Star-Crossed Parents

“Look, I was about to close up for the night. Why don’t you follow me home and I’ll introduce you.”

He’d have a word with his son at the same time. So much for the hope that letting Josh have his own place would have a maturing effect. Maybe it had been a mistake to let him move into the guest cabin without agreeing on monthly rent. But Josh’s event-planning business was still in the start-up phase. Once it was in the black, he’d de finitely expect his son to contribute some cash.

“I GUESS WE SHOULD introduce ourselves before we go any further. I’m Sam Wallace.”

“Leigh Hartwell.”

This man made her feel uneasy. Partly it was his size. He was unusually tall and very broad-shouldered. He was also quite attractive, despite a crooked nose and crowded bicuspids.

Maybe that was the problem. He was uncomfortably good-looking. She’d never been able to trust handsome men. They were too used to getting what they wanted from women.

Was that what his son was like, too?

“Right,” she said in the brisk, professional tone she used with patients. “So, let’s get going.” She slipped back behind the wheel, then waited as Sam crossed to the truck parked at the side of the station. A dark-haired teenage boy stepped out from the store and they had a brief conversation. The boy glanced in Leigh’s direction, then headed back to the store where he flipped the sign in the door from Open to Closed.

Leigh rubbed the back of her neck as she waited. She was relieved that she’d found the right place, and that her daughter was meeting someone her own age and not an older man who preyed on innocent girls.

Still, there was plenty about the situation she didn’t like. Never mind Taylor skipping out on her own graduation party. Why hadn’t she told her mother where she was going? That note had been a real slap in the face.

And what kind of kid was this Josh Hartwell? His father seemed respectable enough—not to mention potently attractive—but didn’t you have to wonder about someone who would lure a girl hundreds of miles just to meet on spec?

Sam hurried back, keys in hand. He got behind the wheel of a black pickup truck and Leigh hurried to follow him. They passed through the four-way stop, then down a hill and up the next rise.

It was too dark to see much of the surrounding countryside, but Sam drove his truck just under the speed limit, making it easy to follow him. Not that the route was complicated. Oak Valley Road was the second left after the stop sign by the gas station. He could have easily given her directions, rather than going to the effort of escorting her.

Seconds later they pulled into a narrow access road. The track was bumpy and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel as she followed Sam down yet another hill. He stopped beside a white van with “Party Man” painted in black letters, along with a phone number and a Web address.

Leigh felt another release of tension as she realized that Taylor’s friend’s moniker referred to a business, not a state of mind.

Ahead of them stood a two-story home with white siding and black shutters. It looked like a family home and Leigh half expected a woman to step out the front door with a welcoming wave.

That didn’t happen, though. Sam got out of his truck and came around to open her door. He held out a hand for Leigh as she stepped out of the driver’s seat.

For a moment they stood close to one another, and Leigh felt a crazy stirring, an attraction she couldn’t deny. As a dentist, she was used to being physically close to people she didn’t know very well. Some of them were handsome men. But she’d never had this sort of reaction to one of them before. She stepped back, not trusting, not liking, this betrayal of her own body.

“The cabin is just down here.” Sam pointed at a worn path to the left of the house. Thanks to a dim porch light, Leigh could see the outline of a small building amid the trees.

She let Sam lead the way, her heels causing her no small problem on the uneven ground. As she stumbled along, fear rose in her again. This was true wilderness out here, with no sign of civilization anywhere, beyond the Wallaces’ two homes.

Once on the wooden porch, Sam glanced back at her. He seemed hesitant about knocking.

“Hurry up,” she urged him.

“It’s awfully quiet in there. I’m a little worried….”

“So am I,” she assured him. Her daughter and his son had been alone for hours. Anything could have happened.

She tried the door handle and felt a flood of relief when it turned in her hand. She pushed the door wide and stepped into an open space containing a kitchen, eating nook and sitting area.

No one was there.

Her gaze followed a staircase to the left that led up to a loft.

Sam put a hand on her arm. “The bedroom’s up there.”

Unbidden came an image of Taylor—bound and gagged and tied to a heavy bed frame. “It’s okay, honey. I’m here. I’ll be right there.”

She tried to break Sam’s hold, but it was firm and strong. “Let go of me. What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“Mom?”

The voice was soft and came from above. Leigh craned her head back. Her daughter stood at the pine railing that ran the length of the loft. She was wrapped in a bedsheet, packaged with the guy next to her like a two-for-one special.

Both had tousled hair, naked shoulders and very flushed cheeks.

There could be no doubt as to what Leigh and Sam had just interrupted.

CHAPTER THREE

“W HAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ?” Taylor leaned over the railing, pulling Sam’s son with her. Her voice was stronger now and tinged with a defiance that Leigh had never heard before.

“Taylor? What’s going on?” It was a stupid question, since the answer was obvious, but Leigh felt completely out of her element. She was relieved, of course, that Taylor wasn’t being held against her will, that she hadn’t been raped or hurt in any way.

But it was still a shock to find her in bed with this young man. Maybe Leigh should have expected it, but naively, she had not.

“How did you find me?”

“I checked the computer.”

“You read my personal messages?”

“Taylor, for heavens’ sake! I was worried. I had no idea what you were getting yourself into.”

“Didn’t you find my note?”

“As if that was any help. God, Taylor. We should have discussed this. You didn’t even tell me where you were going.”

Taylor groaned. “I wonder why. If only I’d been smart enough to erase my messages.”

Leigh put a hand to her neck. Stiffness and neck pain was an occupational hazard. The drive hadn’t helped and neither did craning her head this way in order to look at her daughter. “Could you please come down here so we can talk civilly.”

“What if I don’t want to talk?”

Her daughter’s rudeness took Leigh’s breath away. As she waited for the moment to pass, the two kids upstairs backed away from the railing, disappearing from sight. From the rustling, Leigh guessed they were putting on their clothes.

Oh, my God. My daughter has just had sex.

The realization hit her hard. Since Taylor had never had a steady boyfriend, this was probably the first time. Why did it have to be with someone she’d met over the Internet? Taylor deserved so much better.