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The boy turned huge eyes toward him as the family walked away. “That’s a weird name,” he told Last. “Sort of like my mother’s stage name.”
Last trotted after the child, figuring he was the more receptive target for an apology. “What’s your mother’s stage name?”
“Poppy Peabody.”
“Poppy Peabody?” That was a stage name.
“The hottest female magician performing today,” the little girl said proudly. “Get your popcorn, take your seats, fellas—”
Poppy grimaced, tugging the children up the beach faster.
The “hot” part they had right. Last kept jogging alongside the boy, recognizing that the stubborn set of Poppy’s shoulders meant he wasn’t getting anywhere with her. “So what’s your name?” he asked the boy.
“Curtis. My sister’s name is Amelia.”
“Nice names.”
“Thanks. Is Last your stage name?”
“No.” Last wished Poppy would slow down. Her legs were nearly as long as his and obviously far more used to sand power-walking. “It’s all mine. Does your mother have a real name?”
“She’s not really my mother,” Curtis said in a confidential tone. “She’s our aunt.”
Aunt. Hmm. Last ignored the pleasure the knowledge gave him. “Name?”
Finally Poppy stopped. “Esmerelda Hastings,” she said curtly. “I prefer Aunt Poppy to Aunt Esmerelda, and Poppy in general.”
He blinked. “I can see where you might, although Esme is kind of cool, you have to admit. Not as dramatic, I guess.”
“Poppy and Last,” Amelia murmured, frowning. “That won’t do. You’re not The One.”
“Amelia!” Poppy said. “I apologize,” she told Last, her blush quite appealing. “They are homeschooled and quite precocious.”
“I was homeschooled, for the most part,” Last said. “We did go to public school for a few years, but more as a social exercise.” Now that he had her attention, he refused to let it go. “Can we start over?” he asked with a smile.
“I suppose,” she said reluctantly. “Although I try to discourage the children from talking to strangers. And certainly taking money from them is inappropriate.”
“You speak just like Mary Poppins,” Last said. “Very proper. Are you British?”
“Mary Poppins flew by parasol,” Amelia interrupted. “And Mr. Last flew by hang-glider, though not very well,” she finished thoughtfully. “It’s something in common.”
“I thought Mr. Jefferson did quite fine, except on the landing,” Curtis said. “They probably have lots in common.”
“Whew,” Last said, “these two are certainly trying to set you up. I’m sorry I’m not available, if for no other reason than to see what they’re up to.”
Poppy smiled sadly. “My sister passed away a year ago, and it is the children’s opinion that if they can marry me off, they will have a whole family. Like most children, having a whole family is their greatest wish.”
“No father?” Last asked quietly, watching as the children were sidetracked by a bird flying overhead.
Poppy shook her head. “No one knows where he is.”
“I know that routine,” he said with a sigh.
“Sorry?” Poppy said.
Last hadn’t seen his own father in years, though Mason kept up a diligent search. But Last wasn’t ready to go into that, not here and not with a woman as pretty as Poppy/Esmerelda. “Hey, let’s have lunch,” he said instead. “I want to hear more about this magician’s life you lead. Wasn’t it ‘the hottest female magician performing today’?”
Poppy blushed. “The children hear that every night from the announcer. Pay no attention to it.”
“How can I not?” He grinned at the kids as they turned their gazes back to him. “It’s true—at least the hot part. Now, magic, I don’t believe in.”
The children gasped. Poppy looked horrified.
“How do you think Mary Poppins flew?” Amelia demanded.
“Ropes and pulleys?” Last asked.
They all stared. Must be British, Last thought.
“Don’t you believe in firefly magic and baby turtles that run to the sea without ever knowing what the sea is?” Curtis demanded.
“Instinct,” Last said. “It’s all instinct, a very good thing to have.” Right now his was telling him that if he was smart, he’d be doing the cowboy-bachelor crawl away from this bunch.
Poppy drew herself up tall, which stretched her torso and raised her bikini top a bit, his practiced masculine eye noted. She had wonderfully taut skin, golden and plump with vitality.
“Magic is everything,” Poppy said. “It moves the world. It heightens your senses. It’s at the heart of your most fabulous moments.”
“Nope. Those happen when I’m drinking a cold beer, and there’s nothing magic about that except how fast I can make it disappear.” He grinned, pleased by his own humor.
“Mr. Jefferson!” Poppy said.
“Oops. Another lapse. I am sorry.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Neither I nor my eleven brothers are known for being role models.”
Poppy sniffed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Were you ever a child, Mr. Jefferson?”
“Most of my adult life,” he said cheerfully. “Although having a young daughter has certainly matured me.”
“I doubt the veracity of that,” Poppy said, “but I’ll have to take your word for it. If you’ll excuse us, we must decline your offer of luncheon. We have studies before tonight’s show.”
With the thought that he might not see Poppy again, he was suddenly in the mood to take in a show. What could it hurt? “Where will you be performing?”
“Goodbye,” she told him, walking away.
“Damn,” he said. “I’m not as smooth as I used to be.”
From the way she’d said it, he knew better than to follow her. But for some reason he followed her anyway.
POPPY WALKED AWAY FROM the handsome stranger wishing her charges were just a bit less in shopping-for-a-father mode. It wasn’t going to work. She had no desire for a permanent man, due to her lifestyle, and the children had no idea that marriage wasn’t always filled with glittery magic.
It was hard work, and right now her efforts needed to be focused on the children. Amelia was ten, Curtis eight, and there would be many changes in their lives in the teen years. She had to think only of them, and a man would make things in her once-free life even more complicated. Five months ago, she’d been a happily traveling gypsy with no greater care than daily performances. She liked the bohemian lifestyle. But she’d had to settle down a bit since she’d inherited the children. That kind of focus was hard enough without the further distraction of a man.
The children didn’t understand this. Amelia and Curtis only wanted a family, and were she in their circumstance, Poppy probably would have reacted the same way. But even if she was looking for marriage, the right man did not simply drop from the sky. Hunting for The One took effort and kissing lots of frogs.
She had an aversion to smooching frogs.
“You two must stop,” she said now to Amelia and Curtis. “Please try to be satisfied that, for now, we are a family. And a good one. We’re making it, aren’t we?” she asked, bending down to look in their faces.
They nodded slowly, not convinced.
“The judge said it would be better if we were placed in a two-parent home,” Amelia reminded her. “He said he’d examine our progress in a month.”
“He doesn’t like the fact that we travel with you in a circus,” Curtis said, his blue eyes round. “He said it wasn’t stable.”
“True,” Poppy agreed. “It’s something to consider.”
The judge certainly had been put off by her stage name and gypsy lifestyle. His suggested alternative was that the children live with Poppy’s parents. Though they were far past the age of wanting to be responsible for children, the judge knew her parents personally and felt more comfortable with the stability he thought they would give the children.
It would be better for everyone if she could find a way to settle down, Poppy knew. And she was trying. “I will try harder,” she said slowly. “I guess I could give marriage some consideration. But not to that man,” she said quickly, dimming their suddenly hopeful faces. “He’s just not for me.”
They nodded, accepting her reason.
“We like living with you, Aunt Poppy,” Amelia said. “We just want to stay with you.”
“Maybe I should give up the land of make-believe and take a job as a teacher. It might impress the judge.”
Surely it would. A sense of permanence was what he’d seen lacking in her résumé. The only reason she’d been temporarily awarded custody of the children was that she was the only family member who’d come forward at the time of her sister’s death to claim them. Frankly she felt her family’s matters were none of the court’s business, but in order to adopt the children, she’d had to file for custody.
The judge had taken exception to her, preferring, he’d said, the security of her parents’ home. Or for Curtis and Amelia’s father to reappear.
Old goat, Poppy thought angrily. “What does he know about me anyway?” she said. “I’ve been in the same job for ten years. I have a master’s degree in English and a minor in business. A degree and job stability should speak favorably for me.”
“It was the magic,” Curtis said. “I think it bothered him.”
Certainly it had bothered Mr. Jefferson. She had seen him visibly step back from her. If she was a teacher maybe none of this would be a problem. She’d have the children as hers. They would be a family.
“Excuse me,” Last said, making his presence known and looking better than any man should in those long swim trunks and nothing else. “Before I head off to my next adventure, I couldn’t help but overhear… I think I could help you out.”
“No, we don’t want help from you,” Poppy said, thinking of the children’s marriage schemes. “You’re too much like me. Unstable.”
“I’m not unstable,” Last said cheerfully, “but I will admit to being churlish, immature at times and living like the old cliché of the bachelor male.”
“Which cliché would that be?” Poppy asked.
“Bitter and distrusting of women. Due to the fact that I was romanced and then sued by one. It’s all fine now, but I’m holding on to the bitter and distrusting part as a cautionary reminder of what a female can do to a man. Sort of a souvenir.”
Poppy couldn’t help but laugh. “Goodbye, Mr. Bitter and Distrusting. We appreciate your offer of help, but you’re a stranger and we have to think about our future.”
“They seem to have a wedding in mind,” he said, nodding toward the children, “but I’m really not the marrying kind.”
“I didn’t ask you,” she said, annoyed.
“And except for my oldest brother Mason, I’m out of single brothers, so I can’t even play match-maker for you.”
“Not necessary,” Poppy snapped.
“But it’s clear you’re in a bind,” Last continued, “and I’ve always been partial to coming to the rescue.”
Poppy gasped. “I do not need rescuing!”
He winked. “Clearly you are on the railroad tracks of instability, ma’am, in the path of an oncoming judge-driven train. Here I am to save the day!”
“How do you propose to do that?” Poppy asked.
“You could go live on my ranch in Texas,” Last said. “The mother of my child has vacated the house she was using. She’s now living in town with my brother, Crockett. The house is empty, waiting for a happy family. Think about it,” he said, “a Texas ranch, a job in town—it’s the very image of stability.”
Curtis’s and Amelia’s eyes glowed.
“It’s not matrimony, but it would be a form of security. Mason is about to get roped into running for sheriff, I believe, by his dearest friend and enemy, Mimi.” Last shook his head. “I don’t know that Mason can worm out of Mimi’s grasp on this one. Other than my brother Bandera, who lives in the house next door with his crew, and my brother Calhoun, who lives below the windmill with his, there’s just horses, cows and sheep to liven up the days.”
Poppy had to admit the picture was a tempting one. “Cowboys,” she murmured.
“Nobody would mind you living there. Olivia—Calhoun’s wife—used to travel in a gig with her horse, Gypsy, and her father-in-law, who was a rodeo clown. Right up your alley, huh?”
Poppy hesitated. She wasn’t sure anymore what was “up her alley.” The children had changed her life. That was all she did know.
“What made you become a magician anyway?” he asked.
“My master’s thesis was about beliefs. Ninety percent of people want to believe in something magical. Good fortune of some kind,” she murmured. “I decided to test the theory.”
“So you’re in the circus because of your thesis?”
She looked at him thinking that he alone was enough to make a woman believe in good fortune. Strong-muscled and tall, the dip in the ocean had left his skin gleaming. She shivered. “I may pursue a doctorate one day. It’s good to collect more data. Can I make people believe?” An unwilling smile touched her lips. “You’re certainly a doubter.”
“Yeah, but I’m hardheaded by nature. I don’t want to believe in anything that I can’t rope or ride.”
Poppy nodded. “I understand. That’s how the majority of people sampled felt. Put, of course, in different terms than yours.”
“But I’m always up for an adventure,” he added with a devilish grin. “And that’s what I’m offering to you, Professor.”
She looked into his chocolate-brown eyes. “I don’t even know you.”
He grinned. “But don’t you feel the magic?”
Curtis and Amelia looked up at her. “Do you?” Curtis asked.
“Aunt Poppy?” Amelia said.
Goose pimples raised on her arms. “Children, it’s time to go. The sun is setting, and that means a bit of a chill this time of year. Goodbye, Mr. Jefferson. Good luck to you on your adventures.”
