Her Twin Surprise (Forsaken Sons #2) - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,34

that, she reached down and collected the bags, stuffing the groceries back in and lugging everything up the stairs.

Unfortunately, Janus followed. Herbie was out with the kids in the fenced backyard, so Stevie had a moment to confront Janus.

“Why are you still here?”

Janus hated to admit it, but Stevie looked even more beautiful now than she’d been before. There was a softness to her, a maturity that made her…more confident? No, that wasn’t really it because she’d been strong and confident before.

“I’m not leaving.”

She walked out the door and Janus couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping to her butt.

Following her, he watched as she unloaded the rest of the groceries. He considered ignoring the rest of the bags of groceries, but his male instincts kicked in, so he took the bags from her. “Give that to me,” he grumbled, taking all six bags into the kitchen in a single trip.

Janus turned around, but Stevie wasn’t behind him. When he peered outside again, he realized that she was lugging a bag of dog food nearly as big as she was up the stairs.

“Damn it, Stevie! Let me do that!”

“I’ve got it!” she snapped right back, trying to move the bag out of his reach. But he hadn’t played decades of football, avoiding massive linebackers, for nothing. He plucked the bag from her arms and hauled it into the kitchen.

Herbie, obviously realizing that his dinner was in the bag, bounded away from the kids and loped eagerly up the stairs.

“Down!” Stevie ordered. Herbie obeyed immediately, but stood expectantly, tongue hanging out of his mouth and that long tail demonstrating his happiness by almost knocking a jug of milk off the table.

“Go outside, Herbie,” she ordered the dog. Herbie looked longingly at the bag of food. “Where’s Halley?” Stevie whispered. Herbie’s ears perked up as he searched for, and found, his charges. A moment later, he launched himself out the kitchen door, racing over to the kids who laughed when Herbie nudged them. Halley grabbed a stick and threw it for him. She was a tiny little thing, and the stick didn’t go very far. But Herbie didn’t mind the game. He picked up the stick and danced around Halley who laughed and reached for the stick. The game proceeded until Harrison found a neon tennis ball. Herbie loved balls even more than sticks.

“Is that a dog or a horse?”

Stevie turned and Janus was struck all over again by those soft, brown eyes, the luxuriously dark hair that had probably been in a tidy bun this morning, but was a bit mussed now. She looked incredibly sexy and beautiful.

But he wasn’t here for that. Not anymore!

“Herbie has some Great Dane in him,” she explained flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you’re going to prosecute me for invading your privacy when you came into my house, uninvited I might add, then I’ll fight you.”

Janus heard the words and they didn’t make sense for a moment. Then Tom’s words came back to him. “I’m not going to sue you for harassment, Stevie!” He leaned against the countertop. “But if you don’t give me a damn good answer for why you didn’t tell me about my children, then I’m going to sue you for full custody!”

He watched her eyes, saw the relief for a brief moment, then horror. “Don’t you dare!” she hissed.

“I can, and I will. So start talking! And this had better be good!”

Stevie ducked under his arm and moved to the far end of the kitchen. He noticed she stayed by the windows. So she could watch the kids? Reluctantly, he had to give her credit for being vigilant. He’d read too many horror stories about kids stolen from their backyards.

“I don’t owe you anything, Janus! Get out of my house before I call the police!”

“You don’t think that you owe me an explanation for why you’ve kept my children from me for four years?” he hissed. “Four years! Do you know how much I’ve missed, Stevie? Their first steps! First words! Hell, their births! I’ve missed everything! And you stole that from me!”

She shook her head. “Don’t you dare try that ridiculous revisionist history, Janus! I tried to contact you! I called and texted, begging you to meet me. Then, when I didn’t hear anything from you, I even went to your office, only to be escorted out by your security guard. By the time I got home, there was a letter threatening me with prosecution if I didn’t stop