"Oh yes, you told me that you were incredibly easygoing." He shook his head in disbelief.
She frowned. "Sometimes people even call me a marshmallow."
He laughed. "Sounds like a white lie to me."
"It's true. I almost never argue. I'm not a fighter."
"You're making that up."
"I am not." And she looked at him with a hint of indignation.
"I think you are a fighter when it really matters." And for some reason he didn't want to examine, he took a step into her space.
She gasped slightly.
He reached out and took her chin beneath his fingers.
"What are you doing?" Her voice trembled, but still she challenged him. Her lips were pink and full and incredibly enticing.
He leaned forward and took a taste. A small one, but even that was too heady. Her lips parted and he wanted more.
"Mr. Rollins?"
He raised his head and frowned, muttering an oath. "Jackie, you were supposed to tell me to stop. Maybe even stomp on my instep or punch me in the stomach."
She blinked. "You kissed me expecting me to attack you?"
He ran a hand through his bed-rumpled hair. "You haven't let me get away with anything so far. I was just going to prove that you weren't either a pushover or a marshmallow when it came to the important stuff, the stuff where you need to be tough and unyielding." It occurred to him that she was much more delicious and enticing than any marshmallow he'd ever sampled.
"I see. Then…if it happens again…"
He hoped to hell it wouldn't, because his body was already aching for a lot more than kisses, and that just wouldn't fly. "Don't hesitate next time," he said with a growl. "Just go straight for punching me in the gut. Not that I intend to let it happen again."
"No, of course not. You were just making a point."
He let the lie stand.
She bit her lip. "I—you just must have caught me off guard. I haven't done a lot of kissing and I was distracted. So yes, I promise to hit you very hard if you ever try to kiss me again."
"Good. I'll count on that," he told her.
But as she wandered off to bed he couldn't help thinking that it might be worth a few punches to feel her lips beneath his one more time.
Upon waking the next morning the first thing Jackie did was touch her lips. She still couldn't believe that Steven had kissed her. She wondered why he'd done it.
Had it been a punishment for coming in and forcing herself on his family? But she doubted that because he had told her that he expected her to retaliate by hitting him. Maybe he was just testing her. She just hoped he never found out that she had enjoyed his touch. The kiss had been so short, she had barely stopped herself from leaning close and twining her arms around his neck, pressing her belly to his hips…
If he realized that…well, it was bad enough that she knew, and she was certainly not going to dwell on the matter.
He had told her it wouldn't happen again. She had promised to hit him if it did. End of story. He had been making a simple point, and it was clear the man had no interest in touching her again.
Besides, all that had happened in the middle of the night, when everything was surreal. This morning was a new day. She was going to do her best to quietly win over the baby. It would require being patient and waiting. She had a lot of practice with both.
With a smile, Jackie climbed of bed, showered and got dressed. She glanced in the mirror and was surprised to see a little color in her cheeks. For some reason that was disquieting. It made her look different from her usual colorless self.
"Silly," she told herself. "You probably stood in the sun too long yesterday morning. You'll have to watch yourself out here in the wide open spaces."
She headed for the kitchen. When she got there, Steven was at the table having his breakfast.
Jackie blinked and looked at the clock.
"Don't ranchers have to get up in the dark to do…whatever they do?" she asked.
"I've been up doing whatever I do," he agreed. "Now I'm having breakfast. Then I'll go out and do some more."
"Oh, that's good, then," she said, managing a smile. She certainly didn't want him to think that she wanted to spend time with him. Or that she was hoping he would kiss her again.
"You seem pretty pleased to be left on your own." His voice was somewhat grumpy.
"Oh…yes, I am," she agreed. "I have a plan."
He stopped eating. "A plan?"
"To win Suzy over. Everything's going to work out great, I think. You just go…do…"
"Whatever I do," he finished for her. And he got up from the table.
Jackie looked up as he stretched and all his muscles presented themselves to her. She pretended not to notice the awareness zipping through her body and bringing all her nerve endings to life. "Good day, Ms. Hammond," Steven said. "Suzy's still sleeping, but Ms. Lerner's around. I'm sure she'll be plenty of company for you."
And then he slammed a baseball cap on that fine head of black hair and left the house, with the screen door bouncing behind him.
Jackie felt her smile slipping. It was as if Steven had a string attached to the sun and he was pulling it away with him.
Ms. Lerner came into the room at that moment with a sour expression on her face. "I'm not here to wait on you hand and foot. Let's get these dishes cleaned up before the egg dries on them. And don't be loud. You'll wake the baby."
"Mr. Rollins wouldn't like that. He doesn't like anyone who causes problems for his daughter or himself. You should probably know that. If I were you, I would think about leaving soon."
Jackie looked at the frowning woman. Oh great, another person who didn't want her here. It was certainly going to be a fun-filled day.
Chapter Five
He was darn well going to spend as much time away from the house as possible, Steven thought as he went about his work that day. What in hell had he been thinking kissing Jackie? And why couldn't he get that picture of her, wearing that pale blue thing with her hair all soft and tousled, out of his mind?
"Because you haven't had a woman in weeks," he reminded himself. If he were smart, he would just drive over to Miranda's tonight and take care of his problem.
But somehow he knew he wouldn't. It just felt…wrong. Probably because his mother had taught him too much about manners when there was company, he figured. Well, soon enough Jackie's two weeks would be up and he could get back to living the life of a bachelor.
And Jackie could get back to whatever social life she had, too. Probably some man back at the resort hoping she would let him into her bed soon.
Steven pounded the fence post he was working on a bit too hard.
"Want to talk about it?" Ben asked.
"What?"
"Why you're pounding that fence post so deep that somebody Down Under is probably feeling the vibrations."
"Just want to make sure it's solid," Steven grumbled, patting the very solid post.
"Yeah, I'd say it's solid, just like I'd say you don't like the fact that that pretty woman is up at the house romancing your daughter."
"You think she's pretty?"
Ben snorted. "I think she's got eyes that could get a man to do almost anything. That doesn't matter to me. What matters is what you're going to do about it."
Steven stopped pounding. He glared at his friend and foreman. "Not a damn thing. You know I don't get involved. Nobody knows better than you that my marriage wasn't ideal."
"Michelle didn't belong on a ranch, even if she was from around here."
"Exactly. It takes a woman who has always loved this way of life to settle down on a ranch. Besides, I don't aim high any more."
"Yeah, well you got your reasons. Getting injured and having to give up your football career and then your relationship with Michelle heading south and then losing her just when the two of you had started to make your peace…"
"Oh no, don't go down that road," Steven said. "I'm not going to start feeling sorry for myse
lf. I've got a good life here with Suzy. Can't ask for more. I don't want more."
Ben laughed. "You want more. You just won't reach for it."
"Damn straight. And maybe the lady in question does have pretty blue eyes, but let's be honest. The two of us don't have a thing in common beyond a little heat and a lot of resentment. She's only here because of some mix-up when Michelle got pregnant, and I'll be glad when she's gone."
"Then you don't mind that Charlotte's probably putting her through the wringer?"
Steven pounded another post. "What are you talking about? Charlotte's a little reserved, but she's great with Suzy."
"Sure is, and she likes being the woman of the house. Isn't going to like sharing that baby she loves or that house she loves or giving up any of her authority."
Steven held up one hand. "Charlotte works for me. She wouldn't do anything."
Ben gave him a disgusted look. "This house and that baby are Charlotte's whole world. A woman coming here could change that."
"It isn't going to happen."
"Maybe not, but Charlotte doesn't know that."
Suddenly doubts pushed at Steven. Had he done something wrong, throwing Jackie and Charlotte together like this?
"Hmm, maybe we should take a short break and go have some lunch," he told Ben.
"Yeah, like you're going to get me to walk into the middle of that. Oh, no. You go on without me. I'm going to go find Hoagie and the boys. Hoagie's going to tell us all about his visit to town and why he came back wearing his underwear backward. We've been trying to get the story out of him all week."
Steven smiled. He had a small crew to help him with Rollins Acres, and some of them were pretty transient. But Ben had been here forever, and Hoagie was the closest thing to a son Ben had. The men got along, and that was a good thing.
It was one thing he didn't have to worry about, Steven thought as he headed back to the house. After talking to Ben, he half expected to find Jackie holed up in her room with the door locked and Charlotte holding a shotgun, but when he walked in the door, Jackie looked up from some papers on her lap.
He raised one brow. "Did you and Suzy have a good morning?"
She lifted one shoulder and looked at him warily. "Suzy is sleeping. I guess babies sleep a lot."
"Yeah, it seems that way. All that playing and laughing wears their little bodies out, I guess. It seems like Suzy is always busy when she's awake."
Suddenly Jackie laughed. "When she was up earlier, she actually smiled at me for a second. She didn't even cry." She said the words as if she had just won the lottery. And Steven, remembering his own reaction to his child's rapt expressions, figured that maybe she had.
There just weren't too many things better in life than having Suzy beam at him.
"So…you got to spend some time with her?"
"A few minutes. Babies have routines, you know, and it's important that they not be disrupted. It upsets their systems."
He heard her words, but realized that they probably had come straight from Charlotte's lips.
"I suppose they do, but Suzy probably wouldn't get too excited if we were a little more laid back about her routines."
"I don't know. Babies are so…fragile, so breakable and at risk. Aren't they?"
Not nearly as fragile as the look in this lady's eyes. But then he remembered how important her independence was. She probably wouldn't like him pointing out even one weakness.
"So you've had things to do," he said, nodding toward the papers on her lap. "Work?"
She shrugged. He noticed a smudge of dust on her cheek. On another woman it might have detracted from her appearance, but on Jackie's pale skin, it merely looked enticing. He stepped forward and rubbed his thumb across her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm.
She looked up with eyes that questioned him. He could see that little pulse in her throat jumping, urging a man to lay his lips right there.
Jackie took a deep shaky breath. She looked at her hand, which lay limply in her lap, and he realized she was wondering if she should hit him.
He couldn't quite suppress his smile. "You probably should have, but now you're too late," he said as he stepped away.
She didn't ask what he meant.
"You had dust on your cheek," he told her, and immediately she lifted her palm and rubbed the place where he had touched.
"I was just—Charlotte and I—a ranch house takes a lot of work."
He frowned. "You've been working around the house? You're not one of my employees."
"No, I'm an intruder."
"You're a—" He tried to think of a word that fit. None did. "You're a guest."
She gave him a long look that called him a liar.
"I'm an uninvited guest if I'm one at all, and I don't mind that. I'd force my way in here again given the same set of circumstances. But that doesn't mean I'm going to expect you to pamper me. I want to be a part of things. That's why I'm here. To be a part of Suzy's life for two weeks, not a guest. That's the only reason I'm here," she said, and Steven considered himself warned. She was not here to let him touch her.
"Dust away then," he said, "if it makes you feel better. But don't feel you have to earn your keep."
She nodded, but he had a distinct feeling that she was simply humoring him, and that he might come in at any moment and find her down on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor—a thought that brought sudden heat to his loins.
What in hell was the matter with him? He really did need to get out more often.
"Come on," he told her. "I think I hear Suzy stirring."
Jackie's eyes widened. "You can hear something like that?"
He laughed. "Fatherhood heightens your senses. Sometimes I think I could hear her crying all the way across the fields if I didn't know that there was someone here taking care of her."
"I'm impressed."
"Don't be. It's a gift that comes with fear when you first bring a baby home. I was so scared that I would hurt her or let something happen to her in the night that I barely slept, lying awake listening for her. I understand most mothers and very few fathers are that way, but Suzy's case was special."
"You've had to be both mother and father."
"I'm not complaining. I like taking care of her."
"And she adores you."
He shrugged. "Babies are easy."
But at the pained look on her face he realized that babies weren't easy for Jackie.
"Come on, we'll go watch her wake up."
He led her to Suzy's room where Charlotte was already headed. "We'll take over, Charlotte. You go put your feet up."
"That's hardly necessary, Steven. You don't pay me to lounge around doing nothing." She looked pointedly at Jackie.
"I don't pay you to insult my guests, either, Charlotte," he said quietly. He ignored Jackie's outstretched hand, undoubtedly meant to stop him.
"I like being useful," Jackie reiterated firmly, ad-dressing Charlotte rather than Steven. "I just want a chance to be useful with Suzy as well. It's only for a short two weeks, and I know I'll need lots of coaching and make lots of mistakes," she told the woman. "I appreciate that you're allowing me to try and fit in by helping with the house, and I'll be grateful for any pointers you can give me with Suzy."
Charlotte blinked, and Steven realized that the woman had been caught off guard. He should have known. Jackie couldn't succeed at her own business if she didn't have some very good people skills.
Giving a short nod, Charlotte left the room without speaking.
"You shouldn't have said that to her," Jackie said. "It made it look like I had tattled on her."
"You didn't."
"Yes, but she doesn't know that, and she probably found it somewhat humiliating to have you reprimand her in front of me. From the things she's said, it's obvious that she idolizes you."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I know. I can't figure that one out."
"I think maybe she thinks of you as a son."
"You're ki
dding." He had never considered that. Charlotte was sixty and single. She had no children of her own.
"Of course I'm not kidding," Jackie answered. "I don't know Charlotte, but I know how I might feel if I were her. And she talks about you and Suzy with great pride. It's possible, and if it is true that she thinks of you as family, then it would really hurt her to have you criticize her publicly."
Steven ran his hand through his hair. "I hadn't considered that. And while I can't let her mistreat a guest, I suppose I've made my point. I don't want her hurt, and I'll do my best to smooth things over. Are you always this way?"
"What way?" Her blue eyes widened in apparent confusion.
"Observant."
Jackie shrugged and blushed a little. "Watching others was a hobby of mine as a child. It's a hard habit to break. Now, can I see our little one?"
The silence that followed was like the silence before an explosion. He stared at Jackie and saw that her color had heightened. She might have even said that she was sorry, but that didn't change a darn thing.
Had she really said our little one?
Steven took back any kind thought he had harbored about Jackie Hammond. She might be soft, she might be fragile, and she might appear to be sweet and good-natured, but all that was clearly a ruse—one he had nearly fallen for.
Jackie was worming her way in here and working to win over Charlotte. She was making him turn molten and soft and yielding.
At least he was almost yielding. Not quite, though. Because the woman was not to be trusted. Hadn't he read enough parental horror stories of people stealing babies, people who were otherwise crime-free but desperate to have a child?
Was that the kind of person Jackie was? He didn't know but he couldn't take any chances. Suzy was his life, his responsibility, his heart, and he would do anything, fight anyone who threatened her and her safe world in any way.
He didn't know whether Jackie could be trusted, but wasn't that the point? He didn't know, and yet she was here in his house for almost two weeks.
Their Little Cowgirl Page 5