Free Another Chance by Michelle Beattie Page A

help.  It was the same dilemma he'd had the night he'd met her.  He was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't.
    "All right," he sighed.  "Just let me get a drink and a clean shirt."  He turned and had to do some fancy footwork to keep from knocking his daughter to the ground.
    "Annabelle!"
    "Papa.  Can I come?"
    "What?"
    "Can I go with you?  It won't take me long to get Peanut ready and-"
    "Whoa, Button," Wade said, kneeling before his daughter and cupping her chin in his hand.  "Did you finish your chores?"
    Her little shoulders drooped as she realized she'd lost her chance.  "No."
    "Sorry, Button.  But we had a bargain, remember?  If you finish your chores like Grandma asked, after supper I'll take you to catch frogs."
    Blue eyes so like Amy's it never failed to break his heart, filled with tears.  "But I wanna come."
    "Well, if you come with me now, then you'll have to finish your chores later and we won't have time for frog catching.  So, you can choose.  Come with me now, which is nothing but fixing a boring old wheel, or do as you were asked and we'll have all sorts of fun later."
    "And you'll let me keep one like you promised?"
    "Yes."  Though he feared for the poor critter's life.  He knew by her smile which choice she'd made.
    "All right, Papa.  I'll go finish my chores right now!"
    "Wait!" he called before she bolted away.  "What do you say to Miss Matthews?"
    "Hello, Miss Matthews," Annabelle said hurriedly before bolting away.
    Wade watched his daughter skip behind the barn.  He heard the chickens cluck and squawk as she burst into the henhouse.
    Jillian giggled.  The sound captivated him, as did the warmth that filled her eyes when she smiled.
    "She must keep you hopping."
    Wade shook his head.  "You have no idea."
    ***
    Wade secured Whiskey to a nearby tree and grabbed the fallen wheel.  It wasn't broken, which meant he'd be bringing back the spare he'd brought along.
    He passed her the wheel.  "I'll push up the corner, you slip the wheel on."
    She nodded and within moments the wheel was in place and secured.  Silently they worked to load the spilled supplies back into the buckboard.  Despite her protest that she could do it, he re-harnessed Hope to the wagon.  Wiping his hands on his thighs, he faced her.
    "That should do it."
    Her green eyes met his and she stepped forward, her hand outstretched.  "Thank you.  I couldn't do this alone and you saved me from having to go all the way back to town.  I know I'm likely the last person you'd want to help and I appreciate that you did it anyway."
    Her hand was small and delicate within his.  Soft.  Silky soft.  It conjured up all sorts of thoughts he shouldn't be having.
    But they bombarded him mercilessly.  Flickers of images filled his mind.  The way she'd looked at his naked chest.  The way her cheeks had flushed.  The way she'd made him feel as she looked at him.  The way she was making him feel again.
    He pulled his hand away but it burned as though branded.  Damn.  He hadn't looked twice at any woman since Amy died.  Certainly she was pretty, but there were a lot of pretty women around Cedar Springs, take Silver for example.  Maybe it was the combination of Jillian's green eyes with that reddish-gold hair that he wanted to touch so badly his fingers twitched with need.
    He knew by looking he could span her waist with his hands, could fill those same hands with her breasts.  Knowing it, wanting it, drove him to distraction.  He had to physically drag all the reasons she was wrong for him back to the forefront of his mind, where reason, not lust, reigned.
    "Wade?  Everything all right?"
    "Yeah, sorry."  He wiped his mouth with his sleeve.  "Heat must be getting to me."
    Despite knowing better, he helped her into the buckboard.  His fingers sank into the soft flesh at her waist.  How long had it been since he'd felt the give of a woman's flesh?
    Not the right woman, his mind repeated.
    Yet he stood there, aroused