“Oh?” She glanced at him, then away. Being with him like this, even with Sadie nearby, was a unique form of intimacy, one she’d never experienced before. The probing way his dark eyes looked at her, the shared whispers, the...trust? Yes, she sensed that he trusted her, and it filled her with purpose. “That sounds like an important position?”
He looked at his daughter again, his gaze warm but also determined. “Not as important as Sadie.”
That answer made her smile from the inside out. “No, of course not.”
“Now I freelance remotely with the firm, primarily with my longest-standing clients, who didn’t want to switch reps, but I’m mostly focusing on internet advertising. The hours are more flexible.”
“That’s wonderful. You should let the local paper know. They’d probably love to do a feature on you.”
“I might, thanks.” Tash stayed right with her, strolling along, making her überaware of him. That wouldn’t do. The man was a father, for crying out loud, and she was only there to create the perfect spaces for Sadie.
Tash hadn’t said it, but she knew he wanted her to feel settled in and happy.
Unfortunately, when she asked Sadie about her preferences, all she got was a shrug.
When Tash started to intercede, Autumn reached back to reassure him...and inadvertently touched his stomach. She snatched her hand away.
He caught her wrist, his strong fingers completely encompassing it. Screw the big bones—his bones were obviously bigger!
Voice low, he said, “She’s holding back, but I promise you, she’s excited.”
Did he think she’d lose her enthusiasm? Not likely. “Give me just a second with her, okay?” Without waiting for his reply, she moved to where Sadie sat on the ground. “Mind if I join you?”
Nose scrunching, Sadie squinted up at her. “Why?”
“I wanted to talk about my plans, see if they work for you.”
Another shrug didn’t deter Autumn. Mimicking Sadie’s pose, she sat yoga-style beside her. “So I was thinking of building something around that tree.” She pointed to the mature oak. “The branches are high enough that a tree fort would be really cool.”
Sadie looked up, her blue eyes rounding. “Tree fort?”
Now I’ve got you. Suppressing her smile, Autumn asked, “Do you like to climb?”
With a caution that Autumn now recognized, Sadie said, “Yeah, but...”
“Excellent.” Arranging a drawing pad on her lap, Autumn leaned closer so Sadie could see and started sketching. She drew a basic structure around the trunk of the tree with an extension to hold swings and a slide. “You’d go up this ladder to get to the platform, through a trapdoor and then to the deck. There’d be a railing around it to make it safe, of course. Your dad loves you too much to take a chance on you getting hurt.” She went on quickly, glossing over the fact that Tash was apparently a lot more cautious than her mom had been. “We could decorate the deck any way you want. More unicorns or—”
“I like pirates.”
“Oh, excellent!” Running with that small admission, Autumn said, “We could make it to look like the helm of a pirate ship.” Adding on to the sketch, she said, “We could put a ship’s wheel here, as if you’re sailing, and maybe a telescope so you could look out and see the squirrels and birds.” She nudged her with her shoulder. “I remember that you like looking at birds.”
CHAPTER 3
“WELL WHAT DO you know, it’s an abandoned gas station.”
Harry stood in a spot of grease, thankfully out of the rain, and studied their little Eden. He’d had to kick in the door, which had proved remarkably easy given the rotting wood and rusty lock. Likely inhabited by any number of critters, it was still dry and safe and a block against the growing breeze. The rain finally began to taper off, but with that concession came a chill that sank bone-deep. The temperature had dropped by several degrees and he could see Charlie’s lips shivering. Nice lips, sort of pouty in a seductive way, especially for a woman who wasn’t all that attractive and seemed to have a problem with cordial behavior. Would she have really let them shoot him?
Damn her, he just didn’t know.
“How long has it been empty do you think?”
She stood huddled in the middle of the floor, her arms wrapped tight around herself, her knees knocking together, determined not to utter a single complaint, as if admitting to the cold was a weakness. Strange woman.
A growing puddle formed around her. Her hair had mostly come loose from the rubber band and was starting to curl just the tiniest bit.
“Perhaps from the time they put in the highway some five years ago. This is the old county road. No one travels it anymore which is, I presume, the reason this particular station closed up.”
“The road must still lead somewhere though, to a house or two.”
“No doubt, but we won’t be finding any help in this storm. You’re the picture of misery, half-frozen and too tired to budge. Time to get as dry as possible.” He looked at her, saw her staring back wide-eyed, and added, “That means removing your ridiculous costume.”
She froze in the process of rubbing her arms, sluicing off more water. “Is that the only tune you know? All right, damn it, I lied. I wouldn’t have let them shoot you, not if I could help it. But I knew if they thought I cared, they’d think we were together. I wanted them to take you and forget about me.”
Well, that was brutal honesty of a sort. Not quite what he’d had in mind, but… “Believe it or not, Charlie, it was my wish as well.” He found a crate, tested it for sturdiness and sat down with a deep groan of pleasure. “I had no desire to be responsible for you, and in fact I could have defused this entire situation if you hadn’t screwed things up.”
“It was you—”
He held up a hand. “No more bickering. And no more ridiculous modesty. Your belated concern for my safety has nothing to do with anything. I don’t want to be lugging a half-dead woman back to town tomorrow, and that’s what you’ll be if you don’t make some effort to warm yourself. It has nothing to do with my curiosity over your precious body parts.”
“You have only my welfare in mind?”
“Quit sneering.” He felt a smile tug at his lips and firmly repressed the urge to grin at her. “Come now, you must be in your mid-twenties at least. Surely you can’t claim all that much modesty. I promise not to be impressed no matter what you unveil.”
She looked ready to strike him, so he quickly added, “I’ll make the grand sacrifice. My coat is still fairly dry on the inside, given that it’s made for this weather and water repellent. You can wrap up in it after you’ve gotten out of your wet clothes.”
She chewed her lips, thinking of heaven knew what, and finally shaking her head. More hair slipped free and clung to her forehead and cheeks. She didn’t look like a boy now; she looked like a drowned rat. A wide-eyed, nervous rat. “No.”