LITMIR.BIZ

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a businesslike briskness.

      “You sure you don’t want me to hang around and help you with breakfast for the boys?”

      “I’m quite capable of taking care of it.” She suddenly wanted him gone. She wanted him to take his deep, sexy voice, his clean male scent and his gorgeous robbing eyes and leave her be.

      “Okay, if you insist.” He got up from the table, carried his cup to the sink, then grabbed a cowboy hat from a hook near the back door. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

      She nodded, and it was only when he left the house that she felt as if she could draw a deep, full breath.

      There was no question that something about Jack Cortland touched her. She had never considered herself a rescuer, except when it came to the lives of children.

      She had to maintain some emotional distance. She needed to focus only on her reason for being here, and that reason had nothing do with making Jack smile, bringing laughter to his lips and chasing away that cloak of loneliness that clung to him.

      

      Jack lifted his face to the sun as he sat on the back of his horse, Domino. This was the third morning Marisa had chased him out of the house for a couple hours.

      He’d been more than eager to get away this morning. He was irritated. The beautiful nanny who stirred him on a number of levels in the past two days had transformed into a mini drill sergeant barking orders.

      Over the past two days she’d introduced so many new techniques his head was spinning. There was a little red chair that was a time-out place where the boys each had spent an abundance of time, and there had been times when he suspected Marisa would have liked to put him in that time-out chair.

      She’d promised him fun, and she’d given him a rigid structure that had both he and the boys feeling downright cranky.

      As he headed across the pasture, he focused his attention on the fencing, noticing several places where repair was needed.

      The ranch hadn’t been in great shape when Jack had returned here after his parents’ deaths. He’d been back for two years, but the first year he’d done nothing but anesthetize himself with alcohol and drugs, and the ranch had fallen into more disrepair.

      He waved to Sam, who was on a tractor cutting back weeds from around the barn. Then with a glance at his watch Jack realized it was time to get back to the house.

      Even though he was irritated with Marisa, he couldn’t help being eager to get back to the house with her and the boys. No doubt, the cute little nanny was definitely making him more than a little crazy.

      He quickly brushed down Domino then put him back in his stall. Eventually he wanted to teach the boys to ride. Maybe it was time to buy a couple ponies.

      He entered the house through the kitchen where Betty was working on lunch preparations. “Best thing you ever did was hire that woman,” she said.

      “I agree,” he replied, although he’d liked Marisa better when she hadn’t been riding him so hard.

      “You can love them, but you also need to demand decent behavior from them. That’s real love,” she said.

      He had just walked into the living room when the phone rang. He answered on the second ring, vaguely aware of the sound of laughter coming from the boys’ bedroom.

      “Jack, it’s Harold.”

      A knot twisted in Jack’s gut as he heard the sound of his ex-father-in-law’s voice. “Hello, Harold.”

      “How are the boys?”

      “Fine. They’re getting along just fine,” Jack replied.

      “Really, that’s not what I’ve heard.”

      Jack’s stomach dropped to the floor. “What exactly have you heard?”

      “That they have the table manners of hyenas.”

      Heidi. Damn, how had Harold found out about that dreadful meal? Had Heidi gone to the wealthy casino mogul man and told her tale for a price? Jack gripped the receiver more tightly against his ear.

      “You don’t have to worry about it, Harold,” he said, pleased that his voice sounded cool and calm. “I’ve got a professional nanny working with them on their manners, along with some other things.”

      “Is she one of your bimbos from your past?”

      A tide of anger swelled up inside Jack, but he stuffed it down, refusing to be baited into a screaming match with the man. Harold had never believed that Jack was faithful to Candace during their marriage. It didn’t matter to Harold that his daughter probably hadn’t been faithful to Jack.

      “Her name is Marisa Perez. Check her out, Harold. I’m sure you’ll find her credentials impeccable.” At that moment Marisa and the boys came into the living room. They were all laughing and looked so happy he wanted to be a part of it. “Look, Harold, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” He disconnected the call.

      “Problems?” Marisa asked with a frown.

      “I hope not,” he replied, then forced a bright smile on his face. “And what has my two favorite boys laughing so hard?”

      As Mick went into a long story about a bug on the floor in the bedroom, love swelled Jack’s heart. He would do anything within his power to keep these boys with him.

      That night he found himself alone in the living room with Marisa. The boys had gone to sleep in their beds at eight-thirty without a fuss.

      “This is amazing,” he said to her as he listened to the silence of the house.

      She smiled. “And you were probably getting ready to fire me.”

      He grinned. “There have been moments in the past couple days that I thought you’d ridden me hard,” he admitted. “It’s taken me a while to realize that giving kids consequences for bad behavior isn’t abusive.”

      “On the contrary, it’s the most loving thing you can do for them,” she replied.

      All day long Jack had felt a simmering tension where she was concerned. He felt it now as he smelled the scent of her perfume, noticed how her T-shirt tugged across her full breasts.

      She has a boyfriend, he reminded himself. She’s unavailable. Still, thinking those words didn’t ease the desire for her that seemed to grow stronger every day.

      His irritation with her that morning seemed like an alien emotion as this afternoon he’d begun to see the results of her firm hand both with the boys and with him. By no means were things perfect yet, but they were definitely better than they had been before she’d arrived.

      “I guess I should go to bed,” she said.

      “Don’t go yet,” he protested. “It’s still early, and I enjoy your company.”

      Her cheeks turned a charming pink as she settled back into the sofa cushion. “It is early. I guess I could stay up for a little while longer.” She looked at him curiously. “I might be overstepping my boundaries, but I couldn’t help but hear you mention my name on the phone earlier.”

      A new tension twisted in Jack’s stomach. “That was Harold Rothchild on the phone. Apparently he heard about a dinner that went bad just before I hired you.” He quickly told her about the dinner with Heidi and the flying broccoli. When he was finished a small smile curved her lips.

      “I’m sorry. I know it isn’t funny,” she exclaimed with her laughter barely suppressed. “But I’m just imagining that cheesy broccoli sliding down the front of her chest.”

      Suddenly they were both laughing with an abandon that felt wonderful. The stress of the past four months seemed to melt out of Jack.

      “That felt good,” he said when the laughter finally stopped.

      “You

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