Patchwork Family in the Outback. Сорейя Лейн

or she wasn’t alone. Again. But surely it wasn’t...

      Harrison Black. Only this time he brought his children with him into the room.

      “Hey,” she said, standing up and stretching her back. “What are you guys doing here?”

      Harrison held up two bags, a smile kicking up the corners of his mouth. “We come bearing gifts,” he said.

      She grinned at the children as they stood close to their dad, both smiling at her. So this was his way of apologizing—coming back with something to bribe her with.

      “You’re not here to help me, are you?” she asked them, crouching down, knowing they’d approach her if she was at their level.

      It worked. Both children came closer, shuffling in her direction.

      “Now, let me try to remember,” she said, looking from one child to the other. “You’re Alex—” she pointed to the girl “—and you’re Katie, right?”

      They both burst out laughing, shaking their heads.

      “No!” Katie giggled. “I’m Katie and he’s Alex.”

      Poppy laughed along with them before glancing up at their dad. “I’m glad that’s sorted then. Imagine if I’d got that wrong tomorrow?”

      The children started to inspect her bits and pieces, so she moved closer to Harrison. She wasn’t one to hold grudges, and with two happy children in the room, it wasn’t exactly easy not to smile in his direction. Even if he had been beyond rude less than a few hours earlier.

      “So what’s in the bag?” she asked him.

      “A peace offering,” he replied, one hand braced against the door as he watched her.

      Poppy just raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

      “Dinner for us all.”

      Her eyebrows rose even farther at that. “Your idea or theirs?” she asked, hooking a finger in the kids’ direction.

      Harrison sighed, and it made her smile. She guessed he wasn’t used to apologies or to being questioned. “Theirs, but it was a good one, if that makes it sound any better.”

      Poppy was done with grilling him. “I’m just kidding. It’s the thought that counts, and I’m starving.”

      He held up the paper bags and cringed. “I just had a really bad thought—that you might be vegetarian.”

      She shook her head. “I’d like to be, but I’m not.” Poppy took the bags from him and placed them on an upturned desk. “I love that they still use paper bags here.”

      “Plastic is the devil, according to Mrs. Jones, so don’t even get her started on that topic.” Harrison stood back, letting Poppy inspect the contents. “Although she has an opinion about most things, so that kind of applies for any questions you throw her way.”

      Poppy laughed and pulled out the cake. “Now, this is what I call a peace offering!”

      A hand on her leg made her turn.

      “The cake was my idea.” Katie pointed at it. “Daddy said no, but...”

      “Uh-hmm.” Harrison cleared his throat, placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “How about you help Ms. Carter and I’ll head out and fire up the barbecue?”

      Poppy grinned and let Katie take her hand and lead her back to the pile of things she’d been working on.

      Harrison Black might be gruff and forthright, but his daughter had him all figured out.

      Poppy looked over her shoulder as he walked out the door, bag under one arm as he strode off to cook dinner. His shoulders were broad, once again nearly filling the doorway as he passed through. And she was certain that he’d be wondering why the hell he’d let his daughter talk him into coming back to help her.

      * * *

      Harrison was starting to realize he hadn’t planned this at all. They had no napkins, no plates and an old pair of tongs was his only usable utensil. His one saving grace was that the ketchup was in a squeeze bottle.

      He looked up to see his children running toward him. It was still light, but that was fading, the day finally cooling off. He usually loved this time, when he came in for the day and settled down with his kids. And he was thinking that tonight they should have just stuck to their routine.

      Poppy appeared then, walking behind his children.

      “They couldn’t wait,” she called out. “Their stomachs were rumbling like they’d never been fed!”

      He grinned, then tried to stop himself. What was it about this woman? She had him smiling away as if he was the happiest guy in the world, her grin so infectious he couldn’t seem not to return it.

      “Dad, is it ready yet?” Alex was looking up at him as if he were beyond starving.

      “We have a few technical issues, but so long as you’re okay with no plates and wiping your fingers on the grass—” he nodded toward the overgrown lawn “—then we’ll be fine.”

      Poppy came closer and took out the loaf of bread, passing a piece to each child. “Sounds fine to me,” she said. “Sauce first or on the sausage?”

      “Both,” Katie replied.

      “Well, okay then. Sauce overload it is.”

      Harrison tried not to look at her, but it was impossible. Even his children were acting as if they’d known her their entire lives.

      He knew he should be happy. A teacher who could make his children light up like that should be commended. But there was something about her that worried him.

      Because there was no going back from this. If she left, then...it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

      All he could do was get to know her and make sure he did everything within his power to convince her to stay.

      He cleared his throat and passed her the first sausage, which she covered with lashings of ketchup.

      If only he could stop staring at the way her mouth had a permanent uptilt, the way her eyes lit up every time she spoke or listened to his children or the way her ponytail fell over her shoulder and brushed so close to her breasts that he was struggling to avert his eyes. Because none of those things were going to help him.

      Just because he hadn’t been around a beautiful woman for longer than he could remember didn’t give him any excuse to look at her that way. Besides, he was sworn off women...for life.

      “So what do I need to know about Bellaroo?”

      Harrison blinked and looked at Poppy, her head tipped slightly to the side as she looked up at him.

      “What do you want to know?”

      * * *

      Poppy wrapped Alex’s sausage in bread before doing her own and joining them on the grass. It was parched and yellowed and in definite need of some TLC, but she didn’t mind sitting on it. Besides, it was either that or the concrete, so she didn’t really have a choice.

      “So what’s happened to this place? I mean, is it just that too many families moved away from here, or is there something else going on that I don’t know about?” she asked Harrison.

      He was chewing, and she watched the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, the strong, chiseled angle of his jaw as he swallowed.

      She needed to stop staring. For a girl who’d moved here to get away from men, she sure wasn’t behaving like it.

      “Are you asking me if the town is haunted? Or if some gruesome crime happened here and made all the residents flee?”

      Harrison’s tone was serious, but there was a playful glint to his eyes that made her glare at him mockingly.

      “Well,