Free Change of Heart by Jude Deveraux Page A

reading.
    No doubt I’m the first thing he’s tried to buy and failed, she thought. Will he take the loss in good spirits or will he try to win me over? Read a how-to book on courting? Maybe he’ll send candy to Eli. A man like Frank Taggert would never take the time to find out that Eli would rather have new computer equipment than all the candy in the world.
    But as she cooked, she watched him—and she began to feel sorry for him. The feeling of isolation he projected surrounded him like an impenetrable glass bubble.
    It was while she was making a sugar syrup for the strawberries and thinking how she’d like to see a little fat around the middle of Mr. Trim Taggert that she began to soften. Eli was always telling her that her problem was that no matter how bad a person was, she forgave him.
    But in this case, it was understandable. The little glimpse she’d had into his life last night had shown her a very lonely man.
    “How long is it before we can leave here?” she asked.
    “In three days my assistant will come in a helicopter to see if I’m all right.”
    “He’s too cowardly to come on a horse with Sandy?”
    He didn’t smile. “Julian is pure city.”
    She put a stack of pancakes on the table and he sat down, but he kept his eyes downward, not meeting hers.
    She couldn’t bear to see anyone so unhappy. “Look,” she said, “if we’re going to be stuck together for three days, we can at least be friendly. Let’s pretend that last night didn’t happen. All right?”
    He didn’t look up. “Do you mean where you undressed me or where I made a fool of myself?”
    For a moment she blinked at him. “Did you just make a joke?”
    He looked up at her. “I believe I did, yes.”
    “Should I look outside to see if the sky is falling?”
    He didn’t smile, but there was a tiny twinkle in his eyes. “I think it’s safe.” He began to cut his pancakes, but the cast made it difficult to do. He looked up at her as though asking for help.
    “Only if you apologize for thinking I was a lady of the evening.”
    “Can’t do that,” he said seriously. “You’re quite pretty and your frame is . . .” He hesitated as he searched for a word. “Luscious.”
    “Oh my,” Miranda said. “I should probably protest that remark but I won’t.” Getting up, she cut his stack of pancakes into bites.
    “These are good. What’s for lunch?”
    “Whatever you catch. Sandy said you like to fish.”
    “I do. What about you? Ever been fishing?”
    “No. Never. But I would like to go outside.”
    They smiled at each other across the table, and Miranda thought that with his big plaid shirt on, he didn’t look like the owner of some Fortune 500 company. “Help me clean up the kitchen,” she said, “then we can go.”
    He didn’t hesitate as he carried his plate to the sink. She washed and he tried to dry, but with just one hand, it wasn’t easy.
    “Here, let me help,” she said, then moved next to him to take the plate. She halted when she felt his breath on her hair, but she didn’t look up at him.
    Seconds later, he stepped away and went to a cabinet near the front door. It was full of fishing gear.
    It took a while to pack it all, including an old iron skillet that was blackened with years of use. “Whose is this?”
    “Mine,” he said.
    “Then who gave it to you?”
    “What makes you ask that?”
    Miranda turned to the cabin. “This place is yours and it is perfect. If you owned a skillet, it would be stainless steel and spotless. Did Sandy give you this?”
    Frank tried to repress a smile. “He did, actually. Do you moonlight as a detective?”
    “No, I leave that for my son and his friend Chelsea. But some of it does rub off on me.”
    Frank was glad his back was to her so she couldn’t see his face because he was sure it had just drained of color. Chelsea?! Eli’s friend? Was it possible that she was Eli’s mother? If so, it was possible that he had just seen the reason behind