Free Lone Oak Feud (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Amy Knupp Page B

bedroom light. After she picked out the dictionary, the adjacent bedroom in the Rundle house caught her eye.
    Zach was carrying Owen over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, horsing around. Lindsey moved closer to the window, surprised at his playfulness.
    Zach pretended to throw the boy into bed and then the light in Owen’s room went off. Lindsey was about to step away from the glass, when Zach’s face appeared right in front of Owen’s window. He stared straight at her in the darkness before pulling down the shade.
    Oh, great. She wouldn’t hear the end of this. Groaning, she hurried back downstairs with the dictionary.
    Mrs. Hale was back at the table, tears in her eyes.
    “What’s going on?” Lindsey asked, setting the book aside, open to the page with her word on it.
    “My sister, Ann, fell this afternoon. Broke her hip. She’s going to have surgery tomorrow to replace it.”
    “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. How’s she doing?”
    “Pretty upset. Scared. But we’ll get her through it. I told her I’d fly out and stay with her through the recovery.” Mrs. Hale blew her nose. “I just hate to leave your dad by himself.”
    The look Mrs. Hale exchanged with her dad caught Lindsey by surprise. It went deep. Deeper than employer and employee, maybe even deeper than friends. The possibility that they might share more than she’d ever guessed stunned Lindsey.
    “I’ll be just fine, Claudia. I’m an adult.”
    “A stubborn, rule-breaking adult. I’ll stay with him while you’re gone,” Lindsey said without hesitating. She absently jabbed her fork at her coffee cake.
    “That’d certainly ease my mind.”
    “I don’t need a babysitter.”
    “Yes, you do.” Mrs. Hale put her hand over Wendell’s. “Lindsey will keep an eye on you.”
    “How long will you be gone?” Lindsey asked.
    “I don’t know yet. A week or two. At least long enough to see her over the hump.”
    “Take however long you need.”
    “Thank you, dear.”
    Lindsey smiled. “The dessert patrol is here, reporting for duty.”
    “Just what I need. Two women ganging up on me,” her dad said, grumpily.
    “See, Dad, if you’d behaved yourself and followed the doctor’s orders, you might have gotten some freedom now.”
    He narrowed his eyes.
    “And by the way, zymosis . Right there.” She held the dictionary out to him, pointing. “That’s seventy-eight points, plus fifty for using all my tiles.”
    Her dad stared at her. Lindsey couldn’t help cackling in victory as she stood to clear the dishes from the table. “Mrs. Hale, you take it from here.”
    Three hours later, Lindsey left her dad’s and got into her car.
    As soon as she cleared the house, a figure emerged from the shadows, causing her to slam on the brakes in surprise. Her heart was in her throat until she recognized the face outside her window as Zach’s. She barely avoided the second Salinger heart attack in as many weeks.
    Lindsey hit the power window button and lowered the glass halfway. “What are you doing? ”
    “Hey,” Zach said nonchalantly. “You’re out late tonight. Might as well move in with your old man.”
    She looked tired—her hair a mess, eyes hollow-looking in the dim light—but she looked as beautiful as he’d ever seen her.
    “Funny you should mention it. I’m staying with him starting tomorrow.”
    “What? Is his health getting worse?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about having her so close. Too much temptation.
    “Just his attitude. The housekeeper has to go out of town.”
    “Guess that’ll give you some extra time to spy,” he said with a half grin. “You’re getting sloppy with your undercover work, Salinger.”
    Instead of getting worked up like he expected her to, she smiled slowly. “Just can’t keep myself from watching those troublemaker Rundles.”
    “Maybe I like knowing you’re watching me.”
    His words got to her—he could tell when she wouldn’t look directly at him.
    “What are you doing here,