His Small-Town Girl by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2008-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Tyler sat forward on the couch and clasped his hands together between his knees, forearms resting on his thighs. The Jefford men had trooped en masse to the kitchen, looking for food now that the football game had ended. How they could even think of eating, he didn’t understand, but he appreciated the opportunity to be alone with Charlotte, all the same.

Now that it was just the two of them, though, he didn’t quite know what to say. The Jeffords as a whole were easy people to be around. Hap treated him almost like family, while Ryan already seemed to think of him as a good buddy. Even Holt, who at times acted like he expected Ty to make off with the family silver, obviously bore him no ill will. Their welcoming acceptance frankly floored him. No doubt they treated everyone else the same way, but Tyler still reveled in their friendship.

Only Charlotte confused him. She couldn’t have been more welcoming, caring or generous, but that just seemed part of her nature. It shamed him to think that his own family would not be so accepting of a stranger. Rather than friendliness and inclusion, snobbery, conflict and rivalry characterized the Aldriches. They would look down on the Jeffords without a doubt, Charlotte included. Charlotte especially. So what was he doing here with her? What was the point? And why did her reasons for being here with him matter so much?

Tyler really wanted to believe that all the Jeffords simply liked him, that they found him special somehow, apart from his sky box and millions of dollars. But he couldn’t help wondering if his wealth figured into it, although in Charlotte’s case he suspected she liked him despite his money. Maybe that was the key. Maybe the others were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt simply because Charlotte liked him. Tyler couldn’t fault them for that.

“That was a great game,” she finally said.

“Oh, yeah. It’s always a great game when they win.”

The woman amazed him. Not only did she look like a vision, work like a Trojan, cook like a chef, treat all who came into her orbit with compassion and welcome and quietly, effortlessly order her entire family, the girl also knew a thing or two about football.

She had a coach for a brother, so Tyler supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised. What really blew him away, though, was how much she seemed to actually enjoy the game for its own sake.

On the other hand, she seemed to enjoy everything in the same way—her family, her work, her faith, her whole life. That she could do so when she’d suffered so much loss and had so little made Tyler feel small and spoiled.

He admired her, but it was more than that, too. He wanted for himself what she had, her contentment, her goodness. Worse, he wanted her in his life somehow.

It was a foolish notion, but sitting next to her here on the sofa with his arm curled about her slender shoulders earlier had felt like the most natural thing in the world to him.

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