The Daughter Merger. Janice Johnson Kay

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      CHAPTER FOUR

      DAVID WHITCOMB’S MERCEDES BENZ was parked at the curb in front of the condo. Grace had known he would be here, of course, but still the awareness that he must be inside gave her an odd start. He was not a comfortable man, the kind she could easily imagine grabbing something to drink and the newspaper and making himself at home. She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of him at home in her place. She wanted him at arm’s length.

      And yet she’d insisted he come often, feel at ease. Claire needed him. As long as Claire lived here, Grace had to try to do what was best for the girl.

      But when she let herself in from the garage, Grace couldn’t let go of the day’s tension the way she usually did the moment she stepped into her home, her refuge. Instead she felt a wariness almost as great as if she suspected an intruder. He was here, somewhere.

      A muffled shriek of laughter from upstairs told her where the girls were. They wouldn’t be giggling like that if he were up there with them. She glanced briefly at the telephone, but messages could wait. Going out to dinner gave her a good excuse not to think about plans for the annual fall school carnival, which she, ever ready to wave her hand in the air, had volunteered to organize.

      Pausing only to pet Lemieux, who was curled in a too-small cardboard box she had left out just for him, Grace set down her purse and moved quietly through the dining room.

      She found David in the living room reading the newspaper she’d left on the table that morning. He didn’t hear her coming, and for a moment she was able to observe him unseen.

      He’d tossed his suit jacket on the ottoman and loosened his tie. His face showed weariness he hadn’t yet let her see. She had the sense that the newspaper was a time filler, that he wasn’t really concentrating. As she watched, he let out a soft sigh and rubbed his thumb and forefinger over his eyes.

      Grace felt a quiver under her breastbone. What would this guarded man look like if he smiled? His laughs to this point had been bitter, more a rough sound than a genuine curve of the mouth. Was he stern in the office? Did he have a sense of humor? Was he capable of tenderness?

      She hoped so, for Claire’s sake. For hers…well, it hardly mattered, Grace had to remind herself, as long as he was civil. If he ever were to smile at her with devastating charm…the flutter in her chest at the image her mind conjured was enough to scare her. She should be grateful that he was uninterested in her as a woman. If he were…face it, she’d be in trouble.

      She must have moved, because he turned his head in that contained way he had, in the same instant assuming a mask of distant civility.

      Donning her own, Grace strolled into the living room. “You made it.”

      “Eventually. The audition ran until five-thirty.”

      “So you haven’t had to wait long.” Oh, she was a fount of brilliance tonight.

      “No.” He appraised her, a lightning-quick glance that made her flush with a sudden, desperate desire to be beautiful, shapely, to provoke a spark of hunger in those hooded eyes.

      Praying her cheeks hadn’t turned pink, Grace kicked off her heels and sank onto the couch. “So, did the girls say how the audition went?”

      “Aside from long?” A hint of a rueful smile quirked one corner of his mouth so fleetingly she’d have missed it if she blinked. It was enough to steal her breath.

      “Um…” Focus. “Aside from long,” she agreed.

      Lemieux, the snowshoe Siamese cross, strolled into the living room, having abandoned his beloved box, and leaped to her lap. Grace couldn’t help a small “oomph,” when his muscular body landed. He circled, settled and began happily purring when she petted him.

      David shook his head in seeming bemusement at the drool from the contented cat forming a puddle on her skirt.

      “What did your daughter say the cat’s name is?”

      She explained that he was named after the hockey star, Mario Lemieux. Then, feeling David’s still fascinated stare, she prodded, “The audition?”

      He tore his gaze from the cat. “I missed Linnet’s reading, but I saw Claire’s.” The oddest expression crossed his face. “She was incredible. She got a standing ovation.”

      Pride. That’s what she saw in his expression. Pride he hadn’t known he felt, didn’t quite know what to do with.

      “Does she know you saw her read?”

      His face shuttered. “I told her on the way home.”

      “And?”

      “I said she was great. Talented.” The soft voice was emotionless.

      Grace wanted to shake him. “And?” she prompted again, less patiently.

      “For СКАЧАТЬ