* * *
Relieved to find his daughters safe and the puppy no longer running loose, Connor let out an audible whoosh of air. The girls had darted away so fast he’d lost sight of them for a few terrifying minutes. Anything could have happened in that amount of time. The possibilities made him shudder.
Thankfully, nothing bad had occurred.
No doubt the woman standing beside the twins had played a large part in that. Gratitude nearly had him stumbling over his own feet.
He locked his gaze with hers and felt the blow of shocked recognition like a punch to his gut. His feet ground to a halt far too close to her. He took a step back. “Olivia?”
“Hello, Connor.” She gave him a slow, tentative smile that was a little shaky around the edges and yet devastatingly pretty. Ethan’s baby sister was all grown up.
“Hello, Olivia.” His voice sounded rusty and slightly stunned.
Who could blame him for his reaction? He had no way of knowing the shy, awkward teenager would become a woman of extraordinary beauty. How could he have known?
Olivia hadn’t come home since taking a job in... Connor couldn’t remember where. Somewhere in the South, he thought, but the specific location escaped him. It was possible Ethan had never told him. His medical partner was a man of few words.
Therein lay the problem. If Ethan had told Connor more about his sister, he would have been better prepared. Instead, he was stuck staring, struggling to reconcile his memory of the girl Olivia had been and the woman she’d become.
Little Olivia Scott had become a very attractive woman. The doll-like features had matured considerably. Her thick, mahogany hair hung in loose waves past her shoulders now.
A snarl of multilayered, complicated emotions surfaced, urging Connor to turn around and forget he ever ran into her today.
“Daddy?” Megan moved to him, tugged on his hand. “You know this lady?”
Connor shook himself free of Olivia’s gaze and focused on his daughter. Sometimes it hurt to look at either of the twins. Both girls resembled Sheila. They had her same small build, delicate features and light blond hair.
Their eyes, however, were all his. Mitchell eyes, a trait that had been passed down through several generations. Or so his mother always said.
That wasn’t the point.
What was the point?
“This is Olivia,” he said at last, glancing back at her. “Miss Olivia Scott.”
“Scott?” Molly’s forehead creased in puzzlement. “Like Dr. Ethan?”
“That’s right.” Olivia answered his daughter before Connor could. “I’m Dr. Ethan’s little sister.”
Not so little anymore, he thought. Not only had the round, girlish features matured, but her voice had deepened since he’d last seen her. It was husky now, somehow softer, an appealing alto that made him think...
What?
Feeling slightly ambushed, Connor took another step back. Away from the sweet kid who was no longer his best friend’s off-limits little sister, but a grown woman.
It felt wrong even noticing.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Megan bobble the squirming puppy. Welcoming the distraction, Connor reached out, catching the reckless mutt midair before tucking him under his arm like a football.
“Olivia. These are my daughters.” He angled his head to the right, “Molly, and—” he hitched his chin to his left “—Megan.”
“We’re twins,” Molly told her with no small amount of pride.
Olivia nodded. “I noticed.”
She gave the girls a warm smile, but Connor noted she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. Her breath was coming a little too quickly. She seemed nervous.
Because of him?
He cleared his throat.
“And this scoundrel—” he jiggled the puppy, earning him a happy yip “—is Samson, the newest member of the Mitchell household. He slipped out of his collar, which, as you can see, is still attached to this.” Connor lifted the leash in his other hand. “Apparently, I failed to cinch the buckle tight enough.”
“Ah.” Olivia reached out and scratched the puppy behind his ears. “I’ve never seen an animal this short and...um...round move quite so fast.”
“He’s fat but has lots of hidden moves.” Most of which Connor could live without.
The puppy had been his daughters’ idea and an added responsibility to his already full life, especially now that he and Ethan had discussed expanding their practice to include Saturday hours and two evenings a week.
Even without the added workload, as much as the girls tried to take care of their new dog, and they did try, they simply had no experience with pets. The bulk of the responsibility fell on Connor.
Dropping her hand, Olivia studied the puppy with laughing eyes. “I can only imagine what this little guy is capable of when you turn your back.”
Connor could give her a dissertation on the topic. “You have no idea.”
They shared a smile solely between them. For a brief moment, Connor felt the tension drain from his shoulders and the ache in his heart loosen just a bit. The sensation left him oddly shaken, as had this entire meeting.
He cleared his throat again.
Although the shyer of his two daughters, Megan moved in close to Olivia and tugged on her arm. “You’re very pretty.”
“Well, thank you. So are you.”
“What about me?” Molly asked, squirming in next to her sister.
Eyes crinkling at the edges, Olivia pretended to consider the question carefully. “You are easily as pretty as your sister.”
Both girls laughed.
Connor did, too. For the first time in days—months—he wasn’t worried about tight schedules, or running late, or forgetting something important. The girls were safe. The puppy found. And Olivia Scott was back in town.
Chapter Two
Standing close enough to make out the warm blend of bronze, amber and gold in Connor’s eyes, Olivia quietly studied him. Sure, he was good-looking. Really good-looking. But that wasn’t the reason for her sudden silence. It was the inexplicable desire to offer him comfort, as if she could somehow provide him with a place of rest from the outside world.
That made no sense.
The man was in the prime of his life. Strong, athletic, capable. Yet Olivia detected a hint of sorrow in him, a sorrow she understood all too well.
The slight sting she felt in her heart she attributed to missing her parents. Even now, over ten years after their car accident, the pain was still with her, would probably always be with her.
Did Connor suffer something similar?
How could he not? He’d lost his wife to cancer.
Olivia wished she could soothe away his grief, as he’d once done for her that day after her parents’ funeral.
Did he remember the momentary solace he’d given her with his kind words?
Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia could see his daughters watching