Local Hero by Nora Roberts

the hot water. In fact, when she took the time to examine her bruised eye, she felt downright proud of herself. Mitch had been right; bubbles had been good for the morale.
    She pulled a brush through her hair and wondered how disappointed Radley would be if they postponed their trip to the movies. Hot bath or no, the last thing she felt like doing at the moment was braving the cold to sit in a crowded theater. She thought a matinee the next day might satisfy him. It would mean adjusting her schedule a bit, but the idea of a quiet evening at home after the week she’d put in made doing the laundry after dinner a lot more acceptable.
    And what a week, Hester thought as she pulled on slippers. Rosen was a tyrant, and the settlement clerk was a pest. She’d spent almost as much time during the last five days placating one and discouraging the other as she had processing loans. She wasn’t afraid of work, but she did resent having to account for every minute of her time. It was nothing personal; Hester had discovered that within the first eight-hour stretch. Rosen was equally overbearing and fussy with everyone on his staff.
    And that fool Cummings. Hester pushed the thought of the overamorous clerk out of her mind and sat on the edge of the bed. She’d gotten through the first two weeks, hadn’t she? She touched her cheekbone gingerly. With the scars to prove it. It would be easier now. She wouldn’t have the strain of meeting all those new people. The biggest relief of all was that she didn’t have to worry about Radley.
    She’d never admit it to anyone, but she’d waited for Mitch to call every day that week to tell her Radley was too much trouble, he’d changed his mind, he was tired of spending his afternoons with a nine-year-old. But the fact was that every afternoon when Radley had come upstairs, the boy had been full of stories about Mitch and Taz and what they’d done.
    Mitch had showed him a series of sketches for the big anniversary issue. They’d taken Taz to the park. They’d watched the original, uncut, absolutely classic
King Kong
on the VCR. Mitch had showed him his comic book collection, which included the first issues of
Superman
and
Tales From the Crypt
, which everyone knew, she’d been informed, were practically priceless. And did she know that Mitch had an original, honest-to-God
Captain Midnight
decoder ring? Wow.
    Hester rolled her eyes, then winced when the movement reminded her of the bruise. The man might be odd, she decided, but he was certainly making Radley happy. Things would be fine as long as she continued to think of him as Radley’s friend, and forgot about that unexpected and unexplainable connection they’d made last weekend.
    Hester preferred to think about it as a connection rather than any of the terms Mitch had used. Attraction, chemistry, lust. No, she didn’t care for any of those words, or for her immediate and unrestrained reaction to him. She knew what she’d felt. Hester was too honest to deny that for one crazed moment she’d welcomed the sensation of being held and kissed and desired. It wasn’t something to be ashamed of. A woman who’d been alone as long as she had was bound to feel certain stirrings around an attractive man.
    Then why didn’t she feel any of those stirrings around Cummings?
    Don’t answer that, she warned herself. Sometimes it was best not to dig too deeply when you really didn’t want to know.
    Think about dinner, she decided. Poor Radley was going to have to make do with soup and a sandwich instead of his beloved cheeseburger tonight. With a sigh, she rose as she heard the front door open.
    “Mom! Mom, come see the surprise.”
    Hester made sure she was smiling, though she wasn’t sure she could take any more surprises that day. “Rad, did you thank Mitch for . . . oh.” He was back, Hester saw, automatically adjusting her sweater. The two of them stood just inside the doorway with identical grins on their faces. Radley carried two