The Borrowed Groom. Judy Christenberry

he muttered, “Thanks.”

      “Do you want me to dry your shirt more?” she asked, her breathing getting more shallow as she both feared and wanted to help him.

      “No! No, it doesn’t matter.” He took the cup towel from her hands, however, and rubbed it against his shirt.

      Her gaze was fixed on the motion of his hand. When it stopped moving, she looked up to find his blue eyes fixed on her face. More specifically, on her lips.

      As if he intended to kiss her.

      She thought she stopped breathing altogether.

      The girls tumbling back into the room, happiness exuding from them, broke the tension of the moment.

      “Melissa, Terri’s got three dollies!” Jessica announced with awe. Mary Anne nodded emphatically, holding up three fingers.

      “Really? How wonderful. May I see?” she asked, anxious to escape Rob’s presence.

      Terri eagerly led Melissa from the room. The two little girls, realizing they would be left with Terri’s dad, chased after them, calling for them to wait.

      When they returned to the kitchen, the sink was empty and Rob was gone.

      Melissa discarded the disappointment that filled her as ridiculous. “Um, I was going to ask your dad about a shopping trip tomorrow.”

      “Shopping?” Terri asked, her eyes widening with excitement. “Where?”

      “There’s a big mall in Wichita Falls that has everything. I need to buy things for the girls, and I thought you might need to shop, too.”

      Without another word to her, Terri headed for the door, shouting for her father. When she got an answer, she turned to Melissa. “I think he’s outside. Come on.”

      Melissa and the little girls followed her outside. Rob Hanson was sitting on the porch steps, his back to them.

      “Dad, Melissa has something to ask you,” Terri told him in a rush of words.

      Melissa watched as the man stood. He was so tall and strong, so…overpowering. She inhaled a deep breath and took a step forward, feeling the younger girls pressing against her legs, as if for protection.

      “Mr. Hanson, I’m taking the girls into Wichita Falls tomorrow to shop for some clothes. I thought maybe Terri would like to go with us. She would be a big help.”

      “Please, Dad, please,” Terri added almost before Melissa stopped speaking. “I have my birthday money, and I really need some new things. I’ve outgrown everything!”

      His frown didn’t look like approval to Melissa. Surely the man would understand his daughter’s need to—

      “Sure, baby, you can go. We probably need some things for the house, too, since we didn’t bring that much.”

      Melissa swallowed, not sure she should speak. But she did. “I talked to Abby earlier. She said if you needed to go with us, she could spare you one day.”

      He jerked his head around to stare at her. “Go with you? I can’t take off work to shop! That’s ridiculous.”

      Melissa figured she might as well go all the way. “She also said you could have an advance on your salary if you needed it.”

      He took a menacing step toward her. “I don’t need charity.”

      “No one offered you charity,” she assured him, her voice cold. “You’ll earn every penny Abby pays you. Ranch work is hard.” Like his body. She banished that thought at once.

      “Dad, it would be so great. If you came, I could get a bedspread and maybe some place mats, like Melissa has. We could have a real home.”

      Melissa knew nothing of their circumstances. Terri had mentioned her grandfather dying recently, but that was all. She watched Rob’s face in the stream of light from the kitchen. Clearly he was struggling with his decision.

      “Tell you what, baby, why don’t you and I go shopping tomorrow evening? We can eat out, make a night of it.”

      He put a heartiness into his words, to convince his daughter, but Melissa suspected Terri could hear the reluctance as easily as she could.

      To Melissa’s surprise, instead of accepting his offer, Terri turned a bright red and stared down at the porch. “Dad, there’s something…I need Melissa’s help.”

      “You can pick out place mats as well as she can,” he assured his daughter.

      Terri grew even more embarrassed. Melissa stepped closer to the young girl. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she wanted to help.

      “I need Melissa,” Terri said firmly, but she didn’t meet her father’s gaze.

      He turned to glare at Melissa, as if his daughter’s defection was her fault.

      She leaned closer to Terri. “What is it?” she said softly.

      Terri leaned over and whispered her problem in Melissa’s ear.

      Melissa bit her bottom lip, knowing the man towering over her was going to hate what she had to tell him. “Terri, why don’t you walk the girls back to the house and get them started on their baths. Your dad and I will be there in a second.”

      “Are you sure?” Terri asked, her gaze darting between her dad and Melissa.

      “I’m sure, honey. Everything will be fine.”

      Terri looked at her dad again, then took the little girls’ hands and hurried around him and down the steps.

      Melissa stood waiting until the children were out of earshot. Rob didn’t move, either, until they heard the door closing at Melissa’s house.

      “My daughter and I don’t have secrets,” he growled in a low voice.

      “It’s not a secret, Rob. But Terri finds it a little embarrassing to explain it to you.” She figured it was going to be a little embarrassing for her, too, but she was a mature adult.

      “What is it?”

      “Terri needs some new underwear.”

      “Hell, I’ve bought her underwear before. I don’t know why that would embarrass her. Did you put some silly ideas in her head? Is that why—”

      “She needs a bra.”

      Her words stopped his sputtering stone cold.

      Chapter Three

      Rob stared at Melissa, speechless. A bra? His little girl needed a bra? No! She was only…twelve, almost thirteen. Almost a teenager.

      “But she can’t…she’s too…what do I do?” He realized his mistake at once. He’d appeared vulnerable in front of Melissa. He stepped back as she moved forward.

      “Rob, it’s not that big a deal. If you go with us tomorrow, you can take the little ones for ice cream while Terri and I make a quick purchase. After once or twice, she’ll be able to shop by herself, if she needs to.”

      He should’ve been relieved. But he’d heard all she hadn’t said. She expected him to go on a shopping trip in the middle of the week with her and three children. She expected him to take the two little ones for ice cream. Most important of all, she expected him to act like a husband.

      “I can’t do that!” he returned harshly.

      “Okay.” Without waiting for an answer, she stepped around him, down the steps, and walked toward her house.

      “Wait!” he called, hurrying after her. She never broke stride, however, until he grabbed her arm. “What do you mean, okay?”

      “If you can’t go, you can’t go. I hope Terri can still go.”

      “Of