Almost Midnight (sweet contemporary romance) (Colorado Clearbrooks)

by Teresa McCarthy

  “Miss Elliot, let me remind you that I am your employer, and as your employer, I will be the one to tell you how to do your job, not the other way around. We are no longer on a mountain top at midnight having a conversation about your car. We are in my house, speaking about my son.”

  He flashed a quick look at Jeremy’s picture, then back at her, his gray eyes narrowing on her face as if she had a bull’s-eye painted on her forehead.

  “You are his tutor, not his mother.”

  Her heart twisted. Mother? No, that was something Nick never wanted her to be. As her fiancé, he had led her to believe he had wanted kids, but after they were married, he had wanted her all to himself. She had loved him, but she had also felt used. The night they had argued, he had taken off in the car and was killed on an icy patch of road. Maybe if she hadn’t pushed him...

  Hannah blinked, hiding the grief that sank like an anchor in her soul. What had ever attracted her to Tanner Clearbrook in the first place? He knew nothing. Nothing!

  She vaguely smelled the vanilla potpourri in the bowl on the table beside her. It was hard to believe she could smell anything since she was so exhausted from her cold and Tanner’s mightier-than-thou attitude.

  When she didn’t answer, he moved closer.

  “You’re a single woman, Miss Elliot.” His voice was as calm and crisp as a frigid autumn breeze. “Being a parent is a totally different experience. It involves a whole new world of responsibility. I don’t think you could ever imagine the significance of it.”

  A suffocating feeling grew in her throat.

  Avoiding answering him, Hannah turned toward the door and sniffed through her stuffy sinuses. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Tell Jeremy I’ll bring the gingerbread.”

  “He hates gingerbread.” The voice was so low she almost missed it. It was if the man was trying to goad her into sparring with him. But enough was enough.

  Hannah pivoted slowly, and a faint thread of strange excitement swept through her at the sight of his body taking another giant step toward her. The tension between them grew.

  “Well, Mr. Clearbrook,” she finally said, “he likes it now.”

  A dark eyebrow rose. “Well, I hate gingerbread,” he snapped.

  To her annoyance, his words stoked a fire inside her, and her brow arched back daringly. “Really? Like you hate a woman giving you police headquarters instead of her home phone number?”

  She tipped her head to boldly meet his gaze and felt an almost perverse pleasure in watching his eyes flicker in surprised outrage.

  At that moment, thoughts of Nick’s possessive attitude shot through her mind, and her spine became ramrod stiff. Though she needed this job, Tanner Clearbrook had pushed her too far.

  “You seem to know a tremendous deal about me, Miss Elliot.” The man folded his arms across his chest and looked at her thoughtfully. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you have a chip on your shoulder. Is there something I hate that bothers you, or is there something you hate that bothers you?”

  Stunned at his keen perception, Hannah stared at him, speechless. The question hit too close to home.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t fire you for your honesty,” he replied in a voice so smooth, so utterly calm, that she wondered what kind of man her employer was.

  “I tell you what you hate,” she said softly, her heart pounding like a thunder. “My guess is you hate life.”

  Triumph flooded through her when another flicker of irritation ticked at his jaw. But those words barely made it out of her mouth before she forged on.

  “You see, Mr. Clearbrook, I’ve found that life isn’t fair, and sometimes it’s just the little things in life that count to the ones you love. Jeremy’s mother may be dead, but you aren’t. So take that beautiful son of yours and love him for all he’s worth, because someday you may never have him again, or he may not have you.”

  Her words were a mere whisper, sounding as if they came from someone else, a purging of some kind, a needed release.

  But Tanner just stood there, immobile, staring at her as if she were a worm on the sidewalk.

  Pain squeezed Hannah’s chest so tight she thought she might stop breathing. She didn’t wait for him to answer. She lifted her chin, turned, and strode past the study doors, walking out of the house with as much dignity as she could muster. A string of watery sneezes didn’t help the stinging that filled her eyes.

  She had heard the Clearbrook family had come from some grand duke in England. Well, right now, she felt like one of the duke’s servants about to be sacked. Tanner Clearbrook may not be a duke, but he sure as heck acted like one with his pompous attitude.

  She was astonished that he hadn’t fired her right there. But if she knew anything about millionaires and dukes, they didn’t take insubordination lightly. Tanner Clearbrook would give her the boot later that evening - because now, he did have her number.

  Depressed at the thought of losing Jeremy, she slipped into her tin-can-of-a-car that was parked on the street. A cool mountain breeze blew through windows as she turned the key, reminding her too much of that night on the mountain.

  Didn’t the man know how lucky he was to have a son?

  She listened with dread as the engine clicked without turning over. It was dead. Again.

  Her fingers curled into her palms. There was no way she was calling that man to fix it. She hit the steering wheel, her heart aching with grief as painful memories began to stir in her mind.

  “I don’t want kids, Hannah. I want you all to myself!”

  “But we agreed—”

  “Well, I changed my mind, and that’s all I’m going to say on the subject, so drop it.”

  With a sob, Hannah jerked the keys from the ignition and stepped out of her car. Now what?

  She had stopped the payments on her cell phone. She couldn’t afford it. She remembered there was a gas station not too far away. A block or two maybe?

  She started walking. She would pay whatever she had to before she asked Mr. John Tanner Clearbrook for help!

  A frown spread across Tanner’s face as he paced the floor of his study, trying to control the urge to call Hannah back and apologize. He’d seen the naked pain in her eyes and wasn’t proud of the way he’d treated her. She probably had no idea the way she affected him. He combed a frustrated hand through his hair and sighed.

  “Dad!”

  Jeremy’s voice cut through Tanner’s thoughts like a knife.

  Climbing the stairs two at a time, Tanner burst into Jeremy’s room and found his son pressing his nose against the window overlooking the front yard. The boy was clutching his red painted toe dinosaur under one arm and Max the Bear under the other. Max, Tanner thought. His younger brother had never heard the end of it after his nephew had named the stuffed bear after him.

  “What’s wrong, partner?”

  Jeremy turned around, his watery gaze pushing Tanner’s guilt up a notch. “She promised to make me gingerbread, and now she’s gone. I don’t think her car could start and she just got up and left. Did she leave because I didn’t say I’m sorry again? I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to be so bad.”

  Tanner knew she meant Hannah Elliot. The lady was a threat to him and his son, a threat to their harmony, however disordered that was right now. But that didn’t mean he had treated her nicely. He had never spoken so spiteful to a woman before. He felt like a real jerk.

  “She promised, Dad.” Jeremy’s sob broke Tanner’s heart. “She promised to make it for me.”

  Tanner stepped across the room, skirting a yellow dump truck, a black knight’s castle, and a red, white, and blue model rocket. Kneeling down, he rested his hands on his son’s shoulders. “Hey, partner. She told me she would bring the gingerbread tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow? Tanner wondered if Miss Red Toenails would ever show her face again after what he pulled. He would help out with her car, but at this point, he figured she’d made it around the corner to the gas station, and a hands-off approach seemed best
for both parties involved.

  “I like gingerbread.” Jeremy hiccupped, shifting his watery gaze back to the window. “But she promised I could make it with her and now she’s gone.”

  Tanner’s guilt overflowed as he caught sight of a tow truck barreling down the street. “She’ll be fine, partner.”

  “I think you made Hannah sad.” The accusation hung in the air like a thundercloud. “I saw her in her car. She was really sad and her head fell on the steering wheel and she...she’s never coming back,” Jeremy sobbed. “Just like Mama.”

  The shock of Jeremy’s words hit Tanner like a punch to the stomach. “Your Mama’s in heaven with the angels, Jeremy. Do you understand that?”

  The boy nodded. “Hannah told me, but I didn’t want to believe her.”

  Tanner grimaced as he turned Jeremy from the window. “You know your mama’s not coming back, don’t you, partner? She’s in heaven now.”

  Jeremy squeezed his bear tighter. “Yeah.”

  “But Hannah will be coming back tomorrow. I promise.”

  Two gray eyes looked up at Tanner with such trust, he realized that even if he had to double Hannah’s wages, the lady would return. But how she would travel without a car was beyond him. A taxi maybe? A smile lurked behind his eyes. He didn’t think she was going to take up the offer of free limo service, he thought with a smile. The lady had too much pride.

  Jeremy bit his lip. “You’re going to be here, too. Right?”

  “I won’t be going on any trips soon, if that’s what you want to know. You’re the most important thing to me, Jeremy. Do you understand?”

  Jeremy held Max the bear in a chokehold.

  Tanner felt a lump in his throat. “Listen to me, partner. I know it’s been a long time since your mother’s been gone. And I told you before that I didn’t know she was that sick. Uncle Rafe didn’t even know and he’s a doctor. I never would have gone away if I had known. You have to believe me.”

  Jeremy picked at Max’s button nose. “I don’t remember a lot about Mama, but I remember some things. She hugged me real tight, but she had ammonia. That’s what Uncle Rafe said.”

  “Pneumonia.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  Tanner raised his gaze to the yellow and white cowboy border running above the window and drew in a regretful sigh. Julie had been his high school sweetheart, and they had been more in love than anyone deserved to be.

  After Julie’s death, he had thrown himself into his work, avoiding any type of social gathering that wasn’t business related. As time began to numb his pain, he started dating again, being with women he never considered marrying, and he had let them know that fact right off the bat.

  But eventually he began to realize that Jeremy’s grief had never been properly addressed. The boy was having trouble in school and making friends, and it had something to do with Julie or so the psychologist had told him. And now it seemed it took but a mere stranger like Hannah Elliot to pull his son out of his shell and talk about it. Tanner felt hurt and a little bit ashamed.

  He bent down and picked up the yellow dump truck, moving it to the corner shelf. “What about you and me making some gingerbread together?”

  For a long moment, two wide silver-gray eyes stared back at him in surprise.

  “You and me?” Jeremy asked, dropping his bear to the floor. “You want to make gingerbread with me? I thought you hated it.”

  Tanner had to wonder what had come over him. Gingerbread? What kind of spell had the green-eyes siren cast over him? He almost withdrew his offer, but the hope that flickered in his son’s gaze spurred him on. They needed this bonding time.

  Tanner picked up the bear and the dinosaur and gave a sideways glance toward his son. “If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you weren’t keen on the idea.” He shrugged. “Suit yourself. Either way I’m taking Max and Rex to the kitchen with me. We love gingerbread.”

  Jeremy stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stared back with his mouth agape. “I thought Hannah’s gonna bring some tomorrow.”

  “We can surprise her and have double, but if you want to eat, you have to work. Didn’t you ever read the story of the Little Red Hen?”

  The pitter-patter of little feet followed Tanner into the hall. “You know that story, Dad?”

  “Yep.”

  Tanner felt a warm glow spread through him when a small hand slipped into his as he descended the stairs.

  “Can you read it to me when we finish, can ya? It’s kind of a little kid’s story, you know, and I’m not a little kid anymore, but I can read it. And it’s..well...it’s nice to hear it read by someone else.”

  “Yeah, can ya read it to me too?” Fritz stood at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes shimmering with mirth.

  Tanner narrowed his gaze as he stuffed Max-the-Bear into his father’s stomach. “If you want to eat, you gotta work.”

  Fritz raised his white brow, squeezing Max beneath his arm. “Well, now, this should be interesting.”

  Hannah slipped the book back onto the shelf and sneezed. She had been at the library for over an hour, and her head cold medicine was making her woozy.

  If she didn’t need the money so badly, she’d head home and submerge herself in a nice, warm bubble bath. But if she lost her tutoring job, the library would be her only hope to pay the bills until Reach Medicals came through. Even taking the taxi tonight had squeezed her pocketbook.

  Still, if worse came to worse, she would seek out another position in one of the big cities. She would hate to move her mother again, but there wouldn’t be a choice in the matter.

  “Pssst, over here.”

  Hannah knew who it was before she turned around and peered through the open shelving beside her. Her amused gaze widened as she pretended to stuff a book in front of the woman’s nose.

  Candy, more like a sister to Hannah than a friend, was a petite brunette with chocolate brown eyes the size of saucers and a heart the size of the Rocky Mountains.

  Hannah sneezed. “Can’t talk right now.”

  “What do you mean you can’t talk right now?” Candy whispered, sticking her head through the shelf. “I have a surprise for you.”

  Hannah tipped her head in the direction of her boss, a gray-haired lady standing guard behind the counter. “Mrs. Gould is blowing smoke my way as we speak.”

  Candy let out a disapproving snort. “That dragon. Give me a break. Her face looks like an old leather shoe. Probably practices that daggered scowl in the mirror like snow white’s stepmother. And her hair looks more blue than gray! What’s that about?”

  Hannah bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  Candy shook her head, picked up a book, and pretended to look at it. “Never mind Dragon Lady. You won’t be here for long. I’ll bet you’ll be getting that job at Reach Medicals sooner than you think. With your grades, it’ll be a cinch.”

  With book in hand, Hannah climbed the nearby ladder to the top shelf. “Hopefully you’re right and that job will come through. The woman in human resources said I had it made. They had some buyout or merger or something, and they’re waiting until things settle down. Then it’s just a matter of time. I’d rather stay in Clearbrook Valley and not have to move.”

  Hannah glanced behind her and stepped down from the ladder, noting that Mrs. Gould had her back to her. “Mom was in the hospital the other night. Observation for some stomach pain. Nothing to worry about.”

  Candy stepped around the corner with her nose in a book about Einstein’s relativity theory. “I hope she’s all right. If you let me know when she’s in the hospital, I’ll look in on her.”

  Hannah let out a small laugh. “I’ll do that next time. But Einstein?” Candy was a nurse, however physics was not her strong point.

  Candy peeked over the pages and smiled. “You wouldn’t be laughing if she weren’t doing fine. Anyway, I’m here because my brother came to visit. I told him that you might be open for dinner
. Nothing fancy and no commitments. He’s going back to Chicago soon, so you don’t have to worry about a long term relationship.”

  Hannah groaned, knowing a set-up when she saw it. Dating a man was the last thing on her mind. Even Tanner Clearbrook’s magnetism could not sway her. Now, what made her think of that?

  “I’m certain your brother’s wonderful, but with the tutoring, the library, and my mother—”

  “Would you look at yourself, girl.” Candy threw a hand to her hip and Hannah raised an amused brow. Candy had a stubborn streak a mile long and had known all about her past.

  “You haven’t given yourself time to do anything. Do you want to have another nervous breakdown? I’m not asking you to marry the guy, only go out with him.”

  Nervous breakdown? Hannah turned to hide her face as she shelved another book. A familiar ache grew in her chest. After her husband’s accident, she’d never been the same. It had been three years ago when it happened and going back to school to finish her bachelor degree had been her saving grace.

  Of course, the last two weeks working with Jeremy had been a blessing in disguise. Her heart seemed to be opening up again. But trusting a man was an entirely different thing, even if it was just a date.

  Candy slapped her book closed and let out a snort of disgust. “Come on, Hannah. Don’t hide from me now. He’s here waiting over by the computers, checking the stocks on the Internet.”

  Hannah turned around and rolled her eyes. “All right. I’ll think about it.” Her brows suddenly narrowed in concern. “Oh no, here comes Mrs. Gould.”

  Candy pushed her book into Hannah’s hands and gave her friend a mischievous wink. “Don’t worry, I can take care of Dragon Lady.”

  Hannah watched in amusement as Candy walked over to Mrs. Gould and asked the older lady for help in researching her family tree - a family tree that included Attila the Hun.

  With a sigh, Hannah returned to shelving her books, recalling the comforting sensation of being held in Tanner’s arms earlier that day, if only for a few seconds.

  Yet it wasn’t comfort she needed now, it was a job. She had thought Tanner didn’t like her after she had given him that fake phone number, but while in his den, she couldn’t deny the attraction that was between them, even though he had acted like a pompous millionaire, a totally different man than she remembered on the mountain.