More Than a Mistress by Leanne Banks Page B

stuff?”
    â€œYes. You want another bath?”
    He shook his head adamantly, then his face lit up and he hopped off the sofa. “Uncle Daniel!”
    â€œHey, sport.” Daniel crouched in front of Luke and gave him a hug. “I came to take you home.”
    â€œDo I get to sleep at your house?”
    He shook his head. “No. I’m taking you to Carly’s, and I’ll stay with you till she gets there. Her afternoon appointment ran late.”
    After all her reservations about keeping Luke, Sara suddenly felt reluctant for him to leave. “He can stay here if you need him to. I’ve got his medicine and everything.”
    Daniel shrugged. “It’s no problem. I thought we might watch a basketball game together.” He nudged Luke. “Besides, he’s family.”
    Luke beamed, and Sara’s heart twisted. “Of course. Well, let me get his things together.” She bustled around, avoiding Daniel’s thoughtful gaze.
    Within a few minutes they were all standing at her front door.
    Daniel lowered his voice. “Are you okay?”
    Startled that her mixed emotions were showing, Sara nodded emphatically. “Of course.”
    He frowned. “You seem kinda upset.” She gave him her best smile. “I’m not,” she said, unsure of what her feelings were at the moment. She handed a small bag to Luke. “Here are your cookies. Since you helped make them, I thought you should have some. Just don’t eat them all at once.”
    Luke peeked into the bag and grinned at her.
    â€œThanks, Sara.” He hugged her legs, and she reached down to return the spontaneous gesture, feeling her throat tighten up.
    â€œThank you. I hope you feel better soon.” She stood and handed another bag of cookies to Daniel. “Sorry it’s not dinner.”
    â€œYou could always give me a rain check.” Drawn to him much more than she wanted to be, Sara shook her head. “I’m giving you the cookies so you won’t get nasty.”
    â€œHey,” he said, his eyes full of laughter, “I could get nasty if I don’t get dinner. I’m a hungry man.”
    He was flirting. Straight-arrow Daniel Pendleton was trying to finagle a dinner from her with a flirty remark and a hot and heavy glance from those killer violet eyes of his. To her chagrin Sara found she wouldn’t mind giving him dinner and a little more.
    Mustering all her restraint, she opened the door and sweetly suggested, “If you’re that hungry, then by all means stop by McDonald’s on your way home.”
    â€œMcDonald’s doesn’t have what I want, Sara,” he said in a low, silky voice. “I’ll wait for that rain check.”

Chapter Five
    Daniel stared at the roses in the florist’s window. He’d spent the last two days with Sara sitting firmly in the back of his mind. She joined him for breakfast. She was there when he worked in the fields. She crossed her legs and watched while he talked with his brothers. And she was there in the damned red silk slip when he went to bed.
    He’d spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure her out. Unless his ego was talking, it was that old cliché “Your lips say no, no, but your body says yes, yes.” She was susceptible to him. He knew it in his gut. She wanted him. It seemed that all she needed was a gentle shove and she would go right over the edge.
    He grinned. And he would catch her.
    Her nutty reasoning about why she couldn’t get involved with him came to mind. Impatience sliced through him, and he felt his grin contort into a scowl.
    The shopkeeper poked his head out the door. “Are you trying to make my roses wilt?”
    Daniel felt self-conscious that he’d been caught. “No. I’m just looking. It’s no crime to look, is it?”
    The shopkeeper pushed back a strand of white hair on his balding head. He must have sensed a prospective