LITMIR.BIZ

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boys, he felt the oddly familiar ache in his chest as memories of his own childhood flooded him. His early years had been happy and normal, but the later ones had brought sorrow, and he quickly pushed aside the painful thoughts.

      “So how’d you and Hayley get along, Brayden? Everything go okay?”

      His son looked up at him, his dark brown eyes round and full of an innocence Luke knew came and went with the wind. As if he suddenly understood, Brayden turned to look at the new nanny and responded with a throaty giggle, a sure sign that he and Hayley had hit it off.

      Tugging at one of Brayden’s short curls, Luke smiled and kept his voice low. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. You got your old man’s good taste in women.”

      When he realized what he had just said to his son, Luke clamped his mouth shut. Good taste? Hardly. He had been so sure that Kendra was the one-and-only girl for him. He’d been as wrong as anybody could ever be. If he could turn back the clock...

      Beside him, Brayden bumped the truck against his knee. No, no turning back the clock. Kendra had given him the one thing he cared about more than life itself. Even the ranch didn’t hold a candle to the way he felt about his son. And Brayden was all his.

      Getting to his feet, Luke walked the length of the long room. “Something sure smells good,” he said as he walked through the room to stand behind her. He breathed in, just as he remembered his manners. “But you really didn’t have to go to so much trouble.”

      She glanced over her shoulder at him and moved to her left, away from him. “No trouble. I did some shopping today. It’s in the slow cooker. It’s ready, whenever you are.”

      “I sure appreciate it.” She looked up and he caught her gaze and held it. “First day on the job, and I should be giving you a raise already,” he teased.

      “No need,” she replied, her face taking on a pink color. “I expected to help with other things besides child care when I was hired.”

      He felt like kicking himself for giving in to the temptation to tease her. It obviously made her uncomfortable. And why shouldn’t it? He was her employer. He hadn’t meant for his comment to come out the way it had, hadn’t meant to make it sound so... He ducked his head, wishing he could take the words back. Hell, he wasn’t trying to seduce her, so why had he felt the need to tease her in a way that sounded like he was?

      She cleared her throat and he looked up at her. “I think everything you need is here,” she said.

      “You’re not joining us?”

      She opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of water. “You and Brayden are used to spending your evenings together, and I’ve spent all day with him. I think he’d like some one-on-one time with his dad. I’ll see Brayden later at bedtime, if that’s all right.”

      He wasn’t familiar with the ways of nannies, and he didn’t want to pressure her, especially on her first day. “Sure.”

      He wasn’t sure that was right, but what did he know? They’d never had a live-in nanny before. He tried to reason with himself. Why should he care what the woman did, as long as she took good care of his son? And she seemed to be doing that, from what he’d seen.

      Brayden continued to play quietly, and Luke decided Hayley was probably right about the two of them needing to spend a little special time together. He’d been so busy all day that he hadn’t realized until that moment that he missed sharing most of the day with his son.

      Needing some space and a few minutes to clear his head, he joined Brayden again and helped gather up the menagerie of animals and assorted vehicles, surprised that his son helped him with the small chore. His usual style was to turn around and walk away. Luke had learned the hard way that it didn’t do any good to yell at the boy. Even at two, Brayden had developed a way to tune out anything he didn’t want to hear and had inherited his mother’s knack for tantrums. Picking up toys was one of those things that could set Brayden off in a split second. Going to bed was another.

      When they finished, Luke took him by the hand, but it was Brayden who pulled Luke to the counter. Luke raised an eyebrow when the little guy pulled a bib from the counter and handed it to him, then lifted his chin without being asked so Luke could hook it behind his neck.

      “Looks like you and Hayley had a good day,” Luke said, settling Brayden in his seat.

      He watched her move around the counter to give Brayden a hug, and he felt even worse. In one day, his son had taken to her and she to him. If Brayden’s mother had done the same...

      “I’ll see you later, Brayden,” she said, placing a kiss on the top of the boy’s head. She looked at Luke. “Same time in the morning?”

      “If it works out for you, yes.”

      “Then I’ll see you at six-thirty with breakfast.”

      “There’s no need—”

      “I don’t mind at all.”

      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,”

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