Harlequin Superromance December 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: Caught Up in YouThe Ranch She Left BehindA Valley Ridge Christmas

by Beth Andrews

  She inhaled, stopping the flow of words flying from her mouth. She was babbling like a loon, saying whatever popped into her head without giving more than a passing thought as to whether or not it should actually be shared with the world.

  Eddie did not care to hear how much caffeine she’d ingested so far today. That much was clear from the hard expression on his face.

  Well, she wouldn’t be so nervous if he’d stop looking at her with such...intensity. As if he had reason to be worried about her instead of the other way around.

  Then again, he was the one who’d been pelted with brownies last night.

  Her face heated, her palms grew damp. She rubbed them down the front of her thighs to dry them. “What was the question?” she asked weakly.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Sadie invited me.”

  Sort of.

  When Sadie had mentioned last night that she and James were going to attend this game today, Harper had asked if she could tag along.

  She’d wanted to see Eddie. To apologize for flipping out on him like some recently lobotomized shrew. To clear the air between them so things wouldn’t be awkward when he came into her classroom Tuesday.

  She’d planned to come in here, set things right as quickly as possible, then head out again. What she hadn’t counted on was being surrounded by Eddie’s family and what seemed like half the population of Shady Grove.

  She hadn’t counted on running smack-dab into her mother-in-law.

  Had Joan somehow figured out that Harper had been kissed by another man? Was that why she’d been so pale? So upset?

  Harper’s stomach turned. No, that was ridiculous. Joan was a psychologist, not a mind reader. Though they were fairly similar professions. Harper would swing by Joan’s place on her way home, check that she was all right.

  “All done,” Cass said, tossing the banana peel aside as if it had tried to rear up and bite her. “I want candy now.”

  Right. Back to the candy thing again. Cass never forgot anything.

  “Why don’t we go up to the concession stand?” Harper asked.

  She held her arms out but Cass shook her head and hugged Eddie. Poor guy was lucky he could still breathe the way her daughter latched on to him.

  “I don’t want you, Mommy,” her sweet baby, the light of her life said before leaning back and sending Eddie a look that was pure adoration. “You take me, Deddie.”

  “Cass, give the man a few minutes peace,” Harper said.

  “Why?” Eddie said in his low voice as he stood and shifted Cass to his hip. “You don’t.”

  Crossing her arms, Harper followed him up the stairs to the upper level of the rink and into the small, thankfully empty concession stand. So she’d jabbered on a bit. What was he, allergic to talking?

  Cass bounced in Eddie’s arms and pointed at a picture of steaming cocoa. “Hot chocolate!”

  “That okay?” Eddie asked Harper. She nodded. “Small hot chocolate,” Eddie told the preteen boy working behind the counter. “Could you use half the regular amount of hot water? Then add cold?”

  “No problem.”

  Digging out his wallet, Eddie turned to Harper. “You want anything? Half a cup of coffee to make it an even three for the day?”

  Harper’s lips twitched. “No thanks. And you don’t have to pay for it, I—”

  “I’ve got it.” He handed the kid ten dollars, told him to keep the change for the hockey league. Carrying the drink, Eddie crossed to the corner. He set Cass on a tall, round table, bent slightly and looked her dead in the eye. “Don’t. Move.”

  Cassidy sat completely still—the child didn’t even blink. Harper had to stare at her chest just to make sure it was rising and falling and that she was, indeed, still breathing.

  “If I’d put her on there and told her not to move,” Harper grumbled, “she’d be doing a tap dance along with a few cartwheels just to keep my heart rate up.”

  “Max listens to James before he listens to me,” Eddie said, taking the plastic lid off the cocoa. “Guess it’s their way of proving their independence.”

  He took a cautious sip, making sure it wasn’t too hot for her baby.

  Something inside Harper, something she could’ve sworn died along with Beau, warmed. She rubbed a hand over her aching heart.

  Oh, this man was such trouble for her.

  Cassidy didn’t try to grab the cocoa or say, I do it myself! A popular refrain at Harper’s house. No, her daughter sat there, well behaved and obedient, and sipped delicately from the cup in Eddie’s hands.

  She lifted her head and smiled—all the better to show off her chocolate mustache. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, using the pad of his thumb to wipe the cocoa from Cass’s lip.

  His hands were large, tan and riddled with scars, cuts and scrapes. Harper wondered what it would be like to have those hands on her. Hands that belonged to a man who wasn’t her husband.

  Guilt swamped her, threatened to drag her under. She couldn’t let it. Not now. It’d have to wait until later, when she was alone and could wallow in it, could sit in silence and analyze her mixed-up feelings for the man in front of her. Could decide what to do about them. How to stop them.

  She moved closer to Eddie. Ran the tip of her finger over a scratch on the table. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “About last night. The yelling and the...the...brownies. Everything. I overreacted.”

  He stiffened but when he spoke, his voice was mild. “You have a right to react any way you want.”

  He was letting her off the hook. She should take this reprieve, snatch up her daughter and get away from him, as fast and as soon as she could.

  She didn’t want to go anywhere.

  “It’s not you,” she said, needing him to understand, “it’s me.”

  He snorted. “That’s a new one.”

  “It may not be a new sentiment, but it’s an honest one. I reacted badly. I’m not sure what came over me but I want to say I’m sorry. I’m really sorry and I hope what happened didn’t change your mind about continuing to volunteer as a room parent.”

  “It didn’t.”

  “Good. That’s good. I mean, Max enjoys having you in class and I know the other kids do as well, and I really appreciate you taking the time to help out and, well, I hope that the whole thing—” she gestured between them “—that happened won’t make you uncomfortable,” she finished, sounding like an idiot.

  Which made sense seeing as how she felt like a top-notch one.

  “I’m comfortable,” he said, looking and sounding as if that was true. “Unless you have a problem with me being in your room?”

  She had a flash of him in her bedroom, on her bed, his hair swept back from his forehead, his handsome face unsmiling as he looked up at her, his eyes darkening as she smoothed her fingertips across his cheeks, her nail lightly scraping his upper lip.

  And it hit her that he’d meant her classroom.

  Dear Lord, she was losing her mind.

  “Of course not,” she squeaked, her voice not working properly.

  “Then we’re square,” he said, picking up Cassidy when she lifted her arms toward him.

  “Square. Yes.” But seeing how good he was with Cass, how much her daughter adored him, made Harper uneasy. “Why don’t I take Cass and—”

  “Eddie.”

  Harper turned as a woman with close-cropped dark hair walked toward them. Maybe walked wasn’t quite the right word. More like she slunk. She was leggy, thin and tall, her heels bringing her to at least five-ten so that she was head to head with Eddie.

  “Lena,” he said gruffly. “What are you doing here?”

  Harper’s eyebrows crept up. Lena? As in Max’s mother, Lena?

  Lena smil
ed uncertainly. “Watching Max.”

  “Does he know you’re here?”

  “He invited me. I don’t know much about hockey but I’m enjoying watching him. And this way, I can take Max from here instead of driving out to your house.” She turned to Harper. “Hello. I’m Lena Adams.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Harper Kavanagh, Max’s teacher. He’s such a sweet boy.”

  “Thank you,” Lena said, glancing at Eddie. “I’m afraid I can’t take credit for any of that, though.”

  Tension filled the air.

  If that wasn’t Harper’s cue to leave, nothing was.

  “Come on, Cass,” she said, pulling her kid from Eddie’s arms. “Let’s go home.”

  “No!” Cass wriggled and squirmed.

  “Thanks for buying her the cocoa,” she said to Eddie over her daughter’s high-pitched cries.

  She walked away.

  “Deddie!” Cass called, reaching for him as if Harper was some deranged stranger dragging her to work a chain gang. “I want Deddie!”

  “I know you do,” Harper snapped, struggling to hold on to her daughter. “That’s part of the problem.”

  Neither one of them had any business wanting him.

  The sooner they both realized that, the better off they’d be.

  * * *

  “SOMEONE’S TEACHER’S PET,” Leo said when Eddie returned to his seat.

  Eddie ignored him. If you gave Leo attention, he’d never shut up.

  “Where’s Harper?” James asked.

  “She went home.”

  Thank God. He wasn’t sure which was worse, having her there or Lena. At least his ex-wife kept to her side of the rink. He’d agreed to let her take Max after the game. He hoped that wasn’t a mistake. But he hadn’t been able to refuse her, not when she was making a real effort for the first time.

  It scared the hell out of him.

  “Never would’ve pictured you with Harper,” Leo said, clapping both hands on Eddie’s shoulders. “But I think it’s great. About time you got back on the horse and all that.”

  Eddie glanced at James, who was typing something into his phone. “Did he compare Harper to a horse?”

  “He’s an idiot,” James said without looking up. “We all know that.”

  “Harper’s not a horse,” Leo said. “So don’t go telling her I said any such thing. She’s pretty enough.”

  “But?” James said, finally putting his phone away.

  “But she’s a mom.”

  “So?” Eddie asked.

  “So, her being a mom is fine for you. You’ve got a kid.”

  “You never cease to amaze me,” James said.

  Leo grinned. “That’s what I’m here for. Amazement. Awesomeness.”

  James cuffed him upside his head. “It wasn’t a compliment.”

  Leo frowned and rubbed his head. “It should be. Seeing as how I have such great luck with the ladies.”

  That was true. Women loved Leo.

  There was no accounting for taste.

  “Harper is Max’s teacher,” Eddie said, as Max’s line got buzzed in to go out on the ice. “That’s all.”

  “You two looked pretty damn cozy for her being just Max’s teacher.” Leo turned to James. “Back me up here.”

  “It’s okay if you like her,” James told Eddie.

  “Great. I’ll pass her a note in study hall.”

  “I’m just saying she’s a very nice woman. And Cass is a kick. They were over last night and—”

  “She was at your house?” Eddie asked as everything inside of him stilled. “Last night?”

  She must’ve gone there after he kissed her.

  He forced his eyes up to his brother’s face. Ground his back teeth together. “You know.”

  James’s expression was a cross between sympathy and amusement, with amusement winning out in the end. “I overheard her telling Sadie. Tough break, man.”

  “What’s a tough break?” Leo wanted to know, just like when they’d been kids and he’d followed James and Eddie everywhere.

  “We’ve all been there,” James said, as if that was supposed to make Eddie feel better. “When I first told Sadie I loved her, I thought her head was going to explode.”

  “You told Harper you loved her?” Leo asked. “I didn’t even realize you two were dating.”

  Eddie whirled around, lowered his voice. “No and we’re not.”

  “Then what...” Leo frowned, studied both his brothers’ faces. Then the son of a bitch smiled. Laughed. “Oh, I get it. She shot you down. What’d you do? Try to ask her to dinner using as few words as humanly possible? Grunt at her and expect her to realize that in Eddie-eze that means you think she’s hot?”

  “It’s no big deal,” Eddie said. “I kissed her. She wasn’t into it. End of story.”

  But saying the words out loud seemed to have the same effect on both his brothers. They burst out laughing, causing the rest of the family to look at them curiously.

  “Sorry, sorry,” Leo said, holding a hand up. But he kept right on chortling. “James is right, though. It happens to the best of us. I mean, not me, of course. But then, I’m a lot prettier than either of you two.”

  Because it was true, and because Eddie was frustrated with his thoughts about Harper and worried about his kid spending so much time with Lena, he couldn’t let Leo’s teasing slide off his back.

  “Not in the mood for you or your mouth right now,” he warned, knowing full well Leo didn’t take warnings seriously. He saw them as a red flag, one waving in the wind.

  As Eddie had hoped, Leo’s grin slid from amused to cocky. “What are you going to do about it?”

  Leo thought he could beat Eddie. It was an idea that’d first taken hold when they’d been seventeen and fifteen and Leo had shot past him in height.

  Eddie had quickly disabused him of that notion. And he didn’t mind continuing that lesson as many times as his fatheaded brother needed. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

  “No one is going to do any such thing,” Rose warned, leaning across her husband to give her sons a stern glare.

  “How’d you even hear that?” Leo asked, since their mother had seemed to be in deep conversation with Maddie.

  “Mothers are trained to pick up certain words no matter how softly they’re uttered. Now act like the responsible, mature men I like to pretend you are and watch the game.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Eddie and Leo said at the same time.

  Eddie faced forward, watched the kids on the ice. What a crap morning. Harper had shown up and given him the it’s not you, it’s me bullshit speech, Max was spending the rest of the day with Lena and now Eddie couldn’t even take his frustrations out on Leo’s hide.

  Leaning forward, his knees digging into the back of Eddie’s ribs, Leo sang Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” under his breath.

  Eddie exhaled heavily. Then, in one smooth motion, stood and raised his elbow—connecting sharply with his brother’s nose.

  “Ow.” Leo cupped his hands under the blood dripping from his nostrils. Glared at Eddie.

  Eddie pursed his lips. “Oops. My bad.”

  Then he sat again, fighting to hide a grin. Maybe his day was looking up after all.

  * * *

  EDDIE MONTESANO WAS a man of his word.

  For the past two weeks when he’d come in to help with the kids, he’d seemed comfortable and completely at ease.

  Guess their kiss—and her rejection—hadn’t meant much to him.

  He’d probably already moved on, Harper thought, looking for a pen in her desk drawer. Was probably pursuing another woman. Someone who didn’t overreact to a simple kiss. Who wasn’t stuck in the past. Some long-legged brunette like the
woman he’d loved enough to marry.

  Harper slammed the drawer shut, almost taking her fingers off in the process.

  “You okay?” Eddie asked from his seat on the other side of her desk.

  “Fine. Just fine.” Giving up on the pen idea, she smiled tightly at him. “Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

  After the whole kiss/brownie-throwing debacle at her house, Harper had decided it was better, safer, for them to discuss Max’s progress right here in her classroom, gossip or any worries about her playing favorites with a student be damned.

  “No,” Eddie said, getting to his feet. He slapped the folder against his thigh. “From now on, you can send the reports home with Max. If I have any questions, I’ll let you know.”

  He didn’t want to meet with her, had no reason to even see her again since Lydia was to return as room mother Tuesday. Harper shouldn’t be surprised Eddie didn’t want to be around her anymore. Shouldn’t be hurt.

  But she was.

  “I hope we can at least meet face-to-face at the end of the next marking period,” she said, standing. “Unless you plan on reneging on your promise?”

  As per the agreement she’d dragged out of him, if Max didn’t improve by the end of next month, Eddie would let Joan observe Max in the classroom and have him evaluated for ADHD by his pediatrician. Though a few of the techniques she’d implemented were helping Max, he was still behind on all subjects—a fact recorded in his report card last week.

  “I keep my word,” Eddie said so simply, she felt about two inches tall for being snide.

  Damn him.

  She nodded as if she’d had no doubt of that. Straightening the already straight piles of papers on her desk, she searched for something to say to keep him here. To keep him talking to her.

  Or, as the case may be, responding to her in as few words as possible.

  “Max is excited about spending the night with his mother,” Harper blurted when Eddie started turning as if to leave.

  “He’s looking forward to it.”

  From the flat tone of his voice, Eddie wasn’t too happy about that.

  “I think it’s really nice,” Harper said, “the way you’re letting your ex-wife have time with Max.”