“I’m not going to fly in this. Not with you.”

“Would you go if you were alone?” His confident grin told her he’d done it many times before. “We can go. I’ll be fine.”

“No, you’d be scared. I won’t do that.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“I guess we’ll have to stay.” He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and scrolled through his list of phone numbers until he found what he was looking for. “Hi, this is Reid Matthews. I’d like to book two rooms for tonight, please.” He listened, sighed, and then nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll take it. Thanks.”

“What did they say?”

“They’re sold out except for a suite with two bedrooms. That’ll have to do.” A muscle in his cheek pulsed with tension. “A convention in town has all the hotels jammed.”

He looked so upset she couldn’t resist asking, “What’s wrong?”

“I feel like I’m being tested here, Kate. I want very much to do the right thing by you, but circumstances keep getting in the way. Spending a night here with you is not a good idea.”

“Why don’t we just make the most of it, have a good time, and try not to worry too much?”

“I guess we don’t have any choice.”

His distress was so palpable that she reached over to take his hand. He surprised her when he wrapped his fingers around hers and lifted her hand to kiss the back of it. On the way to the hotel, he called his house to tell Martha they’d be staying in Memphis. She was relieved to hear he wouldn’t be flying in the bad weather.

The hotel was small but elegant, and Reid seemed to be well known to the bellmen who greeted them. Kate walked with him to the registration desk.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Matthews,” the woman at the desk said. “Welcome back.”

Reid handed her his credit card. “Thank you.”

She returned his card along with two room key cards. “You and your daughter should be very comfortable in the Presidential Suite on the sixth floor.”

When Reid cleared his throat, Kate looked down to study her boots.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice tight with strain.

Following him to the elevator, Kate could see the tension in his shoulders through the dark leather coat. Damn that woman! That was the last thing he needed to hear! His daughter! Ugh!

He said nothing in the elevator. When the doors opened on the sixth floor, he stormed out ahead of her to a room at the end of the hallway. He opened the door and held it for her. As soon as the door closed, he exploded. “Did you hear what that woman said? What she assumed? Do you see now what I’ve been trying to tell you?”