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She rose tentatively and then s what a hot bath and clean clothes will do for you"

Still, he took her hand and laced his fingers with hers as he led her out of the bathroom and toward his parents’ bedroom

"Just have her sit," Donovan said as he motioned toward the end of the bed "This won’t take but a minute"

Sam watched as Donovan carefully pulled Sophie’s shirt down over her shoulder so he could examine the stitched wound

Iht?"

Donovan turned to his brother "Yeah, it does It looks really good I’ll just put on soood to go"

Salossy and clean She turned her face up to him, and he wanted to touch her et you some more pain medicine"

"Just ibuprofen"

"Ma’sa feast You two should come down and eat Then Sophie can take her medicine on a full sto in Sophie’s eyes and nodded at Donovan "We’ll be down Have Ma set up a tray so Sophie can sit on the couch where it’s comfortable"

CHAPTER 12

CLEAN and war more food than she could possibly eat, but daive it her best shot

There was a bowl of chicken and durilled cheese sandwich, potato salad and a plate of pot roast with ly told her that she’d cleaned out her refrigerator, and since she hadn’t knohat Sophie liked, she , Sophie dipped into the chicken and du into each of the dishes, savoring each and every bite

When the couch dipped beside her, Sophie looked up to see a teenaged girl staring curiously at her She didn’t fit the mold of the rest of the Kelly family, andshade of green through her chestnut hair, a nose piercing and a row of earrings in her left ear While the girl wouldn’t have stood out in ly conservative, strait-laced household, she stood out like orange neon glow

Since the girl continued to stare at her, Sophie stared back, childishly refusing to back down under the teen’s scrutiny

The girl sniffed and then turned to grin in Sa someone else on safe sex, not me"

"Rusty, for God’s sake," Frank Kelly bellowed

Sophie jumped and looked cautiously at the burly older man His bark seemed worse than his bite, but she couldn’t be sure on such a short acquaintance

"If you can’t keep a civil tongue in your head, you can go back upstairs," Frank said Then he turned to Sophie "The s next to you is Rusty Don’t mind her She likes to needle my boys"

Sophie sed her bite and didn’t ask the obvious It wasn’t any of her business She really didn’t want to knoho Rusty was anyway

Rusty leaned over conspiratorially "I’m the stray Marlene sort of adopted ene patch as that bunch" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder in Sam, Garrett and Donovan’s direction

"Zip it, Rusty," Sean snapped "The last thing we need is your mouth today"

Sophie looked in surprise at the young sheriff’s deputy standing across the room

Rusty curled her lip in Sean’s direction "I don’t answer to you, copper Go eat a donut or so"

Rusty turned back to Sophie and rolled her eyes "He’s another stray Marlene picked up Though personally I think he’s worn out his welcoravelly voice "That’s enough, young lady"

To Sophie’s surprise, Rusty shut up and straightened in her seat Sophie could swear there was genuine respect and affection in the young girl’s eyes when she looked at the Kelly patriarch

Sophie was less sure of Frank He watched her He’d watched her ever since Sa accusatory in his stare, but he studied her intently nonetheless and it ine the assu made She could na herself The assuy or the desire to correct any of theh, hon?"

Sophie blinked and looked up to see Marlene standing in front of her, her hands outstretched to take the tray

"Yes, thank you, Mrs Kelly I appreciate the food It onderful"

Marlene s woman But please, call me Marlene No one calls me Mrs Kelly, well unless they’re telemarketers Most folks just call me Marlene or Mom"

She took the tray and Sophie listed to the side, no longer able to keep her head up Sam had put several pillows behind her and to the side and she snuggled under the war herto as going on around her

SAM watched as Sophie’s head dipped lower and lower, until her cheek nestled against the pillow His , and as soon as Sophie’s eyes closed, she marched across the room, her eyes narrowed and fixed on hi on here," she said in a low, determined voice "And I want all of it, not the watered-down version your brothers already gave h He rubbed his hand tiredly through his hair and glanced up to see his dad looking at hiaze

Hell

"She’s carrying et straight to the point He never was one for pussyfooting around

"It’s very likely she’s carrying my child," Sam said carefully

Marlene frowned "Shouldn’t you know?" She glanced back at Sophie, her frown deepening

"Don’t go ju to conclusions, Ma And don’t think badly of Sophie Not yet There’s too much I don’t know She deserves the benefit of the doubt until I find out what the hell is going on here"

If that didn’thypocrite, he didn’t knohat did He didn’t want anyone else disrespecting her or developing a bad opinion, but it didn’t stop hi suspicious and cautious with her

He’d recognized early on that she had a lot of pohere he was concerned, and that didn’t sit ith him at all