A Daddy for Her Daughter (7 page)

“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt...”

The half-amused voice had not come from the person who'd been kissing her.

Horrified, Maddy jackknifed upright, knocking Kaleb off her chest in the process.

A police officer stood over them, the string from the errant kite dangling from one hand. “Missing something?”

Yes! Her good sense. She glanced over at Kaleb to see that he wasn't bothered at all. He sat up and took the item from the man. “Thank you. We did try to rescue it.”

The officer made a noise that wasn't quite a scoff, but it was close. Maybe it was just a cough. He motioned to an area a hundred yards away. “I'm afraid your kite didn't survive its landing. Nice job, though. Your design?”

“Yes. I have a few adjustments to make before it's perfect.”

Maddy felt paralyzed, unable to say anything that would make any sense at this point.

“I think you might want to work on those...adjustments somewhere else,” the policeman said with a smile.

Heat flamed to her cheeks and boiled up through her forehead.

Kaleb simply stood and shook his hand. “Much appreciated, and we will.”

They would?

Oh, Kaleb was talking about the kite, not their make-out session.

Okay, it hadn't been a make-out session. It was just...just...

Words failed her. Because the officer had thought it was, if she wasn't mistaken. He'd basically told them—in a nice way—to move along.

More heat poured into her face. Kaleb reached down to help her up. She gladly let him, although she wasn't sure her legs were going to hold her up. She tottered to the side a step or two.

Yep. Shaky as hell.

“I'm so sorry,” she started, only to have the police officer cut her off.

“Don't be. It's a beautiful place.” He glanced up at the sky. “But the rain is coming. I didn't want your kite to be completely ruined, in case it can be fixed.”

“Very much appreciated, Officer.”

Maddy was happy for an excuse to flee. “I'll go get the kite. Thank you again.”

Nodding once, the policeman headed on his way. She went after the downed kite only to find Kaleb dogging her heels, winding the string as he went.

She glanced back at him, mortified, and repeated her earlier words. “I'm so sorry.”

“For what?”

“Isn't it obvious?” She trudged forward. “Kissing you. I haven't been so embarrassed in—”

“I think you have that backward, Maddy.” He stopped her with a touch to her arm.

“Maybe. I guess...” She blinked. “Oh, I don't know. I just didn't expect to be rolling around on the ground with the first available man who—”

“Who said I'm available?”

For a horrific moment, she thought he was serious. Then she realized he was laughing at her, seemingly unfazed by what had happened. Well, maybe he kissed women all the time in the park.

She decided to fight fire with fire. “Maybe I'm not available either.”

Which was a ridiculous thing to say. He had seen her ex-husband up close and personal.

“That bare finger on your left hand says otherwise. No recent engagements?”

Her fingers curled into her palm in an instant. But he was right. And she'd stopped wearing her wedding ring a long time ago. She chanced a peek at Kaleb's hand in case she'd missed something. She hadn't. “Yours is bare too, so I guess we're even.”

“It would seem that way.”

She started forward again, afraid if she didn't she might suggest they take up where they'd left off. That was one thing she definitely shouldn't do. She didn't need the complication. And neither did Kaleb. Nor did her daughter, who had been uprooted from her home and dragged three states away from everything she'd known and loved.

Only Chloe seemed to love Seattle just as much as Maddy did.

“Well, this is not going to happen again.” Reaching the kite, she grabbed it. The police officer was right about its condition. The poor thing's wooden skeleton was broken in four places. One of those, a compound fracture, had the stick coming right through the plastic skin.

“And you're sure of this why?”

Was he kidding? There was no way he should want this any more than she should.

Except she had. And she did. Definitely not a good combination. “Because I have a daughter, and I don't want her to get hurt.”

That seemed to bring Kaleb to his senses. In fact, his face seemed to pale slightly. “Right. No parent wants to see their child get hurt. Or suffer.”

There was something in his words that made her pause and blink up at him before her gaze moved lower. His left ring finger was bare, just as hers was. But like hers, it was hard to completely erase an indentation where a ring once was. And Kaleb's finger had a definite depression across the base of the digit, although the skin stretched across it was as tanned as the rest of his finger. So it had been a while.

Had he had a child? A wife? If so, where were they?

Before she could even form a question, Kaleb had taken the kite from her hands and turned it over in his own. “Speaking of kids, I'd better get this back to my place and fixed up. Or you will have one disappointed child on your hands.” His jaw tightened slightly. “And as for what happened a few minutes ago, I agree with you. It is not going to happen again. I'll make sure of it.”

* * *

Kaleb paused with the suture material still in his hand—his patient sitting with his lacerated chin tilted toward him. How could he have let himself get so carried away yesterday at the park? He'd been oblivious to everything around him—even the police officer—totally caught up in kissing Maddy. He hadn't done something like that since...

Since he and Janice had met in medical school. That first semester had been a blur of getting to know each other. Moving in together. Getting married.

Having a child.

They'd waited to get pregnant until they'd both graduated, so they would have time to spend with their child. He hadn't realized how little of that there would be, in the end. If only he'd been more attuned to what was happening with Grace, he could have...

He stifled the thought, poking the needle through the next section of tissue, and tried to make sense of what had happened at the park.

This weird urge to sketch Maddy had come over him as he'd watched her wrestle with that length of line on the kite. And of course sketching meant looking. And when his gaze had drifted down her body, his own flesh had been busy tightening. His mind had already been traveling down dangerous paths at the speed of light. And when she'd noticed the purring sound he'd worked so hard to perfect, and had recognized it for what it was, it had sent a jagged bolt of sensation arching through his gut—the ill-concealed wonder in her eyes doing a number on him.

When he'd actually bent to kiss her, he'd only meant it to be a quick peck and release. Just enough to whet his appetite but not enough to actually satisfy it. Only once he'd started, he hadn't been able to stop. Until that officer had made him think past his belt buckle.

Then she'd mentioned her daughter, and sent his thoughts reeling to another place and time. That was when he'd really started wondering what the hell he'd been thinking.

He still wasn't sure.

“Are you okay, Mr. Jansen?” His patient, a fifty-two-year-old man, had decided to cannonball into his swimming pool and wound up smacking his chin against the hard concrete side. He should have been old enough to know better.

But then again, so should Kaleb. Kissing a woman with a child was one of his unspoken rules. He didn't get involved with anyone who had little kids. Then again, he didn't get involved with women at all, with or without children.

And he'd better damn well remember that.

“I'm okay.” His patient's words were slurred. Not because of alcohol consumption—although Kaleb could bet good old Mr. Jansen had had at least a couple of beers—but because of the local anesthetic he'd been given. All this to impress a woman.

Hadn't Kaleb tried to do the same thing with that kite? Purring, his ass. What was wrong with him? He should have just made a triangular two-stick kite like every other dad on the planet.

Dad?

Oh, hell. There was something very wrong with him. There had to be.

“Just a few more stitches, and we'll be done.”

“Will it scar?”

Absolutely. Just like every other spot on the human body that split open.

Like his heart?

Yes, but that had happened far too long ago. He should not be flinching every time he saw a child—interacted with one. Helped build a kite with one.

The stitches that closed his own emotional cut had been removed long ago, the wound sealed tight against all invaders. But the scar was still there. Still sensitive to the slightest touch. Somehow he needed to figure out a way to deaden it, just as he'd numbed his patient's chin.

Easier said than done. He reacted every time he heard about or saw Chloe Grimes—that old familiar ache making itself known.

She looked nothing like Grace. His own daughter's hair had been dark brown and her personality had been nothing like Chloe's, but Maddy's little girl still affected him on a gut level. And he wasn't sure how to make it stop.

Or how to make his attraction for her mother go away. Nothing good could come of any of this. For either him or Maddy. So he needed to just let it go—pull back and keep his distance from both her and her daughter. That wasn't an option as long as the kite festival was under way. But once it was over, he was going to cut himself loose and fly away—just like his runaway kite.

No matter how difficult that might turn out to be.

CHAPTER FIVE

“
W
E
ARE
GRATEFUL
to all of our staff who have agreed to participate in next week's event.” The hospital CEO's voice had a soothing quality to it. So much so that it was beginning to lull Maddy to sleep. She jammed her fist beneath her chin and pushed down hard to help chase away the feeling. “The winner of the best-kite award will receive tickets for four to the city's Space Needle and a voucher to dine in the restaurant.”

That perked her up. Chloe would love going up to the observation platform. Her daughter had always been an adventurer, climbing, running, jumping. So much so that a year ago, she'd somehow found her way to the top of the refrigerator, much to Maddy's horror. A stern talking-to hadn't even fazed the little girl. And since the kite festival fell on her own birthday, it would be the perfect way to celebrate.

She chanced a glance at Kaleb, who was sitting two rows to the left of her in the hospital's large assembly room, which served not only as a staffing area in case of a city-wide emergency, but also a convenient place to hold meetings. Not everyone could attend at once, for obvious reasons, but the informational gatherings were taped so that staff who were on duty would know what was discussed.

Kaleb was looking at Dr. Druthers as if fascinated by every word that came out of the man's mouth. She wasn't fooled, though. She'd caught his attention shifting toward her more than once.

He had to regret this whole kite-making fiasco. She hadn't talked to him since that day in the park almost a week ago, but she had seen him from time to time in the hospital corridors or striding back and forth between their building and the hotel. She'd forced herself to stay busy so she didn't stare out of her office window at the road below. Still, she'd noticed him walking across the street toward the hospital more than once as his shift was ending. Watching for him had become almost a ritual. One she didn't like, but couldn't seem to break.

Before Maddy had time to avert her eyes, his head swung slightly to the right, and he caught her gaze. Again. This time one side of his mouth went up in that crazy sexy smile that made her squirm inside. She didn't want to react. Tried to school her features into a completely neutral mask. But the corners of her own lips tipped. And not down, either. Nope, they went up as surely as that kite Kaleb had made.

She should be avoiding the man like the plague. And she'd tried to. It was obvious they were going to have to communicate on some level, because this kite was for Chloe. He was designing it, but surely he expected the little girl's help in decorating it. Her smile widened slightly at that thought. She hoped the man liked froufrou, because her daughter loved ribbons and pastel colors.

But he was going to make it purr. She could not wait to see Chloe's face when the little girl heard it. Her eyes stung, blurring her vision a little bit. And she couldn't stop herself from mouthing “Thank you” to the man who was going to make her daughter a very happy girl. On Maddy's birthday, no less.

His smile faded, his response a curt nod.

Maddy's eyes widened. What was that all about?

Dr. Druthers started getting into the particulars about how the yearly festival at Fountain Park was going to benefit the hospital. The children's cancer wing would be receiving the bulk of the incoming donations. The man motioned to someone and the lights went dim. On the screen toward the front of the room, images of children appeared one by one. Children who'd been through the cancer ward. The kids were in various stages of disease. Some had their hair. Some didn't. Some were clutching stuffed animals or hugging Embry the Clown, the official mascot of the wing. Her eyes sought out Kaleb again, only he was no longer looking at her. Nor was his attention focused on the presentation. He was staring down at the floor instead.

Weird. She could understand doing that when the speech was going on. It had been rather dry. But to not look at the difference the festival was going to make in the lives of some very special children? That seemed rather callous.

Maybe he was just tired. Or maybe the sight of the kids in their “battle gear”—consisting of bald heads and IV ports—made him uncomfortable. She knew it did her. But she liked to put faces to the cancer fight. It made working with Kaleb worth all of the discomfort. Surely they could survive each other's company for another week until this was all over with? Especially for a cause like this one.

A few minutes later, the slide show was over, and the lights came back up. But when she looked to see if Kaleb was still gazing at his shoes, the concierge doctor was nowhere to be seen. He'd evidently slipped out sometime between the discussion of childhood brain tumors and leukemia. Oh, well, it didn't matter. She'd been inspired, even if Kaleb hadn't. If he couldn't bring himself to do his damnedest for the kids on that screen, then Maddy would have to have enough enthusiasm for the both of them.

When the meeting was over, she was one of the first people out of the room. She rounded the corner to find Kaleb standing over by the nurses' desk, making small talk with a blonde bombshell. So that was why he'd left. He probably had a date with her and came out to close the deal. Only he wasn't wearing his normal flirtatious grin. He'd sent Maddy more meaningful glances than he was giving that woman. Then the nurse came around the desk and caught him up in a hug.

Shock rolled through her system. Followed by disbelief.

Well, great. She wasn't going to stand here and watch him pick up someone to pass the night with. Although the fact that he could kiss her as he had less than a week ago and then jump into the arms of another woman was a kick to her ego. He'd said there would be no more kissing between them, and he certainly seemed anxious to stick to his side of that bargain.

Well, fine.

She forced herself to walk past the desk, unable to watch them a second longer. When she got to the elevator, though, he was right behind her. She ignored him, stepping into the car with ten other passengers—all leaving the meeting. When he moved to stand next to her, she made it a point to stare at the numbers overhead. If she could just get through three more floors, she would get off and Kaleb would continue on his way down. And she wouldn't have to see that damned hug replaying through her skull time and time again.

Her floor came and off she got. She pulled in a deep breath and was just getting ready to let it hiss back through her teeth when something touched her arm.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Was he kidding? Had the blonde turned him down or something? Well, if he expected her to step into the woman's shoes, he was going to be sorely disappointed. “Of course. About what?”

“I know this competition thing could get awkward, and I thought we should clear the air.”

Oh...he was not! “Competition? I'm not competing with anyone.”

“Yes, you are. The kite festival?”

It took her a second to change tracks. “Oh. The kite festival. Of course.”

“What did you think I was talking about?”

Wow, she really was an idiot. And a pitiful one at that.

“It's not important.”

“I would like to do good by Chloe for that contest—make the best kite we can.” He paused. “Unless you think the Space Needle isn't something she would be interested in.”

Her icy heart thawed. “It would be the highlight of her year. Do you really think you can pull off winning?”

“No.”

The wind went right out of her sails. “Oh, of course, I don't expect you to—”

His hand came out as if he was going to brush a strand of hair out of her face, but he put it back down. “I don't want to win it on my own. I've been thinking. I really want Chloe to feel she's had a part in making the kite. It would make me feel...I would like
her
to feel included. Are you okay with that?”

“Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“Well, after that business at the park, I wondered if...” He paused again. “If you'd tell me to forget the whole thing.”

If she were smart, she might do exactly that, but Chloe was looking forward to working with Kaleb on it. “It doesn't matter what I want or don't want. Chloe would be devastated if I tried to keep her from that kite. I told her about it purring, and she can't wait to hear it for herself. And to see it fly. So, yes, I'm happy to keep working together, until the festival is done. Then we can go our separate ways.”

“I'll try not to make it any more uncomfortable than it has to be.”

“I've been uncomfortable before and survived with barely a nick.”

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Matthew had given her more than one nick. Some worse than others. No, this would be nothing compared to that. And if she could make it through the stuff in her past, she could make it through anything.

Kaleb studied her for a moment or two. “I think you have. Survived, that is.”

“We all have, or we wouldn't be here.” She shook her head. “What do you want Chloe and me to do?”

“I want to know what her favorite colors are. And to know if we're going for a realistic representation of a cat or an abstract fun version. Can you ask your daughter which she'd prefer?”

“I can already tell you that. She adores Jetta. She would probably love it if the kite could look very similar to him. Right down to his different-colored eyes.”

“I didn't notice the cat having two different eyes.”

“Really? Most people see it right away. He has one bright green and one amber.”

“My mind wasn't exactly on your cat's eyes.”

That sardonic sense of humor was back in full force.

Well, she wasn't going to touch that last comment. Not if she knew what was good for her. Although that was debatable at the moment. “Well, they're one of his best features.”

“I thought his best feature was his purr. It was loud. Really loud.”

“Jetta does have quite a motor on him. Is that why you decided to make the kite version of him purr?”

“It seemed fitting. Although if Chloe had decided on a unicorn cat, I was going to have a little trouble figuring out that aspect of it.”

“I'll ask her, just to make sure, but I'm pretty sure she would love having Jetta immortalized in kite form. Without the horn.”

“You got it.” He pushed the button to get back into the elevator. It was then that she noticed her department was bustling just as much as it normally was with nurses running here and there as they went about their tasks. It was strange that she hadn't been aware of any of that until just now. No, she'd only had eyes for the man with the kite. And it looked as if he was aiming to win.

He already had, as far as she was concerned. That worried her. But she could think about that later.

“Thank you again, Kaleb, for doing this for her.”

“My pleasure.” This time when his hand came out, he didn't stop midmotion. Instead, he pressed his fingers to hers for several seconds until the elevator door dinged its arrival. Only then did he move away. But the feel of his skin against hers followed her long after the doors had closed behind him.

* * *

Kaleb woke with a start. Staring up at the dark ceiling, he tried to figure out where he was. His room.

He untangled himself from the sheets and hung his legs over the side of the bed, propping himself up with his hands. He was drenched in sweat.

Again.

Dammit.

He dragged shaky fingers through his hair, trying to slow his breathing.

Those dreams were now following him from sleep to sleep. He shifted his head from one side to the other, letting the crack of his cervical vertebrae anchor him back to reality.

His daughter was not trapped in a bottomless well. Nor had he been trying everything in his power to reach her: ropes, life preservers, scaling the walls with his bare hands. He lifted his fingers to look at them. No bloody stumps.

“It was a dream.”

A never-ending nightmare was more like it.

Because the reality was that Grace had never been trapped in a well. Instead the vision always morphed to something closer to reality. His daughter, splayed on a hospital bed, her face paler than pale. Only in his dream, he reached for her chart to see what treatment her doctors recommended only to find the first page stamped with the words
Too Late
. As was the next. Page after page held the same terrible phrase. He flipped faster and faster, looking for some sign of hope. There had to be something. Something the doctors—something that
he
—could do. Panic engulfed him, along with a horrible premonition. He slowly turned back toward the bed.

This was where he'd woken up each night. With the horror that it was no longer Grace's lifeless form lying on that bed, but Chloe's. And on the other side of her was Maddy. And in her face an accusation he'd lobbed at himself.

Too Late.

Hell! He climbed out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. Maybe if he burned some calories, he'd feel better. But thirty minutes in his weight room only left him tired and sweaty. It did nothing to erase what he'd seen in his dream.

Grace had been dead for five years. He hadn't had nightmares about her in ages. Was it because of Chloe and Maddy? Were they dredging up old regrets and flaying them open all over again?

Chloe was a normal healthy girl. She and Grace had nothing in common. Not their age, not their appearance.

Going into his drawing room, he sat at the drafting table to look at the designs for the kite. It was almost done. Almost ready for Chloe and Maddy to come over and...

Was that what it was? He was worried about them coming into his space and upsetting his equilibrium?

It was much more likely that Maddy would do that than Chloe. She'd already upset him in more ways than one.

Like that kiss? The one he couldn't seem to forget?