Fugitive Fiancée by Kristin Gabriel Page A

trying not to wince every painful step of the way. “Think again, cowboy.”
    â€œDid you say something?” he asked as he held the door open for her.
    â€œI said thanks for giving up your bed.” She smiled sweetly at him. “I’ll take it.”
    Â 
    G ARRETT STRETCHED on the sofa and silently counted the chimes of the grandfather clock. Nine…ten…eleven…twelve. Midnight. He’d been lying herewide awake for almost two hours and wondering where he’d gone wrong. He had a beautiful woman in his bed. And he was on the sofa. Somehow, some way, he’d screwed up.
    He bunched the pillow under his head and turned onto his side, the lonestar quilt slipping off his shoulder. Hubert slept soundly on the rug in front of the fireplace. No doubt Mimi slept soundly, too, after the day she’d put in. Hell, she’d dozed off over supper. He smiled into the darkness, remembering how he’d moved her plate away just in time to keep her hair from falling into the ketchup.
    Then his smile faded. He was thinking about her too much. Way too damn much. She’d be gone in a day or two. Besides, she had a fiancé waiting for her out there somewhere.
    Just like he had a mother out there somewhere. Only she wasn’t waiting for him or his brother or sisters to find her. In fact, she’d made it almost impossible. How could one woman disappear so easily? LeeAnn Larrimore. A name as unfamiliar to him as the woman he’d once called Mama.
    The search for her had finally narrowed down to the last name on the list. A list that had started with the names of women who had given birth to fraternal triplets in Texas around the same time period and with the right sex: two girls, one boy. One by one, the other names on the list had been eliminated as possibilities. So had any other potential leads. That left only LeeAnn Larrimore.
    According to his research, she’d given birth to triplets at a free clinic in a town near Austin. She’d lived in Austin for a while, working in a grocery store untilshe’d been fired from her job. That’s when the trail had turned ice cold.
    He flipped onto his stomach and closed his eyes, willing sleep to overtake him. He didn’t want to think about the woman who had abandoned her children twenty-five years ago. And he definitely didn’t want to think about the woman sleeping in his bed. How her silky blond curls would spill over the pillow. Or the way her body would warm the white cotton sheets, imbuing them with her unique scent. He closed his eyes, imagining the soft, steady cadence of her breathing as she slept. Then he imagined waking her with a kiss. Sliding his hands under the sheets and touching her. Making her breathing quicken.
    â€œGarrett?” Mimi’s soft voice trickled over him in the darkness.
    His eyes shot open, his heart beating wildly in his chest. He took a moment to steady his breathing, then cleared his throat. “What?”
    She stepped into the living room. “Are you awake?”
    â€œYes.” He sat up, the quilt falling down around his hips. He shifted it slightly to hide the evidence of his desire. Then he saw her gaze drift to his bare chest and linger there.
    â€œDid you want something?” he asked, his voice sounding rougher than he’d intended. Of course, Mimi didn’t help matters by looking so damn delectable. The woman had invaded not only his barn and his house and his bed, but his closet, as well. She wore an old T-shirt of his for a nightgown, the hem barely reaching mid-thigh. It revealed her long, slender legs, and he caught the faint scent of apples as she walkedinto the living room. She’d taken a bubble bath before supper and obviously found his sister’s stash of scented bath products.
    Garrett’s breath caught as she moved closer to him, her blond hair gleaming in the soft glow of the fire. The shadows dancing in the room made it impossible to see