Daniel's Desire - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,61
threatening lawsuits against everyone involved. That could include you, by the way, since you’ve known from the beginning that she was a runaway with family looking for her. I’m no lawyer, but I figure there’s a case against all of us for obstructing justice—at the very least.”
She stared at him, not entirely comprehending what he was saying. “So, what? You’re going to take her home and that’s that?”
“Yes. I have no alternative.”
“You would turn that girl over to her parents, even though we both know something is dreadfully wrong, just to protect your own hide?”
“No, dammit, to protect yours.”
She faltered at that. “No, I won’t let you do it, Daniel. Certainly not for the wrong reason, not to protect me.”
“You won’t have a choice. Neither of us do.”
“Oh, really?” she scoffed. “We’ll see about that.”
“Come on, Molly, be reasonable. Sooner or later, you had to know this moment would come.”
“Don’t use that patronizing tone with me,” she snapped. “I will not let you force Kendra to do something when she’s so obviously scared.”
“And if I take her, anyway?” he asked quietly. “What then, Molly? Is it going to come between us?”
“Yes,” she said at once.
He leveled an unflinching look straight into her eyes. “Because you’ll see it as another betrayal?”
“Yes,” she said, though her voice was barely above a whisper. She knew it was unreasonable, knew that it wasn’t the same as before, but it felt the same. It hurt that he wasn’t on her side, wasn’t willing to protect yet another child who mattered to her.
“Sweetheart, this is my job. I take it very seriously. I will do everything in my power to protect Kendra if she needs it, but there is no evidence that she does. To the contrary, all the evidence suggests that she’s from a good home. Her parents love her. They’re frantic. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute.”
She didn’t want to think about the Morrows. Kendra was all that mattered. “Then why doesn’t Kendra want to go back there?” Molly demanded, unable to keep the urgency out of her voice. “Come on, Daniel. Think about it. They’re going to send her away. How much can they really love her if they’re going to do that, knowing that she doesn’t want to go?”
“Then help me find out where they’re sending her,” he pleaded. “Go downstairs with me now and lay it on the line for her. She opens up with us, here and now, or she goes home. Even at the risk of alienating you forever, those are the choices, Molly.”
She heard the unmistakable finality in his voice and shuddered. He wasn’t going to relent on this. Professionally, he’d been backed into a corner. And, much as she hated to admit it, she could see the position he was in. Kendra had given him nothing to work with, no truly solid reason he could take to the police or the courts that would justify not returning her to her parents.
“What do you need from her?” she asked at last.
“The truth,” he said simply.
“What if you don’t see the truth the same way she does?”
“We’ll work it out,” he promised. “The three of us.”
Molly knew it was the best deal she could hope for. “Give me a few minutes alone with her, okay?”
There was no mistaking the hint of doubt in his eyes. She could even understand it. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. “You expect me to trust you, Daniel, to believe that you have Kendra’s best interests at heart. You have to trust me when I tell you that I’m not going to grab her and make a run for it.”
He nodded. “I do trust you. You’ve got fifteen minutes, Molly. No longer.”
It was less than she’d hoped for, but probably more than she deserved under the circumstances. If Joe was about to turn up at any second, she doubted he would approve of any concession Daniel was making.
She nodded curtly. “I’ll do what I can.”
She left Daniel standing in her living room and went back downstairs, trying to think of some way to get through to Kendra and get the answers they needed.
Molly found the girl in the kitchen, close to Retta’s side, watching the cook’s every move as she made omelettes for the handful of customers already in the dining room.
Kendra glanced up. “This is fun. I think I’m gonna be a famous chef and run a restaurant when I grow up.”
Molly grinned. It was a far leap from Jess’s to