From Left Field: A Hot Baseball Romance (Diamond Brides Book 7) Read Online Free

standing…” She trailed off with purposeful delicacy.
    Mr. Reeves was no fool. He planted his mug squarely on the table, earning an inquiring look from Darcy, who watched eagerly from his spot in front of the stove in clear hope that a petit four would spontaneously leap from its plate to the floor. “Well, I’ll be honest with you,” the old man said. “Money’s important to Maggie and me. We’re fully retired now, and we’re not seeing regular income any more.”
    Haley heard the words, and she understood their meaning. Buying the farm had always been a stretch for Paws, and now she knew it would be a greater challenge than she’d first hoped. But Mr. Reeves wasn’t opposed to the idea of the animal shelter buying his farm.  
    She’d never backed away from a good fight before. And she wouldn’t give up now—not when her dreams for Paws could finally come true.
    ~~~
    Adam lurked in the kitchen doorway, reluctant to interrupt the conversation in there. Haley looked like she was dressed for some sort of boardroom meeting—navy pants and a soft white blouse that hinted at as much as it covered up.
    Shit. He shouldn’t be thinking about Haley that way. He wouldn’t have, if she hadn’t brought him that quilt last night. The light from the hallway had cut through the thin fabric of her T-shirt, outlining every inch of her body in a hell of a lot more detail than she’d ever shown him before.
    And he’d responded like he was still a teenager, like he was on some adolescent sleepover in her brothers’ room. He thought he’d covered his lap with the blanket before she’d seen. But there’d been nothing to disguise the way his throat tightened, the way his voice dropped about two octaves when he’d said her name.
    Jesus. This was Haley he was talking about. If he even thought about making a move on her, her brothers would kill him. Forget about her brothers— Haley would rip him a new one. Adam had been on the receiving end of her acid tongue often enough to know nothing would keep him safe if he was actually stupid enough to say out loud any of the thoughts that had kept him tossing and turning until morning.
    He should just back away from the kitchen slowly. Forget about Haley, at least forget about her like that , in her nightshirt. He should head upstairs, crawl back into bed, and pretend to sleep until she headed out to work.
    And he could have carried that off, too, if that damned dog Darcy hadn’t chosen that exact second to look up from his worshipful attention to the kitchen table. The beagle bayed a welcome that echoed off the room’s ceiling.
    “Darcy!” Haley snapped, but there wasn’t any heat to her tone. Her order seemed to remind Heathcliff that he might be missing out on some breakfast treat, and the living mop that was Killer wasn’t far behind. “Out!” Haley ordered all the dogs, pointing to the kitchen door. Adam barely had time to escape being bowled over by a couple of hundred pounds of canine starvation.
    So much for escaping. Old Man Reeves was staring right at him. Time to man up. “Good morning,” Adam said, walking into the kitchen like he hung out there every day of his life.
    Haley barely acknowledged his existence. “Grab yourself some coffee.”
    She wasn’t looking at him. Bad sign. The room must not have been as dim as he’d thought last night. Or he hadn’t been as fast as he’d hoped, covering his boner with the blanket. Jesus, this was worse than when he was thirteen. When he was thirteen, there hadn’t been Old Man Reeves sitting there, looking like he knew exactly what Adam was thinking.
    At least the other man broke the tension by saying, “Adam Sartain! Back home for the season?”
    “Yes, sir,” Adam said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. As he shook, he said, “Haley was kind enough to let me sleep in her guest room last night. My water heater’s on the fritz.”
    Reeves glanced from him to Haley, looking like he didn’t believe a