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Bryce caught a glimpse of a cute, dark-haired girl in a pink-checked dress.
“It’s nice to meet you, Amy,” he said, wondering when they had arrived. Lorna hadn’t mentioned expecting company at work today.
“Thank you.” Amy smiled and put her hand out.
Bryce shook it. She had a firm grip for such a small woman. She also had a direct gaze and huge brown eyes that dominated her face. “I hope you won’t be bored here. There’s not much to do in Morgan Creek.”
“It’ll be fun just to catch up with Lorna.”
He liked her voice, too. It was low, with a musical quality and slight Southern drawl. “So you two were roommates?” Those eyes really were incredible. It wasn’t just their size. Their color—a rich, warm brown flecked with gold—was arresting, and setting them off were thick dark lashes.
“Yes. And I missed Lorna after she left.”
She smiled at Lorna, and Bryce saw that she had a small dimple at the right side of her mouth.
“Amy’s on her way to California,” Lorna explained. “She’s a kindergarten teacher and hopes to find a job and settle out there.”
“Whereabouts in California?”
Amy shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. I like small towns, and I was thinking maybe I’d go somewhere near the San Diego area.”
As Bryce was framing another question, a flurry at the entrance to the living room announced another arrival. Bryce saw that it was Jake Kenyon, their neighbor and a long-time family friend, accompanied by his daughter, Tara. Tara and Bryce had grown up together, and until Bryce had met and fallen in love with Michelle, Bryce knew that his family and most of the townspeople had assumed he and Tara would eventually marry.
Tara had married within six months of Bryce, and Bryce had always wondered if the marriage had been her answer to his. Whatever the reason, it hadn’t lasted long. Not even two years, and the union had produced no children.
During the years Bryce was married to Michelle, Tara had spent most of her time in Dallas, working as a runway model for several of the designers based in the city. She hadn’t needed to work—as Jake’s only child she had plenty of money and stood to inherit a fortune—but Bryce knew the attention she received from her modeling and the whirl of the Dallas social scene were the big draws. At one point, she’d been engaged to some bigshot Dallas power broker, but she’d broken the engagement. He’d never known the reason why.
Six months ago she’d returned to Morgan Creek and now spent her time helping her father with his many business interests. She’d also become heavily involved with the local rodeo committee, for Morgan Creek and the neighboring town of Bailey Springs joined together to sponsor the annual Morgan Bailey Livestock Show and Rodeo, one of the largest in Texas.
Bryce genuinely liked Tara, and sometimes he wondered if that affection and their long friendship and similar backgrounds might not be enough…for something more. The girls seemed to like her, too. And yet…after having the real thing with Michelle he wasn’t sure he could settle for less.
With this thought in mind, he watched as Tara and her father headed in his direction.
Tara Kenyon looked like a movie star, Amy thought. Tall and slim at about five foot eight, she had luxurious chestnut hair and glittering green eyes. Her features were flawless: straight nose neither too long nor too short, plump lips, perfect white teeth, beautifully arched brows, long, thick, curly eyelashes and a creamy complexion with just a hint of a tan.
And that body! Amy could only dream of such a body. It was very slender yet curvy, with full high breasts and a nicely rounded rear.
Tonight she wore a figure-skimming silk sheath in a shade of tangerine that looked fabulous on her and complemented both her hair and her skin. The dress ended several inches above her knees, revealing long, gorgeous legs and high arched feet with perfectly manicured toes shown to advantage in strappy gold stiletto heels.
Next to her, Amy felt colorless and dull in her beige dress and plain brown sandals, but the outfit was the best she’d packed in readiness for her chance to flee. The reminder that she was here on false pretenses took away some of the pleasure she’d begun to feel at her warm welcome from Lorna’s family.
Watching Tara, Amy saw that she acted like a star, too, barely acknowledging the introduction to Amy as her gaze moved unerringly to Bryce. Only then did she turn on the full wattage of her smile.
Leaning forward, she kissed him on the mouth. “Hello, stranger. Haven’t seen you in a few days,” she drawled sweetly. “Where have you been hiding yourself?”
“Another nanny quit,” Bryce said.
“Are you sure you’re not beating them or something? Not that it might not be pleasant to be beaten by you.” This last was said with a low chuckle.
With unspoken accord, Amy and Lorna moved away.
“Bitch,” Lorna muttered.
Amy couldn’t help laughing. “I take it you don’t like her?” she whispered.
“Remind me to tell you some Tara stories tonight after we get back to the house.”
Just then Lorna’s youngest sister, Claudia, approached. Amy had met Claudia and the rest of Lorna’s family earlier and was struck by how attractive they all were. Lorna reminded Amy of Cameron Diaz with her big eyes and wide smile, whereas Claudia was a Meg Ryan type with her coltish grace and impish grin. Chloe, the oldest sister, had more classical good looks, sort of a cross between a young Cheryl Ladd or a Michelle Pfeiffer. They were all blonde—although Amy suspected some of the blond came from a bottle—blue-eyed, slender and tanned.
Bryce was very attractive, too, but in a different way. His hair was darker than the girls’—more brown than blond—but he also had those intense blue Hathaway eyes. Amy decided she wouldn’t exactly call him handsome. His chin was too square and his nose a tad crooked, but in addition to those great eyes, he had a terrific smile, and he exuded warmth and strength. Not to mention tons of sex appeal. These were all qualities Amy was sure most women found irresistible—not just Tara Kenyon.
It was easy to see where the women got their good looks, for their mother, Kathleen, was a beauty, almost as perfectly put together in her way as Tara Kenyon was in hers. Yet there was something about the expression in Kathleen Hathaway’s eyes that told Amy the older woman wasn’t happy. Amy wondered if that unhappiness was related to Lorna’s father. Jonathan Hathaway was handsome, but there was a softness about him that Amy found off-putting.
“So what are you two plotting?” Claudia asked with a grin as she joined them.
“No plot,” Lorna said. She leaned over and stage-whispered into Claudia’s ear, “Just dissing Miss T.”
Claudia grimaced. “Oh. Her.”
Amy was gratified to find she wasn’t alone in her almost immediate dislike of Tara Kenyon. Glancing back, she saw that the woman had slipped her arm through Bryce’s and was looking up at him as if he were the only person in the room.
“Yep,” Lorna said, following Amy’s gaze. “She’s gunning for him.”
“Your brother doesn’t act as if he minds.” It disappointed Amy that he seemed to welcome Tara’s attentions, but it didn’t surprise her. No man would be immune to a woman like Tara, she was afraid.
“She’s been after Bryce since she was knee high to a grasshopper,” Claudia said with an exaggerated country accent.
“Yeah, she nearly croaked when he brought Michelle home and announced their engagement,” Lorna added with a wicked grin. “I don’t think it ever entered her head that he’d marry someone else. It’s one of the few times in Tara’s life that she’s ever been denied something she coveted.”
Just then Bryce and Tara walked in their direction, and the sisters immediately changed the subject.
“So, Amy,” Claudia said, “Lorna tells us you’re heading to California?”
Amy nodded.
“Do you have family out there?”
“No. I just wanted a change.”
“She wanted to get away from her ex,” Lorna added.
“Well, I admire you. I want a change, too, but I haven’t done much about it.”
“You’re doing something,” Lorna said.
“Finally,” Claudia said.
“Hey, it’s not easy bucking Gran.”
Claudia made a face. “Tell me about it.”
“Mommy, Mommy! Lookit what I got.”
The three women turned at the sound of Calista’s excited voice. Amy smiled as her daughter, followed by Bryce’s two girls, skidded to a stop in front of her. Eyes bright with happiness, she lifted a strand of coral beads that were hanging around her neck.
“Where did you get those?” Amy asked.
“Stelwa gave ’em to me.”
Stella Hathaway gave Amy a shy smile.
“That was sweet of you, Stella,” Lorna said. She pulled Stella close and gave her a shoulder hug.
“I have some beads like those,” Susan piped up, “but mine are green. She can have mine, too.”
It was obvious from her tone of voice that Susan had no intention of being outdone by her sister.
“What generous girls you are.” This came from Claudia, who winked at Amy.
“Did you say thank you?” Amy asked Calista.
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I’d like to thank you girls, too.” Amy smiled down at Susan and Stella. “But maybe your father won’t like you giving away your jewelry.”
Susan made a face. “He doesn’t care.”
“We bought the beads with our own money,” Stella offered. “When we were in Mexico last year.”
“You went to Mexico?” Amy said.
“Uh-huh,” Susan said. “We took a cruise with Daddy.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Claudia and I went, too,” Lorna said. “And it was fun.”
“We had our own party,” Susan said.
“While the adults were having a cocktail party,” Lorna explained.
“It was cool,” Stella said. “We got to dance and everything.”
They talked about the cruise a few more minutes, then the girls trooped off—the older two each holding one of Calista’s hands.
“I haven’t seen those girls take to anyone like that in a long time,” Claudia said, watching them walk away.
“Neither have I,” Lorna added thoughtfully.
Amy watched them, too, thinking how much she was going to hate leaving Morgan Creek. She’d only been here a few hours and already she felt at home. And, obviously, so did Calista. It really was sweet how Susan and Stella were looking after her.
Just then one of the maids came around with a tray holding glasses of champagne, and a few minutes later the adults were called across to the dining room where dinner was ready to be served. The children would eat in the morning room, Lorna explained to Amy, supervised by two teenage sitters her mother had hired for the evening. “Mother and Gran like civilized meals,” she added with a laugh. “Meaning, they don’t even want to see the children, let alone hear them.”
“Yeah,” Claudia said. “We weren’t allowed to dine with the adults until we turned sixteen. And even then, woe to anyone who couldn’t behave themselves.”
Amy thought about the way she was raised, which was so different. Of course, she was an only child and had been born to parents who were already in their forties and who had never expected to have a child. Consequently, they were so delighted, they liked having her with them all the time. When Amy started school, it was Amy’s mother who had cried instead of Amy. Remembering, Amy felt a frisson of sadness. Her mother had been dead for nearly ten years, and Amy still missed her.
Once in the dining room, Amy found herself seated across the table from Tara Kenyon and Bryce, who was on Tara’s right. Amy was seated between Lorna and Greg Standish, Chloe’s husband. Greg was extremely handsome, Amy thought, and very charming. Almost too charming. When he turned to her, giving her the full force of his attention, she decided if he were her husband, she might never let him out the door.
“So you and Lorna were roommates in college?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Lucky Lorna,” he murmured.
Amy had never been comfortable with men who flirted as easily as they breathed. She was not a mistress of light banter, and she was particularly bad at anything with sexual overtones. Maybe this was because she had spent her working life with children, who were nothing if not direct, so she’d never had a chance to master subtleties. Or maybe it was because Cole had been so possessive and jealous that she’d had no opportunities to develop her skill at casual, social flirting. On the other hand, maybe it just wasn’t in her to be anything but straightforward in her relationships with others. And yet, here she was, presenting a false front to all these nice people, she thought with a renewed stab of guilt.
“Behave yourself, Greg,” Lorna said.
Greg just laughed and winked at Amy.
“Bryce,” Lorna said, “did you notice how taken Susan and Stella are with Amy’s little girl?”
“I did.” His gaze met Amy’s, and he smiled. “She’s a charmer.”
“Thank you.”
“Well behaved, too,” Lorna added. “Which isn’t surprising, seeing as how Amy’s background is teaching young children. I think I told you that’s what she plans to do in California.”
Amy wished she could find a way to change the subject. She was sure Lorna’s brother didn’t care what her plans were, plus she didn’t like being the focus of everyone’s attention.
“Why are you going to California?” Bryce asked. “Is it because you have a job lined up there?”
She knew he was just being polite. “No, not yet.”
“Would you consider staying in Texas if you could find a job here?”
She was surprised by the question. “I…I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it. I guess if I happened upon a job somewhere like Morgan Creek, I would. I like small towns.”
Bryce studied her for a long moment. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.
Then he said, “Maybe that could be arranged.”
“Really? Do you know of an opening here?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, I do.”
At this, Tara Kenyon said, “She’s a kindergarten teacher, Bryce. There’s only one kindergarten in Morgan Creek, and Allison Stuckey has that job.”
