The Stranger's Sin by Darlene Gardner

tantalizing contrast to his masculine features. Her breath caught and for a crazy moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. But then he stuck out a hand.
    She took it, and a bizarre sensation hit her like tiny fingers dancing over her skin.
    “I’m sorry about all those questions last night,” he said. “If I don’t see you again, thanks. For everything.”
    He was dismissing her, she realized. He held on to her hand for a few moments longer. Or maybe she was the one doing the holding. Then he let go and she felt…bereft. And guilty as hell for convincing him she’d told the truth about Mandy.
    When he was gone, she attached the suction toy she found on the kitchen table to Toby’s high chair, taking in his oatmeal breath and the lingering smell of baby powder.
    “What do you think, Toby?” she asked him while he played with the colorful toy’s spinning, sliding, blinking shapes. “Am I a terrible person? And did you see mealmost drool when he shook my hand? I mean, he’s hot, but really.”
    “I don’t think you’re a terrible person because you think my son’s hot.” Charlie Bradford said, grinning at her from under the archway that led to the kitchen.
    Kelly’s face suddenly felt so warm it was as if she’d fallen asleep under a tanning lamp. “I didn’t know you were there.”
    “You can find out the darnedest things by eavesdropping on people talking to themselves,” he said, obviously unaware he’d misinterpreted at least one of her comments.
    “Chase just left.” She changed the subject, hoping he’d let what she’d said drop. “I offered to stay so you could sleep in.”
    “Thanks, but my alarm spoiled that plan.” He walked over to Toby and stroked his blond head. “’Morning, buddy.”
    “How are you feeling this morning?” Kelly asked.
    “Foolish.” He went to a cupboard and pulled out two mugs. He held one up to her. “Coffee?”
    “Please.” She added that she liked it with cream but no sugar. “And don’t feel foolish. I think it’s a common mistake.”
    “That’s what they told me in the E.R.” He poured the coffee and added the cream. “But I still can’t help feeling my son is a heartbreaker while I’m a heartburner.”
    So much for trying to change the subject.
    “I’m too smart to get my heart broken by a man who’s involved with someone else, Charlie.”
    “Chase isn’t involved with anyone else,” he denied.
    “Not even the mother of his son?”
    “Toby’s not Chase’s son.”
    “But the clerk at the B and B said…” Kelly’s voice trailed off, trying to remember exactly what the friendly woman had said after Kelly asked for directions to Chase’s house. “She said Mandy moved in with Chase when she got pregnant.”
    “She didn’t mean pregnant with Toby.” Charlie carried both coffee mugs to the kitchen table, then sat down beside her. Toby was happily occupied with the toy. “Chase and Mandy met earlier this year. She lived with us until her miscarriage.”
    Kelly shoved aside the momentary guilt that she was about to ply Chase’s father for information about his son. “So he’s not in love with her?”
    “Never was. But you’ve got to understand something about my boy. He always tries to do the right thing. So when Mandy told him she was pregnant, he stepped up. I’m sure he would have asked her to marry him.”
    Kelly drank her coffee, thinking about Chase doing the honorable thing. She couldn’t quite believe he didn’t have feelings for Mandy.
    “If he doesn’t love her, why is he looking for her?”
    “To get her to sign over custody of Toby,” Charlie answered. “I’m praying she turns up soon because otherwise he’s got this fool notion that he needs to go to DPW and do everything nice and legal. It seems his conscience gets heavier whenever anybody asks about Mandy.”
    “But you and Chase don’t have any blood ties to Toby,” Kelly said. “If you go to DPW, you could lose him.”
    “That’s what I told