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The knowledge stung, but after her father had died, a part of Coco had always been fearful. One day, her mother would die. She knew that one day she would be all alone in the world. For a while she’d believed that was a long way off, but then her mother had gotten cancer and everything had gone downhill.
Staying with her mom during her last days had been the most important, yet the hardest thing she’d ever done. Coco had hoped it would give her peace, but since her mother had passed, she’d felt restless. She’d wake up in the middle of the night in a panic.
Taking the job with Benjamin and Emma had given her a strange sort of relief. Emma had immediately responded to her as if there were already a bond between the two of them. Even though Emma was jittery, there was a sense of calm to the daily routine. Although Emma screamed and cried, she also smiled and cuddled. Something about the baby soothed Coco’s sadness. She wanted to help heal Emma’s fear. In the short time she’d spent at the Garner ranch, she’d grown extremely protective of Emma and was determined to bring peace between the baby and her daddy.
At this point in her life, nothing else was more important.
Each hour, however, she felt herself grow a little more curious about the royal family. In her few spare moments, she checked out the Devereau family and Chantaine online. Most of the siblings looked snooty to her—except for the one with curly hair named Phillipa. Coco was surprised to discover that one of the princesses—Valentina—actually lived in Texas with her husband and daughter.
Her half sister was in the same state. She could actually drive to meet her, she thought. That said, Princess Valentina might have no interest in meeting her. In spite of the fact that she insisted she had no expectations of her new semisiblings, Coco felt restless day and night. When she went to bed, her mind whirled with possibilities. In the deepest, darkest part of her, Coco wanted family—sisters, a mother, a father, cousins, aunts, uncles. Her adoptive mother and father were dead. Her birth mother and father were dead. She’d thought she was all alone. Was she? Was she crazy to think she wasn’t alone?
* * *
The next day, Coco strapped Emma to her chest and took a fishing pole and tackle box out to one of the streams on the Garner ranch. In Texas, people took their infants out to do things that celebrated everything great about the state. That meant the general population wouldn’t be surprised to see an infant at a professional ball game, fishing or even horseback riding, with their mama or daddy, of course. Thinking back to all the fishing trips she’d taken with her daddy before she’d turned ten, she cast her line into the stream, sat on the shore and waited. And waited. And waited. Then she got a bite and reeled in a medium-sized trout. She threw him back and cast her line again.
Early on, she’d learned that waiting was a big part of the game. Her father had made that easier with stories he’d told her—stories he’d clearly conjured. She reconstructed one of those stories and repeated it to Emma, who promptly fell asleep.
Hey, it was a cool story even if it made Emma snooze. Coco caught another three fish that she tossed back into the stream. One of Benjamin’s workers stopped by to chat with her for a few minutes, and by late afternoon, she felt great. All her worries had disappeared. She gave Emma a bottle. The sun was shining on her head, she was sweating just a little bit and she began tramping back to the house.
* * *
Back at the house, Benjamin paced his office. Coco and Emma were gone. Coco had told Sarah she was going fishing, but Benjamin hadn’t gotten around to showing her the real fishing spots on the ranch. So how the hell had she gone fishing?
He thought about Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the two guys representing the Devereau clan who’d visited Coco. He wondered if, despite their dweebiness, they had darker motives. What if they had gone after Coco and his daughter?
Benjamin headed for the front door, intent on tracking down Coco and Emma when he saw Coco stomping up the steps with a fishing pole, a tackle kit and a beaming smile.
Her smile was contagious. “You look happy.”
“I am,” she said. “I caught four fish and threw them back in the stream.”
“You could be lying,” he couldn’t resist teasing. “What proof do you have?”
Her eyes darkened. “Your daughter is a witness.”
Benjamin looked at his sleeping daughter and laughed. “She’s a bad witness.”
“You don’t believe I caught those fish?” she asked, lifting her chin.
“Why should I?”
“Because I told you and because I’m an honorable woman. The only tales I tell are the kind that keep you occupied when you’re waiting to score a fish. My daddy told me a lot of those kinds of stories when we went fishing,” she said.
He met her gaze and felt a strange sensation in his chest. She’d surprised him. He wouldn’t have expected her to be a fisherman even though he’d known she’d grown up in a small town.
“And you’re trying to teach my daughter how to fish at five months?” he said, nodding toward the baby pack on Coco’s chest.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
“No. I don’t mind. It’s good for her to get outside.”
“Do you want to take her?” she challenged.
Whoa, he thought. “She’d scream bloody murder if I tried to take her fishing.”
Her eyes softened just a little. “I’m not talking about fishing. I’m talking about you and your daughter doing something enjoyable together. Both of you need that.”
Chapter Three
The next night, Benjamin met his brother Jackson at a bar in town. They sat down over couple of cold beers. “So, what’s up?” Jackson asked. “You don’t look too good.”
Benjamin slid a sideways glance at his younger brother. Jackson, an up-and-coming lawyer, had always been fast on the draw. He’d finished high school in two years, college in three, then gone on to collect his law degree at a prestigious university.
“Wanna trade places for a month or two?” Benjamin joked.
“Sorry.” Jackson lifted his mug to his lips. “Even I know you would get the easier deal. Ranch and a new baby. Me? I’m a single guy with no plans for a wife or kids anytime in the next century.”
“I hadn’t planned on children yet, either,” Benjamin said wryly but couldn’t keep from cracking a smile. “How’s the practice going?”
“Good,” he said. “It would be easier if I were in Dallas, and there was that offer in New York.”
“So why don’t you go?” Benjamin challenged, already knowing the answer. His brother was committed to Silver City.
Jackson shrugged. “I don’t know. This just feels right.”
“Then quit bellyachin’ about it,” Benjamin said.
Jackson shot him a mock-hard glance. “You’re the one who wanted to trade places,” he said and took a swallow of his beer. “What’s going on?”
Benjamin sighed. “Besides the fact that my daughter hates my guts?” he asked.
Jackson appeared to swallow a laugh and took another sip of beer to cover it. “That could be tough.”
“Yeah,” Benjamin said.
“But there’s something else,” Jackson prodded.
Benjamin sighed again. “The new nanny.”
Jackson frowned. “I thought she was magical. She calmed your screaming daughter. She was perfect.”
“Close to perfect,” Benjamin muttered. “But we’ve hit a bump.”
“She’s illegal?” Jackson asked.
Benjamin shook his head. “No. It’s worse that that.”
“What could be worse?”
Benjamin looked from side to side and leaned toward his brother with a low voice. “She’s a princess.”
“What?” Jackson asked loudly.
“Keep it down,” Benjamin said with a scowl.
“What are you talking about?” Jackson whispered.
“She was given up for adoption and she just found out her father was a prince.”
“Holy crap,” Jackson said. “You know how to pick them.”
Benjamin frowned. “Thank you for your support.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Some representatives of the royal family tried to get her to sign some forms,” Benjamin said.
“Absolutely not,” Jackson said. “Let me take a look at them first.”
“I already said no. They’ve invited her to visit their island country, but again, they want her to sign papers. She says she doesn’t care about meeting them, but I think she does.”
Jackson scrubbed his face. “And you’re wondering what this means legally? Do you want to fire her?”
“Hell, no. Emma loves her,” Benjamin said.
“Okay. Well, there’s a remote possibility that she’s due an inheritance, but since she’s out-of-wedlock and an adult, it’s unlikely. Royals have ways of tying up their funds.”
“I’m sure Coco would appreciate the infusion to her bank account, but there are other concerns,” Benjamin said.
“Such as?” Jackson asked.
“Such as the royal reps said she would be contacted by the media when the news breaks,” Benjamin said.
Jackson winced. “That’s true. There’s a huge infatuation with anything royal. She could get pestered....”
“My men and I can handle a little pestering,” he said.
“This might be more than a little,” Jackson warned.
“I think she wants family,” Benjamin said. “She didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up. Her father died when she was young and her mother died within the last few months.”
Benjamin felt his brother studying him.
“This is starting to sound personal. Do you have something going on with your baby’s nanny?”
“No,” Benjamin said immediately. “I’m just telling you what I’ve observed.”
“So, no hanky-panky. No kisses. No middle of the night sleepwalking into each other’s beds.”
“No.”
“Hmm,” Jackson said, drumming his fingers on the bar as he studied Benjamin. “I don’t know. What does she look like?”
His brother’s intent expression irritated Benjamin. “There’s nothing going on between Coco and me. Between Brooke and the baby, trust me, I’ve had enough trouble with women lately. Emma feels safe with Coco. The last thing I want to do is mess up that situation.”
“Well, if you have any more legal questions or if I can give you a hand with anything, let me know. Since you’re more likely to saw off a leg than ask for help, you must consider this more important.”
“Yeah,” Benjamin said and decided to change the subject. “Who’s in your fantasy football lineup?”
He and his brother talked football for a while, then Benjamin headed home. He noticed the porch light and floodlights were on and wondered if Sarah had left them lit. After a blazing-hot summer, Benjamin welcomed the cooler temperatures. He could almost see a hint of vapor when he exhaled.
Pulling open the front door, he stepped inside and cut the lights.
“Wait!”
He immediately identified Coco’s breathless voice and turned the lights back on. “What are you doing?” he asked as he saw her trotting toward the steps.
“I just needed some fresh air, so I walked around the house a few times. I’ve got a remote intercom in case Emma wakes up,” she said, pushing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie sweatshirt as she walked up the steps. Her nose was pink and her cheeks were flushed from the cold.
“How long have you been out there?” he asked.
“Not that long,” she said. “I’m okay. I just didn’t want to get locked out.”
He sensed a restlessness vibrating from her. She pushed back the hood of her sweatshirt and pulled her hair free. “You sure there’s nothing wrong?” he asked.
“No,” she said, but she didn’t meet his gaze. “I used to walk around my mom’s house that last month she was alive. Sometimes I just feel better after walking a little bit.”
“I can understand that. I get itchy if I stay still too long,” he said.
She finally looked at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. You want a cup of something to warm you up? It smells like Sarah may have left something warming in a crock.”
“Apple cider,” Coco said. “And it’s delicious.”
They went to the kitchen, and Coco pulled down the mugs and poured the cider. Benjamin took a sip too soon and it burned his tongue. “Ouch,” he muttered and waved a hand for her to join him at the small table in the kitchen nook.
Coco smiled and sat across from him. “It smells so good. It’s hard to wait.”
She looked so young and sweet she could have been a teenager.
She met his gaze. “You’re looking at me strangely. What are you thinking?”
“I’m remembering how I had to look at your driver’s license twice before I believed you were twenty-four,” he said.
Coco laughed. “I’ve always looked young for my age. My mother always told me there would come a time that I would appreciate that quality. Hated it in high school, though.”
Benjamin took another sip; this one didn’t scald his tongue, thankfully. “So, what made you want to do your little 5K around the house tonight? Have you been thinking about your new-to-you family?”
Coco’s smile fell and she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I have a hard time believing they really want to meet me. It’s not as if they’ve been beating down the door or calling me.”
“There may some legal reasons that they’re waiting for you to contact them,” he suggested.
“Really?” she said, more than asked, in disbelief. “Well, all I know is if I had found out that I had a sister or brother, I would try to meet them.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
She shot him a dark look. “Because I don’t like to go where I’m not wanted.”
“You don’t really know that you’re not wanted,” he said and leaned toward her. “Listen, if you want to go to Chantaine and meet them, we can work something out.”
“I don’t know how,” she said, staring into her mug and cradling it with both hands. “Emma isn’t settled in yet. She needs more time to feel at home and to get into a routine.”
“That’s true, but she’ll get there,” he said, even though he sometimes wondered if his daughter would ever feel at ease in his house. He was damn determined to do what was necessary to make it happen, though. “I don’t want you to feel that you can’t go,” he said.
She bit her lip. “It’s not like I would have anything in common with them.”
He stared at her for a minute. She looked young, but he knew she’d carried a lot on her shoulders while her mother was sick. She’d taken charge with Emma and dealt with the baby’s nightmares with no complaint.
“What are you scared of?”
She took immediate offense. “I’m not scared.”
“Sure looks like it to me,” he said.
“Well, I’m not. But you have to admit that these people are definitely in a different league.”
He shrugged. “Still gotta put one sock on at a time.”
She shot him a sideways glance and her lips twitched. “Unless they have a servant who puts on their socks for them.”
Benjamin laughed. “That would be pretty pathetic.” He put his hand over hers. “You don’t have to make any rash decisions. You can take your time. Give yourself a break.”
She met his gaze and took a deep breath. “I guess you’re right. I don’t need to work myself into a frenzy over this.”
“Exactly,” he said, and the moment stretched between them. The warmth in her eyes gave him a strange feeling in his gut. Realizing that his hand was still covering hers, he quickly pulled it away. It was one thing to try to comfort his daughter’s nanny, but he didn’t want Coco to misconstrue his sympathy as something else.
He cleared his throat. “Well, I should hit the sack,” he said and rose to his feet.
“Me, too,” she said, following him to her feet. “I’ll take care of the mugs.”
“Thanks,” he said, wondering why his voice sounded so rough. He headed toward the doorway.
“And, Benjamin, thank you for talking me down from that cliff I was climbing,” she said to his back.
He smiled at her description of her emotional state. “No need to scale a cliff unless it’s absolutely necessary. G’night.”
“G’night,” she said as he entered the hallway. He felt another twitch at the sound of her soft voice, and he rubbed his stomach. He’d better take some antacid.
* * *
Two days later, as she was about to feed Emma, Coco saw Benjamin enter the house. Midlift of the spoon, Coco thought about the fact that Benjamin had been avoiding his daughter once again. She couldn’t allow this to continue.
She pulled the spoon back from Emma. “Benjamin,” Coco called as the baby frowned at her in confusion. Emma’s soft, plump lips puckered in disapproval.
Benjamin poked his head in the doorway. “Yeah?”
Coco immediately stood. “Emma’s ready to be fed and I...uh...I need to powder my nose.”
Benjamin wrinkled his brow. “Powder your nose?”
“Use the ladies’ room,” she said.
Realization crossed his face. “Oh, okay. You want me to watch her?”
“I actually want you to feed her,” she countered.
He frowned. “Feed her?”
“It’s not that hard,” she said and reached for his Stetson, but he was faster. “She hates your hat.”
“I like my hat,” he said.
“You don’t need to wear it in the house while you’re feeding a baby,” she said and held out her hand for him to give her his hat.
“I’ll put it on the table in the foyer,” he said, lifting his hat from his head.
“Ah!” Emma called.
“Oops, better hurry. She’s getting impatient,” Coco said.
“Well, she can wait one minute,” he said.
“Not unless you want her to start screaming so much she can’t stop,” she said. “Gotta go,” she said, covering her ears as she ran to the upstairs bathroom. She wasn’t sure she could hear Emma’s screams at full blast and not respond.
She went into the bathroom closed the door behind her and turned on the fan. “La-la-la-la-la,” she said as she covered her ears, determined to prevent herself from hearing Emma’s screams. She continued for several moments then stopped her la-las. No baby shrieks pierced the sound of the fan. Giving in to her curiosity, she cut it off.
Still no sounds of alarm. Gingerly, she opened the bathroom door and listened. Silence greeted her. Coco felt a spurt of hope and tiptoed down the stairs.
“There ya go,” Benjamin said. “Another bite. You’re getting stronger. You’re a Garner. You’ve got to be ready for everything.”
Coco couldn’t help smiling at Benjamin’s words. When Emma gurgled, she had to cover her mouth to keep from giggling. She knew that sound signaled they were nearing the end of mealtime.
Peeking around the corner, she watched Emma give a huge raspberry, sending her latest bite of food and drool all over Benjamin’s shirt.
“Whoa,” he said and glanced down at his shirt. “What’s up with that?”
Emma shot him another raspberry. This time, he had the sense to back away. “You got some power with that,” he said, laughing as he wiped off his shirt with a napkin. “Do you do this every time you eat? It’s a wonder Coco hasn’t quit. I guess this means you’re done.”
He dabbed at her face with a napkin and she scowled and screeched at him. “Ah, you don’t like the cleanup. Well, that’s what happens when you’re messy. You gotta get clean.”
He wiped at her face and she screeched again.
Coco decided it was time to intervene. “I usually sing a song right now.”
He glanced at her. “Nice of you to show up.”
She bit her lip, but couldn’t conceal a smile. “Well, it looks like my timing is perfect. Seems that you two worked it out,” she said.
“Temporarily,” he said. “She sure can spit.”
“I try to cut it off before that point. Once she starts gurgling, it’s the beginning of the end.”
“What’s the magic song?” he asked.
“Wash your cheeks,” she sang in a soft voice. “Wash your mouth. Shine like a sparkly star. That’s what you are,” she said and tapped Emma on her nose. “A sparkly star.” Feeling sheepish, she shrugged. “I’m a triple threat with my deep lyrics, incredible vocal range and the ability to clean a baby’s face at the same time.”
“But can you dance and lasso cattle?”
“I don’t know. If I tried to lasso cattle, then it might look like I was dancing,” she said. “You want to pull her up from her high chair?”
He shot her a blank look. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Because she’s finished eating and needs to get out of her chair, and the two of you need to get used to each other,” she said.
Benjamin sighed and she noticed that his eye twitched slightly, but he unfastened Emma from the high chair and picked her up in his arms. The baby stared at him for a moment, then looked away and started making babbling noises.
Benjamin glanced at Coco. “What does that mean?”
“She’s allowing you to carry her,” Coco said and couldn’t withhold a chuckle. Benjamin appeared as if he were carrying a live grenade and it would go off at any moment.
“What do I do now?”
“She’s probably due for a diaper change,” Coco said, goading him just a bit.
He shot her a dark glance. “I think the smashed pea shooting is enough for one day.”
“In that case, carry her upstairs and I’ll join you in a minute or two,” she said.
“What am I supposed to do for that minute or two?” he demanded.
“Bond with her.”
Benjamin groaned and walked into the hallway.
Coco cleaned up Emma’s messy high chair and counted to three hundred. Carefully, she crept up the stairs to stand outside the nursery. She heard Benjamin talking. Peeking inside, she saw Benjamin pick up one of Emma’s bunnies and move it from side to side in front of the baby.
Emma reached for the stuffed animal and squeezed it for a few seconds then dropped it.
“Oops,” Benjamin said, reaching down to scoop up the bunny. Emma reached for the bunny again and dropped it again. “Fickle little thing, aren’t you?” He caught sight of Coco and gave a nod.
“I see you’ve reached a peace agreement,” she said.
“For now,” he said and handed the baby to Emma.
“You just need to keep spending a little time with her. Soon enough you’ll be giving her horseback-riding lessons,” she said as she put Emma on the changing table and changed her diaper. “Helping her learn to ride a bike, then teaching her how to drive.” She looked up to meet his horrified gaze.
“Driving,” he echoed and shook his head. “Maybe she won’t want to drive.”
Coco laughed. “Now you’re just dreaming.”
“Let’s take this one step at a time. The next step for me is to change out of this shirt that’s covered with strained green peas.” He glanced from Coco to Emma to Coco again. “See ya later,” he said.
As soon as he left, Coco turned to Emma. “Good job!” she said. “You’ll make a daddy out of Benjamin Garner before you know it.”
* * *
The next day, Benjamin rode on horseback to check fences with one of his assistant foremen, Jace. Jace was young, but a hard worker, and both Benjamin and his foreman Hal valued good work ethics in their employees.
“Looks like there could be the beginning of a problem in the northeast corner,” Jace said from his horse.
Benjamin lifted his binoculars and nodded. “Good catch.”
“I should be able to get to it this afternoon,” Jace said.
“That’ll work,” Benjamin said. “Let’s check the other pasture, then we’ll be done.”
“Hal mentioned that we should be on the lookout for strangers coming on the property,” Jace said.
“Have you seen anyone?”
“No. Hal also said it was something to do with the new nanny. She’s not in danger, is she?”
“No,” Benjamin said. “Coco’s fine.”
“Well, speaking of the nanny, she sure is nice,” Jace said.
Benjamin glanced at Jace. “How would you know?”
“I met her when she was going fishing one day. Looked like she was pretty good at it,” he said and laughed. “For a woman. I was wondering if it would be okay if I asked her out sometime.”
“Coco?” Benjamin said.
“Yeah. She’s pretty and nice. She seems like she would be fun.”
“No,” Benjamin said instinctively and without hesitation. He didn’t have to think it through.