by Helen Lacey
Ergo, the hotter-than-Hades dad with the nice clothes and million-dollar smile who smelled absolutely divine was one major surprise.
And she didn’t like surprises. Not ever.
As she strode from the barn she could feel his gaze burning through her. She straightened her back and kept walking, heading directly for the flashy new sedan parked in her driveway. The dogs were now beside her, doing their job. Milo and Mitzy were well trained and would restrain on command...but the only restraint needed in that moment was on her unexpectedly resurfacing libido!
Ash got to the rear of the car and waited. He walked around her and she got a waft of his aftershave...or soap, or shampoo, or maybe it was just her starved pheromones gone mad and she was imagining he smelled like a pine forest after the spring rain. Whatever it was, it struck her with the force of a freight train and she had to pull on every ounce of her usual good strength to not look like some kind of sex-starved idiot over a man she’d met just five minutes ago.
But boy, oh, boy...he was hot.
Ash watched as he tapped on the car window and then waited as the door opened and a girl got out. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with dark curly hair, pale brown skin and blue eyes like her father’s. She had a small piercing in her nose and several long chains dangling from her ears. But there was no smile, no indication she was even remotely pleased to be where she was.
“Hi,” Ash said as cheerfully as she could muster and walked around the front of the vehicle. “I’m Ash McCune. And you’re Maisy Quar—”
“Rayburn,” the girl said stiffly. “Maisy Rayburn.”
Ash saw Cole flinch slightly and made a mental note. Right. Relationship between father and daughter is exceptionally strained and she doesn’t share his name.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ash said and smiled. “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here.”
The teenager’s gaze darkened. “I’m here because he made me come,” she said and jerked a thumb in her father’s direction.
Ash glanced toward Cole. He was frowning and she felt her smile falter. He must have gotten her meaning because he quickly transformed the frown into a smile and when he did her insides immediately fluttered like a moth caught by the glow of a bulb. Damn...he was achingly gorgeous. Maybe the most delicious-looking man she had ever met. Perfectly put-together features, with just a touch of a whisker shadow and a military-style crew cut that amplified his good looks tenfold. Yep, Cole Quartermaine was obviously one of those men who had it all.
Great smile. Check!
Great shoulders. Check!
Great load of trouble ahead. Check!
“How about we head inside for some iced tea?” she suggested.
“I’d rather just go to my room,” the teenager said.
“I have to finish getting the cabin ready,” Ash said and pointed to a small building about one hundred feet from the ranch house. “And we should probably get to know one another first.”
The young girl’s expression narrowed instantly. “We’re staying in there? Are you kidding me? What a dump.”
“Maisy!”
Cole’s voice was sharply disapproving and his daughter recoiled for a second before shrugging her shoulders in a willful way that spoke volumes. Ash did her best not to take offense. She’d been a cop for over a decade and had fostered nearly twenty-five children during that time, so a thick and resilient skin was a necessity. But there was no doubt the man standing by the car was not as adept at handling teenage stubbornness and anger. Compassion for him quickly coursed through her blood, along with a deep-rooted and heartfelt ache for the girl who looked so solitary and mad at the world.
“The cabin is clean and tidy,” Ash said and walked toward the porch. When she mounted the first step she turned on her heels. “Things aren’t always what they seem. Take me, for instance,” she said, shoulders back as she met Maisy’s glare head-on. “Five feet four and one hundred and twenty-five pounds wringing wet—some people might think I’m a pushover. Those people would be wrong. Come inside the house, you can take your bags up to the cabin later.”
Ash turned and walked up to the house, opening the door and screen. She waited for her guests to follow and then stood back as they crossed the threshold. Cole ushered his daughter up the steps and Ash managed a tight smile as they moved through the doorway. She closed the screen and walked down the hallway, over the shiny polished floors and into the large kitchen at the rear of the house. The warmth of red cedar cupboards and dark granite countertops struck her as it always did. She’d had the kitchen renovated a year earlier and loved spending time in the big room, with its large scrubbed table and chairs and the pots hanging above the stove. Ash loved to cook and did so whenever she could shoo her mother out from behind the counter. Fifty-seven-year-old Nancy Olsen-McCune-Rodriguez was twice-married, twice-divorced and Ash’s right hand on the ranch. Along with Uncle Ted, her mother’s much older brother, who was essentially the ranch foreman and lived in one of the four cabins behind the main house. And of course, Jaye, her twelve-year-old son, whom she loved more than anything.
She washed and dried her hands and ignored the fact her clothes were grease-stained and she probably looked like an oily rag. “So, iced tea?” she asked and looked at her two guests, who were hovering in the doorway.
“Sure,” Cole said and stepped farther into the room. “Nice place you’ve got here.”
Ash nodded. “My grandparents bought the ranch over fifty years ago. When they died they left it to my uncle and Mom and me,” she said and grabbed the jug of iced tea from the refrigerator, then filled up three glasses with ice and a sprig of mint. “We run a few head of cattle and some horses. And we have chickens, an adorable alpaca and a few goats.”
“And two big dogs.”
She met his gaze and smiled a little. “They look formidable, but they’re quite civilized.”
“He hates dogs.”
Maisy’s voice was muffled but decipherable and Ash raised a brow. “More of a cat person, are you?”
He shrugged. “Not especially,” he replied and glanced toward his daughter. “And I don’t hate dogs. I just have...allergies,” he said and shrugged again.
“He’s allergic to everything.” Maisy again, even more disagreeable than before.
Ash’s eyes widened. “Everything?”
She noticed his cheeks darken. “Not everything. Bees,” he explained. “And shellfish.”
“Then I shall try not to poison you with my seafood paella,” Ash said and smiled. “I trust you have an EpiPen on standby?”
“Always.”
“My son has a nut allergy, so I’m well-rehearsed in emergency trips to the ER.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said and his mouth twitched in a half smile that sent her awareness of him skyrocketing. “As long as I stay out of your flower bed and avoid your paella, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Flirting...
For one crazy moment that’s what it felt like. Which was ridiculous, since his daughter was standing in the room and Ash hadn’t known him for more than fifteen minutes. But still, the notion lingered. Ash filled up the glasses and passed them around, careful not to get too close to the man now sitting on the far side of the dining table. She pushed the glass across the table and invited Maisy to take a seat. The teenager shrugged, clearly feigning an overinterest in the music coming from the buds she had in her ears so she wouldn’t have to talk. Ash was familiar with the ploy and pulled out a chair for Maisy, opposite her father.
“Take a seat,” she said and smiled.
The girl cranked her gaze toward her for a moment, then plunked heavily in the seat. “Sure. Whatever.”
Ash moved around the table and sat down, then directed her gaze straight onto the angry-looking teenage at the end of the table. “So, Maisy, tell
me why you’re here?”
Dark blue eyes flicked up and glared at her. “Because he made me.”
“Yes, so you said,” Ash said with controlled patience. “I want to know why you think you’re here.”
She shrugged. “So I get to stay out of social services.”
“Is that where you think you were heading?”
“Ask him,” she said and jerked her thumb once again in her father’s direction. “He’s got all the answers.”
Hot Dad was about to respond when Ash held up a hand. “I’m asking you, Maisy.”
The teenager shrugged again, but wouldn’t look at her. “I dunno...maybe. I’ve done some stuff.”
“Stuff?”
Maisy glanced up, her gaze angry and resentful. “I stole a stupid book from a stupid store and got busted. They called the cops and then he had to bail me out.”
Ash took a sip of tea and nodded. “Do you like to read?”
The teen’s expression narrowed suspiciously. “Read? Yeah, I guess.”
“We have quite an extensive bookshelf here,” Ash said and smiled. “In the front living room. My mother is an avid reader and collects all kind of books. You’re welcome to read as many as you like while you’re here. Or there’s a great library in town, if you prefer.”
“I like fantasy books.”
“So does my mom,” Ash said quietly. “She’s going to enjoy having someone to talk to about them. I’m not much of a reader, unless it’s a cookbook.”
Maisy unexpectedly rattled off the names of several of her favorite authors and titles before settling her gaze back into her lap and then clearly upping the music volume. But Ash was pleased with their exchange. Small steps, she knew, were hard at first, but well worth the effort when it came to a lost child.
Now all she had to do was get Cole Quartermaine out of the hot-dad category and everything would be fine.
Yep...easy.
Not.
* * *
Cole couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Maisy communicating. Maisy talking. Maisy actually connecting with someone. In that moment he could have gotten up and kissed Ash McCune for getting his usually uncommunicative daughter to have something that actually resembled a real conversation.
Kiss Ash McCune...
Okay, maybe not.
For one, she looked feisty enough to hit him over the head with a frying pan. And secondly, thinking about kissing her was plain old stupid. Despite the fact he found her so attractive. He was in Cedar River for one thing—his daughter. Nothing was going to derail that. Not the fact that he’d suddenly discovered he had a thing for redheads.
“My mother homeschools, by the way,” Ash said, getting his attention. “Four hours every weekday. In case you were concerned about Maisy keeping up with her schoolwork.”
He nodded. “How many kids do you have staying here right now?”
“Three,” she replied and glanced toward his daughter and then back to him. “Four. Plus one.”
He didn’t think he’d ever been anyone’s plus one before. Cole kept his gaze locked with hers and heat instantly climbed over his limbs. He ignored the feeling and drank some tea, which tasted like poison and made him grimace.
“Not a tea drinker I take it?”
He shrugged loosely. “More a coffee and beer kind of guy.”
Her expression narrowed fractionally. “This is a dry ranch with a strict no-alcohol rule.”
Great. “Sure.”
“For the kids’ benefit,” she explained. “Troubled teens and alcohol can be a bad mix. So, I keep the place free of the stuff. Much to the dismay of my uncle Ted.”
Cole understood. “I’m not much of a drinker,” he said quietly and endured another sip of the poisonous beverage in front of him.
“We also have a no-smoking rule.”
He looked up and met her green gaze. “I haven’t lit a cigarette since I was twenty-one.”
She sipped her tea and smiled. “Sounds like you are vice-free.”
Cole’s skin prickled. “I’m as flawed as anyone else.”
Her eyes widened for a moment and it was incredibly sexy. Even the grease mark still on her chin was sexy. He wondered why every word between them sounded like some kind of crazy flirtation. He wasn’t in the market for flirting. For anything. And definitely not with a woman like Ash McCune. He didn’t do relationships anymore. He kept his love life casual and had since he’d split with his ex-wife and gotten out of their two-year marriage a few years earlier—he’d lost his house, his heart and a good chunk of his savings.
Cole shrugged off the memory and got to his feet. “We should probably unpack.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Sure. I’ll just get the bed linen. I’ll meet you outside.”
He took off as though his heels were on fire, instructing Maisy to follow. By the time he was at the car and had taken their luggage from the trunk, the knot of tension in his shoulders had lessened. Until Ash McCune came around the porch and down the steps, carrying a wicker laundry basket piled with sheets and towels.
She swayed when she walked. Swayed. Damn.
Get a grip, Quartermaine.
Cole grabbed both his and Maisy’s suitcases and left his daughter to bring his laptop and her small tote. He stayed several feet back as he followed Ash around the rear of the house and toward the largest of the five cabins that were all within a couple of hundred yards of the main house. She placed the basket on one hip, climbed the steps, opened the door and then walked inside. Cole did the same, instructing Maisy to follow, but her cell rang and his daughter quickly dropped her bag onto the porch near the door and sat down on the step. Figuring it was one of her school friends, he told her not to take too long and gave her some privacy, then entered the house.
The cabin was roomy and open plan, with raked ceilings, a small kitchen and dining area and a large living space. There were a couple of mismatched sofas, a cabinet that housed a television, a gaming console and a large stone fireplace and hearth. It looked clean and comfortable and very livable.
“There are two bedrooms,” she explained. “The fridge and pantry are stocked with the basics, but if you have any special dietary requirements, there’s a supermarket in town. You’re also welcome to join us for dinner at the main house whenever you like.”
Cole nodded and followed her down the short hallway. She walked into a room on her left and placed the basket on the double bed. There was a robe, a small dresser and a chair in the corner and a worn rug on the floor. Cole thought about his huge penthouse apartment, with its modern decor and city views. He’d bought the place after his divorce, fully furnished and without any mementos from his failed marriage.
“I’m sure we’ll be comfortable, thank you.”
“Would you like me to make the bed up?” she asked.
He realized they were standing on opposite sides of the bed and met her gaze head-on. He glanced at the mattress and the serviceable blue patterned quilt draped over the bottom frame. “I’ve been making my own bed since I was eight years old, so I’m pretty sure I can manage.”
One of her incredibly sexy eyebrows arched dramatically. “Well, you did say you were good at most things.”
Cole’s pulse quickened and he motioned toward the bed between them. Awareness flared up, fanned by how the small room suddenly seemed absurdly intimate. “Would you like me to prove it?”
Her mouth opened slightly and she gasped. “Huh?”
Cole didn’t miss the startled look in her eyes. “We could...” He paused, fascinated as color rose up her neck, hueing her pale skin. Without even knowing how it happened, there was enough heat combusting the air between them to start a fire. “We could make it together. The bed, I mean.”
She swallowed hard and stepped back. “I d
on’t think... I’m sure you’ll manage without me.”
Cole smiled and half shrugged. “Of course. But it won’t be anywhere near as much fun.”
The innuendo was obvious and she turned beet red. And then fled.
It was, he realized, still smiling to himself as he watched her retreating figure disappear through the doorway, going to be a very long three weeks.
Chapter Two
I am officially the most foolish woman on the planet.
Ash was still cussing herself twenty minutes later as she washed up and changed into fresh jeans and a red blouse. Then she opened her laptop and typed in the name Cole Quartermaine.
She clicked several of the links that came up, scanned the pages and sat back on the bed, looking at the images on the screen. The Quartermaines were an old-money family in Phoenix. His third-generation Irish Catholic father had a mop of auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes, and his African American mother was so beautiful she looked like a movie star. He had two sisters, both younger. One was a lawyer, the other a marketing executive who worked in the family business. Cole had been born into a NASCAR empire and had a promising career as a driver until a near-fatal accident when he was twenty-seven. Now he managed the family’s team alongside his father. It was impressive stuff.
There were several pictures of him with an array of beautiful women and she figured a man who looked like Cole didn’t have to work hard to get female company. She’d read that he had an ex-wife and there was no mention of a current significant other.
By the time she returned to the kitchen it was past two o’clock. Her mother and uncle would be home later that afternoon, along with Jaye and the three kids currently staying at the ranch. They’d headed into town that morning for haircuts and lunch at JoJo’s Pizza Parlor and to give Ash some much needed time to do a few repairs on the old truck that had seen better days. But she wasn’t in the mood to spend any more time under the hood. She planned on making a roast for dinner that night, so set about preparing the meal and getting the meat into the oven. Then she pulled one of her mother’s signature peach pies out of the freezer and left it to thaw on the counter.
