“Auggie is terrified but won’t admit it.Em and Junie are too but are worried for Auggie and the girls.Jan knows—but the younger ones don’t.They are all walking on eggshells, and the girls didn’t want to sleep, either.Auggie just put Markie back to bed about an hour ago.I think she’s in the nursery with the baby demon now.I doubt anyone is getting any real sleep tonight.”
“And you just sort of assigned yourself bodyguard duty, so I heard.Claudia hasquestions.So, number one, what’s going on with you and Auggie Tyler, Calloway?Inquiring Claudias want to know.Rather, inquiring Claudias want toconfirm,I believe.”
“That’s between me and Auggie and no one else.I’ll clue you in on anything you need to know when the time comes.”He was still strategizing on how to get that woman exactly where he wanted her.And…he had some decisions to make.Auggie came with six very importantlifetimecommitments, whose needs had to be considered just as strongly as Cal’s desires.“She has six kids, and two devil sisters, to take care of.I’m not going to rush her.Or do anything to jeopardize their happiness and well-being, right now.But damn it, I want that woman more than I have ever wanted any other.”
“I feel your pain.You serious about her, even with the girls?Probably have to go slow.Make sure the kids are okay.”
“I know.That’s part of the plan.They are good kids—they were so scared tonight.Ate right through me.If I had my way, I’d have scooped them all up and taken them back to the house.Hired a dozen guards to protect them.I hated seeing how afraid in their own home they were.Damn that bastard for what he’s done to them.If I could make this better for them all, I would.In a heartbeat.”
Auggie didn’t meanto eavesdrop.She’d just left one of the baby monitors in the kitchen again.And she was sitting next to the crib, rocking her baby.She heard the anger in Cal’s words.And…the honesty.He meant what he was saying.He wanted her—that gave her more tingles in places she didn’t want to think about right now, than she wanted to admit.And he cared about the girls’ well-being.
He was a different kind of man, Calloway Grady.She’d thought she had him figured out before, but apparently, she had been wrong.
She knewgoodmen existed—she was surrounded by Tyler boys after all.But there was something about Cal that just mixed her up somehow.She looked down at the beautiful baby in her arms.She hadn’t ever thought she’d have children of her own, but she did now.She hadn’t been prepared when she’d wakened in the hospital to learn that she had six more baby sisters out there.Sisters who had needed her.
What if she’d screwed up?
She’d been so terrified of everything.She still was.Hurting, traumatized, and sure she couldn’t do it.Take on six traumatized little girls under thirteen, while not even able to walk, starting a new job, and trying to build a life for all of them?She hadn’t had a day go by when she didn’t feel overwhelmed by all of it.She still didn’t.Four months, it had only beenfour months.She’d only been out of that chair fully for two of those months.She could walk, she could work, and she loved them all so much.In just a few months.
Now…all of this…their father…
How could she add a man like Cal to their lives without causing total chaos in the girls’ lives?Could they even make this work?
I want that woman more than I have ever wanted any other.
What was a sane woman supposed to think when a beautiful man said that?
Any man she got involved with—even on a temporary basis—would have to understand that the girls’ needs mattered most.Shehadto put their needs first.No matter what.It was just the way it had to be.They were still figuring out theirroutineto begin with.
But Cal…she suspected he was the kind of man who would understand.
It terrified her completely.There was no denying that.
But she wasn’t ready to let him go.
What was she going to do?
41
Claudia pulledinto the drive that led the quarter of a mile to Auggie’s ranch, nine hours after she had left the night before.She pulled her Tahoe up next to the matching one that had been waiting.So…that’s where he was.
She’d just gotten a text message from him that he was running a bit late today—and he would talk to her when he got to the station.Well, she didn’t have to be there for at least another three hours.
And this was technicallyworkingright now.
At least, that was what she’d tell Joel if he asked.She just wanted to check on them now.She had not known that one Deputy Zach Lowell would already be there.She rolled down her window, as she pulled up next to his.“Well…anything happen tonight?”
“Stopped one of your brothers at the entrance.Around one a.m.Said he received a ‘get-your-ass-here-mayday’ from the other one.I razzed him a little—on principle alone.But finally let him through.Other than that, quiet.”
He’d guarded the only road into the Nine Sisters Ranch—off the clock.Of course he had.Zach was built like that.He could be a real sweetheart under that dweeb exterior.Most people could see that.Junie was one of the few exceptions.“I’m going to spend a few hours with the girls—and apparently my brothers—if you want to take off.Or…you can come up to the house with me.We can ask Cal more questions about that truck that ran him off the road.It very well could have been Bruce Tyler.They will probably feed you.If you don’t tick Junie off, or anything.”
Zach and Junie were some of her favorite entertainment lately.Those two were so much fun to watch.They practically vibrated when they were in the same range.She suspected what would happen between them eventually.It was just a matter of time.
“I…may do that.Or at least borrow the bathroom for a minute.And…pestering Junie is always so much fun.”He shot her a wicked grin.
At one time, that grin would heat her right up.But time…and maturity…had ended that stage of their relationship years ago.Now, he was as dear to her as her brothers.And sometimes just as annoying.“Behave yourself.Promise?”
“Only if you promise to cuff me later?Or just in my dreams, maybe?”
