Dare to Love Again (The Heart of San Francisco Book #2): A Novel (10 page)

“I knew something like this would happen,” Logan muttered, soothing his sobbing niece with a gentle caress of her back while she wept in his arms. “Shhh, Allison, it’s all right now . . .”

She lunged away, face blotchy and eyes rimmed red. “No, it isn’t, Uncle Logan—he’s ruined everything!”

Logan fought the twitch of his lips as he braced Allison’s arms, her penchant for drama always making him smile. He ducked his head to peer in her eyes. “Barone? As much as I’d like to saddle him with the blame, he did the right thing by telling me about the attack.” He lifted her chin with a finger, gaze intent. “Why did you lie, sweetheart?”

“I didn’t lie exactly,” she whispered, avoiding his eyes, “just postponed the truth a bit.”

He exhaled and lifted her jaw. “Look at me.” Her eyes slowly raised to his, and his heart constricted at the tragedy in her face, reminding him once again just how fiercely he loved his family. “Then why did you postpone the truth?” he whispered.

Fresh tears swam in her eyes as she nibbled at the side of her lip in that endearing way her mother often did, softening his stance. “Oh, Uncle Logan, you wouldn’t understand—you’re a man who can come and go as you please, completely free to do whatever you want.”

Whatever I want.
A dull ache thumped in his chest at the irony
of her statement.
Except
make your mother fall in love with me.
He released a weary sigh and tugged her over to the sofa, making her sit before he settled back, scooping her close. “And what is it exactly, Allison, that you so desperately want to do?”

She sniffed and burrowed into his side like she so often did as a child. “I want to be free to make my own decisions and live my own life. To give back some of the blessings I’ve received by reaching out to disadvantaged young women.” Her body shivered, and he instinctively tightened his hold. “And to be independent and not beholden to a man . . . ,” she whispered, her voice trailing off.

His eyelids weighted closed.
Roger Luepke. Of course.
Guilt stabbed anew that he’d ever allowed his neighbor’s apprentice to court his precious niece. What had he been thinking? He hadn’t, apparently, given the pain that charlatan wreaked in Allison’s life. No, he’d been too consumed with other things—Cassie and Jamie’s roller-coaster relationship and his growing feelings for Cait—to pay closer attention to the type of man with whom he allowed his niece to fall in love. The type of man who severed her trust and stole her confidence, making her heart bleed until it was raw. Just like her mother had done to him a lifetime ago when she’d broken their engagement and married his brother . . .

Only I’d deserved it and Allison did
not . . .

Expelling a weighty breath, he pressed a kiss to her hair, vowing to keep her safe no matter the cost—both at the Hand of Hope School and in the affairs of her heart. He pulled back to stare in her swollen eyes, tenderly pushing ebony tendrils away from her face. “This is about Luepke, isn’t it?” he whispered.

Her chin quivered as she nodded, the heartbreak in her eyes twisting his gut. “I don’t trust myself anymore, Uncle Logan, too afraid to take a chance, too scared I’ll get hurt. Don’t you see? I just can’t live like that anymore.” She swiped at her eyes
with a hint of anger, chin jutting as if to prove her point. “And I won’t. Which means I need to strike out on my own as much as possible, maybe even moving into my own apartment closer to the school.”

Alarm curled in his stomach. “Allison, no—”

She clutched his hand so tightly, he could almost feel the desperation coursing her veins. “Not right away, mind you, but someday soon down the road, after I build my confidence and earn my independence. But I can’t do that with you and Mother holding my hand every step of the way, too afraid for my safety to let me out of your shadows and try my own wings.”

“Your safety is nothing to balk at, young lady.” His voice held a harsh tremor that exposed his silent fear, that anyone might harm even a hair on the head of those he loved.

“And I totally agree, truly. But please, Uncle Logan, let me learn to defend myself. Give me the freedom to take care of myself while I teach at the school or ride on the cable car.”

He sat back against the sofa, his jaw as stiff as the arms he folded across his chest. “And how do you propose to do that, young lady? With nothing more than a hat pin?”

“Yes, but a sharper and larger hat pin, easily accessible in my pocket or pinned to my dress.” Her hands clasped in a plea. “And a firearm like Miss Penny has and maybe boxing lessons from Jamie or even carrying that perfume atomizer bracelet you gave me last year.”

“Perfume,” he said in a flat tone.

She jagged a brow. “Have you forgotten the day you rushed me to the hospital with Daddy when I sprayed Mother’s perfume in my eye at the age of eight? Burned like the dickens and blurred my vision too—which, with the surprise factor, would temporarily disarm any attacker.”

He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “Only you, Allison.” The smile faded into a scowl. “But a gun? I don’t think so.”

“Miss Penny told me a firearm is a must for any household in the vicinity of the Barbary Coast and that her nephew, the captain of detectives for the 14th precinct, actually taught her how to shoot. Claimed it was the only way he’d allow her to stay in her home—if she promised not to go out after dark and learn to use her husband’s old shotgun, which she did.”

Logan’s lips compressed. “Yes, Harmon and I are close friends, which is the only reason I allowed your mother to purchase that property in the first place. He assured me his aunt’s house was on the edge of the Coast, away from the fray, and promised to beef up patrols.”

“ ‘Allowed’?” Allison smiled, her eyes finally sparkling with something other than tears. “As if you could have stopped her. You know Mother when her heart is set on something.”

“Yes, I know,” he said with a faint smile.
Painfully well.
His hand covered hers. “But I’m not sure about a firearm or even Jamie teaching you to box—both are dangerous.”

“So is the Barbary Coast, and yet that’s where our school is.”

“Against my wishes,” he said with a grunt.

Allison cocked her head. “Well, I have been reading up on something else that might work,” she said carefully, the excitement in her eyes too obvious to miss.

“I’m sure you have.” His stern look couldn’t mask his affection.

She scrambled to hike a leg beneath her skirt, hands folded like a prayer of hope. “You see, I’ve been researching this new form of self-defense that originated in the Far East . . .”

His smile crooked. “Chopsticks?”

Her giggle made his heart soar.

“No, silly, something that doesn’t require anything but my hands and feet.”

“Really.” He couldn’t help the skepticism that crept in his tone. He held up her hand and then pinched the toe of her tiny shoe. “Pretty small weapons, sweetheart.”

Mischief laced her smile as she wiggled her brows. “Not if you know jiu-jitsu.”

“Jiu-jitsu?” He squinted, trying to recall where he’d heard the word before.

“Don’t you remember Teddy Roosevelt’s secretary telling us when we had dinner with him in May how the president’s been practicing jiu-jitsu? He said the president brought a Boston jiu-jitsu master to the White House last year to teach him the Japanese art of self-defense and told us that even women and children can learn it.”

Logan chuckled. “He also told us Teddy has a habit of skinny-dipping in the Potomac during the winter, young lady, but I’m not sure that’s something to emulate.”

She nibbled on the edge of her smile, an innocent blush dusting her cheeks. “Uncle Logan, really—I’m serious here. Why, I’ve even read that some states are encouraging their police officers to learn jiu-jitsu as an excellent means of self-defense.”

He drew in a deep breath and slowly released it again. “Well, I’m certainly in favor of anything that can restore your confidence
and
protect you in the process . . .”

She lunged into his arms. “Oh, Uncle Logan, I just knew I could count on you—”

“But . . . ,” he said with a firm grip of her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length while he gave her a firm look, “there will be conditions, and the biggest obstacle will be convincing your mother—” He glanced up at the sound of the front door and
quickly tugged Alli’s shawl up over her shoulders. “And mark my words, young lady—
that
won’t be easy,” he whispered in her ear.

“Oh, yes it will! Mother respects you more than anybody. If you really put your mind to it, you can sway her on just about anything.”

No, not everything . . .

“Thank you, Hadley.” Caitlyn’s voice drifted in from the foyer, and Logan’s pulse automatically skipped a beat, picking up pace as always when Caitlyn McClare entered a room. He squeezed Alli’s shoulder and stood, stomach looping when Cait paused in the parlour door. “Logan—what a nice surprise. What are you doing here?” Her gaze lighted on Alli, and her smile instantly dimmed as it darted back to him. “Is everything all right?” she asked, a flicker of concern in her beautiful green eyes.

“Relax, Cait, everything’s fine. I came by to collect the wallet I left in your billiard room last night when your boys fleeced me in a pool tournament. But Alli, you, and I do need to talk.”

“Uncle Logan!” Maddie shot past Cait, Cassie, and Meg to barrel into Logan’s waiting arms, swelling his chest with love for this family he adored. Why had he wasted all those years chasing other women when everything he wanted was right here? His eyes met Cait’s over Maddie’s riot of curls, and he wondered if she felt the spark he always did when their gazes converged. He forced himself to look away to deposit a kiss on Maddie’s nose before he set her back down. “How are my girls?”

“Jeepers, Uncle Logan, you should see my dress,” Maddie said with a giggle, holding her skirt out as she twirled in a circle. “Cassie says I look like a princess.”

“Indeed,” Cassie said with a tweak of Maddie’s neck. “As does Meg, who, I might add, is growing into a lovely young woman.”

“I’ll second that.” Logan’s response prompted a soft blush in
Meg’s cheeks. The self-conscious duck of her head made him want to swoop her up like he had Maddie and tell her just how beautiful she really was, but he didn’t dare. At an extremely shy seventeen, Meg would only be embarrassed by any attempt to counter her mistaken belief that a full baby face and eyeglasses made her plain and plump. Not to mention the gold dental braces she wore that he’d talked Cait into, touted by a dentist friend as the latest miracle cure for crooked teeth. Cait had decided to send her middle daughter to Paris for her senior year, and Logan was grateful, hoping it would lift her self-esteem and spare further ridicule from cruel students at school. He gave Meg a wink. “You mark my words, Megan McClare, you are on your way to becoming a real beauty.” His gaze flitted to Cait’s and held. “Just like your mother.”

“Well, I certainly concur with Meggie becoming a beauty,” Caitlyn said with a self-conscious blush of her own. She gave Meg a tight squeeze, then pressed a soft kiss to her daughter’s pale red hair. “Would you be a dear and help Maddie get ready for bed, darling? I need to talk to Uncle Logan and your sister, but I’ll be up soon to kiss you both good night.”

“Sure, Mother,” Meg said with a kiss to Caitlyn’s cheek. She extended a hand to her little sister. “Come on, Maddie. You can snuggle with me till Mother comes up.”

The little girl gave a short little hop. “Really? And will you read to me from
Jane Eyre
like you did last week?”

“Sure, peanut.” Meg led her to the door, sending a tired smile over her shoulder as she stifled a yawn. “Good night, everyone.”

“G’night, Megs,” Cassie called along with the others. She ambled over to plop down alongside Allison on the sofa. “So . . . did you miss us? Jamie, Blake, and Bram surprised us by treating us to dinner at The Palace, so I bet you’re real sorry you didn’t go now, aren’t you?”

Allison’s gaze met Logan’s, and a lump bobbed in her throat despite the crooked smile that surfaced on her lips. “You have no idea,” she said with a playful bump of her cousin’s shoulder. She squeezed her hand. “But I was able to get a lot done, so I’m grateful.”

“Good.” Cassie leaned to give Allison a hug before lumbering up. “Well, I have some class preparations of my own waiting upstairs, so see you in the morning. Good night, all.” She hurried over to give Logan a hug and then her aunt before the click of her heels echoed across the marble foyer.

Caitlyn wasted no time. With a faint air of urgency, she immediately shut the double burlwood doors and hurried over to sit beside her daughter on the sofa, arm bracing Allison’s waist. “Something’s wrong, I can feel it,” she said with an uneasy glance in Logan’s direction. “What’s this all about?”

He released a quiet exhale and settled into his easy chair, the one he claimed when he came for dinner three times a week, which wasn’t near as often as he liked. He perched on the edge, arms straddling his legs and hands loosely clasped while he employed the same calm and confident demeanor he exercised in the courtroom. “I think it would be wise to hire an armed watchman until Mr. Bigley returns.”

Cait blinked, color effectively draining from her face. Her voice broke on a crack as she clasped Allison’s arm. “Why? What’s happened?”

Exchanging a quick glance with his niece, he softened his tone. “Cait, Allison is fine, but she did have a minor problem tonight that we need to make sure doesn’t happen again.”

Cait shifted to face her daughter, hand trembling as she touched Allison’s arm. “What kind of problem,” she said quietly, her tone almost casual in an obvious effort to remain calm.

“A minor incident, Mother, really,” Allison assured with a tentative smile, pulling her shawl tightly about her. “I lost track of time, you see, so it was after dusk when I . . . well, I . . .”

“Spit it out, Allison,” Cait said with an impatience seldom displayed. “When you
what
?”

Tendons shifted in Allison’s throat. “When I was stopped by . . .” Her voice trailed to a whisper while her face leeched as pale as her mother’s, as if the trauma was just now sinking in.