Read Online Precious Blessings (Love Inspired) by Jillian Hart - Free Book Online Page B

betweenthem. It wasn’t that she’d said the right words at the right time or what he’d most needed to hear. He’d felt glimmers of this before she’d entered the lounge, before he’d barreled past her on the ski slope like a buffoon on two pieces of wood. Even before he’d brought the roses to her store.
    You can’t be interested in her because she’s rejection waiting to happen. Women like her were a deep mystery to a straightforward, old-school man like him. Not that he had anything against career woman with fancy degrees—you only had to look at her to know she had one—but he had as much of a chance of understanding her as he did of taking a running leap and landing on the moon.
    Maybe he’d been down the romance path too many times between his marriage and his previous dating attempts not to believe it was a path lined with thorns, not rose petals. Love was a dangerous proposition. If he asked her to dinner, she’d turn him down flat. Or would she?
    â€œYou seem like a good man, Jack. I know this will work out for Hayden. She’s lucky to have a caring father in her corner. Just follow your heart. If you’re listening, God will lead you in the right way.”
    â€œI know. Sometimes my reception gets a little static. Too much interference and it’s hard to hear clearly.” He took a sip of his tea, gone cool, and couldn’t swallow past the emotion lumped in his throat. “Probably you don’t know how that is.”
    â€œYou would be wrong. The problem isn’t coming from above, but it’s me. Always me. I don’t know if Ijust can’t let go of controlling my life, or if I just can’t trust even God that much. I don’t know.”
    Feelings came to life within his heart and weren’t like anything he’d felt before. They were soft and warm, and as soothing as prayer. Tenderness lit him up from the inside out and he wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted. But he liked being with her.
    The storm of footsteps pounding behind him was his first clue. The shock of the air, like the stillness before a deadly lightning strike was the second. He was already turning in his chair when Hayden’s fury hit.
    â€œDaddy! What are you doing? Why are you with her? ”
    He rose to his full height, growing oddly calm as he stared down at his daughter. She was steaming mad, no mistake about that, not with the narrow, blazing eyes, pinched nostrils and the flat angry line of her mouth. She looked like Heidi in a full tantrum and it shook him to his soul. He opened his mouth to set her straight, but she was on a roll.
    â€œWhy are you with her? She ruined my life. This was all her stupid idea. You take me home. Now. ”
    A snorting bull would be calm next to the way he felt. “Enough.” Over the sound of his voice echoing in the vast room, he turned to Hayden. “Apologize.”
    His pulse thundered in his veins as he took in Katherine’s shocked and, to her credit, sympathetic look toward the teenager. He was aware of Hayden’s rage and, underneath that, fear.
    He wagered Katherine had just figured out the real reason he’d never been able to remarry.
    Hayden hadn’t been ready.
    â€œIt’s okay, Jack.” Katherine stood and collected her book and bag. Elegant, classy, as if she hadn’t been touched by Hayden’s insulting behavior. “Hayden, it’s good seeing you again. I think I’ll keep both of you on my prayer list.”
    She left, and it was like watching a dream walk away. Leaving him feeling empty, defeated, obliterating every bit of progress he’d made with Katherine. Obliterating any possibility, had there truly been one at all.

Chapter Six
    B y the time Katherine reached home, the snow had turned to a bitter rain. Marin and Holly had wanted to talk over what had happened, but she’d been running late and, besides, she wasn’t up to