"Is your wife a lawyer, too?"
His eyes dulled. "No."
"Will she be joining---"
"No." he said cutting her words.
Lee shivered. The way he said that one word.... "I'm sorry," she said. "it's none of my business."
He stood frozen, quiet---which told her more than she had a right to know. Rogan Matt was the sole guardian of his son. The reason weren't important, but they were enough to stay on her guard. Daddy's role model weren't a favored part of her life. Her father had left Charmaine when Lee was a toddler. Two decades later, her own marriage had dissolved in a raw divorce after her inability to conceive--and her ex's infidelity.
"see you in a week." she spun around.
"Lee, wait. I need you to fly me tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I thought you were on vacation." Again, according to Kat.
"I'm, but I just found out I'll need to be in Renton for a 9:00am meeting. I can take the afternoon ferry back if you're not available."
She mulled over her options. "Fine. I'm flying my brother-in-law to Renton at one, I can fly you back then. That time frame work for you?
" Yes, and thank you. See you at eight-fifteen?"
" Till then."she shrugged out of his vest, reluctant to let go of his scent. Get a grip, Lee. " Goodbye, Mr.Matt."
" Rogan," he corrected, taking the garment she shoved into his hand."And goodnight, Lee."
She hurried down the part, the timbre of his voice lingering in her ears. The prickle in her fingers sharpened.
Tomorrow, she'd fly him over, and afterwards find an excuse to boot him off her plane and out of her life.
Determined, she said goodbye to Kat and Blake, and drove home. Two hours later, Rogan Matt's mellow southern accent continued to whisper across her skin.
-------------------
He slept in spurts, getting out of bed when dawn edged a line of pink onto the horizon. Today he would be climbing into a plane with a woman pilot. A woman whose moves attracted him, whose hair framed her face in a way that was sexy as hell.
A woman with whom he'd spend twenty minutes flying across ocean waters. Not a lake and not in the mountains, he reasoned. It's not the same geography Claire and Darby flew over. His heart bounced in his chest. Although the Radiant heating had clicked on at 5:00am and the cabin was warming, he felt a chill. Shoving away visions of confined cockpits, he checked on Danny across the hall. Curled in a ball, blankets cocooned around his small body, his son slumbered the sleep of the innocent.
Rogsn touched the boy's shoulder, felt its fragility, and a surge of protection blew through him. I'll always be here for you, son. I won't let you down. Leaving the boy to sleep for another couple of hours, he went to shower.
Minutes later, he dressed, then headed for the kitchen to pour cereals into a pair of thick, ceramic bowls.
By eight o'clock, briefcase in hand, he locked up the cabin and ushered Danny out to the truck.
"You know that Mrs.Huddleston will be taking you to school this morning, right, buddy?" Rogan stood in the open door of the rear passenger seat and waited for his son to buckle up. He hated the thought of dropping Danny at the lady's House this one time, but she lives across from the school, and she'd been a caretaker for kids for years. Rogan had done an extensive check in case he needed her assistance when he had to leave before the school's doors opened. As he did today.
Dan's blond hair fell into his eyes.
"Tomorrow we'll get you a haircut," Rogan continued.
"Don't wanna."
"Ah. You want to look like a rock star," he cajoled, hoping to draw a smile from his son as he tugged the collar of the boy's red jacket from back of his thin neck. Danny had been surly since he crawled from bed an hour ago.
"No-o."
"A shaggy dog then?"
"No. Let's just go, Dad."
Rogan held in a sigh. "Okay, pal." After closing the door, he went around the hood,got behind the wheel, and started the engine. Hoping for a trace of eagerness on his son's face, he glanced in the rearview mirror.
Danny stared out the side window at the cabin, his mouth a line of mutiny.
Okay, then driving down the timbered lane of the B&B to shore road, Rogan offered, "Mrs.Huddleston said there's a boy your age sge also takes to school. His name's Piper and he's in your class."
No answer.
"You know I'd stay home if I could, Daniel, but I need to attend this meeting with uncle Johnny."
Still no response. Checking the mirror again, he felt his heart lurch. A tear clung to his son's cheek. The sight nearly had him pulling to the roadside, except he couldn't afford to miss his flight with Lee Tait, and Danny needed to be on time for school. "Talk to me, buddy,"he tried again."Please."
The boy's bottom lip quivered. He continued to view the ocean through the trees. "I wanna go to my old school."
Translation: I hate making new friends.
"And I wanna go home."
The house in Renton. "Aw, bud. This is our home now."
"I don't wanna live here no more."
"Okay, but we'll have to tell juniper and pepper."
"No!" Danny's eyes clashed with Rogan's in the mirror. "Can't we take the horses with us?"
"Do you think that's fair? The farm is their home. Besides...." Rogan played another angle, one that garnered a smidgen of guilt. "They're animals. They'll get confused in a new place."
He had turned down Main street before the boy's reply drifted from the rear seat. "Okay, we can stay. I don't want them to feel lost."
A stone hit Rogan's gut. Danny transposed his own emotions onto the mare and foal. Reaching back, he patted the boy's knee. "Everything's going to work out, buddy, you'll see."