by Deb Kastner
Clearly not so much.
And anyway—why had he mysteriously shown up at her cabin, insisting that he wanted to talk to her?
She blew out a breath and straightened her shoulders. It wasn’t doing her any good to hide in the nursery speculating over what he might be doing here. The only way she would find out what Simon wanted was to talk to him.
With a sigh, she gave the twins one last loving glance and quietly closed the door to the nursery behind her.
The first thing she did when she entered the kitchen was grab the baby monitor and place it on the table between them like a shield as she slid into a chair across from Simon. She’d brewed coffee earlier in the day, and he’d taken the initiative to pour them each a cup and warm the brew in the microwave.
“Cream or sugar?” Miranda asked, taking a fortifying sip of the hot liquid.
He shook his head. “Dark.”
Kind of like the look he was giving her right now.
“I’m going to come right to the point,” he said, moving straight past polite niceties and digging right in. “I have some concerns about Mary naming you the twins’ guardian when Mason and Charlotte clearly would have been the better choice.”
She choked on her coffee.
Of all the rude and unconscionable declarations he could have made...
His words were so blunt they hit her like a sledgehammer. She scrunched her brow and bit the inside of her lip in a desperate attempt to keep him from seeing how much his statement had hurt her.
“And this is your business how?”
He lifted his chin and narrowed his now ice-blue eyes. “I have a vested interest in them and have every intention of protecting them. I expect to have the opportunity to spend time with them and really get to know them. I’m their godfather, which you would have known if you had bothered to attend Harper and Hudson’s christening.”
“Wow. Judgmental much?”
“Just telling it like it is.”
Miranda’s first impulse was to argue with him, except for one tiny detail—
He was right.
She had missed the twins’ christening, something that she now deeply regretted. If she could dial time back...but she couldn’t. All she could do at this point was own up to her past mistakes and move forward from here.
“You’re right,” she admitted softly.
Simon looked as if he was about to speak, but then he cut himself short and stared at her openmouthed.
“I’m sorry. Did you just say I was right?”
Clearly that wasn’t the response he’d expected. For a man who didn’t know her, he certainly had his opinions about her firmly in place.
She couldn’t help but be a little resentful, but she pressed back the prickly feelings in her chest and continued.
“I wasn’t at the babies’ christening, and I should have been. With John’s schedule as a surgeon, Mary and John were only in Wildhorn for that one weekend. They couldn’t change their schedule, so I should have. No matter what my reasons, I let my career take precedence over my family, and there’s no excuse for that, so I’m not offering any.”
Once again, he hesitated before speaking.
“Special client?” he guessed, curling his hands around the mug of coffee.
“A-list actors in a private ceremony.” She sighed. “It wasn’t about money or prestige. Both actors were and are close personal friends of mine. The wedding had been planned for a year in advance and I had committed to shooting it well before the twins were even conceived, never mind born. In any other circumstances, I would have excused myself from the shoot and found another photographer to take my place for them.”
“That probably wouldn’t have been a good move for your career, though, right? You wouldn’t want to be seen to be reneging on your obligations,” he said drily.
She couldn’t tell whether he was beginning to see her side of the story or whether he was trying to coax her into digging herself deeper into the muck of remorse and shame. Not that it mattered either way.
“Maybe. I had a reputation for being especially trustworthy. But I would have survived, even if my career took a hit. As it is, now that I’m stepping into my new role as Harper and Hudson’s mother, my celebrity photography days are history, anyway. So in the long run, it didn’t really matter.”
She felt slightly nostalgic at the admission, but surprisingly not sad or regretful. She’d left celebrity photography in the past, where she now knew it permanently belonged. How could it be otherwise?
It didn’t matter if she’d made the decision to forage into the realm of motherhood unaided by circumstance, or whether she’d been thrust into the role by a tragedy. She had done everything she’d desired to do in her career, and it was time to come home. Hudson and Harper’s guardianship had simply given her a push in the right direction.
Home.
“This must be a jarring change for you, going from the lifestyle you’ve been leading to living in a guest cabin on your brother’s ranch.”
Again, she felt as if he was probing for answers beneath the surface and possibly trying to trip her up.
She shook her head. “Don’t forget I grew up here. It’s not that much of a culture shock for me to return to my roots.”
And if it was, she most certainly wasn’t going to admit that to Simon. She still had the feeling he was pushing her to justify the decisions she’d now made, just as she had put it all out there about her past and admitted her mistakes.
Well, her decisions were her own, and none of his business.
“You said you want to be a special part of the twins’ lives. What, exactly, does that look like?”
She tensed for the answer. She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, which wouldn’t be far, big lug that he was. And she suspected he didn’t trust her, either.
“Exactly?” he echoed. “I don’t know. You let me in to your life. I let you in to mine. Maybe we can do things once in a while. With the twins, I mean.”
He cringed. He literally, actually cringed, enough that Miranda could see it in his expression. Was he looking for reassurance that the twins were safe and loved with her? And was it really that distasteful for him to consider spending time with her?
He was certainly no picnic, either.
She narrowed her gaze on him.
“Like what?” she asked warily.
“Take them to the playground. Attend community events together. Maybe have them come meet my puppies. Simple country living.”
If that was all it was—and if Simon was really serious about this...
The twins could use another good male role model in their lives. Emphasis on good.
If Simon started acting like a jerk, this arrangement stopped.
“I accept.”
“Simple country living,” he repeated, appearing surprised that she’d relented so easily.
“Yeah. I got that,” she said sardonically.
“You won’t miss your old life? The parties? The society? The dazzle?”
The truth was, she was tired of the limelight. Even being the one behind the camera, every aspect of her life was exposed to the public eye. A nice, quiet cabin on a remote Texas ranch didn’t sound so bad.
Okay, so maybe not quiet, what with two babies who made their needs known loud and clear at all hours of the day and night. But private, in any case.
She stared at him for a moment, trying to read his expression, but he did a good job concealing his thoughts.
“I suppose I won’t have many opportunities to wear any of the glitzy cocktail dresses I’ve accumulated, but I can still tote around my designer purses. I’ll have the best-dressed diaper bag in town,” she joked.
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t even crack a smile.
He didn’t think she was good enough to be Harper and Hudson’s guardian.
Well, join the club, buster.
He was going to have to stand in line to claim that particular conclusion, because she’d already tried that one on for size, and unfortunately, it fit.
She sighed wearily. “Look. I get why you’re concerned. I don’t know why Mary chose me to be the twins’ guardian. I only know she did, and I’m going to do the very best I can with what I’ve been given.”
His lips were pressed into a straight line and his expression didn’t give anything away. She half expected him to tell her to give up now. That was what he was here for, wasn’t it? To bully her?
She might not have as much confidence in her maternal abilities as she would like, but if he was going to press her, she would push right back. She wasn’t a vulnerable teenager anymore.
She wouldn’t let herself be trod upon by Simon, or by any other man. It had happened once, in Los Angeles. It would never happen again.
Her words were brave, but in the deepest recesses of her heart, the question continued to nag at her.
Could a woman like her really learn to be a mother?
Chapter Two
Simon waved as Miranda pulled her tulip-yellow convertible up his long driveway and parked next to his beat-up silver dual-cab truck—a considerably more reliable vehicle in a small ranching town. The tiny two-door looked incongruous next to his old truck and the red barn, which desperately needed a new coat of paint.
It had been a full week since they’d had their confrontation, such as it was. He was still reeling from that one. It hadn’t gone anything like he’d imagined it would.
He hadn’t expected Miranda to own up to her mistakes, or even to feel any remorse about missing the twins’ christening.
But she’d not only felt remorse, she’d shown it, too, throwing Simon off his game. It took a strong soul to do that. At this point he didn’t know what to think of her.
The jury was still very much out on Miranda Morgan.
But no matter how he felt about her, now that the twins were living in Wildhorn, he’d have the opportunity to get to know his godchildren better, and he wasn’t going to pass up on that blessing, no matter what form it had shown up in.
He chuckled as Miranda maneuvered halfway into the backseat in order to release the children from their car seats and pass them out to him. He would never understand why rich folks always bought minuscule sports cars to show off their wealth. No normal-size person could fit comfortably behind the wheel, and Miranda was tall for a woman—and many men.
In all, it took her about five minutes of squirming and stretching to get the deed done. Eventually, Miranda had managed to unfold herself from the backseat and take Harper into her arms.
“I know, I know,” she said before Simon could say a word.
He cocked an eyebrow.
“This car is completely inappropriate for the country,” Miranda spouted, rolling her eyes. He didn’t sense a hint of the annoyance he’d been expecting from her, given that the last time they’d seen each other he’d come at her with a baker’s dozen of accusations. “Thank you so much for inviting us to your ranch today to see the puppies being born.”
He’d been less than tactful that day at the cabin. He thought she might—or rather, ought to—be upset by their altercation, and his, let’s face it, blatant rudeness at times, even if at the end of their conversation they’d come to an uneasy truce. But if anything, Miranda’s voice was laced with pure excitement, the same kind of childlike attitude she’d displayed while stretched out underneath her make-believe sheet tent, reading fairy tales with the twins.
“Of course, I grew up on a ranch, so I’ve seen baby animals born before,” Miranda said in the same animated tone. “But never puppies. Birth is such a beautiful thing. The twins will be so excited.”
He didn’t know about the twins. He suspected they were too young to appreciate the event, although they’d probably enjoy the new puppies.
But Miranda?
Her hazel eyes were sparkling with delight.
He was proud to be able to show off such a vital part of his work, and one of his most satisfying.
He didn’t trust Miranda, but he wanted to make sure she trusted him, to see that he worked hard and was successful with his endeavors, that he was stable and dependable, so she would have no questions about him being around for the twins, about him being a good role model for them.
He wanted to be dependable and stable for the twins. Be their rock when the world floundered around them. Be the man he’d never had in his life when he was a child.
Of course, by nature his business was anything but stable, but she didn’t have to know that.
“I own six female Australian cattle dogs,” he explained as he led the happy group into the barn, Hudson in his arms. “All from top working lines. I think I’ve mentioned a little bit about how this works. I selectively breed them and then train the pups to work cattle using their natural herding instincts.”
“I’m impressed.” There was an awkward pause, then she smiled.
Her words inflated his ego and he couldn’t help but grin back at her. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.
“I get by,” he said modestly.
Barely.
Yes, he made a decent profit on the pups, but a lot of work went into preparing them for ranch work, not to mention the vet and feed bills. And it was a feast or famine kind of lifestyle. Funds came in when he sold a litter of puppies, and then he had to make that stretch until the next litter was trained and ready to go to their new owners. So it wasn’t exactly like he was swimming in money.
Not like she must be. Famous photographer to the stars. Traveling all over the world. Living a lifestyle of glitz and glamour that no doubt made her feel a step above the rest of the world. She probably made more in one day than he made in a good year. There was no way he, a humble cowboy, could even begin to compare to her—not that he wanted to.
“That’s Shadow.” He introduced the blue heeler to Miranda as she knelt before the cattle dog about to give birth.
“Is it okay if I pet her?” she asked, shifting a now-sleeping Harper onto one shoulder. “I don’t want to do the wrong thing.”
He studied Shadow for a moment and then nodded.
“Sure. I don’t think petting her will be a problem. You’ll reassure her that she’s got this. I generally tend to stay out of the way when the puppies come and let nature take its course, but I’m always nearby in case she needs help with her delivery.”
“She’s such a pretty color.” Miranda softly stroked between Shadow’s ears and murmured gentle, indistinguishable words.
“She’s called a blue heeler. I’ve also got red. I breed for color, working lines, temperament and health.”
Shadow stood up, turned around in her whelping box a couple of times, and then lay down and panted heavily.
“It looks like she’s close.” Simon crouched down next to the box.
Miranda reached out the arm that wasn’t holding Harper. “Here, let me take Hudson so you have your hands free to help Shadow.”
Simon didn’t immediately hand him over. Unlike the peacefully sleeping Harper, wiggly Hudson was wide-awake and squirming to get down, his thick chestnut-brown hair tufting in every direction, reminding Simon of a rooster. Simon didn’t want to set the active baby on the dirty barn floor, even if he’d recently covered the area with a fresh layer of hay.
But holding a sleeping infant and a squirrelly one at the same time would be quite the challenge for Miranda. Hudson was sure to wake Harper up, and she might not be happy about that. Then Miranda would have a vigorous baby and a fussy one.
What did Miranda do during all the times when it was just her and the twins? How on earth did she ma
nage without going stir-crazy?
She hadn’t said a word of complaint, at least to him, but she must be exhausted beyond belief. He was only now starting to appreciate her new set of challenges. Even if she was an expert and, as she’d framed it, a natural nurturer, raising twins on her own would be difficult. It was more than he could have handled, were he the one in that position.
He loved the twins, but he didn’t envy Miranda. He had to remind himself that she might be putting on a show for him. For all he knew, she was only displaying her good side when the truth was far from what he saw now.
“Hold on a second,” he said, keeping Hudson in his arms. “Let me run up to the house and grab a quilt. Then we can put both twins down while we watch Shadow giving birth.”
“Good idea,” she replied with a grateful smile.
As he jogged up the hill to the ranch house, it occurred to him that maybe he could find some graham crackers or a banana to keep the ever-hungry Hudson occupied. Although a banana might get messy. He’d go with the graham crackers.
Simon found himself grinning and whistling a tune under his breath as he returned to the barn with Hudson in one arm, already munching on a graham cracker, and the rest of the box to share with Harper if she woke, but his joy was short-lived.
As soon as he entered the barn he knew something had changed. Miranda was standing, Harper was crying, and—
His new next-door neighbor, arms akimbo, was hovering over Shadow’s whelping box, her expression dire.
This old biddy had caused him nothing but trouble since the moment she’d moved into the active-senior housing development that bordered the land across the south end of his small acreage.
She’d already complained to him about the noise when he’d let the dogs out for a run, both his cattle dogs and his rescues. Cattle dogs needed tons of exercise and the rescues needed fresh air and the chance to stretch their legs.
He usually rode his horse along with the dogs, covering the whole distance of his land, but after Blanche Stanton had lodged her first complaint with him, he’d made a point to drive the dogs in the opposite direction from the housing community.
