Once More A Family Part 6

Grady's heart kick-started into raw panic asRia rushed to the boy's side.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" she asked gently. "Are you sick? Are you going tothrow up?"

"Already did," Jimmy muttered, then slanted her a sideways look that was amixture of defiance and misery. "Ikinda ruined the rug."

"It'll wash," she a.s.sured him as she tested his temperature with a hand tohis forehead. Grady caught the quick flash of fear in the gaze she raised tohis face.

"Fever?" Grady asked, his gut twisting.

"I'm not sure. He's a little warm, but it's a hot night." She smoothed backher son's silky hair, only to have him jerk away. "It's okay, sweetheart.Mommy will make it better."

"Not my mom," Jimmy grumbled, slanting her a sullen look. It was like acid onan open wound.

"Something wrong?" Flynn asked as he came up from behind. He took one look atJimmy's face and frowned. "Uh-oh. Looks like we've got us a sick puppy."

"It's probably the flu,"Ria said as she got to her feet. "Our clinic's beenjammed with cases. But just to be on the safe side, I'd better give Kate acall."

Grady took a breath. The knot in his belly was on fire again. "Think weshould give him something, just in case he has a fever?"

Riaconsidered. "Let's take his temperature first. Kate will want to know howhigh it is."

"Right. Okay." He stuck his hands in his back pockets, then pulled them freeagain. "Maybe we should dunk him in water, like you used to do when he hadthose ear infections."

Riaconsidered, then nodded. "You run the water while I call Katie. Make surethe water's not too cold, though. No more than tepid." She shot a glancetoward the canvas satchel by the door. "Are those his things?"

"Yeah. I bought him the basics for the trip. I figured you'd want to take himshopping. You always got a kick out of that kind of stuff."

Her lips curved briefly. "He'll be more comfortable in hisjammies ." Incharge now, she glanced at Flynn. "The thermometer's in the medicine chest inmy bathroom."

"Which one's yours?"

"Through the bedroom at the end of the hall."

That answered one question, Grady thought as he scooped his son into hisarms.Ria and Flynn weren't sleeping together, if he didn't even know where herbedroom was. Not yet, anyway. And if he had anything to say about it, not ever.

Grady had taken his share of punishment. More than most, he figured, moppinghis dripping face with one ofRia's fat yellow towels. And d.a.m.n near all of itdeserved. He figured he'd even skated on a few things. Most times he'd managedto tough his way through. Losing Jimmy had been a hard one to take. LosingRia had come close to breaking him.

This time G.o.d in His infinite wisdom had come up with a real lulu to testthis poor sinner's patience. Feeling a lot like those martyrs he'd learnedabout in Sunday school, he swiped the towel over the worst of the puddles onthe floor and considered the bit about reaping and sowing. That, he decided,was Jimmy. His father's son right down to the bone.

Tell him to sit, and he stood. Tell him to stop splashing and he drenched thebathroom. Payback in spades.

The Big Guy in the Sky had to be laughing big-time, which Grady figured hedeserved. He was just grateful no one else was watching.

He tossed the towel aside, thought longingly of the rookie cops who jumpedwhen he even breathed in their direction, and told himself there was more tobeing a good parent than a ready willingness to die in defense of your family.

Limits, he reminded himself. Tough love.

He sighed. Suck it up, hotshot. Get it done. He narrowed his gaze at the kidglaring at him from the pale yellow tub. The kid who looked anything butsickly at the moment.

"Splash me one more time, and you'll be eating this washcloth," he warned,putting just, enough bite in his normally quiet voice to get the kid'sattention.

The boy sneered. "Go to h.e.l.l!"

Grady counted to ten. Then added a few seconds before grabbing the washclothagain. "The doctor said twenty minutes in tepid water, you're d.a.m.n wellgetting twenty minutes. Now shut up and enjoy it."

"I'm not a baby," Jimmy complained, jerking away from the washcloth.

"Then stop acting like one," Grady said with the last of his patience. He'dcome close to losing his temper a dozen times in the last ten minutes.

Sick or not, his son needed a reality check, and soon. He winced inwardly atthe thought of his father's reaction if he'd pulled some of the stuff Jimmytried on him. Like jabbing him in the gut with a bony elbow when he'd tried tohelp the kid out of his shirt.

His belly was still aching.

He checked his watch and bit off a sigh. Five more minutes.

"You used to like your bath," he said as he reached for the shampoo on theledge surrounding the tub. The memory stabbed, reminding him of the yearsthey'd lost. All those sweet times they should have had, all the laughter andcuddles and father-son talks, gone forever.

He felt his breath catch. Someday maybe, in the far distant future, he mightfind a way to forgive himself. At the moment he simply didn't know how. So allhe could do was try to make things right from now on.

"You, uh-" He paused to clear the thickness from his throat. "You had abasket of toys we kept under the sink. Rubber ducks and boats, stuff likethat. Your favorite, though, was a boxlike thing with all kinds of doors and b.u.t.tons and dials that attached to the side with suction cups." He tried asmile and got a bored look.

Kid's a hard nut, he thought, squirting shampoo into his cupped palm. d.a.m.nstuff was pink and smelled like roses.

Just like that, his libido gave him a sneaky kick.

This wasRia's scent,Ria's shampoo. She used it in this tub.

Naked.

He nearly moaned at the image that shot into his mind. A ripe, lush body,suntanned thighs. Lush b.r.e.a.s.t.s tipped with dusky nipples that poked throughthe froth of suds sliding over her skin. He remembered how she'd moaned whenhe'd traced that same slow slide with his mouth, how she'd shivered when he'dused his, tongue on her.

His mind stuttered, his body already heavy before he was able to shut downthe memory. It was a measure of his fatigue that it took longer than usual.

Jimmy's temperature had been a little over a hundred. "Probably atwenty-four-hour bug," Kate had said over the phone. Just in case, however-andto appease an anxious mom,Ria suspected-she'd promised to stop by in themorning on her way to the hospital for early rounds. In the meantime she'dprescribed a half tablet of Tylenol every four hours and a diet of juice,water and Popsicles.

Riahad just carried a gla.s.s of orange juice into the den that also served asher guest room when she heard a bellow of little-boy outrage coming from themaster bathroom. After hastily depositing the gla.s.s on the nearest flatsurface, she raced down the hall.

"What's wrong?" she demanded as she jerked open the door, her racing heartall but bursting in her chest.

Two irate males glared at her from eyes that were nearly identical. Jimmy'shair stuck up in wild spikes of dripping lather. Grady's hands and arms werecovered with soapsuds, and there was a swipe of frothy white along his jaw.His shirt was soaking wet and plastered like a second skin to his chest. Helooked hot and frustrated-and disturbingly virile.

"It seems your son doesn't like to have his hair washed," he declared, bitingoff his words.

"Grady, for heaven's sake, he's sick!" she exclaimed, holding on to thedoork.n.o.b while she reined in the panic still surging in her system.

"Sick, h.e.l.l. He just tossed his cookies. I used to do it all the time when Igot nervous."

"He's still just a child. You're upsetting him."

"The h.e.l.l I am." Grady's eyes heated. "Look at this place. I sure a.s.sh-shooting didn't make this mess."

"He started it," her son declared hotly, drawing his legs into a tight ballagainst his chest. Outraged male modesty in a six-year-old. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She'd diapered his bottom about a milliontimes in the past-and kissed it every single time. Right next to the tinydimple just above the swell of his b.u.t.tocks. Grady had a similar dimple-and atight, hard b.u.t.t that was anything but boyish.

She scowled, stunned at the rush of desire the image had evoked. Ignoringthem both, she jerked another towel from the rod and tossed it at Grady'shead.

"I expect this place to be spotless-and dry-before you leave it."

Grady's mouth slanted. "Yes, ma'am."

"That goes for you, too, James," she declared hotly before backing out andslamming the door.

Water sloshed against the sides of the tub as Jimmy uncoiled, then sat up."Your wife was really mad," he said in an awed tone that had Grady swallowinga chuckle.

"Yeah she was that, all right," he said, more than a little awed himself.Rianever yelled. Foster kids who made scenes got booted out, she'd told him once."Only the thing is, son, she's-" Grady broke off, reluctant to load Jimmy downwith news of his parent's split while the boy was still so raw.

"She's what?" Jimmy demanded, back to the sullen tone that made Grady's teethache.

"She's going to skin both of us if we don't hop to it."

The boy crossed his skinny arms and glared. "Not me, dude. Cleaning and c.r.a.plike that is for chicks."

Grady sighed. "We're definitely going to have that talk about your languagereal soon, son. In the meantime, we have work to do."

Tough love, he reminded himself, as he dunked the boy's head under the soapywater.

Jimmy came up sputtering and spitting, looking a lot like his mom when he'ddunked her in the lake that first time. Grinning at the memory, one of many hetook out and polished up to keep him from diving into a bottle during theblackest of the black nights, Grady pulled the plug and turned to grab foranother towel.

When he turned around, he took a soap-slimy washcloth full in the face.

Chapter 5.

Itwasn't in Grady's nature to pace. It reminded him too much of a hamsterhe'd had as a kid, running endless circles in a little wheel until the littlebeggar went psycho from sheer boredom.

When he had energy to burn, he used it productively. Like tearing into anailing V-8 and making it purr for him the way a woman's finely tuned bodypurred under a slow hand. Or sanding the sleek curve of a fender until it was as smooth as the inside of a lady's thigh.

When he was p.i.s.sed off, he went looking for something-or someone-to hit.Preferably someone bigger and younger and sneakier, like Flynn or one of thetwins. But when he was wired on adrenaline, like now, he went completelystill, inside and out.

It was a trick he'd learned from an old-line flatfoot named O'Sullivan who'd been his first partner after he'd pinned on his detective's shield. A guy gothigh, a guy made mistakes, Sully had drummed into him until he'd heard it inhis sleep. It didn't matter what kind of chemical pulsed through his system.Adrenaline, rage, booze, they were all the same-pure poison to a man whoneeded a cool head and a clear eye.

Because he was short on sleep and long on nerves, he propped a shoulderagainst the wall opposite the fridge and watched his brother work his waythrough an entire bag of oatmeal cookies, washed down with enough coffee tofloat a decent-size ship.

The sanctimonious joker who claimed that denial was good for the soulprobably drank herbal tea, he decided as he rubbed absently at the bonfire inhis gut.

"What the h.e.l.l is she reading the kid,War and Peace?" Grady grumbled,shifting only his eyes toward the far end of the town house where the murmurof voices was faintly audible.

He heard the thud of Flynn's coffee mug hitting the counter. "Don't know,Bro, but after she stopped dancing around the kitchen and hugging thebejabbers out of this old boy, she spent a good half hour rummaging throughboxes in the storeroom downstairs before she hauled up a stash of books andtoys." Flynn chuckled. "Made a big fuss over this ratty old bear that lookedin need of fumigation. Started crying all over again."

"Jimmy forgot and left it out in the rain one time," Grady muttered, then hewhipped around to face his brother. "What the h.e.l.l do you mean, she huggedyou?"

The glint in Flynn's eyes looked like a "gotcha," one brother ragging anotherjust for the sheer fun of it. Just in case, Grady narrowed his gaze. "I mighthave slowed down a step or two, but I can still take you, Little Brother."

"Don't doubt that for a minute, Big Brother." Flynn's grin was just a shadetoo innocent for Grady's peace of mind.

"Justso's you know."

"Wouldn't mind going a few rounds, though. Just for the h.e.l.l of it." Flynn'sgrin faded. "You figuring on angling for a second shot at winning the lady?"

d.a.m.n, Grady thought, grinding his teeth. Was he really that easy to read?"It's been on my mind some, yeah. You got any opinion of my chances?"

Flynn lifted his mug and sipped, his brow furrowed in thought. Behind thelady-killer charm and the easy laughter, his brother had a way of seeingthrough the thickest armor into the heart of a person. Grady had come to trustFlynn's judgment more than his own admittedly flawed perceptions of humannature.

"Three hours ago I would have said they weren't worth a d.a.m.n," Flynn said at last. "But since she didn't boot you out on yourkeister when you hit her withthat three-day bombsh.e.l.l, I figure you for an outside shot."

Grady let out the breath he'd been holding. "I've beaten worse."

"Guess you have at that." Flynn drained his cup, then rose to stow it in thedishwasher. "You gonna call the folks first thing in the morning?" he askedwhen he'd finished.

"Yeah, no reason to wake 'em up now."

"Mom will be steamed you didn't."

"Dad would be steamed if I did. Of the two I'd rather handle Mom."

"Not me, Bro. I'd rather go toe-to-toe with the old man any day of the week than explain myself to Mom."

"Wimp."

"Hotshot."

Drop twenty years and the two of them would have been pushing and shovingtheir way through a list of favorite insults. It took Grady a few beats torealize why he suddenly felt young again. Jimmy was home safe and sound. Theproblems that lay ahead could wait until tomorrow. Tonight he wanted to savorthe sheer joy of having his son back.

"Thanks for hanging around," he said when he realized he was close to makinga d.a.m.n fool out of himself. "I owe you one."

Flynn cleared his throat. "Don't think I won't collect," he said as the twoof them walked through the living room to the front door. "Call if you needme."

Grady nodded, then frowned at a sudden niggling thought. "You never said whyyou happened to be here when I phoned."

"You never asked."