To Be a Family (Harlequin Superromance) by Joan Kilby Page B

hair
and passed it into his grip.
    Golden bristles of his five-o’clock shadow glinted in her
peripheral vision. His jaw was set. Katie held her breath. When they’d been
together he’d been little more than a gangling youth. Now she was very aware he
had a man’s strength and air of authority.
    Suddenly she saw her avoidance of him over the years in a new
light. His smile, his charm, his blue eyes…all were lethally attractive,
dangerous given she didn’t want to be involved. Now she’d gotten herself into a
situation of having to be around him. What kind of an idiot was she? She’d been
hurt by him once. Could she trust herself not to fall for him again? She didn’t
want to take that chance. But what choice did she have? She was committed to
helping Tuti.
    He pulled the elastic over the pigtail. “Your daddy’s doing a
good job,” Katie said to Tuti in the mirror.
    The girl gazed at her quizzically.
    “She knows me as Bapa .” John
gingerly let go of the pigtail and stood back. “How’s that?”
    Bapa . Talk about a cold splash of
reality. As adorable as Tuti was, every time she looked at the little girl she
was slapped in the face with John’s betrayal, with proof that in her hour of
need John had abandoned her. She’d thought she knew him but she hadn’t really
known him at all.
    Katie tugged Tuti’s pigtail gently to tighten the elastic and
tucked a braid into place. “Good effort. Now tie on the ribbons and make a bow.”
He reached for two ribbons from the collection at random. “No, they have to be
the same color.”
    “Close enough.”
    “Would you wear socks of two different colors?” Glancing down
at his feet, she laughed. “Oh, my God. You are. Can’t you tell navy from
black?”
    “No, I can’t.” His dimple deepened. “Remember?”
    Now that he’d reminded her, she did. Her crack about his socks
must have come from her subconscious. The first time they’d spent the night
together, at the Forsters’ beach cottage, giddy with love, they’d had a silly
discussion over his socks. He’d sworn black was blue and vice versa. She never
had figured out if he really couldn’t tell the difference or if he’d just been
teasing her.
    “Luckily Tuti’s ribbons only give you a choice of blue or
white.” Even hair accessories had to be in the school colors.
    John wound a ribbon onto each pigtail and tied two perfect
bows. He met Katie’s gaze in the mirror. “Do I get a gold star?”
    A corner of her mouth lifted. “You’ll pass.”
    Very casually he added, “Would you like to stay for dinner, as
you know, friends do? I’m making Beef Rendang.”
    Tuti’s bright gaze darted between her face and his.
    His use of the word “friend” had been a deliberate reminder of
her side of the bargain. Katie was tempted, and by more than the rich aroma of
ginger, garlic and chili permeating the house. Tuti’s origins aside, she liked John. Plus, she’d promised not to slight
him.
    On the other hand, she didn’t want to get involved in a
relationship again and she got the feeling that’s what he was angling after.
Yes, she felt an attraction and she enjoyed his company but that didn’t make
certain issues disappear. Being around him reminded her of the good times, but
also of the bad times, the cancer and the treatments. And being rejected not
only in her hour of need but also at the moment she had stood up for what she
believed in. He hadn’t backed her. As much as she might be attracted to him, if
being with him meant having to sacrifice a part of herself, well then, she
couldn’t do it. What if her cancer did recur someday. Would he do anything differently? She couldn’t risk being hurt again.
    Just because they were trying to be friends didn’t mean she had
to accept every invitation.
    “Thanks, but I’m going home to write. My contract arrived
today. I really need to get some work done on my book.” It wasn’t just an
excuse. Her deadlines, while exciting, were also scary. She