Charlie All Night Read online

  “He’s over it now,” Charlie told him from where he was leaning on the side of the boom. “He’s arguing with the sheriff in front of the TV cameras. This is going to be a circus.”

  Grady leaned back in his chair. “This is great.”

  Allie stood up, suddenly reassured. “No, it’s not, but I’ll help, anyway.” She started out of the booth, and Charlie caught her arm.

  “What are you doing?”

  Allie smiled at him, buoyed by Grady’s optimism and the fact that Charlie was touching her again. “You know all those people I was going to call to try to stop your drug story? They work both ways. I’ll have Grady on the national news by tomorrow.”

  “Oh, right,” Charlie snorted. “Even you-”

  Allie stopped him in midsentence. “Want to bet?”

  “No.” Charlie shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’m not betting anything with you ever again.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Allie said and left the booth to make some phone calls.

  * * *

  Three hours later, Grady had been arrested and bailed out, and Charlie was alone with Bill in his office.

  “Things didn’t turn out quite the way I’d planned,” Charlie told him.

  Bill sighed and sat heavily in his chair. “The two of them. Running a charity drug ring. And now they’re in hog heaven, and the poor old sheriff has to go through the motions. If they’d kept their damn mouths shut…”

  “At least now you know,” Charlie said. “The anonymous-letter mystery’s over.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m real glad about that.” Bill leaned back in his chair and glared at him. “So I guess this means you’re leaving.”

  “Nope,” Charlie said. “I’m staying. You can tell my dad he won.”

  Bill started and then tried to look innocent. “What’s your dad got to do with this?”

  Charlie shook his head. “Forget it. I figured it out a while back. You called Dad and told him you had an anonymous letter, and he told you he wanted me settled down and you cooked this up together. Favor for an old friend, right? You didn’t give a damn about that letter.”

  “I told him I couldn’t make you stay if you didn’t want to.” Bill scowled at him. “Then you went and made yourself a hit. And me some money. It’s your fault.”

  “No, it’s Allie’s.” Charlie signed. “She wanted to make me a star.”

  “Well, I got to tell you, son, I’m real glad she did.”

  Charlie looked up in surprise at the emotion in the older man’s voice. “I am, too.” He blinked at the thought. He really was glad.

  That’s what hanging around with Allie had done for him. Made him career crazy.

  “You’re sure gonna make the nights interesting around here,” Bill went on, and Charlie shook his head.

  “No, that’ll be the mornings. I want the prime-time spot.”

  Bill frowned at him. “Can’t do it. That’s Mark King’s show.”

  Charlie shrugged. “Then I’m out of here. And so is Allie.”

  Bill’s eyebrows shot up. “Alice? She’s not leaving.”

  “We’re getting married, Bill. Whither I goest, she goest. And if we don’t get the prime-time show, we’re going.” Charlie mentally crossed his fingers, hoping Bill wouldn’t call his bluff. Allie was too independent to follow anybody anywhere, but Bill didn’t have to know that.

  Bill glared at him. “What the hell am I going to do with Mark?”

  “I am not the person to ask that,” Charlie said as he stood ip. “You wouldn’t like my suggestions.”

  “All right.” Bill ground his teeth a little. “All right. You got it.”

  “Thank you very much.” Charlie turned back as he got to he door. “And good luck with Grady and Beattie. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  Bill sat back in his chair. “We can handle it. It’s a family problem.”

  Charlie leaned in the doorway. “Well, to tell you the truth, Bill, I kind of think of you and Grady and Beattie as family now. So if you need anything…”

  Bill’s face softened and he nodded. “I’ll call you.”

  “Thanks. I’d like that.”

  Charlie looked in Allie’s office, but she was long gone, her phone calls made while he was helping Grady.

  He knew where she’d be, and he tried not to think about it on his way out to the car.

  Now was no time to have a heart attack from lust.

  * * *

  Allie opened the door of her apartment when he knocked, and just the sight of him made her weak-kneed. Coming home to bed had been a mistake. It was November first, and Grady was where he wanted to be, and the bet was over, and she wanted him. She didn’t want to lose the closeness they’d had, but she wanted him with a craving that went beyond lust.

  So when she opened the door, and he was standing there, broad and safe and male and Charlie, her knees went, and she tried to pretend it didn’t matter. “Come on in,” she said and then went back into her bedroom and crawled under her quilt. “I can’t believe this,” she told him when he followed her. “I can’t believe this last twenty-four hours happened. I can’t believe this last month happened.”

  Charlie slumped at the foot of the bed, and Allie fought back her disappointment. He was supposed to be under the quilt with her.

  “It happened,” he told her. “The last thing I heard as I went through the lobby was Mark, on the air, telling the world he’d inhaled in the seventies.”

  Allie was so surprised, she forgot to lust for a minute. “Inhaled what?”

  “I don’t know.” Charlie rubbed his neck. “I don’t care. I’m just glad it’s over. I just want some sleep.”

  Sleep. Well, it was a start. She moved over a couple of inches to make room for him. “You can get some sleep here if you want,”

  He was still for a moment. “Here?”

  She nodded.

  “Allie, if I climb into bed with you, I’m going to want more than sleep.”

  Her heart did a little heated lurch in her chest. Thank God. Now, if only things didn’t change. “I’ve been thinking,” she said to him. “All last night, and this morning while I was on the phone. And I don’t know what I think about this Grady mess. I don’t even know which one of us is right. But I do know that you did what you thought was right even though I tried hard to change your mind.” She smiled tentatively at him. “And I’m pretty impressed with that, that you’d give up everything to do what you thought was right. And I know that you’ve been right on some other things this month, too. Not everything, but some things. And I know I love you, and you love me, and after that… well, I think we can work this out.” She swallowed. “What do you think?”

  Charlie’s eyes met hers. “Will you marry me?”

  Allie almost fell out of bed.

  “I already told Bill we were getting married, so I’m going to look like a real fool if you say no.” He leaned forward. “Make an honest man out of me. Marry me.”

  Allie stopped breathing. Marriage. That was permanent enough. And since it was Charlie asking, it was forever. She’d have to follow him all over the country, and they’d probably have all their kids in different states, and she’d never have a career again.

  But she’d have good times. And laughter.

  And Charlie.

  She drew a deep breath. “Can we get a Winnebago?”

  He blinked at her. “Well, yeah. Sure. I guess.” He frowned at her. “Why would you want a Winnebago?”

  “So it’ll be like home while we’re traveling,” Allie said, “like a house.”

  Charlie’s frown deepened. “Traveling where?”

  “Wherever it is that we’re going. It’s November.”

  He started to laugh, and she wanted to kill him. “Forget the Winnebago. We’re not going anywhere. I told Bill I wanted a full-time job. Medical insurance. Pension plan. Paternity leave. We’re adopting Sam. I’m settling down.”

  Some days, you get everything you ask for. U