“You know you’re never supposed to go anywhere unless Ruby’s with you.”
“I came to see the fire truck,” he said, then pointed accusingly at Sean, who’d risen to join them. “He wouldn’t let me play with the siren, though.”
The woman turned toward Sean and held out a hand. “I’m Deanna Blackwell. Thanks for keeping an eye on him. I hope he wasn’t any bother.”
“Sean Devaney,” he said tightly. Looking into huge brown eyes filled with sincerity, Sean couldn’t bring himself to deliver the lecture that had been forming in his head from the moment he’d run across the kid. Before he could say anything at all, the second woman stepped forward and slid a hand provocatively up his arm. The muscle tensed at her touch, but beyond that he was pretty much immune to the invitation in her eyes.
“I’m Ruby Allen, the baby-sitter,” she said, regarding him seductively. “I’ve always wanted to meet a real, honest-to-goodness firefighter.”
Deanna rolled her eyes at the provocative come-on. “You’ll have to excuse Ruby,” she apologized. “She’s basically harmless.”
A lot of men would fall for Ruby’s sex-on-the-run attitude, but Sean wasn’t even tempted. His dates tended to be smart, independent types who weren’t looking for a future. Ruby had desperation written all over her. She might act as if she were looking for nothing more than a roll in the hay, but instinct—and Seth’s innocent remark—suggested otherwise.
Deanna Blackwell was another story entirely. With her fragile features and huge eyes emphasized by dark curls that had been cropped very short in a no-muss, no-fuss style, she looked about as innocent as her kid. The stay-out-all-night playgirl mom he’d been anticipating was, instead, an angel with smudges of exhaustion under her eyes. That was a combination that could get under his skin. That was one reason he avoided the type at all costs.
At the sound of a shout across the street, Deanna suddenly turned toward the house that had apparently been her home. The relief at having found her son gave way to a shock so profound, her knees buckled.
Sean caught her before she fell, inhaling a faint whiff of some soft, feminine perfume that made his pulse leap. The skin of her arms was soft and smooth as satin against his rough palms. When he gazed into her eyes, they were filled with tears and a level of dismay that almost broke his heart. No matter how many times he saw people hit between the eyes by that sudden recognition of everything they’d lost, he’d never been able to steel himself against their pain.
“I’m sorry,” he said, reaching for a fresh bottle of water inside the truck and holding it out for her. “Sit down for a minute and drink this.”
She sank onto the fire truck’s running board. “I had no idea,” she whispered, looking from him to Ruby and back again. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought, but it wasn’t this. What am I going to do? We didn’t have much to begin with, but everything we owned was in there.”
Sean exchanged a look with Ruby, whose helpless expression encouraged him to take over and reply.
“But you and Seth are safe,” he said, dredging up a familiar platitude. It was a reminder he’d delivered a hundred times, but he knew it was small comfort to someone who’d seen everything they owned—all the sentimental keepsakes from the past—go up in flames. There was always a gut-wrenching sense of loss even when they understood that life was more important than property.
He held her gaze. “You know that’s what really matters, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course, but—” She shook her head as if something had confused her. “You said something about Seth?”
“Your boy.”
She turned to the child in question, an unexpected grin suddenly tugging at her lips. “Why did you tell him your name is Seth?”
“Because I’m never supposed to tell my name to strangers,” he said dutifully. He slid a guilty look toward Sean. “I’m sorry I lied.”
Sean was surprised at having been taken in by a pint-size con artist. “You’re not Seth?”
The kid shook his head.
“Then who’s Seth?”
“He’s my friend at school,” the boy admitted. “I wanted to do what Mom said, but I figured you had to call me something if we were gonna be friends.”
“At least one lesson stuck,” Deanna Blackwell said gratefully, then met Sean’s gaze. “His name is Kevin. I hope you won’t hold this against him. He was trying to do the right thing.”
Sean chuckled at the clever deception. He’d deserved