A Dad for Billie Read Online Free PDF Page A

pulled on her cap, then left the room. Her footsteps dragged audibly on the bare wood floor.
    “I’m leaving,” she yelled from the foyer. “I’ll be outside. Alone. In the dark.”
    “Have fun,” Jane called. “And stay away from the windows.”
    “Don’t tell me,” Charlene said.
    “Yup. We’re here five minutes and she’s already broken one.”
    “Definitely takes after her father.” Charlene smiled.
    “What does that mean?” Jane asked quickly.
    She put her arm around Jane’s shoulders. “Only that you never broke windows when you were a girl. You were always too much of a lady.”
    Jane opened her mouth, as if she was going to protest, then shook her head. “I give up. It’s late, we drove almost five hundred miles today. I adore you.” She kissed Charlene’s cheek. “But I can’t make heads or tails of anything right now. Do not, under any circumstances, teach my daughter to play poker. Adam.” She gave him a weary smile. “Thanks for the use of your phone. I’ll get you the money for the window and the—” she glanced at Charlene “—the other thing tomorrow.”
    The overhead light cast shadows on her face and darkened the rings under her eyes. Lines of fatigue deepened the hollows of her cheeks. A few strands of hair had escaped from the braid. One wisp drifted near the corner of her mouth. He fought theurge to brush it away, to reach out and feel the silky smoothness of her skin. The anger was well under control, but the want—He’d always known it was the most dangerous emotion.
    “I insist you stay here,” Charlene said. “And Adam agrees with me.”
    Jane was looking at him. The need to punish her—hurt her as he had been hurt—boiled up inside. His silence would be telling enough. She would know he didn’t want her here. But he wouldn’t risk letting her think she still mattered. Better to let her stay.
    “That’s what neighbors do here,” he said. “You’ll have a whole wing to yourselves.”
    “I don’t want to impose.” Two bright spots of color stained her cheeks.
    “No imposition.” Even to his own ears his voice sounded strained. “Sally comes in five days a week. She always keeps the guest rooms ready.”
    “But—”
    “No buts.” Charlene linked her arm through Jane’s. “It’s all arranged. Let’s go get that darling daughter of yours and collect your suitcases. I see you’ve kept your hair long. I like it. Maybe we can go to the salon together and you can get a trim. I hate to criticize, dear, but Billie’s hair is quite atrocious. You might want to have a little talk with her about the merits of acting like a lady…”
    Their voices faded as they walked toward the front door. Adam forced himself to relax. Jane and Billie would only be here for a couple of nights. It was a big house; they could easily avoid each other. And if they didn’t—
    He shrugged.
He
didn’t have a problem with Jane Southwick now or ever. Nine years ago she’d shown him the truth about relationships in general and theirs in particular. Loving someone meant being left. He’d learned his lesson well. He’d offered his heart to a young woman once and she’d returned it broken and bleeding. That part of him was safely locked away, and no ghost from the past was going to find the key.
    *
    “You haven’t told him, have you?”
    Jane glanced around the cheerful guest room, but there wasnowhere to hide. She finished putting out Billie’s nightgown, then checked to make sure the door to the bathroom was tightly closed. The sounds of her daughter’s off-key singing and the splashing of water against the side of the tub continued uninterrupted. All the activity was supposed to give her time to compose herself. It wasn’t working.
    “You know,” Jane said, glancing up at her friend.
    “How could I not?” Charlene stepped over to the bed and sat on the corner. “The eyes, her personality, the way she stands. A blind man could see it.”
    The hard lump in her