SA 05 - This Time Love _ Sequel - Elizabeth Lowell by Elizabeth Lowell

Author:Elizabeth Lowell
Language: bg
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-05-07T19:51:49+00:00

Sixteen

THE FRONT SCREEN SLAMMED AND THE LITTLE GIRL RACED into the house. She skidded to a stop as soon as she saw Gabe standing motionless in the living room.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He searched Kati's face with a hunger he wasn't aware of, an intensity born of years of rage and grief. Nothing he saw made him believe that his first impression was wrong. Kati was the image of his mother all those lost years ago. The eyes were gray rather than green, but the rest was like seeing a picture come to life.

He sat on his heels to bring himself closer to eye level with the little red-haired miracle.

"I'm Gabriel Venture." His voice was rich with emotions held in check. "My friends call me Gabe. Would you like to?"

"Sure," she said easily. Arms full, she trotted past him toward a small closed room that was down a short hall off the main room. "I'm Kati. Are you a caver?"

He closed his eyes, caught by too many emotions to trust himself to speak.

Kati doesn't know her father's name.

"I'm a writer," he managed finally.

She opened the door and disappeared in the tiny room. "Oh, you're the one Mommy told me about."

"What did she tell you?"

His voice was too sharp, too demanding, but he could no more control it than he could the adrenaline that had slammed through his veins when the ceiling of reality caved in and he recognized his own daughter dancing toward him through the rubble.

Kati ran back to the main room and grabbed a sock that had jumped out of her armload of overnight gear.

"You're gonna write about the cave and then maybe we can come back here someday," she said, throwing the sock into the small room and shutting the door behind her.

"Back?" He held his voice carefully, as if it was too fragile to be trusted. "Are you going somewhere?"

Kati shrugged with a maturity older than her years. "Sure. When the cave closes, Mommy's got to get a job somewhere or we won't have any money."

He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. He didn't know what to say. Joy hadn't mentioned anything about what would happen after the grant ran out, so he'd assumed she would be staying on at the university.

To assume makes an ass out of you and me, he told himself sardonically. Again.

When it comes to Joy, all assumptions are wrong.

But then it's goddamn easy to be wrong when you're blindfolded and turned loose to stumble through a minefield.

Anger curled through Gabe, hot and eager. Before he could ask any more questions, the car out in front of the cottage honked twice and drove away in a wash of dust.

Kati ran past Gabe to the back porch. The screen door slammed and the girl's high, excited voice rang out.

"Gravy-bear, I'm back! Catch me!"

Gabe got to the kitchen window just in time to see Kati throw herself into Davy's arms. Laughing, shrieking, she was lifted and whirled over his head in a game that was obviously familiar and much enjoyed by both of them.

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