Anne Winston - Ready for Marriage?

He surveyed her again, his pulse kicking up a notch. Good lord. It was a wonder every man in the place hadn’t had a heart attack if she’d been walking around like that all morning. Her hair was down—what was with that?—spilling down her back and curling around her shoulders like a caressing hand. Loose tendrils floated in the breeze. As he watched, a strand wafted across the face of the man to her left and he caught it with a smile, tugging playfully as Kristin tried to restrain the rest.

The half-breathless feeling inside him vanished and he felt like snarling.

Mollie tugged at his hand again. ‘‘Wanna go see Kristin.’’

‘‘Okay.’’ He released her hand and followed more slowly, watching as his daughter made a beeline through the crowd. The buzz of voices around him made it impossible to hear, but he knew the moment Kristin saw Mollie. Her pretty face lit up in a spontaneous expression of delight and she knelt, stretching out her arms.

In the instant before Mollie ran into her embrace, he couldn’t help noticing how the position pulled Kristin’s skirt high up her thighs, exposing a tantalizing triangle of shadow between her legs. He couldn’t see panties, but he might as well have been able to.

A surge of arousal so strong he actually stopped in his tracks slammed into him. God, she was lovely. Why hadn’t he noticed before? You did , he reminded himself. You’ve always thought Paul’s daughter would grow into a beautiful woman someday .

The trouble was, ‘‘someday’’ had apparently arrived while he wasn’t looking.

He forced himself to start forward again, trying to get his raging hormones under control. The last thing he needed was for Kristin to think he had the hots for her. It would totally destroy the friendly family relationship they’d always had.

Yeah. Like you didn’t do that when you accused her of teasing you. What an idiot .

‘‘Dr. Mahoney. Glad you could come by.’’ The older of the two men still flanking Kristin thrust out a hand. Walker Glave was a local attorney who served as the sanctuary board’s president and donated his time when they had legal issues with wills and trusts to work out.

‘‘I wouldn’t miss it.’’ Derek shook the hand, then squatted down in front of his daughter and Kristin. ‘‘Sorry. She saw you the moment we arrived.’’

‘‘Don’t be sorry. I’m delighted to see my Miss Mollie.’’ She spoke to the child rather than to him, tweaking her nose playfully as Mollie giggled.

Derek leaned forward a little, speaking in an undertone. ‘‘You might consider changing that position before every man here gets a look beneath your skirt.’’

Her gaze flew to his as her eyes widened, and a red patch of color appeared in each cheek. Hastily, she stood, lifting Mollie into her arms. ‘‘Come on, Mols. Let’s go get some lemonade and let Daddy visit for a while.’’

‘‘Not too long,’’ he said to her back as she started away. ‘‘I’m serious about not monopolizing your day.’’ She didn’t answer, but he was sure she’d heard him, and he made himself a mental note to try to keep track of the time. That wasn’t his strong suit.

‘‘Hey, Doc.’’ The younger, taller man extended a hand. An insurance salesman with a busy office in Quartz Forge, Rusty Sheffield currently was the treasurer of the board. ‘‘Good to see you. We miss having you on the board.’’ He turned to eye Kris’s back view as she walked away. ‘‘Although having Kristin there isn’t exactly a hardship.’’

‘‘Kristin may not be on the board if she accepts the offer,’’ Walker said.

‘‘What offer?’’ Derek told himself he only was annoyed by Rusty’s leering expression because of the promise he’d made her father always to look out for her.

‘‘We’ve asked her to consider temporarily filling the executive director’s position,’’ Rusty said.

Derek was too surprised to speak.

‘‘What do you think about it?’’ Rusty pressed.

‘‘I—ah, I don’t know.’’ He made an effort to gather his thoughts.

‘‘We’d be taking away his baby-sitter,’’ the older board member said. ‘‘What do you expect him to say?’’

‘‘No, it’s not that,’’ he said hastily. ‘‘It’s just that I never thought of Kristin as…’’

‘‘Neither did we,’’ Walker said. ‘‘But the minute someone mentioned her, we couldn’t think of a single reason why we wouldn’t want her. She’ll be terrific.’’

Derek couldn’t think of a single reason he wouldn’t want her, either, but he doubted they were speaking of the same thing. God, why couldn’t he seem to get his mind off sex today? Slowly, he nodded as he forced his attention back to the men and considered the idea. Why hadn’t she talked to him about it? He winced inwardly, recalling again his behavior the day of the funeral. He knew exactly why, and he forced himself to consider her in terms of the position. ‘‘She’ll do an excellent job for you.’’

‘‘Temporarily,’’ said Walker. ‘‘Just for a few months until we can interview and hire the right person. You know that handling a nonprofit of this size is no easy task.’’

‘‘If Kristin does take the job,’’ Rusty said, ‘‘we’d like you to come back and fill her spot on the board. Other than Kristin, you’re the closest thing to Paul Gordon’s family, and you knew his wishes.’’

‘‘I’ll have to think about it,’’ he said, ‘‘but thank you for the offer.’’

‘‘Dr. Mahoney!’’ A chubby woman in a pink, flowered dress sailed toward them. ‘‘How nice to see you. I wanted to thank you again for all you did for Apricot. Her allergies seem to be under control now and her coat is growing in as beautifully as it was before.’’

Derek pasted on a smile and turned to his client. The only trouble with being a vet in a small town was that his clients were everywhere. And they all assumed he was waiting breathlessly to hear about their pet’s latest health crises. He loved animals, and he loved his job, but it surely would be nice to go out in public sometime and have someone ask his opinion on who should be baseball’s MVP or how his newest woodcarving effort was coming.

Two hours later, he was still being held captive by clients talking about their pets when he heard Kristin’s voice. ‘‘Derek? It’s time to eat.’’ She smiled at the couple currently regaling him with tales of their Jack Russell. ‘‘Sorry. I’m the spoilsport who makes sure Dr. Mahoney takes a break every now and then.’’

‘‘Thank you,’’ he said beneath his breath as he followed her to a table where apparently she’d already gotten two plates of food. ‘‘In my nightmares sometimes, I’m surrounded by people telling pet stories and I can’t get away.’’

She smiled, swiping back a curling lock of hair that the breeze had caught. ‘‘I thought you were starting to look a little desperate.’’

He sat gratefully, checking his heaping plate. ‘‘Yum. Deviled eggs and brownies. You must have been near the front of the line. The eggs are always gone by the time I get there.’’ He glanced around, parental unease rearing its head. ‘‘Where’s Mollie?’’

She pointed to the wide grassy yard where a group of teenagers were organizing children’s games and he spotted his daughter. ‘‘One of the girls is keeping an eye on Mollie for a little while.’’

‘‘Thanks.’’ He waited until she took a seat beside him, then began to eat, realizing only as he surveyed the rest of the items on his plate that Kristin had chosen just about every one of his favorites from the buffet tables. A different sort of uneasiness snaked through him. Did she really know him that well? He had a sneaking suspicion she did.