“You boys had better go inside—” she said.
“Would you like a ride?” Hayden asked suddenly.
Nadine nearly dropped her cup. “No!” she said, her stomach doing a somersault as she sloshed coffee on her hand.
“Would I?” John echoed gleefully. “You know it!”
“Me, too!” Bobby chimed in, jumping up and down.
This, whatever it was, couldn’t happen! “Now wait a minute. You have homework and chores and—”
“Aw, Mom, just for a little while?” John asked, some of his earlier belligerence disappearing, his face flushed with anticipation. “Please?”
“Mr. Monroe is a busy man.” She glanced at Hayden for help out of this one, but found him grinning at her discomfiture. She wiped her hand on her jeans. “I just don’t think it would be such a good idea tonight to—”
“I’m not that busy,” Hayden replied. “It’s okay with me. If, of course, it’s okay with you.”
Both boys started begging and pleading at once. Nadine felt her cheeks flush and saw the silent laughter in Hayden’s eyes.
“You don’t have a great track record with boats,” she said, and saw his countenance grow deathly still at the mention of the boat wreck that had nearly taken Wynona Galveston’s life.
His skin stretched tight over his face, but he didn’t back down and Nadine knew she’d said too much. Deep in her heart, she realized that he wouldn’t hurt her children—not intentionally. And yet letting them go with him was difficult.”Do you have life jackets?” she finally asked.
“Life jackets are for babies!” John declared.
“I even have one for you,” Hayden replied stonily, and Nadine had to grit her teeth. It wasn’t that she wanted to deny the boys a good time, she just didn’t want to get involved with Hayden in any way, shape or form.
“I don’t have time,” she said. “And the boys really should get started on their—”
Bobby’s eyes filled with tears. Silently her youngest beseeched her. She didn’t know if he was putting on an act or not, but he’d been so unhappy lately, she couldn’t find it in her heart to say no to him. “I suppose it would be all right for a little while,” she said, caving in and knowing that she was not only treading in dangerous waters by allowing Hayden any insight into her or her family’s life, she was diving in wholeheartedly! Bobby, the little con man, was suddenly all smiles. His tears seemed to evaporate into thin air. “Be back before dark,” she insisted, still trying to assert her authority. She was, after all, still the mother and therefore still the boss.
“We will!” Her sons were already running back to the dock.
Hayden slowly set his empty cup on the rail. “Thanks for the coffee—I’ll bring t
hem back soon,” he assured her, but there was no warmth in his voice.
Nadine felt instantly contrite. He was just giving her children a much-needed thrill and a little male attention. “Look, I’m sorry for the crack about the boating accident, it’s just that—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he snapped.
She glanced to her boys, already climbing into the speedboat. “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“It’s just a ride. Don’t read anything more into it, Nadine,” he said, and she felt her cheeks flush. “Believe me, I’m not getting into anything.”
* * *
THE KIDS WERE rambunctious and excited. They could hardly sit still, and each kept pushing the other out of the way so that he could be in the front and therefore in command. The wind tore at their hair and eyes and they laughed with an uninhibited abandon that surprised Hayden. There had been few times in his childhood when he had felt as carefree as these two rowdy boys. Maybe if he’d had a brother or even a sister to share some of the scrutiny and expectations from his two parents, he would have been able to cut loose a little as a kid and would have avoided the rebellion that had slowly become his guiding force as he’d entered high school and had stuck with him through college.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the little house Nadine occupied was far in the distance.
Frowning, he realized she’d changed. She was different from the girl he remembered. She had filled out and matured, her hair had darkened and her hips and breasts were curvier. Her green eyes still snapped with intelligence but her tongue had become sharper over the years, her cynicism surprising. There was a deep-seated bitterness toward him. She seemed to blame him for some injustice she’d suffered at his hand. But what?
He gnawed on his lips and his eyes narrowed. True, he’d never called her after the accident. His parents had made it crystal clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, that she’d only cared about his money. He hadn’t trusted them of course, but he’d seen the canceled check, the “hush money” of five thousand dollars that his father had paid George Powell in order that his daughter didn’t cry “rape.”
But that was crazy. They’d never made love...not that he hadn’t wanted to. They’d come close a couple of times, and Nadine had seemed more than willing, but they’d never consummated their lust because Hayden had held back, thinking that he was protecting her honor, never wanting her to go through what Trish London had endured.
He shoved the throttle all out and the boys whooped in glee. Their faces were red with the wind and spray from the water and their hair was damp against their heads. “I don’t suppose either of you would like to drive,” he said, and was met with loud shouts from each boy proclaiming that he should be the first to helm the boat.