impress the judge.”
Surely it would. A sense of permanence was what he’d seen lacking in her résumé. The only reason she’d been temporarily awarded custody of the children was that she was the only family member who’d come forward at the time of her sister’s death to claim them. Frankly she felt her family’s matters were none of the court’s business, but in order to adopt the children, she’d had to file for custody.
The judge had taken exception to her, preferring, he’d said, the security of her parents’ home. Or for Curtis and Amelia’s father to reappear.
Old goat, Poppy thought angrily. “What does he know about me anyway?” she said. “I’ve been in the same job for ten years. I have a master’s degree in English and a minor in business. A degree and job stability should speak favorably for me.”
“It was the magic,” Curtis said. “I think it bothered him.”
Certainly it had bothered Mr. Jefferson. She had seen him visibly step back from her. If she was a teacher maybe none of this would be a problem. She’d have the children as hers. They would be a family.
“Excuse me,” Last said, making his presence known and looking better than any man should in those long swim trunks and nothing else. “Before I head off to my next adventure, I couldn’t help but overhear… I think I could help you out.”
“No, we don’t want help from you,” Poppy said, thinking of the children’s marriage schemes. “You’re too much like me. Unstable.”
“I’m not unstable,” Last said cheerfully, “but I will admit to being churlish, immature at times and living like the old cliché of the bachelor male.”
“Which cliché would that be?” Poppy asked.
“Bitter and distrusting of women. Due to the fact that I was romanced and then sued by one. It’s all fine now, but I’m holding on to the bitter and distrusting part as a cautionary reminder of what a female can do to a man. Sort of a souvenir.”
Poppy couldn’t help but laugh. “Goodbye, Mr. Bitter and Distrusting. We appreciate your offer of help, but you’re a stranger and we have to think about our future.”
“They seem to have a wedding in mind,” he said, nodding toward the children, “but I’m really not the marrying kind.”
“I didn’t ask you,” she said, annoyed.
“And except for my oldest brother Mason, I’m out of single brothers, so I can’t even play match-maker for you.”
“Not necessary,” Poppy snapped.
“But it’s clear you’re in a bind,” Last continued, “and I’ve always been partial to coming to the rescue.”
Poppy gasped. “I do not need rescuing!”
He winked. “Clearly you are on the railroad tracks of instability, ma’am, in the path of an oncoming judge-driven train. Here I am to save the day!”
“How do you propose to do that?” Poppy asked.
“You could go live on my ranch in Texas,” Last said. “The mother of my child has vacated the house she was using. She’s now living in town with my brother, Crockett. The house is empty, waiting for a happy family. Think about it,” he said, “a Texas ranch, a job in town—it’s the very image of stability.”
Curtis’s and Amelia’s eyes glowed.
“It’s not matrimony, but it would be a form of security. Mason is about to get roped into running for sheriff, I believe, by his dearest friend and enemy, Mimi.” Last shook his head. “I don’t know that Mason can worm out of Mimi’s grasp on this one. Other than my brother Bandera, who lives in the house next door with his crew, and my brother Calhoun, who lives below the windmill with his, there’s just horses, cows and sheep to liven up the days.”
Poppy had to admit the picture was a tempting one. “Cowboys,” she murmured.
“Nobody would mind you living there. Olivia—Calhoun’s wife—used to travel in a gig with her horse, Gypsy, and her father-in-law, who was a rodeo clown. Right up your alley, huh?”
Poppy hesitated. She wasn’t sure anymore what was “up her alley.” The children had changed her life. That was all she did know.
“What made you become a magician anyway?” he asked.
“My master’s thesis was about beliefs. Ninety percent of people want to believe in something magical. Good fortune of some kind,” she murmured. “I decided to test the theory.”
“So you’re in the circus because of your thesis?”
She looked at him thinking that he alone was enough to make a woman believe in good fortune. Strong-muscled and tall, the dip in the ocean had left his skin gleaming. She shivered. “I may pursue a doctorate one day. It’s good to collect more data. Can I make people believe?” An unwilling smile touched her lips. “You’re certainly a doubter.”
“Yeah, but I’m hardheaded by nature. I don’t want to believe in anything that I can’t rope or ride.”
Poppy nodded. “I understand. That’s how the majority of people sampled felt. Put, of course, in different terms than yours.”
“But I’m always up for an adventure,” he added with a devilish grin. “And that’s what I’m offering to you, Professor.”
She looked into his chocolate-brown eyes. “I don’t even know you.”
He grinned. “But don’t you feel the magic?”
Curtis and Amelia looked up at her. “Do you?” Curtis asked.
“Aunt Poppy?” Amelia said.
Goose pimples raised on her arms. “Children, it’s time to go. The sun is setting, and that means a bit of a chill this time of year. Goodbye, Mr. Jefferson. Good luck to you on your adventures.”
She escaped, her heart pounding. Oh, she had felt the magic.
It was the one thing she never wanted to feel again.
Chapter Two
“It’s okay to be a fake,” Poppy said under her breath as she and the children walked up a small set of steps to get to her car.
She didn’t believe in real magic any more than Last Jefferson did. She only believed in the kind she could produce under the big top, wearing a foxy bikini, a skirt with sequins and some fishnets.
The children should never know. They clung to her stories of magic, believing in fairy princesses and air-hung castles and all good things that could be found if one just wished for them.
“I could be wrong,” she said, “but it seems appropriate to encourage imagination and creativity in you two. What else are myths, fairy tales and legends for?”
Curtis and Amelia looked up at her, their dear faces round and sweet. Poppy just wanted Curtis and
