LITMIR.BIZ

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“I had been helping Paige start a commercial cut-flower business, and I couldn’t let it all go.”

      “Didn’t your family know the man who owned this place?”

      “Mr. Apple Man,” she began, and paused to chuckle at herself for the mistake. “That’s what Paige and I called him when we were growing up, because of the orchards. Actually, his name is Larry Epelstein. When he got too old to run the place, he offered to sell it to us, cheap. He wanted to be sure someone got in here who would take care of his trees.”

      “Everyone in your family has a green thumb, don’t they?”

      “Guess so,” Abby answered, gnawing at her lip as she looked out at the colorful melange of flowers.

      She’d need to water them today, and some of the varieties would need deadheading. She hadn’t found the energy to get the blooms to market lately. If things didn’t improve anytime soon, perhaps she never would.

      Jack touched her arm. “Since we’re both here, why don’t we talk now?”

      Still staring out into the greenhouse, she considered why it felt as if he held her very life in his hands. He seemed to hold a balance of power here. He had Wyatt, and the land the orchards were situated on. She knew Rosie and the house were every bit as valuable, but there was one difference.

      Abby wanted what he had.

      Pretending a courage she didn’t feel, she wandered over to the antique oak table that dominated the middle of the kitchen. “Guess now’s as good a time as any,” she said as she slid into a chair with Rosie on her lap.

      Jack sat across from her, and actually smiled when Rosie started fussing. “Well!” he said. “It’s good to know that you can make yours cry, too.”

      Abby swallowed a bristling retort and forced herself to smile back. “She probably just wants to play,” she said. “There’s an activity center in the nursery. I’ll sneak up and get it.”

      She plopped the crying baby back into Jack’s arms and grinned at his swift change of expression. Now he looked close to tears.

      She ran back up to the nursery, reminding herself all the way of how much more effective she’d be if she kept her cool.

      After she lugged the toy back down to the kitchen and put Rosie into the seat, her sobbing stopped. But the knowledge that she and Jack were assured a few minutes of peace did little to calm Abby’s nerves.

      “Okay,” she said, tugging at the neck of her T-shirt as she sat down again. “Where should we start?”

      “I did a lot of thinking last night,” he said as he frowned at his hands, which were folded on the table. “We need to work out a way to keep the twins together.”

      Abby felt a rush of relief so profound that she hopped up to kiss him. It was nothing more than a hasty smack on the cheek, but as soon as she did it she realized her mistake.

      His beard scraped against her lips, making them feel soft and pouty. And he smelled incredible. Manly, like some bracing man’s soap, or like ocean air. She hadn’t experienced that sort of smell in a long, long time.

      A deep, urgent response walloped her so powerfully that she immediately closed her eyes and collapsed back into her chair. When she opened them again, she realized he was checking out her chest.

      Apparently, her kiss had affected him, too. Or perhaps he was always ready for an opportunity to check out a female body. Even Abby’s.

      She crossed her arms in front of her. “Sorry,” she said. “You caught me by surprise.”

      His crinkle-eyed gaze floated leisurely up to her face.

      “Hey, don’t ever apologize for kissing me,” he said. Then he cleared his throat. “I just don’t know how to do it.”

      “Um, do what, exactly?”

      “Keep them together.”

      “Oh, of course,” she said, sweeping her gaze to the precious baby girl she’d managed to forget for an instant.

      “I’m not ready to give up my place in Kansas City,” he explained. “It’s a phenomenal town home, near the heart of the business district. Many of my clients have offices nearby.”

      “Are you planning to leave Wyatt here?” she asked.

      Perhaps her hopes were coming true. If he would sell her the land, too, her dreams would be tied up with a tidy bow.

      “No,” he said, dashing her hopes abruptly. “I’ll stay a year as Brian requested. If you run the orchard, the proceeds can go back into the farm. Next fall, we can talk about a fair price for the land, and a way to keep Wyatt and Rosie in contact. Things might be easier by then.”

      “Maybe.”

      Jack ran a hand along his whiskery jaw, staring out at the greenhouse. “I could sublet the town home….”

      Abby listened as he thought out loud. Since he was moving things in her direction on his own, she decided to let him ramble on before she butted in. Maybe he’d realize he should just leave Wyatt here with her. Forever.

      “…and find a place around here. You know of anyplace?”

      She thought of the land surrounding the farm. There was a cattle ranch on one side and a wheat farm on the other. She shook her head. “There’s nothing to rent out here.”

      Wyatt’s howl exploded into the room, causing Jack to jump out of his seat. “Hot damn—” he began, then glanced at Rosie. “Hot dang, what is that racket?”

      Abby clicked off the receiver. “Just the baby monitor.”

      He stared at the device. “Why is it so loud?”

      Abby was already headed for the stairs. “A bad habit,” she hollered back. “This house is so big I’m afraid I won’t hear them, so I turn it up full blast.”

      Wyatt quieted almost immediately when Abby picked him up.

      She used one of Rosie’s diapers to change him, and then carried him back downstairs, thinking all the way.

      She loved this baby. She wanted to be near him every single day and night. She’d do anything to achieve that goal.

      Anything.

      When she got back to the kitchen, she handed Wyatt to Jack, then lifted Rosie out of the bouncer and laid her belly-down on the floor. “This is when a high chair would come in handy,” she said. “Paige was thinking about getting one, but the babies only started eating solid food a few weeks ago.”

      A frown creased Jack’s forehead. “Is Wyatt hungry?”

      “No, but one baby could sit in a high chair with a couple of toys while the other took a turn in the activity center.” Abby took Wyatt and deposited him in the toy’s seat. “It’s just another source of amusement for the twins.”

      Wyatt immediately started bouncing and batting at colorful knobs. “You were just ready to play, weren’t you?” she crooned.

      Opening a cabinet drawer, she pulled out a couple of toys and tossed them in front of Rosie, who propped herself up on sturdy arms to grab a set of plastic keys.

      When she dropped them, they produced a clacking sound that must have pleased her, because she snagged them right back up and began hitting them repeatedly against the terracotta tiles.

      “If I can find a big enough apartment, I could run my business from there,” Jack said as Abby returned to the table. “There’s bound to be something suitable in town.”

      “Or we could both move in here,” Abby suggested, wondering even as she said it if she was completely insane. “This house has plenty of room for an office, and we could switch off duties so we’d both have time to work.”

      “You mean

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