For His Daughter

by Dani Sinclair

Meredith giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. Lee caught Kayla watching them, a worried frown on her face.

  “If you’ll get me her things, we’ll be leaving,” Lee said.

  “You aren’t taking her anywhere.”

  He recognized the determination on Kayla’s face, but he also saw a strange uncertainty. “You can’t stop me,” he told her softly.

  “Fay left her in my care.”

  “And she’s my daughter. There’s no restraining order preventing me from seeing or even taking my child with me. Fay’s the one in trouble. She moved out of D.C. before the custody case was settled.”

  “Fay is Meredith’s mother. She has every right to move her child away from a hostile environment like the city.”

  “Is that why you moved back here?” he asked softly. “Did you find Washington a hostile place?”

  Her eyes glittered. “They don’t call it the murder capital for nothing.”

  “Things are getting better.”

  . “Ha. Anyhow, I don’t have to explain anything to you.”

  Lee stroked his daughter’s silky hair, too relieved to be holding her again to argue. “No, you don’t. Just give me her things and I’ll be on my way.”

  Kayla chewed on her bottom lip indecisively. Lee felt his tension mounting.

  “You’re going to run off with her,” Kayla stated. The words seemed to surprise her almost as much as they did him.

  Yeah. He’d been thinking of little else since he scooped his daughter into his arms. But now, holding her close, all the ramifications of going on the run with a small child hit home, How would Meredith fare with a father running from a murder charge? He’d have to work in order to support them and that meant leaving his daughter with strangers. The idea was untenable.

  He couldn’t do it. Meredith deserved better. He’d have to stay here in Fools Point and take his chances.

  “I’m only planning to take her as far as the park,” he told Kayla. “Meredith likes the swings.”

  “Swing, Daddy, swing!” she agreed enthusiastically.

  “Okay, my Merry maid. Swings it is. Let’s get your face washed off, okay?”

  “’Kay.”

  Kayla’s pale blue eyes weighed his words, measuring him. Slowly she nodded toward the back of the house. “The bathroom’s on the left. There should be some clean washcloths on the towel bar.”

  Thankful she had decided to cooperate, Lee headed in that direction without a word. His head pounded. The muzziness was taking its time wearing off, but his brain had started functioning again after a fashion. Every moment he spent with his daughter could prove costly to his chances of learning the truth. But if the police arrested him, he might never be allowed to spend time with his daughter at a park again.

  Lee decided the risk was worth the cost.

  They made a game out of cleaning their faces. He loved to hear his daughter’s infectious laughter. She would be a heartbreaker when she grew up. Heck, she already was.

  “Where’s Fay?” Kayla stood framed in the bathroom doorway. Her blondish brown hair fell around her face, nearly reaching her shoulders. Bangs feathered her forehead. The look was new for her, but the simple style suited her face perfectly. She wasn’t fashionably beautiful like Fay, but she was a woman a man would always look at a second time. There was something compelling about her features. And he found the light dusting of flour on her cheek dangerously endearing.

  “I’m afraid she doesn’t check her calendar with me anymore,” he replied.

  “Don’t be smart. She was supposed to pick Meredith up hours ago.”

  “Have you ever known her to be on time?”

  “Well, what am I supposed to tell her when she arrives?”

  “Tell her I’m enjoying Father’s Day a day late,” he bit out. He forced his muscles to relax and lifted Meredith from the counter where he’d perched her. “Come on, giggle-puss, we’re going to find some swings.”

  “I’m coming with you!” Kayla announced.

  Surprised, Lee raised his eyebrows. Then he decided not to look a gift horse in the face. This was a golden opportunity. He needed to ask Kayla about last night and a neutral setting seemed like a fine place.

  “You might want to take off the apron first,” he suggested.

  This time it was Kayla who looked surprised. Apparently, she hadn’t expected him to agree. Well, she was in for all sorts of surprises today.

  “What about Fay?” she demanded.

  “What about her?”

  “I can’t go off without letting her know.”

  Lee tried to shrug nonchalantly. “So, call her.”

  “I tried. She isn’t home.”

  “Look, Kayla, either you’re coming or you aren’t, but I’m not going to stand around waiting to have another verbal skirmish with my ex. Meredith and I are going over to the playground near the school. You can come or stay here.”

  It took her half a second to decide. Kayla reached for the ties to the apron. “Let me grab the house keys.”

  “Fine. You might also want to wipe the traces of flour off your face.”

  Kayla ran the apron over her face before dropping it onto the table. She wouldn’t meet his eyes again until they stepped outside. “Where’s your car?”

  “Over by the restaurant.”

  “Why?”

  “I was in no shape to drive it last night.”

  “You mean you walked all the way from the Bide Awhile?”

  “Fools Point doesn’t seem to have any public transportation. I guess I could have called you for a lift.”

  Kayla opened her mouth, looked down at Meredith and shut it quickly. “Would you rather walk or take my car?” she asked.

  “Let’s walk. Unless it’s too hot out here for you?”

  “I was thinking of Meredith.”

  “Do you have a car seat?”

  “No.”

  “We’ll walk. It’s only a couple of blocks.”

  Kayla nodded, looking more than a little ill at ease. Lee found it surprisingly difficult to ignore her and concentrate on his daughter. Meredith kept up a steady stream of excited chatter, only half of which he understood. But she held his hand so trustingly it nearly broke his heart.

  Eventually, Fay would have destroyed Merry’s innocence with her cold ways. Still, he really, truly hoped he hadn’t been the one to kill his child’s mother.

  Chapter Two

  Kayla decided she didn’t care if her actions were cowardly. She didn’t want to have to explain to Fay that she’d let Lee go off alone with Meredith. Besides, if she went with them she could study the man with his child.

  As they stepped from the porch into the bright summer sunlight, Meredith tugged her father’s hand to lead him across the street to the familiar shortcut she and Kayla used through the woods. Lee hesitated.

  “She’s right. It’s shorter than going down Main Street.”

  He nodded, matching his longer stride to his daughter’s much shorter steps. Lee acted different this morning. Almost jumpy. He kept scanning the area as if he expected trouble lurking behind every tree.

  “You can relax, you know. This isn’t the city. Fools Point doesn’t have criminals hiding behind every shrub.”

  Lee frowned, but didn’t respond to her slightly sarcastic comment. He let his daughter lead him along the narrow path while Kayla trailed behind. She wasn’t generally a man watcher, but she had to admit, Lee moved with a catlike grace that made watching him quite appealing.

  Fay had claimed Lee was abusive, and Kayla had never questioned that assertion. Lee was a lean, lithe man with a naturally athletic build. While extremely good-looking, he was a cop, and everyone knew cops bullied people.

  But watching father and daughter together, Kayla found it hard to believe Fay could be afraid for her daughter’s safety. Meredith wasn’t the least bit frightened of her father. Quite the opposite in fact. She hung all over Lee, touching him, chattering happily up at him. And Lee treated his daughter wit
h the same tender care Kayla could remember from her own father.

  The memory brought a sharp pang of hurt.

  Pushing aside the swell of bittersweet memories, Kayla focused on Lee. There was definitely something different about him this morning. An intensity that made her edgy. Kayla found herself becoming all too aware of Lee the man, instead of staying focused on Fay’s cop husband.

  Lee had always had a ridiculous effect on Kayla. He reduced her to uncertainty, making her heart stutter and her breathing erratic. She’d blamed that on his profession and her strong dislike of cops, but what if .that wasn’t the reason at all?

  Kayla cut off the direction of those thoughts.

  “I don’t bite.”

  She jumped, startled by the sound of his rough voice directed at her instead of Meredith. The child skipped ahead as they neared the clearing.

  “What did you say?”

  Lee’s lips curled in a tentative smile.

  “I said, I don’t bite. I’d have to know you a lot better first.”

  He added the last in a lowered tone that sent involuntary shivers up her spine. Why did he always have to flirt with her? She knew he did it deliberately to provoke her, and she refused to be attracted to this man. He was Fay’s ex-husband.

  “Ha. Don’t hold your breath,” she told him sharply.

  Meredith stopped running and looked back at Kayla with wide, anxious eyes. Instantly contrite, Kayla smiled at the little girl. “Do you want to swing or play on the slide?” she asked the child.

  “Swings!” Reassured that all was well again, Meredith began to babble as she hurried forward. Kayla found Lee watching her with a wistfulness that pricked her conscience. Giving Lee a wide berth over the years had become a habit, as had her defensive reactions to him.

  Meredith ran for the swings, where a group of other toddlers were already playing. Lee, however, paused to survey the open area. His caution was starting to annoy Kayla. He was carrying this macho cop image to extremes. She had to bite back a sharp comment, not wanting to ruin his time with his daughter.

  “I shouldn’t have snapped at you,” she offered, instead.

  “You’ve always treated me like a contagion,” he said quietly as they followed Meredith across the park.

  Because it was true, Kayla didn’t know how to respond.

  “I just don’t know you very well,” she temporized.

  “No. You don’t.”

  Lee followed his daughter, leaving Kayla surprised by the fervor underlying those simple words. That she held the power to hurt him had never occurred to her. She’d always wielded her animosity like a shield, not a weapon.

  Kayla took a seat on an empty bench feeling as though she’d just kicked a puppy. Not that anyone in their right mind would compare Lee Garvey to a puppy. A stalking panther, maybe. One with sensual grace and the superior assurance of an animal who was perfectly comfortable in his own skin.

  Good grief, she was really getting fanciful. Lee was just a man. An extremely handsome man with a crooked grin and dancing gray eyes that could turn as hard as a winter ice storm, or as warm as a summer sky.

  Like several others she’d had since he’d arrived on her doorstep, that thought disturbed her. Kayla didn’t want to see Lee as a handsome man. And she didn’t want to know that he was vulnerable in ways she would never have suspected. But watching him play with his daughter chipped away at her carefully erected barriers. Her usual defenses weren’t working.

  Fay had lied about him and Kayla knew it. Whatever the truth behind their stormy marriage, Lee loved his daughter deeply. His husky, mellow laugh filled the playground. Three young mothers clustered near the climbing gym, watching him with varying degrees of appreciative interest. One of the women caught Kayla’s eye and waved. She waved back but made no move to join them as she often did.

  She was caught up in her own perusal of Lee. Watching him now and remembering the scene last night was like watching two different men. Of course, Lee had been drunk last night. She’d seen that even from a distance, which was why she’d gone over to intervene in the first place.

  Her thoughts stuttered to a halt.

  No. If she was going to face some unwanted truths, she needed to admit she’d intervened last night because, even then, Kayla had suspected Fay of manipulating that scene.

  Why? What did Fay want from Lee?

  She considered Fay a friend, but Kayla wasn’t blind to her many faults. While it wasn’t Kayla’s place to judge, Fay was neither a good nor an attentive mother. Kayla often thought she found Meredith a major nuisance. Yet, Meredith was so easy to love. Her friendly outgoing nature made her a sweet child who was pathetically grateful for any show of affection. Several times Kayla had tried talking to Fay about the little girl, but Fay would always cut her short.

  Looking back, Kayla wondered why she had blindly accepted Fay’s contention that Fay fought for custody to protect Meredith from Lee.

  Because Kayla hadn’t wanted to like Lee. Or to admit that she’d always found him devastatingly attractive.

  Watching father and daughter together now, Kayla suspected Fay had kept Meredith to punish her husband even though Fay was the one who’d filed for divorce. Fay could be downright vindictive when she chose to be. There was always a purpose behind her lies.

  Lee and Meredith moved to the sandbox. Lee was soon surrounded by children. He reminded Kayla of a giant among elves. There was something innately gentle in the way he handled the children.

  Laughing, he finally stood and brushed sand from his hands and pants, stepping back to give the children more room. His gaze collided with hers and the laughter faded, replaced by shadows.

  Kayla came off the bench and moved toward him before she could think the action through. She didn’t know what she wanted to say, but his haunted look disturbed her deeply.

  “This was a good idea,” she told him gaily. Too gaily. Her words sounded falsely hearty.

  “Meredith is having fun.”

  He nodded warily, watching his daughter and a little boy digging away at the sand with a couple of sticks.

  “I’m sorry,” she added.

  He looked at her then, his eyes penetrating in that way he had that made her squirm inside.

  “For what?”

  “Fay shouldn’t have kept her from you.”

  His features clouded.

  “No.”

  “Why did she?”

  Lee tipped his head to one side.

  “Why don’t you ask her?”

  “Because I’m asking you.”

  After a moment of silence, he turned back to watch his daughter. Kayla realized he wasn’t going to answer. She’d given him the perfect opening to verbally bash his ex-wife or make a case for his side of things, but he wasn’t going to do either one. His silence was probably more of an answer than words would have been.

  “I don’t suppose you’d tell me what happened last night after I left?”

  He spoke so quietly, at first she wasn’t sure he was talking to her. He kept his eyes on his daughter as if storing away memories for the future. The thought brought a prick of moisture to the back of her eyes. This wasn’t right.

  “Nothing happened,” she told him quickly. “Fay asked me to pick up Meredith at the baby-sitter’s and keep her overnight.”

  “Did she do that often?”

  Kayla chewed on her bottom lip, torn by conflicting loyalties. Just then, Meredith looked up from her play, her features worried until she spotted her father. Then a beaming smile lit her face. Her hand lifted in a childish wave. Lee smiled and waved back.

  Kayla made her decision.

  “Once or twice a week Fay leaves her with me overnight,” she confirmed. “Sometimes more often.”

  “Did she take good care of her, Kayla?”

  Past tense. Was he going to run with Meredith after all? Her pulse quickened at the thought. Would it be so wrong if he did?

  “Actually, I probably spend more time with Meredith
than Fay does,” she managed to answer.

  “I’m not surprised. I can see how much my daughter loves you. You’re very good with her.”

  The unexpected compliment pleased her. “She’s a wonderful little girl.”

  “Yes.”

  He faced Kayla.

  “Who witnessed that scene in the parking lot last night?”

  Again he surprised her with tightly reined emotion behind his question. Was he afraid last night’s scene would cost him the custody suit for Meredith?

  “I’m not sure. We ate dinner with Jason and Elizabeth Ruckles. They own the motel where you’re staying,” she added. “Fay came back from the ladies’ room, but told us to go ahead. She said she had to make a phone call.”

  “That’s probably when she spotted me in the bar,” he muttered.

  Silently Kayla agreed.

  “I stayed until we paid the bill, then the Ruckles and I walked outside with the mayor and Dr. Martin, but I’m not sure who else was in the parking lot at the time. Why?”

  His eyes were somber. Once again she found herself studying the whipcord strength of his body, remembering all the stories Fay had told her.

  Just because he was good with his daughter now didn’t mean he’d be that way if he lost his temper. She mustn’t forget the anger she’d seen in his expression last night. He’d practically vibrated with fury.

  But he hadn’t raised more than his voice.

  In fact, until last night, she’d never once seen a trace of his so-called temper. Lee always struck her as a laid-back, easygoing person who liked to tease and joke with people.

  “I’d like to know how many people I made a fool of myself in front of,” he said. “Last night was a mistake. Normally, I don’t drink anything stronger than soda. I just...”

  She touched his bare arm, feeling the tautness in his muscles. “You were upset.”

  “Yeah.”

  He looked at her hand and Kayla dropped it quickly to her side.

  “You don’t have to be afraid to touch me, Kayla.”

  “I’m not.”

  He reached for her hand, resting it in the palm of his much larger one. Deliberately he traced a pattern on the back of it. The shiver stayed inside where it didn’t show, but Kayla felt the reaction to the tips of her toes. He exerted a strong sensual pull on her.