His Secret Daughter. Lisa Carter

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СКАЧАТЬ Jake.”

      Midmotion, he froze.

      “Don’t go.” Callie stretched out her hand to him. “Please stay.”

      “Callie Girl, what are you doing?” Nash grunted.

      “It—it’s not right, him leaving. I can’t let it end this way.”

      Nash’s gaze flickered between Jake and his daughter.

      Jake steeled himself against the whisper of hope unfurling inside his chest. “I don’t understand. I figured you couldn’t wait to be rid of me for good. What are you saying?”

      “I’m asking you to stay on the farm.” She lifted her chin. “A temporary arrangement so that you and Maisie can become better acquainted. Where she feels comfortable and safe.”

      “Why would you want me to stay?” Jake frowned. “After what I did.”

      Maisie shrank away from him as Callie closed the distance between them on the grass. “Because maybe if Tiff had had a dad who...” She moistened her lips. “I won’t allow history to repeat itself. A girl needs her father, Jake.”

      She shifted Maisie onto the crook of her other arm as the child almost strangled Callie in her effort to stay as far from Jake as possible.

      Anguish clawed at his insides, but he was going to have to learn to live with the gnawing pain of having lost his daughter. As he’d learned to live with the pain of Tiffany’s rejection.

      “What would be the point, Callie? Maisie will never trust me again.”

      She touched his arm, surprising him. And myriad emotions exploded in his chest, feelings he didn’t care to examine too closely. After the way he’d failed Tiffany and now Maisie, too, these were emotions he had no business feeling.

      “Trust can be rebuilt, Jake. You and Maisie need time.”

      He shook his head. “Time is something I don’t have. Exactly what are you suggesting? I have to find work.”

      “Apple harvest has just begun...” Her gaze darted to her father. “You need help in the orchard. Right, Dad?”

      Nash’s face had become unreadable, but finally he nodded. “I haven’t fully regained my stamina after being hospitalized for pneumonia last winter.”

      The smile she threw her father caused Jake’s gut to clench. It was a smile Jake in no way deserved or could ever hope to receive from his own daughter.

      Nash folded his arms across his chest. “Gala and Honeycrisp apples come off first. We open the farm to the public this weekend for Labor Day.”

      “I don’t have many job skills suited for civilian life.” Jake ground his teeth. “But I won’t take charity.”

      “No charity here.” Nash jutted his jaw. “It’s hard, honest work. We’re slammed with visitors during harvest season. The orchard is more than Callie and I can handle alone.”

      She took another step in Jake’s direction. “We could use your help. Julio, Dad’s right-hand man for over a decade, recently moved east to be near his grandchildren.”

      Despite his ingrained defenses, hope took slow root in his heart. “Let me make sure I understand this deal you’re offering me. I work the harvest and in exchange, I get to spend more time with Maisie?”

      She bit her lip. “Please, Jake. For Maisie’s sake. And yours.”

      He widened his stance. “And, after that, you’d want me to leave.”

      Callie narrowed her eyes at him. “Like I said, a temporary arrangement.”

      Staying would mean inevitable heartache once the harvest was over, yet how could he refuse a second chance with his daughter? He longed for nothing more than to know his child.

      “How much time are we talking about here?” He raked his hand over his head. “I can’t put my buddy off forever.”

      “By Thanksgiving, apple season is over, and Maisie will have gotten used to you.” Callie threw him a dazzling smile, momentarily blinding Jake. “You’ll see. Children forgive and forget far easier than grown-ups.”

      Tucked into the curve of Callie’s neck, Maisie regarded him with accusatory eyes.

      Oh, how he hoped Callie was right. He prayed she was right. Pray—something he should’ve done before grabbing his child.

      His stomach knotted. “If you’re sure...”

      “I’m sure. Do we have a deal?”

      A deal on Callie’s terms and at Maisie’s pace. Yet, what other choice did his heart really have? He’d take what he could get of Maisie.

      “We have a deal.” He swallowed. “I’ll be gone by Thanksgiving.”

      “Right. Gone by Thanksgiving.” She started up the steps. “Give me a few minutes to get your room ready.”

      “You want me to stay here?” His head snapped back. “In your house?”

      “Time isn’t on our side. The clock’s ticking on apple season and on creating a real relationship with your daughter.” After wrenching open the door, the hinges squeaking, she and Maisie disappeared inside the house.

      Only then did Nash Jackson move, his boots a heavy tread on the boards. When they were shoulder to shoulder, Callie’s father paused, locking gazes with Jake. What Jake read there told him to proceed with caution.

      His eyes dark like obsidian, Nash had gone still. A tightly leashed control Jake recognized and respected.

      “If you hurt my child, Jake McAbee—” the threat made more menacing by Nash’s quiet, deceptively conversational tone “—I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you ever do on this mountain.”

      * * *

      Callie went all out for supper.

      The summer garden was about played out at this point. She’d been canning, freezing and pickling since July. She was secretly gratified to see Jake’s eyes widen as she placed one dish after the other on the table. Cream corn, butter beans, sweet pickles, mashed potatoes, biscuits and fried chicken.

      She sank into the chair opposite Jake, within arm’s reach of Maisie in the booster seat. At the head of the table, her father said grace.

      Puckering her lips, Maisie scooped corn onto her spoon and more or less managed to find her mouth. A smile flitted across Jake’s handsome lips.

      Handsome— What was wrong with her?

      Callie lowered her eyes to her plate. He was Maisie’s father. It didn’t matter whether he had handsome lips or not.

      With an upsweep of her lashes, she stole another look at him. But he did. He definitely had handsome lips.

      Jake shoveled mashed potatoes СКАЧАТЬ