“Dana, no.”
“I can’t just sit here.”
“You can.” When she continued toward the door, her expression defiant, he said, “Stay. I’ll go look. He could come back or call and you should be here.”
Only when he’d promised to search the neighborhood thoroughly did she remove her coat and sit back down, drawing her knees up to her chin and circling them with her arms. He squeezed her hands and dropped a feather-light kiss on her cheek. “Try not to worry. I’ll check in every half hour and let you know what area I’ve covered. See if you can think of any place he might go, some friend he might visit.”
He left her staring at the phone.
As the hours wore on toward morning with no sign of Sammy, Jason grew almost as alarmed as Dana. Sammy might infuriate him, and Dana’s blind, unwavering defense of the boy might drive him to distraction, but he wouldn’t want anything to happen to him. The kid had so much untapped potential. It was that waste more than anything that caused Jason to lose patience with Sammy so readily. How could he so casually throw away not only his own natural gifts, but the opportunities Dana struggled to offer him? What in God’s name would it take to reach him?
Each time Jason called with no news, he could hear the mounting fear in Dana’s voice. By the time he got back to the apartment at dawn, she was in a state of near panic. He was nearly as frazzled himself.
“He probably spent the night with one of his friends,” he said, though somehow Sammy didn’t strike him as the type to go on some innocent sleep-over at a friend’s house.
Dana didn’t seem to buy the explanation any more than he did. She tried her best to look hopeful, but the effort fell discouragingly short. Jason would have dragged home moonbeams, if they would have cheered her up. He doubted it would have mattered.
“Are you hungry?” she asked dutifully. “I have some eggs.”
He shook his head. “No, just give me some more coffee, so I can warm up a little. Then I’ll go out again.”
“You don’t think we’re going to find him, do you?” Dana said, her voice flat.
Jason considered lying to her, but couldn’t do it. Pulling her close, he said as gently as he could, “Not unless he wants to be found. He’s sixteen and pretty ingenious. My guess is he’ll come home when he’s good and ready.”
“Why would he have left in the first place? We didn’t have a fight. Everything was just fine when I went out.”
“Sweetheart, it may have absolutely nothing to do with you. Maybe he had a run-in with that gang of his and figured he needed to hide out. It’s hard to tell how a teenager’s mind works. Maybe he did something he knew would upset you and was too ashamed to admit it. When he gets hungry enough and lonely enough, he’ll figure out that running’s not the answer.”
“I wish I could be as sure of that as you are.”
Jason wasn’t sure of much of anything, just that he would have given his life to save Dana this kind of heartache.
“You don’t suppose he would call you,” she said, a sudden spark of excitement in her eyes. “I mean if he were in trouble, he might think you could get him out of it.”
“I think I’d be the last person he’d call.”
“But he might,” Dana insisted. “Is your answering machine on?”
“Yes.”
“Check it for messages. Please, Jason.”
Jason thought it was a waste of time, but he called, then punched in his security code. The tape rewound through one lengthy message and began to play.
“Jason, it’s Johnny. You know, over at the gym. I know it’s early, man, but I found that friend of yours, you know the kid, over here. He was asleep in the locker room. I’m trying to get him to hang loose, but he’s jumpy as a cat. Get over here as soon as possible. I figure you’re with his sister, but the kid won’t tell me how to reach her. Make tracks, buddy. I have a feeling the kid’s in some kind of trouble.”
Jason closed his eyes in relief.
“What is it?” Dana demanded. “He called, didn’t he?”
“No, but Johnny from the gym called. He found Sammy when he went in this morning. He’s trying to get him to stick around, but we’d better get over there. If Sammy figures out that Johnny called me, Johnny’s afraid he’ll split.”
Dana already had her coat and was sprinting for the door. As Jason followed, he wondered if he’d been right about Sammy’s reaction to Johnny’s call. Maybe there was a significance to the fact that he’d chosen the gym to run to, knowing that Johnny would call Jason. If so, maybe Sammy was finally beginning to trust him, beginning to reach out to him. He had a feeling this was a turning point. No matter what, he had to control his temper long enough to give Sammy the chance to open up.
At the gym they found Johnny pacing out front, looking grim. His expression brightened the minute he spotted them. “Thank goodness. I was beginning to think I was going to have to tie him up.”
“Is he okay?” Dana asked, her brow creased with worry.
“Looks okay to me, but if everything were peachy, he wouldn’t have been conked out in the back room, would he?”
“I want to see him. Where is he?”
“In my office. I talked him into eating. I brought him back some eggs and pancakes from the fast-food place down the block.”
“Dana, let me talk to him,” Jason said.
“No. Sammy’s my brother. It’s my problem.”
“You made it mine the minute you called me. Now let me see if I can find out why he’s hiding out. It may be something he doesn’t want to involve you in.”
Even as the words came out of his mouth, Jason knew that he’d hit on the answer. But what could possibly be so bad that Sammy would fear telling Dana? Like his sister, the boy tended to think he was invincible, that he could handle anything.
Dana looked reluctant, but she finally nodded. “Jason, please don’t yell at him.”
Yelling at the kid was the least of what he had in mind, but he nodded. “Get Johnny to teach you a few punches. It’ll work off the frustration,” he suggested, squeezing her hand before he went inside.
The door to Johnny’s office was wide open and for an instant Jason panicked. What if he’d been wrong? What if Sammy had spotted them and gone out the back while they were outside? Dana would never forgive him for letting him get away. He crossed the gym in a dozen strides, then quietly stepped into the office.
Sammy was still there, the empty breakfast container shoved aside, his head on Johnny’s desk. He’d fallen asleep again. He was snoring softly. In sleep, with that crazy hank of blond hair falling over his eyes, he had the look of an innocent kid. Jason found it almost possible to believe that it really wasn’t too late to turn his life around.
He shut the door softly, then pulled up a chair and sat down between Sammy and the only escape route. He reached over and shook his shoulder. “Wake up, son.”
Sammy mumbled something, then lifted his head and stared at Jason through groggy, sleep-filled eyes. Instantly alarm filled those blue depths. He slid his chair back, glancing around frantically for a way out.
“You might as well sit back down. You’re not going anywhere.”
“That no-good, lyin’ so…” The words were tough, but the tone was halfhearted.
“Cut the crap,” Jason said. “You knew Johnny would call me. That’s why you came here, isn’t it?”
Sammy’s mouth clamped shut and his defiant expression faltered.
“What kind of trouble are you in?”
“I can handle it,” he said with one last bit of bravado.
Jason nodded and softened his tone. What was it with these Roberts siblings? Both of them had to do everything on their own. “Maybe so,” he said to Sammy. “But why not let me help if I can.”
“I don’t need help,” he insisted, then amended, “Not for me, anyway. It’s Dana.”
Jason felt his heartbeat slow. “What about Dana?” he questioned very quietly, his hands slowly clenching into fists.<
br />
“The guys who attacked her in that alley, they threatened to come after her again. They wanted to know where we lived. I got away, but I think they wanted me to. They thought I’d go home, but I saw them followin’ me. That’s why I came here. I couldn’t go back to the apartment. I was afraid they’d hurt her and I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”
Suddenly Sammy’s expression grew even more worried. “She’s okay, isn’t she? They didn’t find her?”
“She’s okay,” Jason reassured him, keeping a tight leash on his fury. This was the last straw. “She’s right outside with Johnny.”
“What are we gonna do?”
Jason had to give him credit. He sounded genuinely distressed. Maybe Sammy had grown up a little tonight, realized that there were consequences to his actions not just for him, but for his sister.
“We’re going to convince your sister that it’s time to move. With any luck we’ll have the two of you out of that apartment by the end of the day and neither of you will have to worry about those thugs again.”
Sammy looked skeptical. “I don’t think Dana’s gonna go for it. Moving costs money.”
“Money’s the least of our problem.”
Sammy managed a little half smile. “Maybe for you. But Dana worries about it a lot.”
“She won’t have to, not anymore.”
“What are you gonna do? Give her a loan? I don’t think she’ll take it.”
Jason nodded. “You’re probably right. She’s turned me down before. Think we can talk her into moving the two of you into my place?”
Sammy’s mouth dropped open. “You want us to move in with you?” His gaze narrowed speculatively. “Both of us?”
Jason chuckled. “You don’t think she’s likely to come without you, do you?”
“No, but I just can’t imagine you and me in the same house. We don’t exactly see eye to eye.”
“We both care about your sister, don’t we? Maybe we should concentrate on that. It would make your sister happy if we got along.”
“What’s your real scam?” Sammy suddenly looked very grown up. In a sober tone he demanded, “You plannin’ to marry her or somethin’?”
“The thought has crossed my mind,” Jason admitted, as much to his own astonishment as Sammy’s. “Think she’d go for it?”
Sammy seemed to consider the idea, then shook his head. “Not a chance. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but she’s got this crazy idea that she has to do everything the hard way. I don’t think marriage is in her plans.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to change her mind,” he said, knowing that Sammy was right on target with his analysis. “First things first, though. We’ve got to convince her that this move is for your good. It’s the only way she’ll go for it.”
“Isn’t that like lyin’ or something?” Sammy asked, his expression too knowing, in Jason’s opinion.
The kid had certainly picked a fine time to develop scruples, Jason thought. “It’s not entirely a lie,” he informed Sammy. “After all it won’t hurt you to find some new friends.”
“Right,” Sammy said skeptically, then opened the door and went to find his sister.
Jason followed slowly, trying to figure out the right way to phrase the decision he and Sammy had reached.
“Oh, no!”
Dana’s voice echoed throughout the gym and Jason realized the phrasing had been taken out of his hands. Obviously Sammy had already told his sister about their plan. She didn’t seem to be taking it well. She was marching across the gym with fire in her eyes.
“What kind of hogwash were you filling his head with in there?” she demanded, backing Jason into a corner.
“Hogwash?”
“You are not going to use my brother to get to me. We are perfectly safe living where we are—a lot safer than I would be living with you.”
There was safety and then there was safety. Jason refrained from trying to explain the difference to her. “Dana, my house could accommodate a dozen people. You’ll have all the privacy you want. You have to admit, it would be better for Sammy to get away from the influence of those creeps.”
Admittedly the prospect of having the kid under his roof gave him pause, but it was a sacrifice he was prepared to make to keep them both safe. It was way too soon to think much beyond that.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?” she demanded. “You’ve got some crazy idea about rescuing me. Well, I won’t have it. I can stand on my own two feet. I always have.”
Jason could see her reasoning, at once, and she was right. She had awakened some white-knight fantasy in him. That didn’t mean the idea was a bad one. “I’m not trying to rob you of your independence,” he said tightly. “Think about your brother, dammit. He’s the only person in the whole blessed world who matters to you, and you seem willing to throw away his chances out of some stubborn need to handle everything on your own. Talk about selfish!”
Dana stared at him, obviously stung by his outburst. Slowly the fight seemed to drain out of her. “You’re probably right about moving,” she conceded grudgingly. “But we’ll find an apartment in another neighborhood. I’ll pick up today’s paper on the way home and check out the ads.”
“That takes time. Stay with me until you find another place. I don’t like the idea of those guys tracking you down. They won’t give up easily.” An idea flashed through his mind and he added determinedly, “If you don’t come to my place, I’ll have to move into yours and then we really will be in close quarters.”
There was a flash of defiance in her eyes, but apparently she recognized that he wasn’t budging on this one. She finally nodded. “Okay. You’re probably right. That would be the sensible thing to do.”
Jason’s pulse leaped.
“But it will only be temporary, just until I find a new apartment.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
With any luck he could keep her so busy she wouldn’t have time to look for weeks.
* * *
Dana couldn’t imagine what had possessed her to think that living in the same house with Jason would work. Even as a stopgap measure to protect her brother, it struck her as a dramatic, foolhardy move. The whole time she was packing enough things to get them through the first few days, she practiced excuses for backing out. Every time she started to say one out loud, Jason shot her a forbidding look that caused the words to lodge in her throat.
Okay, so she could make the best of anything for a few days. That’s all it would be. She would find a new apartment no later than Friday. She and Sammy could move next weekend, her sanity intact. She would thank Jason profusely for his trouble and run like crazy. No problem.
That was before she saw the house.
Settled on a block of gracious old town houses, there was a wide bay window in front which guaranteed the window seat she’d always wanted inside. There were fireplaces not only in the living room, but in all of the bedrooms. The high ceilings would welcome the tallest Christmas tree. She stood in the living room after touring the house and tried to hide the delight that spilled through her. It wouldn’t do for Jason to ever discover that he owned her dream house, the one she’d spent countless hours fantasizing about while sitting on her own graffiti-decorated front steps.
Fortunately he seemed unaware of her speechlessness. Sammy was keeping Jason occupied with a series of awed questions. He’d gaped in astonishment when Mrs. Willis, the smiling housekeeper, had shown them a kitchen that was almost the size of their entire apartment. She’d taken one look at Sammy’s skinny physique and immediately gone to work. She’d shooed them all into the living room with a promise of sandwiches and pie.
As she looked at the obviously pricey antiques, Dana worried that her rambunctious brother, who was just growing comfortable with his new height, would clumsily destroy something valuable.
“Well, what do you think?” Jason asked quietly, his hands resting on her shoulders as she gazed longingly at the window seat that was just as she�
��d always imagined.
“It’s lovely,” she said honestly.
“Think you’ll be comfortable here?”
She shook her head at the anxious note in his voice. “Jason, you saw the way we’ve been living. How could we not be comfortable?” Determined to make it clear, though, that this was a temporary measure, she added firmly, “We’ll try to stay out of your way. There’s no need to change your routine for us.”
“Dana,” he said, his voice a low warning. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you look so edgy? We even have chaperons. There’s Sammy, and Mrs. Willis lives in.”
“You didn’t mention her before.”
“I didn’t think of her as a selling point. Of course, she and Mrs. Finch do share a fascination with romances.”
“Terrific,” Dana muttered. She glanced around and realized they were alone. “Where’s Sammy?”
“Back in the kitchen. I believe he wanted to be sure the sandwiches weren’t anything sissy like watercress.”
Despite her nervousness, Dana chuckled. “Sammy’s never even heard of watercress sandwiches. Why on earth would he think they might be?”
Jason looked guilty. “I believe I might have planted the possibility in his head.”
She scanned his face. “Why?”
“So I could be alone with you. Come on. Let’s sit over here.”
He drew her to the window seat which was wide enough for both of them to sit with their backs to the sides, their legs brushing as they faced each other. Outside, rain had started to fall with the promise of snow by night. Dana felt a rare warmth and coziness steal through her. Living in a place like this would make her soft. She would grow too complacent.
“Why did you want to sit here?” she asked, wondering at his perfect choice in a room filled with comfortable-looking chairs.
“Because you haven’t taken your eyes off it since you came in.”
Unwilling to admit to the fascination with the window seat, she asked, “How long have you had this house?”
“Forever, it seems. It’s the home my parents had when they first married. When we moved into a bigger place, they kept this one. For years it was rented, but I insisted on having it when I got out of college. I bought it from them. Some of my best memories come from the years we spent here. I used to sit in this window seat and read on rainy days. I’d read adventure stories and imagine that I was the hero. You have no idea the number of dragons I slayed in this very place.”
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