LITMIR.BIZ

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one in the morning. I don’t expect any problems, though.” She took a step back and held the door open for them.

      They headed in, and Carrie let the door fall closed behind them, then spotted the handsome stranger sitting in the waiting room, caught his eyes and lifted her brows. “You waited.”

      “I didn’t want to leave you stranded. The kid’s okay, I take it?”

      “Yeah, he’ll be fine.”

      “I’m really glad to hear that.”

      He meant it, she thought. Okay, so he was a hippie, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t like kids. Carrie frowned. And he was a stranger in town and there was a kid missing. Was that anything to worry about? She had to wonder. But no, she was not going to start buying into the kids’ dramatic theories. Kyle had run away, end of story. The searchers wouldn’t find anything in the woods. Kyle would turn up sooner or later, and Carrie would be near the front of the line to give him a good lecture about the needless scare he’d given the entire town, to say nothing of his poor parents. She hoped he would be grounded for a year, frankly.

      Meanwhile, the good-looking stranger was still waiting there, and looking better by the minute, in fact. The more she looked at him, the handsomer he got. What was up with that?

      “If you’re all set here, come on,” he said, “we should get back to the game.”

      “Match.”

      “Sorry?”

      “In soccer it’s a match, not a game.”

      He lifted his brows.

      She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m irritating that way. Come on.” She turned and started for the exit doors. “Where did you park The Beast?”

      “I took a chance and put it in a reserved spot,” he said. “I figured with wheels like that, everyone would know they were yours.”

      “Not mine.” She held the door open until he joined her outside, then fell into step beside him. “My son’s. It’s his pride and joy.”

      “I’ll bet. Not too many kids can afford to drive around in something like that.” He extracted the keys from his pocket, aimed the key ring at the shiny red SUV and hit the unlock button, then held them out to her.

      “Oh, he can’t afford it, either, believe me. It was a gift.”

      He held out the keys, but she shook her head. “Do you mind driving? I’m not real comfortable maneuvering something that size just yet. We—he hasn’t had it all that long.”

      He shrugged. “So it was a recent gift, then.”

      She nodded, then got in the passenger side and fastened her seat belt. The stranger got behind the wheel, stuck the keys in the ignition, and then paused and turned to face her. “I’m Gabriel Cain, by the way.”

      She smiled, because it was so ludicrous that they hadn’t even exchanged names until now. “Carrie Overton.” She clasped his hand, and it was warm as it closed around hers. Big, too. And strong, his grip firm and sort of lingering. “Thanks again for the help today.”

      “You’re more than welcome.” He looked at their clasped hands for a moment, a frown creasing his brow, and she felt uncomfortable enough to break the contact. There had been a little hint of attraction just then, she thought. And this guy was not even close to her type.

      He started the engine and backed out of the parking spot.

      “Gabriel Cain,” she said as he drove. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

      He shrugged. “So how does a kid your son’s age—what is he, seventeen?”

      “Sixteen,” she said.

      “Sixteen.” He nodded. “So how does a kid of sixteen rate a gift like this? You’re quite a generous mom.”

      “No way did I buy this for him. It’s worth three of what I drive.”

      He looked surprised. “His father, then? Let me guess. He’s trying to earn brownie points to make up for the divorce.”

      She frowned at him.

      He shot her a sheepish look. “Sorry. Too personal, huh? I just noticed you aren’t wearing a ring, so I figured—”

      “You figured wrong. And if you’re thinking my son is a spoiled rich kid, then you’ve got that wrong, too. He’s a great kid. Exceptional. And believe me, he earned this baby, or I wouldn’t have let him accept it.”

      He swallowed hard. Then he said, “Sorry if I hit a nerve. You’re right, that was what I was assuming. I, of all people, should know better than to judge anyone by appearances. You have my apologies.”

      She blinked, realizing she’d been judging him by his appearance from her first glimpse of him. “I didn’t mean to snap. It’s been a long week. The truth is, he saved a woman’s life. She gave him the SUV to thank him.”

      “That sounds like a fascinating story.”

      “It is. Olivia—God, I’ll never get used to not calling her that. Sarah was probably a little too generous. But she really wanted him to have it, and I couldn’t say no.”

      He paused for a long moment, then cleared his throat and said, “You’re talking about Sarah Quinlan, aren’t you? The professor who’s been living as Olivia Dupree for the past sixteen years.”

      She shot him a quick sideways glance.

      “Sorry. It was all over the news. Pretty hard to miss.”

      “Probably.”

      “So you know her, then? The professor?”

      “I know her pretty well, yes.”

      He compressed his lips as if in thought, and then said, “I don’t suppose you could introduce me? I’d really like to talk to her.”

      She lifted her brows. “God, don’t tell me you’re another reporter!”

      “No, I—”

      “Do you actually write for that rag I saw you reading at the soccer match?”

      “No! No. That’s not it at all.”

      “No? Then why do you want to meet her?”

      He shrugged. “It’s personal.”

      She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, it’s impossible, anyway. She’s on her honeymoon. Sam and I are keeping an eye on her place while she’s away. She took her horse-sized dog with her, thank goodness.”

      He blinked twice, then looked at her. “Sam?”

      “My son.”

      “Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Is that a…family name?”

      “It’s just a name.” She lowered her eyes. “You know, the tabloids have it all wrong. Oliv—Sarah is a terrific person. She had a good reason for using a dead woman’s identity all that time. Her own life was in danger.”

      “Yeah, but the dead woman whose identity she stole had left a baby behind, somewhere. Didn’t she even consider she might be robbing some family of all they had left of a loved one?”

      “She didn’t know about the baby until a few weeks ago. All she knew was that the real Olivia was alone in the world.”

      “I see.”

      She drew a breath and tried to calm her racing nerves. God, if anyone ever found out that her Sam was the long-dead woman’s missing child, she would lose him. She would lose the most precious thing in her world, and no doubt her job and probably her medical license along with him. Not that those things mattered. Without Sam, she wouldn’t have anything, anyway. He was everything to her.

      And this man seemed far too curious

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