Dear Reader,

I really can’t express how flattered I am and also how grateful I am to Harlequin Books for releasing this collection of my published works. It came as a great surprise. I never think of myself as writing books that are collectible. In fact, there are days when I forget that writing is work at all. What I do for a living is so much fun that it never seems like a job. And since I reside in a small community, and my daily life is confined to such mundane things as feeding the wild birds and looking after my herb patch in the backyard, I feel rather unconnected from what many would think of as a glamorous profession.

But when I read my email, or when I get letters from readers, or when I go on signing trips to bookstores to meet all of you, I feel truly blessed. Over the past thirty years I have made lasting friendships with many of you. And quite frankly, most of you are like part of my family. You can’t imagine how much you enrich my life. Thank you so much.

I also need to extend thanks to my family (my husband, James, son, Blayne, daughter-in-law, Christina, and granddaughter, Selena Marie), to my best friend, Ann, to my readers, booksellers and the wonderful people at Harlequin Books—from my editor of many years, Tara, to all the other fine and talented people who make up our publishing house. Thanks to all of you for making this job and my private life so worth living.

Thank you for this tribute, Harlequin, and for putting up with me for thirty long years! Love to all of you.

Diana Palmer

DIANA PALMER

The prolific author of more than a hundred books, Diana Palmer got her start as a newspaper reporter. A multi–New York Times bestselling author and one of the top ten romance writers in America, she has a gift for telling the most sensual tales with charm and humor. Diana lives with her family in Cornelia, Georgia.

Visit her website at www.DianaPalmer.com.

Emmett
Diana Palmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Peggy in North Carolina, with much love!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 1

The office was in chaos. Melody Cartman eyed the window ledge with keen speculation and wondered if standing out there might get her a few minutes’ reprieve. She glanced toward her newly married third cousin, Logan Deverell, and his beaming wife, Kit, and decided that she couldn’t spoil their honeymoon.

“You’ll cope,” Kit promised in a whisper. “Just tell everyone he’ll be back in touch with them next week and that Tom Walker is handling all his accounts until he returns.”

“Has he told Mr. Walker that?” Melody asked, acutely aware of Mr. Walker’s temper. Tom had started out in New York City, but circumstances had brought him to Houston. Texas, he’d once said, reminded him a little of his native South Dakota. Melody had often wondered if he’d been brought up by a mountain lion there, because on occasion he could give a pretty good imitation of one.

“Honest.” Kit put her hand over her heart. “I swear Logan spoke to him first this time. I heard him with my own ears.”

“That’s all right then. Honestly he seemed like such a nice man when I first met him. But I took him that client of Mr. Deverell’s and found him involved in giving another client the bum’s rush out the door. Our client and the other client both ran for it, and I was left to face the music. He never used a bad word or the same word twice, but I was three inches shorter when I escaped from his office.”

“Logan is your third cousin. Can’t you call him Logan?”

Melody glanced toward the big, dark man on the telephone in his office. “Not without a head start,” she said finally.

“Anyway, he didn’t volunteer Tom without mentioning it to him this time, so you won’t get your ears burned. Think you can handle everything for a week?”

“If I can’t cope by now, I’ll never be able to,” Melody said, and her brave smile made her look almost pretty. She was a tall woman, very country-looking in some ways, with freckles and a softly rounded face that was framed by long, blond-streaked light brown hair. Her eyes were brown, with tiny flecks of gold in them. If she took the time, she could look very attractive, Kit thought. But Melody wore jumpers with long-sleeved blouses, or tailored suits, and always in colors that were much better suited to the coloring of someone with dark hair and an equally dark complexion.

“You’d like Tom if you got to know him,” Kit told her. “He knocked that man out the door for some pretty blatant sexual harassment of his secretary. He’s only bad tempered when he needs to be, and he’s all alone except for a married sister back home and a nephew. He doesn’t even go out with women.”

“I can see why…!”

“Not nice,” Kit chided. “He’s a good-looking, intelligent man, and he’s rich.”

“I can think of at least one ax murderer with the same description. I read about him in there.” She gestured toward one of the supermarket tabloids.

Kit’s eyes fell to the tabloid on Melody’s desk, its cover carrying color photos of a particularly gruesome murder. “Do you actually read this stuff?” Kit asked with a grimace. “These photos are terrible!”

“I thought you were a detective,” Melody said. “Aren’t detectives supposed to be used to stuff like that?”

Kit smiled sheepishly. “Well, I don’t detect those sort of cases.”

“I don’t blame you. Actually I didn’t buy it for the grisly pictures. I bought it for this nifty reducing diet. Doesn’t it look interesting? You don’t give up any foods, you simply cut down and cut out sweets.”

“You aren’t fat, Melody,” the other woman pointed out.

“No, I’m just big. I do wish I were slender and willowy,” she said wistfully.

“There isn’t a thing wrong with the way you are.”

“That’s what you think! Actually I—”

A sudden commotion in the hall cut her off. She and Kit turned just as Emmett Deverell and his three children walked in. The kids were wearing costumes left over from their Thanksgiving Day play last month— Indian costumes.

Guy, the eldest, stood beside his father and glared at Melody. But Amy and Polk, the younger kids, made a beeline for their favorite person in the office.

“Hi, Kit!” they said in unison. “Hello, Melody. Can we sit and watch TV with you for a while?”

“Please?” Amy ventured, looking up at Melody with eyes that were the same shade of green as her father’s. “We’ll be ever so good. Emmett has to get our airplane tickets and Polk and I don’t want to go to the airport. We got to be in the parade in the rodeo!”

“You all look very nice,” Melody told them.

Guy ignored her.

Polk had already turned on the TV and was staring at the screen. “Aw, gee, Big Bird isn’t on right now, Amy,” he said miserably.

Melody glanced at the kids, noticing again how much they all favored their father. Guy came closest. He was tall, too, with a lean face and dark hair. Amy looked a lot like her mother, Adell, except for those green eyes. All the kids had them.

The last time Emmett had been in the office, he’d savaged Melody. The San Antonio rancher hated her and made no secret of the fact. He didn’t approve of her working for Logan, who was a relative of his as well, but by blood, not marriage, as Melody was. Melody had had several days to remember and burn over his attitude. She was through being intimidated by him. He might be almost a generation older than she was, but he wasn’t going to walk on her feelings anymore.

“Amy and Polk want to stay with you while I go to the airport,” Emmett said icily. He didn’t mention leaving Guy, because Guy disliked Melody as much as Emmett did.

Melody cocked an eyebrow, and tried to stay calm. She was melting with fear inside, but she wasn’t going to let him know it. “Am I being asked?” she replied formally.

Emmett’s pale green eyes glittered at her. “Yes, if you want the whole ten yards.”

“In that case, Amy and Polk are welcome to watch TV while you’re gone,” she said, triumphant with her small victory.

Emmett didn’t like the challenge in her dark eyes, or that tiny smirk. If those kids hadn’t been giving him hell all morning, he wouldn’t even be here. He was surly with bad temper.

“You won’t help them run away or anything?” he asked, with a sarcastic, pointed reference to her part in his ex-wife Adell’s sudden departure with Melody’s brother, Randy.

He wasn’t going to do that to her, she promised herself. She wasn’t going to let him play on her conscience. Her eyes settled on the tabloid and it triggered a memory; something Kit had elaborated on since her return from Emmett’s house in San Antonio. She smiled sweetly and picked up the tabloid. “Have you seen the latest on that ax murder, Mr. Deverell?” she asked, and stuck the gory front page under his arrogant nose.

He turned green instantly. “Damn you…!” He choked before his mad dash to the restroom.

Melody and Polk and Amy and Kit chuckled helplessly. Guy glared at them and walked out to find his father.

“He has a stomach of glass,” Melody pronounced, recalling Kit’s revelations about how easily Emmett could be made ill with even talk of gory things. Amazing, for a rancher who was also something of a rodeo star. It was one of many paradoxes about Emmett that would have fascinated a less prejudiced woman. She took the paper and stuck it into her purse. She could use it as a talisman against future attack by Emmett. “Make yourselves comfortable, kids,” she told Amy and Polk.

“That was a dirty trick.” Kit laughed.

“He deserved it. Nasty, arrogant beast,” she muttered, glaring at the door into the hall as if he were hiding there waiting to pounce. “If he can’t take it, he shouldn’t dish it out.”

Kit was trying not to laugh too hard. Logan joined them, affectionately slipping an arm around his wife. “If we can’t dish what out?”

“Melody made Emmett sick,” Amy volunteered. “Look what’s on educational television, Melody! It’s Reading Rainbow!”

“Good, good,” Melody said absently.

“How did you make Emmett sick?” Logan asked curiously.

“Never mind. We women have to have our secret weapons, especially when it comes to people like your cousin Emmett,” Kit told him. “Melody, I’ve given you a number where we can be reached if you need to contact us.”

“I’ll only use it if there’s an emergency,” Melody promised.

Kit smiled at her. “I know that.”

“And don’t let Tom give you fits,” Logan told her. “He’s not a bad man. It was my fault. I should have told him he was being volunteered to handle my clients that afternoon, but I was in a rush to get married.”

“I remember.” Melody chuckled. “It’s okay. I’ll manage.”

“If you can’t, you might turn those kids loose on him,” Logan suggested.

“Don’t give her any ideas. We have to leave, right now,” Kit said mirthfully, tugging at her husband’s arm. “Take care, Melody.”

“Yes, and don’t let my cousin walk on you,” Logan added. “You’re my secretary, not his paid babysitter. Keep that in mind.”

“I will.”

“So long.”

They walked out the door just as a pale, subdued Emmett was coming back in with Guy at his heels.

“That wasn’t fair,” Guy said angrily, glaring at Melody.

“You kids did it to him,” she pointed out. “Kit told me all about it.”

“We’re family. You’re not!”

“Yes, she is,” Amy argued. “She’s our aunt. Isn’t that right, Emmett?”

He looked even worse. “I’ll be back for Amy and Polk about three o’clock,” he said without answering the question.

“But isn’t she our aunt?” Amy persisted.

“She’s our stepaunt,” Polk told her.

“Oh.” She was satisfied and went back to watching TV. “Do take care of Emmett, Guy, and don’t let him get run over by any buses.”

“I don’t need taking care of,” Emmett muttered. “But she might,” he added with a glare at Melody.

“Watch it,” Logan advised sotto voce. “She slipped that tabloid into her purse.”

“Turncoat!” Kit gasped, hitting her husband’s shoulder.

“We men have to stick together,” Logan told her, chuckling. “In today’s world, there’s nothing more endangered than a male. Any day now, the women’s lib movement will start passing out hit lists and organizing death squads to wipe out men.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Emmett sighed. “The way it looks, we’re evolving into an Amazon society where men will be used to procreate the species and then efficiently be put to death.”

Melody eyed Emmett. “What an interesting idea.”

“Shame on you!” Kit chuckled. “Honestly, the radicals just get all the publicity. Most women’s libbers just want a fair shake—equal pay and equal rights. What’s so terrible about that?”

“And there are men who are just as prejudiced against women.” Logan drew Kit close. “Haven’t you ever heard of the battle of the sexes? It’s been around since time began. It’s just getting better press.”

“I suppose so.” Melody sighed. “Maybe men aren’t endangered after all.”

“Thank you,” Emmett said tersely. “I’m glad to know that I won’t have to stand guard at my front door to ward off women death squads.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” Melody advised.

“Wouldn’t you?” Emmett muttered. “And I thought you were a little shrinking violet.”

“More like a Venus flytrap, actually,” she replied brightly. “I thought you were going to the airport to get tickets home?”

“Notice how much enthusiasm she put into that question?” Logan asked with pure relish. “And you said women wouldn’t leave you alone. This must be refreshing for you.”

Emmett didn’t look refreshed. He looked as if he might explode momentarily. “Let’s go, Guy. Have a nice honeymoon, you two,” he added to Logan and Kit. “I don’t think much of marriage, but good luck anyway.”

“Our mama ran off and left him,” Amy volunteered. “Emmett doesn’t want to marry anybody.”

“But he must,” Polk said with a serious frown. “Isn’t he always bringing those real glittery, pretty ladies home?”

“Don’t be silly,” Guy said urbanely. “Those are good-time girls. You don’t marry them.”

“What’s a good-time girl?” Amy asked.

“Just the same as a good-time boy, only shorter,” Melody said with icy delight, and she smiled at Emmett.

He went two shades darker.

“Time to go,” Kit said quickly. “Emmett, can we give you a lift? We’re going straight to the airport.”

“Yes,” Logan said, taking his tall cousin’s muscular arm in a big hand. “Come along, Guy. See you in a week, Melody. If you have any problems, call me. And if you could check on Tansy in the hospital, I’d appreciate it. Chris is watching out for her, but you can’t have too many observers where my mother is concerned.”

“Certainly I will,” Melody agreed. “I don’t have much to do in the evenings, anyway.”

“I didn’t think there would be a man that brave,” Emmett agreed.

Melody reached for her purse. Emmett spared her a glance that promised retribution before he made a quick exit with the others.

The chaos began to calm with Logan’s exit. The telephones rang for an hour or two. After that, there were only a few calls and two clients who came in person to ask about their investments. Melody had the figures. It was only a matter of pulling them up—her boss had given her permission before he left—and showing them to the visitors.

The kids were amazingly good. They watched educational programming without a peep, except to ask for change for the soft drink machine. Melody gave it to them and then listened worriedly for sounds of the machine being mugged. Fortunately there was no such noise, and she settled down to the first peace she’d had all day.

She managed to clear her desk of work before Emmett showed up, late, to pick up the kids.

“Aw, do we have to go?” Polk groaned. “Mr. Rogers is coming on!”

“Yes, we have to go. We’re leaving for home in the morning, thank God. Only one more event to go tonight—bareback bronc riding.”

“Isn’t that one of the most dangerous events?” Melody asked.

His eyebrows arched under the wide-brimmed Stetson he hadn’t bothered to remove from his dark hair. “Any rodeo event is dangerous if a contestant is stupid or careless. I’m neither.”

She knew that already. He was something of a legend in rodeo. He wouldn’t be aware that she’d followed his career. She was a rodeo fan, but Emmett’s attitude toward her had kept her silent about her interest in the sport.

“Thank you for letting us stay with you, Melody,” Amy said, smiling up at her.

Melody smiled back. She liked the little girl very much. She was open and warm and loving, despite her mischievous nature.

Emmett saw that smile and felt it all the way to his toes. He couldn’t have imagined even a minute before that a smile could change a plain face and make it radiate beauty. But he saw the reality of it in Melody’s soft features. Involuntarily his eyes fell to her body. She was what a kind man would call voluptuous, her form and shape perfectly proportioned but just a tad past slender. Adell had been bacon-thin. Melody was her exact opposite.

It irritated him that he should notice Melody in that way. She was nothing to him except a turncoat. She and her brother had disrupted and destroyed his life. Not only his, but his children’s, as well. He could easily have hated her for that.

“I said, let’s go,” he told the children.

“Okay.” Polk sighed.

“I’ll wait in the hall,” Guy murmured. He avoided even looking at Melody.

“Guy hates you,” Amy told her with blunt honesty. “But I think you’re wonderful.”

“I think you’re wonderful, too,” Melody replied.

Amy grinned and walked up to her father. “We can go now, Emmett. Can I write to my friend Melody?”

“We’ll talk about it,” Emmett said noncommittally. “Thanks for watching them,” he said as an afterthought.

“Oh, it was my plea…sure!” She tripped over a tomahawk that someone had left lying on the floor and ended up on her back. Guy picked up the weapon, and the kids and Emmett made a circle around her prone body. She glared up at them, trying not to think how a sacrificial victim in an Indian encampment might have felt. In those Indian costumes, the kids looked eerie.

“Whose tomahawk?” Emmett asked as he reached down and pulled Melody up with a minimum of strain. His hand made hers tingle. She wondered if he’d felt the excitement of the contact, too, because he certainly let go of her fast.

“It’s mine, Emmett,” Amy said, sighing. She looked up at him, pushing back her pigtails, and her green eyes were resigned. “Go ahead and hit me. I didn’t mean to make Melody hurt herself, though. I like her.”

“I know you didn’t mean it,” Melody said, and smiled. “It’s okay, nothing dented.”

“Next time, be more careful where you put that thing,” Emmett muttered.

“That’s right, Amy,” Melody said, nodding. “Between your father’s ears would be a good place.”

He glared at her. “You didn’t hear that, Amy. Let’s go, kids.”

He herded the children out the door and closed it. Melody sat by herself with no ringing phones, no blaring television, no laughing children. Her life and the office were suddenly empty.

She closed up precisely at 5:00 p.m. and went by the grocery store to get enough for the weekend, which was just beginning. Thanksgiving Day had been quiet and lonely. She’d had a turkey breast, but she and Alistair had finished it off for supper the night before. So she bought ground beef for hamburgers and a small beef roast and vegetables to make stew and, later, soup. She lived on a budget, which meant that she bypassed steak and frozen éclairs. She would have loved to indulge her taste for both. Maybe someday, she thought wistfully…

She fed Alistair, her big marmalade tabby, and then made herself a light supper. She ate it with little enthusiasm. Then she curled up with Alistair on the sofa to watch a movie on television. During the last scene, a very interesting standoff between a murderer and the police, the telephone started ringing. She grimaced, hating the interruption. If she answered it, she’d surely miss the end of the movie she’d been watching for two hours. She ignored it at first. The only people who ever telephoned her were people who were selling things. But whoever was calling wouldn’t give up. It stopped, briefly, only to start ringing insistently again. This time she was afraid not to answer it. It might be Kit or Logan or Tansy or even her brother.

She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Is this Miss Melody Cartman?” a crisp, professional voice asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m Nurse Willoughby. We have a Mr. Emmett Deverell here at city general hospital with a massive concussion. He’s only just regained consciousness. He gave us your name and asked us to call and have you pick up his children at the Mellenger Hotel.”

Melody stood frozen in place. The only thing that registered was that Emmett was hurt and she’d become a babysitter. She could hardly say no or argue. Concussions were terribly dangerous.

“The children are…where?”

“At the Mellenger Hotel. Room three hundred and something. He’s very foggy at the moment and in a great deal of pain.”

“He will be all right?” Melody asked, hating herself for being concerned.

“We hope so,” came the crisp reply.

“Tell him that I’ll look after the children,” she said.

“Very well.”

The phone went dead before she could ask another question. She stared around her like someone in a trance. Where in the world was she going to put three renegade children, one of whom hated her? And how long was she going to have them?

For one insane moment, she thought about calling Adell and Randy, but she dismissed that idea at once. Emmett would never forgive her. At the moment, he deserved a little consideration, she supposed.

She got her coat and took a cab to the hotel. It was very late to be driving around Houston, and her little car was unreliable in wet weather. Houston was notorious for flooding, and the rain was coming down steadily now.

She asked at the desk for Emmett’s room number, quickly explaining the circumstances to a sympathetic desk clerk after giving Emmett’s condition and the hospital’s number, so that management could check her story if they felt the need to. In fact, they did, and she didn’t blame them. These days, one simply couldn’t turn over three children to a total stranger who might or might not intend them harm.

When she got to the hotel room, there were muffled sounds from within. Melody, who knew the kids all too well, knocked briefly but firmly on the door.

There was a sudden silence, followed by a scuffle and a wail. The door flew open and a matronly lady with frazzled hair almost fell on Melody with relief.

“Are you their mother?” the elderly woman asked. “I’m Mrs. Johnson. Here they are, safe and sound, my fee will be added to the hotel bill. You are their mother?”

“Well, no,” she began.

“Oh, my God!”

“I’m to take charge of them,” Melody added, because it looked as if the woman might be preparing to have a heart attack on the spot.

A wavery smile replaced the horror on the woman’s lined face. “Then I’ll just be off. Good night!”

“Chicken,” Amy muttered, peering around Melody to watch the woman’s incredibly fast retreat.

“What have you three been up to?” Melody asked, glaring at them.

“Nothing at all, Melody, dear,” Amy said sweetly, and grinned.

“She just wasn’t used to kids, I guess,” Polk added. He grinned, too.

Behind them there were the remains of two foam-filled pillows and what appeared to be the ropes that closed the heavy curtains.

“We had a pillow fight,” Amy explained.

“And then we went skiing in the bathroom,” Polk said.

Melody could barely see the bathroom. The door was ajar and the floor seemed to be soaked. She was beginning to understand her predecessor’s agile retreat. Days and days…of this. She wouldn’t have an apartment left! And all because she felt sorry for a man who had to be her worst enemy.

“Why are you here?” Guy asked belligerently. “Where’s Dad?”

That brought her back to her original purpose for being there. Emmett’s accident.

She sat down on the sofa, tossing her purse beside her, while she struggled to find the right words to tell them.

“Something’s happened,” Guy said when he saw her face. He stiffened. “What?”

Even at such a young age, he was already showing signs of great inner strength, of ability to cope with whatever life threw at him. Amy and Polk looked suddenly vulnerable, but not Guy.

“Your father has a brain concussion,” Melody told them. “He’s conscious now, but in a lot of pain. He’ll have to stay in the hospital for a day or so. Meanwhile, he wants you to come home with me.”

“He hates you,” Guy said coldly. “Why would he want us to stay with you?”

“Because I’m all you’ve got,” Melody replied. “Unless you’d rather I called the juvenile authorities…?”

Guy’s massive self-confidence failed. He shrugged and turned away.

Amy climbed onto Melody’s lap and clung. “Our daddy will be all right, won’t he?” she asked tearfully.

“Of course he will,” Melody assured her, gathering her close. “He’s very tough. It will take more than a concussion to keep him down.”

“Yes, it will,” Polk said. He turned away because his lower lip was trembling.

“Let’s get your things together and go,” Melody said. “Have you had something to eat?”

“We had pizza and chocolate sundaes.”

Melody could imagine that the elderly lady in charge of them had agreed with any menu that would keep them quiet. But she’d have to get some decent food into them. That would give her something to work toward. Meanwhile, she found herself actually worrying about Emmett. The first thing she was going to do when they got to the apartment was phone the hospital and get an update. Surely Emmett was indestructible, wasn’t he?

She looked at the children and felt a surge of pity for them. She knew how it felt to be alone. When their parents had died, Randy had worked at two jobs to support them, while Melody was still in school. She’d carried her share of the load, but it had been lonely for both of them. She hoped these children wouldn’t have the same ordeal to face that she and Randy had.

Chapter 2

The nurse on duty in Emmett’s ward told Melody that Emmett would have to be confined for at least two days. He was barely conscious, but they were cautiously optimistic about his condition.

Melody was assured that she and the children would be allowed to see him the next day, during visiting hours. In the meantime, she scoured her apartment to find enough blankets and pillows for three sleepy children. She put two of them in her bed, and one of them on a cot that had belonged to Randy when he was a boy. She slept on her own pullout sofa bed, and was delighted to find that it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable.

It was fortunate that she had the weekend to look after the children. Having to juggle them, along with her job, would have been a real headache. She’d have coped. But how?

They had a change of clothing. Getting them to change, though, was the trick.

“This isn’t dirty—” Guy indicated a shirt limp and dingy and smelly from long wear “—and I won’t change it.”

“I’m all right, too,” Polk said, grinning at her.

“We’re fine, Melody,” Amy agreed. She patted the woman’s hand in a most patronizing way. “Now, you just get dressed yourself and don’t worry about us, all right?”

Melody counted to ten. “We’re going to see your father,” she said calmly. “Don’t you want him to think you look nice?”

“Oh, Emmett never notices unless we go naked, Melody,” Amy assured her.

“And sometimes not even then,” Polk said with a chuckle. “Dad’s very absentminded when he’s rodeoing.”

“He sure doesn’t seem to notice what the three of you get up to,” she said quietly.

“We like our dad just the way he is,” Guy said belligerently. “Nobody bad-mouths our dad.”

“I wasn’t bad-mouthing him,” Melody said through her teeth. “Can we just go to the hospital now?”

“Sure,” Guy said, folding his thin arms over his chest. “But I’m not changing clothes.”

She threw up her hands. “Oh, all right,” she muttered. “Have it your way. But if your clothes set off the sprinkler system, I’m climbing into a broom closet so nobody will know who brought you.”

At the hospital, Melody herded them off the elevator and down the hall to the nurses’ station.

“Look at all the gadgets.” Polk whistled, peering over the counter at the computers. “Wouldn’t I love to play with that!”

“Bite your tongue,” Melody said under her breath. She smiled at an approaching nurse. “I’m Melody Cartman. You have an Emmett Deverell on this floor with a concussion…?”

A loud roar, followed by, “You’re not putting that damned thing under me!” caught their attention.

“Indeed we do,” the nurse told Melody. “Are you a concerned relative anxious to transfer him to another hospital?” she added hopefully.

“I’m afraid not,” Melody said. “These are his children and they want to see him very much.”

“Do you have him tied up in one of those white things?” Amy asked.

“No,” the nurse said with a wistful sigh. She turned. “Come on, I’ll take you down to his room. Perhaps a diversion will improve his mood.”

“I really wouldn’t count on it,” Melody replied.

“I was afraid you were going to say that. Here we are.”

“Dad!” Guy exclaimed, running to his father as a practical nurse laid down a trail of fire getting out the door. “How are you?”

Emmett stared at his eldest blankly. His pale green eyes were bloodshot. His dark hair was disheveled. There was a huge bump on his forehead with stitches and red antiseptic lacing it. He was wearing a white patterned hospital gown and looking as if he’d like to eat half the staff raw.

“It’s almost noon,” he informed Melody. “Where in hell have you been? Get me out of here!”

“Don’t worry, Dad, we’ll spring you,” Guy promised, with a wary glance toward the nurse.

“You can’t leave today, Mr. Deverell,” the young nurse said apologetically. “Dr. Miller said that you must stay for at least forty-eight hours. You’ve had a very severe concussion. You can’t go walking around the streets like that. It’s very dangerous.”

Emmett glared at her. “I hate it here!”

The nurse looked as if she might bite through her tongue trying not to reply in kind. She forced a smile. “I’m sure you do. But you can’t leave yet. I’ll leave you to visit with your family. I’m sure you’re glad to see your wife and children.”

“She’s not the hell my wife!” Emmett raged. “I’d rather marry a pit viper!”

“I assure you that the feeling is mutual,” Melody said to the nurse.

The woman leaned close on her way out the door. “Dr. Miller escaped. When he comes back, I’ll beg on my knees for sedation for Mr. Deverell. I swear.”

“God bless you,” Melody said fervently.

“What are you mumbling about?” Emmett demanded when the nurse left. “And why haven’t these kids changed clothes? They smell of pizza and dirt!”

“They wouldn’t change,” she said defensively.

“You’re bigger than they are,” he pointed out. “Make them.”

She glanced at the kids and shook her head. “Not me, mister. I know when I’m outnumbered. I’m not going to end my days tied to a post imitating barbecue.”

“They don’t burn people at the stake,” he said with exaggerated patience. “That was just gossip about that lady motorist they kidnapped.”

“That’s right,” Polk said. “Gossip.”

“Anyway, she got loose before she was very singed.” Amy sighed.

Melody gave Emmett a speaking look. It was totally wasted.

“Are you really okay?” Guy asked his father. He, of the three children, was the most worried. He was the oldest. He understood better than they did how serious his father’s injury could have been.

“I’m okay,” Emmett said. His voice was different when he spoke to the children; it was softer, more tender. He smiled at Guy, and Melody couldn’t remember ever being on the receiving end of such a smile. “How about you kids?”

“We’re fine,” Amy told him. “Melody has a very nice apartment, Emmett. We like it there.”

“She has a cat,” Polk added. “He’s a big orange tabby named Alistair.”

“Alistair?” Emmett mused.

“He was a very ordinary-looking cat,” Melody said defensively. “The least he deserved was a nice name.”

He leaned back against his pillows and closed his eyes. “Saints deliver us.”

“I don’t think the saints like you very much, Mr. Deverell, on present evidence,” she couldn’t resist saying.

One bloodshot pale green eye opened. “The saints didn’t do this to me. It was a horse. A very nasty-tempered horse whose only purpose in life is to maim poor stupid cowboys who are dim enough to get on him. I let myself get distracted and I came off like a loose hat.”

She smiled gently at the description. “I’m sure the horse is crying his eyes out with guilt.”

The smile changed her. He liked what he saw. She was vulnerable when her eyes twinkled like that. He opened the other eye, too, and for one long moment they just looked at each other. Melody felt warning bells go off in her head.

“When can you come home, Emmett?” Amy asked, her big eyes on her father.

He blinked and looked down at her. “Two days they said,” he replied. “God, I’m sorry about this!” He glanced toward Melody. “I had no right to involve you in my problems.”

That sounded like a wholesale apology. Perhaps the head injury had erased his memory so that he’d forgotten her part in Adell’s escape.

“I don’t mind watching the children for you,” she said hesitantly. She pushed back her hair with a nervous hand. “They’re no trouble.”

“Of course not, they were asleep all night,” he replied. “Don’t let them out of your sight.”

“Aw, Dad,” Polk grumbled. “We’ll be good.”

“Sure we will,” Guy said. He glanced at Melody irritably. “If we have to.”

“It’s only for a day or two,” Emmett said. He was feeling foggier by the minute. “I’ll reimburse you, of course,” he told Melody. He touched his head with an unsteady hand. “God, my head hurts!”

“I guess it does,” Melody said gently. She moved closer to the bed, concerned. “Shall I call the nurse?”

“They won’t give me anything until the doctor authorizes it, and he’s in hiding,” he said. His eyes closed. “Can’t say I blame him. I was pretty unhappy about being here.”

“I noticed.”

He managed a weak chuckle. “If Logan had been at home, you wouldn’t be landed with those kids….”

He was asleep.

“Is he going to be okay?” Amy asked. She was chewing her lower lip, looking very young and worried.

Melody smoothed back her hair. “Yes, he’ll be fine,” she assured the girl. “Come on. We’ll go home and I’ll make lunch for all of you.”

“I want a hot dog,” Polk said. “So does Amy.”

“I hate hot dogs,” Guy replied. “I don’t want to stay with you. I’ll stay here with Dad.”

“You aren’t allowed to,” Melody pointed out.

He took an angry breath.

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” she murmured. “But we’re stuck with each other. We’d better go.”

They followed her out, reluctantly. She stopped long enough to assure the nurse at the desk that she’d bring the kids back the next day to visit their father. She was concerned enough to ask if it was natural for Emmett to go to sleep, and was told that the doctor would check to make sure he was all right.

Guy’s dislike of Melody extended to her apartment, her cat, her furniture and especially her cooking.

“I won’t eat that,” he said forcefully when she put hot dogs and buns and condiments on the table. “I’ll starve first.”

She knew that it would give him the upper hand if she stooped to arguing with him, so she didn’t. “Suit yourself. But we’ll have ice cream for dessert and you won’t. It’s a house rule that you don’t get dessert if you don’t eat the main course.”

“I hate ice cream,” he said triumphantly.

“No, he doesn’t,” Amy said sadly. “He just doesn’t like you. He thinks you took our mom away. She won’t even write to us or talk to us on the telephone.”

“That’s right,” Guy said angrily. “It’s all because of you! Because of your stupid brother!”

He got up, knocking over his chair, and stomped off into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Melody took a bite of her own hot dog, but it tasted like so much cardboard. It was going to be a long two days.

She didn’t know how true her prediction was going to be. Guy sulked for the rest of the day, while she and the other two children watched television and played Monopoly on the kitchen table. While they were going past Go for the tenth time, Guy opened the apartment door and deliberately let Alistair out….

Melody didn’t discover that her cat was missing until she started to put his food into his dish.

She looked around, frowning. “Alistair?” she called. The big cat was nowhere in sight. He couldn’t have gone out the window. The apartment was on the fourth story and there was no balcony. She searched the apartment, including under the bed, but she couldn’t find him.

“Have any of you seen my cat?” she asked.

“Not me,” Amy murmured. She was watching cartoons with Polk.

“Me, neither,” he said absently.

Guy was staring out the window. He jerked his head, which she assumed meant he hadn’t seen the cat.

But he looked odd. She frowned. Alistair had been curled up on the couch just before Guy had stormed off into the bathroom. She hadn’t seen the cat since. But surely the boy wouldn’t have done something so heartless as to let the cat out. Surely he wouldn’t!

Melody had found Alistair in an alley on her way home from work late one rainy afternoon last year. He’d had a string tied around his neck and was choking. She’d freed him and taken him home. He was flea-infested and pitifully thin, but a trip to the veterinarian and some healthful food had transformed him. He’d been Melody’s friend and companion and confidant ever since.

Tears stung her eyes as she searched again, her voice sounding frantic as she called her pet’s name with increasing urgency.

Amy got up from the carpet and followed her, frowning. “Can’t you find your cat?”

“No,” Melody said, her voice raspy. She brushed at a tear on her face.

“Oh, Melody, don’t cry!” Amy said. She hugged her. “It will be all right! We’ll find him! Polk, Guy,” she called sharply. “Come on. Help us hunt for Melody’s cat! She can’t find him anywhere!”

“Sure,” Polk said. “We’ll help.”

They scoured the apartment. Guy looked, too, but his cheeks were flushed and he wouldn’t meet Melody’s eyes.

In desperation, Melody went to the two apartments nearby to ask her neighbors if they’d seen her cat, but no one had noticed him. There was an elevator and a staircase, but there was a door that led to the stairwell and surely it would be closed…

All the same, she checked, and was disturbed to find that the stairwell door was propped open while workmen carried materials to an apartment down the hall that was being renovated.

Leaving the children in the apartment, she rushed down the steps looking for Alistair. She called and called, but there was no answer, and he was nowhere to be found.

Defeated, Melody went back to the apartment. Her expression was so morose that the children knew without asking that she hadn’t found the cat.

“I’m sorry,” Amy said. “I guess you love him a lot, huh?”

“He’s all I have,” Melody said without looking up. The pain in her voice was almost tangible. “All I… had.”

Guy turned up the television and sat down very close to the screen. He didn’t say a word.

Melody cried herself to sleep that night. Randy had Adell, but Melody had no other family. Alistair was the only real family she had left. She was so sick at heart that she didn’t know how she was going to stand it. Dismal images of Alistair being run over or chased by dogs and children made her miserable.

She got up early and fixed bacon and eggs before she called the children. They were unnaturally quiet, too, and ate very little. Melody was preoccupied all through the meal. When it was over, she went outside to search some more. But Alistair was nowhere to be found.

Later, she took the kids to the hospital to see Emmett. He was sitting up in a chair looking impatient.

“Get me the hell out of here,” he said immediately. “I’m leaving whether they like it or not!”

He seemed to mean it. He was fully dressed, in the jeans and shirt and boots he’d been wearing when they’d taken him to the hospital. The shirt was bloodstained but wearable. He looked pale, even if he sounded in charge of himself.

“What did the doctor say?”

“He said I could go if I insisted, and I’m insisting,” Emmett said. “I’ll take the kids and go back to the hotel.”

Melody went closer to him, clutching her purse. “Mr. Deverell, don’t you realize what a risk you’d be taking? If you won’t think of yourself, do think of the kids. What will they do if anything happens to you?”

“I won’t stay here!” he muttered. “They keep trying to bathe me!”

She managed a faint smile even through her misery. “It’s for your own good.”

“I’m leaving,” he said, his flinty pale green eyes glaring straight into her dark ones.

She sighed. “Well, you can come back with us for today,” she said firmly. “I can’t let you stagger around Houston alone. My boss would never forgive me.”

“Think so?” He narrowed one eye. “I don’t need help.”

“Yes, you do. One more night won’t kill me, I suppose,” she added.

“Her cat ran away,” Amy said. “She’s very sad.”

Emmett scowled. “Alistair? How could he run away? Don’t you live in an apartment building?”

“Yes. I… He must have gotten out the door,” she said, staring down at her feet. “The stairwell door was open, where the workmen were going in and out of the building.”

“I’m sorry,” he said shortly. He glanced at the kids. Amy and Polk seemed very sympathetic, but Guy was surlier than ever and his lower lip was prominent. Emmett’s eyes narrowed.

“Have you checked yourself out?” Melody asked, changing the subject to keep from bursting into tears.

“Yes.” He got to his feet, a little unsteadily.

“I’ll help you, Dad,” Guy said. He propped up his father’s side. He wouldn’t look at Melody.

“Did you drive or take a cab?” he asked her.

“I drove.”

“What do you drive?”

“A Volkswagen,” she told him.

He groaned. She smiled for the first time that day. As tall as he was, fitting him inside her small car, even in the front seat, was going to be an interesting experience.

And it was. He had to bring his knees up almost to his chin. Polk and Amy laughed at the picture he made.

“Poor Emmett,” Amy said. “You don’t fit very well.”

“First you shove gory pictures under my nose. Then you stuff me into a tin can with wheels,” Emmett began with a meaningful glance in Melody’s direction.

“Don’t insult my beautiful little car. It isn’t the car’s fault that you’re too tall,” she reminded him as she started her car. “And you were horrible to me. I was only getting even.”

“I am not too tall.”

“I hope you aren’t going to collapse,” she said worriedly when he leaned his head back against the seat. “I live on the fourth floor.”

“I’m all right. I’m just groggy.”

“I hope so,” she murmured. She put the car in gear and reversed it.

Guy helped him into the elevator and upstairs. Amy and Polk got on the other side, and between them, they maneuvered him into Melody’s apartment and onto her sofa.

The sleeping arrangements were going to be interesting, she thought. She could put Emmett and the boys in her bedroom and she and Amy could share the sleeper sofa. It wasn’t ideal, but it would be adequate. What wouldn’t was managing some pajamas for Emmett.

“I don’t wear pajamas,” he muttered. “You aren’t going to be in the bedroom, so it won’t concern you,” he added with a glittery green stare.

She turned away to keep him from seeing the color in her cheeks. “All right. I’ll see about getting something together for sandwiches.”

At least, he wasn’t picky about what he ate. That was a mixed blessing. Perhaps it was the concussion, making him so agreeable.

“This isn’t bad,” he murmured when he’d finished off two egg salad sandwiches.

“Thank you,” she replied.

“I hate eggs,” Guy remarked, but he was still eating his sandwich as he said it. He didn’t look at Melody.

“And me,” Melody added for him. He looked up, surprised, and her steady gaze told him that she knew exactly how her cat had managed to get out the door and lost.

He flushed and put down the rest of his sandwich. “I’m not hungry.” He got up and went into the living room with Amy and Polk, who were eating on TV tables.

Emmett ran a big hand through his dark hair. “I’m sorry about your cat,” he said.

“So am I.” She got up and cleared away the dishes. “There’s coffee if you’d like some.”

“I would. Black.”

“I’ll bet you don’t eat catsup on steak, either,” she murmured.

He smiled at her as she put a mug of steaming coffee beside his hand. “Smart girl.”

“Why do you ride in rodeos?” she asked when she was sitting down.

The question surprised him. He leaned back in his chair fingering the hot mug, and considered it. “I always have,” he began.

“It must be hard on the children, having you away from home so much,” she continued. “Even if your housekeeper does look after them.”

“They’re resourceful,” he said noncommittally.

“They’re ruined,” she returned. “And you know it. Especially Guy.”

His eyes narrowed as they met hers. “They’re my kids,” he said quietly. “And how I raise them is none of your business.”

“They’re my nephews and niece,” she pointed out.

His face went taut under its dark tan. “Don’t bring that up.”

“Why do you have to keep hiding from it?” she asked miserably. “Randy’s my brother. I love him. But he couldn’t have taken Adell if she hadn’t wanted to go with him…!”

“My God, don’t you think I know that?” he asked with bridled fury.

She saw the pain in his face, in his eyes, and she understood. “But, it wasn’t because something was lacking in you,” she said softly, trying to make him understand. “It was because she found something in Randy that she needed. Don’t you see, it wasn’t your fault!”

His whole body clenched. He grimaced and lifted the cup, burning his lips as he forced coffee between them. “It’s none of your business,” he said gruffly. “Let it alone.”

She wanted to pursue the subject, but it wouldn’t be wise. She let it go.

“There’s a little ice cream,” she told him.

He shook his head. “I don’t like sweets.”

Just like Guy, but she didn’t say it. Guy hated her. He hated her enough to let her cat out the door and into the street. Her eyes closed on a wave of pain. It was just as well she wasn’t mooning over Emmett, because she was certain that Guy wouldn’t let that situation develop.

“You should be in bed,” she told Emmett after a tense minute.

“Yes,” he agreed without heat and then stood up slowly. “Tomorrow I’ll take the kids back to the hotel, and we’ll get a flight out to San Antonio. We’ll all be out of your hair.”

She didn’t argue. There was nothing to say.

Chapter 3

Earlier in the day, Melody had telephoned the nearest veterinarian’s office and animal shelter, hoping that Alistair might turn up there. But the veterinarian’s receptionist hadn’t heard of any lost cats, and there was only a new part-time girl at the animal shelter who wasn’t very knowledgeable about recent acquisitions. In fact, she’d confided, they’d had a fire the week before, and everything was mixed up. The lady who usually ran the shelter was in the hospital, having suffered smoke inhalation trying to get the animals out. She was very sorry, but she didn’t know which cats were new acquisitions and which were old ones.

Melody was sorry about the fire, but she was even more worried about her cat. She went out into the hall one last time to call Alistair, in vain because he didn’t appear. She just had to accept that he was gone. It wasn’t easy. It was going to be similar to losing a member of her family, and part of her blamed Guy for that. He might hate her, but why had he taken out that hatred on her cat? Alistair had done nothing to hurt him.

Melody slept fitfully, and not only because she was worried about Alistair. The couch was comfortable, as a rule, but Amy was a restless sleeper and it was hard to dodge little flailing arms and legs and not wake up.

Just before daylight, she gave up. She covered the sleeping child, her eyes tender on the little oval face with its light brown hair and straight nose so reminiscent of Adell. Amy’s eyes, though, were her father’s. All the kids had green eyes, every single one. Adell’s were blue, and her hair was light brown. Amy was the one who most resembled her mother, despite her tomboy ways and the temper that matched her father’s. That physical resemblance to her mother must have been very painful to Emmett when Adell first left him. Guy seemed to be his favorite, and it wasn’t surprising. Guy looked and acted the most like him. Polk was just himself, bespectacled and slight, with no real distinguishing feature except his brain. He seemed to be far and away the brains of the bunch.

She pulled on her quilted robe, her long hair disheveled from sleep, and went slowly into the bathroom, yawning as she opened the door.

Emmett’s dark eyebrows levered up when she stopped dead and turned scarlet.

“Sorry!” she gasped, jerking the door back shut.

She went into the living room and sat down in a chair, very quickly. It was disconcerting to find a naked man stepping out of her shower, even if he did have a body that would grace a centerfold in any women’s magazine.

He came out a minute later with a towel wrapped around his lean hips. He had an athlete’s body, wide shouldered and narrow hipped, and his legs were incredible, Melody thought. She stared at him pie-eyed, trying to act sophisticated when she was just short of starstruck.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think to lock the door. I assumed this was a little early for you to be up, and I needed a shower.”

“Of course.”

He frowned as he stared down at her. She was doing her best not to look at him, and her cheeks were flaming. He was an experienced man, and he’d been married. He understood without words why she was reacting so violently to what she’d seen.

“It’s all right,” he said gently, and he smiled at her. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

She swallowed. “Right. Would you like some breakfast?”

“Anything will suit me. I’ll get dressed.”

She nodded, but she didn’t look as he strode back into the bedroom and gently closed the door.

She got up and went to the kitchen, surprised to find that her hands shook when she got the pans out and began to put bacon into one.

Emmett came back while she was breaking eggs into a bowl. He was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, which stretched over his powerful muscles. He wasn’t wearing shoes. He looked rakish and appealing. She pretended not to notice; her memory was giving her enough trouble.

Melody wasn’t dressed because she’d forgotten to get her clothes out of the bedroom the night before. That had been an unfortunate oversight, because he was staring quite openly at her in the long green gown and matching quilted robe that fit much too well and showed an alarming amount of bare skin in the deep V neckline. She wasn’t wearing makeup, but her blond-streaked brown hair and freckled pale skin gave her enough color to make her interesting to a man.

Emmett realized that she must not know that, because she kept fiddling with her hair after she’d set the eggs aside and started to heat a pan to cook them in.

“Where are the plates?” he asked. He didn’t want to add to her discomfort by staring.

“They’re up in the cabinet, there—” she gestured “—and so are the cups and saucers. But you don’t have to…”

“I’m domesticated,” he said gently. “I always was, even before I married.” The words, once spoken, dispelled his good mood. He went about setting the table and didn’t speak again until he was finished.

Melody had scrambled eggs and taken up the bacon while the biscuits were baking. She took them out of the oven, surprised to see that they weren’t overcooked. People in the kitchen made her nervous—Emmett, especially.

“You couldn’t get to your clothes, could you?” he mused. “I should have reminded you last night.”

It was an intimate conversation. Having a man in her apartment at all was intimate, and after having met him in the altogether in the bathroom, Melody was more nervous than ever.

“That’s all right, I’ll dress when the boys get up. You could call them…?”

“Not yet,” he replied. “I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

He motioned her into a chair and then sat down across from her, his big, lean hands dangling between his knees as he studied her. “About what you said last night. I’ve been thinking about it. Did Adell tell you that it was loving Randy, not hating me, that broke up our marriage?”

Melody clasped her hands in her lap and stared at them. “She said that she married you because you were kind and gentle and obviously cared about her so much,” she told him, because only honesty would do. “When she met Randy, at the service station where she had her car worked on and bought gas, she tried to pretend it wasn’t happening, that she wasn’t falling in love. But she was too weak to stop it. I’m not excusing what she did, Emmett,” she said when he looked haunted. “There should have been a kinder way. And I should have said no when Randy asked me to help them get away. But nothing will change what happened. She really does love him. There’s no way to get around that.”

“I see.”

He looked grim. She hated the wounded expression on his lean face.

“Emmett,” she said gently, “you have to believe it wasn’t because of you personally. She fell in love, really in love. The biggest mistake she made was marrying you when she didn’t love you properly.”

“Do you know what that is?” he asked with a bitter smile. “Loving ‘properly’?”

“Well, not really,” she said. “I haven’t ever been in love.” That was true enough. She’d had crushes on movie stars, and once she’d had a crush on a boy back in San Antonio. But that had been a very lukewarm relationship and the boy had gone crazy over a cheerleader who was more willing in the backseat of his car than Melody had been.

“Why?” he asked curiously.

She sighed. “You must have noticed that I’m oversized and not very attractive,” she said with a wistful smile.

He frowned. “Aren’t you? Who says?”

Color came and went in her cheeks. “Well, no one, but I…”

It disturbed him that he’d said such a thing to her, when she’d been the enemy since Randy had spirited Adell away. “Have the kids given you any trouble?”

“Just Guy,” she replied after a minute. “He doesn’t like me.”

“He doesn’t like anybody except me,” he said easily. “He’s the most insecure of the three.”

She nodded. “Amy and Polk are very sweet.”

“Adell spoiled them. She favored Guy, although he took it the best of the three when she left. I think he loved her, but he never talks about her.”

“He’s a very private person, isn’t he? Divorce must be hard on everyone,” she replied. “My parents loved each other for thirty years—until they died. There was never any question of them getting a divorce or separating. They were happy. So were we. It was a blow when we lost them. Randy wound up being part brother and part parent to me. I was still in school.”

“That explains why you were so close, I suppose.” He cocked his head and studied her. “How did they die?”

“In a freak accident,” she said sadly. “My mother was in very bad health—a semi-invalid. She had what Dad thought was a light heart attack. He got her into the car and was speeding, trying to get her to the hospital. He lost control in a curve and wrecked the car. They both died.” She averted her eyes. “There was an oil slick on the road that he didn’t see, and a light rain…just enough to bring the oil to the surface. Randy and I blamed ourselves for not insisting that Dad call an ambulance instead of trying to drive her to the emergency room himself. To this day I hate rain.”

“I’m sorry,” he said kindly. “I lost my parents several years apart, but it was pretty rough just the same. Especially my mother.” He was silent for a moment. “She killed herself. Dad had only been dead six months when she was diagnosed with leukemia. She refused treatment, went home and took a handful of barbiturates that they’d given her for pain. I was in my last few weeks of college before graduation. I hadn’t started until I was nineteen, so I was late getting out. It was pretty rough, passing my finals after the funeral,” he added with a rough laugh.

“I can only imagine,” she said sympathetically.

“I’d already been running the ranch and going to school as a commuting student. That’s where I met Adell, at college. She was sympathetic and I was so torn up inside. I just wanted to get married and have kids and not be alone anymore.” He shrugged. “I thought marriage would ease the pain. It didn’t. Nobody cares like your parents do. When they die, you’re alone. Except, maybe, if you’ve got kids,” he added thoughtfully, and realized that he hadn’t really paid enough attention to his own kids. He frowned. He’d avoided them since Adell left. Rodeo and ranch work had pretty much replaced parenting with him. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed it until he got hit in the head.

“Do you have brothers or sisters?” Melody asked unexpectedly. She hadn’t ever had occasion to question his background. Now, suddenly, she was curious about it.

“No,” he said. “I had a sister, they said, but she died a few weeks after she was born. There was just me. My dad was a rodeo star. He taught me everything I know.”

“He must have been good at it.”

“So am I, when I’m not distracted. There was a little commotion before my ride. I wasn’t paying attention and it was almost fatal.”

“The kids would have missed you.”

“Maybe Guy would have, although he’s pretty solitary most of the time,” he replied. His eyes narrowed. “Amy and Polk seem very happy to stay with anybody.”

So the truce was over. She stared at him. “They probably were half-starved for a little of the attention you give rodeoing,” she returned abruptly. “You seem to spend your life avoiding your own children.”

“You’re outspoken,” he said angrily.

“So are you.”

His green eyes narrowed. “Not very worldly, though.”

She wouldn’t blush, she wouldn’t blush, she wouldn’t…!

“The eggs are getting cold,” she reminded him.

The color in her face was noticeable now, but she was a trouper. He admired her attempt at subterfuge, even as he felt himself tensing with faint pleasure at her naiveté. Her obvious innocence excited him. “I have to make a living,” he said, feeling oddly defensive. “Rodeo is what I do best, and it’s profitable.”

“Your cousin mentioned that the ranch is profitable, too.”

“Only if it gets a boost in lean times from other capital, and times are pretty lean right now,” he said shortly. “It’s the kids’ legacy. I can’t afford to lose it.”

“Yes, but there are other ways of making money besides rodeo. You must know a lot about how to manage cattle and horses and accounts.”

“I do. But I like working for myself.”

She stared pointedly at his head. “Yes, I can see how successful you are at it. Head not hurting this morning?”

“I haven’t taken a fall that bad before,” he muttered.

“You’re getting older, though.”

“Older! My God, I’m only in my thirties!”

“Emmett, you’re so loud!” Amy protested sleepily from deep in her blankets.

“Sorry, honey,” he said automatically. His green eyes narrowed and glittered on Melody. “I can ride as well as I ever did!”

“Am I arguing?” she asked in mock surprise.

He got up from his chair and towered over her. “Nobody tells me what to do.”

“I wasn’t,” she replied pleasantly. “But when those kids reach their teens, do you really think anyone’s going to be able to manage them? And what if something happens to you? What will become of them?”

She was asking questions he didn’t like. He’d already started to ask them himself. He didn’t like that, either. He went off toward the bedroom to call the boys and didn’t say another word.

Melody worried at her own forwardness in mentioning such things to him. It was none of her business, but she was fond of Amy and Polk. Guy was a trial, but he was intelligent and he had grit. They were good kids. If Emmett woke up in time to take proper care of them, they’d be good adults. But they were heading for trouble without supervision.

Emmett came back wearing a checked shirt and black boots. Being fully dressed made him feel better armored to talk to Miss Bossy in the kitchen.

“They’re getting up,” he muttered, sitting.

“I’ll warm everything when they get in here.” She busied herself washing the dishes and cleaning the sink until the boys came out of her room, dressed. Then she escaped into the bedroom and closed the door. Emmett’s stare had been provokingly intimate. She’d felt undressed in front of those knowing eyes and she wondered why he had suddenly become so disturbing to her.

Seeing him without his clothes had kindled something unfamiliar in her. She’d never been curious about men that way, even if she did daydream about love and marriage. But Emmett’s powerful shoulders and hair-roughened chest and flat stomach and long, muscular legs, along with his blatant masculinity, stuck in her mind like a vivid oil painting that she couldn’t cover up. He hadn’t even had a white streak across his hips. That was oddly sensual. If he sunbathed, he must do it as he slept: without anything on. He looked very much like one of those marble statues she’d seen photographs of, but he was even more thrilling to look at. She reproached herself for that thought.

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