DURING THE COURSE OF HIS coaching career, Thad Lantz had become used to all sorts of reactions to what he did. But never had anyone gone from the undeniable spark of mutual attraction to such utter loathing and suspicion so darn fast. And that was a shame. He hadn’t ever been so physically drawn to a woman from the very first second they met, hadn’t ever wanted to immediately take a woman into his arms, and into his bed.
Not that this was a surprise. Janey Hart Campbell was amazingly gorgeous and sexy, in the way that only a woman really coming into her own for the very first time could be. He guessed she was in her early thirties, a couple years younger than him. Her chestnut hair was thick, straight, and silky. He couldn’t tell how long it was, since she had it caught up in a clip on the back of her head. But he was willing to bet at least shoulder-length. Her feisty amber eyes were framed by long lashes and delicate brows the same chestnut shade as her hair. She had a full lower lip, just made for kissing. A stubborn chin. And peachy gold skin. There was a dusting of freckles across her nose and a lifetime of knowledge in her woman’s eyes. Lower still, were lush curves every bit as beautiful and tempting and feminine as her elegant, oval face. All in all, a very nice-looking package. Too bad, Thad thought with mounting regret, she only had heated resentment for him.
Janey turned to Joe. “You put him up to this, didn’t you?” she accused.
Thad normally tried his best to stay out of family matters. This time he thought it best he intervene. He stepped forward, putting himself between Janey and Joe. “Actually, I’m the one who contacted your brother, Joe,” he confessed kindly.
“And I’m the guilty party who summoned the rest of our brothers,” Joe said.
Mac Hart, the oldest, looked at his younger sister with compassion. “We understand why you feel the way you do, Janey, but this overprotectiveness of yours has got to stop,” he stated firmly.
Dylan agreed emphatically. “Christopher has the right to choose his own particular path in life.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! He’s twelve!” Janey protested in complete exasperation.
“And already thinking ahead to his future,” Cal said proudly. “That’s to be commended.”
Janey folded her arms at her waist, the movement tucking her white cotton chef’s jacket tighter across her full breasts and enviably slender waist. “Not if his thinking is leading him in the wrong direction!” she fumed.
“Who says it’s the wrong direction?” the normally amiable Fletcher Hart scowled. “Bottom line is this, Janey. We are not going to let you turn that boy into a sissy!”
Janey’s eyes widened in indignation. “Just because I want Christopher to concentrate on what’s really important does not mean I’m out of line. And in fact, if anyone is out of line it is the five of you. Siccing the Hart Posse on me, indeed!”
Thad exchanged glances with all five of her brothers. Clearly, Janey was not going to listen to her brothers. “Maybe I should take it from here, fellas,” he said amiably.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Janey blocked the door before her brothers could take their leave. “You guys have something to say to me?” she stormed, color flooding her high elegantly boned cheeks. “You tell me right now!”
Joe looked his sister straight in the eye. “Why did you tell Christopher he can’t attend hockey camp this summer?” he asked like the no-excuses professional athlete he was.
Janey’s amber eyes turned even stormier. “Because Chris is enrolled in summer school to make up the math class he flunked last spring. And summer school is held at the same time as camp.”
Sounded plausible, Thad thought, even as he tried to ignore the defensive note in her low voice.
“Did you even try to make other arrangements?” Cal asked.
“You’re breaking his heart,” Fletch concurred.
“You know, if it’s really a question of cash that is preventing you from enrolling Chris,” Mac volunteered quickly, “you could’ve come to any one of us and we would have been more than happy to help you out.”
Janey’s discomfiture turned to dismay. Suddenly it became very quiet as Janey asked very slowly and succinctly, “Where did you get that idea?”
All five Hart brothers looked at Thad.
Because he didn’t want to embarrass her any more than she had already been, he reluctantly pulled the letter he had received—and shown—out of his jeans pocket and handed it to her. Janey’s brow lifted quizzically. “What is this?”
“Read it,” Thad said, knowing when she did she would understand why the rest of them were so concerned about her son.
Janey folded her arms in front of her. “You read it.”
“O-kay,” Thad said, looking her up and down skeptically. “But I would think since you’re his mother you would want to read it yourself.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Never mind!” Janey snatched it away from him.
“Dear Coach Lantz,” she began reading out loud. “I think you are the best coach in the NHL and I want to come to camp so bad, especially now that my uncle Joe is gonna be playing for the Storm. But my mom says we don’t have the money this year. And that’s probably on account of my dad dying and us moving back here to be close to family. I know how hard my mom works, baking cakes, and I don’t think she can work any harder. So what I was thinking is this. Could I maybe come to camp this year and then work off the cost for you by picking up towels or cleaning the locker room or mowing your lawn or something? I’d do anything. I just want to play. Sincerely, Christopher Hart Campbell. P.S. You can reach me at 111 Shady Lane in Holly Springs or by phone.”
Her face pale, Janey let the note fall to her side.
Thad looked at her brothers. “I think I can take it from here,” he told them confidently.
ALL FIVE of Janey’s brothers filtered out. Janey looked as if she had never felt more mortified than she did at that very moment, and Thad could understand why. Her son had just done an end run around her, by taking a problem outside the family. Thad saw it as a sign he was growing up. Something for which Chris was to be commended. Janey seemed to think it was a sign she had failed her son, for not being available to him in the way Christopher needed her to be. She turned to Coach Lantz. Her peachy gold skin was ashen, her eyes turbulent with emotion.
“I don’t know what to say except I’m very sorry my son put you in an awkward position.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Thad advised. “Just fix it.”
She held his steady, probing gaze. “Our situation is more complicated than it seems,” Janey muttered at last.
“I’m sure it is,” Thad agreed.
Janey regarded him suspiciously. “That’s it? You’re not going to try and convince me to let Christopher attend hockey camp?”
Thad shrugged, and decided to take the opposite approach of what she was obviously expecting. “You want to break his heart by denying him the opportunity to chase his dreams, that’s your business.”
Janey flushed at his blunt, matter-of-fact tone. “You don’t understand the circumstances,” she insisted.
Thad pulled out a chair at the white wrought-iron table in the corner. He sank into it and waited for her to do the same. “I know your late husband was Ty Campbell, and that he nearly made the US Olympic ski team.”
Janey shook her head bitterly. “Nearly being the operative word.”
“That’s something to be proud of,” Thad replied, stretching his long legs out in front of him.
Her eyes held such sadness as she sat down. “Being an alternate made my husband miserable.”
“And