LITMIR.BIZ

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halted at the entrance into the dining room. She remembered Cindy’s words about wishing she had a mother. “You don’t believe in marriage?”

      “It’s fine for some people, but I’m not one of them.”

      The bitterness in his voice caused her heart to ache for the pain he must have endured. What had made him so against marriage? His late wife? Her death? She recalled her own anger after her husband had died. But she was definitely over that. She had been lucky to have one good marriage. The Lord had been good to her and she wanted to share the bounty. She wanted others to have what she’d had.

      She escaped into the dining room, warily approaching the living room. She didn’t hear any voices. Had they done bodily harm to each other? Clint had been furious that Tara was at one of her little dinner parties. When Jesse stepped into the room, she stopped at the doorway. Clint’s arms were wrapped around Tara, his lips locked to hers, their bodies pressed together. The couple didn’t even hear her come in nor sense her, so absorbed were they in each other. She was happy for her friend, but now, who was she going to find for Nick? The man needed a good woman to ease the pain in his heart. And Cindy needed a mother.

      Deciding she had to rethink her strategy, Jesse started to back out of the living room when Clint and Tara came up for air. Her friend peered over at her and smiled.

      “Clint ask me to run off and get married and I said yes.” Tara’s eyes were bright with happiness. “We’re leaving tonight. Not a word to anyone until tomorrow, Jesse.”

      She held up her hands. “Not a peep out of me. Promise.”

      Clint threw her a perturbed look. “I should be really mad at you, Jesse, but I guess this dinner you planned knocked some sense into me, so for that reason you’ll be welcome in our home.” He drew Tara against him. “We need to get moving before Susan gets here.”

      Tara hurried to Jesse and hugged her. “You know just the right thing to do. What a matchmaker you are! I owe you.”

      The couple was gone before Jesse could blink. Okay, this was a success. Not quite the one she had planned for the evening, but a match had been made. She would end this evening early and start over tomorrow. There had to be someone for Nick Blackburn, someone special who could change his mind about marriage and give Cindy what she wanted.

      His leg ached. Sinking onto a chair on the deck, Nick rubbed it. The two geese were keeping a wary eye on him and he was keeping a wary eye on them out in the yard under a giant maple with a tree house in it and a large sign posted that read, No Girls Alowed. He chuckled at the sign on the ladder leading up to the tree house. What a cool place to escape to and play in. As a boy he would have liked it. But his childhood had been very different from Jesse’s son’s.

      He couldn’t believe he was even here this evening. He was doing it for his daughter who had taken a liking to Jesse. She needed a woman’s influence in her life and most likely wasn’t going to have one when they returned to Chicago in a few months.

      Just this morning Cindy asked him about makeup. Six years old! His baby! He had told her she was years—and years—away from wearing any. She had wanted to know where her mother’s was. That had stopped him cold. He had hated to tell her he’d thrown it out. The look on his daughter’s face made him regret doing it in a fit of anger after he’d come home from the hospital that first time.

      The throbbing in his leg reinforced his determination to wipe his wife from his memory. The only good thing that had come of their marriage was Cindy, but what was he supposed to do with a little girl? He felt out of his element. He was at home in a boardroom, not playing dolls with his daughter.

      He was determined to bond with Cindy one way or another these next couple of months. He owed her that after the past year with him in and out of the hospital having several surgeries on his leg or with him working long hours at his company because of all the time he had been injured. Now at least, he had a good team in place who could run the business while he kept in touch long distance. The only thing he needed to figure out was how he was going to accomplish bonding with his only child.

      “I hope you’re hungry. I think I prepared enough to feed half of Sweetwater.”

      Shoving away those memories he usually kept locked up, Nick turned his full attention to the petite woman hurrying across the deck toward him. She reminded him of a breath of fresh air. He liked her straightforward manner, something he wasn’t used to in a woman. With his wife he’d never been sure what mood she would be in. Their last year of marriage, all they had done was argue.

      “I can probably eat my fair share.” He pushed to his feet, ignoring the dull throb that he hadn’t managed to massage away.

      Favoring his leg, he made his way to the propane grill, ready to assist Jesse. After she lit the grill, she slapped the hamburgers on the metal rack and stood back. He took a deep breath, inhaling her particular scent of jasmine. It teased his senses, reminding him he hadn’t been around too many women socially this past year. He wanted to lean close and take another deep breath. He didn’t.

      Needing some space, he stepped to the railing, his back to her. He stared at the lake, its smooth, blue water having a calming effect on him. “It looks like you have everything under control.”

      “Yeah. Gramps accuses me of being a control freak. I’m not. Just very organized.”

      “So am I. I find it’s easier to run a company that way.”

      “And a house.” She came to stand next to him.

      Her arm brushed against his. He tensed, the feel of her electric. He sidled a step away, a finely honed tension bolting through him. “Where’s everyone? Still trying to coax Bingo out from under the bed?”

      “I’m sure by now Nate is showing off his animal collection to Cindy and Boswell. Tara and Clint left. And I’m not sure where my grandfather is. He should have been home fifteen minutes—”

      The sound of the back door opening interrupted Jesse. She turned at the same time Nick did and ended up touching him again. She shivered from the brief contact. The deck ran the whole length of the house, and they couldn’t manage not to brush against each other?

      “There you are, Gramps. We were just wondering where you were.”

      “Susan had something to show me. Lost track of time.”

      “I’m so glad you could come tonight, Susan.” Jesse offered the older woman a bright smile she hoped would cover her sudden nervousness at the nearness of her neighbor. Stepping forward, she made the introductions.

      “I wouldn’t miss one of your little dinner parties for the world,” Susan said as she checked out Nick. “It’s so much better to get the latest firsthand.”

      Jesse blushed, aware that Nick was suddenly staring at her.

      “Where’s Tara?” Gramps asked, breaking the silence that had followed Susan’s declaration.

      “She had to leave—with Clint.”

      “Clint!” Susan exclaimed. “My, my, that does shake things up tonight. What are you going to do, my dear?”

      Nick came up behind Jesse and said in a low voice, “Why do I get the feeling I’m missing something here?”

      Jesse tried to ignore his question while she thought of an appropriate answer for Susan. “Not a thing. We’re going to eat soon and enjoy each other’s company. I’m tickled pink that Tara and Clint are back together.” Jesse was sure her cheeks were past the pink stage. Cherry-red was more like it.

      “You should be. You fixed them up in the first place.” Gramps took Susan’s hand and led her to the love seat where the tortilla chips and guacamole dip were on a glass table in front of them. He began to munch.

      If her grandfather kept his mouth full, maybe she would make it through this evening without Nick realizing she’d planned for him to meet and hopefully date Tara. Of course, there was always Susan, who was a fountain of information

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