“It’s not that many. Compared with what Lindsey has to go through, this is nothing.”

Penny sank down onto the sofa across from his chair. “I know. I spoke with her mom for a few minutes while you were still recovering. Lindsey’s pretty wrecked from the chemo.”

Cal didn’t doubt it. The kid was in for a brutal process. First chemotherapy destroyed Lindsey’s bone marrow, then she received an IV with his. Over the next few weeks, while her immune system was compromised, she would be kept isolated from the world. She would also battle what would feel like the worst flu of her life for that same period of time.

“I’ve popped onto the Internet and read about the procedure,” Penny said. “There’s a really good chance your bone marrow will cure her leukemia.”

“I hope so.”

“I wish there was more I could do,” she said.

“You’re here. I appreciate that.”

“You should. I’ll have you know I don’t normally make cooking house calls, but I’m making an exception for you. We’ll be dining on all your favorites.”

His stomach rumbled. “Meat loaf?” He hadn’t had Penny’s meat loaf since before the divorce.

“Tonight. Then tomorrow, my very twisted Thai lasagna.”

“Won’t you be at the restaurant? We can’t both be gone that long.”

“I’ll be going back and forth,” she said. “Naomi’s there, not to worry. Want to watch sports on TV?”

“No thanks.”

“Hmm, do you have a fever?”

He smiled. “Reid’s the sports guy. Did you unpack?”

“Yes. The guest room is lovely. I’m going out on a limb and saying you didn’t decorate it yourself.”

“Dani helped. She picked out the colors and the linens and the furniture. I did the labor.”

She glanced around the living room. “The house is great.”

“Paid for by the coffee drinkers of the Pacific Northwest.”

“We do love our coffee.”

She looked out the living room windows at the view of downtown. “You did good, Cal. You started with nothing and you created an empire. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Thanks.”

She turned back to him. “I get it now—the need to go out and make something happen on your own, but when you first left the restaurant business, I thought you were leaving me.”

“What are you talking about?” How could she have thought that?

“It’s hard to explain. We had a whole life that revolved around being awake when most of the world was asleep. We talked about the same kind of problems with customers and staffs and bosses. Then, suddenly, you wanted out. You became one of them, working nine to five.” She shrugged. “I guess that sounds really strange. But at the time, I felt abandoned.”

“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to get away from Gloria and her constant monitoring of my life. I was tired of the threats, the ugliness.”

“I know,” Penny said. Funny how with the passage of time a lot of things became more clear. “I wish I’d been more supportive.”

Cal shook his head. “Don’t. You were great.”

“You don’t know how angry I was with you.”

He looked surprised. “You’re right. You hid it from me.”

“Not my finest moment. I thought you’d change your mind and come back.”

“You thought I’d fail.”

Guilt made her uncomfortable. “Maybe.”

“I should have explained more to you,” he said. “I was embarrassed to. I thought you’d think less of me.”

Maybe it was the pain, or knowing his daughter was dangerously ill. Maybe it was the time they’d spent together, but Cal was vulnerable in a way she’d never seen him before.

“I loved you,” she said. “I would have done anything for you.”

“I know.” His dark gaze settled on her face. “You deserved better than the little I had to give. I wish…I wish I’d been honest with you. Lindsey felt like such a big secret. I knew telling you about her would change everything. I should have trusted you to be able to handle it.”

Something warm and squishy enveloped her heart. She wanted to be in Cal’s arms and have him hold her close. She wanted them to go to bed and make love until the sun came up.

Either he was thinking the same thing or he read the invitation in her eyes. He stood and held out his hand.

She rose and walked to him. As she reached for him, he pulled her close. His arms went around her, she put her hands on his waist and he kissed her.

The contact was as erotic as it was familiar. She closed her eyes as he brushed his lips against hers, generating heat and need and sparks. Within seconds her br**sts were swollen and sensitive and her thighs had begun to tremble.

“What is it about you?” he asked before he swept his tongue against her bottom lip.

Rather than answering, she opened to accept him. As he pushed inside and they began an intimate dance, he cupped her head as if to hold her in place.

Had she been able to form coherent thoughts, she would have told him she wasn’t going anywhere. She wanted him too much. Wanted this. Funny how in all the time they’d been apart she’d managed to do fairly nicely with only a minimum of sexual contact, but now, with him, she felt weak with desire.

He drew back and nipped on her bottom lip, then kissed her jaw. As he moved to her neck, he shifted and instantly stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

Somehow the tightness of his mouth and the shadows of pain in his eyes told her differently.

She stepped back. “What was I thinking? You’re just out of the hospital a couple of hours ago. They used your h*ps as pincushions and sucked out quarts of bone marrow. Sit down right now.”

He shook his head. “No. Let’s keep going.”

He took her hand and brought it to his groin. He was hard and when she touched him, he flexed against her fingers.

She knew that she was already wet and swollen, but none of that mattered.

“Cal, be serious. You’ve just had general anesthetic. You’re weak, tired and this is the last thing you should be doing.”

He stared into her eyes. She looked back, letting him see the need inside of her.

“Rain check,” she whispered, as she kissed him. “I promise.”

“No. We can do this.”

“Right. Because you whimpering in pain is really sexy.”

“I don’t whimper.”

“I know. You’re a big strong guy who right now needs a nap. Alone.”

He picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “I want you.”

Words to make a pregnant woman dance with delight. “I want you, too. We’ll do something about it real soon. I promise.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. I think I need to crash for a while.”

“The doctor said it would take a couple of days for you to get the anesthesia out of your system. Plus, you have to get your strength back from the whole bone marrow sucking. Go take a nap. I’ll run over to the restaurant, then be back to fix meat loaf.”

He squeezed her fingers. “Thanks. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I want to.”

Although why, she wouldn’t, she couldn’t, say.

DANI SEALED the box and put it on top of the others by the front door. She would either have to come back later with a couple of burly guys and a van or work out a financial agreement with Hugh about him buying her out of half the furniture. For now, she only wanted her clothes and some personal items.

She hadn’t slept much the previous night. Although Penny’s guest bed had been comfortable, Dani had had too much on her mind. So much had happened so quickly. Hugh wanting a divorce, finding out he was cheating on her, moving out. It would be a while before she was finally able to draw in a breath and relax.

She opened the linen closet and pulled out a big box of photos. More things she was going to have to go through. She tossed it into a carton. She would sort them at Penny’s and return Hugh’s to him. She had no idea what they would do with the pictures they had taken together. Who would want those?

So many things to divide. Their good china and crystal, DVDs, electronic equipment. They’d been together nearly seven years. That made for a lot of baggage.

She heard the garage door open and stiffened. A quick glance at her watch told her Hugh wasn’t due home for another two hours. She’d planned to be finished long before that.

She had a brief thought that his chickie had stopped by for something when she heard the soft sound of wheels on hardwood.

“Dani?”

She closed the linen closet door and stepped into the living room. “You weren’t supposed to be here,” she said.

Hugh looked as he always did—handsome, strong, sexy. The wheelchair did nothing to detract from his appeal. A friend from grad school had once confessed—after too many rum-and-cokes—that the wheelchair only made a woman think about being more creative, where Hugh was concerned. At the time Dani had laughed off the comment. Now she realized she should have paid attention.

He sat straight in his chair, his gold-blond hair a little too long, his blue eyes looking both innocent and soulful. There was something about his mouth, something that made a woman want to kiss him.

He had big hands and, at least for him, the old wives’ tale was true. Even with the loss of sensation for Hugh, that part of him could still work, and she’d had plenty of fun riding him to paradise.

As had others, apparently.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. “I didn’t mean for you to find out.”

She walked into the bedroom and began pulling clothes off hangers. “Interesting. You’re not sorry you were cheating on me, you’re just sorry you were caught.” She heard him move into the room. “With a student, Hugh. That’s tacky, even for you.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“You have no idea what I’m thinking.” She tossed the clothes into an open box, then glared at him. “You don’t know anything about me. I’m furious. You want a divorce. Fine. We’ll get one. You’ve moved on. I can accept that. But what I can’t accept is that you’re messing around with your students. God knows how many.”

“Don’t be insulting.”

“Oh, right. Because only sleeping with one of them is so noble. What a great man you are. How proud we all are.” She moved close and stared down at him. “I was there for you, you bastard. Every day from the second you were hurt. I gave up my life to help you. I encouraged you, I begged you to keep living. I loved you with every fiber of my being. What I expected in return was for you to love me just as much. And if you couldn’t do that, I expected you to respect me. But you didn’t.”

“Sure. Make me the bad guy.”

She wanted to scream. “How am I at fault in any of this?”

“I just wanted a divorce. Why is that a crime?”

“It’s not, you bastard. You lied and cheated. You betrayed me. That student isn’t the first. I’m stunned to find out you’re a lousy human being.”

He glared at her. “Because I’m in a wheelchair, you expect me to be a saint? I’m not supposed to have flaws like other men, because I’m not really a man?”

She’d never wanted to hit another person before in her life, but the urge to pick up a lamp and crash it over Hugh’s head was incredibly powerful.

“I expect you to be a decent person because we’re married,” she yelled. “I expected you to honor your wedding vows because I thought you had a sense of morality and because I thought you cared about me and our relationship. Not everything is about you being in a wheelchair. You being an as**ole has absolutely nothing to do with you being in a wheel chair. You’d be one even if you could run a marathon. Now get out of here so I can finish getting my things.”

“Dani—”

“Get out!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“THE MUSHROOMS SMELL FUNNY,” Penny said as she held a clean cloth to her left ring finger.

“They’re mushrooms,” Naomi told her. “They’re supposed to smell funny. Do you need stitches?”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Is my finger still attached to my hand?”

“Yes. Fine. Be that way.”

Cal walked into the kitchen. He was moving a little slow, but otherwise was doing fine since his procedure. “How much is she bleeding?” he asked Naomi.

“I’m fine,” Penny said.

“It was a gusher,” Naomi said. “But I don’t think she went down to the bone.”

“Good to know,” Cal said. “I could forcibly take her to the urgent care center.”

“No, you couldn’t.” Penny moved between them. “I’m right here in the room. Stop ignoring me. I’m fine. Cuts and burns come with the territory. I’m fine. It’s barely even bleeding.”

Not that she was willing to let up on the pressure just yet, but in a few minutes, she would. Naomi would put on a butterfly bandage and all would be well. If she rushed around screaming for medical care every time someone got cut in the kitchen, no one would ever get fed.

“Hey, it’s here,” Dani yelled as she walked into the kitchen. “The write-up on new restaurants, and yes, you’re mentioned.”

She set the newspaper on the stainless-steel counter and flipped through the pages. The two cooks already chopping vegetables there moved in close, as did Edouard. Penny wiggled in front of both Naomi and Cal. If she stayed behind them, she wouldn’t see a thing.