Free To Win Her Love by Mackenzie Crowne Page A

was he after? If his seeming desire to get to know the twins was sincere, what happened when the three months were up? The girls choosing her wasn’t a foregone conclusion. What would happen if he won the custody battle? He claimed he wouldn’t walk away, but what did that mean? What if he handed the girls off to a stranger and went back to his famous life? Her heart would be broken, and his abandonment would be one too many blows in the girls’ young lives.
    Confused and disheartened, she spent the morning working, relieved he’d disappeared upstairs the moment the girls’ school bus pulled away.
    The beauty of her web design business was the ability to work from anywhere. All she needed was her laptop and some peace and quiet. The farm delivered the quiet. Peace was more difficult to achieve, however, since her mind kept supplying an image of the man upstairs, his muscled body sprawled across the sheets in masculine relaxation.
    Out of sight, my ass!
    Losing herself in the world of bits and bytes wasn’t as easy as usual this morning, but she eventually pulled it off. Too soon, reality intruded in the form of several afternoon appointments. She wandered into the kitchen for an early lunch before heading for the city. Murphy trotted over to investigate his bowl. She set her laptop case on the corner of the table and piled her coat and purse on top.
    Seated at the table eating her lunch, Mary frowned her displeasure when Gracie bypassed the hearty soup simmering on the stove to pull a cup of yogurt from the fridge. She grinned, tearing off the lid, and dug in with a spoon as she dropped into a kitchen chair. Digging her cell phone out of her purse one-handed, she punched in the number for the local taxi service. A woman dispatcher answered after a single ring.
    “Good morning, I need a—” Gracie’s mind went completely blank when she looked up and found Jake filling the doorway.
    Gone was the sexily mussed sleepyhead from this morning. Dressed in fresh jeans and a dark, collarless sweater, he stood hip cocked with the bomber jacket he’d arrived in last night slung from a crooked finger over one shoulder. The adorable cowlick had been tamed, but his thick hair still sported a slightly wild appearance, brushing against his collar in a glossy, shaggy mane. This morning’s stubble had been scraped away leaving a slight shadow on his cheeks and the cleft creasing his chin. Clear as a spring dawn, his green-eyed gaze started at her feet and slid slowly up her body before settling on her face.
    The X girls bolted to their feet in a standing ovation.
    “Cab. I need a cab.” She squirmed in her seat and mumbled into the phone.
    He spoke over the answering dispatcher. “Where to?”
    Murphy abandoned his lunch to trot to Jake’s side, pressing against his thigh in gleeful welcome. She shot her dog a disapproving scowl—which he ignored, the traitor. Jake grinned, bending to scrub at his head with a rough hand.
    “Hold on a second.” She held the phone away from her ear. “The train station. I have several appointments this afternoon.”
    He straightened. “I’ll take you.”
    The station was only a mile and a half away but…trapped in a car with the Outlaw Tight End? Whistles and catcalls joined the ovation. Abso-friggin-lutely not! “Thanks, but that’s not necessary.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    “That’s okay.” She held up the phone. “I’ve already called for a ride.”
    “I’m headed that way.”
    She clenched her teeth and mentally grappled about for a valid excuse to send him on his way. Alone. Her gaze snagged on her uneaten yogurt. She held up the cup with her free hand. “I’m not quite ready. You go ahead.”
    He draped his coat over the back of a chair. “I’m in no rush. I’ll wait.”
    Crap.
    He sniffed at the air and spun his head in Mary’s direction. “Do I smell homemade chicken noodle soup?”
    Mary nodded. He rubbed his hands together and stalked to the cabinets to pull down a