C.J. Hill - Baby Dreams And Wedding Schemes

“Well,” he prevaricated, watching her closely. “I’m not sure I’m invited.”

She said nothing, waiting for Cody to give the word.

“Sasha always says ‘the more the merrier,”’ the little boy quoted. “I do, too.”

With a whoop of excitement, Cody whirled off after Sasha’s dog, tearing wildly through the overhanging boughs.

“‘Sasha always says,’?” he questioned softly. “Just how long has Cody been coming into your store, Miss Lambert?”

“About five days, on and off. Long enough to hear me say that, I guess.” She kept on walking, glancing placidly around at the trees. “And please call me Sasha. No one in Allen’s Springs calls me Miss.”

“I’ll speak to him,” Jake declared out loud. “He shouldn’t be bothering you at all, let alone at work. My housekeeper, Mrs. Gamer, is supposed to be watching him.” His gray eyes searched hers. “And my name is Jake,” he told her. “You can forget all that Reverend and Mister stuff.”

He frowned, wondering what else he had missed about his son’s current life. Hadn’t they made any progress after that desolate year when he’d been content to let his parents deal with Cody’s and his needs rather than force himself to deal with the raw edges of his own life?

Her voice drew him out of his reflections.

“Actually, I like it when he shows up in the store. I’ve been thinking of trying a new line of kids’ crafts for the children we get in when their parents come to use the spa. Cody’s been sort of test marketing things.” He watched her eyes close for a moment. “When I was a kid, there were always children around. I miss that.”

She glanced fondly at the boy and the dog, hunched together at the bottom of an old oak tree. “He gives Oreo a run for her money, too.”

Jake stared. “Oreo?” This was a dog’s name?

“Well, she has three chocolate spots and I thought she looked like a cookie when she was a pup.” She met his appraising glance with an embarrassed look. “It’s probably not appropriate for her breeding title, but who cares.” Her shoulders shrugged with indifference.

“Who, indeed,” he repeated, mulling over the events of the past hour. What a strange afternoon! But then everything about this woman was unexpected.

“This is the best table in the park,” she told him moments later.

Jake watched as she spread a plastic checked cloth over the picnic table and began to unpack the basket he had lugged across the thick grass.

“Aren’t you going to start the fire?” she chided, obviously waiting for him to begin.

He glanced up from his scrutiny of her very long, very shapely legs, to find her wide green eyes fixed on him curiously.

“Don’t you know how?” she asked kindly.

He felt himself bristle.

“Of course I know how to build a fire. I was the top camper in my Boy Scout troop,” he heard himself say smugly.

Oh, for Pete’s sake, Windsor, he admonished his overactive ego. It was an innocent offer to help. Don’t offend her yet again with your stupid assumptions. As he chopped and split the wood, Jake found himself answering her questions.

“How long have you been in Allen’s Springs?”

“Five days, give or take.” He grinned. “Cody must have been at your place on the first day. I’ve been so busy unpacking, I guess I haven’t paid enough attention.” As usual, he added to himself.

She glanced up from unloading the basket.

“Unpacking for so long? I don’t think I own enough possessions to unpack for five days straight. You must have brought a lot of stuff.”

“Yes, there is a lot to deal with. It’s all been in storage, you see. Since Angela’s death. While we were overseas.” He said the words without thought.

She had that warm, fuzzy look again. It made him nervous. Jake wasn’t sure he had enough strength left in him to fend off another man-hungry female but he sure as heck wasn’t ready to fall into the predatory clutches of some lonely woman on the make.

Then again, Sasha had made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t interested in men, just children. He decided to be cautious. Time would tell if she was merely trying another ploy from the “single woman syndrome.”

He straightened his spine with determination.

“What was it like?” The words were soft and dreamy, barely audible above Cody’s roughhousing with Oreo.

Jake frowned. “What was what like?”

“Overseas?”

He had to grin at his own foolishness. Sasha Lambert wasn’t a repressed spinster, she was a repressed traveler! He felt even sillier now.

“Well, I spent quite a lot of time at Oxford, actually. The past two years I’ve been working on a dissertation for my doctoral thesis. It was a much slower pace than I’d been used to. The life we led in Toronto wasn’t conducive to a lot of internal meditation.”

“England,” he heard her breathe. “I’ve always wanted to go there. Everything looks so lush and green in pictures people bring back.”

Jake watched her wide green eyes sparkle with enthusiasm as she stared, totally unfocused, at her own verdant surroundings.

“Tower Bridge, the Crown Jewels. Oh,” she gasped as another thought struck. “Did you see Windsor Castle?”

He nodded. It was refreshing to see such excitement. Even Cody hadn’t been this enthused by their numerous sight-seeing excursions, and it was supposed to have been his holiday!

“All of it that I could,” he told her. Jake studied her in the bright sunlit glade.

“I guess you would. How does it feel to have your own castle?” Sasha giggled, her jade eyes twinkling at some inner joke.

He cast her a frowning look.

“You know, Windsor Castle—Jacob Windsor?”

He grinned.

“Oh, I don’t go back much now,” he told her in the Queen’s good English. “Too many drafts, you know. Have you traveled much?” Jake studied her smiling face with interest.

Sasha shook her dark head sadly.

“No. I was to have gone to Hawaii last winter but Dwain...” She let the words trail away, leaving him more curious than ever about her and the man she’d just mentioned. “Well, I think this fire is going to have to burn down some before we can roast anything on it.” It was a definite change of subject, but he let her get away with it.

Jake watched her slide gently to the grass, her long legs curled beneath her. Legs like that should be covered, he told himself, noting their smooth curves with growing interest. He quelled that inner spark of awareness and seated himself opposite her, keeping a watchful eye on Cody.

“Now you know about me,” he said. “Let’s hear about you.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“Nothing much to know. I’ve lived here for about two years. I like the small community and my business is built around the tourism the mineral springs generates as well as local people who sell their wares to the visitors we get.”

Jake noted the glimmer of excitement that darkened her eyes when she spoke of her work. It was a good sign. Women who were involved in their own lives weren’t as likely to interfere in his.

“What did you do before that?” he asked curiously. “Surely you could have traveled then?”

A smile curved her wide mouth, tipping the corners up and showing her even teeth. She shook her dark head.

“Uh-uh. Too busy climbing the corporate ladder. Or trying to.”

“So what happened to change that?” Jake found himself studying her. The corporate ladder? Sasha Lambert looked nothing like the hard-nosed businesswomen he associated with corporate ladders.

She tipped her head to one side, nibbling on a fingernail as she considered his question and her answer.

“I hated the anonymity of the city. I moved here to be my own boss. I thought I’d found Mr. Right when I got engaged to Dwain, but my prince turned out to be a frog.” She shrugged, grimacing. “A little while ago I suddenly realized that because of him, I wasn’t anywhere near achieving the things I really wanted out of life—things that I’d left the city to find.”