Hot Stuff

'Completely correct,' Sophie said. 'In fact, he may retain much of his peripheral vision. Right now he's operating on pure fear.'

Micki nodded. 'Lola's leaving didn't help, not that I blame her. The man's impossible! I think we should keep him blindfolded until he admits he needs and loves Lola. Then he'll be reasonable again and we can deal with his eyesight and the future of the agency.'

Annabelle rolled her eyes. 'If only it were that simple,' she murmured. 'Sometimes a woman's love isn't enough. Sometimes a man hasn't been given the foundation to enable him to express his feelings in return.'

Sophie cocked an eyebrow, then strode over to Annabelle's desk. Leaning down, she got right into Annabelle's face. 'Are you talking about Uncle Yank or Brandon Vaughn?' she asked bluntly.

Annabelle dropped her head against her desk once more. 'Argh!'

'She's talking about Vaughn,' she heard Micki say.

Annabelle peeked up from above her folded arms. 'I really blew it this time. Me, Miss I Can Handle Him Without Getting Attached',' she said wryly. 'Not a chance.'

'I'm sorry, sis.' Sophie shot her a sympathetic glance. 'Can I take that to mean you're over Randy, though?' she asked, her expression showing she cared just a little too much about Annabelle's response.

Annabelle glanced from Micki to Sophie. 'I knew it. Even Vaughn sensed it at the party. You are involved with him, aren't you? Sophie, are you insane? I couldn't care less about Randy but I'm worried about you.' She cocked her head. 'Besides I thought you didn't like athletes.'

'I don't.' Her sister glanced at her long fingernails. 'That's what makes him safe.'

'Sophie,' Micki groaned.

'What? Did you think I could be around all these guys and never, well, you know.'

Annabelle glanced at her sisters, grateful for their closeness, even grateful for their disagreements. As long as they had each other, they could weather outside storms.

And Vaughn was Annabelle's most turbulent.

Another loud crash followed. They forgot the girl talk and ran for Yank's office. Annabelle got there first and opened the door to find he'd knocked his private black phone off its special stand with a cane he held in his hand.

'Dammit!' He ripped a ridiculous-looking pink bandanna off his eyes and tossed it to the ground. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light again, he looked at the girls. 'To hell with the cane. Annie, call and get me one of those Seeing Eye dogs,' he yelled at her.

'This is ridiculous. You don't need any of these things,' Micki yelled as if he were losing his hearing, not his eyesight. 'You need Lola!'

'I don't need anyone. Annie, you gonna get me a dog or what?'

She rubbed her hands against her pounding temples. 'You hate dogs that shed,' she reminded him, buying time.

'I just read about a new breed,' Sophie said, spouting from memory at a really bad time. 'It was bred for blind people who have allergy issues but still need a canine companion.'

'Uncle Yank isn't blind,' Annabelle reminded her. 'And we're going to set up appointments with specialists to understand his condition before we do anything drastic.' Like get the man who couldn't make a commitment a dog that he'd have to take care of for a good ten years or more.

'What's the breed called so I can look into one myself?' Uncle Yank asked.

'It's a Labradoodle,' Sophie supplied with a smile. She often got so caught up in her explanations that she forgot the important things going on around her. Like the fact that they didn't want to encourage their uncle's behavior.

This time Annabelle leaned backward, so she could hit her head against the wall in complete frustration. Because despite the utter family chaos surrounding her, one important question floated in her brain.

If Vaughn were here, what would he do in order to get through to Uncle Yank? It seemed no matter how hard she tried, all roads led back to Vaughn. Too bad those roads seemed to be Ml of potholes, including the fact that he hadn't called her. And she didn't know if he ever would.

EVERYTHING WAS frigging perfect, Vaughn thought. So perfect that the construction and reconstruction crews didn't need him to oversee every small step anymore. In the one short week since Roy's arrest, everything that had been failing before fell into place now.

Laura had called to thank him for helping to bail her out of the financial mess she'd gotten herself into. She wasn't even upset that the police had grilled her and looked into her business. She was just grateful everything was over now. She even accepted his criticism on how she'd screwed up the bars and his advice on how to whip them back into shape. You 're smarter than I gave you credit for, Brandon, she'd told him. Unbelievable.

Then there was Todd. The kid was devastated about his father's involvement in the lodge's problems and even more messed up now that the man was being evaluated by a psychiatrist and would probably do time either in a hospital or jail. Vaughn had made it his mission to see that Todd remained on track both for football and his last year of high school. After all, that's what had motivated Roy, no matter how misguided he'd been.

But with everything running smoothly now, Vaughn could actually afford to take time for himself. And what did he normally do when he had free time? He picked up the phone and dialed Nick's cell.

The phone rang and rang and just as he was about to hang up, Nick's voice came on the line. 'What the hell do you want, Vaughn? And it better be important.'

'Did I catch you at a bad time?'

'Uh, you could say that.'

Vaughn heard giggling in the background and Mara's distinctive whisper to Nick.

'I don't suppose you want to go get a beer?' Vaughn asked, feeling like an ass and an unwanted third party at the same time.

'Give me the phone,' Mara said in the background.

What sounded like a wrestling session followed as Nick and Mara struggled for control of the receiver.

'Vaughn?'

'Hey, Mara. I guess we know who's gonna wear the pants in the family.'

'Ha, ha, ha. Now shut up and listen. How are you?' she asked.

He scowled. 'I'm fine.'

'Oh, really? Is that why you're calling Nick to go for a beer at seven o'clock on a work night?'

'What the hell's wrong with that? We always go for a beer after work.'

'That was before Nick had me in his life. What, or should I ask who, exactly do you have in your life, Vaughn?'

For the love of- 'Put Nick back on the phone.'

'I can't. He's busy.' She giggled and whispered something that sounded like 'Cut that out.'

'I get the point, Mara. Nick's whipped now. No more boys' nights out.' Vaughn paced his small kitchen.

'I'll ignore that. I'm serious. You've got your lodge and your volunteer work and the kids you help practice on the side, but what's your personal life consist of?'

Before he could answer, Mara kept right on going. 'In other words have you spoken with Annabelle?' she asked, getting to the crux of things.

'Way to tread lightly,' Nick called out in the background.

'Well have you?' Mara asked Vaughn.

'No,' he grumbled, more irritable now that she'd pointed out his life's shortcomings.

Mara groaned. 'You're an idiot, Vaughn. And if you aren't careful and you don't do something soon, you're going to end up alone.'

Vaughn let out a hard exhale. 'Jeez, thanks for being a friend.'

'I am your friend and you know it. I love you and I don't want to see you screw up the best thing to happen to you. She's special, Vaughn.'

He raised his gaze to the ceiling. 'Now you sound like my mother,' he muttered.

'You've been talking to your mother?' Mara asked sounding stunned. 'Nick, Vaughn's been talking to his mother!'

'Don't go hiring a skywriter to announce it or anything.'