by Neesa Hart
Eileen picked her way slowly across the yard. One hand rested on her swollen belly, the other shaded her eyes from the bright afternoon sun. “Molly, hi.”
“Hey, Eileen. This munchkin tells me she’s got a tractor. Isn’t Hutch being a little ambitious?”
When Eileen laughed, the sound had a weightless quality that drew Sam’s attention. It was the same unfettered laugh as Molly’s. This, he imagined, must be the benefit of a healthy family. Eileen brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she glanced at Katie. “It’s one of those pedal things,” she said in answer to Molly’s question. “She’s so fascinated with Dad’s riding mower that Hutch thought she’d like it.”
“It’s green, like Grandpa’s,” Katie announced.
“Your favorite color,” Molly said. “How did your dad know you wanted green?”
“’Cause I told him.” She looked pointedly at Sam. “Kelly and Megan says he’s your boyfriend, Aunt Molly. Is he?”
“Katie,” Eileen smoothly interjected, “why don’t you go back to play with your cousins? I think Daddy almost has the hot dogs ready.”
“Okay,” Katie agreed, then looked at Sam again. “Are you Aunt Molly’s boyfriend?”
Molly coughed. Sam grinned at the child and squatted down so he was at eye level with her. He extended his hand. “I’m Sam Reed. I’m a friend of your aunt’s.”
Katie’s eyebrows drew together in a curious frown. “But are you her boyfriend?”
“What do you know about boyfriends?” he asked her.
“I got one,” she said. “His name is Steve. He’s in my class.”
“I see. How come Steve’s your boyfriend?”
She thought the question over, then shrugged. “’Cause he’s the boy I like best, I guess. He’s pretty good at coloring, but his writing stinks.”
Sam nodded solemnly. “I think your aunt says the same thing about my writing.”
“Really?”
“Yep. So maybe I am her boyfriend.”
That made the child giggle. Eileen gave her daughter a nudge. “Go back to Daddy, honey. We’ll be along in a minute.”
After admonishing Molly not to forget her present, Katie beamed at Sam, then skipped away. Eileen looked at Molly. “Since you’ve forgotten to introduce me, I’ll do it myself.” The light in her eyes took the sting out of the rebuke. She turned to Sam. “I’m Eileen. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Reed.”
“Sam, please,” he said. “Nobody calls me Mr. Reed after hours.”
“You should hear what they call you behind your back,” Molly quipped.
Sam shot her a knowing look. “And you all think I don’t know it?”
Eileen’s hand moved over the swell of her stomach. “Everyone was, er, intrigued on Monday,” she said carefully. “That ad—”
He grinned at her. “You know what Molly’s temper is like,” he said dismissively. Beside him, he could feel Molly bristle. If he dared look at her, he was sure she’d have the same sour expression she’d given him when he’d called her “babe” at the office. “After the argument we had in an editorial meeting last Friday, I was surprised she let me off that easy.”
Eileen raised her eyebrows and looked at Molly. “Really?”
Molly managed a slight nod. Sam retrieved the large package from her and tucked it under his arm. “I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I’m ready for lunch.”
Molly frowned at him. “You just ate the equivalent of four pies at the culinary tent.”
“I’m a man, Molly,” he said, giving her a deliberately heated look. “Dessert doesn’t satisfy all my hungers.”
And before Molly could respond, her family swept them in the direction of the party.
WITH A FROWN, Molly studied Sam’s profile. He was playing duck-duck-goose with her ten nieces. Seated in the tight circle, he had all ten girls obviously charmed. He seemed relaxed and at ease, and Molly was trying to assimilate this image of him with the irascible, inflexible man she’d seen at the Sentinel— and with the man who spent his weekends working on a vintage sailboat. In his green shirt and khaki trousers, he looked casual but elegant as the soft breeze tousled his dark hair. For a man used to country club parties and sophisticated entertainments, he’d handled the morning and boisterous afternoon with remarkable grace.
She had to give him that.
He’d seemingly had just one uncomfortable moment. They had followed Fiona and Eileen the rest of the way up the hill to find the large Flynn clan in full swing. Molly’s four brothers-in-law stood around a charcoal grill with her father, while her four sisters sat at a picnic table and supervised their children—all girls. The running joke in the Flynn family was that no baby would dare be born a boy when he’d be outnumbered ten to one by his female cousins.
As Sam had glided to a halt he found himself the focus of her sisters’ curious looks, but had quickly recovered. Flashing Molly a bright smile, he had retrieved a root beer from a nearby cooler and said, “My kind of party. The chicks outnumber the guys by more than three to one.” The collective laugh he’d won from her family gave him instant entrée into their tightly knit clan. He pressed a diet soda into Molly’s hand, then strolled away to join the men.
Leaving her, Molly thought irritably, to wonder how he knew she drank diet soda, and to deal with the pending interrogation from her sisters. She was surprised to find that he had, indeed, been right that she’d have no reason to lie about her relationship with him. She’d answered every question truthfully—from the way she’d met him, to how much he annoyed her at work, to why she’d run the ad in the morning paper. As he had predicted, her sisters had drawn their own conclusions. That, too, had irritated her—as if he’d taken something valuable from her. She’d always been able to turn to her sisters for advice, consolation, and support. Under normal circumstances, they would have been her safe haven on Monday when she’d seen the ad in the paper. Her plan had been to submit her resignation to Sam, then head to her sister Eileen’s where she could eat chocolate chip cookies and talk ugly about the man who’d ruined her life at the Sentinel. But Sam had surprised her with his insistence and persistence. Her Flynn sense of honor had urged her to accept his offer. And one simple kiss that still tingled on her lips had shown her just how dicey it would be to keep her heart intact. When he’d neatly ducked the issue of his sudden disappearance for the last few days, she’d seen that passing look of stark loneliness in his gaze—the same look that had made it impossible for her to turn away from him in the first place.
Like the stray cat, he’d learned to deal with life’s misfortunes by isolating himself. Whatever he’d been through in the past week had left an indelible impression, and whereas Molly would have turned to her vast network of family and friends for support, Sam shut people out.
That, she instinctively knew, was his style. Given what few facts she knew about his life and his strange assimilation into the Reed clan, she wasn’t terribly surprised. Sam never got entangled. He never allowed things to get messy. No strings. No roots. No commitments. Not in work and not in life. When his job in Payne was through, he’d move on, back to a life of global travel, multi-billion-dollar deal brokering, and high-society entertainments.
And he’d be through with her, too.
Molly, on the other hand, was rooted here in a rural community that made an annual event of duck races. She could not imagine leaving that behind. She’d decided that any relationship she might have with Sam would end in heartbreak. The choice she now weighed was the balance between the risk of a broken heart and the risk of never knowing what would happen if she tried to chase away Sam’s lingering loneliness. It was the kind of choice that screamed for heart-to-heart conversations and sisterly advice—things Molly had learned to depend on. But now Sam stood between Molly and her sisters, her bargain with him precluding her from coming completely clean with them.
Fortunately, the meal and the festivities of Katie’s birthday had turned some of the attention away from the no
velty of Sam, and as her family had spread out among lawn chairs and picnic blankets, she had found herself seated alone with him. He asked questions, prodded her for stories about her family, and listened attentively—actively, even. He seemed fascinated by tales of Molly’s and her sisters’ childhood and adolescent experiences, and of her nieces’ escapades. She noticed that he constantly found reasons to touch her. He’d brush a curl behind her ear or trace a finger along the veins on the back of her hand. Each little touch, each caress, stirred the embers of the passion that had been burning in her since Monday.
And with every question, every soft laugh, every curious look in his eyes, Molly had fallen for him just a little harder.
Feeling unreasonably irritable, Molly found a seat at the picnic table where she could watch her nieces giggling with Sam on the verdant lawn.
She’d be a fool to fall for Sam, she’d told herself countless times, repeating the argument to herself regularly since his kiss that morning. Yet it still failed to convince her. Sam was tasting pies and listening to advice and comments about the Sentinel when Molly hit upon the reason she felt so wary with him. Though her friends and family had often accused her of falling in love too hard and too fast, she’d always known the truth. The guys she fell for were really just projects. They’d needed her. And she’d enjoyed being needed.
As a rule, she didn’t go for men like I’ve-got-the-world-by-the-tail Sam Reed. Sam didn’t need anybody or anything. And falling in love with him would be utterly and stupendously stupid. For the first time in her life, Molly almost wished she could simply indulge in a casual affair, fully comfortable with the knowledge that when Sam’s work in Payne was done, he’d climb into his private plane and fly out of her life.
But she couldn’t. And she knew it. If she let herself fall for Sam, she’d end up nursing a colossal broken heart. So the question became, was he worth it?
Molly drummed her fingers on the table and watched him accept his role as the designated goose. He rose fluidly from the circle of girls and chased her niece, Emily, around the circle. Emily won easily—no doubt because Sam had tamed his strides to small steps that gave the six-year-old a significant advantage. At least, she mused as she watched the flex of his broad shoulders and his long-legged strides, no one could blame her for finding him sexy as sin.
And if she’d listened to her sisters weeks ago, she’d have seen this coming, but she’d been so sure….
It would have been so much easier if he’d simply accepted her resignation, she thought wearily. She’d contemplated quitting a dozen times, but in the back of her mind was the realization that she’d created this mess. That she had, indeed, through her own impulsiveness, caused him a considerable amount of embarrassment. And he’d taken it all in stride, letting her off the hook for little more than a couple of dinner dates and some mildly uncomfortable suppositions on the part of her friends and family.
She owed him.
And honor wouldn’t let her squelch—even if he did make her stomach flutter and her pulse race. As if he sensed her scrutiny, he looked her way and grinned at her.
Molly’s heart thudded a little harder.
“Problems?”
Molly glanced up as her sister Colleen handed her a bottle of soda and took the seat next to her at the picnic table.
“Not problems, exactly,” she mumbled. Across the lawn, Katie and her cousins were laughing in delight as they tackled Sam to the ground.
“You have the look,” Colleen said.
“What look?”
“The some-man-is-turning-you-inside-out look.”
“Oh.” She took a long sip of her soda. “That look.”
Colleen’s gaze followed hers to the spot beneath the oak tree. “He seems—interesting.”
“You mean in that superpowerful, extremely wealthy corporate magnate kind of way?”
Colleen’s eyebrows lifted. “Did I hit a nerve?”
Molly winced. “No. Sorry. It’s just been a long couple of days.”
“I’ll bet. Which is why enquiring minds want to know why you’ve been avoiding our calls.”
“I’ve been really busy,” Molly hedged.
Colleen gave her a shrewd look. “Not that busy. You’re never that busy, Mol.” She shook her head and a dark red wave of hair tumbled over her shoulder. “Something’s going on between you and this guy.”
Molly couldn’t suppress a slight smile. “I don’t suppose you got the idea from that asinine personal ad, did you?”
Her sister laughed. “I have to admit, that was a little over the top, even for you. How mad were you to do something like that?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I can imagine. I can also imagine that Sam didn’t especially appreciate your sense of humor. Was he super pissed or what?”
“Actually, no.” She shook her head. “Believe it or not, he let me off kind of easy.”
“Seriously?” Her sister pressed. “Todd would have killed me for that.”
“Before or after he finished worshipping the ground you walk on?”
“He does not.” Molly gave her sister a knowing look. Colleen laughed. “Okay, he sort of does, but don’t tell him I know. He thinks I’m oblivious.”
“You’re safe with me.”
“Still, he would’ve been seriously annoyed if I’d pulled a stunt like that. I mean, it’s so public, Molly. Couldn’t you think of something a little less dramatic to tell him you were steamed?”
“I told you, it wasn’t supposed to get printed.”
“What did you two fight about anyway?”
“A story I wanted to write.”
Colleen shook her head, her eyes twinkling. “I should have known.” She drank some of her soda. “The way you’ve been complaining about this man for the past few weeks, it was just a matter of time—”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Sure it was. You’ve talked of little else since Carl brought him in. I have to admit, all that protesting was beginning to sound suspicious.”
“Colleen—”
“Come on, Molly. I’ve seen you through, what, five major heartbreaks?”
“At least.”
Colleen nodded. “I know the signs. When you start talking nonstop about anything other than the paper, things are getting serious.”
“The paper is the biggest part of my life. Sam’s making a lot of changes.” Molly frowned. “He bugs the crud out of me.”
“I know. Todd annoyed me at first, too.” Colleen shook her head again. “And if you remember, Hutch bugged the hell out of Eileen. We thought they’d never make it down the aisle. Eventually, you’ll get over it.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Some couples don’t, you know. They bicker all the time.”
“That’s a cheery thought.”
“They also get to make up a lot. Passion, Molly. It’s got a lot of different faces.”
That’s precisely what Sam had said. “I guess it does.”
“So, how long were you planning to keep us in the dark about him?” Colleen asked. “You know we were bound to find out sooner or later.”
Molly shrugged. “I don’t know. It never came up.” She shot a look at Eileen. “Is Eileen upset that I didn’t say anything?” Their oldest sister was the most sensitive of the brood.
“I don’t think so. If it had been any of the rest of us, we’d have spilled our guts weeks ago. But not you. Everyone knows you’re more independent.”
“Hmm.” She looked at Sam again. The game appeared to have ended. He had the ten little girls gathered in a tight circle where they were watching him with avid interest. With that voice, Molly thought, he could recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and women everywhere would fall under his spell.
“He’s hot,” Colleen said slowly, following the direction of her gaze. “In that brooding, man-of-the-earth kind of way.”
“What woman can resist a man who plays duck-duck-goose,” Molly said.
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br /> “You’ve got a point there. I wouldn’t have pictured the two of you together until I actually saw it. But the chemistry—Lord, Molly. The way he looks at you—it just sort of sizzles, you know? No wonder he’s been making you nuts.”
“You don’t have to sound so smug.”
“Hey, I told you weeks ago when you were venting about him that I thought you had it for him. If I’d seen you two together, I would have put money on it.”
Molly trailed a finger through the moisture on her soda bottle and studied the rivulets of condensation on the glass. “I didn’t know at the time,” she confessed. “It was only recently—”
“Molly?” She started at the sound of Sam’s voice. He placed one hand on her shoulder. “Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Colleen looked at Molly for several long seconds, then stood to go. “I didn’t realize how late it was getting. We’ve got to get down to the grandstands or we won’t have a seat for the final races.” She extended her hand to Sam. “It was very nice to meet you, Sam. I hope you’re going to join us for the rest of the festival.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze.
Colleen smiled at Molly. “Later this week,” she said, “we’ll have lunch.”
“I’ll try,” Molly promised as her sister wandered off in search of her family. She finally looked at Sam. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He sat next to her. “Everything okay?”
“Sure.”
“I had a feeling you were getting the third degree from your sister.”
Her laugh was short. “You could say that. You were right though. Everyone bought it.”
“And that makes you a little sad,” he said with uncanny accuracy.
She wasn’t sure why his insight made her uncomfortable. “Sort of.”