The Accidental Encore Read Online Free

she packed a punch. He pushed away and went back into the
kitchen to check the timer on the lasagna. Thirty minutes. Well, if the
beautiful Ms. Allie wanted to stay for dinner, her timing was perfect.
    Craig took a seat at the kitchen table and opened his
laptop. Blackjack curled up under the window and went back to sleep. Craig
checked his email, fired off a few responses, made notes on his calendar for
project quotes, and clicked over to the design for the house that was his
current obsession.
    The challenge of the historic renovation had captured more
of his creative spirit than he’d thought possible. Not since the early years of
Archer Construction, now a small division of Bell Buildings International, had
he gotten this excited about a project. Of course, this wasn’t an Archer
Construction job, but an Archer Renovation. Both Archer companies had humble
beginnings; one had taken on a life of its own and had cost him everything. The
other had saved him when his world came crashing down.
    Leah pounded a sour note and brought Craig’s attention back
to the den and the women in the next room. It was getting harder to think of
Leah as a child. How had he not noticed the young woman blooming like a flower
in front of his eyes? The farther he ran from the past, the more he seemed to
count on some things staying the same: Leah and Mark.
    But Mark was on his honeymoon. His marriage would change the
way Craig popped in and out of this house on a whim. He wondered how Mark’s
marriage would change his relationship with the girl he considered his own now
slowly mastering a song on her mother’s piano. He felt relieved to shake off
his mood when the timer buzzed.
    He pulled the lasagna from the oven just as Leah and Allie
entered the brightly lit kitchen. He nearly dropped the pan before setting it
on the counter as that niggling thought that they’d met before tickled his
addled brain. He usually didn’t forget a pretty face.
    “Dinner’s ready,” he announced. “As you can see, we have
more than enough if you’re interested in joining us.”
    She’d folded her coat over her arm and had her bag over her
shoulder, pulling the material tight across her chest. He caught the tiniest
glimpse of white lace between the buttons of her beige top.
    “It smells wonderful,” Allie said. “Are you sure I won’t be
intruding?”
    Craig liked the sound of her voice, crisp with a hint of
smoke around the edges. “Wouldn’t ask if you were. Leah, do your uncle a favor
and set the table while I open a bottle of wine.” He chose a dusty bottle from
Mark’s stash in the built in Craig had designed. “Red okay?” he asked Allie.
    She raised her brows, and he was momentarily distracted by
the multitude of shades in her wavy hair. It wasn’t quite blonde and wasn’t
quite brown, but an interesting mix of both. “Don’t open it on my account. I’m
driving.”
    “Half a glass won’t hurt.” He shoved napkins and forks into
Leah’s hand and scowled when she rolled her eyes. “Besides, if Mark cooks like
he does everything else, we’ll need a little something to wash this down.”
    Her answering smile had his nerves on alert. Damn Mark for not
warning him the piano teacher was a looker. He’d at least have caught a quick
shower and changed his clothes. As it stood, he smelled like he’d spent the day
rolling around the lumberyard.
    He tossed the premade salad into a bowl, added the croutons
and dressing, and brought it to the table. When she turned to take a seat, he
noticed a fading bruise on her right cheek that she’d tried to hide with
makeup. An abusive boyfriend would undoubtedly explain Mark’s disinterest.
“Dinner is served.”

 
    Chapter 5
    Allie fought the nerves that had gripped her since she’d
walked into the house and spotted Craig in the foyer. Don’t blow this, she
reminded herself as she took a sip of wine from the glass he handed
her—with his ringless left hand. She glanced at him from under her