this, it was the simple fact that, as they stood talking, her gaze would dip to his nose, then raise to his eyes, then it would dart to his mouth and raise again to his eyes. Her gaze had so far gotten as low as his chin.
The truth of the matter was, he found her obvious attraction to him pretty ego boosting, to say the least.
His silly answer to her even sillier question had made anger spark in her clear green eyes, and Adam decided the heated emotion only made her all the more beautiful.
“Pardon me,” she said, keeping her voice under tight control. “It seems as if I didn’t make myself clear. What I meant was, under whose direction were you up there fixing the roof?”
What was this? he wondered. An inquisition?
The suspicion in her tone took the edge off his humor. Hell, it did more than that. It pretty much grated on his nerves.
“Before I answer that,” he said, shifting his weight onto one foot and crossing his arms over his chest, “I think I’d like to know who’s asking.”
Chapter Two
The man was infuriating! Who did this carpenter, this handyman, think he was, to be questioning her right to inquire about his identity and what he was doing to her father’s house? The man was simply infuriating!
“Look,” she said, “I don’t know who you are, but—”
“I already told you who I am,” he quietly informed her. “I’m trying to find out who you are.”
For some odd reason Hannah felt a sudden reluctance to give this man any information about herself. However, she doubted he would be satisfied until she told him something about her presence here in Little Haven.
“I’ve come from New York.” Her tone was stiff. “To arrange the sale of the house and its contents. Now, if you don’t mind, would you please tell me who authorized your work and how much you expect to be paid.”
His eyes narrowed ominously as she spoke, and Hannah was only barely able to squelch the urge to back up a step.
“What did you say?”
She searched his face, wondering exactly which piece of the information she’d just disclosed had so thoroughly changed his demeanor. She was sure it must have been the fact that she’d cast a heavy shadow on the issue of his payment for the roof job.
“I think it’s only fair for me to know just how much this is going to cost me,” she said, “before I agree to pay, don’t you?”
Obvious irritation tensed his jaw muscle. His voice lowered to a grumble as he said, “I was never expecting to be paid.”
Hannah’s mouth pursed almost of its own volition, but before she could express her skepticism, he continued.
“You can’t sell the house,” he said
Ah, she thought, so that was what had upset him.
“What about Tammy? What’s going to—”
His mention of her sister sparked the flame of Hannah’s excitement—an excitement she couldn’t quell. “You know my sister? You know where she is?”
“Your sister?”
“You know where I can find Tammy?”
“You’re Hannah? Hannah Cavanaugh?”
“Can you tell me where she’s living?”
“You’re Bobby Ray’s oldest girl?”
Neither one of them was really listening to the other, so focused were they on working out the confused facts of the situation.
“Wait!” Hannah finally cried, lifting her hand, palm out, toward him. “Stop.”
It quickly became clear to her that she wasn’t going to get any useful information out of this man if she wasn’t willing to make him understand who she was and why she was here.
She heaved a sigh, her overwhelming curiosity about Tammy would have to wait. At least for a few moments.
“Yes,” she told him. “I’m Hannah Cavanaugh. Bobby Ray was my father. I’ve come from New York to pack up his personal belongings. I’m going to sell the furniture and the house and put the money away to ensure Tammy’s living arrangements.”
“You can’t do that—” The thought was cut off as another, evidently more significant, began rolling off his tongue. “What do you mean you’re going to ‘ensure Tammy’s living arrangements’? Why does she have to move at all?”
“Oh, I hadn’t planned to move her,” Hannah assured him. “She can stay right were she is. I don’t want to do anything that will upset her.”
“Well, you’re going to upset her—” his voice tightened with anger as he added “—and you’re sure as hell going to have to move her if you sell the house.”
Hannah felt blindsided by the surprising revelation. “She’s living here?”
The handy man gave a curt nod.
“B-but,” she stammered, “I was under the assumption that she...I was told to look for her...” She gazed off at the tree line, trying to regain her composure. After a moment she looked back at Adam Roth. “Tammy lived with my father?”
“For all the years I’ve known them.”
She shouldn’t feel jealous. She shouldn’t. She’d had a perfectly fine childhood. She’d been raised by a responsible parent. One who had wanted her. She was physically and mentally healthy, and for that alone Hannah knew she was far more blessed than her sister.
However, discovering that her father hadn’t put Tammy in an institution, as Hannah had been told, finding out that he’d allowed his youngest daughter to live at home when he hadn’t allowed his oldest to do the same was more than just disturbing for Hannah. It was earth-shattering.
Why? How could a father choose one daughter over another?
Unshed tears scalded the backs of her eyelids. She would not cry. Not in front of this stranger. Inhaling a deep, soul-steeling breath, Hannah shoved aside the cyclone of chaotic emotions that swirled around her.
“Who’s been staying with Tammy since Bobby Ray died?” Her voice sounded tiny and unsure, even to her own ears, and she hated the weakness she heard in it.
“No one.”
His answer shocked the life back into her. “How can that be? My sister is...special. She’s—” Hannah paused and then forced herself to be more explicit. “She’s retarded.”
Disapproval turned his eyes slate-gray. “I think the politically correct term in these enlightened times is mentally challenged.”
Hannah’s face flamed hot. “Well, whatever the term, Tammy shouldn’t be staying here on her own. She can’t possibly be capable
