At 3:00 p.m. in the Children’s Connection offices, Brian, Carrie and Jillian gazed at Lisa sympathetically.
Marian Novack let the agitated Jillian take the floor. “I couldn’t tell you about any of this because it’s Children’s Connection confidential business. We didn’t want a hint of it to get out. A few weeks ago, we were threatened by Timothy’s birth father, Thad Preston. He claims he was coerced into giving Timothy up for adoption and said he might file a lawsuit. Jordan Hall, the lawyer we use from Morrison and Treherne, is handling it.”
“Hall should handle it really well,” Brian muttered. “He charges an arm and a leg.”
“Jordan’s definitely in the law business for the money,” Marian agreed, “but he’s good. The problem is that he’s out of town for a few days. We can meet with him as soon as he gets back.”
Lisa wondered if Jillian would have told her about all this if she’d only confided in her about the first note. What came first—friendship or Children’s Connection business? What came first—love or the way love fit into your life?
“I think we should meet with him,” Carrie agreed. “I have to admit, this really scares me. Can you tell us what Mr. Hall thinks about it?”
“Yes, I can,” Marian said with a reassuring smile. “We believe Thad’s claim of coercion is baseless. Not only do we have Lisa’s word that he wanted nothing to do with her and the baby, which I admit could be disputed, but we also have a witness when Thad Preston signed the papers. It was one of his buddies. He told Jordan that Thad couldn’t wait to get rid of the responsibility.”
“What if his buddy changes his story and backs up what Thad says?” Brian asked.
“Apparently they had some kind of falling out,” Jillian explained. “I’m not sure what it was all about, but it had to do with football and the fact that Thad’s not playing anymore.”
“Not playing? That was his dream,” Lisa stated. When she and Thad were dating, he had talked about nothing else. “What if Thad does want to blackmail me? I don’t want my past revealed to the whole universe, and I’m sure Brian and Carrie don’t, either. I can move away and start over somewhere else, but I don’t want to.”
Carrie reached over to Lisa and squeezed her hand. “No, we don’t want publicity. We’ll do everything to avoid it. But if it all comes out, we’ll stand beside you.”
Lisa blinked fast. “You’ve already done so much for me.”
Carrie looked her straight in the eyes. “You’ve done so much for us. We have a son because of you, and you’re part of our family.”
Nothing else Carrie might have said could have warmed Lisa more. Her bonds with this couple and with Timothy would never be broken.
How could Alan ever make a choice to fit into a situation like this? She knew he wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to call him back.
And the next time she saw him?
They’d be discussing business. Brian would understand if she asked him to pull her off the golf resort project. Right now that was the only solution she could see.
Alan would never understand women.
When he opened the heavy steel door leading into one of the community’s fire halls, he replayed his conversation with Brian. Lisa hadn’t shown up at a meeting for the golf resort and Alan had questioned why.
Looking uncomfortable, Brian had tried to explain. “She told me she’d rather work on a Hawaiian project, so I transferred her over.”
Alan had sworn. He’d been looking forward to seeing her, talking with her, getting everything straightened out. “That’s a bunch of hogwash,” he’d insisted. “She’s avoiding me, and you’re helping her.”
Brian had looked surprised that Alan had put it on the table like that. “Yeah, maybe I am,” he’d said, rubbing his face. “But there’s a lot going on in her life right now.”
“For instance?” Alan had inquired angrily.
For a brief moment, he’d thought Brian was going to tell him the truth. Instead, his friend and colleague stalled for a few seconds, then gave him a sly smile. “Look. I can’t interfere with what’s going on between the two of you. But I can tell you this. Lisa’s involved in raising money for a teen homeless shelter. There’s a dance-a-thon at the fire hall on Saturday night. If you want to ‘run into’ her,” he’d added almost mischievously, “that might be the place to do it. You’d catch her off guard and just maybe she’ll tell you what’s going on.”
Catch her off guard was exactly what Alan was going to do.
Instead of looking like a fire hall in typical fund-raising mode, filled with tables holding fried chicken and roast beef dinners, the entire space had a different atmosphere tonight. A colored strobe ball dangled from the ceiling. Couples were dancing. Right now, the DJ was playing something from the sixties. There was one long table, where several people seemed to be signing up couples.
Alan spotted Lisa immediately. She was wearing a long-sleeved, belted jumpsuit in a shade of green that he knew was the same color as her eyes, as well as the ever-present locket. Her blond hair caught shimmers of white light from the peripheral lamps as she attached a number to a young man’s back.
Since, before he cornered Lisa, Alan wanted to know how the whole thing worked, he spoke to a young couple just entering the fire hall. They explained they each had people sponsoring them who were giving a donation for every half hour they danced. Alan was very glad he’d brought his checkbook.
Glancing at Lisa, he realized talking to her and straightening out everything was as important as kissing her and taking her to bed again. That threw him. Since when had a woman mattered so much?
Was he just in this for the chase? She’d left him, and so presented a challenge. But after thinking about her the past few days, he’d realized that wasn’t it at all. Yes, Lisa Sanders was a challenge, but he liked being with her. In the past, when he’d asked women out, both he and the woman usually figured they’d end up in bed. Yes, that had happened with him and Lisa, too, but they hadn’t started out knowing that. And now he didn’t know if she’d ever sleep with him again. He remembered the feel of her tucked into his arms. He remembered her nestling against him in the night, her perfume becoming a familiar scent that he reacted to whenever he inhaled it. It was almost like the aroma of cinnamon in home-baked goodies at Christmastime. It evoked sensations he didn’t know if he’d ever felt before.
And that was the gist of it. Everything was new with Lisa. He wasn’t going to let her run from him without telling him why. He deserved an explanation.
He’d dressed casually tonight in a navy Henley shirt and khakis, and he saw he fit right in. No one was really dressed up, probably because this was more like an athletic competition than a dance.
During his conversation with the couple, he’d noticed Lisa take a seat at the table. Another woman was now attaching the numbers. That suited his purposes just fine.
Crossing to the table, he got in line behind a couple who were registering. They presented their sponsor slips.
He heard Lisa tell them, “After you receive your numbers, give these to the timekeeper over by the stage. Every half hour you dance, check in with him. He’ll make sure you get an official form when you’re all through that you can give your sponsors. Thanks so much for coming tonight and helping out.”
As Alan heard Lisa’s words, he knew they weren’t just a pat phrase. She really was grateful the couple had come. Was she so interested in helping teens who didn’t have homes because she had had to live somewhere she wasn’t welcome?
The couple moved away and Lisa jotted down something on a clipboard in front of her. When she looked up, her expression was priceless. It was a combination of surprise and shock—and maybe even a little bit of joy at seeing him?
“What are you doing here?” she asked, before he could even say hello.
“It’s nice to see you again, too.” His tone was dry and he wondered just how hard this was going to be.
“You’re not wearing your hat. I almost didn’t recogniz
e you.”
Uh-oh. They were going to have to make small talk. So be it. “You said when I wore my hat, it shadowed my face. I didn’t want any shadows tonight.”
At that, her shoulders squared and she sat up straighter. “Alan, this isn’t the time or place—”
“My phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook and my pride kept me from calling you. I agree, we can’t have an intimate conversation here.” He lowered his voice. “But we are going to have one.”
She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him, and he felt the same way about her. Still she protested, “I’m helping with registration and numbering the couples. I can’t leave.”
“I don’t want you to leave. I want you to dance with me. I’ll be our sponsor. Five hundred dollars a half hour. Can you turn that down when you need donations?”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
The girl sitting next to Lisa jabbed her with her elbow. “You can’t turn down five hundred dollars a half hour.”
“Ariel, you don’t understand.”
“Sure, I do. Even though you haven’t told me about him, you have something going on with this guy. It’s obvious. So make us some money and dance with him.” She gave Lisa a sly grin. “If you don’t want to, I could manage to get free for a few hours.”
From the conversation, Alan guessed that the two women were friends.
“Thank you, Miss…” He trailed off, waiting for Lisa to fill in.
Chagrined, she made introductions. “Ariel Bridges, meet Alan Barrett, a man who thinks he always has to get his own way.”
He didn’t bother arguing with her. “Am I going to get my way tonight?”
Lisa looked as if she might refuse, so he added, “All I want to do is dance with you.”
Ariel nodded to the dance floor. “Oh, go ahead. The main rush is over. We’re just going to have stragglers coming in now.”
The marathon had started at noon to accommodate kids who couldn’t drive after curfew.
Alan held out his hand to Lisa. “Let’s get our numbers.”
He saw conflicting emotions play in her eyes, but then she acquiesced. “Ariel is right. I can’t turn down a donation like that.”
She could say that was why she was going to dance with him, but he knew better.
“Are you and Ariel good friends?”
After a brief hesitation, she replied, “Yes, we are. I’ve known her since I moved back to Portland. She used to work for Summers Development. She’s a paralegal now.”
As their numbers were attached to their backs, a fifties ballad began playing. They moved out to the dance floor and Alan took her into his arms, holding her loosely. She was stiff and tense and seemed to expect a confrontation of some sort. He didn’t try to pull her too close.
When she saw he wasn’t going to pounce on her in any way, shape or form, she said, “Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
“They didn’t wilt?”
“No, I took them home with me.”
“When I didn’t hear from you, I thought they might have ended up in the garbage.”
She didn’t reply to that gambit. Alan decided he couldn’t make small talk for the next half hour, or however long he stayed. “Why did you run off without a goodbye?”
She was silent for a long time as they danced to a song that was sweet and vulnerable and innocent in a way songs weren’t now. Finally, she answered him, “I was over-whelmed. What happened between us really shook me up. It was just too big to deal with and it still might be.”
“I’m glad I overwhelmed you. I want to overwhelm you. In a good way. I never intended to scare you or—”
“I wasn’t scared.”
He studied her intently.
“I wasn’t! You don’t scare me, Alan. In fact, just the opposite. What scares me are my feelings.”
Was she too young for the relationship he wanted between them? There was only one way to find out. “Spend the day with me tomorrow.”
“I can’t.”
Her answer had come much too fast. “You can’t or you don’t want to?”
“I’m going to be tied up here until morning and then I have to get a few hours of sleep. Around three I’m going over to Brian and Carrie’s to babysit Timothy. I’ll be there through the evening.” She looked away from Alan, over his shoulder for a few seconds, then her gaze locked to his. “Besides that…” The hesitation was back again.
“Besides that?” He wished she could trust him, depend on him, confide in him.
“I have some things going on in my life that are…complicated. I’m not sure what will happen next and it’s not something I can talk about.”
That shut him out, but only if he let it. “Are you involved with another man?”
“No!”
She was so adamant, her green eyes so wide, her expression so shocked that he’d think such a thing, he knew she wasn’t. “All right then. If you let me in, if you let me help, maybe everything wouldn’t be so complicated. Did you ever think of that?”
“I think about it all the time. But life just isn’t that simple, Alan.”
“I didn’t say life was simple.” Now he did pull her a little closer. The pulse at her throat was beating as rapidly as his. So he asked her the question he’d come here tonight to find the answer to. “Do you want me to walk away? Because I’ll do that if that’s what you want.”
As he watched her, her eyes grew shiny and she shook her head. He felt her take a deep breath and he honestly didn’t know what she was going to say next.
“How would you feel about coming to Brian and Carrie’s tomorrow evening and helping me with Timothy?”
Now he was the one to back up a few steps, figuratively speaking. “I haven’t been around kids since Christina was small.”
“You don’t like children?”
“I haven’t really thought about it. I loved Christina, but she was my daughter. I’ve got to admit I wasn’t around much when she was Timothy’s age. I’ve always gotten along with her friends, though. I suppose that should count for something.”
Instead of commenting, Lisa just waited.
Spending time with Lisa while they watched a three-year-old wasn’t exactly what Alan had had in mind. On the other hand, maybe she’d learn something about him and he’d learn something about her that they wouldn’t learn if it were just the two of them spending time together.
“Are you sure Brian and Carrie won’t mind if I come over?”
“I don’t think they’ll mind, but I’ll ask them and let you know.”
Since the moment he’d seen her tonight, he’d wanted to touch her…wanted to have the right to touch her. Now he pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. “You’re wearing the earrings I gave you.”
“I’ll never forget Valentine’s Day,” she murmured.
Or Valentine’s night, he silently added. When he bent his head to kiss her, she returned the kiss. As the song ended, he didn’t care if he emptied his checking account tonight. Dancing with Lisa would be worth every penny.
Chapter Eleven
Timothy, dressed in a red-and-white-striped shirt and navy overalls, perched on Lisa’s shoulders as she answered the door. The little boy grinned at Alan. “We’re playing horsey. Want to play, too?”
From Alan’s expression, Lisa couldn’t tell if the idea tempted him to join in or made him want to run in the other direction.
With a chuckle, Alan said, “How about if I come in and we talk about it?”
Lisa tried to glance up at Timothy, who had gone quiet. The idea of discussion was obviously a new concept for him.
“I think we should ask Mr. Barrett to come inside. We’ll take a little break and then have some supper with him,” she suggested.
“What’s for supper?” Timothy asked.
“Your mom said we should have chicken salad sandwiches and carrot sticks.”
“I want pizza.”
“Uh-oh.” Alan looke
d amused. “I think you need someone who’s skilled in the fine art of negotiation.”
“And you’re that person?”
“I’m the guy.”
Yes, he was the guy—the guy who turned her world upside down, the guy who made her heart race, the guy whose kiss made her dream about happily-ever-after.
Once inside, Alan looked as if he wanted to kiss her. Oh, how she wished he would. But they couldn’t do that in front of Timothy.
Alan must have been thinking the same thing because he broke his gaze from hers and bent down to the little boy. “Do you want to play horsey up on my shoulders or down on the ground?”
“On the ground.”
Minutes later Lisa laughed as Alan got down on all fours in the living room and Timothy climbed on his back, holding on to his shirt. Alan might have a daughter, but he certainly knew how to roughhouse, and Timothy loved it. Already Lisa knew Alan was a good father—she’d seen him with his daughter. But now she saw how good he could be with smaller children…with her son.
Thoughts of having more kids suddenly sprang to life, and she wondered what Alan would think about that. Maybe he didn’t even want to think about having more kids.
Alan’s negotiation skills showed he was an expert in the art of parenthood. He convinced Timothy that they’d order a pizza if he ate chicken salad, too.
After supper, they all played hide-and-seek. It was a big house and Timothy ran from room to room, hiding in what he thought were good places. When Lisa hid, she made sure she was far enough out in the open that Timothy could find her, and Alan did the same. They had him running all over the first floor. Finally, he began to yawn, and his eyelids drooped.
“Read me a story?” he asked Alan.
“Sure, cowboy. You pick one out, and after you get into your pj’s and brush your teeth, we’ll read it.”
Alan gave Lisa a wink as Timothy hurried upstairs.
“You’re good at this,” she stated.
“You’ve got to remember, I had some practice.”
Meaning, of course, that she hadn’t. And she hadn’t, really. She’d been away at college. If she told Alan all about it tonight, maybe he’d understand. Maybe he was the type of man who could.
Falling for the Texas Tycoon Page 14
