into the idea was a better course of action. Besides, she wanted the toddler to become familiar with her before she got into any custody issues. And hopefully while that was happening, she would also be able to convince Jace Brimley that William should be raised by a blood relative.
A blood relative who had failed his mother and wanted desperately to make up for it.
But William’s guardian didn’t need to know that part of it.
Clair finally settled on, “I want to be a part of his life. I want him to be a part of my life.”
The big man sitting across from her nodded somewhat tentatively, Clair thought. But if he had any reservations, they didn’t sound in his voice when he said, “Okay. If I were you I’d feel the same way.”
Clair relaxed slightly at that response and thought that she could chalk up having reached first base.
“I’ve taken some time off work,” she told him then. “I thought I’d stay in town for now, to get acquainted. If you’ll point me in the direction of a hotel, I’ll get myself a room and we can make arrangements for me to see William.” She nodded in the direction of the den and added, “I don’t think he even noticed me tonight.”
“He takes a while to warm up to people,” Jace said. “But as for a hotel, the closest thing Elk Creek has to one of those is the boarding house. But I happen to know it’s full up. I have an extra room here, but it wouldn’t be proper for you to stay in the house with Willy and me. I’ll tell you what, though, our minister’s sister lives next door by herself. She might put you up in her guest room. Then you’d be close by.”
That statement was so full of things that surprised Clair that it took her a moment to work through it all—from Jace Brimley’s old-fashioned courtliness and his willingness to let her into his and William’s life so easily, to the fact that he was also helping her find a place to stay.
“The woman next door would actually open her house to a total stranger?” she finally asked.
“It’s done around here when the need arises. My mom would take you in, but then you’d have to share one bathroom with her and my four brothers, plus you’d be farther away from Willy. So we’ll call Rennie first. I’m sure there won’t be a problem.”
He got up then and disappeared through a connecting door into what Clair glimpsed as the kitchen. Then he came back, dialing a cordless phone along the way.
Clair was a city girl, and until she heard the ease with which Jace Brimley persuaded the woman he’d called to let Clair stay with her, she didn’t believe anyone would do such a thing. But less than two minutes later he hung up and turned back to her.
“It’s all set. Rennie’s glad to have the company.”
“Just like that? Without knowing me from Adam? What if I’m a crazed serial killer or something?”
That made him smile, and if she’d thought he was good-looking before, it was nothing compared with how he looked when that sculpted face was lit with amusement.
“Are you a serial killer?” he asked with a laugh that creased the corners of his eyes and drew very sexy lines down the center of each cheek.
“Not on my good days. But still…”
“I don’t think she’s worried. She said for you to go on over and she’d get you settled in. Then tomorrow—if you’re interested—you can come out to the ranch with Willy and me. Start gettin’ to know him. Lettin’ him get to know you.”
“I’d like that.”
Since there didn’t seem to be any more to say, Clair stood and headed for the door.
Her host reached it before she did and opened it for her. “Rennie’s place is just to the right. Rennie Jennings. You’ll like her. She’s great.”
For no reason Clair understood, she suddenly searched his expression and analyzed his tone, wondering much more than she should have if there was affection for the other woman in either.
But she couldn’t tell if there was more between Jace Brimley and Rennie Jennings than neighborliness, and she was just left wondering and feeling something oddly—and inappropriately—like jealousy.
She tamped it down and pushed aside the very notion that she might care whether Jace Brimley was involved with his neighbor, and said, “Thanks for not slamming the door in my face.”
His square brow wrinkled in a confused frown. “Why would I have done that?”
Clair shrugged. “Someone else might have. They might not have welcomed my showing up out of the blue. Horning in.”
“Lives have room for a lot of people in them. I don’t see any harm in Willy knowin’ he has an aunt who cares enough to come all the way from Chicago to see him.”
It was a nice way to look at things, and Clair was grateful for it. She also felt a little guilty for having ulterior motives.
But she only smiled and kept the truth to herself.
“We usually get out of here pretty early, but seein’ as how we’ll have company, why don’t you come back at nine?” he suggested.
“Nine it is,” Clair agreed as she stepped back out onto the porch.
“I’d walk you over to Rennie’s, but if I drag this boy away from Barney we’ll have a half hour fit on our hands.”
“It’s all right. It’s enough that you arranged for a place for me to stay. I can introduce myself.”
“Tomorrow at nine, then. Come comfortable.”
“Tomorrow at nine,” she repeated.
And with that she said good-night and went back to her car to get her suitcase.
Jace Brimley didn’t go into the house then, though. He stayed on the porch, watching her until she’d rung the bell on the house next door.
As Clair waited for the bell to be answered she marveled at what she’d found in this particular small town. A shopkeeper friendly enough to introduce herself, a man who hadn’t balked at all at her sudden appearance in his life and instead had found her a place to stay so she could be near her nephew, and a woman willing to open her home to a total stranger.
In comparison to what she was used to, Clair felt as though she’d just landed on another planet.
And in comparison to other men she knew—less polite, less considerate, more threatened, and much, much less gorgeous—Jace Brimley seemed like something from another world, too.
But she wasn’t there to be impressed by Jace Brimley, she reminded herself as she heard Rennie Jennings coming to the door.
She was there to connect with her nephew. To convince Jace Brimley that she should be the person to raise William.
And that was exactly what she intended to do.
Chapter Two
Willy
