A Nanny for the Cowboy

He decided arguing would be useless. “Okay, then.”

He watched her walk out of the room, until she’d disappeared. But even after he heard her close the door to her room, he had to force his attention back to his son. His conscience bothered him. He’d been unfair to her from the moment he had seen her getting out of her car that first day. So what if his sister was matchmaking? He didn’t have to fall for it. Hayley Brooks was an attractive young woman. He couldn’t deny that. But he was old enough—and wise enough—to get past her looks. Or he should be. He had to be. Only a fool who had made the mistake of marrying the wrong woman would let his libido rule his head.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to convince his libido that he wasn’t attracted to Hayley.

“Hey, Brayden, ready to eat?” he asked. But it didn’t keep him from thinking about the woman who was now living in his home.

* * *

“LET’S GET YOU CLEANED UP.” Hayley took the colored markers from Brayden and lifted him into her arms. “If it warms up enough,” she told him, “maybe you can do some finger painting on the patio after lunch. Would you like that?”

“Dat,” he echoed.

Laughing, she gave him a hug and carried him through the house and up the stairs to the bathroom on the second floor. In only four days, he had begun to talk more. Of course, it wasn’t always clear what he was saying, and he’d suddenly started echoing the last word of everything she said to him. She’d meant to ask Luke if he’d noticed it, but after her first day, she hadn’t seen much of him.

As she dampened a washcloth and added a drop of soap, she thought of how little she’d seen of her employer. During the day, he was out of the house, and in the evening, school and studying had kept her busy. “And that’s the way it should be,” she muttered while washing the bright marks of color from Brayden’s hands and arms.

“Shoo bee,” Brayden echoed.

She looked at him and laughed. “You’re probably right.”

“Right about what?”

She jumped at the sound of a much-deeper voice and spun around to find Luke standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You only surprised me.” She moved to the sink, her heart pounding and her hands trembling from the fright. Rinsing the cloth, she wondered why he’d come inside so early. “Brayden has been coloring with the markers and missed the paper.”

“I think there are some crayons in a drawer in his room. His aunt Erin sent him some for his birthday.”

Nodding, she returned to Brayden and wiped away the soap. “I’ll check. We may try finger painting this afternoon.”

Luke reached over and tugged at Brayden’s curls. “I bet you’ll like that,” he told his son.

“Dat,” Brayden repeated.

Hayley felt Luke watching her. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t make a mess. We’ll only do it if the weather is nice. Out on the patio.”

“Sounds like fun.”

She rinsed the washcloth again and placed it over the towel bar to dry. “It sounds messy, I know,” she said, turning back to Luke and wishing he would leave. She didn’t like having to explain herself to him, but she felt she needed to. “I have an old shirt that had been one of my brothers. It will cover most of Brayden’s clothes so the paint won’t get on them. And I’ll wash down any paint that gets on the patio.”

“I’m not worried about it,” Luke replied. “Brayden made a lot more messes before you came to watch him, and we both survived them.”

Although the bathroom would be considered large by most standards, to Hayley it was too small for comfort. Before she could scoop up Brayden and escape, Luke had taken him by the hand and turned to leave. Hayley breathed a sigh of relief.

“You haven’t started lunch yet, have you?” Luke asked as she joined them in the hallway.

“No, not yet. Brayden and I have been busy, and I wanted to get him cleaned up first.”

Luke nodded. “Good. I thought we could run into town and have lunch at the café. It’s a good place to meet people and get a feel for the town.”

“Oh! Well, sure, if you think so. I guess.” The suggestion took her by surprise, and she wasn’t sure what to think. “Brayden needs his clothes changed, though, and I need to run a brush through my hair and—”

“I’ll take care of Brayden, while you do whatever you need to do. We’ll meet you in the family room when you’re ready.”

She nodded and hurried down the stairs to her room. As she freshened her makeup, she realized she was letting things get to her and worrying when she probably had no need to. It wasn’t the way she usually reacted to things.

“You’re going to a small-town café to eat lunch with your employer and your charge,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. “There’s no reason to panic or be nervous.”

Grabbing her purse from her room and slipping on a jacket, she met Luke and Brayden in the family room, just as they were coming down the stairs.

“Are we ready?” Luke asked.

Brayden shouted that he was and Hayley nodded in agreement. Once in the pickup, with Brayden settled in his car seat in the back of the extended cab, they were on their way.

Hayley watched out the window as Luke drove them to town. Others might think it was a bleak scene, but she loved the contrast of dark, bare trees and earthy, dormant fields against the bright blue sky. The late winter had gifted them with warm days, well above freezing, and birds were busy hopping from tree limb to tree limb. Even though she’d lived on a farm while growing up, she’d become accustomed to the city and often forgot the beauty of a world without skyscrapers, interstate highways and traffic.

She kept Brayden busy during the ride by reciting nursery rhymes, which made him giggle and squeal. Luke joined in now and then, and before she knew it, they were almost to town.

“Did you see much of Desperation when you stopped for groceries the other day?” Luke asked.

“Only a little,” she admitted. “I was focused more on where I needed to go, since I had Brayden with me and didn’t really look around much.”

Within seconds, he brought the truck to a stop at the intersection of Main Street and the county road. “We’ll be at the Chick-a-Lick before you know it.”

She wasn’t certain she’d heard right. “Excuse me? The what?”

“Chick-a-Wick!” came the yell from the back.

Luke laughed. “He has a little trouble with some of his letters. It’s the Chick-a-Lick Café, and it’s been here for as long as I can remember. People have been known to come as far as fifty miles for the food and the company.”

“Then I’m definitely looking forward to lunch.”

After turning the corner, Luke drove slowly down the street. Pointing out the window, he said, “That’s the old Opera House the town folks have been renovating for several years.”

“It’s beautiful,” she answered, as he pulled into a parking spot in front of what was obviously the café. She waited until he shut off the engine, then she stepped out of the truck and took Brayden from his car seat.

Luke joined them at the curb and took the squirming little boy from her arms, setting him on the sidewalk. “He loves coming to the café. He gets to see all his favorite people.”

“I guess so,” Hayley said, laughing, as Brayden ran toward the café. They followed and Luke opened the door, while Hayley took Brayden’s hand in hers, and they all walked inside.

Her first impression was that the Chick-a-Lick was a typical small town café. But when she stepped farther inside, silence moved through the room filled with customers like a wave, and she felt all eyes on her. “Oh, my,” she whispered.

Chapter Three

For several seconds, Luke wasn’t sure what to do. Everyone in the café was watching them, and the words fight or flight jumped to mind. Common sense quickly told him that there would be no tucking tail and retreating. He’d have to find a way to make this uncomfortable moment a little easier for both him and Hayley.

“There’s a booth over there,” he said, pointing to the only empty spot in the café. Hayley nodded, and he followed her through the crowded but unusually quiet room, making a point to nod and say hello to neighbors and friends.