the boy’s waist to pick him up, his hand briefly brushing against her calf and causing a whole riot of sensations in her before he shifted the child to rest on his shoulder. “And you don’t need to make a decision about my offer right now. If you’re okay with continuing our meeting another time, I should be leaving for the day anyhow. I think he’ll stay asleep if I put him in his car seat.”
Lydia tried to ignore the residual tingling in her skin. She appreciated the opportunity he was giving her to think about his proposal. And distance from his striking good looks would give her the chance to think with a clearer head.
“You have someone to watch him today?” Lydia didn’t mean to sound like she was questioning his arrangements for the child. She was just trying to keep the focus on Teddy and not the heady jolt of attraction she was feeling.
She stood to follow James toward the door.
“My foreman’s daughter is home from college for the holidays, and she agreed to give me afternoon help two days a week for the next month. That’s as much child care as I’ve got covered when I’m not here. Provided she doesn’t give up on Teddy, too, when he has his next atomic meltdown.” He sounded frustrated and she understood why.
James shouldered the leather diaper bag that the child care worker had set near the door to his office, then lifted his Stetson from the coat rack and dropped it into place. When she stepped out of the room, he locked the door behind them. She couldn’t miss the way his large hands cradled the child so gently against his broad chest. The gesture called to her, reminding her of dreams she had for her own children one day.
Not that she was thinking of James in that way. She must be overtired and stressed to let her imagination wander like that. The sooner she made tracks out of here and away from James’s tempting presence, the better.
As they left the clubhouse and strode out into the December sunlight, James tugged a blanket from an exterior pocket of the diaper bag and laid it over the sleeping boy. The day was mild, but with the holidays approaching, the temperatures had been dropping. Lydia tipped her face into the breeze, grateful for the cooler air on her too-warm skin.
“I researched the child care facilities in town when I got the idea to open a full-service business here, and I know there’s a definite need.” Royal was thriving, and the demographics for young families were a particular area of growth. “I’ve heard there are waiting lists at the most coveted places.”
James nodded in response. “You’ve got that right. When I called one day care they said families reserve space when they’re pregnant, even knowing they might not put a child into the system for a full year.” He sighed wearily. “The last few months have been an education—from learning how to change a diaper to educating myself on how to avoid tree nuts for his allergy.”
“He has allergies?” Lydia was accustomed to the dietary needs for children with the most common allergies. Her brother broke out in hives if he even got in the same room as a peanut.
“Just tree nuts. But I live in fear I’ll leave the house without the EpiPen.” He huffed out a long breath, clearly feeling the same stress that many new parents went through. “I hope you’ll consider my offer, Lydia. Maybe you can work for me, and your sister can do something to repay you.”
“I’d need to figure out a way to pay my bills in the meantime.” It was true she was between nanny jobs right now, but she had hoped to devote the extra time toward working on her house, doing some of the simpler labor she didn’t want to pay a contractor for.
James tucked the blanket more securely around the baby’s feet, a gesture that touched her all the more now that she knew he wasn’t the baby’s father. He was simply a man trying to do his best taking care of a child he hadn’t been ready for.
“And I can’t put a price on what it would mean to me to have qualified help with Teddy.” He nodded at a gray-haired cowboy walking into the club. Then, once the man had passed, James turned to Lydia again. “Forget about Gail and the charity money. The universe is smiling on me by having a nanny walk into my office at a time in my life when I’m hanging on by my fingernails. Consider this a job offer for whatever you usually charge. I would have sought you out before this if I’d known about you.”
“I couldn’t possibly—”
“Please.” He cut her off, his tone laced with an urgency—a need—she hadn’t anticipated. “Just think about it. Start with the trial period and sign on for two months. See how it goes. If things don’t work out, I’ll understand.”
Swallowing her protests, she nodded. “It’s a very generous offer and I will consider it.”
He seemed to relax then, a tension sliding away from him as he exhaled. “Thank you. I’ll be working from the main house at the Double H tomorrow. If you’d like to stop by, I can show you around. You could see what the job would entail and take a look at the nanny’s quarters before you decide.”
“The Double H is your ranch?” She knew the property. It was close to the Clayton family ranch, the Silver C. The portions of the Double H she could see from the main road were all beautifully manicured. The stables and ranch house were both painted crisp white with dark gray trim, and the window boxes were refreshed year-round with red flowers.
“It is.” His smile was warm. “I never knew how easy ranch work was until I tried my hand at child care. I’m very ready to return to my cattle full-time.”
The idea troubled her, given that his responsibility to his nephew wasn’t going to end when he filled the nanny position. But she couldn’t afford to feel any more empathy for this man than she already did. She had some tough decisions ahead of her where he was concerned.
“I’ll stop by tomorrow. Does after lunch work for you?”
“That’s perfect.” He laid a protective hand on Teddy’s back. “You can repeat the trick you did today of getting him to fall asleep for his nap.”
She’d been given similar compliments many times from happy clients. She was good with children. Period. And yet, somehow the thought of putting the child to sleep with James Harris looking on filled her with a whole host of fluttery sensations.
“I’ll see you then.” Nodding, she backed away fast, needing refuge from the strong pull of desire. Retreating to her car, she forced her gaze away from James and shut the door behind her.
She locked the door for good measure. And then felt like an idiot if he’d heard her flick the locks. She wasn’t trying to keep anyone out as much as she was trying to keep herself in check around the too-handsome rancher with golden-brown eyes.
Switching on the ignition, she pulled out of the parking lot fast, hating herself for thinking that if it wasn’t for James’s blatant sex appeal, she probably already would have accepted the job he’d offered.
That wasn’t fair to him. And it definitely wasn’t fair to the innocent boy who’d just lost both his parents.
She could help Teddy and James. And no matter what she told herself about not getting involved in her sister’s mayhem, Lydia felt a responsibility to repay James in whatever way she could. By covering Gail’s debt, he’d ensured both Walker women would be able to run their small businesses in Royal without censure from locals knowing that Gail had cheated the Pancreatic Cancer Research Foundation.
Lydia would just have to find a way to do the job while avoiding
