Claiming Their Nanny: A Cowboy Ménage Romance (Montana Ménage Book 1)

by Lily Reynard

  "Oh, yes, and I can see why she would want to do that. The garden is lovely." To his relief, now she was blushing again. "But it's in sore need of some tending. Would you mind if perhaps I did some weeding and deadheaded the rose bushes? While Christopher is napping, of course."

  Along with the house's glass windows, Dad had ordered the flower seeds, fruit tree saplings, and bare-root rose bushes from a mail-order company. Surprisingly, most of the trees and roses had survived their long journey to Twin Forks and had flourished here in the years since.

  After Mom died in childbirth when Jim and Dan were ten, Clara had been the one who had tended the garden in their mother's memory. It had been a pleasant place to unwind after a long day of hard work and chores.

  Now that Clara was gone, neither Jim nor Dan had had the heart to spend any time in the garden. It had been left to its own devices as spring arrived and turned to summer.

  Hell, if it hadn't been for the fact that the outhouse was located at the back of the garden, Jim would never have set foot in the place at all.

  It was too hard to see the flowers without remembering Clara walking around with her beloved gardening shears in her hand or seeing her kneeling on a square of canvas as she weeded a flowerbed or planted bulbs.

  Isaiah tended the vegetable patch and herb beds, but cooking three meals a day for them and supervising the ranch's other cooks kept him otherwise fully occupied.

  "Of course," Jim answered. "We haven't had much time for it since…" He changed his mind about what he wanted to say. "I mean, neither Dan or I know much about raising flowers. Livestock's more our specialty."

  Dan was still shooting him a glowering look, and Jim predicted that they were going to fight about Abby later.

  Good. If he was scrapping with his brother, then he wouldn’t be having to wrestle down the memories of Clara that Abby was stirring up.

  Or, that having gotten a taste of their sweet nanny's trust, he had developed a mighty strong craving for more.

  You’re a danged saphead. And you’re going to ruin everything.

  He cleared his throat. "We've got plenty of horse shi—er, I mean manure if you need any. I heard that plants like it."

  "Um, thank you," Abby said, sounding a tad hesitant.

  Well, Jim reckoned it wasn't every day that a city girl like her received an offer of all the horse shit she wanted.

  "Of course, we wouldn't expect a lady to shovel it herself," Dan said in a tone edged like a scythe. "Just tell us what how much you'll need, and Jim here will cart you over a wheelbarrow load or two from the stables."

  Jim didn't miss the fact that Dan pointedly didn't volunteer for the task himself. Fair enough.

  Then Dan wrinkled his nose. A moment later, Jim caught a whiff of what was unmistakably a full diaper.

  Dan cleared his throat. "Speaking of indelicate topics like manure…"

  "Oh!" Christopher in her arms, Abby pushed back her chair and rose gracefully. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go upstairs for a moment. I'll be back soon."

  As soon as she had vanished down the hall, Dan snarled, "What the hell is going on? I thought you promised—"

  "Nothing happened. I was just teasing her because she blushes so easy," Jim interrupted. It was technically true, but he could see that Dan didn't believe him.

  "If you scare her off, so help me—" Dan's fist curled around his fork, and Jim suspected that he was about two blinks away from being stabbed.

  He rose hastily.

  "Where are you going?" Dan demanded.

  "I forgot to tell Abby that we're taking the dirty laundry to town tomorrow," Jim said over his shoulder as he left the dining room. "I'll be back in a moment. You can keep eating."

  He could sense Dan's glare burning against the back of his neck like a wind-blown ember, and smirked.

  Abby was pinning a clean, neatly folded diaper on Chris when Jim poked his head into the nursery. "I forgot to tell you earlier—I'm heading into town tomorrow morning, and I can drop off any washing you need done at Lee's Laundry. They take care of everything—Chris's soiled diapers, bedsheets, clothes, you name it."

  "Thank you," she said, sliding her finger between Chris' stomach and the top of the diaper to test the fit. "I noticed that we were beginning to run low on diapers."

  The wide-mouthed jam jar filled with the rendered lard used to prevent diaper rashes stood open next to Chris's head, and she had pulled the diaper bucket out of its usual place in the corner of the nursery for easy access.

  "Good," he said. "I'll leave a sack in front of your door tonight, and you just fill it with whatever you need laundered."

  He'd intended to return to his supper as soon as he'd said his piece, but the sight of Abby dressing Chris, tenderness suffusing her expression, made the breath catch in his throat.

  Yeah, I definitely don't want to scare her off.

  Apparently mistaking his reason for lingering, Abby said, "I wanted to apologize again for my actions this afternoon. I hope you'll forgive me even if there's no excuse for my behavior."

  She blushed yet again.

  God, she is so sweet.

  "Don't worry about it. We all have human weaknesses, right?" he reassured him. Then the devil seized him again, and he added, "You ever peeped at any other naked men?"

  Her blush deepened from appealing pink to mortified scarlet as it spread from the high neck of her shirtwaist to her forehead. "Never!"

  Jim fought a surge of desire at her reaction. She was so sweet and innocent, and all he could think about was how badly he wanted her in his bed.

  But that same innocence meant that she was clearly not the type of woman who would consider sleeping with a man without a courtship and an engagement. Not like the kind of woman I usually associate with.

  And that hair of hers…it had been every bit as soft and thick as he imagined it might be, the unbound tresses falling past her waist to her hips. What would that golden treasure look like, spread out over his pillow?

  Forbidden fruit, he reminded himself. I need to get hold of myself.

  "Well, I don't mind you looking, Abby," he told her. "But that's as far as anything can go between us."

  "What?" She looked even more mortified, and he felt a stab of guilt because he was the one having the dirty thoughts. "I promise you, nothing like it will ever happen again!"

  Which was too damned bad, because everything about the way she reacted to him told him that their attraction was mutual.

  "Good. Well, dinner's getting cold." He turned and headed down the hall.

  As he walked back downstairs, he found himself hoping that she'd peek in on him again sometime soon, because next time he might pull her into the bathtub with him.

  The pleasant fantasy of her sweet, naked curves nestled into his lap made him smile all the way back to the dining room.

  Chapter 7

  After dinner, which was made uncomfortable by the open tension between the brothers, Abby retreated to the nursery to put Christopher to bed.

  She sat in the rocker and held him on her lap, trying to soothe him enough to fall asleep.

  After only two days here, she had fallen deeply in love with the orphaned little mite. He was so precious, and he aroused a fiercely protective instinct in her.

  Now, as she sang to him, she fretted about whether her foolish actions this afternoon might be the reason that Dan had been glaring at his brother.

  It will break my heart to leave Christopher if they decide to send me away.

  As if summoned by her troubled train of thought, someone tapped softly on the nursery door just as Christopher's eyes drooped shut. She looked up to see Daniel looming in the doorway.

  Her heart began pounding in apprehension. Did Jim tell him about my inexcusable lapse in propriety?

  "H-hello, Dan," she managed, whispering so that she wouldn't wake the baby.

  "Evening, Abby," he replied softly. "I wanted to see how Chris was doing. I heard he's teething again."

 
"He's doing really well," she assured him. "He seems to be very healthy. He's been eating and is very active when he's awake." She chuckled nervously. "I may have a difficult time keeping up with him once he learns to walk!"

  Dan nodded, his expression still serious. "And what about you? You settling in okay?"

  Abby nodded. "My room is very comfortable, and the ranch is beautiful. I do like it here."

  He blew out a breath that sounded like a sigh of relief. "Good. I was worried that you might be lonely out here, since the ranch is a fair way from town." He rubbed at the shadow of dark stubble on his chin. "If you want to write a note to Mrs. Kottinger, I'll make sure that Jim delivers it to her when he drops off the laundry tomorrow. We usually attend Sunday services at the church, if you want to make plans for afterwards."

  Abby smiled at him with genuine gratitude. "Emma was so very kind to me the other day. I'd welcome the chance to renew our acquaintance."

  He hesitated before asking bluntly. "My brother hasn't been imposing on you, has he?"

  "Oh, no, nothing like that," Abby said quickly.

  Her face grew hot as a blush betrayed her lie. Dan's dark brows drew together.

  He turned abruptly on his heel and left. She stared after him, sick with renewed nerves.

  With Christopher now peacefully asleep, she put him down in his crib and headed outside for a walk to calm her nerves. This close to Midsummer's Eve, the sun still hovered over the mountains despite the late hour, though the shadows had grown long.

  She strolled around the barns, then followed the crude path worn by wagon wheels. She passed a wide pasture filled with peacefully grazing horses, mules, and even a few tan-and-white pronghorn antelope with fawns at their side.

  Once again, she was struck by how sweet and clean the air was here in Montana.

  Gradually, her nerves began to calm. Her thoughts stopped spinning on a frantic merry-go-round of guilt and worry as her bucolic surroundings soothed her soul.

  When she returned to the house, she found Jim sitting on a porch swing near the front door. He had a book in his lap and a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

  He glanced up from his reading and gave her one of those impossibly attractive smiles. "Abby! Come sit a spell."

  He scooted over and patted the painted boards next to him. The swing had been built to seat two people, but only if they sat extremely close together.

  Abby's most prudent course of action would be to walk briskly past him and head up to her room to write that note to Emma before she finally finished writing the letter to her parents.

  But she also liked the way that Jim made her feel special and beautiful…and the pain she had glimpsed in him earlier today made her ache to help him.

  Gathering up her skirts, she settled herself gingerly on the porch swing next to him and folded her hands self-consciously in her lap. As she had suspected, the narrowness of the swing's seat meant that they sat pressed thigh to thigh.

  A vivid flash of memory from the afternoon reminded her of the long, beautifully defined muscles of his legs under their light furring of dark hair.

  "So, how are things going with Chris?" Jim asked, closing his book and setting the tin coffee mug down on the porch boards. "He seemed more peaceable at dinner."

  Abby nodded. "He's such a sweet baby. He's just teething, that's all. And he's already crawling. As I mentioned to your brother, I'm going to have a difficult time keeping up with him once he begins walking."

  "Is that going to be soon?" Jim asked.

  "Based on my experiences, it could be anytime between this autumn and next spring," Abby replied. "Each baby is different."

  Jim nodded. "I guess we have some time yet before we put a leash on the little nipper and tie him to our saddle horns."

  Is he serious? Abby stopped studying her clasped hands and stared at Jim.

  He grinned at her, his brown eyes gleaming with now-familiar mischief.

  "Just joshing," he assured her. "Though my mom did have to tie Dan and me to the clothesline pole once or twice so that we wouldn't run off and play in the river while she was doing her chores." He paused while his brow creased in thought. "Huritt says that if we teach Chris to ride as soon he can walk, he can help us with the horses that much sooner."

  "I'm going to wager that Huritt is a bachelor," Abby retorted. "That's a terrible idea. No wonder you needed a nanny, if that's the kind of child-rearing advice that you're receiving!"

  Jim laughed, a full-throated rumble. "I think you're right. See, you showed up at the right moment to save us."

  Abby's cheeks warmed. "I've grown very fond of Chris. I'd hate to see him get hurt because of some foolhardy notions."

  "You're going to be good for him." Jim's tone and expression suddenly turned serious. "I believe that you're going to be good for all of us."

  "I—" she began, sudden shyness overtaking her.

  "And I'm convinced that you're going to be good for me," he continued, his voice low. "Abby, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all afternoon."

  His gaze focused on her with a sensual intensity that made her chest tighten and liquid heat flow through the very marrow of her bones.

  Lips parted, her heart pounding, she stared back at him. His lips were full but firm, and the sight of them mesmerized her.

  "I saw how you looked at me while I was bathing," he murmured.

  He slipped his arm around her shoulders, and the heat of his touch soaked through the cotton fabric of her shirtwaist.

  A thrill of anticipation shot through her as he cupped her cheek with his free hand, leaned in close, and bent his head to hers.

  He's going to kiss me, she realized. I shouldn't let him, but I want it so very much.

  But instead of the hard, demanding kiss she was expecting—perhaps even hoping for—his mouth was gentle as it closed over hers, his lips almost chaste as they lingered against hers in a warm caress.

  The fire that Jim's kiss kindled deep in her belly was anything but chaste. It raced through her, starting a hot, insistent throbbing between her legs.

  She shouldn’t be doing this, not after the disaster of her engagement. And especially not after all of the resolutions she had made in the past two days regarding her dangerously attractive employers.

  But she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him. Instead, she boldly snaked her arms around his neck and pressed herself eagerly against him.

  She had never kissed a man other than Arthur, and the effect of his caresses had been nothing like this. She craved more of the delicious sensations currently igniting her nerves.

  Jim made a low growling sound, and the vibration against her lips sent a thrill down her spine.

  The hand against her cheek slid around to cradle the back of her head as he hungrily deepened the kiss. Under the pressure of his mouth, she parted her lips, and his tongue caressed hers.

  She had never, in her wildest fantasies, dreamed that she would ever be kissed like this or that anything could feel this good. She loved his taste, his touch, even his scent.

  For the first time she truly understood why there were so many songs and poems about the delights of a lover's kisses.

  Abby wanted more.

  After a timeless, blissful interval of Jim's lips and tongue caressing her and stoking an ever more heated reaction from her body, she felt him pull a pin from her hair.

  Reality returned in a shock. Abby gasped and pushed away from him.

  Dan warned me about this! And here I am, about to toss away everything!

  Jim blinked, looking as dazed as Abby felt.

  Her lips tingled and she could still feel the shape of his mouth imprinted on hers.

  He looked down at her, his eyes still dazed and his expression troubled.

  "I'm sorry, Abby," he said, his voice rough. "I didn't mean—"

  "I'm sorry too," she said, her heart pounding in a crazy rhythm. She plucked the hairpin from his fingers. "But this was a mistake. A terrible mistake.
I shouldn't have done that."

  She scrambled to her feet, her knees weak and her body still pulsing with those hot, sinfully delicious, dangerous sensations. "I'm so sorry. It won't happen again!"

  Then her nerve broke and she fled into the house and the safety of her bedroom.

  She stood in the middle of her room, shaking. What's happening to me?