Daniel (3 page)

“No, ma’am. He didn’t seem like it. He
just didn’t make me feel like he would hurt me.” He looked down at his dinner. “He
made me feel safe for some reason.”

After Benny went to bed, she went back
out to her studio. She didn’t throw anything tonight but went into her office
and sat behind her big desk. Reaching behind her in the small refrigerator, she
pulled out a bottle of water and sipped it. The view from her office window
nearly always calmed her, but tonight her mind was too busy.

The backpack that Benny had had with him
was still in his room. Whenever she’d started to pick it up, he’d snatch it
away from her and stand back. She didn’t touch it often, but when she did, she
always apologized. She often wondered what he had in there.

The file that her sister had given her
was still in the drawer here in this desk. She’d read it over finally and had
several times since. Meagen had made arrangements. She’d called them to keep
her son safe. She’d hinted that Benny knew things, but after that first night,
after they fled across the states, she’d never asked him again.

Picking up the folder now, she opened it
to the picture he’d given her when they’d met. It was of her when she’d been
sixteen. He’d told her he almost missed her because the picture had been so
old. Now, while she was sure he didn’t completely trust her, he did love her.
And she loved him with all her heart and then some.

Chapter
3

“Want to earn some brownie points with
Kasey?” Jesse came into Daniel’s office the next morning and tossed a file on
his desk. “I found out something about a local potter that you could persuade
to do her art thingy.”

The file contained a map and a few
scribbled notes. Daniel looked at Jesse with a raised brow. “How is this
helpful? I can’t read your handwriting.”

“It’s that guy, Harlequin or something. I
can’t remember his name. But according to the county records, an O. Harlequin
bought the property next to the one we were looking at to build. Joey said it
had been on the market for a while, but before I could see, that guy bought
it.”

Daniel stood up and pulled his jacket
on. “You coming with me? I can kill two birds with one stone if you do. I need
a witness to the contract we’re employing for the Mason Corporation.”

“Nah. I have a doctor’s appointment with
Joey. We get to find out what we’re having today. There’s a pretty single nurse
in the office if you want to come with me.”

Daniel left before he had to look at the
ultrasound pictures again. Or hear about the nursery. He was really getting to
be a hermit. He didn’t like it much, but if they would simply stop for a minute
and listen. For months, he’d been telling them that he liked being single.

The drive didn’t take long. He’d been by
this property several times a week since he and Jesse had opened their
practice. Still, he hadn’t noticed the large gate or the tall fence around the
property. Lucky for him the gates were open, and he drove on in.

The house startled him. He had no idea
what he’d expected, but the lovely one-story ranch hadn’t been it. He pulled up
in front of the house as a kid, the one from the greenhouse, came around the
corner with a pair of dogs chasing after him…the kind of dogs that weren’t pets
so much as killers with four legs. The three of them stopped dead when Daniel waved.
The dogs growled once and took off in his direction.

The dogs looked less friendly the closer
they came at him. Daniel was sure they were going to tear out his throat when
he heard a sharp command to heel. He would have done it to, if he had a clue
what the hell it meant. He looked up as O’Reilly came around the corner of the
house. And she was spitting mad apparently.

“What are you doing here? And how the
hell did you get in?” He didn’t have a chance to answer her questions as she
fired them off like a pistol. “You can get whatever you’re selling out of my
drive and get the fuck away from here.”

“I’m Daniel Hunter of the—”

“I don’t give a good fuck if you’re the
savior himself. I said to get the fuck out of here.” She turned to go toward
the house while the kid, Benny, stood there watching them both.

“I have an appointment with Mr. Harlequin,
the owner of Harlequin Stoneware. I’m here to speak to him about some classes.”

She turned back to him, and his heart
stopped. Christ love a waddle, she was gorgeous. He watched her come toward him,
and he felt the irresistible urge to whimper. A woman in a tee shirt was one of
his favorite sights.

“Mom.” They both looked at Benny. Mom?
She was his mom. That wasn’t possible…could she be the wife of the old man he’d
heard about from Kasey and Joey on his way over here? Life sucked if she was. “That’s
the man. The one I was telling you about.”

She looked…he thought she looked
crestfallen. But it only lasted for a few seconds. Then it was gone. She turned
back to him and glared.

“You lie. You do not have an appointment
with him or anyone else that lives here. Get out.” Her voice was low, but he could
hear the emotion behind her words.

“How do you know?” he asked when she
turned away again. “He might have made the appointment today without telling
you. My brothers don’t tell their wives all kinds of things.” They usually got
them in trouble, but that was beside the point.

Daniel didn’t know why he didn’t just
fess up. He liked watching the way her face told every single one of her
thoughts. He wondered how she would look beneath him and stopped himself from
that thought. He did not mess with married women, and never women with kids. Too
many strings that could tie you up.

“You don’t have an appointment, because,
you moronic fuck-tard, I’m O’Reilly Harlequin. And I think I’d remember making
an appointment.”

When she turned from him this time, he
watched her and Benny go inside the house. The dogs, now relaxed and about to
fall asleep, ignored him. He moved to the car slowly.

She was the old man. The potter wasn’t a
man, but a woman. A beautiful, vibrant woman with a kid. He drove down the long
drive and had to wait for the gate to open to allow him out. He’d bet his last
dollar that he’d never find this gate open again.

He drove down the street and started to
laugh. Finally, he had to pull over, his mirth too much to go on. The one woman
he might want to spend more than ten minutes with hated him passionately, and
she had the one thing that he didn’t want more in this world. She had a kid.

He met his brother Jesse in his office. He
didn’t have any idea how to tell him and was surprised and dismayed that Joey
was there, too. And, of course, numbnuts had told her that he was seeing
her…him. He sat down hard in the chair.

“I fucked up. I got into the compound
and lied to her. And the kid. I told her I had an appoint—”

“Wait. What ‘her’? And what kid? I
thought you were going over to see this Harlequin person. How did you getting
side tracked with a woman get you to him?” He looked at Joey as she spoke. When
she looked at her husband, Daniel knew he got it.

“Harlequin is a female, love. And she
has a child, apparently. And we all know how Daniel feels about kids.” Jesse
walked to Joey, picked her up, and sat down again with her on his lap. “He just
doesn’t get how much a family can make you feel.”

“I don’t care. You fix this. I mean it,
Daniel, you fix this, and ask her if she’ll help us out with the gallery.” She
stood up and moved to the door. “If you don’t, then I will start setting you up
with every female I know.”

The door slammed behind her. He winced and
then turned to his brother. “Why is it that every time I screw up, somebody
wants to start setting me up with women? It’s not really a hardship for me, you
know.”

“I think, my dear brother, that they are
hoping you find Mrs. Right and get married and live happily ever after. Then
they can rub your nose in it.” He, too, stood up and put on his jacket. “I’m
going home. If I were you, I’d figure out a way to make this work. If not…well,
I’d hate to be in your shoes at holiday time. Oh and by the way, Joey and I are
having a girl.”

~~~

“I didn’t handle that well, did I?” He
didn’t answer her, and she cut up some more lettuce. “I should have just told
him that I wasn’t the person he was looking for and let it go at that.”

“Are you asking me if I agree with you,
or are you trying to convince yourself that you did something wrong? I’m not
really too sure how to answer that one.” She glared at Benny, and he grinned
back. “You should have seen your face when you came around the house. I don’t
think I ever saw you so mad.”

She flushed. She had been mad. Not at
the man, though his being in the yard had more terrified her than made her mad.
It was the fact that someone had been in the yard and had left the gate open. She
looked at her nephew and wondered if she should ask him if he’d left it open
again.

“I didn’t. I told you three times
already.” She ducked her head so he couldn’t read the fear in her face. “Probably
that opener thing you got. I told you to let me change the batteries in it. You
probably left it open when you went into town today.”

She hadn’t left. Not all day. Other than
him leaving this morning, and then coming home this afternoon, she’d been in her
work area. She hadn’t told him anything yet, wanting to see if…she wasn’t sure,
but she wasn’t going to panic just yet.

“I think I’ll call the electrician
tomorrow and see if he’ll come out and make sure. I don’t want people just
wandering in off the street and startling me when I’m in the middle of a pot.” She
also didn’t want to end up dead. That would really suck. “You just make sure
you close it in the morning. All right?”

They ate dinner, and then he did his
homework while she worked on her accounting. She hated this part of her
business more than anything in the world. But it had to be done. She was just
closing down the computer when the house phone rang. She answered it with
trepidation.

“Please don’t hang up on me. I really
would like to speak to you.” She hung up on him. He was persistent, she’d give
him that. When it rang a few seconds later, she almost didn’t answer, but did
anyway.

“Listen, buck-o, I said no. I don’t want
to speak to you, nor do I want to have anything to do with you. I’ve asked you
nicely, and now I’m telling you, leave me the fuck alone.” She nearly hung up
when he didn’t speak right away.

“I don’t really want to speak to you so
much as I’d like to murder you.” She looked over at Benny and hoped he didn’t
hear the person at the other end. “You have something that belongs to me, and
I’m going to get it. Do you remember what I did to your sister? I’m going to do
much worse to you.” He laughed, and the phone went dead. She gently put the
phone in the cradle and stepped back. She hadn’t realized Benny was speaking
until he handed her the phone again.

“Please don’t hurt him. I don’t know
what you want from me, but please don’t hurt Benny.” She whispered softly and
nearly choked on a sob. “I don’t want him hurt.”

“Who threatened you?” She closed her
eyes when she realized who was on the phone again. Mr. Hunter had called back.
“I’m coming over there. Let me in the gate.”

“No. I don’t want…stay away. You…you
have no right…. I’m not letting you in and if you…if you show up, I’ll have you
arrested.”

She nearly screamed when Benny touched
her. She leaned into his small chest and let him hold her. He didn’t like to be
hugged, and she was going to absorb as much of it as she could while he was in
the mood.

“He doesn’t give up, does he?” She looked
up at him, terrified he’d heard. “I wonder who he is. He seemed like he was an
okay guy at the florist, but I guess he’s as bad as the rest.”

The man, Daniel Hunter, had said he’d
come there. To do what, she wasn’t all that sure. He’d sounded so concerned and
worried. She shook her head.

After all this time, she still didn’t
trust, and now this. She got up to check the doors and windows without letting
Benny realize it, and then she waited until he went to bed before she walked
down to check on the gate. It was locked. Walking back up to the house, she
wondered what to do.

She could change her number, but wasn’t
sure that would help. Reilly thought changing the number would be more hassle
than it would more than likely be worth. She’d just have to figure out who it
was…not that she didn’t have an idea, just not exactly why he thought she had
something of his. She had figured long ago it was Benny and that maybe Benny
was his son.

Her sister had been dead for nearly four
years now. She and Benny had driven to her little apartment, and he’d hidden
away during the day while she worked in her studio. She’d been less cautious
then. And it wasn’t until she received her sister’s things that she realized
she might have led them, whoever her sister was telling her about, right to her
nephew.

The house was quiet when she went
inside. She made sure it was locked up and then walked to the studio. She could
lose herself in there and decided to work on the kiln she was building until
she couldn’t think anymore. The backhoe sat in the side-yard, waiting to go
back into the barn. She smiled when she thought of all the things she could do
now that she couldn’t when she started this…building an outside kiln being one
of them.

She had wanted to do this for some time…build
a kiln right into the hillside and use most of nature to make it work. She
would be able to get a lot more pottery in this one than her other kilns, and
she would be able to fire it using wood. She was putting some of the kiln
bricks inside it when she thought of the man from that day.

He was gorgeous. She wondered if he was
as large as he looked under his suit coat, and tisked herself for thinking of such
things. She had a kid to raise, not play around with a rich guy who had the
manners of a…well, she wasn’t sure what sort of manners he had, but she’d bet
his mother was a poor example. Reilly thought maybe if she ever had the chance
to meet her, she’d have to smack her. It was nearly sunrise when she entered
the house. She went to her room and showered, then started breakfast for Benny.
He’d like that.