“I’m sure Kate wasn’t too pleased about that.”
He chuckled. “You’ve heard about Grandmother’s strict rules of being on time for dinner?”
Vanessa smiled fondly. “Years ago, when I visited Maura at the ranch, Kate’s rules were the first things I learned about the Donovan household. I remember being very scared to enter the dining room.”
“Why? Grandmother always loves having young people around.”
Shrugging, she entered the open doorway to the kitchen while Conall followed closely behind her. “I always thought I looked too raggedy to sit at her dining table or that I’d say something stupid or wrong.”
He shook his head. “Grandmother has never been a snob. Strict, yes, but not a snob. And she made sure the rest of us weren’t, either.”
“I know. But I always felt a little out of place in your home, Conall.” She laughed softly and gestured to the small room they were standing in. It was neat and clean, but the wooden cabinets were more than fifty years old and the porcelain sink chipped and stained. The ceiling was so low that Conall had to duck in order to keep from hitting his head on the light fixture and though the appliances were still chugging along, they’d seen better days. “This isn’t quite the same as the kitchen in the Diamond D.”
“No,” he admitted. “But it’s very homey and inviting. And it’s yours. That should make you proud.”
His comments made her feel warm and good. “It does,” she agreed, then motioned to the bassinet sitting near a double window. “I know the babies can’t see yet, but I put them by the window just in case they can pick up the movement of lights and shadows. But I think they notice music more than anything. Whenever I sing to them they usually fall right to sleep. To end the torture, I guess.”
Chuckling, Conall crossed the small room and bent over the sleeping babies. “They’ve grown,” he said just above a whisper. “And their skin doesn’t look as ruddy.”
“They’re losing that just-born look,” she told him.
He said, “Before you know it they’ll be rolling, then crawling and walking. It seems incredible that they start out so tiny and grow into big people like us.”
He gazed at them for several long moments before he finally straightened to his full height. When he turned away from the bassinet Vanessa caught sight of his profile and was immediately struck by the wistful expression on his face.
Were the twins softening him? she wondered. Perhaps changing his stance about not having children? She wanted to think so, although she didn’t know why the issue was important to her. Whether Conall ever raised a family or not would depend on the next woman he married. Not her and the twins.
He walked over to where she stood by the cabinet counter. “I don’t mean this in a bad way, Vanessa, but you look exhausted. I assume the babies are keeping you up at night?”
Unwittingly, she touched a hand to her bare cheek. Without makeup and her hair pulled into a messy knot at the back of her head, she no doubt looked terrible. She hated having him see her like this, but it was too late to worry about her appearance now.
“Some nights are more broken than others,” she admitted. “If the babies would both wake at the same time it would be a big help. But Rick always wakes far before his sister and then about the time I get him fed and asleep and I’m about to crawl back into bed, she starts fussing.” She smiled at him. “But I’m not complaining. Having the babies…well, it’s like a dream come true.”
He reached out and rubbed a hand up and down her arm in what was meant to be a comforting gesture. But for Vanessa, it was like flint striking stone. The friction was igniting a trail of tiny flames along her skin, making it difficult for her to breathe.
“You need help, Vanessa. You can’t continue to handle two infants alone. I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to find a nanny, but things have been hectic in the office since you’ve been away.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry I’ve gotten everything out of whack. I did call Fiona and thank her for filling in for me at the office. I hope the job isn’t wearing her out.”
Conall chuckled. “Wearing Mom out? Not hardly. She thinks she’s still in her twenties instead of entering her sixties.”
“She had six children and I’m letting two wear me down,” Vanessa said with a grimace. “That makes me feel like a wimp.”
“She didn’t have two at once. That would wear anyone out. But today I think I might have found a nanny and if things go as planned she’ll be over tomorrow or the next day for your approval.”
Her interest sparked, Vanessa asked, “Do I know this woman?”
“I doubt it. Her name is Hannah Manning and she’s a retired nurse that Maura used to work with at Sierra General.”
“Oh. Well, if she’s a nurse, she ought to be qualified for the job. I’ll look forward to meeting her.”
His hand was still on her arm, sending sizzling little signals to her brain, and she could only hope he couldn’t guess how much she wanted to touch him, kiss him again. In spite of her days and nights being consumed with caring for the twins, she’d not been able to quit thinking about the man.
“I’ve stewed a pot of carne guisada for dinner,” she said, her gaze awkwardly avoiding his. “Would you like to join me?”
“I’d love to,” he murmured, “but I’d like to do something else first.”
She was wondering what something else could possibly be when his forefinger slid beneath her chin and lifted her face up to his. Their gazes clashed and Vanessa’s heart began to thud so hard she could scarcely breathe.
“Conall, this…is…not good,” she finally managed to whisper.
His mouth twisted to a sexy slant. “How do you know that? We haven’t done it yet.”
She groaned with misgivings but the sound didn’t deter him. Instead, both his hands came up to frame the sides of her face. The tender intimacy shot her resistance to tiny pieces and as his head lowered toward hers, she closed her eyes and leaned into him.
This time the meeting of their mouths was not the fragile exploration they’d exchanged in Las Vegas. No, this time it was all-out hunger, and what little breath Vanessa had beforehand was instantly swept away by the crush of his hard lips.
Instinctively her hands grabbed for support and landed smack in the middle of his chest. She gripped folds of his cotton shirt as the heat of his body infused hers with heady warmth and his hands began a lazy expedition against her shoulders.
Certain she was going to dissolve in a helpless puddle if the kiss went any further, Vanessa frantically tore herself away and turned her back to him.
She was fiercely trying to fill her lungs with oxygen, when his lips pressed against her ear and she closed her eyes as he began to whisper, “I’m not going to apologize for that, Vanessa. It felt too right.”
She couldn’t argue that point. Until now, until Conall’s lips had touched hers, no man’s kiss had ever spun her away to such a fairy-tale world. And that was the problem, she thought desperately. Conall was a prince and he wasn’t looking to make her his princess.
She swallowed hard. “I don’t expect you to apologize,” she said in a faint voice. “I’m just—” Stiffening her resolve, she turned back to him. “I don’t know what’s going through your mind, Conall. But I think you should understand that I’m not a woman who plays around.”
For a fraction of a second, he looked astounded and then a grimace tightened his features. “Do you think I’m a man who plays around?”
Her eyes searched his. “I’ve never thought so. But you’re starting to make me wonder.”
He let out a mocking snort. “I haven’t touched another woman in a long, long time. Does that sound like a man that’s on the prowl?”
It sounded like a man who was still in love with his ex-wife, or one that had been wounded so badly he’d turned away from love altogether. Either way, Vanessa thought, the notion was a bleak one.
Sighing heavily, she stepped around him and crossed over to
a small gas range. Giving one of the knobs a savage twist, she ignited a flame beneath a blue granite pot.
After a moment, she answered his question. “No. It sounds to me like a man that’s confused.”
“Confused, hell,” he muttered.
She glanced over her shoulder to see him striding toward her and before she could stop it, desire washed through her like a hot wave, knocking down her defenses before she could even get them erected.
“Well, if you’re not mixed up, I am,” she admitted.
He stopped within a few inches of her and though he didn’t touch her, Vanessa could almost feel his hands, his gaze, roaming her face, her body.
“Explain that, would you?”
A war exploded inside her and she was trying to decide if she wanted to throw herself in his arms or scurry out of the room, when he shifted closer.
She tried to swallow but her throat was so dry she nearly choked in the process. Finally, she managed to say, “I don’t understand any of this, Conall.”
He was looking at her with that same stony expression she’d seen on him in the office when things weren’t going his way.
“It would help if I knew what this was,” he stated.
The fact that he was deliberately being ignorant made her clench her jaw tight and suddenly all the doubts and emotions that had been swirling around in her for the past two weeks boiled to the surface. “You know what I’m talking about, Conall!” she burst out. “I’ve worked for you every day for more than two months and you hardly took a moment to look at me, much less touch me. Now all of a sudden you behave as though I’m irresistible. It’s—it’s ridiculous! That’s what it is.”
Behind her the stewed beef began to boil rapidly and the sound matched the blood pounding in her ears. Twisting around to the stove, she automatically lowered the flame as she sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm herself. But the effort failed completely as soon as his hands settled upon her shoulders.
“Vanessa, I don’t understand why you’re so worked up over a kiss,” he murmured. “I’m not asking you to jump into bed with me.”
The mere idea of making intimate love to this man was enough to make her face flame and her body burn. And she suddenly felt terribly, terribly embarrassed. Maybe she was acting foolish and naive. Maybe she was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Forcing herself to turn and face him, she said, “I’m sorry, Conall, but this change in our relationship has caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting any of this and—”
“Do you think I was? Hell, Vanessa, like I said before I’ve not even looked in a woman’s direction in years. And even after you came to work for me I wasn’t thinking of you in this way, but…”
She waited for him to finish, but he appeared to be lost for words.
“But what, Conall? I receive word about the babies and suddenly you’re looking at me as though you’ve never seen me before.”
“That’s true,” he admitted.
Incredulous, Vanessa stared at him. “It is?”
Clearly frustrated, he swiped a hand through his dark brown hair. “I can’t give you a solid reason for my behavior, Vanessa, except that the day you fainted in the office I began to see you as a woman.”
Grimacing, she peered around him to the opposite side of the room. Thankfully, the twins were still sleeping soundly in their bassinet.
“And what was I before?” she asked dryly, “A robot that answered the phone and dealt with your correspondence?”
He groaned. “I’m trying to explain.”
“You’re not doing a very good job of it,” she pointed out.
His hands slipped from her shoulders and slid down her arms until they reached her hands. Then, like a pair of flesh-and-bone handcuffs, his fingers clamped around her wrists.
“You’re not making the task any easier, either,” he countered.
Nervously moistening her lips, she focused her gaze to the middle button on his shirt. “I suppose I’m not,” she admitted. “But try to see things from my angle, Conall. Suddenly you’re making the twins a nursery, buying them gifts and—and handling me as though…you want to! What am I suppose to think? Are you playing up to me just so you can be around the twins?”
“That’s damned stupid!”
Surprised by sharpness in his voice, her gaze flew up to his face.
“I care about the twins,” he went on. “But I’m pretty sure you’d let me visit them whether I kissed you or not.”
Desperate for answers, she spluttered at him, “So why are you kissing me? Because your libido has woken up and I’m handy?”
His nostrils flared as his fingers tightened on her wrists. “Vanessa, none of this is hard to understand. I’m simply being a man. A man that has found himself attracted to a woman. A kiss is…well, I’m trying to tell you that I think we should get to know each other better. On a more personal level.”
She groaned with disbelief. “That wasn’t a get-to-know-you kiss, Conall. That was more like an I-missed-you-like-hell kiss.”
To her amazement, a tempting little grin spread across his lips. “Finally, you’re getting something right,” he murmured, his eyes settling softly on her face. “I have missed you like hell.”
His admission sent a foolish thrill rushing through her, spinning her heartbeat to a rapid thud.
“That’s very hard to believe,” she said, in a breathless whisper.
“Then maybe I’d better give you another demonstration. Just to prove my point.”
Making his intentions clear, his head bent toward hers and though Vanessa told herself she’d be smart to make a quick escape, she couldn’t make a move. Instead, she stood transfixed and waited for his lips to capture hers.
Chapter Six
Just a few more moments, Vanessa promised herself, and then she’d gather the strength to step away from the heated search of Conall’s lips. She’d get her breath back, along with her senses, and then she’d remind herself why being in his arms was as dangerous as sidling up to a sizzling stick of dynamite.
But so far the minutes continued to tick away and she’d not taken that first move to end their kiss. Instead, she couldn’t stop her lips from parting beneath his, her arms from sliding around his waist.
She was leaning into him, her whole body buzzing with the anticipation of getting even closer to his hard body, when she caught the sound of Rick’s faint whimpers.
The pressure of Conall’s lips eased just a fraction, telling her that he must have picked up on the baby’s subtle call. Even so, he didn’t bother to end the kiss until the tiny boy let loose with an all-out cry.
Lifting his head, he drew in a ragged breath and glanced over his shoulder toward the bassinet. “That child needs to learn better timing,” he said with humor, then glancing back to Vanessa, he added, “Sounds like duty calls.”
Struggling to regain her composure, she said in a husky voice, “It’s Rick. I can tell by his cry. He’s probably thinking it’s time for his supper, too.”
After switching off the fire beneath the carne guisada, she walked over to the bassinet. Conall followed close on her heels.
“Can I help?” he asked.
She lifted the fussing Rick from the bed. “It would be a big help if you could hold him while I heat a bottle.”
Conall eagerly held out his arms. “I’d be glad to hold him, just don’t expect me to make him stop crying,” he warned. “I wouldn’t know how.”
She carefully placed the baby in the crook of Conall’s strong arm. “Just rock him a little,” she suggested. “And don’t worry if he keeps on crying. He’s not hurting, just exercising his opinion.”
Chuckling, he looked down at the fussy baby. “Oh, well, we men have to do that from time to time.”
Pausing for just a moment, Vanessa couldn’t help but take in the sight of Conall with tiny Rick cradled against his broad chest. The man looked like a born father, she thought, certainly not a guy that had sworn off having children.
Shaking away that disturbing notion, Vanessa hurried to the refrigerator to fetch the bottle. She was about to place it in the microwave, when Rose decided to let loose with a wail.
“I think you’d better make it two bottles,” Conall said, raising his voice above the crying.
“So I hear.”
Vanessa collected another bottle from the refrigerator and quickly heated them to a wrist-warm temperature. By the time she handed Conall one of the bottles and went to gather Rose from the bassinet, the girl was howling at the top of her lungs.
“I think you’ll find it easier to feed him if you’re sitting down,” Vanessa told Conall, then she picked up Rose and crooned soothingly to the baby while carrying her over to the dining table.
After taking a seat, Vanessa propped the baby in the crook of her arm and offered her the bottle. Rose latched on to the nipple and began to nurse hungrily.
On the opposite side of the table Conall was trying to emulate Vanessa’s movements. “I’ve never fed a baby before,” he admitted. “I’m not sure I’m doing any of this right.”
From what Vanessa could see the Donovan family had been having babies left and right with Maura’s two boys and Brady’s little girl. She found it difficult to believe that Conall hadn’t given at least one of them a bottle. Especially Brady’s daughter, since the two brothers lived together in the main ranch house. Sure, he was a busy man, she reasoned, but not that busy. Perhaps the babies had all been breast-fed. That might account for his lack of experience, she thought.
“There’s nothing to it,” she assured him. “Just keep his head supported and the bottle tilted upward so he won’t suck air. He’ll do the rest.”
He shifted Rick to a comfortable position and offered him the bottle. Once the baby was nursing quietly, Conall looked over at Vanessa and smiled. “Hey, that’s quite a silencer. Does a bottle always do the trick?”
Vanessa chuckled. “Unfortunately, no. Sometimes they cry when they aren’t hungry and I have to try to figure out what’s wrong and what they’re trying to tell me.”
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