Free Another Woman's Son (Harlequin Romance) by Anna Adams Page B

“He’s been a patient guy.”
    Ben’s neck muscles relaxed. After an hour, she’d finally spoken. He still didn’t know how he’d silenced her. Maybe she needed a break from him and his son.
    He was an honest man. Isabel loved spending time with Tony. He was the one who made her uncomfortable.
    “We’ll check your mail for you,” he said. “Without the stroller, that’s about as far as Tony can make it.” Her mail was delivered to a brick box that contained locked slots for everyone on her street. Set like a stanchion at the far end of the road that curved into her driveway, it was a long walk for a small boy.
    “Cool.” Isabel was too eager to see them go. “Let me get you the key.”
    While he helped Tony back into his coat and mittens, Isabel went for her bag. She came back withit, and her search turned up the mailbox key. She handed it to Tony, but he immediately lifted it for a taste, and she had to take it back. “Sorry.” Her self-conscious smile made her look more vulnerable than she’d wish. “I forgot.”
    “Everything goes in the mouth first.” He said it by rote. Fathers always said that, but the thought troubling him was how much he’d like to thumb a smudge of dust off her cheekbone.
    He’d been lonely for so long, unsure why his wife no longer loved him. And now he’d tricked Isabel into staying in his home so he would know the second she decided to tell her parents the truth about his son. Instead of respecting her and feeling sorry for treating her like an adversary, his loneliness had given him inappropriate feelings for her.
    Isabel turned back to the sideboard to move the last of the china to the table. “I’ll order more boxes while you’re gone.” She paused to pull Tony against her leg. “Not that I assume you guys are always going to help me. Mom and Dad won’t be willing to let this little one out of their sight for long.”
    Tony gave her a big smooch and she kissed his cheek with all the noise she could muster.
    “Spending more time with him might help your mom,” Ben said.
    Isabel stopped midway between the sideboard and the table. “You’re a good man.”
    “Huh?” Guilt made him sweat. Was it such abad thing, always fearing she’d give away his worst secret?
    She set her dishes on the table and then touched his forearm. He felt her hand as he never had before. The weight and the warmth and his uncomfortable awareness of it.
    “You could do what Faith and Will tried to do. Run away. I’m the only person who knows enough to stop you, but you talked me into staying. You may not want my mother and father to know about Will’s real connection to Tony, but you understand that they need their grandson and he needs them.”
    “That’s a sweet speech, but I feel obliged to point out I’m trying to act normal. Your parents would guess something was up if I disappeared.”
    She moved as if he’d hurt her. For that, he was sorry. She’d been upset enough, but Tony came first with him, and she shouldn’t talk herself into believing anything else.
    “Come on, buddy.” He swung his son into his arms. “Let’s go outside and get mail.”
    The cold worked wonders. He could almost forget Isabel and the conflicting emotions she caused him. Tony had so many things to investigate, Ben had to trot to keep up. They ran to the end of Isabel’s driveway, stopping so Tony could sniff the frozen plants.
    “Mmm,” he said over and over. Then he pointed for his dad to have a sniff, too.
    They didn’t smell like a thing, but Ben said “Mmm,” too. Then he caught his son’s hand and they rounded the fence at the end of the driveway.
    Tony tried to lope down the sidewalk, but Ben held him to a pace that kept him from darting into the light traffic. At one house, Tony leaned against the fence. “Woof,” he shouted with toddler exuberance. “Woof!”
    A dog that couldn’t be as big as Tony yapped in response from the other side. Tony doubled over with laughter and