Jason followed slowly, trying to figure out the right way to phrase the decision he and Sammy had reached.
“Oh, no!”
Dana’s voice echoed throughout the gym and Jason realized the phrasing had been taken out of his hands. Obviously Sammy had already told his sister about their plan. She didn’t seem to be taking it well. She was marching across the gym with fire in her eyes.
“What kind of hogwash were you filling his head with in there?” she demanded, backing Jason into a corner.
“Hogwash?”
“You are not going to use my brother to get to me. We are perfectly safe living where we are—a lot safer than I would be living with you.”
There was safety and then there was safety. Jason refrained from trying to explain the difference to her. “Dana, my house could accommodate a dozen people. You’ll have all the privacy you want. You have to admit, it would be better for Sammy to get away from the influence of those creeps.”
Admittedly the prospect of having the kid under his roof gave him pause, but it was a sacrifice he was prepared to make to keep them both safe. It was way too soon to think much beyond that.
“It’s happening, isn’t it?” she demanded. “You’ve got some crazy idea about rescuing me. Well, I won’t have it. I can stand on my own two feet. I always have.”
Jason could see her reasoning, at once, and she was right. She had awakened some white-knight fantasy in him. That didn’t mean the idea was a bad one. “I’m not trying to rob you of your independence,” he said tightly. “Think about your brother, dammit. He’s the only person in the whole blessed world who matters to you, and you seem willing to throw away his chances out of some stubborn need to handle everything on your own. Talk about selfish!”
Dana stared at him, obviously stung by his outburst. Slowly the fight seemed to drain out of her. “You’re probably right about moving,” she conceded grudgingly. “But we’ll find an apartment in another neighborhood. I’ll pick up today’s paper on the way home and check out the ads.”
“That takes time. Stay with me until you find another place. I don’t like the idea of those guys tracking you down. They won’t give up easily.” An idea flashed through his mind and he added determinedly, “If you don’t come to my place, I’ll have to move into yours and then we really will be in close quarters.”
There was a flash of defiance in her eyes, but apparently she recognized that he wasn’t budging on this one. She finally nodded. “Okay. You’re probably right. That would be the sensible thing to do.”
Jason’s pulse leaped.
“But it will only be temporary, just until I find a new apartment.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed.
With any luck he could keep her so busy she wouldn’t have time to look for weeks.
* * *
Dana couldn’t imagine what had possessed her to think that living in the same house with Jason would work. Even as a stopgap measure to protect her brother, it struck her as a dramatic, foolhardy move. The whole time she was packing enough things to get them through the first few days, she practiced excuses for backing out. Every time she started to say one out loud, Jason shot her a forbidding look that caused the words to lodge in her throat.
Okay, so she could make the best of anything for a few days. That’s all it would be. She would find a new apartment no later than Friday. She and Sammy could move next weekend, her sanity intact. She would thank Jason profusely for his trouble and run like crazy. No problem.
That was before she saw the house.
Settled on a block of gracious old town houses, there was a wide bay window in front which guaranteed the window seat she’d always wanted inside. There were fireplaces not only in the living room, but in all of the bedrooms. The high ceilings would welcome the tallest Christmas tree. She stood in the living room after touring the house and tried to hide the delight that spilled through her. It wouldn’t do for Jason to ever discover that he owned her dream house, the one she’d spent countless hours fantasizing about while sitting on her own graffiti-decorated front steps.
Fortunately he seemed unaware of her speechlessness. Sammy was keeping Jason occupied with a series of awed questions. He’d gaped in astonishment when Mrs. Willis, the smiling housekeeper, had shown them a kitchen that was almost the size of their entire apartment. She’d taken one look at Sammy’s skinny physique and immediately gone to work. She’d shooed them all into the living room with a promise of sandwiches and pie.
As she looked at the obviously pricey antiques, Dana worried that her rambunctious brother, who was just growing comfortable with his new height, would clumsily destroy something valuable.
“Well, what do you think?” Jason asked quietly, his hands resting on her shoulders as she gazed longingly at the window seat that was just as she’d always imagined.
“It’s lovely,” she said honestly.
“Think you’ll be comfortable here?”
She shook her head at the anxious note in his voice. “Jason, you saw the way we’ve been living. How could we not be comfortable?” Determined to make it clear, though, that this was a temporary measure, she added firmly, “We’ll try to stay out of your way. There’s no need to change your routine for us.”
“Dana,” he said, his voice a low warning. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you look so edgy? We even have chaperons. There’s Sammy, and Mrs. Willis lives in.”
“You didn’t mention her before.”
“I didn’t think of her as a selling point. Of course, she and Mrs. Finch do share a fascination with romances.”
“Terrific,” Dana muttered. She glanced around and realized they were alone. “Where’s Sammy?”
“Back in the kitchen. I believe he wanted to be sure the sandwiches weren’t anything sissy like watercress.”
Despite her nervousness, Dana
