Her Cowboy Daddy

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Avalynne adopted a defiant stance. “I owe you. I’m not going to go on owing you.”

  A car slowed as it passed. Jeb sighed when he saw who was behind the wheel—one of Avalynne’s mother’s best friends.

  He waved, demonstrating he had nothing to be ashamed of, even if—in the eyes of some—any conversation he had with his former fiancée would be scandalous.

  When the woman frowned and drove on, he turned back to Avalynne. “I understand your resolve. If I were in your place, I would probably feel the same way. But doing it like this still makes me uncomfortable.”

  Avalynne shrugged and got out her BlackBerry, checking for messages. “There’s no other way to do it, since my dad still does my taxes.”

  “You could ask him not to.”

  Avalynne rolled her eyes. “You know how complicated my returns are, since I have all that foreign money coming in, on top of whatever I make in the States from the sale of my paintings. Besides, how would I explain not using his CPA firm, when they do it for me practically for free? There would be questions, Jeb. It would embarrass him in front of his partners. And haven’t we done that enough?”

  Yes, they had.

  As much as Jeb wished he could have a do-over for that particular moment of his personal history, and handle the situation some other way, he knew he couldn’t. He and Avalynne had made a deal on what would have been their wedding day, an agreement that continued to this day. It would be dishonorable of him to break his vow to her. And if there was one thing he was, as a man and a McCabe, it was honorable to his core.

  “Okay,” he relented finally. “But the transfer will have to be at my ranch, after nine at night.”

  “How about two days from now? That would give me enough time. Can you make it 10:00 p.m., at your ranch?”

  Eager to get it over with, Jeb nodded. Their meeting set, he said good-night to Avalynne and returned to Cady and their temporary wards.

  Her sister’s elegant home was as quiet as it had been when he’d left. He followed the smell of something good to the kitchen and found Cady taking a muffin tray out of the oven.

  She was wearing pink-and-white cotton pajama pants and a V-necked pink T-shirt. Her feet were bare, her toenails painted a sexy pink. Her hair had been swept loosely into a clip on the back of her head, with tendrils falling down around her neck and against her cheek.

  The makeup she’d been wearing earlier was gone. Her freshly scrubbed face looked younger and more vulnerable, and he yearned to explore the silky texture of her skin and lips.

  He knew how she kissed. If she made love even half as well as she baked…

  Unfortunately, he reminded himself firmly, that was not why he was here.

  Jeb turned his attention to the hot, golden muffins brimming with bits of fresh peach. “Those look delicious.”

  Cady slipped her hands out of the oven mitts. “Let’s hope they measure up to Suki’s.” She put her sister’s recipe away. “Otherwise, come breakfast, the boys are going to be very disappointed.”

  “Maybe I should taste one,” Jeb teased, enjoying the sweet domestic scene. “Just to be sure.”

  Oblivious to the impact she had on him, she grinned at his offer and opened the fridge. “Maybe we both should.” She batted her lashes at him mischievously. “Want butter or the cholesterol-lowering substitute?”

  He smiled. “Let’s live dangerously and go with the butter.”

  Cady reached up into the cupboard and got out two plates, the movement lifting her breasts against the fabric of her T-shirt. She turned to hand him one. “Your meeting with Greg Savitz go okay?”

  Jeb thought about what it might be like to come home to Cady like this every night. Not just for the duration of their wager. He nodded. “Yeah, it went fine.” It was running into Avalynne Stone that bothered him.

  Not about to discuss that with Cady, he looked past her.

  The kitchen table was covered with stuff. Jeb nodded at her cell phone, and the pages of notes scattered around her laptop computer. “What have you been up to?”

  Cady brought a basket of muffins to the table, then went back to get silverware, napkins and the butter. “I’ve been answering work email, and researching murals for baby girls.” She grimaced slightly. “And reassuring my sister that the boys are okay…” her voice lowered emotionally “…and that I do know what I’m doing.”

  There was only one thing that could cause that look in her eyes.

  His heart filling with sympathy, Jeb got out the milk and two glasses. “You told her about adopting the baby?”

  Cady’s chin trembled as she pulled out a chair. “It was as I feared.” Averting her glance, she admitted in a low, choked voice, “Suki thinks the adoption is a mistake.”

  Jeb caught Cady by the shoulders and forced her to look at him. “You don’t need her approval.”

  Her eyes shimmered. “But I want it, Jeb. She’s the only family I have, since Mom and Dad died.”

  Jeb knew the car accident that had claimed her parents had been brutally hard on both sisters, but Cady most of all. Suki had already had Hermann by then, but for the last ten years, Cady had been rudderless in a lot of ways. He suspected that loss was behind her desire to have a family, no matter what she had to do to get one.

  He held the chair for her, then sat down kitty-corner to her. “What did you tell her?” As they settled in, their knees touched beneath the table. Jeb made no effort to pull away. Nor, to his delight, did Cady.

  She shrugged, resting her knees against his. “I said that it was easy for her to tell me not to do it when she already had everything she could ever want. An adoring husband, three darling kids, a beautiful home and a career she can back to whenever she wants, because she’s so darn talented.”

  Jeb could imagine how that went.

  He picked up one of the steaming muffins, scorching his fingers slightly in the process. “What did she say then?”

  “The usual.” Having burned her fingers, too, Cady blew on the tips to cool them. “That I’m more beautiful and talented and wonderful than I have ever let myself admit.”

  She frowned, relating with no small amount of irony, “That I could have everything she has if I would just give it a try, instead of dumping boyfriends right and left, before going into the phase where I work so hard and so much I don’t have any at all.”

  She lobbed off a big chunk of butter and slapped it onto her muffin. It melted quickly and slid down the sides.

  “Furthermore…” Cady began to pick up steam, her cheeks a very becoming pink as she began to eat “…Suki doesn’t understand why I never bring any of the guys I do occasionally date home to Laramie to meet her and the family.” She dabbed her mouth with a napkin and sat back in her chair. Chin high, she glared at Jeb. “It’s like she has amnesia about all the times I did bring a guy home and he immediately fell in love with her. And out of lust—or whatever it was—with me!”

  Fury made Cady even prettier.

  So pretty, in fact, that Jeb couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Or stop wanting to say to hell with propriety and promises and a purely platonic friendship, and haul her into his arms again.

  “I’m tired of playing second fiddle, Jeb!” Cady flattened her hands on the tabletop. “I’m tired of wishing things are going to get better for me, while knowing it’s never really going to happen.”

  Vibrating with pent-up emotion, she pushed away from the table and vaulted out of her chair. Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she stalked off, her hips swaying provocatively beneath the pajama pants.

  “Maybe I will never have anyone look at me the way Hermann looks at Suki! Maybe no guy will ever really desire me, but—”

  This self-flagellation had to stop.

  Jeb vaulted out of his chair, too. “Are you nuts?”

  Cady stopped in her tracks.

  He caught up with her, not sure whether to shake her or simply prove her unequivocally wrong. “Can you not see how guys look at you all the tim
e, everywhere we go?”

  Cady scoffed and backed away, not stopping until her spine rested against the marble countertop. “The way you look at me, you mean?”

  She folded her arms in front of her, the movement pushing up her breasts. “Like I’m perfect friend material?” she taunted, her eyes glittering resentfully. “The kind of girl you want to have a bet with, but never take to bed?”

  Jeb edged closer, his own pulse racing. “You’re wrong about that.” He was attracted to her. Damn attracted.

  Disbelief shimmered in her eyes. “Am I, now?” she taunted softly, a pulse working in her throat.

  “Yes.” He came even closer. Planted his hands on the counter on either side of her. Leaned in. Aware she wasn’t the only one suddenly taking unprecedented risks here, he said firmly, “You are.”

  For a long, telling moment, Cady remained motionless, seeming not even to breathe. She definitely was not backing down.

  “Really,” she drawled finally, lifting her chin another notch.

  Jeb nodded and leaned in a little more. “Really.”

  “Then prove it,” Cady said.

  Chapter Seven

  Was she daring him to put the moves on her? Jeb studied the pique in her eyes. It certainly seemed as if she was. “All right,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “I will.”

  He heard her soft gasp of surprise as his head slanted over hers, and then his lips were on hers, their mouths fusing as one, their bodies pressing together. Heat flooded through him. Lower still, there was an insistent ache that spoke volumes about how much he wanted her.

  Jeb hadn’t meant to do anything but prove his point in the most irrefutable way possible. He hadn’t expected her to melt against him and whimper low in the back of her throat. Open her mouth to the plundering pressure of his. Wreathe her arms about his neck, go up on tiptoe, and kiss him back in a passionate way that left them both spinning out of control.

  But that was exactly what was happening, and damned if he wasn’t happy as could be to have their desire for one another confirmed in such an amazing way.

  Cady knew it was a mistake, daring Jeb to make a pass at her, just as it was a mistake to allow him to actually take her in his arms. She should be concentrating on what she needed, focusing on the adoption and the baby she had always wanted, instead of worrying about how he saw her. But she couldn’t help it. There was something about his stubborn independence and the secret shame of the past that drew her inexorably.

  And once his kiss came, it was just as dangerously exciting, just as masterful and uninhibited, as before. She reveled in the hard, insistent demand of his mouth on hers. She had never been kissed like this, with such fierce possessiveness. Had never felt such need welling up deep inside her. He was so warm and strong and male, and so kind and giving, too. So sexy. So deliberate and determined. Jeb was kissing her as if she was already his woman, he her man, and she knew if their embrace continued, she’d have to admit that everyone—especially Suki—was right, and that she did have a thing for Jeb. Always had, always would.

  It was just a shame, Cady thought, that he didn’t want the long-term commitment of marriage and family, because she needed both if she was ever to be really and truly happy.

  With effort, she broke off the kiss and pushed Jeb away. She was breathing hard, tingling all over, and perversely longing for more. Much more.

  He looked at her questioningly. And once again, she knew—for both their sakes—what she had to say.

  Forcing herself to be realistic yet again, she reminded him, “We’re friends, Jeb. Good ones. But I want more than just a physical relationship with someone. I need the kind of all-encompassing romantic love my sister has in her marriage.” And they both knew he would never give her that.

  Jeb went very still.

  For a second, Cady thought she might have hurt his feelings with her frank assessment of their situation.

  Jeb threaded his fingers through her hair, gently brushed his thumb across her cheek. “You’re right,” he retorted, with the legendary McCabe determination. He looked deep into her eyes and a devilish smile tugged at his lips. “It is too soon for us to be making a leap from friends to something more.” He pulled her closer and pressed a tender kiss on her temple, before drawing back again. “We need time to be together and see one another in a different light.”

  Cady trembled, longing to throw caution to the wind and kiss him again. “Why?”

  After all, what was the point, if their relationship wasn’t going where she needed it to go?

  He stroked her lower lip with one finger, then lowered his mouth to hers for one last kiss. The warmth and hardness of his body pressed against hers. “Because we won’t know what we can have until we try, and my need for you is real and potent…and it’s not going to fade.”

  CADY WENT TO BED, her emotions in turmoil and the thrill of Jeb’s kiss firmly in her mind. She woke, two hours later to an anguished cry.

  Realizing it was Micah sobbing, she bolted from the room and raced down the hall. He was standing in his bed. “Shhh, baby, it’s all right.” She rushed to scoop him into her arms.

  The toddler struggled to be free. “I want my momma!” he wailed.

  Jeb came in, too. Clad in a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, hair standing on end, he looked as if he had been as sound asleep as she. “It’s all right, little fella,” he soothed.

  Micah turned away, crying all the harder. “Momma, Momma, Momma…”

  Jeb slipped out and went across the hall. Quietly, he shut the doors to Finn’s and Dalton’s rooms, then came back.

  Cady continued patting Micah on the back, soothing him as best she could. “He’s not all the way awake,” she said. Reaching into his bed, she extracted his monkey and yellow blankie. She put them in his grip and continued murmuring sweet words of consolation in his ear.

  Finally, Micah shut his eyes and slumped against her shoulder, still restless, but no longer crying.

  Cady continued walking him around the room, patting him on the back all the while, aware that this was the first time Micah had chosen her over Jeb.

  “You got it?” Jeb whispered, his faith in her evident.

  Confidence growing, she nodded. Maybe she wasn’t foolish to think she could handle parenting as a single mom, after all. It was just going to take more experience. The kind she was getting now.

  Grateful to have Jeb there with her anyway, she touched his arm in thanks. “Go on back to bed,” she whispered, wanting him to get all the rest he could, too. As her hand lingered on the strong curve of his biceps, she recalled the heat of their earlier kisses, and the joy his embrace had brought her.

  And wondered if he was right to think they just needed to give romance a try. In the meantime… “I can handle this,” she promised, looking deep into his eyes.

  And, as it turned out, she could.

  It took half an hour more of rocking and cuddling and soft, nonsensical singing, but eventually she was able to get Micah to a deep, relaxed sleep.

  Cady eased the two-year-old back into his bed, tucked his monkey beneath his arm and covered him with his yellow blankie. She stayed a while longer, just to make sure he was asleep, then went across the hall to reopen his brothers’ doors.

  Tiptoeing in, she saw that Finn and Dalton were still sound asleep. With a wave of love washing over her, she adjusted their covers. Resisting the urge to check on Jeb, too, she returned to her own room and slipped back into bed.

  Thrilled by her success, she fell asleep, dreaming of the day when she would have her very own baby to cuddle and rock to sleep every night.

  The next thing Cady knew, sunshine was streaming in through the blinds, and three young voices were hushing each other loudly.

  “Hey, I get to wake her!” Dalton said.

  “No. I do!” Finn argued.

  “Muffins!” Micah shouted.

  Cady struggled to open her eyes, and found herself looking into a trio of eager li
ttle faces.

  “We brought you breakfast!” Dalton said, thrusting a glass of orange juice and a napkin at her.

  Finn held out a container of yogurt and a spoon.

  Micah had the peach muffin.

  And Jeb was right behind them, with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, a tray in the other.

  “Thank you, guys!” Cady said, feeling both touched and grateful. No one had ever done this for her before. Realizing it was nearly eight, she sat up, lifting the tangled hair from her face and combing it into place with her fingers. “I didn’t mean to oversleep.”

  Jeb plumped the pillows behind her back and fitted the tray over her lap. “We guys thought you could use an extra hour or two of shut-eye.”

  The boys climbed onto her bed and deposited their offerings on the tray. Excitement shone in their corn-flower-blue eyes. “That’s the only muffin that’s left,” Dalton reported seriously. “Me and my brothers ate the rest of them. Jeb didn’t even get any.”

  “Oh, dear,” Cady said, laughing and shaking her head. “I guess that means I’ll have to make some more.”

  “Can we go to the playground again today, Aunt Cady?” Finn sat cross-legged to her right, while Dalton settled to her left. Jeb took up position at the foot of the bed. “Our Friend Jeb says it’s okay with him if it’s okay with you.”

  Cady looked into Jeb’s sexy, blue-gray eyes and found that was indeed the case. “That sounds like a great idea.”

  Micah said nothing, but situated himself on the pillow next to Cady and snuggled up against her. And in that instant, she knew for certain the joy a family of her own could bring—even if the one she had now was temporarily.

  “SO HOW DO YOU WANT to do this?” Cady asked an hour later. Like Jeb, she was showered and dressed and ready to take on the day. The boys were still in their pajamas, but that could be easily remedied.

  Jeb grinned at her, looking happier than she had ever seen him. As if playing house with her and the kids really agreed with him. He sauntered closer and took her hand in his. “I need to do a few things at the Flying M before we head for town.”