When Megan Smiles

“They’re four. They’ll be five in a few months.”

“But at that age…” She shrugged, obviously bothered. “Surely they’re on the list?”

“They’re on the list for kindergarten in the fall,” he said. “And they’re pretty excited about it, at least Greg is. Gabe isn’t so sure he wants to go, but if his brother goes, he’ll tag along.”

“Oh, what school?” she asked, her interest piqued again.

“The elementary school near where we live.”

“Public school?” she gasped, as if he’d said they were going into a labor camp. “Why would you do that?”

He drank more of the wine that the waiter had just poured for him. “It’s the school my wife and I planned on for them.”

Francine sat back, looking a bit flustered. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me. David explained about your loss, how your wife was…taken, and you were left with the two boys.” She reached out and patted his hand again. An action he knew was an attempt to show sympathy, but it felt intrusive and wrong to him, the way her words did. “I’m sure things would be different if she was still…here.”

If Gabriella was here, the boys would still be going to that school, and he wouldn’t be enduring this stupid conversation with a woman who was looking for a sperm donor. He moved his hand away and sipped more wine before he said, “Yes, things would be very different.”

“How long has it been since she…she passed?”

Passed? Was taken? “Since she died?” he asked bluntly, and wished he had more to drink.

“Yes,” Francine murmured somberly.

“Almost two years,” he said. Then his cell phone rang, and he took it out of the pocket of his dark suit coat as if he’d been thrown a lifeline. He glanced at the LED readout and saw a Houston number he recognized. That of Zane Holden, the CEO at LynTech Corporation, and a man who had proved to be a good friend to him when he needed one.

“Excuse me for a minute,” he said to Francine. “I need to take this.” He flipped the phone open and answered it. “Zane?”

“Yes, it’s me, Rafael.”

Zane was the only person who ever called Rafe by his given name, except for his mother. He’d said it fit, with Rafe’s naturally bronzed skin, the ebony hair, black eyes and high cheekbones. Rafe didn’t know if it fit or not, but it felt right coming from a friend he’d known since the very early days of his career in corporate security. They hadn’t seen each other recently, not since Zane had gotten married, but they kept in touch.

“What’s going on?” he asked, ignoring the waiter setting plates of food before them on the table.

There was no friendly small talk. “I need to speak with you as soon as possible. When can we get together?”

“What’s going on? You and Lindsey—”

“No, it’s business, and I need your help.”

It was a given Rafe would do anything for Zane personally or on a business level. Zane had been the one to drag him back into the land of the living when he’d needed it the most. He glanced at Francine, who was picking at her meal and trying to appear not to be listening to his conversation. He wasn’t about to feel guilty, only relieved that he had the perfect excuse to leave. “I’ll call you back in five minutes.”

“Five minutes,” Zane said.

Rafe flipped the phone shut and smiled apologetically at Francine. At least he hoped he pulled that off. “I’m so sorry, but a business emergency just came up. I need to go.”

“Oh, yes, okay,” she said, and would have stood, but he motioned for her to remain where she was.

“No, you stay and enjoy your dinner.” They’d come in their own cars, so that wasn’t a problem. “Please, it’s paid for.”

She hesitated, then sank back in the chair, obviously not happy, but not about to make a scene. “Okay, but call me?”

He nodded, not about to agree to a lie out loud, then left. He settled the bill on the way out, and exited into the softness of the Fort Worth night. He gave the valet his parking ticket, then stood off to one side of the entry door. The night was balmy and clear, with a huge moon hanging over the city. He was obscenely relieved to be done with his first and last blind date, and actually felt as if he could breathe again. Then he flipped open his phone and hit Zane’s number on speed dial. The CEO answered on the first ring.

“It’s me,” Rafe stated.

“Thanks for calling back,” Zane said, while Rafe watched a black Jaguar pull up to the restaurant.

“No problem. Now what’s wrong?”

Two women got out of the sleek black car, handed their keys to the valet, then walked toward the entry. One was tall and leggy, the other shorter and more compact. Both were blond and dressed to kill.

“A security leak at LynTech,” Zane was saying in his ear.

“Let me give you Hal Simmons’s private number and he can take care of things.”

“No, I need you on it,” Zane said.

Rafe had been watching the blondes, and was taken aback when the tall one stopped about three feet from him and very deliberately gave him the once-over. Her eyes roamed every inch of his six-foot-two-inch frame, skimming over his dark suit, the white, collarless silk shirt, then met his gaze. She didn’t even blink.

“I don’t get involved,” he said into the phone to Zane, but realized he meant it with the woman, too. And she was waiting for him to say something to her directly, anything so she could come closer. But she’d have to wait until it snowed in July for that to happen. Not because she wasn’t beautiful, but because he really wasn’t interested in dating.

“I know you gave up working on the front line years ago, but I need you to come on down here and take a personal look at the situation,” Rafe was saying through the phone. “I need your input. Nothing against your people, but you’re the best, and I need you to do this.”

“My people are good,” he said, and realized his SUV was being brought up to the curb right then.

“Of course they are. That’s why you’re our security company at LynTech.” Rafe listened as he straightened, then moved toward the blonde. She actually started to smile, but that didn’t last when he walked right past her to get to his car. He thought he heard her mutter, “Whatever,” but he didn’t bother to check.

“Then let my crew deal with it,” he said into the phone.

“No, no,” Zane exclaimed as Rafe slipped into his black SUV and handed the valet a tip before the man closed his door for him. “I’d come up there to go over it with you, but Lindsey’s pretty sick with this pregnancy.”

Maybe if Zane hadn’t mentioned Lindsey’s sickness, Rafe would have tried to talk him into contacting Simmons. His friend’s words stopped him. Rafe drove away from the restaurant into light traffic, remembering how sick Gabriella had been during her whole pregnancy with the twins, and how important it had been for him to be there for her. Despite being the head of Dagget Security, Inc., he’d stepped away from the hands-on operations of the company and started delegating and supervising so he could be with Gabriella. He’d never gone back to the day-to-day work and had never regretted his decision.

“It’s that bad?” he asked as he headed west for home.

“Looks that way. We ducked the last disaster, but there’s more coming. I can feel it. I’d hoped you could cover it yourself, maybe work out of this office for a few weeks.”

Rafe hesitated, knowing that at any other time he would have rejected that idea out of hand. But he didn’t this time. The fact was, he didn’t need to get out and date and meet women to get on with his life. He needed to get out, period. Out of Fort Worth and out of the office. He’d go to Houston, and he’d take a break. The boys weren’t in school yet, and it wouldn’t be too hard to take them with him once he opened the house he had down there. They could even have their horses if they wanted to.

“I’ll have to make arrangements for the boys and—”

“If you bring them along, why not use our day care center at the head office? It’s top-notch and right in the building. Walker loves it there, and you’d be close if the boys needed you.”

Rafe had met Walker, Zane’s two-year-old son, shortly after Zane and Lindsey had married. Now Zane was going to be a father again. Strange how people you never thought of as parent material took to having kids like ducks to water.

The traffic slowed a lot and Rafe eased along the street at a snail’s crawl, then made his decision. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot. I’m not sure when I can get there.”

“Just let me know. I’ll set up a board meeting and—”