Daniel's Desire (6 page)

Molly nodded. “Okay, I get that. When?”

“Tonight, if possible. The sooner the better. Joe and I can’t sit on this much longer. He’s especially vulnerable because he’s ignoring the fact that he could get a missing kid back home again. Cops have been fired for less.”

“Then why has he been taking the risk?” Molly asked. “Why have you?”

Daniel met her gaze evenly. “Because, despite what you think, we both trust your instincts. I know you would never have allowed Kendra to stay if you didn’t believe in your heart that she was genuinely terrified of going back home. And Joe’s got instincts of his own. He’s checking them out. We’re all putting ourselves on the line to protect her, Molly, you included. If this blows up and anyone finds out you’ve knowingly been keeping us in the dark, you-know-what could hit the fan.”

Molly regarded him with surprise. “You’ve let it ride because of me?”

Daniel gave her a rueful smile. “Hey, don’t let it go to your head. I’ve always thought you had your good points.”

She dramatically clutched a hand to her chest. “Be still my heart.”

His expression sobered. “Molly, convince Kendra to meet with me this evening. It’s for the best.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she promised.

“Then I’ll pick you both up at six,” he said with confidence. And if it happened that she couldn’t talk Kendra into coming, having Molly all to himself wouldn’t be so bad, either. It might be the last chance they had to make peace before both of their lives were turned inside out over the actions they had—and
hadn’t—taken to get Kendra Morrow back to her folks.

“Hey, Molly,” he said as she headed for the door. She turned back. “Don’t change. I like the suit.”

She grinned. “It was supposed to make me irresistible.”

“You didn’t need the suit for that,” he said with total sincerity. “I guess some things never change.”

Molly’s heart was thumping so hard as she closed the door to Daniel’s office behind her that she was sure he must have heard it. So, she thought, the suit had done its job. And Daniel was solidly on Kendra’s side, or at least making all the right noises. She hoped she could trust him. She had to—they had no choice. Time was running out, and he was the expert. He could make sure the system was on Kendra’s side. He knew exactly which buttons to push with the proper authorities to keep Kendra safe.

Too shaky to go straight home, she decided to detour by the elementary school. Classes hadn’t started again after spring break, but she knew she’d find Alice there, making preparations for her kindergarten students. She was the most conscientious, innovative teacher Molly had ever known.

At Molly’s knock, Alice glanced up from the stack of brightly colored construction paper she was currently cutting into the shapes of spring flowers. When she caught her first glimpse of Molly, her mouth dropped open dramatically.

“Well, well, well, let me guess,” she said. “You’ve just been to see Daniel.”

Molly frowned. “How did you know?”

“That outfit shouldn’t be wasted on anyone else. Did it do the trick?”

“It didn’t render him tongue-tied,” she said, vaguely disappointed.

“Devaneys are never tongue-tied,” Alice said. “Unless it has something to do with their own family history. Then they can clam up with the best of them. What were you really after with Daniel?”

“I wanted him on Kendra’s side.”

“And?”

“I think he is, or at least that he wants to be.”

“That’s good, then. Why don’t you seem more relieved?”

“Alice, you know the system when it comes to child protection better than I do. Can Kendra be forced to go back home?”

“She’s a minor. Of course she can, unless there’s a real danger for her there. Do you believe she’s in danger?”

Molly considered the question. “Not the way you mean. I don’t get any sense at all that she’s afraid of her parents hurting her, not physically, but they have done something that has upset her.”

“And you know what it is?” Alice guessed.

She nodded. “At least I have some idea of part of it.”

“Did you share that information with Daniel?”

“I couldn’t. She told it to me in confidence.”

“Would it make a difference?”

“In court, I don’t know,” she said honestly. “But with Daniel it would. It would push all of his buttons. Should I have used it to make sure he fights harder?”

Alice sat back with a sigh. “That would have meant breaking Kendra’s confidence, so no. How could you
tell him under that circumstance? But you can encourage her to fill him in.”

“I’ve tried, and I’m going to try to talk her into meeting with him tonight. He says time is running out. Pretty soon he and Joe aren’t going to be able to hold back the fact that they know where she is.”

“Then why are you here talking to me? Go home and persuade Kendra that she has to trust Daniel.” She studied Molly intently. “Or did you really come here to talk about Kendra?”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been discussing?”

“Sure, but I’m thinking that you might really be here to talk about the fact that you’re beginning to have feelings for Daniel again and that you’re scared.”

Molly wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. “I never stopped having feelings for him,” she said edgily. “I just buried them. How could I possibly allow myself to be in love with a man who would turn his back on his own child? What kind of woman would that make me?”

“Life is complicated,” Alice pointed out. “And love is the most complicated thing of all. You found out the hard way that the man you love has flaws. That doesn’t make him a bad person. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t love him. It just means you have to weigh who he is against what you can live with.”

Molly’s eyes filled with tears. “I wanted our baby so much. And I wanted Daniel to be happy about it.”

“Well, of course you did,” Alice said, coming around the desk to hug her. “And down deep, I suspect Daniel did too. If there had been more time, he might have come around, but you lost the baby, and that robbed him of any chance to see things more clearly.”

“Do you really think he might have?”

“Yes,” Alice said with surprising confidence. “If he’s anything at all like Patrick—and I have every reason to believe he is, since they’re identical in every other way—then he would have come around. What the Devaneys did to all of their sons is downright criminal. They left some of them thinking they weren’t deserving of love, and they betrayed Daniel’s and Patrick’s trust by keeping a huge part of the past a secret from them. Imagine being eighteen before you found out you had three older siblings.”

“Not exactly forgivable sins,” Molly commented.

“No, but I’m convinced that if they’d all get together in one room and get everything out on the table once and for all, maybe things would be better.”

“And everyone would live happily ever after?” Molly asked sarcastically.

“Hopefully, yes,” Alice said defensively. “What’s wrong with wanting that?”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting it, but maybe there are some situations in which that is a totally unrealistic expectation,” Molly said.

“I refuse to accept that.”

“Are you still pestering Patrick about a reconciliation with his folks?”

“Every chance I get,” Alice admitted.

“And?”

“He’s stopped telling me to mind my own damn business,” Alice said cheerfully. “I consider that progress.” She touched a hand to her stomach. “I intend to pull this off before our baby is born.”

Molly’s mouth gaped. “You’re pregnant?”

Alice’s cheeks turned bright pink. “I am.” She studied Molly worriedly. “Are you okay with that?”

“Why on earth wouldn’t I be?” Molly asked. “I adore Patrick, and you’re going to be the best mother ever.”

“But you—”

Molly knew where she was going and cut her off. “Losing my baby doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for you.” She hesitated, then said honestly, “Okay, so I am a little jealous. I’ll get over it.”

“You and Daniel could reconcile and—”

“Don’t even go there,” Molly said sharply. The idea of another chance was too tempting to consider, not even for a moment. “Besides, the only child I can think about right now is Kendra. And I’d better get home and start pulling out every persuasive trick in the book to get her to agree to see Daniel tonight.”

“Good luck with that,” Alice said. “And, sweetie, don’t be too quick to dismiss the possibility of getting back together with Daniel. I’m here to tell you that the Devaney twins might be a lot of trouble, but they are definitely worth it.”

Molly grinned. “I believe that about Patrick. The jury’s still out on Daniel.”

“I don’t know. One look in your eyes, and anyone with any perceptiveness at all can see that the verdict’s already in.”

Molly sighed. “Then isn’t it a good thing that Daniel is not the most perceptive man in the universe?”

“You sure about that? He had the good sense to see through that hard shell of yours and fall for you once, didn’t he?” Alice taunted.

“Maybe so,” Molly admitted. “But I don’t believe in lightning striking the same place twice.”

“If you stick around a minute,” Alice said gestur
ing toward her bookshelf, “I’m pretty sure I can find the statistics to prove you wrong.”

She probably could, too, which was why Molly had no intention of sticking around. Her opinion was keeping her safe for the moment. She definitely did not want to be confused by any contradictory facts.

“H
ave you lost your mind?” Patrick demanded the instant that Daniel answered his phone.

“Nice to hear your voice, bro,” Daniel said wryly. He had a pretty good idea what the call was about, but he asked anyway. “What have I done now?”

“Are you taking Molly to dinner tonight or not?”

“That’s the plan,” Daniel said, not especially surprised by Patrick’s reaction. He wouldn’t have expected anything less than this evidence of his brother’s protectiveness toward Molly. “How did you find out? Did she tell you?”

“No, she told Alice, who seems to find the prospect of you two getting back together very intriguing,” he said, an undisguised note of disgust in his voice. “Of course, she wasn’t here when you nearly destroyed Molly. If she had been, she’d be as bent out of shape over this development as I am.”

“Patrick, I hate to tell you, but Molly’s a big girl,” Daniel said mildly. “She can have dinner with anyone she wants to.”

“I know that, but does it have to be you? Dammit, Daniel, what were you thinking?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I was thinking that I could get to the bottom of this mess with Kendra Morrow before the whole thing blows up in all our faces, Molly’s included.”

Patrick sighed heavily. “Then this is strictly a business dinner?” he asked, his skepticism plain.

Daniel thought of the impact Molly and her red suit had had on his libido. That pretty much ruled out an evening inspired by nothing more than business. If she wore that suit as requested, he’d have trouble keeping his mind on the reason for the dinner, no question about it.

“Pretty much,” he said, choosing his words carefully.

Patrick promptly seized on his evasiveness. “What the hell does that mean? Is it or isn’t it?”

“If you’d seen the suit she had on when she came to see me today, you wouldn’t have to ask that.”

“The red one?” Patrick asked, evidently familiar with the pure provocativeness of that particular suit. “She wore the red one?”

“That’s the one.”

“With a blouse, though, right? Please tell me she wore it with a blouse.”

“No blouse.”

“Oh, man,” Patrick said with a groan. “She’s apparently lost her mind, too.”

“I will tell you this, if it’s any consolation,” Daniel
said. “I really did arrange the dinner to talk about Kendra. And Kendra will be there to chaperone.”

“Now there’s a comfort,” Patrick replied with an edge of sarcasm. “You’ve got a thirteen-year-old runaway who’s supposed to keep two apparently mentally unstable adults on the straight and narrow.”

“Which one of us don’t you trust, Patrick? Me or Molly?”

“If Molly’s wearing that red suit, I’ve got to say it’s a toss-up. I don’t think either one of you will use the sense God gave a duck. You never did when you were together the first time, or there wouldn’t have been a pregnancy.”

Daniel laughed. He could imagine Molly’s indignation if she’d heard Patrick’s low opinion of her common sense. Where he was concerned, however, he figured his brother had nailed it. He hadn’t used a lot of brainpower when he and Molly had been together before. Then again, he’d never thought far enough ahead to imagine the impact a pregnancy might have. Once he’d been faced with the reality of it, all of his family’s past history had kicked in with a vengeance to make him gun-shy. Not that he intended to go over that yet again with his brother. Patrick wouldn’t buy Daniel’s defense of his actions any more now than he had back then.

“Look, I’ve got a mountain of paperwork to plow through,” Daniel told him. “If you’re through being a worrywart, I ought to get back to it.”

“Just one more thing,” Patrick said.

“Oh?”

“Hurt her again, and this time I
will
knock you into the next county, no matter how she pleads with me not to do it.”

“Warning duly noted,” Daniel said. “And, Patrick, while I wish things had been different and Molly had turned to me that night, I’m glad she’s had you for a friend. You’ve been a good one.”

Once his brother had hung up, Daniel sighed. He would spend the rest of his life cursing the fact that Molly had needed to turn to someone else for comfort and support because of him.

The phone was barely back on the hook before it rang again. This time it was Joe Sutton, and Daniel could tell immediately that the news wasn’t good.

“You saw the Morrows,” he said flatly.

“I did. They’re fine, upstanding people. I didn’t get so much as a whisper of anything out of the ordinary. They have no idea why Kendra might have run away, and they’re beside themselves that she did. There is no reason I can see not to get the girl back home pronto and give them some peace of mind.”

Daniel winced at that. If Joe was convinced, he had no reason to question it, but Kendra’s fear was real. Molly would have been able to see through it if it had been something the girl had made up or was dramatizing in some way.

“Give me till morning,” he pleaded with Joe. “Can you do that?”

“What’s going to change between now and tomorrow morning? Those people are going through hell worrying about their daughter. I felt guilty enough looking them in the eye and not admitting that I could take them straight to her. Any more delays and my goose is cooked. Yours, too.”

“We’re both already in this up to our eyeballs,” Daniel pointed out. “Let’s at least go the extra mile. I convinced Molly to set up a meeting with Kendra
and me tonight. If I can get her to open up, tell me her side of things, we’ll know for a fact that we’re doing the right thing. With what you’ve just told me, I can ask the right questions, push a little harder for the right answers.”

“I don’t think Molly’s going to let you lean on Kendra,” Joe said dryly. “She’s a runaway, not a criminal.”

“And I’m going in there tonight as a friend, not an authority figure.”

“Are you going to try to persuade her to go home voluntarily?” Joe asked. “The last thing I want to have to do is come in there with sirens blaring and haul her out.”

“You’re just worried Molly will ban you from the premises and you’ll be cut off from your chowder fix,” Daniel said.

“No, believe it or not, I’m worried about traumatizing the girl.”

“Then we’ll see to it that it doesn’t go down that way, okay?”

“I’m heading over there at nine a.m.,” Joe said finally. “I’ll expect to find her ready, if not eager to go home.”

“I’ll be right there with you,” Daniel promised. “Thanks, Joe. I know you’ve gone out on a limb for this kid. I’ll back you up in any way I have to.”

Now he just had to convince Kendra and Molly that sending Kendra back home was for the best. He had no idea which of them was going to be the harder sell.

“You go,” Kendra insisted when Molly told her about the dinner plans. “I can stay home and read. I’ve got lots of books. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re missing the point,” Molly said. “Daniel wants to get to know you.”

“He wants to cross-examine me, you mean,” Kendra said knowingly. “Thanks but no thanks.”

“It won’t be like that. I’ll see to it,” Molly promised.

Kendra regarded her skeptically. “The way I see it, the man wants two things out of this dinner…answers from me and a chance to spend a little quality time with you. He ought to be happy with a batting average of five hundred.”

Some men might be, but not Daniel. “I promised him I would persuade you to come,” Molly told her. “Sweetie, he could have turned you in by now, if that’s what he wanted—he or Joe Sutton, either one. They haven’t done it. That should tell you something. They both want what’s best for you.”

“I suppose,” Kendra said with obvious skepticism.

“What will it take to convince you that I’m right about this?”

“Sworn statements that they’re not sending me back to my parents,” Kendra said without hesitation.

“I don’t think you’re going to get that, not until you’ve given them valid reasons why you don’t want to go back there.”

“Who gets to decide what’s valid?”

“For now, they do. The court, if it comes to that.”

“Now there’s a reassuring thought,” Kendra said. “Some judge who doesn’t know me or my parents gets to decide what’s best. Let’s see, the judge would be a grown-up. My folks are grown-ups. I’m a kid. I wonder which way this will go?”

“I’m a grown-up and I’m on your side,” Molly pointed out. “And Daniel and Joe have been on your
side, even without all the facts, right? If you believe what you’ve done is the right thing, give us a chance to help you prove it.”

Kendra seemed to weigh Molly’s words for an eternity before finally nodding. “Okay, I’ll come, but I’m splitting if I don’t like the way things are going.”

“Agreed,” Molly said with relief. She had not wanted to spend an entire evening alone with Daniel. The prospect of that scared her at least as much as the prospect of all those questions terrified Kendra.

Downstairs, Molly filled Retta in on the plans and placed a call to her backup waitress and bartender. She wanted to be certain that nothing was left to chance now that Kendra had agreed to go along with meeting Daniel. Once satisfied that everything was in place, Molly called Daniel’s once-familiar number and tried not to react at the sound of his voice.

“It’s me,” she said quietly.

“Hey, you,” he said. “What’s up? Are we all set for this evening?”

She could hear the smile in his voice and felt the familiar pang of yearning. “We’re set. Kendra’s skeptical about your motives and your intentions, but she’s agreed to have dinner with us.”

“Then I’ll see you at six. How about pizza? All kids love pizza, right?”

“So do you, as I recall.”

“This is about putting Kendra at ease,” he insisted. “If I can get a pepperoni and mushroom pizza out of it for myself, so much the better.”

“If we’re going to Giorgio’s, I’d better get upstairs and change,” she said. “The red suit will be a bit much.” She heard his sigh of disappointment with a
sense of purely feminine satisfaction. “You did pick pizza,” she reminded him.

“Obviously one more bit of evidence of just how big a fool I am,” he said. He could name one person who’d be pleased, though—his brother. Patrick had really hated the idea of him spending time with Molly while she was wearing that suit.

“Daniel, this is going to be okay, right? You’re not leading me down some garden path intending to betray Kendra the first chance you get, are you? Joe’s not going to be lurking in the bushes to grab her, is he?”

There was no mistaking his slight hesitation.

“Daniel Devaney, you’d better tell me what’s going on, because if I find out that this is some kind of ploy, I’ll make you pay for it.”

“It’s not a ploy,” he said at once. “But there has been a development. Joe saw the parents today. Everything checked out. He can’t find a single reason not to take Kendra back home.”

“She’s scared,” Molly retorted, barely managing to keep a lid on her temper. “Isn’t that reason enough?”

“Not unless she can explain
why
she’s scared,” he said quietly. “That’s what tonight is about, Molly. I swear to you that I’m going to give her a chance to tell me what’s going on. If it gives me something to work with, I can hold Joe off. He’s already given me till morning, which is more of a concession than we probably deserved. With the right ammunition, I can extend that.”

“Or?” she asked, her heart in her throat. “What happens if Kendra doesn’t give you something you think justifies her staying away?”

He hesitated, and she knew he was debating whether or not to trust her.

“Joe comes by in the morning to pick her up,” he said finally.

Molly groaned. “Dammit, Daniel, why did you have to go and tell me that?”

“Because I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. This is too important. I want you to know that I trust you not to do anything crazy, like running off with her.”

For one insane minute that was exactly what had popped into Molly’s head. She could pack up a few things and they could be gone in an hour. But she knew that Daniel would be on their trail in no time, as would Joe Sutton. They would be a whole lot better at tracking her down than she would be at evading them.

“Once you’ve heard her out, you have to tell Kendra the truth about what’s going to happen next,” she said finally. “She has to be prepared.”

“Only if you’ll promise to do everything in your power to assure that she’s there in the morning if we agree that Joe picking her up is the way to go,” he said. “The last thing any of us want is for Kendra to take off on her own again, right?”

“Right,” she said emphatically. Molly would go with the teen before she would let that happen.

“I’ll see you at six, then,” he said.

“Daniel, why does life have to be so darned complicated?” she asked, unable to keep a wistful note out of her voice.

“I wish I knew the answer to that. Maybe over dinner we can all come up with some way to keep it simple.”

“Sounds like a tall order.”

“But we’re smart people,” he said. “And from
what I hear, Kendra’s a genius. Maybe she’ll be the one to show us the way.”

“She already has. She ran away. Apparently we’re just not listening.”

“I will listen,” Daniel promised. “Trust me, Molly. When it comes to kids in trouble, I always listen.”

She knew that was true. Maybe that’s why it had been an even harder blow when he hadn’t listened to her pleas on behalf of one innocent baby who couldn’t speak for himself.

Knowing that Molly didn’t trust him made Daniel ache inside. He wanted to blame her for it, but he couldn’t. He had no one to blame but himself. He’d told her he loved her how many times? A thousand, maybe. But when she’d come to him on that fateful night, excitement and trepidation in her eyes as she’d told him about the baby, how had he demonstrated that love? By embracing her and the news? No. He’d rejected her and the baby, dismissing any possibility of becoming involved in parenting.

Oh, he’d had his reasons. Good ones, for that matter, but they weren’t good enough. Any real man would have stepped up to the plate and accepted more than financial responsibility for his own child. In turning his back, he’d proved himself to be Connor Devaney’s son. It was a regret he’d live with the rest of his life.