The Accidental Encore (3 page)

“Say what?”

“I said, tonight I have piano.”

“Oh. Okay.” He turned onto Mark’s street. “Do we have time
for dinner first?”

Leah looked at the clock on the dash of the crappy rental.
“Nope. According to Dad’s notes, tonight’s lasagna, so it’s got to cook for an
hour.”

“I’m starving,” Craig said. “How about we do something crazy
and veer off the schedule? We can have lasagna tomorrow and tonight I’ll whip
us up a couple of sandwiches.”

“Can’t,” Leah said. “Dad always makes enough for Ms. Allie.”

“Who’s Ms. Allie?”

“My piano teacher.” She rolled her eyes. “Jeez, did you even
read Dad’s instructions?”

“Your piano teacher stays for dinner?”

“Not always, but we’re her last lesson of the day, so Dad
always makes enough in case she wants to stay.”

Interesting. Homey dinners with the piano teacher was a side
of Mark that Craig hadn’t expected. “Okay, I guess we’re having lasagna.”

Chapter 4

When Leah walked into the kitchen, Uncle Craig was looking
outside through the window. “Somebody’s here,” he said, but didn’t quit
staring.

Leah looked over his shoulder. She rubbed her face against
the soft fabric of his worn flannel shirt. “That’s Ms. Allie.”

He brought his hand to her shoulder and let out a whistle.
“You didn’t tell me your piano teacher was hot. No wonder Mark invites her to
dinner.”

Leah sputtered. She knew Ms. Allie was beautiful. She’d
always impressed Leah with her stylish clothes and fancy shoes, but hot? Weird.
She nudged Craig in the arm. “Dad’s married now, remember?”

He dropped the curtain and walked toward the front door with
her in the crook of his arm. “He may be married, squirt, but he’s not dead.”

Leah broke free of his embrace and opened the door just as Allie
raised her hand to knock. “Oh,” she said and clutched her shirt with her hand.
“You scared me.”

“Sorry, Ms. Allie.” Leah opened the door wide. “Come on in.”

Allie took two steps into the dimly lit foyer and then
jerked to a stop, her eyes wide on Blackjack, sitting calmly at Uncle Craig’s
feet.

“That’s Blackjack. He belongs to my Uncle Craig.”

“Oh.” Allie flashed her perfect teeth before holding out her
hand. “Hello, Uncle Craig.”

Leah looked at her uncle. Instead of the flirting smirk she
expected, his brows were drawn tightly together and he puckered his mouth like
he tasted something bad. “Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so,” Ms. Allie said. “But you do look
familiar.”

They shook hands slowly and eyed one another as Leah stood
waiting. “Well, he
is
my dad’s brother.”

They dropped their hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Craig,”
Allie said. She glanced down at the large black and white dog. “And Blackjack.”
She turned to face Leah. “You ready?”

“Yep.” Leah walked into the den and sat down at the piano
bench. Allie sat her bag on the floor and draped her pretty wool coat over the
chair.

“Would you like something to drink?” Uncle Craig asked Allie
from the foyer.

“No, thank you.” She smiled at him and then opened Allie’s
lesson book to the song they’d been working on for her recital. “Let’s see how
much practice you’ve done this week.”

***

Craig leaned against the door casing of the foyer and
watched Ms. Allie as she took a seat next to Leah. The gentle curves of her
backside nicely complimented what he’d seen of her front. He never looked twice
at beautiful blondes, not after Julie. He certainly didn’t seek out blondes who
wore tailored slacks and silk blouses, but this one, with her light green eyes
and dark brows, 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 lashes
and quickly looked away. Get a grip, Allie. The man looked like a day laborer.
Was she really desperate enough to hit on a guy without health insurance or a
401k?

Leah’s Uncle Craig had an interesting face. She wouldn’t
call him handsome, not with his unshaven jaw and the way his nose listed to the
left. The injury to his forehead looked fresh and deep. He worked outside; she
recognized the scent of a man who used his large, calloused hands doing
something physical. His wavy brown hair had streaks of gold, most likely from
the sun. His limp made her wonder if he’d injured himself in some sort of work
related accident.

“So, Craig,” she began. “Do you live around here?”

He lifted one shoulder as he’d done in the foyer and met her
gaze. He didn’t resemble his banker brother, except around the eyes. Mark’s
were an honest sky blue, while Craig’s seemed as still and murky as the deep
waters of the ocean. “Not far.”

“It takes me ten minutes to walk to Uncle Craig’s house,” Leah
explained as she picked the croutons out of her salad. “But only if I cut
through yards and stuff.”

Allie blotted her lips with the napkin after deeming the
lasagna too hot to eat. She angled her head toward Leah. “How was the wedding?”

Allie watched as Leah wrinkled her nose. “It was okay.”

“Okay?” Allie couldn’t imagine anything more romantic than
the handsome widowed father taking a second chance at love. “That’s all you
have to say?”

Leah shrugged. “The ceremony took forever, but the party
after was kinda fun.”

Craig laughed and drew her attention back to him. She was
surprised to see dimples around the edges of his full lips. He dug into the
heap of steaming lasagna he’d piled on his plate. “You should have seen her on
the dance floor.”

Allie smirked at Leah. “Did you go a little crazy?”

Leah shoved back from the table. Allie noticed her pink
cheeks as she pulled Parmesan cheese from the refrigerator and skulked back to
her seat. “I was just—Ms. Allie!” she said with a gasp. “What happened to
your face?”

Allie instinctively lifted a hand and cupped her cheek.
She’d thought her bruise had faded when the perceptive girl hadn’t said
anything earlier. Of course, the light in the foyer was dim and she sat on the
opposite side during the lesson. “It’s nothing. I got into a car accident,
that’s all.”

Allie felt more than saw Craig pull back from his plate.
“You.” He fixed her with a pointed stare as sharp as the tines on the fork he
aimed at her face. “You hit me.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s how I know you. You ran the red light and plowed
your little silver sedan right into my truck.”

Allie deliberately closed her mouth after it had fallen
open. She lifted her chin in the air and straightened her spine. “
You
ran the red light. Mine was green.”

“Green my ass!” He scraped his chair back and stood up
slowly, settling into a cocksure stance that had her rising from her seat. The
dog, with its boxy head and light eyes, got up and wagged his tail at his
master’s feet. She swallowed hard when she realized the dog resembled a
short-legged pit bull.

“Listen,” she began with a weary look at the dog, “I don’t
know what you were doing instead of paying attention to the road, but you
obviously don’t know the difference between green and red.”

“Right back atcha, sister.”

Leah raised her hands in the air. “Whoa. Can we call a
truce, please?”

Allie reached for her coat and spied her bag where she’d
left it, leaning against the kitchen island where Craig stood. She jerked her
arms into her coat and retrieved her bag, holding her ground even as Craig
refused to move and forced her to stand within inches of his broad chest. Damn
him, he smelled even better up close.

“You don’t like the lasagna?” he asked.

“I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Ms. Allie,” Leah whined as only a child could do. “Please don’t
go.”

“I’m sorry, Leah. I’ll see you Thursday.”

She sniffed at Craig and bolted for the door.

***

“I can’t believe how rude you were.” Leah picked up her
plate and scraped her practically uneaten dinner into the trash.

“Me?” Craig asked. “She hit me.” He pointed down to his leg.
“I’m injured because of her.”

“You both said the light was green. What if it was?”

Craig scoffed. “That never happens.”

“Doesn’t mean it didn’t, and it doesn’t mean you should have
yelled at her. I like Ms. Allie.”

“Yeah, well, she needs to learn how to drive.”

“And you need to learn how to be nice. What if she doesn’t
come back?”

Craig took a deep breath. He was the adult in this
relationship. He needed to start acting like one. “How long have you been
taking lessons from Allie?”

Leah pouted. “Three years.”

“Okay,” he said. “Do you really think she’s going to give up
on you after three years simply because I yelled at her?” And for damn good
reason.

“No.”

“Okay, then. She’ll be back.” And he sure as hell wouldn’t
ask her to stay for dinner. He sat down and finished eating with the
accompaniment of Leah’s piano music from the den. He dragged his computer back
to the table and tried to focus on work. He wanted to get the windows in before
he started on the plumbing and HVAC. He needed to demo the wall between the
living room and den before the electrician got started. He was in the mood for
demo work.