“If you ask me, it’s time to call in the big guns,” he said, clearly guessing her worry. “Besides, Todd is coming over for dinner at six. Maybe the two of you can spend some time talking about the latest development while I take Angel to meet the horses.”
“Please, Mama,” Angel begged, clinching it.
“Okay,” Heather agreed, lured by the prospect of some time alone with Todd away from the diner. “I’ll try to get off by seven, which should get us out there by seven-thirty, right?”
“That’s perfect. Todd will have time to let his food and this news digest before you get there. Shall we save you some dinner?”
“No, thanks. I’ll grab something during my shift at work. Angel, too.”
Still holding Angel, Jake stood up, then put the little girl back on her feet. “I’ll see you later. If anything comes up during my meeting with Todd, I’ll let you know, so you won’t be caught off guard tonight.”
“Thanks, Jake.”
Although she hadn’t been anxious while awaiting the test results, Heather had a feeling she was going to be a wreck by nightfall, until she could gauge Todd’s reaction to the news firsthand.
Todd had almost backed out of going to Megan’s for dinner. Jake’s news about the blood test hadn’t really come as a shock, not after all these weeks of gazing into Angel’s green eyes. A part of him had been trying to face the possibility for some time now. But knowing with almost absolute certainty that he was a father shook him more than he cared to admit. He wasn’t sure he wanted to spend an entire evening with Megan surreptitiously studying him the way she’d been doing at the studio lately.
Unfortunately he’d realized that trying to get out of the dinner at the last second would only stir up her suspicions more. So he’d gone.
Now he sat at the dinner table, enduring more stares, trying to make strained small talk with Jake that didn’t involve a pint-size person. If it hadn’t been for Tess’s excited chatter about her plans for the last week of school and her upcoming summer vacation, it would have been a very tense evening.
When the doorbell rang at seven-thirty, he was almost relieved, though he found it somewhat worrisome that Jake didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised.
“That must be Heather,” he announced. “I’ll get it.”
As soon as Jake left the room, Todd frowned at Megan. “I didn’t know you’d invited Heather out here.”
“I didn’t. Jake did.”
“But you knew?”
“Not until just before you arrived.” She regarded him with feigned innocence. “Why? Does it bother you? I thought you two were old friends.”
“You know perfectly well we were more than friends, the operative word being were.”
“And now?”
“And now we’re not,” he said flatly, even as he wondered about the truthfulness of that. On some level, didn’t he want more, even though he knew the potentially disastrous consequences of such a desire?
Before Megan could question him about his claim, Jake led Heather into the dining room. Todd hadn’t thought things could get any more complicated, but then he spotted Angel tagging along in her wake. She caught sight of Todd and ran to his side.
“Up,” she demanded.
He reached for her instinctively, settling her on his lap. He realized as he did so that he’d almost gotten used to holding her, that the baby-powder smell of her had gotten as familiar and as much a part of his visits to the diner as the rich aroma of Henrietta’s coffee.
Megan’s gaze shot from him to Angel, then back again. “Oh, my,” she mouthed. Aloud, she asked, “Now, Heather I know, but who is this?”
“I Angel,” his daughter announced.
“Well, I’m Megan,” his boss responded. “And I am very glad to meet you.”
Megan’s eyes glinted with sudden determination. “Tess, why don’t you take Angel out to the barn? I’ll bet she’d love to see the horses.”
Clearly fascinated by the undercurrents, Tess balked. “What about dessert?”
“We’ll have it when you come back.” Megan glanced at Heather. “Would you like to see the horses, as well? Jake?”
It was less question than command. Jake dutifully stood. The traitor was probably anxious to be gone when the inquisition began.
“Come on, Heather,” Jake said with a rueful glance at Todd. “I think we’ve all been dismissed.”
“Maybe I’ll come along, too,” Todd said.
But before he could even stand up, Megan’s gaze locked with his. “Sit.”
Not another word was spoken as everyone except the two of them left the room. Then Megan turned to him with a fascinated expression. “Well?”
“What?”
“She’s yours, isn’t she?”
Todd sighed. He saw little point in denying it. “So they tell me.”
“What do you intend to do about it?”
“I’m putting a financial settlement together.”
“And then what?”
“They’ll go back to New York,” he said, desperate to believe that was the way it would turn out.
“And then what?” she persisted.
“Nothing.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. “That’s it?” she asked indignantly. “You’ll just cut your daughter out of your life except for a monthly check she and her mom will get in the mail?”
Todd winced. She made it sound so cold-blooded, so completely uncaring, when the opposite was true. He was protecting Angel. “It’s for the best,” he said defensively.
“Says who? Is that what Heather wants?”
“Not exactly.” He frowned at her. “This really isn’t any of your business, you know.”
She beamed at him, clearly undaunted. “Maybe not, but that’s never stopped either one of us before. That’s why we make such a good team. We don’t back off when we believe in something.”
“Megan, I will work this out.”
“Just like you always do,” she scoffed. “With logic and reason.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m here to tell you that logic and reason don’t have a thing to do with the emotional ties at work here. If you doubt that for an instant, take a good long look at me and my history, first with Tex and now with Tess. Stop fighting what your heart is telling you to do.”
He scowled. “How the hell do you know what my heart is telling me to do?”
“I just know, okay? I saw it in your eyes when those two walked into the room. Listen to your heart,” she repeated, then stood up, clearly satisfied that she’d delivered her message and that he’d heard it and mentally filed it away, as he always did with her commands.
“Now, why don’t we take a stroll to the barn and join the others?” she said, perfectly aware that the barn held all sorts of dangers he preferred to avoid.
“I’d rather eat dirt,” he muttered, even as he trailed after her.
“I heard that.”
“I meant for you to,” he retorted.
It was no huge surprise that within ten seconds of their arrival at the barn, everyone except him and Heather had disappeared. Megan was better than any director he’d ever worked with at getting people on and off stage. He wasn’t even sure how it had happened, but here they were, facing each other, neither of them quite sure what to say.
“So you know now,” she said finally.
He nodded. “But I don’t want to get into this tonight, Heather. I need to think.”
A smile crept across her face. “Yes, you do like to think things through, don’t you? Take your time. We’re not going anywhere.”
Unfortunately that was precisely what he was afraid of. And the longer they stayed, the more complicated this was going to get. He had to find a strategy that would get them out of town, and he had to do it fast. For Angel’s sake, he reminded himself nobly.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” In fact, tomorrow wouldn’t give him time to make as many lists as he’d like, but time w
as of the essence.
“Where?” she asked.
“My place. I’m not playing this out at Henrietta’s with the whole town looking on and choosing sides.”
“Fine. When? I’m not off until eight.”
“Eight will be fine.”
“Angel will be with me,” she said, clearly testing him. “I don’t want to ask Henrietta to keep her. She’s done too much for me already. She has enough on her plate with Sissy and Will without me coming to rely on her, too.”
Though he understood and appreciated her concern for Henrietta, Todd felt as panicked as if she’d announced she’d be bringing along a cobra. He swallowed hard. “Whatever,” he said, then gave her directions.
She gave a little nod of approval, as if he’d passed some sort of a test.
“We’ll be there, then. I’ll look forward to it.”
She said it as if he’d invited her for tea, rather than a heart-to-heart about their daughter’s future. His pulse thudded dully. He could feel the jaws of that giant trap tightening around him.
“Okay, what will it take to make you go away?” Todd blurted when Heather was sitting across from him in the living room of the small apartment he’d finally rented six months earlier when it had become clear that he was in Whispering Wind to stay. He hadn’t intended to get into this quite so directly, not with Angel within hearing distance, but he didn’t like the way he felt with her and Angel in his place. Rather than being appalled by their intrusion into his space, he had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t take much for him to ask them to stay. He just had to phrase his words so Angel wouldn’t grasp what he was discussing with her mother.
Heather ignored the question, just as she had always ignored any topic that didn’t suit her. She stood up and wandered around the living room, examining the artwork on the walls and the few personal items he’d brought from New York. Pausing in front of the fireplace, she picked up a small marble carving of a woman from the mantel, staring at it in wonder as she ran her fingers over the smooth curves.
“I remember this. You bought it at that flea market in the country one Sunday.” Her gaze locked with his. “You said it reminded you of me.”
He remembered that day—and that comment—all too well. In fact, he had to wonder if that was one reason he hadn’t left the carving behind in his New York apartment. Had he subliminally wanted something with him that reminded him of Heather, even though she’d been out of his life for so long? Even his brief infatuation with the beautiful, traitorous Micah hadn’t completely wiped away the memories of the woman watching him so intently right now. Emotions he’d thought long forgotten churned inside him.
Fortunately there was nothing he could do about them with Angel in the room. His gaze strayed to the little girl, who was sitting on the floor engrossed in one of the bagful of picture books Heather had brought along for her. Despite the panic that never quite left him whenever he caught sight of Angel, he was undeniably fascinated with her. His daughter. It was terrifying. Awesome, though, too. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
Heather, however, was another matter. She rattled him every bit as deeply as their daughter did. He knew with every fiber of his being that they were still wrong for each other. He knew that renewing their relationship, especially now, courted disaster. And yet he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. He only prayed he could get her to go back to New York before he did something about it.
He tested his first offer on her, a settlement that most sensible women would have grabbed in a heartbeat.
“Very generous,” she commented, her attention distracted by a picture on the wall, also from New York. “But no.”
He topped it by another hundred dollars a month.
The amount caught her attention, but she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
He made another half-dozen suggestions, each one more desperate than the last, but she stood right in front of him and kept on saying no without even considering them. After a while, his gaze locked on her mouth like a heat-seeking missile. Every no became a challenge, a dare.
And finally, because there was no other way to keep her silent, no other way he could think of to end this negative streak she was on, he kissed her. Maybe once they got this out of the way, she would be reasonable.
Once their lips touched, once hot, swirling heat slammed through him, however, he recognized his mistake. Heather had been like a drug to him once. He’d been addicted to her, desperate to have her, even when he realized how ill-suited they were. It was the same now. Not even Angel’s presence could stop him from finishing the kiss, from savoring it.
This was no casual peck, no light brushing of his lips over hers. This was a no-holds-barred, been-alone-too-long kiss. This was a reclaiming. His blood roared. Her soft curves fit snugly against the hard planes of his body, reminding him of the way they had come together in his bed—impatiently, hungrily, naturally. He had never expected to have such totally uninhibited passion in his life, but she had stirred it in him. Obviously she still could.
His brain, which was supposed to keep him out of just this kind of trouble, finally kicked in. Reason—and the awareness that Angel was very much with them—overruled lust and he stepped away.
After all, Heather was still free-spirited, still doing outrageous, impulsive things. Showing up in Whispering Wind with a baby she had kept a complete secret from him for years was proof enough of that.
He was still compulsively organized, obsessively concerned with routines and commitments and duty.
And then, of course, there was Angel, who would be very much a part of anything that happened between him and Heather.
Logic—his favorite weapon for keeping his life on course—told him it would be a grave error to ignore those differences, to pretend they didn’t matter, an even graver error for him to forget about the past and another little girl he should have kept safe.
But somehow, after that kiss, he knew it was going to be a whole lot harder to get Heather to go.
10
Heather was still thrown for a loop days after Todd’s kiss. She hadn’t been able to get that brief moment of insanity out of her head. All he had to do was walk into the diner and her body heat escalated. Worse, the only thing that had been resolved that night was that the chemistry between them was still as volatile as TNT. Two smart people would let their attorneys do the talking from now on. Except Todd didn’t have an attorney and continued to refuse to get one.
“We’ll work it out,” he’d insisted every time she’d raised the suggestion since that night in his apartment. “Jake’s a great guy, but I do not intend to discuss this matter with him.”
“You couldn’t even if you wanted to. He’s my attorney.” At least for the record, she amended silently. She hadn’t exactly fired Jake, but the morning after her encounter with Todd, she’d told the attorney that maybe Todd was right. They could settle this between them…eventually.
“Any chance of a reconciliation?” Jake had asked her when she’d told him to give Todd some breathing room. “That would be the best thing all around.”
“Absolutely not,” she insisted, but was that really true? After that kiss, she had to wonder. A reconciliation had been the last thing on her mind when she’d traveled to Whispering Wind. She’d been after a daddy for Angel and a little free time for herself. Nothing more.
Now, however, she was going a little crazy wondering if Todd would try to kiss her again. She wanted him to, even though he appeared to be giving her a wide berth as if he feared that very thing. How had she managed to forget that when the ever-cautious, ever-defensive Todd let down his guard, he could rock her to her very soul?
Okay, so it was evident that the chemistry was still there. But that was it. It had to be. Loving Todd now would mean not only accepting that he was no longer an actor, but would require her to stay right here in Whispering Wind. She wouldn’t even consider such a thing.
“I’ve lost my mind,” she muttered wh
en she realized that for one brief second she actually had considered that very thing. “Obviously I have lost my mind.”
“What was that?” Henrietta demanded, taking her by surprise.
Heather sighed. “Nothing.”
But she very much feared it was everything, that she was well on her way to proving that she didn’t have a grain of sense left in her head. She didn’t need Henrietta’s take on the situation to confirm it.
“More coffee,” the judge called out, trying to snag Henrietta’s attention.
The interruption suited Heather just fine. Henrietta turned away with obvious reluctance and crossed to the judge with a scowl. Heather lingered over her chores, just to listen to the expected fireworks. They were getting to be a nightly occurrence and provided more live entertainment than anything else in town.
“You’ve had enough,” Henrietta told him predictably.
“Woman, I am old enough to decide how much coffee I want,” he grumbled, just as predictably. He tapped the rim of the cup. “Fill it or I’ll go back there and do it myself.” His gaze narrowed. “And while I’m there, I just might decide to kiss that sassy mouth of yours.”
Color bloomed in Henrietta’s cheeks. She grabbed the pot and practically raced over to pour more coffee for the judge. He grinned at her.
“Thought that might do the trick.”
“It worked once,” she warned him. “Won’t work again. I’ll ban you from the premises.”
“You can’t. It’s a public place.”
“It’s my public place and I’ll damned well keep out anybody who’s proving himself to be a nuisance,” she informed him.
“Which one of us do you think has a better grasp of the law?” he retorted.
“Who’s talking about the law? I’ve got a broomstick in back that’ll do my talking for me.”
He chuckled as if he found her feistiness delightful. “Damn, Henrietta. There is no one like you.”
“And don’t you forget it, Harry Corrigan,” she snapped back. “Heather, I’m going to the kitchen. If this old man gives you a hard time, call the sheriff. Maybe a night in a jail cell will remind him of his manners.”
Angel Mine Page 11