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  Her frown looked doubtful, so he sat up, kneeling across from her. “Sweetheart, there’s nothing in the world I’d like more than to make love with you, but a quickie before we hit the road isn’t quite what I had in mind.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Men are supposed to want it any time, any place.”

  “I don’t just want your body, Claudie. I want you.”

  She looked down. “I thought this would prove—” She gulped. “I don’t know what I thought it would prove.”

  Bo reached out and pulled her to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and put her arms around him. Nuzzling her neck, inhaling the fresh outdoor smell in her hair, he whispered, “Can you tell me what happened?”

  When she nodded, he moved them backward to the plump eyelet lace pillows. She snuggled into the space beside him, her head still on his shoulder. Bo closed his eyes and listened to her relate the news of her sister. His heart swelled with her joy, twisted with her pain. He tried to keep from thinking too far ahead—the long drive home where they’d spend three nights on the road. Time he planned to use to convince her to marry him.

  “Will you marry me?”

  Claudie leapt to her feet as if a bomb had gone off beside her. The mattress jiggled as she danced from foot to foot. “What? What did you say?”

  Bo felt a rush of heat to his face. “Oops,” he muttered. “Did I say that aloud?”

  “You didn’t mean to say it?” She stopped dancing and gave him a suspicious glare.

  “Well, yeah, but not right this minute. Damn.” He put his hand to his head.

  Her giggle caught him totally off-guard. When she bent over laughing, he didn’t know whether to be hurt or laugh, too.

  She collapsed to her knees, tears in her eyes. “That is too funny,” she sputtered. “An accidental proposal.” Wiping her cheeks with her hands, she looked at him and asked, “What would you have done if I’d said yes?”

  He sat up, facing her. “I’d have considered myself the luckiest man in the world.” Her smile faded. He touched her damp cheek. “I wasn’t kidding, Claudie. I want to marry you and start a family. I want to help you open a second and third halfway house. I want to be at your side when the governor awards you a plaque for your contribution to society.”

  Her eyes spoke the words he knew she couldn’t say to him. Not yet, anyway.

  He leaned forward and kissed her. “They call those dreams, Claudie girl. Now that you’ve kicked the bogeyman out of your nightmares, you can dream, too.”

  She tilted her face to kiss him. Her tears added a salty flavor to her taste. When her hands moved to his shoulders, he hauled her to him, his pulse racing with hope, love.

  The knock on the door shattered the moment. She pulled back guiltily.

  Bo silently cursed his cousin, the only person it could be. “What?” he barked.

  “Let me in. I just got a call from my mother. It’s about your dad, Bo. He’s in the hospital.”

  CLAUDIE’S OPINION of Matt skyrocketed as she watched him handle Bo with a stalwart calm she couldn’t begin to match. Not that Bo flew off the handle, but Claudie could tell he was upset and not thinking as clearly as usual. For one thing, he was under the mistaken impression she would let him fly off to New York without her.

  “It makes perfect sense,” he told her for the third time. “I’ll switch Matt’s ticket to my name and he can drive you home.”

  She rolled her eyes. “No way am I spending three days on the road with Matt, even if he is your cousin. No offense,” she said, looking at Matt who seemed equally serious.

  “None taken.” He looked at Bo. “She’s right. That wouldn’t work. I can’t just jump into your life, Bo. This is my weekend to have Ashley.”

  “What’s three lousy days, you jerk?” Bo growled. “I’d do it for you.”

  Matt’s complexion darkened a degree. “I’m not saying I won’t help out. I just think we should think things through. You haven’t even talked to your mother yet. You know my mother—she’s an alarmist.”

  Bo’s mouth fell open.

  Matt ducked his head, sheepishly. “Well, maybe not, but it still might not be that bad.”

  The sound of a phone made them jump. Bo clutched his chest pocket, where he’d put his cell phone after retrieving it from his briefcase. “Hello,” he cried. “Mom. How is he? Aunt Irene called a few minutes ago.”

  Claudie watched his face, her nerves skittering along the top of her skin. She couldn’t believe anyone could go through so much emotional turmoil in one day and survive. She’d already decided if this was a false alarm, she’d ask for her room back so she could go to bed. California could wait.

  Bo walked to the small desk on the other side of the room and scribbled something on the rose-embossed note pad. “I got it. I’ll be there as soon as possible. How are you doing?” He paused to listen. “Well, don’t let yourself get too run-down. Listen to Irene, she’s a nurse.” He nodded, already on the move with that purposeful, focused style of his.

  A chameleon, he called himself, able to blend into a crowd. Also, as forceful and dynamic as Ren or Matt when he chose to be. “I’ll call you when I get in, Mom. Take care. I love you.”

  He pressed a button and pocketed the phone. “He’s in intensive care. Pretty much touch-and-go for the next twelve hours. I gotta go. Will you two stop fighting me on this so I can get out of here?”

  Matt rose. “My flight’s the only one out and it leaves at nine-forty-five. That’s four hours from now. The airport’s an hour away, so we might as well take it down a notch. There’s nothing you can do at the moment.”

  Bo’s upper lip curled. “There should be.”

  Claudie started to the door. “I’ll get packed. Matt, would you see if there are two more seats on that plane?”

  Bo swore.

  When the phone rang, Claudie spun on her heel and picked up the receiver by the bed. The voice on the other end wasn’t one she was expecting.

  “Hello, Claudie? It’s Garret.”

  She sat down abruptly. “Yes,” she said, mouthing the word Garret to Bo. “What do you want? We’re in a bit of a hurry here….”

  “I know. You’re anxious to leave for home, but there’s something I forgot to tell you this afternoon. I’m so glad I caught you.”

  She didn’t like the softer feelings his raspy voice provoked. She couldn’t seem to draw up the image of him she’d held for ten years—drunk, slobbering, stinking of sweat and booze. Over the years, she’d added features of other men, other cruelties and coarseness until he was a demon too hideous to conjure in the daylight hours. Now he was none of those things. Somehow he’d become nothing more than a pathetic shell of a man waiting for death.

  “We’re leaving soon.”

  “Well, I won’t keep you. I just wanted you to know about the insurance money. I thought it might make a difference to you, if you broke down and needed it for anything.” His odd hesitation made her look at Bo, who’d walked to her side.

  “What insurance money?”

  Garret cleared his throat. “Your mom’s folks bought her a paid-up insurance policy when she was a girl. After you were born she made you the beneficiary. She never changed that, so when she died, you inherited it.”

  “How much?”

  “It was for $2500. Of course, it’s worth quite a bit more now.”

  Claudie frowned. Bo’s inquiring look made her reach out and touch his arm. Matt appeared with a piece of paper and a pen upon which she scribbled a dollar sign.

  “I don’t get it. Why is it worth more now?”

  Garret coughed again. “Well…Peggy never told me about it. After she passed away, I found it in with some papers.” He paused. “I was really upset and hurt that she—There were a lot of times we could have used the money if we’d have cashed it in, but she never mentioned it.” He paused as if to catch his breath. “It’s possible she just forgot about it, but at the time I was consumed by rage.”

  Claudie closed her eyes.
She understood that kind of anger.

  “Anyway, after you left home I cashed it in. Since I was your legal guardian, nobody questioned it. I’d planned to spend it, but then I had my wreck. By the time I got out of the hospital, I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I touched a dime of it, so I gave it to a friend who was an investment banker.”

  This pause was different. Expectant. She gave Bo a tentative smile. “Did he run off to Brazil?” she asked.

  Garret’s laugh ended in a painful-sounding cough. When he had his voice back, he said, “No. Glen’s as honest as the day is long. He did pretty well for you, Claudie. I just got off the phone with him. It’s a nice tidy sum. Enough to put down on a house if you and Bo were to get married.”

  “Married?” she choked out, unable to contain herself.

  Bo looked up, a quizzical expression on his face.

  Garret stuttered. “Umm…er…I’m sorry to have presumed. Maybe you could use it to buy a new car. Dottie said yours was—”

  “Car,” Claudie cried, vaulting to her feet. “My car. What am I going to do with my car if I go to New York?”

  She looked at Matt, who shrugged. Bo gave them both an “I-told-you” look.

  “What do you mean?” Garret asked.

  She recounted Bo’s news.

  “Just leave your car right there,” Garret said. “Give the keys to Mrs. Green. Dottie and I will come get it first thing in the morning and keep it here for you until you can come back for it.”

  “That’s very nice of you to offer, but—” Bo groaned.

  “No, buts, Claudine,” he said severely. “I’ve waited a decade to be able to help you in any way I could. I don’t think I’ve got another decade left in me, so you’d better let me do this.”

  Claudie took a breath. “All right. Tell Sherry she can drive it. A girl needs her own wheels from time to time.”

  When Garret answered, his voice sounded thick with emotion. “That’s very good of you, Claudie. She will be thrilled to pieces.” Claudie hated to admit how nice his praise sounded to her ears. “Now, about the money. Do you need any to help you get to New York? I’m sure Glen could advance you some—”

  She smiled. “No. Bo can buy my ticket and I’ll pay him back later.” Some way or another.

  She told her stepfather goodbye and hung up the phone. To Bo she said, “The car is taken care of, and I’m independently wealthy.” To Matt, she said, “Go make another reservation. I’m going to New York.”

  MATT TUCKED his carry-on bag beneath his knees, glad to find three seats together in the small waiting room. Claudie took the spot beside him. Bo, still restless as an edgy lion, turned on his heel. “I’m going to the john.”

  Claudie put her bulky leather purse on the empty seat to save it.

  They sat in silence surrounded by the low hum of other passengers and an occasional flight announcement. Compared to JFK this airport was low-key, but Claudie peered around like a kid in a museum.

  “Is this your first time?” he asked.

  She gave him a droll look that made him blush. “On an airplane,” he qualified.

  “Isn’t there a law against doing it on an airplane?” she asked impishly.

  “Claudie,” he snapped. He wasn’t in the mood for teasing. He was rarely in the mood for teasing these days. Although Matt had enjoyed the stimulation of working in the field, he still felt unsettled and useless. He couldn’t even deliver the one thing his cousin asked for—an extra few days to drive Claudie home. He’d been so damn relieved when she insisted on going to New York that he’d almost kissed her.

  She lightly brushed her hand against his sleeve. “Sorry,” she said. “I get a little goofy when I’m nervous. And, yes, this is my first plane ride.”

  The way she said it made him smile.

  “You should smile more often, Matt,” she told him. “It’s a lot less scary than your big, bad cop frown.”

  He gave her his toughest squint. She shrank back in her seat. “Sorry,” she peeped.

  He shook his head, and heaving a sigh, slumped down in his chair. He closed his eyes. “You’re a good person, Claudie. I’m glad you’re here. Bo’s gonna need you.”

  “Tell him that. I think he’s really pissed,” she said.

  Matt turned his chin to look at her. He wasn’t easily impressed, but the way she handled the confrontation with her stepfather had been something. Now, jumping in blindly to help Bo took guts—especially considering the way Bo was acting. “You gotta understand. Things between Bo and his dad were never good. Robert B. is a cold man. He used to scare the hell out of me.”

  She looked doubtful.

  “Scout’s honor. One time in college, I bumped into him at some family function and asked him about an investment opportunity some friends of mine were all hot about.” He grimaced. “The man had me backed up against the wall before Aunt Ruth rescued me.”

  “What’d he say?”

  “Basically, he told me to keep my money in my pants because I was too damn dumb to invest it in anything more complicated than beer.”

  “What’d you do?”

  “I bought ten thousand shares of my friend’s stock. Which, basically amounted to pissing it away, because the market crashed and the company folded. Uncle Robert was right. I’d have been better off with the beer.”

  She smiled uneasily. “He sounds complicated. How’d he wind up with a son like Bo, someone so…real.”

  Matt looked toward the main corridor, which was visible through Plexiglas partitions. It took him a minute to find Bo, who moved in and out of the crowd like a wraith—unnoticed, Matt guessed, by the majority of the people he passed. For as long as Matt had known him, Bo had gone out of his way to blend in—understandable, Matt thought, given Bo’s larger-than-life father. But Bo was far from ordinary.

  “This is probably a dumb thing I’m doing,” Claudie said, slumping down lower than Matt.

  Matt shifted enough to face her. “Cool it. Here comes, Bo. And he’s going to need you in New York. I guarantee it.”

  She looked to the scanning machine where Bo was waiting for a lady and her dog to pass through. “But he doesn’t want me here,” she said.

  “Right. Just like you didn’t want him to find you. But he did, and you’re glad, right?”

  She smiled. He closed his eyes. He didn’t begrudge Bo and Claudie any happiness they could find, but as far he was concerned, love was for fools.

  BO PULLED OUT the in-flight magazine from the seat in front of him and tried to focus on the pictures—words were beyond him. His mind bounced from one topic to another like a golf ball on pavement. One second he was thinking about his father, the next Claudie’s stepfather and her sudden windfall.

  Craning his neck, he looked around to see if he could find her. Since they’d booked so late, none of their seats were together. A full house, but no sign of Claudie.

  Shaking out his hands, he depressed the button to recline his seat and loosened his seat belt. No way around it, this was going to be a long flight.

  To his left, in seats A and B, was a young couple nestled against the window like baby lemurs. Behind him, the drink cart began its tortuous rumble up the aisle.

  With a sigh, he closed his eyes. His mind jumped to Claudie—its favorite topic. He couldn’t believe she’d insisted on accompanying him to New York. That Matt had refused to back him up still irked a little, but he understood why Matt wasn’t anxious to drive to California. And, secretly, the idea of his handsome cousin spending three or four days with the woman he loved didn’t exactly thrill Bo, either.

  Chagrined by his unwarranted jealousy, he looked down. To his amazement, a hand slipped between his seat and half-empty seat B. Curious, he leaned into the aisle to look behind his seat.

  “Claudie?”

  Grinning, she jerked her hand back. “I was going to pinch you.”

  Her mischievous smile took his breath away. “Why?” he whispered.

  “To get your attention.”


  He motioned her closer. “I thought you didn’t like my attention.”

  “That was before.”

  “Before what?”

  “Before I was rich.”

  Her little-girl tone unloosened something painful inside him. “Honey, I hate to tell you this, but forty grand isn’t all that rich.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Maybe not by Ren Bishop’s standards, but it is by mine. It’s enough to make me an entirely different person.”

  His happy mood slipped away. “I like the person you are.”

  She scooted closer. “Do you?” she softly asked.

  He nodded. She was almost close enough to kiss, but of course he couldn’t. Not in public.

  “Then maybe I won’t change,” she said, her gaze pinned to his.

  Bo’s heart thudded in his chest. He swallowed and glanced over her shoulder where a nine-year-old boy watched them intently. He cleared his throat. “How’d you manage to switch seats?” he asked.

  Her pout was followed by a pensive look. “I saw the man in this seat go to the rest room, so I followed and asked if I could sit here.”

  “And he agreed?”

  She nodded.

  Bo didn’t buy it. “Why?”

  Her gaze slipped from his. “I told him we were eloping.”

  The lie took Bo’s breath away. It took him a minute to put together a comeback. “Claudie, nobody elopes to New York City.”

  She made a face—so Bradylike he almost laughed. “We’re only flying to New York. From there we’re taking the train to Niagara Falls. A sleeper, remember?” she teased.

  Bo had to duck back into his seat to avoid being mowed down by the drink cart. Niagara Falls? Where did that come from? He would have loved to ask her, but for the moment all he could do was stew.

  When the flight attendant asked him for his order, it was on the tip of his tongue to ask for scotch—until a slim hand materialized between the seats and pinched the fleshy part of his arm. Snickering, he said, “Orange juice, please.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  CLAUDIE PEERED through the hospital’s glass doors to the street beyond. The steady drizzle that had accompanied her and Bo on the taxi ride earlier that morning was beginning to turn solid. The weather forecaster on the television in the waiting room predicted a severe winter storm. If she wasn’t feeling quite so tense, Claudie might have enjoyed the snow. But she couldn’t relax—not when Bo was acting so funny.