by Jane Graves
“Alex? You want to shut up?”
“Not particularly.” He turned back to Lisa. “Do you play softball?”
Lisa glanced toward the ball diamond. “No. I watch the Rangers a lot, but . . . no. I’ve never played.”
Alex grinned. “No problem. You can be on my team. Learn from the master. Dave here would be lucky to make it in Little League.”
Dave turned to Lisa. “Alex is a legend in his own mind.”
“Hey!” Alex said. “Who still holds the home run record at Tolosa South, huh?”
“Reliving his high school glory days,” John said, shaking his head sadly. “Is that pitiful or what?”
“Jealousy is an ugly thing, John.” Alex turned to Lisa. “So you two move it, will you? We’ve got a game to play.”
Alex and John turned and trotted back toward the ball diamond.
“Hey, you guys!” Dave called out. “Send Ashley over here, will you?”
As they nodded and continued on, Lisa felt a rush of apprehension. Dave took one look at her face, and his brows pulled together with concern.
“Hey,” he said gently. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Lisa? You want to be here, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, closing her eyes. “You know I do. More than anything. But I’m so afraid of screwing it up.”
“You won’t screw anything up. Trust me.”
A few moments later, she looked over to see Ashley on the other side of the street. Dave checked the traffic in both directions, then motioned her across. Lisa remembered seeing her photo when they were at the hotel in Monterrey, but it didn’t do her justice. Lisa didn’t think she’d ever seen a more beautiful child in her life. Or maybe she was already becoming biased and didn’t even realize it.
“Ashley,” Dave said. “This is Lisa.”
The girl looked up at her shyly, and suddenly Lisa felt her mouth go dry. She had not one clue what to say to her.
“Lisa flies planes,” Dave said. “I bet she could take you up in one sometime.”
Ashley glanced up at Lisa. “A real plane?”
“Uh-huh,” Lisa said. “Would you like to go flying with me? It’s fun.”
Ashley shrugged.
Silence.
“That’s a pretty braid you have in your hair,” Lisa said.
Ashley pulled it over her shoulder and tugged on it self-consciously.
“Do you know how to braid?” Lisa asked.
“I braid my Barbie’s hair.”
“Do you think sometime you could show me how?”
Ashley peered up at her. “You don’t know how?”
Lisa’s heart jolted. “Uh . . . no. But you can show me, right?”
Ashley shrugged. “I guess.”
Silence.
“My hair’s really short,” Lisa said, sweeping her hand through it. “Guess we won’t be braiding it, huh?”
Ashley just stared at her.
“Maybe I’ll grow it longer. How do you think that would look?”
Silence. And Lisa couldn’t think of one more thing on earth to say.
“Hey, sweetie,” Dave said, “why don’t you go back to the game? Tell everybody we’ll be there in a minute.”
She gave Lisa one last wary glance, then turned and trotted off, her long braid bouncing against her back.
“Well,” Lisa said, her throat tight. “That went well.”
“Don’t worry. You know Ashley’s just shy, particularly around people she doesn’t know.” He smiled. “But at least we know now that we have the braiding thing under control.”
“Please, Dave. Don’t tease me about this.”
He pulled her into his arms. “I can’t promise you it’ll be easy,” he said softly. “I can only promise you it’ll be worth it.”
“It scares me to death.”
“It shouldn’t. You’re exactly what she needs. You’re going to be so good for her.”
She looked away. “I hope so.”
He tucked his finger beneath her chin and coaxed it back. “There’s only one thing you have to do, and everything with Ashley will fall into place.”
“What’s that?”
“Love her father.”
Tears filled Lisa’s eyes all over again. “I do. More than her father will ever know.”
In that moment, she knew in her heart that no matter how shaky everything felt, it was going to be all right. She’d trusted Dave with her life, and she wasn’t going to stop trusting him now.
epilogue
Lisa pulled her car into Dave’s driveway, killed the engine, and sat in blessed silence for a moment. She’d spent the past two days flying a group of rowdy beer company executives to an island in the Bahamas for a two-day blowout, and she was quite certain that if she heard one more round of “Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall” she was going to go completely off her rocker. About the time the third guy lost his lunch on the return trip, she decided it was time to back off on the charter schedule so she could stay in town more often, which was where she wanted to be more and more. After all, in a few weeks she would be a married woman. And a mother.
As soon as she’d arrived in Tolosa she’d applied with an aviation company, and on the strength of her references from Blue Diamond in San Antonio they hired her immediately. It fulfilled everything she’d ever wanted to do as a pilot, but strangely, she found that every moment she was in the clouds she was looking forward to getting back to earth.
She took an apartment midway between Dave’s house and the airfield. She spent her days flying, and when she was in town she spent her evenings with Dave and Ashley. Dave never rushed her, never took more than she was willing to give. And that made her want to give him everything.
She unlocked the front door of the house and went inside. Dave’s car was out front, but he wasn’t in the living room. She checked the kitchen and didn’t find him there, either.
Then she went into his bedroom, surprised to find him propped up on pillows, leaning against the headboard of his bed. On the nightstand sat a plate of fudge beside a big bowl of popcorn. She looked at the television. A movie was on pause.
Cinderella?
The entire scenario could lead to one conclusion only. The man she loved was a dreadful liar.
“See, I told you!” she said, pointing an accusing finger at Dave. “I told you that you spoil Ashley just as much as John and Renee do!”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Lisa looked around the room. “Where is she?”
“With John and Renee.”
Lisa blinked with confusion. “So what’s all this?”
Dave gave her a warm, inviting smile and patted the bed beside him. “Come here, little girl.”
She stared at him, but it was at least ten seconds before his meaning struck her. When it did, all the breath left her body.
She walked slowly to the bed and climbed up next to him. He fluffed the pillows behind her back, then slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. He put the plate of fudge beside her and the bowl of popcorn right into her lap. He handed her the remote.
“You can replay the good parts all you want to.”
Lisa stared at the remote hanging loosely in her hand. No matter how hard she gritted her teeth, her jaw started to tremble and tears filled her eyes. She blinked, and a couple of them ran down her face.
“Now, we still have some rules,” Dave said admonishingly. “No tears in the popcorn.”
She sat up suddenly, dropped the remote and slid her arms around his neck, hugging him fiercely, her face buried against his shoulder. And she cried. God, how she cried, because she loved him so much that if she didn’t she was going to burst with it.
“And if you’re a very good girl,” Dave said, “tomorrow I’ll take you clothes shopping.”
Lisa laughed through her tears and melted against him, then turned to stare into those deep, dark eyes, remembering a time when she’d
prayed that a thousand more tomorrows would be filled with the sight of him. The fact that she was going to have ten thousand more was beyond her comprehension.
Dave held her, rocking her gently, enclosing her in a shelter of warmth and caring for the first time in her life. He was giving her the family she’d never had and the love she would cherish forever.
In the end, it was everything she’d ever dreamed of.
Letting her go would be a crime . . .
I GOT YOU, BABE
by Jane Graves
On the run for a robbery she didn’t commit, Renee Esterhaus is stuck in the middle of Texas with a broken car and a sadistic bounty hunter hot on her trail. Desperate for a way out, Renee decides to make a promise she never intends to keep—offer the first man she meets a night of unforgettable pleasure in return for a ride. A night to remember, all right, since the handsome guy turns out to be a cop with a pair of handcuffs and zero tolerance for sweet-talking criminals.
John DeMarco was supposed to be on vacation, far away from the lowlifes he endured on a daily basis. Even with his guard down, he doesn’t expect to be duped—especially by a beautiful blonde con artist whose claims of innocence and tempting curves are nearly impossible to resist. Renee is not a woman he can trust . . . so why does he feel himself falling in love?
Published by Ivy Books
Available wherever books are sold
She’s easy on the eyes and . . .
WILD AT HEART
by Jane Graves
When private investigator Valerie Parker tails a cheating wife late one night, it’s business as usual—until the woman is murdered and the man she’s with becomes the prime suspect. Val gets an even bigger shock when she discovers the suspect’s identity: He’s Alex DeMarco, an old flame she swore she’d never speak to again.
As a cop, Alex knows better than to ignore his instincts, but for some reason he offers a strange woman a ride home anyway. When she turns up dead and he comes face-to-face with Val Parker, his problems are only beginning. As they work together to clear his name and to protect Val’s life, Alex finds himself drawn once again to the wild, impetuous woman from his past—even as the shocking secret behind the murder threatens to tear them apart forever.
Published by Ivy Books
Available wherever books are sold
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Copyright © 2003 by Jane Graves
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