Hot Stuff (Hot Zone 1)

"A merger with Spencer Atkins and Associates, Spencer's already agreed."

"Over my dead body," Yank shouted and stormed out the door without looking back.

VAUGHN SLIPPED OUT of the office where Annabelle’s family was arguing like crazy. He'd listened to their dynamics with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he recognized the sounds of arguing. Lola and Yank bluster resembled the fights he'd had with his father every year. The reason never mattered. The lack harmony did. His own family never quite connected and the bickering was something he could relate to.

But on a stronger, deeper level, Vaughn felt Annabelle and her sisters' pain on hearing about their uncle's illness. He felt for Lola and understood the hurt she was suffering by being excluded from a family she considered her own. He could empathize so well. Even more, he envied their closeness and caring despite Yank's gruff, obstinate exterior. Even when they weren't getting along, Vaughn knew their love overrode everything else.

And that's when Vaughn had suddenly experienced a sharp, knifelike pain that made him feel like an outsider, much as he did in his own family.

So he slipped back into the hall.

He caught up with Mara and Nick just as Nick was placing his cell phone back into his pocket.

Vaughn knew at first glance something was wrong. "What is it?"

Nick glanced at Mara. Mara looked at Nick. Neither met Vaughn's gaze.

"Fire," Nick said at last, his face pale. He didn't have to say it was at the lodge.

The implication was obvious and Vaughn's stomach plummeted. "How bad?"

"The firefighters are working now, but it doesn't look good for the north end. We need to get back right away," Nick said.

Vaughn gaze shot to the closed office door where Annabelle remained with her sisters and Lola. Yank, he noticed, had found the nearest bar and was nursing a drink. "Yeah. Let me just leave a message and we're out of here." He headed for the old man.

"Don't you want to tell Annabelle yourself?" Mara asked.

Vaughn shook his head. "I'll let Yank know." He couldn't allow himself to see her right now. Because as far as Vaughn was concerned, his obsession with Annabelle had caused him to leave the lodge at a crucial time. With dire consequences.

He'd abandoned his lodge when he knew somebody was out to get him and destroy his dream. And he'd left for a goddamn party to be with a woman who represented everything he wanted but would never have. No. He couldn't let her stand in the way of the one dream that just might come true.

Mara followed him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't have prevented the fire, you know," she said, reading his mind.

"But I could have been there when it happened."

And he should have been.

SINCE ANNABELLE had had private time with Lola while she'd stayed at Vaughn's house, Annabelle let her sisters talk with her now, while Annabelle headed straight for her bullheaded uncle.

She found him at the bar, talking to the same bartender who'd served at their party. She glanced at his half empty glass. "Scotch?" she asked.

"Is there anything else?" He downed the glass and pounded it on the table.

The bartender complied by pouring him more. "Miss?" he asked Annabelle.

"Club soda with a wedge of lime, please."

"Sissy drink," Uncle Yank muttered.

"Yeah well I'm a girl so what do you expect?"

He shrugged. "I raised you girls to have balls."

"And thanks to Lola we have feminine sides, too. And because of you both we have big hearts. So what happened to yours?" she asked, not disguising her real feelings.

He slid the unfinished drink across the bar, then turned to face her. "It takes more heart to let someone go than to make them stick around and suffer."

She pursed her lips in thought. It was probably best not to remind him he'd strung Lola along for years without giving her hope of anything permanent. After all, it had been Lola's choice to remain at The Hot Zone despite her unrequited feelings. Apparently now Yank was finally taking into account how his self-centered attitude might affect Lola, too late to do any good.