"Trudy's a wise woman. You should listen to her."
At the sound of Treet's voice so close to her ear, Hadleigh stiffened. Hazy, erotic memories of the dream she'd had rose to mind. Her face heated. She pretended a great interest in her coffee as she mumbled, “Good morning."
"Good morning."
She slanted a quick glance at him, and then quickly resumed her study of her coffee. “Did the girls get you up at the crack of dawn?” she asked.
"Just Caroline. We both woke Sam by tickling her nose with a feather. She's not exactly a morning person, I gather."
His low, amused chuckle slithered down her spine like warm molasses. “No, she isn't.” She cleared her throat. “Where are they now?"
"Riding a pony. Brutal's leading them around the corral.” Taking her arm, he led her to the window. Trudy moved aside, slicing apples into a bowl. “There—see? They're having a blast."
Hadleigh could see that they were, riding double on a fat brown and white pony. She caught her breath as Treet moved his face closer to hers.
"Do you ride?"
"Not very well,” she admitted.
"We'll have to change that. Do you swim?"
She turned to look at him, trying not to think about how close her mouth was to his. “Yes, but isn't it too cold—"
"The pool's heated.” His gaze dropped to stare at her mouth. His voice dropped as well. “You look beautiful in the morning."
Her breath caught. “Flattery will get you nowhere."
He laughed. “You're supposed to say, ‘flattery will get you everywhere."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you,” she quipped smartly.
"You could never disappoint me."
"I guess in your profession there isn't a line that you don't know.” That silenced him for a moment. Finally, he smiled, flashing incredibly white teeth. Hadleigh swallowed very, very slowly, so that he wouldn't realize just how much he affected her.
The man was simply too gorgeous for words and too charismatic for his—and her—own good.
"I guess it would be a waste of breath to try and convince you that it wasn't a ‘line', so I won't even try. Eventually you'll realize that I mean what I say."
His words held both a delicious promise and a disturbing, erotic threat.
* * * *
They spent the first day horseback riding through a sea of golden prairie grass that shifted and swayed in the mild breeze. They saw prairie dogs and rabbits, and once, in the distance, a breath-stealing glimpse of a black bear and her two cubs before they scrambled for cover in the woods.
Afterwards they played water polo in the heated pool, pausing at lunch time to gobble down Trudy's delicious homemade pizza on the patio. Before lunch was over, Hadleigh and Treet had buckled beneath the onslaught of Sam and Caroline's pleas to return to the pool for another hour.
One hour turned into two, then three.
Finally, Hadleigh insisted they go inside before they all turned into prunes. Besides, she desperately needed a hot shower and a break from the constant, disturbing contact with Treet in the pool. She didn't think all of them were coincidences or accidents, the rat.
As she stood beneath the invigorating, hot spray, Hadleigh wondered how much longer she could continue resisting Treet. The reasons for keeping her distance were becoming harder and harder to remember. Hadleigh glanced down at her still-rigid nipples and cursed beneath her breath. Just thinking about him...
Chuckling ruefully, Hadleigh reached for the towel and stepped out of the shower.
"Would you fix my hair like Sam's?"
Hadleigh let out a startled shriek, clutching the towel to her breasts. Caroline sat on the closed commode, regarding her with large, solemn brown eyes. Her hair was twisted inside a towel, and she wore flannel pajamas printed with various poses of the popular cartoon character, Scooby Doo.
Recovering from her near-fatal heart attack, Hadleigh perched herself on the edge of the bathtub. “Well, your hair is a lot shorter than Sam's, and finer. More like mine.” Not that Caroline would guess in a million years why.
Caroline's expression fell. “So you can't fix it?"
"I can try, but in a different way. Ever heard of a French braid?” When Caroline shook her head, Hadleigh said, “How about if I show you, then if you don't like it we can take it down."
"Okay, Haddy."
With her heart in her throat and her chest aching, Hadleigh watched Caroline slip from the commode and out the door. She'd called her ‘Haddy'. Not that she cared, as long as Caroline called her something besides Miss Charmaine—which she had painstakingly pronounced as Charming.
Haddy. Hadleigh bit her lip. How would Caroline react if and when she found out that Haddy was her mother? Did Caroline even know about Cheyenne? She and Treet hadn't discussed the past much, so she had no idea what Caroline knew about her mother.
She'd have to ask Treet.
Tucking her towel securely around her, Hadleigh emerged from the steaming bathroom to find Caroline sitting in front of the dresser, waiting patiently.
Hadleigh's stomach bottomed out at the sight. She was nervous, she realized. Nervous about being alone with her real daughter. Treet would laugh if he knew, call her a scaredy cat.
Which she supposed she was.
Slowly she approached the dresser, meeting Caroline's big-eyed, darling gaze in the mirror. She picked up the brush and removed the towel from Caroline's head, tossing it aside. “Where's Sam?” she asked casually as she gently drew the brush through Caroline's hair.
"Helping my daddy make popcorn for the movie."
"Oh.” Hadleigh hoped she didn't sound as shocked as she felt. Sam ... helping Treet, while she helped Caroline. What was going on?
"We made a deal,” Caroline added. “She's never had a daddy, and I've never had a mom, so we're pretending."
Startled by her admission, Hadleigh dropped the brush. She bent over to retrieve it, wondering if the conversation could get more bizarre. If only she knew!
"Just for tonight, though. Is that okay, Haddy?"
"It's great—I mean, that's fine with me if it's okay with you.” She swallowed to ease the dryness in her throat. Her heart was pounding wildly. “Was this your idea, or Sam's?"
Caroline frowned as if she were trying to remember. “I think it was mine, because I miss having a mom. But don't tell Daddy because it might hurt his feelings. Sam said she didn't miss having a daddy, but she said my daddy's okay."
"She did, did she?” Hadleigh murmured. Her fingers shook as she began to twist and braid Caroline's hair. What she wouldn't give to have been a fly on the wall when the two busy little munchkins had this conversation!
"Yeah. She also said that she liked my daddy because he didn't pretend to be nice to her just so he could kiss you."
A gasp escaped before she could stop it. Cheeks burning, she avoided Caroline's curious gaze. “Hm.” Okay, she couldn't resist; if Caroline knew, then she had to know. “Did Sam say why it bothered her for a man to kiss me?"
Without hesitation, Caroline said, “She don't want you to leave her."
Hadleigh nearly dropped the brush again. She closed her eyes for a moment; then forced herself to resume braiding Caroline's super-fine hair. It was no mean task. “Why in the world would Sam think I would leave her just because a man kissed me?"
Caroline shrugged. “Maybe it's because Emanuel's mom left him when her boyfriend kissed her."
More confused than ever, Hadleigh said, “I don't understand.” She knew Emanuel was a little boy in Sam's pre-school class, but after that she was stumped.
"Well, Sam said Emanuel's daddy got mad, and the next morning when Emanuel woke up his mom was gone."
"Oh.” Oh, boy. Now she understood. All too clearly. She would have to sit down with Sam and have a long, long talk with her. No wonder Sam was insecure when she went on a date! Sam's fears were not only misguided, she was totally confused about a lot of other things, as well. Understandable since she was only fo
ur years old. Still, Hadleigh felt a twinge of hurt that Sam hadn't come to her. She could have explained to Sam that she wasn't married, and that it was perfectly okay for a man to kiss her—providing Hadleigh didn't object.
"I've never seen my mom. Daddy says she wasn't ready to be a mommy, so she gave me to him."
Well, now Hadleigh knew what Treet had told Caroline about her mother—and was impressed to discover he'd been as straightforward as he could. Detecting the underlying sadness in Caroline's matter-of-fact statement, Hadleigh chose her words with care. “I'm sure your mom tried, darling. Some people just aren't cut out to have children.” She didn't owe Cheyenne diddly-squat, but Hadleigh would try to move Heaven and Earth if it meant she could ease Caroline's pain even the tiniest bit.
"That's what Daddy said.” Caroline's wistful sigh wrenched at Hadleigh's heart. “But I wish she could have stayed."
After having this enlightening conversation with Caroline, Hadleigh felt an increased hope that when the time came to tell Caroline the truth—if it came—she might take it better than Hadleigh had first thought. She obviously missed having a mother-figure around.
But Hadleigh also knew Caroline wouldn't be very happy to find out her darling daddy wasn't really her daddy at all. Then there was the disquieting revelation that Sam didn't share Caroline's yearning for the other parent. What a mess.
* * * *
"Watch out—the bag's hot,” Treet cautioned, keeping an eagle eye on Sam as she opened the microwave door and gingerly retrieved the bag of popcorn.
"I know."
He grinned at her scornful response. “Did we burn this one, too?"
After a close inspection of the steaming bag, Sam dropped it into the trash with the other three bags. Disgusted, she said, “Yep. Want me to try another one?"
"Might as well. We've got five packages left, then it's plain chips or nothing."
"I don't like this microwave,” Sam said, placing the flat package in the center of the turntable and slamming the door with enough force to rock the appliance.
"Try two minutes, thirty seconds this time."
"Okay, but I don't think it's gonna work. This microwave sucks."
"Tsk, tsk, such language.” But Treet's gentle reprimand lacked the necessary heat to impress Sam. He watched, enthralled, as she carefully studied the panel of numbers before punching in the correct time. Her quick mind both astonished and pleased him beyond measure.
Standing back, Sam folded her arms and glared at the microwave, as if she could stare it into submission. “You'd better work this time, buster."
Treet smothered a laugh. His errant daughter reminded him so much of himself when he was a child that he couldn't help but feel proud. She was spirited and refreshingly candid. While these two traits might exasperate Hadleigh, they delighted Treet as much as Caroline's cautious, aged-beyond-her-years attitude.
When Sam had entered the kitchen offering to help prepare the snack tray, Treet had wanted to do a joyful jig. He viewed her appearance without Caroline or Hadleigh as a major stepping-stone.
He filled two glasses with milk, and another two with ice cold Coke, then set them on the tray. Striving for casualness, he asked, “So your mom's fixing Caroline's hair?"
"Yep.” Samantha leaned forward, her eyes narrowed as she peered through the amber-tinted door of the microwave. The popping noises had begun to slow. “I loaned her my mom for the night."
Treet upended a glass of milk, muffling a curse as the cold liquid spread quickly across the counter. He grabbed a dish towel and attempted to stop the flood before it disappeared beneath the glass canister set.
Maybe he hadn't heard her right. “You—you loaned her your mom?"
"Yep.” With a cry worthy of a Viking warrior, Samantha jabbed her finger into the release button on the microwave door. The door popped open. She snatched the swollen bag of popcorn out and examined it beneath the kitchen light with the single-mindedness of a surgeon. “She misses having a mom, but I don't miss having a daddy, ‘cept I don't mind helping you, so I told her okay. Moms are better at fixing hair, you know."
He nearly choked over that sexist remark coming from such an innocent little mouth.
So his little girls had traded parents for the night, had they? Interesting. Very interesting. He couldn't wait to hear Hadleigh's reaction.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Fourteen
The moment Treet saw Hadleigh's shell-shocked face, he knew that he wasn't the only one privy to their daughters’ parent-switching plan.
It didn't lessen his shock, however, when Sam crawled onto the sofa beside him, and Caroline plopped down on his other side next to Hadleigh.
Treet exchanged an ironic glance with Hadleigh as the previews on the video started rolling.
Caroline reached up and titled his face down. “Do you like my hair, daddy?"
He looked her over, feigning a shocked expression that made her giggle. “Is that you, Caroline? My sweet little baby girl? I thought you were someone else!"
"No, daddy, it's me! I just got my hair fixed different. Haddy did it."
"I see.” He studied the slightly askew French braid a moment before he announced seriously, “You look fantastic. Like a little grown woman."
His daughter leaned forward and shot Sam a smug look that totally mystified him. “See, I told you!"
"So?” Sam retorted. “She just barely did get it all up. You're hair's too short."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not! Yours is too long."
"Is not."
"Is too."
In perfect sync, Treet and Hadleigh covered the girls’ mouths with their hands. “Enough,” Treet said, trying to contain his laughter. “The movie's started."
"Are you going to warn them?” Hadleigh asked, tongue-in-cheek.
Treet affected an evil grin. “No. That would take all the fun out of it."
Caroline looked from one to the other, as did Sam. “Warn us about what, daddy? Tell us!"
"Yeah, tell us!” Sam added, beginning to look alarmed.
"Well, let's just say that you two had better stay awake and watch the whole movie."
Both girls fell silent. It was Sam who finally asked in a comically subdued voice, “What will happen to us if we fall asleep?"
With a flourish, Treet pulled out a cheap water gun from where he'd hidden it in his waist band. "This is what will happen."
"Daddy!” Caroline cried, rising to her knees to wrest the gun from him. “Don't you dare squirt me with that!"
"You rat!” Sam yelled, pummeling him mercilessly—and painlessly—in the chest.
Treet laughed at their puny efforts, finally crying uncle. Chuckling, his gaze met Hadleigh's soft, luminous one. He stilled. She was watching their antics with a tenderness that formed a lump in his throat.
What a woman.
Eventually, the girls calmed down and began to watch the movie. Treet pretended to watch it with them. It was impossible to concentrate on something as mundane as a child's movie when Hadleigh sat so near.
He could smell the enticing scent of her light perfume, and the faint smell of the herbal shampoo she'd used.
He could hear her breathing, slowly, shallowly, as if she wasn't quite as settled and relaxed as she'd like him to think.
Brutal had taken Trudy to the movies in town, so it was just the four of them alone in the big house. Was she as affected as he was by the cozy setting? With little effort, he could imagine that she was his wife, and that Caroline and Samantha were their children—together. Did the sensible Hadleigh Charmaine ever harbor such fantasies? he wondered.
Treet decided to test his theory. Slowly, he inched his arm along the back of the sofa until his hand came to rest near the nape of her neck. Holding his breath, he brushed her skin with the tips of his fingers.
She turned quickly, shooting him a dark, warning look.
He gave her one of his best, slow, sexy
, on-camera smiles.
She frowned and leaned forward slightly, breaking the contact with his fingers.
So she wanted to play hard ball, did she? Undaunted, Treet reached for her neck again, curling his fingers around the base of her skull. When she didn't immediately move, he began to massage her skull with slow, light strokes.
This time her rejection was more direct. She glanced pointedly down at Caroline, then at Sam before giving her head a quick shake.
Her actions seemed to convey a hidden meaning, but Treet remained clueless. With a sigh he settled his arm along the sofa again, leaving her alone for the time being.
After all, the night was young.
* * * *
It had been a long, activity-filled day.
At least, that's what Hadleigh told herself when she awoke with a guilty start sometime later.
The VCR had kicked into automatic rewind, signally the end of the movie. It was the whirring noise it made that had awakened her, she realized.
Groggy from sleep, she lifted her head from the sofa arm and rubbed at her eyes, fully expecting to encounter Treet's lazy, devilish grin when she looked around.
Not so.
Samantha, Caroline, and Treet were all huddled together on the sofa. Treet had his arm around each girl in an unconsciously protective gesture.
And they were sound asleep—all of them.
Easing from the sofa, Hadleigh gathered the half-eaten bowl of popcorn and the tray with their empty glasses. Still smiling, she headed to the kitchen, determined to do her part in easing Trudy's work load. Afterwards, she would wake Treet and together they would carry the girls to bed.
As if they were a couple—a family like any other.
You're treading on dangerous ground with that kind of thinking, girlfriend. Hadleigh's smile faded at the grim reminder. They were far from being a family. Heck, they hardly knew each other!
Hadleigh heard the soft, muted sound of voices before she reached the kitchen. Brutal and Trudy must have returned from town, she mused. She would have kept on going, but something in Brutal's tone slowed her steps. She paused in the hall, debating whether she should tip-toe back the way she'd come, or blunder on.
Those Baby Blues Page 14
