LITMIR.BIZ

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more time in close proximity to Brenna Kelly? He couldn’t. He shook his head. “You’re generous to open up your home to me and my sons, but I can’t impose,” he insisted. “You’ve already done too much.”

      Pop’s meaty hand smacked Josh’s shoulder. “Nonsense. The house is too big for just us and Brenna.”

      Josh couldn’t argue with him. The old Victorian house, with its turret and wide wraparound porch, was huge, but the Kellys had done their best to fill it to the rafters with antiques. Breakables had been his first thought when he’d seen their home initially the day before. The boys had thought it a gingerbread house, with its bright yellow siding and teal-and-purple trim. He’d had to watch them to make sure they didn’t try to break off a corner in order to taste it.

      “Your house is beautiful,” Josh complimented the older man, “and full of lovely treasures. I adore my boys, but they’re not very careful with fragile things. I’d hate it if they broke one of your collectibles. Really, we’re better off going back to Grand Rapids for the moment.”

      And he’d be better off away from Brenna and temptation.

      Pop laughed. “That junk? Mama and I inherited most of it from our families. We don’t have much left now.”

      “Family?” Josh asked.

      The old man nodded, his eyes glistening.

      “You have all those keepsakes to remember them by.” Josh offered comfort, he hoped, to his new friend. “And that’s all the more reason not to trust my boys around your heirlooms.”

      “You don’t remember people with stuff,” Pop scoffed. “You remember them with your mind. So don’t worry about our junk. Your boys can’t hurt a thing.”

      Josh’s cell phone company sure hadn’t agreed with that. Neither had any of the twins’ nannies. Stumped for another excuse, he said, “If you’re sure you have room…”

      Despite the size of the house, there were only three bedrooms. He’d spent the night on a foldout bed in the parlor.

      “Even with all our belongings, there’s plenty of room. Mama and I are usually rattling around all alone in the house since Brenna’s either at the bakery or traveling for the business,” her father explained. “She came home from college just bursting with ideas to expand the bakery. She built onto the back of the building and hired a slew of people. So Mama and I stay in the kitchen now and let her manage the rest. She’s got Kelly Confections in nearly every grocery store in the country now. That girl thrives on being in charge.”

      “Does she know that you’ve made this offer?”

      Pop sighed. “No, so she’ll probably be upset.”

      Josh turned toward her again, but she wasn’t standing where she’d been on the other side of the room anymore. Although he scanned the crowd carefully, he couldn’t spot her. “I don’t want to upset Brenna.” That was the last thing he wanted to do, after everything she’d done for him.

      “You won’t. I have.” Her dad laughed. “She’ll be mad that I beat her to the offer. She’ll love having you and the boys stay with us.”

      “We won’t stay long,” he assured the other man—and himself. Even though Molly hadn’t become his wife, she was a friend and he’d like to make sure she was all right.

      “You’re staying?” a throaty feminine voice asked.

      He’d lost sight of Brenna Kelly because she’d come up behind him. He turned toward her and nodded. “Your father invited me, Buzz and TJ to stay with you.”

      “Pop?” she questioned, her eyes widening as she stared at her dad.

      Her father ignored her question and asked, “Honey, did Mama fetch my knife yet?”

      Josh’s stomach tightened. “Knife?” Maybe the old man had noticed him ogling his daughter.

      “To cut the cake, boy,” Pop explained, with another smack on Josh’s back. “I better see what’s keeping that woman,” he grumbled as he walked off. “She’s probably fixing her hair, as if she could get any prettier…”

      Her daughter certainly couldn’t. Josh dragged in a deep breath, bracing himself for more time spent with Brenna. He’d been crazy to accept her father’s invitation. He couldn’t stay with her—and not fall for her.

      Chapter Three

      Left alone with her houseguest, Brenna could only stare up at the jilted groom. The one on the cake. She couldn’t look at Josh and manage to think. “Pop’s really upset about the bride.”

      “Yeah, I know.”

      “Mama wanted the bakery to carry the one-piece groom-and-bride cake toppers, but Pop insisted they be individual so that we can mix and match, you know,” she rambled uncharacteristically, at the mercy of her nerves. “Brunette to brunette or brunette to blonde…”

      “Or brunette to redhead,” Josh teased.

      Heat rushed to Brenna’s face as his flirty tone flustered her. “Yeah, well, we don’t carry that many redheads. Not much demand.”

      “Then I guess I’m not the only fool.”

      “What?” she asked, totally confused by the comment and the twinkle in his striking blue eyes.

      “I can’t understand there not being a great demand for redheads.” He grinned.

      “Pop blames it on our notorious temper, you know.” While she didn’t have much of a temper, she’d rather blame the lack of demand for her on that than on her weight. She wasn’t about to starve herself into a size six, or she would have a hair-trigger temper and an ornery disposition. She knew from experience.

      In her teens, during the rage of crash diets, she’d nearly lost her friends instead of losing any weight. But they’d remained loyal and supportive, no matter how bitchy she’d been. She had to be loyal and supportive, too—especially of Molly.

      “Pop warned me that you might be mad,” Josh shared.

      Had her father picked up on her feelings? “He thought I’d be mad that you and Buzz and TJ are staying with us?”

      “That he asked me first.” Josh sighed. “But I can see that’s not the case. If you’d rather I find someplace else to stay…”

      Her heart skipped. “Does this mean you’re still going to stay in Cloverville?”

      “Nick and I are building an office here,” he reminded her. “We’re starting our private practice here.”

      “You haven’t changed your mind…?” When Molly had told her of his plans, she hadn’t understood why an orthopedic surgeon and a plastic surgeon would start a practice in Cloverville. Although the town was growing, she couldn’t imagine there being much demand for their services.

      “Nick would love it if I did,” Josh admitted. “He’s not thrilled about my choice of location for our venture. But it’s not that far from the hospital where we have privileges—just a little over an hour away. And when Molly told me your town doctor had retired, I saw an opportunity here.”

      Brenna thought she knew what he’d seen in Cloverville—a life with Molly. “So you’re going to handle more than just your specialties?”

      He nodded. “Yes. I am. I’m going to hire a physician’s assistant, and Nick wants to bring in a physical therapist, too.”

      Although he might have rushed his proposal to Molly, Josh apparently had given more time and consideration to the plans for his practice. Brenna could appreciate a man with a brain for business.

      “And I bought a house here,” he continued.

      “You bought a house?” He wasn’t just

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