight still framing his pale head. She snorted. The halo was very misplaced. Beneath that blond hair, she was sure he hid horns, because God knew, he was as close to the devil as a man could get.

  Luna came into the kitchen with a list. It was nearing ten o’clock, and she’d just tucked the kids into bed after they’d both said good night to Joe. That had been nice, Joe thought, sort of domestic and comforting.

  It had taken him by surprise.

  After swimming in the lake, Austin claimed to be clean enough. The lake water had knocked the top layer of dirt off the boy, but the ground-in grime had remained, so Luna insisted he shower, too. It hadn’t been an easy battle, but Luna had set out to win, and in the end, Austin had proved no match for her.

  When Austin later sidled up to Joe to say good night, he’d smelled good, sort of like soap and little boy and innocence. Austin hadn’t exactly hugged Joe, but he had gotten close, looking shy and uncertain. Joe rubbed his back, messed his freshly brushed hair, and sent him to bed with a gentle thwack on the shoulder.

  Willow had come to him next. She’d worn a faded blue housecoat over her nightgown, and her long blond hair was loose, freshly brushed. She looked adorable and far too wise for her years. Joe had waited, letting her decide what to do. He wasn’t quite sure if one went about messing a young lady’s hair.

  Willow stared at him a long time, then nodded. “Thank you.”

  Joe’s brows rose at her grave tone. He pulled off his reading glasses. “For what?”

  “For coming here.” Then she’d walked away, breaking Joe’s heart and forcing him to fight the urge to draw her back for a tight hug. He’d already decided not to smother the kids, to let them get used to him naturally.

  But it wasn’t easy.

  He wanted to pull them both close and promise that nothing and no one would ever hurt them again. He wanted …

  Shit.

  Luna sat down beside him. She, too, was freshly showered, and that played havoc with his libido. He could smell her, all soft and female and sweet. He wanted to rub his nose against her neck, her breasts, her thighs. His abdomen tightened.

  She leaned forward to look at the papers he had spread out in front of him. “What are you working on?”

  She had a lot on her mind, too much to have to deal with his lust, too. Joe tugged on his earring. “These are the accounts for the lake.” His voice was a little hoarse, but he ignored it. “Do you realize how prosperous it was? Why the hell Patricia shut it down, I can’t imagine. Especially since there wasn’t that much cash left to the kids.”

  “You’ve been looking into the money situation?”

  “It seemed pertinent. Now don’t frown. I’m not snooping. You asked me to come along to help set things right. Well, you’ll need money to keep things afloat, but there doesn’t appear to be any.”

  “The house is paid for.”

  Nodding slowly, Joe looked around. The kitchen was immense, beautiful, not overly dated, but certainly not modern either. “You’ve never cared for kids, Luna. I remember my mother complaining about the laundry that had to be done for Alyx and me.” He regarded her, knowing she was strong and more than capable, but perhaps a little naïve about what she faced. “Hot water bills, gas and electric, taxes, insurance … Groceries alone are a large monthly bill. Figure everything you spend on yourself and quadruple it. That’s the cost of kids, and it’s endless.”

  Her exotic eyes narrowed. “You’re suggesting I give up already?”

  “Hell no.” He leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers over his middle. “But you’ll need some form of income. There’s the interest on what’s left in the bank, but I can think of better ways to work that money to get a higher return. That’s something you ought to take up with an accountant.”

  “The stock market?”

  “Or mutual funds, something like that. But in the meantime, the lake might be a solution. It was making money. Your cousin Chloe did a helluva job with it. So why did Patricia shut it down?”

  Luna shrugged. “My guess is she didn’t want to be bothered with it. She struck me as a lazy, selfindulgent bitch.”

  “Yep. Not very nice at all.” Joe remembered the foot in his lap, and he shook his head. He still didn’t know if it was Patricia or Dinah, but it didn’t matter. Either one was unacceptable.

  No reason to tell Luna about that now. Pulling himself back to the table, he put his head on one fist and again lifted a paper. “If you don’t mind, I could check into
this and see how difficult it might be to get things going again.”

  “Sure.” Beneath the light centered over the table, Luna’s lashes looked long and soft and left shadows on her cheekbones. After her shower, she’d changed, and she now wore a breast-hugging, spaghetti-strap cotton shirt with loose, opaque harem pants. Her makeup was gone, and she had removed all her jewelry. Even in the comfortable clothes, she managed to look flamboyant, sexy and exotic.

  This was likely how she’d look the morning after making love.

  That thought warmed him. Joe liked sitting with her in the evening, discussing things. They were almost like a family, and while that should have worried him, instead it made him feel … necessary.

  Ha. What the hell was he thinking? Nonsense, all of it. He shook his head, drawing a funny look from Luna. He pushed another paper toward her. “It’s the only big lake in the area, and with school out and the temperatures climbing, I bet plenty of people would be happy to renew their memberships. It might be a nice cash flow.”

  She picked up a flier on seasonal activities. “There’s more involved than just swimming?”

  The fresh scent of her hair and the indescribable fragrance exclusive to Luna filled him. Joe drew a deep, uneven breath. If he didn’t have her soon, he’d become a halfwit. “The shed down by the lake used to be a shop of sorts. There’s an enormous freezer that might need a little electrical work, but otherwise seems to be in good order. Austin told me their mom used to sell ice creams and colas, bags of ice and chips and snacks to the people who visited the lake. And there’s a vending machine for bait, though I haven’t found the records yet on where to order the bait. There were rentals on floats, canoes, fishing equipment. Pretty much anything you could think of that could be used in or around a lake. Austin tells me the stuff is still stored here, most of it in the shed but some in the attic and basement.”

  “Huh.” Luna leaned back in her seat, and the shirt pulled around her breasts, practically outlining her nipples. “You know, there’s a computer in Willow’s room. In this day and age, maybe most of the records are on it.”

  Joe forced his gaze to her face. “Good idea.” It wasn’t easy to concentrate on what she said when his beleaguered brain wanted only to think of sex. “So I’ll check into it, agreed?”

  She smiled at him, and it was so sweet, so trusting, Joe felt every muscle in his body tighten. “You’re awfully enthusiastic about all this.”

  I’m enthusiastic about you. No, he wouldn’t say that to her, damn it, not until he had more time to think about it himself. But Luna had impressed him. From the moment they’d arrived, she’d had one problem after another thrown at her, yet she hadn’t lost sight of why she’d come—to care for the kids. For a free spirit moon goddess, she’d done a terrific job of reassuring Willow and Austin, of making them feel more secure.

  Joe reached for her hand. “So far, I’m having fun.”

  That made her laugh, and even her damn laugh turned him on. Better get his mind back on track, he decided. He nodded to the list she held. “What have you got there?”

  She lifted her brows and sighed. “I’m trying to figure out everything we need to get. The list is getting pretty long, though. Austin’s clothes are almost all secondhand, some too big, some not big enough. His shoes should have been replaced ages ago. Willow’s wardrobe isn’t quite as bad, but she tells me that’s because she’s done growing, so clothes from a few years past still fit her. She hasn’t had anything new in far too long.”

  It was difficult for Joe to consider such a petite female done growing, but Willow was almost as tall as Luna, just very slender with only adolescent curves. “Boys are slower to mature, I hear. Plus I’m willing to bet that Austin is a whole lot harder on his clothes than Willow.”

  “Exactly. She told me Patricia refused to buy him anything new because he just got it dirty or torn anyway.” Her hand curled tight. “She also said Patricia claimed Chloe was a fool for not naming the father and making him pay support. Apparently she grilled the kids endlessly about possible fathers with the intent of filing a suit herself.”

  Joe sympathized, but said, “He should be paying, Luna. They’re his responsibility.”

  “I know it. I’m not making excuses for him, whoever he is. But it’s not right to drag the kids into the middle of it, especially with the way their lives are right now. And I have to assume Chloe had her reasons for not including him. I just … I wish I’d known about them from the start.”

  Joe considered that and frowned. If she had known of the kids, she would have been long gone before his visit to his cousin, Zane. He never would have met her, and that thought formed a vise around his lungs. “Were the others as bad as Patricia, do you think?”

  “They left them, so they couldn’t have been great.”

  She looked so eaten up about what the kids had gone through, Joe tapped the list she held and changed the subject. “So you’re planning a shopping spree?”

  Her lashes again lowered as she reviewed her list. “Hopefully this weekend. I’d like them to have new clothes before they start summer school. We’ll need groceries, too. There’s hardly anything here that the kids like to eat. It was pure luck that we found that hamburger for dinner.”

  Because he couldn’t stop himself, Joe lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. He would have liked to work his way up her arm to her elbow, then her throat, until he reached her breasts. To stifle a groan, he said, “The spaghetti and meatballs were perfect.” He kissed her knuckles again, then dipped his tongue between the crease of her ring and middle finger. He heard Luna catch her breath, and he murmured, “For a psychic’s assistant, you make a damn fine cook.”

  The paper in her other hand trembled. “Thanks.” Joe leaned closer to peruse her list. “Looks like you’re planning an all day trip for this.”

  “Looks that way.” She drew a shuddering breath, bit her bottom lip, and pulled her hand away. “You want to come along?”

  “Want to, no.” Here he’d been seducing her when he’d just decided not to. He wanted to give her a few days to get acclimated to things before he pressed her. “I’m not big on shopping. But since I planned to buy a bed, I suppose I’ll tag along.”

  Luna did a quick double take. She’d had her pen poised to write down his request, but now she just stared at him. “You don’t have a bed?”

  “Not a very good one.” Joe also wanted to keep an eye on them all. He couldn’t be sure that they’d lost their tail when they arrived in Visitation. He hadn’t seen anyone following, and he’d taken extra efforts to make following them difficult, but Joe left very little to chance. And added to that, he didn’t trust Jamie Creed. The man had spooked him, and that wasn’t an easy thing to do.

  He eyed Luna, wondering how long it would take him to work his way into her bed. “I’d like a king size, but it’d never fit in that cramped room, so I guess it’ll have to be a double. With a thick mattress.”

  Luna still looked floored when the phone rang.

  Joe twisted to reach for the kitchen phone on the wall. “Now, I wonder who that could be this time of night.”

  Luna rolled her eyes, detecting the note of cynicism in his tone that he didn’t bother to hide. They had both been expecting the call from Owen all day.

  “ ’Lo.”

  There was a moment of silence, then, “This is Quincy Owen. With whom am I speaking?”

  “Quincy? ’Bout time. I was almost ready to turn in.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Joe wasn’t surprised that Quincy Owen would be inconsiderate enough to call so late. According to Julie, Quincy owned most of the town, meaning he could pretty much do whatever he pleased with immunity. “You’re Clay Owen’s dad?”

  “His stepfather, yes. And you are?”

  “Joe Winston. What can I do for you, Quince?”

  “It’s Quincy,” he replied with an annoyed clip to his tone, “and you can start by explaining to me what happened earlier at the Calder hous
e.”

  Joe tipped the chair back on two legs, at his leisure. “Clay was disrespectful, obnoxious and rude. Since I don’t tolerate that type of behavior from adults, much less kids, I told him to leave and not come back.”

  Another strained silence. “Perhaps you don’t know who I am.”

  Joe was aware of Luna watching him with brighteyed satisfaction. “I was apprised of your influence, Quince. Thing is, I just don’t give a damn. Teach your stepson some manners and maybe he can try calling again.”

  “How dare you.” The calm had been replaced with anger. “Maybe you aren’t aware of everything those Calder brats have done, but—”

  Joe put the phone back in the cradle.

  Luna blinked. “He hung up?”

  “No. He was still talking.” Joe grinned. “I just didn’t like what he was saying.”

  The phone immediately rang again. Joe snatched it up, and as if he didn’t know exactly who would be on the line, he said, “ ’Lo?”

  “I’ll assume we had a bad connection.”

  “You can assume whatever you like. But if you insult Willow or Austin again, the bad connection will return.”

  Several seconds passed while Joe had the feeling Quincy gathered a volatile temper. “Mr. Winston, I didn’t call you to argue.”

  “Glad to hear it. Not that there’s much to argue about anyway. I witnessed the whole thing, and I can tell you, man to man, that Clay was out of line.”

  “The Calder children provoked him. It’s happened before.”

  “I have my doubts about that, but it definitely wasn’t the case this time. Willow went inside the second she saw their car drive up, and Austin—who is only nine, by the way—was sporting a black eye thanks to Clay.” Joe paused to let that sink in, then added, almost as an afterthought, “Makes him sound like a bully, doesn’t it?”

  The sound of teeth grinding came through the phone. “Clay told me the boy jumped him.”