“You talked to Ann?” he said, suddenly wary.
“How else do you think I knew you were here?”
“How’d she sound?”
“Like Ann. Dammit, Hank, what the devil is going on between you two?”
“Nothing.”
“If you hurt her, Liz will kill you. Come to think of it, I may kill you. She’s been a good friend to us. Kevin, needless to say, adores her. She’s turned his life around since she’s been helping him with his reading problem.”
“Who the hell says I hurt her? Did she say that?”
“She didn’t say anything. Ann is the soul of discretion, in case you haven’t noticed. I’m picking up all these weird vibes from you.”
“Well, you’ve got it all wrong.”
“Okay, we’ll forget that for the moment and go back to the other issue you seem to be evading. What brings you to Miami?”
Good question. Hank knew he should have anticipated it, but he hadn’t. He’d been too busy running for his life. “I, um, I had some things to follow up on in the office.”
“What things?”
“Things, okay?”
“Interesting.”
“Don’t get cute with me, buddy. I’m too damn tired to deal with your smart remarks.”
The admission cost him. It said far too much about the sleepless nights he’d spent in the past couple of weeks, as well as his current state of mind. He caught the twitch of Todd’s lips. It rankled.
“Have dinner with Liz and me,” Todd suggested.
Hank visibly recoiled from the daunting prospect. “Oh, no. Not a chance.”
“How come? Don’t you want to see your godson? He could use a few pointers on his pitching. And the baby is almost crawling. You should see her.”
“I have spent the past two weeks surrounded by rug rats. I do not need to see any more. Cute as yours might be,” he amended, knowing exactly how touchy Todd could be over his offspring.
“We’ll fix steaks on the grill.”
His mouth began to water.
“And I just bought a case of cabernet sauvignon that will go perfectly with them.”
He weakened. Obviously in the past couple of weeks his resistance had been shot to hell along with his nerves. It was pathetic. “What time?”
“Eight.”
“Make it seven. I doubt if I’ll be able to stay awake past nine and I’d hate to fall asleep before I get the first bite of steak.”
“Great. See you later, pal. What time are you coming in to the office?”
“The office?” he repeated blankly.
“You did say that’s why you came, didn’t you?”
“Oh, right. Later.”
“Later,” Todd repeated, clearly amused. “Good time.”
As soon as his still-smirking partner had left, Hank’s thoughts whirled right back to Ann. He recalled a dozen different images, all of them tantalizing enough to set his blood on fire.
“No way,” he muttered as he began to scrub the kitchen floor. It was a task he usually left to the maid. She came once a week. The floor was spotless. He didn’t care. Scrubbing it kept him from pounding on walls. As he mopped, he forced himself to itemize every one of Ann’s innumerable flaws aloud.
“Bossy.” An image of her comforting Melissa countered it.
“Opinionated.” He recalled how intently she’d listened to Tracy’s problems at school, never once offering advice, only encouragement. Tracy had worked out her own solution and left for Key West with renewed confidence.
“She has no sense of style.” She’d been wearing a man’s wrinkled red plaid flannel shirt when he left and bright yellow socks. That shirt had barely reached to midthigh. To his astonishment, it had triggered sensations more powerful than the most seductive black lace teddy. Judging from the renewed racing of his pulse, its power hadn’t dimmed over the past few hours. He tried harder to counteract the effect.
“That impossible hair!” A memory of his callused fingers tangled in the short, dark strands made his muscles go taut.
“Oh, hell!”
Ann was scrubbing pots and pans with a vengeance. She had already mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the house from one end to the other and dusted so thoroughly that the kids had scattered. She was considering washing all the windows next. It probably wouldn’t help.
Hank Riley was the most infuriating, insensitive, nervy man she’d ever met. Last night had been…a disaster. An unmitigated disaster. What had ever made her think that she wanted that man in her bed? What had possessed her to even allow him into her house? In only a few weeks he’d done more to turn her well-ordered life upside down than any four of the children combined. Once he had gone for good, she was sure she’d feel quite capable of coping with another half-dozen kids.
“Ann?”
She turned and saw Tracy regarding her hesitantly. “What’s up, kiddo? I thought you’d spent the night down in Key West.”
“I did. I just thought I’d come back this morning.”
“No classes?”
“It won’t hurt me to skip ’em for once.”
“No. Probably not,” Ann said, studying her more closely. She sounded very defensive and she seemed a little pale. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I said I’m fine,” Tracy snapped, then flushed guiltily. “Sorry. Where’s Hank?”
“I’m not sure. I assume he’s at work.”
“He’s not. I checked there.”
“Why?”
“I just wanted to ask him something.”
“Can’t you ask me?”
Tracy shook her head and Ann felt somehow betrayed.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. It’s about guys.”
“I see.” She considered pressing, but decided against it. With her track record in the past twenty-four hours, she was the last person to be giving out advice about men. “You could call his cell phone.”
Tracy’s expression brightened at once. “You have the number?”
“It’s on the pad by the phone under Todd’s name.”
Tracy flung her arms around her. “Thanks, Ann.”
Ann watched as she copied the number and raced to use the phone in the living room. Again that stirring of resentment nagged at her.
“This is just terrific, Ann, old girl. Now you’re jealous of the man.”
It was true. She’d noticed it more than once as Hank began slowly interacting with each of the children. Despite his reservations, he was
