Read Online Wild Honey by Veronica Sattler - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Veronica Sattler
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“You’ve got it,” he said. Baby sister really had grown up. Grown up smarter and gutsier than he’d ever suspected. He’d loved her from the first, but now he really admired her, too.
Yet as he escorted her out, Travis couldn’t help worrying that Sarah’s decision would wrench the family further apart. One thing hadn’t changed: the old man was still a heartless bastard who’d never tolerated being crossed.
CHAPTER SIX
T RAVIS RELAXED behind the wheel as he cruised south on I-95. He was headed for Langley, although he knew Jason Cord wouldn’t be happy to see him. Jason might be his friend, but he was also Travis’s immediate superior, and he’d ordered him to take a month’s leave. Travis viewed the shoulder wound as no big deal, but he intended to take that leave; he simply needed a stop at headquarters first.
He left Georgetown feeling more upbeat than he’d felt in a long time. Not that he’d been depressed or anything, far from it. But he realized his life had lacked…balance. The past few years had been entirely devoted to work. Which was ridiculous, because while he liked his job, he wasn’t passionate about it. Reestablishing ties with his sister had added a dimension he’d badly needed. After all, Sarah was the only family left to him now that—
His mind tripped on an image of a small boy with blond curls. His son, unless he was imagining things, and he didn’t think so. Especially after the discreet inquiries he’d made at Hopkins before he left.
His name was Matthew—Matt, according to a night nurse he’d charmed into sharing what she knew. Matt. He liked the sound of it. A solid masculine name. Which the kid would need, considering who was raising him: a pair of females, with not a male in sight. Or at least, none anyone at the hospital could tell him about.
He’d learned that Nurse Miranda Terhune was unmarried and to anyone’s knowledge, had never been married. Shewas a single parent to four-year-old Matthew, and they both lived with her sister, who was helping her raise the kid. Two women, both of them single.
The thought of a child, especially a boy, being raised without a father, or at least a father figure, didn’t sit well with him. Why hadn’t a beautiful woman like Randi Terhune ever married? Why did she want to raise a kid by herself? More importantly, why had she used a sperm-bank doner to have one? Was she involved with a guy who was infertile, maybe planning marriage at the time she’d made use of the clinic’s resources? But if that was the case, where was the guy now?
These were the kinds of questions he couldn’t ask of the people she worked with. As it was, he’d treaded on dangerous turf in seeking the answers he had. Hospital personnel, like personnel everywhere, were hardly obliged to divulge personal information about coworkers. Only by spreading his inquiries among a number of nurses and using that old standby—charm—had he managed to get the information he had. That, and the fact that Terhune was so well liked, people were happy to talk about her.
To give Nurse Randi her due, everyone he’d spoken to regarded her as an excellent mother. But what did they know? Coworkers saw only certain facts of a person’s life. Maybe only the facets the person wanted them to see. So how much insight did anyone have into her home life? Into how she handled her son?
His son. Almost certain the child was his, he wasn’t content to leave it alone. Which was why he was heading for Langley. He needed to know more. And headquarters, with its vast data base, was a good place to get information on people.
He came upon a slow-moving van in the right lane and swung out to pass. As he did so, he felt a twinge of conscience regarding the ethics—or lack thereof—in using theCIA’s data base to serve his own personal ends. He decided to ignore it.
A state-police car appeared in his rearview mirror, and Travis checked his speed. He wasn’t over the limit. He rarely
Yet as he escorted her out, Travis couldn’t help worrying that Sarah’s decision would wrench the family further apart. One thing hadn’t changed: the old man was still a heartless bastard who’d never tolerated being crossed.
CHAPTER SIX
T RAVIS RELAXED behind the wheel as he cruised south on I-95. He was headed for Langley, although he knew Jason Cord wouldn’t be happy to see him. Jason might be his friend, but he was also Travis’s immediate superior, and he’d ordered him to take a month’s leave. Travis viewed the shoulder wound as no big deal, but he intended to take that leave; he simply needed a stop at headquarters first.
He left Georgetown feeling more upbeat than he’d felt in a long time. Not that he’d been depressed or anything, far from it. But he realized his life had lacked…balance. The past few years had been entirely devoted to work. Which was ridiculous, because while he liked his job, he wasn’t passionate about it. Reestablishing ties with his sister had added a dimension he’d badly needed. After all, Sarah was the only family left to him now that—
His mind tripped on an image of a small boy with blond curls. His son, unless he was imagining things, and he didn’t think so. Especially after the discreet inquiries he’d made at Hopkins before he left.
His name was Matthew—Matt, according to a night nurse he’d charmed into sharing what she knew. Matt. He liked the sound of it. A solid masculine name. Which the kid would need, considering who was raising him: a pair of females, with not a male in sight. Or at least, none anyone at the hospital could tell him about.
He’d learned that Nurse Miranda Terhune was unmarried and to anyone’s knowledge, had never been married. Shewas a single parent to four-year-old Matthew, and they both lived with her sister, who was helping her raise the kid. Two women, both of them single.
The thought of a child, especially a boy, being raised without a father, or at least a father figure, didn’t sit well with him. Why hadn’t a beautiful woman like Randi Terhune ever married? Why did she want to raise a kid by herself? More importantly, why had she used a sperm-bank doner to have one? Was she involved with a guy who was infertile, maybe planning marriage at the time she’d made use of the clinic’s resources? But if that was the case, where was the guy now?
These were the kinds of questions he couldn’t ask of the people she worked with. As it was, he’d treaded on dangerous turf in seeking the answers he had. Hospital personnel, like personnel everywhere, were hardly obliged to divulge personal information about coworkers. Only by spreading his inquiries among a number of nurses and using that old standby—charm—had he managed to get the information he had. That, and the fact that Terhune was so well liked, people were happy to talk about her.
To give Nurse Randi her due, everyone he’d spoken to regarded her as an excellent mother. But what did they know? Coworkers saw only certain facts of a person’s life. Maybe only the facets the person wanted them to see. So how much insight did anyone have into her home life? Into how she handled her son?
His son. Almost certain the child was his, he wasn’t content to leave it alone. Which was why he was heading for Langley. He needed to know more. And headquarters, with its vast data base, was a good place to get information on people.
He came upon a slow-moving van in the right lane and swung out to pass. As he did so, he felt a twinge of conscience regarding the ethics—or lack thereof—in using theCIA’s data base to serve his own personal ends. He decided to ignore it.
A state-police car appeared in his rearview mirror, and Travis checked his speed. He wasn’t over the limit. He rarely
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