style="font-size:15px;"> She sent her glance heavenward. Sighed, with what seemed like enormous regret. “It was that, all right.”
He jammed his hands on his waist and lowered his face to hers, wishing she had realized that a whole lot sooner. Like at the beginning of their spring break, instead of the end. “It was your idea in the first place.”
She glared back at him. “Yeah, well, you went along with me, cowboy. At least initially.”
Until she’d begun to panic. And suffer regret. Then, well, it had been clear their relationship was all over.
Emotion rose as their stare-down continued.
Realizing she had almost goaded him into losing his cool, Sam shoved a hand through his hair and stepped away. Deciding it might be best to be more direct, he said honestly, “This is what worries me, darlin’. The fact we can hardly be around each other without quarreling.”
Lulu nodded. Sober now. “It would worry me, too, if we didn’t have something much more important to worry about. The health and welfare and happiness of Theresa and Peter’s three boys.”
She released a soft, empathetic sigh and compassion gleamed in her eyes. “You heard what Hiram said. They’re at the end of the line of the named guardians. If we don’t want them to end up separated and in foster care, you and I are going to have to find a way to make it all work.” She paused to draw a deep, enervating breath that lifted the curves of her breasts against her polo shirt. “I don’t think, under the circumstances, that this is too much to ask of us. Do you? Especially since Peter and Theresa named both of us in their wills?”
“All right,” Sam said, deciding he could be as selfless as she was being and more. “I’ll agree to this arrangement for one month.” Which should be enough time for you to realize how unworkable a situation this is going to be for the two of us, and then decide to simply take on the role of close family friend. “At the end of that time,” he said sternly, “we reassess. And if we need to find a professional nanny, we will.”
“Agreed. Although I have to warn you, I’m not going to change my mind.”
That, Sam thought, remained to be seen. From what he’d observed, one two-year-old could be a lot. Three...at one time...who were also in mourning...? But in the short-term, there were other important things they needed to worry about, too. Her personal safety being paramount.
“Where are you going to be this evening?” he asked, guessing she hadn’t yet told her family what had happened. Otherwise her cell phone would have been ringing off the hook and the place would have been inundated with McCabes.
But they would know, as soon as the ranchers in the family got the alert from the cattleman’s association. “Are you going to stay with your parents?”
She blinked, confused. “Why would I want to do that?”
“In case the rustlers come back.”
She pooh-poohed the notion, fearless as always. “They already took everything of value.”
She had a point. They hadn’t touched her house. And they certainly could have looted it, too, if they had wanted to do so. Still... He gazed down at her. “I think until we know more about who did this and why, you’ll be safer elsewhere, Lulu.”
“And I think I’ll be just fine right here.” She took hold of his biceps and steered him toward the porch steps, clearly done with this topic.
But he was not satisfied. Not in the least. Because the need to protect her was back, stronger than ever. “Lulu...”
She peered up at him from beneath a fringe of dark lashes. “You just worry about contacting Hiram and getting the triplets here as soon as possible. I’ll handle the rest.” She went into the house and shut the door behind her.
“Sam’s still out there?” Lulu’s mother, Rachel, asked during the impromptu family phone call an hour later.
Grimacing, Lulu peeked out the window of her living room, catching a glimpse of the ornery cowboy through the dusky light. Cell phone still pressed to her ear, she confirmed, “He’s sitting in his pickup truck, talking on the phone and doing something on what appears to be a laptop.” Looking as devastatingly handsome and sexy as ever with his hat tossed off and his sleeves rolled up, another button of his shirt undone. Not that she was noticing the effect the summer heat might be having on him...
“Good for him,” growled her father. He had heard all about the theft from other members of the cattleman’s association before she’d even managed to call home to tell them. “Since Sam obviously doesn’t think you should be left alone right now, either.”
But Sam had once, Lulu thought. When the two of them had been at odds, he’d had no problem issuing an ultimatum. When he’d become deeply disappointed in her and walked away.
“Now, Frank,” her mother warned, “Lulu can make her own decisions.”
On the other end of the connection, her father harrumphed.
Lulu didn’t want what she saw as her problems bringing conflict to her family. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offers made by you and my brothers,” she said soothingly. All five of whom wanted to help out by either temporarily taking her into their home or standing guard over her and her property. “It’s just that I need some alone time right now.”
She needed time to think, to figure out how she and Sam were going to manage the triplets. Without continually bringing up any of their former angst.
With uncanny intuition, her mother asked, “Is there anything else going on?”
Glad she had opted not to FaceTime or speak with her parents in person, at least not until after Sam had formally become the triplets’ guardian and she their nanny, Lulu tensed. “Like what?” She feigned innocence. Knowing her folks, they were going to have a lot of opinions about her decision to become a parent this way, too.
“I’m not sure.” Her mother paused.
Lulu’s heartbeat accelerated as she saw Sam get out of his pickup truck and stride through the twilight. He still had his cell phone and a laptop in his big hands. “Listen, Mom, Dad, I’ve gotta go. Talk to you soon.” She hung up before they had a chance to reply.
The doorbell rang.
Her body thrumming with a mixture of impatience and anticipation, she switched on the porch light and opened the door. She stood, blocking him, and gave him a deadpan look. “Yes?”
His legs were braced apart, broad shoulders squared. Looking as confident and determined as ever, he turned his ruggedly handsome face to hers. “I wanted to tell you what the cattlemen have unearthed thus far,” he said in the low, masculine voice she knew so well.
Lulu blinked in surprise and glanced at her watch. “It’s only been a few hours.”
A stubble of evening beard, a shade darker than his wheat-blond hair, lined his jaw. A matter-of-fact smile turned up the corners of his sensual lips. But it
