Megan closed the door, turned to find her unwelcome guest staring at her belly, and promptly blushed. “I—um—I’ll get dressed,” she said, holding her robe closed as she all but ran to her bedroom.

The moment she shut her bedroom door, Megan slapped her hands to her cheeks with a groan. That short haircut, angular jaw, and smooth, weather-tanned skin made him even more handsome. And God help her, those deep, sexy, intense blue eyes still had the power to turn her mind to mush.

No, turn her mind to lust.

He may have been a bit slow leaving the starting gate, but once he’d gotten going, Wayne had certainly brought magic to their lovemaking. He had been so intensely focused on her that the entire world had ceased to exist. They could have been a speck of dust floating through the cosmos, so immersed she’d been in the sensations he elicited.

She had innocently gone to Wayne’s tent that evening to ask him about something, but when she’d caught him staring intensely at her mouth as she spoke…Well, the next thing she knew, her lips were pressed against his and she was attacking the buttons on his shirt. She’d gotten them both down to their underwear in five minutes. She could have done it in two, but she kept stopping to kiss each spot of his flesh she exposed. He had the most beautiful body…

Once he recovered from the shock of her attack, he’d lowered her to his sleeping bag, pinned her exploring hands over her head, and proceeded to make maddeningly slow, tender love to her.

Megan shivered at the image of their naked bodies twined together, jerking herself back to the present. Okay. Even though the man in her living room was a no-good lying heartbreaker, she couldn’t turn away anyone who looked as pathetic as he did. The guy was a battered and obviously tired mess. She dressed in slacks and a sweater, ran her shaking fingers through her hair, and returned to the kitchen to find Jack sprawled on the couch, his right leg resting on the coffee table, and his notebook in his hand.

“Did you ladies really see anything, or do I get to arrest your sister for lying to a police officer?”

Megan pulled out the frying pan and set it on a burner. “We heard a god-awful scream come from the back of Rose’s store just as we stepped into Winter’s gallery. We ran to the back window and saw the kids nearly plow you over when they came running out. That’s when the man stepped out of the shadows and grabbed you from behind.” She went to the fridge and took out a carton of eggs, a stick of butter, and a bowl of diced ham. “What did you and Robbie talk about after we left?”

“You, mostly. After the guy brought me down, what did he do then?”

“He ran into the woods when Robbie shouted at him.”

“In which direction?”

“Up the eastern shoreline of the lake. What specifically did you and Robbie talk about, about me?”

“I was impressed at how well you and your sister obeyed him. I asked him to teach me how to do that.”

Megan broke the eggs in the frying pan with a snort. “In your dreams. What else?”

“I asked him what to expect when you introduce me to your father.”

“That’s not going to happen, either. What else?”

When he didn’t immediately answer, she turned to look at him.

“I’m not going away, Megan. It doesn’t matter how big a family you have to hide behind, or how large your cousins are.”

She lifted her chin. “I am not hiding behind anyone.”

“Good,” he said with a nod. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“What?”

“Are we having a son or daughter?” he asked, his gaze dropping to her belly. “Did you have one of those tests that determine the gender?”

She turned back to the stove and dumped the diced ham over the eggs. “I don’t know what sex it is.”

“Don’t know? Or aren’t saying?”

She eyed him over her shoulder. “I want to be surprised.”

“Good. Me, too.” He looked down at the notebook in his hand. “You said you saw a bunch of kids run out of the store. Did you see how many there were?”

She shrugged, turned back to the stove, and shut off the burner. “They were in a tight pack, so I couldn’t tell.”

“Did you see where they went?”

She frowned, opened her mouth, then shut it again.

“Or did you hear anything? Maybe an engine starting, like a snowmobile? Or…a small plane? Did you see something flying out over the lake?” he quietly asked.

“I didn’t hear an engine. But I might have seen something flying.” She looked away, opening a cupboard and taking down a plate. “It might have been a flock of geese.”

“In the dead of winter?”

She filled the plate with most of the omelet she’d made, set a fork on it, and carried it over to the couch. “Okay, I have no idea what I saw flying out over the lake. Maybe Camry got a better look.”

“Not that she’d give me a straight answer,” he muttered, then smiled in gratitude as he took the plate from her. “Thanks. I’m starved.”

“After you eat, I’ll drive you to the hospital,” she offered as she returned to the stove, resigned to losing her peaceful afternoon.

“I don’t need a doctor,” he said around a mouthful of food. “Give me a couple of aspirins and a soft bed, and I’ll be good to go by tomorrow morning.”

Megan scoffed up her own eggs directly out of the pan, the silence stretching awkwardly between them. It was disconcerting having him in her house, talking as if they were old friends.

Are we having a son or daughter? By God, he’d had his chance to know his child, and he’d tossed it away. She didn’t care if he threatened to hang around until hell froze over, he was not waltzing back into her life.

She swallowed the last bite of egg. “Why did you really come to Pine Creek?”

She turned around and saw that he didn’t answer her because he was sound asleep. His empty plate was balanced on his belly, his arms had fallen to the side, and he was softly snoring.

Megan walked over to the couch, set the plate on the coffee table, then unlaced and took off his boots. Careful not to bang his injured knee, she slid his legs around until he was sprawled lengthwise on the couch, propped a pillow under his head and another one under his knee, then grabbed the blanket off the back and covered him up. She tucked the blanket under his chin, her fingers brushing the rough stubble on his cheek, and without stopping to think, leaned down and kissed his forehead. Her lips somehow decided to linger on his warm skin, and he snuggled deeper into the pillow with a sigh.

She jerked upright, then stalked back to the kitchen. Damn the man! She didn’t care what wonderful memories his being here evoked, she was not letting him off the hook that easy. He wanted to be part of her life, he was going to have to earn her love all over again!

Waking up to whispered conversations was fast becoming a bad habit—though an enlightening one. This time Jack didn’t recognize the male who was speaking. He carefully slit open his eyes and the soft glow of interior lights told him he’d slept the day away. He frowned at the empty house. He was still on Megan’s couch, though he was sprawled lengthwise now; his boots were off, there was a pillow under his swollen knee, and he was snuggled toe to chin under a soft blanket.

The conversation was coming from outside. He saw two people standing under the porch light, but the sheer curtain covering the door window made it impossible to identify the man. He was another Sasquatch though, towering over Megan as she rested a delicate hand on his arms folded across his chest.

Something about their postures tickled a memory at the back of Jack’s mind. Where had he seen Megan looking up at a man just like that?

“Matt told me Jack Stone is the father of your child,” the guy said, his voice menacing as it came through the slightly open door. “And that Wayne Ferris was an alias Stone was using in Canada, when he seduced ye.”