“Funny, I thought I heard him saying I was incompetent to make rational decisions,” Callie said.
Her mother grinned at her. “You always were quick to jump to wrong conclusions when your pride was at stake.”
She brushed the tears from Callie’s cheeks as she hadn’t since Callie was a child. The gesture was oddly comforting.
“You know what I see when I look at Jason Kane?” she asked.
Curiosity won out over the desire to make some smart remark. “What?” Callie asked.
“A man with stars in his eyes.”
Despite herself, Callie grinned. “I could have sworn those were macho sparks of anger.”
Her mother shrugged. “With some men it’s pretty much the same thing.” She scanned Callie’s face. “You love him, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what I feel,” Callie claimed, reluctant to admit what seemed obvious to her mother.
“Well, you don’t have to figure everything out tonight. Come on, now.”
“Where?”
“Back downstairs. Terry and Neil insist we stay in their guest room tonight. Jason had other ideas, but he gave in eventually.”
Callie found the concept of Jason relenting under pressure fascinating. “He gave in?”
“He did. Actually, though, I believe we can expect to find him sleeping on the sofa. He doesn’t seem inclined to let you too far out of his sight.”
An image of the contortions necessary to fit Jason’s body on one of Neil and Terry’s dainty matching love seats cheered Callie considerably. There was something to be said for his protectiveness, as well. When she wasn’t so busy being huffy, she could actually admit that she found it rather sweet.
She glanced at her mother closely. “How come you came up here to talk to me instead of Jason?”
“He seemed worried that you would break the few remaining dishes by throwing them at him.”
Callie chuckled. “I never much liked that fancy pattern, anyway. It was Chad’s idea.”
Back downstairs, Jason wasn’t even pretending to be asleep when they returned. He looked from Regina to Callie and back again.
“Everything okay?”
“Just peachy,” Callie assured him. She gestured toward the cramped love seat. “Sleep well.”
“You have a vengeful streak that worries me,” he muttered, but that familiar sparkle was back in his eyes when he said it.
Callie viewed that twinkle with new insight, given her mother’s analysis of Jason’s state of mind. She paused long enough to caress his cheek as she passed.
“Thank you.”
He regarded her suspiciously. “For?”
“Caring.”
He promptly looked as if he wanted to deny it, but Callie didn’t give him a chance. She sashayed on past and headed for the guest room, making sure he’d have an image that would keep him awake the rest of the night.
Maybe he was right about that vindictive streak, she decided with a slight smile as she closed the bedroom door firmly behind her. There really was nothing quite like sweet revenge.
* * *
Callie was awake at daybreak. Judging from the whisper of sound she heard coming from the living room so was Jason.
She pulled on her wrinkled clothes from the day before and went out to join him, leaving her mother sound asleep in the room’s other twin bed.
She found Jason pacing the room, each long stride revealing his impatience and his anxiety. He was barking orders into his cell phone. A steaming mug of coffee sat untouched on the coffee table. Since no one else appeared to be up, Jason had clearly had a busy morning.
Callie found the freshly brewed pot of coffee in the kitchen and poured herself a cup. Judging from its pitch-black color, it was strong enough to wake the dead. She added a hefty splash of cream to weaken the effect on her already jangled nerves.
When she crossed Jason’s path again, he snagged her hand and tugged her close without so much as a hesitation in his conversation.
“You’ll get on it right away, then?” he said. “I need answers and I need them in a hurry. I’ll double your fee if you get ’em for me by the end of the day.”
He chuckled at something said on the other end of the line. “Okay, I’ll triple it for the impossible and double it if you come up with something by tomorrow morning. Thanks. I owe you. Again.”
He clicked off the phone and turned his full attention to Callie. Using the arm he’d pinned around her waist, he curled her into his body. His gaze searched her face intently.
“Did you get any sleep at all?” he muttered, stroking a thumb across the delicate skin beneath her eyes.
Callie trembled despite her determination to make him pay for the control he’d tried to exert over her life. “Did you?” she inquired sweetly.
“Yes,” he said, clearly enjoying her disappointment. “But no thanks to you.”
She accepted the concession as the most she was likely to get. “Who was that on the phone?”
“A friend of mine.”
“He must be a very good friend for you to be calling him at this hour. It’s barely 6:00 a.m.”
“Five in Chicago,” he pointed out. “And it wasn’t a he, it was a she. Dana Miller, the best private investigator in the Midwest. She’ll be on her way to Madison in a half hour, as soon as she’s gone through the Chicago area phone books to see if there’s a listing for Terry’s ex’s family.”
“How do you happen to know the best P.I. in the Midwest?” Callie asked with what she hoped sounded more like innocent curiosity than jealousy.
“You’d be amazed at the friends I have,” he retorted. “Jealous?”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Is she gorgeous?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever have an affair with her?”
“No comment.”
A decidedly jealous flutter began in the pit of her stomach. “Are you still seeing her?”
“On occasion.”
“Oh.”
“I’m godfather to her oldest son.”
Callie felt better at once. “I probably shouldn’t be relieved to think of you guiding the moral values of a child, but I am.”
Jason chuckled. “His father’s a better influence in that area than I am. He’s a minister. I take care of supplying the computer games.
