Page 41 of This Heart Of Mine (Chicago Stars 5)

“Of course he did.”

She wasn’t too tired for sarcasm, he noticed. His resentment simmered.

“He was more than happy to gossip about you. Apparently you stopped emptying your mailbox a few weeks ago.”

“Nobody sends me anything interesting.”

“And the only time you’ve left your apartment since Thursday night is to take out your pit bull.”

“Stop calling him that. I’m recovering from a cold, that’s all.”

He could see her red nose, but somehow he didn’t think a cold was the only thing wrong with her. He rose. “Come on, Molly. Holing up like this isn’t normal.”

She peered at him from beneath her wrist. “Like you’re an expert on normal behavior? I heard you were swimming with sharks when Dan found you in Australia.”

“Maybe it’s depression.”

“Thank you, Dr. Tucker. Now, get out.”

“You lost a baby, Molly.”

He’d made a statement of fact, but it was as if he’d shot her. She sprang up from the couch, and the way her expression turned feral told him more than he wanted to know.

“Get out of here before I call the police!”

All he had to do was walk through the door. God knew he had enough aggravation

on his plate right now with the publicity the People article had kicked up. And just being with her was making his gut churn. If only he could forget the way she’d looked when she’d been trying to hold on to that baby.

Even as the words were coming out of his mouth, he tried to cut them off. “Get dressed. You’re coming with me.”

Her rage seemed to frighten her, and he watched her struggle to make light of it. The best she could manage was a pitiful croak. “Been smoking a little too much weed, have you?”

Furious with himself, he stomped up the five steps that led to her bedroom loft. Her pit bull shadowed him to make sure he didn’t steal the jewelry. He looked down at her from over the top of the kitchen cabinets. God, he hated this. “You can either get yourself dressed or go with me the way you are. Which will probably get you quarantined by the Health Department.”

She lay back on the couch. “You’re so wasting your breath.”

It would be for only a few days, he told himself. He was already in a foul mood about being forced to drive up to the Wind Lake Campground. Why not make himself completely miserable by bringing her along?

He’d never intended to go back there, but he couldn’t avoid it. For weeks he’d been telling himself he could sell off the property without seeing it again. But when he couldn’t answer any of the questions his business manager had posed, he’d known he had to bite the bullet and see exactly how run-down it had become.

At least he’d be getting rid of two ugly duties at the same time. He’d settle the campground and badger Molly into getting her butt moving again. Whether it worked or not would be up to her, but at least his conscience would be clean.

He unearthed a suitcase from the back of her closet and yanked open her drawers. Unlike her messy kitchen, here everything was neatly arranged. He tossed shorts and tops in the suitcase, then threw in some underwear. He found jeans along with sandals and a pair of sneakers. A couple of sundresses caught his eye. He threw them on top. Better to take too much than have her sulk because she didn’t have what she wanted.

The suitcase was full, so he grabbed what looked like her old college backpack and glanced around for the bathroom. He found it downstairs, near the front door, and began dumping in various cosmetics and toiletries. Succumbing to the inevitable, he headed for the kitchen and loaded up on dog food.

“I hope you’re planning to put all that back.” She was standing by the refrigerator, the pit bull in her arms, her rich-girl’s eyes weary.

He’d like nothing better than to put it back, but she looked too damn pathetic. “You want to take a shower first, or do we drive with the windows down?”

“Are you deaf? I’m not some rookie you can order around.”

He propped one hand on the edge of the sink and gave her the same stony look he used on those rookies. “You’ve got two choices. Either you can go with me right now, or I’m taking you over to your sister’s house. Somehow I don’t think she’ll like what she sees.”

Her expression told him he’d just thrown a Hail Mary.

“Please leave me alone,” she whispered.

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