“Call me Jeff,” he said, shaking hands with the girl.
“Thank you,” Zia said. Her smile was quick and dazzling. “There’s a guy in my four o’clock history class at the university whose name is Aquilon.”
“That would be my nephew, Jeremy,” Jeff said, returning the smile. “He’s finishing his senior year in high school, plus taking some college courses. He missed a year, so he’s in a hurry to make it up.”
“I see. Please, won’t you have a seat?”
He glanced at Caileen. She indicated the easy chair and took her place at the end of the sofa.
Zia glanced out the door. “Here’s Sammy. I have to run. Nice meeting you, Jeff.”
With another one of her dazzling smiles, she was out the door and off on her grand adventure. Silence prevailed.
“Did Krista enjoy the stories?” Caileen asked.
“She did. I wondered if you could recommend others. Perhaps longer books. She went through those in two nights and could have done it in one if Wednesday hadn’t been a school night.”
“She has a high reading score, more than two grades above the fifth-grade level. I should have remembered that.”
“Is she gifted? Is that the word the academics use nowadays?”
“Yes, it is.” She stared at him while she considered.
He wore dark slacks and a white shirt, the cuffs rolled up on his arms. The collar was open, revealing a white T-shirt. He looked fit and strong.
Forcing herself to look away, she told him, “I’ll have to check her record, but I think she missed the standard tests for the gifted program last year.”
“Can she take them now?”
Caileen shook her head. “It’s only given once a year and only to fourth graders in elementary school.”
He gave an exasperated snort. “Bureaucracy.”
“You can have her tested, but you’ll have to pay the costs. I can give you the names of the approved testing services so you can consult with them.”
“Good. What do you think of the gifted program in the local school system?”
“Zia loved the field trips and advanced experiments they did, but some teachers just gave extra work to those in the program. The kids didn’t think that was fair.”
He grimaced. “Busywork. I’d hate that, too.” He paused, then added on a thoughtful note, “Your daughter is quite beautiful.” His gaze ran over her as if wondering where the beauty came from.
Caileen nodded. “She looks exactly like her father. Blond, curly hair. Blue eyes. Same shape face. The same tall, slender body. The energy. I always felt as if I were in a mysterious force field when I was with him. When things were good between us.” She winced internally at the last phrase. She hadn’t meant to say that at all.
“Things do change,” he said casually.
“Yes. Sometimes I wish she could have stayed Krista’s age.”
“But kids grow up.”
“And have minds of their own.” She managed a smile.
Then, to her amazement, her eyes misted over as worry over her child assailed her. She blinked rapidly and got the errant tears under control as Jeff prepared to leave.
“Well, I suppose I’d better get home. Friday is Tony’s night to cook dinner. It’s always grilled hamburgers. Krista got after him about the fat content of the potato chips we used to have with them so we’re having lime gelatin with pineapple chunks and grated carrots and grapes instead.” He grinned somewhat wryly as he described the meal.
“That’s nice,” she said. Her voice wobbled.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded and burst into tears.
Chapter Three
Jeff reacted without thinking. He went to Caileen, sat beside her on the sofa and put an arm around her shoulders while she sobbed.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m just…overwhelmed right now.”
“That’s okay.” He tried to think of a word that might apply to her problems, whatever they were. “Life seems unfair at times, but things have a way of working out.” There, that sounded vaguely wise. And, he hoped, comforting.
“For better or for worse?” she questioned with more than an edge of bitterness.
The phrase from the traditional marriage vows gave him a clue. “Have you recently broken off with someone?”
“No!”
She was so adamant he believed her at once. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he shut up. When she rested partly against him and partly against the sofa back, he found he liked the weight of her body on his.
When she turned toward him, he could feel the pressure of her breast against his side, and the warmth of her leg against his. She laid her right arm across his lap while she slid the other between his back and the sofa.
His libido sprang to hot, hard and instant attention.
He tried to suck in his stomach so she wouldn’t feel the pulsating ridge if she moved her arm just a fraction of an inch. Unfortunately he could only withdraw so far.
She sighed and leaned more into him. He knew the moment she became aware of his predicament.
Neither moved for a stunned moment, then she tilted her head against his shoulder, her eyes searching his as if bent on finding some great truth he was determined to hide.
He observed her, too. Her lips looked soft, full and inviting. They trembled with each breath. Her nose was pink on the tip, her eyes were red-rimmed and shimmering with unshed tears, and the moisture-laden lashes attractively outlined her eyes.
The color of her irises reminded him of the aqua green depths of the sea around the Caribbean islands he’d once explored while taking a special course in strategic sea tactics as a Ranger.
Her skin was smooth as he traced the tracks of the tears and dried them gently with his fingers. He ran one finger along her lips, which were soft to the touch and also vulnerable with the sorrow she evidently felt.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked, his voice going deep and husky as the internal hunger increased.
“Zia.”
“Kids and parents often have differences.”
She nodded against his shoulder and sighed again. Her breath softly penetrated his shirt, bringing a flush to his skin and yearning throughout his body. He wanted to search that full, mobile mouth with his own,
