IT WAS NEARLY nine o’clock in the evening when Michael reached the turnoff to Renata Meyer’s place. It had been a horrendous day. After spending the whole night in search of his grandfather, finding him at dawn, driving him back home, reporting late for work and working overtime, about the last thing he needed to do was dash back to Tyler again.
And the last thing he wanted to risk was spending an hour alone with this beguiling female.
With great reluctance and more than a little anger at Grand Feather, Michael rang the doorbell. He heard Renata coming, taking her time, probably glancing out the window to see who’d sneaked up on her in the dark. To make it easier for her, he called out, “It’s Michael Youngthunder, Renata.” And then, belatedly, he realized that she might not find the news particularly reassuring. He could hardly have made a good impression on her this morning. Besides, she’d already done her Good Samaritan deed for the year. If she normally lived in a big city like Milwaukee, she undoubtedly thought twice before opening the door to strangers or casual acquaintances who were men.
Even when they weren’t Indians.
To his astonishment, his words had the same effect as “Open sesame.” The door was flung open wide.
“Michael!” she burst out, the joy in her voice unmistakable. So was her assumption that he’d hurried back to Tyler just to see her.
For a full thirty seconds Michael simply stood there, dumbstruck. Renata was wearing that same casual outfit he’d seen her in this morning, although now the T-shirt seemed to sport a bit more paint. But her face, in the moonlight, looked completely different. This morning she’d been worried, cautious, offended, hurt. Tonight she looked positively radiant.
She’s thrilled to see me, he realized, the discovery swelling through him with a rush. I’ll be damned. Renata was hoping I’d come back again.
It occurred to Michael briefly that maybe his grandfather had already shown up here again and Renata was just relieved that someone had come to tow him away. But he hadn’t kept his distance from white women so long that he’d forgotten how to read the expression he saw on her lovely face. No man in his right mind was likely to be blind to such joyous anticipation.
Michael swallowed hard and tried to find somewhere to look besides Renata’s welcoming blue eyes. He didn’t want to embarrass her and he didn’t want to embarrass himself. But today seemed to be his day for humiliation. Grand Feather wasn’t giving him much choice.
“Uh, Renata, I’m really sorry to barge in like this,” he began, pretending he’d missed her delighted greeting. “But my cousin says my grandfather has disappeared again. He left a note this time telling me not to come after him, but there’s no way I can sleep while he’s missing.”
For the tiniest moment Renata stared at him in confusion, maybe a bit of shock. Then she looked concerned. It was not for several seconds that she began to blush.
It touched him that she seemed more worried than embarrassed. The very depth and decency of the woman made it increasingly hard to push away his keen attraction to her. Fiercely Michael reminded himself of why it was vital that he keep a safe distance from Renata. To her, their meeting was probably the beginning of something totally new. To him it was a replay of a movie he hadn’t liked the first time and was not about to sit through again.
“Michael, I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen him since you two left with Brick this morning,” Renata said straightforwardly, her tone giving nothing away. “It’s been very quiet here this evening.”
Unhappily he met her eyes, frustrated in more ways than one. He knew this was where his grandfather was heading; it was only a matter of time until he arrived. But what was he supposed to do until Grand Feather got here? Wait in the car? Circle the surrounding farmland? Hang out at that ritzy lodge?
“Do you want to come in and wait for him?” Renata asked politely.
He didn’t. He knew it was a bad idea. But he couldn’t think of any good way to tell her so without hurting her feelings. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. After all this time he was still cautious with white women, but he’d gotten over the need to be cruel to them.
“Thanks, Renata, but I think I’d better go look for him,” he answered reluctantly. “If he’s not here he might be on the road or maybe at the lodge.”
Renata stepped out onto the porch, her delicate face lit up by the porch light, which was attracting an army of moths. “Do you want me to go with you? Or take my own car? I know all the back ways into this place, Michael. I know the footpaths from the lodge.”
He had no ready comeback for that. The truth was, she did know the area better than he did, and he desperately wanted to find his grandfather before it got completely dark. The old guy was tough, but it could be dangerous for him to spend another night out in the open. He might still get sick because of last night’s exposure.
Michael gazed at Renata and tried to weigh his options. She looked so pretty standing there in the twilight, her eyes vibrant, her skin creamy and pale. But her expression had sobered since he’d explained why he’d come, and now he could read nothing on her face but human concern for a frail old fellow who quite literally didn’t know enough to come in out of the rain.
“I’d appreciate your help,” Michael said slowly. “I really hate to bother Lieutenant Bauer again. I kept him up all night, you know, and he’d worked half a shift before I even showed up at the station.”
“Just let me get a flashlight,” she said, then vanished into the house.
As he watched her shapely backside sprint away from him, he loosened his tie and tugged off his jacket. The memory of his air-conditioned car was no help at all in the sweltering evening air, and with Renata by his side, Michael knew that the night was going to get hotter yet.
* * *
BY THE TIME she grabbed her most powerful flashlight and locked up the house, Renata felt that she had her feelings pretty much under control. She couldn’t recall saying anything in particular that revealed how very glad she was to see Michael, let alone that she’d thought for one foolish minute that he’d rushed back to Tyler with her grandpa’s old clothes just so he could see her again. Still, there was always the chance that her feelings had shown on her face. If they had, Michael had chosen to ignore her faux pas, and for that she could be grateful.
The porch was empty when she returned to the door. A classy blue BMW was sitting in her gravel driveway with headlights on and engine running. The passenger door had been left open for her, but Michael was already in the car.
Renata slipped inside and put on her seat belt as Michael pulled out of the drive. Her seat was close to his, so close their knees almost touched, but she studiously braced her body at a safe distance. She was entirely too aware of his proximity. She was also aware that Michael was ignoring her. At least, he was ignoring her as a woman. Since he’d arrived this evening, he hadn’t treated her any differently than he would have treated a man.
“Tell me about the back trails from the lodge,” he ordered, his voice throbbing with concern. “Maybe that’s how we missed him last night. He might have spent part of the night in the woods by the lake. I never thought to ask him how he got here.”
“Even if we knew that, we don’t know for sure he’d take the same route again. I’m not certain why you think he’ll come straight back here anyway, Michael,” Renata pointed out. “For some reason he settled under the oak tree in my front yard last night, but don’t you think he might want to check out some other oaks in the area?”
When Michael gave a helpless shrug, his long hair brushed his neck and shoulders. His profile was clean and sharp, stunning in its masculine strength.