Read Janet for Free Online Page A

enough to give
Molly’s dad something to mull over besides the Wall Street
Journal.
    “Good. I hope that means you’ll stay. You
know, Molly will be through with her schooling soon, and she’d love
nothing better than having you here.”
    “If I get an offer from the hospital, I’ll
probably take it.”
    “There’s no reason you shouldn’t. Top of your
class and all that.”
    “Thank you.” Janet was proud of her
accomplishments. Furthermore, she despised false modesty. She
considered herself straightforward to the bone.
    Of course, the game she intended to play with
Dan Albany could be evidence to the contrary. She decided not to
think about it. Instead, she visited with Mr. Jed a while, and then
went to her apartment to get ready.
    As she was bundling up against the chill, she
thought about Dan. Gracious, he was cute when he tried to be
gallant.
    The soccer field was just a block down the
street from her. She could walk it in a few minutes. Before she
went outside, she drank a big glass of orange juice. Vitamin C.
With her heavy work schedule she couldn’t afford to come down with
a cold.
    Then she pulled up her hood and started down
the street.
    o0o
    Dan saw her coming. She was wearing enough
clothes to outfit an expedition to the frozen tundra. But even
under all the clothes there was no mistaking the dark red hair that
escaped her hood and the fluid, gliding way she had of moving.
    He hastily lined his team up for practice
kicks into the goal; then he went to meet her at the side of the
field.
    “Janet. Fancy seeing you here.”
    “Just out for an afternoon stroll.”
    Dan could barely keep from laughing out loud.
She was no more out for a stroll than he was a polka-dot elephant.
For some unknown reason, she had come to see him. He was
inordinately pleased by the idea. And he could hardly wait to see
what she was up to.
    “What a coincidence that you happened to walk
this way. I’m just finishing soccer practice.”
    “Really? How fascinating.”
    Her eyes got darker when she lied and her
nose wrinkled up. He had a hard time keeping from reaching up to
touch that pert little nose.
    “I’d be glad for you to watch the practice.
Unfortunately, the boys will be leaving in about five minutes.”
    She looked crestfallen. “Oh, that’s too bad.
I would so love to learn more about the game.”
    He wasn’t fooled; he was merely fascinated.
“You would?”
    “Yes. I used to play some with my brother.
She’d allowed Brett to bully her into one game when she was sixteen
and he was fourteen. One smart kick on the shin, and she’d quit the
field. Her soccer experience had lasted a total of three minutes.
“That was many years ago, of course, when we were both young.”
    She watched Dan closely to see how well he
was buying her story. She couldn’t tell. All she could tell was
that he looked delicious in his navy sweats.
    “I’m a little rusty on the rules,” she
added.
    The unspoken invitation was so obvious that
only a fool would have missed it.
Make me an offer
, she
was saying. Although Dan had known he’d take her on the field the
minute he saw her walking down the street, he decided to play with
her a while longer.
    “The encyclopedias have excellent
descriptions of the game. Most of them even have diagrams of the
fields.”
    “Well... yes...” She flashed him a
provocative smile. She was getting better at flirting, he noticed.
“But it seems such a shame to waste a Saturday sitting inside
reading an encyclopedia.”
    “The library has some great books on soccer,
too. I’ll recommend some that you can check out and save for a
rainy day.”
    She could have strangled him. “That’s a grand
idea. Still...” She paused and looked into the sky, shading her
hand against the sun. “It’s such a beautiful day.” If he didn’t
take that hint, she guessed she’d have to ask him point blank.
    Dan decided to put her out of her agony. “I
have a wonderful idea.”
    “You do?”
    “Since