Light the Stars

“Sure, while they’re busy eating,” Wade muttered, then felt like a heel complaining about his own kids.

“Which you should be doing,” she pointed out.

Right. He didn’t like bossy women, he reminded himself. Even if they had cute smiles and smelled like vanilla ice cream.

Still, he obediently tasted the potato soup his boys were enjoying with such relish, then had to swallow his moan of sheer pleasure. It was absolutely divine, thick and creamy, and flavored with an elusive spice he thought might be tarragon.

Tanner and Cody were carrying on one of their conversations, with Tanner yakking away about whatever he could think of and Cody responding with giggles and the occasional mimicry of whatever his brother said, and Wade listened to them while he savored the soup.

After he had eaten half the bowl in about a minute and a half, Caroline spoke up. “I know Marjorie helped you take care of your children. Do you have someone else to turn to now that she’s gone?”

He swallowed a spoonful of soup that suddenly didn’t taste as delectable. “Not yet. I’ll figure something out.”

Before she could answer, Tanner burped loudly and he and Cody erupted into hysterical laughter.

“Hey, that wasn’t very polite,” Wade chided, even as he saw that Caroline was hiding a smile behind her hand. “Apologize to Ms. Montgomery.”

“Nat says that’s how people in some places say thank you when their food is real good.”

“Well, we’re not in one of those places. On the Cold Creek, it’s considered bad manners.”

Cody suddenly burped, too, something Tanner apparently thought was the funniest thing in the world.

“See? Now look what you’re teaching your little brother. Apologize to Ms. Montgomery.”

“Sorry,” Tanner said obediently, even though he didn’t look the slightest bit sincere.

“Sowwy,” Cody repeated.

“Can we go play now? We’re all done.”

Wade washed their faces and hands—well, Cody’s hands and Tanner’s unbandaged one-— then pulled Cody down from his high chair and set him on the floor.

“Remember to be careful,” he told Tanner, who nodded absently and headed out of the kitchen after his brother.

“It doesn’t look like his injury is slowing him down much,” Caroline observed.

He sighed. “Not much slows that kid down.”

“So what will you do with them while you work?” she asked again.

“I’ll figure something out,” he repeated.

She folded her hands together on the table and he noticed her nails weren’t very long but they were manicured and she wore a pale pink nail polish. He wasn’t sure why he picked up on that detail—and the fact that he did annoyed him, for some reason.

“I’d like to volunteer,” she said after a moment.

He stared at her. “Volunteer for what?”

“To help you with your children.” She smiled that crooked smile again. “I’m self-employed and my schedule is very flexible. I happen to have some free time right now and I’d like to help.”

What the hell was her game? he wondered. “Let me get this straight. You’re offering to babysit my kids while your father and my mother are off honeymooning in Reno.”

“Yes.”

“Why would you possibly think I’d take you up on it?”

She slanted him a look. “Why not?”

“Because you’re a stranger. Because I don’t know you and I don’t trust you.”

“I can understand your hesitation. I wouldn’t want a stranger caring for my children, if I had any. But I can give you references. I was a nanny in Boston for two years while I finished college. I’ve had plenty of experience with children of all ages and with cooking and cleaning a house.”

Did she actually think he would consider it? “Absolutely not.”

“Just like that? You won’t even think about it?”

“What’s to think about? If you were the parent here, would you leave your kids in the care of a total stranger?”

“Probably not,” she admitted. “But if I were in great need, I might consider it after I checked out the stranger’s references.”

His cell phone rang again before he could answer. One of these days he was going to throw the blasted thing out the window.

He saw Seth’s number on the caller ID and sighed. “Yeah?” he answered.

“Where the hell are you? You said you’d be down.” Seth sounded as frustrated as Wade felt.

“I’m working on it.”

“Those clouds aren’t moving on. In another hour we’re going to be drenched and lose the whole crop. I was thinking I ought to call Guillermo Cruz and see if we can borrow the Luna’s baler.”

The Rancho de la Luna was the owned by their closest neighbor, Viviana Cruz. Though a much smaller operation than the Cold Creek, Guillermo Cruz kept his sister-in-law’s equipment in tip-top shape.

It was a good solution, one he would have thought of if he wasn’t so distracted with the kids. “Yeah, do that,” he told Seth. “I’ll be down as soon as I can. Maybe I can throw together something to fix the other one temporarily. If we can get two machines running out there, we might have a chance.”

He hung up to find Caroline Montgomery watching him carefully.

“As I see it, you don’t have too many other choices, Mr. Dalton,” she said quietly. “Tanner is going to need pampering with that burn of his, at least for a few days, and it needs to be kept free of infection. You can’t just lug him and Cody around the ranch with you where the two of them could get into all kinds of things without proper supervision. And by the sounds of it, your plate is pretty full right now.”

“Overflowing,” he agreed tersely. “Your father picked a hell of a time to take a bride.”

She winced and for a moment there he thought she almost looked guilty before her features became serene once more. “I’m sorry. I understand you don’t want me here but for the children’s sake, at least let me help for a day or two until you come up with another arrangement. I’ve come all this way for nothing, I might as well make myself useful.”

He rubbed the ache in his temple again, the weight of his responsibilities cumbersome and heavy.

What would be the harm in letting her help for a day or two? Her presence would take considerable pressure off him and it would be better for the boys to have more diligent supervision than he could provide.

She was a virtual stranger but, like it or not, she was connected to him now by virtue of their parents’ hasty marriage.