Love Inspired January 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Unexpected CowboyHis Ideal MatchThe Rancher's Secret Son

by Debra Clopton

  He decided that if he was going to do this thing, he ought to do it right. His mind awhirl with plans, he asked, “Will a couple hours be okay with you?”

  “Uh, sure.”

  A to-do list had been taking shape in his mind throughout the meal. It was a lot to get done in a short amount of time, but he thought he could pull it together if he had help. “I have to speak to my aunts. I’ll see you later.”

  “Okay.”

  He didn’t have time to explain more fully. Besides, it would be better to show her what he had in mind. Thankfully, his aunts were only too happy to help with his project. They understood that he and Carissa would need space to work that was close to the children, and Odelia had the perfect solution; the large storage room under the attic stairs beside Phillip’s room would make a suitable office. It was on the same end of the house as the master suite and would be large enough for a desk, whiteboard and a couple of chairs. In addition, the attic contained enough space to set up a computer lab, as well as a play space for the children, if needed. Odelia asked Kent to help Phillip with the heavy work. She and Hypatia would figure out where to put everything unnecessary. Meanwhile, Magnolia volunteered to cull the attic for appropriate furnishings. While he changed his clothes, Phillip spared a few minutes to make a couple of phone calls. The first went to his brother. Then he got to work.

  By the time he tapped on the door to the master suite, things were in place as much as possible. Carissa greeted him with a smile. Grace abandoned her TV show to try to climb Phillip, while Tucker rolled across the floor pretending to be a wrecking ball, and Nathan ignored him to read a book about boy archaeologists. Carissa invited Phillip to take a seat, but he’d barely sat down before Odelia and Kent arrived.

  “I have something to show you,” he explained to Carissa, passing Grace to Odelia. Nathan glared at him over the top of his book from the easy chair. “It won’t take long,” Phillip promised.

  “Go see. Go see,” Kent directed, waving them toward the door. “The missus and I will stay here with the children until you return.”

  Eager to show her, Phillip caught Carissa’s hand and hauled her out of the suite.

  “It’s just an overlarge closet,” he warned, dragging her along. “It doesn’t even have a window, but there’s room enough for a desk, a whiteboard and your laptop. Most importantly, it’s private and quiet.”

  When he reached the former storage chamber, he threw open the door and stepped to one side. She put her head in and looked around.

  “An office?”

  “You can work here in peace,” he told her. “The cordless phone reception is just fine. We’ve already checked. I’ll watch the kids.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand. “Hear me out. I’m hoping that way you’ll have time to work on the app. Now, come see this.” He grabbed her hand again and hauled her to the foot of the attic stairs, then he went ahead of her, explaining. “I’ve spoken to my brother, and he’s agreed to draw up formal partnership papers.”

  “Partnership, as in a business partnership.”

  “Exactly.”

  She seemed uncertain, so Phillip said, “I told him the split should be fifty-fifty, but if the terms aren’t satisfactory, I’m open to negotiation. I know I can’t do this without you, no matter how many contacts I have in the industry.”

  “No, that’s fine,” she said quickly, but then she fell silent as Phillip opened the attic door. “The kids will love it up here, but we’re going to need equipment.”

  “Just give me a list,” Phillip told her. “We have some underwriting, and I still have a few thousand in cash. Plus, my brother’s offered to invest, too.”

  She gave him a surprised smile. “All right, but I can’t promise how many hours I’ll be able to dedicate to this project. I’ll have to make a minimum number of sales every day before I can leave my regular job and go to work on the app. Agreed?”

  “Absolutely. Do you think you could give me a few minutes now to estimate the cost of development? And I’ll be wanting that equipment list as soon as possible, too. I’ve promised a business prospectus to a couple of people.”

  She raised her eyebrows at that but got down to business without delay. Phillip’s excitement grew exponentially.

  “Business partners,” she said wryly. “Who’d have thought it?”

  He clasped his hands behind him to keep from reaching out for her. This was business. For now. “Stranger things have happened, I suppose.”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “Well, you know what they say about God working in mysterious ways.”

  “I think this definitely falls into that category,” she agreed. “Now, I think it’s time we rescue your aunt and uncle.”

  He chuckled at that. “You’re probably right.”

  They returned to the master suite to find Nathan reading aloud to everyone. He was very good, his voice full of drama as he finished the tale of the boy archaeologist and a fearsome mummy.

  Everyone applauded, including Phillip. Nathan couldn’t hide a grin, even while he tried to give Phillip a dirty look. Perhaps that was why Phillip invited Carissa and her children out to dinner; he didn’t feel like eating alone—or he didn’t feel like letting Carissa out of his sight just yet. Strangest of all, he found that he wanted to spend some time with the children, too. Now, if he could just get through dinner without doing or saying something that would ruin the progress he’d made...

  But everything seemed designed to try his patience. Grace almost spilled his iced tea. He had to track down Tucker and haul him back to the table three separate times, and Nathan vacillated between moody silence and downright rudeness. Despite all that, they managed to demolish two pizzas and make numerous trips to the salad bar in just over two hours. Through it all Carissa kept her cool, and so did Phillip. What was the point in losing his temper? Kids would be kids.

  “You’ll think twice before inviting us out again, I bet,” Carissa said at the end of the meal, after she’d prevented Grace from attempting to bus their table.

  “Maybe next time it could be just two of us,” Phillip quipped, thinking that he’d like to take her for a nice, quiet, childless dinner.

  Nathan snorted at that, challenging, “Like you’d take me anywhere.”

  Phillip felt as if he’d been smacked in the back of the head with a hammer. Of course. Of all the children, Nathan would long for one-on-one time of any sort with anyone. How he must miss it, and Phillip suddenly wanted to give it to him.

  “Well, now, Nathan. Where would you like to go, just you and me?”

  Nathan looked away, but Grace immediately started jumping up and down.

  “Me first! Me first!”

  “You?” Phillip laughed. “And just where would you like to go, Miss Grace?”

  “Tea party,” she announced, folding her arms.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Tea party,” she insisted, poking him in the thigh. “Just you and me.”

  That was how he came to be sitting at a table in the sunroom the next day wearing a big straw hat and a string of beads when his brother came to deliver the partnership papers. Asher put his hand over his mouth, but the snickers escaped just the same.

  Phillip glowered and sank down a little farther in his chair. “Laugh now. You’ll be doing the same in a few years. Just wait until Marie Ella plans a tea party for you.”

  “You’re right,” Asher admitted, grinning, “but I never expected to see you at it.”

  “That makes two of us,” Phillip grumbled, tossing the hat to the table and yanking the beads off.

  “Lunch is over,” Grace announced with a sigh.

  “It certainly is,” Phillip said, getting to his feet. He said to Grace, “I have work to do now.” Then he kissed her on the forehead. Hilda came into
the room, wiping her hands on a towel. “Grace promised to help you clean up after our tea party. Call upstairs when you’re done. I’ll send Nathan down for her.”

  “Chester can walk her back upstairs,” Hilda said.

  “Good idea. Otherwise, I’ll have to dig her out of Odelia’s closet again.”

  With that, Phillip and Asher headed up to the master suite to discuss the partnership terms with Carissa. As they climbed the stairs, Asher asked, “So, are you going to marry her?”

  Phillip didn’t pretend to misunderstand, but it took him a while to come up with an answer. “I seem to be headed in that direction.”

  Asher laughed, but to Phillip it was not a laughing matter. In fact, it was terrifying, and it got scarier almost by the hour.

  After Carissa had looked over the partnership agreement and signed it, Asher went on his way. Phillip presented her with sales projection numbers.

  “They aren’t very thorough because I don’t know how much to sell advertising for.”

  “Couldn’t that wait until after the initial offering?” Carissa asked. “Once we have a better idea how many people might be interested in downloading the app, we’d have a better idea about advertising rates, wouldn’t we?”

  Phillip rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad business model. We might want to do that with the other apps we develop.”

  “Are we going to develop other apps?” she asked in surprise.

  “If this works out, why not? Asher has some ideas about legal applications, and we did tell Garrett we’d look into his idea about identifying plants.”

  “You mean it? But...I failed at business before.”

  “Doesn’t mean you’ll fail again,” he pointed out.

  She stared at him for a long moment before dropping onto the couch. “You sound like Tom.”

  Phillip felt a chill seeping into his veins. He carefully took a seat on the edge of the cushion next to her.

  “You’re like him in many ways, frankly. It’s that rugged, he-man exterior, that try-anything-once attitude.” She threw out a hand. “Oh, you’re more handsome, more polished, but then, you’re a Chatam. No doubt, you’re a jack-of-all-trades, just as he was.”

  “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none,” Phillip muttered. “I’ve roughed it in the Canadian Northwest for months. I’m a skydiver of expert status, which means I’m suitable for instructing tourists. I’ve surfed every great beach in the world. I’ve worked as a commercial fisherman. And let’s not forget the mountain climbing. Along the way, I’ve earned three degrees, none of which I’ve ever really used. Currently I live with my three elderly aunts. Yeah, I’m a real prize.”

  “Commercial fishing,” she exclaimed, sitting up straight. “Surfing. Skydiving. Zoos. The Canadian Northwest! Phillip, we’re talking about reality apps here. Why wouldn’t it work for those things, as well as mountain climbing?”

  He shot to his feet. “That’s brilliant. And your father said you didn’t have a head for business.”

  “I don’t.” She snatched up the folder and shook it at him. “But you do. All I do is write code and maybe do some computer design.”

  “Then together we ought to be able to make this work,” he told her, pulling her to her feet.

  She grinned. “I think so, too.”

  Could they make more than business work between them? Phillip wondered, looking down into her face. Oh, how he hoped so! His gaze dropped to her lips just as something hit him in the back of the legs, knocking him against her.

  “It’s my turn!”

  He looked down to find Tucker stepping up onto the coffee table. Phillip plucked him off it. “Your turn?”

  “To go to dinner alone with you. Where are we going?”

  Phillip looked at Carissa, who did her best not to smile, and mentally sighed. He should’ve known. If he did it for one, of course he’d have to do it for all. “What’s your favorite food?”

  “Tacos!”

  “Mexican it is.”

  “When?”

  “It’ll be a surprise.”

  “Soon!” Tucker demanded.

  “We’ll see,” Carissa told him, indicating that Phillip should put him down. Phillip set Tucker on his feet, and Carissa pointed him toward his bedroom. “Out.”

  He ran, because Tucker never walked, shouting, “Oh, boy! Phillip’s taking me to a Mexican restaurant!”

  Carissa folded her arms. “I’m afraid you won’t have a moment’s peace until you do it.”

  Phillip gave her a sheepish look. “Might as well be tomorrow. Wednesday is church, and Thursday is grief support group.”

  She nodded. “Tomorrow.”

  He grinned. “Does that mean you’ll ride to support group with me on Thursday?”

  She chuckled. “Why not?”

  “And church Wednesday night?” She hesitated, so he pressed. “They have lots of activities for the kids on Wednesdays.”

  “That might be good for them. But you’d better ride with us. And it’s only if I make my quota early enough.”

  “You’ll make your quota,” he told her, pleased. “I just know it. How can you not, with me hanging out with the rug rats?”

  Smiling, she nodded. He stood there searching for something else to say for several seconds before dropping the folder onto the table and turning for the door. She followed him and then, at the last moment, laid a hand on his shoulder. He spun to face her.

  “Phillip, are we crazy to think this might actually work?”

  “I don’t know,” he told her honestly. “All I know is that when I pray about it, I feel...elated, almost. I think it’s something we have to do, have to try.”

  “You pray about it,” she said softly, a note of awe in her voice and a faraway look in her eye. “I don’t know if Tom ever did that. He was a believer, but I don’t know if he ever did that.” She looked up suddenly, smiling, and her face seemed to glow. “I’m glad you pray about it. I will, too, from now on.”

  Phillip suddenly wanted to hold her close, to never let her go again. He wanted so much: to offer financial security to Carissa and the kids, for Carissa to love and want him, marriage, family, the whole ball of wax. It was too much to even hope for, let alone ask for. Instead, he mutely nodded, ran his hands down her arms, squeezed her hands in his and left before he made an utter fool of himself.

  * * *

  Tuesday was a difficult day. The kids seemed to bounce off the walls, so Tucker surprised Phillip when they went to dinner together that evening. He kept himself at the table at the Mexican restaurant, talking and eating a mile a minute, his legs swinging. He talked about everything from Nathan being too bossy and Grace being too giggly to his mom being pretty.

  “Anyway, I think she’s pretty.”

  “She is,” Phillip agreed. “Very pretty.”

  “So why don’t you marry her?”

  “I just might,” Phillip heard himself say, his heartbeat suddenly echoing in his ears.

  “When?” Tucker demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Phillip answered with a nonchalance he didn’t feel, “and I said might. She’d have to agree, and we’re a long way from that. Eat your dinner.”

  Tucker forked up a huge bite of beans and rice, then said with a full mouth, “Me and Grace want you to.”

  Phillip’s chest seemed to expand. He fought the feeling, scooting his chair a little closer to the table. “But Nathan doesn’t, does he?”

  “I think he might.”

  Phillip was surprised by that. Not much he’d done or said had ever met with Nathan’s approval, but Phillip couldn’t help hoping. “What makes you think so?”

  Tucker shrugged. “Things have been better since you been around.”

  “Ah,” Phillip said, disappointed. He wante
d to ask how things had been better, but he didn’t dare. It was likely that all the better things that Tucker and Grace ascribed to him were nothing more than a result of them living at Chatam House. No doubt, Nathan knew it, too. Still, at least Carissa’s children had thought of him as a potential mate for her.

  Maybe, though, he was too much like her late husband. The idea haunted Phillip, so much so that he had almost convinced himself to ask her when he took Tucker home after their dinner. Carissa was so concerned about how Tucker had behaved during dinner, however, that Phillip found himself reassuring her instead.

  “I threatened to tie him to the bed for a week if he so much as left the table tonight,” she said, looking down into Tucker’s upturned face.

  Phillip chuckled. “He must have taken you at your word, then, because he didn’t budge.”

  “You’re not just saying that?”

  “He stayed put,” Phillip told her, ruffling Tucker’s hair.

  “I’m so glad.” She bent down and touched her nose to Tucker’s, saying, “There’s hope for you yet, my boy.”

  “Mo-om.”

  A huff from the direction of the hallway brought Phillip’s attention to Nathan, who stood with arms folded, regarding them all, frowning. Phillip put on a smile.

  “So where would you like to go for dinner, Nathan?”

  “Nowhere.”

  “Nathan,” Carissa said warningly.

  He rolled his eyes. Phillip tamped down a spurt of irritation mixed with alarm.

  “Aw, come on,” he said, “what’s your favorite food?”

  “Nothing you’d like.”

  “Nathan, that’s uncalled for,” Carissa warned softly.

  The boy sighed then muttered the name of an expensive seafood restaurant that advertised on TV frequently.

  Carissa smiled apologetically. “Nathan thinks he likes fish.”

  “I do!”

  “But the other two aren’t too keen on it,” Carissa went on. “In truth, they haven’t had much opportunity to eat fish, but Nathan used to eat it occasionally with his dad.”

  “He was a great fisherman, and we used to eat what he caught,” Nathan insisted.