“Your wife is pregnant, not sick,” Flo told him. “I’m sure she can spare you for a few minutes. Besides, this isn’t just any client. This is Heather Reed.”
When Jake failed to look impressed, Flo added pointedly, “Liza Whittington, you know, on ‘Heart’s Desire.’”
Jake looked more perplexed than ever. “Excuse me?”
“On television,” Flo said. “The soap. The one I watch during lunch.”
Understanding dawned, though the man hardly looked as if he’d finally realized he was in the presence of greatness as Flo seemed to be implying. He shot an apologetic look at Heather. “Sorry. I don’t watch a lot of daytime TV.”
“It’s okay. I’m not on anymore, anyway.”
“Jason shot her,” Flo said. “Good riddance, too.” She regarded Heather apologetically. “Sorry, but you have to admit you were a real schemer.”
“The worst,” Heather agreed. It was what had made the part so appealing initially. It had been a chance to play against type. Usually she was somebody’s perky sister. Only later, when she’d realized the ramifications with the fans, had she regretted the decision to take the role.
Jake appeared to have heard enough about the soap opera. After one last scowl at Flo, he motioned for Heather to follow him.
In his office, he gestured toward a credenza along the wall. “Coffee?”
She shook her head. He poured some for himself, then took a seat behind an impressive desk. That desk, combined with the bronze sculpture she recognized as a Remington, reassured her that despite his reportedly lackadaisical ways, Jake Landers was very successful at what he did. But could she trust him?
Right now he was studying her with what she supposed passed for an appropriately somber, lawyerly look, though on the soaps the men cast as attorneys rarely had such a twinkle in their eye.
“What can I do for you?” he asked. “I don’t do a lot of entertainment law.”
“I seem to remember that you played a big role in getting that syndicator to back down when he threatened to pull the plug on your wife’s syndication deal,” she said, recalling what she’d read in the trade papers at the time. She’d followed the story avidly, just as she did anything that might include a mention of Todd. Of course, if anyone had accused her of that, she would have denied it.
Jake grinned. “Let’s just say that in that instance I was highly motivated.”
Heather fiddled with her bangle bracelets, something she did only when she was nervous. Finally she said, “Look, maybe you should tell me about this lawyer-client confidentiality thing before we get started.”
He nodded. “Okay. Anything you tell me, I am ethically bound not to repeat.”
“Not to anyone?”
“Not to a living soul.” He regarded her closely. “You haven’t killed someone, have you?”
Startled by the question, Heather stared at him to see if he was serious, then caught that twinkle back in his eye. Normally, she enjoyed black humor, but at the moment she was way too tense to appreciate it.
“No, of course not,” she said. “Nothing like that. It’s just that you know the other person involved.”
“I do?”
“Todd Winston.”
Jake nodded slowly, apparently digesting that. “Is he in some sort of trouble?”
She grinned at his disbelieving expression. “I know. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Dudley Do Right in trouble.”
“Todd strikes me as a very ethical man.”
“He is,” she agreed, then took a deep breath and added, “He’s also the father of my child.”
Jake very nearly choked on the sip of coffee he’d just taken. “Would you mind repeating that?”
“Oh, I think you heard me.”
“Does he know about this?”
She shook her head.
“I see.”
“Is this going to be a problem for you?” she asked, regarding him with concern. “I know how tight he is with your wife. That’s why he and I broke up, in a way.”
Jake held up his hands. “Whoa! Back up. What does Megan have to do with this?”
“Nothing, not directly, anyway. It’s just that when Todd went to work for her and gave up the dream we shared to be on Broadway together, it pretty much ended our relationship. We split up.”
“And you had his baby?”
She nodded. “After he’d left.”
“And he doesn’t know?” Jake asked again, as if he might have misunderstood her the first time.
“Nope.”
“How old is this child?”
“She’s three.”
Jake whistled. “Does he know you’re here now?”
“Not yet. I just got in. I took a room at a motel, but Henrietta gave me a job at her place across the street. She said I could use the apartment upstairs for as long as I’m here.”
“You don’t plan to stay?”
“Only long enough to settle things with Todd.”
“Settle things how?”
Her bangles clinked noisily. “I’m not exactly sure. That’s why I came to see you. I can’t manage on my own anymore. Angel’s the greatest blessing in my life, but she’s a handful. And trying to be an actress doesn’t exactly bring stability. She deserves to have more than I can give her. It took me a long time to admit that. It’s not too late, is it?”
“No. I’m sure we can get you child support. Fortunately, I have an in with his boss.” Jake allowed himself a smile. “I’ve seen the books. I know what she had to pay him to get him to move out here. You won’t have any financial worries.”
“That’s not it,” Heather said, leaning forward in her chair. “Not exactly. I know with money I could hire a nanny or something, but I want Todd to help out. Maybe shared custody. Angel needs to spend time with her daddy.”
“Oh, boy,” Jake murmured, but not so low that Heather missed it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You sounded like you don’t think he’s going to go for that.”
“Really, I shouldn’t have said anything. This is a different situation entirely.”
“Different from what?”
“Never mind. Heather, let me think about this. Can you stop by tomorrow? We’ll go over your options and decide on the best course of action.”
“Sure. What time?”
“Make it eleven. Megan’s taping then, so I can get away from the studio for an hour and still be back to see that she eats a proper lunch.”
Heather bit back a smile as she recalled what Flo had said about his hovering. “I’ll be here. I won’t have long, though, since I imagine Henrietta will want me to help with the lunch crowd.”
“Folks around here show up promptly at noon, leave by one. You’ll be okay.”
“What about the judge? I notice he was there much later than that.”
Jake chuckled. “The judge tries to snatch whatever private moments he can with Henrietta. His schedule drives everyone at the courthouse nuts. She doesn’t seem to appreciate the gesture, though.”
“I noticed.”
“Did she run him off again today?”
“Pretty much.”
“Henrietta has a stubborn streak, but so does the judge. He’s been after her for years now. My bet’s on him.”
“Even though she’s held out for years?” Heather said skeptically.
“Believe me, if Henrietta really wanted him gone, he’d be gone. She’s just tormenting him.”
“An interesting technique.”
“It’s certainly fun for the rest of us,” Jake said. “Now, as for Todd, if you run into him in the meantime, try not to get into anything with him just yet. We need a plan first.”
“No problem. You’ll probably see him before I will,” she said.
He glanced toward the window, which faced the town’s main street. “Oh, I doubt that,” he said dryly. “Where’s your daughter right now?”
“With Henrietta.”
“Well, don’t look now, but Todd is about to join them.”
3
T
odd always made it a point to stop by the Starlight Diner at the end of the day for a homemade meal and a chat with Henrietta. He’d developed a real fondness for her biting wit and her apple pie.
In New York he’d still be in the office at this hour, but out here he was on an earlier schedule. Because of the time difference, the New York offices of Megan’s empire were closed. Jake had her out of the studio here and home by midafternoon. Todd wrapped up his West Coast contacts shortly thereafter, then ate between five and six. There had been a time not so long ago when he would have considered that a late lunch.
Afterward, thanks to his disgustingly barren social life, he burned the midnight oil at home on the mountains of paperwork that never seemed to get done in the office. If it wasn’t for the frequent trips he made back East, the situation would have been intolerable. But Megan regularly trumped up excuses for him to fly to New York, so he could get his fix of decent restaurants, Broadway plays and dates with some of the women he’d left behind. Not that any of them had a hold on his heart. They were little more than stand-ins for the one woman he’d dared to love.
Still, in some ways, his time in New York was better than it had been before he’d left. He made it a point to see people, rather than holing up in his office night after night. Apparently he was simply the kind of man who found a rut to fall into no matter where he lived.
Ordinarily the sameness soothed him, but tonight he felt restless, the way he often did when the air crackled with electricity just before a thunderstorm. The sensation was so intense, he looked at the horizon, but there was no evidence of a storm building. That must mean the restlessness was purely internal.
He hesitated outside the diner and considered changing his routine by going for pizza down the block, then shook his head. Who was he kidding? He enjoyed having Henrietta fuss over him, and the new cook occasionally tried out recipes for something besides chicken fried steak or meat loaf. Of course, the cook did it at his peril, since most of the customers hated the experiments and Henrietta only tolerated them because he was the best cook she’d had in years.
When Todd finally walked in, he was startled to find Henrietta with a bright-eyed toddler trailing in her wake and chattering a mile a minute.
“I know you’re desperate, but isn’t she a little young to be your new waitress?” he asked, after giving Henrietta a dutiful peck on the cheek.
The girl was dressed in denim overalls and a bright green T-shirt. Her little feet were clad in colorful sneakers adorned with daisies. The cheerful appearance was at odds with her solemn expression as she stared at him silently. She gave the disconcerting impression that she was assessing him. Apparently he passed muster, because before he could guess what she had in mind, she’d lifted her arms.
“Up,” she demanded imperiously.
“You’d better do as she says,” Henrietta advised, laughing. “She’s only been here a couple of hours, but she already tends to think she’s in charge. My kids actually volunteered to go off and do their homework, because they couldn’t keep up with her. Her name’s Angel.”
Todd backed up a step. Why was it everyone was trying to foist kids on him lately? Granted, this one wasn’t an infant, but he wanted no part of her. Just thinking about doing as she asked caused a cold sweat to break out on his forehead. She was still too little, too fragile to be trusted to someone like him. He never saw any child under four without thinking there was tragedy and heartache just waiting to happen.
“Sorry, I think maybe I’m coming down with the flu or something. I probably shouldn’t get too close. In fact, I think I’ll go on home. I’m not feeling much like food tonight.”
Surely he could find something edible in his refrigerator. Hadn’t he bought a half-dozen frozen meals the last time he’d gone to the store, just for emergencies like this? Of course, he usually relied on those when the special here was liver and onions, but tonight’s turn of events was equally distasteful.
Henrietta regarded him with her typical motherly concern. If she was skeptical about his sudden illness, she didn’t let on.
“Any fever?” she asked, touching his forehead with cool fingers before he could retreat. “Nope. I doubt you’re contagious. Sit down and I’ll get you some chicken soup. If there’s anything wrong with you, that’ll cure it.”
“No, really. I’d better go.”
“Sit,” she insisted.
Filled with trepidation, Todd sat, keeping his wary gaze on the little girl who continued to stare at him with evident fascination even after Henrietta had disappeared into the kitchen. She inched closer.
“You sick?” she asked, head tilted, her expression sympathetic.
He nodded.
“Want Mama to give you a hug?”
“No, thanks,” he said, though he had to wonder about “Mama.” Who was she?
Where
was she? Surely Henrietta hadn’t taken in another stray. Folks in town were still talking about the way she’d adopted a pair of children whose parents had been killed. Henrietta hadn’t hesitated, partly because she felt some misplaced sense of responsibility for the tragedy, partly because those kids deserved a better fate than living with their embittered paternal grandmother, but mostly because that was just the way she was: kindhearted and generous. All things considered, the children were doing well under her care.
Todd glanced at this child. The intensity of her gaze was disconcerting. Something about her eyes, probably. An unusual shade of green, they looked oddly familiar.
He was still trying to puzzle out the reason for that when the door opened and a woman breezed in, her gaze swinging at once on the little girl. She seemed to freeze in place when she realized that the child was with him.
In that single instant, a lot of things registered at once. The woman had a mane of artfully streaked hair that had been tousled by the wind. He’d known someone once with thick, lustrous hair that exact color. She, too, had dressed unconventionally in long, flowing skirts, tunic-length tops and clinking bracelets. His gaze shot to this woman’s face. Even with the oversize sunglasses in place, there was no mistaking her identity. He went into a form of shock, followed by an inexplicable lurch of his heart.
He’d been over Heather Reed for some time now, or so he’d thought until just this second. He’d dismissed the fact that she popped into his head with disturbing frequency. After all, she had started as an enchanting fling, a walk on the wild side when he’d first arrived in New York, fresh out of college and ready to take Broadway by storm. She’d touched the carefree part of his soul that he kept mostly hidden. He’d been drawn to her impulsiveness, her unpredictability, even as they had terrified him. She was so unlike any other woman he’d ever known, it was no wonder he couldn’t quite forget about her. They’d stayed together for six years, long enough for her to become a part of him. Long enough to show just how ill-suited they were.
He was still reeling from the impossibility of her turning up in Whispering Wind when the toddler beside him raced across the restaurant and threw herself straight at the woman.
“Mama!” she shouted gleefully as if they’d been separated for days.
Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion. Heather scooped the child into her arms, then turned fully in his direction. She seemed a whole lot less surprised to see him than he was to see her.
“Hello, Todd.”
She spoke in that low, sultry voice that once had sent goose bumps down his spine. The effect hadn’t been dulled by time, he noticed with regret.
He slid from the booth and stood, hating the way his blood had started pumping fast and furiously at the sight of her. “Heather,” he said politely. “This is a surprise. What are you doing here?”
Henrietta picked that moment to return with his soup. “Ah,” she said, beaming at them. “Todd, I see you’ve already met my new waitress. Just hired her today. Believe it or not, she actually has experience.”
His gaze shot to Heather’s face. He kept waiting for her to deny it, to say that she was only passing through, but she stared right back at him with her chin lifted defiantly.
Something was going on here he didn’t understand, something that he had a hunch he’d better figure out in less than a New York minute. He latched on to Heather’s arm.
“Can we talk?” he asked, already tugging her toward the door. “Henrietta, keep an eye on her daughter for a few more minutes, will you?”
“Of course, but…”
Whatever Henrietta had intended to say died on her lips, as Todd unceremoniously escorted Heather from the restaurant.
“You don’t need to manhandle me,” Heather grumbled when they were on the sidewalk, safely out of earshot of Henrietta’s keen hearing and well-honed curiosity.
“Why are you here?” he repeated, not at all pleased by the fact that on some level he was actually glad to see her. That was a knee-jerk, hormonal reaction, nothing more. Nobody on earth had ever kicked his libido into gear faster than Heather had. Apparently she could still do it. Reason, good sense, past history, none of it seemed to matter.
Of course, she was equally adept at annoying him with the unpredictability he had once found so charming, and right now he intended to concentrate on that.
“Well?” he prodded when she didn’t answer right away.
Eyes flashing a challenge, she smiled at him. “You don’t think it’s pure coincidence that I showed up in Whispering Wind, where you happen to live?”
“Not in ten million lifetimes. I saw the look on your face in there. You weren’t the least bit surprised to see me. You knew I was here.”
“You always were brilliant. Good instincts, isn’t that what the directors used to say? A real grasp of motivations.”
He ignored the sarcasm in her voice. He knew how she felt about his decision to abandon his acting career. She’d made that very clear when she’d accused him of selling out, then flounced out of his life as if he’d failed her, instead of simply trying to keep their financial heads above water.
“Get to the point,” he said now.
Though he wanted badly to deny it, he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that he already knew the reason for her arrival. He also thought he knew now why that child’s eyes had looked so disconcertingly familiar. He prayed he was wrong, but what if he wasn’t?
If he was a father and Megan found out about it, Heather and Henrietta wouldn’t be the only ones pestering him to do right by her. Megan would make it another one of her missions. She wouldn’t let up until there had been a full-scale wedding complete with white doves and a seven-tier cake. She’d have him out of his cozy little bachelor apartment here in town and into a house with a white picket fence and a swing set in the backyard before he could blink. She would consider it just retribution for his role in forcing her to face her responsibility with Tess.
For some reason Heather’s gaze strayed across the street to Jake’s office, before turning back and locking defiantly with his.
“Okay,” she said at last. “You want the truth, here it is.”
Suddenly Todd didn’t want to hear the truth, after all. He wanted to finish out this day in blissful ignorance. It was too late, though. Heather clearly had no intention of remaining silent now that he’d badgered her for the truth.
Her expression softened ever so slightly and her voice dropped to little more than a whisper, as if by speaking softly she could make the words more palatable. “I figured it was time you met your daughter.”
Heather wished she’d been able to deliver her news in a less-public setting, wished she’d been able to wait as Jake had instructed her to do, but sometimes fate made its own timing. She’d pictured a dozen different scenarios for making the big announcement, but in none had she imagined blurting it out in the middle of a sidewalk while Todd stared at her as if she’d been speaking gibberish.
In fact, if Todd wasn’t the strongest, most emotionally controlled man in captivity, she had a feeling he would have fainted right there on Main Street. He certainly looked as if he would rather be anyplace else on earth. Fortunately she hadn’t counted on seeing a joyous outburst, so his stunned, silent reaction didn’t cut straight through her the way it might have.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” she prodded.
“Why should I believe you?”
Those weren’t exactly the words every woman dreamed of hearing after she’d just told a man he was a daddy, but she’d anticipated little else. Todd was the kind of man who expected life to occur in a nice, orderly procession of events. He worked to see that it did just that. She’d skipped straight past any announcement of a pregnancy and delivered a three-year-old into his life. She held on to her temper, because she could understand the shock he must be feeling and knew she was to blame for that much, anyway.
“Because I don’t lie?” she suggested mildly, refusing to be insulted by the question.
If she thought about it, she supposed it was natural enough for him to doubt her. After all, she hadn’t told him the truth four years ago. In fact, she had deliberately avoided his calls—from the moment she’d learned she was pregnant, turning her back on their promise to remain friends after the breakup. She could have handled friendship with an ex-lover, but not under those circumstances. The baby had changed everything. Pride and a fierce streak of independence had made her determined to keep the secret.
She met his gaze evenly. “If you need one, have a paternity test done. Seems to me that a glance in the mirror would be enough proof, but do whatever it takes to make a believer of you,” she told him with a shrug of feigned indifference.
He looked as if the suggestion made him vaguely uncomfortable, probably because he had been thinking about demanding that very thing and knew how small-minded it made him look.
“You want money, I suppose,” he said, his voice flat.
Heather wished she could say no, wished she could throw the question back in his face and walk away, but money was part of what she needed, what Jake had just told her she deserved. Not for herself, but for Angel.