Catch of a Lifetime (3 page)

   "Michael, hold on a minute—"

   "Sit on a baby?" Why in-the-sea would anyone want to do that?

   Angel didn't know how Humans cared for their infants since her sister-in-law, Erica, had remained on land for the birth of her daughter, but she would have thought that sitting on a baby was a bad idea. Showed how much she knew. Book studies could only get her so far. She needed real-life practicals, and this one had landed in her lap—and she actually
had
a lap.

   But how had Michael gotten a baby? Her research showed Humans weren't capable of reproduction until the onset of puberty, the same as Mers.

   Both males stared at her. "Don't you know what a babysitter is?" Logan asked while Michael giggled.

   Obviously not what she'd thought it was. And, appar ently, it was odd for her not to know what one was. "Of course I do. I was only joking."

   Michael figured it out and managed to muffle his laughter, but she could see the questions behind Logan's eyes. She'd have to do a better job of fitting in.

   "See, Logan?" Michael tipped the rim of his cap back. "Now you don't have to take off from work tomorrow. Angel can watch me. I won't have to go to daycare, and you can save the money. Rainbow likes to save money."

   The child's smile was every bit as wide as Harry's, but full of lovely little teeth, a few spaces between them where the baby ones had fallen out. She wondered how many gold coins Matilda had placed beneath his pillow or if the Tooth Fairy Brigade only celebrated Mer tooth loss.

   "Michael, that's not going to happen. Angel has more important things to do than watch you while I'm at work."

   Ah.
Babysitting.
An odd phrase, but now completely understandable. Her people called it Mer-minding.

   "Actually, I don't. My study doesn't take all my time." Not to mention, babysitting Michael would
be
her field study.

   "See? She can!" Michael was now bouncing on both feet, his cap crushed between his hands, his thick auburn hair, so like his father's, flopping by his ears.

   Logan was trying to glare at her over his son's head, but Angel purposely kept her gaze averted. She liked Michael's idea and didn't want to give Logan any am munition for his argument.

   Yes, Rod would have issues with this whole thing, but if he'd allowed her the opportunity to apply for the job she'd wanted, this situation could have been avoided. But Rod had spouted off about no more Human inter action by members of his family—interesting how he came up with that stipulation
after
he and Reel had both married Humans—and then Harry had pulled his idiotic move, so her fins were tied.

   Besides, when she pulled this off and went back to Atlantis with firsthand information, she'd be the perfect candidate for director of the Coalition. Rod would
have
to give her the position—who better to work towards fostering Mer-Human relations with the goal to save the planet than a Mer who'd actually lived among them? The Council would thank her for the leaps she'd made in advancing Mer knowledge.

   If she didn't blow it…

   "Michael, why don't you go see Tony so Angel and I can talk."

   "I don't wanna." Michael puffed out his lower lip and crossed his arms. "You said I could have what ever I wanted for my birthday and I want Angel for my babysitter."

   Logan looked ready to spit snails. Instead he rolled his eyes toward the heavens and scraped a hand across his jaw, the slight rasp setting Angel's skin to tingling.

   "Look, sport, no offense to Angel, but I don't know her well enough to feel comfortable about her watching you."

   She glanced away when Logan's eyes drilled into hers, and she hunched down in front of the little boy.

   "Michael, how about if we do this on a trial basis? Maybe your dad would feel better about me babysitting if he spent the day with us. If he's happy with the way I look after you, we can discuss the situation then, okay?"

   "But I don't want you to go away." The little boy's bottom lip trembled.

   Angel couldn't help herself. She hugged him. He was no different from any other child she knew. "I'm not going anywhere, Michael. I promise."

Oh, hell.

   Logan looked at the scene before him and tossed in the proverbial towel. First the problem at work, now this. He couldn't deny Michael the one thing he wanted for his birthday, but he also couldn't leave his son in the care of a total stranger.

   It was a good thing he could work from home. He'd been doing it since Rainbow—
Christine
—had dropped Michael off with nothing but a note, a stuffed toy rac coon, a bag of tattered clothing, and a few children's books. What were a couple more days? Not the ideal situation, but school wasn't that far off.

   "All right, Michael. If that's what you want, Angel can hang out with you while I'm working today, okay?"

   "You're the best, Logan!" Michael wrapped his thin arms around Logan's thighs, giving him his first official Dad hug.

   A lump formed in Logan's throat. What would it take to get a "Dad" out of him? Logan didn't know, but if caving in to babysitter demands was all it took to get a hug, he'd give the kid whatever he wanted.

   He patted Michael's shoulders. No, actually he wouldn't. The hug was a nice perk, but responsible par ents didn't give in to every whim and demand, even if doing so solved problems.

   Not that he had any idea of responsible parenting given the pair he'd grown up with, nor the mother he'd inadvertently chosen for his son. Common sense said you couldn't give a kid everything he wanted, although he had to believe that giving in every now and then wasn't so bad.

   He had wondered how he was going to be a single, working parent when Michael had arrived and had put Give Up Sleep at the top of the list. Visit a Dozen Day cares had taken priority for tomorrow. But now, with Angel around, those To-Do items were no longer necessary.

   Then Angel stood up and smoothed his T-shirt down almost to her knees, and Logan had to yank his gaze from her legs. Actually, he
would
be visiting someplace tomorrow: a women's clothing store.

   She stretched, and the T-shirt slid up her thighs.

   No. Make that today. The problem at work could wait another hour or so while they found her something ap propriate. If Angel was going to be around his son, a T-shirt wouldn't cut it. She needed clothing. Now. For his sake even more than her own.

THE SEAGULLS WERE LAUGHING AT HER.

   Atop a lighting fixture at the end of the dock, the birds started making noise the minute Angel stepped off the rocking boat.

   They
could
cut her some slack. So she was a little un steady. This was the first time she'd ever had legs, and disembarking a rocking boat wasn't easy. Not to men tion, she was still floating over the fact that she'd pulled it off. Logan was letting her stay. She had an excuse and an opportunity to test out her plans for the Coalition.

   Now she just needed to figure out how to pull off a disappearing act every other night to ensure the return of her tail so she could stay for more than a day or two. Much as she wanted to learn about Humans and get the directorship, she didn't want to sacrifice her tail to do so, which is what would happen if she had legs for more than two consecutive sunsets.

   "How long have you had the boat, Logan?" She turned around as he climbed over the gunwale. "Do you use it often? Have you ever lived on it in the marina? The ocean? What does it run on? Diesel? Biofuel?"

   Logan stepped onto the dock. "What's with the twenty questions?"

   Damn. She had a bad habit of wanting to know the answer to everything right away.

   "Oh, just curious." Then she tripped over some loose mooring lines, and, on cue, the birds erupted with more laughter.

   At least she stayed upright. As long as they didn't start speaking to her, she could pretend they were squawking that signature
caw
Humans found so annoying—and would find even more annoying if they knew the gulls were laughing at them. Seabirds just loved bathing-suit season.

   Then her heel came down awkwardly on a hose some one had left out and, this time, she couldn't manage to keep her balance and fell—right into Logan's arms.

   Suddenly the seagull noise faded into the background. So did Michael's laughter, the creak of the boat against the dock, the motor of someone's charter leaving the marina, and all her twenty questions.

   
Everything
faded into the background except the feel of Logan's arms around her. The flexing biceps beneath her palms. The tightening of his stomach against her chest. That delicious blended scent of sea breeze and man…

   Angel looked up—he was so much taller than she was. So much bigger. Yet he wouldn't hurt her. She knew that. How she did, she didn't know, but some thing… almost a quiet strength about him told her, in one instant, that she could trust him with her life.

   She blinked. Now
that
was ridiculous. He was a Human. Humans were the
last
beings a Mer could trust. But when Logan raised her chin to stare into her eyes, Angel knew that wasn't true about him.

   "Are you all right?" His voice was lower than before, the words breathless.

   "I…" She licked her lips. Talk about breathless. She tried again. "Yes. I am." She tried to prove it by standing, but she wasn't exactly proficient with legs after such a short time and fell back against him.

   Logan's head lowered.

   Or did she raise hers?

   Did it matter?

   All that did matter was that his lips were just above hers and if she stretched a bit more—

   "Hey! Come on!" Michael's voice broke into the moment.

   Oh, gods. She'd been about to kiss him.

   "Are you guys coming or what?"

   Angel looked away. What had she been thinking? He was a
Human,
for Zeus's sake. She couldn't be attracted to him. That went against everything she believed in. All her scientific protocol and everything she wanted for herself. Hades, she'd broken up with her last boyfriend because he'd started getting serious. She didn't want that; she wanted to focus on her career. On the Coalition. On bettering their worlds. She didn't need to have an attraction to
anyone
, least of all a Human. Besides, Logan was married.

   Wait a minute. What had
he
been thinking?

   Or… maybe she'd just imagined it.

   Yeah. That was it. She had to have imagined it.

   Embarrassed, surprised, mad at herself, a whole host of emotions plaguing her that she didn't want to examine, Angel made a concerted effort to regain the use of her legs. Logan helped by steadying her—although steady was a misnomer because there was nothing steady in the heat zipping through her fingers, up her arm, and all over her body.

   
No. No. No. Mind back on your purpose here,
Tritone.

"Thank you," she said, yanking her hand off him.

"You're welcome," he said, his voice still raspy.

   "Hurry up!" Michael bounced on a loose weathered plank, hitting the beam beneath with a
thud, thud.

   Kind of like her heart was doing.

   No it wasn't. That was just surprise. Embarrassment. She was
imagining
things.

   Then Logan slid a hand under her elbow, and her knees got a little jellyfish-like.

   She had one Hades of an imagination.

   "Angel."

   She really had to focus on walking. Legs took some getting used to. That's why hers were wobbly.

   "Angel, do you want to make a call?"

   Bird calls? Humans did that? Her research hadn't given any indication they practiced this old sys tem of communication. Did they even understand the language?

   "Um, all right. What breed?"

   "Breed? You mean brand? Of cell phone? Does it matter?" He held his black box out to her.

   Cell phone. Oh, crappie.

   She stared at the black thing. She knew about the device, especially the mercury from discarded ones that leeched into the environment, but unfortunately, she didn't have a clue how to use one. She also didn't have anyone to call. Cell service wasn't exactly pos sible in Atlantis.

   "Actually, there isn't anyone I can call. No one knows I'm doing this and, well, I'd rather keep it that way. They wouldn't approve, and if they heard what happened…"

   Logan tilted his head to the side, studying her. "You want to prove something to them."

   It wasn't a question, but it was so right on the cur rency that Angel grabbed it with both hands. "Right. They think I can't do this, and if not for that damn shark, I could have proved them wrong in a tailfli—in a heartbeat."

   All of which was true—if slightly skewed.

   Logan studied her another moment or two, his eyes narrowing, and Angel refused to remember how they'd darkened when he'd almost kissed her… or, rather, when she'd
imagined
he'd almost kissed her.

   
Oh, Zeus. Let it go already.
If she wanted to be taken seriously in the Mer scientific community, the last thing she needed was to swim down that stream about a Human. With The Council's, and most of the Mer popu lation's, prejudice against all things Human, her obser vations would be tossed aside as lovesick musings. She pulled her arm from his grasp—and ignored the sudden chill that raced over her skin.