Daniel's Desire - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,58

tucked safe in her bed at home or I want one helluva reason why she’s not there.”

“Yes, sir,” Daniel said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll put Joe back on so you can work out the details,” the chief said.

Daniel sighed as he waited.

“Now what?” Joe asked.

“Leave it to me. You’ve done enough.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. Until this is resolved, we’re joined at the hip.”

Daniel thought of the way he’d spent his afternoon and felt an instant of relief that Joe hadn’t decided to shadow his every move a few hours earlier. Still, Molly wasn’t going to be much happier about this turn of events.

“I’ll call you first thing in the morning when I’m ready to head over to Jess’s,” Daniel assured him.

“You’re not going straight over there now?”

“And do what? Wake Kendra out of a sound sleep?”

“She might say more when she’s half-asleep,” Joe noted.

“Not with Molly yelling at both of us about being a couple of bullies for dragging them out of bed in the middle of the night,” Daniel said with certainty.

“You have a point,” Joe said, relenting. “But if I don’t hear from you by daybreak, I’m coming looking for you.”

“Never doubted it for a minute,” Daniel told him, then hung up.

The receiver was barely back in place before the phone rang again. He was in no mood to deal with anyone, but a guilty conscience had him reaching for the phone, anyway.

He barked out a greeting that was met by silence.

“Dammit, is anyone there?” he demanded.

“Having a bad day?” a cool male voice inquired.

“I’ve had better,” Daniel said, trying to figure out why the voice seemed so familiar.

“This is Ryan.”

“Ah,” he said, realizing then that there were faint traces of his father’s Irish brogue in Ryan’s voice even though he’d grown up in Boston. He doubted Ryan would appreciate being reminded that he carried any trait of the man he’d come to hate. “Sorry for jumping down your throat.”

“Want to talk about whatever’s bugging you?”

Oddly enough, he did. He could use the advice of a big brother right now, but it was confidential information and he wasn’t free to share it.

“I wish I could,” he said.

“Job-related?” Ryan guessed.

“Yes.”

“That runaway who’s been staying with Molly?”

“You know about that?” he asked, surprised.

“Patrick filled me in.”

“Oh?”

“Only the basics, Daniel. He didn’t share the details of your personal or professional business, though I gather there are some old, unresolved issues between you and Molly.”

“We’re working on that,” Daniel said.

“Good. I liked her the first time I met her. For a bit, there, I wasn’t sure if she was the one Patrick had his eye on or if it was Alice.”

Daniel didn’t know what to say to that. It felt strange to realize that Ryan knew so much about Patrick’s life, that they’d begun to create a bond where none existed between Daniel and his big brother. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that Ryan knew more about Patrick these days than Daniel did, given the long-standing tensions between himself and his twin.

Feeling more than a little disgruntled about that, he said stiffly, “I’m sure you didn’t call to talk about my life.”

“Actually, I’d like to know more about your life,” Ryan said. “So would Sean and Michael. It’s the folks we’re a little gun-shy about seeing again.”

“Yeah, it’s not like the last time went so well,” Daniel said, unable to keep the sarcastic edge out of his voice. If his brother took offense at that, so be it.

“More like a disaster,” Ryan agreed. “But Patrick believes there’s hope. He thinks you can bring Mom and Dad around and make them talk to us.”

“I told him I’d try,” Daniel said. “To be honest, though, I haven’t had time to do much about it. Are you planning to come back up here soon?”

“Well, you see, here’s the thing,” Ryan said. “If it were up to me, I could wait till hell freezes over, but I have this very precocious child in the house who wants to meet her grandparents. Once she found out that I know where they are, she’s been relentless. Sean’s son is curious, too. Being a bachelor, you may not be aware that there is nothing that can motivate a man quicker than a kid on a mission.”

Daniel wondered if thrusting a couple of kids into the midst of all that tension would be wise. Then again, the grandchildren could provide exactly what the situation needed—a bridge. They had no axes to grind with Connor and Kathleen Devaney.

“Daniel, you still there?”

“I’m