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“Lulu?” he prompted again.
She pivoted back toward him and lifted her chin, hating that he had to see her at her most vulnerable. “Of course I’m all right,” she muttered. Although the devastation might have been easier to bear had he not gallantly insisted on accompanying her to the scene of the crime. And then, once amid the devastation, done his best to assist her and the sheriff’s deputy who’d been sent to investigate. Because that had made her want to lean on him, the way she once had. And she knew she could never do that again.
Oblivious to the morose direction of her thoughts, Sam put a staying hand on her shoulder. Moved so she had no choice but to look into his face. Solemnly, he reminded her, “It’s been a hell of a day, darlin’. First, we found out about the death of our close friends. Learned their boys had been orphaned. And found out we had both been tapped as potential guardians. Now, you just had all three hundred of your bee boxes, as well as your entire stockpile of honey, stolen.”
Which left her with exactly nothing, she realized miserably. Seven years of hard work, building up her hives, gone. The only thing she had left of her business, aside from her small 150-acre ranch property, was her Honeybee Ranch food truck, and without her signature honey, the food she served out of that wasn’t going to be the same, either.
His gaze drifting over her with unexpected gentleness, Sam told her, “I called the other officers of the Laramie County Cattleman’s Association while you were talking to the deputy, and put out the word. Everyone’s offered to do whatever they can to help.”
Lulu was grateful for the assistance. Even if she wasn’t entirely sure it would do much good now, after the theft. With a grimace, she stepped back. Despite her efforts to the contrary, she was unable to control the emotions riding roughshod inside her.
Bitter tears misting her eyes, she blurted out, “If only you had made that offer prior to today, cowboy, I might not be in such a mess.”
Recognition lit his gold-flecked eyes. “Wait...” He touched her arm and surveyed her. “Is that why you were so determined to join the Laramie County Cattleman’s Association? Because you were afraid something like this could happen?”
Shoulders stiff, she shrank from his touch. “What did you think?” she scoffed. “That it was for your charming company?”
Stepping closer, he cupped her shoulders between his large palms, preventing her escape. “Why didn’t you just tell me this?”
As if it had been that easy, given his resistance to cutting her even the slightest bit of slack, after what had happened between them.
His tranquil manner grating on her nerves as much as his chivalrous attitude, Lulu broke free from his hold and spun away. Her pulse skittering, she headed toward the barn. “I would have, had I felt you would be the least bit sympathetic or helpful.” She tossed the words over her shoulder, then turned her glance forward again. “But you weren’t...so...” An ache rose in her throat.
Sam caught up with her, matching her stride for indignant stride. “Come on, Lulu,” he said. “It’s not as if you’ve ever been afraid to fight any battle with me.”
Lulu stopped dead in her tracks. He was right. She wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with him. Never had been. With effort, she forced herself to be honest. Wearily, she said, “In the end, I didn’t come to you with my fears because even though I knew it was happening in other parts of the state, big-time, I wasn’t really sure something like this could ever happen here in Laramie County.” She sighed. “Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe that it would. Especially since I’m the only beekeeper who runs—or did run, anyway—a big commercial operation.”
“And the other beekeepers?” Sam didn’t take his eyes off her.
Lulu felt the heat of his gaze like a caress. “Are simply hobbyists, with one or two hives, so it really wouldn’t be worthwhile for anyone to go in and try to locate and then steal their boxes.”
She went into the barn, came out with a wooden pallet and carried it over to the apiary. She wanted any remaining bees in the area to have a place to go.
Sam kept pace with her, inundating her with his brisk, masculine scent. He watched her set down the pallet in the middle of the barren field. “Why would they want to do that, anyway? I mean, given the risk of getting caught?”
She returned to the barn for a brand-new wooden bee box bearing the Honeybee Ranch brand and a metal water pan. Already thinking about getting a new queen for the hive. “Because adding hives to orchards can increase the yield up to four hundred percent.” At his look of amazement, she added, “I’ve had offers to rent out my bees to almond orchards in California, watermelon fields in south Texas and cranberry bogs in Wisconsin.”
His large frame blocking out the late-afternoon June sunshine, Sam stood back and gave her room to work. “And you said no?”
Acutely aware of his fiercely masculine presence, she carried both items over to the pallet inside the apiary. Set the lidded box down, filled a water pan from the outdoor faucet and left it nearby. “Every time.”
His brow furrowed. She could see he didn’t understand.
Sighing, she explained, “I could earn money that way, but it’d be hard on my bees, and it would bring with it risk of mites and disease and infection to the hives. Which would not be worth it in my opinion, since I already have a very good market for my honey. Or had.”
Briefly, guilt and remorse etched the handsome features of his face. “I’m so sorry, darlin’.”
Again. Too little, too late.
Arms folded, she moved even farther away.
Gruffly, he promised, “We’ll find your bees, Lulu.”
She dug in her heels. Now was not the time for idle comfort, just as earlier had not been the time for idle promises. “And if we don’t?” The tears she’d been holding back flooded her eyes. “Then what?” She blotted the moisture with her fingertips. “I’m going to have to start my honey business all over, Sam.”
He shook his head, stubbornly nixing even the possibility of that outcome. “Someone had to have seen something unusual, even if they didn’t put it together at the time. With the sheriff’s department and the cattleman’s association both working on finding answers ASAP, we should know something soon.”
Would they? Lulu wished she could be as certain of that as Sam. Heck, she wished she had even a tenth of his confidence.
“In the meantime,” he continued in an agreeable tone that warmed her through and through, “I’d like to help you in whatever way I can.”
Lulu studied him. “Do you mean that?” she asked thickly, turning her attention to the other big challenge currently facing her. The one with even more potential to break her heart. “Because if you do,” she said slowly, “I’ve got a proposition for you.” She paused, bracing for battle. “I’d like to be the children’s nanny.”
* * *
Sam had known that Lulu would not accept him as the triplets’ guardian when she was next on the list. And hence she would continue to fight the decision, in one way or another.
But he hadn’t expected her to offer this.
“You...want to be the triplets’ nanny?” he repeated in disbelief, staring down into her pretty face.
Lulu tossed her head, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders in soft, touchable waves. And as she stepped closer, tempting him with the scent of her perfume, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to haul her into his arms and simply breathe her in.
“Well, I’m right in my assumption, aren’t I?” she demanded. “You are planning on hiring one to help you with the three little boys.”
“Yes.” He intended to call a five-star service as soon as he got home and have them send someone out. Hopefully, by tomorrow evening. “I was.”
“Well, I’m telling you there is no need for that,” she went on sweetly, “when you have me, volunteering for the position.”
Actually, there were a lot of reasons, Sam thought. Starting with the fact he had never really gotten over Lulu. Or the way their relationship had ended. Or the fact that, even now, he found himself wanting to take her to bed and make love to her over and over again.
Was she feeling the same damning pull of attraction? And if so, where would that lead them? “Why do you want to do this?” he asked.
She shrugged, suddenly holding back as much as he was. She spread her hands wide. “Well, at the moment, it’s not like I have anything else to do.”
Uh-huh. “And if I believe that, you have some prime swampland to sell me.”
“Okay.” She flushed guiltily and her tongue snaked out to wet her lower lip. “You’re right.” A small sigh. “I do have an ulterior motive.”
Now they were talking.
“I want to be there for the children in case things don’t work out with the four of you.”
“Except...they’re going to work out, darlin’,” he promised, just as persuasively.
At his assertion, an inscrutable veil slipped over her eyes. Her slender body stiffened and he took in the gentle rise and fall of her breasts.
“You seem sure of that,” she said finally.
Sam nodded. Trying to keep his own latent anger and disappointment at bay, he replied, “When I make a commitment, Lulu, I keep it.” Their eyes locked, held. Memories came flooding back.
Reminded of their falling-out all those years ago, and the reason for it, the color in her cheeks grew even rosier.
“Even if they do work out just fine with you...as their single daddy...you’re going to need loving backup for them. And what better person for that role than their next, and only remaining, named legal guardian?”
She had a point. What she was suggesting did sort of make sense. At least when it came to doing what was best for the three little ones.
“You’d have to come to my ranch,” he warned.
“Obviously.”
“And be available to help whenever, wherever, however I need you.”
He expected her to resist. Instead, she did not so much as flinch. She rocked forward on the toes of her cowgirl boots, patient and ready. “I can make plenty of sacrifices, when necessary.”
There had been a time, he thought irritably, when that wasn’t the case.
“In fact, if you’ll let me take charge of them, you won’t even have to pay me or be anything more than an admirable father figure in their lives. I’m perfectly willing to handle everything on my own.”
She was deliberately calling the shots and shutting him out. He frowned, warning her, “I intend to be a lot more hands-on than that, darlin’. And if you take this on, I will pay you the going rate.”
“Okay. Well, then, if you want, I’ll do the days while you’re out working. When you get home at night, you could take over completely in the evening.”
As much as he wanted that to be the case, he knew that might be a little much for him. Especially in the beginning, until the kids got settled in and developed a routine.
As if sensing that, she continued, “Or you could have me stay and help you until they’re all in bed for the night. And then I could still head home to my place. After all...” Lulu sighed, pausing to look him in the eye, letting him know that nothing essential would ever change between the two of them, even if two-year-old triplets were involved, “...like oil and water, you and I will never really mix.” She pivoted and headed for the barn. “Not for long, anyway.”
We could, Sam thought, with a ferocity that surprised him, if you would ever give us even half a chance.
But Lulu wouldn’t, he realized, watching her long legs eat up the ground. Not back then, when they had loved each other, and clearly not now, given the lingering animosity between them.
He caught up with her, overwhelmed yet again with the desire to sweep her into his arms and kiss her until she melted against him. Pushing the impulse aside, he retorted gruffly, “We need to think about what is right for the kids, Lulu.” Not what either of us wish could happen in some fantasy world.
She shut one barn door, then the other. Over her shoulder, she sent him a contemplative look and said, “I am thinking, Sam.” She brushed past him and headed for the porch of her small and tidy cottage-style home.
She settled on one of the cozy wicker chairs on the front porch. With a gesture, she invited him to make himself comfortable, too. “In fact, I haven’t stopped mulling over what to do since the moment I heard about the triplets being orphaned. Which is why I know in my heart that the boys need to be here in Laramie County, where they will be well cared for and loved. Not just by you or me but by the whole community.”
Sam wasn’t surprised Lulu was feeling protective. She had always been sweetly maternal. An emotion that as of late had been bestowed upon her bees.
She had also switched gears pretty quickly. From cantankerous ex slash opponent, to heartbroken business owner, to ferociously determined nanny-to-be. He couldn’t help but wonder if they were moving too fast, if they shouldn’t ask for an extra few days to think about what they wanted to do, before they gave Hiram their answer.
Able to see how Lulu might take such a suggestion, however, he said only, “You’re really willing to go all out to lend a hand, even after what happened here at the Honeybee Ranch today?” A theft that had left her devastated?
She gave him a look that said, Especially after this. “First of all, Sam,” she reflected sadly, “we owe it to our friends to do everything we can to protect and nurture their three little boys.”
Renewed grief wafted over him, too. “I agree,” he said gruffly.
“Second, it’ll keep me busy until I see if my hives will ever be recovered.” As she seemed to fear they wouldn’t be. “Third, to make this work, you’re going to need help. Lots of it.”
He leaned against a post on the porch and studied her. Aware the impulsive, reckless, romantic side of her was simultaneously the most thrilling and the most irritating. Which made him wonder just how long she would last, in what was likely to be a very challenging—and potentially heartbreaking—situation.
He sauntered toward her. “I don’t half do anything, Lulu.” A fact he’d made perfectly clear ten years before.
Her lower lip slid out in a delicious pout. She rose with elegant grace to face off with him. “Unlike me, I suppose?”
He let his gaze drift over her, taking in her luscious curves and lithe frame, her elegant arms and long sexy legs. “I wasn’t talking about our previous big mistake.”
She sent her glance heavenward. Sighed, with what seemed like enormous regret. “It was that, all right.”
He jammed his hands on his waist and lowered his face to hers, wishing she had realized that a whole lot sooner. Like at the beginning of their spring break, instead of the end. “It was your idea in the first place.”
She glared back at him. “Yeah, well, you went along with me, cowboy. At least initially.”
Until she’d begun to panic. And suffer regret. Then, well, it had been clear their relationship was all over.
Emotion rose as their stare-down continued.
Realizing she had almost goaded him into losing his cool, Sam shoved a hand through his hair and stepped away. Deciding it might be best to be more direct, he said honestly, “This is what worries me, darlin’. The fact we can hardly be around each other without quarreling.”
Lulu nodded. Sober now. “It would worry me, too, if we didn’t have something much more important to worry about. The health and welfare and happiness of Theresa and Peter’s three boys.”
She released a soft, empathetic sigh and compassion gleamed in her eyes. “You heard what Hiram said. They’re at the end of the line of the named guardians. If we don’t want them to end up separated and in foster care, you and I are going to have to find a way to make it all work.” She paused to draw a deep, enervating breath that lifted the curves of her breasts against her polo shirt. “I don’t think, under the circumstances, that this is too much to ask of us. Do you? Especially since Peter and Theresa named both of us in their wills?”
“All right,” Sam said, deciding he could be as selfless as she was being and more. “I’ll agree to this arrangement for one month.” Which should be enough time for you to realize how unworkable a situation this is going to be for the two of us, and then decide to simply take on the role of close family friend. “At the end of that time,” he said sternly, “we reassess. And if we need to find a professional nanny, we will.”
“Agreed. Although I have to warn you, I’m not going to change my mind.”
That, Sam thought, remained to be seen. From what he’d observed, one two-year-old could be a lot. Three...at one time...who were also in mourning...? But in the short-term, there were other important things they needed to worry about, too. Her personal safety being paramount.
“Where are you going to be this evening?” he asked, guessing she hadn’t yet told her family what had happened. Otherwise her cell phone would have been ringing off the hook and the place would have been inundated with McCabes.
But they would know, as soon as the ranchers in the family got the alert from the cattleman’s association. “Are you going to stay with your parents?”
She blinked, confused. “Why would I want to do that?”
“In case the rustlers come back.”
She pooh-poohed the notion, fearless as always. “They already took everything of value.”
She had a point. They hadn’t touched her house. And they certainly could have looted it, too, if they had wanted to do so. Still... He gazed down at her. “I think until we know more about who did this and why, you’ll be safer elsewhere, Lulu.”
“And I think I’ll be just fine right here.” She took hold of his biceps and steered him toward the porch steps, clearly done with this topic.
But he was not satisfied. Not in the least. Because the need to protect her was back, stronger than ever. “Lulu...”
She peered up at him from beneath a fringe of dark lashes. “You just worry about contacting Hiram and getting the triplets here as soon as possible. I’ll handle the rest.” She went into the house and shut the door behind her.
Chapter Three
“Sam’s still out there?” Lulu’s mother, Rachel, asked during the impromptu family phone call an hour later.
Grimacing, Lulu peeked out the window of her living room, catching a glimpse of the ornery cowboy through the dusky light. Cell phone still pressed to her ear, she confirmed, “He’s sitting in his pickup truck, talking on the phone and doing something on what appears to be a laptop.” Looking as devastatingly handsome and sexy as ever with his hat tossed off and his sleeves rolled up, another button of his shirt undone. Not that she was noticing the effect the summer heat might be having on him...
“Good for him,” growled her father. He had heard all about the theft from other members of the cattleman’s association before she’d even managed to call home to tell them. “Since Sam obviously doesn’t think you should be left alone right now, either.”
But Sam had once, Lulu thought. When the two of them had been at odds, he’d had no problem issuing an ultimatum. When he’d become deeply disappointed in her and walked away.
“Now, Frank,” her mother warned, “Lulu can make her own decisions.”
On the other end of the connection, her father harrumphed.
Lulu didn’t want what she saw as her problems bringing conflict to her family. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offers made by you and my brothers,” she said soothingly. All five of whom wanted to help out by either temporarily taking her into their home or standing guard over her and her property. “It’s just that I need some alone time right now.”
She needed time to think, to figure out how she and Sam were going to manage the triplets. Without continually bringing up any of their former angst.
With uncanny intuition, her mother asked, “Is there anything else going on?”
Glad she had opted not to FaceTime or speak with her parents in person, at least not until after Sam had formally become the triplets’ guardian and she their nanny, Lulu tensed. “Like what?” She feigned innocence. Knowing her folks, they were going to have a lot of opinions about her decision to become a parent this way, too.
“I’m not sure.” Her mother paused.
Lulu’s heartbeat accelerated as she saw Sam get out of his pickup truck and stride through the twilight. He still had his cell phone and a laptop in his big hands. “Listen, Mom, Dad, I’ve gotta go. Talk to you soon.” She hung up before they had a chance to reply.
The doorbell rang.
Her body thrumming with a mixture of impatience and anticipation, she switched on the porch light and opened the door. She stood, blocking him, and gave him a deadpan look. “Yes?”
His legs were braced apart, broad shoulders squared. Looking as confident and determined as ever, he turned his ruggedly handsome face to hers. “I wanted to tell you what the cattlemen have unearthed thus far,” he said in the low, masculine voice she knew so well.
Lulu blinked in surprise and glanced at her watch. “It’s only been a few hours.”
A stubble of evening beard, a shade darker than his wheat-blond hair, lined his jaw. A matter-of-fact smile turned up the corners of his sensual lips. But it was the compelling intensity of his eyes that unraveled her every time. No matter how fiercely she determined that he would not get to her. Not again. “When it comes to rustlers, it’s important to strike before the trail gets cold,” he explained.
She couldn’t argue that.
Their eyes met for one brief, telling moment, that—however fleeting—had them on the exact same page.
Gratitude oozing through her and figuring they might as well sit down for this, she ushered him in. He followed her past the cozy seating area and over to the kitchen island, where she’d been working on her own laptop, notifying fellow beekeepers of what had transpired.
Sam set his belongings down but remained standing. “First,” he said, “I want to tell you that I phoned Hiram and told him you and I were going to be jointly caring for the boys, at least in the interim. Me as their permanent legal guardian, you as their nanny. He was on board with the idea of the two of us joining forces during the kids’ transition, so the triplets are being brought to my ranch tomorrow afternoon around 3:30 p.m.”
Wow, Sam worked fast. On multiple fronts. But then he always had. His ability to really get things done was one of the things she admired most about him.
He paused to check an incoming text on his phone, then turned his attention back to her. “Apparently, they are going to have everything they need with them for the short-term, and the rest of their belongings will be delivered by movers the following day.”
She nodded, trying not to think about how attracted to him she still was.
His gaze roving her head to toe, he continued, “So, if you would like to be at Hidden Creek with me to greet them...”
There were times when he made her feel very comfortable, and then there were others, like now, when he made her feel very off-kilter. Lulu moved around to the other side of the island. “I would.” She busied herself, putting a few dishes away.
He smiled. “Great. And second of all...” He settled his six-foot-three-inch frame on the bar stool, opened up his laptop and, eyes locked on hers, continued, “I know that you gave some of this information to the sheriff’s department regarding the theft, but I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything, if that’s okay.”
Ribbons of sensation ghosting down her spine, Lulu dipped her head in assent. He nodded back at her, then typed in a few words. “The burglary happened sometime this morning.”
His manner was so businesslike, Lulu began to realize she could lean on Sam, at least in this situation, if only she allowed herself to do so.