Free All They Ever Wanted by Tracy Solheim Page B

arms over her chest. “I guess I didn’t make it clear enough last night. I’ll be gone before there will ever be any ‘fallout’.”
    He wasn’t looking through her now. Instead his piercing gaze was bearing down on her face, searching for something. But he wouldn’t find anything there. At least not the answers to her identity. If he looked closely enough, though, he might find clues to her desire for him. And that would never do.
    â€œDo you want me to leave now? Is that what this is really about?”
    She watched the war of emotions play out on his face. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw what looked like desire flicker briefly in his eyes before it disappeared.
    â€œWhat I want is irrelevant.” He pulled his hands from the doorframe and took a step farther into the room. “But my mother wants you to stay and I’m going to do my best to respect that. It’s her B and B.”
    Lori licked her lips; his steady stare was doing things to her body. “It’s only until she’s back on her feet. Then I’ll be gone from here.”
    â€œMmm,” he murmured as he reached out a hand and gently brushed back some of the long hair shielding her face. His blue gaze was still probing, as though he was looking for sometiny clue that would give him the upper hand in whatever it was that was pulling them together. “But what damage will you do while you’re here?”
    â€œNone,” she whispered as she tried to ignore the temptation to lean into his hand. “I would never do anything that could hurt your mother.”
    He traced his fingers along the line of her jaw, his gentle touch warming her skin. Miles’ critical gaze prompted a twinge of vulnerability—and unease. But she knew she shouldn’t react. She reminded herself that he was just toying with her, hoping to force her to reveal something of herself. Her eyes drifted to his mouth, which looked quite kissable when it wasn’t curled in a frown that he seemed to always be directing at her.
    â€œAnd what if my mother isn’t the one I’m worried about?” he asked softly just as his lips began descending toward hers.
    No! No! NO!
Too bad her body wasn’t listening to her brain. Lori’s eyelids drifted shut and she was seconds away from making a huge mistake when Cassidy stomped into the kitchen.
    â€œHey, Miles, your body man is here. He says you’re going to play checkers with the old-timers at Sunset Dunes.”
    Lori’s eyes snapped open and she watched as Miles blinked rapidly before he jerked his hand back from her face. Fortunately, his large body blocked the entire doorway of the laundry room, shielding them so Cassidy couldn’t possibly have seen their close encounter of the dangerous kind. He swore quietly, running his fingers through his hair.
    â€œJust see that you don’t make any trouble,” he said before backing out of the room, leaving Lori to wonder if Miles had directed his warning at her or at himself.

SIX

    â€œI ’m so glad to finally be home.”
    Miles’ chest still constricted at the sight of the bruises dotting his mother’s cheek, most of them faded to a putrid yellow color. Her accident could have been so much worse. He wasn’t sure how he would have survived losing both his parents. Draping a cotton blanket over her feet, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “No happier than I am.”
    â€œHmm.” His mother’s smile was dubious. “Does that mean you’ll stop harassing my staff?”
    Harassing didn’t come close to what he’d wanted to do to Lori in the inn’s laundry room earlier that day. His carefully maintained control continually slipped its leash every time he was in the woman’s presence. This morning, his only intention had been to put her on notice that no matter how much his mother protected her,
he’d
be protecting his