HOT LEADS

Chapter One

Blair Manning sighed at her cell phone's ring. From her booth at the Llanview Diner she angled her head and peered out the picture window at the parking lot. Only four cars sat outside baking in the mid-summer Pennsylvania sun. Tea Delgado's black Ferrari was not one of them.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to make it today," Tea said the words Blair already knew. "Raincheck, okay?"

"No problem, Tea. But you're buying, ya hear?"

"If that's the case, I'll have to take you somewhere more upscale next time. I'll call you later."

Blair clicked off. Her first inclination had been to leave, but she had skipped breakfast that morning. Might as well grab a quick bite. Before she could decide between an omelet and the pancakes, someone caught her attention.

She watched as the redhead climbed out her shiny tan SUV and moved round to the passenger side. There she spoke to the small boy who had already climbed out despite the SUV's height. The woman bent down to straighten his light blue tee shirt. After running a hand through his thick brown hair, Natalie Banks took her son's hand and led him inside the diner.

Unthinkingly, she raised a hand when Natalie crossed the threshold.

Why had she done that? She knew this woman, but only slightly. It was amazing really. She'd married two of Natalie's uncles a half dozen times. Still she only knew her husband's niece in passing. Their children were cousins, but they had absolutely no relationship.

Natalie's clear blue eyes widened in recognition. A smile touched her lips as she led her son Liam toward the booth.

Blair smiled back, admiring Natalie's light green summer dress. It complemented her fiery hair to perfection. Somehow, despite the heat, her porcelain skin remained unmarred by the sun. She was a beautiful woman, yet Blair had always suspected there was a sadness behind her fierce personality.

"Wow, this is a surprise, Blair. How are you?"

"I'm doing the best I can. And you?"

She grinned and gazed down at her son. "Liam and I are just here for some lunch. He was supposed to be spending the week with his dad, but an important case made that impossible."

Blair nodded in understanding. John McBain, Natalie's son's dad, was Llanview's commissioner. A great cop—driven, instinctive and married to the job. The case Natalie mentioned was the reason Tea had canceled their lunch plans. "Would you and your handsome date like to join me for lunch?"

"What do you say, Liam?"

The little boy narrowed his clear blue eyes. The dark lashes were so long they nearly touched his cheeks. "You have pretty yellow hair, so we can eat lunch with you today."

"I'd be honored," Blair told him as they slid into the booth.

After settling on the omelet, she watched as Natalie ordered the fruit platter for herself and the French toast for Liam. Once the waitress disappeared, she sat back. She was totally at a loss for words. Natalie pulled a tablet from her oversize bag and handed it to her son. "Just until the food arrives."

"All right, Mommy."

She turned her attention to Blair, and the question in her eyes was evident. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything. It's just that I don't think you and I have said more than five words to each other in the last fifteen years. Why'd you invite me over?"

"Blunt. I like that," she murmured as she felt her cheeks warm. "Honestly? I have no idea. I was supposed to have lunch with Tea, but she canceled. I decided to stay anyway. That's when you showed up."

"Tea? Oh. Right."

"That doesn't sound very nice, Natalie. You have an issue with Tea?"

"Me? Not at all. I barely know her. It's just that I don't understand how you can be . . . besties with your husband's ex-wife." She raked a hand through her flame-red locks. "I can barely stand to be in a room with any of John's exes."

"I'm one of those exes, remember? We were even married for a little while."

"Don't I know it," Natalie replied, her teeth clenching. "But that was different. John was helping you stop Victor from taking your kids."

"True." Despite the two of them not being close, Blair knew that John McBain would always be a sore subject for the mother of his child. It would only seem like needling if she spoke about their profound respect and friendship, one that lasted 'til this day.

No, their marriage had never been a love match. But neither of them had faked a second of caring about one another.

Natalie shrugged. "I just don't understand how you can hang out with a woman who ran roughshod through your life the way Tea did. I mean, I wasn't around when all that was happening, but over the years, I've heard about some of your early battles. The way she tried to take Starr away . . . ."

"She was doing her job."

"Too well from what I've heard. Not only did she marry Todd to assist him in his quest to take Starr, but she also started getting off on it. Rubbing it in your face. Being mean and rude, like you were the one coming after her life when it was the exact opposite. And you were sick for awhile too, right? So you needed help to care for your child. They even used that against you.

"If it were me, I'd punch Tea Delgado in the face every time I saw her. Seriously, Blair. I don't know how you do it. You don't strike me as the 'turn the other cheek type'. Not to get too personal, but can you tell me a little about how you were able to move past all that?"

Blair considered laying bare the last twenty years of her life, complaining of hatred, struggle, and treachery. She could always regale her companion with tales of thrown punches, broken nails, and backsides colliding with hard pavement. Had she felt chatty she might have explained the many twists and turns she traveled on her path toward genuinely caring for Tea Delgado.

Instead of that verbose outburst, she decided that two words would have to be enough to explain it all.

"I won."

"Damn, Blair. I think I like you. Why have we never done this before?"

"I have no idea," she answered thoughtfully as she slid her phone across the table. "Hand me yours so I can put my number in. Would you like to do this again? How about same time next week?"

"I'd like that."

THE END