once amid the devastation, done his best to assist her and the sheriff’s deputy who’d been sent to investigate. Because that had made her want to lean on him, the way she once had. And she knew she could never do that again.
Oblivious to the morose direction of her thoughts, Sam put a staying hand on her shoulder. Moved so she had no choice but to look into his face. Solemnly, he reminded her, “It’s been a hell of a day, darlin’. First, we found out about the death of our close friends. Learned their boys had been orphaned. And found out we had both been tapped as potential guardians. Now, you just had all three hundred of your bee boxes, as well as your entire stockpile of honey, stolen.”
Which left her with exactly nothing, she realized miserably. Seven years of hard work, building up her hives, gone. The only thing she had left of her business, aside from her small 150-acre ranch property, was her Honeybee Ranch food truck, and without her signature honey, the food she served out of that wasn’t going to be the same, either.
His gaze drifting over her with unexpected gentleness, Sam told her, “I called the other officers of the Laramie County Cattleman’s Association while you were talking to the deputy, and put out the word. Everyone’s offered to do whatever they can to help.”
Lulu was grateful for the assistance. Even if she wasn’t entirely sure it would do much good now, after the theft. With a grimace, she stepped back. Despite her efforts to the contrary, she was unable to control the emotions riding roughshod inside her.
Bitter tears misting her eyes, she blurted out, “If only you had made that offer prior to today, cowboy, I might not be in such a mess.”
Recognition lit his gold-flecked eyes. “Wait...” He touched her arm and surveyed her. “Is that why you were so determined to join the Laramie County Cattleman’s Association? Because you were afraid something like this could happen?”
Shoulders stiff, she shrank from his touch. “What did you think?” she scoffed. “That it was for your charming company?”
Stepping closer, he cupped her shoulders between his large palms, preventing her escape. “Why didn’t you just tell me this?”
As if it had been that easy, given his resistance to cutting her even the slightest bit of slack, after what had happened between them.
His tranquil manner grating on her nerves as much as his chivalrous attitude, Lulu broke free from his hold and spun away. Her pulse skittering, she headed toward the barn. “I would have, had I felt you would be the least bit sympathetic or helpful.” She tossed the words over her shoulder, then turned her glance forward again. “But you weren’t...so...” An ache rose in her throat.
Sam caught up with her, matching her stride for indignant stride. “Come on, Lulu,” he said. “It’s not as if you’ve ever been afraid to fight any battle with me.”
Lulu stopped dead in her tracks. He was right. She wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. Never had been. With effort, she forced herself to be honest. Wearily, she said, “In the end, I didn’t come to you with my fears because even though I knew it was happening in other parts of the state, big-time, I wasn’t really sure something like this could ever happen here in Laramie County.” She sighed. “Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe that it would. Especially since I’m the only beekeeper who runs—or did run, anyway—a big commercial operation.”
“And the other beekeepers?” Sam didn’t take his eyes off her.
Lulu felt the heat of his gaze like a caress. “Are simply hobbyists, with one or two hives, so it really wouldn’t be worthwhile for anyone to go in and try to locate and then steal their boxes.”
She went into the barn, came out with a wooden pallet and carried it over to the apiary. She wanted any remaining bees in the area to have a place to go.
Sam kept pace with her, inundating her with his brisk, masculine scent. He watched her set down the pallet in the middle of the barren field. “Why would they want to do that, anyway? I mean, given the risk of getting caught?”
She returned to the barn for a brand-new wooden bee box bearing the Honeybee Ranch brand and a metal water pan. Already thinking about getting a new queen for the hive. “Because adding hives to orchards can increase the yield up to four hundred percent.” At his look of amazement, she added, “I’ve had offers to rent out my bees to almond orchards in California, watermelon fields in south Texas and cranberry bogs in Wisconsin.”
His large frame blocking out the late-afternoon June sunshine, Sam stood back and gave her room to work. “And you said no?”
Acutely aware of his fiercely masculine presence, she carried both items over to the pallet inside the apiary. Set the lidded box down, filled a water pan from the outdoor faucet and left it nearby. “Every time.”
His brow furrowed. She could see he didn’t understand.
Sighing, she explained, “I could earn money that way, but it’d be hard on my bees, and it would bring with it risk of mites and disease and infection to the hives. Which would not be worth it in my opinion, since I already have a very good market for my honey. Or had.”
Briefly, guilt and remorse etched the handsome features of his face. “I’m so sorry, darlin’.”
Again. Too little, too late.
Arms folded, she moved even farther away.
Gruffly, he promised, “We’ll find your bees, Lulu.”
She dug in her heels. Now was not the time for idle comfort, just as earlier had not been the time for idle promises. “And if we don’t?” The tears she’d been holding back flooded her eyes. “Then what?” She blotted the moisture with her fingertips. “I’m going to have to start my honey business all over, Sam.”
He shook his head, stubbornly nixing even the possibility of that outcome. “Someone had to have seen something unusual, even if they didn’t put it together at the time. With the sheriff’s department and the cattleman’s association both working on finding answers ASAP, we should know something soon.”
Would they? Lulu wished she could be as certain of that as Sam. Heck, she wished she had even a tenth of his confidence.
“In the meantime,” he continued in an agreeable tone that warmed her through and through, “I’d like to help you in whatever way I can.”
Lulu studied him. “Do you mean that?” she asked thickly, turning her attention to the other big challenge currently facing her. The one with even more potential to break her heart. “Because if you do,” she said slowly, “I’ve got a proposition for you.” She paused, bracing for battle. “I’d like to be the children’s nanny.”
* * *
Sam had known that Lulu would not accept him as the triplets’ guardian when she was next on the list. And hence she would continue to fight the decision, in one way or another.
But he hadn’t expected her to offer this.
“You...want to be the triplets’ nanny?” he repeated in disbelief, staring down into her pretty face.
Lulu tossed her head, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders in soft, touchable waves. And as she stepped closer, tempting him with the scent of her perfume, it took
