by Eve Gaddy
Delilah glanced down the aisle, the way Maggie had gone. “She’s a cop, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. How did you know that?”
“It’s in the eyes. I’ve been looked at just like that by too many cops not to recognize it when I see it.”
“I thought you said you weren’t in trouble with the law?”
“I’m not. That doesn’t mean I haven’t ever had a run-in with them.” When he didn’t speak, she added, “I’ve seen a lot of cops. I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen.”
Which was why she seemed older than she was, he decided. “You’re imagining things with Maggie. I didn’t notice her acting weird.”
“That’s because you’re a man.”
He grinned. “Yeah, last time I checked I was.” And unfortunately for him, Delilah was all woman.
GROCERY SHOPPING in Aransas City was an interesting and time-consuming experience, especially with Cam. He knew everyone, and they all wanted to stop and chat. After the fifth person had stopped them, she asked, “How do you ever get anything done? What if you’re in a hurry?”
He smiled and picked up a head of lettuce. “Doesn’t pay to be in a hurry in Aransas City. Nobody here knows the meaning of the word, so you just might as well relax.”
“It does seem to have a slower pace. Have you lived here all your life?”
“Most of it.” He picked some apples, then pushed the cart down the aisle. “I was in the service for a couple of years and after boot camp, I lived in Germany. After that I went to college at the University of Texas at Austin, but other than that I’ve been here.”
“You went to college?” She knew she sounded wistful. Hell, she was wistful.
He grinned. “For a couple of years, but it wasn’t really my thing. Then I heard the Scarlet Parrot was for sale, so I left and came back here. Been here ever since.”
“I went to college for a couple of years,” she admitted. She’d been in school part-time when she’d met Avery. After they married he had forced her to quit. “I wish I’d finished.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She frowned, wishing she hadn’t said anything. “It just…didn’t work out.”
He looked at her searchingly. “You could go back.”
“I don’t have the money now.”
“You can go part-time. There are lots of community colleges around that aren’t too expensive.”
“Maybe I will.” If she ever felt secure enough to spend money on school. Secure enough not to worry that somehow Avery would find her.
He stopped on the aisle with detergents. “What kind do you like?”
“I usually get whatever is cheapest.”
He turned his back and reached for one on the top shelf.
A woman with a baby in her cart and holding a young boy’s hand stopped beside them. “Cam, just the person I’ve been looking for.”
He turned around and looked at her. “Whatever it is, no.” He put the detergent in the cart.
“Very funny. You have to at least listen before you say no.”
The child, a dark-haired boy of about four, had been pulling on Cam’s pants leg insistently. Cam smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “Hey, Max.”
“Up,” he demanded, raising his arms.
Cam obligingly picked him up and settled him on his hip. The little boy immediately started talking but Delilah couldn’t understand what he said since both adults were talking, too. Then the baby chimed in and she couldn’t comprehend a thing.
After a couple of minutes of the din, Cam spoke to the boy. “Max, if you’re quiet while your mom and I talk, she’ll buy you a piece of candy,”
Max immediately shut his mouth.
“I’ll buy him candy? You should have to, not me. Besides, you shouldn’t bribe him,” the woman said. “You always do that and it’s a terrible example.”
“Worked, didn’t it?” He put Max down and got the little girl out of the cart. She had curly dark hair and big brown eyes and was gazing adoringly at Cam. “Hello, Miranda. You get prettier every day,” he said and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek that had her giggling.
“You must be Delilah,” the woman said. “I’m Cam’s sister, Cat.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said. Unlike his other sister, this one didn’t look like him. But she did see a resemblance to their brother Gabe. Gabe, who she still didn’t feel comfortable around. She didn’t think he liked her if that little bit of conversation she’d overheard was any indication.
“What do you want, Cat?” Cam put the baby back in the cart and buckled her in. “I’d like to get home sometime today and I still have shopping to do.”
“Well, don’t bite my head off. I want you to come to dinner tonight.” She turned to Delilah. “We’d love for you to come, too, Delilah.”
To say she was shocked was putting it mildly. “Oh, thanks, but—”
Cat interrupted her before she could gracefully decline. “I won’t take no for an answer. From either of you. Seven o’clock. The kids go to bed at seven-thirty, so it will only be chaotic for a short time,” she said, for Delilah’s benefit.
“Your house, not chaotic? Now that’s a laugh,” Cam said. “There’s always chaos at your house. You and Mark never have anything but chaos. Unless it’s pandemonium.”
Cat gave him a dirty look but didn’t deny it. “Chicken parmigiana,” she said. “And if you’re not rude to me, I’ll make crème brûlée for dessert.”
“Crème brûlée? You know that’s my favorite.”
With a smug smile, she said, “I know. So, I’ll see you both at seven. Don’t be late.” Apparently feeling that clinched the matter, she walked off.
“Candy,” Delilah heard Max say. “Want candy.”
“We’ll pick some out at the counter,” his mother said.
“I’m sorry,” Delilah said, watching them leave. “You don’t need to take me to dinner. I’m sure your sister was just being polite.”
He snorted. “You don’t know Cat. She’s not polite, she’s nosy.”
“About me?”
“About you and me,” he clarified. “But don’t worry, I’ll set her straight. And you won’t mind going to dinner. Cat’s annoying sometimes, but she’s a great cook.”
“I’d love to go.” She shouldn’t. She had no business going out with him.
It’s just a family dinner, she thought. Not a date. Surely she could do that. Be with a normal man. Platonically. A man she wouldn’t have to worry would turn into a monster. A man who liked children and lived in the midst of a big family. She wanted to know him better. She wished…it didn’t matter what she wished. At least she had Cam’s friendship. Anything else was impossible, for too many reasons to count.
THAT AFTERNOON after he’d run his errands, Cam decided to stock the bar. He was headed downstairs when Gabe came in. “Just the man I wanted to see. I could use some help bringing some stock up.”
“I’ll do it for a cold one,” Gabe said.
“You’re on.”
A short time later Cam was opening boxes and stowing the beer and liquor while Gabe sipped a cold brew.
“So, where’s the hot chick?” Gabe asked, glancing around.
“If you mean Delilah, she’s in her room. Why?”
“Just curious.” He took another sip of beer. “Did you ever check her references?”
“No.” He hadn’t asked her because he knew she wouldn’t have given them to him. Just as she hadn’t shared the bastard’s name who had beaten her up. “What’s this obsession you have with Delilah?”
He rolled a shoulder. “It’s not an obsession. I think you need to be more careful. I’ve got a feeling about her.”
Cam ducked down below to line up liquor bottles. When he came up he said, “You’ve got a feeling because she turned you down.”
“That’s not it.”
“Sure it isn’t.”
“Cam.”
He sounded serious, something rare with Gabe. Cam glanced
at his brother, waited for him to continue.
“She reminds me of someone. A woman who was really bad news.”
Cam knew most of the women Gabe had dated and he couldn’t imagine who he was talking about. Although, there had been a period of Gabe’s life that he was still secretive about. When he’d had the gambling problem that had nearly cost him his business. “Someone you were involved with,” he said.
Gabe hesitated, then nodded. “A long time ago. But you don’t forget.”
“I know. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten Janine,” he said, referring to his ex-fiancée. “But I don’t see what any of this has to do with Delilah working here.”
“As long as she’s just working, nothing. But if you’re sleeping with her—”
“What is with you? What are you so worried about? You think I’m going to fall madly in love and give her all my worldly goods?”
“No, but I think you’re madly in lust and that tends to make a guy stupid. Have you slept with her yet?”
“Why this sudden interest in my sex life?”
“You have.”
“No, I haven’t and I don’t plan on it. She’s working for me and living here. You know I don’t date my help. Or sleep with them.”
“None of your other help looks like Delilah.” Gabe got up and came around the bar to put his beer bottle in the trash. He looked at Cam. “I never said anything to you about Janine. I should have.”
“What about her?”
“I knew Janine was cheating on you.”
Surprised, he stared at Gabe. “You knew and you didn’t tell me? Why the hell did you keep quiet?”
“Okay, I didn’t know exactly.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised when you caught her in the sack with Travis.”
Light dawned. “She came on to you.”
Gabe nodded. “I have to tell you, if you hadn’t been my brother I’d have taken her up on the offer in a heartbeat. That was one seriously hot chick.”
“Delilah’s not Janine.”
“No, but she might be worse.”
“Gabe, give it a rest. You don’t have to worry.” Cam was doing enough thinking for both of them. Because no matter how many times he told himself he wasn’t going to bed with Delilah, there were just as many times when he knew he wanted to, and in other circumstances, he would have. Or he’d have tried like hell to make sure it did happen.
CHAPTER SIX
THE ONLY THING DIFFERENT about dinner at his sister’s house that night was Delilah’s presence. That was a big difference, though, since Cam never took women to any family affair. Unless his mother had a party and he needed a date, and then he never took the same woman twice. It was a form of self-defense he’d perfected over the years.
Dinner at Cat’s wasn’t the same as a big party at his mother’s house in Key Allegro. Those were usually sophisticated affairs she dragged her children to by dint of threats and coercion. Sophisticated wasn’t what anyone would think of in connection with a meal at Mark and Cat’s.
When they got there, Mark met them at the door. He said hi to Delilah, thrust a squalling, furious baby into Cam’s arms and disappeared, after shouting at Cat that their company had arrived. Cat, naturally, was nowhere to be seen.
Cam looked at Delilah over Miranda’s head and grinned. “What did I tell you?”
“Is it always like this?”
“Unless the kids are asleep.” He cuddled Miranda in the crook of his arm. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” he said, and tickled her chin until she stopped crying.
A raucous caw came from the living room as they walked in. “Hello, sucker,” Buddy, his sister’s African gray parrot screeched.
Delilah looked startled, then laughed when she spotted the bird. She walked over to his cage. “Well, hello there. Aren’t you pretty? What’s your name?”
“Buddy,” Cam said, smiling at the bird now flirting with Delilah. “That’s one of the milder things he says. Cat’s been working on him since she doesn’t want the kids to repeat some of his worst comments. He’s a lot better than he used to be, which is a good thing since it would kill her to have to give him away.”
“Pretty girl,” Buddy said to Delilah adoringly.
She looked at Cam and smiled. “I think he likes me.”
“Sounds like it.” Cam didn’t tell her Buddy liked almost all women. He put Miranda up on his shoulder and patted her back. She wore her pajamas and smelled clean, as only a freshly bathed baby can. “Looks like you’re sleepy, princess,” he said when she snuggled her face into his neck.
Delilah was looking at him with a curious expression. “What?” he asked. “Did she spit up on my shoulder?” He turned his head to look, but luckily, she hadn’t.
Delilah shook her head. “No, it’s— You look so natural holding her.”
He laughed. “I should. I’ve had lots of practice. Gail has three kids and Cat has two.”
“Have you ever thought about having your own kids?”
“Nope,” he said, but that was a lie. “I’d have to be married and that’s not happening.” Which wasn’t a lie. When he’d been engaged to Janine, he’d thought about having kids. Someday. But when they’d broken up, he’d quit thinking about having a family of his own.
Delilah didn’t look as if she believed him, but she didn’t comment.
Cat came in just then and took Miranda from him. “Hi, Delilah. Sorry about this. I’ll go put Miranda down. Cam, get Delilah something to drink. Mark and I will be back in a minute.”
“That’s an optimistic estimate,” Cam told Delilah. “What can I get you?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine.” She followed him into the kitchen.
He pulled out a couple of beers from the refrigerator. “There’s some white zinfandel wine in here if you’d rather have that.”
“No, beer’s good.” She looked around the kitchen and sniffed the air. “That smells wonderful. Like being at an Italian restaurant. It was awfully nice of your sister to ask me to dinner.”
He started to comment but Max came barreling through the door screeching, “Uncle Cam”, at the top of his lungs. He flung himself at Cam, clutching his leg.
“Daddy’s mad at me.”
Max wore his best abused air, but since Cam knew Mark had never lifted a finger to the child, he wasn’t taken in. Cam picked him up, noticing he was ready for bed, too. “What did you do this time, big guy?”
Max grinned, a dimple winking in his cheek. Mark entered the room, looking harried. Cam didn’t blame him, Max was a hellion. A great kid, but a hellion.
“He flushed a toy truck down the toilet,” Mark said. “So don’t go in the hall bathroom unless you want to wade through a flood. You’ll have to use mine and Cat’s.” He turned to Delilah. “Welcome to the madhouse. I’m Mark, by the way. I don’t think I had a chance to introduce myself when you first came in.”
“Delilah,” she said and shook hands with him. “Thank you for having me.”
“Glad you could come. I’ll go put Max to bed and then hopefully we can eat.” He took the boy from Cam. “Come on, son.”
Max put his arms around Mark’s neck and hugged him exuberantly. “Are you still mad at me, Daddy?” Max asked as his father carried him away.
“No, Max,” Cam heard Mark say. “But don’t flush any more toys, okay?”
“It amazes me how Max and Miranda have him wrapped around their fingers. He busts animal smugglers, but with those kids he’s putty.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Delilah said. “They’re so…normal.”
He thought that was kind of an odd comment. “As opposed to abnormal?”
She looked at him as if she’d forgotten he was there. “Your sister and brother-in-law are nice. That’s all I meant.” She went into the living room and he heard her talking to the bird.
Delilah and Cat hit it off right away, which was a mixed blessing. Cat would be sure to go into full matchmaking mode. But she’d
have done that anyway. As would Gail. In fact, Gabe was the only one of his siblings who seemed to have issues with Delilah. But since Cam didn’t intend for anything to happen, what his family thought of Delilah didn’t really matter.
After dinner, Delilah took her dishes to the kitchen. “Let me help you wash up,” she said to Cat, who was already at the sink.
“Oh, no you don’t. That’s Cam’s job. It’s the least he can do.”
So Delilah went off with Mark to see the birds in the aviary. And Cam, just as his sister had planned, was left alone with Cat. Cam had been expecting this all evening. Ever since Cat had married Mark, she had wanted him and Gabe to settle down, too. She refused to believe he just wasn’t interested.
“Delilah seems nice.” She shot Cam a speculative glance. “And she’s very pretty.” He nodded but didn’t say anything. “She’s smart, too.”
He picked up a pan to dry it. “Why do you say that?” He knew Delilah was very bright but he wanted to know why Cat thought so.
“When we were talking about accounting it became fairly obvious. Did you know she wanted to be a CPA before she said it tonight at dinner?”
“No.” Cat was a CPA as well as a bird rehabber. As a Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, Mark was interested in the birds, but accounting wasn’t his thing any more than it was Cam’s. Cam figured Cat had been in heaven to have someone to talk accounting with.
“She said she’d gone to a couple of years of college, but she didn’t say what she’d studied.” He’d seen Cat and Delilah with their heads together but he hadn’t heard all of the conversation since he’d been talking to Mark at the time. “So, did you talk her into going back to school?”
“No. I offered to lend her some books but she wouldn’t take them. Said she’d go to the library. Why wouldn’t she let me lend them to her, do you know?”
“I’m not sure. She doesn’t like to owe anybody.” As he picked up another dish, he thought about the shopping trip and the fit she’d pitched about borrowing money from him. “Maybe she thinks she won’t be in town that long.”
Cat looked surprised. “Why would she leave? Especially since you and she—”
