by Tina Leonard
He had to scoot the girls away from the broken glass and the scattered coins, praying they wouldn’t get cut. While he was engaged in emergency cleanup, the girls went back to the can of shaving cream, much to his chagrin.
And yet he couldn’t be mad at them. Somehow, he adored their pixie faces all the more. How could anyone not love such girls after his own heart? “You girls think you’re doing new things, but this is nothing. You should have seen the trouble my brothers and I could get into.”
They looked at him, their fingers in their mouths, which he hoped didn’t have a lot of shaving cream. He resolved to wash their hands immediately, as soon as he vacuumed up the last bits of broken glass. Nicole and Sandra were finally still and they watched him from the bottom stair with great curiosity.
“You have to wear shoes now, all the time,” he said. “I don’t trust my cleaning skills around tiny bare feet. Come on. Let’s go upstairs and find you something to wear.”
The girls went upstairs with him rather docilely—this was a new game, searching through their bags with a man and not their mother, so they patronized him with good charm. “What are these things?” he asked, holding up a ridiculously small pair of rubber Crocs from Nicole’s bag. “These look safe. And they have this furry stuff inside, which will keep you warm until your mother gets home and tells me I’ve dressed you wrong. But at least you’ll be safe and warm.” He slid the Crocs onto Nicole’s feet, examining them. “Not the most attractive shoes, but I can see the appeal. And glass won’t get to you, best of all.” He found a second pair to slide on Sandra’s feet, and glanced at the bags again. “How come your mother hasn’t unpacked your suitcases? Isn’t she planning to stay for a while?”
Receiving no answer, he glanced into the closet. Suzy’s things weren’t unpacked, either. He thought about that for a moment, deciding it was none of his business.
Yet it bothered him. He wondered if she hadn’t unpacked because of him. “Let’s put some bows in your hair and surprise your mom,” he suggested. “First we need to get the toothpaste and shaving cream out, though.” He rooted around, found some little bows and brushes and sat down, wondering how he was going to manage tidying little heads full of shiny, flyaway hair.
Thirty minutes later, the girls showed no signs of their midday mischief. “Now,” he said with satisfaction, “no one can say I’m not a competent babysitter. Let’s go downstairs and find a proper container for all those coins before your mother returns. We’ll be finding those for weeks. I don’t think they even make glass pickle jars that size anymore.”
The girls followed him on this new adventure, thrilled that they were getting so much attention from Dane. Babysitting was more fun than he thought it would be.
“Probably not something we should get used to,” he said to the girls as he helped them down the stairs so they wouldn’t trip in their little rubber shoes. “Your mother is bound to say I’ve done everything wrong.”
He searched out a plastic rain bucket and began spilling the dimes, nickels and quarters into it. “Look at these relics, girls. These are buffalo heads and mercury heads. Pop was quite the collector, not just of houses and property but coins.”
That was the thing about Pop, Dane realized. He’d been born for success. Everything he touched—even loose change—turned out to be valuable. He had the Midas touch, except with his own family.
“You know,” Dane told the girls, who were enraptured by the sound of the tinkling coins, “I thought I was going to be a success like my old man. Only I wasn’t going to make the mistake of being a jackass along the way. I always thought it was his business dealings that made him hard, so I was going to prove to him and myself that one could be successful without being like him.” He shrugged, dusted off his hands and stood. “Maybe if I’d been a little tougher, I would have known that my partner was scamming me, huh?” He went into the kitchen, and the girls followed, watching as he washed his hands. Then he washed theirs and they didn’t even protest, much to his delight. “So that was today’s lesson from the school of hard knocks. Try not to forget it, okay?”
The front door opened, and Suzy flew inside.
“Hey,” Dane said, “find the perfect fabric?”
She halted, her gaze searching out her children anxiously. “No,” she said, then hurried to hug her daughters. “You girls look beautiful.”
“Yeah. Uncle Dane is good with the beauty tricks,” he said proudly, earning himself a frown from Suzy.
“We saw your brother,” she said, and he glanced at her.
“Pete?”
“Jack.”
Now she had Dane’s complete attention. “You saw Jack?”
“We even had him in my car for about sixty seconds.”
“I can’t believe it.” Dane shook his head.
“We did our best to lure him to the ranch, but he wasn’t biting,” Cricket said, coming inside with a bag of cookies and some loose tea she’d bought in Union Junction.
“We even told him about the letter Pete has for him from your father,” Priscilla said, “but he didn’t seem interested at all.”
“No. He wouldn’t.” Dane looked at Suzy. “Thanks for trying, but I’m resigned to the fact that he’s never coming back.”
“He’s a bit crazy,” Suzy said, but at the same time she thought all the men were. Her little girls were dressed up like angels and obviously completely happy to have spent some time with Dane—she’d expected all kinds of mess and drama when she returned. Dane hadn’t seemed like he’d be the most organized when it came to small children. “Crazy in the sense that I think he’s just rolling from town to town. He was hitching, so I guess he doesn’t even have a vehicle of his own.”
“Yeah. Well, whatever.” Dane turned back to the sink and dried his hands. “So, no fabric?”
Suzy watched Dane’s face carefully. He was upset, but he wasn’t going to let on. “We’ll get it next time.”
Dane shrugged. “It’s not my house. I don’t care.”
“Well. I think I’ll grill some cheese sandwiches,” Priscilla said brightly. “Do you think Pete will be back soon?”
“I doubt it,” Dane said. “I tried reaching him on his cell phone but all I got was a recording that he’d be out of the States for the next month.”
“The next month?” Priscilla looked shocked. “I thought he had to stay here for a year.”
“I don’t think that was his plan. He’s more of a pop-in-when-you-least-expect-it kind of guy,” Dane said. “Anyway, guess I’ve got you ladies to myself now. All five of you. How lucky can a guy get?”
“Even luckier,” Suzy said. “If your business proposition is still on the table, I’d like to accept.”
Chapter Eleven
Cricket and Priscilla gasped, but Dane just stared at her. Suzy could feel her heart beating in her throat.
“Why?” he asked. “Seeing Jack change your mind?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, knowing that was indeed the big motivator. “It just came to me that this is the right thing to do.”
She wasn’t being completely honest, but she hadn’t even told Cricket and Priscilla she was going to accept Dane’s offer—it seemed to have flown out of her mouth. Yet she knew it was the right decision.
“Well,” Dane said, “that makes me a lucky guy.”
“That’s what your brother said,” Cricket observed, and Priscilla nodded.
“Did he?” Dane looked at Suzy, watching her.
“Yes,” Suzy said, “but he was being polite.”
“I don’t think polite describes Jack. I haven’t seen him in years, but I remember him being more of a hell-raising, don’t-give-a-dang-what-anybody-thinks person. If he said I was lucky, he meant it,” Dane said, grinning from ear to ear.
“I’m not saying his approval changed my mind,” Suzy said.
“I hope money won’t, either,” Dane said. “I don’t have any, except for what my father has promised each of us, and which I have, incid
entally, decided to turn down.”
The three women stared at him.
“Well,” Dane said, “independence is a powerful motivator. I just need to start over in my life. I can do this on my own—I was too trusting and I paid for that mistake. Just thought you should know that the parameters of the proposal have changed.”
Suzy put her hands on her hips. “Not for me,” she said. “I wasn’t marrying you for money. Mr. Morgan pays me quite well. You were marrying me for your money. I was marrying you so my girls would have a last name.”
He considered that. “I’ll have to think about it,” he said. “Not the part about the girls, but whether I want to have a wife I can’t afford.”
“Oh, pish,” Cricket said. “Two can live as cheaply as one, especially when neither of you is paying for this roof over your head.”
“Except I won’t be living here,” Dane said. “There’s no point. My brothers aren’t here, and I don’t want the money, so there’s no reason to stay.”
“Very mature of you,” Priscilla said. “Independence in a man is attractive. Don’t you agree, Suzy?”
“I don’t know,” Suzy said, “I’m not the one to ask about family matters. But I have a two-bedroom house I haven’t rented out yet, so technically—”
“Two bedrooms?” Dane said, brightening. “That sounds quite cozy.”
Suzy looked at him with some concern. “We haven’t discussed the fact that this is an in-name-only marriage.”
Dane tried to look innocent, failing miserably. “I’m up for discussing sex any time you want to.”
“Ha,” Cricket said. “Priscilla, maybe we should take the girls for a walk so these two can decide if a merger between two entirely dissimilar people is a good thing.”
“Come on, girls,” Priscilla said. “Let’s go look for some pecans. That wind the other night should have blown down plenty. We can make chocolate pecan pie.”
“I never said you both couldn’t be part of this merger,” Dane said agreeably. “We could do a commune kind of thing.”
Priscilla put some mittens on the little girls. “As you said, you don’t have any money, and it would take money to keep Cricket and me. We’re more hard-hearted than Suzy.”
“Hey,” Suzy said, “I’m trying to raise two children. I think money is lovely.”
But Priscilla and Cricket had already left, leaving her alone with a very handsome cowboy.
“What changed your mind?” he asked.
“You were right. It was your brother. Cricket looked like she was going to jump into the backseat and eat him up. I would have thought a deacon would have better sense.” Suzy blinked. Maybe she was no different than Cricket—same story, different man.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I felt sorry for him.” She tried to figure out if Dane was buying her story. “He seemed sort of lost to me. And I’ve decided the best way I can help your father is to tie you down for a year.”
He laughed and the sound slid along her skin, tempting her. “You’re going to settle me, Suzy Winterstone?”
She raised her chin. “It’s my best offer.”
He looked at her, his gaze suddenly resembling a wolf’s. “I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think what?” She was wading into ever deeper water, trying to read his mind.
“I don’t think you’re being completely honest, maybe with me, maybe with yourself, but honesty is not your strong suit at the moment.” He slid a hand along her arm, which she jerked away.
“Look,” she said, “my girls win if I marry you, my parents may even be slightly impressed that I’m no longer a single mother, and it will please Mr. Morgan.” She gave him a cool glance. “He of all people will understand the sacrifice I’m making for the cause.”
“The cause of family harmony.” He leaned against the kitchen wall, taking in everything she was saying. “You need me for something.”
“And I just told you. My girls, my own reputation. Don’t make this harder than it is,” she snapped.
He chuckled. “I’ll find out in time what motivates you, Suzy W.”
She remained silent, gazing at him stubbornly.
“A lot of women are motivated by money. It’s okay to admit you are, too. It’s a playing field I understand.”
“I never said I wasn’t motivated by security,” she told him. “Job security is very important.”
“So we’re moving into a two-bedroom house,” Dane said. “I like closeness.”
“I’ll expect you to pay your share of rent,” she said.
“Of course,” he replied. “I’ve got a bucket full of money just for that. Well, my entire net worth is now a bunch of old coins in a bucket, but it’ll do for the rainy day theory.”
She shook her head. “What happened to the pickle jar? Isn’t that Mr. Morgan’s?”
“Mr. Morgan happens to be out at the moment. And I, uh, broke the jar, but since I cleaned up all the glass, I’m keeping the change.” He grinned at her rakishly. “I’ll call it my babysitting fund.”
“You did seem to be a relatively decent babysitter,” she said reluctantly. “I think the girls like you.”
“Those little girls like me almost as much as their mother does,” Dane said. “I suspect you’ll be just as lucky for me as they are.”
Suzy moved to walk past him, but he caught her hand, pulling her up against him. “Say you want wedding vows so you can kiss me again,” he said huskily. “I think about kissing you often.”
She stepped past him. “I told you, I’m marrying you to make an honest man of you,” she said, walking away.
“Can’t be done, I fear,” he called after her.
“Maybe not,” she murmured so that he couldn’t hear, “but my girls are going to have a family. I’m not going to end up like your brother Jack.”
FORGIVENESS MATTERED TO DANE more than he was willing to admit. He wasn’t going to have a gabfest over it, cleanse his soul by confession, but the family condition was starting to get to him. Maybe it was seeing how happy Gabriel was now that he’d made amends with Pop. His gaze slid to the little fair-haired tots climbing over Suzy’s lap and wondered how much his latent feelings of contrition had to do with Suzy’s children.
Damn Pop, anyway.
The old man would grin if he could see Dane sitting around worrying like a girl over the past. Nothing could be changed, anyway. And he’d already improved matters. Suzy had decided to marry him, hadn’t she, and that alone would make him a better man.
Maybe. He had the notion that he was screwing everything up despite his best efforts to fix things. That sneaking suspicion just wouldn’t leave him alone, either.
“I’ll perform the ceremony, if you two like,” Cricket said. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Do you have a problem with that, Dane?” Suzy asked.
Did he? He looked into her eyes and didn’t think so. He didn’t know what to think. “Sounds convenient.”
“I’ll plan the reception,” Miss Manners said.
“No reception,” Dane said.
Suzy quickly added, “Thank you, Priscilla. We don’t really have anyone to invite.”
A sad commentary if he’d ever heard it. He noticed Suzy hadn’t mentioned inviting her folks to the wedding—wasn’t that sort of a bad sign? Marrying someone who had the same difficulty promoting family harmony as he did?
“All right,” Priscilla said brightly, not bothered at all. “I’d love to help plan a bridal shower. Or the honeymoon. Travel plans are so much fun to make, don’t you think, especially for newlyweds!”
Suzy and Dane stared at her. Honeymoon! He hadn’t even considered such a thing. He nonchalantly peered at Suzy to see if she was going to protest that suggestion, as well, but Suzy sat there silently, her gaze going to her children.
So she didn’t exactly abhor the thought of being alone with him…which cheered him immensely.
“Dane, I thought I heard you say something a
bout Mexico,” Priscilla said, but Suzy shook her head.
“Nothing elaborate.” Suzy looked around at her friends. “This is a business deal, remember? Romance isn’t required.”
Dane wanted to interrupt and say that romance might not be required but he was certainly open to it. The serious look on Suzy’s face kept him from trying to make light of the honeymoon idea.
“Here’s a thought,” Priscilla said. “Cricket and I can watch the girls after the ceremony, and you two can go out and have a nice, businesslike dinner. A seal-the-deal kind of meal. Even enemies shake hands over negotiations, don’t they?” she asked sweetly.
Dane wondered whose side Priscilla was on. He glanced at Suzy, interested to see whether she would allow her girls to be watched while he took her out for a postnuptials dinner. To his surprise, Suzy seemed to be waiting on him to answer. “Suzy?” he said. “I’m up for whatever you want.”
“Dinner would be all right,” she said reluctantly.
“Of course, we don’t mean a burger place,” Cricket said hurriedly. “Someplace reasonably upscale, so that when the girls are grown, you can show them pictures of the nice restaurant where you celebrated your vows. Even though you’ll be divorced by then, the girls will enjoy seeing their mother’s wedding night dinner.”
“Good idea,” Dane said. He felt sad, though, that he wouldn’t be around to see the girls admire those pictures. “So, when’s the earliest we can do this?”
“Three days,” Cricket said, “after you apply for a marriage license.”
“And I do feel that I need to ask your father—”
“No.” Suzy’s quiet tone sliced off what Dane was about to say.
He blinked. “Suzy, look. I’m no stranger to family squabbles. But I’m neutral territory here. Your father can hardly object to me asking for your hand. I’m a traditional guy, and already I’m veering out of my comfort zone with a short-term marriage.”
