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  Hudson had found he enjoyed being with the kids. It was odd, really. As an adult, he’d never been around children much. Several times a day he’d wander through the sections of children in different age groups. He knew many of the children by name, and they knew his name. He often stopped to help with an art project or just to converse with a curious four-year-old. They came up with the darnedest questions. He pretty much stayed away from the babies, watching over them from afar. The teachers didn’t seem to mind him wandering through. They often gave him a thumbs-up, and he praised them for the way they handled the kids. It wasn’t an easy job, and he knew it. He’d handled two-year-old horses, and that task had seemed easier.

  Throughout the day he often glanced at Bella and wondered why he was so interested in her. Her beauty, for sure, that pretty face, that pixie hairdo, that slender figure. There was something else, too, though—something that both unsettled and intrigued him.

  He’d never been seriously involved with a woman. He’d never wanted to settle down because he’d seen the coldness in his parents’ marriage. When he had dated, he’d seen that women wanted to tie him to one place. Moving from place to place gave his life the excitement romance couldn’t. No woman had ever meant as much to him as not being tied down.

  However, something about Bella Stockton made him want to get to know her a little better. He wanted to know why she’d gone all shy on him.

  Late in the day, when only a few stragglers remained to be picked up, he had his chance.

  He went to Bella’s desk and asked, “Can I see you in my office?”

  She looked up at him with startled eyes. But then she asked, “Do I need my tablet to take notes?”

  He shook his head. “Not about this.”

  That brought a frown to her pretty face. But she followed him into his office, and this time he closed the door. He didn’t claim to be a human resources expert. Yes, he could spin a good story. However, this moment called for some honesty.

  “I suspect you’re not happy that I’m here to oversee Just Us Kids. But I want to reassure you I know you do a good job. My being here is just necessary in the wake of everything that happened.”

  “I know that,” she murmured.

  “Do you?” He looked at her directly, making eye contact, not letting her look away.

  “It’s not just you,” she said. “It’s me. I don’t want to make a mistake. I don’t want anything to jeopardize Just Us Kids.”

  “I understand that. Up until yesterday, I thought we got along just fine. At least we could have a simple conversation.”

  She didn’t say anything to that.

  He went on. “And yesterday, I thought we were finally getting to know each other a little better. I’m glad you told me a bit about your childhood.”

  “I shouldn’t have,” she quickly said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because Jamie and I don’t like to talk about it. We don’t like to think about it. Those were hard times for both of us, and we don’t want anyone to feel sorry for us.”

  “And you think I feel sorry for you?”

  “Possibly.”

  Hudson shook his head. “I’m sorry you and your brother went through that. I’m sorry your grandparents didn’t treat you as the gifts you must have been.” He found Greta’s conclusion absolutely fit the situation.

  At his words, Bella looked surprised.

  They were standing near his desk, she at one corner and he at the other. But now he took a few steps closer to her. He could smell the light flowery perfume she wore. He could see the tiny line across her nose because it wrinkled there whenever she laughed or smiled. She didn’t wear much makeup, but what she did wear was perfect—just a bit of lipstick and a little mascara from what he could tell. Simply looking at her caused heat to build inside him. He tried to throw a dash of cold water on it with logic, but it was hard to douse the kind of attraction he hadn’t felt for a very long time.

  However, he kept his voice even when he said, “It’s a good thing when people who work together share bits of their personal life. They have a better understanding of what the other person has gone through. Do you know what I mean?”

  She considered that. “I guess the way I grew up taught me that children should all be treated with respect and kindness and love.”

  “I can see that.”

  “And why do you treat them as if you’re one of them?” she asked as if she really wanted to know.

  “Because I never grew up.” He was half joking and half serious.

  Bella finally broke a smile. She looked him up and down, from his wavy brown hair, to the razor stubble on his jaw, to the open collar of his snap-button shirt, to his wide leather belt, jeans and boots. Then she said, “That’s easy to believe when I see you with the kids. But it’s hard to believe when I look at you as the supervisor of this place. You wear the role very well.”

  “It is a role, Bella, believe me. I’m only here until we’re sure Just Us Kids has its reputation back, then I’ll be off again somewhere else. That’s what I do. That’s what I mean about never growing up.”

  She shook her head as if she didn’t understand. “But what’s your purpose?”

  “My purpose?”

  “Before this job, what made you want to get up every morning and face a new day?”

  “A new adventure. I went looking for it, whether it was gathering wild mustangs in Wyoming or managing the books of a friend’s ranch during start-up. I have skills, and I have purpose, but that purpose isn’t always the same. I find a purpose in the places I travel.”

  “With no commitment or responsibilities?”

  “No commitment and no personal responsibilities. It’s an easy, uncomplicated way to live.”

  “My life is full of complications,” she responded with a little shrug. “I guess I wouldn’t know what to do without them. But my commitment to Jamie and the triplets, and eventually finding my own future, gives me purpose each morning. It’s a continuing purpose. Do you know what I mean? It’s going to take me into the years to come. Yours seems like it could fall apart easily and leave you adrift.”

  Oh, he’d been adrift. He’d been adrift in between jobs, and he’d been adrift when he’d just enjoyed the scenery. But Bella seemed to think adrift was a bad thing. He didn’t.

  They gazed at each other for what seemed like minutes, even though it was only seconds. He found himself wanting to slide his fingers through her hair. He found himself wanting to step even closer. There was a sparkle in her eyes when she looked at him that made him believe that maybe she was attracted to him, too. But he was sort of her boss, and she already thought he was judging everything she did. How stupid would it be to get involved with her? Yet he set the rules here, didn’t he? If he and Bella ever did really connect...

  He suddenly cleared his throat. “I’d better open the door before anyone gets second thoughts about what’s going on in here. I wouldn’t want there to be any gossip about your reputation.”

  A shadow passed over her face, a definite shadow. Maybe he’d learned a little personal information about her, but not nearly enough. Just what was that shadow from?

  But she wasn’t going to confide in him any more than she already had. He could see that. She was already stepping away from his desk toward the door.

  “Bella?”

  She stopped.

  “Are we okay?”

  “We’re fine,” she said, raising up her chin a bit.

  Fine. That was a wishy-washy word that didn’t nearly begin to describe what he felt when he was in the same room with Bella Stockton. But he just nodded because he could see that’s what she wanted him to do. He wasn’t going to push anything...not yet.

  Chapter Two

  On Saturday afternoon, Bella was thankful for the baby
chain that was helping her brother at Short Hills Ranch. This afternoon, Lindsay Dalton, one of the volunteers in Jamie’s baby chain, had stopped by. She was taking over care of baby Jared while Jamie and Bella handled the others. By the stone fireplace in the family room, Bella was holding Henry and sitting in an old pine rocker she’d found at a flea market. His little eyes were almost shutting. Jamie had taken Katie upstairs to the nursery to try to calm her down. She was teething and couldn’t be easily consoled today.

  Lindsay sat on the sofa cooing softly to Jared. “If Henry starts crying again, he will, too,” she whispered.

  Lindsay was a pretty brunette and Bella could easily see why Walker, Hudson’s brother, had fallen for her. Her own friendship with Lindsay had been strained by the lawsuit against Just Us Kids since Lindsay had been the lawyer suing Walker. But now Lindsay and Walker were engaged, and Walker was going to work mostly from Rust Creek Falls and travel when necessary. Lindsay and Bella were finding common ground again by helping Jamie.

  “How goes everything at Just Us Kids?” Lindsay asked her, truly interested.

  Bella continued to rock back and forth, watching Henry’s fists curl. Holding a baby absolutely melted her heart, yet it made it hurt at the same time.

  “Everything’s going well,” she told Lindsay. “At least it seems to be. We had a mother tell us that if she saw one baby with the sniffles, she’d pull her child and enroll him at Country Kids.” Country Kids was their rival for clients.

  “Sniffles and kids just go together,” Lindsay said with a shake of her head. “Especially this time of year.”

  “One sniffle now and Hudson asks the parent to keep their child home. That’s the way it has to be. I know that’s a hardship on the parents, but we can’t have another outbreak.”

  “I’m glad we can talk about this,” Lindsay said. “I hated being on opposite sides of the fence.”

  Bella nodded. She’d missed Lindsay’s friendship, too. “How are you and Walker?” she asked.

  Lindsay’s face broke into a wide smile. “We’re wonderful. He’s wonderful.”

  Then Lindsay asked, “How are you and Hudson getting along?”

  “Fine,” Bella responded airily. There must have been something in her voice, because Lindsay asked, “How fine?”

  Bella felt her cheeks flush.

  Lindsay said gently, “You know, don’t you, that Hudson has a reputation for being a love-’em-and-leave-’em cowboy.”

  “His reputation doesn’t matter,” Bella said. “He’s my boss. That’s it.”

  Still she remembered the way they’d sat together eating those sticky ribs, the way they’d stood close and she’d felt heat from Hudson and her own heat in return.

  “You don’t resent him overseeing you anymore?”

  “I’m still not sure how I feel about that,” Bella admitted. “But I’m not as resentful as I was at the beginning. I understand that both Hudson and Walker have to safeguard the business. I just didn’t want someone judging every move I make.”

  “Is Hudson doing that?”

  “Actually, no, he isn’t. His managerial style is hands-off, unless he has to step in.”

  She thought about how Hudson had stepped in after a parent had dressed her down. She also thought about Walker’s brief visits to the day care center and his sometimes condescending attitude to Hudson because he was the older brother.

  “I wish Walker would tell Hudson he’s doing a good job. After all, Hudson handled the PR for the whole problem and managed to keep most of our staff and our clients. But I get the idea that Walker doesn’t understand what a huge achievement that is.”

  Lindsay rubbed her finger along Jared’s chin, studying his baby face as if maybe she was contemplating having a child of her own someday.

  “I hear what you’re saying,” Lindsay assured Bella. “But you know, brothers will be brothers. I get the feeling that Walker and Hudson’s relationship is complicated, so I think it’s better if I stay out of it.”

  Bella admired Lindsay’s honesty. “You’re probably right. I wouldn’t want anyone interfering in my relationship with Jamie.”

  After the babies fell asleep, Bella and Lindsay took them upstairs to their cribs in the nursery. Since Katie was still fussing, Jamie carried her to his bedroom so her restlessness and cries wouldn’t wake the other two.

  Downstairs once more, Bella and Lindsay cleaned up the living room and den. There were always baby things scattered everywhere, from bottles to diapers to receiving blankets to toys. After Lindsay left, Bella went to find Jamie, still in the recliner in his bedroom, rocking Katie. In a pink onesie with a teddy bear embroidered on the front, she looked like a little angel. He was looking down at her as if she were one.

  “She’s almost asleep,” he told Bella. “But she’s still restless. I want to make sure she’s really into a deep nap before I put her down with the others.”

  “I can take her,” Bella offered. “Why don’t you go riding? You need a break.” He’d been up half the night with Katie.

  “I want to make sure this is merely teething and not something else. She doesn’t feel hot, but I want to be certain she’s not running a temperature.”

  Bella could hear the fatigue in Jamie’s voice, and he looked exhausted. He hadn’t shaved today, and beard stubble lined his chin. His blond hair fell over his brow as if he’d run his hand through it many times. But as he looked down at his daughter, his blue eyes were filled with love.

  Jamie was often overwhelmed; she could see it on his face and hear it in his voice. Yet he never gave up on the ranch, and he never stopped putting the babies first. He always gave them every ounce of love and caring in his heart, even if that meant he didn’t have much of a life anymore.

  She’d never regret quitting college and moving back in here with him. She loved helping him take care of the triplets. She loved being around the babies. But it was also painful. She so wanted to be a mother, but she knew she might never be able to have kids. Just how fair or right was that?

  “What are you thinking about?” Jamie asked her. As a close sibling, he always could read her moods.

  Her past played through her mind like a mocking newsreel. She could never forget about it, even though she tried. So she answered him truthfully.

  “I’m thinking about how wild I was as a teenager.”

  “You were dealing with our parents’ deaths.”

  “So were you, but you didn’t jump off the deep end.”

  “Our grandparents didn’t want us. I pretended I didn’t care. I put my energy into sports. But you—” He shook his head. “You were younger. You needed Grandma’s arms around you. You needed them to want you. They didn’t. That’s why we were separated from the others.”

  Bella sighed. Their sisters Dana and Liza had been younger, more adoptable, and had been sent to a group home for that purpose. Their brothers Luke, Daniel and Bailey had been over eighteen and had been turned out on their own.

  “Don’t you ever wonder where they all are?” Bella asked.

  “Sure I do. But the fact remains that you and I haven’t left Rust Creek Falls. Our siblings could find us if they wanted to. They obviously don’t want to. Case closed.”

  Bella understood Jamie’s attitude. After all, they’d been rejected by their grandparents. They didn’t need sibling rejection on top of that.

  “Sometimes I don’t understand how you help me like you do,” Jamie said, looking troubled.

  “I’m your sister.”

  “Yes, but...”

  She knew what he was getting at. They rarely talked about it, but today seemed like a day for stepping back into the past.

  “I think she’s finally asleep,” he said, rising from the recliner and carrying Katie into the nursery. There he settled her into the crib and looked down on
her with so much love Bella wanted to cry.

  Then he turned back to her. “When you got pregnant, I didn’t know what to do to help you. After you lost your baby and possibly the chance ever to have another one, I didn’t know what to do then either. I don’t know how Grandma and Gramps kept everything that happened to you a secret, but they did. Grandma died so soon after you lost your baby, and Gramps blamed you. And me. But keeping the secret about your miscarriage wasn’t good for any of us...especially you. You couldn’t talk about what happened. You couldn’t express your grief.”

  “Jamie,” she warned weakly, not wanting to delve into any of those feelings.

  “I feel like you’re still grieving sometimes when you look at the triplets,” he explained.

  “You’re wrong about that. I love being around Katie and Henry and Jared. They fill my life with happy times.”

  “I know sharing the triplets with you isn’t the same as your having your own kids, but I want you to know I appreciate everything you do to help me and to take care of them. And even if you love being around them because they’re your niece and nephews, don’t you mind being around the babies and kids at the day care center? Isn’t it just downright hard?”

  “Actually, it’s not,” she assured him. “I think the day care center has been my saving grace. Your triplets and the kids there...they fill me with joy. I don’t have time to be sad.”

  Jamie suddenly gave her a huge hug, and she leaned into him, grateful to have her brother. In that moment, she thought about having more, too—about having a man to love, a relationship, a life outside the day care center and Jamie’s triplets. She thought about Hudson. She’d been attracted to him from the first moment she’d seen him. But she’d also realized what kind of man he was. He had a reputation, and she knew he wouldn’t stay no matter what kind of electricity was flowing between them now. She shouldn’t get involved...couldn’t get involved. Besides, she had nothing to give somebody like Hudson. He had experienced the world.

  And she was just a small-town girl who couldn’t have kids.

  * * *