by SJ McCoy
When Shane had gone they started up the path back to the cabin.
“How did you get on?” asked Beau.
She nodded. “It was a good chance to meet the guests before I start on Monday, and to see the atmosphere of the place in action. I’m sorry I just left you with Ruby like that.”
“That’s okay, we had fun.”
“You did?”
He met her gaze. “We did. It gave us chance to spend a little time together.”
Wow. He seemed to mean it.
“She’s worn out now, though.”
Ruby smiled at Corinne. “I’m not too tired for ice cream.”
Corinne laughed. “We’ll see.” As she watched her daughter’s eyes close again she knew she wouldn’t be worried about ice cream by the time they got home.
~ ~ ~
Beau took a seat in the living room while Corinne put Ruby to bed. This was weird. He had to admit he’d had fun with the kid this evening. Wandering around chatting with friends and family, all the while carrying Ruby, had given him a different perspective on things. It certainly seemed to have made everyone look at him differently. They were so much friendlier. It was weird, but he liked it.
He’d chatted with Gina and Mason for a while. It made him smile that Ruby called him Mr. Mason, apparently that was because he was her teacher. When he’d first heard her call Mason that he’d thought she should call him Mr. Beau. That it was a respect thing and he deserved it, too. After tonight, when he’d become her Beau he couldn’t imagine her ever calling him Mr. at all. He wouldn’t want her to. He shook his head with a rueful smile, she was his pumpkin after all! Where the hell had that come from? He had no idea, but he knew she loved it, and that was all that mattered.
Corinne popped her head around the living room door. “She’s fast asleep, do you want a glass of wine?”
“Yes, please.”
She was back in a couple of minutes and handed him a glass. “Thanks again for tonight. You were wonderful with her.”
He smiled. “She made it easy, she was wonderful with me!”
“I’m glad, but don’t get carried away. She can be so sweet sometimes, but you weren’t calling her a monster without reason.”
Beau frowned. He’s hoped she’d forgotten that. “My only reason was that I didn’t understand. I didn’t know how to take her, or how to talk to her.”
Corinne smiled, “I know. All I’m saying is that tonight you saw the sweet, tired Ruby. She won’t always be like that. She’s still going to argue with you and boss you around.”
He nodded. “I get it, but now I think I understand her a bit better, I’m better prepared to deal with it.”
“Okay, sorry.”
He held up a hand. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“There is. I’m sorry that so far everything we’ve talked about has revolved around Ruby.”
“It has to, doesn’t it?”
“Not always. I just need for us to be straight about it in the beginning.”
“And now that we are…” He put his glass down and went to sit beside her on the sofa. “How about we talk about you and me?” He took her glass from her hand and set it down on the coffee table. “Or better still how about we quit talking altogether?”
As he leaned toward her, her arms came up around his neck, pulling his head down to her. He loved the way she kissed him, she opened up to him, allowing him in, welcoming him. He closed his arms around her and held her to him, loving the feel of her warm soft breasts against his chest. She surprised him by lying back on the sofa, taking him with her so he was lying on top of her. He’d have to slow down in a minute. This was way too tempting, and he couldn’t go where temptation led him, not with Ruby asleep in the next room. He lifted his head and gave her a questioning look.
She shook her head. “We can’t.”
“No! I know. That’s not what I was asking. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
She sat back up. Dammit. Why hadn’t he just rolled with where they were going?
She ran her fingers through her hair looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I was getting a bit carried away.”
He smiled. “That’s what I thought. That’s why I wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t want to take advantage and go where we both know we shouldn’t.”
Her next words took his breath away. “But I want to.”
Damn! Temptation was a bitch! He eyed the door as though Ruby might come walking through it at any moment, and knowing his luck she probably would. “Well, don’t think I’m the kind of guy who’s going to say no.”
Corinne let out a big sigh that only turned him on more as he watched her breasts heave. He forced himself to look back up at her face.
“We both have to say no. If one of us crumbles we’ll take the other down with us.”
He nodded, it was true. “So how about we figure out what we can do?”
She gave him a puzzled look.
“I mean when we can get together and…” Hmm, maybe he should rephrase what he’d been about to say. “And not have to worry about her?”
Corinne nodded. “Let me work on it?”
He smiled. “Can I work on it, too?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I might be able to come up with something.”
She nodded. “We’ll work something out.”
He leaned back toward her, hoping that just because they were being responsible didn’t mean he couldn’t at least keep kissing her. She leaned in toward him, too, her pupils wide in the moment before her eyelids closed over them and her lips met his.
“Mommy!”
Beau recoiled as if he’d heard gunshot.
Corinne stifled a giggle. “Coming, sweetie.” She didn’t get chance to go check on her before the living room door opened.
Beau had to question whether he’d ever seen anything cuter than her standing there in her blue pajamas, looking bleary eyed and dragging a bear by one paw. “Are you okay, pumpkin?”
She smiled and nodded. “I didn’t get a goodnight kiss.” She came to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, a feeling he was pretty used to after this evening. Then she planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “Goodnight, Beau.”
He hugged her to his chest for a moment and kissed the top of her head. “Goodnight, pumpkin.”
She smiled and took hold of Corinne’s hand as she led her back to bed. Once the living room door had closed behind them he heard her say. “You should kiss him too, Mommy.”
If only she knew.
Corinne was back in another few minutes. “Sorry.”
“I think we already did this. There’s no need.”
“Okay, thanks. Where were we?”
He raised an eyebrow. “About to get it on, on the sofa until I had an attack of conscience, if I remember rightly.”
She laughed. “You do. I was wishing you hadn’t, but I’m so grateful now!”
He nodded. His own desire dried up at the thought of Ruby walking in and finding them naked on the sofa together. That would no doubt traumatize the kid. Hell, it’d traumatize him!
“You know, we’ve established that we want to sleep with each other, we’ve both done an awful lot of thinking and talking about how your daughter and I might or might not get along, do you think we maybe jumped the gun somewhere down the line?”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I mean how about we go all the way back to the beginning and just talk. Get to know each other.”
She nodded.
“I was so bowled over by you the very first time I heard your voice, I…” he hesitated, but decided to say it anyway. “I didn’t give much thought to who you are as a person, I just knew I liked the way you sounded, and looked. Then when we met, I knew I liked the way you make me feel.” She smiled as he brushed a stray strand of hair away from her face. “I may be going in reverse order of what’s really important, but now I want to know who y
ou are.”
She smiled. “I guess I’m guilty of the same thing. From when I first saw you in the wine store, I saw a gorgeous guy.”
He grinned. “Keep talking. I like this.”
She pushed at his arm. “Like you need your ego feeding!”
“I do. My poor ego is starved, it never gets fed.”
“Bullshit!”
That made him laugh. “It’s true! Why don’t you believe me?”
“I don’t know you Remingtons very well yet, but even I can see that it’s a family trait, you’re all well-endowed in the ego department, except maybe Carter.”
“That’s not the only department,” he couldn’t resist saying.
She laughed. “All I can do is take your word on that for now.”
He nodded. “We’ll get there.” He wished they could get there right now, but it wouldn’t be right, and this was fun. They did need to get to know each other better.
~ ~ ~
Corinne smiled back at him. The more time she spent with him the more she liked him. She was a little surprised at herself that she’d been so eager to pull him down on the sofa with her when he’d kissed her. Was it just that it had been such a long time, or was it that he had some strong pull on her? She knew it was the latter. He was gorgeous, but it was more than that. Whenever he came close her insides melted, she started to forget everything, her inhibitions, her responsibilities, everything except the way he made her feel and her need for more. She didn’t want to have to just take his word for it for too long.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Nothing exciting. Getting everything ready for Ruby to start school and me to start work on Monday.”
“What about tomorrow evening?”
She shook her head sadly. “We both need to get an early night. I want Ruby home.”
Beau laughed. “I thought we were talking about spending time together.”
She felt her cheeks color. She was still focused on how and when they could get time alone together. She laughed it off. “What can I say? I’m not normally this brazen. I blame you.”
“I take it as a compliment.” He smiled. “Unless you’re only after me for my body?”
“I’m not that kind of girl.”
His face was serious. “I didn’t think so. Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“What’s that?”
“Is Ruby’s dad in the picture at all?”
She shook her head. “No. He was, for a short time. But…” How to explain it? “David and I dated for a couple of years before I got pregnant. We knew we weren’t forever, but it was comfortable. When Ruby was born, we tried to make a go of it, but we were both miserable. We went our separate ways quite amicably. He used to see Ruby on the weekends when she was a baby. Then he met someone and got married, they had a baby of their own and that was it. We don’t hear from him anymore.”
Beau frowned. “Does he help financially?”
Corinne let out a short laugh. “Do you think I would have been working three jobs if he did? No. And don’t look at me like that. I know I could try to make him, but I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned it’s me and Ruby against the world. I can take care of her. She doesn’t go short of anything. If he doesn’t want to contribute or be part of her life then I don’t want him to.” She ran a hand through her hair. “My family thinks I’m stupid. Carly’s husband James gets after me all the time. Things have been tight, but I just prefer it this way.” She looked at him. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to understand. It’s not a pride thing, it’s about Ruby and me and how we make our way in the world.”
Beau nodded. “I’m not going to claim to understand, but I think I’d feel the same way if I were you.”
“You would?”
“Yeah. I mean if the guy doesn’t want to be a part of her life then she’s better off that he’s out of it completely. What would you do if he did come around though? If he wanted to start seeing her?”
“I doubt that would ever happen. But if he did, I wouldn’t stop him. He’s a decent enough person and he is her father. I don’t believe you should ever stop a child from knowing their parents—if they want to.” She shrugged. “I don’t like the idea, but it’s not about what I want. It’s about doing what’s right for Ruby. Luckily, as I said, I don’t think it would ever happen. But you just never know.”
“And what if Ruby wants to see him?”
“Then I’ll ask him.” She frowned, wondering how it would feel if the day came when Ruby wanted to get to know her father. She knew it would hurt, but she also knew that she would do what was right for her daughter.
“Sorry, I sound like I’m interrogating you. I guess I’m just curious, I’ve never thought about that kind of situation before.”
“It’s okay. I try not to think about it most of the time. If it does ever happen I’ll deal with it. And the one thing you learn very quickly when you have kids is that you have to set aside what you want in order to do what’s best for them.”
“But so many people don’t seem to learn that. Your ex didn’t. He set aside what was best for Ruby in order to do what he wants.”
“I choose to believe that he has done what’s best for Ruby. He removed himself from her life.”
Beau smiled. “I guess so. You like to turn things around and see them in the best light possible, don’t you?”
“I do. Always. If you don’t, you just end up miserable over things you can’t change.”
“I admire that. I think I might need to take lessons from you.”
“Why’s that?”
He shrugged. “I will admit that I tend to get hung up on things I don’t like. I want to change them. To make them better.”
“Well, that’s a good thing. If you’re talking about things that you can change, it’s just knowing the difference. If you can’t make something better, then all you can do is find a better way to look at it and move on. If you can make it better, then you should.”
He smiled. “I feel as though I should write that down.”
She laughed. “Sorry I didn’t mean to get all philosophical on you.”
“I’m glad you did.” He checked his watch. “I should probably get going.”
“Oh. Okay.” She had to wonder if she’d said something wrong.
He smiled. “Can I see you tomorrow?”
“I’d like that.”
“Me, too. I’ll call you in the morning.” He leaned in to kiss her, making her want to ask him to stay. She didn’t, but she wanted to. Instead she walked him to the door.
“Drive safely.”
“I will.”
Once he’d gone she went to check on Ruby. She was fast asleep, her bear clutched tight to her chest. She smiled. Glad that she and Beau had hit it off so well. Maybe things were starting to go right now. She could only hope so.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning Beau decided to stop in to see his folks. He’d said he’d call Corinne, but thought he may as well call her once he was already out at the ranch.
His dad was sitting at the big table in the kitchen when he walked in.
“Morning, son. It’s good to see you back down here again.”
He smiled. “It’s good to be here.”
His dad grinned. “You don’t know how good it is to hear you say that.”
He smiled and took a seat at the table. “Things seem to be changing, or maybe it’s me. I don’t know. Maybe I’m hitting an early midlife crisis or something…”
“Or maybe you’ve just been working too hard for too many years.” His mom appeared at the top of the stairs from the basement and smiled at him. “And now you’ve found a reason to relax a little and have some fun.”
He shrugged. He didn’t know what to say, and he knew she would have a lot more to add.
“Are you back to ride Troy, or to see Corinne?”
He smiled. “I came to see yo
u guys.”
His dad laughed, “Since we’re right next door to Corinne?”
“Well, it helps, but I’ve been meaning to come see you anyway. There’s something I want to talk to you both about.” He felt bad that his dad looked wary. “Am I really that bad?”
His dad shrugged. “You’re not bad at all, son. I just know how you get about the division of the ranch. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, I really don’t. But at the same time, I have to do what I believe is right.”
Beau nodded. “I know that, Dad. I think I’m starting to see where I’ve been going wrong.”
“Oh, Beau!” His mom was smiling.
He held up a hand with a rueful smile. “I only said I’m starting to see. I’m not quite there yet. So if you don’t mind I’d rather avoid that subject for a while longer.”
His mom’s face fell, but his dad nodded his understanding. “I’d call that progress, at least.”
“Thanks, Dad. Me too.”
“So if that wasn’t what you wanted to talk about, what was?”
Beau couldn’t help the big smile that spread across his face. “Well, it’s kind of to do with all that.”
“Just tell us,” said his mom.
“Okay. Since Mason and Gina are going to be moving in here after the wedding. What are you guys planning to do?”
“We’re going to Arizona for the winter. You know that.” His dad had that wary look again. Beau just wanted to see him smile, to look happy.
“I do, but what about when you come back in the spring?”
“We’re going to look into getting a place up in town.” His mom smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
His dad looked away. Beau knew that he didn’t like the idea at all. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Well, I have a suggestion.”
His mom laughed. “Are you going to sell us a house?”
He shook his head. Was he really that bad that his own parents thought he wanted to make a profit on them?
“Go on, son,” said his dad.
“I don’t want to sell you a house, no. What I’d like to do is give you the cottage.”
