Knowing she was inside but not ringing the doorbell, someone had watched her. “All right. You have a problem, but slow down. Don’t rush into anything until you’re sure. One step at a time. Think, Elly.” she admonished as she slammed on the brakes before she barreled through a red light. “You need to think this through. Could have been a potential renter. Anybody.”
How could she pack Tommy up and move again? Was no place safe for them? Would no place, ever, be safe again for her and her son? She needed a safe place. She needed a way out of this unending nightmare. Where else could she run? “Oh, God, please, please.” A tiny sob escaped her, but then she clamped her lips together, shoving the fear down deep. She drove carefully through the intersection.
She’d do what she had to. She always had.
By the time she pulled into the curving driveway of the Sunshine Center Preschool and turned off the engine, she’d regained her composure. She’d quit talking to herself. She had a plan. She wasn’t unprepared this time.
Scanning the shrieking crowd of kids at the front entrance, she wasn’t all that surprised to see the rangy silhouette of Royal Gaines leaning against the wall near the door. It had been that kind of afternoon, and he’d said he knew Alicia and Maggie. Swearing under her breath, Elly climbed out of the car and yanked at the edges of her shorts, vainly trying to cover as much of herself as she could. Plopping her sun hat on her head, she headed grimly for the porch. Around a man like Royal Gaines, she thought glumly, she needed all the armor she could scrounge up.
Opening the gate of the cyclone fence, she caught the flicker of his tiny, satisfied smile when he turned his head toward her.
As if he were waiting for her.
Was he waiting?
Was he the person who’d stood out on the front walk, strolled around the condo to the wooden deck in back?
Elly rubbed her forehead. She was crossing the line between caution and paranoia. She had to remember her plan. One step at a time. She repeated her mantra silently as Royal Gaines stared at her. She and Tommy would be okay as long as she didn’t panic.
Tommy barreled into her. “MommyMommyMommy! Bye!” Giving her a lemon-scented smack, he spun away from her hug and bolted back toward the porch, leaving Elly’s empty arms outstretched toward him. She yearned for the feel of his hot, baby-damp self against her.
His earthy boy-scent remained in her nostrils, the richest perfume in the world. Tommy was happy. Tommy was safe.
She’d done something right.
Alicia’s sculpted dark head swung in Elly’s direction. “Hey there, Ms. Malloy. Royal’s making mischief. Otherwise, the kids would be lined up and ready to go. Sorry.”
“Not my fault, Ms. Malloy, ma’am. Don’t blame me.” Royal’s low drawl was teasing. He tapped Alicia’s arm with one long finger. “You need to get better organized, Leesha, that’s all.”
“Ignore him, Ms. Malloy.”
“Right, Ms. Malloy.” Repeating her name, Royal Gaines’s voice dropped a notch, the teasing taking on a darker note. “Ignore me.”
“Certainly.” Elly threw him a cool, blind glance and gave all her attention to Alicia, the co-owner of the Sunshine Center.
Removing her hat, Elly fanned herself with its brim. “I don’t mind waiting, Ms. Williams. Actually, I’m a little early.”
“Oh?” Alicia squinted at her oversize wristwatch. “That’s unusual.”
“The job went faster than I expected.”
“Lucky you,” murmured Royal. “Lady of leisure.”
“Be quiet, Royal. Pretend you’re invisible,” Alicia said.
His laugh was rough. “Too much truth in that idea, Leesha.”
Alicia stared at him for a second before turning to Elly. “Do you want to take Tommy right now? It would only take a second to pack up his stuff if you’d like.”
“Please don’t worry about me. Tommy would be disappointed if he missed the afternoon story. He looks forward to it.”
“Anyway, we’ll hurry, Ms. Malloy.” Alicia shook her head, the tight, asymmetrical wedge of her haircut a sleek helmet to her elegant presence. Like Royal Gaines, she had an inborn elegance that translated into movement and presence and owed nothing to clothes. “That’s to say, we’ll speed up as much as we can, kids being notoriously resistant to being rushed.”
Instead of wailing in frustrated exhaustion and fear, Elly leaned against the rail running horizontally along the porch. She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to run the gauntlet of Alicia’s and Royal’s scrutiny. She craved the illusion of safety behind her locked door, but she didn’t need Alicia picking up any hint of desperation. Tipping back her head, Elly fanned her neck, making herself the picture of relaxation. “As I said, I don’t mind waiting. I’ve been rushing all day. This is pleasant. A breeze. Relatively cool.” She waved her hand vaguely. “Relaxing.”
Royal’s expression was bland as he studied her. She pivoted slightly, giving him a view of nothing but her profile. He wasn’t her problem right now. Alicia was.
Alicia had to believe in the image of working mother with an abusive husband somewhere in the background, and Alicia intimidated her because Alicia was a woman who had her stuff together. Bright, quick, she’d been born having her stuff together. Struggling just to get through each day without a new disaster, Elly couldn’t help believing Alicia had judged her early on and found her a failure.
Breaking into her thoughts, Alicia said, “It might be half an hour. Sure you can wait?”
“Absolutely. You’re saving me from two weeks’ worth of laundry, in fact.” It was awkward being around somebody she had to lie to all the time. Especially when the other person knew she was lying, yet kept her questions and thoughts to herself. Hard to develop much of a social circle when you were a liar and a thief. “If I’m lucky. I can avoid that stack for another week.” She managed a chuckle and hoped it was more lighthearted than it sounded to her own ears.
“Know what you mean.” Alicia grimaced. “Myself, I’m thinking seriously about pitching a mile-high pile of clothes in the trash and buying a couple of weeks’ worth of underwear instead. Think I could get away with that?”
Elly nodded politely. “Why not?” Sometimes she thought wearily that, maybe in different circumstances, maybe without all this deception, she and Alicia could have been friends. She could use a friend.
Pulling a red-and-yellow wooden box on wheels out from under a shelf, Alicia rolled her eyes apologetically. “It’s too bad we’re running late. I know you want to get Tommy Lee home.”
“An early supper would have been a change.”
“Hey, doodlebugs.” Calling to the children on the slides and swings in the side yard, Alicia slapped her hands together and rolled the box toward the children on the porch. “Let’s put the equipment away so we can be ready for our story and treat.”
Elly was uneasily conscious of Royal Gaines and his motionless stance, his focus on her whether she looked at him or not. He didn’t seem like a man with children of his own. He didn’t seem like a man who would go out of his way to help at a day-care center with no motive except the goodness of his heart. He struck her as a man who always had a reason for anything he did. Was it possible that this man, Alicia’s friend, had stood outside the rental unit without letting her know of his presence?
Of course he could have.
Anything was possible. She’d learned that. She didn’t need a remedial course in what people could do when the masks were off.
She took a half step to bring him more clearly into view. When she did, he shifted, the flex of his thigh a smooth ripple under the light gray fabric of his slacks. She cleared her throat and concentrated on Alicia. Headed for the side yard a few feet away, Alicia was intent on rounding up the five or six stragglers. “You don’t have to hurry the kids on my account, Ms. Williams. I can stand a few minutes to catch my breath. Do what you have to do. Don’t rush them.”
“Terrific. I’ll have one of the kids bring you a cold drink.�
� Alicia’s bright turquoise skirt whipped around her long legs as she turned and lifted a tiny girl toward her, swinging her up in an arc and giving her a hug. “Katie Sue, why don’t you run in and bring Ms. Malloy a glass of tea, sugarplum?” Setting the child down, Alicia aimed her for the porch and followed at a slightly more sedate pace.
“‘Kay, Leesha.” The screen door slammed behind Katie Sue.
Elly wanted to ignore the man lingering patiently among the children, but she was aware of him, aware of his indolent ease and the muscled length of his legs. Aware, too, of her son now slumped casually, familiarly, against the man’s side as Alicia continued to speak to her.
“It’s been a while since we’ve talked, Ms. Malloy. You must be relieved Tommy Lee’s dye job finally grew out, huh?” Alicia laughed and turned toward Royal Gaines, who hadn’t moved, his form a silent, pervasive presence. “Little stinker got into a bottle of hair bleach just before he and Elly moved here.”
He hadn’t. Elly had lied.
“Oh?” His expression hidden by the flicker of sun and shadows, Royal Gaines tipped his chin in Elly’s direction. “What happened?”
“Typical kid story.” She regarded him cautiously. Too much detail was bad. Too little made people overly curious. She had to remember, too, what she’d already told Alicia.
The truth was, that to change their appearance after one move, she’d dyed Tommy’s hair and her own. He’d been a redhead when they arrived in Palmaflora; she a muddy brunette who’d looked as if she’d been wrung out wet and hung up to dry. And she’d felt worse. She laughed ruefully, maintaining the pretense. “He figured out how to open the locked cabinet. Tommy Lee tends to beâcurious.”
“I see.” Again, as at the beach, his words seemed loaded with portent, with hidden meanings. “I can see him as a redhead. Kind of fits his personality.” Royal thumped Tommy Lee lightly on the head, giving him a modified “noogie.” “You a curious kind of guy, Tommy Lee?”
“Yep.” Impossible, but Tommy Lee edged even closer, his brown head tipping up toward the man who towered above him.
“Ms. Malloy, forgive me for not introducing him sooner, but this scoundrel is Royal Gaines. Royal, Ellyâ”
“We’ve met,” Elly said, nodding stiffly and avoiding the outstretched hand she glimpsed from the side of her eyes.
“Could even say we’re almost old friends.”
“Mr. Gaines saved Tommy Lee from a nasty dunking at the beach a few days ago.” Elly gripped her shoulder purse.
“Was not nasty.”
“Could have been,” Royal said with an easy jab against Tommy Lee’s back. “You need someone to teach you how to scuba for real. Divers buddy up, you know. You can’t go off on your own. You’ll scare your mama to death.”
Avoiding his gaze, Elly scrutinized the wooden floor. His words were meant for her, not Tommy, and she couldn’t tell if they were a warning or a threat. The man was as straightforward as a hairpin mountain road.
“Ms. Malloy, if you want to roam around while we’re having our story and snack, feel free. Or join us. Whatever.” Alicia waved a slim palm in the direction of the cool interior. “Usually, you’re in and out of here so fast.”
“Work. You know.” Uncomfortable, knowing Royal and Alicia were both watching her far too carefully, Elly nodded tensely.
Alicia swooped down on a boy who’d decided to pry up the screen of the porch. “Sure do.”
“Not me,” Royal drawled.
“And whose fault is that?” Alicia rounded on him as she handed the boy a sponge ball and directed him away from the door. “Don’t expect sympathy from me.”
“Didn’t ask for any, Leesha.”
“True.” Alicia scowled at him, and Elly felt the chill of her disapproval even though it was directed at the golden-haired man opposite them. “You’re a fool, Royal. That’s what I know. And what I’ll tell you, as your friend, even though you didn’t ask for my opinion.”
“Nope, sure didn’t. Not asking for it now, either, gorgeous.”
With a murmur for adult ears only, Alicia added with an embarrassed lift of one sleek black eyebrow, “Royal’s a smart-ass sometimes.”
“Really? I’m flattered.” His shrug was a flick of movement in the corner of Elly’s eye. Leaning forward, his voice as low as Alicia’s but with an edge that Elly didn’t understand, he said, “And here I thought I was just a dumb fool.”
“Hush up, Royal. I’m talking to Tommy Lee’s mama. You be good, hear?”
“But being good takes so much effort. And it’s so much more fun being bad. You should try it, Leesha.”
Elly swallowed. She knew what kind of bad he was talking about. And this time, he wasn’t talking to Alicia. Once more, Elly knew his words were meant for her. That bourbon-rough drawl was a feather running teasingly over her skin, up close and very personal, and she wasn’t in any shape to deal with him today. If ever. He was too complicated, too overwhelming.
“Unlike you, buster, some of us don’t have time to be bad.” Alicia frowned again at Royal. Picking at a sandspur clinging to her skirt, she addressed Elly. “Truly, I am sorry we’re so far behind schedule. It’s my fault for not sitting on Royal and keeping him to the straight and narrow.”
“Ah, Leesha, don’t leave yourself wide open for a comeback.” The twitch of Royal’s mouth was wickedly mischievous.
Elly blinked. So much devilry in the flash of his eyes from Alicia to her. She blinked again, processing the scene. For that’s what it was, she decided slowly. A scene. With Royal Gaines as director, writer and actor. And who was the audience? Elly took a deep, steadying breath, finally understanding. She was. But that left a bigger question. Why? What was Royal Gaines after?
Opening cautiously, the screen door poked Alicia’s hip. Katie Sue poked her head around the door shyly and stuck out a plastic tumbler. “Here.”
Alicia took the sweating glass and handed it to Elly. “I think it’s lemonade. That okay?”
“Sure.” Elly sipped gratefully. “Thanks, Ms. Williams, Katie.”
“You’re welcome, and Lala says time for cookies. Or else she’s goin’ to throw them in the garbage. And she said she will, no foolin’, so get your patooties in right now.” The little girl gave Tommy Lee a limpid peek. “And Lala said you kin lead the line today, Tommy Lee, ‘cause you wiped down the counter for her. Even if you did bust open four eggs on purpose.”
Elly winced.
“Wanted to see the guts,” Tommy said reasonably.
Alicia snickered, and Royal shifted, his polished loafers catching Elly’s full attention.
The fallen angel of her memory was nothing like this cleaned-up, spit-shined man standing off to her side.
This was Lucifer on a mission, Lucifer focused and intent and frighteningly powerful. Beautiful in his arrogance and power. A man to take a woman’s soul away and leave her spinning, drifting in darkness. In that moment, meeting Royal Gaines’s bright green gaze, she was dizzy, the world shrinking suddenly to that narrow space between them, that space that filled with heat and tension and made her bones soften and melt.
From a distance, she heard Alicia. “C’mon, guys.” Riding over the noise, Alicia’s voice carried authority. “Line up. Right, Tommy Lee. If Lala said you’re first, that’s the way it is.”
And then, breaking the link, releasing her and leaving her limp, drained, Royal spoke to her son. “Go ahead, tiger. I’ll wait until you’re ready to go. I’ll visit with your mom.”
Hearing that, Elly almost snatched Tommy Lee out of the line and hustled him home. Instead, she watched her son square his shoulders, step away from Royal and march importantly to the front of the straggly line, throwing a comment over his shoulder to Royal. “Lala likes having me help her. I am very helpful, she says.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Royal’s face was expressionless. “I can imagine.”
Elly could, too. She knew her son.
Led by Tommy and followed by Alicia, the last of the co
okie line trailed through the screen door. Her son’s voice echoed from the far reaches of the house. Tommy was happier at the Sunshine Center than he’d been in months. How could she uproot him again? How could she not?
“So.” Royal folded his arms across his chest.
“Yes. So.” Elly couldn’t put the contradictory images of him together. His shirt was expensively gorgeous. His shoes cost three hundred dollars a pair at least if she didn’t miss her guess. And she didn’t think she’d be off by much. She recognized expensive clothes. After all, she’d bought enough of them over the past ten years to know, and Royal Gaines was wearing very expensive clothing.
The scruffy man from the beach didn’t mesh with this man with his slicked-back hair and clean-shaved chin. A strong chin, determined. Even with the stubble of his beard, she’d noticed that stubborn jut. If this man ever set a course for himself, she didn’t think anything could detour him.
Wishing Tommy would hurry up, she fiddled with the clasp of her purse. “Come here often?”
“Used to. Usually once a week. Alicia talked some of us into reading to the kids, talking with them. Organizing a ragtag soccer team. You see, Alicia is very big on the importance of role models and community input.” He straightened from his leaning position, his broad shoulders blocking her view. “But I haven’t been here for a few months.”
Brushing back her hair, Elly let her hand skim the thin scar, her constant reminder of what was at stake if she let down her guard.
As she caught Royal’s gaze following her movement, she let her hand drop to her side, her bangs fluffing over her forehead and sticking to her skin in the humidity.
“Headache, Ms. Malloy? Heat getting to you even here on the porch?” He took her hat and wafted it over her face.
Nothing but courteous concern in his low drawl, but tension shot down Elly’s spine, and she wanted to jerk back from him. She didn’t. Instead, she fixed him with a level stare. “Not at all. Why would you think that?”
“Florida summers can be a problem if you’re not used to them.” Stirring the air, he passed the brim of the hat over her, closer to her arm, her cheek.
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