Harlequin Superromance February 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: His Forever Girl\Moonlight in Paris\Wife by Design (74 page)

“I think now, more than ever, it's not a good idea to leave them alone together. They might have the minds of kids, but they've got the bodies of adults. And while, ordinarily, with Darin, I wouldn't give it a second thought, he's really taken with Maddie.”

“This is the first time it's ever happened?”

“Hell, yes, it's the first time! I'm in deep water here.”

He obviously didn't like the feeling any better than she did.

“So you want me to invite Maddie for dinner, too.”

“I was under the assumption that she usually ate with you and Kara.”

“She stays sometimes, depending on how late I am getting home. I always plan meals to include her just in case.”

“We could go out again, but with Kara and our schedules, I just thought, since Darin and I are going to be there at dinnertime, anyway...”

“It's fine, Grant.” She had hamburger in the freezer, could thaw that, and switch Wednesday's spaghetti for Monday's tuna casserole. And even if she didn't, she'd make do. The thought of seeing Grant again so soon was too tempting.

Only because she was so tired. And they hadn't actually had sex yet.

“Darin will be glad to hear that. He insisted that I take him to the store for everything he'll need to make lasagna. I told him Kara might not like it, so he picked up macaroni and cheese, too.”

“Darin's making dinner?”

“You didn't think I was going to invite us over and expect you to cook, too, did you?”

“I wouldn't have minded,” she told him. “I like to cook.” She had loved making dinner for Brandon and sitting down with him after a long day to discuss everything that had happened since they'd last seen each other.

“So when you issue the invitation, you can cook,” he said. As though already assuming there would be another time.

“You've got a deal.”

“And maybe, if we're lucky, Kara can occupy Darin and Maddie long enough for me to at least get in a kiss or two....”

Her reaction to him was swift and immediate. Lynn crossed her legs.

“You make me feel a hell of a lot better-looking than the picture I see when I look in a mirror.”

It was a two-in-the-morning thing to say.

“Then you need to figure out what's wrong with your mirror.” His reply was quick and sure. “'Cause I gotta tell you, lady, there's nothing wrong with the way you look. Except maybe that you look too good to resist.”

Her entire body suffused with pleasure—from the heart outward. Grant's voice was growing on her. His lack of subterfuge. His dedication to his brother, and the sensitive artistic nature that drove the creation of the Garden of Renewal.

Lynn rubbed her eyes and thought about the pillow awaiting her. After a quick shower.

She had responsibilities. A life that she loved. One she'd worked hard to achieve and had under complete control. That was her priority.

Any extracurricular pleasures, no matter how delicious, had to stay down on her list where they belonged.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Darin made his lasagna, which Kara loved, and he watched and cheered while Maddie and Kara played a video game afterward. Grant ended up on the opposite end of the table from Lynn—Maddie's doing; she'd set the table so that she was by Darin and next to Kara—and while it felt strange, it was also kind of nice looking up from his brother's pasta to see Lynn's face at the end of the table across from him. He had no idea how she felt about any of it. He'd tried to get Lynn into a corner in the laundry room, but each time he almost had her to himself, either Maddie or Kara would notice her missing.

It was clear to him, more than ever, that the lives of those two revolved around her. And hers around them, too. Just as his life revolved around Darin. Which was exactly as it should be.

Still, when he didn't get so much as a good-night kiss on Monday, he was more determined than ever to do so as soon as possible.

He looked for her on Tuesday afternoon when he got to the shelter after a full day of work on a new bid that Bishop Landscaping had just won—a brand-new upscale housing project that consisted of a total of fifteen yards and six acres of common area in a gated neighborhood.

After wasting as much time as he could possibly afford without seeing any sign of her, stopping short of dropping by her office or her home, he set to work pulling recalcitrant weeds from the planted flower beds in front of each of the bungalows on the property. He'd sprayed for weeds, but, as always, there were those hardy few that inevitably reared their ugly heads.

As he walked around the property, pulling the determined green pests, he entertained himself with thoughts of the following Wednesday, just eight days away, when he'd be spending his afternoon work hour getting a workout in Lynn's bed.

Several of the flower beds had no weeds at all. One had six. He bent over to yank them out.

And felt something touch his butt—and slide upward. “I hoped I'd see you out here.”

Standing and turning so fast that dirt from the weeds in his hands bounced off the front of Lynn's scrub shirt, he said, “I looked all over for you.”

She glanced at his fly. Then up to his lips—and, finally, his eyes. He was waiting when she arrived there. And didn't even try to hide the fire he was feeling.

“Was last night as excruciating for you as it was for me?” he asked softly.

They were out in public. And while the grounds at The Lemonade Stand were never crowded, there were always women out making their way to someplace.

“I thought dinner was kind of nice,” she said, looking at his lips. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. He could see it in her eyes. Hear it in her voice. She couldn't have been more obvious if she'd crooked a finger at him.

“Dinner was nice,” he told her. Two could play this game. “Every time I looked up there you were...at the other end of the table.”

“We could do it again.”

“Exactly what I was thinking. Only this time I want to sit next to you so I can put my hand in my lap under the table and have it end up in yours.”

“How about tomorrow night? I know Maddie's already asked Darin to watch a movie.” She named the romantic comedy that had bored him to tears the first time he'd seen it. “And if you want to facilitate that, it would be best if they were together at my place instead of hers. I wouldn't want to put the responsibility for them on Gwen's shoulders.”

“Tomorrow night is fine if you don't mind me bringing my laptop. I have work to do.” And no patience to sit and watch the romantic comedy she'd just named.

Now if he could be doing creative things to Lynn's body while the movie played in the background, that would be a different story....

* * *

S
OMEHOW
,
ON
W
EDNESDAY
night after dinner and before starting the movie, Maddie and Darin roped Grant and Lynn into a repeat performance for Friday night. Gwen wasn't going to be there. And Maddie would be spending the night at Lynn's, anyway.

It seemed to make sense, until they put on the movie and Grant realized he was enjoying his work more than he had in years. For no reason other than the fact that he was able to see Lynn every time he looked up from the computer. Just knowing she was there was exciting—even with no sex involved.

Lynn Duncan was the first thing he thought of when he woke up in the morning these days. And he fell asleep with her image in his mind every night.

It was a no-win situation.

He was going to have to do something about it. Maddie and Darin couldn't continue on this way, either. It was unnatural, everyone convening at Lynn's house as though they all lived there.

He was going to have to find a way to deflect his brother's attention from his new girlfriend and on to something else.

Like diving.

Before he and Darin arrived at Lynn's for dinner Friday night, he made plans to take Darin down to the water on Saturday. It would be cold. But they both had wet suits leftover from earlier days.

He thought about telling Darin the news before dinner so his brother would have something besides his dinner companion to think about, but Maddie found him and Darin out on the property at quitting time to walk with them over to Lynn's.

She had Kara with her.

“Hi, Mister.” The little girl put her hand into Grant's as they started to walk.

“Hi, Kara. How are you?” The tiny hand in his felt strange. So small...and yet seemingly monumental, too. Did her hand in his mean he was responsible for her well-being as long as she kept it there?

Like her father had been on Saturday when he'd walked away with Kara, her hand entwined in his, her little legs half jogging to keep up with him?

Brandon seemed like a great father. Maybe a perfect one.

And now that little hand was in his.

“I didn't dance today.”

“Were you supposed to dance today?”

“No.” She skipped along next to him.

He wondered if she could tell his hand was sweating. If she'd let him go with a squeal of “gwoss.”

“What did you do today?”

He was failing a test. He was sure of it.

And he didn't want to care.

“Colored a picture for Mama,” she said, sounding as happy as ever. She seemed to be waiting for a response from him. Didn't little kids jabber all the time? Nonstop?

“Where is it?” It seemed to be the next logical question.

She stopped, but still held his hand, so while Darin and Maddie went on ahead of them, Grant had to stop, too.

“Don't you know about pictures, Mister?” If she continued to look up at him like that with those little eyebrows drawn and the painfully serious look in her big blue eyes, he'd be wanting to change his name to “Mistah.”

“I don't think so, Kara,” he said, deeming that he ought to treat her question with equal solemnity. “Do you suppose you could help me learn about them?”

“Sure!” She started skipping again, swinging his hand in hers. “Come on,” she said, pulling at him. “Dawin and Maddie are almost home.”

And so he walked faster.

Still unsure what he had to learn about pictures.

But completely sure he'd never know what it felt like to be a dad.

* * *

L
YNN
DIDN
'
T
MAKE
it home for dinner. She was on her way there, determined to talk to Grant about her concerns regarding the false impression they were giving Maddie and Darin—the impression that Lynn and Grant would make it possible for them to continue spending so much time together.

Grant and Lynn had lives. She hadn't had time alone with her daughter in over a week.

Grant's business files and all of the supplies he needed to work efficiently were in his home office, not on her kitchen table or in his laptop case.

Darin liked sports.

Lynn didn't like the television on every evening.

Things were getting out of control.

Her phone rang when she was halfway across the yard to her house. Maria Cleveland, the thirty-four-year-old she'd accompanied to the emergency room Sunday night, had pulled some stitches and was bleeding profusely. She was at the clinic.

When Lynn had to call Grant, to let him know to start dinner without her, she felt utterly disappointed. She'd been looking forward to seeing him all day.

She had a whole list of things she wanted to talk to him about, in addition to discussing Maddie and Darin's relationship. Like the fact that the Stand's founder had paid the shelter a visit and told her that he'd won a medical grant to give her a raise. It wasn't a huge increase, but it would give her a little extra to put away for Kara's college fund.

And she had questions about his new project. Had he decided to put at least one fruit tree on every lot like he'd been thinking? And could she see the finished drawing of the water feature he'd been working on Wednesday night?

She needed to know if he still had that slumberous, hungry look in his eye when he saw her.

She'd needed to share the burden of worry that was growing steadily in her with regard to Maddie and Darin.

Where they were concerned, she didn't have any answers.

And she needed some.

* * *

“H
OW
'
S
M
ARIA
?” M
ADDIE
asked when Lynn made it home shortly after ten that evening. Maddie met her at the door, holding it open while Lynn set her bag on the bench in the entryway and stepped out of her shoes.

“She's okay,” Lynn said. Maria had signed papers earlier in the week, agreeing to share her life with the other residents at the Stand. Lynn couldn't disclose specific medical information because of HIPAA laws, but she could fill Maddie in on the most recent development. “Her husband called, telling her that if she didn't do what he wanted her children would pay. Maria left the Stand and was going to get her kids and pulled her stitches trying to hail a cab.”

“She shouldn't have done that.”

“You're right. She shouldn't have.”

“She should have called Tammy and Lila,” Maddie said, referring to the night-time security guard and the Stand's managing director.

“Yes, she should have. Because it's important to follow the rules,” Lynn said, traipsing through to the kitchen in purple cotton scrubs and stocking feet.

“Sometimes it's hard to follow the rules.” Maddie followed her, watching while Lynn looked in the refrigerator.

“Grant grilled the chicken and I made the salad, but Darin helped cut vegetables,” Maddie said, sitting at the kitchen table. “There's some left in the container with the blue lid.”

Lynn had already seen it. Grabbing the container, she snatched the ranch dressing and a fork and carried all of it to the table. Maddie pulled a napkin from the holder and put it in front of Lynn and then stood. “I'll get you a glass of tea while you go check on Kara.”

Maddie knew what she drank. And that she wouldn't sit down to eat without first checking on her daughter. No matter how late it was or how hungry she was.

What she didn't know was that Lynn had almost forgotten. Because she'd been too busy feeling envious while she listened to Maddie talk about the dinner that she had missed.

* * *

“D
ID
YOU
KISS
her good-night?” Maddie asked as Lynn returned to the table a few minutes later.

“I did.”

“Good, because I promised her that you would and I don't lie.”

“I know you don't, Maddie. You're the best and I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Maddie was family. Closer to her than her own sister had ever been, though she loved Katie dearly.

“I love you, Lynn.”

“I love you, too.” She loved how Maddie just said whatever was on her mind or in her heart.

“And I love Kara, too—of course you know that....”

Looking up from her salad at the peculiar tone in the other woman's voice, Lynn caught Maddie biting her lower lip.

“Maddie?”

“Yeah?” The slender woman continued to chew her lip, and didn't meet her gaze.

“What's up?”

“I'm afraid you'll be mad at me, but I thought it was okay, but now I don't know if I think it's okay and I'm afraid you'll be mad at me.”

“For what?”

Maddie chewed. And Lynn pushed the bowl of leftover salad away. Had Maddie done something they couldn't undo?

“Nothing happened to Kara, did it?” she asked. She'd seen her daughter. Her color had been good and her room neat, with everything in place exactly as it should have been.

Her knees bouncing up and down, Maddie said, “No, nothing happened to Kara.”

“Does this have to do with Darin?”

“No.”

Lynn's tension eased as she studied her unhappy friend, whose chin had lowered to her chest.

As long as Maddie and Darin hadn't done anything crazy, like have sex, then she could patiently play twenty questions.

“What time did he leave?” If she could get a time stamp on the incident, it might help her to determine the magnitude of the catastrophe.

Maddie had been inconsolable, crying herself to sleep one night, after she'd broken one of Lynn's drinking glasses.

Because it matched a set and now there wasn't a full set.

The woman had only ever used the plastic glasses in the cupboard ever since.

“It was 8:18.” Maddie's voice was barely audible.

Eight-eighteen. Precisely. Because Maddie was precise. All black and white and no shades of gray.

“So Kara got to bed late?” It didn't please her, but it wasn't the end of the world.

“No.”

She was exhausted. And out of questions.