Free Small Town Girl by Ann H. Gabhart Page B

mixed up. Grieving over Mike promising his life and love to Evie one minute. Happy for Evie the next.And now ready to let a man she’d just met kiss her when she’d never once turned her face up to invite a kiss from Carl. Carl, who thought she was his girl. Carl, her friend she’d let think she was his girl.
    She bent her head and breathed out a whisper of a sigh. Maybe she was the one being the idiot instead of Carl.
    “Are you all right?” Jay asked.
    She glanced around at him. He’d picked up his coat, but he hadn’t moved any closer to her. The grin was gone. In its place was a different look. A wondering look. Like he was waiting to see what she was going to do next.
    She pushed a smile out on her lips. “I think I should be asking you that. You’re the one with the shiner.”
    He winced a little when he touched his cheek below his eye. “The boy packed a better punch than I expected.”
    “Why’d you let him hit you?”
    His lips turned up in a smile to match hers. “You did see how much he enjoyed it, didn’t you?”
    “So you were simply doing your good deed of the day?”
    “Something like that.” His grin traveled up to his eyes. “I guess my trouble was that I could see Mike standing behind him, shaking his head at me. Saying ‘Not on my wedding day.’ But somehow when Mike tries to keep the peace, it works. When I try it, I end up on my backside looking up. I was glad your father came out. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could be so peace loving.”
    “I didn’t see much peace.”
    “We can only keep our side of the peace. We can’t make the other side do the same. Or so Mike used to tell me when I was fighting my way through school. All that turn-the-other-cheek stuff. Nothing about that promises we’re not going to get smacked upside the head again, but I think there are limits to my peacekeeping.” He turned his face to the side. “How bad does it look?”
    Kate stepped over to him and gingerly felt the swelling below his eye. “Looks like you could have a black eye.”
    “Won’t be the first. And probably not the last.” He captured her hand before she could pull it away. “Not a bad price for holding a pretty girl’s hand.”
    “You’re a charmer, aren’t you?”
    “I wouldn’t mind charming you. You’re an interesting girl, Kate Merritt.”
    He wasn’t smiling now as he stared straight into her eyes. Charming her without a doubt. She felt a little breathless again, the way she had earlier when he’d asked to kiss the sister of the bride. “Interesting? That’s not what I expected a charmer to say.”
    “You’d rather I say you’re beautiful?”
    “That’s a nice word to hear.” She told herself to pull her hand away and step back, but she liked it where she was standing.
    “All right, you are beautiful, Kate Merritt, but interesting is better. Pretty girls are a dime a dozen, but an interesting girl, she just plants herself right in the middle of your mind and stays there.”
    He was altogether too close to her. She moistened her lips before she said, “And what makes me so interesting?”
    “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind finding out.”
    “If you think I’m interesting, you must have a reason to think that.”
    “You’re getting me mixed up with Mike. He’s the one always looking for answers. Finds them too. But me, I don’t need everything explained. Sometimes I just know.” He pulled her hand up to lightly brush the tops of her fingers with his lips while keeping his eyes on hers. “Like now.”
    “What do you know?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
    “That you want to let me kiss you, but you think you shouldn’t.”
    Behind them the screen door slammed and broke the spell. Kate jerked her hand away from his. “You’re the interesting one, Mr. Tanner. The way your imagination works overtime like that.” She laughed a little. “But if you knew me better, you’d know that if I wanted to do something I’d