Where the Heart May Lead: A Clean Romance (Harlequin LP Heartwarming)

by Elizabeth Mowers

  “People who don’t love cats? Why? They’re only the best animals on the planet.”

  Paige caught eyes with Charlie and muffled a smile.

  “What makes you say so?”

  “For starters,” Lucy said, heaving an exaggerated breath, “they’re smart. They can hunt for survival. They clean themselves. They can climb the sides of buildings like superheroes. They have nine lives. And...they’re the cutest wittle things I’ve ever seen.”

  “You’re forgetting the best reason,” Charlie said, spying her in the rearview mirror. His niece’s face broke into a self-conscious grin as she pointed at him to explain.

  “Which is?” Paige asked, leaning closer. Charlie laughed as Lucy covered her face in embarrassment.

  “Lucy has the biggest, greenest cat eyes of anybody I’ve ever seen. Cats are pretty much her spirit animal.”

  “That’s the real reason my friends sometimes call me Cat. Plus, I love to wear headbands with cat ears.” She dug through her book bag before placing a headband with purple metallic cat ears on top of her dark brown mane.

  “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Cats are the greatest animal on earth.”

  “But you didn’t like them before, Paige?”

  “A person I used to live with had way too many cats, so I didn’t like them very much.”

  “Why didn’t you move out if they bothered you?”

  “I couldn’t at the time. I just had to learn to live with them.”

  “Couldn’t your roommate keep them in her room?”

  “There were too many to do that. Plus, our...uh...home...was really tiny.”

  “How many cats did she have?”

  Paige paused to think. “I don’t really know. At least eight at one point.”

  “Eight?”

  Charlie’s head snapped at the number. “Whoa. That’s a lot. Who was this roommate?”

  Paige tucked her hair behind both ears. “It was a long time ago. It wasn’t even worth mentioning. I’m not sure why I did.” She turned back to Lucy. “What do you prefer to be called? Lucy or Cat?”

  Lucy bounced forward in her seat as they pulled up to the beach. “Both. Unfortunately, there are two other girls named Lucy in my school, but I’m the only Cat.”

  “How did your parents come up with the name Lucy?” Paige asked.

  “They said it means light, and I’m the light of their life. How did your parents choose Paige?”

  Paige flinched.

  “They, uh, didn’t,” she mumbled. Charlie cut the truck’s engine. He flipped his keys in his hand.

  “Why?” Charlie asked. “Was it a family name they felt obligated to use or something?”

  Paige threw open her truck door and hopped onto the hot asphalt. By the time he had climbed out to join her, the question had been lost to the summer breeze, which carried the call of seagulls and the mist of lake water.

  Before he could blink, Paige had kicked off her shoes, tossing them up on the hood of the truck. She sprinted toward the sand, taunting Lucy to follow.

  He laughed and shook his head at the two scampering up and down the beach like puppies meeting each other for the first time. And as he watched Paige with her sun-kissed locks chase Lucy out toward the water, he couldn’t help but think the entire scene, with their instant camaraderie, was all somehow so familiar.

  * * *

  PAIGE KICKED A FAN of water at Charlie, splashing him just above the knees.

  “What was that for?” he said, reciprocating with an even larger water spray. She dripped from head to toe, blotches of watermarks spreading on her purple tank top, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t remember a day that came close to the joy she felt now. It was as if she’d woken up in a television commercial, strolling along the beach with a picture-perfect stand-in family of her own.

  “Come on, Paige,” Lucy shouted, leading her down the beach. “I have an idea!” Paige followed the little girl behind a sand dune and squatted down beside her. “I’ll lure him this way,” Lucy said, her voice tinged with excitement. “Then you run around and jump on his back. We’ll bury him in the sand. He won’t know what hit him.” Paige nodded in approval as she worked to lock the girl’s face to memory. They had the same silky textured hair, but Lucy’s was a dark brown that contrasted against her cream-colored skin. Running had flushed her fair cheeks to deep pink. She was a rare beauty, Paige thought. Lucy’s features reminded her so much of both her own and of the women in her family. She noted how Lucy had the dark hair of her own grandmother, and the button nose of her mother.

  “Don’t you want to be the one to tackle him?” Paige said in a whisper. Considering her only contact with Charlie consisted of light dancing the night before, she hesitated at the thought of jumping on him in a full-body tackle.

  Lucy peeked out from behind the sand barrier. “He’s coming in hot. There’s no time. Go!” Lucy jumped out and waggled her fingers at Charlie in a na-na-na-na-boo-boo fashion as Paige took her cue and scurried around the sand barrier. But when she was no more than a few yards around it, someone caught up with her from behind, tickling her.

  “Get away from me!” she hollered as Charlie sent her into convulsions of squirms and squeals. Paige could barely grasp for breath between her howls of laughter as Lucy jumped on top of them both. Charlie tickled his niece then, until she tried to tickle him back.

  Charlie burst into laughter and held Lucy off with one arm. “You can try your hardest, kid, but I’m not ticklish, remember?”

  “You’re not ticklish?” Paige said, brushing off sand.

  “Not a bit.”

  “That’s no fun.”

  He grinned as Lucy helped pull him to his feet.

  “Why? What did you have in mind?”

  Paige scrambled for a witty response, but before she could muster a reply, she was struck by the kindness reflected in Charlie’s smile.

  “I’m surprised,” she said. “I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t ticklish.”

  “You’re more than welcome to try.” He raised his arms out to his sides and beckoned her with a naughty grin. When she scowled back up at him, he tenderly brushed sand off her shoulders and ran a thumb over the tops of her cheeks.

  “That ought to do it. I hope you didn’t have fancy dinner plans for tonight. I’d hate for you to show up to a date looking like this, Freckles.”

  “No date tonight unless you’re asking.”

  His eyes fell serious as the short gap between them seemed to close without either of them moving. Paige wavered a step closer just to feel his breath warm her skin, but Lucy tugged at her.

  “What now, Paige?”

  “How about some ice cream?” she said, clasping the little girl’s hand snugly in her own.

  “For dinner?”

  “Why not? You only live once.” She blew a wisp of hair off her face and offered a sly smile.

  “I can already tell you’re trouble,” he said, answering his ringing cell phone. “Luce, it’s your mom.” His face fell in a serious grimace as he turned away to talk.

  “Not again,” Lucy muttered, sinking onto the sand.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s always something these days. They probably fought again.”

  “Do your mom and dad fight a lot?”

  Lucy shrugged her shoulders. She scooped a handful of sand and let it run slowly between her fingers. Paige held a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as Charlie returned.

  “Hey, kiddo. Mom wants you home for dinner, so let’s head back.”

  Lucy nodded and silently made her way to the car. Paige lagged, tugging on Charlie’s arm.

  “What was that all about?”

  “I need to get her home. Can I drop you somewhere?”

  “You can drop her first if you need to. I don’t mind.”

 
; He nodded and hurried ahead to let Lucy into the truck. Paige picked up her pace but wondered why. What was going on with Mara and Peter that had put Charlie and Lucy so immediately on edge? Whatever it was, she thought, she couldn’t go home until she was certain Lucy was safe and happy here.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  PAIGE IMAGINED CALLING Aunt Joan to tell her the news: she had found Lucy, and she was lovelier than either of them could have imagined. She didn’t want to act too eager, but it was all she could do to keep from desperately concocting a plan for another outing. After the playtime on the beach ended so abruptly, she needed another outing to snap a picture of Lucy. She knew it would be one of the first things Aunt Joan would ask about. Perhaps they could go pick out fabric for Lucy’s storybook costume or grab dinner or hit the beach again or go for a bicycle ride or...

  As Charlie swung his truck into the driveway, Mara popped up from the porch steps and sprinted to them. For as beautiful as Paige had originally thought her, she now looked tired and anxious. Her silky brown hair was twisted in a ratty topknot, and dark circles had appeared under her eyes as if developing just from that morning.

  “Uh-oh,” Charlie muttered under his breath as Mara hurried for the back door of the cab, bypassing Charlie completely. He rolled down his window. “What’s the matter, sis?”

  Mara wrapped Lucy in a bear hug before the little girl could wrangle her book bag and body out of the truck. Paige watched in envy as Mara squeezed her eyes shut and buried her nose in Lucy’s hair. Perhaps if she hung around town long enough to get close to Lucy, she could soon hug her that way too.

  “You were gone too long. I missed you, baby,” she said, pressing Lucy’s cheeks between her palms. Lucy groaned and slung her book bag up over her shoulder.

  “Mom, I was only gone an extra hour.”

  “I know, I know. I’m only teasing. Go wash up for dinner.”

  As Lucy jogged toward the house, Mara leaned into Charlie’s door.

  “Paige, I’m sorry about how things went this morning. I don’t know what’s wrong with my husband. He needs a copywriter even if he doesn’t know it.”

  “No worries.” Paige smiled. The truth was, things were working out just fine for her on their own. Mara glanced between her and Charlie.

  “You two seem to be getting along.”

  Paige smiled politely. “Charlie and I met yesterday.”

  “Charlie told me the story after you left the pitch meeting.”

  “What’s going on, Mara?” he said. “Why did we have to get Lucy home?”

  Mara rubbed her fingers against her temple. “I wanted her back as soon as I heard. It figures Peter would be gone when things hit the fan. He’s always away or busy these days when I really need him—”

  “Mara,” Charlie said, his tone growing impatient. “What on earth is going on?”

  “I got a phone call today from Dr. Hathaway.”

  “Who?”

  Paige clenched her jaw, attempting to keep her face as neutral as possible even as the name completely shocked her. Dr. Hathaway had been there during the darkest time of her life, although back then she’d called him Dr. Bob.

  “The doctor who helped us adopt Lucy. He called all in a tizzy, and now I’m in a tizzy.”

  “It doesn’t take much, sis. You freak out quickly these days.”

  “Ha ha. Very funny. Well, this is serious, and I have no idea what I’m going to do.” Mara smoothed her hair off her face as her eyes darted to Paige. “I’m sorry to go on about this in front of you, Paige. Just the joys of motherhood.”

  “You don’t have to talk about anything personal in front of me,” Paige said even though her ears were pricked with a desperation to hear every word.

  “Paige is fine, Mara, but if you don’t spit it out—”

  “Dr. Hathaway talked to someone who helped put Lucy up for adoption. He told us back when he brought her to us that he knew Lucy’s adoptive mother, but he didn’t disclose her personal information, just like he didn’t tell the mother where Lucy was going.

  “The birth mother, or someone who knows her, contacted him this week trying to get information. The two of them went twenty rounds, as he described it, until he finally managed to end the conversation. He didn’t think much of it until this afternoon when it dawned on him that he had slipped and mentioned Little Lakeside Sports by name. At the time he didn’t think he gave anything away, but then today—”

  “Slipups happen. Isn’t he an old man by now?”

  “He was an old man ten years ago when he brought us Lucy, so yeah.”

  “Does he think the mother wants to hurt Lucy?”

  “I don’t think so. If he trusted her then, I don’t see why he wouldn’t trust her now. What I’m really concerned with is...”

  Paige held her breath. What dots had Mara connected in the short time since speaking with Dr. Hathaway? Her heart hammered the inside of her chest, waiting for Mara to suddenly snap her attention and point an accusatory finger at her.

  “We didn’t go through the proper channels to adopt Lucy. Lucy practically fell in our lap overnight, thanks to Dr. Hathaway. He fudged paperwork to make it all happen. To protect her.”

  Charlie’s brow furrowed. “Why on earth would he cut corners on something as important as an adoption? Why would you? Was it anything illegal?”

  “It was all in Lucy’s best interest, Charlie. I assure you. He told us Lucy was in a lot of danger and needed to be adopted as quickly, and discreetly, as possible. But now, based on the conversation he just had...” Mara’s eyes flooded with tears as she croaked out her words. “It’s been ten years and then to have someone call out of the blue? What if the birth mother wants her back?”

  Charlie gently cracked open his truck door and slipped out in a seamless maneuver to embrace his sister. His tan biceps flexed as Mara’s face disappeared into his chest.

  As she watched the siblings sway gently back and forth, Paige couldn’t help but wonder how fragile their adoption contract really was. Mara was worried enough, that was for sure. If Dr. Bob hadn’t gone through the proper channels, Lucy’s future could have veered in a completely different direction, if the right people, or person, knew about it. Aunt Joan and Uncle Craig had been right: checking in on Lucy had been the wise decision if only to learn this tiny, but important, detail.

  “It’s going to be fine, Mara,” Charlie said. “We won’t let anything happen to Lucy. She’s your daughter, and no one can take her from you. I won’t let them.”

  Paige drew her focus out her own window. Her shortsightedness had been foolish. Instead of hoping for the next outing with Lucy, she needed to think what was in her best interest for the long run. Even though she wanted to tell Mara and Charlie the truth, after ten years of not allowing herself to utter Lucy’s name out loud, she couldn’t bring herself to spill the little girl’s ugly past now. There was a reason she and her aunt and uncle had vowed complete secrecy. There was a reason she had changed her name and stayed off the grid as much as possible. As much as it pained her to realize it, just being in the same town as Lucy might be a tragic mistake. If she had been followed here...

  She glanced longingly at Charlie, wishing she could tell him the truth and then slip up into his arms with complete vulnerability like Mara did. No one had ever made her feel the same sense of peace and safety as Charlie had in just two short days. But the sad truth was that carrying on with him any longer might only lead to trouble, not just for him but for Lucy as well.

  * * *

  PAIGE REACHED FOR her door handle before Charlie had even downshifted to Park.

  “In a hurry?” he asked, removing his sunglasses. She bit the inside of her cheek. She could spend every waking moment enjoying his presence, but she’d used the drive back to her motel to convince herself of the truth: hanging out with Charlie would only hurt them both. He’d been quie
t on the drive, no doubt thinking about Lucy and Mara, so it had given her enough silence to get her thoughts in order. There wouldn’t be a future for them, no matter how much they liked each other. There couldn’t be a future. Life had dealt her a complicated hand, and Charlie would end up as her collateral damage if they continued.

  “It’s been a really long day, Charlie.”

  He cut the engine and rested his head on the seat back. “It sure has. I know now why I moved back here.”

  “You didn’t already know the reason?”

  “I knew a reason, but I didn’t know the reason. Do you believe things happen for a reason?”

  She shrugged. Her entire childhood had been one long continuous game of playing hot lava. Her days with Trudy consisted of one giant leap after another from stone to stone, trying to not get scorched. Unfortunately, wherever Trudy was involved, Paige had always been burned. Had there really been a reason to any of that?

  “I’m not sure, but you apparently think so.”

  “I knew I moved back here to help Mara—”

  “And to escape some kind of heartbreak?”

  His lips parted in surprise. “Well, aside from that, I think it’s a good thing I’m back. If any trouble with Lucy’s adoption develops, Mara will need the support.”

  Paige moved to touch her door handle again. “It looks like you have your hands full, then. I should get going.”

  “Are you brushing me off?”

  “I’m only in town for a bit, and you’re getting over a breakup of some sort. Then there’s this thing with Lucy’s adoption...” She sighed. “Starting something up with me right now is bad timing. You know it is.”

  “I know meeting you is probably the best thing that’s happened to me in a while, but if you don’t feel any chemistry between us, I can take a hint. I know when I’ve scared a woman off.”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “You haven’t scared me off.”

  “Good.” He smiled. “Because I’ve never actually scared a woman off before. I’m really likable.”