Free Single Dad Sheriff (Harlequin American Romance) by LISA CHILDS

you,” she said, but she leaned closer and lifted her mouth to his.
    As he started lowering his head, his lips just a breathfrom hers, she jerked back. A man was watching them from the shadows of Chance’s covered porch.
    His fingers tensed along her jaw while his other hand slid into her hair. “Jessie—”
    She shifted against the seat, pulling farther away. “You have company.”
    He turned then and peered out the windshield, first at the sports car with the Illinois plates and then at the man leaning over the teal-and-purple-painted railing near the front steps of the yellow farmhouse. “Damn.”
    â€œWho is he?” she asked. She didn’t recognize the blond-haired stranger, but she already resented him a bit for what his presence had prevented: Chance’s lips finally touching hers.
    â€œMy lawyer.”
    â€œLawyer?” He wouldn’t have had time since the accident to call the guy and summon him from another state, so he wasn’t suing Mrs. Applegate. “Everything all right?”
    â€œNo,” he said. With a weary sigh, he eased away from her and pushed open the passenger door. Then he stepped out and turned back to her. “Thanks for the ride home.”
    â€œYou’re not going to tell me anything else,” she realized with disappointment.
    He shook his head.
    Even though they hadn’t kissed, her lips tingled from how close he’d been, his breath whispering across her skin—promising sweet passion. But she pushed aside her regret at the lost moment and summoned her common sense. Until she and Chance were ready to share their secrets, they sure as hell weren’t ready to share any kisses.

Chapter Six
    â€œWhat the hell happened to you?” Trenton Sanders asked as Chance grimaced as he climbed the stairs to the porch, his sore ribs protesting every movement.
    He ignored his friend’s question and asked one of his own. “What are you doing here?”
    When Chance had decided to move to Forest Glen, Trenton had sworn—with a dramatic shudder—that nothing would get him out to the boonies to visit—not even if the water supply turned into crude and the gravel gold.
    â€œI’ve got news,” the lawyer replied. Apparently he’d come straight from his office with it because he still wore one of his trademark tailored suits in a dark gray. He hadn’t even loosened his tie despite the long drive up from Chicago.
    â€œIt better be good news.” Or Chance might have to hurt him for interrupting what had promised to be a passionate kiss given the way Jessie had leaned into him, her eyes wide and dark with desire. He glanced toward the driveway as Jessie backed her small SUV onto the street.
    Trenton followed his gaze. “Who’s the hot redhead?”He turned back to Chance and narrowed his eyes. “Did she do that to your face?”
    Chance touched his jaw, wincing since the skin was still tender and raw from the airbag. Maybe Trenton had done him a favor. Considering the way Jessie kept Tommy from knowing anything about his dad, she was the last woman—next to his ex—that Chance should be kissing.
    â€œYou found a wild one, huh?” Trenton teased, his slick lawyer facade stripped back to the kid who had pitched to Chance on their winning team back in high school.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” Chance asked again, ignoring his old friend’s inappropriate question. “You could have just called and told me what’s going on.”
    Trenton goaded him with a grin. “But then I wouldn’t have been able to see your face—ugly as it is—when I gave you the news.”
    Chance’s heart skipped a beat. Had Robyn finally stopped stalling? Had a court date been set at last? “So tell me,” he demanded. “What’s going on?”
    â€œI got you a visit with your son.”
    â€œWhat?” His eyes stung, and he wanted to