Family Man

can't take the warrior out of the man. All you can do is teach the man to control that side of himself.”
    She flushed. “I don't want to take away that side of his nature. I understand it's important.”
    He smiled. “You should understand. You've got a real streak of Amazon in you, honey. Don't worry about the karate. It'll teach him discipline and control.”
    “I wish I could be sure of that.”
    “Trust me on this one. Look what training in the martial arts has done for me.”
    She nearly choked on a muttered exclamation. “All right—what exactly has it done for you?”
    “Hell, at this very minute I'm exercising more self-discipline and self-control than you can possibly imagine.”
    She blinked owlishly. “Oh.” She hesitated. “Are you really angry because I've asked you to help Eden?”
    “There's only one thing you could have done that would have made me angrier.”
    “What's that?”
    “Not come to me with the problem.”
    Katy gave him a tentative grin. “I get it. It was a sort of damned if I do, damned if I don't situation for me, is that it? That's okay. I get into situations like that a lot when I deal with Gilchrists.”
    “Katy, take some advice. Don't start with the Gilchrist generalizations. I am not in the mood for them.”

    Luke spent half an hour talking to the martial arts instructor at the Dragon Bay Athletic Club. When he was finished he was satisfied that Matt was in good hands.
    The instructor taught self-defense from a philosophical perspective that emphasized self-control and the kind of discipline a man needed to survive successfully in the world.
    Luke stood at the back of the room and watched for a few minutes as Matt settled into his first class. As the sensei walked to the front of the crowd of restless, energetic, unruly young men they froze into positions of respect. The quiet inner power their instructor radiated clearly fascinated them. They all wanted to imitate it. Matt was just as eager as the rest.
    Matt was in the right place.
    Luke left the club and walked out to where he had parked the Jag. When he had kids of his own he was definitely going to sign them up for instruction in the martial arts.
    He realized as he turned the key in the ignition that this was the second time in the past twenty-four hours that he had contemplated having children of his own.
    Katy was doing this to him, Luke thought as he drove out of Dragon Bay and headed toward Seattle. She was forcing him to become aware of his own future once more.
    * * *
    Luke leaned on Eden's doorbell until she answered it. Her expression was one of irritation when she opened the door, but it turned to one of defiance when she saw who stood in the hall.
    “Luke.”
    “Right. You going to let me in so that we can discuss your little problem like civilized people, or shall I just turn the whole thing over to the cops?”
    Eden's mouth tightened. “I told Katy this would never work.”
    “Yeah? Well, I told her I'd take care of things, so one way or another I'm going to do it. Would you mind if we had this conversation someplace other than the hall?”
    “You might as well come in.” Eden stood aside.
    Luke stepped into the sleek red, black, and gold apartment. The decor gave him a sense of déjà vu. Ariel had used the same style and colors in the interior design of their home.
    Luke examined a tall black and gold vase on a black lacquer table as he sank down into a black leather chair near the windows. He thought of how much Ariel would have liked it.
    He stilled at the thought, waiting tensely for a reaction from deep inside himself.
    Nothing happened.
    Luke realized with a sense of relief that his surroundings were not sending a jolt of old pain through him.
    Somewhere along the line during the past three years he had recovered from the loss of his wife. He wondered when that had happened and why he had not noticed the change in himself. Probably because he had been trapped in limbo.
    “I suppose Katy told you the whole sordid story.” Eden dropped gracefully down onto the black leather sofa.
    “You're being blackmailed by your ex?”
    Eden leaned her head back against the cushion and watched him from beneath lowered lashes. “That about sums it up.”
    Luke shook his head in disgust. “Stupid, Eden. Real stupid.”
    “What was I supposed to do?” she flared. “Go to Justine?”
    Luke considered that. “A possibility.”
    “Not a possibility at all. She would have turned on Mother. You