LITMIR.BIZ

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you were still here.”

      He smiled at her. “I hope you don’t mind. I’m having another cup of your good coffee.” He stood and offered her a chair. “Care to join me?”

      So polite, but so had been Darren…at first. “I really should get to bed.”

      “I know, but I only want a few minutes.”

      Maura made her way to the table and sat down. “Is there a problem?”

      “That’s what I want to know, Maura. Did I do something to upset you? I mean, if it bothers you to have me at the dinner table, I can eat in the cottage.”

      “No, of course not. You’ve been so generous letting us stay here. I mean, you could have insisted we leave.”

      He shook his head, blue eyes piercing into hers. “I couldn’t do that.” He took a breath. “I don’t want to pry, Maura, but it’s obvious that you’ve had some hard times. I don’t want to make them worse. So you take your time. I promise I won’t get in your way.” The chair scooted against the worn floor when he stood. Then he headed out the back door.

      Maura wanted to call after him, tell him the truth, but she couldn’t, not yet. She still had a long way to go before she trusted a man.

      Maybe never.

      Chapter Three

      The next morning, Wyatt rolled over on the lumpy mattress and groaned as bright sunlight came through the bare, cracked window, reminding him where he was. His new home. Unable to get back to sleep, he decided to get up. He swung his legs over the edge and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the travel clock on the table and realized it was nearly six-thirty.

      He released a long sigh, thinking about what he had to do today…and tomorrow, and the next day. He was already tired but it had nothing to do with his endless list of future chores, and more to do with his lack of sleep last night. No matter how many times he’d told himself to forget about Maura Wells, she still had managed to keep him awake. He was breaking his own rule—to never get involved with a woman with kids…again.

      Memories of Amanda Burke and her son, Scott, flooded into his head. He’d fallen hard for the pretty barrel racer. So he’d knocked himself out trying to win the kid over, too. Thanks to the example of Earl Keys, he hadn’t known about being a father figure, but he’d tried his damnedest. In the end he’d lost them both when Amanda went back to her ex-husband.

      Maybe that was what intrigued him about Maura. She didn’t seem to want anything to do with him. From the moment they’d met, she’d acted as if he had the plague. But that hadn’t stopped the attraction. He was drawn to her. Maybe it was the sadness in those big brown eyes of hers, or the fear he saw every time he got too close. At the dinner table last night, he’d felt the tension with Maura. And she couldn’t get him out of the house fast enough.

      Wyatt never had trouble getting female attention, not since he and Dylan had been fourteen and grown to six feet tall. They’d learned quickly how to charm the ladies. But he had outgrown conquests with the buckle bunnies at the rodeos long ago. He’d passed thirty now and wanted to put his full concentration on the ranch and start his business. He had no time or desire to get involved with someone else’s problems. So he would put up with the minor inconvenience for the next month, then she and her kids would be gone.

      Wyatt slipped on his jeans and walked to the small and shabby kitchen area. It needed a good cleaning, and a lot of work. He tried to close one of the cabinet doors, and it swung back open. Yesterday, he’d chased out a family of squirrels and broke up several spiderwebs. This morning he would call an exterminator and have the cottage sprayed. Probably wouldn’t hurt to do the house, too. He’d just have to make sure that Maura and the kids would be gone for the day.

      There was a soft knocking sound. He went to the door and found Kelly standing on the stoop. She looked cute dressed in a pair of blue shorts and white top, her hair in a neat ponytail. In her hands she had an insulated coffee mug covered securely with a tight lid.

      She smiled. “Good morning, Wyatt. Mommy says you prob’bly need this.” She handed him the coffee. “And breakfast is in ten minutes.” Her brown eyes rounded as she shook her finger at him. “And you better not be late.” The child turned around and skipped off toward the house.

      Wyatt couldn’t help but smile at the thought of both the daughter and the mother. So maybe he had charmed his way back into the house. He frowned. Maybe that shouldn’t get him so excited.

      Maura tried not to make too much of the invitation, reminding herself she was just following through with her agreement. After all, fixing the man a few meals was a great trade for a month’s free rent.

      There was a knock at the back door and she looked up to find Wyatt standing on the porch. Right on time. Even a little rumpled from sleep, he was a gorgeous man. Tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Seeing him yesterday without a shirt, she knew he didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body. It was all muscle. Her gaze moved upward to his face to catch his grin. Another blush warmed her cheeks.

      “Wyatt, come in,” she said.

      “Thank you, ma’am.” He opened the screen door and walked in, then winked at Kelly as he hung his hat on the peg by the door.

      “Have a seat.” Maura turned back to the stove and the pancakes. This was one thing she could make without fail. “Kelly, go get your brother.”

      The little girl scurried off, leaving them alone. Maura took a deep breath and released it, then picked up the plate of pancakes and carried them to the table. “Help yourself.”

      “Don’t mind if I do.” He stabbed into the stack, taking four.

      She slid into the chair across from him. “I want to apologize for last night.”

      Wyatt stopped pouring syrup. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I overstepped my bounds.”

      “You have every right to ask questions. You’re letting us stay here.”

      He shook his head. “Listen, everyone is entitled to their secrets.”

      Maura didn’t want to talk about her past. She wanted to move on. But she also needed to make Wyatt understand.

      “My husband, Darren…we didn’t…the divorce was hard on all of us, especially Jeff. With the move from Dallas to San Angelo, he’s having difficulty adjusting.”

      Wyatt knew that Maura was leaving out a lot. Just the look on her face when she talked about her ex told him she was terrified of the man. That only meant one thing—the man had abused her. He felt himself tense. In his book there was nothing lower than a man who used his fists on a woman.

      “Maura, I have only one question, then I’ll drop the subject altogether. Is there a chance that your ex-husband will come here and bother you?”

      “No! He doesn’t know where we are,” she admitted, terror in her voice. Wyatt wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and assure her that he would take care of her.

      “And as long as you and the kids are under this roof,” he said, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

      Maura started to speak when Kelly came running into the room, crying. Soon to follow was her pleased-looking older brother.

      “Mommy, Mommy, Jeff said my freckles were ugly spots.”

      The little girl ran to her mother. She sobbed as if her heart were broken.

      Wyatt glared at the boy, who looked satisfied that he caused chaos. “You’re not ugly, Kelly. You’re the prettiest little girl that I know.”

      The girl wiped her eyes. “Really?”

      “Do you know what your freckles mean?”

      She shook her head causing her ponytail to swing back and forth.

      “You’ve been

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