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“I’m sorry, Conall. I suppose I’ll have to ask for time off while I make arrangements to fly out and collect the twins. If you feel you need to let me go permanently,” she added ruefully, “then I’ll understand.”
Stopping in his tracks, he scowled at her. “Let you go? What the hell, Vanessa? Do you think Donovans fire our employees whenever they need help?”
Seeing she’d offended him, she drew in a deep breath and blew it out. “I didn’t mean it like that. You obviously have tons of work to deal with. You can’t do it alone and you put your trust in me to be here every day. I can’t expect you to suffer just because I have a problem.”
He waved a dismissive hand through the air. “This isn’t like you’re asking for time off to go on a shopping binge or some other frivolous excursion,” he barked, then resumed pacing. “I’ll deal with the problems here in the office. Mother will step in your place for the time being. As for me, I suppose I could ask Dad to deal with my most pressing obligations. He doesn’t know anything about the mining business. But he can always call me with questions,” he went on, more to himself than to her. “I’ll discuss this with my parents tonight. In the meantime, you get on the phone and buy plane tickets for tomorrow. You can be ready by then, can’t you?”
Vanessa was accustomed to his rapid-fire orders. Some days he rattled them off as though she were a tape recorder. But this afternoon, she’d been knocked off-kilter and the sudden personal attention Conall was giving her wasn’t helping her brain snap into action. She stared at him with confusion.
“Tickets? Pardon me, Conall, but I only need one round-trip ticket.”
Walking back to her, he held up two fingers. “You need to purchase two tickets. I’m going with you.”
She gasped and he smiled.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Afraid you’ll fall asleep on the plane and I’ll see you with your mouth open?”
Was he saying something about her mouth? she wondered fuzzily. And had something gone wrong with the room’s thermostat? Sweat was popping out on her forehead and upper lip. Her legs felt oddly weak and there was a loud rushing noise in her ears.
“Conall—I—”
The remainder of her words were never uttered as she slumped forward and straight into his arms.
Chapter Two
“Poor little thing. The shock must have gotten to her.”
From somewhere above her, Vanessa could hear Fiona Donovan’s concerned voice, but try as she might, she couldn’t open her eyes or form one word.
“Her pulse is getting stronger. She’s coming around.”
This statement came from Bridget Donovan, the doctor of the family. Vanessa could feel the pressure of the young woman’s fingers wrapped around her wrist.
“Well, if the truth be known, Conall probably forced her to work through lunch,” Fiona continued in an accusing tone. “She probably hasn’t had a bite to eat all day.”
“Mom, I don’t force Vanessa to do anything,” Conall said brusquely. “She probably stopped long enough to eat a sandwich or some of that gooey stuff from a carton that she seems to favor.”
“You don’t know whether she ate or not?” Fiona shot back at her son.
“Hell, no! I’ve been in my office since before daylight and didn’t come out until a few minutes ago when I found her crying. I don’t know about her lunch! But you can see she’s not starving. She has plenty of meat on her bones.”
His last remark was enough to spike Vanessa’s blood pressure and with a weak groan, she slowly opened her eyes to see she was lying on the couch in her office. Bridget was kneeling over her, while Conall and his mother stood just behind the young doctor.
“Hello, pretty lady,” Bridget said with a bright smile. “Glad to see you’re back with the living.”
Vanessa’s fuzzy eyesight darted over the redheaded doctor and then slowly progressed up to Conall’s dour face. Next to him, Fiona was smiling with happy relief.
“What… happened?” Vanessa asked weakly. “I was talking to Conall and the next thing I knew there was a strange rushing noise in my ears.”
“You fainted,” Bridget explained. “Thankfully Conall caught you before you hit your head on the desk or the floor. When he called over to the house for help, I happened to be home on a break from the clinic. How are you feeling now?”
“Weak and groggy,” Vanessa admitted. “But better.”
“Good. Your color is returning,” she said. “Conall tells me you received a bit of a shock about your friend.”
“Yes. I was feeling a bit shaky, but I never dreamed I’d do anything like… faint! This is so embarrassing.” She glanced back at Conall to see his expression was still grim and she figured he had to be terribly annoyed for all this interference in his work schedule. Over the past couple of months, she’d learned his work was his life and he didn’t appreciate anything or anyone intervening. “I’m sorry, Conall. I’ve disrupted the whole office and your family.”
“Nonsense!” Fiona blurted out before her son had a chance to utter a word. “You had every right to have a little fainting spell. Most women have nine months to prepare to be a mother. From what Conall tells us, you didn’t have nine minutes.”
“I’m just glad I happened to be home,” Bridget quickly added. “Conall feared you were having a heart attack.” She clamped a strong hand on Vanessa’s shoulder. “Sit up for me and let’s see how you do now.”
With the young woman’s help, Vanessa rose to a sitting position. “I’m fine. Really,” she told the doctor. “I feel much stronger now and my head isn’t whirling.”
“Well, from what I can see, you had a simple, garden-variety faint. It happens to the best of us sometimes,” Bridget assured her. “But if you have any more trouble—weakness, dizziness or anything like that—please get to your doctor for a checkup. Okay?”
“Yes. I promise. Thank you, Bridget.”
“No problem,” she said, then with a broad smile, she rose to a standing position and pointed a direct look at her brother. “I’ve got to get back to the clinic, so I’m leaving the patient in your hands, Conall. You might go lightly on her the remainder of the day.”
“Vanna is going to get the rest of the afternoon off,” Fiona spoke up, using the shortened name that Maura had given Vanessa many years ago when the two had been teenagers. “In fact, Conall is going to drive her home.”
Vanessa opened her mouth to argue, but quickly decided not to make the effort. Fiona could be just as formidable as her son and with Bridget agreeing that Vanessa could clearly use some rest, she had no choice but to go along with the family’s wishes.
Once Bridget had departed the small office, Conall said to Vanessa, “I’ll get your things and we’ll be on our way.”
While Conall collected her sweater and handbag from a tiny closet located in the short hallway separating her office from his, Fiona was already taking a seat at Vanessa’s desk.
“While you two are gone,” she said to Conall, “I’ll take care of the plane tickets and see to organizing anything else you might need for the trip to Vegas. If there are still empty seats, do you want the first flight out?”
“That would be great, Mom. See what you can do.”
With her things thrown over his arm, he walked over to the couch and slipped a hand beneath Vanessa’s elbow.
“Think you can stand okay now?” he asked gently.
Since she’d gone to work for this tall, dark powerhouse of a man, he’d been polite enough to her, but mostly he was all business. It felt more than strange to have him addressing her about personal things and even more unsettling to have him touching her.
“Yes,” she assured him, then feeling her cheeks warm with an embarrassed flush, added, “I don’t think you need worry about having to catch me again.”
Not bothering to make a reply, he began to guide her toward the door. Across the room, Fiona flung a parting question at her son.
“Conall, the hotel rooms. How many nights do you need reserved? Or do you have any idea about that?”
“No idea,” he said. “Better leave that open.”
“Right,” she replied, then tossed a reassuring smile at Vanessa. “Don’t worry, Vanna. Everything is going to be just fine. Why, in no time you’ll have those little babies of yours home and in your arms.”
Vanessa thanked the woman for her kind thoughts and then Conall ushered her out to a shiny black pickup truck with the Diamond D brand emblazoned on the doors.
After he’d helped her into the cab and they were barreling past a fenced paddock filled with a row of busy mechanical horse walkers, he said, “You gave me a fright back there when you fainted. Are you sure you’re okay?”
He was staring straight ahead and Vanessa could read little from his granite-etched profile. For the most part, she’d always thought of him as an unfeeling man, but maybe that was because he didn’t allow his feelings to show on his face. He was certainly going out of his way to help her. Which created an even bigger question in her mind. Why? Even if she was his one and only secretary, her personal problems were none of his responsibility.
“I’m okay, Conall. Really. I just feel… silly for causing you and your family so much trouble.” Her gaze turned toward the passenger window as they curved away from the Donovan ranch house. The structure’s stalwart appearance hadn’t changed since she’d left the Hondo Valley more than fifteen years ago. And she liked to think the big Irish family that lived inside hadn’t changed, either—that if she stepped inside, she’d still feel like Cinderella visiting the castle.
“Forget it,” he practically snapped.
She looked at him. “But you—”
He interrupted before she could say more. “Let it rest, Vanessa.”
Sighing, she smoothed the hem of her skirt over her knees and stared ahead. One minute everything had been going along fine. As fine as it could be for a divorced woman with her family split in all directions and an aging father too debilitated from a stroke to leave the nursing home. Yet those problems seemed small in comparison to what she was facing now.
Still, Vanessa realized she couldn’t give in to the overwhelming shock. She had to straighten her shoulders and take up the reins of her life again. But taking them out of Conall’s hands was not going to be an easy task. He was a man who was all about using his power to bend operations to his liking. And she was all about independence. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone and that included her boss. Yet this was one time that agreeing to a little help might be the sensible thing for her to do. Especially for the babies’ sake.
“You don’t like accepting help from anyone, do you?” he asked as he steered the truck off Diamond D ranch land and onto the main highway.
The man must be a mind reader, she thought. “I like taking care of myself,” she answered truthfully, then realizing how ungrateful that probably sounded to him, she glanced over and added, “But this is one time I can’t take care of things entirely on my own. And I am grateful to you, Conall. Please know that.”
He didn’t say anything for a while and she was wondering if she’d offended him, when he said, “You can tell me if I’m getting too personal, Vanessa, but what about your brothers? If I remember right, you had four of them. Are any of them close enough to help you with the babies?”
Vanessa choked back a mocking laugh. Her brothers couldn’t care for themselves, much less two needy babies. “My brothers all moved far away from here. They conveniently forgot their parents and only sister. And that’s fine with me, ‘cause I wouldn’t ask them for the time of day,” she said flatly.
“That’s too bad.”
She heaved out a heavy breath. “It’s probably for the best, Conall. None of them have ever made much effort to become responsible men. The only one who comes close to it is Michael—the one your age. And he’s hardly in the running for sainthood,” she added.
He didn’t make any sort of reply to that and Vanessa figured he was thinking badly of her. The Donovan family had always been a strong unit. They lived together, worked and played together, and stuck close even when life’s problems crashed in unexpectedly. He probably couldn’t understand why she and her brothers lacked the love and devotion it took to keep the Valdez family bonded. But then, she’d never understood it herself.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to sound so… judgmental. But believe me when I say there are no relatives around to help. Not with the babies, my father, the home place, anything.”
In other words, she had her hands full, Conall thought grimly. As he’d suspected, the Valdez brothers had left Lincoln County. He’d not seen any of them in years and even when they had still been around, Conall hadn’t associated with any of them. He’d never been into strutting around in black leather and begging for scrapes with the law. Some time back, he’d heard the eldest son had served time for distributing drugs over in El Paso, but as far as he knew, no gossip had ever surfaced about the remaining three.
Conall cast a brief glance at her. What had her life been like these past years she’d been away from the valley? She’d certainly climbed the workforce ladder. But in spite of her having more financial security, she was more or less alone in life. Like him.
Which only proved that riches didn’t always come in the form of money, he thought.
Ten minutes later, on a five-acre tract of land near the tiny settlement of Tinnie, Conall pulled the truck to a stop in front of a rickety picket fence. Beyond the whitewashed barrier was a small stucco house of faded turquoise. One mesquite tree shaded the front entrance, while a short rock walkway crossed a bare dirt yard. A brown-and-white nanny goat stood on the porch as she reared on her hind legs and nipped at a hanging pot of red geraniums.
Even though he’d not been by the homestead recently, the Valdez home looked pretty much as it always had. Seeing the family’s modest existence normally wouldn’t have affected Conall one way or the other. Rich and poor was a fact of life. Not just in the New Mexico mountains, but everywhere. Yet now that he was beginning to know Vanessa, he was struck by the stark simplicity of the place. She’d left a very high-paying job to return to this, he thought incredibly. All because her father had needed her. How many women would do such a thing?
As she collected her handbag and jacket, Conall walked around to the passenger door to help her to the ground.
“I’ll walk with you to the door,” he told her. “Just in case your knees get spongy.”
With his hand at her back, they walked through a sagging gate and down the rough walkway. To the east, far beyond the house, clouds had gathered over the Capitan Mountains, blotting out the sun and hinting at an oncoming rainstorm.
When they reached the porch, the goat ignored them as they stepped up to the door. “Would you like to come in?” she asked.
He smiled. “Some other time,” he assured her. “If we’re going to leave in the morning, I have a hundred things to tend to before we go. Richardson is coming about the pool at three. I need to be there to see what sort of ideas he has. And to get his estimates for the cost.”
The idea of discussing plans to enlarge the swimming pool for Diamond D racehorses, while Vanessa was worrying how she was going to house two needy infants, made him feel rather small and out of touch. But it was hardly his fault that their worlds were so different.
“Sure,” she said, then suddenly looked up at him. Her features were taut with stress. “Could you let me know about our flight time? Since my vehicle is still at the ranch, I suppose I’ll need someone to pick me up and take me to the airport.”
Placing his forefinger beneath her chin, he passed the pad of his thumb slowly along her jaw line. “Relax,” he said softly. “I’ll take care of everything, Vanessa. Just pack your bags and let me do the rest.”
She nodded and then her gaze skittered shyly away from his and on to the closed door behind her shoulder. Conall told himself it was time to drop his hand and back away. But something about the tender line of her cheek, the warm scent emanating from her hair, made him bend his head and press a kiss to her temple.
For one moment her small hand fluttered to a stop against the middle of his chest, and then just as quickly she was pushing herself away and hurrying into the house.
Conall stared after her for long moments before he finally moved off the porch and walked back to his truck.
Later that evening, as Vanessa attempted to pack what things she needed for the trip to Vegas, the phone rang.
Praying it wasn’t another call from Hope’s lawyer, she picked up the phone located on the nightstand by her bed and was surprised to hear Maura’s voice on the other end of the line.
Even though the two women had been longtime friends, Maura had a husband and two young children to care for, along with her part-time job at Bridget’s medical clinic in Ruidoso. She was too busy to make a habit of calling.
Without preamble, Conall’s sister exclaimed, “Bridget just told me about your friend—and the babies! Dear God, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now!”
Swiping a weary hand through her hair, Vanessa said, “I feel like every ounce of energy has been drained from my body, Maura.”
“Bridget told me about you fainting. Thank God Conall was there with you. How are you feeling now?”
“Physically, better. I’m packing for the trip right now. But my mind is racing around in all directions. How can a person feel grief and happy excitement at the same time? I feel like I’m being pulled in all directions.” She eased down on the edge of the bed. “But mostly, Maura, I’m scared.”
“Scared? You?” Maura scoffed. “You’re one of the strongest and bravest women I’ve ever known. What do you have to be scared about, anyway?”
Brave? Strong? Maybe at one time, years ago when she’d first headed out to Las Vegas on her own, she’d been brave and determined to make a better life for herself. But her mistakes with Jeff had wiped away much of her confidence.
“Two little infants, that’s what! You’ve got to remember I’ve never had a baby. I don’t know the first thing about taking care of one.”
Maura’s soft laugh was meant to reassure her friend. “Trust me, dear friend, giving birth doesn’t give you an inside corner on taking care of babies. It’s a learn-as-you-go thing. Believe me, you’ll be fine. And isn’t it wonderful, Vanna? You with children! You’ve wanted some of your own for so long now.”
As tears stung, Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s true. But I didn’t want them this way—with my friend dying. She was… well, I’ve talked about her to you before. She was such a generous person and so fun and full of life. She was planning to… come back here for a visit later this summer to show me the babies and see where I grew up. Now—” her throat tightened to an aching knot, forcing her to pause “—I’ll be bringing the babies back without her.”
Vanessa could hear Maura sniffing back a tear of her own. “Yes, it’s so tragic, Vanna. I would have loved to meet her. But it wasn’t meant to be and you can’t dwell on her death now. You have to concentrate on the babies and remember how much your friend wanted them to be loved and cared for.”
“You’re right, Maura,” Vanessa said as she tried to gather her ragged emotions. “I have to move forward now.”
Maura cleared her throat. “Well, Bridget says that our brother is traveling with you to Vegas. Frankly, I’m shocked about this, Vanna. The rare times he leaves the ranch are only for business reasons.”
Surely Maura could see that Conall considered Vanessa a business reason and nothing more. “I tried to tell him it wasn’t necessary.”
“Oh. I thought you might have asked him to go.”
Vanessa drew in a sharp breath. “Are you serious? I would never ask Conall to do anything personal for me! He just made all these decisions on his own. And I have no idea why.”
“Hmm. Well, his last secretary was a real bitch,” Maura said bluntly. “And everyone in the family has heard him singing praises about your work. I’m sure he wants to keep you happy.”
Vanessa released a short, dry laugh. “I’ve been told that good secretaries are hard to find.” But earlier this afternoon, when he placed that brief kiss on the top of her head, she’d definitely not felt like his employee, she thought. She’d felt like a woman with something worthwhile to offer a man.
Dear God, the shock of losing Hope and becoming a mother all at once had numbed her brain. Conall Donovan would never look at her as anything more than his employee. Socially, he was several tiers above her. And even though he wasn’t a snob, he was still a Donovan.
“Doesn’t matter why he’s going,” Maura said. “I’m just glad he is. You need someone to support you at a time like this. And Conall has a strong arm to lean on.”
Vanessa had no intentions of leaning on Conall. Certainly not in a physical way. But she kept those thoughts to herself. “Yes. Your brother is a rock.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call him that. Yes, he can be hard. But there’s a soft side to him. You just have to know where to look for it,” Maura explained. “There was a time—” She broke off, then after a long pause, added in a rueful voice, “Let’s just say Conall wasn’t always the man he is now.”
Shying far away from that loaded comment, Vanessa said, “Well, I’m hoping we can wrap up everything in Vegas quickly.”
“And I’d better let you go so that you can finish your packing,” Maura replied. “Is there anything I can help you with while you’re gone? Check on your father? Your house?”
“It’s kind of you to offer, but I’ll keep in touch with the nursing home. And I think the house will be okay for a couple of days. But just in case, you know where I leave an extra key so that you can get inside.”
“Yes, I remember. In the little crack behind the window shutter.”
“Right,” Vanessa replied. “But I doubt we’ll be gone for that long. Besides, the best thing you can do for me is share your experienced mothering skills. I’m definitely going to need advice.”
Maura laughed. “Just wait, Vanna. You’re going to see that a woman can never learn all there is to know about mothering. You just have to go by instinct and you happen to have a good one.”
“I can only hope you’re right,” Vanessa murmured.
The next afternoon, after the short flight to Las Vegas, Conall dealt with their luggage, then picked up their rental car and headed to their hotel. Thankfully Fiona hadn’t booked them into one of the resort monstrosities that lined the busy strip, but a nice peaceful villa on the desert outskirts of the city.
After checking in and sending their bags to adjoining rooms, they drove straight to the lawyer’s office to deal with the legalities of claiming the twins and arranging to store Hope’s ashes.
By the time they finally arrived at the orphanage, an old, ivy-covered Spanish-style building located on the outskirts of town, Vanessa’s exhaustion must have been clearly showing. As they followed a silent Sister down a wide, empty corridor, Conall brought a steadying hand beneath her elbow.
“I’m thinking we should have waited until tomorrow to see the babies,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not sure you’re up to this.”
Vanessa straightened her shoulders as best she could. For the life of her, she wasn’t about to let this granite piece of man think she was made of anything less than grit and determination.
“I’ll be fine. And seeing the babies is the best part of this trip,” she assured him.
Conall studied her pale face and wondered what his secretary could possibly be thinking. Even for the strongest of women, she was receiving a heavy load to carry. Especially without a man to help her.
He didn’t know anything about Vanessa’s marriage or divorce. In fact, he’d only known she was divorced because she’d stated it on her résumé. Of course he could have questioned Maura about her friend and most likely his sister would have given him an honest account of what had occurred. But Conall had never been one to pry into another person’s private life, unless he believed there was a good reason to. He liked his privacy and tried his best to respect everyone else’s. And even if she was his employee, he didn’t consider Vanessa an exception to that rule. Except there were times, he had to admit to himself, that he was curious about her.