Shooting the Moon by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online Page B

warm one. “Please.”
    She closed her eyes. This was going to start something big. She knew it; she could feel it. And it terrified her. “When?” she managed.
    “Tonight. After dinner.”
    “Not tonight.”
    His hand tightened on hers. “When?”
    “Tomorrow,” she said. At that moment, the waitress arrived with their food, but Lauren knew she wouldn’t be able to eat a bite.

CHAPTER FOUR

    W HAT A NIGHT ! Lauren groaned as she trained one bleary eye on her alarm clock. It was five in the morning. She’d left the restaurant at eleven and tossed and turned until three. Then, when she finally fell asleep, she’d dreamed about Harley snatching Brandon from her. She could still see the triumphant grin he’d worn when he ripped the boy from her grasp, tossed him onto the back of his bike and roared away. It was a disturbing image that conflicted with the Harley she’d met for dinner last night, but at this hour, the sinister Harley seemed more real than not.
    Shoving a hand through her tangled hair, she closed her eyes and tried to drift off again. Don’t think about it, she told herself. She had another hour before she was scheduled to pick Brandon up from Kimberly’s so she could get him ready for school, but she was too worried to relax. She’d promised to introduce Brandon to his father today. Would she be letting the wolf in the door?
    The telephone rang, the noise startling and loud in the silent house.
    She grabbed the receiver and cleared her throat before saying hello, then sagged in relief when she heard her father on the other end of the line. He’d gotten her messages. Thank heaven!
    “Dad, I’m so glad to hear from you,” she said. “I’ve been trying to reach you for two days. Where have you and Mom been?”
    “We took the train to Paris for the weekend. Just gotback,” he said. “What’s wrong? The front desk here at the hotel said it was urgent. Is Brandon okay?”
    Lauren sat up, cross-legged, and kneaded her forehead. She’d wanted to speak to her father ever since Harley had appeared, but now that she had Quentin on the phone, she was almost afraid to tell him what was going on. She knew he wasn’t going to like the fact that Harley had popped back into their lives, and hated to admit that she wasn’t maintaining a stronger defense against him. “Brandon’s fine, Dad, don’t worry. Everything’s fine—for the most part.” At least right now. “It’s just that…well, Harley’s back. He came here Saturday morning.”
    “What?”
    Flinching from the blast of her father’s voice, Lauren held the phone away from her ear. “It’s true,” she said when it was safe to move the handset closer.
    “What do you mean he’s back? Has he moved to town?”
    “What’s happened? What is it?” she heard her mother ask in the background.
    “No. He lives in California,” Lauren said. “He learned about Audra and came to see Brandon.”
    “Did you let him in?”
    An ominous silence followed this question, one that made Lauren glad she could answer honestly when she said no. She didn’t add, “not yet.”
    “Good for you, honey,” he said. “Harley Nelson has no business with us. That boy’s nothing but trouble.”
    That boy? Harley wasn’t a boy any longer. He was a man now, and a man to be reckoned with, if her instincts could be trusted.
    “Harley Nelson’s back?” her mother cried.
    “You tell him to go back to whatever rock he crawled out from under,” her father said. “I won’t let him say two words to Brandon.”
    The relief Lauren had experienced when she’d first heard her father’s voice was quickly fading. “Audra’s gone now, Dad,” she said as he finally quieted her mother with a terse, “Just a minute, Marilee, I can’t hear a thing she’s saying with you squawking in my ear.”
    “What did you say?” he demanded, returning to the conversation.
    “I said Audra’s gone now.”
    “You think I don’t know that?”
    “Well, he is Brandon’s