The Troublesome Angel

by Valerie Hansen

  Following him to his car, she watched while he patiently wiped Missy’s sticky hands and face, then helped her into the back seat and fastened her safety belt.

  Touched, Stacy purposely looked away and focused her thoughts on the sidewalk, on her shoes, on anything but the tenderness he was exhibiting toward the waif. She didn’t want to perceive Graydon Payne as a man who would someday make an excellent father. It made her far too aware of her single life, of her choice to remain alone rather than give up her God-given career for anyone’s sake. It was a conscious decision. One that she’d prayed about and reaffirmed over and over, positive that her choice was the right one. That decision still stood.

  Even divine assurance, however, wasn’t enough to keep a shiver of loneliness from skittering up her spine and lodging in her heart.

  Chapter Eight

  “Do you have any objection to my dropping Missy off at Mark’s before we go back to get your truck?”

  “No. Why should I?”

  “I thought you might be uncomfortable going there, that’s all.”

  Stacy twisted in the seat to partially face him and shook her head slowly, pensively. “You still don’t get it, do you? I wouldn’t go back and start over with Mark, even if I had the chance. I’m thrilled that he’s married to Candace because that’s just more proof I understood what the Lord had planned for my life.”

  “You mean your work?”

  “Of course.” She glanced behind her. Lewis had curled up on the back seat and Missy was using him for a pillow. The picture of the two of them dozing so contentedly was a delight. “Oh, look.”

  Gray glanced in the mirror. “Uh-huh. Cute. I think we wore them out.” He smiled over at Stacy. “You must be beat, too, after being up all night.”

  “I’d forgotten about that till now. You’re right. I am pretty tired.”

  “Then I’ll take you to your truck first. It’s not that far out of my way and Missy’s asleep anyway. She’ll never know the difference.” His grin widened. “Until her pillow gets up and goes home with you, that is.”

  “Lewis is a great dog. That’s why I’m using him to sire pups while I can.” She sighed happily. “I can imagine his offspring pulling me through the woods till I’m old and gray. If not, I can always fall back on my other training.”

  “Other training?”

  “Yes.” Leaning her head back against the seat, Stacy explained. “There’s a law enforcement training academy in Tennessee that gives classes in man-tracking. It’s a tough course but worth every drop of sweat it takes to pass.”

  “Sounds fascinating.”

  Stacy studied his profile as he drove, looking for any sign he was making fun of her. Detecting none, she went on. “It is. It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. They lay a trail but it’s booby-trapped, just like it would be if you were following a smart criminal who was determined to stop you any way he could. The test goes on day and night. To pass, you have to find your quarry without tripping one of the traps.”

  “Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” His brow was furrowed.

  “Not really. We worked in teams. There was a security man following with a radio in case any of us got hurt.”

  “Hurt? How?”

  “Well, there were hidden pits, water obstacles, planted copperhead snakes, cliffs to rappel down on ropes….”

  Gray held up his hand. “Whoa. I don’t think I want to hear any more.”

  “Why not? Not your style?”

  “Not even close,” he admitted. “I like it better when we’re following your dogs. At least that way nobody’s likely to get hurt.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. A person could get tangled up in the leash and be dumped on his south end.”

  Gray’s head snapped around. “You saw that?”

  “Uh-huh. It was quite a show.”

  “Thanks,” he said, making a silly grimace. “How did you know I wasn’t seriously hurt? I might have been.”

  “Not a chance. You landed on your brains. Besides, I could hear you yelling at Clark. Such language.”

  “I didn’t cuss.” He squinted over at her. “Did I?”

  “No, you didn’t. I was just teasing. Actually, I thought you handled yourself quite well for a novice. Clark’s not an easy dog to work with.”

  “At least he likes me,” Gray said, glancing at the sleepers in the back seat. “I wish I could figure out why Lewis took to Missy so easily, yet he won’t warm up to me.”

  “That’s probably because of the conflict between us. He’s very sensitive to my feelings. Sometimes he knows I’m upset even before I do.”

  “Are you upset, now?”

  Stacy didn’t like the brief, penetrating look he gave her. She hesitated. It would have been easy to tell a lie, just a little fib, and be done with their conversation. But it wouldn’t have been fair.

  “No, I’m not upset,” she finally said. “It wasn’t much fun facing your folks but the confrontation did have its useful elements. For instance, the way you stood up for me was very nice. I should have told you so sooner. I really appreciated the moral support.”

  “My pleasure, Ms. Lucas,” he said with a grin. “You did a pretty good job yourself.”

  “I did, didn’t I?” Her smile grew to equal his.

  “The look on your father’s face when we walked in together was priceless.”

  “Did you see Mother’s expression? She looked like she’d swallowed a lemon.”

  “More like an unripe, wild persimmon,” Stacy said. “Ever eat one of those? They’ll leave your mouth puckered for hours.”

  “Afraid I haven’t had the pleasure,” Gray told her. “If my cook doesn’t buy it at the market, I don’t eat it. Safer that way.”

  “But not nearly as much of an adventure,” she countered. “You should cut loose once in a while. Enjoy yourself. Act more like your paternal grandfather. I’ll bet he was a fascinating person. You must have inherited at least some of his venture-some spirit.”

  Gray shrugged and sighed. “I wish I could say I had. Nate was quite a guy.” He wheeled his car into the drive and sped toward his parents’ house, coming to a stop next to the rose garden, directly behind Stacy’s truck.

  She signaled for Lewis to stay where he was while she and Graydon got out. It seemed odd to her that the mention of his grandfather had made him so sad.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you and Nate were close. I shouldn’t have brought the subject up. Believe me, I wasn’t trying to criticize you by comparison,” Stacy vowed.

  He approached, stood close to her and raked his fingers through his hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s me. I had a rough…week.” Yeah, he added silently. All the weeks and years were rough until I finally found out the truth. Nathan couldn’t accept me as his son because he wasn’t my actual father! And there was nothing I could do to change that fact.

  “There is a lot of stress going around,” Stacy agreed with a faint smile.

  She started to extend her hand in parting just as Gray reached to clasp her upper arms. The sensation of his gentle grasp was enough to make her sway slightly.

  He steadied her and spoke softly, intimately. “I want to thank you again for coming so quickly. I was pretty worried when Mother called to say she’d lost track of Missy.”

  “I know. It’s all right. I’m glad everything turned out so well.” She sighed and glanced into the back seat of the car. Lewis had followed her orders to remain still and Missy was draped across his body as if he were a furry beanbag chair.

  “It might not have ended so well without you.” Gray took a deep, ragged breath. “If anything had happened to Missy, I don’t know what I’d have done.”

  Touched by his obvious fondness for the child, Stacy reached up and patted his cheek to comfort him. “It’s all right. She’s safe now. That’s all that matters.”

  “You’re right. Thanks.” He bent to place a chaste goodbye kiss on her forehead.

  Stacy nearly swooned. B
efore she could catch her breath, she heard a loud gasp from the nearby rose garden.

  Graydon heard it, too. He held firm to her arms and drew her closer. Leaning down, he whispered, “Mother.”

  “Oh, no!” She felt like a teenager, caught necking behind the high school science building. Not that she’d ever done anything like that.

  Gray was amused. “Oh, yes.”

  “Then let go of me!” Stacy pushed her palms against his chest but he didn’t budge.

  “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  His voice was so quiet she could barely hear what he said. Wide-eyed, she leaned back to look up into his eyes. They twinkled with mischief.

  She managed a weak, “What?”

  Gray blessed her with a lopsided smile. “I just thought maybe we should give my mother something more to think about, that’s all.”

  Stacy watched him bending closer, tilting his head. His warm, sweet breath reminded her of chocolate ice cream. She had an almost irresistible urge to stand on her tiptoes and kiss him.

  You can’t do that, even if you want to! she told herself.

  But she needn’t have worried about making a decision one way or the other. Gray made it for her. Leaning closer, he gently brushed her lips with his, then pulled her into his embrace, laid her back over his arm with a theatrical flourish and proceeded to kiss her as if they were the most romantic couple in the world.

  In the background, Estelle Payne gave a strangled shriek. It was accompanied by a man’s coarse guffaw.

  Gray straightened, steadied Stacy on her feet and loosened his hold. Looking in the direction of the sound he saw his mother scurrying away carrying a basket of fresh-cut flowers. Euless Feeters was standing among the roses, chortling heartily.

  The old man raised his fist in the air, thumb up, and hollered, “Way to go, boy!”

  Gray couldn’t believe what had just happened. All he’d intended to do was tease his mother. He certainly hadn’t meant the kiss to seem so real. So earth-shattering. So wonderful!

  He looked down at Stacy, certain she’d be upset, if not downright irate. To his surprise she looked as thunderstruck as he felt. Maybe more.

  He cleared his throat, stepped back and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

  Dizzy, she drew a shaky breath. Never had anyone else’s kiss affected her the way Gray’s had. Too bad he’d only kissed her to play a joke on his pretentious mother. Well, if he was sorry about their kiss, then she would claim the same negative reaction, providing she could muster enough common sense to convince herself it was true before speaking up. She finally chanced it. “That was totally uncalled for, Mr. Payne.”

  “I know. That’s why I said I was sorry.” A wry smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “It did have the desired effect, though.”

  “Oh? And what might that be?” Stacy couldn’t help the resentment that crept into her voice. She’d just received the most extraordinary kiss of her lifetime and he was making jokes about it as if it didn’t matter at all.

  “My mother, of course. Did you see her flounce off? It was hilarious.”

  See her? Even now, Stacy could barely concentrate, let alone see straight. Disgusted with herself she covered her weakness with cynicism and cited an analogy that was anything but romantic. “No. You had me hanging upside down over your arm like a dead chicken. How did you expect me to see anything from that position?”

  His eyebrows arched but he didn’t comment on her choice of example. “Yeah, well…”

  Stacy made a show of straightening her clothing even though she wasn’t mussed, then turned toward the car. “I really should be going. Do you want to lift Missy off Lewis so he doesn’t wake her when I let him get up?”

  “Sure.” Gray’s hand hesitated on the door handle. “Just tell him not to bite me, okay?”

  “You’re lucky I told him to stay in the car in the first place,” she countered, “or you’d probably be nursing a sore ankle and counting his teeth marks right now.”

  He chuckled. “No doubt. And in this case, I’d deserve every mark.”

  “I’m glad to hear we agree.” Circling the car, Stacy opened the opposite door, leaned in, and laid her hand on Lewis’s head to steady him while Gray lifted Missy away. The man’s outlandish caution with regard to the usually mild-tempered dog was amusing.

  Gray shot her a contrite glance, then spoke quietly to keep from waking the child. “In the future, I’ll be much more careful, I promise.”

  “Let’s hope so.” The words didn’t fit Stacy’s innermost feelings but she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply she’d been affected by his casual kiss.

  Missy stirred. Gray laid a finger on his lips. “Shush. I didn’t mean to make you mad. I just thought—”

  “What? That it would be fun to shock your mother by kissing someone from the wrong side of the tracks? Well, it worked. And now that you’ve had your fun, I’ll be going. Come, Lewis.”

  She turned away quickly to hide her vulnerable nature and reddening cheeks, and led the dog to her truck. If Gray suspected how much his so-called joke had embarrassed her, not to mention how she was still trembling from his touch, he’d have even more to chuckle about. She wasn’t about to provide cheap amusement for the Payne family. Let them look down their highbrow noses. She didn’t care. Her peers had been belittling her since her teens because she didn’t have at least one parent like the rest of them. She was used to that kind of treatment.

  Thoughtful, she slid behind the wheel. She’d never forget the times her foster parents had sent her to school in worn-out hand-me-down clothes and she’d been the brunt of cruel remarks over which she’d had no control.

  But she’d survived. And eventually flourished. If she was guilty of reverse discrimination, as Graydon claimed, she’d work on overcoming that character fault. But she wasn’t going to subject herself to any more humiliation at the hands of the Paynes.

  Enough was enough.

  Gray called ahead to tell his brother he was bringing Missy home. All the way there he thought about Stacy. About the first time he’d met her.

  She’d been barely eighteen when Mark had arranged for her to meet his family. It was clear from the moment she’d set foot in the grand house that she was way out of her element. Her beautiful eyes had grown wide. Her lips had parted slightly in amazement. To her credit, she’d stood tall and faced the elder Paynes with as much grace as any untutored girl could be expected to display.

  Every minute of that evening was imprinted in Gray’s memory. Stacy had smiled too wide, laughed too loudly, cared too much. She was enchanting, yet naive. Eager to please, yet totally clueless. By the end of the long, tedious dinner they’d all shared, Gray had made up his mind she’d never survive the rigors of trying to belong to his family. If the effort didn’t crush her spirit, it would change her into the kind of person she wouldn’t purposely choose to be.

  He’d tried to make Mark see the problems inherent in marrying Stacy. His younger brother had merely laughed off his concern, recognizing no contrast between Stacy and any other girl he’d ever dated.

  To Gray, there was all the difference in the world. This girl was more than just pretty. She was sensitive, innocent, inexperienced. And she had a heart that spoke to his; that cried out for love and acceptance. He didn’t have any tangible reasons for what he did next. He just knew he couldn’t stand by and let her marry Mark.

  And she hadn’t.

  Mark was pacing in front of the house when Gray pulled into the drive. He leaned out the car window. “Where’s Candace?”

  “Still out shopping. She should be home in a couple of hours.” Mark leaned down to peer into the back seat of the BMW. “What’s going on? Why are you bringing the kid back so early? I had to leave a pile of work on my desk and cancel two meetings after you called.”

  “Didn’t Mother tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” Mark shrugged. “The last I heard
, Melissa was at the folks’ place.”

  “She was.” Reaching into the back seat, Gray undid the groggy little girl’s seat belt and lifted her gently out of the car. One of her thin arms wrapped around his neck.

  Mark led the way toward the house. “Well, I guess you’d better bring her in. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her till Candace gets back. This adoption business was her idea. I don’t know a thing about kids.”

  “They’re just like real people,” Gray said cynically. “You know, with feelings and needs. The usual.”

  “Very funny.” Mark cast a disgusted glance over his shoulder. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

  Gray’s hold on the child tightened protectively. “Remember the hidden closet under the stairs where you and I used to hide from our math tutor?”

  “Vaguely. Why?”

  “Because that’s where Missy went. Only the door stuck shut and she couldn’t get back out. If it hadn’t been for Stacy and her dog—”

  Mark interrupted. “Wait just a second. Are you saying that Mother called Stacy?”

  “Not a chance. I did. And she came right away, even though she’d been up all night and was dead tired.”

  Following his brother through the house to a back bedroom, Gray laid Missy on her bed without waking her. As soon as he straightened he gestured toward the door. “Come on. You and I need to have a talk.”

  He knew his brother wouldn’t argue. They’d established their pecking order early in life and only their sister, Rosalie, had ever challenged Gray’s authority. Now that she was living half a world away, there was no chance she’d intercede the way she used to. That gave Gray a distinct advantage; one he intended to press.

  Leading Mark into the den Gray seated himself casually on the Moroccan leather sofa, his legs outstretched in a pose of utter confidence. He pointed to a nearby chair. “Sit.”

  The younger man gave a nervous laugh. “You’ve been spending too much time hanging around Stacy. You’re starting to sound like a dog trainer.”

  “I wish it were that easy to get through to you,” Gray said. “Are you going to sit down or do you intend to stand there all day?”