Read Mr. Wrong (A Homespun Romance) for Free Online Page B

explained, "A penny is no longer enough for thoughts.  So, will a dollar persuade you to share them with me?”
    Kate swallowed hard, “I shouldn’t really be here.  I have a psychology paper to finish for next week and....”
    And she wasn’t sure Harold would understand this.
    “How do you manage everything?”  Brady asked, “The teaching, the college classes, the baby sitting, your private life?”
    “It’s not hard if you’re organized.  A lot of people have similar lifestyles.  Some are even married with young kids on top of everything else.  I have classes on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and I work only till twelve at the preschool on those days.  On Mondays and Thursdays I have evening classes.  I baby sit twice a month which gives me two free weekends.  Harold and I always see each other on Wednesdays.  The weekends are his busiest times, but sometimes on a Sunday night, if we’re both free, we get together.”
    Brady filed all the information away before asking “Why wouldn’t you let Karen pay you for watching Cody on Wednesday?”
    Kate’s eyes widened with astonishment, “How could I take her money when I didn’t do a thing?”
    “You were there.  You gave up your time.” 
    And he’d felt like a first class heel when Karen had told him why Miss Kate wouldn’t accept the money.
    She didn’t say anything and for a while they ate in silence.
    “Did Harold like his gift?”  That he wasn’t going to get any prizes for tact was obvious but he had to know.
    "Very much.” 
    “He hasn’t proposed yet?”
    Why did her voice have to sound so stiff?  There was nothing in Brady’s voice to offend and Kate forced herself to say civilly, "We were supposed to go out last Wednesday but his mother was sick and he couldn’t leave her.”  After all, she’d been the one to tell Brady about Harold in the first place.  Maybe all he was doing was making polite conversation.
    She looked up and the fierceness burning in the gray eyes across from her startled her.  Something in her expression must have conveyed her feelings because his eyes gentled instantly, assuming their normal, in depth attack on her senses.
    “Here,” his hand came up with a napkin and he dabbed at the corner of her mouth, “you have some mustard on your cheek.”
    Gray eyes collided with green again and she felt the hand on her mouth tremble as seconds ticked by coalescing into a minute and the air around them became charged with emotion.  Suddenly Kate found difficulty breathing.
    “If you’ve had enough, shall we leave?”
    She nodded.  What was wrong with her?  Why couldn’t she think of something light and witty to say to break the spell his touch had created, relegate it to what it was?  Just a friendly gesture.
    The car pulled up again and Kate looked up surprised.  They were at the park.  It was deserted again, except for a few boys kicking a soccer ball at one end.
    “Katie we’ve got to talk,” the seriousness of Brady’s tone cut off any inquiries.
    Kate got out and they strolled down the path, surrounding the area.  The new growth on the jacaranda provided an umbrella of shade.  The atmosphere was supercharged and she had the same feeling she did before a storm.  Keyed up tension stretched to the limit.
    Brady waited till she stopped and then he said, “You’re not going to marry Harold you know.”
    “Oh?” 
    He had her full attention now.  She was looking at him as if he had stepped out of the pages of Ripley’s believe it or not.
    “No.  You’re going to marry me.” 
    Hang all the courting and the gradual leading up to it he had planned.  Hang everything.  He couldn’t stand the thought of that fellow putting his ring on Katie’s finger.
    The silence stretched on for so long, Brady wondered if she’d heard him and then her voice came out flat, empty, sad.  “That’s a joke.”
    Reaching out he placed a hand on her arm and turned her to face him.  “It’s no joke