Free Tempting Fate by Lisa Mondello Page A

daughter displayed both filled her with pride and stabbed at her heart.
    Involuntarily, she clutched her stomach and felt it tighten with the thought of how their lives could have been. If Kristen had been adopted, she would have had a family like this. She would have had Sunday dinners and maybe even sisters and brothers like Julie and Scotty. Had she been selfish to only think of what she was losing by giving Kristen up for adoption? She never once thought of what Kristen would be missing in her life. Never.
    And now Kristen wanted a daddy. What else did she want that Lauren couldn't provide?
    Everyone around her moved in slow motion. She looked at the faces, smiling, laughing, joking, as if she were in suspended animation. It suddenly seemed surreal.
    Someone touched her shoulder and she jumped. Looking up, she peered into Kyle's smiling eyes. The lines she'd seen around his eyes earlier had smoothed. She touched his hand and felt her heart race. It wasn't just Kristen who needed something more in her life. Deep down, Lauren knew she'd gone far too long with unfulfilled need.
    And Kyle Preston was just the kind of man to satisfy that need.
    A short time later, Lauren thanked Judy for the lovely dinner and sent Kristen up to Julie's room to help clean up the toys.
    She waited in the foyer, her wool coat draped over her arm. Kyle leaned against the doorjamb staring at her, looking through her, and making her incredibly nervous.
    "What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked.
    "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." She avoided his gaze by looking at the pattern of the marble floor.
    He reached forward and brushed his fingers across the hollow of her cheek. But she didn't look at him, couldn't look at him. "Yes you do," he said in a whisper.
    "Am I still that predictable?"
    "Anything but." The rough timbre of his voice caused her to finally look up at him. He sucked in a deep breath of air, expanding his chest against the cotton shirt he wore.
    He was strong, no doubt about it. He had a strength she longed to wrap herself around, but feared like she'd never known fear before. She had the distinct feeling it wouldn't take much for her to tangle herself in his hold. He bent his head closer to hers and said, "I can't figure you out."
    "I'm...not all that complicated."
    He chuckled softly. "You look at me like you do, but you don't want to get involved," he said as he cupped both of her cheeks in his palms, forcing her to finally gaze up into his eyes. "That complicates things."
    She closed her eyes and swallowed. The startling reality shocked her to her senses. It wasn't fear that seized her, it was desire. And damn, he knew it. "Kyle, please..."
    "Look at me."
    She didn't move. She heard his shallow breathing echo in her ear louder and stronger than the sounds of laughter upstairs from the children and the clanging of dishes and pans from the kitchen.
    "Are you afraid of what you'll see? Of what I'll do?" he murmured when she didn't answer.
    No, she thought, I'm afraid of what you'll see written all over my face.
    This has to stop. She had to end it right here and now if she had any chance at all of getting away from Kyle Preston and the magnetic hold that was drawing her to him.
    She shook her head and his hands fell away from her, leaving her cold. Straightening her spine, she took a stand.
    "I'm sorry if I've been sending you mixed signals, but...you're right. I don't want to get involved. I don't intend to start something that I have no intention of finishing."
    "No one is defining anything yet. We can take things as fast or as slow as you want."
    "I don't want to take things at all."
    "I don't understand."
    "My daughter is very sensitive. She has hopes for a daddy for Christmas. I can't have men coming into Kristen’s life today, giving her false hopes that they'll be around tomorrow.”
    “What makes you think I won’t be around tomorrow?”
    She blinked hard. “It's not fair to her."
    He looked away as if