See Jane Score

Jane was fiery and had a smart mouth, and a geeky pencil pusher was all wrong for her. Especially that pencil pusher. It was no secret that Darby had been against Luc’s trade to the Chinooks and that the two men tolerated each other because they had to. As far as Luc was concerned, Darby Hogue was nutless, while Jane had guts. He guessed that’s what he liked about her. She didn’t run from adversity. She faced it head-on. All five feet of her.

Luc grabbed his black bow tie and moved to his closet’s mirrored doors. He laid it flat against his collar and threaded one end beneath the other. Dissatisfied with the lengths on each side, he pulled it off and started over. It took him three tries before he’d tied it perfectly around his neck. He usually didn’t mind throwing on his tux and attending banquets-especially banquets honoring fellow goalies-but there was nothing usual about tonight. Tonight his little sister was going to a high school dance with a guy who had his nose pierced.

Luc grabbed his watch from his bedside table and slipped it on his wrist as he made his way to Marie’s room. He wasn’t about to leave until her date appeared for her. He knew what went on in the minds of teen boys, and he planned to look this Zack over and let the kid know that he’d be home when Marie returned, waiting up for her. He had to be here to shake Zack’s hand a little too hard, give him the don’t-mess-with-my-sister stare, and put some fear into him. Luc might not be a great brother-in fact, he wasn’t anywhere near great-but he would protect Marie as long as she was with him.

He’d decided to put off any discussion of boarding school until sometime after the dance. She’d had so much fun picking out her dress and shoes, it just hadn’t seemed like the right time to talk about it.

Luc knocked on Marie’s door, and when she mumbled a reply he entered the room. He expected to see her in the black velvet dress with the square neck, puffy sleeves, and little pink roses sewn on it. She’d shown him the dress the other day, and he’d thought it real sweet for a girl her age. Instead of being dressed, though, she lay on top of her bed wearing her pajamas. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she’d been crying.

“Why aren’t you getting ready? Your date’s going to be here in a few minutes.”

“No, he’s not. He called and canceled last night.”

“Is he sick?”

“He said he forgot that he has to do something with his family and can’t take me. But that’s a lie. He has a girlfriend now and he’s taking her.”

Something white and hot flashed behind his eyes. Something that clenched his jaw and tightened his hands into fists. No one stood up his sister and made her cry. “He can’t do that.” Luc moved farther into the room and looked down at Marie. “Where does he live? I’ll go talk to him. I’ll make him take you.”

“No,” she gasped, mortified, and sat up on the edge of her bed, her eyes wide as she gazed up at Luc. “That’s so embarrassing!”

“Okay, I won’t make him take you.” She was right. Being forced would embarrass her. “I’ll just go over there and kick his ass.”

Her dark brow rose almost to her hairline. “He’s a minor.”

“Good point. Well, I’ll kick his dad’s ass. Anyone who raises his son to stand a girl up deserves to get his ass kicked just on principle.” Luc was serious, but for some reason, that got a smile out of Marie.

“You’d kick Mr. Anderson’s ass for me?”

“I meant butt. Not ass. And of course I would.” He sat next to his sister. “And if I couldn’t get the job done, I know a few hockey players who would feed him his lunch.”

“That’s true.”

He took her hand and studied her stubby fingernails. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d called and canceled?”

She looked away. “I didn’t think you’d really care.”

With his free hand, he brought her gaze back to his. “How can you say that? Of course I care. You’re my sister.”

She shrugged. “I just didn’t think you cared about stuff like dances.”

“Well, you might be right. I don’t care that much about dances and dancing. I never went to any dances at my school because…” He paused and hit her arm with his elbow. “I can’t dance worth a damn. But I care about you.”

One corner of her mouth turned down as if she didn’t believe him.

“You’re my sister,” he said again, as if there were nothing else to explain. “I told you I’d always take care of you.”

“I know.” She looked at her lap. “But taking care of and caring about aren’t the same thing.”

“They are to me, Marie. I don’t take care of people I don’t care about.”

She pulled her hand from his and stood. She moved across the room to a dresser with a pile of bracelets, stuffed bears, and four dried roses on top. Luc knew the white roses had come from her mother’s casket. He didn’t know why she’d taken them or why she kept them now, especially when they made her cry.

“I know you want to send me away,” she said with her back to him.

Oh, boy. He didn’t know how she’d found out, but he supposed that wasn’t important. “I’ve been thinking that you might be happier living with girls your own age instead of me.”

“Don’t lie, Luc. You want to get rid of me.”

Did he? Was getting rid of her so he could go back to his life his major motivation for looking at boarding schools? Maybe a little more than he’d like to admit to himself. Guilt he could no longer ignore squeezed the back of his neck as he stood and walked toward his sister. “I won’t lie to you.” He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. “The truth is, I don’t know what to do with you. I don’t know anything about teenage girls, but I know you’re unhappy. I want to make it better for you, but I don’t know how.”

“I’m unhappy because my mom died,” she said in a small voice. “And nobody and nothing can make that better.”

“I know.”

“And no one wants me.”

“Hey.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I want you and you know Aunt Jenny wants you.” Actually, Jenny only wanted Marie to “visit summers,” but Marie didn’t need to know that. “In fact, she threatened to take me to family court to demand custody. I think she had visions of the two of you wearing matching housecoats.”

Marie’s nose wrinkled. “How come I never heard of that?”

“At the time, you had enough worries,” he evaded. “I have more money than Aunt Jenny if it came to a court battle, so she backed down.”

Marie frowned. “Jenny lives in a retirement village.”

“Yeah, but look on the bright side. She’d make you her special prune pudding every night.”

“Blech!”

Luc smiled and pulled back the cuff of his shirt to look at his watch. The banquet was just about to start. “I’ve got to get going,” he said, but couldn’t quite bring himself to actually leave her alone. “Why don’t you put on your new dress and come with me?”

“Where?”

“To a banquet at the Space Needle.”

“With old people?”

“Not that old. It’ll be fun.”

“Don’t you have to go right now?”

“I’ll wait for you.”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Come on. The press will be there, and maybe you’ll get your picture in the paper looking so good, old Zack will kick his own ass.”

She laughed. “You mean butt.”

“Right. Butt.” He pushed her toward her closet. “Get your butt in gear,” he said as he left the room and shut the door behind him. He grabbed his tuxedo jacket and moved into the living room to wait. He shrugged into the four-button jacket and hoped Marie shook her tailfeathers, but, typical of all females he’d ever known, she took her time getting ready.

He stood in front of the eight-foot windows and looked out at the city. The rain had stopped, but drops still clung to the glass and smeared the glittering image of Seattle at night, of the towering high-rise buildings and Elliott