by Rita Herron
Unless the police had found his daughters and—
Don’t overreact. Maybe they’re playing in the front yard.
The bell rang again and he bolted, not caring that he was barefoot and his oxford shirt was unbuttoned. He swung open the front door and squinted through the screen. A gorgeous redhead stood on the front stoop, wearing a scowl the size of Texas. Was she selling something? If so, she certainly needed to perfect her demeanor.
“Mr.—”
“Daddy!”
“Girls!” Relief ballooned inside him at the sight of his daughters. He yanked open the screen door, dropped to his knees on the porch, and pulled them into his arms. “Where have you two been? I told you to stay in the backyard.” He leaned back to examine each of them, spot-checking to see if they’d been injured in any way, totally forgetting about the frowning woman standing in his doorway. They looked okay. They sounded okay. They hadn’t been kidnapped. “I was worried about you,” he said in a firm voice.
“We’re sorry, Daddy,” Summer said.
“Yeah, but we was busy,” August argued.
Zeke frowned and adopted his serious-dad expression. “I don’t want to hear excuses. You gave me a scare. The rule is you don’t leave the yard without me. Do you understand?”
Both girls bowed their heads and studied their colored sneakers. “Yes sirrrrr,” Summer said.
“August?”
“’Kay, Daddy.”
“But we found somebody.” Summer pointed to the woman. “She lives in the yellow house.”
“Right next door,” August added. “She walked us home.”
Zeke glanced up to see the woman still standing on the stoop. Her frown had disappeared, and her light green eyes seemed troubled.
“Thanks for bringing them home,” he said.
August pulled at his sleeve. “Her name’s Paige. Like a book.”
“This is our daddy,” Summer said proudly. “He’s a mess today, but that’s ’cause we was unpacking, and he didn’t sleep last night ’cause he’s a dog doctor.”
“A beterinarian,” August clarified, wrinkling her nose. “Daddy, your face is all fuzzy.”
Zeke ran a hand through his dark brown hair, trying to smooth the disheveled ends, suddenly conscious of his unruly appearance. He needed a shave, his shirt was hanging open and his jeans were full of holes. On top of that, he was running on two hours of sleep, max. He probably looked like a stray animal that had been digging in the yard. Leave it to his daughters to bring home a beautiful female when he looked his absolute worst.
He hurriedly buttoned his shirt, aware an undercurrent of tension stretched taut between him and the red-haired woman who seemed to be avoiding looking at his bare chest.
Finally he felt clothed and extended his hand. Maybe now she would look at him. “Hi. Uh, I’m Zeke Blalock.”
“Hello. Paige Watkins.” She drew in a deep breath and her short cropped T-shirt stretched tight across her small but ample breasts. For the first time since he’d opened the door, he noticed her running attire. Bright red letters boasting the slogan Free To Be Me emblazoned the front of her shirt. Black running shorts hugged her slender thighs and she wiped at a bead of perspiration on her forehead. Was she hot, or nervous?
“I hope my girls didn’t disturb you,” Zeke said.
“We didn’t, Daddy,” August said.
“No, they were fine,” Paige said. “Actually—”
Henrietta flopped onto the porch and whined. “My dog didn’t dig up your flower bed or something, did she?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Paige reached for some papers in the wagon. She was selling something.
“We’re gonna go play,” Summer said.
“Yep,” August agreed.
“Girls, wait,” Paige said.
Uh-oh. They had done something. He’d hoped he’d be lucky enough to find neighbors who liked kids. Maybe Paige Watkins didn’t. “Look, Ms. Watkins, if the girls upset you, I’m sorry, they’re just—”
She handed him a flier. “The girls were putting these up in the neighborhood. I wondered if you’d read them.”
The girls had made fliers? Guilt flashed onto his daughters’ faces as they backed off the porch. “We’re taking Henrietta to the backyard,” August said in a low voice.
“Yep.” Summer dropped her chin forward, avoiding his eyes.
“Wait, girls.” Zeke motioned them to stop as he recognized the familiar crayoned writing. Then he read the words and the sun grew hot on his neck and the porch spun in circles.
Chapter Two
“Oh, my God!” The paper rattled in his hands as Zeke waved it at the girls.
August poked his arm. “Daddy, you’re not sposed to say that.”
“’Cept in church,” Summer added.
Zeke glanced in horror from one innocent set of green eyes to another, then back at Paige. A smile curved her lips and he momentarily forgot his daughters’ latest stunt. Attraction hit him square in the gut. Paige was breathtaking. Sunlight glinted off her auburn hair, and he had the insane urge to reach out and touch it.
Summer tugged at his sleeve, bringing him back to reality. “Daddy, Paige don’t gots a husbund.”
“And she can make chocwit chip cookies.”
“Daddy, be nice.” August cupped her hand to her mouth and stood on her tiptoes. “And comb your hair. You look like a poodle-head.”
For the first time in his thirty years, a blush crept up his neck and scalded his face. He wanted to throttle his darling daughters, then crawl in Henrietta’s doghouse in the back and hide. Instead he gestured at the flier. “Uh…I didn’t know anything about this.”
Paige’s light green eyes twinkled. “That’s what the girls said. I thought you might want to see it before they finished distributing them.”
“Giving them out?” Horror struck Zeke anew. Exactly how many had they displayed? He turned to the twins, trying desperately to control his soaring temper. “Summer, August, where did you put these fliers?”
Summer chewed her lip in thought and shuffled from one foot to the other.
August piped up. “In the mailboxes.”
“All along that street,” Summer added.
“How many did you give out?” he asked, his vision blurring at the thin stack remaining in the wagon.
“I dunno know,” August said, twirling her pigtail around her finger.
“’Bout a hundred,” Summer said.
“Oh, my God!” Zeke’s stomach rolled.
“Daddy!” both girls shrieked.
Zeke pressed his hand over his racing heart as he mentally counted mailboxes. What would the neighbors think?
“You’re never gonna find us a mommy if you keep talkin’ like that,” August whispered with a frown.
Zeke clenched his jaw. Paige caught her lip between her teeth as if she was fighting laughter. He’d barely moved into the neighborhood, and now he’d have to move again.
“Girls, we have to get these fliers back,” Zeke said, his voice laced with mortification.
“But why, Daddy?” August asked.
“We just do,” Zeke said in a firm tone. “I’ll explain later.”
“Uh-oh.” August’s eyes grew wide. “Are we gonna have one of those long talks?”
“Yes, we are,” Zeke said matter-of-factly as he waved the disastrous paper in the air. “This is not the way to go about finding a wife. Or a new mommy.”
“Then how do we do it?” Summer asked, looking crushed that he hadn’t liked their idea.
Zeke’s throat closed at the confusion in her small face. He knew single fatherhood would be difficult, but this…well, he hadn’t been prepared for this kind of scene. And right in front of pretty Paige Watkins. “I don’t know, but we’ll talk about it later.” He knelt in front of them and softened his voice. “Now, put Henrietta in the backyard, and we’ll go for a walk so you can show me which houses you gave fliers.”
“’Kay,” both girls said. They pulled a
nd tugged at the leash until the lazy dog groaned, then lifted her bulk and waddled behind them.
Zeke searched for some way to salvage his pride. “I…uh, thanks for bringing the girls home,” he finally said. “This parenting business is harder than I thought.”
“I know,” Paige said sympathetically.
He narrowed his eyes. “You have children?” He hadn’t seen a wedding ring. Not that he was looking, but the girls said she didn’t have a husband. The big, yellow two-story seemed plenty spacious for an entire family. Did she live there alone? Or did she have a string of boyfriends or a live-in? Maybe she was divorced with kids of her own.
Paige shook her head. “No, I don’t have kids. But there’re several children in the neighborhood.”
“Really? Maybe you can give me some pointers.”
She wobbled on one foot, giving him the distinct feeling she wanted to leave. “I don’t think so.”
His ex-wife had felt the same way. A frown marred Paige’s heart-shaped face, and something about her tone bothered him, but he didn’t have time to analyze it.
The twins barreled around the corner. “Henrietta’s in the yard,” August said.
“Okay, let’s go.” Zeke pointed to the driveway. Summer and August skipped ahead. He closed the door, and he and Paige walked across the lawn to the sidewalk. When they reached her driveway, she paused, chewing her bottom lip.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, girls.”
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Summer asked.
“No, thanks,” Paige said. A wary expression streaked her slender face. “I have homework to do.”
“You go to school?” August asked.
“We’re going to kindergarten next year,” Summer said.
Paige laughed. “I’m finishing a college degree,” she answered. “And one day I’m planning to study in Europe.”
August’s face lit up. “Our mommy went there. She lives in that big town with that river running through it.”
“But she never came back,” Summer said softly.
Zeke’s heart squeezed as he remembered the day Renee had left. Both girls had cried for hours.
“I’m sorry,” Paige said gently. She gave him a forlorn look and he shrugged, trying to mask his feelings. It sounded as if Paige had high aspirations, just like his ex-wife. Well, he wouldn’t travel that route again. No matter how sexy and delectable the female, looks weren’t the most important thing. If and when he ever became involved with another woman, she’d want a family—she wouldn’t be more concerned about her career than him or his daughters. Besides, he didn’t need the complication of another female—he had his hands full with the two he had.
Paige gave him a slight wave. “Well, I’ll see you later, Zeke.”
Zeke nodded and their gazes locked, the magnetism between them instantly sparking his body to arousal. A sweet sensuality darkened the light irises of her eyes, and she caught her bottom lip with her teeth again, a gesture he wanted to remedy by touching his lips to hers. She exhaled, then folded her arms beneath her breasts, her cropped shirt accentuating her subtle curves. Then she turned and he made a futile attempt not to stare at those dynamite legs and her curved backside as she strode toward her house.
August tugged at his arm and he dragged his gaze from Paige to see a fuming, three-hundred-pound man storming toward him. To his horror, the man had one of his daughters’ fliers clutched in his beefy hands.
PAIGE STOOD ON her porch and watched as Zeke attempted to explain his daughter’s surprise to Mr. Larkin, a heavyset man who, from his loud voice and the way he kept waving his mammoth arms around, was obviously very possessive about his wife. Finally, after a few minutes of conversation, the twins joined in and the irate man turned to mush. Before they parted, she heard him asking about Zeke’s veterinary practice and agreeing to bring his bulldog to Zeke’s clinic for shots. He also promised Summer and August he’d let his dog visit Henrietta.
The munchkin girls had stolen Mr. Larkin’s heart, just as they had hers. All the more reason for her to stay away from them.
She sank onto the porch swing and rocked herself back and forth in an effort to get a grip on her emotions. The precious girls had matchmaking up their sleeves, and she didn’t intend to raise another family. Standing on Zeke’s front porch had brought back painful memories of Eric and Joey. She could still see three-year-old Joey riding his tricycle in the driveway next door, toddling along with that stuffed bear he always liked to carry, curled up on her couch, snuggled with her grandmother’s afghan.
But Eric and Joey had deserted her, and she had her own goals now. Giving up her menial office job had been the first step. Taking a job at a boutique and enrolling in college was the second. Not dating any more single dads ranked next.
She laughed as the twins attempted cartwheels on the sidewalk while Zeke frantically removed the fliers from the neighbors’ mailboxes. Some geek. Big and brawny Zeke Blalock was nothing like the man she’d pictured. He obviously cared a great deal about his daughters. She had to give him points for that. As far as rating him in the sex appeal department—he’d rank up there with Tom Cruise and Tom Selleck. A definite one hundred and ten plus.
Handsome and tall, broad shouldered and muscular—she’d barely been able to resist staring at his naked chest before he’d buttoned his shirt. His chocolate-colored eyes had melted her insides and rendered her tongue-tied. His strong chiseled profile, big rough hands and olive skin suggested he worked outside, instead of inside a clinic. And his backside was firm and muscular, especially in those tight jeans, she noted, as she shamelessly watched him bend to pet Mrs. Blue’s small gray cat.
Stop it. He’s not for you. He has a ready-made family, and you’re not mommy material. Your own mother resented the sacrifices she made to stay home and take care of you.
Renewed determination filled her and she hurried inside to finish her project. She paused when she realized she’d forgotten to tell Zeke about the vandalism and the neighborhood watch meeting. She’d been too sidetracked by his good looks. Darn, she’d put a flier in his box later.
For now, she decided to tackle her design project. But when she touched the scraps of black satin fabric she’d collected for her textile project, she moaned.
She had planned to design an evening gown with the fabric. But an unbidden image came to mind—the shimmering fabric would make a perfect bed covering, with Zeke Blalock lying on top, naked as a jaybird.
ZEKE CLEARED A spot on the oak kitchen table and plopped the cardboard pizza box on top, using his foot to gently usher Henrietta away from the table. He’d tried to explain his reaction to the mommy-wanted fliers to his daughters, but he wasn’t sure they’d understood.
“Well, daddy, if we can’t adver…”
“Advertise,” Zeke supplied. “No, we don’t advertise for a mother or wife.” He dished Summer a slice of plain cheese pizza and August pepperoni, willing himself to be patient.
“Then how will we ever get a new mommy?” August asked, nibbling at the gooey cheese.
August picked a pepperoni off her pizza, licked it, then popped it into her mouth. “And how will you get a wive?”
“A wife,” Zeke corrected. “Honey, I don’t want a new wife. I’m happy being with the two of you.” He raked his hand through his hair and shook his head at Henrietta as she pawed at his feet. “No, Henrietta, pizza will give you heartburn.” Ignoring Henrietta’s woeful look, he turned his attention back to his daughters. “Listen, girls, I know you miss your mom, but we’ve talked about this before. You have me, and we’re a family—all by ourselves.”
August poked out her bottom lip. “But you’re a boy,” August said as if it were a news flash.
“Of course, I’m a boy,” Zeke said patiently.
“But boys can’t be mommies,” Summer protested.
Zeke’s throat clogged. “Honey, I’ll try my best to be both a mother and father to you.”
“But boy mommies can’t come to our
Mommy and Me Tea at preschool. Only girl mommies!”
Zeke felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach. How could he have forgotten that Mother’s Day was coming up? Because he was an idiot.
At least he’d finally discovered the crux of the problem. “When is the mother tea?” he finally asked.
“Next week,” Summer said, sounding stricken. “Friday.”
“Yeah. Everybody else’s mommies will be there.”
Drive the knife in a little deeper, girls. Henrietta added to his guilt by whining and giving him a pitiful flop-eared look. He gritted his teeth and tossed her his pizza crust. If he could find Renee right now, he’d throttle her.
“I have an idea.” He forced a cheery smile. “Your grandmother can come. I’m sure she’d love to visit your school.”
Both girls’ faces fell.
“You can call her yourselves.” Zeke tried to brighten his voice with enthusiasm. “Maybe you could even spend the night with her.” And you could have a night out, a silent voice whispered. Call Paige. Have a date. A conversation with an adult, not a child or an animal.
Summer’s eyes lit up. “All night long?”
“Yep. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
August nodded. “Grandma lets us eat cookies for breakfast.”
Grandma would. Zeke ran a hand through his hair. Oh, well, it would only be one morning. And he had to do something for his heartsick daughters. He couldn’t allow them to be the only ones at school without a mother figure.
He handed them the phone. “Here, dial Grandma’s number. She’s been begging me to let you spend the night.”
Together the girls punched in the number. When he heard his mother’s voice screeching over the phone, he assumed by the pleased expressions on his daughters’ faces she’d accepted the invitation.
One more problem licked. At least temporarily.
When they hung up the phone, the girls’ moods had drastically changed. August gobbled another piece of pizza and Summer gulped her milk, then ran to the bathroom. He breathed a sigh of relief but the feeling disintegrated when Summer screamed. “Daddy!”