Chatter swirled about her cheating, then her rehab, then the breakup.
Then there was talk of Beau. One online source stated he’d been passed over for a part in an epic upcoming blockbuster. One said he’d had a fight with his new agent. Another reported that he and his ex had been spotted arguing at a party and one or both had been inebriated.
Honestly, Beau Elliott was a complication she didn’t want to get tangled with, so whatever happened to send him rushing home was his problem. That didn’t mean, however, that a child should have to suffer for the sins of the parents.
Once Madelyn was good and asleep, Scarlett put her down in the crib. There was a light tap on the door moments before it eased open.
Scarlett turned from the sleeping baby to see Beau filling the doorway.
“Is she asleep again?” he whispered.
Stepping away from the crib, Scarlett nodded. “Next time you want to have a family fight, take it outside.”
His eyes darkened. “This isn’t your house,” he stated, taking a step closer to her.
Scarlett stood at the edge of the bed and crossed her arms. “It isn’t exactly your house, either,” she retorted. “But Madelyn is my job now and I won’t have her disturbed when she’s been fussy and obviously needs sleep. Maybe if you put her needs first—”
In a second, Beau had closed the gap and was all but leaning over her, so close that she had to hold on to the bedpost to stay upright.
“Every single thing I do is putting her needs first,” he growled through gritted teeth. “You’ve been here less than two hours, so don’t even presume to know what’s going on.”
Scarlett placed her hand on his chest to get him to ease back, but the heat from his body warmed her in a way she couldn’t explain...and shouldn’t dwell on.
She jerked her hand back and glanced away, only to have her eyes land on the pile of lacy panties she’d thrown on her bed when she’d started unpacking earlier.
There went more of that warmth spreading through her. What were the odds Beau hadn’t noticed?
She risked glancing back at him, but...nope. He’d noticed all right. His eyes were fixed on her unmentionables.
Beau cleared his throat and raked a hand over the back of his neck before glancing to where his baby slept peacefully in the crib on the other side of the room.
When his dark eyes darted back to her, they pinned her in place. “We need to talk.” Then he turned and marched out, likely expecting her to follow.
Scarlett closed her eyes and pulled in a breath as she attempted to count backward from ten. This was only the first day. She knew there would be some bumps in the road, right?
She just didn’t expect those bumps to be the chills rushing over her skin from the brief yet toe-curling contact she’d just had with her employer.
* * *
Beau ground his molars and clenched his fists at his sides. It had been quite a while since he’d been with a woman and the one currently staying under his roof was driving him absolutely insane...and it wasn’t even lunchtime on her first day of employment.
Those damn panties. All that lace, satin...strings. Mercy, he couldn’t get the image out of his head. Never once did he think his nanny’s underwear would cause his brain to fry, but here he was with a silent seductress helping to take care of his daughter and he couldn’t focus. Likely she didn’t even have a clue how she was messing with his hormones.
Scarlett honestly did have Madelyn’s best interest in mind. She was none too happy with him and Colt earlier and he wasn’t too thrilled with the situation, either. Of all the people angry with him for his actions and for being away from home so long, Colt was by far the most furious. Ironic, he thought. He’d figure his own twin would try to have a little compassion.
Unfortunately, there was so much more contention between them than just the missing years. Coming home at Christmas and thinking things would be magical and easily patched up had been completely naive on his part. But damn it, he’d been hopeful. They’d been the best of friends once, with a twin bond that was stronger than anything he’d ever known.
Delicate footsteps slid across the hardwood floor, interrupting his thoughts. Beau shored up his mental strength and turned to face Scarlett. Why did she have to look like a walking dream? That curvy body, the dark eyes, her flawless dark skin and black hair that gave the illusion of silk sliding down her back.
Damn those panties. Now when he saw her he wondered what she wore underneath her clothes. Lace or satin? Pink or yellow?
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, making no move to come farther into the living area.
Beau gestured toward the oversize sectional sofa. “Have a seat.”
She eyed him for a moment before finally crossing the room and sitting down on the end of the couch. She crossed her ankles and clasped her hands as if she were in some business meeting with a CEO.
Beau stood next to her. “Relax.”
“I’d relax more if you weren’t looming over me.”
Part of him wanted to laugh. Most women would love for him to “loom” over them. Hell, most women would love him under them, as well. Perhaps that’s why he found Scarlett of the silky panties so intriguing. She truly didn’t care that he was an A-list actor with more money than he could ever spend and the power to obtain nearly anything he ever wanted.
Beau didn’t want to make her uncomfortable and it certainly wasn’t his intention to be a jerk. It pained him to admit it, but he needed her. He was only a few weeks out on his own with Madelyn and he really didn’t want to screw up this full-time parenting job. This would be the most important job he’d ever have.
“We probably need to set some rules here,” he started.
Rules like keeping all underwear hidden in a drawer at all times. Oh, and maybe if she could get some long pants and high-neck shirts, that would certainly help. Wouldn’t it?
Maggie sat straighter. “I work for you, Mr. Elliott. Just tell me the rules you had for Maggie.”
Beau nearly snorted. Rules for Maggie were simple: help with Madelyn while Beau was out working on the ranch and trying to figure his life out. The rules for Scarlett? They’d go beyond not leaving your lingerie out. He mentally added a few more: stop looking so damn innocent and sexy at the same time, stop with the defiant chin that he wanted to nip at and work his way down.
But of course he couldn’t voice those rules. He cleared his throat and instead of enumerating his expectations, he took a different approach.
“I’m a hands-on dad.” He started with that because that was the most important. “Madelyn is my life. I’m only going to be at Pebblebrook for a short time, but while I’m here, I plan on getting back to my roots and helping to get this dude ranch up and running.”
That is, if his brothers would let him in on realizing their father’s dream. That was still a heated debate, especially since Beau hadn’t been to see Grant Elliott yet.
His father had been residing in an assisted-living facility for the past few years. The bad blood between them couldn’t be erased just because Beau had made a deathbed promise to the one man who had been more like a father to him than his real one.
Still, Beau was man enough to admit that he was afraid to see his dad. What if his dad didn’t recognize him? Grant had been diagnosed with dementia and lately, more often than not, he didn’t know his own children. Even the sons who’d been around the past few years. Beau wasn’t sure he was strong enough to face that reality just yet.
“Beau?”
Scarlett’s soft tone pulled him out of his thoughts. Where was he? Right, the rules.
“Yeah, um. I can get up with Madelyn during the night. I didn’t hire a nanny so I could be lazy and just pass her care off. I prefer a live-in nanny more because I’m still...”
“Nervous?” she finished with raised brows. “It’
s understandable. Most first-time parents are. Babies are pretty easy, though. They’ll pretty much tell you what’s wrong, you know, just not with actual words.”
No, he actually didn’t know. He just knew when Madelyn cried he wanted her to stop because he didn’t want her unhappy.
Beau had spent the past five months fighting with his ex, but she’d only wanted Madelyn as a bargaining chip. He’d finally gotten his lawyer to really tighten the screws and ultimately, Jennifer James—wannabe actress and worthless mother—signed away her parental rights.
As much as he hated the idea of Madelyn not having a mother around, his daughter was better off.
Beau studied his new, refreshing nanny. “I assume you don’t have children since you’re a nanny full-time.”
Some emotion slid right over her, taking away that sweet, calm look she’d had since she’d arrived. He could swear an invisible shield slid right between them. Her lips thinned, her head tipped up a notch and her eyes were completely unblinking.
“No children,” she said succinctly.
There was backstory behind that simple statement. He knew that for sure. And he was curious.
“Yet you know so much about them,” he went on. “Do you want a family of your own one day?”
“My personal life is none of your concern. That’s my number-one rule that you can add to your list.”
Why the hell had he even asked? He didn’t need to know her on a deeper level, but now that she’d flat-out refused to go there, he wanted to find out every last secret she kept hidden. He hadn’t asked Maggie personal questions, but then Maggie hadn’t pulled up emotions in him like this, either.
Even though he’d just vowed to stay out of Scarlett’s personal business, well, he couldn’t help himself. If she was just standoffish, that would be one thing, but hurt and vulnerability had laced her tone. He was a sucker for a woman in need.
Scarlett, though, clearly didn’t want to be the topic of conversation, something he not only understood but respected. He told himself he should focus on his purpose for being back home and not worry about what his temporary nanny did in her off time.
Beau nodded in affirmation at her demand. “Very well. These three weeks shouldn’t be a problem, then.”
He came to his feet, most likely to get away from the lie he’d just settled between them. Truthfully, everything about having her here was a problem, but that was on him. Apparently she didn’t care that his hormones had chosen now to stand up and pay attention to her. She also didn’t seem to care who he was. He was just another client and his celebrity status didn’t do a damn thing for her.
While he appreciated her not throwing herself at him, his ego wasn’t so quick to accept the hit. This was all new territory for him where a beautiful woman was concerned.
“I’m going to change and head to the main stable for a bit.” He pulled his cell from his pocket. “Give me your cell number and I’ll text you so you have my number. If you need anything at all, message me and I’ll be right back.”
Once the numbers were exchanged, Beau picked up his boots by the front door and went to his room to change. He slipped on a pair of comfortable old jeans, but the boots were new and needed to be broken in. He’d had to buy another pair when he came back. The moment he’d left Pebblebrook years ago, he’d ditched any semblance of home.
Odd how he couldn’t wait to dig right back in. The moment he’d turned into the long white-fence-lined drive, he’d gotten that kick of nostalgia as memories of working side by side with his brothers and his father came flooding back.
Right now he needed to muck some stalls to clear his head and take his mind off the most appealing woman he’d encountered in a long time...maybe ever.
But he doubted even grunt work would help. Because at the end of the day, he’d still come back here where she would be wearing her lacy lingerie...and where they would be spending their nights all alone with only an infant as their chaperone.
Three
“You’re going to get your pretty new boots scuffed.”
Beau turned toward the open end of the stable. His older brother Hayes stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his tattoos peeking from beneath the hems of the sleeves on his biceps.
“I need to break them in,” Beau replied, instinctively glancing down to the shiny steel across the point on the toe.
If anyone knew about coming home, it was Hayes. Beau’s ex-soldier brother had been overseas fighting in Afghanistan and had seen some serious action that had turned Hayes into an entirely different man than the one Beau remembered.
Whatever had happened to his brother had hardened him, but he was back at the ranch with the love of his life and raising a little boy that he’d taken in as his own. He’d found a happy ending. Beau wasn’t so sure that would ever happen for him—or even if he wanted it to.
“So, what? You’re going to try to get back into the ranching life?” Hayes asked as he moved to grab a pitchfork hanging on the inside of the tack room. “Or are we just a stepping stone?”
Beau didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. He knew in less than three weeks he had a movie debut he had to attend, but beyond that, he’d been dodging his new agent’s calls because there was no way Beau was ready to look at another script just yet. His focus was needed elsewhere.
Like on his daughter.
On his future.
“Right now I’m just trying to figure out where the hell to go.” Beau gripped his own pitchfork and glanced to the stall with Doc inside. “Nolan ever come and help?”
Hayes headed toward the other end of the row. “When he can. He stays busy at the hospital, but he’s cut his hours since marrying and having a kid of his own. His priorities have shifted.”
Not just Nolan’s priorities, but also Colt’s and Hayes’s. All three of his brothers had fallen in love and were enjoying their ready-made families.
Beau had been shocked when he’d pulled into the drive and seen his brothers standing on Colt’s sprawling front porch with three ladies he didn’t know and four children. The ranch had apparently exploded into the next generation while he’d been gone.
Beau worked around Nolan’s stallion and put fresh straw in the stall before moving to the next one. For the next hour he and Hayes worked together just like when they’d been kids. Teamwork on the ranch had been important to their father. He’d instilled a set of ethics in his boys that no formal education could match.
Of course they had ranch hands, but there was something about getting back to your roots, Beau knew, that did some sort of reset to your mental health. At this point he needed to try anything to help him figure out what his next move should be.
He actually enjoyed manual labor. Even as a kid and a teen, he’d liked working alongside his father and brothers. But over time, Beau had gotten the urge to see the world, to find out if there was more to life than ranching, and learning how to turn one of the toughest professions into a billion-dollar lifestyle. The idea of being in charge of Pebblebrook once his father retired held no shred of interest to Beau. He knew Colt had always wanted that position so why would Beau even attempt to share it?
“So you all live here on the estate?” Beau asked when he and Hayes had completed their stalls and met in the middle of the barn.
Hayes rested his hand on the top of the pitchfork handle and swiped his other forearm across his damp forehead. “Yeah. I renovated Granddad’s old house back by the fork in the river and the creek. I’ve always loved that place and it just seemed logical when I came back.”
The original farmhouse for Pebblebrook would be the perfect home for Hayes and his family, providing privacy, but still remaining on Elliott land.
When they’d all been boys they’d ventured to the back of the property on their horses or ATVs and used it as a giant getaway or a man cave. They’d had the ultimate fort and pre
tended to be soldiers or cowboys in the Old West.
Once upon a time the Elliott brothers were all close, inseparable. But now...
Beau was virtually starting over with his own family. That deathbed promise to his former agent was so much more difficult to execute than he’d originally thought. But Hector had made Beau vow he’d go home and mend fences. At the time Beau had agreed, but now he knew saying the words had been the easy part.
He leaned back against Doc’s stall and stared blankly.
“Hey.” Hayes studied Beau before slapping a large hand over his shoulder. “It’s going to take some time. Nolan is hurt, but he’s not pissed. Me? I’m just glad you’re here, though I wonder if you’ll stay. So I guess that makes me cautious. But Colt, well, he’s pissed and hurt, so that’s the one you need to be careful with.”
Beau snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, we’ve already had words.”
Like when Colt swung by earlier to talk, but ended up going off because of the new nanny. Colt claimed Beau was still a wild child and a player, hiring a nanny looking like that. Beau had prayed Scarlett hadn’t heard Colt’s accusations. She was a professional and he didn’t want her disrespected or made to feel unwelcome. Not that his brother was disrespecting Scarlett. No, he was aiming that all at Beau.
Even if the choice had been his, Beau sure as hell wouldn’t have chosen a woman who looked like Scarlett to spend twenty-four hours a day with inside that small cabin. Even he wasn’t that much of a masochist.
Beau had no idea what had originally brought Colt over to see him, but he had a feeling their morning talk wasn’t the last of their heated debates.
“You’d think my twin would be the most understanding,” Beau muttered.
“Not when he’s the one who held this place together once Dad couldn’t,” Hayes retorted. “I was overseas, Nolan was married to his surgery schedule and you were gone. Colt’s always wanted this life. Ranching was it for him, so I guess the fact you wanted nothing to do with it only made the hurt worse. Especially when you rarely called or came back to visit.”
A Texan for Christmas Page 3