It was after midnight when Jason finally got home, too late to call Dana. After the tense standoff with his father and the close Celtics’ victory, he was too wired to sleep. Disgruntled as well by his lack of progress with Dana, he tried to read over the marketing and advertising plan he’d been finalizing in preparation for Dana’s first day on the job.

  No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t seem to concentrate. For some reason he felt this odd sense that Dana needed him, that she was in trouble. He tried valiantly to ignore it, but time and again he glanced at the phone, debating with himself. He’d finally convinced himself to call and was already reaching for the phone, when it rang.

  “Yes, hello,” he said, instantly convinced that his instincts had been accurate. No one ever called him this late unless there was a problem.

  “Jason,” Dana said in a voice that sounded sandpaper husky from crying.

  His heart slammed against his ribs. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Sammy. I know I shouldn’t call you after the way he’s acted, after the way I’ve acted, but I didn’t know what else to do. There isn’t anyone else who could help.”

  “What’s he done?” To his regret, his antagonistic tone sounded as if he were anticipating the worst.

  “He hasn’t done anything,” she said, clearly bristling. “He’s just gone. I came home earlier and he was out. I didn’t think much about it until a couple of hours ago. He knows he has an eleven-o’clock curfew on weekends unless we discuss a later one. He always calls if he’s going to be late,” she said staunchly, as if to defend him from an attack she knew Jason was likely to make.

  “I’ll be right there,” Jason said, already reaching for his clothes.

  “Thank you.”

  Dana sounded so tired, so vulnerable. Jason felt something tear lose inside his chest as he considered the state of panic she must be in. This time he was going to shake Sammy until his teeth rattled. Dana didn’t deserve this kind of treatment from a kid she’d spent years protecting and nurturing, a boy whose needs she’d always put above her own. If Jason had anything to say about it, Dana was through making sacrifices that went unappreciated.

  He reached her apartment in record time and raced inside. At the sound of his footsteps pounding up the stairs, she had the door open before he reached the top. Her expression wavered between relief and disappointment when she saw it was him. Jason could understand the ambivalence. Obviously she’d been praying it was Sammy. Jason’s help came in at a distant second best.

  Jason took one look at the tears tracking down her cheeks and swept her into his arms. For some reason she felt almost fragile, as if fear alone had robbed her of her usual strength. There was no hint of the famed Dana Roberts spunk.

  “Any news?” he asked gently.

  He felt the subtle shake of her head, the sigh that shuddered through her.

  “Let’s go inside and think this through.”

  “I want to go look for him,” she insisted stubbornly.

  “Running around the streets at this hour won’t accomplish anything unless we have a plan. Come on. Make some coffee and tell me every single place you think he might be.”

  In the kitchen she scooped up the coffee, then spilled it from a spoon that shook uncontrollably. Jason retrieved the spoon, urged her into a chair, then wiped up the coffee and started over. When the pot was on the stove, he pulled a chair close to her and enfolded her trembling, icy hands in his.

  Looking downright miserable, Dana met his gaze and said, “He’s never done anything like this before—never. What if he’s hurt?”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll call the hospitals and the police. We’ll find him.”

  She looked thunderstruck. “The police?”

  “To see about reported accidents.”

  She nodded reluctantly. “Okay. Wouldn’t they have called me, though? He has ID with my name and number for emergencies.”

  Jason could think of several reasons, all of them bad, that no one had called Dana. He evaded. “Not necessarily.”

  She started to get up. “Shouldn’t we be doing that now?”

  “As soon as you drink a little coffee. Have you eaten anything tonight?”

  “A sandwich.” At his skeptical glance, she added, “Honest. I really didn’t start worrying until eleven when he was due in.”

  “Okay, then. Drink the coffee and let me make a few calls. Where’s the phone book?”

  “In the living room by the phone.”

  “You stay here and try to relax. I’ll be right back.”

  Naturally she didn’t stay put. Though Jason worried that listening to question after question would only add to her stress, she weathered the next hour fairly well. In fact, she seemed to grow calmer, more determined. That strength in a crisis was an admirable trait, but Jason almost wished she would cry or scream—anything to wipe away that increasingly bleak, stoic expression.

  The police had no record of Sammy either being picked up or in an accident. After the last futile call to a hospital, Jason sighed. “No luck.”

  Dana’s expression did brighten slightly then. “That’s good, though, isn’t it? It means he’s not hurt and we already know he hasn’t been arrested.”

  What it meant to Jason’s way of thinking was the kid had absolutely no excuse for not calling. None. If he did turn out to be okay and just exercising his selfish independent streak, Jason very well might put him in the hospital himself.

  “You’re right. I’m sure there’s no reason to worry,” he found himself saying, hoping to put a little color back into Dana’s pale, drawn face.

  She wasn’t quite that easily consoled, however. The next thing he knew, she was on her feet and reaching for her jacket. “I’m going to look for him. He has to be someplace.”

  “Dana, no.”

  “I can’t just sit here.”

  “You can.” When she continued toward the door, her expression defiant, he said, “Stay. I’ll go look. He could come back or call and you should be here.”

  Only when he’d promised to search the neighborhood thoroughly did she remove her coat and sit back down, drawing her knees up to her chin and circling them with her arms. He squeezed her hands and dropped a feather-light kiss on her cheek. “Try not to worry. I’ll check in every half hour and let you know what area I’ve covered. See if you can think of any place he might go, some friend he might visit.”

  He left her staring at the phone.

  As the hours wore on toward morning with no sign of Sammy, Jason grew almost as alarmed as Dana. Sammy might infuriate him, and Dana’s blind, unwavering defense of the boy might drive him to distraction, but he wouldn’t want anything to happen to him. The kid had so much untapped potential. It was that waste more than anything that caused Jason to lose patience with Sammy so readily. How could he so casually throw away not only his own natural gifts, but the opportunities Dana struggled to offer him? What in God’s name would it take to reach him?

  Each time Jason called with no news, he could hear the mounting fear in Dana’s voice. By the time he got back to the apartment at dawn, she was in a state of near panic. He was nearly as frazzled himself.

  “He probably spent the night with one of his friends,” he said, though somehow Sammy didn’t strike him as the type to go on some innocent sleep-over at a friend’s house.

  Dana didn’t seem to buy the explanation any more than he did. She tried her best to look hopeful, but the effort fell discouragingly short. Jason would have dragged home moonbeams, if they would have cheered her up. He doubted it would have mattered.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked dutifully. “I have some eggs.”

  He shook his head. “No, just give me some more coffee, so I can warm up a little. Then I’ll go out again.”

  “You don’t think we’re going to find him, do you?” Dana said, her voice flat.

  Jason considered lying to her, but couldn’t do it. Pulling her close, he said as gently as he could, “Not unless he wants to be found. He’s sixteen and pretty ingenious. My guess is he’ll come home when he’s good and ready.”

  “Why would he have left in the first place? We didn’t have a fight. Everything was just fine when I went out.”

  “Sweetheart, it may have absolutely nothing to do with you. Maybe he had a run-in with that gang of his and figured he needed to hide out. It’s hard to tell how a teenager’s mind works. Maybe he did something he knew would upset you and was too ashamed to admit it. When he gets hungry enough and lonely enough, he’ll figure out that running’s not the answer.”

  “I wish I could be as sure of that as you are.”

  Jason wasn’t sure of much of anything, just that he would have given his life to save Dana this kind of heartache.

  “You don’t suppose he would call you,” she said, a sudden spark of excitement in her eyes. “I mean if he were in trouble, he might think you could get him out of it.”

  “I think I’d be the last person he’d call.”

  “But he might,” Dana insisted. “Is your answering machine on?”

  “Yes.”

  “Check it for messages. Please, Jason.”

  Jason thought it was a waste of time, but he called, then punched in his security code. The tape rewound through one lengthy message and began to play.

  “Jason, it’s Johnny. You know, over at the gym. I know it’s early, man, but I found that friend of yours, you know the kid, over here. He was asleep in the locker room. I’m trying to get him to hang loose, but he’s jumpy as a cat. Get over here as soon as possible. I figure you’re with his sister, but the kid won’t tell me how to reach her. Make tracks, buddy. I have a feeling the kid’s in some kind of trouble.”

  Jason closed his eyes in relief.

  “What is it?” Dana demanded. “He called, didn’t he?”

  “No, but Johnny from the gym called. He found Sammy when he went in this morning. He’s trying to get him to stick around, but we’d better get over there. If Sammy figures out that Johnny called me, Johnny’s afraid he’ll split.”

  Dana already had her coat and was sprinting for the door. As Jason followed, he wondered if he’d been right about Sammy’s reaction to Johnny’s call. Maybe there was a significance to the fact that he’d chosen the gym to run to, knowing that Johnny would call Jason. If so, maybe Sammy was finally beginning to trust him, beginning to reach out to him. He had a feeling this was a turning point. No matter what, he had to control his temper long enough to give Sammy the chance to open up.

  At the gym they found Johnny pacing out front, looking grim. His expression brightened the minute he spotted them. “Thank goodness. I was beginning to think I was going to have to tie him up.”

  “Is he okay?” Dana asked, her brow creased with worry.

  “Looks okay to me, but if everything were peachy, he wouldn’t have been conked out in the back room, would he?”

  “I want to see him. Where is he?”

  “In my office. I talked him into eating. I brought him back some eggs and pancakes from the fast-food place down the block.”

  “Dana, let me talk to him,” Jason said.

  “No. Sammy’s my brother. It’s my problem.”

  “You made it mine the minute you called me. Now let me see if I can find out why he’s hiding out. It may be something he doesn’t want to involve you in.”

  Even as the words came out of his mouth, Jason knew that he’d hit on the answer. But what could possibly be so bad that Sammy would fear telling Dana? Like his sister, the boy tended to think he was invincible, that he could handle anything.

  Dana looked reluctant, but she finally nodded. “Jason, please don’t yell at him.”

  Yelling at the kid was the least of what he had in mind, but he nodded. “Get Johnny to teach you a few punches. It’ll work off the frustration,” he suggested, squeezing her hand before he went inside.

  The door to Johnny’s office was wide open and for an instant Jason panicked. What if he’d been wrong? What if Sammy had spotted them and gone out the back while they were outside? Dana would never forgive him for letting him get away. He crossed the gym in a dozen strides, then quietly stepped into the office.

  Sammy was still there, the empty breakfast container shoved aside, his head on Johnny’s desk. He’d fallen asleep again. He was snoring softly. In sleep, with that crazy hank of blond hair falling over his eyes, he had the look of an innocent kid. Jason found it almost possible to believe that it really wasn’t too late to turn his life around.

  He shut the door softly, then pulled up a chair and sat down between Sammy and the only escape route. He reached over and shook his shoulder. “Wake up, son.”

  Sammy mumbled something, then lifted his head and stared at Jason through groggy, sleep-filled eyes. Instantly alarm filled those blue depths. He slid his chair back, glancing around frantically for a way out.

  “You might as well sit back down. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “That no-good, lyin’ so...” The words were tough, but the tone was halfhearted.

  “Cut the crap,” Jason said. “You knew Johnny would call me. That’s why you came here, isn’t it?”

  Sammy’s mouth clamped shut and his defiant expression faltered.

  “What kind of trouble are you in?”

  “I can handle it,” he said with one last bit of bravado.

  Jason nodded and softened his tone. What was it with these Roberts siblings? Both of them had to do everything on their own. “Maybe so,” he said to Sammy. “But why not let me help if I can.”

  “I don’t need help,” he insisted, then amended, “Not for me, anyway. It’s Dana.”

  Jason felt his heartbeat slow. “What about Dana?” he questioned very quietly, his hands slowly clenching into fists.

  “The guys who attacked her in that alley, they threatened to come after her again. They wanted to know where we lived. I got away, but I think they wanted me to. They thought I’d go home, but I saw them followin’ me. That’s why I came here. I couldn’t go back to the apartment. I was afraid they’d hurt her and I wouldn’t be able to stop them.”

  Suddenly Sammy’s expression grew even more worried. “She’s okay, isn’t she? They didn’t find her?”

  “She’s okay,” Jason reassured him, keeping a tight leash on his fury. This was the last straw. “She’s right outside with Johnny.”

  “What are we gonna do?”

  Jason had to give him credit. He sounded genuinely distressed. Maybe Sammy had grown up a little tonight, realized that there were consequences to his actions not just for him, but for his sister.

  “We’re going to convince your sister that it’s time to move. With any luck we’ll have the two of you out of that apartment by the end of the day and neither of you will have to worry about those thugs again.”

  Sammy looked skeptical. “I don’t think Dana’s gonna go for it. Moving costs money.”

  “Money’s the least of our problem.”

  Sammy managed a little half smile. “Maybe for you. But Dana worries about it a lot.”

  “She won’t have to, not anymore.”

  “What are you gonna do? Give her a loan? I don’t think she’ll take it.”

  Jason nodded. “You’re probably right. She’s turned me down before. Think we can talk her into moving the two of you into my place?”

  Sammy’s mouth dropped open. “You want us to move in with you?” His gaze narrowed speculatively. “Both of us?”

  Jason chuckled. “You don’t think she’s likely to come without you, do you?”

  “No, but I just can’t imagine you and me in the same house. We don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

  “We both care about your sister, don’t we? Maybe we should concentrate on that. It would make your sister happy if we got along.”

  “What’s your real scam?” Sammy suddenly looked very grown up. In a sober tone he demanded, “You plannin’ to marry her or somethin’?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” Jason admitted, as much to his own astonishment as Sammy’s. “Think she’d go for it?”

  Sammy seemed to consider the idea, then shook his head. “Not a chance. It doesn’t make much sense to me, but she’s got this crazy idea that she has to do everything the hard way. I don’t think marriage is in her plans.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to change her mind,” he said, knowing that Sammy was right on target with his analysis. “First things first, though. We’ve got to convince her that this move is for your good. It’s the only way she’ll go for it.”

  “Isn’t that like lyin’ or something?” Sammy asked, his expression too knowing, in Jason’s opinion.

  The kid had certainly picked a fine time to develop scruples, Jason thought. “It’s not entirely a lie,” he informed Sammy. “After all it won’t hurt you to find some new friends.”

  “Right,” Sammy said skeptically, then opened the door and went to find his sister.

  Jason followed slowly, trying to figure out the right way to phrase the decision he and Sammy had reached.

  “Oh, no!”

  Dana’s voice echoed throughout the gym and Jason realized the phrasing had been taken out of his hands. Obviously Sammy had already told his sister about their plan. She didn’t seem to be taking it well. She was marching across the gym with fire in her eyes.

  “What kind of hogwash were you filling his head with in there?” she demanded, backing Jason into a corner.

  “Hogwash?”

  “You are not going to use my brother to get to me. We are perfectly safe living where we are—a lot safer than I would be living with you.”

  There was safety and then there was safety. Jason refrained from trying to explain the difference to her. “Dana, my house could accommodate a dozen people. You’ll have all the privacy you want. You have to admit, it would be better for Sammy to get away from the influence of those creeps.”