Free To Wed and Protect by Carla Cassidy Page A

for her to allow Luke or any man into their life at this time.
    Before he could make any kind of response, a horn bleated loudly. Abby checked her wristwatch. “That will be the school bus bringing home the kids,” she said, and hurried out the kitchen door.
    The bus driver waved as she stepped around the side of the house then opened the bus door. Jason and Jessica tumbled out, their faces lit with the happiness of a successful first day of school.
    They raced to her, and she leaned down andwrapped her arms around them both. “Did you have a good day?” she asked them.
    â€œWe like school,” Jason exclaimed. “My teacher is really nice and I got a new best friend and we have a hamster in a cage….”
    Abby laughed as the words tumbled from him. “Whoa, slow down.” She turned to Jessica. “And what about you? Do you like school?” Jessica nodded, her eyes shining brightly, and Abby wondered how long it would be before she got a call from Jessica’s teacher wondering why the little girl refused to speak.
    She shoved this worry away. She’d deal with it when it came up. “Go change your clothes, and you can play outside.” Luke’s swing was a rousing success with the two children, and she knew that’s where they would go.
    They raced inside the house, and she followed.
    â€œFirst day of school go okay?” Luke asked as she entered the kitchen.
    She nodded and smiled. “It would seem so.”
    â€œI always loved school. It was the one place where I could escape from my father.”
    She leaned against the kitchen table and eyed him curiously. “So your father really was the meanest man on earth?”
    â€œDefinitely,” he replied, and for just a moment a shadow usurped the sparkle of his eyes. “But thankfully he’s gone now, I hope to his just reward.”
    Abby didn’t know how to reply. She wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that his father couldn’t be the meanest man on earth. Justin Cahill held that particular honor. Justin Cahill, who had shattered Jason and Jessica, who had stolen so much from her life and had not received his just reward, but rather had escaped the consequences of the heinous crime he’d committed.
    â€œIf you’ll hold the tape measure for me again, I promise I’ll behave,” he said, the wicked gleam back in his eyes.
    She returned his smile. “I’m not sure I can trust your promises.”
    â€œOh, but you can. I never lie, and I never, ever break a promise.”
    â€œThen that certainly makes you different from the men I’ve known in my lifetime,” she replied truthfully, then flushed as she realized she’d said more about her personal life than she’d intended.
    They worked in silence for a few minutes, Abby holding the tape where Luke instructed her and Luke taking notes of the measurements needed to construct new cabinets.
    They had just finished the last door when the kids raced in to tell Abby they were going out to the swing.
    When they were gone, Luke eyed her with open speculation. “Am I to assume from your last statement that maybe your marriage wasn’t exactly a happy one?”
    The web of deceit Abby had spun seemed to grow more tangled, more complicated. She didn’t want to tell more lies. “I’d rather not talk about it,” she finally said. “And if you don’t need my help in here, there are some things I need to take care of.”
    â€œI’m finished here,” he replied, and she was awareof his gaze lingering on her, filled with curiosity, as she fled the room.
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    Luke stared after her, more curious than ever. He could only discern from her statement that her life had been filled with men who lied and broke promises. When she’d uttered the statement that if Luke did neither, then he was different from the men in her life, she’d looked achingly vulnerable and hauntingly