The Reluctant Daddy

by Helen Conrad

  She licked her dry lips. “Tony, please don’t wait too long. I really want to get going on this.”

  “Sure, sweetheart,” he said in that reassuring voice that was meant to smooth over problems, but didn’t manage to convince Glenna. “I’ll give you a ring when I’ve got a minute. See you soon.”

  She hung up, biting her lip. She’d known Tony since she’d started taking classes at the college. He’d taught a theater-arts class she’d taken for general-education credit, and he’d encouraged her to join his drama group. She’d gone to a few meetings, but hadn’t had time to pursue it. Still, she had become friendly with Tony, and he’d told her all about his show-biz ties. Once she’d developed her video-production scheme, she’d gone to him for advice, and he’d offered to help. But offers and action were two different things. If he didn’t come through, she was going to have to contact someone in Los Angeles or New York, and she didn’t have a clue whom to write to. Tony was the only person she knew who had the kind of contacts she needed. Sighing, she turned away and headed for her homework. That, at least, she could control.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  GLENNA TRIED TO get back to the research she was doing for her child psychology class, but she couldn’t concentrate. Jimmy and Megan came running through the room, shrieking at each other, with Drew Stirling after them. She grabbed them both, thanked Drew gratefully for playing horsey with them, and took them off to bed.

  When Yes! Yogurt’s handsome sales manager had moved into the boardinghouse, Patrick had teased Glenna unmercifully about a possible romance. But nice as Drew was, Glenna had never felt anything but friendship for him. She was often glad that both Jimmy and Megan had such a fine male role model around, a man who really seemed to enjoy kids.

  Half an hour later, she was back at her desk, but so restless she knew she couldn’t stay there. She had to get out of the house. Thoughts of trying to market her videos were forgotten, but the problems regarding the fire and her suspicions wouldn’t leave her alone. Where would she go? Whom could she talk to who might help put her mind at ease about these horrible doubts and worries she was carrying inside?

  Lee Nielsen.

  The name echoed in her mind. Of course. He was the source of her apprehension. He could also be the one to lay those fears to rest, if only he gave her the right answers.

  Making some vague excuse as she asked her dad to keep an eye open for her kids, she put on her coat with the fur-lined hood and went out into the chilly, dark night, driving toward Granny Rose’s Bed-and-Breakfast, her mouth set with determination.

  She parked a little way down the street and turned off her engine and lights. The house was awash in simple charm, with its gingerbread trim and twin turrets and the wide, curving front porch that reminded her of an age gone by. Spotlights had been placed to set off the decorative structure, and Glenna sat and looked at the place and tried to frame the questions she would ask, the demands she would make of this man. But before she could get a fix on them, the front door of the house opened and someone stepped out, turning up his collar as the cold hit him.

  Her jaw tightened. It was Lee. She watched as he came down the front steps, looked up and down the sidewalk and started walking toward Gunther Street.

  He was taking a walk. He was out in the open, alone and vulnerable.

  “Great,” she muttered, reaching for the door handle. “Perfect, in fact. Lee?” she called from a few feet behind him.

  He turned and looked at her in surprise. “Glenna?”

  “Yes,” she said, coming up to stand before him. “It’s me.”

  She didn’t know what reaction she’d expected, but something friendly, at the very least. Everyone she’d seen for the past two days had acted as though Lee was rather interested in her, and so she’d come to believe it herself. But what she saw in his face told a very different story.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, his face shadowed and unreadable in the dark. But his tone was not inviting, and she felt as though she’d intruded.

  Paradoxically, that made her more determined to do what she’d set out to accomplish. “I want to talk to you,” she said firmly. “We need to get some things straight.”

  He hesitated a beat too long before answering her, and she had the feeling he was looking for a way to brush her off, but finally decided against it. “I was just going to walk over to the square to see the Christmas lights,” he said at last. “Want to come along?”

  Lifting her chin, she nodded. “Yes. That would work.”

  They walked along in silence. He wasn’t feeling much like talking. He’d come out to walk off the effects of an ugly phone call with his ex-wife. He wanted to be alone, to let the anger rage through him until he’d calmed down again, to get it out of his system. He hadn’t wanted company.

  In his experience, most women felt every moment of silence had to be filled with aimless chatter, and he prepared himself for it. But Glenna seemed to sense he wasn’t ready to talk just yet, and she held her peace. He had to appreciate that, and as they walked down the silent street, he began to enjoy the feeling of having her along.

  He didn’t turn on Gunther, but kept straight on, and soon they were walking past the elegant old homes of some of the wealthier members of Tyler society.

  “Which one is the Ingallses?” he asked without preamble.

  She pointed out the large, white house at the corner of Elm Street. The Ingalls mansion looked elegant as well as inviting. Lights were on all over the house and holly-berry decorations hung from decorative lampposts along the walkway to the front door. An expensive, late-model car stood in the driveway, along with various compact sedans. Music could be heard coming from a back room. It seemed the family had gathered for the evening. Glenna wondered if Tisha was there.

  “Alyssa Ingalls married a Baron,” he began, as though he were going to recite a genealogy.

  Glenna nodded. “And had Jeff, Amanda and Liza. Alyssa is married to Edward Wocheck now, but the place still seems the same.”

  “I’ve met Liza,” he noted. “She’s quite a character.”

  Glenna swung around, ready to defend her friend, but he was smiling, so she calmed herself.

  He noted her reaction with amusement, then took a really good look at her for the first time that evening. She had pushed back the hood of her parka, but the thick fur still framed her face, setting off just how pretty and fresh-faced she was. There was something about that sweet, shy, yet determined look she had that made him smile, made something calm inside him.

  And that was nice. He needed it. As they walked, he lifted his head and took in the scent of wood smoke in the air and slowed his steps a little.

  “Did she convince you to stop investigating her grandfather?” Glenna asked as a way to begin her probe.

  His laugh was low and rumbling. “She spent more time trying to convince me to leave you alone,” he noted.

  Glenna stopped in her tracks. “What?” she cried. This was too much. What was wrong with everyone? Were they all crazy? Or was she missing something? She knew living in a small town meant everyone knew your business, but this was ridiculous.

  He stopped, too, and grinned down at her. “She called me a rodent and warned me she would be the exterminator if I did any gnawing on your property.”

  She stared at him for a moment, then a look of skepticism swept over her pretty face. “She did not,” she declared, searching his eyes and finding only laughter. “I don’t believe you.”

  He shrugged. “It was pretty scary,” he teased as they went back to walking.

  “Oh, sure,” she scoffed. “I imagine you were terrified.”

  “I was. You should have seen the look in her eye when she enumerated which parts she was planning to rip from my body if I hurt you.”

  “Hurt me?” She threw up her hands. “That�
��s—that’s just silly. I’m sorry she did that. She had no call to say any such thing.”

  “No,” he said sensibly, glancing at her again, because he enjoyed looking at her face. “It’s not silly. It’s sort of nice. That means she really cares about you.”

  He was right, of course, but she was still humiliated. “Just the same, ignore what people say. They think I need protecting for some reason.”

  At the next corner they turned left, in the direction of the town square. Only a few houses had their Christmas decorations up as yet, but the square far ahead was ablaze with lights, setting off a golden haze that could be seen for blocks.

  They were quiet again, looking ahead to the lighted area as though it were a beacon. Lee was walking with the collar of his leather jacket turned up and his hands in his pockets, but he had a sudden urge to put an arm around Glenna’s shoulders, to make this more companionable. He resisted, but it was there, and he knew it had as much to do with how he felt right now as it did with her very considerable charms.

  He needed comfort, and at the same time, he had a need to comfort someone else. It was as simple as that.

  The phone call from Shelley had been short and sweet. Was she going to be available for Christmas? he’d asked. No, sorry, she was flying to Florida with her new, fabulously wealthy boyfriend. Well, then, could he have the kids while she was gone?

  Sure, he could see the kids if he liked, but he would have to go to Florida to do it. Good old Buddy, the new boyfriend, had invited them along. He wanted to take them to the Kennedy Space Center and Epcot. The kids were so excited. Lee could stand on his court-ordered rights, of course, and make them stay home for Christmas if he wanted to. But she didn’t advise it.

  Hell no. What was a father when Florida attractions beckoned?

  “We’re just not that sort of family any longer,” Shelley had told him. “The kids are too old for that traditional stuff. Get over it, Lee. Make yourself a new life with someone else. I really think you should. You need something.”

  Damn right he needed something. He needed his kids back. He needed a home, someplace he belonged. But right now he didn’t see any hope that he was going to get either one, ever again.

  The temptation, of course, was to lose that empty feeling with a good hot night of lusty lovemaking. He glanced at the woman beside him and almost laughed aloud. No, not with someone as straight arrow as Glenna. What he needed was some sexy babe looking for a fling herself—that would be the answer. He wasn’t out to hurt anyone, just to make himself feel a little better. Too bad that never seemed to be an option for him. He sighed. Yeah, he talked a good game, but when it came down to it, he didn’t follow through. He didn’t think he’d had a real night of anonymous sex in his life.

  More’s the pity, he mused to himself.

  But Glenna was looking at him strangely, as though she could sense what he was thinking about.

  “What was it you came to talk to me about?” he asked her abruptly, beginning to feel it might be best to get this interview over with and Glenna out of reach before his need for consolation overcame his scruples.

  She turned her face up to his and looked at him narrowly. “I just felt I had to come to talk to you because...well, I’ve been so angry tonight.”

  He stopped in surprise. “Angry? Why?”

  “Because...” It was hard to put into words, but looking at him gravely, she made the attempt. “Some people in this town like you, you know? I mean, really like you.”

  He stared at her for a moment, thinking she must mean something other than what she was saying, but then he threw back his head and laughed. “Is that so bad?”

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “They don’t seem to understand how dangerous you are.”

  So that was it. He sobered, frowning. This was the crux of the matter, the ironic part of every job he took. He pushed aside a drooping branch as they passed and responded with impatience. “Glenna, that’s not fair,” he said shortly. “I’m not the one who’s dangerous.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “No.” His mouth tightened. “The facts may be dangerous. I just find them out.”

  She shook her head, not ready to let him off that easily. “No, that’s not true. Sure, facts are facts. But it’s what you do with them that counts. You see them from your own point of view and you set them out in your own way.”

  He grimaced. They were passing a hedge that needed trimming, ducked under another branch leaning out over the sidewalk. “What are you saying, Glenna?” he asked, though he knew damn well.

  She grasped his arm and turned to face him. “I just want you to keep in mind what will happen to this town if you declare arson.”

  He let out his breath in a huff. “Believe me, I have been made well aware of it. Everyone I meet reminds me.”

  She gazed at him for a moment, then nodded slowly and started walking again. “Well, I just reminded you again,” she said. “Sorry. But there it is.”

  She was so open, so honest, he couldn’t take offense. “Okay. You’ve done your duty as you see it.” His tone was light, almost teasing. “And if you’re not going to offer a bribe...”

  Her head snapped around. “I never said anything about a bribe.”

  He shrugged and sighed. “I know.”

  She gazed up at him curiously as they walked. “Do people actually try to bribe you?”

  “On occasion.”

  Bribery hadn’t entered her mind before, but if only she had a pot of gold somewhere... “With what?” she asked curiously, frowning at the thought. “Money?”

  “Sometimes.”

  She hesitated, but she had to ask. “You’ve never taken it, have you?”

  His wide mouth twisted in something resembling a smile. “If I had, I certainly wouldn’t be telling you about it.”

  Another thought occurred to her, brought on by something in his eyes, the way he’d shrugged and turned from her. “Did you...did you think I was going to try to bribe you? When I started talking about this, I mean?”

  He looked off at the dark, cloudy sky. “The thought did flicker through my mind,” he admitted.

  She wished he would look at her so she could smile and he could smile back and they would both be sure this was a joke. “But I don’t have any money.” Her short laugh sounded ragged, even to her ears. “What could I possibly bribe you with?”

  He turned and looked down at her with one eyebrow raised. Could she really be this naive? He eyed her for a moment and then went ahead and said it. “A night with your tender body would do.”

  He saw the shock reach her eyes, and he shook his head, turning away again. “That would actually be a lot more tempting than other things I’ve been offered,” he muttered, letting his finger run along the points of a picket fence.

  Glenna’s outrage spilled over and suddenly she had to almost run to keep up with him. “Do you mean to tell me that if I—”

  Turning on a dime, he grabbed her by the shoulders and swung her around in front of him, his face hard, intense. “All I said was it would be tempting. I didn’t say it would work. I don’t play the bribe game, Glenna. What the hell do you take me for?”

  “I don’t know,” she said softly, searching his eyes. “What should I take for you?”

  He stared down into that midnight-blue gaze for a moment, felt a surge of something he would rather not feel, grimaced and let her go. Making a conscious effort, he smiled at her and held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go see those lights. They’re just ahead.”

  She took his hand tentatively, looking at the way his long fingers curled around hers, and he swore at himself, silently but viciously. His inner turmoil wasn’t her fault. He had to watch it, keep a more even keel here. She was so damn pretty. And he was such a jerk.

  They came out onto the square but, a
s if by agreement, kept to the shadows, skirting the crowds gathered in front of the town hall and post office, other townspeople who, like them, had come to see the lights.

  Glenna noticed that Lee was steering them away from the others, and she was glad. She wanted to stay in the shadows herself, away from prying eyes. She glanced up at his face as he examined the lights and felt a glow of pride in her hometown when she saw that he was impressed. They were gorgeous, better this year than ever. The two of them stood for a few moments, just looking, soaking in the golden ambience, listening to the music of “Silent Night,” coming from Gates Department Store. A Santa Claus gazebo had been erected in the middle of the square, near the huge decorated tree. Three real reindeer were in a pen near the gazebo and children were lined up to get a close look at them.

  A lump rose in Glenna’s throat. It was touching, emotional and part of her tradition. She loved it.

  Lee’s hand tightened on hers. “It’s almost like Las Vegas,” he said, looking down at her with a grin.

  “Las Vegas! No way,” she cried, scandalized. “This isn’t garish. This is celebratory.”

  “Yeah, and you can tell the difference.”

  “Of course.”

  They laughed together and he squeezed her hand, liking her more all the time. The other day at her house he’d been half attracted, half trying to get a rise out of her, trying to get information. This was different. This was a lot more real and a lot more fun.

  They turned down Morgan Avenue, starting back. A car full of teenagers came careening around the corner and a hand shot out of the window, then a voice yelled something unintelligible and Glenna, reacting automatically, waved.

  Lee turned and stared at her as the car disappeared around the next corner. “Who the hell was that?” he demanded.

  She blinked at him. “I don’t know. Just some local kids, I guess.”

  He stared at her a moment longer, then shook his head with a slight smile. “In the city when a carload of strangers drives by and yells something, you duck. Here, you wave. Amazing.”