LITMIR.BIZ

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stranger? If it weren’t for Jax she might have been concerned by now, but outright panic was a luxury she’d never been able to afford.

      She hadn’t panicked back in those miserable days after her mother had died, when her father’s drinking had gone from bad to worse. Nor a few years later, when she could no longer convince herself that he was still grieving, that he truly loved her and that he regretted the outbursts, which had grown more and more violent.

      Instead she had quietly made plans to move to Oklahoma City as soon as she graduated, to find a job and a place to stay.

      She certainly hadn’t panicked the day she had stood before the justice of peace and placed her life in the hands of a man more than twice her age, even though he’d been practically a stranger. They’d known each other only in the way most people living in the same small town did. Still, Gus had offered her a safer alternative than running away to the city with no funds, no friends and no job. She would always be grateful to him for that.

      She hadn’t panicked eleven years later when Gus had flown his plane into a power line and been killed, nor when her mother-in-law had suffered the first in a series of strokes, nor when Jeannie, Gus’s teenage daughter, had “borrowed” her credit card and run up an enormous debt just before she dropped out of school and disappeared. Not even when the rebellious fifteen-year-old had come home again five months ago—just long enough to leave her newborn infant.

      Hetty had coped with it all. She was not an excitable woman.

      Or maybe she’d just never had the luxury of giving in to her emotions.

      At any rate, Jax had come along before she had any inkling how bad the weather really was. Thank goodness for that. And for his kindness, his decency, his knowledge.

      As for that mysterious quality that made her stomach flutter when he happened to touch her or look at her with one eyebrow slightly elevated, one corner of his gorgeous mouth quirked…

      Well. The less she thought about that, the better. That sort of fantasy could wait until she embarked on her cruise.

      But first she had to get to Miami. So far as she could tell, nothing was moving outside. As Jeannie would say, it was Sleepy Hollowsville. Minco, the town where they lived, had been Deadsville. Jeannie’s school had been Dullsville.

      Hetty wondered what her own life had been? Busysville?

      Determined to hang on to her optimism, she dug out the dog-eared brochure a friend who had moved to the city and gone to work for a travel agency had mailed her. She gazed at the color photos and reread the copy she’d long since memorized.

      “Dining under the stars…dancing on the fantail…nightly shows, live music, the adventure of a lifetime.”

      Yes, well…first she had to get there. Once the weather broke, it shouldn’t take long to scrape the runways and deice the planes. She knew about things like that because she’d read practically every adult offering in the library at least once.

      As if picking up on her thoughts, Jax laid his paper aside and asked when her cruise was scheduled to leave Miami. He had turned back the sleeves of his gray broadcloth shirt to reveal tanned, muscular forearms with a dusting of crisp, dark hairs. His necktie, thoroughly chewed by his daughter, had been crammed into his briefcase.

      “I’m supposed to board at four tomorrow afternoon. Thank goodness I allowed extra time and made a room reservation for tonight near the airport there. My friend at the agency suggested it.” She chewed on her lower lip. “Do you think I ought to call and tell them to hold it in case I’m late?” She answered her own question. “No, there’s no chance of that. Once we’re able to leave, it won’t take long to get there.”

      “Have you checked in with your friend to let her know what’s happened?”

      “Do I need to?”

      “It wouldn’t hurt.”

      Jax knew it would mean standing in another line, waiting for a pay phone to be free. He would’ve offered her his cell phone, but reception was lousy. Too much interference.

      He watched her weave her way through the crowd, wondering if she did it deliberately—that slight swing of the shoulders counterbalanced by the subtle sway of her hips.

      Probably something to do with bone structure. He was no expert, but even under those limp, floppy layers, hers looked pretty damned fine, from the high forehead, to the delicate cheekbones and elegant neck, right down to those world-class ankles. Not even the clunky sandals could detract from her classy lines.

      Beside him, Sunny experimented with a new sound that involved humming and gum smacking. Jax laid a hand on her warm little belly. “Nice friend you’ve got there, kid. Let’s hope we can find you someone just as nice once we get home.”

      Home. That was another problem to be dealt with. His Norfolk apartment was strictly adults only. Maybe he’d better call his secretary and get her started on lining up a few prospects. A nice house in a quiet neighborhood, with a big yard and a nearby school. While she was at it, she might arrange for him to interview prospective nannies and housekeepers. He’d need one of each.

      Still no sign of Hetty. He could go after her, but he didn’t particularly want to risk losing their space. Besides, he could easily miss her in this throng. She might even have found somebody else. Teamed up with someone who didn’t have a kid needing attention every few minutes.

      The idea was surprisingly unwelcome.

      Having learned a long time ago not to expect anything from a woman, Jax had seldom been disappointed. He couldn’t quite figure this one, though. Something about her didn’t add up.

      Or was it that the sum total wasn’t what he expected of a woman who looked like a model, walked like a model and talked like a small-town housewife from flyover country?

      Actually, she didn’t talk all that much, which in itself was unusual. Most of the women he knew, especially the beautiful ones, were inclined to chatter.

      Dismissing the woman from his mind, he turned his thoughts to the domino effect the addition of one small daughter was going to have on his once-orderly life. Oddly enough, the idea wasn’t quite as disturbing as it might have been mere hours ago.

      He glanced at his watch again, then scanned the crowd for a familiar head of short, reddish-brown hair. Sunny began to whimper, and he dug out the rubber teething ring Hetty had discovered under the cushion of the carrier. “Don’t sweat it, sugar, we’ll be home before you know it.”

      “Mercy, do you know what time it is?”

      His head came up, and he frowned to cover his relief. She was back again, slipping through the fragile barricade with an air of having made it home safely.

      “Time?”

      “It’s the middle of the night.” She planted her back against the wall and lowered herself gracefully to the floor beside him. Her first act was to check on Sunny, which gave him a funny tight feeling in his throat. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? The way time loses all meaning? I can’t even remember how long we’ve been here, much less—”

      “How long until we get out,” he finished for her.

      She smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. He wondered if she was finally going to lose her grip. He’d been waiting, expecting tears, complaints and the rest of the package to come pouring out. It had been his experience that women were quick to let the world know when things didn’t go to suit them.

      “I never saw so many fancy phones. When I finally got to one I knew how to use, the office was closed. They have a twenty-four-hour, 800 line, but it stayed busy for so long I gave up.”

      “Hardly surprising, under the circumstances. I figured you were having trouble getting through, you were away so long.”

      He’d figured no such thing, but he wasn’t going to admit it.

      “Yes, well, like I said, there are

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