Читать книгу Shut Up And Kiss Me - Sara Orwig - Страница 8

Mike showered, dressed in a navy sport shirt and jeans, then went downstairs to meet his friends in the hotel lobby. He spotted the two tall men the instant he stepped out of the elevator. After greeting one another, they went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. It wasn’t until they’d ordered that the talk turned to their respective legacies, Mike’s in particular.

“So how’s it feel to suddenly become a father?” Jonah asked.

Mike shook his head and met Jonah’s gaze squarely. “I’m not going to do it.”

“You’re turning down your bequest?” Boone asked in disbelief.

“I can’t take care of a baby,” Mike said. “Maybe one of you guys?”

“What? Swap inheritances?” Boone’s eyes danced with amusement. “I don’t think the lady lawyer would go for that. She’s all business.”

“She’s as tough as my dad,” Jonah remarked dryly. “No messing with her.”

“Well, count me out, anyway,” Boone said as he leaned back in his seat. “I’ve been there and done that with my kid brothers and sisters. No thank you.”

“Boone, you’re the oldest of nine. You’d be perfect.”

“The hell you say!” Boone snapped. “No more changing diapers for me. I’ve been a daddy eight times. Forget it.”

“How about you?” Mike asked, looking at Jonah.

Jonah shook his head. “I’m going home to Oklahoma, and from there I’ve got to go overseas in four days. Besides, the thought of a ranch is kinda intriguing.”

“What do you know about ranching?” Boone teased. “Next to nothing.”

“Not exactly. My granddaddy had a ranch and I lived with him off and on when I was a kid. Besides, ranching runs in my Comanche blood,” Jonah replied with a grin of his own.

“Oh, sure,” Boone said with a brief laugh, shifting his attention back to Mike. “Looks like you’re stuck, pal. Sorry.”

“I’ll get out of it,” Mike said grimly, more of a promise to himself than his buddies.

“And give up all that money?”

“The money’s not worth it. I’ll make my own money.”

The waiter brought their breakfasts, and Mike looked at his friends. Jonah was the same as the last time Mike had seen him, except it was only April and already the sun had darkened his skin considerably. His straight black hair was cut short and neatly combed, and the T-shirt he wore revealed powerful muscles, proving that Jonah was still in top physical form. As for Boone, his skin was darkened, too, by the sun, and gone was his shaggy brown hair. Although still thick and wavy, it had been trimmed considerably, well above his collar.

“Where are you working now, Jonah?”

“Okmulgee Oil. I’m two weeks in an Algerian oilfield, two weeks home.”

“So you’re finally using that engineering degree,” Boone said.

“I used it in the military. Engineering is a good background for defusing bombs. Better than a marketing degree. So what are you doing, Boone?” Jonah asked.

Boone grinned. “I live about twenty miles out of Kansas City, Missouri, and have my own charter service. I fly everywhere and anywhere.”

“You couldn’t give it up, could you,” Jonah said. “Are you still in, Mike?”

“Nope. I got out two months ago. I’ve got an offer from the CIA and I plan to take it. I’m living in D.C. now. So, is anybody married?”

His two buddies looked at each other, but Mike saw the flash of pain in Jonah’s eyes and guessed that he still hadn’t gotten over his divorce. His marriage had ended while they were all in the service together.

“Remember that night in Fort Lauderdale?” Boone said to break the sudden pall in the mood, and in minutes they were reminiscing about those times. They continued until Mike realized he would have to hurry to make his ten o’clock appointment with Savannah Clay.

“Guys, I gotta run.”

“I’ll get the check. I certainly can afford it with my newfound fortune,” Boone announced. “The famous quarter-horse ranch that I intend to sell.”

“Thanks, Boone.” Mike pulled out a card. “Here’s my address in D.C. and my home and cell-phone numbers. Let’s keep in touch this time. If any of you are around the hotel at lunchtime, let’s get together.” The men agreed and Mike hurried outside to get a valet to bring his rental car.

Minutes later, he was striding toward Savannah Clay’s office. He had dreamed unwanted dreams about her last night. Enticing dreams where she had been soft, willing and sexy in his arms. In real life, she was none of the above, he reminded himself. Instantly, he had to admit that his assessment was unfair. She probably was soft and sexy. Willing, on the other hand, with him never. When he opened the office door, the brunette receptionist flashed him a smile.

“Good morning, Colonel Remington. Miss Clay is expecting you. I’ll tell her you’re here, if you’ll please be seated.”

He sat in a brown, leather chair and moments later, the receptionist said, “Go on in. First door—”

“On the right,” he finished, smiling at her. He reached the open door and was struck again by Savannah’s beauty, restrained by her businesslike demeanor. She was standing in front of her desk, dressed in a tailored navy suit and navy blouse, her hair once again in a twist at the back of her head. But he remembered that cascade of silky, golden hair and the figure beneath the tailored suit jacket. Her skirt ended just above her knees, giving him a good view of her long legs.

She met his eyes and his pulse speeded up a notch. “Colonel Remington,” she said politely, smiling at him. “Come in.” She took his arm and wound it through hers, standing with their shoulders and hips touching, so close to him that he could feel her warmth. He could smell her perfume and was as dazzled by her as if he were fifteen years old again with a first crush.

Suddenly he became aware that they weren’t the only people in the room. “Mike,” she said, “I want you to meet Melanie Bradford, Jessie’s caseworker.”

He turned to shake hands with a brown-haired, fortyish woman, then stopped. The woman was holding a baby.

“And this is Jessie,” Savannah announced, taking the baby and placing her swiftly in his arms.

Startled, he looked down at the baby he held so awkwardly. Big blue eyes gazed up at him as she pursed her rosebud mouth. She was soft, sweet-smelling and dressed in a frilly pink dress with a tiny pink hair bow in her wispy brown curls. She waved a fist at him.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Melanie Bradford said to him. “If you two will excuse me a moment, I need to call my office.” When she left the room, Savannah closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

“This isn’t going to make any difference,” he said to Savannah.

“Will you just look at her? And think—over a million in cash in your account, a trust for you to raise her, which means a very generous income. Also, you get the house. Hire a nanny, for heaven’s sake! You don’t have to be tied down.” Savannah’s voice was low and seductive, trying to convince him.

When she walked over to him, he held out the baby for her to take.

“You hold her,” Savannah insisted. “Look into her eyes and tell her that you’re going to make her a ward of the state and let her be shuffled around to foster homes. Think of her dad and the trust and faith he placed in you.” Now her voice held steel in it, and a good measure of anger, too.

“Stop trying to sell me on this, because it isn’t going to work,” Mike said tightly. “I’m not becoming guardian of a baby.”

“Can you look at her and tell her that?”

He gazed down into wide blue eyes and remembered John Frates. “Dammit, leave me alone, Savannah. You don’t push someone into parenthood,” he said, his anger growing.

“Nonsense. Half the world gets pushed into it one way or another. Have you ever planned to marry, or do you plan to stay a bachelor your entire life?”

“I don’t intend to get married yet,” Mike replied in clipped tones.

“So you never expected to marry or have children.”

“That isn’t what I said,” he snapped. “Now take this baby, Savannah. I’m afraid I’ll drop her.”

Jessie cooed, and as he watched, she smiled at him. He felt a tightening inside and a small sliver of regret. The girl caught his finger in her hand, holding it tightly.

He clenched his jaw and imagined life with a baby. He couldn’t. He was headed for D.C. today and the CIA. They wouldn’t like having a man saddled with a child. He couldn’t settle in a little Texas town and take charge of a baby. Nor could he see taking her to Washington with him.

“She’s beautiful,” he said tersely, and held her out to Savannah again. “Thanks for giving me a lot of sleepless nights.”

“I hope so,” she answered in a voice dripping with disdain as she took Jessie and cuddled her in her arms. She crossed to the door, talking softly to the baby, looking as if she’d done this a million times before. She gave the baby to the caseworker and returned, closing the door and facing him. And once again, she took his breath away. How could the woman be so beautiful and so damned annoying at the same time?

“Will you at least go have coffee with me?” she asked. “I have one more thing I want to show you.”

“One more reason to ruin my life?”

“If you have a guilty conscience, that’s not my fault,” she replied with a smugness that only heightened his irritation.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “I’ll go, but I don’t see any point in us spending one more minute together.”

“I think another couple of hours is a small thing to ask. Are you this difficult with other women?”

“This isn’t a man-woman thing and you know it.”

She gave him a long, intense look that included a sweep of her eyes from his head to his toes and back, and he had to admit to himself that it was at least partially a man-woman thing.

“No, I guess it’s not,” she said coolly, making him want to cross the room and take her in his arms, kiss her soundly and show her it was a man-woman thing after all. “But I’d really like you to spend the next couple of hours with me.” She awarded him the dazzling smile that made his knees weak, and he wondered how many juries and judges had succumbed to the influence of that smile.

“What the hey,” he said, and grinned. “I have hours yet to kill here.” He strolled over to her and she gazed up at him, the smile still hovering on her lips. If his proximity fazed her, she didn’t show it. “Maybe it could turn into a man-woman thing,” he said softly.

“Not in this lifetime,” she snapped. “But I’m glad you’ve agreed to stay. Let me arrange a few things, and then we’re out of here. Wait just a minute.”

Another order. Did the woman even know the word please? he wondered. He sat and watched her move around her office, and in minutes she nodded to him. “I’m ready. Shall we go?”

He left with her, enjoying the sight of her walking beside him, as well as the scent of her perfume. “Is this another exercise in futility?” he asked.

“Might be, but I have to do what I have to do. I don’t give up easily.”

“You’re very passionate about this. Maybe all that passion is just misguided.”

She laughed, a sexy, flirty laugh, then slanted him a look that made his blood heat. “In your dreams, Colonel! You’re not goading me into sex.”

“Sometimes the impossible happens,” he retorted lightly, but she was definitely keeping him off balance. He didn’t want to be intrigued by her or physically drawn to her, but he was. A woman who kept shifting from glacial to this kind of sexy was bound to give him trouble.

At her car he held the door for her and then went around to sit in the passenger seat. As they drove away from her office and into San Antonio traffic, he watched her.

When they left town and traffic thinned, his curiosity increased. He looked at rolling green hills dotted with sturdy oaks and sprinkled with colorful wildflowers. “So where are we headed—Stallion Pass, perhaps?”

“Good guess. I want you to see the town.”

“It won’t do you any good.”

“You asked me last night, and now I’ll ask you—have you ever been in love?”

“Yes, I have,” he answered quickly.

“I’ll bet lots of times,” she said, flashing a quick smile.

“Sometimes it’s a light, pleasure-only thing and sometimes it’s been more serious, but nothing permanent ever. I’m not a man to settle, and women take a dim view of getting involved with a man with my lifestyle.”

“Why do I doubt that they protest very much? I’ll bet you’re nearly always the one to break things off.”

“Why would you think that?”

“You’re handsome, dynamic, aggressive—”

“Aggressive? I think I’ve been a model of restraint and cooperation with one exception. I’m not taking a baby as an inheritance.”

“You might change your mind.”

“No, I won’t. Handsome?” he repeated, his tone changing as he shifted slightly in the seat to study her more intently. “My, my, Counselor. I’m surprised to get any kind of positive reaction from you,” he said.

“You didn’t, but I imagine ninety-five percent of the women you meet find you quite attractive.”

“Now what exactly makes you come to that conclusion?”

She laughed and glanced at him. “You want me to shower you with compliments? I think your ego is big enough as it is.”

“And I bet you get hit on often, too. Except you probably scare the hell out of a lot of men.”

“Do I scare you?” she asked, slanting him another quick, saucy look.

“Ask me that when you’re not driving, and I’ll show you.”

“Why do you want to be in the CIA?”

“You’re changing the subject, but I’ll remind you of it later,” Mike told her. “I want to go into the CIA because I can still serve my country that way. I can do some interesting things, see interesting places.”

“You can do that in the military, too. Why are you getting out?”

“It’s a little too much on the edge. I’m tired of getting shot at.”

“And that won’t happen in the CIA?”

“I’m wrangling for a desk job.”

“I’m surprised,” she said. “You look the type for action.”

“What kind of lawyer are you? Estate planning?”

“Contract law is my specialty, but I do estates. I’ve done a lot of work for John Frates because we’ve known each other all our lives.”

“You’re a lot younger than John Frates.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks, but you don’t know how old I am.”

“I’d guess twenty-eight,” Mike said, his gaze drifting up and down her.

“Guessing a woman’s age is a risky business. I’m thirty.”

“Ten years younger than John.”

“You remember his age?” She shot Mike a surprised glance.

“I had to know a lot about John before we went to get him. Personal information helps.”

As she smiled at him, Mike suspected she knew a lot about his background. They talked while they drove through small towns and across the Texas countryside until finally they reached the outskirts of a town, where a rock wall held a sign that read Welcome to Stallion Pass.

“So where’s the pass?”

“There isn’t one. It goes back to an early-day legend of an Apache warrior who fell in love with a cavalryman’s daughter. The soldiers killed the warrior, and according to legend, his ghost was a wild, white stallion that forever roamed these parts looking for his true love. According to the legend, whoever caught the stallion would find love. Anyway, the town got the name Stallion Pass because there have been wild, white stallions around these parts forever.”

“Is there one now?”

“The last one I heard about was fairly recent. One of the ranchers here caught a white stallion. He passed it on to one of his friends, who gave it to another friend.”

“And did love come to them?”

She smiled. “All of those guys are married now—you be the judge.”

Mike smiled back at her. “You can be charming when you want to be.”

“So can you, Mike. Truce?”

“Until we talk about babies and settling in small towns.”

She wrinkled her nose but didn’t challenge him. “Now we’re coming into the central part of Stallion Pass. This town was established right after the Civil War because there was an early fort outside of town. Then the railroad came through here and the town boomed. The Frateses were one of the early families. So were the Clays. Most people have stayed. There’s a lot of oil money here, lots of ranches in the area, a refinery, some small industry in Stallion Pass, so we have a prosperous town. There’s a museum, a civic center, a fine aquarium and botanical gardens.”

She pointed out sights to him while he looked at two new hotels a block from an older, renovated one. “That’s the Wentworth Hotel, one of the oldest in Texas, although not as old as the Menger in San Antonio. Across the street is the best steak house in these parts, Murphy’s Steakhouse. It’s excellent. A few blocks over is an equally good restaurant—only, barbecue is the specialty.”

He looked at sights she pointed out, realizing that “prosperous” was an understatement. The town looked like the product of both old and new money, with its fancy shops, restaurants and office buildings surrounding a green, tree-shaded town square with a large, three-tiered fountain gushing sparkling water.

The houses around town were old and well-kept, but as he and Savannah drove out of town, the houses changed to newer structures. Soon Savannah turned between iron gates into an area of enormous mansions.

He saw a sign that read Woodbridge and gazed beyond it at sprawling, well-tended lawns and multicolored flowerbeds.

“Looks like there’s a lot of money in this little town,” Mike said, looking at a mansion set back from the road, a winding, tree-lined drive leading up to the front door. “It’s not going to do you any good to show me the house I can inherit,” he said quietly. “This isn’t my style.”

“What is your style, Mike?”

“Small apartments, my books, my bike. I don’t have a lot of possessions. I’ve lived on military bases and moved around a lot.”

“The house comes furnished,” she said as she turned up the long, winding drive.

“That won’t matter,” he replied. Mike looked at the three-story, redbrick Georgian. White columns supported the roof of a wide front porch.

“This is the Frateses’ home, which you have now inherited.” She stopped and turned off the engine.

He caught her wrist, instantly more aware of the physical contact than what he was about to tell her. “This is a waste of time. I was never meant for a house like this. I’ve never even dreamed of a house like this.”

“So sell it and get something you like. Right now, it’s yours, so let’s go look at it. C’mon.” She twisted her wrist out of his light grasp and climbed out.

Mike got out, too, and walked around, truly not interested in the house and unable to relate to it in any manner.

He stood in the enormous front hallway and looked at the crystal chandelier overhead, the winding staircase and the elegant furnishings. She caught his hand. “Come with me.”

Once again, the moment she touched him, he was focused completely on her. He went upstairs with her and knew where she was taking him before they entered a little girl’s bedroom filled with toys, pink ruffles and fancy white furniture.

“I figured this was where we were going,” he said when she stopped in the middle of the room and dropped his hand.

“This is what you’re taking her away from.”

“You’re a smart lawyer. I’m sure you can work out something.”

“While I work out something, she’ll belong to the state. Those bureaucratic things take lots of time and red tape.”

“So you told me,” he said. “The answer is still no.”

She turned to stare at him. “I think you’re being incredibly selfish. You could take Jessie and have all this! Hire a staff to care for her.”

“If I took her, I couldn’t live with that,” he said quietly, wanting to leave.

“Instead, you’ll give her up to strangers,” Savannah said, fire flashing in the depths of her eyes.

Mike felt his own temper rise. “Why don’t you take her? You’re so all-fired eager to get Jessie someone who cares. Though I am surprised you care. You’re—” He broke off.

“What?” she asked, looking amused. “Hard?”

He gazed into her eyes and shook his head. “Tough, but never hard. There isn’t a hard part in you. You’re delectably soft,” he said quietly, watching her blink and realizing for once he had caught her so by surprise that she hadn’t been able to hide it. “Maybe you’re stubborn and aggressive, but definitely soft.”

“Me, stubborn? You take the prize.”

“I’ll tell you one thing I am,” he said in the same quiet voice, aware of her as a woman, inhaling her perfume, standing only a few feet from her. “I’m curious. Before I get on that plane to D.C., I’d like to satisfy my curiosity.” He moved closer and slid his hand behind her head.

He expected her to step back and snap at him, but when she didn’t, he looked into her eyes and saw she wasn’t going to say no. He saw the same curiosity he had.

He leaned the last bit of distance and brushed her lips with his, and then his mouth settled on hers. Her mouth was a warm, soft invitation, her lips parting and her sweet breath rushing out.

The moment his tongue touched hers, he felt a jolt. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him, and discovered he had been right. She was all soft curves.

To his surprise, as he kissed her, the sparks that danced in the air so often between them turned to flames. She set him ablaze with her kiss as their tongues played together. Her kiss became more than he had expected. He was shaken to his toes and on fire, a searing heat making him tight and hard. He pulled her closer, dimly aware her hands were on his upper arms.

She aroused him, and he wanted her to an extent that surprised him. He was caught in a kiss that put fire in his veins. His heart pounded and his blood roared, and her kiss turned out to be more than he’d ever dreamed possible. The magnitude of his desire was startling. He wanted to take down her hair, push off the suit jacket; he wanted to peel away all their clothes, get rid of the bothersome barriers between them.

When she pushed against his chest, he released her. “I’ll cancel my plane if you’ll go to dinner with me tonight,” he said in a husky voice, wanting to pull her back into his arms. He felt as if he had opened Pandora’s box and trouble was spilling out all around him. A part of him didn’t want to cancel his plane reservation and spend hours with her. Another part of him didn’t want to let her out of his sight. “And not one word about babies.”

The fires in the depth of her blue eyes became frost.

“You get on your plane and go on with your self-centered life,” she snapped.

Maybe passion pushed his temper to an edge, but he was tired of her calling him selfish and self-centered. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Why don’t you take her?”

“I might try to gain custody of her, but it still means up to two years of shuffling little Jessie through the system. And there’s no guarantee I’d get her.”

“If you’ve known John all your life, I don’t know why you didn’t inherit her in the first place.”

She flinched and drew a deep breath. “I’ve wondered why he didn’t ask me, too, because I gladly would have taken Jessie,” Savannah replied stiffly. “I’ve known John forever. Maybe that’s one reason I’ve been so in your face about this. I wish it had been me—not for the money or house, but for Jessie. I think she’s adorable.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, thinking that Savannah put on a good act.

She bristled. “You don’t believe me?”

“It’s easy to say you’d take her when you know you can’t. And I don’t think you’ll fight to get her, either. The situation looks different when you’re the one who has to take the lifetime responsibility.”

“That’s not so!” Savannah’s cheeks flushed angrily. “If I had the chance, I’d take her in a second.”

“Right,” he replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm. He tilted his head to study her. “Hell, marry me—a marriage of convenience—and then you can take her.”

“Marry you! That would be like putting a lion and a tiger in a cage together.”

“Yeah, exactly. Marry me,” he said, glad to put her on the defensive. “I’ll stay as long as necessary, and then you can have the care of her and go through all the red tape to legally get custody.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, her voice laced with disgust.

Satisfied that he had proved his point, he put his hands on his hips. “You’re not jumping at this chance to give little Jessie a family and a home? I didn’t think you would. When the shoe’s on the other foot, it’s mighty different. Now you don’t want any part of it.”

“That isn’t because of Jessie.”

“You and I could stay in this mansion and never see each other,” he argued, glad to keep her on the defensive. “It’s huge.”

“Nothing is that huge.”

“Yeah, right, Counselor. You just don’t want the responsibility. Now we could argue all day, but I’ve got a plane to catch.”

He left the room. Savannah glared at him and wanted to shake her fist and scream. Insufferable man! She didn’t want to think about his devastating kiss. Life wasn’t fair. He was so cussed stubborn and unrelenting. She didn’t want to dream about him after he had flown out of her life this afternoon. And she didn’t want to cry over Jessie and remember cold, frightened nights in her own life.

Jessie’s a baby, too little right now to be scared or know what was happening to her, Savannah thought sternly, then instantly rejected that notion.

She hurried after Mike, looking at his squared shoulders and long, forceful stride. He acted as though he ruled the world.

He didn’t believe she would take Jessie if she had the chance, but she would. He saw her as a tough lawyer who was all business, but she would love to have Jessie. It had hurt that John hadn’t asked her to be Jessie’s guardian. Apart from their families having been close, John’s business had helped make her and Troy’s practice a big success. At the time she read the will, she had thought he was as close as a brother to Mike Remington, and that was why he wanted Mike to be Jessie’s guardian. Since meeting Mike, she realized he couldn’t have really known Mike or foreseen that Mike would refuse.

Now this infuriating man who made her grit her teeth, who could kiss a woman into a pool of quivering jelly, was going to walk out and leave the baby to become a ward of the state.

Marry him! That certainly would be like putting a lion and a tiger into a cage together. And he hadn’t really meant it, anyway. Marriage would tie him down more than simply taking Jessie and hiring nannies. Unless he thought he could get a wife and vanish for months at a time.

She didn’t know what was in that handsome head of his. She glared at him as he went through the front door while she followed and locked up.

When she turned, he held out his hand. “Give me the keys and I’ll drive. It’ll give you a break.”

“I’m not trusting you with my car,” she said tersely, annoyed with him, wanting to shake him and hating that she was too cognizant of his appeal. For if she reached out to shake him, the touch would ignite the volatile chemistry between them.

She thought about the dinner date she had turned down. More kisses—the thought of more of his kisses sent her pulse into a dizzying spiral. Yet the evening would be another exercise in futility, getting her all hot and bothered in every way.

A marriage of convenience to Mike Remington. It would be war. Even if he had meant it, she couldn’t tie her life to his, not even as a technicality.

When he held the door for her, she was acutely conscious of passing close to him, of his dark eyes steadily watching her. The man was incredibly sexy, and her nerves were jangled because of him.

She slid behind the wheel and glanced up to catch him looking at her legs. His gaze met hers, and then he closed the door and strode around the front of the car to get into the passenger side.

“Friends, Counselor?” he asked as she turned down the long driveway.

“Hardly,” she answered coolly, wondering if he had been affected at all by their kiss. Maybe a little, since he had offered to cancel his flight and take her to dinner.

After a silent ride, as they stood in the parking lot at her office, they faced each other and he held out his hand. “It’s been interesting. I’m sorry, but I can’t become guardian of a baby. I’m sure you’ll find someone who can take Jessie. You gave it a real good try.”

“Don’t patronize me,” she said, annoyed with him, yet far too responsive to him, tingling because of his hand holding hers and mesmerized by his midnight-brown eyes, which held dark temptations and secrets. Sexy eyes that made her pulse race when he gave her one of his steady, probing looks. “I’ll be back in touch with you,” she said. “It isn’t often someone turns down a million-dollar inheritance. I don’t know the precedents.”

“Take your time, Counselor. You have my number in D.C. It’s been interesting.”

“Have a nice life,” she snapped, turning to walk away and wondering how long it would take her to get over her anger toward him. And how long would it take her to forget his sexy kiss?

Mike drove out of the shaded lot, glancing in the rearview mirror to see Savannah standing at the door watching him drive away. Stubborn woman. But, oh, so sexy. What a kiss!

He was going home to Washington, and he was certain Savannah would find a guardian for Jessie.

Forgetting Stallion Pass, Jessie and Savannah Clay, Mike turned his thoughts to D.C. and the appointments he had, things he had to do.

At the airport, he milled with the crowd until his plane was called. Picking up his carry-on and a newspaper, he lined up as the first people moved into the jetway.

“Mike!”

“Would Mike Remington please come to the desk,” came an announcement over the intercom. He turned, first to see who had called his name.

“Mike!”

Surprised, he saw Savannah hurrying toward him. “Mike, wait!” she called and waved.

The first thought that came to mind was that he had forgotten something, but he had brought hardly anything with him and he was certain he hadn’t left any possession with Savannah.

“Mike, wait!” she cried, getting closer. “I’ll marry you.”