Happy Mother's Day! - By Sharon Kendrick Page 0,151

she was just a really good listener and it had been such a long time since he’d talked to anyone about his life, bar his blog. Just because he felt things, new things, deep down things, when he was with her, didn’t mean she felt the same way.

He’d gone way out of his comfort zone, relying on gut instinct rather than on what he had been told by experts would be best for him and Kane, and it seemed his instincts weren’t what they used to be.

He was fast thinking that science left a lot to be desired when Siena suddenly looked his way. Like a heat-seeking missile that had found its target, their gazes clashed, jolted, and told James a lot more about the situation than either of them were likely to admit aloud after such a short acquaintance.

He felt as though fireworks were going off in his stomach. And he knew then that he hadn’t in fact been thinking a whole lot when he’d woken up that morning. Not with his head, anyway.

Siena couldn’t look away. It was the train wreck thing again. James’s eyes were still masked by a layer of melancholy, but there was an almost grim determination behind them today. As if he had seen a way through the sadness and had latched on for all his might.

And, though she was deadly afraid that he mistakenly thought that she might be the way through, nobody had ever looked at her that way before.

She was the delinquent little sister, the aggressively ambitious worker or the exotic Aussie stranger in town for one night only. Reflected in his soulful eyes she saw herself as so much more.

No. Nope. Na-uh. Bad news.

She never should have used him as an escape route from Rick, after he had confided in her about Dinah and especially after reading what he had written in his blog the night before.

But she had been so caught up in his scent and the feel of her hand hooked into his strong arm and the promise of a trip on the Skyrail that she had blissfully forgotten that James was not a casual friendship guy.

He was a guy with roots and responsibility and a family, and she was a walking disaster. A destroyer of families. A deserter. Too much hard work. And someone who could not be trusted to take on the responsibility of someone else’s life.

She had to turn him away, gently but in such a way that he knew it was for the best. So she said the one thing she knew would do it.

‘Tell me more about Dinah.’

She waited for him to hang his head in sadness, but his deep grey eyes remained clear and locked on to hers.

Okay, so maybe if she shut up he would gush and blather on about Dinah for an hour and a day like newly divorced people she knew tended to, then after a while he would realise he had been blathering and he would be embarrassed by said blathering and he would slink away after their coffee and never seek her out again.

‘What in particular would you like to know about her?’ he asked, taking a measured sip of still water, but with his eyes never leaving hers.

Okay, so not so much blathering. Instead of blathering his sensuous mouth kicked up at one corner. The wretch knew she was really asking about Dinah because she was actually interested in him.

‘I … I saw her photo on your piano when I was snooping about the house. I’m a snoop. There. I admit it. It’s a terrible habit of mine. Incurable. Immoral. But that’s just me. Anyway, there was a photo of Dinah. She seemed much like Kane,’ she said, and was quite pleased with her save, especially since she was able to make herself seem completely irresponsible into the bargain. ‘What was she like?’

‘Dinah was …’ He looked at the ceiling for a few moments as he searched for the word. ‘Incandescent.’

Siena felt her stomach drop to her knees.

Incandescent? Did the guy seriously say incandescent? Well, if he had been punishing her for masking her attraction to him by using the dead wife card, he sure didn’t pull his punch.

Nobody had ever called her incandescent before. Cute, maybe. Single-minded, sure. A pain in the ass, often. But incandescent? What kind of man even thought to search for a word so beautiful? A creator of exquisite, inventive, deliciously cedar oil scented works like the man who had invited