McKenna's Bartered Bride

She wasn’t well.

In an attempt to tear her gaze away, she gestured to the baked goods on display beneath the glass-topped counter. “Can I interest you in a homemade pie, Mr. McKenna?”

He shifted closer. “Actually, I came in to talk to you about something.” His gaze settled to her mouth, to her neck, to her shoulders. “Something important.”

Josie’s breath hitched. She definitely wasn’t well.

“Well,” she said, clearing her throat of the bothersome little frog that seemed to have gotten stuck there. “I mean, what did you want to talk about?”

“It’s a private matter.”

She gestured to her empty store. “It doesn’t get much more private than this, Mr. McKenna.”

His gaze swung to Kelsey, and Josie understood. Trying on a smile that felt a little stiff, she said, “I’m afraid I don’t get complete privacy until after Kelsey goes to bed at eight.”

He gave her that assessing, calculated look again. And then he said, “I’ll come back later. After she’s in bed. You live in the apartment above the store, right?”

“Er, I mean, yes. Yes, I do, but I don’t think—” For heaven’s sake, she was staring into his eyes again, wondering if he ever smiled. Her cheeks grew warm. If she wasn’t careful, a blush was going to rise to her face. It might help if he would look someplace else.

As if in answer to her prayers, he reached into his back pocket and drew out his wallet. “I’ll take all four loaves.”

“Pardon me?”

“That homemade bread. It is for sale, isn’t it?”

Jasie came to her senses with a start. “Yes. Yes, of course.” She scrried around the counter and took the bread from the window display. Pleased to have something constructive to do, she placed the loaves in a bag and pressed the appropriate keys on her old cash register.

“That’ll be...”

He handed her a twenty before she could name the total. With a tug on the brim of his hat, he headed for the door.

“Don’t forget your change, Mr. McKenna.”

He tnrned around slowly, moving with an easy grace, a kind of loose-jointedness one automatically associated with a cowboy of old. Her breath hitched all over again.

“Keep it.”

He stood half in, half out of the store, his gaze holding hers. Josie had a feeling that somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was disconcerting, because she didn’t have a clue.

His Stetson was well-worn and faded, and his boots looked as if they’d walked a thousand miles. Whether the man preferred to wear broken-in boots or not, they’d been expensive, and so was his hat. The McKennas could afford nice things. She couldn’t even afford to buy Kelsey a new pair of shoes. That didn’t mean she would accept charity.

“I can’t do that. It just wouldn’t be right.” Luckily she was good at math and was able to draw the correct change from the drawer. She hurried around the counter and handed him his money with nimble fingers, more careful than usual, to keep contact at a minimum. “Enjoy your bread. Good day, Mr. McKenna.”

“Bye, mister,” Kelsey called.

He glanced at the little girl as if he’d forgotten she was in the room. And then he did what Josie had wanted him to do. He smiled. It did crazy things to her heart rate, not to mention her breathing, but it did nothing to relieve the tension filling the store.

“I’ll see you later,” he said. “And call me Jake.”

Josie’s heart thudded once, twice, three times. As one second followed another, it seemed to stop beating altogether.

She didn’t know how long she stared at the door after he’d gone. She might have studied it forever if Kelsey hadn’t said, “Do you think that’s the man Daddy’s sending to be my new father?”

Josie swung around. Goodness gracious. She placed her hands on her cheeks and told herself to stop being silly. Wondering if it might have been wiser if she’d kept that particular tidbit of information from Kelsey until Josie had had more time to think about it, she glanced over her shoulder where she could see Jake McKenna pulling out of his parking space in front of her store.

His truck was black and shiny and expensive looking. She thought it suited him. He rested one arm along his open window and steered with the other hand, maneuvering out of the tight spot with ease. Josie turned her back on the view. He might have had the looks, the style, and oh, yes, the moves to unsettle a feminine heart, but that didn’t mean he had unsettled hers.

“Do you, Mama?” Kelsey prodded.

“I’m afraid not, sweet pea. Surely the man Daddy would like us to find will be more like Daddy.”

Kelsey stared into Josie’s eyes for a long time. Sighing, she lowered her chin forlornly and murmured, “I hope Daddy hurries.”

The nerves that had been clamoring the past few hours stilled. Tenderness filled her heart and thickened her throat. She and Kelsey might have been down on their luck. They might have even been a little desperate. But she thanked her lucky stars for her blessings, especially for this sweet, inquisitive, adorable child.

Josie reached beneath the counter for her ledger and quickly jotted down the amount of money she’d just received from Mr.—er, Jake McKenna. Maybe she couldn’t give her child another father, and Lord only knew what she was going to do about her bills, but she would use the money she’d just received to pick up a few groceries and prepare her daughter a nutritious meal.

That sense of calm had started to wane by seven-thirty. Now, an hour later, it was completely gone. Josie took a deep breath, trying to blame the queazy sensation in her stomach on the peanut butter sandwich she’d eaten when Kelsey hadn’t been looking. Josie strode to the refrigerator and peered inside. Even the sight of the half gallon of milk and the leftover spaghetti and meatballs Kelsey would eat tomorrow didn’t chase her unease away. This unease had nothing to do with money. It had to do with...

Josie gulped.

It had to do with the knowledge that Jake McKenna was due to arrive any minute. At the sound of footsteps on the stairs, her nerves clamored even more. Make that any second.

She knew the knock on her door was forthcoming. She still jumped when it sounded. She didn’t understand it. She was never this high-strung. Lifting her eyes to the ceiling, she whispered, “If this is your idea of a joke, Thomas Callahan, it isn’t funny.”

Waiting until the old clock that had belonged to her parents had finished chiming the half hour, she took a deep breath for courage and opened the door just in time to see Rory O’Grady stepping off the bottom step and Jake McKenna standing on the top one.

“Mr. McKen—”

“What the bell was he doing here?”

The anger glittering in Jake’s eyes sent her heart to her throat and her stomach into a tailspin. This time there was no stopping her backward step.

Pushing the door all the way open, he marched inside, turning the inch her tiny retreat had given him into a mile.

Chapter Two

Jake stormed past Josie so quickly the hem of her dress ruffled in his wake.

“Won’t you come in, Mr. McKenna?”

He got as far as the middle of her living room before he swung around and glared at her. At least her sarcasm hadn’t been wasted on him. She reached for the doorknob to close the door, glancing down the stairs at the last minute. Rory was looking up at her, a big old smile on his friendly face. Josie couldn’t help smiling right back. That smile slipped a full two notches when she turned her attention back to the angry man in her living room.

She didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with angry men. Her father had died when she was small, and Tom had had an easygoing, pleasant disposition. She folded her arms and stood as tall as her five-foot, three-inch frame would allow. “Would you like to sit down, Mr. McKenna?”

“I asked you to call me Jake.”

Josie met his stare head-on. “You told me to call you Jake.”