Odd, but not unusual for her. She hadn’t made many friends since she’d moved to the island, and the ones she did know didn’t really know much about her. She kept things to herself.
And there was a secret about her that not even most of the people closest to her knew. She’d never been in love.
She’d been in pretty heavy-duty “like” a time or two. She’d known some very nice men and she’d had relationships. She’d even been engaged once. But somehow she’d always felt a little bit apart, as though she were an observer of her own talent at romance—and marking herself down critically every time.
Her engagement had been a high point. She’d really liked Freddy. He was fun and good-natured and liked to do many of the things she liked. His family was so nice. She could just see the trajectory of the life they would have together and it followed exactly what she would have expected for herself. It all fit. Why not? Why not go ahead and marry him and hope that it would all work out?
She became obsessed with pretending that she was in love. She tried so hard. But when he hugged her, she found herself craning to see what time it was. When he told her of his life plans, she found herself daydreaming instead of throwing herself into his ambitions the way she should have. And when he kissed her, there was no sparkle.
She told herself not to be so childish. Who the heck needed sparkle? And then she realized—she did. Just a little. Was that asking too much?
When they split up, she felt nothing but relief, and since then, she’d hardly given their relationship another thought. Looking back, she knew now that there had been very little love involved on either of their parts. There had been a longing for a regular, ordinary life, but it had very little to do with any strong emotional tie between them.
She just didn’t seem to have what it took to create a loving relationship, and she’d resigned herself to concentrating on her career. Now there was something she was good at.
She had finished half her piece of pie and was trying to decide if she was going to eat the rest. It was awfully good, but the calories! She’d always been on the slender side, but that fit figure wasn’t easy to keep that way. Pushing the plate away, she looked up at Jake instead.
“So you were telling me about living in a tent,” she reminded him.
“Was I?”
“Yes. And then you got annoyed when I said I could tell you were military.” She smiled. She was nothing if not helpful.
He gave her a disbelieving glance, but he willingly picked up the thread and went on. “I’ve been deployed mostly to Southeast Asia for the last couple of years,” he filled in. “We did a lot of living off the land. Subsisting on roadkill and taro root.”
She made a face. She didn’t know whether to take him seriously or not, but the humorous glint in his eyes was a pretty big hint. “Don’t they give you guys C rations anymore?” she asked tartly.
He leaned back and looked at her through heavy lidded eyes. “Now that would be giving away the military connection from the get-go, don’t you think?” he drawled.
She narrowed her eyes, refusing to let him intimidate her. “So you were working undercover, were you?” she said, pleased with herself for making the connection.
But his eyes turned a stormy-gray. “Not lately,” he said shortly. “I was doing some time in a terrorist prison camp—as a detainee. And believe me, we were happy to get taro root. It was the fat, squishy insects that made you gag.”
She gazed at him, not sure if he was still pulling the wool over her eyes or not. He seemed awfully serious. She decided to play along, regardless. “So that was why you said you had forgotten how to live like a civilized person?”
He nodded. “I felt I needed to get back in the groove. So I decided to try out all the modern conveniences I hadn’t ever used before, all at once.” His quick grin was self-deprecating and it left as suddenly as it had appeared. “Like I thought I could get the learning curve over with faster that way. As you can see, it didn’t work very well.”
“Okay,” she told him sensibly. “So start over, only this time do one thing a day until you’ve mastered it.”
He was shaking his head. “No time,” he said. “I’ve got to learn fast. I’m going to need it all very soon.”
She smiled. “Because you rented a nice little house with appliances?”
He didn’t smile back. “No. Something more important than that.”
She waited for a moment, but he didn’t elaborate. She couldn’t imagine what it might be, but she was curious. In fact, she was becoming more and more interested in this gorgeous, compelling man. There was no use trying to pretend. For the first time in years, she’d met a man who not only made her pulse dance, but made her think warm thoughts of all kinds.
Ordinarily that would make her back away and find an excuse to be somewhere else. But she couldn’t do that with Jake Martin. She was starting to wish she could think of a reason to ask him over for dinner.
Wait. She had the perfect reason.
His house had practically exploded that afternoon. He couldn’t go back there until something was done about the mess. So she wouldn’t feel hesitant about asking him over—even if it was to her sister’s house. She smiled again and waited for a chance to get an invitation in.
But meanwhile, there was the question of that important thing that made him want to learn how to run a house.
“Am I supposed to guess what it is?” she asked.
She was almost flirting now. Maybe she ought to hold that back for the time being. She’d forgotten how much fun it could be—that little surge of electricity as your eyes met his—that little bobble of excitement in your chest. Flirting. She was going to have to work on it a bit, but it could be an asset. She bit her lower lip and waited for an answer.
“No, of course not,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling. “Sorry to be so secretive, but there are reasons.”
“Go ahead,” she said recklessly. “You can tell me anything.”
He hesitated, looking at her as though trying to decide if he could trust her.
She smiled, trying to look trustworthy.
He shrugged. “Okay, I’ll tell you why.” He leaned forward so that he could speak more confidentially. “I’m about to become a father. And I’ve got to learn how to take care of my little girl as quickly as I can.”
CHAPTER TWO
SARA GAZED AT Jake, amazed. A little girl—just like Savannah. Funny how similar their stories seemed to be. Maybe he was adopting his little girl, the same way she was adopting hers. Or maybe—she glanced at his hand, looking for a ring and he noted her interest with a crooked grin.
“No, I’m not married,” he said. “But I do have a little girl and in a few days, she’ll be with me. I’ve got to be ready to take care of her. I’ve got to learn all this stuff.”
“Of course you do.”
She smiled at him. Finally there was a flicker of warmth in his eyes and it had to be because he was talking about his baby. She knew the feeling. She’d considered herself a career woman for years until Savannah had come into her life. And now her entire reality was totally focused on that child.
She leaned forward, wanting to know all about it but not wanting to seem too nosy. She thought of her own nine-month-old baby, and her smile widened. He was in for such joy if his experience was even half as rewarding as hers had been.
Savannah had been the child of her younger half sister. After Kelly died in a car accident, Sara had volunteered to take her. She’d been reluctant