Cooking Up Romance. Lynne Marshall

of snapping at Emma for letting the cat out of the bag, like some parents would, Zack tossed Lacy a hopeful look. “Emma really wants to learn how to cook, and…”

      Who needed to think about such a sweet offer? “I’d love to.”

      Emma clapped, then rushed to hug Lacy’s waist tight, just like the other day.

      “Of course, I can’t exactly teach her how to cook here.” She used her hands to motion around the construction site and toward her truck under the trees.

      “Right,” he said. “We were hoping you might be available Saturday afternoon?”

      Saturday afternoon—wasn’t that a family kind of day? Where was his wife, and why wasn’t she teaching Emma to cook? Did he have one? A wife? No ring. Maybe for safety reasons, he left it off at work. But his daughter seemed starved for female attention. However, Saturday afternoon didn’t exactly fall into dating time zone, and any dates Lacy had ever gone on had not so far included a child, a mystery wife or cooking lessons. Still, she looked forward to getting to know both of the Gardners better. “Would you like to drop her off at my house?”

      Those sexy, sleepy-looking eyes studied her carefully. “Would you consider coming to ours?”