The Calamity Janes: Gina and Emma. Sherryl Woods

house about 7:45 a.m. There was no sign of Gina, though from what he’d gathered, she was not exactly a morning person. Still, he found the fact that her mother’s car was missing this early on a Sunday vaguely worrisome. Had Gina taken off in it? Would her mother conspire to help her daughter skip town? Leave the country? Maybe that remark Gina had made the day before about fleeing to Canada had been no joke.

      Because he hated the way his imagination was running wild, he concluded the best way to get to the truth would be to knock on the door and ask to see her. For all he knew, the entire family might be at church, though most had services that began later.

      When a woman he assumed to be Mrs. Petrillo answered the door, he understood where Gina got her beauty. Her mother was probably in her late forties, maybe even her early fifties, but she looked a decade younger. There wasn’t a single strand of gray in her thick, dark hair. There was hardly a wrinkle on her heart-shaped face. But while her daughter’s eyes were dark, Mrs. Petrillo’s were a vibrant green, and they were studying him with undisguised curiosity.

      “May I help you?” she asked, when Rafe remained speechless.

      He gathered his composure. “Actually, I’m looking for your daughter, Mrs. Petrillo. Is she here?”

      “Ah,” she said, her expression brightening. “You must be the mysterious man everyone is talking about.”

      “I’m Rafe O’Donnell,” he said, taken aback by the friendly welcome. Obviously, the people talking were those who’d witnessed the kiss, and not Gina herself. He doubted she had painted him in a favorable light.

      “My husband and I are just having a second cup of coffee, Mr. O’Donnell. Will you join us? Gina left a little while ago, but she shouldn’t be gone long.”

      Never one to turn down caffeine or the chance to pump someone for information about Gina, he smiled. “I’d love a cup.”

      In the cheerful, yellow kitchen with its warm oak cupboards and white trim, she introduced Rafe to her husband and invited him to make himself at home.

      “Were your ears burning?” she asked. “We were talking about you not fifteen minutes ago.”

      “Is that so?” he asked warily. “What did Gina have to say?”

      “Not much, which is why I’m so glad you dropped by. You’re not local, are you? How do you know our daughter?”

      Now there was a minefield, Rafe thought. “Actually, I’m from New York.”

      “So, you and Gina met there?” George Petrillo asked, regarding Rafe with suspicion.

      “Not exactly.”

      The vague response clearly stirred more suspicion on her father’s part. “We don’t get a lot of New Yorkers around here. How did you happen to choose Winding River for a vacation?”

      “Actually I’m working.”

      George’s gaze narrowed. “You’re not some fool movie producer, are you? They come crawling around here all the time these days, paying outrageous amounts for property. If it keeps up, the next thing we know we won’t be able to afford to live in our own hometown.”

      Rafe chuckled. “No. I haven’t even been to a movie in the last two years, and I am definitely not buying any property.”

      “Then what do you do?” her father asked, just as Gina’s mother stepped in.

      “George, you’re pestering the man. Let him drink his coffee in peace.”

      “I’m just trying to get acquainted with a man who’s got half the town talking about the way he kissed my daughter,” George grumbled.

      So they had heard, Rafe thought. That explained the interrogation. “I apologize for that,” he said with absolute sincerity. It had been one of the biggest mistakes of his life, though he could hardly deny enjoying it.

      “There’s no need to apologize to us,” Jane assured him, shooting a warning look at her husband. “Is there, George?”

      “Not unless Gina objected,” he said, scowling at Rafe. “Did she?”

      Just then the back door opened and Gina stepped inside. “You!” she said when she saw him. “I thought that was your rental car out front. What are you doing here?”

      “Looking for you, of course.”

      “And grilling my parents while you’re at it? What a lowdown, sneaky trick,” she accused. “Did you wait until you saw me leave before knocking on the door?”

      “No, I did not. And actually, I’ve barely gotten a word in,” he said, regarding her with amusement.

      “That’s true, dear,” her mother verified. “Your father has been doing most of the talking. I’m surprised your friend hasn’t told him to mind his own business.”

      Gina directed a frown at Rafe, then her father, then Rafe again. “I’d like to see you outside, please.”

      He grinned. “Sure thing. Mr. and Mrs. Petrillo, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for the coffee.”

      “I do hope you’ll come back and visit with us,” Jane said. “Perhaps you could come for dinner before you go back to New York.”

      “Sorry, Mom, he won’t be around that long,” Gina said. “Will you, Rafe?”

      He gave her a penetrating look. “My schedule is actually pretty flexible. Last I heard I’ll be in town for at least two weeks.”

      Her mother beamed. “Then I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. You must be staying at the hotel. I’ll be in touch.”

      “I’ll look forward to it,” he said, then followed Gina outside. Since she couldn’t seem to stop pacing up and down, he leaned against the porch railing and waited to see what she had to say.

      Finally she stopped in front of him. “I do not want you here.”

      “So I gathered.”

      “My parents don’t know anything about my business. They don’t know anything about Bobby. Leave them alone.”

      “I was not pumping them for information. In fact, I thought I was doing a darned fine job of evading all of your father’s questions about how we knew each other and what I do for a living.”

      “You didn’t tell them you were a lawyer?”

      “No.”

      “You didn’t tell them you’d followed me out here?”

      “No.”

      “You never mentioned Bobby?”

      “Nope.”

      That seemed to silence her. Rafe couldn’t help himself. He reached out and cupped her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I’m just after the truth, Gina. Nothing else. If you have nothing to hide, talk to me, tell me the truth.”

      “You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the butt.”

      “You have a very low opinion of my ability to judge character, don’t you?”

      “Can you blame me? You’ve come after me as if I’m some hardened criminal, when I’m as much of a victim as any of the people you say that Bobby swindled. The man has all but destroyed my business. He has turned my life upside down. And because of him, an annoyingly persistent attorney won’t leave me alone.”

      Rafe grimaced at the characterization. He’d always considered persistence to be a virtue, but he could see her point. Moreover, he was forced to admit that he was beginning to believe in at least the possibility of her innocence, but he was a long way from having any evidence for or against her. She might not see that as much of a shift in his opinion, but in truth it was a major concession. He usually trusted his initial gut reaction in any given situation, and he rarely let go of