“Never seen him with kids that little before.Surprised he knows what to do with them.”
“He’s great with them.”
“Interesting.”
“Is it?”Isla asked.
“Yes, ma’am.Julian Remington isn’t the type of guy to play with kids, goats and dogs in the middle of a workday.That’s just not who he is.”
Isla was overtaken by a sinking sensation as Miguel’s observations landed.Was Julian doing all this to get her into bed, after which he’d suddenly lose interest in her and her kids?
He wouldn’t do that.He’s Denny’s good friend.That has to count for something.
Julian grabbed Mila before one of the goats could crash into her and resituated her before he grinned at Isla over his shoulder.
That man wouldn’t play me, she thought.How she knew that, she couldn’t say, but her absolute certainty couldn’t be denied.He wasn’t like other guys.He didn’t have time to play games or take a Monday off to spend it with a single mom and her kids just so he could get laid.He could get laid without putting forth that kind of effort.
No, there was a reason he’d chosen to spend this day of all days with them, and if she had to guess, sex was the least of the reasons.
If she turned out to be wrong about him, she’d never trust her gut again.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Julian drove Isla and two dirty, tired kids back to the city late in the afternoon after showing them the house and walking out into the lemon grove to pick a few to take home.
“This was such a wonderful day,” Isla said.“Thank you so much for taking us.”
“We’ll do it again.Any time you want.”
She glanced back to make sure the kids were still napping.They’d conked out shortly after they’d left the ranch.“Don’t say that in front of them, or they’ll drive us crazy asking to go back.”
“I really enjoyed it, too.I haven’t been around young kids in a long time.I’d forgotten how inquisitive they are.”
“Theo never runs out of questions.Ever.One time, we were coming home late, and I wanted to get them into bed as fast as possible.I had one of them under each arm, and we saw a huge spider in the hallway.Before I could get to it, it’d scurried away and disappeared under the carpet.Well, Theo wanted to know where it had gone.Before I fully thought through the ramifications, I said the spider had gone to the guts of the house.Let me tell you how many thousands of questions I’ve answered about what goes on in the guts of the house.‘Is his mommy there?’‘Does he have toys there?’‘Is therePaw Patrolin the guts of the house?’‘Mom, in the guts of the house, does he have his own house?’”
Julian was rocking with silent laughter.“He doesn’t mess around.”
“Nope.That was six months ago.He asked about the guts of the house last week.”
“It’s so funny.I used to be obsessed with spiders and where they came from and how they got into the house.If my mom or dad had mentioned the guts of the house, I would’ve been similarly obsessed with what went on down there.”
“I realized I’d made a huge mistake about ten minutes later when he was sitting up in bed, firing questions at me.”
“He might grow up to be a lawyer with that skill.”
“I’ve had that thought more than once.He’s an interrogator when he gets ahold of something.”
“Allegedly, that’s how I was as a little kid, too.I was told I questioned everything and basically drove the adults in my life crazy with my curiosity about all things.”
“And look at where that’s gotten you.”
“I was also told I was lucky I had any siblings, let alone eight of them.”
“How’d they end up with nine kids if their marriage was shaky?”
“I don’t think it was shaky until it was.We’ve never heard what caused the rupture, but it was sudden.At least that’s how it seemed to us.”
“Have you heard any more about them allegedly being back together?”
