Chapter One

“Dark, Mommy. I scared.”

“I know, honey.” Her carryall slung over her shoulder, Lauren Spencer lifted her son out of his safety seat and cuddled him close. She inhaled his sweet toddler scent. “I don’t like it when the sun goes down this early in the day, either.” But that was late January in Texas. It was nearly always gloomy and cold at dinnertime.

Sighing, she headed for the front door of the charming cottage that would be their home for the next three months.

“But it looks like some of the lights are on inside.” At least the ones in the center of the home. “Sadie must have done that for us.”

“Sadie here?” Theo asked hopefully.

Lauren paused to punch in the code on the security keypad. A green light glowed, and the door swung open easily.

She stepped across the threshold, still holding her almost two- year-old son close. “I told her we’d call her when we arrived. We probably won’t see her until tomorrow.” Lauren paused, taking in the neat stacks of moving boxes lining both sides of the central living area. There appeared to be more in the kitchen and dining area beyond.

Plus, a couple of suitcases, three garment bags, a small pet carrier, a petite dog bed and a clear plastic storage container filled with canned goods, cleaning spray and paper towels.

What on earth was going on here? she wondered.

She’d been under the impression that the last tenant had moved out the week before. Surely they wouldn’t have left all their belongings behind!

Lauren reached for her phone, then stopped as the door to the backyard opened and an oh-so-familiar figure stepped through.

Sadie’s brother, Gabe McCabe.

It had been five years since they had seen each other. Five years since they had abruptly ended their engagement. And there was no denying it. He was still as ruggedly handsome as ever.

For a moment, Gabe went still, his big buff frame stopping right in its tracks. He stared at her, as if he could not believe his eyes, either.

Sensing something amiss, Theo tilted his head at her curiously. Waiting, it seemed, to see if the man opposite them was friend or foe.

The trouble was she had no idea.

Not these days, anyway.

A myriad of emotions rose within her, each fighting for dominance. Still, she managed to pull herself together and demanded icily, “What are you doing here?”

Gabe lifted a brow. “I could ask the same of you,” he retorted, his voice a deep Texas-accented rumble.

She tore her eyes away from the way his black knit shirt molded to the sinewy contours of his chest and taut abs. Shifting back to his strikingly chiseled face, her heart kicked into a rapid, uneven beat. “I was told I wouldn’t have to see you at all if I took the job with Sadie.”

His dark brows furrowed, his firm sensual lips thinning as his shoulders flexed beneath the open leather jacket. Despite herself, unease flickered through her as he regarded her with a breathtaking intensity. “Well, then, you’re ahead of me, darlin’,” he scoffed, sounding every bit as irritated and thrown off his game as she was. “Because I didn’t know you were planning to come to Laramie, period. So…once again, why are you and—?” His gaze dropped to her son.

“Theo,” Lauren supplied automatically.

“—here?” Gabe continued, clearly perplexed.

Aware her son was beginning to get a little bored by the conversation and would soon be clamoring to get down, Lauren tried to wrap things up. “I’m going to be working with Sadie on the menu for her new tearoom at Lavender Ridge. So, Theo and I are planning to stay here for the next three months.”

He did a double take, clearly shocked by the situation. “In Laramie?” he determined.

She slid him a look, wishing he weren’t still so big and strong and immovable. Not to mention sexy as all get-out. “In this house. Yes.”

He scowled. Clearly not liking that plan at all. “According to whom?”

If she’d thought five years of being a lawyer would have mellowed him, she’d been wrong. “Well, for starters, Sadie,” she retorted. Sadie, her college roommate from the University of Texas at Austin, who had been their matchmaker, cheering them on—at least until she and Gabe called off their engagement.

“My little sister’s wrong,” he retorted flatly. “This house is not available to rent.”

Now it was just getting plain ridiculous! “Really?” she shot back. “Then how about your father? Is Chase woefully misinformed, too? Because he’s the one who owns the property and offered me a lease, which I signed earlier in the week!” Shifting Theo to her other hip, she reached into her bag and pulled out a small red pickup truck and a fancy sports car, two of his favorite Matchbox toys.

She set him gently down on the sofa in the living room. Grinning happily, a toy vehicle in each hand, he began driving them back and forth across the top of the sofa cushions.

Gabe paused to send her son a tender glance, then swung back to continue their discussion, with businesslike aplomb. “For the record, both my parents own the property. And I made arrangements with my mother.”

Lauren searched for an advantage. “When?”

“Monday.”

Gosh darn. “Same here.”

So, if they both claimed the rental on the same day, what would differentiate their two deals?

She went still as the next thought hit. “Did you sign a lease?”

He remained silent.

Aha! Victory reigned. “So, then, the answer is no, you did not,” she concluded triumphantly, resisting the urge to do an end-zone dance.

“Doesn’t matter.” He dismissed her clear advantage with a frown, letting her know that, as always, when it came to the McCabes, family trumped all.

Or did it?

Lauren opened her mouth, but Gabe lifted a silencing palm before another word could escape. His mouth set and his gaze remained locked with hers, an emotion that was impossible to decipher in his midnight-blue eyes. “I need to be here. At least until we can work something else out,” he said, as if that absolutely settled it.

Wondering what in the world had happened to him in the years they had been apart—he had always been chivalrous to a fault—she asked herself, Why would he need this rental? “I thought you owned a house here in Laramie, as well as a law practice.”

Masculine amusement glimmered in his gaze. “Keeping tabs on me?”

Lauren ignored the fact that she might have occasionally been interested in hearing updates about the man she had once considered the love of her life. And even if she hadn’t been, his sister would have brought Lauren up to speed on what was going on with Gabe, anyway.

The fact he had a lot of female admirers these days.

And zero interest in getting married.

Or having a family.

Which put him in the discard pile as far as she was concerned.

Forcing herself to focus on the trouble at hand, Lauren edged closer to Theo, who was still playing quietly on the sofa. “Why don’t you stay at one of those two places if you’re in a jam?”

Once again, his glance drifted with unexpected fondness over her son before returning to her. “As far as work goes, I can’t stay overnight at the office building. It’s not allowed. And even if it were, there are no showers.”

That was true of most commercial buildings. “What about your home?” she pressed on, surprised at how easily they had slipped back into casual conversation. She had always imagined talking with him again would be harder. More awkward.

But here they were. Chatting as easily as if they had never been apart.

“I sold it last week, and closed on it Monday, although I didn’t have to be out of the house until today.”

“So, the cardboard boxes…?” She gestured at them.

He glanced thoughtfully in that direction, too. “All my stuff. Dropped off by the moving company this morning.”

Which explained everything but the pet carrier and what appeared to be a small dog bed. Gabe and everyone in his family had always loved dogs. But he had gravitated more to big ones, like retrievers and shepherds, not lap dogs.

He swung back to her, bracing his hands on his waist and pushing the open edges of his leather jacket back. “Maybe Sadie can put you and Theo up, temporarily, at Lavender Ridge,” he suggested. “Since you’re going to be consulting there, anyway.”

Trying not to notice how thick and touchable his dark hair still looked, Lauren shook her head in disagreement. Clearly, her memories of him hadn’t done him justice. Or accurately reminded her of how big and broad-shouldered he was. How flat his washboard abs. And lower still… Well, she did not need to be thinking about that! “Sadie, Will and the twins are bursting at the seams.”

“She has a guest room,” he reminded her.

“Not anymore,” Lauren countered coolly. “The twins were keeping each other up at night so they moved them into their own rooms, a couple of weeks ago.”

His glance narrowed. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

Refusing to feel the force of that much masculine confidence and testosterone ever again, she scoffed. “It seems like you weren’t aware of a lot of things, counselor.”

His gaze moved over her in another long thoughtful survey. “Look, I’ll put you and your son up in a hotel until we figure things out.”

“Or,” Lauren pushed back, “you could go stay with your folks. Or one of your three brothers.”

He shook his head, remaining as stubborn and infuriating as ever. “They are all full up, too.”

Okay, so… Pulse racing, Lauren drew in a deep enervating breath. Just because she had never imagined them coming face-to-face again, never mind here and now, did not mean she couldn’t handle this. “What about your parents?” Chase and Mitzy had two homes in the area: A big Craftsman in town as well as a ranch in rural Laramie County.

The corners of his chiseled lips turned down. “They’re in the midst of refinishing the wood floors at both their residences.”

Lauren blinked. “Simultaneously?”

“Yep.”

Lauren imagined the upheaval. “Why would they do that?”

“To get it over with as quickly as possible, while they are vacationing in Galveston. The work should be done in about a week, just in time for their return.” He got out his phone.

“So, back to a hotel for this evening…”

Before Lauren could reply, there was a rustling sound from what she had thought was an empty pet carrier. Gabe pivoted, moving swiftly and quietly, and crouched down just as a low heartrending whimper filled the living area.

Theo jumped up and ran across the sofa toward Lauren, his little arms outstretched.

She scooped her son up and held him close while Gabe tended to the whining animal.

“It’s all right, little fella,” he murmured. “I figured you would wake up before too long. Not to worry. I’m getting you out of there.” He lifted the pet carrier onto the coffee table. More whimpers ensued as he unlatched the wire door and gently brought out the most beautiful golden retriever puppy Lauren had ever seen. Perfect in every respect. Except for the cast that encompassed his entire right front leg. A bright blue elastic bandage wrapped snugly around it, across his chest, collarbone and around his back.

“Puppy, Mommy!” Theo said, wide-eyed with excitement.

“Yes, it’s a puppy,” Lauren murmured, though what Gabe McCabe was doing with this poor little thing, who apparently had been injured, was anyone’s guess.

“Be right back,” he said.

Holding the crying puppy securely between his palms, Gabe carried him outside. Still balancing Theo on her hip, Lauren moved closer so her son could watch through the window.

Exterior lights illuminated the fenced backyard as Gabe placed the pup on a towel next to a tree.

“What doin’, Mommy?” Theo asked, clearly enthralled.

“Good question.” She watched as Gabe encouraged the puppy to sniff the cloth. Once. Then again. “I think the puppy is going potty,”

She and Theo continued watching in silence as the puppy squatted, his midriff tenderly supported by Gabe’s big hands. He waited until the pooch had finished, then carried him back into the cottage, shutting the door behind him.

They made such a heart-warming picture, Lauren thought, as the pup snuggled against Gabe’s broad chest and looked up at him adoringly. One she never would have expected. *

Gabe hadn’t known if he would ever see Lauren again. Certainly not this way.

Had he not taken responsibility for the sweet injured puppy in his arms, he would have hightailed it out of there as soon as it became clear that they had both arranged to stay at the cottage.

But he had. And right now, the adorable little fella in his arms took priority for him, just as Theo did for Lauren.

“What name, Mommy?” Theo asked.

Lauren lifted a brow Gabe’s way. And in that instant, as their gazes clashed, he was hit with another lightning bolt of lust.

The kind of soul-deep want and need he’d always felt around her.

Which was yet another reason to keep up the walls between them.

“Bentley,” he said.

Hearing his name, the pup let out a little whimper as he looked imploringly up at Gabe.

“He needs his medicine,” he told them. “I’ve got to give him food and water, too.”

Gabe moved to put Bentley back in his travel crate, and the puppy whined again, even more emphatically.

“How can we help?” Lauren asked. “Do you want me to get things ready…?”

Yes, except that it would take longer to explain what she should do than for him to do it himself. “He had surgery a couple of days ago so…can you hold him for a second? Keep him quiet.”

Lauren nodded and carried Theo over to the sofa, settling him down before returning to Gabe’s side with her arms outstretched.

He made the transfer. “It won’t take long,” he promised.

“Mommy! I see?” Theo asked.

“Yes. But you have to be very gentle and quiet, though. See his owie?”

Theo nodded soberly. “Big.”

“Yes.” Lauren eased down on the center of the sofa, Theo to her right.

“I pet?”

“Let Bentley smell your hand first, sweetie. The way I taught you.”

Theo offered a closed fist.

Bentley’s nose lifted and his tail began to thump. The toddler smiled. “Good puppy,” he praised.

Reassured all was under control, Gabe took the vet supplies into the kitchen and returned with the medicine, food and water. He set a small shearling dog bed on the living room floor in front of the sofa and reached for Bentley.

Lauren handed him over, and both she and Theo watched as Gabe settled Bentley in the middle of the bolster-rimmed sleep cushion, offering the little pup everything he needed.

“Puppy hungry, Mommy.”

“Yes, he is.”

Theo patted her face. “I hungry, too!”

“I bet you are. Let’s go in the kitchen and see what Sadie left for us in the fridge…”

Gabe watched her negotiate with her son over the choices, of which there were many, finally settling on a toasted bagel with cream cheese, cut into bite-sized pieces, diced strawberries and banana.

She let him sit on her lap at one of the stools at the counter. “Where booster, Mommy?”

“In the SUV. We’ll get it when we need it. Speaking of which…” Lauren looked over at Gabe and the now-sleeping Bentley, wordlessly reminding him they had yet to come up with a plan of what came next.

“It’s clear now why you felt you needed to be here,” she said.

“Same with you,” he agreed. Remembering her practical streak was one of the things he had loved most about her.

“So,” she drew a deep breath, “given how late it is, what do you say we all stay here tonight? Theo and I will take the side with the two bedrooms and bath, and you and Bentley can stay in the master suite on the other side. We’ll share the common area, without infringing on each other’s space, of course.”

Could they do it? Should they even try, given how acrimonious the end of their relationship had been? Gabe wondered.

On the other hand, what choice did they have if they wanted to do what was best for their two little ones?

“Sure,” he finally said.

They could see how it went and take it from there.