Read Online To Wed and Protect by Carla Cassidy - Free Book Online Page B

had suffered physical and mental abuse at the hands of their father, and the experience had made them who they had been as children and who they had become as adults. His siblings were hanging on here in an attempt to be something they would never be…a normal, happy family.
    Luke didn’t intend to waste his time or energy onsuch a fruitless endeavor. Seven months, he told himself. He had seven months here, and then he’d put the past and the bad memories of this place behind him and he’d never, ever look back.
    And in the meantime, he had a delightful diversion to occupy his mind for the next seven months. A delightful diversion with dark hair and bright green eyes, a diversion named Abby.
    A smile curved his lips as he thought of how delicate and warm her hand had been beneath his earlier that day. And even though she’d told him all she wanted from him was a new front porch, the slight tremor in her voice, the look in her eyes had told him she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she’d like him to think.
    She knew his reputation, knew his plans to leave Inferno, so she would know exactly what he was offering her and that it had nothing to do with anything long-term.
    Yes, indeed, if he had to stick around Inferno for another seven months, it was nice to know that gave him seven months with the winsome Abigail Graham.
    Charming a woman was certainly less complicated than family ties and emotional baggage.

Chapter 5
    A bby was on edge. She’d been on edge for the past two days while Luke had been working to complete the front porch, but nothing like what she was feeling this afternoon.
    She told herself her intense anxiety was due to the fact that early that morning she’d taken the kids to school and enrolled them, then had left them there and returned home alone. She told herself she was worried about how they would fare, that she was afraid the school officials might discover the children weren’t named Graham after all and that she was not really their mother.
    Although Jessica had been enrolled in an afternoon kindergarten class, Abby had made arrangements for her to attend a morning play group at the school, as well, and she was worried how the little girl would do without her brother for support.
    But the truth of the matter was she was nervous because this was the first time she’d been alone in the house while Luke worked outside. And much of her nervousness was due to the fact that he seemed to be aware of their utter aloneness, as well.
    He was in and out of the house more often for drinks of water than on any day previous, and whenever she joined him there, he lingered longer than necessary.
    He’d arrived just after nine, and after working only a few minutes had asked where the children were. She’d explained that they had started their first day of school, and from that moment on there had been an overt tension between them that simmered in the air.
    It was about two-thirty in the afternoon when he told her that he was taking a break from the porch work and wanted to measure the kitchen cabinets and could use her help.
    â€œIt’s much easier to get measurements with another person holding the end of the tape,” he explained as he pulled a tape measure from his back pocket. He held out the end toward her.
    She took a step closer to him, her mouth unaccountably dry. What was it about him that made her feel so alive? What was it about him that seemed to invite crazy feelings and desires?
    â€œHold the end right here.” He pointed to a stop on the end of one of the cabinets. She moved to do as he bid, and he pressed his finger against hers. “Yes, right there,” he murmured, his breath warm on her face.
    She breathed a sigh of relief as he moved to theother end of the cabinet. The man had a sexual energy that positively seethed from him.
    â€œOkay, got it,” he said. “Now I need you to hold it over here.” He walked to the