you tricking me?” Meredith asked.
“Yes, I was.” Starla turned her attention to Charlie. “You didn’t happen to grab my phone, did you?”
He shook his head.
“I need to call my dad. He’s expecting to hear from me, and he’ll be worried, especially if he calls and my phone just rings and rings.”
“No problem.” Charlie grabbed the cordless phone from the counter between the kitchen and living room and handed it to her. “Use mine.”
“It’s long distance,” she warned.
“And you’re here because of me,” he replied in the same tone.
She took the phone and punched in numbers.
“Come on, Meredith, I’ll fix a snack.”
“But I didn’t getta say it yet.”
“Say it after she makes her call.”
She followed him to the kitchen.
For once when he would have welcomed Meredith’s chatter to cover the conversation in the other room, the child remained silent. Bits of Starla’s side of the conversation floated to them as she explained what happened. “I swear, I’m all right… I know…well, I don’t know…how long it will be before they can get here to pull it up… The highway’s closed, anyway… I’m so sorry…make it up some other way. Maybe if I call… I know what this meant to you… Yes, I’m perfectly fine…yes, it’s just a truck…some other way… Daddy….”
Charlie got the impression that something more than a few days’ travel was at stake. Was she in some kind of trouble?
He put together grilled cheese sandwiches and mugs of hot tomato soup, and carried a tray into the other room.
Starla sat up, but she only took a few bites. She sipped the cup of tea he brought her, then nestled back down into the covers.
“Starla?” Meredith said timidly.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry I got in your truck and made you get in a accident.”
“The accident wasn’t your fault, honey. They call them accidents because they’re nobody’s fault.”
Meredith didn’t seem reassured by those words, but Charlie stayed out of the dialogue.
“It’s okay,” Starla said, somehow understanding the child needed forgiveness. “I’m not mad at you.”
Meredith nodded. “Okay.”
Meredith picked at her food and Starla drifted into sleep. After cleaning up their dishes, Charlie held his daughter on his lap.
“It’s time to talk now,” he told her.
She nodded gravely and raised innocent wide eyes that immediately filled with tears. “I did a naughty thing, huh, Daddy?”
“Yes, you did. It was a dangerous thing. There are rules about strangers and about going anywhere by yourself, and the rules are to keep you safe. Do you understand?”
She nodded. To her credit, she didn’t use an excuse. “I’m very, very sorry.”
“What do you think is a fair punishment?”
They’d had similar conversations in the past, so she understood the concept. “I shouldn’t get to play with something I really like for a whole year.”
Time was a concept she had a problem with, however. “I think a week will do. What should that favorite thing be?”
She glanced aside, then up at him. “My angel book.”
She loved that book, so not having it for a week would be stern punishment. “I think that’s fair.”
“I must have left it in the angel lady’s truck.”
“We’ll get it tomorrow.” She nestled her head against his chest and he rocked her. “I love you with my whole heart.”
“I love you with my whole heart, too, Daddy.”
He picked up a book and read it to her, then just held her until she fell asleep. Eventually he carried her to her bed and tucked her in, pausing to touch his face to her cheek and smooth her dark hair.
He wouldn’t have been able to go on living if anything had happened to his Meredith.
Back in the living room, the woman still slept. Charlie added a log to the fire and sat across from her. She had a few dark streaks on her cheek and in her hairline. He got a wet cloth and dabbed it on her face.
She opened her eyes. That incredible blue gaze wreaked havoc with his senses every time she turned it on him.
“There was still some blood,” he explained.
Her eyes drifted shut.
He removed the dried blood gently, smoothing her hair back from her temple with the cloth. Her hair was so pale and fine; it darkened visibly when it got wet. The skin of her temples seemed almost translucent, and her brows were fair and shaped like wings. Her golden lashes lay against her cheeks in soft curls.
He’d never seen anyone so exquisite—there was just no other word for her—beautiful didn’t cut it, couldn’t describe those striking cheekbones and hair that begged to be touched. His fingers itched to learn just how silken and soft it would be.
Charlie wiped his palm against the thigh of his jeans.
In the firelight, her hair shimmered like gossamer threads of silver and gold. He touched it then, just to move it from under her cheek and make her more comfortable. It was cool and satiny in his fingers. He drew a breath that came from his toes and curled a hitch in his chest.
Her eyes opened.
His breathing stopped.
“Charlie,” she whispered sleepily.
It was the sexiest word in the history of language. “What?”
“Is it still snowing?”
He roused himself from his visual trance to go peer out the window into the night. The moon revealed swirling flakes still falling to blanket the countryside. “Yes,” he answered.
“Charlie,” she said again.
If he didn’t guard his reactions to every sigh and word and each flutter of her lash, he was going to lose all self-respect. “Yes?”
“Do you suppose I could have a bath?”
Ohmygod.
“I’m kind of achy.” She brought her open hand to her chest. “Probably from the seat belt, but I’m
