But the debate going on between her libido and her mothering instincts was hell. Georgie needed a good male role model, a gentle, loving man who would overwrite his early conditioning.
That much of the plan was solid. But she should have found a kindly old gentleman, a grandfather type, not a hot cowboy like Garrett.
That said, she didn’t regret one second she’d spent wrapped in his strong arms. When he kissed her as if she were the most precious woman in the world, he healed psychic wounds inflicted by Brad. She needed Garrett as much as Georgie did.
Jake was in the lobby when she arrived. “How was the barn tour?”
“Great.” Should she mention that Jake’s name had come up? And that Garrett credited him for pointing out a golden opportunity to get her alone? No. She’d let it go except for a report on their visitor, Jack Chance. “Matt came by while we were there. We met Jack.”
“I heard about that.”
“Word travels fast.”
He grinned. “Especially now that we all have mobile phones.”
“How much do you know?”
“About Jack Chance?”
“Never mind him. Did you get a report about what went on at the barn during the lunch hour?”
“Not a detailed report.” His eyes danced with mischief. “Want to give me one?”
“Ummm…” Sometimes she had to remind herself that Jake was her boss. A friend, too, but that didn’t mean she could treat him as a casual acquaintance. “I don’t think so.”
“Fair enough.” He looked away, shifted his stance, let out a breath. Eventually he faced her again. “Garrett told me not to talk to you about this.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “But you’re going to, anyway, aren’t you?”
“Yes, damn it. I don’t want you to suffer through years of deprivation like I did.”
“What kind of deprivation?”
“I was starved for love and I wouldn’t take a seat at the table.”
She blinked. “Oh.”
“You look startled.”
“I… most guys don’t… rather, they’re not willing to admit—”
“Exactly. And I was one of those guys. Matter of fact, all of us were, in one way or another. That’s why Henri and Charlie took us in. Every damned one of us were lost souls.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“And you wouldn’t know it if somebody didn’t tell you. We’re not the same men we were.”
“I guess not. I wouldn’t label any of you lost souls.”
“Because we’re not anymore. Garrett didn’t have the advantage of knowing Charley, but he has Henri and the Brotherhood. He’s found his place, his family.”
“Then he’s a lucky guy.”
“And so are we. We think the world of him. So I just wanted to say…” He paused and took a deep breath. “I spent years wanting Millie and not doing anything about it. I knew from the get-go she was the one for me, but I was too scared to go for it.”
“You didn’t have a kid, though. That changes everything.”
“I’m sure it does. But I’d also hate to see you waste years like I did.”
She smiled. “I appreciate your concern, Jake. I—” The sound of voices outside the entrance drew her attention. A group of four approached the glass doors. “We have customers.”
“We do. That’s fine. I could drone on for hours on this topic, but you get the gist.”
“I do. You’ve given me food for thought.”
“That was my goal.” He grabbed his hat from the desk and set it at a jaunty angle as the doors opened. “Showtime.”
The chili simmered on the stove and Anna was mixing up the batter to make cornbread when her phone pinged with a text from Garrett.
Can I bring Zeke’s daughter Claire to dinner? She wants to meet Georgie. And you.
Anna typed a quick reply. I’d love to meet her, too. Find out if she likes chili.
His answer came in a few seconds. She loves chili. See you soon.
Interesting. Why would an eight-year-old be eager to meet a toddler? She’d find out soon enough.
After spooning the cornbread batter into a cast-iron pan that turned out corn-shaped muffins, she stuck the pan in the oven. Then she walked into the living area and pulled the round table a little farther away from the back of the couch.
Squeezing four chairs around it so everyone could see the fireplace was tricky, but since two of the people were children, the arrangement should work. This was assuming Georgie would come out to eat. He’d already voiced his protest of having Garrett over. Not again, Mama! Don’t want Grit!
The choo-choo noises coming from his room indicated he was currently giving his moose Carl a ride on his wooden train. She went to the doorway. “We have another guest coming for dinner. Her name is Claire.”
He glanced up, his expression eager. “Grit stayed home?”
“No, he’s coming, too.”
“Oh.” His body slumped and he glanced at his moose. “Grit again.”
“Claire’s a little older than you. She just moved to the ranch and she wants to meet you.”
“Why?”
“Maybe she’s heard what a great boy you are. Maybe she wants to see your room.”
“I gots a big room.” He ran the train back and forth on the carpet.
“You sure do. Lots of fun stuff in here.”
“Grit gots to stay out.” He kept his attention on the train.
“He won’t come in unless you invite him.”
“Good.” The rumble of Garrett’s truck outside made him scramble to his feet and reach for the door handle. “Gots to close—”
“Wait. If I promise Garrett won’t come in your room, will you please leave the door open? For Claire?”
He gazed up at her. “Is she nice?”
“I’ve never met her. But I’ve heard she’s very nice.”
Garrett tapped on the door and Georgie tensed.
“Tell you what. I’ll make sure she’s nice before I bring her in here. By herself. Without Garrett. How’s that?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s my good boy.” She stooped down and gave him a quick hug before going to answer the door.
Garrett met her gaze with a smile that warmed her from her head to her toes. His big hands rested on the narrow shoulders of a blond child dressed exactly like the wranglers at the Buckskin—black Stetson, tooled boots, jeans and a child-sized shearling coat covering what was probably a yoked Western shirt.
The hat shadowed her face but when she looked up, the porch light sparkled in her blue eyes. She stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you Mrs. Warren. I’m Claire.”
Anna shook her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you, Claire. Come on in.” She stepped back and motioned them forward. “You can call me Anna if you like.”
“Can I call you Aunt Anna?” She peeled off her coat to reveal a blue plaid yoked shirt. “That’s what I’m supposed to call the other ladies. Except Gramma Henri, ’cause she told me she’s in the gramma age bracket. Which means she gets to buy me things, like this coat.”
“I guess I’m in the aunt age bracket, so please call me Aunt Anna. I’d be honored.” She glanced at Garrett, who’d closed the door and hung his hat on the coat tree. “Dinner’s almost ready, but I haven’t started the fire.”
He took Claire’s coat and slipped out of his own. “I’ll do that.”
“Can I help you, Uncle Garrett?” Claire handed him her Stetson.
Uncle, huh? She was an aunt and Garrett was an uncle. Cozy.
“You can help me,” he said, “but didn’t you want to meet Georgie?”
“Oh, right.” She said it as if he’d reminded her of the reason for her visit. “Where is he, Aunt Anna?”
“In his room. I’ll take you there.”
Claire gifted her with a smile. “Okey-dokey.”
She glanced at Garrett. “Be right back.”
“Looking forward to it.”
/> Awareness flooded her with heat. She’d be smart to douse it. Now they had two children in the house.
As she escorted Claire toward Georgie’s room, she called out to him. “I’ve brought you a new friend, son.”
“I saw her, Mama.”
Then he’d been spying. That was fine. Curiosity was better than anger or indifference. “Well, here she is.” She ushered Claire into his room. “Claire, this is my son Georgie.”
He stood ramrod straight in the middle of his room, holding his moose.
“Hi, Georgie.” Claire’s tone was polite. “Is that a moose?”
He nodded.
“Does your moose have a name?”
He nodded again.
“What is it?”
“Carl.”
“Nice name. It has the same letters as mine, only it’s missing the i and the e.” Her gaze swept the room and came to rest on his game shelf. “Oh, my gosh, you have Candyland?”
He nodded.
“I used to love that game, but I haven’t played it in ages. Wanna play it?”
He looked in Anna’s direction and she gave him a thumbs-up. He took a quick breath. “Okay.”
“Awesome. Is it all right if I get it out?”
Wow. Plenty of adults didn’t pay that level of respect to other people’s things.
Georgie’s posture relaxed. “Sure.”
Anna edged toward the door. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”
“Great!” Claire set the box on the floor and opened it. “Thanks, Aunt Anna.”
Garrett was crouched on the hearth coaxing the fire to life. He glanced up. “Well?”
“She’s amazing.”
“You’re telling me. This was her idea.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain.” He rose to his feet. “Let’s go check on dinner.”
“Right.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they headed in that direction. “Missed you.”
“Missed you, too.” Crazy talk. But she had missed him.
He drew her to a stop in front of the stove. “You didn’t leave me much to do.”
“I can think of one thing.”
“Do we dare?”
“They’re playing Candyland.”
“That’s a game?”
“Yes.” Her chest hurt. Who hadn’t heard of Candyland? She slid her arms around his neck. “I’m going to kiss you, but not for long. We have to be careful.”
He pulled her close. “I’ll take what I can get.”
Rising to meet him, she zeroed in on his beautifully sculpted mouth and closed her eyes. The zing of excitement at first contact morphed into the familiar pleasure of his lips moving against hers.
He didn’t waste time. The invasion of his tongue tightened her core and sent moisture to all the right places. She fit her body to his, savoring his swift response, the sizzle of desire, the delicious ache that telegraphed the news—that part of her life wasn’t dead and gone.
She ended the kiss slowly, easing out of his arms with a sigh of regret. “Sorry, but we—”
“It’s okay.” He cleared the hoarseness from his throat and dragged in a breath. “I’ll just go take a cold shower.”
She giggled. “Because that wouldn’t be weird.”
“Yeah, it would. I’ll go roll in a snowbank.”
“Please don’t.”
“Then I only have one trick left.” He stepped back and gazed up at the ceiling, his lips moving.
“What are you doing?”
“Running through the parts list for my truck.”
“Why are you staring at the ceiling?”
“Because if I look at you, I’ll be right back where I started.”
“Oh, Garrett. Men have it tough, don’t they?”
“I’m not complaining.” He took another deep breath and met her gaze. “I’ll go through that exercise as often as I’m allowed to kiss you. Because I believe that eventually the time will arrive when I won’t have to distract myself.”
Her heart beat faster. “It will.”
He glanced away. “And… I’m back to inventorying truck parts.”
“Would it help to make a salad?”
“Definitely.”
“Tomatoes are on the counter, bowl’s in the top cupboard in front of you, knives in the drawer to your right.” She opened the fridge and pulled out the other ingredients while he rolled back his sleeves and washed his hands at the sink.
Giving him the salad job meant she had nothing to do but watch him. She leaned against the door of the fridge. She could get used to having this man standing at her counter, his wear-softened jeans cupping his tempting backside, his broad shoulders stretching the cotton of his shirt.
If she didn’t start making conversation, she was liable to tackle him. “You were going to tell me why Claire is here.”
“So I was. She overheard me telling Zeke about Georgie, and next thing I knew, she’d volunteered to be a big sister to him. She thinks she can help, and the fact is, she might be able to.”
“I’ve just met her and I already think she can do whatever she sets her mind to. She’s very evolved for eight.”
“I haven’t had much chance to talk to Zeke without Claire being right there, listening to every word. But judging from what little he’s able to say, she had to be mature. Her mother sounds very childish.”
“The kind of person who should never have children.”
“Right, but Zeke’s a great dad, just like you’re a great mom. “
“Wouldn’t a great mom have addressed Georgie’s fears earlier?”
“Like when?” He put down the knife and turned to her. “You’ve been busy trying to survive, keep food on the table and a roof over your head and Georgie’s. You’re a fantastic mom.”
“Thank you.”
“He’s not even three yet. There’s plenty of time to fix this issue.”
“You’re right.” Plenty of time. Chill, Anna. Not an easy task while standing in the kitchen with Garrett Whittaker.
Chapter Fifteen
Garrett had accepted the fact that Georgie’s issues meant they had to kiss in secret and hide their budding relationship from that little guy. A full-blown love affair might not happen for a very long time. He hung onto her statement that it would happen eventually.
When dinner was ready, Anna went in to alert the kids while he tended to the fire. In a little while it would be just right for s’mores. Claire would be all for it and Georgie might follow her lead.
Georgie wasn’t having dinner with them, though. Anna walked out with Claire but no Georgie.
“I don’t get it, Aunt Anna. Uncle Garrett is wonderful.”
“Yes, he is.” Anna sent him a tight smile as she shepherded Claire into the kitchen nook to wash up.
He removed one place setting and took a chair away before heading back to the kitchen nook where Anna was making up a tray for Georgie and Claire was drying her hands. “Thanks for trying,”
“I told him so many good things about you, Uncle Garrett. I said you make the yummiest pancakes and decorate them with chocolate chip smiley faces. I told him you let me help you feed the horses, and that you and Daddy sing to me and we play poker, and—”
“Poker?” Anna’s eyebrows lifted.
“I know! Isn’t it great? I got to play poker with Daddy, Uncle Garrett, Uncle Rafe, Uncle Jake, Aunt Millie and Aunt Kate. “I won seventy-five cents!”
Garrett waited for his turn at the sink. “It’s a quarter buy-in. She’s a good player.”
“You have to be in this crowd.” Claire hung up the towel. “Uncle Rafe calls Aunt Kate a card shark. She’s going to teach me some of her techniques so I can be a card shark, too.”
“Ever play poker, Anna?” Garrett stepped up to the sink and turned on the water.
“No, and clearly I’m missing out.” Anna sounded like she was trying not to laugh.
“You could play with us at t
he bunkhouse sometime,” Claire said. “I could give you a few lessons first, so you’d…” She frowned. “I guess you couldn’t bring Georgie, though. He’d freak out.”
“Maybe someday.” She took a bowl from the stack on the counter and handed it to Claire. “Do you want to serve yourself?”
“I do, but I’m not quite tall enough.”
“Here you go.” Garrett lifted her up and balanced her on his knee. “How’s that?”
“Perfect.” She carefully ladled chili into a bowl. “That’s enough.” She put the ladle back in the pot. “Daddy says my eyes are bigger than my stomach, but I think this is just the right amount so I’ll have room for s’mores.” She carried her bowl to the table. “Which seat?”
“The middle one,” he called out. “So we each get to sit by you.”
“And she can be our chaperone,” Anna murmured as she picked up Georgie’s tray.
“Yes, ma’am. I desperately need one.”
“Me, too. I’m totally smitten. I’ve never had pancakes decorated with chocolate-chip smiley faces.”
“The first time I stay for breakfast I’ll fix you some.”
She held his gaze. “I’d better get out of this hot kitchen.” Breaking eye contact, she picked up Georgie’s tray. “Would you please dish me some chili?”
“I’m at your command, pretty lady.”
“Chili will do it for now.” She headed for Georgie’s bedroom.
“Hey,” Claire called out from the table. “Do you need help with anything, Uncle Garrett?”
“No, ma’am. Everything’s under control.” Barely.
Claire kept the conversation going during dinner. She filled them in on her new school, her cool third-grade teacher and the class project that would be launched this month.
“We’re gonna build a greenhouse and grow food! Miss Jefferson asked Daddy if he’d help build it and he said sure thing.” She pointed to a piece of tomato in her almost empty salad bowl. “I’ll bet those tomatoes had to be shipped in.”
“Probably,” Anna said.
“Our tomatoes will be locally grown.” Her eyes gleamed with pride. “Different kinds of lettuce, too. And kale, but I don’t know if I like that.”
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