LITMIR.BIZ

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to shout that it wasn’t fair.

      The creature was even more spectacular in daylight.

      He scanned the grill area. “My niece better be here.”

      The suspicion in those intense eyes snapped her right back to reality. He might be beautiful, but he wasn’t someone she should be thinking about that way.

      “I asked you how you slept last night,” she said. “Shouldn’t you answer before you start barking orders?”

      One eyebrow lifted ever so slightly, and she thought for a second his mouth would follow suit. “I slept fairly well, thank you.”

      “So everything was up to snuff?”

      “The accommodations were fine. I appreciate the recommendation.”

      “Good. I’ll run and get Lisa from the back. She’s washing pots and pans.”

      “Bud hired her?”

      “Sort of. He pays her a little. But mostly, she’s here to help me. She gets a cut of the tips. And room and board.”

      “I’ll certainly reimburse you for any lodging and food.”

      Yet another reason to ignore his gorgeous eyes and yummy smell. Everything had a price for men like him. She waved off his offer and went to holler through the kitchen door for Lisa. Then she returned and slid into the booth across from him. Fiddling with her bracelets, she tried to look anywhere but at those amazing eyes.

      “You like jewelry, I see,” he said.

      “It’s one of my weaknesses. I don’t shop for clothes or shoes. But get me in a bead shop, and I go crazy.”

      “Do you mean you make the pieces yourself?”

      “Most of them. It’s relaxing.”

      “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who made her own jewelry.”

      At the tone of his voice, a burst of irritation flared through her chest and right out her mouth. “Well, I can’t quite afford to shop at Tiffany’s.”

      “I didn’t mean—”

      Lisa plopped in the booth beside Josie and said, “I’m not gonna, like, jump when you say jump or anything. But I promised Josie I’d listen.”

      Wishing he could take back his careless comment about the jewelry, Michael refocused his attention on the problem at hand. “I want to apologize about last night, Lisa. I know it scared you.”

      “Forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

      “Well, I want you to know I’m sorry.”

      “I said forget it, okay?” Lisa practically shouted.

      Stunned by her vehemence, he gave Josie a look that asked, What now?

      “Okaaay…” Josie rubbed her hands together. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s see if we can get you two to come to some kind of agreement about what Lisa is going to do. The rules are no shouting, or Bud’ll kick you out. No name-calling and bad-mouthing each other, or I’ll kick you out. Agreed?”

      “Agreed,” Michael said and waited for his niece to say the same.

      Instead, she crossed her arms protectively in front of herself, her chin almost touching her chest.

      “Lisa?” Josie said.

      “Mmm.”

      The sound could mean anything, but Michael assumed it was acquiescence.

      “Good,” Josie said. “Now, Michael, tell Lisa why you’re here.”

      “I think that’s fairly obvious. I came to find her.”

      Josie nodded toward his niece. “Tell Lisa, not me.”

      He sighed, but leaned his arms on the table and looked at the top of her green head. “Lisa, I was worried about you. I want you to agree to come home with me.”

      In one quick motion Lisa’s whole demeanor changed. She sat straight up, eyes on him. “Do you mean it, Uncle Michael? You really want me to come home with you?”

      The expectant look on her face nearly undid him. He would have to explain his plans carefully. “Home to Charleston. You need the supervision and care they give you at school. Come back, and I’ll talk to the headmistress about changing the expulsion to a suspension, about letting you make up your missed work. I’m sure she can…”

      As he watched, the life seemed to drain back out of Lisa. What do I do now? He looked to Josie, who rubbed her forehead as if he’d given her a headache. “Surely you both understand,” he said.

      “Understand, nothin’,” Lisa said. “Just go on back to the bank. I’m fine here.”

      “But you belong in Charleston with us. With your family,” he said.

      “Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ll get along without me.”

      “Mike, why don’t you tell Lisa why you want to send her back to boarding school,” Josie suggested.

      “Everyone needs a good education. You’re getting the best money can buy.”

      Josie winced. “Tell Lisa why you worry. Why you want her somewhere safe.”

      He watched as Lisa slunk a little lower in the booth. Another inch or two and she’d slither onto the floor.

      Somehow, the pitiful green hair and slight frame made her seem vulnerable. His heart lurched. No matter how you dressed her up—fingernail polish, hair color, body piercings—she still looked just like her mother.

      “I worry about boys taking advantage,” he blurted. “I worry about you being on your own at sixteen. It’s my responsibility to keep you safe.”

      “It sounds like Mike is scared you’ll have some of the same problems your mother had,” Josie said. She searched for confirmation.

      He nodded.

      “I don’t want to talk about my mother.”

      “Even though I wasn’t able to help her, maybe I can help you,” Mike said.

      “I’m not going to talk about her.”

      Silence.

      “Okay, Lisa,” Josie said. “Can you try to tell your uncle how you feel?”

      She shook her head no.

      “Come on, tell him some of the things you’ve told me.”

      “Won’t make a difference.”

      “I do care, Lisa,” Michael said.

      “Big whoop.”

      “I really do.”

      “Then prove it,” Lisa said.

      “Okay. How can I prove it to you?”

      “Take me home. Home. Not to that snob factory.”

      She stared directly at him. A spark of something—challenge?—lit her blue eyes, but then it was gone. Couldn’t she see that he wasn’t suitable? That he couldn’t possibly take care of a teenage girl?

      Lisa jumped up and stalked toward the kitchen. “Yeah, I see how much you care.”

      He tried to hustle out of the booth, but flinched in pain as his knees struck the underside of the too-small table. “Lisa, wait.”

      “Whatever,” she called back over her shoulder.

      Standing by the grill watching the scene, Bud frowned. Michael raced past him and stormed through the kitchen door with Josie close on his heels.

      “Stop right there, young lady,” he said.

      “Uh-huh. And what are you going

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