The Boss, the Baby and Me. Raye Morgan

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СКАЧАТЬ “It’s up to you, Pop. You know I’m not into the business side of things.”

      Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “You oughta be,” he said shortly.

      Matt and Rafe exchanged glances. “Talk to Rafe,” Matt said calmly. “He’s the one who knows what’s going on.”

      Jodie sighed. It was the same old story. Did nothing ever change? The Allman family business had grown larger, morphing into Allman Industries, and the Allman family had gotten richer, changing from the old scruffy bunch who seemed to skim along just this side of lawbreaking into this vaguely respectable family that provided a good chunk of the local jobs. But the old emotions still simmered just below the surface. She was beginning to wonder if it hadn’t been a big mistake for her to come back.

      “What’s eatin’ you, missy?” her father said, looking at her accusingly. “You still trying to get me to get rid of that McLaughlin boy?”

      Jodie winced and put a napkin to her lips. “I never said I wanted you to get rid of him,” she protested. “I just want you to be aware of the danger he poses.”

      “Danger?’” David looked up with a grin. “Ole Kurt McLaughlin? He’s a pussycat.”

      “I don’t trust the McLaughlins any more than you do,” Matt chimed in. “But I’ve got to admit, Kurt is doing a fine job with marketing. We’re lucky to have him.”

      She glanced quickly around the table, realizing with a sense of astonishment that she didn’t have anyone on her side at all. Not one of them understood how dangerous it was to let a man like Kurt into the power structure of their family business.

      “I know your game, missy.” Jesse grinned at his daughter. “You’re like me. You can’t forget or forgive.” He slapped the flat of his hand down on the table. “But I’m not getting rid of him. Hell, no. He’s good at what he does. I don’t care if he is a McLaughlin. In fact, I love that he’s a McLaughlin. I love the looks on their pompous faces when I’m in town, or at the chamber of commerce meetings. I can smile at them and say, ‘Your fair-haired boy is workin’ for me now. Because I’m the one who’s making it in this town. You McLaughlins are done for.’”

      She was reminded of all the reasons why she’d run away from this man in the first place, when she was a rebellious eighteen-year-old. She’d planned never to come back. And she might have stuck to that plan if Matt hadn’t found her and talked her into coming home again.

      “He’s old, Jodie,” Matt had told her earnestly. “Old and sick. He needs us. All of us.”

      She noticed with a start that her father’s hands were shaking, and her gaze flew to his face, searching for evidence. To her surprise, her heart began to race with something close to fear. Matt was right. He was old and sick. She might still be angry with him for things he’d done in the past, but he was still her father and, deep down, she cared for him. Okay, it was good that she’d come home. And despite everything, she had to stay, at least for a while.

      And that meant she had to deal with Kurt McLaughlin.

      A memory sailed into her head of how it had felt with his arms around her in the elevator car, and she almost gasped aloud. She definitely had to harden herself to his lethal charm. She was stuck working for him, and maybe that was for the best. After all, somebody had to look out for the good of the family.

      An hour later, she escaped from the tensions in the house and took a brisk walk toward the newly renovated downtown. The sky was velvet-blue, with a full moon rising. The air was warm and dry. She could smell newly cut hay somewhere nearby.

      She’d paced these same streets when she was eighteen and trying to figure out what she was going to do. And just around the corner was the little park where she and Jeremy used to meet secretly to plot how they were going to escape from Chivaree together. That seemed so long ago.

      Jeremy. Had she ever really loved him? When she looked back now, she saw more excitement than love. They had needed each other for support at the time. But that wasn’t really true. She’d needed him. It turned out he hadn’t needed her at all. But that was always the way with the McLaughlins, wasn’t it?

      Her steps slowed as she reached Cabrillo, the main street. The area was less familiar now, with new store-fronts on some of the buildings, and a few new structures housing a boutique and a crafts store. It was good to see the town looking prosperous, she supposed, though it did give her a twinge to see how things had changed.

      Millie’s Café was just ahead, and that looked exactly the same. Maybe she would go in and have a cup of coffee and say hello to Millie, the mother of Shelley, her best friend in high school. Lights from the café spilled out onto the sidewalk, and Jodie began to anticipate how warm it was going to be once she’d gone in and snuggled into her old favorite booth.

      But as she neared the corner, she got a glimpse of the people inside. It startled her to discover the place was packed. There were people crowding the entryway, waiting for seats, while others filled the booths, and still more sat at the counter. For a fraction of a moment, she got a flashing glimpse of a man who looked enough like Kurt to make her heart jump in dismay. Not wanting another possible run-in with that infuriating man, she just kept walking.

      Darn! Was she really going to spend all her time reacting to Kurt? She couldn’t live this way. Looking back over her shoulder, trying to see if that really was him inside the café, she stepped off the curb and started across the street.

      The thing was, there had never been a stoplight on that corner when she’d lived in Chivaree before. There had never been enough traffic to warrant one. Somehow, it hadn’t registered with her that there was one there now.

      Brakes screeched. Fear flashed through her and she looked up, frozen for a few seconds. Then, she jumped, her whole body moving in a twitch reflex that somehow got her out of the way. But at the same time, her mind processed the fact that Kurt couldn’t be in Millie’s Café because that was Kurt’s face behind the wheel.

      Kurt! After veering to miss her, he tried to regain control of his vehicle. And she watched in horror as his truck swerved just enough to get caught by a car coming in the other direction. There was a smash, a crunch, the horrifying shriek of metal in distress.

      It wasn’t much more than a fender bender, but Jodie ran forward, apprehension flashing through her system, her heart in her throat. The driver of the car jumped out, swearing. But Kurt didn’t move. Dread building, Jodie yanked at the handle on the truck door. It came open, and she stared at the contorted way Kurt’s body lay in the cab. She gasped, and his green eyes opened.

      “Hi,” he said, his wide mouth twisted, obviously in pain. “Uh, Jodie? Think you could call the paramedics? Something’s wrong with my leg.”

      She was doomed, that was all there was to it. Every time she turned around, there was Kurt McLaughlin, interfering with her peace of mind. It was enough to make her want to scream.

      Or at least complain a bit. But how could you complain about a man when you’d just crippled him?

      Looking at him lying in his bed in the cozy house he shared with his baby daughter, Katy, she swallowed hard and wished she were anywhere else. Her brother Matt was using an automatic sander gizmo to smooth out a rough spot in the fiberglass cast he’d applied at the town clinic an hour or so before. Her brother David, who had helped get Kurt home, was standing around with his hands shoved down in the pockets of his jeans, looking very amused with it all. And she was standing СКАЧАТЬ