Baby Talk and Wedding Bells. Brenda Harlen

Chapter Three

      Cassie stood with her back against the counter as she lifted the last forkful of cheesy macaroni to her mouth.

      “You might be surprised to hear that I like to cook,” she said to Westley and Buttercup. “I just don’t do it very often because it’s not worth the effort to prepare a whole meal for one person.”

      Aside from the crunch of the two cats chowing down on their seafood medley, there was no response.

      “Maybe I should get a dog,” she mused. “Dogs at least wag their tails when you talk to them.”

      As usual, the two strays she’d rescued from a box in the library parking lot ignored her.

      “Unfortunately, a dog would be a lot less tolerant of the occasional ten-hour shift at the library,” she noted.

      That was one good thing about Westley and Buttercup—they didn’t really need her except when their food or water bowls were empty. And when she was away for several hours at a time, she didn’t worry because they had one another for company.

      But she did worry that she was turning into a cliché—the lonely librarian with only her cats and her books to keep her company. Since Westley and Buttercup were more interested in their dinner than the woman who fed it to them, she put her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, then went into the living room and turned her attention to the tightly packed shelves.

      The books were her reliable companions and steadfast friends. She had other friends, of course—real people that she went to the movies with or met for the occasional cup of coffee. But most of her friends were married now, with husbands and children to care for. It wasn’t that Cassie didn’t want to fall in love, get married and have a family, but she was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. The few serious relationships she’d had in the past had all ended with her heart—if not broken—at least battered and bruised. When she’d met Joel Langdon three years earlier, she’d thought he was finally the one. Three months after he’d put a ring on her finger, she’d realized that her judgment was obviously faulty.

      Thankfully, she was usually content with her own company. And when she wasn’t, she could curl up with Captain Brandon Birmingham or Dean Robillard or Roarke. But tonight, she reached out a hand and plucked a random book from the shelf. A smile curved her lips when she recognized the cover of a beloved Jennifer Crusie novel.

      She made herself a cup of tea and settled into her favorite chair by the fireplace, happy to lose herself in the story and fall in love with Cal as Min did. But who wouldn’t love a man who appreciated her shoe collection, fed her doughnuts and didn’t want to change a single thing about her? All of that, and he was great in bed, too.

      She sighed and set the book aside to return her empty mug to the kitchen. Of course Cal was perfect—he was fictional. And she wasn’t looking for perfect, anyway—she just wanted to meet a man who would appreciate her for who she was without trying to make her into someone different. He didn’t have to be mouthwateringly gorgeous or Rhodes Scholar smart, but he had to be kind to children and animals and have a good relationship with his family. And it would be a definite plus if she felt flutters in her tummy when he smiled at her.

      As she pieced together the ideal qualities in her mind, a picture began to form—a picture that looked very much like Braden Garrett.

      * * *

      Braden planned to wait a week or so before he tried out his library card to avoid appearing too eager. He figured seven to ten days was a reasonable time frame, and then, if he saw Cassie again and had the same immediate and visceral reaction, he would consider his next move.

      He’d been widowed for just over a year and married for six years prior to that, so it had been a long time since he’d made any moves. How much had the dating scene changed in those years? Were any of the moves the same? Was he ready to start dating again and risk jeopardizing the precious relationship he had with his daughter by bringing someone new into their lives?

      Except that Cassie was already in Saige’s life—or at least on the periphery of it. And by all accounts, his little girl was enamored of the librarian. After only one brief meeting, he’d found himself aware of her appeal. Which was just one reason he’d decided to take a step back and give his suddenly reawakened hormones a chance to cool down.

      But when he picked up his daughter’s clothes to dump them into the laundry basket, he found the red engine that she’d been reluctant to let go of at the train table earlier that day. He had a clear memory of prying the toy from her clenched fist and setting it back on the track, but apparently—maybe when he turned his back to retrieve her diaper bag—his daughter had picked it up again.

      Wednesday morning he dropped Saige off at his parents’ house, then headed toward his office as usual. But, conscious of the little red engine in his pocket, he detoured toward the library on his way. He’d considered leaving the train with his mother so that she could return it, but the “borrowed” toy was the perfect excuse for him to see the pretty librarian again and he was going to take advantage of it.

      For the first six months after Dana’s death, his mother hadn’t pushed him outside of his comfort zone. Ellen understood that he was grieving for his wife and adjusting to his role as a new—and now single—dad. But since Christmas, she’d started to hint that it was time for him to move on with his life and urged him to get out and meet new people. More recently, she’d made it clear that when she said “people” she meant “women.”

      He knew she was motivated by concern—that she didn’t want him to be alone. But whenever he dared to remind her that he wasn’t alone because he had his daughter, she pointed out that Saige needed a mother. Saige deserved a mother. And that was a truth Braden could not dispute.

      A real home with two parents.

      He shook off the echo of those words and the guilt that weighed on his heart. He wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone right now. He had neither the time nor the energy to invest in a romantic relationship.

      Getting some action between the sheets, on the other hand, held some definite appeal. But he knew that if he was just looking for sex, he should not be looking at the local librarian. Especially not when the woman was obviously adored by both his mother and his daughter.

      But if he took the train back to the library, well, that was simply the right thing to do. And if he happened to see Cassie MacKinnon while he was there, that would just be a lucky coincidence.

      * * *

      Cassie didn’t expect to ever see Braden again.

      Despite his request for a library card, she didn’t think he would actually use it. Men like Braden Garrett didn’t borrow anything—if he wanted something he didn’t have, he would buy it. And considering how busy the CEO and single father must be, she didn’t imagine that he had much free time to read anything aside from business reports.

      All of which made perfect, logical sense. What didn’t make any sense at all was that she found herself thinking about him anyway, and wishing he would walk through the front doors in contradiction of her logic.

      She tried to push these thoughts from her mind, annoyed by her inexplicable preoccupation with a man she was undeniably attracted to but wasn’t sure she liked very much. A man who wasn’t so very different from any other member of the male species who came through the library.

      Okay, that was a lie. The truth was, she’d never met anyone else quite like Braden Garrett. But there were a lot of other guys in the world—good-looking, intelligent and charming guys. Some of them even came into the library and flirted with her and didn’t regard her job as inconsequential. Rarely did she ever think about any of them after they were gone; never did she dream about any of them.

      Until last night.

      What was wrong with her? Why was she so captivated by a guy she’d met only once? A man who wasn’t only gorgeous and rich but a single father undoubtedly still grieving for the wife he’d lost only