Nanny Makes Three

by Cat Schield

  “Absolutely.” His conviction rang in his answer. “But it’s not the only thing I want.”

  This was something else he’d thought long and hard about. It wasn’t just his feelings for Hadley that were driving him, but also his need to give Maggie a loving home and create for her the sort of stable family denied him and Kyle.

  “No?”

  “What I really want is for us to get married.”

  Eleven

  While Hadley wondered if she’d heard him correctly, Liam pulled a ring box out of his coat pocket and extended it her way. She stared at it, her heart thundering in her ears. It wasn’t the most romantic of proposals, but she had to bite her lower lip to keep from blurting out her acceptance. It took half a minute for her to think rationally.

  “I haven’t said yes or no to moving in,” she reminded him, pleased that she sounded like a sensible adult instead of a giddy teenager.

  “I’m afraid I’ve gone about this in a clumsy fashion.” His confident manner belied his words. “I’ve never asked a woman to marry me before. Especially not one I’ve known less than a month.”

  Hadley’s brain scrambled to think logically. “And the reason you’re rushing into marriage?”

  “I’m not rushing into marriage,” he corrected her with a wily grin. “I’m rushing into an engagement.”

  “Semantics.” She waved away his explanation. “Are you sure you don’t want to live together for a while and see how it goes?”

  “I’ve already lived with you for a while and it’s been terrific. I want to keep on living with you. I need you in my life. That’s not going to change if we wait to get engaged. Right now your plan is to finish school and move to Houston. I want you to make a life with me in Royal instead.”

  Hadley clutched her reins in a white-knuckled grip and made no move toward the tempting ring box. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  From the way the light in his eyes dimmed, it wasn’t the answer he’d hoped for, but he had to know her well enough to realize she wouldn’t jump aboard his runaway freight train without thinking things through. After all, her career goals were designed to carry her far from Royal. And that was something she’d have to reconsider if she married him.

  “Are you questioning whether I know my mind?” He lifted the enormous diamond ring from its nest of black velvet and caught her left hand. His eyes mesmerized her as he slid the ring on her finger. “I took a year off dating and spent the time thinking through what I wanted in a woman. I wouldn’t have slept with you in Vail if I hadn’t already made up my mind that you were special.” Liam dismounted and handed off Buzzard’s reins to one of the grooms.

  “But marriage?” She stared at the ring, mesmerized by the diamond’s sparkle.

  Here was proof that Liam’s proposal wasn’t something impulsive and reckless. He’d come prepared to ask her to marry him. And yet he hadn’t said anything about love.

  “It’s been on my mind constantly since we came back from Colorado.”

  Hearing she hadn’t been the only one who’d felt the connection they’d established that snowy weekend eased her mind somewhat. She dismounted and surrendered Daisy to the groom as well. Her feet barely touched the dirt as she walked the short distance to Liam and took the hand he held outstretched.

  He tugged her to him and lifted her chin with gentle fingers until their gazes met. “You fill my thoughts when we’re apart and make me mad with longing to take you in my arms when we’re together.”

  Liam’s assertion awakened a deep, profound thrumming in her heart. “I know the feeling,” she said, lifting onto her toes to offer him a single kiss. “I’d better get back to Maggie.”

  He wrapped a strong arm around her waist and held her snug against his muscular chest. “Will you stay tonight?”

  “I can’t. I’m having dinner with Kori.”

  “Afterward?”

  She laughed and danced beyond his reach. “I’ve been neglecting the other guy in my life so I’m going to sleep with him.”

  “That guy better be Waldo,” he growled, but his eyes sparkled with amusement below lowered brows.

  “I don’t have time for anyone else.”

  “Bring him with you when you come back. It’s time you both settled permanently at the ranch house.”

  Engagement. Moving in. It was all happening so fast. Her heart hammered against her ribs in a panicked rhythm. All too aware she hadn’t actually agreed to marry Liam, despite accepting his ring, she opened her mouth, but her thoughts were too scattered to summon words. He might have been considering this move for a while, but for her this development was brand-new and she needed to think things through.

  One of Liam’s ranch hands approached, citing a problem with a mare, and Hadley took the opportunity to slip away. As she wove through the connected barns on her way back to the ranch offices, her mood shifted from giddy to concerned. She might not have said yes to marriage, but she’d accepted his ring and kept her doubts to herself.

  What had happened to being practical? Falling in love with Liam for starters. How was she supposed to think straight when the man made her feel like it was the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one perfect holiday?

  Thank goodness she was having dinner with Kori. Talking to her best friend would help sort things out.

  * * *

  Kori held Hadley’s engagement ring mere inches from her nose and scrutinized the diamond. “You’re not seriously thinking about marrying him, are you?”

  “Well, I haven’t said no.” Hadley wasn’t sure why her friend had done such a complete turnaround. “What’s changed since last week when you told me to go for it?”

  “Sex, yes.” Kori regarded her friend as if she’d sprouted a second head as she opened the oven and removed her famous shepherd’s pie. The succulent aroma of meat and savory gravy filled the kitchen. “Marriage, no.”

  Hadley held the plates while Kori filled them. Her friend’s unexpected reaction to Liam’s proposal was disheartening. “You’re right. It’s moving too fast.”

  “For you, yes.” Kori and Scott had taken about a month to decide they wanted to be together forever. But they’d spent four years planning and saving money for their wedding.

  “What if it feels right?” Hadley set the plates on the table while Kori followed with the salad.

  “Did Noah feel right?”

  Noah had been about safety. She’d been second-guessing her decision to change careers and had been worried about money. The notion of marrying a stable man had taken that burden off her shoulders.

  “At the time.” Hadley had no trouble admitting the truth of her failing. In the last five years she’d done a lot of soul-searching to understand why she’d failed to see that Noah was more interested in a mother for his children than a partner for life.

  Kori nodded. “You are the most practical person I know until a single guy comes along needing help with his kids and you get all wrapped up in the idea of being a family.”

  It was her Achilles’ heel, and she was wise enough to avoid putting herself in situations like the one with Noah. Like the one with Liam. As much as Hadley needed to hear Kori’s blunt summary of her shortcomings, she wanted to protest that things with Liam were different. But were they?

  Kori regarded her with a sympathetic expression while she topped off their wineglasses. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear.”

  “You aren’t saying anything I haven’t thought a hundred times in the last month. I don’t know why I do this. It’s not like I didn’t have a perfectly normal childhood. My parents are happily married, rarely fight and support me in everything I do.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are a born caretaker and one of the most nurturing people I know. It’s in your nature to get overly in
vested, which is why you hated teaching a class of thirty kids. You might make a difference with one or two, but it’s hard to give each child the sort of attention they need.” Kori hit the problem squarely on the head. “Being a guidance counselor suits you so much better.”

  “I know.” Hadley sighed. “But none of this helps me with what to do about Liam’s marriage proposal. I really do love him.”

  “You haven’t known him very long.”

  Hadley couldn’t believe Kori of all people would use that argument. “Not directly, but I saw a lot of him ten years ago when I was barrel racing. I had a crush on him then. He was always nice to me. Never made me feel like I was going to be his next conquest.” And for Liam, that was saying something.

  “Because you weren’t that sort of girl,” Kori reminded her. “You told me while your friends dated extensively you weren’t interested in boys, only horses.”

  “I was interested in Liam.”

  “Let me guess. He didn’t know you existed?”

  “At first, but toward the end of my last show season, that changed. I used to compete with his on-and-off girlfriend, and he’d sometimes show up to watch her. Most of the time I beat her, and he started congratulating me on my rides. At first I thought he was doing it to make her mad, but then I realized he meant it. One thing about Liam, he was always a horseman first and everything else came after.”

  “So things were warming up between you. What happened?”

  “Anna was my best friend at the time, and she had a huge thing for him.”

  “But he liked you?”

  Hadley shrugged. “He was way out of my league.”

  “What would you have done if he’d made a play for you?”

  “Freaked out in true teenage fashion.” Hadley trailed off as she recalled how much more intense her emotions had been in those days. Every problem had seemed crippling. Her success had sent her straight into orbit. “I’d never had a crush on anyone before, and Liam was older by a couple years and had a lot of experience. I told myself he couldn’t possibly be interested in me that way.”

  “But you hoped he might be?”

  “Sure, but it was complicated.”

  “Because of Anna?”

  “Yes.” Hadley hadn’t told anyone the story behind Anna’s accident. Ashamed that her friend was paralyzed as a result of something Hadley had said in a moment of anger, she’d punished herself all these years by avoiding something she loved: horses. “It bugged her that he’d go out of his way to comment on my rides but didn’t notice her at all.”

  “What did she expect? That you’d tell him to stop being nice to you?” At Hadley’s shrug, her friend sighed. “You should’ve told her to go to hell.”

  “I did something so much worse, and as a consequence my best friend lost the use of her legs.”

  Kori’s eyes widened. “You need to tell me the whole story.”

  Haley killed the last of the wine in her glass and refilled from the bottle. “It was July and Wade Ranch was throwing a huge party at their stalls in the show barn to promote one of their stallions. Anna had been flirting with Liam for a month and was convinced he was finally showing interest when he invited her to the celebration. She dragged me along because she didn’t want to go alone and then promptly ditched me to go hang with Liam. I lost track of her and spent the night hanging out with some of the other barrel racers.

  “It was getting late and Anna didn’t want to leave, so I arranged to get a lift with someone else. A little before we took off, I went to check on Lolita for the last time to make sure she had water and because being with her calmed me down. I was mad at Anna for chasing a guy who didn’t act like he was into her.”

  “Because if he had been into her she wouldn’t have had to chase him.”

  “Right.” Several girls at the party had poked fun at Anna for thinking Liam could possibly be interested in her. “So, there I was in the stall with Lolita and guess who appears.”

  “Liam?” Kori said his name with such relish that Hadley had to smile.

  “Liam. At first I thought maybe Anna was looking for me and got Liam to help her, but turns out he’d just followed me.”

  “Where was Anna?”

  “I don’t know. And really, for a little while, I didn’t care. Liam and I talked about my upcoming ride the next day and he offered me advice for how to take a little time off my turns. I was grateful for the feedback and when I told him that, he said that if I won, I could take him out to dinner with my prize money.”

  “He asked you out?”

  “I guess.” Even now doubt clouded Hadley’s tone. Even with Liam’s engagement ring on her finger, she had a hard time believing that he’d been the slightest bit interested in her. She’d been so plain and uninteresting compared with his other girlfriends.

  “You guess?” Kori regarded her in bemusement. “Of course he did.”

  Hadley shrugged. “Like I said, he was nice to a lot of people.”

  “But you had to suspect he wouldn’t have tracked you to Lolita’s stall if he wasn’t interested in you.”

  “I could barely hope he liked me. I was excited and terrified. His reputation was something I wasn’t sure I could deal with. He dated extensively.” She put air quotes around dated. “I was eighteen and I’d never really been kissed.”

  “So did you win and go to dinner with him?”

  “I won, but we never went out. Anna rode after I did the next day and had her accident.”

  “You haven’t explained how that was your fault.”

  “Anna overheard Liam and I talking about dinner and me agreeing to his terms. She interrupted us and told me she was leaving and if I wanted a ride I’d better come with her. Considering I’d been ready to go an hour earlier, her demand seemed pretty unreasonable. I was tempted to tell her I’d already made other arrangements, but she was obviously upset so I agreed to head out.”

  “She was jealous that Liam had asked you out.”

  “That’s what I figured, but on the way to the car I tried to explain to her that he was just helping me out with my riding.”

  “And she didn’t believe you.”

  “No. She’d figured out I liked him and accused me of going behind her back. When I denied it, she went ballistic. Said that the only reason he noticed me was because I beat his girlfriend and that I wasn’t his type. She insisted I would be the laughingstock of the barn if I kept believing he would ever want to date me.”

  “Sounds like things she should have been telling herself.”

  While Hadley agreed with Kori, at the time, each word had struck like a fist. “I wish I hadn’t been so surprised by her attack. If I’d been able to stay calm, I might have been able to reason with her. But what she was saying were the same things that had been running through my head. To hear them from my best friend... I was devastated.”

  “So you didn’t tell her she was the one who was acting like an idiot?”

  “No.” And now they’d arrived at the part of the story Hadley was most ashamed of. “I told her that if Liam only noticed me because of my riding she was out of luck. The way she rode, no wonder he had no idea who she was.”

  “Ouch.”

  Hadley winced. “Not my finest moment. And for the last ten years I’ve regretted those words.”

  “But it sounds like she was asking to have the truth served up to her.”

  “Maybe, but she was my best friend. I should have been more understanding. And because of what I said, the next day she pushed too hard and fell badly. So, now you see. If I’d not let my temper get the best of me, Anna never would have tried to prove she was the better rider and wouldn’t have fallen and broken her back.”

  “And you haven’t ridden since.”

  “No.” It was a small sacrifice to make for b
eing a bad friend. “Until today. And now I’m engaged to the guy who came between Anna and me with tragic results.”

  “And I can tell you still aren’t guilt free over moving on. So, as your best friend of seven years, I give you permission to get on with your life and stop beating yourself up over something you said to your friend who was acting like a greedy bitch a decade ago.” Kori lifted her wineglass and held it out to Hadley.

  Pushing aside all reluctance, Hadley picked up her glass and gently clinked it with Kori’s. The crystalline note rang in the dining nook, the sound proclaiming an end to living in the past and the beginning of her bright future.

  She’d given enough time and energy to her mistakes. She deserved to be happy, and being Liam’s wife, becoming a family with him and Maggie, was the perfect way to spend the rest of her life.

  * * *

  Liam sat on the couch in the den, using one hand to scroll through the report Nolan’s investigator had sent him regarding Margaret Garner while cradling a snugly swaddled Maggie in his other arm. She’d been fussy and agitated all day, and her appetite had waned. Hadley had noticed Maggie’s temperature was slightly elevated and Liam was glad she was scheduled for a follow-up visit with her pediatrician tomorrow. Maggie continued to show signs of jaundice, and this had both Liam and Hadley concerned.

  As a counterpoint to Liam’s agitation over Maggie’s health issues, Waldo lay on the sofa back directly behind Liam’s head, purring. Although he’d grown up believing that cats belonged in barns, keeping the mouse population under control, he’d grown fond of Hadley’s fur ball and had to concede that the feline had a knack for reading moods and providing just the right companionship. Just yesterday Liam had been irritated by a particularly demanding client, and Waldo had spent a hilarious ten minutes playing with one of Hadley’s ponytail holders, cheering him up.

  The only member of his family not sitting on the den’s sofa was Hadley. After dinner she’d gone upstairs to call her parents and tell them about the engagement. They’d been on a cruise several days ago when Liam had popped the question and hadn’t been immediately available to receive their daughter’s news. Hadley was concerned that they’d view the engagement as moving too fast, and Liam had suggested that they take Maggie to Houston this weekend so everyone could meet.