Part 7 (2/2)
”He's not a d.a.m.n android.” She stalked over to him. ”He says he's human. Who gave you the right to say
otherwise?”
”Pascal died.” He knew she had a point, but her challenges had always exasperated him. He wondered if his adorable granddaughter would grow up to be this headstrong. Probably. She even looked like Sam
had at that age. Leila, Jamie's mother, had been the same way. He was surrounded by formidable, tenacious women.
”He doesn't look dead to me,” Sam said. Her lips quirked in a slight smile. ”Didn't feel dead, either.”
”Sam!” Listening to his buddies make lewd insinuations when he had been a young man had been one
thing, but hearing it from someone he saw as a daughter was a different story altogether. Fl.u.s.tered, he said, ”Pascal is out at the safe house. He's fine.”
”You can't hold him prisoner. He's done nothing wrong.”
”He's an international security risk.”
He thought she would deny it, but instead she just exhaled. ”I would like to visit him.”
It told him just how much she liked this Turner, that she seemed appeased by that one concession. ”I'll arrange it.”
”Thanks.”
”Well.” He s.h.i.+fted his weight. ”I should go.”
Her expression softened. ”I'll keep an eye on that grandkid of yours. What a charmer.”
”So were you at that age,” Thomas said dryly. ”Look what you grew up into.”
She grinned. ”You wouldn't have me any other way.”
He couldn't help but laugh. ”No, I wouldn't.”
They walked across the living room together. At the door, he paused. ”Sam-”
”Yes?”
”When Jamie wakes up, could you talk to her for me?”
She regarded him curiously. ”About what?”
”Well, that's just it. I don't know. She seems smart to me, maybe really smart.” He thought of how much Jamie delighted him. ”I'm hardly objective, though. Her mother was always a whiz in school, and I was never objective about her, either.”
”I can try,” Sam said. ”But I'm no expert on kids.”
He scowled. ”You never will be, either, if you marry a forma.”
She glared at him. ”Turner is perfectly capable of fathering children.”
”Sam, that is just too strange.”
Relenting, she laid her hand on his arm. ”Don't worry so much, okay? I can take care of myself.”
His voice softened. ”I still remember you at Jamie's age. Or when you were a teenager and you babysat
Leila and Fletcher. It's hard for me to think in terms of Samantha Bryton, corporate powerhouse.”
”h.e.l.l, Thomas, I'm just a nerd.”
He grinned at her. ”Back in my day, we didn't call girls who looked like you 'nerds.' ”
Sam took on a daunting expression that he suspected had cowed plenty of swaggering young bucks.
”Yeah, well, I've heard enough 'blond' jokes to last a lifetime.”
Thomas winced, remembering his own rowdy sense of humor in his youth. Anyone foolish enough to tease Jamie that way would have to answer to him. ”Just talk to her. See what you think.”
”All right.” Mischief danced in her eyes. ”The two of us can plot to take over the world.”
”G.o.d help us.”
Sam laughed and pushed him out the door. ”Go on. We won't burn down the house while you're gone.”
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