Bachelor to the Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page B

how you were after the accident. I’d hate to see you backslide after all this time.”
    His friend meant well, but he didn’t understand. “I can’t turn her away. I owe her.”
    â€œSo you’re looking at this as some kind of atonement? It was an accident.”
    â€œWas it?” Shaw faced the side window. Was it an accident, or had he been negligent? Only the Lord knew for sure. He had relived the events leading up to that moment a thousand times, but had never found an answer that satisfied him. He doubted he ever would.
    * * *
    Lainie tucked the covers around her girls then bent to kiss them good-night. They looked so small in the big iron bed. They were her whole life and the reason she’d gone back to school to get her degree in library science. More than anything, she wanted to give them a real home, a place with roots and tradition. Because of her father’s job, Lainie had grown up moving from one place to another, always the new kid with few friends and fewer ties. She wanted better for her girls, and Dover was the perfect place. Or so she’d believed until today.
    â€œMommy, I want to live in this castle forever.” Chrissy held up her glasses and Lainie laid them on the nightstand.
    Natalie rolled her eyes. “It’s not a castle, silly. It’s only a house. We’re staying for a few days, then we’ll find us a house of our own.” She smoothed back Natalie’s hair, her heart swelling with love.
    â€œBut I like this house.” Natalie rolled onto her side. “Will our next house have trees in the yard?”
    Chrissy sat up. “Can we get a dog? With polka spots like Beaux?”
    â€œPolka
dots
. We’ll see.” Lainie gently pressed her youngest down into the covers. “Now go to sleep.”
    Lainie laid the girls’ clothes on the window seat, taking a quick glance into the darkness. The moon was full, casting a stream of light across the wide yard and making the leaves sparkle. She had to agree with her girls. She liked the house, too. The window seat was cozy and inviting. She could imagine her daughters cuddled up reading or watching the rain. Despite its quirky appearance, there was a homey feel to the house. Too bad it belonged to Shaw McKinney.
    Downstairs, Lainie set about cleaning up the kitchen, her emotions playing tug-of-war between gratitude to Shaw for a place to stay and irritation that she was indebted to the man who’d made her a widow. She tried to ignore the twinge of remorse that rose up. Shaw had done all he could to make them comfortable, including closing the hole in the wall to ensure their privacy. Though she’d had to tack an old curtain she’d found in the closet over the glass panes.
    He’d thought of everything. Too bad he hadn’t done that five years ago.
    The silence in the old house suddenly pressed in on her, unleashing the loneliness that always lurked in the recesses of her mind. She’d been a widow longer than she’d been a wife. She’d done the best she could the past five years, and the Lord had taken care of her and her sweet babies. He’d provided a home with her mother, then a home and a job with Mrs. Forsythe after Lainie’s mom had died. But there were times she ached for someone special in her life, someone to lift the load for a moment or two.
    She’d known that feeling for a brief second today when Shaw had kept her from falling. Until she had remembered who was holding her and what he’d done. Determined to overcome her depressing thoughts, she walked into the living room and picked up the toys scattered in the rounded corner, which was now the new Princess Club. As she passed the sofa, she noticed the cell phone Shaw had bought for her resting on the end table.
    As much as she hated to admit it, Shaw was not what she’d expected. Craig had complained that Shaw was an arrogant bully, who strutted around the job as if he