Black Hills Angel (Black Hills Series) Read Free Page A

mimicking the same gesture she had made a moment before. His blue eyes smiled gently at her. He wasn't angry. Good.
    "You must have had something you needed to do today. I feel terrible about causing such a scene in the hallway." Andy braced herself against the back of the old couch, its wood frame creaking in protest. Matt likewise leaned against the island. His hands anchored in his pockets. His jeans really did fit him well. She liked his bare feet. He looked so natural. So much like someone she wanted to depend on to share her burden.
    "It was a rather effective wake up! Other than that, I am just apartment sitting on my day off. My friend is out of town and my brother needed the weekend alone ."
    Andy raised her brow, trying to wipe off the grin that threatened when he mentioned his brother kicking him out. She nodded.
    "I can imagine a brother might cramp his style." Her voice quivered with mischief. He laughed.
    "I can't say I am upset by it this time." His blue eyes fairly smoldered as his words filtered through. She looked down at the floor, noting the tan and white tiles. She hated them. They always looked dirty.
    "So you don't live next door." It was all she could think of to say. You sound so young!
    "No. My brother and I bought a house a couple of years ago. That's what we do." Matt crossed his ankles and settled back against the counter. She tried not to notice how well his jeans molded to his strong thighs, but she couldn't seem to help herself. "We build houses."
    "Housing, huh? There definitely seems to be lots of building in and around Rapid City." Her throat felt constricted and raw. She felt the need to rub the back of her neck where the hairs tingled.
    "As good as any, I guess. We rarely leave the state. We grew up in South Dakota so we try to stay close to home." Matt's voice sounded oddly far away. She watched his mouth form the words, but once he mentioned home everything else disappeared.
    ***
    Matt wondered where she had gone. Andy was still in the same room, but it was as if she wasn't listening. The relaxed pose she tried to exhibit leaning against the couch had dissolved when he mentioned his home. Sore subject? He would bet so. The pieces were starting to fall into a crazy, almost discernable pattern. A young woman with a very new baby. Alone. Frazzled to the end of her rope and no one around to help her.
    Matt felt his heart constrict and a near blinding anger took root inside him. What the hell had happened to put a mother and a child out on their own? The anger and sadness was overwhelming and quite shocking to him. He knew the way of the world, but it could be cruel and senseless. He needed to understand. He took a breath as he watched a myriad of emotion filter across her face. Anger. Disbelief. Hope. Mistrust. Exhaustion. Matt wanted to know more. In the moment of clarity, he knew he couldn't walk away from her any more than he couldn't take his next breath. It was as alarming as it was astounding!
    "I know it is none of my business, but how did you come to be so far away from your family?" Matt's voice failed to sound casual as it struck a more protective chord. Andy's green eyes flared with pain before she looked back to the floor. Her fingers gripped the top of the couch, turning pink and then white.
    "What makes you think I am so far from them?" Her voice was almost a whisper, difficult to hear, but so easy to feel. Matt looked down to the floor in sudden embarrassment.
    What is wrong with you? Way to start a friendship! He cleared his throat.
    "You said you were on your own. I just thought that if your family were close by they would be here to help in some way."
    She lifted her shoulders in a half shrug.
    "They are far away. You are right, but I can do this without them." Her voice grew stronger if not louder towards the end of her bravado. Her eyes lifted to impale him where he leaned against the counter. She wasn't a shrinking violet. He would have been dimwitted to have missed the