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She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee and looked out at the land she had been unable to see last night. A big barn was at the back of the house.
It was then she saw Lucas bundled up, riding a snowmobile, his wagon empty of hay. Looked like she’d missed out on feeding the cattle with him.
He drove the snowmobile up to the barn and she watched as he stepped off and sank in the snow. Trudging through the white powder, he went into the barn. A few minutes later he came out with snowshoes keeping him from sinking down too far into the snow.
Quickly, he detached the wagon and pulled it into the barn. Walking toward the house, his head was bent to shield his face from the wind as he hurried.
She heard him enter, but there must’ve been a mud room between the outside door and the kitchen. A few minutes later, he walked in. All six feet of him. His nose and cheeks were red from the cold, but his big brown eyes twinkled when he saw her.
“Good morning. How are you feeling?”
“Good,” she said. “No headache. Not even any body soreness.”
“That’s good,” he said. “Did you sleep all right?”
The stress from yesterday must have gotten to her because she had slept soundly. Not even her fear of Lucas coming into her room had kept her awake. And now all she could do was gaze at him and realize that his sandy hair, deep brown eyes, and rugged jaw with a straight chin made him gorgeous.
“Yes, very well,” she said. “I wish we’d thought to bring my suitcase.”
A smile spread across his face. “Well, I was thinking that maybe we should take the snowmobile out to the highway and check on your car, put a note in it for the highway patrol, and retrieve your suitcase.”
Hope filled her. “We could do that?”
“Sure,” he said. “I don’t think the truck would make it back through the snow, but the snowmobile could make it. Once the storm passes, I’ll take the tractor and plow the drive. But right now, there’s no point until this storm ends.”
Standing in the kitchen, she couldn’t help but feel grateful that she was safe and warm. And while she still didn’t trust Lucas one hundred percent, she was fairly certain he was a good man. Though she still had some questions about him and his family and wanted to get to know him.
“Let me cook you some breakfast and then we’ll get going. Though you’re going to need some warmer clothes.”
He gazed at her body. “You might be able to wear my sister’s winter clothes.”
“You have a sister?”
He sighed. “I did have one, but she’s gone just like the rest of my family.”
Turning toward the stove, he was silent, and she realized talking about his family seemed to cause him pain.
Taking a sip of her coffee, she shook her head. “Why are you being so good to me?”
Whirling around, he took a step closer to her, and her heart beat faster in her chest.
“You deserve to be treated well. You’re a guest in my home. You’ve had a bad couple of days and we all need help now and then,” he said, reaching out and taking her hand. A trickle of awareness spiraled through her and she sighed. “You go get dressed. I think you can just pull Grace’s snowsuit over your street clothes. I’ll fix us some breakfast. How do you like your eggs?”
No man had ever treated her this way and the skeptic in her thought it was all a big act. The skeptic in her was waiting for him to make his move, but she didn’t believe he was going to try anything. In her eyes, he was becoming more and more of what he said he was. A good man.
“Over medium,” she said.
“Coming right up,” he replied and whirled back to the stove.
Releasing his hand, she walked to the bedroom. She’d just gotten out of one bad relationship and it was hard to believe that fate had landed this man in her lap. And she was having a hard time accepting that he was worthy.
Her fingers and toes were crossed that he was the man she saw and not some monster.
All of the guys she’d been interested in had started out as good men, and somewhere along the way, she quickly learned they were liars and cheaters. What was it about her that seemed to attract men who like to deceive her?
How was Lucas deceiving her?
CHAPTER8
