Country Love

Chapter Eight

Bradley had already been gone when Isabelle and Sara had woken up the next morning. He had a pot of coffee brewed for Isabelle and a note on the counter saying he had to get to the farm and would be back that evening. Isabelle and Sara had dressed in some of the clothes that Trisha had brought over for them and had left for work. She was blessed to have a job that allowed her to bring Sara along.

The day was dragging by and Isabelle guessed that was because she had so much on her mind. She did not want to stay in Bradley's house for very long but knew she had no where else to go until she got some money saved up.

Bradley…. Now that man was something else. With no questions asked he had taken both Isabelle and Sara into his home. His life was an open book for Isabelle and she felt guilty that she had not told him anything about her own… It would be nice to be able to have someone to lean on. She had never had anyone to lean on in her life. But she hadn't been lying the night before when she had told Bradley she'd learned her lesson about men.

No matter how sweet, warm or kind they seemed in the beginning they always had ulterior motives and they always hurt you in the end. She was lost in her thoughts about Bradley when the door to the library opened and there he stood.

All six feet of him looking positively sinful in his worn out jeans and flannel shirt. It was raining outside and his shirt clung to the hard muscles of his upper body. Isabelle's mouth was so dry she couldn't speak when he walked up to her and asked her how she was.

He grinned at her and she was very thankful that she was sitting down because her damn traitorous knees turned to jello yet again at the sight of that smile and she would have fallen if she'd been standing.

"Badley! Badley!" Sara yelled as she came running from the kiddie corner and jumped up into his arms. Isabelle was shocked by the happy smile on Bradley's face as he lifted Sara up and spun her around.

"Hi, princess Sara." he said. Then he noticed the look of annoyance being sent their direction by the head librarian in the back office. He put a finger to his lips as he grinned.

"Shh… I think we're supposed to be quiet." Sara laughed.

"I forgot." she said. "You're all wet." she added. He nodded and then sat her down and looked back at Isabelle who was just now finding her voice again.

"I thought you were going to be working until this evening." she said. He looked outside at the rain pouring down.

"Dad wanted to call it a day early." he replied. She nodded. "I wanted to see if you and princess Sara wanted to come to the diner with me and eat lunch." He saw the look on her face so he quickly added. "As a friend."

"Please mommy! We can play the music!" Sara exclaimed jumping up and down in her excitement causing her blond pigtails to swing back and forth. Isabelle sighed. It was lunch time, she was starving, the library was empty and Bradley did look oh so delicious.

"Ok." she said finally. Bradley smiled broadly. He was going to find out eventually why she didn't think men could be trusted or counted on and he was also going to prove to her that she could trust and count on him. Gone was the selfish loner who lived for only himself. Bradley knew what his heart was for now since he'd met these two.

Isabelle stood up and as she walked away to tell Mrs. Willis, the head librarian, that she was going to lunch Bradley couldn't help but notice the way the jeans Trisha had given her hugged her hips and her backside…. That was a sight a man could get used to seeing everyday.

Bradley grabbed the umbrella from Isabelle's hand as they stepped outside, picked Sara up in the arm holding the umbrella and wrapped his free arm tight around Isabelle's shoulders to pull her close and keep her dry. Isabelle was sure she was going to melt into a puddle and be washed away by the rain…. His touch felt like it was burning her alive… and she knew it wasn't the kind of fire that any amount of water was going to put out.