Natural Born Daddy (7 page)

“We're not a couple of kids with stars in our eyes,” he said. “We could make it work.”

The remark, so like him, snapped her out of the dreamy, hopeful state of mind he'd induced in her. “But I want stars in my eyes. If I ever marry again, I want it all.” She fingered the piles of silk scattered across the table, then gazed directly into his eyes. “I want it all, Jordan. Nothing less.”

He stood slowly, then, the faintest hint of anger in his eyes. “I won't stop trying,” he said with a touch of defiance.

“You'll be wasting your time.”

Before she realized what he intended, he turned back, leaned down and kissed her, a bruising, hard kiss that stole her breath away. His mouth plundered hers, branding her as his as surely as if she'd been one of those heads of cattle at White Pines.

While she was still dazed, he said softly, “I don't think so, sweetheart. I don't think it will be a waste of time at all.”

J
ordan figured he must have gotten less than an hour of sleep the entire night. Despite his exhaustion, he was back at Kelly's just before dawn, expecting to find her dressed and ready to get to all that fence mending she'd talked about the night before. Instead he found the house quiet and dark except for a faint light he thought he detected in the kitchen.

So, she hadn't gotten much sleep, either. He counted that as a positive sign, an indication that perhaps she had spent the remaining hours of the night lying awake thinking about him, just as he had about her.

He walked around toward the back of the house, prepared to taunt her a little about getting a late start. Instead he found only Dani in the kitchen, standing on a chair in front of the sink, carefully pouring cereal into a bowl.

Hiding his disappointment, he tapped on the screen door. When Dani turned toward him and her face lit up, he felt the oddest sensation in the pit of his
stomach. It was almost…
paternal,
he thought with amazement, or at least what he took to be some sort of fatherly emotion. Relief that he could experience such a sensation flooded through him. It would certainly make his future with Kelly less complicated.

“Hi, Jordan. Want some breakfast?”

Stepping inside, he eyed the frosted cereal warily. “I don't think so.”

“It's really, really good.”

She looked so hopeful that he relented. “Okay, maybe just a little.”

She stretched on tiptoe, teetering just enough to cause his breath to catch in his throat. Reaching into the cupboard, she withdrew another bowl, a very large bowl. Then she upended the box and dumped in enough cereal to feed an army.

“Hey,” he protested, “I said a little bit.”

She gave him another of those disarming smiles. “I think you're going to really, really like it.”

Leaving the box on the counter, she climbed down while Jordan held his breath and barely restrained the urge to pluck her up and set her feet firmly on the floor himself. He did manage to grab the bowls before she could and put those safely on the table.

She retrieved a carton of milk from the refrigerator and a pair of spoons from a drawer. It seemed to be a routine with which she was disturbingly familiar. It gave him yet another argument to use on Kelly. If they were married, she wouldn't be out of the house so much or so exhausted that her daughter was up before her, as he suspected might be the case this morning. At any rate, if he had his way, Dani would have a full-time mother.

“All set?” he inquired dryly, watching her precise preparations.

Looking an awful lot like her mother had years ago, she bit her lower lip and studied the table thoughtfully. “We need a banana,” she decided.

She scampered into the pantry and returned with a banana. With surprisingly deft little fingers, she peeled it, broke it almost in two and plopped the larger piece into his bowl and kept the smaller for herself.

“Maybe we should slice it,” Jordan observed.

“I can't. Mommy doesn't let me use knives when she's not here.”

“Then it's a good thing I'm here,” he said. He opened a drawer and retrieved one.

“How come you know where the knives are?”

“Because I'll bet I've been in this kitchen almost as many times as you have,” he told her.

She tilted her head and studied him suspiciously. “How come? I live here.”

He grinned at her. “Ah, yes, but I grew up practically next door and I was over here almost every day when your mom and I were kids. Nothing much has changed in here.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. You've known Mommy a really, really long time.”

“Forever,” he agreed, surprised at how easily conversation came with this pint-size version of his oldest friend. Why had he never noticed before that Dani wasn't really so terrifying? She was just a little person with obvious views already forming. He already knew about her powers of persuasion.

“Speaking of your mom, where is she this morning? Still sleeping?”

“No. She left a long time ago. She's mending fences right outside. She says I can come find her when I'm done with breakfast.” She eyed him speculatively. “Maybe you should come, too. Can you string wire?”

“With the best of them,” he affirmed.

She gave a little satisfied nod. “Good, because I can't really help. Mommy's afraid I'll get barbed wire stuck in my backside.”

“A very real danger,” Jordan said, trying not to chuckle out loud. He took his first tentative bite of cereal. To a man whose cereal consumption was usually confined to bran flakes, this stuff was sweet enough to make him gag. He noticed that Dani was watching him intently, a worried frown puckering her brow.

“Don't you like it?” she asked, sounding like an uncertain cook whose very first meal was on the table.

“It's…” He struggled to find a word that wouldn't offend, but also wouldn't encourage her to offer him more—ever. “It's different.”

She gave a tiny sigh of resignation. “Too sweet, huh?”

“A little bit,” he confirmed.

“That's what Mommy says, too. She says it makes her gag. I only get to have it on weekends, so it won't destroy my brain cells.”

Jordan grinned. “I don't think your brain cells are in any immediate danger. You seem pretty bright to me.”

“Thank you,” she said politely.

They ate their cereal in companionable silence after that. The instant Dani had finished hers, she
picked up the bowl and carried it back to the sink and climbed deftly back onto the same chair so she could reach the faucets. She rinsed the bowl and stacked it in the drainer. Jordan carried his own bowl to the sink.

“I'll wash it for you,” the child offered.

“No way,” he said. “Fair's fair. You fixed breakfast. I can at least wash my own bowl.”

Dani climbed down without argument. “I'll go brush my teeth and then we can go.” She eyed him worriedly again. “Do you have a toothbrush with you? Mommy says it's important to brush your teeth at least twice a day, especially after breakfast, so your teeth won't rot.”

“After all that sugar, I can see why it would be a concern,” Jordan agreed. “Don't worry about me, though, I'll take care of my teeth.”

“You won't leave without me, will you?”

“Nope. I'll be waiting right here.”

“Maybe you'd like to see the kittens before we go,” she said hopefully. “They're getting really, really big. You might want one, after all. Mr. Adams is taking the tiger-striped one, so you can't have him. And Jessie said she'd take the black-and-white one.”

Jordan hid a grin. Obviously his whole family had been taken in by this little con artist. “Did you manage to pawn one off on Cody?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. He said he'd take the two that look like twins. They're black with little white noses.”

“Two, huh? You must have been very persuasive.”

“Not me,” she said modestly. “It was the kittens. I told you they're really, really cute. I think you're going to change your mind.”

“I don't think so, but we can take a look after we help your mom.”

“Okay,” she agreed, and ran off, her tiny feet thundering up the stairs.

Jordan shook his head. Maybe kids weren't so mysterious, after all. Maybe, like grown-ups, they just wanted someone to listen and take them seriously. More or less the way he wanted Kelly to take him seriously. Though she hadn't exactly laughed in his face, she didn't seem to think anything he had to say on the subject of marriage was worth listening to. He had to come up with some way to change that before this unexpected desire he'd begun feeling for her drove him out of his mind.

Before he could come up with a new twist on what already seemed like an old theme, Dani raced back down the stairs.

“Let's go.”

“Do you know exactly where your mom's working?” he asked, wondering a bit at Kelly's willingness to leave Dani all alone.

“Sure. She's right behind the barn.”

About a hundred yards away, more or less, easily within shouting distance. Which meant, Jordan thought dryly, she had definitely seen or at least heard him arrive. Which also meant she was deliberately avoiding him, he concluded with an odd sense of triumph. Kelly only hid out when she was uncertain. Her resolve must be wavering.

With Dani leading the way, they circled around the barn. He spotted Kelly less than a hundred yards along the fence line, the sunlight glistening off her hair. Despite the heat, she was wearing a long-sleeved blouse, jeans and heavy gloves to protect herself from
the barbed wire. Even so, as they approached, he could see a rip in one sleeve and a tiny nick on her flushed cheek.

An irrational surge of anger boiled up inside him, followed rapidly by a tide of protectiveness. She shouldn't be doing this. Even if she insisted on ranching, she should have a foreman and half a dozen hands to deal with the heavy labor. He knew in his gut, though, that she wouldn't thank him for suggesting that. With that damned pride of hers, she wanted to do it all herself. It was as much a matter of principle with her as it was a financial necessity.

“Hi, Mommy,” Dani shouted, running ahead. “Jordan's here to help.”

Kelly's head snapped up at the sound of her daughter's voice, then her gaze sought his. He could see the dark circles under her eyes and knew at once that he was responsible. Oddly, though, he didn't feel the same sense of triumph he'd felt earlier when he'd suspected she might have spent the same sort of restless night he had. This was the reality. She looked exhausted. And on a ranch, people who were exhausted could make dangerous mistakes, as he knew only too well. A careless mistake was what had cost them his brother Erik, when his tractor had overturned at Luke's.

“Damn,” he muttered under his breath. He should never have let this happen.

He approached her slowly, then hunkered down next to her. He touched a finger to the torn sleeve, but his gaze went at once to her cheek. The nick there was as tiny as he'd first suspected, but it had bled. “You should clean that out.”

“It's nothing,” she said, avoiding his gaze. “I'm up-to-date on my tetanus shots. I'll wash it out and put some peroxide on it when I go inside. What are you doing here?”

“I told you I'd be back to help with the fences.”

“It's not necessary.”

“A promise is a promise.” He stood and slid his hands into the pockets of an old pair of jeans he hadn't worn in years and rocked back on his heels.

She fell silent and, for the life of him, Jordan couldn't think of another thing to say, either. He wondered why after years of having so much to talk about, they were suddenly so awkward with each other. The quiet serenity he'd come to count on had vanished. If it was lost forever, he had no one to blame but himself. He'd tried to change things between them and in doing so had cost himself the one thing that had mattered most—Kelly's friendship.

With Dani assigned to walk along the fence line to look for additional breaks, Jordan was left alone with Kelly.

“Get much sleep last night?” he asked eventually.

“Enough,” she replied tightly, concentrating on her struggle to stretch the next length of wire taut.

Jordan leaned down to help her. “Doesn't look that way to me,” he observed.

She scowled at him. “Thank you.”

He grinned at the testy note. “Not that you're not always beautiful,” he told her.

She glanced up, her face just inches under his. The nearness was too tempting for Jordan to resist. He dropped a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Jordan!” she warned, casting a harried look in Dani's direction.

“She might as well get used to it,” he said. “The same goes for you.”

“Not now,” she snapped impatiently, jerking on the wire. She lost her grip and the line snapped back, snagging her sleeve. She muttered a colorful expletive under her breath as Jordan reached for her hand.

“Let me see.”

“No. It's nothing.”

He chuckled, suddenly recalling how often she had reacted just that way to any hint of sympathy whenever she'd taken a spill from a horse or scraped her knees when they were up to their childhood pranks.

“You never did want anyone fussing over you,” he said, capturing her hand despite her attempts to avoid his grasp. He couldn't feel the warmth of her skin or its silky smoothness through the thick gloves, but he could imagine it. His body tightened.

“I still don't,” she said heatedly.

Jordan ignored the protest and her squirming as he examined the rip in her sleeve and checked to see if the wire had snagged the tender skin beneath. “Just a scratch,” he said eventually.

“I told you that.”

“Yes, but your diagnosis wasn't nearly as informed as mine. I actually checked your arm.”

“Jordan, I was working this fence line long before you showed up this morning and I will be working it long after you're back in your penthouse office in Houston next week.”