Then a door slammed.
Angela bolted upright.
A young voice echoed from the hall.
“Mom?”
9
“MOM?” Jack echoed, disbelieving what he’d so clearly heard.
Angela scrambled off the bed, her face pale. She snatched the towel and, after kicking his discarded clothes and the manila envelope inside the bedroom, grabbed the doorknob and yanked.
She covered the slam of the bedroom door by saying, “Dani, honey, is that you?”
Dani?
Angela was a mom?
For a minute, he couldn’t breathe. A daughter? A son? A child? A thousand questions crashed through his brain with the force of a runaway truck. He utilized all his recovery power to throw on his pants and shirt.
As he pushed his shirttails into his waistband, he leaned against the closed door, trying not to think about what just happened against that door, hoping to decipher the muffled conversation on the other side.
But Angela undoubtedly hustled the youngster farther into the house, away from him. He was a secret. Just like the child. His honest angel had developed a real knack for lying. Okay, not lying exactly, but omitting the truth. One was just as bad as the other, right?
Either way, Jack’s heart plummeted. Angela didn’t trust him. As hard as he’d tried to reestablish a bond between them, she still kept secrets. Important ones. Imaginative lovemaking and a successful business relationship hadn’t allowed him entrance into the most intimate portion of her life.
What should he do now? Try to leave?
No. The kid had come in through the front door. Jack had parked in the driveway. If the child had seen the Mustang, his departure would create tough questions for Angela. Besides, he intended to find some answers himself. His only option was to sit tight and wait for Angela to give him his cue.
He glanced around while he buttoned his shirt. Her bedroom reflected its occupant—pretty, floral, cozy, but not cluttered or cutesy. Dark rosewood furniture contrasted against walls painted a pale sage green. And in the center of the antique dressing table was the standard grammar-school-issue photograph of a blond-haired cherub with missing front teeth.
Dani. Short for Danielle, maybe?
He picked up the manila envelope from the floor and slid it onto the table under a homemade paperweight undoubtedly fashioned by unskilled but well-meaning little hands.
She had a daughter.
Examining the picture on the table, he decided the child looked nothing like Angela. Her features favored the lighter side of the spectrum—light green eyes, pale skin, blond hair. Angela’s coloring was bolder, darker. He sat on a corner of the bed clutching the photograph, wondering who had fathered the little angel. Who had had a child with his angel?
Confusion rocked him. How could Angela fail to mention she had a child? A child who nearly walked in on their lovemaking. His heart pounded against his chest like a sledgehammer. He’d had many a close call in his time. Never one like this.
Laying the picture facedown on the bed, he cradled his head in his hands. So this was why she’d been reluctant to invite him to her home. Did she think he wouldn’t be interested in her if he knew she had a child? Or did she want to keep their relationship basic—sex or business, but nothing personal? Either way, Angela had kept a secret from him—something he’d never thought she’d do. Angela Harris never lied. Never until now.
From the moment they’d reunited, Jack had been desperately trying to convince Angela that he’d changed from the callous boy who treated her badly to a man who wanted to explore a future together. What if Angela, too, had changed, and not just in her attitudes about sex?
The thought hadn’t occurred to him before. He’d been a poor judge of character in the past, with Lily as his prime example. Still, he wouldn’t make up his mind until he’d spoken with Angela. Good liars are born, not made, and Angela could never pull off even the simplest practical joke.
But if this was a joke on him, he certainly wasn’t laughing.
“HONEY, I DIDN’T KNOW you were coming home with Aunt Kelly.” After tucking the towel securely around her, Angela led her child from the hall and plied her with several enthusiastic hugs. Close call or not, Angela hadn’t seen Dani in a week. If the child felt her heart thudding against her ribs, she gave no indication. In the living room, Angela sat on the couch and opened her arms for another embrace. She breathed in the scent of Dani’s hair and marveled in the feel of her arms around her neck.
“The creek at the camp was gonna flood.” The nine-year-old stepped away and pushed back her baseball cap. “The counselors were going to call you. Aunt Kelly said I should just come home with them and surprise you.”
“And what a great surprise, sweetie.” She pecked Dani lightly on the cheek and hugged her again.
I’m going to kill you, Kelly.
“Gosh, Mom. I’ve only been gone a week.”
A knock sounded on the front door before it eased open. “Knock, knock!” Angela pulled Dani in front of her, mindful of her undressed state, then relaxed when only her sister’s dark head poked around the door.
“Angela? Whose car is that? And why are you in a towel?”
Angela looked down and caught Dani’s equally inquisitive green-eyed stare.
“I was just about to take a shower for a dinner meeting. In fact, I better scoot before my associate comes out of my office and sees me in a towel.”
Dani started excitedly down the hall. “Is it Nan? I made her something—”
Angela’s towel loosened when she reached to grasp Dani’s shoulder. With little grace, she managed to capture both.
“It’s not Nan. It’s someone you haven’t met, and they’re using the phone. Listen, Kelly, can Dani go over to your place and play until I’ve showered and dressed? I’ll come right over.”
She thanked heaven her sister lived next door.
“We were going to have pizza,” the child whined, digging her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “And Mom, you always take forever to get ready.”
Angela inhaled deeply and threw a sharp look at Kelly.
Her sister took the hint. “Come on, Dani. We’ll go unpack the van and let her take her shower. Then we’ll go for pizza. That way, your mom and her friend can come along.”
“Can we go to the mall after?”
Angela gazed briefly heavenward. Only her daughter would practice expert negotiation at a time like this. “If we finish dinner early, yes. If not, I’ll take you tomorrow night, I promise. Now, scram.”
Bending down, Angela accepted another kiss from her daughter, then gave her a good-natured push toward the door. Kelly went, as well, but stopped when Dani was out of earshot.
Her smile was mischievous. “Anyone I know?”
Angela hated when Kelly acted so big-sisterly smug.
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” Angela leaned on the front door and forced her sister out. Just before she slammed it tight, she whispered, “Jack Sullivan.”
On her journey down the hall, delight at Kelly’s wide-eyed gasp deserted her. She could almost hear the famous line from her favorite late-night rerun. “Lucy, you got some ’splainin’ to do.”
Clutching her towel, she pushed the door open. She leaned on the threshold until Jack looked up from where he lay on the bed, his arm draped across his forehead.
“I guess we need to have that talk now,” she said.
“Is Dani short for Danielle?”
“Danae. It’s Greek.”
He nodded. “She doesn’t look anything like you.”
Angela shrugged. “She’s adopted.”
Silence.
“Look, my sister took her next door to her house, but I promised we’d go out for pizza. You don’t have to go, but you’re more than welcome.”
Jack nodded again.
“I’m going to shower. I’ll be quick. Make yourself at home. There’s soda in the fridge. And aspirin in the cabinet.”
He leane
d on his elbows. “Sure you want me poking around? You might have some other secrets…like a husband in the closet.”
Angela crossed to the master bath. “No. Just one daughter.”
She’d twisted the faucet to hot when Jack knocked. Despite the intimacies they’d shared, she instinctively tightened her grip on her towel and opened the door.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” His gaze was off-center and his voice contrite.
“For what?” As far as she could tell, she was the one who should apologize. She’d kept the secret.
He ran his hand through his hair, tugging so hard she could see the tension in his scalp. “For what your daughter almost saw. I didn’t know.”
Her throat constricted as if she’d swallowed a hot coal. She took two steps to the threshold, then reached up and smoothed the lines from his face. “You had no way of knowing.”
He nodded and turned, exiting with the tired gait of someone who’d revisited a painful past. She admired him for his reaction, remembering how his mother had brought lovers home like groceries. Jack truly didn’t want to become like his parents. She should have known.
As promised, Angela showered hastily, dabbing on a touch of makeup and twisting her hair in a clip before throwing on jeans, a Broadway T-shirt and tennis shoes. She didn’t keep Jack waiting any longer than she had to. His imagination could lead him closer to the truth than she wanted.
She found him sitting in the family room, a photo album spread across his lap. Peeking over his shoulder, she recognized the album as the one containing all her vacation pictures since Dani’s birth nine years ago. Chryssie loved to travel, and having a baby hardly slowed her down. When she could get away from college and work, Angela tagged along. After Chryssie’s death, Angela kept the tradition alive by planning excursions for Dani whenever time allowed.
“That’s Napa.” She slid onto the couch and scooted over so half the album fell across her left thigh. “Four years ago, I think.”
“After Chryssie died,” he surmised.
“Just after. The next year, in fact. She died there, or did I tell you?”
“A car accident?”
“Yeah.” She sat back and took a deep breath while Jack flipped the page. With so few people genuinely interested in Chryssie’s life or death, she hadn’t told the story often. Each time she did, she opened the wound. “She’d hooked up with a dashing French winemaker she’d met in Versailles. He took her to Napa to check out the American competition. It was raining. He wasn’t familiar with the road.”
She stopped, still finding it difficult to recount the tragedy without a slight rasp in her voice.
“Dani looks a lot like her.” He traced his finger lazily over a close-up of the child. “She’s beautiful.”
Half of her inflated with motherly pride. The other felt a dulled but effective stab of jealousy.
“She’s Chryssie’s daughter. I adopted Dani after Chryssie died.”
The hurt in his eyes made her flinch.
“Why didn’t you tell me? It’s not like you were married, not that a divorce would have made a difference to me. Why didn’t you just tell me about Dani from the start?”
He closed the book and slid it onto its usual spot on the coffee table.
“I didn’t want to complicate things,” she said, thankful the words came in such a clever disguise. No matter the lie they shielded, the sentiment remained true. Chryssie’s letter, received at the reading of the will, made her preference quite clear. She didn’t want Angela searching for Dani’s birth father. Ignoring her request was the most complex thing Angela had ever done. “I didn’t expect we’d see one another after the reunion. I didn’t feel it necessary to tell you something so intimate.”
“What about later?” He sat forward, balancing his elbows on his lap. “When you knew differently?”
She grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her chest. “I didn’t want to get involved, remember? That was your idea.”
He chuckled sardonically. “Just mine, huh? Get off it, angel. You knew as well as I did that we’d be spending more than just one night together—and that our relationship would be more than business as usual. You should have told me once you asked for my help with your project.”
No matter her intentions or long-range concerns, Jack was right. Maybe he would have turned tail then, sparing her this torturous explanation.
“I didn’t know you hated kids, Jack, or I would’ve told you right from the start.” She stood, flung the pillow into the nearby lounge chair and stalked to the kitchen for a soda.
“Hate kids?” He followed, nearly knocking into her when she backed up to close the refrigerator door. “I love kids. More than you know. More than you’d believe. That isn’t the point. What I hate are secrets. I hate what you assume about me.”
“You have no idea what I think.” She couldn’t manage the strength to pop open the top of the soda can. She leaned against the counter, drawing her hand to her forehead in a vain attempt to diffuse a headache.
He crossed in front of her, bracing his hands on the counter on either side of her, speaking to the top of her head.
“I know exactly what you think, because for a long time, you were right. Who would want a long-term relationship with Jack Sullivan, son of a deadbeat, lost-in-the-beatnik-era father and a mother who changes husbands with every new moon? He’s afraid of commitment, he’s convinced he’ll end up with ten different kids by four different mothers and no family to speak of, just like dear old Dad.”
She didn’t bother protesting. He was dead-on.
“That’s who I might have become. Lord knows I was on that road. But I don’t want children who don’t know their father.”
Children who don’t know their father. His words were like a wrench, twisting her heart and lungs. She hugged herself tighter. Damn you, Chryssie. Damn you and your secrets.
“That’s when I came home,” he whispered, his breath tickling her forehead. “That’s when I looked for you.”
She glanced up sheepishly. “I thought I looked for you.”
His tentative smile disarmed her defensive stance. “I’d hoped we’d looked for each other. I’d hoped we could find the new people we’d become, holding on only to the good parts from the past.”
Like Dani. Only she wasn’t from Jack and Angela’s past, but Jack and Chryssie’s. “I don’t know if there’s anything in our past worth holding on to,” she admitted, suddenly claustrophobic as his cologne assaulted her with its enticing aroma. Was it her imagination, or did the scent of their lovemaking mingle with the ocean-fresh smell?
He took a step back, though he kept his hands glued to the counter, trapping her, blocking any escape.
“You don’t mean that. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, angel. At least, I don’t know yet. But it must be something big for you to lie to me. Whatever you fear, we can work it out.”
“What if we can’t, Jack?” She realized more clearly how serious Jack was about exploring their relationship. He had no idea of the consequences on her, on him. On Dani.
He slid his palm onto the small of her back. “I’ve never known you to be such a fatalist. So you have a daughter. Okay, now the game changes, but the payoff increases. I like kids, Angela. I just wasn’t prepared for you to have one.”
She took the opportunity to break away from him. “And now Dani’s home. I have to think about her. You saw what almost happened today. And you obviously remembered what it felt like as a child to have a parent bring lovers home.”
The stricken look on his face, a brief shadow that passed over his features like a wraith, told her she’d hit a sensitive mark.
“I can’t involve myself with just anyone,” she continued. “She’s a part of me, so she’s a part of my relationships.”
From the way his eyebrows pinched together, she knew she’d hurt him again. “I’m not just anyone, angel.”
“I know. I didn’t mean…”
She didn’t kn
ow what she meant. Yes, she did. She just couldn’t tell him. If he’d reacted so strongly to the fact she’d kept Dani a secret, how would he feel learning the child might be his daughter? He said he liked kids, but he could reevaluate his assessment once he learned of the deception Chryssie had started and Angela had continued without any consideration for his feelings. And if he did like kids and wanted one of his own, he could sue for custody.
She couldn’t take that chance.
“Knock, knock.” Kelly’s voice sounded from the foyer.
Angela had to start locking her doors.
“We’re in the kitchen.” Angela put the unopened soda in the refrigerator and braced herself on the handle.
Kelly had never liked Jack. She’d spent the majority of Angela’s senior year criticizing him. She’d practically burned him in effigy after they’d broken up.
“Jack Sullivan.” Kelly entered the kitchen with her arms crossed. “Just as handsome as ever. It’s great to see you.”
Kelly moved to hug him, and Jack responded in kind. Angela gripped the door handle tighter to keep from falling over.
“The years have been as good to you as they’ve been to your sister.” They broke the friendly embrace. “I hear you and Garrett have two boys. I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
“Family life is a great life,” Kelly said with a dramatic sigh. “I highly recommend it.”
At this, Angela couldn’t help but staring, wide-eyed and openmouthed, at her sister.
Hello? Earth to Kelly? Okay, who are you and what have you done with my real sister?
“I’ll keep your testimonial in mind.” Jack glanced at Angela just in time to catch her snapping her mouth closed.
“Listen, we can catch up at the Pizza Palace. The kids are going to eat the remote control and possibly the TV, too, if we don’t leave soon. You are coming, Jack? I mean, you seem to know a little about my life, and I don’t know a thing about yours. I didn’t even know you were back in town.”
Jack dug his hands into his pockets. Angela gulped, recognizing the gesture as one of Dani’s standard moves when she felt slightly uncomfortable.
Seducing Sullivan Page 13