decision.
"Start by telling me where Tommy might go."
"I don't know. His parents in Davis, maybe." She could still feel Rick's touch on her shoulder, a gentle comfort, yet it branded her skin. She began to pace again, thrusting a hand through her hair.
He spared her a glance, scribbling notes on a yellow legal pad. "Any place he and Grace might go together?"
"His apartment, but I already checked it out. No one was there."
She couldn't help staring as Rick continued jotting notes. The lush eyelashes, the too-straight patrician nose he'd inherited from his white mother. The high cheekbones, dark slash of brows and burnished skin testified to his Choctaw father. Rick's blatantly make features were leather dark, lined by confidences she'd never shared, smiles she'd never seen.
While waiting for him in his office, she'd steeled herself against the old attraction, but she hadn't been prepared for the actual sight of him. The sleek black hair trimmed military short. The sculpted lips that had once turned her bones to water. Corded neck and biceps bared by the khaki T-shirt that loosely covered his hard, rangy chest. Lean runner's legs gloved in worn, starched denim. And scuffed tennis shoes.
"Where's his apartment?"
She dragged her gaze from Rick, resumed her pacing. The movement helped dispel the warmth that had started to creep into her blood.
She gave him the name and address of a complex on the north edge of Oklahoma City, only a mile from her own house. The warmth of spring clung to him, as well as a mysterious scent that belonged solely to him. Not musky, not woodsy, but something in between.
Katie's pulse throbbed heavily, and her throat grew tight. He was still the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. For a moment, her worry over Grace was pushed aside in a sudden surge of emotion -- regret, sharp and bitter. Affection, uncertainty.
Questions tumbles through her mind. What had brought Rick back to Oklahoma City? Why had he left the Air Force?
The shock in his face upon seeing her had unnerved her but not nearly as much as that instantaneous sultry heat in his eyes. Those black, smoldering eyes were now obsidian hard, remote.
Katie squared her shoulders, trying to push away everything except thoughts of her sister. She became aware that Rick watched her impersonally, waiting for her to continue.
"Grace lives with me. She has for the last couple of years, since Tommy went to prison."
He nodded, making another note.
Her heart squeezed at his distance. What did she expect? That he would greet her as if she were an old friend? Katie had ruined that when she'd refused to marry him. Rick's matter-of-fact announcement that they would marry hadn't been the first unilateral decision he'd made, but it had been the one to unleash a long-buried panic.
Since her mom's death, Katie had made all the decisions in her family with the exception of a few financial ones. Her dad's work schedule prohibited him from spending much time at home, and Katie had stepped into the void left after her mom's death, taking care of the house and her sister. At first, she'd thrilled to Rick's take-charge attitude, to the fact that she'd found someone willing to shoulder her burden. But when he'd expected her to move east with him so he could attend Navy flight school, just up and leave her father and sister, she'd realized she couldn't marry someone who made those decisions alone. She wanted to be his partner, not his insignificant other. So she'd said no to him.
The
"Start by telling me where Tommy might go."
"I don't know. His parents in Davis, maybe." She could still feel Rick's touch on her shoulder, a gentle comfort, yet it branded her skin. She began to pace again, thrusting a hand through her hair.
He spared her a glance, scribbling notes on a yellow legal pad. "Any place he and Grace might go together?"
"His apartment, but I already checked it out. No one was there."
She couldn't help staring as Rick continued jotting notes. The lush eyelashes, the too-straight patrician nose he'd inherited from his white mother. The high cheekbones, dark slash of brows and burnished skin testified to his Choctaw father. Rick's blatantly make features were leather dark, lined by confidences she'd never shared, smiles she'd never seen.
While waiting for him in his office, she'd steeled herself against the old attraction, but she hadn't been prepared for the actual sight of him. The sleek black hair trimmed military short. The sculpted lips that had once turned her bones to water. Corded neck and biceps bared by the khaki T-shirt that loosely covered his hard, rangy chest. Lean runner's legs gloved in worn, starched denim. And scuffed tennis shoes.
"Where's his apartment?"
She dragged her gaze from Rick, resumed her pacing. The movement helped dispel the warmth that had started to creep into her blood.
She gave him the name and address of a complex on the north edge of Oklahoma City, only a mile from her own house. The warmth of spring clung to him, as well as a mysterious scent that belonged solely to him. Not musky, not woodsy, but something in between.
Katie's pulse throbbed heavily, and her throat grew tight. He was still the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. For a moment, her worry over Grace was pushed aside in a sudden surge of emotion -- regret, sharp and bitter. Affection, uncertainty.
Questions tumbles through her mind. What had brought Rick back to Oklahoma City? Why had he left the Air Force?
The shock in his face upon seeing her had unnerved her but not nearly as much as that instantaneous sultry heat in his eyes. Those black, smoldering eyes were now obsidian hard, remote.
Katie squared her shoulders, trying to push away everything except thoughts of her sister. She became aware that Rick watched her impersonally, waiting for her to continue.
"Grace lives with me. She has for the last couple of years, since Tommy went to prison."
He nodded, making another note.
Her heart squeezed at his distance. What did she expect? That he would greet her as if she were an old friend? Katie had ruined that when she'd refused to marry him. Rick's matter-of-fact announcement that they would marry hadn't been the first unilateral decision he'd made, but it had been the one to unleash a long-buried panic.
Since her mom's death, Katie had made all the decisions in her family with the exception of a few financial ones. Her dad's work schedule prohibited him from spending much time at home, and Katie had stepped into the void left after her mom's death, taking care of the house and her sister. At first, she'd thrilled to Rick's take-charge attitude, to the fact that she'd found someone willing to shoulder her burden. But when he'd expected her to move east with him so he could attend Navy flight school, just up and leave her father and sister, she'd realized she couldn't marry someone who made those decisions alone. She wanted to be his partner, not his insignificant other. So she'd said no to him.
The
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