Loving Lydia (Atlantic Divide) Read online

  “Oh dear Lord,” she muttered to herself as she gazed up at the fire-engine red truck with black and yellow flames painted over the hood and along the sides, engulfing the entire front end of the vehicle.

  “You don’t expect me to get my children in that?” Her eyes were wide and horrified.

  Sam hauled her suitcases one at a time into the back of the truck with ease, ignoring her muttered “Why on earth would I want them in that? Oh dear, I can’t believe this.” He simply let her carry on, and then walked around and opened the rear door to the cab. He couldn’t hide the grin on his face as he turned back to her.

  “You need to climb up into the truck, Lydia. I’ll hand the kids up to you. I managed to fit the child safety seats in there that Kate bought for them the other day.” He waited for her to move, but she simply stood there.

  “You’re kidding me.” Astonishment tinged her voice as though she was offended at the mere thought of getting into his truck. Unlike him, however, the truck was immaculate, not a scratch, not a scrape. It was washed and polished to perfection. He thought it had been a better choice than his Jeep, which was full of hay and straw and dirt. He eyed her jeans as he considered throwing her up there, but he knew the moment she caught his thoughts as she took a step away from him.

  “No kidding.” He said mildly. “You need to get your leg up there and take hold of the bar on that side and the door on the other side and haul yourself up. Then when you’re in the cab, I’ll hand the kids up to you.”

  Lydia looked at him and then down at her two sleeping children.

  “You can trust me,” he murmured, his voice quiet. “I won’t let them come to any harm, Lydia. My hands may be rough, but they’re used to being gentle.” He leaned forward and tucked a stray strand of silken hair behind her ear, noting that she nearly jumped out of her skin at the contact. It made her move though.

  He smiled to himself as she turned her back on him and followed his instructions on how to get into the cab, her leg barely reaching the footstep that he had pulled out for her. He watched her struggle to pull her own weight up, despite being on the skinny side. It was a long way up. His lips twitched with amusement as he noted the full-length stretch of her slender legs. He could have given her foot a boost to get her into the cab, he thought to himself, as he put his hands on her slender little waist and gave her a firm shove, bodily lifting her into the seat. He heard her squeak of surprise and chose to ignore it as he turned his back on her. Bending down, he started to unfasten Rosie’s straps so that he could lift her out of the stroller.

  He lifted the little girl into his arms and let her snuggle into his neck for a moment before he turned to Lydia. A puzzled look crossed her face as she stared down at him for a moment before she took Rosie from his outstretched arms and placed her in the seat furthest away from the door.

  As she turned back, Sam already held Aaron effortlessly as he waited to hand him up. At six feet two, he was a pretty tall guy, and he noticed how tiny Lydia appeared up in the cab as she gazed down at him. He thought she must be all of five feet four. The top of her head had just reached his shoulder.

  He stretched up and placed Aaron safely in her arms and wondered what the problem was as she fell silent while she strapped her little boy into the brand new car seat. She seemed to have difficulty swallowing, and he swore there were tears in her eyes until she let her hair fall over her face so he couldn’t see her expression any more.

  The poor little thing was obviously so exhausted, and he couldn’t imagine that it was normal for her to be so rude. He shrugged to himself as he waited for her to finish. No wonder she looked guilty; it probably wasn’t in her nature to be vicious.

  She climbed backward out of the cab. It was way too far down for her to reach the ground, and it wasn’t outside of his nature to take advantage of a woman in need, so he automatically put his arms out and caught her around her slim waist again, almost encircling it as he lifted her down. Skinny little thing, she felt no heavier than her children. Before she could protest, he stepped away from her to collapse the stroller and put it in the back of the truck. By the time he turned around, she’d scrambled hastily into the passenger seat of the cab before he could help.

  She was silent next to him as he drove out of the airport parking garage. She was still silent as he drove through the city limits. By the time he drove through the dark country roads, she was asleep while he sang to the country channel he had tuned into on his radio. He glanced over as she murmured in her sleep and wished the journey were longer so that the bruised look of exhaustion under her eyes would disappear.

  He kept his voice low and soft, singing along to a song of the pain some man felt who had been deserted by his wife because he worked too hard. As he crooned, her muttered words gentled, and the rocking motion of the monster truck soothed her exhausted body as it swayed her gently into a deeper sleep.

  Sam pulled the truck up in front of the ranch house. It was in complete darkness. He turned off the engine and headlights, but left the eerie orange glow of the dashboard lights on.

  “Lydia, we’re here.” She slept on, no acknowledgment that she had heard his voice.

  He leaned over her, touched her arm gently. When that didn’t work, he touched her cheek, his hand so huge and dark against her white skin. Skin that felt so soft against his callused work hands. He leaned closer, and whispered her name again in the semi-darkness.

  “Lydia.”

  Her eyes flew open in horror, and she flung herself away from him, virtually climbing up the door in her attempt to get as far away as possible. Her reaction was so violent that he jumped back away from her. His heart leaped into his throat. When she fumbled for the door handle though, he moved back to take hold of her arm. It was a long way down, and she wasn’t properly awake.

  “Whoa, steady there,” he soothed. “You were just dreaming, honey. You’re okay. Take it easy. It’s okay. You’re safe, sweetheart.”

  He could hear her panicked breathing and see the glitter of her eyes as she stared at him through the darkness, but she never shook his hand off her arm, and her own hand slid away from the door handle.

  She took in a long, hitching breath and after a moment sat up straight. With a shaky hand, she tucked her golden hair behind her ear, and then stared down at his hand that still gently soothed her arm.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I must have been in a deeper sleep than I realized.”

  It was dark inside the cab, except for the glow of the dashboard lights. It was pitch black outside. She seemed irritated that she’d allowed herself to fall asleep instead of remaining awake, for some strange reason, and he realized that she didn’t trust him in the least.

  He watched her closely, his hand still on her arm. Oddly enough, she seemed to take comfort in his touch and didn’t seem compelled to shake his hand off, but her breathing was still uneven and her hands shook. She turned her face to the front window and stared at the dark outline of the house in front of her.

  “Well, I suppose this means we’ve arrived.” Her voice was still a little shaky.

  “Yeah.” Sam opened his door and the interior light came on, over-bright in the dense darkness of the night. He glanced over at Lydia and noted the paleness of her skin. Exhaustion and fear. She’d reacted like a skittish foal.

  He realized she was one of the walking wounded, and he knew he had plenty of experience dealing with the wounded, the beaten, and the damaged. It was going to be a long haul for those wounds to heal, but he thought it might be interesting to stick around, keep an eye, and see what developed with this pretty little woman with her fears and her secrets.

  “I’ll turn some lights on in the house, and then we can get the kids and you to bed.” He heard her stomach give a loud growl and wondered how long it had been since she had eaten. It can’t have been easy on the plane with the two kids. He considered it might put her a little more at ease if they ate together. “Perhaps we need to feed you first, before you sink int
o a coma.”

  *

  It was almost two thirty by the time she crawled between the sheets of the double bed. She found it strange that it had the familiar and comforting smell of her sister. The bedding was clean, but Katie had washed it in her normal powder, and it somehow had a slightly surgical smell to it. It comforted Lydia as she drifted into sleep, thinking of the gentle giant downstairs who’d fed her re-heated spaghetti bolognaise that Katie had left in the fridge. He said he would stay until they had word from Jack so she wasn’t alone in a strange house with the kids.

  She’d barely spoken to him, but she couldn’t stop flicking glances his way. She knew he didn’t expect a response from her, but whenever he caught her looking, his dimples creased in his cheeks as he smiled in encouragement.

  Her room was enormous, and they’d had to walk through it to get to the children’s room and bathroom. She noticed a new lock on her door and knew that Katie was responsible for that. Not that a lock was much security against a determined interloper, but she didn’t want to think about that right now, so she turned her mind back to the gentle caramel eyes framed with long dark brown lashes. Strangely comforted, she closed her own eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  The good thing about children was they recovered fast. The bad thing about children was they recovered fast. When they did, they were invariably loud, energetic, and starving.

  Lydia glanced at her watch and figured she could survive until later that night on her four and a half hours of sleep.

  She’d opened one suitcase the night before to get her pajamas out, but that was as far as she got. The children’s suitcases needed to be unpacked, and as she opened them, the children bounded all around the room. In her own house, she would have walked downstairs in her pajamas, hair a mess and face unwashed, but this wasn’t her house, so she felt obliged at least to dress herself.

  She pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a pale pink T-shirt, washed her face, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She then took her bouncing children downstairs, through the quiet house, and into the vast kitchen.

  Despite going into labor, her sister had been surprisingly efficient and had all sorts of cereals ready for the arrival of her niece and nephew. Some of them, though, could rot their teeth at twenty paces and others had enough sugar content to send a diabetic into a coma with one spoonful. Surely any child that ate the stuff would spin into a hyperactive frenzy.

  She put four slices of whole grain bread in the toaster, retrieved the butter from the fridge, and persuaded her children to sit at the table and eat.

  Lydia had no idea how to work the huge, brushed steel coffee machine that sat on the counter, so she chewed on a piece of toast while she eyed the offending item. She wished she didn’t have such a coffee addiction, but now was not the time to punish herself with deprivation. She huffed out a sigh, stepped forward, and lifted one of the flaps on the machine to peer inside.

  “Your sister had that installed. She said Jack couldn’t make coffee worth a damn, and she didn’t see why she should always have to make it.” Lydia watched the bear of a man walk across the kitchen toward her and realized she didn’t have much of an instinct to run.

  Sam diverted over to the large oak table and ruffled Aaron’s hair as he leaned over and swiped a piece of toast off the child’s plate. She rolled her eyes as she realized that both her children were poking around with great lack of interest in what she’d put in front of them.

  “Hey, sugar, we never met last night. You were fast asleep.” His voice was a gentle seduction, and as Rosie peeped up at him, he gave a crooked smile that made his dimple appear. “Why, you look just like your Aunt Katie, sugar. Well aren’t you the lucky thing.”

  “Mummy says I have Aunty Katie’s eyes.” Rosie fluttered her eyelashes, and Sam’s smile spread wide across his face.

  “You sure do, sugar.”

  “My name is Rosie, not Sugar,” she corrected.

  “Well, Rosie, I’m Sam.” He held out his hand and engulfed her tiny one in his. “It sure is a pleasure to meet you.” Lydia studied him intently. His hair was an unruly lush dark brown with hints of red. His eyes were a rich toffee color that crinkled at the edges and reflected the smile on his face. She softened as her thoughts strayed and she found herself thinking what a handsome man, and then almost jumped out of her skin when he turned and caught her staring.

  “Something wrong?” He bit into the toast, which she thought must be cold and stiff as cardboard now.

  “I would have said Rosie is shy, but it seems she’s got over that.” She bit her bottom lip and turned back to the coffee maker.

  “I’ll make a deal with you.”

  She froze as she realized he’d moved up close behind her.

  “What’s that?” Her voice was sharp, her back stiff. He stepped gently away.

  “I’ll make the coffee…” He opened a cupboard and took out a foil bag of coffee beans. “…if you make a decent breakfast. Scrambled eggs and ham or something. Everything you need is in the refrigerator. Here are the pans.” He opened another cupboard door, winked at her, and smiled.

  “Deal,” she replied reluctantly, and moved over to open the fridge door, casting a glance over at him as she went.

  He was dressed in the same clothes he’d worn the day before, his five o’clock shadow was now almost a beard, his feet were bare, and his eyes heavy. His voice had a rusty tone. She’d never seen a man so sexy and rumpled, and she never thought bare feet could be so appealing. He appeared like he’d just tumbled out of bed. In fact, he probably had.

  “I’m so sorry.” She turned and placed the ingredients she’d found on the counter in front of her, and glanced up to catch an irritated frown cross his brow. Her pulse thudded in the face of his annoyance, but she rushed on regardless. “We must have woken you up. I didn’t know which bedroom you were in. I’m sorry—I should have got the children to be quieter.”

  He pressed a button on the machine and a terrible grinding noise started for a few seconds, and then hot, black coffee started to drip into the mug he placed under a spout. He turned and leaned against the bench. She fidgeted as he took a good, long look at her.

  “You know, that could be an irritating habit you’re starting to develop there, when you apologize for no reason. You should take a look at that. You don’t need to apologize to me unless you have a decent reason.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and she felt him watch for her reaction.

  She almost panted with fear. She wasn’t used to confrontation, and here this big cowboy stood with his fathomless, shrewd eyes, telling her that she shouldn’t apologize. He mystified her. She had no idea what he expected of her, and his quiet manner contrasted with his straight talk and threw her into confusion.

  “Oh…” Her hands shook, and she fumbled one of the eggs. It hit the floor with a wet splat, and Aaron hooted with laughter, getting down off his chair to come and dance around her. She pushed her hair back behind her ear and glanced frantically around the pristine counters for a cloth to wipe up the mess before her son leaped into it.

  “Aaron, go and sit down, son, and I’ll see about getting you some breakfast.” Sam knelt down, wiped up the mess with a dishcloth, dumped the contents into a trash bin, and then returned to the sink to wash out the cloth. Aaron had sat straight back down and was waiting with his hands on the table to see what Sam was going to give him.

  “I’m sorry…” She gulped as he simply lifted an eyebrow and then turned his back and gathered bowls, spoons, and sugar-laden cereals. He let the twins pour their own cereals and milk as he stood behind them and used a guiding hand. He merely wiped away any spillages without complaint.

  She turned to the bench and got on with beating, chopping, and frying. He’d placed a black coffee by her elbow, which she assumed was for her. She dumped a load of milk in it and stood to look out the window while the food cooked itself, taking a moment to slow her pulse.

  She could hear her chil
dren’s excited chatter and Sam’s low murmurs, but it wasn’t until she put the plate in front of him filled with eggs, ham, mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes that she had composed herself enough to ask what was on her mind.

  “Have you heard from Jack and Kate?” She placed boiled eggs and thin soldiers, strips of bread to dip in the yolk, in front of the children and took away their empty cereal bowls, stacking them near the sink.

  “Sure, they’re both upstairs in bed.” At her sharp look, he just gave her a lazy smile. “They arrived home at four thirty. Kate was in a hell of a mood. Says they sent her home, told her it was a false alarm … something about some kind of hiccups?”

  “Braxton Hicks?”

  “Yeah, that’d be the ones. She said she was a doctor, and dammit she should be able to tell if it was the real thing or not.” He scooped up a fork full of eggs and started to eat, and then pointed at her with his fork. “What are you going to eat?” She hadn’t moved from his side.

  “Oh… I…” She scuttled back to the stove, grabbed another plate, turned out the remainder of the eggs, and added a few mushrooms. She sat at the table and noticed his long look at her small portion of food, while he continued to shovel his own into his mouth. He was silent for a while, and then his eyes met hers.

  “I would imagine Katie is going to be really tired today and a little out of sorts. Perhaps when you and the kids are ready, I can take you down to the stables and show you around.”

  “Oh, well that’s really kind, but don’t you have things you need to do?”

  “Sure.” He smiled at Aaron’s hopeful little face and stroked a hand down Rosie’s hair. “But they can wait. I think maybe these two would like to see my horses.”

  “Yay!” They both shouted and bounced on their seats.

  “Run on and get changed now. I’ll clear the kitchen.” He smiled at them as they shot out of the room. Their excited voices piped loud and shrill through the house as their mother followed close behind in an attempt to keep them quiet.