put him off.
“Melissa? May I come in?”
Melissa hurried to let Ellen in. “Thanks for coming, Ellen. The girls are still a little nervous about being here.”
“No problem. Are they in bed?”
“Yes. I promise I won’t be long.”
Darkness came late to Texas in summer. It was almost nine o’clock and the sun had gone, but a soft evening glow had settled over the land. It was Melissa’s favorite time of the day.
She rapped softly on the door of the manager’s house. It hadn’t been used in a while, and she wondered how the man and his daughter had settled in. If she hadn’t had the girls arrive, she would’ve offered to help clean it up, but she suspected Ellen had helped out.
The door swung open and Rob Hanson stared at her.
“Mr. Hanson, I wondered if I might talk to you.”
He wanted to send her on her way. She could read that message on his handsome face.
He said quietly, “Terri’s already asleep.”
“Good. We could talk out here, on the porch.” She waited patiently for him to respond, but she worried that he might reject her overture.
With an abrupt nod, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. Using a gentlemanly gesture, he waved toward the steps.
As she sat down, she held the plate, covered with foil, on her lap. She’d said nothing about her peace offering, but she noted his gaze on it.
“You didn’t get a chance to have a cookie today. I brought some for you to eat later.”
He frowned at her. “Lady, I can’t be bought with cookies.”
She arched one eyebrow. “I never thought you could, Mr. Hanson.” Even frowning, the man was handsome. Did he realize it? She figured he did. Most men knew when they appealed to women.
“What do you want?” he asked abruptly, shifting away from her on the step.
“I wanted to explain my job offer to Terri.”
“We’re not interested.” He stared straight ahead of him, refusing to look at her.
“I think you didn’t understand my reasons for wanting to hire Terri. She’s—”
“You don’t want to look after your own kids. That’s why you wanted to hire her, and I don’t approve.”
Melissa was slow to anger. She’d always been the peacemaker in her family. But this man was beginning to grate on her. She was tired of being accused of something. She wasn’t sure what.
“Mr. Hanson, first of all, those are not my children.”
He slewed around to stare at her. “Then why are they living with you?”
“I’m their foster mother.”
“I thought you were single. Miss Abby said—”
“What has that got to do with anything?”
“Foster mothers usually have foster fathers.”
She felt her cheeks heating up but she refused to look away from his hard stare. “Most of them do. I don’t.”
“Why did you volunteer if you don’t want to do the work?”
She slowly counted to ten, keeping her breathing even. “Mr. Hanson, I have no problem with the work. But Jessica and Mary Ann relaxed for the first time today when Terri joined us. I thought if she came over every day and played with them, they would feel more comfortable. And I thought Terri might enjoy it, too.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the man’s apology.
Rob wished she wouldn’t cross her arms like that. It brought attention to a certain part of her anatomy he’d rather ignore.
“Well?” she finally prompted.
“Well, what?” He’d gotten distracted and wasn’t sure what she expected him to say.
“Aren’t you going to apologize?”
“Apologize for what?”
She glared at him, but he scarcely noticed. She’d changed from her jeans into a soft pink dress that framed her dark prettiness, and he could barely keep his mind on their conversation.
“For accusing me of wanting to mistreat Terri. As if I would!”
He shrugged his shoulders, trying to force his thoughts back to his daughter. She’d talked a lot at dinner about Melissa Kennedy and the two little girls. He knew she’d like to go back over there again.
“She has chores to do.”
“Maybe you’re the one who mistreats her,” she challenged.
He leaped to his feet. She’d touched his sore spot. “Ms. Kennedy, you can take your cookies and your softness and trot right back to your perfect house. I don’t need some do-gooder telling me how to raise my daughter!”
She rose to stand in front of him, almost nose to nose, except she was shorter than him. “All I’m trying to do is help three little girls be happy! Don’t you care about Terri’s happiness?”
“Of course I do!” he yelled. “I love my daughter!”
“Then how can you condemn her to sit in this house all alone for the rest of the summer? Even you, a hardheaded male, can see how unhappy she would be.”
“A hardheaded—” he sputtered, unable to finish.
“What would it hurt for your daughter to spend some time with us?” Her voice softened and she added, “I promise she’ll enjoy herself.”
The difficulty was, he’d already realized Terri was going to be bored. And he hadn’t known what to do about it. Now he was being offered a solution, but he didn’t want to accept it. He didn’t want his daughter falling into the trap of thinking she had a…a…a mother figure.
Once before, a woman had courted him through Terri. His daughter had been badly hurt when things hadn’t worked out.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he muttered.
“What?” Melissa asked, leaning closer to him.
He stepped back. “Three hours a day?”
Her face brightened, as she realized she’d won. He backed up again. There was so much warmth coming from her, he figured a man would never be cold around her.
“She could come for lunch every day. There’s no point in her having to fix a meal for herself when it’s so easy to add one to our lunch. Then, I’ll make sure she’s home by four. Will that be okay?”
She
