Page 47 of Her Summer Hope
She felt his spark of interest though, and she told herself that it was just because he wanted answers from her. He wanted to finish their conversation from the other night.
The fact that she was practically drooling over him earlier didn’t help her composure any.
Any woman would drool over him. He was the epitome of strength and kindness. He was gentle. It would take a lot to provoke him to violence because he knew his capabilities and how deadly they were.
Once provoked, she could only imagine the force that he could unleash. John, Calvin, Wyatt…all of them. Even Aiden was probably still capable of incapacitating someone with his bare hands.
And Jace…
Jace kind of scared her. His strength was there, but his restraint was on a knife edge. He lacked control now. She didn’t think he would purposely hurt anyone, but he wasn’t completely stable. He could overreact. She needed to remember that.
A clearing throat made her jump and she realized that she’d been staring at him for several long, awkward seconds while she’d been thinking.
“Oh. Kyle, this is Christian. Christian, this is Kyle.”
Kyle’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he looked Christian up and down. He finally nodded to him and Christian held out his hand.
“How do you know Madison?”
Kyle shook. “I’m her boss.”
Christian raised his eyebrows at her and she was about to say something when she felt the tingling in her chest again. It was past Emmie’s feeding time and she was bound to be crying by now.
She had to go, but she didn’t want to.
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go home. My lunch break started about ten minutes ago—”
“Sorry for holding you up. I’ll see you later,” Kyle said, shooting a glance toward Christian. “Nice to meet you.”
It sounded false, as if he was saying it out of habit instead of really meaning it.
Christian nodded and then took her arm to lead her to her car after Kyle walked off. “Go ahead and take an extra fifteen or twenty minutes for lunch,” he said in an unusually warm voice.
“Thanks. I appreciate it,” she said, unlocking the car and getting in.
Christian shut her door and waved as she drove off.
As she left, she saw Kyle sitting at a café table with John. His face was hard and his eyes were cool beneath the brim of his cap. He nodded at her wave, then turned back to John immediately, who leaned in and began to speak.
She wished she’d been able to stay.
When she got home, a man was waiting for her on her front porch.
Instead of going straight into Helen’s, she walked across the yard to her own home, a feeling of dread seeping into her. The man was wearing khakis and a white polo shirt with the logo of some golf club on it.
His gray hair was neatly trimmed and he was in good shape, for an older man. His tan was fake and so was his smile.
“Mrs. Madison Lane?” he asked, though he looked as if he already knew the answer to that question.
“Yes. Who are you?”
He handed over a folder and she took it. “That’s not important. Those documents are for you. Have a good day.”
He turned and walked back to his expensive car parked in the street. She wanted to call him back and ask what it was all about, but she was afraid that all the answers she wanted were already in her hands.
Nothing good ever came of being served documents.
She opened them up, noting the legal heading at the top, and pushed them back inside the envelope.