Angel Mine (10 page)

“So you know now,” she said finally.

He nodded. “But I don’t want to get into this tonight, Heather. I need to think.”

A smile crept across her face. “Yes, you do like to think things through, don’t you? Take your time. We’re not going anywhere.”

Unfortunately that was precisely what he was afraid of. And the longer they stayed, the more complicated this was going to get. He had to find a strategy that would get them out of town, and he had to do it fast. For Angel’s sake, he reminded himself nobly.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” In fact, tomorrow wouldn’t give him time to make as many lists as he’d like, but time was of the essence.

“Where?” she asked.

“My place. I’m not playing this out at Henrietta’s with the whole town looking on and choosing sides.”

“Fine. When? I’m not off until eight.”

“Eight will be fine.”

“Angel will be with me,” she said, clearly testing him. “I don’t want to ask Henrietta to keep her. She’s done too much for me already. She has enough on her plate with Sissy and Will without me coming to rely on her, too.”

Though he understood and appreciated her concern for Henrietta, Todd felt as panicked as if she’d announced she’d be bringing along a cobra. He swallowed hard. “Whatever,” he said, then gave her directions.

She gave a little nod of approval, as if he’d passed some sort of a test.

“We’ll be there, then. I’ll look forward to it.”

She said it as if he’d invited her for tea, rather than a heart-to-heart about their daughter’s future. His pulse thudded dully. He could feel the jaws of that giant trap tightening around him.

“Okay, what will it take to make you go away?” Todd blurted when Heather was sitting across from him in the living room of the small apartment he’d finally rented six months earlier when it had become clear that he was in Whispering Wind to stay. He hadn’t intended to get into this quite so directly, not with Angel within hearing distance, but he didn’t like the way he felt with her and Angel in his place. Rather than being appalled by their intrusion into his space, he had a sinking feeling it wouldn’t take much for him to ask them to stay. He just had to phrase his words so Angel wouldn’t grasp what he was discussing with her mother.

Heather ignored the question, just as she had always ignored any topic that didn’t suit her. She stood up and wandered around the living room, examining the artwork on the walls and the few personal items he’d brought from New York. Pausing in front of the fireplace, she picked up a small marble carving of a woman from the mantel, staring at it in wonder as she ran her fingers over the smooth curves.

“I remember this. You bought it at that flea market in the country one Sunday.” Her gaze locked with his. “You said it reminded you of me.”

He remembered that day—and that comment—all too well. In fact, he had to wonder if that was one reason he hadn’t left the carving behind in his New York apartment. Had he subliminally wanted something with him that reminded him of Heather, even though she’d been out of his life for so long? Even his brief infatuation with the beautiful, traitorous Micah hadn’t completely wiped away the memories of the woman watching him so intently right now. Emotions he’d thought long forgotten churned inside him.

Fortunately there was nothing he could do about them with Angel in the room. His gaze strayed to the little girl, who was sitting on the floor engrossed in one of the bagful of picture books Heather had brought along for her. Despite the panic that never quite left him whenever he caught sight of Angel, he was undeniably fascinated with her.
His daughter.
It was terrifying. Awesome, though, too. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.

Heather, however, was another matter. She rattled him every bit as deeply as their daughter did. He knew with every fiber of his being that they were still wrong for each other. He knew that renewing their relationship, especially now, courted disaster. And yet he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. He only prayed he could get her to go back to New York before he did something about it.

He tested his first offer on her, a settlement that most sensible women would have grabbed in a heartbeat.

“Very generous,” she commented, her attention distracted by a picture on the wall, also from New York. “But no.”

He topped it by another hundred dollars a month.

The amount caught her attention, but she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

He made another half-dozen suggestions, each one more desperate than the last, but she stood right in front of him and kept on saying no without even considering them. After a while, his gaze locked on her mouth like a heat-seeking missile. Every no became a challenge, a dare.

And finally, because there was no other way to keep her silent, no other way he could think of to end this negative streak she was on, he kissed her. Maybe once they got this out of the way, she would be reasonable.

Once their lips touched, once hot, swirling heat slammed through him, however, he recognized his mistake. Heather had been like a drug to him once. He’d been addicted to her, desperate to have her, even when he realized how ill-suited they were. It was the same now. Not even Angel’s presence could stop him from finishing the kiss, from savoring it.

This was no casual peck, no light brushing of his lips over hers. This was a no-holds-barred, been-alone-too-long kiss. This was a reclaiming. His blood roared. Her soft curves fit snugly against the hard planes of his body, reminding him of the way they had come together in his bed—impatiently, hungrily, naturally. He had never expected to have such totally uninhibited passion in his life, but she had stirred it in him. Obviously she still could.

His brain, which was supposed to keep him out of just this kind of trouble, finally kicked in. Reason—and the awareness that Angel was very much with them—overruled lust and he stepped away.

After all, Heather was still free-spirited, still doing outrageous, impulsive things. Showing up in Whispering Wind with a baby she had kept a complete secret from him for years was proof enough of that.

He was still compulsively organized, obsessively concerned with routines and commitments and duty.

And then, of course, there was Angel, who would be very much a part of anything that happened between him and Heather.

Logic—his favorite weapon for keeping his life on course—told him it would be a grave error to ignore those differences, to pretend they didn’t matter, an even graver error for him to forget about the past and another little girl he should have kept safe.

But somehow, after that kiss, he knew it was going to be a whole lot harder to get Heather to go.

10

H
eather was still thrown for a loop days after Todd’s kiss. She hadn’t been able to get that brief moment of insanity out of her head. All he had to do was walk into the diner and her body heat escalated. Worse, the only thing that had been resolved that night was that the chemistry between them was still as volatile as TNT. Two smart people would let their attorneys do the talking from now on. Except Todd didn’t have an attorney and continued to refuse to get one.

“We’ll work it out,” he’d insisted every time she’d raised the suggestion since that night in his apartment. “Jake’s a great guy, but I do not intend to discuss this matter with him.”

“You couldn’t even if you wanted to. He’s my attorney.” At least for the record, she amended silently. She hadn’t exactly fired Jake, but the morning after her encounter with Todd, she’d told the attorney that maybe Todd was right. They could settle this between them…eventually.

“Any chance of a reconciliation?” Jake had asked her when she’d told him to give Todd some breathing room. “That would be the best thing all around.”

“Absolutely not,” she insisted, but was that really true? After that kiss, she had to wonder. A reconciliation had been the last thing on her mind when she’d traveled to Whispering Wind. She’d been after a daddy for Angel and a little free time for herself. Nothing more.

Now, however, she was going a little crazy wondering if Todd would try to kiss her again. She wanted him to, even though he appeared to be giving her a wide berth as if he feared that very thing. How had she managed to forget that when the ever-cautious, ever-defensive Todd let down his guard, he could rock her to her very soul?

Okay, so it was evident that the chemistry was still there. But that was it. It had to be. Loving Todd now would mean not only accepting that he was no longer an actor, but would require her to stay right here in Whispering Wind. She wouldn’t even consider such a thing.

“I’ve lost my mind,” she muttered when she realized that for one brief second she actually had considered that very thing. “Obviously I have lost my mind.”

“What was that?” Henrietta demanded, taking her by surprise.

Heather sighed. “Nothing.”

But she very much feared it was everything, that she was well on her way to proving that she didn’t have a grain of sense left in her head. She didn’t need Henrietta’s take on the situation to confirm it.

“More coffee,” the judge called out, trying to snag Henrietta’s attention.

The interruption suited Heather just fine. Henrietta turned away with obvious reluctance and crossed to the judge with a scowl. Heather lingered over her chores, just to listen to the expected fireworks. They were getting to be a nightly occurrence and provided more live entertainment than anything else in town.

“You’ve had enough,” Henrietta told him predictably.

“Woman, I am old enough to decide how much coffee I want,” he grumbled, just as predictably. He tapped the rim of the cup. “Fill it or I’ll go back there and do it myself.” His gaze narrowed. “And while I’m there, I just might decide to kiss that sassy mouth of yours.”

Color bloomed in Henrietta’s cheeks. She grabbed the pot and practically raced over to pour more coffee for the judge. He grinned at her.

“Thought that might do the trick.”

“It worked once,” she warned him. “Won’t work again. I’ll ban you from the premises.”

“You can’t. It’s a public place.”

“It’s
my
public place and I’ll damned well keep out anybody who’s proving himself to be a nuisance,” she informed him.

“Which one of us do you think has a better grasp of the law?” he retorted.

“Who’s talking about the law? I’ve got a broomstick in back that’ll do my talking for me.”

He chuckled as if he found her feistiness delightful. “Damn, Henrietta. There is no one like you.”

“And don’t you forget it, Harry Corrigan,” she snapped back. “Heather, I’m going to the kitchen. If this old man gives you a hard time, call the sheriff. Maybe a night in a jail cell will remind him of his manners.”

Heather winked at him. “Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary. You’re the only one he gives a hard time to.”

“More’s the pity,” Henrietta lamented. “You’d think a smart man, like he claims to be, would have wised up by now and would stay away from here.”

“Hell, woman, our little chats are the only things that keep my blood pumping,” he countered.

Henrietta rolled her eyes and disappeared into the kitchen.

Heather gave a last swipe to the booth she’d been pretending to clean, went over, propped her elbows on the counter and grinned at the judge. “I think you’re making progress.”

“Maybe so, but at this rate, I won’t live long enough to savor the victory,” he said with a sigh. “That obstinate woman is going to be the death of me.”

“Have you ever considered just asking her out?”

“For twenty years I asked her out once a week, like clockwork. She turned me down every time. It was enough to discourage a lesser man. For the past ten years I’ve settled for coming in here every day and night and counting it as a date. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

“Sounds to me like turning you down was just a habit she got into and didn’t know how to break. Maybe instead of coming here, like she counts on you doing, you should start showing up at her house, bring dinner along or a game to play with the kids. She won’t turn you away. It wouldn’t be polite.”

“Since when was Henrietta polite when it comes to me?”

He had a point. Sometimes her words had a sharp edge to them that wasn’t done in jest. Since Henrietta struck Heather as the fairest, kindest woman she’d ever known, there had to be a story behind that.

“What happened all those years ago to throw you two off course?” she asked.

He regarded her with uncharacteristic uncertainty. “You really want to hear all that old history?”

She nodded.

“The long and short of it is, I took her at her word and married somebody else.”

“Oh, dear,” Heather murmured. “That would do it.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know she didn’t mean it when she said no?” he grumbled. “When she told me I was not going to bully her into marrying me, I took it as her final word. Violet Jenkins was available. She wasn’t as pretty as Henrietta or as…difficult, but I was ready to settle down and she was willing. We had a whirlwind courtship and married a couple of months after we’d started seeing each other.”

“And Henrietta’s never forgiven you?”

“Never. Acts like I betrayed her, when she was the one who sent me away. Wasn’t till after Violet and I were married that I found out it was Henrietta’s daddy who was behind the refusals. He thought I wouldn’t amount to anything, threatened to disinherit her if she got mixed up with me.”

“She chose money over you?”

“Wasn’t money she cared two hoots about. It was this place. Her heart was in this restaurant. Her daddy would have sold it right out from under her or closed it down. Least that’s what he claimed. When I heard how little he thought of me, I took Violet and went off to law school, set up practice here in town, then became a judge, all to prove him wrong. I suppose I owe my whole career to that old fool who stood between Henrietta and me.”

“If it was her father who came between you, how can she go on blaming you?”

“She thought I should have fought harder. Made her madder than sin that I went on and made something of myself after I’d married another woman, instead of doing it before when it might have made a difference for the two of us.”

Heather had to admit that Henrietta might have a point about that, but it was all so long ago.

“What happened to Violet?” she asked.

“Now, that was the real tragedy in all this,” he said, looking suddenly tired. “She was a real delicate woman. When she got pregnant, she took to her bed. She died in childbirth. We lost the baby, too. That was thirty years ago. Last thing she said to me was that Henrietta wouldn’t have messed it up like she had. You see, she always knew where my heart was.”

He sighed, his expression filled with sorrow and long-held regrets. “Hasn’t been a thing that’s happened to me before or since that made me feel worse than knowing I let that sweet woman down. Violet was the innocent party in all this. I spent a lot of years nursing my guilt before I woke up and realized I was still alive and so was Henrietta and that we’d already wasted too much time. I’ve been pestering her ever since, but she nurses a grudge like no one else on God’s green earth.”

“And in all this time, she never married?”

He shook his head. “Not that there haven’t been men who were interested. A half-dozen or more would have married her for her fried chicken alone, but she never gave one of them the time of day.”

“Maybe she wanted them to love her for herself and not for her talent with a skillet,” Heather said wryly.

“Oh, that goes without saying,” he said, as if startled that she would think otherwise. “Henrietta commands a lot of respect and admiration in this town.”

“Then maybe she’s afraid,” Heather suggested.

“Afraid?” he scoffed. “Henrietta? There’s nothing that scares that woman.”

“Risking her heart again might, especially with you.”

“There’s no risk involved,” he insisted. “I’ve told her how I feel every way I can think of. Coming in here day after day and putting up with her abuse ought to make it clear enough, don’t you think?”

“Maybe she just sees that as proper penance,” Heather teased.

He chuckled. “You know, she probably does. Well, I’ll think about that idea of yours. Time was when she liked Chinese food right well. Maybe I’ll pick up some egg rolls and chow mein one night and take ’em by the house. Maybe I’ll even slip my own fortune-telling note into the cookies to get her thinking along the right lines.”

“It’s worth a try,” Heather said. “If you’ll tell me what night you plan to do it, maybe I could keep Sissy and Will with me for the evening. Take them out for ice cream or something to give you two some privacy.”

He seemed touched by the gesture. “You’d do that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Henrietta may not thank you if she guesses what you’re up to,” he warned.

“I’ll take my chances.”

He gave a little nod of satisfaction. “You’re a good girl. Remind me of Henrietta, in fact. You’ve got spirit. I’ll get back to you about that dinner.”

“I’ve got the late shift tomorrow,” she told him, anxious to see this scheme of theirs set in motion. “No point in wasting time.”

“Right,” he said, suddenly looking as eager as a teenage boy. “Tomorrow it is. I’ll go make the arrangements right now.”

“And I’ll talk to Sissy and Will,” she promised.

There was a new spring in the judge’s step when he left. There was also a hint of disappointment in Henrietta’s expression when she came back out from the kitchen to find him gone, but she was quick to mask it.

“I see the old man finally had sense enough to leave,” she said.

“He said something about some plans he had to take care of.”

Henrietta’s gaze shot to Heather. “What plans?”

Heather innocently returned her gaze and shrugged. “He didn’t say.”

“You sure about that?”

“Not a peep. Must be personal. Why? Would it bother you if he had a lady friend?”

“Of course not!” Henrietta snapped, but the color had faded from her cheeks. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

With that she turned around and stalked back into the kitchen, spine rigid. After that, the pots and pans seemed to be taking more of a beating than usual as she put them back in place. Heather listened to the banging and grinned. Phase one of the mission had been accomplished.

“Henrietta, why don’t you take off early?” Heather suggested the next night. “I’ll keep Sissy and Will here with me. As soon as I close up, I’ll take them with Angel and me for ice cream, then bring them on by your house.”

“Please, Henrietta,” Will begged without coaching.

“Say yes,” Sissy pleaded.

Angel turned her big eyes on Henrietta. “They gots to go with us, ’Retta. Please.”

Henrietta regarded all of them suspiciously. “Why are you so blasted anxious to get rid of me? It’s not my birthday, is it?”

“No,” Sissy said solemnly. “Your birthday is months and months away. I’m going to bake a cake, remember?”

“True enough. Well, if that’s not it, maybe I’ll just wait right here and come along,” Henrietta suggested. “Ice cream sounds like a great idea. Summer’s finally turned up in spades. It’s been a scorcher out there today and there’s not a storm in sight to break the heat.”

“You can’t,” Heather said urgently, then winced at Henrietta’s sharp look. “I mean, it’s the perfect chance for you to have some time to yourself. Don’t you want to pamper yourself for a change, maybe take a nice bubble bath?”

“Now, why on earth would I want to do that?” Henrietta asked briskly. “Who has time to waste soaking in a tub?”

“That’s the point,” Heather countered. “This is your chance. You deserve a break.”

Henrietta still looked as if she didn’t quite get it, but she finally relented. “Okay, since it’s obviously so all-fired important to you, I’ll go.” She opened the cash register and pulled out a twenty. “But the ice cream is my treat.”

When Heather started to protest, the older woman frowned. “Either take it, or I come along.”

Since Heather wasn’t about to risk ruining the judge’s surprise, she took the money. She would put it right back in the register after Henrietta left.

Of course, it took another half hour to actually get Henrietta out the door. Todd watched the entire exchange from a booth in the back, his expression increasingly curious. It was obvious he suspected something was up, but, thankfully, he kept his questions to himself.

After Henrietta had gone, he beckoned Heather over. “Okay, spill it. What was that all about?”

“The judge is surprising Henrietta at her place with dinner,” she told him.

Todd’s eyes widened. “Whose idea was that?”

“Partly his, partly mine.”

“Mostly yours, I imagine. It’s been my experience that Harry Corrigan is a straightforward kind of a guy without a sneaky bone in his body. You, however, thrive on this kind of backdoor intrigue.”