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"You’re good enough And the sight of you refinishing my floors will be a balm to my soul" Now that Sam had the promise of rent money and cheap labor, some of his hostility had faded "We’ll try it out for a couple offor me, you’ll have to take the kid soht, damn it Six months" Sam poured more whiskey "My God," heto happen"

"The disaster’s already happened," Mark said curtly, and would have saidsound in the hallway

Holly caotten out of bed and was standing there with a bewildered, sleep-dazed expression A see, dressed in pink pajamas, her feet pale and vulnerable on the dark slate floor

"What’s theto her He picked her up--she couldn’t have weighedto hiht of her head on his shoulder, the soft tangled irl smell of crayons and strawberry sha tenderness

He was all she had

Just start by loving her…

That would be the easy part It was the rest of it he orried about

"I’ar-bee," Mark said "You need to sleep We’ve got a lot of busy days ahead of us"

Sam followed as Mark carried Holly back to her room The four-poster bed was fitted with a fra an assort her on the mattress, Mark pulled the covers up to her chin, and sat on the edge of the bed Holly was quiet and unblinking

Looking into her haunting blue eyes, Mark smoothed the hair back fro for her The force of his own emotions surprised hiive her the life she would have had But he would take care of her He wouldn’t abandon her

All of those thoughts, and more, flooded his mind But what he said was, "You want aze flicking briefly to Saainst the doorjamb

"Once upon a time," Mark said, "there were three bears"

"Two uncle bears," Saned, "and a baby bear"

Mark smiled faintly as he continued to s house by the sea…"

Two

The bell on the shop door jingled as the ie’s dreams walked in Or more accurately, he was thethe hand of a shter While the child hurried to look at a huge carousel that revolved slowly in the corner of the toy store, her father wandered in ht passed over dark hair cut in short, efficient layers, the ends curling slightly against the back of his neck As he passed a , he ducked his head to avoid colliding with it Hethe i at hi Maggie’s helpless interest, he glanced in her direction He had strong-boned, rough-edged good looks, and eyes so blue you could see the, there was no swagger in his of a five-o’clock shadow, and jeans worn to the point of raggedness, he was a little bit scruffy and a whole lot sexy

And he was taken

Tearing her gaze away froreat care, she restrung a few stretchy fabric loops