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He turned away from his grinning sons, a little uneasy about what he’d done, but he couldn’t take care of everything and continue to answer those ridiculous calls.
Life was screwy. Four weeks advertising for a housekeeper and not a single call or letter. One week of that stupid ad for a wife, and he was being driven crazy by the calls and, even worse, the letters. The picture Gareth had found was mild in comparison to some he’d received. He blushed just thinking about them.
When he’d come in this evening, his answering machine had been full of suggestive messages, asking him to call. Most left their home numbers. One particularly sexy voice had suggested he call her at a motel in Dodge City, Kansas, so they could discuss fulfilling their mutual needs. Maybe she expected him to drive to meet her so they could “try out” married life.
He settled back in at his desk and, in disgust, swept the letters into the trash. He’d wasted enough time on such foolishness!
LESLIE HIBBETS SWITCHED the TV channel again. The tired, out-of-date motel room in Dodge City, Kansas, didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment. But she couldn’t leave unless she wanted to risk missing her return call.
Last night, she’d gone to the diner next door for a late meal, discouraged and unsure of her next move. She’d spent the past four years nursing her mother after an accident had killed her father and left her mother crippled. Six months ago her mother had died.
Feeling her life had been put on hold, albeit for a good reason, Leslie wanted to experience life, to find excitement. Instead, all she’d found was loneliness.
Eventually, she wanted to have a family, much like the life she’d experienced as a child. Her parents had provided a loving home for her, a home where she knew her parents loved each other as well as her. In the meantime, she wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for.
While waiting for her food, she’d glanced at the weekly newspaper someone had left on the counter. Out of boredom, she’d turned to the want ads. The only one that caught her eye was for that of a housekeeper for a rancher with five-year-old twins.
If there was one thing she could do, it was keep house. She didn’t know much about children, but she could cook. Of course, she had no intention of being tied down, she reminded herself. She was free now to discover the world.
A rueful laugh had escaped at such grandiose thoughts. All she’d discovered had been highways with traffic whizzing by and lonely motel rooms. She looked at the ad again. If she took something like this job, on a temporary basis, just until the children started school, it would give her time to figure out what she wanted to do. And she wouldn’t feel so…so unconnected.
Money wasn’t a problem, but she couldn’t go forever without a job. Why not earn her keep while she was determining her future?
She’d decided to sleep on her decision. When she awoke this morning, she’d made the phone call to Mr. D. Graybow in Wyoming and gotten the answering machine. His gruff, sexy growl had startled her and she’d hung up. Before she lost her courage, she redialed the number and this time, she left a message, suggesting he call her to discuss fulfilling their mutual needs.
“There!” she’d exclaimed as she’d hung up. She’d sounded cool and professional—she hoped. Now all she had to do was wait for him to call.
By nine o’clock that evening, her patience was wearing thin. The least the man could do was return her call. Impatiently, she picked up the phone and dialed the number in the ad.
“Hello?”
She realized a child had answered the phone, probably one of the twins. “May I speak to Mr. Graybow, please?”
“He’s busy.”
Before she could respond, the line went dead. She held the receiver from her ear and stared at it as if it had insulted her.
Irritated, she dialed the number again. The same little voice answered and she hurriedly asked, “Mr. Graybow, please.”
“He’s busy.” Again the line went dead.
With steely determination, she dialed again. “Don’t hang up!” she immediately said when the child answered again. “I’m calling about the ad. Has Mr. Graybow hired anyone yet?”
There was no response to her question but she could hear hurried whispering in the background. “Hello?”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“Well, uh, if he won’t interview me over the phone, should I come there? Is he only interviewing in person?”
More whispering.
“Can you bake cookies?”
Leslie smiled at the question. “Yes, I can bake cookies.”
“Do you like little boys?”
“Yes, I believe I do.” Not exactly a lie. She just hadn’t been around little boys that much, except for her neighbor’s grandchildren.
“Then you should come.”
“I should come? When?”
“Now.”
“But I can’t get there until tomorrow. Shall I come tomorrow evening?” How strange to allow a five-year-old to conduct his business. Mr. D. Graybow certainly seemed in need of some help. She ignored the sudden memory of that husky voice on the answering machine.
“Yeah. Tomorrow night. Bye!” Again the conversation ended abruptly.
But this time she had an answer to her question. She was to go to Wyoming to interview for a temporary job as housekeeper.
Of course, it might all come to nothing, but she’d wanted adventure. She wasn’t going to retreat at the first offer just because the future wasn’t guaranteed.
Twenty-four hours later, her opinion changed. “You are crazy!” she told herself. Leslie gnawed on her bottom lip as she stared down the narrow, deserted road. When it got dark in Wyoming, it really got dark.
Back home in Kansas City, there always seemed to be another house, a store, something around the bend. People passing you on the road.
Out here, there was nothing. She hadn’t seen another car in the past half hour. Glancing down at the piece of paper on the other seat, she wondered if she was lost. No, she hadn’t passed another road like the one shown on the sketchy map the motel clerk had given her. After she’d gotten a room, she’d headed out to the Bar-G Ranch, as per the child’s instructions last night.
She shuddered as a strong wind rocked the car and wet flakes of snow began spitting on her windshield. “Yes, you’re absolutely crazy,” she reaffirmed. Otherwise she wouldn’t have taken a child’s word that she should come. But at least she’d had a purpose to her drive today.
A break in the fence on her right that she could barely see in the dark had her easing off the gas pedal. Yes, there it was, just as the clerk had said. She flicked on her blinker and then laughed. Who cared if she signaled? She seemed to be the only driver for miles around.
Not that being alone bothered her. She’d spent a lot of time alone or with her mother for the past four years.
She drove over a cattle guard, but if she’d expected to find a ranch house nearby, she was disappointed. No habitation was within the range of her headlights.
With a sigh, she pressed back down on the gas pedal. She might as well get this over with. If this job didn’t work out, she’d have to try to make a rational decision about her future. She couldn’t continue to wander around.
Two miles later, she found D. Graybow’s house, surrounded by several other buildings. There were lights burning, she noted with a sigh of relief. She guessed they really were expecting her.
She parked the car close to a long porch that ran the length of the house. Warily she climbed the steps and rapped on the door.
No one answered at first. She rapped again. This time she heard voices, children’s voices, and then a deeper voice, accompanied by a heavy tread. She recognized that growl.
The door swung open and she stared at a handsome cowboy—tight jeans, boots and all. Of course, his shirt was wrinkled and had stains, his hair looked as if he’d just shoved one of his big hands through it and the scowl on his face was unwelcoming. But he was handsome.
“Mr. Graybow?”
“Yeah?”
Definitely unwelcoming.
“I’ve come about your ad.”
HE COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. The letters had been bad enough. The letters and the pictures, he amended. He couldn’t believe women would go so far to find a husband. Some of those things had been downright embarrassing. But to appear on his doorstep with no warning?
Something about the voice sparked a memory in him. The sexy voice on the answering machine wanting to discuss fulfilling their mutual needs! He’d had dreams about that voice.
“I realize it’s late, but he said to come tonight,” she went on, since he didn’t speak. “And I just got here from Kansas.”
“The ad was a mistake,” he snapped. And one his idiotic friends would pay for when he got his hands on them.
“Oh.”
The single syllable was full of disappointment. He looked at her, wondering why she would be so interested in marrying a stranger. It didn’t make sense to him. She wasn’t ugly. In fact, in his book she’d rate a second look with her wide blue eyes, chestnut hair pulled back in a braid and slender figure. If he were interested in marrying again, he hurriedly reminded himself.
A tug on his leg got his attention.
“Daddy?”
“Not now, Gareth,” he muttered. Somehow it bothered him that his children meet a woman desperate enough to answer that crazy ad.
“But, Daddy—”
“I said not now!”
The woman was turning away from the door when Justin, Gareth’s twin brother, called from the kitchen, “Hurry, it’s getting bigger.”
The woman stopped and stared at them, a puzzled frown on her face. He nodded at her and started closing the door, anxious to send her on her way. But a look in her eyes stopped him. She was staring in horror over his shoulder.
Uneasiness filled him as he turned to follow her gaze.
With good reason. Black smoke was trailing out the kitchen door.
Chapter Two
“Justin!” Doug yelled even as he charged down the hall. The appearance of his towheaded son at the door was a relief, but he didn’t have time to appreciate it then.
Racing into the kitchen, he grabbed the handle of the skillet on the burner, the flames in it higher than the ones underneath. As he swung it to the sink, the searing iron of the skillet burned into his hand, and he let loose a bloodcurdling yell.
A slim hand reached around him and turned on the cold water, directing the flow into the skillet. The smoke tripled as cold met hot. Before he could think how to relieve the pain that was shooting through him, that same hand grabbed his and, redirecting the water to the other sink, put his palm under the flow of water.
“Don’t move,” she ordered.
Vaguely he was aware she’d extinguished the flames on the stove. But he didn’t know where she went until she dumped a handful of ice cubes into the deepening water. But he wasn’t going to complain. He was in agony.
“Aren’t you supposed to use butter or something?” he asked, his voice gritty as he tried to hide his pain.
“No. That’s the worst thing to use.” She made another trip to the refrigerator for more ice.
He had forgotten his children until he heard a giggle and then watched as they dropped ice cubes into the water.
“We never made icewater in the sink before. Is Daddy gonna drink it?” Justin asked.
“No, he’s not,” the woman answered, smiling at the boy. “We’re trying to stop his hand from burning.”
“Like the skillet? Is he gonna have fire in his hand?” Gareth asked as he rose on tiptoe to peer over the side of the sink.
“No,” she said again. “But his hand is going to hurt a lot.”
Justin and Gareth frowned.
“Does it, Daddy?” Gareth finally asked.
“What?” Doug muttered, his mind intent on the woman’s actions rather than his sons.
“Does it hurt really bad?”
“Yeah.” His gaze met the woman’s and he realized he owed her his thanks. “Uh, I appreciate your help.”
A half smile and a shrug was her only response.
“How long do I have to keep my hand in the water?”
“You can take it out whenever you want, but it’s best to keep it in until the burning stops.” She had that sexy voice he remembered from the answering machine—soothing at the moment, warm.
“I’m gonna look pretty funny on a horse with a sink attached,” he muttered.
Another smile. Suddenly he wondered if she ever laughed. If her blue eyes lit up and her lips— What was wrong with him? He didn’t even know this woman.
“I think a half hour will be long enough.”
She didn’t even seem put out by his ill humor. His eyebrows rose slightly as he stared at her.
“Daddy?” Justin asked, jerking on his jeans.
“What, son?”
“What are we gonna eat for dinner? We’re hungry.”
Leslie looked down at the identical pairs of brown eyes. The boys were cute, but something in the looks they were giving her made her wonder about their guilelessness.
After an awkward silence, she said, “I could fix you something if your father doesn’t mind.” She allowed her gaze to only glance off the man still standing by the sink. He was even sexier than his voice had promised.
“That’s not necessary—”
The children drowned him out with their excited questions.
