I will always recognize him, an inner voice whispered. The set of his shoulders, the long lazy stride, the way his mouth tightened or shadows crossed his eyes. The flicker of his smile, the rough texture of his wavy, too-shaggy hair.
Shocked, Lia kept her gaze fixed on the house. She was halfway to falling in love with a man who she really, truly didn’t know. Who was so not a settling down kind of guy.
A picture of him running through the sprinkler, laughing at Arturo, coaxing Brendan and Walker to dip their toes back into life, passed through her mind and so did a wistful belief. He could be.
Dream on, she thought wryly. He was sexy, he was nice to the boys, and here she was having fantasies about him transforming into a family man. A guy who’d obviously rather be in a gunfight than spend a sunny spring afternoon with the family he did have.
Yes, but…
Forget it, Lia told herself firmly. If she ever had a real relationship, it would be with a man who could love each and every child she took in as much as she did. And face it, guys like that were thin on the ground. Maybe nonexistent.
Conall might be attracted to her, too—not might be, was—but he hadn’t even tried to kiss her. He knew how ill-suited they were.
She should be glad. He was temporary. She’d really like not to have to cry when he left.
* * *
CONALL’S INSTINCT WAS to sneak past the living room, where the boys were, once again, watching… He paused to hear a line of dialogue from the movie. Yeah, what else, The Transformers. One, two or three, he wasn’t sure. Only that this could not possibly be healthy for them.
He stifled a groan. Lia was out weeding her vegetable garden. He’d seen her from the window, watched hungrily for several minutes as she looked up to watch a robin, a smile lighting her face with joy he could see even from a distance. Damn it, she should have dragged the boys out with her whether they wanted to go or not.
Stepping into the doorway, he said, “Hey.”
They both glanced away from the TV, which was progress from the first time he’d met them.
“It’s a nice day. Why are you in here? I’ll bet Lia could use some help outside.”
“We don’t want to weed. She said we didn’t have to.”
Well, okay. He guessed that forcing foster children to provide free labor might get her into trouble. Or maybe she thought they shouldn’t have to do chores yet. She was wrong, but that was her business.
He hesitated. He had told her he’d try to spend some time with the boys, and it wasn’t as if he had anything important to do right now. He’d slept for close to six hours—enough for him—and had eaten lunch.
“Let’s do something fun,” he suggested. “We can throw the ball a little.” If there was a baseball to throw. Or mitts to catch with, come to think of it. “Let me check with Lia and see what she has.”
They studied him then looked at each other. It was Brendan who finally said, “Okay.” He didn’t exactly sound excited, but willing was good enough.
Lia was on her knees in the middle of a row of…something. The label at the end said carrots. Did carrots from your own garden taste any better than ones from the grocery store?
His speculation was mere distraction from the woman. She wore faded overalls that would probably be sacky were she standing…but she wasn’t. The denim pulled taut over a tight, firm ass that had already been fueling his dreams. Only one shoulder strap was fastened; the other hung down her back beside that fat, glossy braid. She wore only a thin tank top beneath the overalls, exposing her shoulders and arms, both tanned to a pale gold. He wanted desperately to drop to his knees behind her, shift her braid aside and explore her neck with his mouth while feeling her rump against his groin.
He gritted his teeth and managed to ask his question with only a slight huskiness in his voice to betray him.
She turned in surprise, blinking up at him. “Baseball mitts? Sure, there’s a whole bin full of sports equipment out in the barn. It’s on the left side, made out of plywood, with a lid that lifts.”
“Right.” He remembered seeing it.
“Watch out for spiders.”
“Good thought,” he muttered.