And Baby Makes Four. Mary J. Forbes

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СКАЧАТЬ of his wife and daughter, Rogan hadn’t been able to refuse the boy anything. Not even a farm. So he’d bought the place, hired the island handyman Zeb Jantz to do enough repairs to make it livable, and moved from Renton to this B and B cabin in order to settle Dan into the elementary school as well as oversee the renovation.

      But on nights like this…nights when his little guy questioned Darby’s crash, Rogan wanted nothing more than to turn back the clock three years to the exact moment he had booked that charter flight to Forks. And the moment he heard Darby’s premonition. He’d cancel the flight and tell her to stay home.

      He’d say he loved her one more time.

      Scratching his stubbled cheeks, he sat on one of the porch’s two wicker chairs. The spice of sea clung to the night’s breeze and stars glittered like crushed glass in the sky.

      He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, listening and waiting for what he didn’t know, before the ping-ping of the cell phone on his belt shot through his musings. Caller ID indicated a text message from his younger brother in Renton, where Rogan had once lived with Darby and set up a law office with Johnny.

      Hey guy, the message began. Hope ur not in the sack. Rogan’s mouth lifted into a smile as he checked the watch at his wrist and realized that already an hour had passed. “Time flies when you’re having fun,” he muttered. He continued to read: Got some news re case. Need 2 discuss. Tomoro at 9 work 4 u? jkm

      Tomorrow? That meant contacting Lee Tait tonight and flying in her floatplane well before he’d planned. Before he had a week to psych himself up for the ordeal. Because as much as he pretended otherwise, for him flying would be an ordeal.

      Cant u call now? he wrote. Within sixty seconds he had an answer: In L8 meet. See u tomoro. Rogan grunted. He could imagine Johnny’s late meeting. No doubt it involved a long-legged blonde.

      Contemplating, he replied, Ill call u at 9. He did not want to get on that plane this soon.

      No, came the return. B HERE at 9!

      Rogan stared at the message. What the hell could be so important that they had to meet in person?

      With a sigh he shut the phone. One way or another, he’d find out tomorrow. He only hoped it was something positive in the suit he was building against the charter airline company that killed his family.

      Don’t think of that now, he thought, staring at the night sky with its canopy of stars. Or you won’t get to sleep tonight.

      He forced himself to relax. Three hundred yards away, the ocean lapped against the shore and he turned his memories to his encounters with Lee Tait a few hours before.

      Her womanly charms surprised him. All that red hair in a thick wavy tail trailing down her back, and those eyes, green as the budding leaves on the farm….

      The freckles across her skin had surprised him further. At a distance she appeared pale and thin, but within arm’s length her complexion glowed like the setting sun, and her shape had the litheness of a willow.

      But what caught him most was the heat in his groin when his name tumbled from her lips in a voice made for the night.

      Shame slashed through him. How could he think of another woman? Darby had been the love of his life for seventeen years. No one could replace her.

      Shoulders lifting on an extensive breath, he returned to the wicker chair. Slouching forward, he shoved his hands into his hair.

      He was so goddamned tired. Tired of the loneliness, of hurting and grieving, and wishing time was reversible. He needed to move on, really move on. For Danny and for himself. Living like a monk wasn’t the answer.

      And Johnny was right. Hiding on an island wasn’t the answer, either. Because no matter how hard Rogan tried, the memories dragged along like tattered old blankets. Well, right or wrong he’d made the choice, and next week he’d hang out his shingle. But first, he needed to cajole the lovely Lee into taking him tomorrow in that confined little seaplane.

      He looked toward the bed-and-breakfast. He had her business number from her Sky Dash Web site. He could call her, except two hours ago he’d seen her drive up in a red Jeep and go into the Victorian. Another surprise. Did she live here, rent a room?

      He could call the main desk and ask for her extension.

      Or he could wait until morning, talk to her face-to-face on the wharf, hand her a wad of bills she couldn’t refuse.

      For the first time in years, his heart pounded with anticipation.

      Chapter Two

      Lee’s sister, Kat, cut a wedge of dessert and lifted it onto her plate.

      “I can’t believe you’re refusing my apple crumble,” she groused. Dinner done, the dishes washed, they sat in the living room of Kat’s B and B, while her son finished a school assignment in his bedroom. “Are you sick or something?”

      Lee shrugged. “Lately I haven’t been very hungry.” In reality, she’d been a tad woozy now and again during the past month, which could be a symptom for a dozen ailments. A stomach bug, eating the wrong food….

      Except, she couldn’t remember the last time she had the flu. But she knew exactly when she’d last had a bout of evening wooziness.

      Five years ago, when she’d been pregnant with Stuart’s baby.

      Damn it, she was not pregnant. This was a bug she’d caught from one of her weekend passengers or Kat’s son, Blake. Hadn’t he missed a day or two of school last week due to a virus?

      Of course, it was the flu. She and Oliver had been careful.

      “Hey.” Kat’s brown eyes were serious. “You okay?”

      “I’m fine. Just thinking about Oliver.” And the possibility I could be pregnant. The thought churned through her stomach. God help her, but what would she do if she was…? No. She would not even consider it. How many years had she tried with Stuart and failed? This was simply her out-of-whack periods acting up.

      Kat put down her fork. “His death hurt you more than your divorce from Stuart.”

      “Yeah,” Lee admitted.

      “That’s because Oliver Duvall was your best friend since grade school, Lee. You two had a lot of history.”

      She did not want to discuss Oliver, or the fact she missed him more than she’d ever missed her ex-husband after their divorce.

      No, what she wanted was to discuss Rogan Matteo.

      “He makes my fingers tingle.” There—it was out in the open. Matteo’s effect on her.

      “Oliver made your fingers tingle?” Kat curled into the sofa’s corner with a cup of tea.

      “No…. Argh.” Lee rested her head on the back of the couch. “Rogan Matteo. Your guest. Tonight, he introduced himself while I was checking my plane. Apparently, he wants transportation back and forth to the mainland for a couple of weeks.”

      Kat laughed. “Ah…I see.”

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ