for-the-moment kind of man. They made no demands on him and held no expectations beyond the evening’s events. If he was lucky—and he often was—he managed to get them to share their carefully guarded assets. And when they did, they gave willingly, expecting nothing in return. And he liked it like that.
But that same wariness clouding Geneva’s normally bright, open features seemed out of place on her. Something told him it was a maternal reaction…a reaction borne of concern for her son more than for herself.
For the first time in many years he found himself wanting to shatter the illusion he’d so carefully crafted. But he couldn’t do that, couldn’t expose his true self, especially not to a home-and-hearth kind of woman like Geneva. The stakes were too high for him to let her see the person he kept hidden away from public scrutiny. If he let down his guard, he might find himself wanting what he’d been denying himself ever since…
Wade gritted his teeth. There was no use mulling over the past or the probability that it might be repeated for him in the future. But despite all this, he couldn’t stop himself from proclaiming, “I’m not as bad as you think. I even go to church on a fairly regular basis.”
The furrow between her eyebrows disappeared, and a broad smile spread across her face, forming dimpled brackets on either side of her mouth. “Really? I’ve been looking for one in this area. Jacob and I would love to go to your church on Sunday.” She removed a rumpled tissue from her skirt pocket, wiped the chocolate from her son’s hands and drew him toward the door Wade had unlocked earlier. “Perhaps you could introduce us to some of your friends.”
Wade felt like a bobcat treed by a Chihuahua. Feeling cornered and scared, and a little foolish that such a tiny woman could elicit these emotions in him, he contemplated all the trouble that had arisen since she’d moved in. First, she’d sent his libido into overdrive despite the fact that she embodied every quality he tried to avoid in a woman. Then, thanks to her door wreath that spelled out an open invitation to a pair of family-minded birds, she had cost him his privacy. And now she was working her way into his personal life. He’d better do something about this latest development, and somehow put her out of his reach, before his heart and hormones overruled his head.
Propelling Jacob into her apartment with a light pat to the boy’s bottom, she flashed Wade a warm, open smile that nearly undid years of carefully constructed armor. “I’ll see you at church.”
And that was when Wade knew what he would have to do.
Chapter Two
Geneva hoped to take Jacob to the toddler-age Sunday-school class without either of them crying. He’d had a lot of changes in his young life, first losing a father—bum that he was—and then moving to a whole new community. There were some positive changes, too, such as the wide-open yard for him to play in and a new friendship with Sean, who doted on the boy and took him for rides on his golf cart. But the changes, both good and bad, were creating stress, and her son had become slightly clingy in the past few weeks.
His reaction had made her more resolved than ever to find just the right house for Jacob to grow up in. The only child of a military man, Geneva had gone through more than her share of uprootings, and she wanted to give her son the kind of stable home environment she had longed for as a child…and still wanted.
And while she was dreaming, her idea of the perfect upbringing for her son included a strong and loving father and a handful of siblings. She’d gone into her relationship with Les harboring this same dream for their future. Although she’d seen evidence of his party-boy ways, she had believed him when he’d told her that her happiness was his foremost concern. She’d thought he would settle into family life after Jacob was born, but he soon found more excuses to be away from the house. Away from her and his child.
“You really didn’t need to drive us to church,” she said as Wade pulled his car into the parking lot. “We could have met you here.” All weekend long, she’d had to impose on him to answer the door each time they’d needed to enter or exit the apartment through his house. And on the one occasion they both had to go out, he’d hidden a key in the hanging basket of begonias that adorned the broad front porch. It was a hassle doing it this way, no doubt about it, but she had no desire to encourage any more togetherness than was absolutely necessary.
“It’s no bother. Because of the rain, I doubt we’ll have any but the most diehard golfers at the course this morning.” He looked at her strangely, as if something was on his mind, but he only sighed and added, “Sometimes I have to miss church, especially when it’s sunny and mild, but now that you know the way…”
Then she understood. He was saying, in essence, after this you’re on your own. He was doing the hospitable thing today, bringing her here and introducing her around, but he was making it clear this was not to become a habit. Well, that was perfectly okay with her.
Once inside, Sean and Jacob walked ahead as Wade led Geneva past the adult classes, the high-school class, and eventually stopped at the fifth-grade room.
“I want to get Jacob to the nursery.” Her gaze remained fixed on Sean, who was making faces at her laughing son as they waited for her and Wade to catch up.
Wade straightened his tie before answering. “There’s someone I want you to meet first. Sean, why don’t you take Jacob to the nursery for Geneva?”
Her protective instincts kicked in as she imagined her son feeling helpless and abandoned in a new place. “But I was going to take him.”
Oblivious to her concern, Jacob grasped the older fellow’s coattail and left without a backward glance. She supposed she should have been glad he went along so easily, carefully dodging Sean’s crutches, but instead she felt as though she’d been forgotten in the excitement of the moment.
“He’ll probably cry,” she protested. And if he did, who would hold him and comfort him until his tears dried?
“It’s better this way,” Wade assured her. “Kids are less likely to cry when they leave Mom than when Mom leaves them. You can check on him through the two-way mirror when we’re done here.”
“Since when did you get to be an authority on children?” she muttered. She hadn’t intended for him to hear her grousing, but the upward quirk of his mouth told her he’d caught it all.
“Since I helped raise my younger brother,” he replied.
Before she could respond, a dark-haired man in his early thirties appeared at the classroom door. “May I help you?”
A roomful of eleven-year-olds studied them with keen interest.
“I’d like you to meet Geneva Jensen,” Wade said without preamble. “She and her son are visiting our church for the first time today.” Then, finishing the introduction, he pulled her by the elbow so that she was positioned squarely in front of the man. “Geneva, this is Deacon Tackett.”
Geneva smiled shyly. If ever she’d felt put on the spot—on display, even—it was now. But she appreciated her landlord’s friendly gesture, so she would just tough it out.
The gentleman before her seemed to sense her discomfort. After switching a bit of chalk to his left hand, he shook her hand and smiled warmly. It was a pleasant expression set against an attractive backdrop of dark eyebrows, aquiline nose and slim cheeks that carried what she suspected was an ever-present shadow of beard, and it went a long way toward making her feel welcome.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” he said. “I hope you’ll like your visit enough to return and perhaps become a member of our congregation.”
She was about to murmur a polite reply so they could excuse themselves gracefully, but Wade seemed determined to prolong the awkward conversation.
“The deacon teaches Sunday school to fifth-graders,” he said, stating the obvious. “He really likes kids a lot…always organizing youth trips and having pizza parties for them.”
“No need to be