Free Unbreak My Heart by Teresa Hill

always handled things.
    "The best thing for that little girl would be to go back to where she came from," his father said.
    Stephen had told Allie that; his conscience was clear on that point. Nothing would bring Megan Bennett back to life. Once Allie figured that out, he intended to make it easy for her to go.
    "Did you make her an offer?" his father asked.
    "Not yet. I thought I'd let her come to the decision to sell the house first, then make the offer."
    "Stephen—"
    "I bought and sold more than forty million dollars worth of real estate last year, Dad. I know what I'm doing."
    "Still, why not help her along?" his father insisted. "Get her out of town a little faster. Whatever it takes."
    Stephen bit back a curse. Whatever it takes? He suspected that would be his father's motto going into this situation. Stephen was ready to do whatever it took, as well, to keep his father from handling this in his own typically heavy-handed way.
    "She's not going to stay in that house, Dad. She couldn't, even if she wanted to. Inheritance taxes will wipe out most all the cash her father left her. Even though the house is mortgage-free, the maintenance, the utilities, and the property taxes would be too much for her."
    "You know that for certain?"
    "Of course, I do. When I set out to buy a piece of property, I make it a priority to know who I'm dealing with and what assets that person has at his or her disposal," he said. "This woman hasn't had a paying job since before her mother died. She has a little in savings and a stack of medical bills of her mother's. Nothing that's going to allow her to stay in that house for long."
    "Still, she's a woman. Women are sentimental, illogical—"
    "She happens to be an accountant," he countered. "She knows she can't keep that house."
    "Stephen—"
    "I told you I'd take care of it, and I will."
    "All right. In the meantime, stick close. I want to know what she's doing, who she's talking to, what she knows. All of that," his father said. "Turn on the charm, boy. It shouldn't be hard for you."
    Stephen swore softly and got off the phone. When he and his father started thinking alike, he was in serious trouble. But the truth of his words couldn't be ignored. It would likely be very easy to find out what he needed to know when the woman in question was right next door. When she was all alone and very, very sad, and in need of someone in whom to confide.
    She seemed surprised and pleased by the smallest of compliments that first night over dinner, seemed genuinely flattered and a bit shy. Before last night, he would have said it would be easy to talk to her, to flirt with her in the mildest of ways. To get her to open up to him as she decided what to do with the house, which fell perfectly into his father's request.
    But it felt too personal now. He'd held her in his arms while she cried her eyes out. He began to realize the price she would pay simply for being here, for asking all those really hard questions about why her family fell apart. And he didn't like being the person standing between her and the answers she sought, even if he still believed she was likely better off not knowing.
    He didn't like being attracted to her and knowing he shouldn't do anything about it. He hadn't quite figured out how he was going to stick close to her and not touch her again.
    Stephen swore softly in the dark solitude of the morning. He should go back over there today because the quicker he wrapped this up, the better it would be for everyone, including her. He'd back up, he told himself. Start over. Surely he could charm her, without ever getting that close to her. Surely he could be with her and scarcely lay a hand on her.
    He just had to get her to trust him and to leave. Before anything happened to her here.
    * * *
    Allie woke abruptly, pulled from sleep, by what she didn't know.
    She lay absolutely still and listened. In her bleary, half-awake state she could swear she heard the sound of footsteps. Carefully, she