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“Kevin is a problem.”
“Maybe you just don’t know how to manage him.”
The cool, unexpected taunt struck home. Liz practically shook with indignation. It was a welcome relief after all those other feelings she’d been experiencing.
“Don’t you dare try to turn this into my failure, Mr. Lewis. Since you are so cognizant of your responsibilities, I’m surprised you don’t pay more attention to Kevin. Surely he counts among them. If you had, you would have noticed long ago…”
Her furious tirade faltered as his expression suddenly became all hard angles. She’d seen pictures of cold, merciless dictators who looked less severe. His eyes glinted dangerously. She actually shivered as he took a long stride to tower over her. For an instant she regretted the impulsive tongue-lashing.
“I do know my son. He’s a good kid. Maybe a little high spirited, but that’s all to the good in a boy. Kevin and I do just fine,” he said in a voice that chilled. “We don’t need some high-minded do-gooder interfering in our lives. If he’s having a problem with his schoolwork, we’ll talk about it. Otherwise, you stay the hell out of our lives.”
She flinched under the attack, then dared to glower right back at him. This was too important for her to back down now. “I can’t do that. Kevin is in trouble in school and that’s my responsibility.”
“Fine. I said I was more than willing to talk about his schoolwork. I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon, no matter what the damn girders do. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be getting back to work.”
He strolled away without a backward glance. Before Liz could fully recover from the unnerving confrontation, she saw the burly, redheaded man who’d accompanied Kevin to the top of the skeletal structure join Todd Lewis. Hank, that was his name, she recalled as she watched them. For some reason, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the encounter between the two men. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was seeing a drama of some sort unfold. Suddenly, with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach, she realized that Kevin wasn’t with them. Even from a distance, she thought she could see Todd Lewis’s complexion turn ashen.
Unaware that she had even begun to move, she found herself not more than a few feet away. She heard Todd Lewis’s harsh oath and Hank’s apology.
“I swear, Todd, I thought he was coming right back to you. You want me to get the men together?”
“Not yet. What exactly did he say?”
“He asked me for some quarters for the soda machine, then he took off. That’s it. Last I saw him, he was in the trailer getting a drink. If he’s not there and he’s not with you, I don’t know where the hell he could have gone.”
Hesitantly, Liz touched Todd Lewis’s arm. “You think he heard us arguing, don’t you? You think he’s run away.”
He turned on her, his shoulders tense, his jaw tight. That furious stance might have frightened her, if she hadn’t looked into his eyes. There was the expected flash of anger, but there was also panic and a touching vulnerability.
That glimpse into Todd Lewis’s soul removed forever any lingering doubts she might have had about the depth of his love for his son. It also left her shaken in a way she couldn’t begin to understand.
Chapter 2
Todd felt like strangling somebody. Right now it was a toss-up whether it should be Hank or Elizabeth Gentry. He glowered at both potential victims, then muttered a curse under his breath. There was no point in blaming them. They looked every bit as worried and dismayed as he felt. Besides, he was the guilty one. He knew how sensitive Kevin was, how easily hurt. He should never have been discussing him where Kevin might overhear the argument. The kid had a way of popping up when you least expected it. Sending him off with Hank had been no guarantee he wouldn’t be back ten seconds later.
“Hank, you take your car and head east,” he said finally, fighting to think clearly through the haze of self-recriminations. With great effort, he kept his voice calm and reasonable. “I’ll go west on foot. He can’t have gotten too far.”
Hank, the most easygoing man he’d ever known, looked downright uncomfortable.
“What is it?” Todd demanded impatiently.
“Don’t forget he had those quarters. He could have taken a bus.”
The already tense muscles across Todd’s shoulders knotted. Only the quiet presence of Elizabeth Gentry kept him from uttering a whole arsenal of swear words. He closed his eyes and imagined shouting every one of them at the top of his lungs. Even the imagery had a restorative effect.
“Okay,” he said with the careful deliberation of a man battling hysteria. He clung to his businesslike ability to remain calm in a crisis, to put his emotions on hold until every last detail had been handled. “Then we’d better take both cars. We’ll meet back here in an hour. If you find him, call me.”
To his amazement he sounded decisive and controlled. He felt as though he were splintering apart.
“What about me?” a soft voice interrupted. “What can I do?”
Todd stared at her. “I think you’ve done enough for one afternoon,” he said in a cutting tone that brought Hank’s head snapping up. Elizabeth Gentry stared back at Todd. She appeared serene and unfazed by his bark, but there was fire in her eyes. That look challenged him to put aside his animosity for Kevin’s sake or further establish her impression of him as a jerk.
“Oh, hell,” he said finally. “Come with me.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I took my own car? I’ll drive south toward the school. He might have gone back that way.”
“I think school’s the last place he’s likely to head,” Todd retorted, wondering why the hell she’d bothered to ask his opinion, since she had every intention of doing exactly as she pleased.
Her cool demeanor slipped just a bit at his pointed sarcasm. Then her chin jutted up. “Fine. I’ll go north. Let’s just stop wasting time.”
With that she stalked off, her head held high, her back as ramrod straight as he’d once imagined it to be. The effect, though, wasn’t at all what he’d anticipated. Thoroughly bemused, he stared after her.
How had he gotten it so wrong? Kevin’s teacher was no prim, dried-up Victorian maiden. Far from it. She was all ripe curves and passionate indignation. Even with his son missing and his anger fueled, he’d still had the most overpowering urge to tangle his fingers in that flame-red hair of hers and hush her with a breath-stealing kiss. Desire had slammed through him with the force of a hurricane sweeping across the Florida keys. Its unexpectedness had stunned him.
Her amber eyes had challenged him in a way that made his heart pound louder and faster than any jackhammer. Her derision had irked him. Her sensuality had provoked him. The hell of it was, she was also married. Mrs. Gentry. The combination was enough to set off warning bells so loud only a man stone deaf could ignore them. Elizabeth Gentry spelled trouble and it had very little to do with her threats about Kevin.
One good thing had come of the encounter: he knew with absolute certainty now that she would never turn her disagreement with him into a public squabble with the authorities. She’d only used the threats to assure Kevin’s well-being. He’d seen the genuine concern and affection in her eyes, the caring that ran as deep and true as a mother’s fierce protectiveness. It was a look that could make any man less wary than he fall in love. It was a look he couldn’t ever recall seeing in Sarah’s eyes, at least not toward the end.
With a disgusted shake of his head, he snapped his attention back to Kevin’s disappearance. Still muttering apologies, Hank had already followed the teacher to the parking lot. Todd sprinted to his own mud-streaked, battle-scarred pickup. Gravel flew as he spun out onto Kendall Drive, forcing his way into the stream of rush-hour traffic. Locked into a slow-moving crawl, he kept his eyes peeled for some sign of a small, proud boy walking dejectedly along the edge of the highway.
His impatience mounted with every block. Horn honking, he tried weaving through traffic, but it was a wasted effort. No lane was moving any faster than a snail’s pace. With each quarter mile he covered, his panic deepened. So many terrible things could happen to a kid, especially in a city the size of Miami. Kevin was all he had, all that meant anything in his life. If anything happened to him… He couldn’t even allow himself to complete the thought.
His heart thudded heavily as dismay settled in. This was pointless. He’d already covered miles without seeing any sign of Kevin. If he had gotten on a bus, he could be anywhere. If he hadn’t and if he’d come this way, Todd would have found him by now.
Praying that Hank or Elizabeth Gentry had had better luck and just hadn’t called, he finally turned the truck around and went back to the nearly deserted construction site. The crew, unaware that there had been any sort of a crisis, had left in his absence and only one car remained in the lot—hers. In an odd way it reminded him of her. It was an ordinary, small blue Toyota, sedate and practical. Only the sunroof hinted at her sense of daring.
Had she found Kevin, he wondered as he hurried toward the trailer. If she had, he thought he might be able to forgive her anything.
He swung open the door of the trailer and saw the two of them—laughing. Her laughter was low and full-bodied. Kevin’s high-pitched and raucous. Her arm was around the boy’s shoulders as they studied a drawing done in red marker. The quiet intimacy of the scene, the suggestion of family, made Todd suck in his breath. For an instant an irrational fury clouded his vision, overriding his relief. He’d been out searching, his stomach knotted by worry and they were in here laughing like two thoroughly happy conspirators.
“Where’d you find him?” he asked. His curt tone drew startled glances from both of them.
“Hi, Dad,” Kevin said cheerfully, obviously oblivious to his father’s mood. Todd regarded him suspiciously. He was not behaving like a child who’d run away in anger.
“We’ve been waiting for you. See what I did. Mrs. Gentry says it’s pretty good.”
A surge of righteous outrage burst inside him. “Go to the truck,” he said, his voice tight.
“Dad?” Kevin’s voice was puzzled, his expression confused. He stared up at his teacher, which only infuriated Todd more. Since when had Kevin turned to someone other than him for instructions.
“Now!”
Shoulders slumping and lip quivering at the shouted command, Kevin started toward the door.
“I think you’d better let me explain,” Elizabeth Gentry said. She spoke quietly, but there was an edge of steel in her voice. He knew instinctively it was her classroom voice. It probably terrorized the kids. He ignored it.
“Kevin, you heard what I said.” His voice was calmer, but no less authoritative.
She stepped closer to Kevin and put a protective hand on his shoulder. She glared defiantly at Todd, the look meant to put him in his place. He had to admire her spunk. Under less trying circumstances, he might even find it a turn-on. Right now, it was only an irritant. He scowled right back at her.
“Save your attempt at intimidation, Mr. Lewis. When I found Kevin, I realized that in my desperation to find him, I forgot to get your number. Kevin did not run away. Don’t take your frustration out on him or, for that matter, on me.”
He stared from her to his son and back again. Swallowing hard, he tried to regain control over his temper. “I don’t understand.”
“Tell your father what happened,” she urged. When Kevin appeared to be hesitant, she smiled at him. “It’s okay. Tell him what you told me.”
“I went to get a drink. Hank gave me the money. And there was this cat.” He regarded Todd hopefully. “It was a great cat, Dad, but he’d gotten all wet. I guess he fell in that big mud puddle in back of the trailer. Anyway, I tried to get him so I could clean him up, but he ran. I chased him across the field. When I came back, you were all gone. I must have been gone longer than I thought, ’cause Mrs. Gentry says you all were worried. I’m sorry I scared you.”
Relief rushed through Todd. A cat! Kevin had been chasing a stupid, wet cat. He massaged his temples. The pounding in his head began to ease as his tension abated. He stared at Elizabeth Gentry and gave a small, apologetic shrug before grinning sheepishly at Kevin. “Did you catch the cat?”
“No,” he said, obviously disgusted. “He was too fast. Anyway, he ran inside a garage. I guess he must belong to somebody.”
Suddenly exuberant, Todd picked Kevin up and swung him in the air. “You want a cat that badly?”
“Not really. I’d rather have a dog, but you said we couldn’t have one, ’cause we’re not home enough.” He recited Todd’s old argument without emotion. “I just wanted to play with this one.”
“Maybe we’ll have to rethink that,” Todd said. He caught Elizabeth Gentry watching them. She was smiling, but there was something about her eyes that got to him. She looked sad. He couldn’t imagine why. Everything had turned out just fine. His son was safe. He felt like celebrating.
“I’d better be getting home,” she said, the flat declaration tempering his mood.
Suddenly uncertain, he said with awkward sincerity, “Thanks for helping with the search.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t really necessary. I will see you at the school tomorrow, won’t I?”
The woman had the tenacity of a terrier with an old sock. He grinned. “I promise not to stand you up again.” He took her hand, holding it just long enough to confirm the solemnity of his commitment. Her grip was firm, her skin like cool silk, but she trembled. That tiny hint of vulnerability set off warning bells again. He released her hand, but not her gaze. The air sizzled with electricity.
“Hey, you guys, what about my hamburger?”
Todd glanced away at last to stare blankly at Kevin. When he looked back at Elizabeth Gentry, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes hooded.
“I don’t think today is…” she began with surprising uncertainty.
Kevin’s face fell. Todd was torn between his son’s disappointment and his own need to escape the confusing emotions this redheaded firebrand raised in him.
“I’ll take you out for a hamburger, son. Mrs. Gentry probably has to get home to her family.”
“No, she doesn’t. She doesn’t have a family. She told us her husband died,” Kevin announced ingenuously.
Todd’s heart took an unexpected lurch. Glancing over Kevin’s head, his eyes met hers. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I,” she said quietly, but with a surprising lack of emotion.
Todd felt guilty at the relief that swept through him. He had not wanted Elizabeth Gentry to have a husband. He was equally glad to see that it didn’t appear she was living with ghosts, though why it mattered was beyond him. He didn’t date women like the one standing before him. He ran like crazy from innocence and vulnerability and commitment.
“See, Dad, I told you,” Kevin was saying. “Besides, she promised. She should come, too. She’s probably really hungry by now.”
Suddenly bolder, Todd surveyed her from head to toe with lazy deliberation, then felt renewed guilt at the look of confusion his teasing aroused. For some reason he wanted to provoke her into a mild flirtation. Perhaps he merely wanted to prove to himself that she was as unfeminine and boring as he’d once imagined her. Maybe he just wanted to shake her cool facade. Either way he knew he was playing with fire.
“Are you?” he asked in a voice thick with innuendo.
Startled eyes blinked at him. “What?”
“Hungry?”
As if she suddenly guessed the rules by which he was playing, she returned his impudent look with a touch of defiance. “Starved, actually.”
Todd laughed at the prompt response to his challenge. “Then the two of you go on. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes. I just want to finish up a little paperwork and give Hank a call to tell him not to worry.”
“Dad, it’s already late. Couldn’t you just phone him on the way?”
“It won’t be long.”
Kevin’s forehead creased with a worried frown. “You won’t forget or something, will you?”
The question told Liz all too much about his tendency to get caught up in work. He caught the quick flare of concern in her eyes. Todd’s gaze locked with those serious amber eyes. “No,” he promised softly. “I won’t forget.”
With an odd tightening in his chest, he watched the two of them walk away from the trailer. She bent down to listen to something Kevin was saying, then the two of them laughed, the happy sound rippling through the evening air. How long had it been since he’d shared laughter like that with a woman? He hadn’t trusted any of them since Sarah. Something told him, though, that he could trust Elizabeth Gentry. He wondered if he’d have the courage to try.
Before he could immerse himself in wasted philosophical musings, Hank came back. He gazed after the departing woman, noting the child by her side, then directed a searching look at Todd.
“Everything okay?”
“Fine.”
“Who’s the looker?” The interested query was made with Hank’s usual lack of tact and reflected his appreciation of all things feminine.
Todd bristled. “Kevin’s teacher,” he said stiffly, not sure why he felt so resentful of the innocently appraising remark.
“Why didn’t I ever have a teacher who looked like that?” Hank said wistfully. “I might have learned more.”
“You have an engineering degree now. What more would you have learned?”
“Life, my friend. A woman like that could teach you all about life.”
Todd groaned. “Does your libido ever take a rest?”
“Not since junior high,” Hank retorted with an unrepentant grin.
“Go heft a few girders, then. Maybe it’ll wear you out.” He picked up a folder of papers and stuffed them in his briefcase.
“Not a chance. Let me know if you’re not interested in that one. Maybe I’ll take a shot at her. I have a real thing for redheads.”
Todd looked up, incensed. “She’s Kevin’s teacher, dammit. Not some floozy you saw in a bar. Stay away from her.”
Hank stared at him consideringly. “So, then, you are interested.”
Todd slammed his fist on the desk, scattering papers. “I am not interested. I am just trying to see that my son and I get through the school year without being responsible for his teacher’s downfall.”
