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Her eyes stung and her breathing quickened as if she were hyperventilating. She pinched the skin on the back of her hand, hard, and pressed her lips together.
Gramps held Xavier’s arm as they made slow progress down the driveway. The older supporting the younger, opposite of how it should be.
Troy cleared his throat. “Like I said, the job won’t be long-term. I...it looks like you and your son have some...issues. You might want to find something more permanent.”
His kind tone made her want to curl up and cry for a couple of weeks, but she couldn’t go there. She clenched her fists. “I know the job is short-term.” Swallowing the lump that rose in her throat, she added, “That’s okay with us. We take things a day at a time.”
“Why’s that?” His gaze remained on the pair making their slow way up the driveway.
He was going to make her say it. She took a shuddering breath and forced out the words. “Because the doctors aren’t sure how long his remission will last.”
* * *
Troy stared at Xavier, forgetting to breathe. Remission? “Remission from what?”
Angelica cleared her throat. “Leukemia. He has...a kind that’s hard to beat.”
Every parent’s nightmare. Instinctively he reached out to pat her shoulder, the way he’d done so many times with pet owners worried about seriously ill pets.
She flinched and sidled away.
Fine! Anger flared up at the rejection and he gripped the porch railing and tamped it down. Her response was crystal clear. She didn’t want any physical contact between them.
But no matter his own feelings, no matter what Angelica had done to him, the past was the past. This pain, the pain of a mother who might lose her child, was in the present, and Angelica’s worn-down appearance suddenly made sense.
And no matter whose kid Xavier was...no matter who she’d cheated on him with...the boy was an innocent, and the thought of a child seriously, maybe terminally, ill made Troy’s heart hurt.
Again he suppressed his emotions as his medical instincts went into overdrive. “What kind of doctors has he seen? Have you gotten good treatments, second opinions?”
She took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t begin to tell you how many doctors and opinions.”
“But are they the best ones? Have you tried the Cleveland—”
“Troy!” She blew out a jagged breath. “Look, I don’t need medical interference right now. I need a job.”
“But—”
“Don’t you think I’ve done everything in my power to help him?” She turned away and walked down the steps toward her son. Her back was stiff, her shoulders rigid.
He lifted a hand to stop her and then let it fall. Way to go, Hinton. Great social skills.
He’d find out more, would try to do something to help. Obviously Angelica hadn’t done well financially since she left him and left town. Xavier’s father must have bolted. And without financial resources, getting good medical care wasn’t easy.
“Mom! Did you get the job?”
Angelica shot Troy a quick glance. “It’s still being decided.”
The boy’s face fell. Then he nodded and bit his lip. “It’s okay, Mama. But can we at least see the dogs?”
“Absolutely,” Troy answered before Angelica could deny the boy. Then he hobbled down the porch stairs and sank onto the bottom one, putting him on a level with the six-year-old. “I’m Troy,” he said, and reached out to shake the boy’s hand.
The boy smiled—wow, what a smile—and reached out to grasp Troy’s hand, looking up at his mother for reassurance.
She nodded at him. “You know what to say.”
Frowning with thought, the boy shook his head.
“Pleased to...” Angelica prompted.
The smile broke out again like sunshine. “Oh yeah. Pleased to meet you, sir. I’m Xavier.” He dropped Troy’s hand and waved an arm upward, grinning. “And this is my grandpa. My great-grandpa.”
“I’ve already had the pleasure.” Troy looked up and met the old man’s hostile eyes.
Camden glared down at him, not speaking.
Oh man. Out of the gazillion reasons not to hire Angelica, here was a major one. Obviously her grandfather was an important part of her life, one of her only living relatives. If she and Xavier came to live here, Troy would see a lot of Homer Camden, something they’d managed to avoid for the years Angelica was out of town.
Of course, he’d been working like crazy himself. Setting up his private practice, opening the rescue, paying off debt from vet school, which was astronomical even though his family had helped.
Troy pushed himself to his feet and got his crutches underneath him. “Dogs are out this way, if you’d like to see them.” He nodded toward the barn.
“Yes!” Xavier pumped his arm. “I asked God to get me a bunch of dogs.”
“Zavey Davey...” Angelica’s voice was uneasy. “Remember, I don’t have the job yet. And God doesn’t always—”
“I know.” Xavier sighed, his smile fading a little. “He doesn’t always answer prayers the way we want Him to.”
Ouch. Kids were supposed to be all about Jesus Loves Me and complete confidence in God’s—and their parents’—ability to fix anything. But from the looks of things, young Xavier had already run up against some of life’s hard truths.
“Come on, Gramps.” When the old man didn’t move, Xavier tugged at his arm. “You promised you’d be nice. Please?”
The old man’s face reddened. After a slight pause that gave Troy and Angelica the chance to glance at each other, he turned in the direction Troy had indicated and started walking, slowly, with Xavier.
Angelica touched Troy’s arm, more like hit him, actually. “Don’t let him go back there if you don’t want to give me the job,” she growled.
Even angry, her voice brushed at his nerve endings like rich, soft velvet. Her rough touch plucked at some wildness in him he’d never given way to.
Troy looked off over the cornfields, thinking, trying to get control of himself. He didn’t trust Angelica, but that sweet-eyed kid...how could he disappoint a sick kid?
Homer Camden and the boy were making tracks toward the barn, and Troy started after them. He didn’t want them to reach the dogs before he’d had a chance to lay some ground rules about safety. He turned to make sure Angelica was following.
She wasn’t. “Well?” Her arms were crossed, eyes narrowed, head cocked to one side.
“You expect me to make an instant decision?”
“Since my kid’s feelings are on the line...yeah. Yeah, I do.”
Their eyes locked. Some kind of stormy electrical current ran between them.
This was bad. Working with her would be difficult enough, since feelings he thought he’d resolved years ago were resurfacing. He’d thought he was over her dumping him, but the knowledge that she’d conceived a child with someone else after seeming so sincere about their decision to wait until marriage... His neck felt as tight as granite. Yeah. It was going to take a while to process that.
Having her live here on the grounds with that very child, someone else’s child, the product of her unfaithfulness...he clenched his jaw against all the things he wanted to say to her.
Fools vent their anger, but the wise hold it back. It was a proverb he’d recently taught the boys in his Kennel Kids group, little dreaming how soon and how badly he’d need it himself.
“Mom! Come on! I wanna see the dogs!” Xavier was tugging at his grandfather’s arm, jumping around like a kid who wasn’t at all sick, but Troy knew that was deceptive. Even terminally ill animals went through energetic periods.
Could he deprive Xavier of being with dogs and of having a decent home to live in? Even if having Angelica here on the farm was going to be difficult?
When he met her eyes again, he saw that hers shone with unshed tears.
“Okay,” he said around a sigh. “You’re hired.”
Her face broke into a sunshiny smile that reminded him of the girl she’d been. “Thank you, Troy,” she said softly. She walked toward him, and for a minute he thought she was going to hug him, as she’d been so quick to do in the past.
But she walked right by him to catch up with her son and grandfather. She bent over, embraced Xavier from behind and spoke into his ear.
The boy let out a cheer. “Way to go, Mama! Come on!”
They hurried ahead, leaving Troy to hop along on his crutches, matching Angelica’s grandfather’s slower pace.
“Guess you hired her,” the old man said.
“I did.”
“Now you listen here.” Camden stopped walking, narrowed his eyes, and pointed a finger at Troy. “If you do anything to hurt that girl, you’ll have me to contend with.”
Troy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was doing this family a favor, but he couldn’t expect gratitude, not with the history that stood between them. “I have no plans to hurt her. Hoping she’ll be a help to me until I’m back on my feet.” He glanced down. “Foot.”
“Humph.” Camden turned and started making his way toward the barn again. “Heard you fell off a roof. Fool thing to do.”
Troy gritted his teeth and swung into step beside Camden. “According to my brother and dad, you’ve done a few fool things in your day.” This was a man who’d repeatedly refused a massive financial package that would have turned his family’s lives around, all in favor of keeping his single-acre farm that stood in the middle of the Hinton holdings.
Not that Troy blamed the old man, particularly. Troy’s father was an arrogant, unstable man with plenty of enemies. Including Troy himself, most of the time.
Even after Homer Camden’s health had declined, forcing him to move into the Senior Towers, he clung stubbornly to the land. Rumor had it that his house had fallen into disrepair and the surrounding fields were nothing but weeds.
Not wanting to say something he’d regret, Troy motored ahead on his crutches until he reached Xavier and Angelica, who’d stopped at the gate.
“If you wait there,” he said to them, “I’ll let the dogs out into the runs.” The breeze kicked up just as he passed Angelica, and the strawberry scent of her hair took him back seven years, to a time when that smell and her gentle, affectionate kisses had made him light-headed on a regular basis.
“Wait. Mr. Hinton.” Xavier was breathing hard. “Thank you...for giving Mama...the job.” He smiled up at Troy.
Troy’s throat constricted. “Thank you for talking her into doing it,” he managed to say, and then swung toward the barn.
He was going to do everything in his power to make that boy well.
Inside, joyful barks and slobbery kisses grounded him. His dogs ranged in age and size but tended toward the large, dark-coated bully breeds. The dogs no one else wanted to take a risk with: pit bulls, aggressive Dobermans and Rotties, large mutts. They were mixed in with older, sicker dogs whose owners couldn’t or wouldn’t pay the vet bills to treat them.
He moved among them, grateful that he’d found his calling in life.
Yes, he was lonely. Yes, he regretted not having a family around him, people to love. But he had his work, and it would always be there. Unlike people, dogs were loyal and trustworthy. They wouldn’t let you down.
He opened the kennel doors to let them run free.
When he got back outside, he heard the end of Homer Camden’s speech. “There’s a job might open up at the café,” he was saying, “And Jeannette Haroldson needs a caregiver.”
For some reason that went beyond his own need for a temporary assistant, Troy didn’t want the old man to talk her out of working for him. “Look, I know you’ve got a beef with the Hintons. But it’s my dad and my brother who manage the land holdings. My sister’s not involved, and I just run my rescue.”
“That’s as may be, but blood runs true. Angie’s got other choices, and I don’t see why—”
“That’s why, Grandpa.” Angelica pointed to Xavier. He’d knelt down beside the fence, letting the dogs lick him through it. On his face was an expression of the purest ecstasy Troy had ever seen.
All three adults looked at each other. They were three people at odds. But in that moment, in complete silence, a pact arose between them: whatever it takes, we’ll put this child first and help him be happy.
Chapter Two
Angelica watched her son reach thin, bluish fingers in to touch the dogs. Listened to Troy lecture them all about the rules for safety: don’t enter the pens without a trained person there, don’t let the dogs out, don’t feed one dog in the presence of others. Her half-broken heart sang with gratitude.
Thanks to God, and Troy, Xavier would have his heartfelt wish. He’d have dogs—multiple dogs—to spend his days with. He’d have a place to call home. He’d have everything she could provide for him to make his time on this earth happy.
And if Xavier was happy, she could handle anything: Troy’s intensity, the questions in his eyes, the leap in her own heart that came from being near this too-handsome man who had never been far from her thoughts in all these years.
“Do you want to see the inside of the barn?” Troy asked Xavier.
“Sure!” He sounded livelier than he had in weeks.
Troy led the way, his shoulders working the crutches. He was such a big man; he’d probably had to get the extra-tall size.
Gramps patted her back, stopping her. “I don’t like it,” he said, “but I understand what you’re doing.”
She draped an arm around his shoulders. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“Think I’ll wait in the truck, though,” he said. “Being around a Hinton sticks in my craw.”
“Okay, sure.” Truthfully, she was glad to see Gramps go. She doubted that he and Troy could be civil much longer.
She held Xavier’s hand as they walked into the barn and over to the dog pens. The place was pretty clean, considering. Troy must have been wearing himself out to keep it that way.
As Xavier and Troy played with the dogs, she looked around, trying to get a clue into the man. She wandered over to a desk in the corner, obviously a place where he did the kennel business, or some of it.
And there, among a jumble of nails and paper clips, was a leather-studded bracelet she hadn’t seen in seven years. She sucked in a breath as her heart dove down, down, down.
She closed her eyes hard, trying to shut out the memories, but a slide show of them raced through her mind. First date, whirlwind courtship and the most romantic marriage proposal a girl from her background could have imagined. For a few months, she’d felt like a princess in a fairy tale.
Back then, as an engaged couple, they’d helped with the youth group and had gotten the kids True Love Waits bracelets—leather and studs for the guys, more delicate chains for the girls. There had been a couple of extra ones, and one night when the waiting had been difficult, she and Troy had decided to each wear one as a reminder.
Carefully, she picked up the leather band. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered stroking it on his arm, sometimes jokingly tugging at it when their kisses had gotten too passionate. Back in those innocent, happy days.
She’d ripped hers off and thrown it away on the most awful night of her life. The night she’d turned twenty-one and stupidly gone out with a bunch of friends to celebrate. The night she’d had too much to drink, realized it and accepted the offer of an older acquaintance to walk her home.
The night her purity and innocence and dreams of waiting for marriage had been torn forcibly away.
The next day, when Troy had noticed her bracelet was missing, she’d lied to him, telling him it must have fallen off.
But he’d continued to wear his, joking that he probably needed the reminder more than she did.
“Hey.” He came up behind her now. When he noticed what she was holding, his eyebrows shot up and he took a step back.
She dropped it as if it were made of hot metal. “I’m sorry. That’s not my business. I just happened to see it and...got carried away with the memories.”
He nodded, pressed his lips together. Turned away.
That set face had to be judging her, didn’t it? Feeling disgust at her lack of purity.
She’d been right to leave him. He could never have accepted her after what happened, although knowing him, he’d have tried to pretend. He’d have felt obligated to marry her anyway.
“Mom! Come see!” Xavier cried.
“Xavier!” He’d gone into a section of the barn Troy had warned them was off-limits. “I’m sorry,” she said to Troy, and hurried over to her son. “You have to follow the rules! You could get hurt!”
“But look, Mama!” He knelt in front of a small heap of puppies, mostly gray and white, all squirming around a mother who lay on her side. Her head was lifted, her teeth bared.
“Careful of a mama dog,” Troy said behind her. “Pull him back a foot or two, will you, Angelica? These little guys are only two weeks old, and the mom’s still pretty protective.”
She did, hating the crestfallen expression on Xavier’s face. This ideal situation might have its own risks.
And then Troy reached down, patted the mother dog and carefully lifted a tiny, squirming puppy into Xavier’s lap.
Xavier froze, then put his face down to nuzzle the puppy’s pink-and-white snout. It nudged and licked him back, and then two more puppies crawled into his lap, tumbling over each other. Yips and squeals came from the mass of warm puppy bodies.
“Mom,” Xavier said reverently. “This is so cool.”
Angelica’s heart did a funny little twist. She reached out and squeezed Troy’s arm before she could stop herself.
“Do we really get to live here? Can we sleep in the barn with the puppies?”
Troy laughed. “No, son. You’ll stay in a bunkhouse. Kind of like an Old West cowboy. Want to see?”
“Sure!” His eyes were on Troy with something like hero worship, and worry pricked at Angelica’s chest. Was Xavier going to get too attached to Troy?
Then again, if it would make him happy... Angelica swallowed hard and shut out thoughts of the future. “Let’s go!” she said with a voice that was only slightly shaky.
When they reached the bunkhouse and walked inside, Angelica felt her face break out into a smile. “It’s wonderful, Troy! When did you do all this work on it?” She remembered the place as an old, run-down outbuilding, but now modern paneling and new windows made it bright with sunshine on wood. It needed curtains, maybe blue-and-white gingham. The rough-hewn pine furniture was sparse, but with a few throw pillows and afghans, the place would be downright homey.
A home. She’d wanted one forever, and even more after she’d become a mom.
Troy’s watchful eyes snapped her out of her happy fantasies. “You like it?”
“It’s fantastic.” She realized he’d never answered her question about when he’d done the work.
“You’re easy to please.” His voice was gruff.
She smiled and squatted down beside Xavier. “We both are. Pretty near perfect, isn’t it, Zavey Davey?”
“Yes. Sure, Mama.”
Her ear was so attuned to his needs that she heard the slight hesitation in his voice. “What’s wrong?” she asked, keeping her voice low to make the conversation private, just between her and her son. “Isn’t this everything you’ve always wanted?”
“Yes. Except...” He wrinkled his freckled nose as though he was trying to decide something.
“What? What is it, honey?”
He pressed his lips together and then lost the battle with himself, shrugged and grinned winningly at her. “It’s the last thing on my list, Mama.”
The last thing. Her heart twisted tight. “What? What do you need?”
He leaned over and whispered into her ear, “A dad.”
* * *
When Angelica emerged from the bunkhouse the next Saturday, every nerve in Troy’s body snapped to attention. Was this the same woman who’d been working like a ranch hand this week, wearing jeans and T-shirts and boots, learning the ropes in the kennel?
It was the first time he’d seen her in a top that wasn’t as loose as a sack. And was that makeup on her eyes, making them look even bigger?
“What?” she asked as she walked up beside him. She seemed taller. He looked down and saw that she was wearing sandals with a little heel, too.
Angelica had always been cute and appealing. But now she was model-thin, and with her hair braided back, her cheekbones stood out in a heart-shaped face set off by long silver earrings. A pale pink shirt edged with lace made her copper-colored skin glow. With depth and wisdom in her brown eyes, and a wry smile turning up the edges of her mouth, she was a knockout.
And one he needed to steer clear of. Beauty didn’t equate to morality or good values, and one whirl with this little enchantress had just about done him in.
Though to be fair, he didn’t know the rest of her story. And he shouldn’t judge. “Nothing. You look nice.”
“Do you have the keys?”
“What?”
“Keys.” She held out her hand.
He had to stop staring. The keys. He pulled them out of his pocket and handed them over.
She wasn’t here for him. She was here because she needed something, and when she got it, she’d leave. He knew that from experience.
“Bye, Mama!” Xavier’s voice was thin, reedy, but for all that, cheerful.
When he turned, he saw Xavier and Lou Ann standing on the porch, waving.
“You be good for Miss Lou Ann.” Angelica shook her finger at Xavier, giving him a mock-stern look.
“I will, Mama.”
Lou Ann put an arm around the boy. “We’ll have fun. He’s going to help me do some baking.”
“Thank you!” Angelica shot a beaming smile toward the porch, and Troy’s heart melted a little more.
With him, though, she was all business. “Let’s get going. If we’re to get there by nine, we don’t have time to stand around.”
She walked toward the truck, and he couldn’t help noticing how well her jeans fit her slender frame.
Then she opened the passenger door and held it for him.
He gritted his teeth. Out of all the indignities of being injured, this had to be the worst. He liked to drive, liked to be in control, liked to open the door for a lady. Not have the door held for him. That was a man’s proper role, pounded into him from childhood. No weakness; no vulnerability. Men should be in charge.
While his years in college and vet school, surrounded by capable and brilliant professional women, had knocked some feminist sense into his head, his alpha-male instincts were as strong as ever.
“You need help getting in?” she asked.
Grrrr. “I have a broken leg. I’m not paralyzed.” He swung himself into the truck, grunting with the awkward effort.
“Sor-ry.” She shrugged and walked back around to the driver’s side.
When they headed down the driveway, he said, “Take a right up there at the stop sign.”
She did, rolling down her window at the same time. Hot, dusty July air blew tendrils of her hair loose, but she put her head back and breathed it in deeply, a tiny smile curving her full lips.
He liked that she’d stayed a farm girl, not all prissy and citified. Maybe liked it a little too much. “Slow down, this is a blind curve. Then go left after that barn.”
“Troy.” She shifted gears with complete competence. “I grew up here, remember? I know how to get to town.”
Of course she did. She was a capable assistant...and no more. He needed to focus on his weekly vet clinic and how he was going to manage it on crutches. Forget about Angelica.
Easier said than done.
* * *
Angelica turned down the lane that led into town, trying to pay attention to the country air blowing through the truck’s open windows rather than on the man beside her. He’d been staring at her nonstop since she came outside today. She already felt self-conscious, all dolled up, and Troy’s attitude made it worse. She wasn’t sure if he was judging her or...something else, but his gaze made her feel overheated, uncomfortable.
Or maybe the problem was that she’d dressed up on purpose, with the notion of finding a dad—or a temporary stand-in for one—to fulfill Xavier’s wish. The thought of putting herself out there for men to approach made her feel slightly ill; dating was the last thing she wanted to do. And it wasn’t likely that anyone would want damaged goods like her, not likely she’d attract interest, but she had to try. She’d promised herself to make her son’s days happy, since she couldn’t be sure how many he had left, and she was going to do her best.