Helen Lacey - To Have And To Hold - Made for Marriage / To Wed a Rancher / The Mummy Proposal

Evie cleared her throat and broke the silence. “Well,” she said. “How about I take the kids outside and you two can … talk?”

Noah didn’t want to talk with her. He also knew he wouldn’t be able to drag himself away.

Callie Jones had walked into his life. And he was screwed.

Callie couldn’t speak. They were twins. Twins . Who looked to be about … four years old?

The same age as Ryan would have been …

She smiled—she wasn’t sure how—and watched him hold the twins with delightful affection. He looked like Father of the Year. And he was, according to his sister. A single dad raising four children. A good man. The best.

A heavy feeling grew in her chest, filling her blood, sharpening her breath.

The children disappeared with Evie, and once they were alone she stood and flicked her braid down her back. He watched every movement, studying her with such open regard she couldn’t stop a flush from rising over her skin.

I shouldn’t want him to look at me like that .

Not this man who had quickly become the enemy.

“I didn’t expect to see you …” he said, then paused. “So soon.”

She inhaled deeply. “I guess you didn’t. Frankly, I didn’t want to see you.”

His green eyes held her captive. “And yet you’re here in my sister’s house?”

Callie tilted her chin. “I’m looking at a bed.”

The word bed quickly stirred up a whole lot of awareness between them. It was bad enough she thought the man was gorgeous—her blasted body had to keep reminding her of the fact!

“A bed?”

“Yes.” Callie took another breath. Longer this time because she needed it. “You know, one of those things to sleep on.”

That got him thinking. “I know what a bed is,” he said quietly. “And what it’s used for.”

I’ll just bet you do!

Callie turned red from her braid to her boots. “But now that I am here, perhaps you’d like to apologize?”

“For what?” He looked stunned.

For being a gorgeous jerk . “For being rude yesterday.”

“Wait just a—”

“And for telling people my school should be closed down.”

“What?”

“Are you denying it? I mean, you threatened me,” she said, and as soon as the words left her mouth she felt ridiculous.

“I did what?”

She didn’t miss the quiet, controlled tone in his voice. Maddeningly in control, she thought. Almost too controlled, as if he was purposefully holding himself together in some calm, collected way to prove he would not, and could not, be provoked.

“You said you’d see that I lost my license,” she explained herself.

He looked at her. “And because of that you think I’ve been saying your school needs to be closed down?”

“Yes, I do.”

“And who did you hear this from?”

Callie felt foolish then. Was she being paranoid listening to small-town gossip? Have I jumped to conclusions? When she didn’t reply he spoke again.

“Local tongues, no doubt. I haven’t said a word to anyone, despite my better judgment.” He cocked a brow. “Perhaps you’ve pissed off someone else.”

Retaliation burned on the end of her tongue. The infamous Callie Jones temper rose up like bile, strangling her throat. “You’re such a jerk!”

He smiled. Smiled . As if he found her incredibly amusing. Callie longed to wipe the grin from his handsome face, to slap her hand across his smooth skin. To touch. To feel. And then, without explanation, something altered inside her. Something altered between them . In an unfathomable moment, everything changed.

He sees me…

She wasn’t sure why she thought it. Why she felt it through to the blood pumping in her veins. But she experienced a strange tightening in her chest, constricting her breath, her movements. Callie didn’t want anyone to see her. Not this man. Especially not this man. This stranger.

But he did. She was sure of it. He sees that I’m a fraud. I can talk a tough line. But I live alone. I work alone. I am alone .

And Noah Preston somehow knew it.

Bells rang in her head. Warning her, telling her to leave and break the incredible eye contact that shimmered like light between them.

“You need to keep a better handle on your daughter.”

“I do?” he said, still smiling.

“She broke the rules,” Callie said pointedly. “And as her parent, that’s your fault, not mine.”

“She broke the rules because you lacked good judgment,” he replied.

Callie scowled, grabbed her keys and headed for the door. “Tell your sister thank you for the coffee.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Did I hit a nerve?”

She rounded her shoulders back and turned around. “I’m well aware of my faults. I may not be all wisdom regarding the behavior of teenage girls, but I certainly know plenty about men who are arrogant bullies. You can point as much blame in my direction as you like—but that doesn’t change the facts.”

“I did hit a nerve.”

“I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.”

As she left the house and collected Tessa, Callie wasn’t sure she took a breath until she drove off down The Parade.

Noah waited until the front door clicked shut and then inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air. A jerk? Is that what he’d sounded like? He didn’t like that one bit. A protective father, yes. But a jerk? He felt like chasing after her to set her straight.

Evie returned to the kitchen in record time, minus the kids. “They’re watching a DVD,” she said and refilled the kettle. Evie thought caffeine was a sure cure for anything. “So, that went well, did it?”

“Like a root canal.”

“Ouch.” She made a face. “She called you a jerk. And a bully.”

“Eavesdropping, huh?”

She shrugged. “Only a bit. So, who won that battle in this war?” she asked, smiling.

He recognized his sister’s look. “It’s not exactly a war.”

Evie raised a brow. “But you were mad at her, right?”

“Sure.” He let out an impatient breath.

“Well.” Evie stopped her task of making coffee. “You don’t usually get mad at people.”

Noah frowned. “Of course I do.”

“No, you don’t,” Evie said. “Not even your pesky three sisters.”

He shrugged. “Does this conversation have a point?”

“I was just wondering what she did to make you so … uptight?”

“I’m sure she told you what happened,” Noah said, trying to look disinterested and failing.

Evie’s eyes sparkled. “Well … yes, she did. But I want to hear it from you.”

“Why?”

“So I can see if you get the same look on your face that she did.”

“What look?” he asked stupidly.

Evie stopped what she was doing. A tiny smile curved her lips. “ That look.”

He shook his head. “You’re imagining things.”

Evie chuckled. “I don’t think so. Anyway, I thought she was … nice.”

Yeah, like a stick of dynamite . “You like everyone.”

Evie laughed out loud. “Ha—you’re not fooling me. You like her.”

“I don’t know her.”

Noah dismissed his sister’s suspicions. If he gave an inch, if he even slightly indicated he had thoughts of Callie Jones in any kind of romantic capacity, she’d be on the telephone to their mother and two other sisters within a heartbeat.

Romance … yeah, right. With four kids, a mortgage and a business to run—women weren’t exactly lining up to take part in his complicated life.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a date. Eight months ago, he thought, vaguely remembering a quiet spoken, divorced mother of two who’d spent the entire evening complaining about her no-good, layabout ex. One date was all they’d had. He’d barely touched her hand. I live like a monk . That wasn’t surprising, though—the fallout from his divorce would have sent any man running to the monastery.