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suddenly faded, and he struggled to sit up. “How are you and Mama getting by with one car? Because you know my truck isn’t safe for either of you to drive, but I can call up Jimmy and ask him for—”
    She gently held his shoulders, trying to guide him back down. “No, no, don’t worry, Daddy. Please, lie back down. We’re fine with one. I don’t have anywhere much I need to go, and we know better than to drive your old beater. That truck doesn’t start for anyone but you.”
    He slumped back into the bed and gave her a weak smile. “Well, maybe that’s because you call her an old beater.”
    She smiled back, worried about how tired he suddenly looked. “Maybe so. But you don’t need to concern yourself with that. I’ll take care of Mama. You just concentrate on getting better.”
    He nodded and closed his eyes, patting her hand. “Thank you, honey. You’re a good girl, Katy Ann.”
    After he drifted back to sleep, when she knew for certain that he was absolutely out, Kat turned her face away and finally let the tears fall.

Chapter Nine
    S ebastian slammed back his shot of tequila and then ordered another as he scanned the room. The bar was exactly what he had hoped for—sawdust and peanut shells on the floor, throbbing 1970s Southern rock on the jukebox, and a delightful array of available women. He had chosen a seat at the very back of the room to make sure he had a full view of his options. There were, he thought, several girls here tonight who would do nicely. The little blonde in the cowboy boots and cut-off shorts sitting at the bar and giving him the eye, a cocoa-skinned girl with long braids who had smiled at him as he walked past her, and a shapely redhead who actually seemed to be here on a date, but looked so bored that Seb was sure it wouldn’t take much to lure her away.
    Suddenly the image of a pair of eyes so gray that they were almost silver, a lush pair of soft, pink lips accented by a little chocolate freckle, and a head full of tumultuous black curls flashed into his mind. Now, if she were here, he would have no problem forgetting the game. In fact, if she were here, he was pretty sure all his troubles would be solved. At least temporarily.
    Sebastian belted his second shot and the cheap liquor burned his throat as it slid down. For a moment, his body tightened, thinking of the high color that had bloomed in her cheeks when they had brushed hands, the golden slope of her bare shoulders, the way she had looked at him, her eyes sparking, just before she slammed the door in his face…God, what a woman. He must have thought of her a dozen times since meeting her that morning.
    The redhead’s date got up and headed toward the restrooms, leaving her alone.
    It was now or never.
    Shaking off the images of the gray-eyed girl, Seb stood up and casually strolled over to the redhead’s table.
    “Good evening,” he said as he took her date’s seat. “I couldn’t help but notice that you look bored out of your mind with your gentleman friend. Are you, perhaps, open to other options?”
    The redhead bit her lip and looked at him appraisingly. “What’d you have in mind?”
    Sebastian grinned. He found—nine times out of ten—that a simple smile and then being brutally direct usually got him exactly what he wanted. “Well, a drink to start, then a drive, and then maybe—”
    Suddenly, his entire body was jerked backward and out of his chair. He wrenched away and whirled to face the absentee date, and behind him, two more of his hulking, glowering friends. Each one was bigger than the next, and all looked as if they’d like nothing better than to teach Sebastian yet another lesson in humility.

Chapter Ten
    A re you sure you don’t want more, hon?” asked Kat’s mother as she bustled around the immaculate kitchen. “Everything is still nice and hot.”
    Kat used her biscuit to mop up the last of the gravy on her pink Fiestaware plate and popped it into her mouth. She washed the bite