Playing for Keeps (Texas Scoundrels) (8 page)

Jed vaguely recalled throwing a package into the fire after Griffen had left his place. He’d had no idea what it contained. At the time, he hadn’t cared.

She wrapped her arms around her slim waist. The aversion in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a serenity he didn’t understand. Or maybe it was acceptance?
 

“Dani left the journal for Austin,” she said, her husky voice calm. “She told him about her relationship with his unnamed father. But he knows you’re his father now. The same father who rejected him, so I would appreciate it if you would please leave before he learns you’re here. I won’t have my son hurt by you again.”

So much for acceptance. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should just head out of town. “I don’t want to hurt him. I just don’t know what you expect me to do. Why did you even tell me about him?”

For an instant, fear clouded her expressive jade eyes, until she blinked and it was gone. “I came to you because my son asked me to at least tell you about him.”
 

Her arms dropped to her sides and she moved toward him, her steps slow and measured. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t fear in her eyes after all.
 

“You’re his idol.” Her voice held an odd tightness in spite of the calm, even tone. “Ever since he knew what a football was, he’s been a fan of Maitland the Maniac.” She continued forward until she was standing a foot away from him. The scent of lilac and woman swirled around him making him uncomfortably aware of her femininity.

He looked down at her, not the least surprised by the pure anger now firing in her gaze.
Concentrate on the anger, Jed ol’ boy. This one is too much. Even for you.
 

“Do you have a clue what that means to a kid like Austin?” She placed her hands on her hips, drawing his attention to the material of her blouse outlining very full breasts.
 

His hands itched to test their weight.
 

Aw, hell
.
 

She narrowed her gaze and advanced another step. “To him, you’re a dream come true, only it’s too bad you turned out to be such a nightmare. If I hadn’t come to you, Austin would have found a way, so don’t tell me I shouldn’t have told him the truth.”
 

He raised his hands, as if she held a loaded gun to his head. “Hey. Calm down, Sister.”

She took another step toward him and poked a finger at his chest. “What would you have done if a thirteen-year-old boy had come to you out of the blue and said he was your son? You would have crushed his dreams and gone on to the next game without a backward glance.
That
is what you would have done.”

He grabbed her hand before she drilled a hole in his chest. Bad move. Her velvety soft skin had him thinking some very inappropriate thoughts about Griffen Somerfield.

“Didn’t you realize the complications?” he asked, concentrating on the issue instead of the reckless surge of awareness making his dick twitch. “You should have left well enough alone.”

She yanked her hand from his and looked up at him, her eyes filled with fury. Damn, but this woman was exciting. And far different from his usual type.

Back off, old boy.
 

She had
white picket fence, kids and a pair of Golden Retrievers
written all over her. With little effort, he could see the dog hair and Crayon-coloring on the walls now. She was the type who believed in forever, but none of that stopped his blood pressure from hiking a few degrees.

Her breath hitched in her throat and a sheen of moisture brightened her eyes. Damn, he hoped she wasn’t going to start bawling. He’d hate that.

“I did what I had to do to protect Austin. I figured you’d throw me out and that would be the end of it. Austin would be hurt for a while, but he’d get over it. I never expected you to come waltzing into Hart.”

How dare she lay the blame wholly on him. He wasn’t the one who had popped up out of nowhere with a wild story about a kid from a lost love.
 

“Well, I’m here,” he said in a well-modulated voice that warned most people they were treading on very thin ice. “What great plan do you have now, Sister?”

“Mom? Mom, are you all right?”

“Ah, hell,” he muttered. Any plans for an unnoticed escape were out of the question now. They’d been busted cold.

The look in Griffen’s eyes was nothing short of pure anguish. She glanced at the boy, then back at him, her arms wrapping around her middle again as if she feared she’d fall apart if she didn’t hold herself together.

She slowly brought a hand to her son’s shoulder, and Jed couldn’t help noticing how her fingers trembled or how the color had drained from her cheeks. If the woman hadn’t just bitten off his head and spit down his throat, he would have thought she’d looked ready to faint.

“I...I didn’t hear you come in,” she said.

“Are you all right?” the boy asked again, shooting Jed a hostile look.
 

Jed stared at the boy. Dani’s son.
His
son. There would be no denying the truth. The kid had Maitland all over him, from the tall lanky frame to the thick dark hair and the same deep colored eyes inherited from his own grandmother Maitland. Looking at Austin was like looking at his old junior high school yearbook photo.

“I’m fine,” she whispered.
 

She didn’t look fine. She looked as if a stiff wind would break her in half. Hell, he wasn’t feeling real stable at the moment himself.

Griffen cleared her throat and fought desperately to regain her composure. Comparing Austin’s looks to the posters of Maitland in his room hadn’t come close to seeing the two of them standing together. The resemblance was more than uncanny, it was downright spooky.

“Austin,” she managed past the lump in her throat. “This is—”
 

His eyes narrowed in Jed’s direction. “I know who he is,” he said, his tone insolent.

Jed extended his hand to Austin, but her son stood beside her, protective, and refused to accept the invitation. She watched him closely, could see the hesitation in his eyes, the war between wanting to have his father accept him and fearing another rejection.

“I was explaining to your mom how she, uh...caught me at a bad time last weekend,” Jed said.

Austin remained silent, but he glanced in her direction. God, she hated this. A nod, any indication whatsoever, and she knew Austin would accept whatever Maitland was offering. This wasn’t fair, and she wanted to scream with frustration. Maitland could shake Austin’s hand and walk out, rejecting, then crushing his own son. And it would be her fault.

Jed extended his hand again. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Austin.”

Austin’s eyes clouded with hesitation and something else—hope.
 

Her heart twisted so hard she couldn’t breathe.
Why?
she cried in a silent plea for understanding. With a slight nod of her head, she closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of Austin accepting what little attention his father was willing to toss his way.

She moved quietly aside, stopping at the display case where she rested her hand on the glass. With her free hand, she rubbed at the knot of tension gathering in the back of her neck. She could hear the drone of their voices, the stilted conversation between them, but she couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying. All she could think about was what Austin had wanted so desperately—the chance to meet his father. She prayed her son could withstand the disappointment once Maitland’s curiosity was satisfied and he left Hart as quickly as he’d breezed into town in the first place. And she hoped that was exactly what he planned to do.

“Why are you here?” Austin asked, the hope in his voice adding to her anxiety.
 

Good question. Why was he here? He’d said he wanted to meet “the kid,” but surely he had to have another motive.

“I guess I wanted to see you for myself,” Jed answered.
 

Anger, mingled with an overwhelming sense of helplessness, shook her. The high emotion and strain she’d been under before Austin walked in on them returned, bringing with it a sudden, reckless urge to physically remove Maitland from her presence. Not just now, but forever. She wanted him eradicated before he became too entwined in their lives. The urge was so strong, it totally unnerved her.
 

“You’ve seen him, you can leave now.”
 

“Mom, it’s okay,” Austin said.
 

Sure, he thought it was fine that Maitland had come dancing through his life. His dream come true, his idol, the man he’d worshiped for years, was standing in front of him, telling him what a pleasure it was to meet him. What kid wouldn’t lap up that kind of star-spangled attention like a starved puppy? Well, her son was no pitiful puppy to be patted on the head.

“Are you staying?” Austin asked.

She’d heard enough. More than enough. She crossed the showroom to Austin’s side. “No, he’s not.” She ignored the mortification on her son’s face. Better he suffer the disappointment now. She could just imagine the hurt Austin would face if Maitland thought he’d hang around for a while to play daddy only to run out when the dull, day-to-day routine bored him.
 

“I don’t have any immediate plans,” Jed said with a smile.

“I have a basketball game tomorrow night. Will you come?”

“No, he won’t,” she said. Austin and Jed ignored her, infuriating her until she was certain her blood pressure would shoot through the roof.
 

“I’d like that.” Jed clamped his big hand on
her
son’s shoulder. The boy practically beamed.

“Great. See you there.” Austin spun and planted a kiss on her cheek. “I promised Granddad I’d help him build that bookcase for Phoebe’s room. You’ll pick me up?”

Before she could find her voice, Austin raced out of the store. The bells jangling when the door slammed closed in his wake.
 

Her anger in full bloom, she turned on Jed. The smile on his handsome face was relaxed and warm, adding fuel to her already burning fire. “How dare you?”
 

He cocked a dark, arrogant brow at her and she bristled even more. “God help you if you hurt my son, Maitland.” Taking a step toward him, she poked him in the chest again, gaining an ounce of satisfaction when he winced. “Because I’ll personally make sure there won’t be anything left for the doctors to put back together if you do.”
 

*

By the time Griffen had picked up Austin from her father’s house, she’d calmed considerably. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d lost her temper. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever been so angry. Not even her ex had managed to stir up that much emotion in her.

Was that why her marriage had failed?

When Ross walked out and took her bank accounts with him, she’d been upset, hurt, that he could do something so low, but she’d coped. When the unpaid bills he’d kept from her started showing up in droves, she’d dealt with them one at a time. Even when she’d received the original notice of default on the business, she’d been disappointed, more in her own failures than with what Ross had done. But today, she didn’t doubt for a second she could have single-handedly strangled Jed Maitland. And passionately enjoyed every second of it.

She took a deep breath, refusing to give the anger and frustration more fuel. The night held a chill, so she set a couple of logs in the fireplace and managed to get a decent fire blazing in the hearth. After turning on her iPod in the docking station and setting it to a pop playlist, she headed to the fridge for an opened bottle of blackberry merlot. Austin had been in bed for a couple of hours already. She should be drained after her emotional outburst this afternoon, but she was too restless to sleep. With luck, the wine would do the trick.

She’d talked to Austin when they’d gotten home from her father’s, but her fears about him becoming too attached to the idea of Jed being his father were far from put to rest. Although he’d promised to
play it cool
, she wasn’t all that convinced. There wasn’t playing anything with a guy like Jed.
 

A quiet knock on the kitchen door startled her. A sense of dread filled her when she peeked out the curtain. Looked like she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. She tugged open the door. “What?”
 

“Can I come in?” Jed asked, unfazed by her uncharitable welcome.
 

His hair was mussed, as if he’d been running his hands through it half the night. She didn’t question how he’d found her. Hart was a small town and all he had to do was ask where she lived. Anyone would give him directions.

“Will you go away if I close the door?” she asked, hopeful.

His soft chuckle made her skin tingle. “No.”

She stepped back and opened the door wide. “Then I guess you can come in,” she said, already regretting her decision. “Can I get you something to drink? I was about to have a glass of wine.”

He rolled his shoulders and winced. “Coffee, if it’s not too much trouble.”

That surprised her. He leaned against the soapstone counter with his arms crossed and said nothing, just watched her as she made the coffee. He didn’t smile, he didn’t move. He just stood there looking at her, making her nervous as hell.