Something's Gotta Give (Tempered Steel Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

typical arrogance, he promised her to be up and ready to go at first light. He had been. He couldn’t wait to get started on seducing the love of his life.
    He had walked with a spring in his step toward his mother’s kitchen from the “bunkhouse”, a structure on the property that had once held migrant workers, but the family had rehabbed into two apartments. If anyone thought it strange that grown men lived next to their parents, well, they hadn’t tasted his mother’s cooking.
    He sniffed the air as he got closer to the farmhouse. It smelled like she was baking a cake. Her cookbook was going to be a wonderful hit at the orchard store. He was sure of it. And he was smug in his belief that the next few days were going to be a piece of cake. He was going to seduce the girl of his dreams and win her heart. He had long ago figured out the way to Georgia’s heart was through those little ones she cared for, and he vowed to make himself as “kid friendly” as possible.
    He should’ve known what was coming when his mother, Ginny, had handed him a brown paper bag. He simply laughed when he saw what she had put inside. “Peanut butter and jelly? My favorite! Mom, you shouldn’t have.” He hugged her.
    “For energy, Chance. Believe me. You’re going to need it,” she told him solemnly. “And change those sandals and shirt. You’re not going on a date. T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes are what’s called for, especially around Caleb Frazer and Tyler Johnson.”
    He looked down at his pressed plaid shirt and golf shorts. “Okay.”
    “And remember, patience and perseverance, that’s the key to success.”
    He had laughed at her and her advice at the time. But he wasn’t laughing now. She had been right. It wasn’t even noon, and he was exhausted. Reaching inside the crumpled bag, he searched for the sandwich.
    He was dirty and tired and ached from head to toe. Literally. One of Georgia’s little “angels” as she called them, had accidentally cracked him in the forehead with a ball bat. He had received a kick to his shins when he had tried to break up a fight between two redheaded twins. He was still amazed that two little girls could go at it like that. They were girls, for Pete’s sake. Weren’t they supposed to be quiet, sweet, everything nice?
    Chance reflected back to the conversation he had earlier at the kitchen table that morning with his mom. Then he recalled the smirks Missy Dee and Georgia had given him when he had shown up and commented on the beautiful day. Those looks should’ve alerted him to the conspiracy . Keeping the true natures of the little beasts’ secret so he wouldn’t run for the hills. Well, the cat was out of the bag, now. Still, he didn’t think his mom would’ve sold him out like that, would she?
    He munched on the sandwich and looked across the yard at the children playing in the field near Georgia’s home. Counting heads, he then turned to the youngsters gathered under the tree. The same tree he had sat under, holding Georgia’s hand, back when she was fourteen and her momma had passed. Now she sat there in a chaise lounge, with her bandaged foot propped up by two pillows. Georgia held everyone’s attention, reading a fairytale to her captive audience. Chance grimaced in self-disgust. How could she command such attention with an injured foot when he was almost back to perfect health and totally unable to take control of fifteen small children?
    “And she looks so appealingly beautiful while doing it,” he mused as he watched her brush a strand of flame colored hair from her soft cheek. She glanced up and caught his gaze, blushing as she lowered her eyes.
    Chance wondered if she would always blush so prettily, even after they had been married for fifty years. He laughed silently at his thoughts. Words like love, marriage and commitment usually sent him running for the nearest door, but Georgia’s soft smile and loving care of these children made him think of church