by Marin Thomas
AMY STOOD IN FRONT OF the kitchen window—a habit that was becoming all too frequent since Matt had arrived at the farm. Lily was napping and Amy had already prepared a chicken-and-rice casserole for supper. She’d doubled the recipe, hoping there would be leftovers when she returned from class tonight.
At half-past noon she had two hours to blow before heading into Rockton. She should be tackling the laundry, vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing toilets—anything but admiring the way the noon sun reflected off Matt’s naked torso.
The stallion’s dark brown coat glistened with sweat as Matt paraded him around the corral with a lead rope. At each turn man and beast stopped. After a minute SOS would nudge his nose against Matt’s shoulder and Matt would resume walking. Amy wasn’t sure what purpose the exercise served, but she did notice that the horse acted more relaxed and at ease outside in the corral than he did in his barn stall.
She hoped the stud made enough progress so Matt could turn the horse loose with the mares. Amy yearned for Matt to hang around the farm the entire summer.
All because of a kiss.
Wow had been the first word that had popped into her brain after their lips had separated yesterday. His mouth, gentle and demanding at once, had left her wanting to feel the press of his lips against other parts of her body. Perspiration dotted her brow as she envisioned the lower half of his body sans clothing. She shook her head, hoping to dislodge the sensual daydream. She had no business contemplating a future with Matt—even a future measured in days or weeks. She’d lusted after a cowboy once and that had led to widowhood before her thirtieth birthday and in debt up to her ears. She’d learned the hard way that the only person she could depend on was herself.
But you depended on Matt to watch the girls and he didn’t let you down.
True. Amy had never left the girls with Ben because he’d become preoccupied with his own activities and forget about Rose and Lily for long periods of time. She still worried over Matt watching the girls, but instinctively she knew her daughters would be safe with him. Amy didn’t understand it, but in the short time since Matt had arrived at the farm, he’d come to earn her trust. His determination and hard work with SOS proved how serious he was about succeeding with the stallion. In the end if she wasn’t able to sell the horse, Matt wasn’t to be blamed. The man was no slacker.
Aside from both cowboys being handsome, Matt wasn’t like Ben in any way, which made Matt all the more dangerous to Amy’s heart. The temptation to throw herself at Matt was mighty, but she’d never be anything more to him than a summer fling. Besides, the cowboy could do better than her. She wasn’t a sexy babe. She was a mother. A widow.
A woman in desperate need of a cut and color.
Years ago she’d been cute, flirty and fun. But hard times had sucked the joy out of her. Amy couldn’t even recall the last time she’d laughed until tears had filled her eyes.
Another fifteen minutes passed and she worried that Matt intended to skip lunch, so she decided to make him a sandwich. The phone rang in the middle of slathering mayonnaise on a hoagie bun.
“Amy here.”
“You lucky dog, you.”
“Chrissy?”
“How come your best friend—” best friend—yeah, right. Chrissy owned the Snappy Scissors Hair Salon in Pebble Creek and believed every woman within a fifty-mile radius was her best friend “—is the last to hear you’re involved with that stud—”
“SOS is—”
“Not that stud,” Chrissy cut in. “The two-legged one on your farm.”
Amy’s eyes shifted to the window. “Who’s talking about me now?” She wondered if the local gossipmongers would ever tire of discussing poor, naive Amy.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Quit teasing me and spit it out, Chrissy.”
“Your rodeo cowboy—” Matt wasn’t Amy’s cowboy “—broke Payton Scott’s nose.”
Oh, Lord. “What happened?”
“They exchanged words at the feed store. Clifford says that when he came out of the stockroom Payton was bleeding like a stuck pig and your Matt—”
“He’s not my Matt.”
“—acted madder than a hornet with its stinger plucked. Anyway, Pearl said—”
“What does Pearl have to do with this?” Had the entire town gotten involved?
“Matt stopped at Pearl’s after he left the feed store. She claims they were fighting over you.”
Amy’s heart sighed. Maybe it was silly to feel all wishy-washy inside that Matt had thrown a punch on her behalf, but she’d never been the cause of a disagreement between two men. “Do you know what started the fight?”
“Payton maligned your character.”
The jerk had probably called her a slut. Payton had a nasty habit of slandering women who didn’t appreciate his interest. Maybe Matt’s encounter with the banker was the reason he hadn’t come up to the house for lunch. “My relationship with Matt Cartwright is purely professional. He’s here to save SOS from the slaughterhouse and nothing more.”
“What if he wants more?” the beautician hinted.
“A cowboy like Matt doesn’t want a woman like me, besides—” The rest of her sentence gurgled in her throat when she spotted Matt watching her through the screen door. How long had he been eavesdropping? “Gotta run.” Amy hung up on the sputtering hairdresser.
Matt’s eyes pinned Amy.
She concentrated on taking short, quick breaths and keeping her gaze from straying to the wall of sweating muscle a few feet away. He was dusty and so damned hot-looking. She managed in a reasonable voice, “I was about to bring you a sandwich.”
He stepped into the kitchen.
“You can wash up at the sink.” She forgot to hold her breath when she skirted him and caught a whiff of hardworking male and faded aftershave. Resisting the temptation to bury her nose against his sweaty neck, and get drunk on his scent, she snatched a bag of chips from the pantry shelf. “What would you like to drink?”
“Water’s fine.”
She took a tumbler from the cupboard, filled it with ice and ran the tap.
“Aren’t you eating?” he said, taking a seat at the table. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he guzzled the water.
“I had a sandwich earlier.” With her stomach tied in knots, anything she consumed now she’d regurgitate.
“A man like Matt doesn’t want—” his blue eyes narrowed “—what?”
“Chrissy from the hair salon in town likes to run off at the mouth.”
“She told you I punched Scott.”
“Did you really break his nose?” Amy whispered.
“Yep.” He bit off a hunk of sandwich and chewed.
Don’t ask. “Why did you hit him?”
He chewed and swallowed. “I didn’t like the things he insinuated about you.”
Matt’s words were poetry to her ears. “I appreciate you defending me, but Payton has insulted every resident in Pebble Creek at one time or another. No one pays him any mind.”
A sexy dark eyebrow lifted at the outer corner. “You don’t mind being referred to as a hussy?”
Her face heated. “Is that what Payton called me?”
Matt nodded.
The banker was the biggest poop this side of the Mississippi. Agitated, she grabbed a handful of paper towels and the Windex bottle from beneath the sink, then took out her frustration on the dirty kitchen windows. “Next time ignore the Neanderthal.”
“There won’t be a next time. If there is…I’ll knock his teeth down his throat,” Matt pledged.
A tiny fissure spread through Amy’s heart. Ben would never have come to her defense the way Matt had. “Payton was three years ahead of me in high school. He came from an affluent family and, well, I came from the farm. So when he showed interest in me I was excited and asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance.” She shook her head. “Big mistake. He acted like he was God’s gift to women, bragging about his athletic ability, his academic rank and his family’s money. We
didn’t go out again and I was glad when he left for college.”
“Why’d he return to Pebble Creek?” Matt asked.
“His daddy owns several banks in Idaho and built the one in town so his son would have a job. When Payton graduated from college I was already married to Ben. Payton acted as if I’d betrayed him.”
“The guy sounds like a nutcase.”
“He is.”
Matt polished off his sandwich, then took his dishes to the sink. He paused at the screen door. “For the record—” his eyes warmed as they slid over her body “—a man like Matt does want.”
The banging of the screen door reminded Amy that she’d stopped breathing, and she gasped for air.
Chapter Eight
“Here’s the deal,” Matt said, handing Rose a box of Silly Nillys. “You and your sister sit on the porch swing and eat your snacks while I install this fence.” He intended to enclose a small section of shaded yard alongside the house that he had a view of from the corrals. Once the girls were imprisoned, he’d be able to work with SOS uninterrupted. The towheads crawled onto the swing and Matt relocated the pink plastic playhouse to the soon-to-be secured area, away from Amy’s flowerbeds.
“Mama’s gonna be mad ’cause you moved Lily’s castle,” Rose warned.
Mama’s not going to say a thing if she wants to keep the nanny happy.
Speaking of Amy, Matt didn’t know who had been more shocked when he’d all but blurted that he wanted to have sex with her. He told himself that his slip of the tongue had been because he’d wanted her to know she was an attractive woman—he suspected it had been a while since Amy had received a flattering compliment from the opposite sex.
Better he believe that reasoning than admit she stirred him in a way he’d never experienced before. Matt figured it wouldn’t take much effort to seduce Amy and a part of him wanted to. But he shouldn’t. Couldn’t. Wouldn’t. She deserved better than him—a cowboy who’d stooped so low as to use another man’s weakness to his advantage.
Shoving aside his thoughts, Matt measured the spacing for the fence posts, then used a mallet to pound them into the ground. Rose called his name, but he ignored the kid. After five minutes he gave in. “What?”
“Did you feed Sophia?”
Blasted rat. The first thing he’d done after his trip into town earlier in the day was to set the trap using part of his Reuben sandwich as bait. “Sophia hasn’t shown her—” beady red eyes “—face lately.”
“That’s ’cause she knows you don’t like her.”
Ignoring the seven-year-old’s glare, he continued setting the posts.
“Uh-oh.”
Reining in his temper, he faced the porch and snapped, “Now what’s wrong?”
“Lily’s tooting.”
“Then scoot over so you don’t smell it.”
The suggestion earned him an eye roll. “If Lily toots it means she’s gotta go to the bathroom.”
“All right. Will you take her inside and help her?”
Rose released a dramatic sigh. “C’mon, Lily. Let’s do poops.” Rose slid off the bench seat and her sister followed like a puppet on a string. As soon as the screen door slammed shut, Matt breathed a sigh of relief, then took advantage of the peace and quiet and finished positioning the remainder of the posts. Amazing what a man accomplished when females weren’t nagging him. He was in the process of stringing the end of the fencing material to the hooks on the posts when Rose called to him through the screen door.
“Mr. Matt!”
“Yeah?”
“You gotta come quick.”
“Why?”
“Lily’s marbles spilled all over the bathroom floor.”
Why in the world were the girls playing with marbles in the bathroom? “I’ll be right in.” He leaned the roll of fencing against a post and hustled up the porch steps and into the house.
“Mama’s gonna be mad at you, Lily. You’re supposed to use the toilet.”
Matt stopped outside the half bath in the hallway and stared. Lily stood in front of the toilet, underwear around her ankles. Rose perched one hand on her hip and pointed to the mess. “Lily pooped marbles all over the floor.”
Oh, man! “Don’t move, Lily. Rose, stay put so you don’t step on the…marbles.” He scratched his head, wondering how to proceed with the cleanup.
“Mama throws the marbles back in the toilet,” Rose commented.
He scooped up Lily, intending to set her in the hall when he noticed several marbles stuck to her underwear. He swung her over the toilet and jiggled her. The kid grinned, then demanded, “Again.”
What the heck. He jiggled.
She giggled. “Again.”
Jiggle-giggle.
One by one the marbles plopped into the toilet. Matt put Lily on her feet in the hallway. Then he grabbed a wad of toilet paper and shoved it at Rose. “Wipe your sister’s bottom.”
Rose crossed her arms in front of her. “Yuck.”
Matt handed the tissue to Lily. “Clean yourself, Lily.”
The kid bent forward at the waist, sticking her fanny high in the air, then tried to wipe herself, but her short little arms didn’t reach around to her bottom. “Turn around, Lily.”
The child swiveled until her fanny faced Matt. “Never mind, it looks pretty clean.” He took the tissue from Lily’s hand and used it to retrieve the marbles from the floor. “Rose, pull up Lily’s underwear, would you?”
While Rose struggled with her sister’s clothing, Matt flushed the toilet. One crisis over. “Hustle outside now.”
“Lily’s gotta wash her hands.”
Where was the antibacterial hand gel when you needed it? He held the child over the sink and helped her soap and rinse her hands. “Shake ’em dry, kid.” Lily obeyed, flinging her wet hands every which way.
“Aren’t you gonna scrub the floor?” Rose asked.
Good idea. “Where’s your mother’s cleaning stuff?”
“In the pantry.” The little drill sergeant led the way to the kitchen.
Matt searched the meager supplies and settled on the Windex bottle. He sprayed the floor liberally, wiped it with paper towels, then ushered the girls to the swing. Twenty minutes later he had the fence installed.
Next on his list—the bell.
Rose wandered closer and peered inside the box. “What’s that?”
“A bell to ring in an emergency.”
“What kind of emergency?”
“If you or Lily get hurt playing in the yard, then you ring the bell. I’ll hear it and come running.”
“But I can come get you,” she argued.
“No. You and your sister have to stay inside the fence.”
“Why?”
“So I can work with the horses.”
Lily joined Rose in the discussion. “Bell.” She pointed a sticky finger at the box.
Rose scrutinized the fence as if unhatching an escape plan. She confirmed his suspicion. “All I gotta do is lift up the bottom and crawl under.”
“You better not, young lady. I’m depending on you to keep an eye on Lily.” A twinge of guilt pricked him. Amy hadn’t left him in charge so that he’d shove his responsibilities off on her eldest daughter.
“But I don’t want to babysit Lily.”
“You’re not really babysitting her, you’re playing together.”
“What if I don’t want to play with her?” Rose’s mouth formed a pout.
Lily pulled on her sister’s shirt sleeve. “Ro, play.”
Rose tugged free of Lily’s hold. “What about my spelling words?”
“I’ll quiz you over supper.”
“When’s supper?”
God help me. “After I work an hour with the horses, we’ll eat.” A couple more screws and Matt had installed the bell on the porch post within the girls’ reach.
“Can I ring it first?” Rose asked.
“Give it a try.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Me,” Lily de
manded, pushing Rose out of the way. After several more ear-splitting clangs, he grabbed the clapper. “This isn’t a toy, okay? You ring it when you need help. Any questions?”
Rose shook her head. “Nope.”
“Nope,” Lily mimicked.
Then Matt remembered the walkie-talkies in the truck. “One more thing.” He shuffled down the steps, walked three feet, then came to a dead stop. Oh, hell. He’d barricaded himself inside the yard.
“Stay here,” he insisted, after he climbed the steps. He hurried through the house, reminding himself to install a lock on the screen door to keep the girls from going into the house, then exiting through the front door. The situation was becoming more complicated than plotting a military coup. Once he retrieved the walkie-talkies and installed the batteries, he called the girls over to the fence.
“This is a two-way radio, Rose.” He lifted the handset above the fence. “We can talk to each other when I’m in the barn or inside the corral. Press this button on the side and then hold it in place while you speak. When you’re done talking release the button.”
He walked over to the shade tree outside the fence and hid behind it. “This is Mr. Matt, come in.” When Rose didn’t answer he peeked around the trunk. “Push the button in and hold it while you talk.”
“Hi, Mr. Matt. Can you hear me?”
He leaned around the trunk. “Let go of the button now.” When she did, he said, “I can hear you, Rose.”
“Lily wants to talk.”
A second later…“Mer Matt, Mer Matt.”
Rose remembered to release the button and he answered, “Hi, Lily.” Then he joined the girls. “Put this strap around your waist, Rose. That way you’ll have the walkie-talkie with you at all times.” He reached over the fence and helped her tighten the carrying belt. “You girls behave while I work with the horses.”
“Bye, Mr. Matt,” Rose spoke into the handset, then crawled inside the playhouse, Lily trailing behind.
