He couldn’t wait for that. He would have to go to her before she had a chance to develop a real program of opposition. He didn’t know where she lived but there must be a record of that in the files.
That was what he would do. He looked at his couch and grimaced. He would catch a few hours’ sleep, take a shower in the washroom and take her orchid plant to her. That would make a good excuse. He shouldn’t have kept it anyway. That was a foolish thing to do and he regretted it. He would stop off and pick up some doughnuts to take along as a peace offering. Just a friendly visit. That way he could get the lay of the land, see how things were with her where she lived. Maybe get an idea from her situation. Become friends with the woman.
He shrugged. It was worth a try.
“So, is he incredibly sexy?”
Tina Ramos was keeping a straight face, but the mischievous light in her dark eyes gave her away. She sat on the well-worn couch, her legs folded in around her, a cup of steaming coffee in her hands.
Callie stared at the friend who shared her apartment with her. They were sitting in the living room, watching Tina’s thirteen-month-old daughter play with a round plastic toy on the floor in front of them. Callie had just finished telling Tina about what had happened the night before when she’d gone in search of her abandoned plant.
“Sexy? What? Who?” Despite her words, she knew she sounded artificially dismissive. She wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Grant Carver, of course,” Tina said with affected nonchalance. “We already know he’s incredibly handsome.”
Callie was astonished. “Oh, really? And just how do ‘we’ know that? I’ve never said a thing about his looks.”
“And never noticed either, I suppose.”
“Well…”
“Oh, come on, Callie.” Tina was laughing. “You should see the way you look when you talk about him.”
“That’s crazy!” Blood was rushing to her cheeks. She could feel it. It had to be because this line of conversation was so darn annoying. Had to be. “I’ve never thought twice about the man.”
Tina’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, is that it? I guess I mistook the look.”
“I guess you did.” She threw up her hands and wailed, “Tina…!”
“Oh, I’m just teasing.” Tina raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to the meeting?”
“Of course not.”
“Why not?”
Callie hesitated, unwilling to admit aloud that it was exactly because he was sexy and he was handsome that she didn’t relish going. There was something strangely compelling about the man and that made her uncomfortable. She’d built herself a little island and she fended men off with a virtual firehose. But he was the sort of man who might walk right through the blast, damp but undaunted. And mostly, she was afraid that she might let him.
“I have other things to do,” she said, knowing it sounded lame, but that it had the advantage of actually being true. “I have to go out to Shady Meadows Rest Home and see my mother-in-law. I’m hoping I can talk them into keeping her where she is for just one more month while I try to scrape up enough money to transfer her to full nursing care.”
“Scraping together money isn’t going to be easy now that you’ve lost both jobs,” Tina said, her eyes losing their sparkle quickly.
Callie sighed. “I will go out and see him later,” she said, knowing it was childish to go late, just because he wanted her to come at two. But when you came right down to it, she did need the job. She had to go.
Tina hesitated, then reached out and took her friend’s hand. “Callie, I called the agency last night and told them to double my assignments. If I can make a bit more…”
Callie winced. Tina was trained as an elementary teacher, but after a cancer scare, she’d taken up cleaning houses for a living, working for an agency part-time and making just enough to get by on.
“No, Tina. You need to be home with your baby while you can be.”
Tina pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m taking her with me,” she whispered.
Callie groaned. “You’re not allowed to do that and you know it.”
Tina shrugged. “No one’s turned me in yet. Everyone loves having Molly around.”
Callie glanced down at the beautiful child. Of course everyone loved Molly. What was there not to love? With her head of shining chocolate-colored curls and her huge dark eyes, so alive and so interested in everything, she was as fresh and pure as a snowflake.
The little darling had certainly turned Callie’s life around. Tina and Molly had come to live with her just before Christmas and nothing had been the same since. There was joy in her life now. Joy, and a beautiful baby.
It wasn’t her baby, and it was only temporary—like everything else in her life. But that didn’t really matter right now. A life that had been cold and lonely for years had become warm again. She’d been searching for something to live for. She’d even looked into having a baby on her own. The hunger for a child was deep and raw inside her. But no matter which way she turned, she couldn’t seem to manage to find a way to do it that made sense. Now, with her own little rag-tag family, she had something. At least for the moment.
Rising, she started toward the kitchen but the sound of the doorbell startled them all.
“I’ll get it,” Tina said, heading for the door.
Callie frowned, wondering who it could be and smoothing back her hair. She’d thrown on a big purple sweatshirt and an old pair of baggy jeans when she’d rolled out of bed. She thought she remembered brushing her thick hair, but it felt a little wild at the moment. She wasn’t really ready for company, especially not…
Grant Carver.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” he was saying as Tina let him in.
And then there he was, handsome and sexy, just as Tina had surmised—if a bit wounded. His lip was swollen and that side of his face was slightly discolored. Callie winced, looking at him. And then she wondered once again why the injury made him look so much more appealing. Did she feel a natural attraction to damaged men?
Carrying a large Stetson, he was dressed for the office, very sharp and very elegant—while she knew she must look like a refugee from the hill country.
Was he intruding? Oh, yes, very definitely.
“Oh, no, not at all,” Tina said quickly when Callie didn’t answer him right away. She threw him a bright smile that spoke volumes as to her opinion of the way he presented himself. “I’m Tina, the roommate. We’ve been up for hours. Just talking, you know. About…” She stopped and bit her lip, looking guilty as sin.
“About?” he asked, waiting.
“About things,” Tina said with a sigh and a quick look of apology toward Callie. They all knew that he knew he’d been the object of their conversation.
“‘Shoes and ships and sealing wax’?” he quoted helpfully.
“Oh, yes. Those things, too.” She smiled at him. “Cabbages and kings. All that stuff.”
“Wonderful.” He held out one of two bags he carried with him. “I brought doughnuts, just in case.”
“Lovely,” Tina cried, taking it from him. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Black, thanks.”
“I’ll be just a moment.”
“Take your time,” he said, turning slowly to look at the