by Various
He didn’t know what her fixation with her reputation was, but she must know something about children if she knew taking care of a couple of toddlers was so tiring. He had to agree. Shelly had woken in the night calling for her mom. It had been all Win could do to get the little girl to go back to sleep. He didn’t look forward to more nights of the same. Children needed a woman’s touch. Carlene talked as if she’d had personal experience along those lines.
“You taken care of a lot of kids?”
She eyed him warily, but nodded. “I babysat all through high school. I started watching one set of twins the year they were born and helped their mom potty-train them before I went off to college. I have no doubt your sister needs a break, especially if her husband travels so much, but you agreeing to give her that break does not make it my responsibility.”
He opened his mouth to answer and she forestalled him. “You’re going to have to find someone else.”
He frowned, starting to get a little annoyed. He didn’t think a woman as kind as Carlene would be so difficult to convince to help him. Didn’t she fall all over herself mixing herbal teas for Shorty’s arthritis? Hadn’t she refused to let him fire Lonny when Win had finally cornered her about the scene in the kitchen?
He’d think that kindness and understanding would extend to her boss as well. “Well, your job description just got changed. Now it includes watching my sister’s children while I’m busy at the stables.”
“Hire a teenager to help you,” she shot back.
“Don’t know any well enough to trust my sister’s children into their care.”
That seemed to stymie her. Her mouth, which had been open, ready to level another sally at him, closed with a snap.
Before she could marshal her thoughts, he went in for the kill. “Come on, honey. It’s only for a few days. Don’t tell me that you can turn your back on two defenseless little kids that need you.”
A frown wiped the expression of thoughtful concern she had been wearing right off her face.
“I’m not turning my back on ‘two defenseless little children’. I’m refusing to do what their overbearing, arrogant, thickheaded uncle is demanding I do. There’s a big difference in my mind.”
“That ‘overbearing, arrogant, thickheaded’ man is also your boss and like I reminded you…it’s your job to take care of the domestic stuff. You want help with the kids? Call a service to send someone to help you with the cooking and other household stuff, but I’m not leaving my niece and nephew under the responsibility of a stranger. I want you with them. Just for this little bit,”
he reiterated.
“Win! You’re the one that told your sister you would take care of her kids.”
The pocket spitfire was stubborn, he’d give her that, but he wasn’t giving in on this. He couldn’t. He had too much going on both with the free range horses and the stables to take time off right now. “Rosa would have done it, no problem. She would have insisted.”
Carlene looked like a tea kettle ready to whistle. “And that matters to me why?”
“Because she was a good housekeeper and you are too.”
Laughter burst from the woman in front of him. “You think I aspire to golden-star status as a housekeeper?”
“You are the kind of person who takes pride in doing her job to the best of her ability, no matter what that job is.”
“I’ve been a great housekeeper for you.”
“And now I’m asking you for something extra. No different than asking Shorty to stay with a foaling mare or myself to get up two hours early for a month to take an extra training project on.” He took a breath, thought of saying something else and then sighed. “Please, Carlene. I need your help.”
The starch went right out of her as he said the final words and he wondered why he hadn’t thought to use that approach before. Mostly his pride. He hated saying please or admitting he needed anything from anybody, but especially a woman. He’d been let down too many times.
“Okay. I’ll work something out, but not the nights. You’re going to have to handle those on your own.”
“As far as caring for the children, that’s not a problem, but I’ve got mares ready to foal. If I’m needed in the stable at night, I can’t leave Shelly and Jared in the house alone. Besides, they’re going to miss their mama something fierce. They’ll need comforting. A woman’s touch.”
“I don’t see how a perfect stranger could comfort them any better than their uncle.”
That made his lips twitch. Was she really that ignorant of the effect she had on people? “Honey, you could comfort a wounded lion cub. Shelly and Jared are going to love you.”
Her cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink. “Thank you, but don’t think that flattery is going to win this argument.”
He didn’t. He figured Carlene’s soft heart could do that for him. He heard a noise come through the door he’d left open to the courtyard. His spirits lifted. The kids were awake. He knew Carlene wouldn’t stay stubborn on the issue of staying the nights once she’d met Jared and Shelly. They were great kids.
“Can you at least stay tonight?”
“Yes.” She fixed him with a steely stare. “But just this one night. Got it?”
He smiled. He had it all right and he had her. After the first night of holding Shelly when she woke up calling for her mommy, Carlene would be hooked. She’d see the kids needed her. If having her stay the nights made her that much more accessible to him, well, a smart man knew when to take advantage of his good fortune.
Another noise came, this one a tad louder.
Carlene’s head shot up. “One of them is awake.”
“Sounds like Jared. He’s probably hungry for some breakfast. Why don’t you rustle up something? I’ll go get him.”
He left Carlene staring after him with a pretty darn adorable look of confusion on her face.
He had been right. Jared was awake and standing in the playpen that Leah had brought with her.
His baby-fine blond hair stuck to the side of his head. He stopped crying and smiled when Win entered the room. Chubby little arms reached up from the playpen. “Up, Unca Win, up.”
Win obliged willingly, letting his gaze shift to the sofa where his niece still slept. He’d put the kids in the study because all the bedrooms were on the upper levels, he’d move them to the bedroom when they were asleep. He carried Jared to the floor and saw about changing the little guy’s clothes. By the time he was finished, Shelly had woken up.
She knelt in the middle of the sofa that looked a whole lot bigger under her than when he sat on it and rubbed sleep from her eyes. “Uncle Win, where’s Mommy?”
Win scooped Jared off the dresser and used his free arm to pick up Shelly. He carried them out the door and through the courtyard toward the kitchen. “Your mommy let me have you two for company for a few days. You know how lonely Uncle Win gets when you aren’t around.”
Shelly contemplated Win, her gaze serious as only a four-year-old’s could be. “Mommy said she needed a break. She was crying. Is she done crying, Uncle Win?”
Pain lanced through Win at the question. Shelly had seen too much of Leah’s unhappiness.
He carried her and Jared through the kitchen door. “Yeah, sweetpea, I think she’s done crying, except for maybe a little because she misses you.”
“Uncle Win.”
He set the kids down at the table and knelt down to Shelly’s eye level. “Yeah, sweetpea?”
Shelly’s lower lip trembled and her baby-soft brown eyes filled with moisture. “I want my mommy.”
Hell.
Carlene stepped forward. Her smile was bright enough to light a stadium. “Good morning. You must be Shelly. I’m Carlene. You know, sometimes I want my mom too.”
Win watched his niece’s eyes widen. “You do?”
Carlene nodded, her expression sincere. “You bet. She lives in Texas. That’s a long way from here. When I miss her, I try to do things I like to do with her so I wo
n’t miss her so much. Do you think that would work for you?”
Shelly pursed her lips in thought, but she’d stopped crying. “I don’t know.”
“What do you like to do with your mom?”
“I like it when she rocks me and reads me a story. Mostly she holds both me and Jared,” Shelly said.
Carlene nodded with enthusiasm as if Shelly had just revealed the secret to eternal youth. “You know, I like to rock little children and read to them too. Maybe you’d let me rock you and Jared—what do you think?”
A little of Shelly’s unhappiness faded from her eyes. “I guess.”
Carlene smiled that thousand-watt smile again. “Okay. What do you say we have some breakfast first?”
“I’s hungry,” announced Jared. “I’s wants beck-fast.”
Carlene and Shelly both giggled and Win relaxed. Everything was going to be just fine. He met Carlene’s eyes over the top of Shelly’s head and mouthed a “thank you”. She shrugged and returned to cooking pancakes.
He walked over to her and kissed her softly on the temple in gratitude. “Thank you. You’re one in a million, honey.”
She turned startled eyes to him, her lips soft and inviting. The only thing that stopped him from accepting that invitation was the presence of the two little people at the table. They stared at Win and Carlene with identical looks of interest on their faces. He sighed. Another time.
Chapter 5
CARLENE tossed her cotton nightgown in the overnight bag along with clothes for the next day.
Taking advantage of the fact that she had managed to get both Jared and Shelly to take an afternoon nap, she had left Shorty in charge and rushed to her apartment to pack for her overnight at Win’s. She didn’t want the children to wake up while she was gone, although she couldn’t have said why. They undoubtedly knew Shorty much better than they knew her, but she felt the need to be there in case they woke wanting their mom.
She made quick work of her packing and was back in her car in a matter of minutes. She flipped on the air-conditioning. Summer in Oregon’s desert wasn’t as scorching as west Texas, but it was hot enough. She breathed an air of relief as the refrigerated air from the vents cooled her skin.
If only she could cool her reaction to Win as easily. She’d fought him over watching his niece and nephew not because she truly had a problem with taking care of the children, but because she didn’t want another link between herself and Win. She felt the strings tying her to her sexy boss tightening each day. His desire beat at her whenever they were in the same room together and that wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t a corresponding cadence inside of her.
There hadn’t been another incident like the one when he’d kissed her until she’d forgotten common sense. Win had been a perfect gentleman, but that didn’t alleviate the pressure she felt.
She got the sense that Win was just biding his time until she surrendered to the feelings between them. He seemed to think that them making love was a foregone conclusion.
The thing that terrified her was that she was beginning to wonder if he was right.
She went to sleep every night with his image fixed firmly in her mind and woke up each morning anticipating seeing him again. His prominence in her thoughts both scared and exhilarated her. She’d never felt this drawn to another man, not even Grant. She wanted Win, but she wanted more than a short-term affair.
She wanted it all and Win acted as if marriage was one step away from maximum-security prison. She sighed. Was it any wonder that she was scared? Well, one thing was for certain. She wasn’t going to stay the nights at Win’s after tonight. He’d have to find someone else.
Despite its celebrity part-time residents, Sunshine Springs was a small town with small-town attitudes. She wasn’t about to risk her prospects of getting hired as a teacher again by living with Win. It didn’t matter if she slept with him or not, plenty of people would take it as a foregone conclusion. Look at the way the principal at the grade school Zoe taught at had reacted to her living with Grant. Grant had been Zoe’s best friend for pretty much all of her life too.
Tyler had told Carlene all about it and she knew better than to push her own luck.
High-school teachers got just as much, if not more, scrutiny. Especially one with her track record.
She pulled her car to a stop near Win’s house. It would make the perfect house for a family.
A sudden image of a little boy with Win’s startling blue eyes and black hair playing in the courtyard fountain took her breath away. More staggering than the vision of the little boy playing in the pond was the absolute certainty that the child belonged to both her and Win. It seemed so real that she was surprised to realize that she hadn’t yet gotten out.
She shook her head ruefully and stepped out of her car. The heat was doing things to her brain, that or the knowledge that she was tempted to chuck all her requirements out the window and give herself to Win, no commitments.
Making a baby with Win would be fairly easy.
Making a family with the man would be another matter entirely.
The cry woke Carlene from a fitful sleep. She sat straight up in bed and tried desperately to make sense of the shadowy images she could barely make out in the darkness. This wasn’t her bed. This wasn’t her room in her cozy little apartment either.
Another cry rent the air. “Mommy!”
Everything crystallized in Carlene’s brain. She was sleeping in the guest room next to Shelly and Jared’s. When the cry was followed by audible sobs, she jumped out of bed. Taking no time to put on a bathrobe, she rushed from the room. Where was Win? Couldn’t he hear Shelly’s heart-rending cries? Carlene stepped on a toy and let out a squeak as she stumbled into the children’s room.
The night-light that Win had put in at Shelly’s request illuminated the distraught little girl sitting in the center of the double bed. Carlene didn’t hesitate. She put her arms out and Shelly flew into them.
Locking her arms around Carlene’s neck, Shelly choked out words between her tears. “I’m s-scared. I want my mommy.”
Carlene hugged the little girl fiercely. “Shh, sugarbear. It’s going to be okay.”
Continuing to speak softly to Shelly, Carlene crossed to the rocking-chair in the corner of the room. It was a roomy, old-fashioned wooden rocker; the kind Carlene’s mom had used to rock her when she woke scared in the night. She sat down and cradled Shelly on her lap. Rubbing the little girl’s back, Carlene continued to speak comforting words and rocked the chair in a soothing motion until Shelly’s crying subsided.
She didn’t stop rocking until Shelly’s limp posture and deep breathing indicated she had once again fallen asleep. Even then, Carlene stayed in the chair, holding the child. The feel of the small body tucked against hers filled Carlene with longing. Win said she was too young to be worried about her biological clock, but what about her heart’s desires?
Stifling a sigh, she stood up. Carlene put Shelly back into the bed, tucking the covers around her small form. She turned and checked on Jared, surprised he had slept through his sister’s upset.
His blanket had slipped down and Carlene pulled it up to cover him before turning to leave the room.
She stepped into the hall and stifled a scream as a shadow unattached itself from the wall and came toward her. “Win.”
“Is she okay?”
Carlene nodded, her heart beating too frantically for her to form a proper response.
He had obviously come straight from bed. His hair was disheveled as if he’d recently run his fingers through it. He hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt or shoes and the top button on his Levis was undone. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch the muscled planes of his chest. All in all, he looked much too tempting for her peace of mind.
He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm and tugged her through the doorway into the open-air corridor that looked out over the courtyard. “Thank you.”
She turned so that she could see his profile
in the moonlight. “You’re welcome. Why didn’t you come in?”
“I told you. Children need a woman’s touch.”
“Win, that’s silly. Are you saying you don’t think a father has a responsibility to comfort his children?” She whispered, not wanting to risk waking Shelly again.
Win’s teeth flashed in the darkness as he smiled. “Don’t get on your high horse, honey. I’m not saying that at all. It’s just that right now, Shelly wants her mom. It makes sense that she’d accept more comfort from a woman.”
“What about her dad?” Carlene asked, “Don’t you think she misses him as well?”
Win snorted. “It wasn’t her dad she was calling for.”
Carlene had to acknowledge the truth in that statement. She shivered. The night chill reminded her that she’d forgotten to put on a robe, so did the expression in Win’s eyes.
She tried valiantly to stay on topic. “That doesn’t mean the children don’t miss their dad.”
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, sending frissons of excitement through her as well as welcome warmth. “Mark travels a lot. They’re used to him being gone for a few days at a time. This is the first time that Leah has left them with anyone for even overnight.”
“Your sister must really be feeling pressed against a wall to have left them here.”
“Yes.” He pulled Carlene against him and wrapped his arms around her back. His heat enveloped her. “It’s too cold out here for you wearing nothing but that thin gown.”
She smiled at the censure in his voice and pulled back slightly so she could see his face. He looked dangerous in the reflected light of the moon.
“I was in too much of a hurry to find my robe. Besides, you’re the one that pulled me out here instead of letting me return to my room and my warm bed. Why did you?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“About Leah?”
His head lowered until his lips were centimeters from hers. “No.”