Harlequin Love Inspired March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Patrice Lewis (best large ereader .txt) 📕

He massaged his temples, as if warding off a headache. “I didn’t mean I’d take the twins and you’d never see them. I meant we’d share them. If you’d wanted that, we’d have worked out a schedule of equal time with them. But you don’t want that. I’m done with that idea and back to the drawing board.”

“Good.”

“Good. I just can’t stop thinking about Adrian.”

“Why?” She frowned.

“It takes a selfish, special kind of jerk to break up with a woman he’s obviously interested in because she can’t have kids and live. I mean we’re talking life and death here.”

“Actually.” She drew in a deep breath. “I never told him. When I got the twins and he said he wanted to raise his own kids, not someone else’s, I took it to mean he wouldn’t be interested in me if he knew the truth.” She blinked away tears. “I’m done with this subject.”

“I am too. I just want you to know that you’ll find the right man one day. And helping you raise the twins and not having any children of his own won’t matter to him. A man would be blessed to marry you.”

His kind words lodged a lump in her throat.

“Thanks.” She swallowed hard, then slipped a mask over her mouth and nose, and handed him one. “I’ll be painting.”

“Is this what you had in mind?” He gestured toward the coffee bar he’d been working on.

Searching for flaws, she inspected the piece, but there weren’t any. The six-panel door joined seamlessly to the small table he’d built with the plywood top with perfectly beveled edges and spindle legs. The corbels at the top held a sturdy shelf and eight antique cast iron hooks lined the space between the shelf and tabletop. He’d painted it all white with each door panel contrasting in yellow. Exactly the way she’d imagined it.

“It’s perfect.” Ross had proven to be invaluable this week in the workshop, bringing to life the images in her head, and keeping them ahead of their quota to meet their B and B deadline. If only he wasn’t Mason and Madison’s uncle.

The twins loved him and he obviously was crazy about them already. With his clueless parents lurking, how could they possibly come to a compromise that would give everyone involved time with the kids, without turning their world upside down?

The door from the store opened and Mason ran in. “Aunt Stacia, Uncle Ross, we’re home.”

“For a whole weekend.” Madison followed, and shut the door behind her. “Can we do something fun?”

“Like what?” Stacia set her paint gun down. Though her mind had been on the twins, she hadn’t realized it was time for them to come home from school yet.

“Ride horses or go for a hike or a picnic or go to the park in Bandera.”

She pulled her mask off over her head. “What about homework?”

“We don’t got any,” Mason said.

“We don’t have any,” she corrected.

“That’s what I said.” Mason frowned.

“You said got. Have is proper English.” Stacia pulled her smock off, hung it on a hook. “Don’t and got never go together. It’s always don’t have. How about a horseback ride, since that was first on the list?”

“Yay.” Madison clapped her hands.

“Come on, Uncle Ross, come with us.”

“He can’t.” She quickly cut off the possibility. “He has to stay here and paint the bathtub I was about to do and he has more coffee bars to build.”

“Your aunt’s right.” Ross shot the twins a wink. “But I tell you what—I’ll work extra late tonight and get us good and ahead on our order, so I can hang with y’all tomorrow. How’s that sound?”

“Awesome.” Mason held his hand up for a high five and Ross smacked it.

Dreadful. If Ross played with the twins tomorrow, she’d be tempted to stay busy in the workshop. Even though she’d rather be with her niece and nephew.

Why did he have to be here? Everything had been great. Until he’d shown up.

* * *

It had been well after midnight when Ross left the workshop last night. He’d had supper with the twins, Maverick and a stiff Stacia. Once the kids had gone to bed he and Maverick had gone back to work. The older man had left around ten thirty.

Ross stretched the aching muscles in his back, wishing he’d left that early, then knocked on the door of the Keyes’ farmhouse. But the extra work was worth getting to spend part of his Saturday with Mason and Madison. The more time he spent with them, the more they wound themselves around his heart and the guiltier he felt for not telling his folks.

But before he broke the news to his parents, he wanted to have a solution. A solution that hadn’t come to him just yet.

The door opened and Stacia stood there, looking bright and sunny in a yellow button-up blouse paired with jeans and boots.

“What’s on the agenda. Another horseback ride?”

“No.”

“Good to see you too.”

“I mean, the twins want to go to a dude ranch in Bandera. They have outdoor bowling, putt-putt golf and an indoor water park and swimming pool.”

“Sounds fun. I’ll get a few things and meet you at your car.”

“Sure.” She sounded even less excited than she looked.

He hurried back to his apartment, grabbed a pair of cutoff jeans and a towel. By the time he got back to the farmhouse, she was herding the twins into the car. Had she planned on leaving without him?

“Uncle Ross!” Mason darted toward him.

“In the car,” Stacia ordered.

“But Uncle Ross is here.”

“You better do what your aunt says, kiddo. Because I’m coming with you.”

“You are?” Mason’s eyes grew wide.

“And the last one in the car is a rotten cow patty.”

“Ewww!” Mason bolted for the car.

Ross followed, caught Stacia’s eye. “You weren’t trying to get gone before I got back, now were you?”

“Of course not. I’ve come to realize you’re not that easy to get rid of,” she mumbled. “It just takes forever to get these two in sync.”

He eased his long legs