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He could tell his words hurt her, but he didn’t know what else to do, what else to say to her. The only way he could take the tears from her eyes and make her happy was if he told her he loved her, if he said he wanted to marry her. And that simply wasn’t going to happen.

It wasn’t long after that when they went to bed. As he told her good-night at her door, he wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and hold her. But he didn’t. With her declaration of love for him still fresh in his mind, embracing her now would give her the wrong impression. He told her good-night and then went into his own bedroom.

He sat on the edge of his bed, still rather stunned by Suzanna’s admission of love for him. Knowing she was in love with him brought his love for her closer to the surface. And he recognized now that he was deeply in love with her.

But he didn’t intend to further the relationship. Rachel had professed to love him when they had gotten married. She had vowed she would never leave him. For several years he thought they’d been happy. When she gave birth to Sammy, he’d never been happier.

Yes, Rachel had told him she loved him desperately, but ultimately, she had walked out of the marriage and had left her little boy behind.

Suzanna might tell him how much she loved him now, and they could get married. But what was to keep her in the marriage? What if she decided to leave him like Rachel had done?

He’d deal with it, but Sammy would be devastated for a second time in his young life. The stakes were simply too high for him to trust and embrace his love for the beautiful schoolteacher.

Thankfully, the next couple of days things seemed to be back to normal. Monday morning he took her and Sammy to school. Once back home, he put on a pair of overalls and a coat and then headed out to the barn.

He was in the process of preparing for spring planting, and the barn had been checked to find the supplies he would need to have the best crops.

Thank goodness he had had a healthy bank account before moving to Millsville. There had been few crops for him to cultivate and then to collect and take to market when he’d moved in here.

He knew there were three silos where the farmers in the area had some sort of a co-op. But Seth didn’t know the details about how it worked. Once Suzanna was safe and out of his house, he intended to find out more about the co-op. It might be something he wanted to participate in when the spring crops came in.

When Suzanna was gone, he’d head to the feed store to order more of the supplies he would need. When Suzanna was gone…the words reverberated in his mind and brought with them a deep sadness.

He would definitely miss her. The house wouldn’t feel the same without her in it. She had brought with her a new warmth and energy to the house. He would miss their deep conversations about anything and everything. He would miss her laughter and how she loved his son. He would miss seeing her first thing in the morning and her being the last person he saw before going to sleep.

But when she left, he and his son would go back to the way things had been before she’d moved in with them. Sammy would miss her, but the little boy had known all along that she wasn’t going to be his mommy. Both Seth and Suzanna had made that very clear.

At noon, he knocked off his work in the barn and then returned to the house, surprised to realize he’d forgotten to lock the back door while he’d been at the barn. He grabbed his gun from the top of the fridge and then checked out every room and every closet in the house to make sure nobody had sneaked in to hide while the place had been open and unlocked. He needed to be more careful about locking up after himself in the future.

Finding nobody, he returned to the kitchen. From the freezer he took out a package of hamburger meat for dinner and then made himself a sandwich for lunch. Leaving the house unlocked while he was down at the barn had been a very careless mistake, one he definitely wouldn’t make again in the future.

After lunch he got on the computer in his bedroom. He hadn’t checked his email for two weeks or so. He was pleased to find a couple of emails from friends he’d left behind when he’d moved. He took several minutes to answer them and then got off the computer.

He was grateful for the busywork that kept his mind occupied and not on Suzanna. He spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house and before he knew it, it was time to pick up Suzanna and Sammy. His son immediately announced he had gotten the necklace once again, while Suzanna was a bit quiet on the ride home.

When they reached the farmhouse, as usual she headed for her bedroom to get out of her teaching clothes and into something more comfortable. Sammy took his pup outside, and by that time Suzanna was back in the kitchen.

She had changed into gray sweatpants and a pink-and-gray T-shirt. She looked positively lovely. “What can I do to help?” she asked as he put the hamburger into a skillet to brown.

“Nothing. Dinner isn’t going to be anything fancy, just spaghetti with meat sauce.”

“Then I’ll set the table,” she said and moved to the cabinet where the plates were stored.

As they worked, she told him about her day and he told her about his. Things felt as if they were back to normal, except he was acutely aware of her now more than ever.

Her perfume rode the air along with the scent of the frying hamburger, and he shot her surreptitious glances as he worked at the stove.

It was hard to believe that the beautiful, witty and intelligent woman was in love with him. Even though the thought sent a small streak of jealousy through him, he hoped eventually she would find a man who she loved and who loved her back without reservation. She deserved that. And he couldn’t give it to her.

By the time dinner was ready, a bit of a depression had settled on Seth’s shoulders. He talked and joked through the meal, but beneath his facade of normalcy he fought against an unexpected unhappiness that had reared up inside him. And it was all because Suzanna had told him she was in love with him. It was all because he had no intention of returning that love.

They finished eating and then moved into the living room, where Sammy kept them entertained by trying to teach Lady to sit on command.

Seth felt a little better as he watched and laughed with his son. Sammy was what was most important, and Seth reminded himself of that. He was making the choices necessary to ensure Sammy remained mentally and emotionally okay. After Suzanna left, father and son would go back to being a family of two with a dog added in. It was what was best for his son, and that was all that mattered.

By the time Sammy went to bed, Seth felt more centered and at peace. He and Suzanna had just gotten settled in to watch television when a knock fell on his front door.

He jumped up, went into the kitchen to grab his gun and then answered. It was Dallas. Seth greeted the lawman and gestured him to the sofa next to Suzanna.