by Eve Gaddy
“Congratulations,” Gabe said, and put out his hand to shake his brother’s. “So, how does it feel, Pop?”
Cam shook his head. “Still kind of hard to believe. I figured I’d never have kids, you know?” He laughed and added, “Of course, I never thought I’d be married, either. Until I met Delilah. Now I can’t imagine not being with her.”
“Yeah, funny how things work out.” At first Gabe’d thought Delilah was bad news, but he’d been wrong. He’d never seen his brother as happy as he’d been ever since he’d met and married her. “How’s Delilah? She doing that pregnancy hormone thing Gail and Cat did?”
“Not too bad so far. She hasn’t had much morning sickness, either.” Cam puffed on his cigar then looked at Gabe. “It’s great. I mean, we were trying to get pregnant, so it’s not like it was a surprise. But now that it’s happened—”
He got up to search for an ashtray and came back with it a moment later. He sat again, stubbed out his cigar and blew out a breath. “If you want the truth, it’s a little terrifying. I mean, I’m going to be a father.”
“Yeah, so? It’s not like you haven’t ever been around kids. We’ve got five nieces and nephews, for crying out loud. You see them all the time.”
“It’s not the same,” Cam insisted. “What if I screw up? I’m responsible for this baby. I don’t know anything about being a father.”
“You have a wife,” Gabe pointed out. “You don’t have to raise the kid alone.” He waited a minute and added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this neurotic. Are you going to be like this for the next seven months?”
Cam laughed. “I hope not. But it’s a lot to take in. I guess being neurotic goes with the territory.” He looked at his watch. “I’d better get going soon. But first I want to warn you, you’ll be hearing from Gail and Cat soon. And probably Delilah, too.”
“Why?”
He got up and grinned down at Gabe. “Tamara Kramer’s been burning up the phone lines.”
“Crap.”
“So, you and the lady doc, huh? Your taste is improving. This one’s not only beautiful, she even has a brain.”
Gabe scowled at him. Damn small towns and all talkative women. “It’s no big deal. Lana and I are friends, that’s all.”
Cam laughed. “Right. I believe that.”
“It’s true.”
“You’re serious.” He stared at him a moment. “Is that all you want?”
Gabe half laughed. “What do you think?”
“Good, you had me worried for a minute there.”
“I had a hard enough time just getting her to be friends. She won’t even date.”
“You’re taking her to the Kramers’ party. That’s a date,” Cam pointed out.
It went against the grain to admit it, but Cam was his brother, after all. “Only because she wanted to get out of being set up with a blind date.” He shrugged. “Not because she really wants to go out with me.”
“You’re underrating yourself, Gabe. Nobody’s forcing her. She must see something she likes in you.”
“Maybe,” he said, cheering up a little. Good point, he thought.
“Why doesn’t she date?”
“She hasn’t told me. But I have a feeling I know.” Because some scum had assaulted her, he’d bet. Maybe someone she’d dated. It was the scenario that best fit her behavior.
“I’d better get going. The dinner rush is going to start soon.” He walked to the door then turned to look back at Gabe. “You really like her, don’t you?”
He shrugged again. “She’s okay.”
Cam laughed and went out the door.
For a long time after Cam left, Gabe sat and thought. He was pleased for his brother. After the hell they’d gone through, Cam and Delilah deserved to be happy and he was glad they were. But he was also, he was disgusted to discover, jealous.
Not that he had any interest in a wife and kids and for himself, but sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be that crazy about a woman and have her feel the same way about him.
The only woman he’d ever been totally gone over had taken him for the biggest ride of his life. And he sure as hell wasn’t anxious to repeat the experience.
CHAPTER SIX
SATURDAY MORNING the phone rang while Gabe was lifting weights. His physical therapist had told him it was important to keep his entire body in shape, not just build up his leg, so he’d scrounged a bench and some free weights from a friend who wasn’t using them. He’d never had to worry about being fit before. It had come naturally with his job.
The phone continued to ring and he remembered the ad he’d taken out. Damn, he didn’t like the phone at the best of times and now he’d have to talk to every joker who called, no matter whether they were serious buyers or not. Groaning, he replaced the bar and went to answer it.
An hour and a half later, he’d finished showing the boat and was waiting for the buyer, Bart Stephens, to do something other than stare at El Jugador and scratch his head. He hadn’t seemed too impressed, so Gabe couldn’t figure out what he was still doing here.
“All right,” Stephens finally said. “I’ll make you an offer.” He named a price that was thirty thousand under the asking price. An asking price that was already low.
Gabe couldn’t believe it. The guy, a wizened man of about sixty-five, was looking at him as though he expected Gabe to jump up and down over the offer. “Don’t waste my time,” he said, and limped away.
“Hey, I’m serious.”
Gabe stopped and stared at him. “That price is a joke and you know it.”
“Well—” He glanced at the boat, then back at Gabe. “I can give you two thousand more. But that’s my final offer.”
“Get lost,” Gabe said, and left.
His bad mood lasted all day and was still there when he went to pick up Lana that night. As usual, she looked great. She wore another one of those short skirts she favored, this one in fire-engine red, and a sleeveless white blouse. Those blue eyes sparkled and her lips curved in a welcoming smile so pretty it actually made him ache.
Then he remembered she was only with him because she didn’t want to go out on a blind date. Not because she wanted to be with him. Well, he’d known that when he’d agreed to take her. Why get bent out of shape over it now?
Because, dammit, he liked her.
“Gabe, is something wrong?”
“No, nothing.”
“Then why are you scowling at me?”
“I wasn’t.” He turned away, limped down her front steps and opened the truck door for her.
The party was even worse than he’d imagined. He felt uncomfortable, out of sync, in a way he never had before the accident. He’d always been pretty sociable. You had to like people if you were going to run a successful charter boat service and in the past he’d enjoyed parties and being around others. But all that had changed the night of the accident. Now he just wanted to be left alone.
Which wasn’t happening at this party. He couldn’t move without someone offering him a chair and asking solicitously about his health. The fourth time it happened he managed a short thanks and escaped to the backyard while Lana was talking to a couple of other guests. Maybe if he sat, everyone would shut the hell up.
He took a sip of his beer and watched Lana deep in conversation. He shouldn’t have come. But how could he turn her down when she’d looked so…wistful? Besides, he’d been too tempted by the thought of being with her to pay attention to his instincts. Never ignore your gut, he reminded himself now. When you do, you deserve what you get. He settled back to wait. It was going to be a long night.
“DO YOU WANT something to drink?” Lana asked Gabe later in the evening. “I’ll go get you another beer if you want.” They were sitting outside at a table in the Kramers’backyard, alone for the moment.
“No, thanks. I’ve still got some.”
He didn’t say anything else, which by this point in the evening didn’t surprise her. He’d hardly spoken s
ince he’d picked her up a couple of hours before. Lana was enjoying the party but she had a pretty good idea Gabe wasn’t. She couldn’t blame him. She’d heard all the anxious inquiries about his health. It had to be annoying to be treated as if you were going to fall over any moment.
Finally he’d gone outside and found a table. There he’d sat and nursed a beer the rest of the evening. People had stopped and visited with him but no one stayed long. Conversation was difficult with someone who spoke in one or two word sentences.
Well, what had she expected? He’d made it pretty obvious he hadn’t really wanted to come. “Do you want to leave?”
He glanced at her, showing more animation than he had all night. “Why? Do you?”
She got up. “We might as well. You haven’t said more than two words all night.” He’d come as a favor to her, so she had no right to be annoyed, but she was.
“Lana? Is it really you?”
Lana turned to the man standing beside her. “Allen? What are you doing here?”
“Tim’s an old friend of mine. I would have been here earlier but I was held up. It’s great to see you.” He smiled and hugged her, all blond good looks and killer charm. “I moved to Corpus Christi. And apparently, you’ve moved, too. Tell me, how is Terence? How did you get him to move? I always thought he was fixed in L.A.”
Uncomfortable, she extricated herself—not too obviously, she hoped. “As far as I know, he’s still inL.A. We’re divorced.” A few years earlier, Allen Paxton had worked with her ex-husband in L.A. before moving away. But she hadn’t known where.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I had no idea.” He smiled ruefully. “Must be in the air. I’m divorced, too.”
She glanced at Gabe, who was watching them with an expression she couldn’t read. “Gabe, this is Allen Paxton. Allen, Gabe Randolph.”
The two men shook hands and exchanged greetings. Then Allen turned back to her. “How about dinner? We can catch up on old times. Are you busy tomorrow?”
She glanced at Gabe who was smiling at her now, but rather cynically. “I, uh, thanks, Allen, but I can’t.”
He looked from Gabe to her, then back at her. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were here with a date. I guess it wouldn’t do any good to ask if you’re free another night?”
Her eyes met Gabe’s for a long moment. “You guessed right,” he said. He reached for her hand and held it, still looking at her with that faint, cynical smile. “She’s taken.”
Allen lifted an eyebrow. “I see. Well, it was good to see you again, Lana. Randolph, nice to meet you.” He nodded at Gabe and walked off.
She blew out a breath, then pulled her hand from Gabe’s and frowned at him. “Taken? Taken?” she repeated. “What am I, a parking space?”
“Don’t complain.” He smiled at her sardonically. “You’re lucky I said anything at all. I could have let you squirm out of it by yourself.”
She stared at him a moment. “You’re mad.”
He took a sip of beer and slapped the can down. His dark eyes were heated and flashing with annoyance. “Yeah, Lana, I’m mad.”
“I didn’t ask you—”
“Please,” he said, clearly growing more irritated by the minute. “You gave me that wounded doe look. What was I supposed to do?”
Wounded doe? Had she really looked like that? Surely not. “I’m perfectly capable of turning down a date without any help from you.”
“Is that so? Then why did you tell Tamara you had a date with me tonight?”
He had her there. And it took the wind completely out of her sails. She sat. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
His jaw tightened as he gave her a long look. “Forget it. No big deal.” He picked up his beer again and sipped it.
It dawned on her that he wasn’t simply angry. He was hurt. And she was a jerk. “Gabe, getting out of a blind date wasn’t the only reason I asked you to bring me to Tamara’s party tonight.”
He shot her a derisive glance. “Yeah, right. Tell that to someone more gullible.”
“Do you think I’d ask you to come with me if I didn’t enjoy being with you?”
“You tell me.”
“All right, I will. I had fun when we went fishing. I like being with you. Even if Tamara hadn’t tried to set me up, I would have wanted to go out with you again.”
Clearly unconvinced, he didn’t say anything. He just looked at her with that faintly mocking smile curving his mouth.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“You think the only reason I asked you to come with me tonight was to get out of the blind date.”
“Yep.”
She was horribly, guiltily aware he was right. She probably wouldn’t have gone out with him again if she hadn’t lied to Tamara and been forced into it. She’d been using him and he’d called her on it. The fact that she’d asked him because she felt safe with him didn’t make it right.
And now she’d gone and used him again, to get out of the situation with Allen. Talk about adding insult to injury. The least she could do was own up to it. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It was…not very nice of me.”
“Like I said, forget it.”
But she couldn’t. She’d hurt his feelings and he didn’t deserve that. Not after he’d been so nice to her. “What can I do to make it up to you?” she asked.
He looked at her speculatively, his gaze lingering on her mouth. Oh, God, was he going to kiss her? Or expect her to kiss him? Part of her wanted to. The other part thought it was a really bad idea.
Because kissing could lead to other expectations. And while kissing was one thing, she knew she wasn’t ready for anything more.
“Come out with me,” he said. “On a real date. To the Scarlet Parrot for dinner tomorrow night.”
If she didn’t go, it would kill any hope of friendship between them. Not to mention the possibility for anything more. Besides, if she were honest, she’d have to admit she wanted to go with him.
“All right. I’ll have dinner with you.”
He didn’t smile but he searched her eyes. “Are you going out with me because you want to or because you feel like you have to?”
She put her hand over his where it rested on the table. “Because I want to.”
This time he did smile. “Good.”
Her stomach fluttered. All he’d done was smile at her, and her stomach was dancing with nerves. Oh, Lord, she was in trouble.
GABE WAS SURPRISED Lana had agreed to the date. In fact he’d almost expected her to back out, but when he didn’t get a call, he showed up at her house Sunday night. He rang the bell and waited. After a bit he rang it again. Still, she didn’t answer. Great, she’d stood him up. What a fool he’d been to think she was any different than any other woman.
He’d made it down the steps to the sidewalk when he heard the door open and she called his name. He turned around and looked at her.
“Gabe, I’m sorry. I heard the bell but I couldn’t get away. I could use some help. Please hurry.”
He climbed the steps again and followed her inside. “What happened to you?” She wore linen slacks and a sleeveless blouse but both were soaking wet. The clothes clung to her like a second skin, outlining generous breasts and a beautifully curved body. He tried to reroute his gaze from her body to her face but it was damn hard to do.
“I had the bright idea to throw a load of clothes in before we left,” she told him as they walked to the kitchen. She opened the door to the laundry room and waved a hand at a disaster. Water was squirting out from behind the washer and already pooling on the floor. No wonder she was soaked.
“My washer has lost its mind.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” he said, amused. He waded in, moving carefully because he didn’t want his cane to slip, and reached behind the washer to turn off the water, getting his own shirt soaked in the process. “The hose broke,” he said. “Got a spare? I can fix it if you do.”
>
“Not unless the previous owner left one. And since the only things I’ve found that they left behind were dried-out paint cans, I doubt it. I don’t imagine any store that carries things like that will be open on a Sunday night, either.”
“Probably not. I can fix it for you tomorrow after work if you want me to.”
“I can just call the repairman. But thanks, it’s sweet of you to offer.”
“There’s no need to pay someone else to do something I can do for you in five minutes for free.”
Willing to argue, he turned around to look at her and nearly groaned. She’d gotten down on her hands and knees and begun mopping up the water with towels.
Gabe abandoned any attempt to stop looking. She had the finest—
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” She continued pushing the towel around.
“Mind what?” he repeated blankly.
“Gabe!”
He switched his gaze to her face. “What?”
“Are you staring at my butt?”
“Uh—” He decided she’d know if he lied so he shrugged and admitted it. “Yeah.” He grinned. “It’s kind of impossible not to with you in that position.”
She sat back on her heels and frowned at him, but then her lips twitched and he figured she wasn’t really mad. “That’s so…so—”
She stopped, apparently at a loss for words, so he finished for her. “Hey, I’m a guy. And you have to know you’re one beautiful woman.”
She looked surprised. And flustered, as if she didn’t know how to respond. She had to know he was attracted to her, didn’t she?
She gazed at him for a moment, then looked away. “Your shirt is soaked. Once I finish mopping up this water we can put it in the dryer.”
Yep, still jumpy. “Okay. I’d offer to help but I’m pretty sure once I got down there I wouldn’t get back up.”
“You’ve done enough by turning off the water. I tried but it’s hard to reach and then I heard the doorbell, so I just left it.”
She finished mopping and stood. “I’m going to change. Why don’t you put your shirt in the dryer and wait for me in the living room? I won’t be long.”
