The Playboy's Own Miss Prim

by Mindy Neff

  Everything within Ethan went soft with love.

  “Hey, there, sweetheart. Promise me you’ll always wake up with a smile just like that.” He stepped up next to her, gently cupped her tiny head in his big hand, marveling at the contrast. “Except you need to wake up a little earlier. Can’t be a lay-about on a ranch.”

  She danced some more and joyfully beat a stuffed rabbit against the railing.

  “I know. You want out of the pen. No sense in killing the floppy ears.” He lifted her up, and from previous experience he knew better than to hold her too close. Kissing her warm cheek, he carried her to the changing table and grabbed a fresh diaper.

  “Let’s change you and eat so we can get busy, okay?” He was becoming much more proficient at diapering, especially when she refrained from doing her wiggly worm impression. “Everybody else is already hard at work. If you’re going to keep sleeping so late, we’ll have to figure out a rotating shift. You’ve got two perfectly able uncles who could take turns getting you up.”

  He sat her up and pulled a T-shirt with a sunny duck swimming on its front over her head and couldn’t help dropping a kiss on her sweet forehead when she blinked up at him. “And it wouldn’t hurt Dora to take a turn or two, don’t you think?”

  “Doda,” Katie babbled.

  “Hey, was that a Daddy or Dora?” Instead of answering—he’d have fallen over if she had—she clapped him on the cheeks, then switched moods like lightning and gave him a bit of grief as he tried to thread her fat little feet through the legs of a pair of stretch pants.

  By the time he’d accomplished the task, he was sweating and Katie’s sunny smile had turned to testy grunts that would soon be full-blown screams if he didn’t change the scenery in a hurry.

  He swung her up in his arms and headed downstairs toward the kitchen, wondering if he should start interviewing baby-sitters. It made his heart stutter to think about Dora not being here forever, but it was a fact he’d have to face sooner or later.

  It seemed she was easing back from Katie—both to temper the pain of her own departure, he imagined, as well as to make sure he was equipped with the proper skills to get along alone with Katie.

  Alone until she was twenty-one, he realized suddenly. Alone when a string of pimply faced adolescent boys came around wanting to hang out with her…and more.

  “Oh, man,” he groaned.

  “What?” Dora asked from behind him.

  He whirled around, and although Katie obviously thought it was some new and fun game, Ethan’s heart was actually thudding.

  For crying out loud, he thought, disgusted with himself.

  “Dating,” he said. “I was thinking about dating.”

  “You?”

  “No. Katie.”

  Dora grinned. “She’s a bit young yet, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, but she won’t always be young. And that means boys.” He shuddered.

  “Might not be such a problem. The only little boy I’ve seen so far is Hannah’s son, Ian. Of course, that might work. There’s only three years difference in their ages.”

  Ethan shook his head. “Ian’s promised to Nikki.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Stony Stratton’s little girl. I think they’ve worked out dowries and everything.”

  Dora giggled. “Well then, you’ll likely have no worries.”

  “I will if Ozzie and his cohorts get their way and manage to fill Shotgun Ridge with women and babies.”

  “There is that.”

  Dora started to walk out of the room, but Ethan caught her hand. “What’s the rush?”

  “Uh…I’ve got work.”

  “Don’t we all.” He tugged, bringing her closer, his gaze fastened on her mouth as though pulled by a magnet. “Stay for a bit? Keep me company?”

  She looked from him to Katie and back. “Are you crying uncle?”

  “No, but I thought about that this morning. There’s no reason why Grant and Clay can’t rotate with me over the morning shift with Katie.”

  Her blond brows rose. “Have you discussed this with them?”

  “Not yet. But I know they’ll agree. It’ll be better than leaving her with a baby-sitter all day.”

  The reminder that Dora wouldn’t be here indefinitely hung heavy in the air. He wanted to talk to her about it but didn’t know how.

  He wasn’t offering anything beyond the moment. And she deserved so much better.

  Instead of sitting, she gave his hand a squeeze, then stunned him by raising his knuckles to her lips and pressing a gentle kiss to the rough skin.

  An ache filled his chest and he didn’t know why. With an unreadable look that scared him on several levels, she smiled and stepped back. “I really do need to get some work done. I’ve spent so much time taking photographs, I’ve neglected doing the actual sketches. And those are what pay the bills.”

  An eerie desperation came over Ethan, settling like a fist behind his sternum. He wasn’t ready to give her up just yet.

  “Spend the afternoon with me,” he blurted. “I mean, if you think you’ll have your sketches done by then.”

  She smiled. “I won’t have them done, but I’ll have made good progress. What did you have in mind?”

  “A surprise. I’ll arrange it.”

  AFTER CALLING IRIS BREWER, who said she’d be thrilled to mind Katie for the afternoon, Ethan drove into town, his truck filled with toys and clothes and diapers and everything else he could think of that Katie might need.

  Traffic down Main Street was heavier than he’d expected. He looked around, noted the changes. The widows Bagley had spruced up their white clapboard with pots of colorful flowers and were serving refreshments to several women on the shaded porch. A No Vacancy sign hung out front. When had Mildred and Opal had vacancies to begin with? Ethan wondered.

  He waved to the sheriff, Cheyenne Bodine, who stood on the sidewalk in front of the jail talking to Ozzie, Henry and another man Ethan didn’t recognize. A fairly new Chevy pickup with McCall Developers & General Contractors painted on the door was parked in the diagonal space in front of the sheriff’s office.

  Progress, Ethan thought. Evidently the geezers’ plans were paying off after all. Homes turned into boarding houses, and enough cars on Main Street to require a slower speed and a sharper eye than normal. In light of these changes, there might be room for a bit more developing around town. He would have to find out what was going on.

  Turning off Main street, he wound through several blocks of tidy houses with velvety green lawns kept vibrant and thriving by Rainbirds chugging back and forth, drenching the ground with moisture.

  Iris and Lloyd Brewer’s home was on a corner lot. Nicely trimmed hedges and beds overflowing with colorful flowers gave the modest two-story a welcoming warmth.

  Once he got Katie out of her seat and had loaded bags and straps over his shoulders like a pack horse, he made his way to the front porch, where Iris waited with the screen door open.

  “Land sakes, Ethan. Did you bring the entire house?”

  “Seems like it.” He bent to kiss Iris’s cheek, and the diaper bag and a satchel slipped off his shoulder and fell to the gleaming wood floor with a thunk. “I didn’t know if you had any toys so I brought some of hers. She’s good about entertaining herself—most of the time. I don’t want to scare you off from babysitting—”

  “Ethan?”

  He grinned. “I know. I’m a nervous wreck.” He couldn’t remember ever admitting to such a state—or if he’d actually ever felt it before. “This is my first time leaving her with somebody else.”

  “She’ll be fine. Won’t you, lamb?” Iris held out her hands, and Katie happily leaned into them. “Oh, I never thought my arms would hold so many honorary grandbabies.”

  Ethan didn’t say anything. Timmy Malone had been Iris’s grandson and Ethan’s godson. They both felt the loss.

  “Just put her things over there on the sofa, Ethan.”

  “Should I get the car s
eat out of the truck in case you want to go somewhere?”

  “I’ve got my own now. What with Ian and then the new baby due in a couple of months, I figured I needed one. I tell you, Ethan, for once I’m actually pleased with Lloyd and the other old goats’ meddling.”

  Ethan set a wind-up bumblebee on the floor along with several other toys. “You guard Katie around those geezers,” he admonished teasingly. “They’ll have her corrupted in no time.”

  Iris laughed. “You have my word.”

  “Okay. I think that’s it. We should be back by early evening. Is that okay?”

  “Why don’t you just leave her here overnight? You’ve obviously brought enough provisions. Lloyd and I’ll take her to church in the morning and you can collect her then.”

  “I don’t know…” It was tough enough leaving her here for the afternoon. He was so attached to this little girl, it worried him to leave her overnight.

  “Really, Ethan. It’ll be much easier. And we’d love to have her.”

  Ethan nodded. “Thanks, Iris.”

  DORA WAITED FOR ETHAN by the hangar. She had no idea if she was dressed properly for wherever they were going. She wore a sleeveless, tank-style white bodysuit, a pair of pleated sand-colored shorts and sandals. Just to be on the safe side, she’d dropped a pair of sneakers into her oversize tote bag that held everything from last year’s toothpicks and crumpled tissue to her sketch pad and pencils.

  She turned and shaded her eyes as Ethan’s truck came up the concrete driveway. Through white fences, mares and foals lifted elegant heads and watched him pass.

  Instead of stopping the truck at the garage, he continued on around to the hangar.

  Dora felt her heart skip with a thrill, and she cautioned herself to take it easy. His tobacco-colored hat nearly brushed the roof of the cab. He had an elbow propped out the open window, a hand lazily draped over the steering wheel…and an empty baby seat riding next to him.

  For one ridiculously insane moment, Dora felt tears sting her throat and eyes. Despite how incredibly sexy it looked for a big, tough cowboy to sport a baby seat in his pickup, the fact that the seat was empty gave her a punch.

  It reminded her that she could very well be leaving with an empty baby seat herself.

  She drew in a breath, shook off the panic, told herself she still had time.

  Time to make Ethan fall in love with her, time for him to ask her to stay.

  He pulled the truck to a stop a few feet away from her, got out and simply stood there on the running board. With his folded arms resting on top of the open door, he gazed at her with a sexy intensity that made her want to tug at the scoop neck of her bodysuit.

  The man was handsome as sin, and as temptations went, Dora was more than willing to have another taste of the forbidden.

  When his eyes gave her another slow once-over, nerves crowded in her throat, fluttered in her stomach. “What?”

  “You look incredible.”

  She smothered a giggle, her head rushing. “Let’s don’t get carried away.” It was just shorts and a top, for goodness’ sake. Still, her breath caught and held when he shut the truck’s door and slowly, purposefully came toward her with a loose-hipped stride that screamed sensuality.

  She’d never had anyone look at her with such utter intent—sexual intent. Her chest lifted and fell when at last she remembered to breathe.

  He stopped in front of her, the corner of his mouth tipped up in the barest hint of a smile. An expression that made her tremble.

  “I was right. You look incredible.” His knuckles brushed her cheek, then the skin just above the low scoop of her top. “So soft and warm.”

  Dora blinked and swallowed hard. “Are we staying in or leaving?” Given a choice, she’d just as soon head back to the house. He was making her hot…and needy. Wondrous desire was springing like a well inside her.

  He smiled, gently wrapped his fingers around her neck and tipped her chin up with his thumb. “Depends. How are you feeling after last night?”

  Did he mean mentally or physically? “Uh…wonderful, thank you.”

  His smile grew. “Are you sore?”

  Oh. Physically. “Um, no.” A bit. She didn’t know why this conversation was flustering her so. It was exactly the kind of exchange her brothers might have engaged her in. Not about being sore over sex, of course—but a provocative exchange of words to see if they could get a rise out of her. She took a deep breath, looked him square in the eye. “Are you?”

  He threw back his head and laughed. “Man, I’m crazy about you.”

  Her heart leaped, but she couldn’t allow herself to put too much emphasis on his declaration. Crazy and in love were two entirely different animals.

  Weren’t they?

  He looped his arm around her shoulders and led her around behind the hangar where a helicopter rested on a cement pad.

  “More big-boy toys, I see.”

  “Isn’t it great? It’s a Bell Ranger. Older model, but it’s a hot dog.”

  “Just like the pilot,” she mused. “Are you trying to impress me?”

  “Yes.” He grinned down at her. “Is it working?”

  She shrugged, tried hard to keep a straight face. “I’ll admit, I’ve never ridden in a helicopter. Now a Lear jet’s a different matter.”

  “Dora, Dora.” He shook his head and tisked. “I keep forgetting you’ve got Quentin Watkins’s oil money coming out of your ears. At least let me pretend for a while.”

  She winked, and just to please herself, because she couldn’t stand it another minute, she went up on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  He reacted immediately. His hands swiftly came up her sides, settled beneath her armpits, nearly lifting her off her toes, then swept back down. Before she could think, he had his leg wedged between hers and his hands on her butt, tilting her hard against his arousal. The kiss went from impulsive to frenzied in mere seconds.

  A discreet cough had them tearing apart like guilty children caught playing doctor behind the barn.

  Grant leaned against the side of the hangar, booted ankles crossed, his chocolate-brown hat tipped back.

  Dora felt her face flame and couldn’t quite meet his gaze.

  Ethan didn’t have any such problem. He scowled without repentance.

  “Just thought I’d come around and see if anybody was interested in thanking me for hauling the Ranger out of the hangar for them.” Grant straightened from against the wall and tugged his hat. “But since you appear to be, uh…otherwise engaged, I’ll leave you to it.”

  “You could have left us to it without interrupting,” Ethan said tersely.

  “Yes, I imagine I could have. Wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining, though.” He nodded toward the helicopter. “Be good, you two.”

  Ethan was still scowling even after his brother had walked away. “That’s the problem with living with your brothers. No privacy. And no respect. Sorry.”

  “You’re apologizing to me? The girl with four ornery brothers? Besides, I started it.”

  His gazed dropped to her mouth. “That you did, legs.” He opened the passenger door of the helicopter. “Your chariot, ma’am.”

  After they were buckled in, he spent several minutes doing a preflight check and messing with all kinds of gadgets.

  When he fired up the engine and the rotors started turning with a high whine, whipping faster and faster, becoming louder with each revolution, Dora felt a giddy thrill shoot through her veins. She wasn’t afraid of flying, but a helicopter was an untried experience. Still, the thought of the adventure made her tremble just a bit.

  Through the headphones, she heard Ethan’s voice. “Ready?”

  She looked over at him and grinned. “Absolutely.”

  For a moment it was almost as though he couldn’t look away, as though he found her the most interesting, irresistible person on the planet. And while she might well be reading entirely too much into a look, it felt nice, anyway.
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  The whoop of the rotors beat the wind with deep thumps and the engine whined, pitching higher as it revved.

  “Oh!” Dora exclaimed softly as the tail lifted, then the front. They flew forward and rose into a turn, the nose of the chopper still angled down, making Dora feel as though she should brace her hands on the dash or something.

  She glanced at Ethan, emotions zinging through her faster than she could keep up. He wore dark aviation sunglasses and a headset with a little microphone that nearly touched his sculpted lips. He looked sexy and capable, his hands working the controls of the chopper with assurance and skill. A Western-cut shirt with snaps up the front hugged his broad shoulders and tapered waist and was tucked into ice-blue denim that molded his hips and thighs in a manner that had Dora’s eyes darting away.

  If she didn’t stop fantasizing about his body, it was going to be a long, uncomfortable flight. Which reminded her, she had no idea how long a trip this was.

  “Where are we going?” She spoke into the headset, familiar with they way they worked.

  “I told you, it’s a surprise.”

  “Can you give me a hint how long it’ll take to get there?”

  “Not long.”

  Happy to let herself be surprised, and trusting Ethan fully, Dora looked out the wraparound window at the countryside. They were flying toward a mountainous ridge, dense with pines and other evergreens. The beauty of Montana was diverse and breathtaking. The flat prairies had an appeal all their own, but the parts that were richer in foliage and grassy hills were an absolute serenity feast for the eyes.

  A comfortable silence settled over them as they scooted along at a fast clip. Dora was content just to relax in her seat and let the artist within her absorb the different colors and shapes and textures all around them.

  Ethan pointed out sights and occasionally dipped the helicopter gently so Dora could get a better look. She laughed with joy as they skimmed the tops of giant cedars and Douglas fir, then gasped in wonder as a grotto-like clearing appeared beneath them.

  “My gosh! It’s so beautiful it takes my breath away.” As they hovered in the helicopter, Dora gazed at the waterfall gently cascading into a midnight lagoon surrounded by smooth, moss-covered rocks and feathery ferns. A hidden paradise.