This Heart of Mine (Chicago Stars #5)(52)

Thwack! "Why?"

"Because it's hurting my neck to look up at you, and I'd like to talk."

"Don't look up!" Thwack! Thwack! "Or don't talk!"

She sat on a stack of shingles, letting him know she wasn't going anywhere. He tried to ignore her, but he finally blasted out an obscenity and put aside his hammer.

She watched him come down the ladder. Lean, muscular legs. Great butt. What was it about men and their butts that was so enticing? He glared at her when he reached the ground, but it was more annoyance than hostility. "Well?"

"Would you tell me about Lilly?"

He narrowed those green eyes. "I don't like her."

"So I gathered." The suspicion that had been eating at her wouldn't go away. "Did she forget to send you a Christmas present when you were growing up?"

"I don't want her here, that's all."

"She doesn't look like she's going anywhere."

He braced his hands on his hips, his elbows jutting out in angry wings. "That's her problem."

"Since you don't want her here, it seems to be yours, too."

He headed back to the ladder. "Can you handle that damned tea by yourself today?"

Once again the base of her neck prickled. Something was very wrong. "Kevin, wait."

He turned to look at her, his expression impatient.

She told herself this wasn't any of her business, but she couldn't let it go. "Lilly said she's your aunt."

"Yeah, so what?"

"When she looked at you, I got this strange feeling."

"Spit it out, Molly. I've got things to do."

"Her heart was in her eyes."

"I seriously doubt that."

"She loves you."

"She doesn't even know me."

"I've got this weird feeling about why you're so upset." She bit her lip and wished she hadn't started this, but some powerful instinct wouldn't let her back off. "I don't think Lilly's your aunt, Kevin. I think she's your mother."





Chapter 12


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"Fudge!" Benny smacked his lips. "I love fudge!"



Daphne Says Hello





Kevin looked as though she'd punched him. "How did you know? Nobody knows that!"

"I guessed."

"I don't believe you. She told you. Damn her!"

"She didn't say a thing. But the only other person I've seen with eyes that exact color of green is you."

"You knew just by looking at her eyes?"

"There were a couple of other things." The longing Molly had witnessed on Lilly's face when she gazed at Kevin had been too intense for an aunt. And Lilly had given her clues.

"She told me how young she was when she left home, and she said she'd gotten into trouble. I knew your parents were older. It was just a hunch."

"A damn good hunch."

"I'm a writer. Or at least I used to be. We tend to be fairly intuitive."

He flung down his hammer. "I'm getting out of here."

And she was going with him. He hadn't abandoned her last night, and she wouldn't abandon him now. "Let's go cliff diving," she blurted out.

He stopped and stared at her. "You want to go cliff diving?"

No, I don't want to go cliff diving! Do you think I'm an idiot? "Why not?"

He gazed at her for a long moment. "Okay, you're on."

Exactly what she'd been afraid of, but it was too late to back out now. If she tried, he'd just call her "bunny lady" again. That was what the kindergarten children called her when she read them her stories, but, from him, it didn't sound as innocent.

An hour and a half later she lay on a flat rock near the edge of the bluff trying to catch her breath. As the heat from the rocks seeped through her wet clothes, she decided the diving hadn't been the worst part. She was a good diver, and it had even been sort of fun. The worst part was hauling her body back up that path so she could throw herself off again.

She heard him coming up the path, but unlike her, he wasn't breathing hard. She shut her eyes. If she opened them, she'd just see what she already knew, that he'd stripped down to a pair of navy blue boxers before his first dive. It was painful to look at him—all those ripples, planes, and smooth long muscles. She'd been terrified—hopeful?—the boxers would come off in the dive, but he'd somehow managed to keep them on.

She reined in her imagination. This was exactly the kind of fantasizing that had gotten her in such terrible trouble. And maybe it was time she reminded herself that Kevin hadn't exactly been the most memorable lover. In point of fact, he'd been a dud.

That wasn't fair. He'd been operating under a double disadvantage. He'd been sound asleep, and he wasn't attracted to her.

Some things hadn't changed. Although he seemed to have worked past his contempt for her, he hadn't sent out any signals that he found her sexually irresistible—or even remotely appealing.

The fact that she could think about sex was upsetting but also encouraging. The first crocus seemed to have popped up in the dark winter of her soul.