A Valentine Wish (Gates-Cameron 1)

He nodded. “She is. She raised my sister and me after our parents died in a car crash when we were kids.”

Anna’s face lit up. “You have a sister? Is she a twin?”

He shook his head. “She’s eight years younger. She was here with me once, when I was looking over the inn.”

“I must have missed her. Are you close to her?”

“Yes, we’re quite dose.”

Anna smiled. “That’s nice. Ian and I have always been best friends. I can’t imagine being separated from him.”

“About this woman you coerced me into hiring—”

Anna giggled. “I didn’t coerce you. How could I?”

He gave her an expressive look. “You have your ways. But what if you’re wrong about her? I know nothing about her. She could be a thief, a con artist, a drunk, a lazy sponger.”

Anna was shaking her head. “She’s none of those things. She’s only a nice woman who’s fallen onto hard times.”

“Do your supernatural powers include mind reading?” Dean asked.

She looked at him reprovingly “Of course not. I just—”

“—have a feeling,” he finished with her.

She smiled again. “Exactly.”

He shook his head.

Anna laughed. The musical sound made his chest tighten. God, she was beautiful when she smiled. Or when she frowned. Or when she looked angry. Or sad.

Anna searched his face, and her smile faded. He didn’t know what she saw in his expression, but she took a gliding step closer. “Dean?”

“Dean?” Mae called his name as she made her way carefully down the partially cleared walkway “Lunch is ready. What are you doing out here?” she asked, looking curiously at what was now empty space beside him. “What are you looking at so intently?”

Dean drew his gaze reluctantly away from the spot where Anna had stood. “Sorry, Aunt Mae. I was just thinking about how much more has to be done out here.”

“You’ve made quite a lot of headway since I was out last,” his aunt said approvingly. And then she lost interest in the landscaping and faced him again, wearing a rather smug smile.

“I knew you would hire her,” she said without bothering to clarify who she meant. “As soon as I saw her and that dear little girl, and heard her explain that she needed a job and a home, I knew you wouldn’t be able to turn her away.”

“I must have lost my mind,” Dean muttered. “This is the worst possible time for me to hire a maid. And as for the kid, heaven only knows what we’ll do with her.”

“We’ll take care of her—of both of them. They need us, Dean. I knew that immediately. The little girl reminds me of Bailey, when you and she first came to live with me. She looks a little sad, and a little lost. So very vulnerable.”

In resignation, Dean realized that his softhearted aunt had just adopted two more strays into their family.

And he’d thought being a small-town innkeeper would be a nice, easy, “normal” lifel

MARK WINTER was expected for dinner that evening. When Cara heard that Mae and Dean were anticipating a guest, she immediately volunteered to prepare and serve the meal.

“There’s no need for you to start working so soon,” Mae protested. “You just got your car unloaded.”

Dean had spent a couple of hours after lunch hauling furniture, setting up twin beds and a large chest of drawers in one of the empty, but freshly painted downstairs bedrooms, helping Cara bring her few possessions in from the aging, battered vehicle in which she’d arrived. Cara had worked right by his side, reserved, but eager to do her share, while little Casey had hovered close by, watching intently.

He knew Cara had to be tired; frankly, she didn’t look as though she’d had a good night’s sleep in quite a while. “Aunt Mae’s right, Cara,” he told her. “There’s no need for you to start today. Why don’t you join us for dinner as our guest? You and Casey both, of course,” he added with a smile for the child, who smiled shyly in return.

Cara shook her head, her face taking on a stubborn set that Dean predicted would soon be very familiar to him. “I earn my way,” she said quietly. “And I like to cook. You and your aunt enjoy your evening with your friend. Casey and I will eat in the kitchen.”