Strategic Engagement. Catherine Mann
all his earlier speeches.
The deafening din of engines and the closed curtain offered a bubble of privacy and protection from being overheard. Not that he had thoughts of unrolling the past with her. He hadn’t been much for emotional sharefests then, either.
Besides, he didn’t want to trek back to the past. Too many memories waited there of a time he’d been less of a man. Too much his father’s son—seducing an innocent, betraying a friendship. His father’s wedding had marked a time of rotten decisions for everyone.
Halfway into a bottle of champagne, Daniel had found himself watching nineteen-year-old Mary Elise with new eyes. Another shared bottle and some consolation later, Daniel had found himself looking at all of Mary Elise with new eyes.
“What happens now?”
She’d asked him that then as well. What do I do now, Danny?
God help him, he’d shown her.
He’d been so pissed at his old man for going the whole trophy wife route. He didn’t deal well with emotions on a good day, and a bad day had a way of playing hell with a man’s self-control. Today marked another one of his worst days on record, but he wouldn’t screw up this time. No matter how enticing the image of draping that red hair over his chest. Mary Elise over him.
Mary Elise sighing.
“Danny?” She flung her hair over her shoulder in a crimson waterfall. “If you haven’t made arrangements for the boys, what do you propose we do once we land?”
“Hell if I know.” Then or now. “And it doesn’t look as if Trey knows what to do about me any more than I know what to do about him.”
Her brows pulled tighter, deepening her perpetual frown. “You aren’t going to give them up. Are you?”
“No. Absolutely not. I’ll figure it out. Soon.”
“Once you’re through worrying about our asses.”
He did not want to think about her ass. “Right.” Daniel scrubbed a hand over his bristly chin. “I have leave time built up. I’ll take it now until the boys and I can work out a plan. But I sure would appreciate your help for the next few days. Since you’re an American Express card short of being able to check into a Motel 6, I’m thinking we can make a trade.”
She shot him a disapproving look that had likely commanded boardrooms, then later classrooms. “Or you could do the gentlemanly thing and loan me a couple hundred bucks.”
Already he could feel her slipping away. Damn it, the boys needed her. And while he might not be Captain Communication, he wasn’t walking away without finding out what had her forehead trenched deeper than a fresh-plowed field. “Sure, I could loan you the money.”
“But you don’t want to.” Mary Elise willed away the rogue twinge of excitement. She wanted to say her goodbyes. Right? Danny had been a generous friend. An exciting lover.
And a lousy boyfriend.
Once that boyfriend/lover line had been crossed, recapturing the friendship became impossible. She knew keeping her distance now lent more credence to her feelings all those years ago. But her heart bore too many scars to risk opening it again.
All the same, guilt nudged her to say, “The boys do need me.”
“Yes, ma’am, they do,” he continued with a sincerity too reminiscent of past times conning his way out of trouble. “This is about more than asthma and EpiPens. Trey and Austin are alone and scared. They don’t know me from Adam.”
She didn’t buy into the Danny-perfected con tones for even a minute, but his logic had merit. Turning away from Austin crying in the crate hadn’t been an option. Why did she think now would be any different?
Scar tissue also made a person tough. She would hang on to that for the next few days with Danny and the boys. “Okay, okay! I actually agreed two arguments ago. You always were persistent.”
“And you were always too nice.”
Watching the dimples creep into Daniel’s cheeks and past her defenses, Mary Elise decided “nice” didn’t factor anywhere into her swirl of emotions. “Nice? Careful, Danny, or I’ll change my mind.”
“So you’ll help me for a couple of weeks?”
“A couple of days.” Hopefully enough time to formulate a new plan.
“Until I find another nanny.”
Which would take at least a week. “For the boys.”
“I never thought otherwise.”
He ducked back into the crew compartment, leaving her alone with her thoughts and two sleeping children. The cubicle echoed without him, the repercussions of her decision crowding the confined space. Since Kent didn’t know her location, a week should be safe before she risked alerting him by withdrawing money from her account. She could use the time to decide where to go and what to do with her life.
A week to stay with those two boys who’d first tugged her heart because of Daniel and then stolen her heart by being themselves. She wouldn’t even let herself think about being a surrogate-mother figure to them. Her dreams of family were dead, thanks to Kent.
Mary Elise leaned forward and tucked the sailboat blanket around Austin, his puffy breaths whispering over her wrist. She started to pull away, but he grappled for her hand without waking.
Stroking a thumb over butter-soft skin, she studied the miracle of five tiny fingers and couldn’t stem memories of all the babies she’d miscarried. She’d wanted to adopt, but Kent had insisted they keep trying for a biological child. She’d gone on the pill, anyway. For all the good it had done her. Then the surprise pregnancy had lasted longer than any of her other four first-trimester miscarriages.
She’d finally dared to hope.
Losing her son at twenty-four weeks had almost destroyed her. Discovering Kent had replaced her birth control pills with placebos months earlier finished the job.
Weariness swamped her along with the memories. She surrendered to the need for sleep and the tug of a chubby little hand. Mary Elise slid into the bottom bunk, curving herself protectively around Austin.
No, Kent had never raised a hand to her, which somehow made his menacing plans after she left all the more chilling. Hindsight told her she should have seen the warning signs. He’d been abusing her and controlling her in other ways for years, culminating in that final violation of her body and trust.
Now she had one week to find a new safe haven. And pray seven days of playing house with Danny and two precious boys wouldn’t slice past her scar tissue into what little soul she had left.
One booted foot resting on the bottom crew bunk across from him, Daniel sprawled in the unrelenting seat. Well, as much as a guy could sprawl in the tight space. Another half hour and he would take over flying while Wren sacked out.
He should be sleeping, but couldn’t. Too wired. Seeing Mary Elise now when he was still reeling from his father’s death rattled him. No question.
Daniel studied the three sleeping figures that had thrown his life into chaos. Sure he didn’t give a damn about ironing his uniform or eating on a schedule, but he was in charge of his world and his emotions.
Or he had been until Mary Elise and the boys.
In the past hour he’d made strides in regaining control. She was staying. The boys would level out. And somehow that still didn’t unkink the knot in his neck that had started right about the minute she’d turned those deep-green eyes his way for the first time in eleven years.
No risk of seeing her eyes now. She lay sleeping on the bottom bunk, her back to him, her body curved around Austin. Her hair tangled around the child and over the edge of the bed. The little guy snoozed on with his knees tucked to his chest, his blanket gripped in a white-knuckled fist.
Leaning,