The Texas Cowboy's Quadruplets

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Chapter Two

  Mitzy half expected Chase to argue with her. Try to persuade her otherwise, as he had during the days immediately following their breakup, years ago. Instead, he stood there, watchful, patient, infuriatingly silent. His implacable calm—in the wake of her complete emotional upheaval—leaving her even more on edge. Finally, he said, “You’re right. We have more important issues to address right now.”

  What was more important than where the two of them went from here? If not straight into bed? “Like what?” Mitzy asked, wishing he didn’t look so big and strong and completely irresistible.

  He lounged against the wall, arms folded in front of him. “The fate of your dad’s company.”

  Needing some distance between them, Mitzy walked around her dad’s desk, then stood facing him with her hands hooked over the back of the chair. She gestured at the dust gathering everywhere she looked. “Obviously, I need to cowgirl up and get it back on track.”

  He nodded seriously, then warned, “Before you can do that, however, you’re going to have to assess the depth of the damage.”

  His sexy baritone kindled new heat inside her. Aware he was watching her, gauging her reactions as carefully as she was measuring his, she tilted her chin. “You think there’s more?”

  “There usually is.”

  She inhaled deeply. Breathed out slowly. And tried not to panic considering what else she hadn’t been aware of and didn’t yet know.

  “You’re speaking of some of the small companies you’ve purchased and turned around,” she guessed.

  He nodded.

  Before he could say more, a loud knock sounded on the outer door of the facility. Mitzy looked at Chase. “Expecting anyone?”

  “No. You?”

  With a mystified shake of her head, Mitzy crossed the cement facility floor. Her sixty-seven-year-old stepfather was standing on the other side, in the usual expensive sport coat, slacks and button-down. His thick silver hair was as neatly combed as always, his eyes warm and assessing behind the silver-rimmed glasses.

  “Your mother sent me to check on you,” Walter Fiedler said. “She was worried about you being here alone, but—” his glance took in Mitzy’s just-kissed state and moved to Chase “—I guess she needn’t have been. Hello, Chase.” He extended his hand.

  Chase stepped up with his usual masculine grace. “Walter.”

  “Good to see you.”

  “Likewise.”

  The two men exchanged polite smiles. An awkward silence fell.

  Walter turned back to Mitzy. “I don’t mean to pressure you, dear, but I think your mother’s feelings are a little hurt by the way you disappeared so soon after we arrived. So if you could wrap this up...and come back to the house soon...?”

  Inundated by guilt, Mitzy said, “I’ll be right there, I promise.”

  The older gentleman nodded in approval, then turned back to Chase. “Will you be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner? Judith’s cooking all of Mitzy’s favorites.”

  It wasn’t such a far-fetched assumption to make, given the two men had initially met at a Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by her mom, years before. Before Mitzy could decline on Chase’s behalf, a spark of mischief lit his eyes. “What time?” he asked genially.

  “Two o’clock.”

  “Consider me in, then.”

  “Splendid.” Walter opened the door. “See you shortly.” He headed back to his Bentley.

  Mitzy turned back to her ex. Another silence fell, this one more fraught with tension than the last. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know why he had just accepted an invitation that would have them spending even more potentially awkward time together. Unless it was to get under her skin. A feat that he had always been able to do extremely well. “You really don’t have to feel beholden to attend.”

  He shrugged, once again about as movable as a boulder. “I’m not.”

  Her nipples pearled under the hot male intensity of his gaze. “Surely, you have a McCabe family function.”

  He hovered closer, apparently done talking business—for the moment, anyway. “At eight this evening. Two of my brothers are working today, so my mom pushed our holiday gathering back until later. But if you’d rather not have me there to act as a buffer between you and your mother, I’d completely understand.”

  How well he knew her. And Judith.

  She studied him, tamping down the whisper of long-suppressed desire, and the notion they might ever make love again. “You’d really put yourself in the line of fire?” she asked, emotions in turmoil.

  He tipped his head at her. “For you, darlin’?” He winked. “I’d even put on that sport coat and tie I’ve got in the back of my truck.”

  Mitzy had almost forgotten how turned on she got by this inherently gallant side of him and it reinforced what she had to do. “How about, then,” she suggested brazenly, “we take it one step further...”

  * * *

  Chase had not seen Judith since he and Mitzy had broken up. He wasn’t surprised to see the petite dynamo hadn’t changed. Except to get thinner and blonder and even more elegant than she had been then.

  “You’re doing what?” the older woman gaped, after a brief explanation had been made.

  “Going to work together to find closure,” Mitzy repeated. She lifted a hand in traffic-cop fashion. “I know it sounds really basic, and in a sense it is, Mother, but the truth is Chase and I never really ended our engagement in a proper—or healthy—manner. And that lapse has kept us both from moving on the way we should.”

  Chase knew that to be true for him.

  He’d never gotten over losing Mitzy.

  It was a shock to hear her admit it so openly, though.

  “As a social worker, I should have realized this a whole lot sooner,” Mitzy opined, taking Chase by the hand, and leading him all the way into her cozy but well-equipped kitchen. She gestured for him to take a stool at the island, next to Walter, then sat down beside him. “But I didn’t and now that I have, I want to do something about it.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Judith looked up from the mushroom tartlet canapés she was arranging on a silver tray.

  Like Mitzy, she was dressed in a chic dress and heels. A strand of diamonds glittered at her neck.

  Judith smoothed a hand over her pristine white chef’s apron. “And how long is this going to take?”

  Mitzy paused, seeming to be taken aback by the inquiry. “Um. I’m not sure.” She looked at Chase as if waiting to be rescued again. “At least...?”

  “Through the holidays,” he decided.

  That would give him plenty of time to figure out what that incredible kiss they’d shared earlier meant. Was she still, as it had seemed, as turned on by him as he was by her? Still privately wishing they’d never broken up. Or trying to prove to them both that it really was over between them. Romantically, anyway.

  Judith exchanged a look of concern with her husband. “And then what?” she asked.

  Mitzy shrugged. “We say goodbye.”

  Or not, Chase thought, figuring that could be negotiated, too. “When did you conclude all of this?” Judith asked.

  Pink color swept into Mitzy’s high sculpted cheeks. “Chase stopped by to see me a few days ago. And I, ah, I guess I started putting it all together. Today, I realized I should start following the advice I give my social work clients, and work though the residual emotions so I can move on.”

  “And, of course,” Chase added sincerely, “I want to do that, too.” More than Mitzy knew.

  In fact, he had wanted to help her for months now. But worrying his presence would make her grieving worse, he had stayed away.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?” Judith asked.

  Mitzy rose and went to pour glasses of chilled sparkling water for everyone, handing the elders theirs first. “Because I kn
ew you’d probably think it was all unnecessary and wouldn’t approve.” As she turned to hand Chase his, their fingers brushed. A jolt of heat went through him.

  Mitzy’s smile was fixed as she slid back onto a high-backed stool, this time being very careful not to touch him in any way. “And I didn’t want to ruin your holiday. But since Walter found us together and the secret is out—” she turned to give Chase a bolstering glance “—Chase and I figured we might as well come clean. So you wouldn’t have to go to all the trouble of fixing me up with anyone else.”

  Fixing her up? Chase’s gut tightened with jealousy. Mitzy had said her mother wanted her married. She hadn’t said anything about any matchmaking! But of course, it made sense. This was why she wanted him here. Not just for closure. Which, he figured was real. But to be a detriment to her mother’s plans.

  “I see.” Judith’s eyes gleamed knowingly.

  She was on to Mitzy, too.

  The soft sound of a baby crying had Mitzy heading for the stairs. “I’m going to see if the nannies need any help,” she said.

  Judith turned to check on the turkey roasting in the oven, then faced off with Chase yet again. “I’m not sure how I feel about any of this,” she said.

  Chase wasn’t, either, if all it was, was a means to the end of him and Mitzy.

  “Maybe we should let the young people figure it out for themselves, sweetheart,” Walter said.

  “I can’t.” Judith continued, “You broke my daughter’s heart once.”

  Chase didn’t mind accepting blame where it was due but he wasn’t about to shoulder all of it. “I think a more apt description was that we broke each other’s hearts,” he clarified gruffly.

  Judith paused. In the awkward silence that fell, Chase could see Mitzy’s mother mentally going down the laundry list of all his faults.

  As expected, she tried once again to dissuade him.

  “The point is, Chase, Mitzy deserves more than you can give her.”

  Chase knew he’d been far too focused on fulfilling his ambition then, to the detriment of all else. He nodded. “She deserves more than I did give her, ten years ago.”

  Judith’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not just talking about time and attention, although there is that. I’m talking about the financial aspect, too.”

  Obviously, although his ex had kept up with his accomplishments, her mother had not.

  Chase was still trying to figure out how to disclose his greatly improved status, without sounding like a braggart, when Mitzy came back into the kitchen, an infant in a BabyBjörn carrier, snuggled against her chest. To Chase’s frustration, the infant’s face was turned away from him, so all he could see was the outline of the baby boy’s sturdy little body, encased in the canvas carrier, and the blue-and-white knit cap covering his head.

  Clearly, she’d overheard enough of the conversation to know what was going on. “Can we please not talk about money today?” Mitzy swayed back and forth, gently lulling the child. A more natural mother had never been made, Chase thought admiringly. “Besides, haven’t you heard, Mother?” Mitzy added wearily. “Chase is wealthy in his own right now.”

  Her spine stiff with indignation, Judith gave the gravy another stir. “Darling, there’s wealthy. And then there’s wealthy.”

  Mitzy made a face. She walked farther away from the trio. Giving him an even better view of her enticing backside and spectacular legs.

  Judith continued brightly, “The men I have lined up for you to meet at the quadruplets’ debut have fortunes on par with Walter’s.”

  Only one problem with that, Chase thought, as he swept another wave of unwanted jealousy aside. Money and/or influence had never been what Judith’s daughter wanted. That had been his ambition.

  “Your mother could have a point,” Chase said, playing against Mitzy’s widely stated values.

  She met his eyes.

  New sparks flew.

  He shrugged affably. “The fifty-million-dollar company I started is probably nothing compared to what those dudes likely inherited.” And if their blood was as blue as he imagined, they probably did nothing to earn...

  Mitzy shot him a droll look and glided nearer, giving him another tantalizing but maddeningly incomplete glimpse of just one of her four sons.

  What was it going to take to get an introduction?

  Although he knew very well why she wasn’t showing him her boys.

  She was trying to keep at least some boundaries erected between them.

  “I want more than money from anyone I’m involved with,” Mitzy said sternly.

  Chase was glad to hear that. It meant Mitzy was as deeply romantic as she had once been before practicality trumped all and she had decided to have her babies the new-fashioned way. Sans intimacy of any kind.

  “Why do you assume that just because a man is rich he’s somehow not worth having?” Judith demanded, taking the potatoes off the stove to drain.

  Chase noted the grinning Walter seemed to agree with Judith that he was very much worth having.

  Mitzy continued her gentle waltz about the kitchen. “I don’t know, Mother.” She bent to kiss her baby’s head, then cast a chastising glance over her shoulder. “Maybe your second, third and fourth husbands might have something to do with it?”

  Chase knew Mitzy’s previous stepfathers had all been emotionally remote and/or neglectful, at best, often viewing Mitzy as a nuisance. Luckily, she’d had Gus, and her time in Laramie to counter that.

  “Exactly why I promptly divorced them after only a year or two,” Judith huffed, handing over a bottle of wine for her husband to open. “They weren’t the right person for me to be married to.”

  “But they were increasingly wealthy,” Mitzy pointed out as Walter worked off the cork.

  “Well, of course.” Judith refused to apologize for that as she passed the canapés around. “I wasn’t going to fall for anyone who guaranteed us downward mobility!” She paused to put the tray aside then grasped Mitzy by the shoulders. “Listen to me, darling, it is just as easy to fall in love with a wealthy man as it is to fall in love with a poor one. The difference is a truly wealthy man has so many more ways to make you happy! And if you need an example of that—” Judith let go of Mitzy and went to kiss her fifth husband on the cheek “—you need to look no further than my darling Walter.”

  Chase wanted to disagree with that, but couldn’t. Not entirely, anyway. It was a heck of a lot easier to be happy if you didn’t have to worry about putting food on the table or a roof over your head.

  Mitzy frowned. “I’m not disputing the fact that Walter is wonderful, Mother, or always has been.” She sent Walter an affectionate smile, which he returned. “But it’s not his money or his talent with investing that makes him so exceptional. It’s his kind heart and generosity.”

  Judith took the turkey out of the oven and set it on the back of the six-burner stove. “You think Chase has your best interests at heart?”

  Mitzy paused, a little too long for his comfort. Which meant he had a lot of work to do to get their relationship back on an even keel.

  “Yes. Of course,” Mitzy said finally. She added as a caveat, “Now, anyway.”

  Still managing the meal prep with a former chef and caterer’s ease, Judith turned to him with a raised brow. “I assume you’ll attest to the same?”

  “Absolutely.” Chase held Mitzy’s pretty aquamarine eyes. If the past few days had taught him anything, it was that he wanted a fresh start with his ex-fiancée. And that yearning had nothing to do with any secret deathbed promise he’d made to Gus.

  “Then prove it.” Judith threw down the gauntlet with customary flair. “Use your clout within the industry to find a buyer for Martin Custom Saddle, or purchase it yourself, so Mitzy can finally be free of the company that’s ruined our family from the get-go. And then help my daughter understand that much
as she might want to be, she’s not a superwoman.”

  Maybe not in Judith’s view, Chase thought wistfully. But in his, she was pretty darn close. For a mortal, anyway.

  “Mother,” Mitzy groaned, putting one hand to her head.

  Ignoring the entreaty, Judith carried on. “So if she wants her babies to have the fabulous first Christmas they deserve, she needs to put off all this closure business...”

  Like hell they would, Chase thought.

  “...say goodbye to you. Leave Laramie for good. And come and live with us in Dallas, ASAP.”

  * * *

  “Thanks for coming by,” Mitzy told Chase at eight o’clock Sunday evening. She ushered him inside the Craftsman-style bungalow she had inherited from her father. As Chase walked in, he took a moment to look around.

  Many changes had been made since Gus had passed. Walls in the living area had been opened up. The interior had been painted a welcoming ivory, which attracted tons of sunlight and contrasted nicely with the newly refinished pine floors. Plantation shutters replaced the dated drapes, comfortable neutral furniture had been brought in to replace the old faux leather pieces. And of course the kitchen, family room and dining area between, where they had spent most of Thursday, had all been redone and redecorated with the same classic understated elegance for which Mitzy was known.

  Only one room downstairs appeared to have been left untouched, he had noted the other day. Gus’s dark, paneled study. And most of the time, Mitzy left that door closed.

  Chase turned his attention back to Mitzy. She was dressed in figure-hugging gray yoga pants and a long-sleeve white T that did equally nice things for her lush breasts. The need to haul her into his arms and make love to her intensifying, he lifted his gaze back to her face. “You said you needed to see me?”

  “That’s right, I did.” Mitzy took his jacket and hung it in the coat closet. Then led him toward her father’s old study, where it seemed she had set up quite an organizing operation.

  “What’s all this?” Chase looked at the four large bulletin boards set up on easels around the room.

  One held sticky notes of calls needing to be made to various colleagues at the DCFS office. The next a schedule of baby-wrangling volunteers for the week. A third, a list of Christmas errands and chores to be done. The fourth was blank except for the initials MCS, the family saddle company.