Free Home to Eden by Dallas Schulze Page A

"Leroy isn't my dog. He's Nick's."
    "Nick's?'' Kate felt the name catch in her throat a little.
    "Nick is a friend of Harry's. He's fixing up the house," Laura explained graciously.
    "Yes. I know." Kate stood up, dusting her hands against the seat of her pants and then leaning over to brush bits of grass off her knees. "I didn't realize he had a dog."
    "Nick found Leroy last week. Somebody hit him with a car and drove off." She threw one thin arm around the dog's massive neck, her voice crackling with indignation. "He was hurt but Nick healed him all up."
    "That was very nice of him," Kate said sincerely. "I'm glad the doctor was able to help Leroy."
    Laura frowned. "It wasn't a doctor. It was Nick He—"
    "What am I being accused of now?" Nick's voice came from behind Kate. She turned quickly, struggling to keep her expression under control. She hadn't seen him in several days, not since they'd stood in this same garden and decided to forget the past. If only it was that easy.
    "Hello." Nick's smile was friendly.
    "Hello." The word was little more than a croak, and she cleared her throat before trying again. "Hello. Nick." The name was an afterthought, intended to show that she was perfectly comfortable with him—with the situation. The quick flash of humor in his eyes suggested that she hadn't been particularly successful.
    "Kate," he said, his solemn tone inviting her to see the humor in the moment. Reluctantly, Kate's mouth curved in a fleeting smile.
    "Hello, Nick." Laura's tone had gone from briskly adult to coyly feminine.
    "Hey, short stuff." Nick's shoulder nearly brushed Kate's as he walked past her. He smelled like sunshine and sweat—^warm, masculine smells that conjured up images of bare chests and rippling muscles. Kate pushed the images firmly away.
    "Don't get too close to me," he warned the little girl when she lifted her arms for a hug. 'I'm filthy."
    His jeans were covered in a fine layer of dust. Patches of dirt made his T-shirt look like camouflage gear. Even his dark hair was coated with dust, giving Kate a preview of what he would look like when he was older. It hardly seemed fair that gray hair should suit him as much as his natural deep brown.
    "I don't mind if I get dirty," Laura said, looking at him with worshipful blue eyes.
    "Yeah, but I bet your mom does." He brushed his hand affectionately over her golden curls.
    Laura looked as if she might melt on the spot, and Kate was annoyed to realize that she knew just how the little girl felt. Those dimples were hard to resist. Not that they affected her, but she couldn't help but notice them. She became aware that she was rubbing her thumb against the band of her engagement ring, as if it was a talisman to protect her against powerful magic.
    "You look like you've been rolling in the dirt," she said briskly, relaxing her hand with an effort.
    "Crawling in it." Nick bent to scratch Leroy behind his ear, and Kate was half amused, half irritated to see the huge dog turn his ugly face upward with a look of adoration. Really, what was it about the man that turned children and dogs into putty? Not to mention grown women, she added reluctantly, thinking back to the first time they'd met.
    "Harry says I'm making too much of a mess in the house, so he's going to move into the guest house. I was just in the crawl space repairing a leak in the plumbing." Leroy shifted position, leaning his not inconsiderable bulk against Nick's leg. Nick braced himself against the weight and grinned at the dog. "You're a lazy bum."
    "I was telling Kate about how Leroy was hurted and you made him better," Laura said, looking at him adoringly.
    "I didn't do much. Leroy did most of the work himself, didn't you, boy?" He rubbed his knuckles over the top of the dog's head, and Leroy's human-sounding sigh of pleasure surprised a smile from Kate.
    Laura frowned. "But his leg was all covered with blood and you put your hands on it and you—"
    "It looked a lot worse than it was." Nick