his little girl showed him quite clearly how different Heather was from the girl he had once dated.
“I’ll take her now,” he said, setting the diaper bag back on the floor and reaching for his daughter. “Come on, sweetie.”
But Adana ignored him. Instead, she had her hands planted on Heather’s shoulders, grinning as she babbled away, clearly fascinated by her. “Pwetty, pretty,” she said.
“I think she likes my earrings.” Heather seemed uncomfortable, her expression hesitant.
But Adana wasn’t looking at the pearls hanging from Heather’s ears; her eyes were on Heather’s face.
“Probably,” John agreed. He caught Adana under the arms and was about to pull her away when she screeched her objection.
“No! No, Daddy! Pwetty!” She leaned away from him, then laid her head on Heather’s shoulder.
Heather shot him a flustered look. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t know why his daughter had suddenly formed this attachment to a woman she didn’t know. Adana was an easygoing girl, but she didn’t quickly go to strangers.
Heather turned then, shifting her arms so that John could more easily take Adana from him.
“Hey, you two, are you coming in or are you going to keep yapping?” Tanner called out from the dining room.
Heather gave John an apologetic look, then walked into the kitchen. With Adana wriggling in his arms, he followed her.
“Hey, John.” Tanner leaned back in his chair, grinning as Heather sat down. “Coffee’s on. May as well join us. Monty’s in no rush to head out to feed cows this morning.”
John glanced around the room. Tanner, the son of the neighboring landowner, Monty and his two daughters were all sitting around the table.
And there he was, the son of the foreman, standing awkwardly, feeling like the outsider.
“Sure. I’ll join you,” he said, as Keira got up to take Adana from him.
“Hey, muffin,” Keira said, cuddling the little girl close. “You’re as cute as ever.”
John walked over to the coffeepot, grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a cup. He knew his way around this kitchen as well as his own.
“So, John, what’s Monty got you doing today?” Tanner asked.
“Got some fences to fix,” he replied. “The corrals need a few repairs.” He looked to Monty. “You still figure on processing the cows on Saturday?”
“I got that part for the hay bind coming in on Saturday morning first thing, but yeah. After that we can get ’er done.”
“I’ll have the cows ready to go, then,” John said, taking a sip of his coffee.
“You know, I could use a capable guy like you at my place,” Tanner said, grinning at him. “Why don’t you quit working for this character and come work for me?”
“You trying to poach my best hand?” Monty protested.
“Never hurts to ask,” Tanner said with an unapologetic shrug.
“John’s a Refuge Ranch man,” Monty said, with a broad grin. “Just like his daddy before him.”
John tried to tamp down his reaction to the banter between Monty and Tanner. Right now that was his reality. He was only the foreman like his daddy before him.
He thought of the proposal sitting in Monty’s office. Now that he was so close, he wanted it done. Then he glanced over at Heather, just as she looked up at him. Their eyes met and she looked away. But even in that brief moment, he was disappointed at how quickly the old feelings taunted him.
He turned to his daughter, feeling a need to get back to work. To keep himself busy. “Hey, muffin, Daddy has to go to work. Wanna sit with me before I go?”
Adana looked at him, then her eyes skittered to Heather. “Wanna sit her,” she said, wriggling away from John’s outstretched hands.
“C’mon, honey. Come sit with Daddy,” he coaxed.
“Sit her,” she insisted. Before anyone could stop her, she slid off Keira’s lap, scooted around John’s chair and headed straight to Heather.
“Guess you got dumped by your own daughter,” Tanner teased.
John was far too aware of the irony of the situation. Getting dumped by his daughter in favor of the woman who had dumped him.
He caught the look of wariness on Heather’s face as Adana toddled up to her, then her discomfort as the child tried to climb up on her lap.
John was just about to rescue his daughter when Heather finally picked her up. But Adana wasn’t simply content with sitting on her lap. She had another mission in mind.
“Pwetty earrings,” she said, reaching for Heather’s earrings again, a cluster of chains with a pearl on the end of each. Heather caught her hand and eased it down, the stilted smile on her face making her look as if she would rather be doing anything else than holding his little girl. It bothered him that someone wouldn’t want to hold his precious daughter. That it was Heather struck him to the very core.
Suddenly the phone rang, and Keira jumped up from the table to answer it. She spoke for a few moments, then came over to the table, holding it out to Heather. “It’s for you. It’s Alan, the mechanic.”
Heather passed Adana to her sister with a look of relief, then grabbed the phone. “Hello?” She jumped to her feet. “Really? That long?” She bit her lip, then nodded, and finally ended the call.
“So? What’s the verdict?” Monty asked.
“Alan said that he had to order some parts and they wouldn’t be here for a week to ten days.”
“So you’ll be around longer?” Keira whooped, obviously more pleased with the news than her sister.
“It looks like it,” Heather said, reluctance tingeing her voice.
John knew exactly how she felt. He sighed and then once again caught her looking at him.
Unwanted and unbidden, attraction sparked between them. He tore his gaze away as frustration edged with an older, deeper emotion lay hold of him.
How was he going to avoid Heather for two weeks and still keep his own heart whole?
Heather sat down, her mind whirling as she tried to think. She had the job interview soon in Seattle, but now had no way of getting there.
She needed that job. Her shrunken bank account was a testament to how quickly she needed to get to work.
But she couldn’t get to the interview if she didn’t have a car. Her stomach roiled
