LITMIR.BIZ

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last hope disappearing.

      “That I should prove I could work with a difficult case. Like you.”

      She held her breath. She’d laid it all on the line with Gabe. If he walked away—

      For a long moment he stared at her, his eyes bleak. “So we’re both stuck.” He bit off the words.

      Relief flooded through her, but she didn’t dare let him see it. “Yes, I guess we are.”

      A tiny muscle twitched in his jaw. “All right.” He spat out the words. “It’s going to be a disaster. But I’ll try.”

      Chapter Three

      Gabe couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this crazy idea. He also couldn’t believe he was responding to the happiness he saw shimmering in Nolie’s blue eyes. Or that he wanted to go on seeing it there.

      He found himself leaning toward her, as if compelled to be closer. She smelled like soap and sunshine. “Nolie—”

      “Am I interrupting something?” The clear, high voice from the barn entrance brought him abruptly to his senses.

      A good thing.

      “Claire. What are you doing here today?” Nolie’s voice had warmed in a way he hadn’t heard before. Apparently she only used her coolest tones on him.

      The woman who strolled slowly toward them was Nolie’s opposite in every conceivable way. Hair a rich, deep auburn, mahogany-colored eyes that were expertly made up, clothes she probably thought of as country that were a far cry from Nolie’s shabby jeans and T-shirt.

      She held out a perfectly manicured hand to him. “I’m Claire Delany. And you are?”

      “This is one of my clients,” Nolie said quickly.

      He thought her cheeks were slightly pinker than they’d been earlier. Because she’d recognized that insane moment when he’d leaned toward her? He hoped not.

      “Does this client have a name?”

      “Gabriel Flanagan.” He could speak for himself. As for whatever that moment had been—well, not attraction. Definitely not.

      He shifted his gaze to the dog, finding it easier to look at Max than to meet Nolie’s cornflower gaze. “I’d better be on my way.”

      “I thought we’d spend some time working with Max.”

      “Your friend is here.” And besides, he didn’t want to. He wanted to be alone to figure out how he was going to handle this situation.

      “Claire will wait.” She shot a look at her friend, who nodded.

      A relationship between two such different women had to be an unusual one. He pushed the thought aside. He didn’t need to know anything about Nolie beyond the obstacle she represented.

      “Tomorrow will do as well, won’t it? My sister needs to get back.”

      Nolie nodded reluctantly, probably fearing that if he once got away from her, he wouldn’t be back. “All right, tomorrow. Is two o’clock all right?”

      “Two it is.” He was already moving toward the door. He’d agree to just about anything right now that would get him out of there. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

      When he saw Nolie tomorrow, he’d have figured out how to turn this into a stepping stone. Nolie thought they were stuck with each other, and maybe that was true. But if he had to do this, there had to be a way he could use the situation to get himself on active duty again, the sooner the better.

      It took a half hour to drive home, and by the time they arrived, the pep talk Terry seemed compelled to give was wearing thin. She meant well, they all did, but nobody seemed to understand that he had to deal with this situation in his own way.

      Seth and Ryan were playing one-on-one in the driveway, so Terry stopped at the curb.

      “Thanks, baby.”

      “Ryan’s the baby,” Terry snapped back automatically.

      He grinned, a bit of his good humor restored. “I’ll tell him you said so.” He started toward his brothers.

      “You’re not going to play ball, are you?” Terry asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

      Ignoring the question, he kept on going. His family alternated between treating him as if nothing had happened and acting as if he were an invalid.

      Ryan missed the ball, and he grabbed it.

      “How about taking on some real competition?”

      He read identical hesitation in both pairs of eyes.

      “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Seth said. “I thought you weren’t supposed to get stressed.”

      “You think beating you is stressful? Think again.” He dribbled the ball. “Or are you afraid I’m going to fall down on the driveway in a fit?”

      “Of course not.” Ryan made an unsuccessful effort to steal the ball.

      He dribbled past him and shot. The ball rolled around the rim and bounced out. “I’m out of practice.”

      “You’d better take it easy on that leg, or Mom will be out here yelling at all of us.” Seth grabbed the ball. “How did it go today?”

      He shrugged. “The net is closing. She claims she tried to get the foundation let her use someone else, but Henley wouldn’t.”

      “The chief won’t back down, either. If Dad couldn’t budge him, no one will.”

      “I don’t see a way out.” He’d snatch it like a loose ball if he did, agreement or not.

      “Look, it won’t be so bad.” Seth was determined to look on the bright side, but that was Seth, everyone’s friend. “Even if you don’t need the dog, it won’t hurt to play along. You can use the time to get your leg strong again, so you can get back on duty.”

      Ryan popped the ball out of Seth’s hands. “Bad advice. Good old reliable Seth, always playing it safe.”

      Seth flushed. “That’s a lot better than taking stupid risks.”

      He glanced from one to the other. Did that mean Ryan had been skirting the edge again at work? A firefighter couldn’t be paralyzed by danger, but he shouldn’t flirt with it, either.

      “What have you been up to, Ryan? I keep hearing talk that you’re taking a few too many chances these days.”

      Ryan shrugged, giving him a cocky look that said he thought he was indestructible. “Maybe I’m trying to live up to my brother, the hero.”

      The flip words drove like a knife into his soul. “I’m not a hero.” If he really were a hero, he’d have found a way to save the men who’d died beside him. “Don’t you try to be one. We don’t need any funerals in the family.”

      “Hey, lighten up. I didn’t mean anything. I just think you ought to risk turning on the famous Flanagan charm, that’s all.” Ryan grinned. “Believe me, a plain Jane like that woman would eat it right up. And a few words from her might sway the chief’s opinion about when you can get back on the line.”

      Ryan might actually have a point, although he wouldn’t tell him so. Only there were a couple of problems with his scenario.

      One was that he was no Ryan, able to turn on the Flanagan charm at a moment’s notice.

      And the other was that Nolie Lang wasn’t plain. Somehow his image of her had changed over the afternoon. In her own setting, Nolie had metamorphosed. He saw again her tenderness as she worked with the child. Pictured the passion in her eyes when she defended her work.

      No, Nolie was definitely not plain. But she was definitely trouble.

      Nolie

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