Lies of the Heart by Laurie LeClair Page A

he’d ever felt beneath his hands. “Tessa.” It came out on a groan. “Sunshine, I can’t give you more than I have inside me.” Nothing.
    Moisture gathered and clung to her lashes. “I know,” she whispered hoarsely. “You can’t love me. No one can.”
    An invisible hand squeezed his chest. “Shhh, now! Just because I don’t have any left, doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there for you.”
    She tried to laugh. Only a puff of air escaped. “My daddy murdered a man, Chance. My mother’s lover. Then he turned the gun on himself. Who in their right mind would want to get mixed up with me, the product of his craziness and her wildness?”
    Put like that he couldn’t disagree. He had first-hand experience at having to live with his own parents’ past. “Sunshine, I wish I could tell you it doesn’t matter, but we both know it does. Look at me, my old man got so drunk one night he froze to death on the railroad tracks. And hell, my mother killed herself by accidentally drowning herself in booze and pills.” He tried to stop the pain from entering his voice. He failed.
    Continuing, he said, “Why in God’s name you want a baby from me, I’ll never know. But, I give you my word, I’ll do it.” And I’ll support it, too. All the more reason for me to go after my dreams and make something of myself.
    She shifted so now her head rested on his shoulder. He pulled her closer, tucking her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. He buried his face in her hair. He swore the soft springy curls smelled of warmth and sunshine. “You feel so good,” he said his thoughts aloud.
    Sniffing, she said, “Granny doesn’t want me to have a baby by you. She even wants me to go see this doctor who will give me birth control pills.”
    “But you don’t want to, do you?”
    The shake of her head against him gave Chance his answer. Pulling back, she looked up into his eyes. Hers, clouded with tears, revealed the inner battle she fought. His heart lurched. “Oh, sunshine.”
    Grabbing the lapels of his suit jacket, she said, “She wants me to go along with you so you’ll get out of town. While you want me to marry you in order to be able to sell the pub and start your project for kids. But, what about me, Chance? Don’t I count here?”
    He groaned, and then swore.
    “And you two are trying to best each other with me in the middle.” It hit him then, she’d overheard the verbal tug of war. Something shriveled up inside him.
    “Tessa, about last night—”
    “Don’t bother explaining. I’m no prize either, I know that.”
    “That’s not true.” It came out fiercer than he’d intended. How could he convince her he’d exaggerated, even lied?
    She swiped a hand across her eyes, trying to stem the flow of fast-falling tears. The opportunity to right the wrong impression was lost when she spoke again. “I can’t trust you not to hurt granny. You may hate her, but I love her.”
    When he’d gotten the phone call about his granddad, he never thought it would be the beginning of all this. He didn’t want to get involved with Tessa or care about what the hell happened to her. But he did. And he didn’t want to be one more person in a long line that hurt her.
    He blew out another breath. “All right, she’ll never hear it from me about our secret meetings when we were growing up, all right? I wouldn’t want her to take it out on you.” And he meant it, with everything inside him, he meant it.
    Disbelief chased across her delicate features. Next came confusion. She seemed to be holding her breath when she asked, “Why?”
    With the utmost care, he used the pad of his thumb to gently wipe away her tears. Nearly choking on the words, he said, “Call me crazy, but I really don’t want her to know about us. Somehow—” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat, and then continued, “Somehow it would be like betraying us . Betraying those few precious times when we didn’t give a damn about the