and tried to ignore the slam of regret that hit him. “Then let me see her.”
“You want to go poking around in my kitchen or even in my apartment upstairs, you do that,” she said loudly enough to be heard in the next county. “I won’t try to stop you, but I won’t forgive you.” Her gaze swept over him, cold as ice. “Oh, wait, that’s right. I haven’t forgiven you for a lot of things, have I? I can just add this to the list.”
Daniel wanted nothing more in that instant than to pull her into his arms and kiss her until the ice melted and she molded herself to him the way she once had. He wanted the heat and excitement and passion back, if not the complications.
“Molly, this isn’t personal,” he said quietly.
“Funny, it feels damn personal to me. You’re questioning my integrity.”
“Only because I know what a soft touch you are when it comes to kids,” he said. “You’d hide that girl if you thought it was the right thing to do, especially if you thought it would also tick me off. I’m telling you, it’s not the right choice. She has a family. Think about them for a minute. Put yourself in their shoes. Their daughter’s missing and they’re scared. They’re worried to death about all the things that could happen to an innocent kid out on the streets alone.”
A faint flicker of emotion in her eyes told him he’d hit his mark, but then her expression returned to that neutral, cool one that told him he’d lost his one chance at getting through to her. Maybe Joe would have had better luck with her. Her guard wouldn’t have been up with him. Her natural desire to defy Daniel wouldn’t have been a factor.
“Like I said, you want to search the place, search,” she said.
His gaze clashed with hers. “Do you think I won’t?”
“No. I think you’ll do exactly what you want to do,” she said. “You always have.”
He could have trusted her and let it go, could maybe have redeemed himself just a little in her eyes by walking out, but he turned and walked into the kitchen, because that was his job. Naturally, because of the commotion Molly had caused, the kitchen was empty except for the same cook who’d been working there for forty years. Though they’d once been friends, Retta could be as tight-lipped and taciturn as any female on earth with people she didn’t like. She gave Daniel a look that spoke volumes about what she thought of him, but gave nothing away about any kid who might be hiding in the pantry.
“Have you seen a teenager in here?” he asked, even though he knew he was wasting his breath.
Retta made an exaggerated show of looking around. “Room looks empty to me.”
“And earlier? Was she in here ten minutes ago?”
“I’m too busy cooking to keep track of people coming and going. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re packed out there. Molly’s doing a brisk business these days,” she said proudly.
Daniel almost started to enjoy himself. Retta had an honest streak, and he could see that his questions were testing her innate desire to tell the truth. “Let’s concentrate on the kitchen, Retta. Are you admitting that people have been coming and going in here today?”
“Did I say that?”
“Sounded like it to me. Where’d she go, Retta?”
She shrugged and stirred the chowder. “Like I said, I don’t pay attention to the comings and goings around here.” She frowned at him. “Come to think of it, I did take note of one person going.”
“Oh?”
“That was you, and you broke my baby’s heart.” The look she gave him was fierce. “Don’t go doing it again.”
Daniel sighed. “I never meant to hurt her.”
“But it happened just the same, didn’t it?” Retta said. “Now get on out of here. I have work to do and I can’t do it with the likes of you underfoot.”
Daniel left, grateful to be away from Retta’s accusatory looks and harsh words. He deserved all she’d said and more, but that didn’t make it any easier to take.
Molly was behind the bar, pretending to wipe off the already shiny surface, when he emerged from the kitchen.
“Find anyone?” she inquired.
“Just Retta, looking as pleasant as ever,” he admitted.
“She doesn’t like you.”
“She did once.”
“So did I,” Molly retorted. “Times change.”
Daniel kept his gaze steady. “Do you want to hash out our old news here and now, with everyone looking on?”
Molly glanced around and evidently took note of the fascinated gazes turned their way. She shrugged. “Not particularly.”
“Then give me your key.”
She blinked at that. “What the hell do you want with my key?”
“I’m going upstairs to look for the girl. Not ten minutes ago, you said you had no problem with that.”
“Well, I do now. You’ll go upstairs over my dead body,” she said, standing defiantly in his path.
His gaze never wavered. “Your choice.”
The standoff lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but Molly clearly knew him well enough to realize that he wasn’t going to leave until he’d completed his search. She reached in her pocket, then slapped the key in his palm.
“Have a ball,” she said sarcastically. “When you get to the bedroom, be sure to spend a few minutes reliving old times. Of course, things aren’t exactly the same. I’ve managed to rid the room of all traces of you.”
He turned and stalked off before she could see that her jibe had hit home.
Upstairs, he opened the door to her private quarters, then sucked in a deep breath as a million and one memories assailed him. He’d spent some of the happiest nights of his life in this apartment.
It still bore the faint scent of Jess’s pipe tobacco, the more recent scent of Molly’s perfume. The carpet was worn bare in spots, and the overstuffed furniture had seen better days, but Molly had added touches that made the place feel cozy rather than shabby. There were fresh flowers in a vase on the table in the tiny kitchen, another vase beside the bed. There was a gallery of framed snapshots on her dresser, but the space where his had been was gathering dust. She’d tossed a bright red chenille spread across the back of the sofa and added a pile of pillows. A stack of well-worn paperbacks, mostly Louis L’Amour Westerns, still sat beside Jess’s favorite chair.
Being here again, absorbing the atmosphere, made Daniel’s heart ache. The pain was deeper because he was here not by invitation, but because he’d intruded. His lack of trust today was just one more thing to be added to the list of his sins he was certain Molly kept in some mental notebook. He doubted there was enough time left in either of their lives for him to make amends.
Worse,
