miracle. I don’t know how she put up with me last night,” he said softly. He had moved to the other side of the crib, and Marissa looked up to see him studying Autumn intently. He touched her lightly with his large fingers. His skin was dark brown next to the baby’s pale skin. “She is pretty. I never thought that about a baby before, but then I’ve been around very few babies.”
“It was good of you to take her in.”
He looked up to meet Marissa’s gaze. “Her mother needs all the help she can get. And some prayers. These two are in deep trouble. Well, I’ll leave you alone and see you at dinner. Holler if you want me.”
“Sure, David,” she replied, and watched him go. I’m going to fall for him, she thought. Head over heels. He’s sexy and handsome and he cares. She looked at the little baby again and experienced a rush of tenderness. “Just think about the money,” she whispered to herself. The money would help her fulfill her dream. A dream she had shared with no one else so far, and until today, it had seemed years away. But now, with the money she’d earn from David Sorrenson, she might be able to get her wish.
She touched Autumn’s tiny hand tenderly and then she turned around to unpack.
When she went to supper, David had on a fresh navy T-shirt and jeans. With his hair combed and his jaw clean-shaven, he took her breath away, and he looked more like the David she had always known—only twice as appealing. She remembered him as a slender boy. He was a man now, muscled, tall, handsome. He flashed her a smile that revealed his even, white teeth, a winning smile that accelerated her heartbeat. When he crossed the hall to her to take Autumn from her arms, she caught a whiff of aftershave. “Come meet Gertie,” he said. “She made dinner and tomorrow morning she’ll be back to clean and cook. All you have to worry about here is Autumn.”
Marissa entered the kitchen and faced a tall, thin, graying woman who smiled broadly.
“Marissa, this is Gertrude Jones,” David said. “Gertie, meet Marissa Wilder, our new nanny.”
“Ah, that’s good,” Gertie said, smiling at Marissa. “And you like little ones?”
“I love them,” Marissa replied.
Autumn stirred and began to cry, and the next hour was a busy one as Marissa changed and fed her and David hung around to help. Gertie offered to stay and serve dinner, but both Marissa and David reassured her that they could manage. As soon as Gertie was in the yard, David returned to the kitchen and locked up the house.
Supper was hectic, because Autumn woke up cranky even though she had just eaten and slept. Marissa and David took turns holding her and eating. Afterward, David cleaned the kitchen quickly and efficiently while Marissa soothed Autumn.
“I’m surprised Gertie doesn’t want to care for Autumn,” Marissa said as she rocked Autumn to sleep.
“Gertie knows as little about children as I do,” he replied, drying his hands and crossing the room to kneel down and stack logs in the kitchen fireplace. “She lives here, just across the road on the ranch. Several employees live in their own houses. She worked for my dad. She’s been here since long before I was born.” As soon as he had a fire blazing, he turned. “Give Autumn to me and I’ll hold her.”
“I thought you were headed for bed to catch up on sleep,” Marissa remarked, handing him the baby. David moved a few feet away to sit in a large leather chair, holding Autumn in the crook of his arm.
He shook his head. “Now that I know I can sleep, I’m not so tired. I want to get to know my nanny,” he said, and she smiled, hoping he had no clue how simple remarks like that could send her pulse galloping. He tilted his head to study her. When she had been sixteen years old, she thought he had the sexiest eyes she had ever seen. As she looked at him now, she still thought so. His sea-green eyes with thick, black lashes had always fascinated her.
“You said there’s no boyfriend. How do you spend your time?”
“With my family,” she replied. “I take care of my niece and nephews. I take care of my sisters and grandmother. I jog and swim. Just ordinary things. What about you, David?” she asked. “Didn’t you just get out of the air force?”
“Yep. Enough of that life,” he said, stretching out his long legs and crossing them at the ankles.
“So now you’ll take care of the ranch,” she remarked, trying to keep her gaze from drifting down over him again.
“Not really. I’m taking some time, but eventually I’ll move to Houston and go to work in my dad’s oil company.”
Marissa regarded his air of worldliness and could easily imagine him in a big city. In spite of his boots and jeans, he seemed the type more suited to city life than country life. But maybe that image had been conjured up by pictures in the paper of him with some socialite beauty on his arm.
“Are you going to live in Royal all your life?” he asked. All afternoon and evening he had given her his full attention and she decided he was a good listener. Too good, because he was very easy to talk to.
“I hope to always live here. I like being close to my family.”
“So what’ll you do with your windfall fortune if this nanny job lasts more than a week or two? What do you want?”
She thought of multiple answers she could give him, but then she saw no reason to avoid the truth with David. Their lives were touching only briefly, and then they would go separate ways and never see each other again.
“I haven’t told my family, but I’d like to go to a sperm bank and have my own baby.”
A twinkle came into his green eyes. “There are cheaper and easier ways—and more exciting ones—than to go to a sperm bank.”
She laughed. “But other ways always mean getting involved with a man. I’ve done that and I don’t want to do it again.”
“I’m sorry that you got burned in that marriage.”
“Yes, I did. While Reed went through medical school, I worked all six years of our marriage. As soon as he could stand on his own, he was off with another woman. And I found out that he was cheating on me almost from the beginning. So I’m not interested in dating again.”
“You shouldn’t lump all guys in with your ex.”
“No. If I meet a real saint, I won’t lump him in with Reed.”
“A real saint is a pretty high standard,” David remarked, looking at her so intently she began to regret revealing her deepest, most private wish to him.
“Well, a saint is about all I’m interested in, and the sperm bank sounds like the happy solution. What about you? You’re still single.”
He shrugged. “Marriage isn’t for me. I didn’t grow up in a house where there were good role models. My mom died when I was very young and my dad hired people to take care of me. Then I acquired a lifestyle that definitely wasn’t for a married man. Nope, no marriage in my future.” He grinned. “But I do like to date.”
She smiled at him. “Well, I don’t see another marriage in my life.”
His gaze trailed over her. “I’d bet the ranch that you marry again.”
