Angel Mine

Suddenly Todd recalled her reading a set of dog-eared novels about a heroine named Angelique. He could remember the dreamy expression in her eyes, the deeply satisfied sighs when she reached the final page of each one.

“I remember,” he said, wishing he didn’t. Because with those memories came others of the sweet intensity of their lovemaking when Heather had been off in some imaginary, romantic world for a few hours.

Her gaze honed in on his, as if she knew precisely where his thoughts had strayed. Her expression softened.

And then that blasted cowboy called out, “Hey, sugar, how about a little more coffee?”

The moment was lost. It was just as well, Todd thought. Tripping down memory lane was the last thing he needed to be doing. Cold, hard logic, he reminded himself firmly. That was the ticket.

“I sit with you?” Angel asked, startling him. “You looks lonesome.”

Before he could reply, she slid in next to him, squeezing up against him until he shifted to make room for her and the doll she’d placed between them.

“Know what?”

“What?” he replied, reluctantly meeting her gaze.

“I’m gonna see my daddy,” she confided, unaware of the impact her words were having. “Mama said.” She leaned closer and patted his cheek. “I really, really need a daddy. I never had one.”

Todd’s gaze shot to Heather, who was still chatting with the cowboy. What the devil had she been telling Angel? Apparently she hadn’t identified him as the daddy in question just yet, but clearly it was only a matter of time if she was already prepping Angel for the big introduction.

Suddenly his appetite, not all that great to begin with, vanished.

“Let me out, Angel,” he asked, his voice choked. “I have to get going.”

Angel stared at his plate, wide-eyed. “But you didn’t finish your dinner. Mama says I can’t leave the table till I eat every bite.”

“And that’s a very good rule, I’m sure, but I’m not hungry.”

“Mama’s gonna be mad,” Angel predicted, still not budging.

Too impatient to wait for her to do as he’d asked, Todd awkwardly circled her waist with his arm and scooted Angel, Leaky and himself out of the booth, then set Angel back on the bench.

“I’ll leave your mom a big tip. That should improve her mood,” he said wryly, tossing bills—way too many of them—on the table.

He sidestepped Heather in the aisle, ignoring her surprise as he aimed straight for the door and the air he suddenly needed.

Apparently defiantly clinging to his routine wasn’t going to be quite the snap he’d hoped it would be, not with Heather and his daughter right smack in the middle of it.

“Was that Todd I saw charging out of here?” Henrietta asked when she came in to help Heather close up.

“It was.”

“He didn’t clean his plate,” Angel informed them both. She gazed up at Heather. “Maybe he should go to his room.”

Heather grinned. “He’s a grown-up, baby. He doesn’t have to eat if he doesn’t want to. Besides, my hunch is that he’s already headed for his room.”

Probably to make one of those infernal lists of his, she thought. If it couldn’t be quantified or analyzed or broken down into pros and cons, Todd wanted no part of it. Her arrival in town with Angel in tow had to be driving him nuts. She had to confess to taking a certain amount of pleasure in his discomfort. One of her favorite pastimes when they’d lived together was to rattle his sometimes scary, intimidating composure on a regular basis. Of course, nothing she’d done back then came even close to this.

Henrietta was still staring at the door with evident concern. “That’s two nights this week that he’s disappeared without eating. Last night and the night before, he didn’t come in at all. Something’s definitely wrong. Normally that man is here like clockwork every night and he has the appetite of a horse.”

Heather wasn’t about to enlighten her about what was likely wrong with Todd, but Henrietta was regarding her speculatively, clearly linking her arrival and Todd’s abrupt change in behavior.

“This all started when you showed up here the other day,” she said slowly, her expression thoughtful. “I know I introduced you, but he latched on to you like a man with something on his mind. You two already knew each other, didn’t you? How well?”

“That probably depends on which one of us you ask,” Heather replied, thinking of Todd’s insistence that she didn’t know him at all.

“How well?” Henrietta repeated.

“We dated for a while.”

Henrietta’s eyes narrowed. “How long is a while?”

“A few years.”

The older woman’s gaze shot to Angel. Then she sat down in one of the vacant booths. “Oh, my. Don’t tell me…” Her voice trailed off.

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this just now,” Heather said with a pointed look at Angel. Her daughter didn’t appear to be listening to the grownups, but with Angel you could never tell. She’d repeated an awful lot of things Heather would have sworn she hadn’t heard.

“No, I suppose not.” Henrietta regarded Heather sternly. “But we will talk about it. Make no mistake about that.”

Heather winced at her tone. Henrietta had been kind and generous, taking Heather and Angel in without giving it a second thought. But it was obvious that her first loyalty was to a man she’d known for months, a man she clearly liked and respected.

“I’ll explain everything,” Heather promised. If Henrietta was going to continue letting her work here, maybe she did deserve to know the whole truth about what had brought Heather and Angel to Whispering Wind. She didn’t belong in the cross fire, at least not without understanding what was going on and deciding for herself if she was willing to be a party to it.

“I’ll explain tonight, if you want,” Heather offered. “I’ll get Angel into bed and come back down.”

“Tomorrow will be soon enough,” Henrietta said, then glanced at the remaining customer. “Looks as if Joe would like more coffee. If you’ll see to that, I’ll close out the register and get the bank deposit ready.”

Heather wasn’t particularly anxious to serve Joe coffee or anything else. He was a friendly, nice-looking young man. With his coal-black hair curling over his collar, the chiseled planes of his face and his piercing blue eyes, he was every woman’s fantasy of a rugged cowboy, in fact, but she wasn’t interested.

He, however, clearly was. He’d been sweet-talking her the past two nights in his shy, gentle way. While the attention had been flattering, she was very much afraid he was starting to hope for something more than good service in exchange for his tip.

“Why don’t you sit down and join me for a bit?” he suggested when she’d filled his cup.

“We’re about to close. I need to help Henrietta.”

“Henrietta’s been managing this place just fine on her own for a long time now. She can spare you. Come on, sugar, sit down and tell me about yourself.”

“Sorry, I can’t. As soon as we’re finished, I have to get Angel up to bed. I don’t like her to get in the habit of staying up late.” Even when she’d carted her to the theater, she’d tried to make sure that she was asleep in the dressing room by eight when the show went on, so the stagehands would only have to peek in on her while Heather was on stage.

“Looks as if she’s found herself a napping place in that booth over there,” Joe pointed out with a lopsided, engaging grin.

Sure enough, Angel was curled up in the space Todd had just vacated, sound asleep, her doll snuggled next to her. Heather seized on the excuse.

“Then I’d better carry her up right now.”

Joe stood at once. “She’s too heavy for you. I could take her for you.”