Athena Force: Books 1-6

by Justine Davis, Amy J. Fetzer, Katherine Garbera, Meredith Fletcher, Catherine Mann

  Darcy gathered up towels and grabbed a trash can to empty. One of her stylists, Nicki, flashed her a thank-you smile. She was young and pretty, her belly ring showing above low-riding capri slacks and shoes stacked so high Darcy waited for the nose bleed to start. Lana had the next chair, and was fresh out of cosmetology school, but Darcy had spotted talent. The eighteen-year-old was apprenticing under Darcy, yet the girl could cut hair in half the time of the rest and therefore made more money. Shianne and Zoe worked side by side, the best of pals. Shianne was tiny and blonde, and Zoe was tall with hair the color of bing cherries. The manicurist and masseur showed up when they had appointments and weren’t in today. Although the salon was filled with customers, no one was waiting for someone’s time. The mood was soft and quiet, and Darcy slipped in a Nora Jones CD and let the sexy jazz move through the place like smoke.

  Darcy emptied the trash, started a load of towels, then swept the floors, checking her watch for her next client.

  The noise level lowered suddenly and Nicki called to her. “I think your next client is here.”

  Darcy set the broom aside, coming around the bend that hid the shampoo bowls from public view, then stopping dead in her tracks.

  Oh be still my wicked heart, she thought, and for a second she just appreciated the good-looking man.

  He had one arm braced on the windshield of the appointment desk, talking with Megan. Who, Darcy noticed, was practically melting into a puddle in the bucket car seat that served as a chair. Whatever he was saying was making Meg blush. She glanced at the other stylists. The girls and her customers had stopped to stare. Darcy waved at them to get back to work and not embarrass themselves. Nicki shifted a couple steps closer.

  “Is he just too yummy or what? He looks like something out of an L.L. Bean catalogue.”

  “Yeah,” Darcy said. “He does have that handsome outdoorsy look, huh?”

  Nicki gave her a nudge. “He’s your appointment, you lucky girl.”

  Darcy moved nearer, thinking that tall, blond and handsome looked like he could climb a rock face or trek through Nepal with ease. His buff-colored Adirondack-style jacket with pockets and pull cords looked right on him, and he had it pushed back with his fist braced on his hip. Long legs in jeans ended in Timberline boots.

  “Hello,” she said, and when he turned his attention, the most beautiful pair of blue eyes locked on her.

  “Please tell me you’re Piper.”

  He’s English, she realized, his accent educated, soft. James-Bond sexy. “I am.”

  He excused himself from Meg, then moved toward Darcy. “I’m Kel Adams.”

  His gaze moved over her from head to toe, making her conscious of everything from her exposed tummy to how her breasts sat in her bra.

  “Thank you for the last-minute appointment.”

  “No problem.” Her gaze moved to his hair. “Looks like you need it.”

  “Yes, a good shearing more likely.” He ruffled his long, shaggy blond hair. “I’ve been in the Australian outback for a couple months and didn’t have time before my—” He stopped, then let out a long-suffering sigh. “Forgive me, making excuses again.”

  “Something you and your therapist are working on?”

  He cast her a devilish look that made her insides light up and shimmer.

  “No. I chatter a bit much on useless things, though. Has a tendency to irritate some people. Rather like listening to an excited five-year-old, I’m told.”

  “Then you’ll fit in here.” She inclined her head toward the back. “Let’s shampoo first.”

  Kel nodded, following her. Snapping on the cap and wetting his hair, Darcy could smell his aftershave. There was something about having an attractive man staring directly at your breasts that wasn’t the least bit businesslike.

  He closed his eyes, and as she shampooed and rinsed, he moaned softly.

  “Sorry. Could have gone to sleep right then.”

  “I get that a lot.”

  He chuckled, sitting up, and she rubbed the towel over his hair, then ignored the puppy-dog way he looked up at her. “Wonderful view.”

  Her face reddened and she escorted him to her chair, thinking that he was at least making a boring day better. She turned him toward the mirror.

  “How would you like it trimmed?”

  “Been hacking at it myself lately, so you be the judge.”

  “Ah, a trusting nature,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows and opening and closing her scissors viciously.

  “You’re the professional.”

  Darcy stared at his reflection, judging facial structure, length, then started. Kel was a photographer, she learned, in town to get some Old-West-style shots of houses and old buildings.

  Kel was easygoing, less inclined to get into a heavy discussion and more into teasing them all. “Men should come in here just for the view.”

  “As long as they pay, we don’t care, do we, ladies?”

  The air was peppered with agreements and long looks at the handsome Brit.

  “Stop moving or I’ll make a noticeable hole in your hair.”

  He shrugged. “It will grow back.”

  He flirted like a teenager, with innuendoes and sly infectious smiles. When she was finished, she decided he looked even better than before. He paid, left her too big a tip and said “Cheers” as he walked out. Half her staff leaned out to watch him go.

  Darcy couldn’t help joining them as he swung onto a motorcycle and drove off. A couple minutes later, though, he was right back, jumping off and rushing inside.

  “Forget something, Kel?”

  He walked straight toward her, stopping just two feet away. “Go out with me, Piper.”

  Darcy stilled, staring blankly. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why? You don’t like the accent? Charms the ladies all the time.” He winked at Nicki. “Though my mother would say I’ve the poorest diction in all of Christendom.”

  “Mothers like to needle. And I don’t date customers.”

  “You don’t date at all,” Nicki said and Darcy sent her a “butt out” look.

  His gaze raked her slim body. “Pity. How about dinner?”

  “I’m not interested in a relationship.” She thought of Jack. Though theirs was a strange friendship, it was close enough to a relationship that she didn’t want more of one till her life was in order.

  Kel’s expression went soft. “It’s just dinner, love.” He inched closer, his gaze locked with hers.

  Darcy felt pressured, though she did want to go out, just for fun. And she was so tired of her own company. Before she made the decision, Charlie wandered out. She excused herself, gathering her son in her arms. He was still groggy from his nap, and she kissed his cheek, then set him in her chair.

  “Hi,” he said to Kel, knuckling his eyes.

  “Hi yourself, lad.”

  “I’m Charlie. You talk funny.”

  “That’s because I’m English, you know, the mother tongue.”

  Charlie made a face and Darcy nudged Kel. “Wit is lost on a three-year-old.”

  “Apparently.”

  “What are you doing with my mom’s tongue?” Charlie asked, and barely muffled snickers filled the salon.

  “Nothing…yet.”

  “Kel.”

  Laughing to himself, he said, “Ah, he’s an adorable child, Piper.”

  “Thanks, and he remembers everything, so be careful what you say.”

  “I’ve noticed. So, Charles, have you been to that park, the one near the stockyards?”

  Charlie was suddenly wide-awake and shifting to his knees. “The one with the really big Ferris wheel?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “Nope.” He sank into the chair. “Mom says I’m too small.”

  “You look the right size to me.”

  Charlie glanced at his mother accusingly. “Mom says, soon.”

  Kel twisted to look back at Darcy. “How about the park, Piper, with Charlie, tomorrow night? Popcor
n, cotton candy, greasy American hot dogs?”

  “Well, that was very manipulative of you.”

  He just kept grinning. “And they say the English are stodgy.”

  “Don’t you have to work?”

  “Can’t shoot film in the dark. Lost half my lighting equipment between here and Sydney.” His expression went sour for a second. “Some bloke is wondering what he’s got, but knows it’s worth a fortune. Good thing it was insured.” Just as quickly, he flashed her a grin and faced her. “Come on, take pity on the poor foreigner.” He brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Charlie and I do so want to ride a Ferris wheel.”

  Darcy hedged for a moment, glancing between him and Charlie. They looked like two puppies begging for a treat.

  “I’m rather well off, and I love spending my money on beautiful women. Will that help sway you?”

  “It would me,” Meg said from the desk.

  Oh for pity’s sake. She knew when she was cornered, but misgivings haunted her. Kel was a fleeting kind of man, the kind who waltzed in and after some casual fun, waltzed right out. Nothing like Jack. That made her say, “If you promise to keep it light.”

  His smile couldn’t have been more pleased. “Light as you like. Now, I’m off to get a car.”

  “A car?”

  At the door, he looked back over his shoulder and said, “As much as I’d like that lovely body pressed up against me while on a motorcycle, I wouldn’t want to endanger the boy.”

  “I have a car, Kel.”

  He reared back, looking offended. “Well that’s just not-a-tall proper. See you later. Bye, Charles.”

  Smiling, he left the shop and hopped on the bike. Every woman in the salon let out a sigh as he drove away.

  “My heavens, he’s like a whirlwind,” someone said, and Darcy thought it was Zoe. She couldn’t be sure, her heart was pounding too hard to think clearly.

  Oh, man. Oh, man, oh, man. What was she thinking?

  Men asked questions, men wanted personal information, and she was letting a stranger near Charlie?

  She’d have to be extra careful.

  Kel seemed like a nice guy, but then so had Maurice at one time.

  Chapter 8

  The amusement park was wild with noise and the scent of hot dogs, popcorn and fried falafel. Music blasted over speakers, showering down on the people crowding the old stockyards. Teenagers walked hand in hand, parents corralled kids, and bells went off when someone won a prize.

  Charlie was fascinated, and from his perch on Kel’s shoulders, he had a bird’s-eye view of everything. Darcy glanced up at her son. He was in kiddie heaven, his face smeared with cotton candy, his hands in Kel’s hair. Kel didn’t seem to mind and had a hold of Charlie’s sneakered feet for balance.

  She was grateful. Her son was heavy, and trying to keep a hold of his hand in the crush of people had been murder on her nerves.

  “When I was a boy we had a county fair,” Kel was saying. “Nothing like this.”

  “You mean nothing expensive, loud and gaudy?”

  The area was well-lit with strings of lights and every stand, ride or entertainment such as the house of mirrors had flashing lights and some roadie hawking for customers.

  He smiled at her. “Yes. You’re not having a good time?”

  “As a matter-of-fact, I am.” She popped a piece of sugary funnel cake in her mouth.

  That smile grew bigger, showing perfect white teeth. He’d been polite, friendly, not touching her, and yet lavishing attention on Charlie. The way to a woman’s heart is through her child? If it was, Jack beat him to the punch, she thought, then frowned at the thought. Had she been comparing the two men all evening?

  Kel played with Charlie, accommodated him. Jack listened and talked at his level, as if everything her son said was important. Darcy didn’t want Charlie to get attached to any man, to spare his feelings should they be forced to disappear again, but she also understood and accepted that her son had no man in his life to emulate, so he connected easily with Jack. And now, with Kel.

  “I’ve been talking about myself all evening, Piper.”

  “And it’s been interesting. Some of the things you’ve done to get a photo would be considered crazy.”

  “I’d rather think of it as doing the things I want, but with a camera in my hands.” His gaze moved over her face. “I’d love to shoot you.”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Really? You’re very pretty. Damn sexy I might add.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ear and gave him an embarrassed smile. “Thank you, but I don’t photograph well and I’d rather it not be blatantly obvious to anyone else.” The truth was, Darcy hadn’t had her picture taken in years except for necessary IDs, and those were false. It was too dangerous to let a stranger who published his work in national magazines take photos of her.

  When they arrived at the longed-for Ferris wheel, Charlie nearly toppled back as he leaned to look up.

  Kel swung him down. “Are you sure, lad?”

  Charlie nodded vigorously, hopping from foot to foot.

  Kel looked at her, blandly. “I do believe he’s rather excited.”

  “He leans toward you if he decides to replay the hot dogs and cotton candy you just fed him.”

  Kel laughed, offered the attendant the tickets, and in a minute or two they were riding high above the park.

  Darcy thought she’d be sick as the seat swung back and forth. They dangled in a box a hundred feet above the crowd and Darcy felt her world tilt. Good God.

  She was up here with her baby and a man she knew only by his name! The risks hit her hard, and like the string she was trying to cut with Maurice, once it was severed, what then? Would she fall into the life she wanted or be disappointed?

  What changes would her life take? She looked down and her stomach rolled. She’d been alone for so long, on the edge of life, a fake one, and she desperately wanted a clean slate. So she could be who she really was without fear. What would that be like? To never worry. Heaven, she thought. Victory.

  She glanced at her son. Charlie’s eyes were as big as saucers, his attention shooting all over the park as he pointed out rides and vendors’ stands. But when he started wiggling in the seat, both she and Kel put their arm across Charlie’s front.

  Darcy swore Kel won her over right then.

  “Settle down, honey,” she said as the ride took its last turn, thank God. And here she had worried about Charlie retching up the junk food?

  “Can we go again? Please, please,” Charlie begged, looking between the adults. Covertly, she rolled her eyes, hoping Kel noticed she was on the verge of losing her dinner.

  “I’ll tell you what, Charles,” Kel said with English dignity. “We’ll have us a bit of a snack, then take one more turn around the grounds.”

  “You mean we have to leave?” That pout was too cute to resist.

  “It’s nearly nine, lad,” he said kindly, glancing briefly at Darcy. “But we can’t leave before we try our hand at the duck hunt.”

  Charlie’s face lit up at the prospect of firing a water pistol at plastic ducks. Kel hoisted Charlie up on his shoulders again.

  Darcy whispered, “Thanks. But tell the truth, you just want to play.”

  “Oh, yes.” He hurried off, Charlie bouncing like a rag doll, and Darcy kept up, not about to let her boy out of her sight. While Charlie was satisfied with a couple games, Kel wasn’t, and dragged them all over the place, slapping down a dollar for the chance at a stuffed pink panther.

  “One must have at least a gaudy reminder.”

  “I think you have more than your share.” He’d won a cheap kids’ backpack, which was stuffed with trinkets and toys.

  “But Charlie likes them, right?” He looked down at the boy.

  But Charlie was gone.

  Darcy’s heart slammed to a stop. Frantically, she looked around, then rushed into the crowd, panic slicing her as she dashed from spot to spot, calling his name. K
el went in the other direction, crouching low, and hollering for the boy.

  Darcy’s eyes burned, her terror scrambling her brain, images of Charlie kidnapped or hurt breaking down her common sense. She’d taught him well, she thought, to yell, to scream for help, but what if he couldn’t, what if—she heard her name, and turned sharply. She expected Kel.

  She got Jack.

  With Charlie in his arms.

  She ran, grabbing Charlie from him and hugging him tightly. “Oh baby, oh honey.”

  “I fell down, Mama. I’m sorry.”

  “I know, honey, I know.” Thank God. Oh, thank God.

  “He saw me and was running when someone knocked him over. I found him under a vendor’s cart, trying not to get trampled,” Jack said.

  She forced back her tears, leaning to look at Charlie. She kissed his face, and Charlie caught hers between his tiny hands and said calmly, “Don’t cry, Mama. I didn’t get hurt.”

  Darcy choked on her relief. “I’m so glad, honey, but don’t leave my side, ever, not for a second. Ever.”

  His lower lip curled down and Charlie glanced at Jack.

  “Your mother’s right, sport.”

  She hugged him again, looking over his shoulder at Jack and tearily whispered, “Thank you so much.”

  Jack moved closer, running his hand over Charlie’s hair. “Are you here alone with him?”

  “No, actually, she’s with me.” Kel stopped by her side, putting his arm around her and squeezing and looking deep into her eyes. “I can’t imagine the panic you just felt, but I saw it.” He had such a sad look just then, Darcy was taken aback.

  Her gaze moved to Jack’s. Oh, dear. If that glare was armed, it could kill. “Jack, this is Kel Adams.”

  Jack looked hard enough at Kel that he stepped away from her, lowered his arm. He didn’t offer a handshake, either.