LITMIR.BIZ

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      “There’s a reason for that.”

      Was it her imagination, or was he working that whisk particularly hard? He really was taking out his feelings on the potatoes. “And that is?”

      “I don’t have a family,” he told her simply. “Not anymore.”

      He’d told her that his sister was dead, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about his parents. She felt instant empathy in her soul. “Your parents are dead?”

      “Yes.”

      The single word was completely devoid of any feeling, any telltale indications of the boy who had once been cut to the quick at the sudden deprivation. He hadn’t had time to grieve. He had a sister to take care of and a life to carve out for both of them.

      Eve turned away from the oven and toward him. “I guess that gives us something in common. I’m an orphan, too.”

      It felt odd to phrase it that way, because, after all, she was an adult and had felt like one for a very long time now. But the realization that there was no one to fuss over her, to wonder trivial things such as was she eating right and keeping warm, that occasionally made her feel detached from the world at large.

      Adam looked into her eyes. It felt as if he delved into her very soul. “I know exactly what you mean,” he affirmed softly.

      Eve shifted restlessly. She felt herself reacting, not just to the words, but to him. To his very male presence within this, her female-dominated home. It seemed incredible that he still had that effect on her. Knowing what she knew about him, feeling as if he’d betrayed her, at least that initial time, she was still incredibly and irresistibly drawn to him.

      She wanted to be with him. And not just with a table between them, but biblically, in the full sense of the word.

      Out of the blue she remembered that she’d gone to see her doctor yesterday for her postpartum checkup. After it was over, Dr. Mudd had expressed surprise at how quickly she’d healed and how fast her body seemed to have bounced back to its prepregnancy form.

      When Dr. Mudd had told her that she was “good to go” in all aspects of the concept and could even begin contemplating giving Brooklyn a little brother or sister, Eve had felt herself going pale. Very politely, she’d informed her doctor that she had no intentions of going that route for a very long time to come. Maybe never.

      Dr. Mudd had merely given her a knowing look and said the choice, as always, was up to her, but that she’d felt she had to tell her that she could have “relations” if she wanted to.

      As if she wanted to, Eve had silently scoffed at the time.

      But the problem was that whenever Adam was around, she found herself wanting to.

      A lot.

      Why was she thinking about this? Heaven knew she had more than enough to deal with right now and Vera was dying to have her finally return to the practice. She made plans to that end, thinking that she would get started next Monday. Between the baby and her career, she had more than enough in her life to keep her occupied. She certainly didn’t need to complicate things even further by inviting a man into her life.

      Into their lives, she amended. Because what affected her affected Brooklyn. They were a set now. The fact that the man she was contemplating—fleetingly—to allow into her life was Brooklyn’s father didn’t change anything. Hell, he was the reason she was feeling this edginess in the first place.

      At bottom, despite the fact that he did pitch in on all levels to help her cope with the changes in her life, and more specifically, to help her take care of the baby, she still couldn’t bring herself to fully trust him or be able to take him at his word.

      No matter how much she wanted to.

       Chapter 10

      “This has to be, by far, the best Thanksgiving turkey I’ve ever eaten,” Lucas told Eve as he consumed the last bite of his dinner. Josiah’s tall, muscular driver had the uncanny ability to appear both enthusiastic and quiet at the same time.

      At first, when Eve had extended the invitation to join them at the table, the man had demurred, assuring her that he was fine with waiting for Josiah in the car. He’d held up the mystery he was currently reading and said that he would have an instrumental CD playing on the Mercedes’s sound system.

      When she’d pressed him as to what he intended to eat while they were inside, consuming a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, he’d produced a couple of those breakfast energy bars that boasted of having chocolate and raspberries in its mix.

      Shaking her head, Eve had confiscated the bars, telling him that there was no way he was going to sit in her driveway gnawing on hardened granola, especially not on Thanksgiving.

      Observing the exchange, Josiah had chuckled drily. “I wouldn’t argue with her if I were you, Lucas,” he’d told his driver. “I know for a fact that Dr. Eve can be a very stubborn young woman when she wants to be.”

      Listening, Adam had laughed. “Now there’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. But he’s right, you know,” he went on to tell Josiah’s driver. “She’s going to keep after you until you give up. Might as well not let the turkey get cold and just give in.”

      He didn’t appear to be the type who liked stirring things up. Lucas capitulated. Coming inside, he’d sat down at the dining-room table, taking a seat next to Josiah. When presented with the meal, he had eaten with gusto, consuming a great deal more than the man he had been chauffeuring around, plus the other two people at the table, as well.

      Retiring his utensils, Josiah delicately wiped his mouth and added his voice to the praise. “Yes.” He smiled at Eve warmly. “My compliments to the chef.”

      “Thank you,” she replied, more than a little pleased. “But I really can’t take all the credit,” she protested in the next breath. “Dinner wouldn’t have been ready at all if Adam hadn’t helped.”

      His words belied the intense look in his eyes as Josiah regarded Eve’s “helper.” “Well, then it was an excellent collaboration. I highly approve.” He patted what was still a very flat stomach. “I’m afraid that I am too full to move.”

      “Then stay. Stay as long as you like,” she encouraged. She looked at Lucas. Her invitation was to both men. “I give you my word, no one’s going to chase you out.”

      As she spoke, she rose to her feet and reached for Josiah’s plate, intent on clearing away the dishes. Lucas was on his feet immediately. For a large man, he moved with impressive agility. He took the dish away from her and began piling the other plates on top of it.

      “The least I can do after that fantastic meal is to clear the table for you and do the dishes,” Lucas told her.

      “Dishes don’t need doing, Lucas. That’s why God created dishwashers,” she answered.

      “Well, I can at least get them from here to there,” he told her, piling the utensils on the top dish.

      Beneath that polite exterior, she had a feeling that Lucas was as quietly determined to do the right thing as she was. She gave up trying to dissuade him.

      Inclining her head, she politely accepted his offer. “Thank you.”

      Josiah took advantage to the temporary break in the conversation. He leaned forward, his eyes on Adam’s. “So tell me, Adam, if you don’t mind my asking, how do you like doing business down here?”

      The man wasn’t mildly curious, he was digging, Adam thought. Why?

      “I like it,” he said casually, as if he wasn’t aware that the older man was placing him under a microscope. “The weather’s nicer down here, the people friendlier.”

      “I see.”

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