to avoid watching the swish of her blue skirt against silken thighs.
Having Julee in his office was bad enough without the hired help humiliating him. Smart-aleck receptionist. But he knew better than to cross Rita the Magnificent. She was a lot more than a receptionist, and he couldnt manage without her. Tell Mrs. Barkley Ill be there as quick as I can.
Oh, she said theres no big hurry. And she wants to know if youll stop by the store and get Penelope some cat food before you come out.
Tate gave in to a grudging grin. Hed investigated her Peeping Tom four times in as many months. Poor old Mrs. Barkley. Anything for a little company. He wondered what kind of cake shed baked this time and hoped hed have time to eat a piece of it while she entertained him on the piano.
No problem.
From the corner of his eye he could see Julee surveying the row of framed certificates and citations hanging around his small, cluttered office. He hoped she wouldnt miss the college diploma. Shed had success handed to her on a silver platter, but hed worked plenty hard for his.
As he started to disconnect, Rita spoke again. Dont forget you need to be back in time for Little League practice.
Anything else?
I left the list on your desk. A meeting with the county commissioner at four, the task force tomorrow morning, Marthas birthday party and the slave auction at the high school
Hold on. He scrounged around in the enormous stack of folders and papers. The list lay in plain sight beneath a snow globe paperweight that Jacob, his seven-year-old buddy from the Big Brother program, had given him last Christmas.
I found it. He stuck the list in his shirt pocket and shut off the receptionists disembodied voice.
Julees blue gaze, wide with curiosity, drifted back to him. You are a busy man.
Goes with the job. So if you dont mind He let the words trail off hoping shed take the ball and run with it. Her visit was starting to get under his skin.
Before she lost her nerve, Julianna settled back into the green chair and plunged into the story shed rehearsed for days.
Ive come home to Seminole County to do some charity work. You know. One of those celebrity things that are good for an income tax break.
She blasted him with a hundred-watt smile as fake as the words shed spoken. Shed never done a celebrity thing in her life. Though shed worked tirelessly to increase bone-marrow donors and had even headed a previous drive, celebrity had nothing to do with it. Outside the modeling industry and this small town she had no celebrity status, but Julianna prayed Tate wouldnt know that. Finding cures for sick children had simply become her passion.
Tate arched an eyebrow. Stacking his hands behind his head, he tilted back in his rather bedraggled roller chair. What could that possibly have to do with me?
Julee crossed her arms over her middle. She hadnt expected a red-carpet welcome after all these years, but his cool appraisal turned her butterflies into swarming buzzards.
Behind him, through the window, Julianna vaguely comprehended the ebb and flow of light traffic out on the street. A single horn honked. Car doors slammed. The quiet, unhurried normalcy of everyday life in a small town soothed her.
Normalcya condition she could hardly recollect. For a while three years ago, life had almost been normal. Theyd been sure Megan had been cured by the chemotherapy treatments.
Then had come the frightening news two months ago that Megans leukemia cells had reappeared, throwing her into the desperate search for a bone-marrow donor, the only hope of cure now that chemo had failed to permanently destroy the disease. Until now they hadnt even considered this last-ditch, drastic kind of treatment. For the first time Julee had no choice but to involve Tate. Megan was in a second drug-induced remission, but the doctors said it was only a matter of time until the cells began to multiply again. How much time, no one could say.
Not one day since then had they lived a moment without fear. Megan, her beautiful nine-year-old daughter, deserved a normal life, and so did dozens of other children awaiting a bone-marrow transplant.
If she could get Tate to donate blood without him knowing about Megan, everyone would be better offMegan, Tate and his wife. No wife, however devoted, wanted the shock of discovering her husband had an unknown child by his first love. Plenty of reasons to face Tates chilly regard.
Leaning her elbows on a pile of official-looking documents Julianna locked eyes with the man who held Megans fate. The air conditioner thumped to life, but even the cool blast of air couldnt counter
the tingle of sweat prickling the back of her neck.
Im involved with increasing the number of minority donors for the bone-marrow transplant database. Since my hometown happens to be the tribal capital of the Seminole Indians, I thought this would be a good place to start.
The chair rollers clattered to the floor. Tate frowned at her, puzzled, but clearly intrigued. The chatty clerk at the motel had been telling the truth; Sheriff McIntyre was a sucker for a good cause.