“I am,” she said. “I closed my eyes while Merry read me a story and tucked me in. But my eyes wouldn’t stay shut.”
“Do you want me to read you another story?”
“No.” She sat up. “I’m hungry.”
“Didn’t you eat at the reception?”
“Cake. I didn’t like any of the other stuff. Gross,” she said making a face.
If it wasn’t chicken nuggets and fries she turned up her nose. Come to think of it, nothing on the wedding menu was kid friendly. So a sugar buzz explained the meltdown and insomnia.
“Okay, kid, let’s see if that mini-bar in the other room has something that meets with your approval.” Her smile and enthusiastic nod made him grin. “And we have a plan.”
She put on her fuzzy pink robe and matching slippers and they raided the snacks that would cost Max an arm and a leg. Served him right, Hunter thought with a smile of satisfaction.
He brought the basket containing nuts, crackers and trail mix over to the sofa, then opened a bottle of bubbly water and poured some into a tumbler and put it on a coffee table coaster.
“Can I have soda?” she asked hopefully.
“No. I’m giving you a moratorium on sugar.”
“What’s that?” There was a puzzled look on her little face.
“It’s like a time-out.” He sat beside her and opened the can of nuts.
“Oh.” She looked up at him. “Maybe Merry is hungry, too.”
There hadn’t been a sound from her room since he’d come in. She’d probably left her door open in order to hear if Wren needed anything. “She’s asleep. Let’s not disturb her.”
If only he could say she hadn’t disturbed him. She’d been one big disturbance since he’d seen her in that lavender dress and he needed some space to get back his perspective. Talking with his daughter should do it.
“Did you have fun tonight?” he asked her.
“It was the best wedding ever.”
“How many have you been to?” He knew the answer was zero. Four of his brothers were married now but this had been the only big event. Thanks in part to their father, it had been a good one.
“Only one,” she admitted, “but it was the best. I love my dress.”
“There will be lots of pictures for you to remember everything, including how special you looked in that dress.” He knew rehashing the event would settle her down so she could get some rest. “What else did you like?”
Thoughtful, she chewed a peanut. “I’m glad Merry was here. Didn’t she look pretty, Daddy?”
A vision of slender curves and that sexy slit in the lavender material flashed through his mind, stunning his body as surely as if he’d been sucker punched. “She did look pretty.”
“I don’t know if there are any pictures of her.” Wren frowned.
“The photographer was all over the place. I bet there are a lot of shots with Merry in them.”
“Maybe they’re of you and Merry dancing.” She looked up at him, her face impossibly young, her expression achingly hopeful. “Didn’t you like dancing with her? You didn’t look sad when you were.”
Between controlling the urge to kiss Merry and enjoying the feel of her in his arms, there hadn’t been time to be sad. But his emotional quotient was not what was on Wren’s mind. And he would have to be an idiot not to see that his daughter was trying to hook him up with her nanny. He slid his arm along the back of the sofa as an overwhelming need to hold and protect his little girl knotted inside him.
“Look, honey, I get that you want Merry and me to—”
“She could be your girlfriend,” Wren supplied.
“No, honey—”
“But, Daddy, she was like Cinderella when you were dancing. She lost her shoe. And you helped her. Like Prince Charming. In the story they were in love,” she said hopefully.
“But that’s a fairy tale. She can’t be my girlfriend.”
“But why?”
“There are a lot of reasons,” he said.
“I hate that you always have reasons.” Her look challenged him to make a list.
“It’s just not as easy as that.” In spite of what his father thought about setting his sons up. “Just because someone wants you to like someone as a girlfriend doesn’t mean they will.”
“Why not?”
“Well, when a man and woman meet, there needs to be an attraction.”
“Like you think someone is pretty.”
“Right.”
“You said Merry looked pretty tonight. Are you ’tracted?”
Try another way to explain this, he thought. “It’s more than just how someone looks. It’s about talking to them.”
“I saw you talkin’ to Merry. You laughed,” his observant daughter pointed out.
He couldn’t say she was wrong about that. The fact that Merry had called Wilder on his crap seemed so at odds with her innocence that it had surprised a chuckle out of him.
“It’s more complicated than that, honey. Merry works for me and it’s not right to make her feel uncomfortable.”
“After tomorrow she won’t be my nanny anymore.” There was a wistful tone in her voice.
He’d thought the same thing a little while ago and was conflicted about it. Time for a change of subject. “So, what was your favorite thing about the wedding? Other than your dress.”
“Dancing with Uncle Finn and Aunt Avery.”
“Okay. Why?” he asked.
“They told me about a diary.”
Hunter didn’t have to ask what she meant. After buying the Ambling A and moving in, they’d found a leather-bound, jewel-encrusted book underneath a loose floorboard at the main house. Nate Crawford made the connection to the Abernathys, who’d previously owned the ranch, and they’d been doing research on the family. So far no information had turned up. As each of his brothers got married, the brothers had slipped the diary into their wedding-night luggage, claiming what was written inside was passionate and romantic. He was skeptical. And he hoped that his brother and sister-in-law had enough sense not to fill Wren’s head with weird, woo-woo stuff.
“What did they say about the diary?”
“That whoever wrote in it didn’t get a happy ending,” she said.
“That’s too bad, honey. But not everyone does.”
“Well, they should,” she said stubbornly. “Especially you, Daddy. Because Mommy died. But I don’t think she would want you always to be sad. You looked happy with Merry. If you were together, you wouldn’t be sad anymore.”
Out of the mouths of babes... Wren was everything to him, but there’d been an emptiness inside him for the last six years after losing her mom. “Life isn’t a fairy tale, sweetie.”
“I know.” Her tone was sulky and her look could fry eggs. “If it was, the whole family could live together in a castle. I wouldn’t have to miss having my aunts around.”
“Your aunt Gen and uncle Knox live in one of the other cabins. She’s around.”
“But she’s always working with the horses. And Aunt Avery and Uncle Finn are moving up to that old hunting cabin so they can be alone. No one is there for me.” She glared up at him as if this was somehow his fault. “And especially Merry. I like her here. She makes everything more fun, just like she does at school.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“I’m the only girl around, Daddy.” She crawled into his lap and rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s always only Gramps and Uncle Wilder and you.”
“Thanks for telling me this.” And throwing a monkey wrench into everything.
It was sobering to realize that he couldn’t be everything to her. By sheer numbers he’d thought he, his dad and brothers had all the bases covered in raising this little girl. He couldn’t have been more wrong. And she was getting older. Maybe it woul
d be a good thing to have more of a female presence in her life.
To keep this child happy, he would walk on hot coals. And what he was considering definitely fell under the heading of “into the fire.”
Chapter Five
Merry never had hotel room service before. And coffee, orange juice, waffles and eggs brought on a cart and served by a waiter should have lifted her mood after the conversation she’d overheard last night. It didn’t. The door to her room had been wide open so she could hear if Wren needed her. The bedside lamp had been off, but she’d been awake, looking at the stars from her window. There had probably still been some in her eyes after dancing with the handsome rancher.
She’d thought there was a connection and had felt a little like the Cinderella Wren talked about. But it seemed Prince Charming had no interest in love. He’d fallen back on the employer/employee dynamic even though in a few hours the work relationship would be over. There could be something if he wanted there to be. Obviously she was the only one with a crush.
Everything Hunter had said was the truth, and it shouldn’t hurt, but for some reason it did. Maybe because now she was going back to her regularly scheduled life. With all its problems. So now she was packing her bags. This trip had been magical in some ways, not so much in others, and it was all but over.
She zipped up her suitcase and wheeled it into the suite’s living room. Then she walked to Wren’s room and poked her head in. The little girl was wadding up her clothes and throwing them into her pink princess bag.
“Would you like some help?”
Wren turned and there were tears in her eyes. “Oh, Merry, it’s—”
“What is it, sweetie?” She moved closer, sat on the bed and gathered the child into her lap, holding her tight. “What’s wrong, love?”
“We’re going home.” The words were hard to understand between sobs.
“I know. It’s hard going back after having so much fun. But you can’t be on vacation forever.”
“It’s not that.” She burrowed in.
“Then what?” Merry pressed a hand to the child’s forehead. “Do you feel all right?”
“Yes. I’m just sad.”
“Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help.”
“You can’t. I’m cryin’ because now I’ll only be able to see you at school. You won’t be there when I wake up in the morning or at night when I go to sleep.”
She snuggled the child closer, trying to offer comfort. Wren had pushed Merry at her father last night and he wasn’t having it. He was closed off and not even the daughter he loved more than anything could convince him to change his mind. Her heart hurt for both father and daughter.
From the corner of her eye she saw movement and noticed Hunter standing in the doorway. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been there or what he’d heard.
“You okay, Wren?” he asked.
“Fine.” The tearful tone was dripping with drama and emotion. It didn’t take a mental giant to see that she was telling him what he wanted to hear.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.” She sat up and glared at him.
He looked as if he might push back, then didn’t. “Okay. Finish packing, then I’ll get a bellman for the luggage. The cars will be here soon to take us to the airport.”
“I don’t want to go. Cuz I’ll have to say goodbye to Aunt Sarah, Aunt Lily, Aunt Genevieve and Aunt Avery.”
“I know things are changing. Aunt Lily and Uncle Xander have moved to their own ranch house. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Logan live in town. You can visit them. They fixed up her parents’ house and you can visit baby Sophia.”
“It’s not the same,” she said stubbornly.
“You’ll see them all again soon. The whole family will be together for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks.”
“It will never be the same again. But I know we have to go.” She sniffled then gave Merry a hug. Without another word she slid to the floor and put her nightgown in the suitcase.
“I’ve got this,” Merry told him.
“Okay.”
He looked relieved and possibly eager to be off the hook. Poor guy. She felt sorry for him. His daughter was growing up and girls were kind of a mystery to men. Her own father had told her that more than once.
Merry looked at Wren. “I’ll check the drawers and make sure you have everything.”
“Okay.”
Forty-five minutes later those cars Hunter had mentioned unloaded the Crawford family and Merry not far from the jet waiting to take them home to Rust Creek Falls. As the group assembled, Merry looked around and frowned. In the last couple of days she’d sort of gotten used to counting Crawford heads. When your job involved keeping track of five-and six-year-olds, ticking off a list in your mind became second nature. So she noticed that three members were not present and accounted for.
“Wait. Finn and Avery aren’t here.”
Max happened to be next to her. “They’re staying here for a few days.”
“Right.” Merry shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at him and was blinded by the sun. “Their honeymoon.”
“Yeah.”
He was grinning from ear to ear, but Merry didn’t think it was “that’s my boy” or “chip off the old block” stuff. The man seemed genuinely pleased that his son was married, happy and the family celebration had gone off without a hitch. However, there might be a hitch in the ride home since one more of them was missing.
“Wilder’s not here either. Is he staying for the honeymoon, too?” she asked wryly.
Max’s smile slipped. “Finn would have something to say about that. No. He texted and said he would meet us here. And before you ask, he didn’t stay in his room at the resort.”
Merry wasn’t sure why he was confiding this information to her and was reluctant to comment the way she had to Hunter. “I wasn’t prying. It’s just habit. At the school one of the things they pay me for is to make sure everyone is where they should be.”
His glance settled on Wren who was soaking up attention from her three aunts while she still could. Then Max looked at Merry. “I want to thank you for taking care of my granddaughter this weekend. She seems to like you very much and that goes a long way with me.”
“She’s a very special little girl. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” A car pulled up behind the SUVs and Wilder got out. “Seems the prodigal son has arrived.”
“That completes the head count.”
“Thank you again, Merry.” He gave her a quick bear hug. “Excuse me. I have to herd everyone on board.”
Merry wasn’t the last one to get on the plane, but the seating area in the front section was pretty full. Wren was there with her aunts and uncles so she picked a bench seat in the rear by herself. After all, she was only the hired help.
Moments after she was settled, the stragglers boarded. Hunter was the last and he looked around, then hesitated only a moment before sitting beside her. He didn’t say anything so she didn’t either. Let it be awkward, she thought.
The announcement was made to buckle up and the flight attendant secured the cabin for takeoff. It wasn’t long before they were airborne.
Hunter cleared his throat. “I have a check for you.”
“It doesn’t seem right to take money. Looking after Wren isn’t work, and a stay at that fabulous resort was wonderful. A lovely break from my routine.”
“Still, I hired you to make sure she was well looked after and she was. So, here.”
She looked at the piece of paper he held out. “My employment is officially complete.”
“Yeah.”
She took it and tucked the check into her wallet. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Merry studied his expression and
guessed that he was uneasy. “Was there something else?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought so.”
“Why?” He sounded surprised.
“Because there are other seats open and you sat next to me. I figured it was to talk.” Because she knew he wasn’t attracted to her. “I hope you were satisfied with the supervision I provided Wren.”
“I was. But more important, she was happy.” Hunter glanced away for a moment and took a deep breath. “I heard what she said to you earlier. When she was packing.”
Merry didn’t know what to say to that except, “I didn’t put her up to that.”
“The thought never crossed my mind.”
She nodded. “I wouldn’t worry. She’s probably just tired. It was a busy weekend.”
“And she was up late last night.”
Merry was aware of that fact but didn’t confirm she knew. It was best he didn’t know she’d overheard that particular conversation. “She’ll be fine once she’s home.”
“Will she?”
Merry’s gaze snapped to his. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“For one thing, she’s become very attached to you.”
“And, like I told her, she will see me at school. This weekend hasn’t changed anything.” That was a lie. After dancing with Hunter, aka Prince Charming, she’d changed. But real life would get her over it. “Going back to her routine will fix whatever is bothering her.”
“Maybe that’s not enough.” He looked lost. “It’s possible she needs more female influence in her life. Last night she said some things—”
“Oh?” she said innocently.
His expression was intense. “The words don’t matter. I just don’t want her to ever think I didn’t listen to her. So—”
“What?”
“I’d like to hire you to be Wren’s nanny. It will be a full-time, live-in job.”
She hadn’t seen that coming and was on the verge of turning him down until he told her the salary he had in mind. Still, she said, “I already have a job at the school.”
“The way I see it, there’s no reason to quit since you both have the same schedule. You could take her and bring her home. That frees me up for ranch work because you’ll be with her.”
Maverick Holiday Magic (Montana Mavericks: Six Brides For Six Brothers Book 5) Page 6
