Perplexed, Anna stared at her. “No,” she said, “I’m Anna.”
“My favorite doll’s name is Anna,” the girl said enthusiastically. “She doesn’t have a head anymore, but that doesn’t bother her because her heart is the most important thing.”
Well, from a romantic point of view, that might be true, but from a medical standpoint, Anna found the head to be somewhat relevant. Hers, for example, was starting to spin, preventing her from thinking clearly. Again, she pulled her phone out of herpocket, checked the address for the third time, and came to the same conclusion: She was in the right place.
“I’m sorry about your doll,” she croaked. “I…” She blinked, glanced into the hallway behind the girl, up the stairs, and back to the girl’s round face. She was confused. “Um…I’m sorry, but is…is Lucas here?”
She expected the girl to frown and ask who Lucas was, but no, she turned and called out loudly, “Lu, there’s someone at the door!”
Lu?
“What?” a dark voice floated down the stairs, and Anna’s hair stood on end.
It was his voice. It was his car. And this was…the girl was…whose little girl was this?
“There’s a woman here for you! I opened the door for her.”
“You did what?” Lucas sounded alarmed, and the next moment, Anna heard hurried footsteps. “Melody, you can’t be serious. What did I tell you about just opening the door like that?”
“I thought it was Aunt Hazel,” she replied, suddenly looking guilty with her lower lip sticking out. “But the woman didn’t give me any candy and she doesn’t look angry. So, what I did wasn’t sooo wrong!”
A snort came then and thundering footfalls on the stairs, and Anna looked up. She had to see him to believe it. To understand it.
Two long legs wrapped in jeans appeared, which she would only have recognized better if they had been naked. Narrow hips and broad shoulders followed, and her lips parted as if of their own accord…while Lucas stood frozen on the second-to-last step, staring at her.
His face gave nothing away. It never did. Or at least, she had never learned to read it. But his body…his body had always spoken volumes.
Lucas’ shoulders stiffened as if someone had nailed a board to his back. He leaned back almost imperceptibly as if he wanted to distance himself from the situation while his gaze flew to the little girl. She was looking up at him contritely.
“Her name is Anna and she has beautiful hair,” she helped him out. “And she didn’t say she wanted to kidnap me. So you can’t be angry.”
Lucas opened his mouth and closed it again — and for the first time, Anna had the feeling that he wasn’t silent because he wanted to be, but because he simply didn’t have the words.
Wonderful! That made two of them.
Anna slowly raised her hand. She didn’t know what else to do, her thoughts were still racing. He didn’t have a daughter!
Or did he?
No! The girl, Melody, called him Lu, not Dad.
But the next moment, Lucas took the last few steps and placed his large hands protectively on Melody’s shoulders, pulling her almost imperceptibly closer to him until she was leaning back against his leg, and… Shit, he looked like adad!
“What the hell are you doing here?” Lucas whispered harshly as Anna blinked, trying to catapult herself back to reality.
Meanwhile, the girl took a dramatic breath and peered up wide-eyed at the hockey player, who seemed even bigger next to her than he already was. “Lu! You said a bad word.”
He frowned. “Hell is bad?”
“Ms. Marron thinks so.”
“Oh.” His gaze slid back to Anna. “What the heck are you doing here?”
Melody giggled.
Anna was not in the mood to laugh. She felt as if someone had smacked her with a puck right between the eyes.
“You forgot your pills,” she managed tonelessly. “It seems, however, that’s not the only thing youforgot.” She glanced at Melody, who was glancing back and forth between them with interest.
