Nellie shoved Mae into Kate’s arms and stalked up the stairs. The baby immediately began kicking and crying, and one of her little boots caught Kate in the upper thigh. This was her punishment for lying to Nellie.
Rick glanced at the squirming child. “Want me to take her?”
She set Mae down. “No, she can walk.”
Mae immediately dropped to the ground and wailed. Kate could have sworn it was on purpose, but surely fifteen-month-old babies couldn’t be so devious.
He bent down. “Mae, come see what I have in my pocket.”
“Bet you say that to all the girls,” Kate drawled.
He shot her a look before focusing on Mae. The baby sat up and studied him. Her cries stopped as abruptly as they’d started.
“Here,” Rick said, pulling a package from his pocket. Kate blinked. It was a package of crackers from the airplane.
“Crackers? I hope that’s not what you actually give all the girls.”
Mae reached out a grubby little hand and grunted.
“Babies love crackers,” Rick said, opening the package and handing one to Mae. Sure enough, the baby took it and crammed it in her mouth. “And if I have something in my pocket for you, it won’t be crackers.”
She frowned at the double entendre, but she had started it.
Kate stooped so she could see the baby’s mouth. She didn’t know how to do the Heimlich maneuver on an infant. “Does she even have teeth?”
“Yeah, she has teeth. Not all of them but enough to gum a cracker.” He lifted the baby and gave her the sweetest of smiles.
Something plinked in Kate’s chest. She wasn’t sure what it was because she’d never felt anything like it before.
Nellie returned holding an envelope. She shoved it toward Rick and gathered Mae in her arms. “Everything is signed and notarized. I’ll come by Phoenix sometime soon. I can’t wait to see the guys there. You’ve worked so hard, Rick. It’s going to be fantastic.”
“Let’s hope so.” Rick tucked the missive under his arm before turning to Kate. “I’ll pick you up at Nellie’s at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Justus will expect you before lunch. Bye, ladies.”
He headed around the corner of the house.
Nellie shook her head. “What the hell is going on, Kate?”
Rick turned before she could bustle Nellie up the stairs. His eyes flashed something almost naughty, but he didn’t say a word. Just nodded and then he was gone.
Kate closed her eyes and blurted, “Oh, nothing. I just have to go meet dear old dad about a blackmailing scheme.”
Her friend didn’t say a thing, so Kate cracked one eye open. Poor Nellie looked like she’d swallowed a bug. Her mouth opened then closed. Finally, she managed to choke out, “What?”
“What can I say except what you already know? I’m a bastard child.” Kate shrugged, trying to pretend she blackmailed reluctant biological fathers every day.
“You’re admitting Justus Mitchell is your father?” Nellie asked, shaking her head.
“Shh!” Kate clamped a hand over her friend’s mouth. Mae contemplated her with blank green eyes. Gooey cracker mush dripped from her mouth and landed on Kate’s arm. “Don’t.”
Nellie pulled Kate’s hand from her mouth. “Holy shit!”
Kate looked at Mae. “She didn’t mean that, Mae flower. She meant holy shuckins.”
Nellie swiped at the baby’s chin while Kate scraped off the mess. She was glad she hadn’t worn her Burberry outside.
“Would you be serious about this?” Nellie huffed.
“I am.”
Mae squirmed in her mother’s arms. Nellie set her down and studied Kate. “Kate, how is this… I mean, why haven’t you ever said anything? And blackmail? I don’t understand.”
“Look, I’ll tell you about it when we get to the ranch. Now’s not the time.”
“Kate—”
“Please. Let it ride, Nell.” She stalked up the steps without looking at her friend again. She’d tell Nellie that night. After dinner. After Mae had toddled off to bed. After Jack had dozed off in the recliner. But not now. Not when her nerves felt shredded and her stomach felt like it harbored rocks. Really heavy rocks.
She’d screwed up when she’d devised this plan.
She should have let the salon go. It was just a business. People lost businesses every day. She could start over, get a job in L.A. She’d done it before.
But it was too late. What she’d put in motion had to be ridden out. She’d poked the devil with a stick, and messing with the devil was dangerous, especially when he had huge stockpiles of supplies and a sexy henchman who made her pulse flutter. And that was the scariest thing about facing the battle that would come in the morning. Something about the devil’s henchman made her want to sleep with the enemy. And that couldn’t be good.
War really was hell.
RICK PULLED HIS CAR INTO the drive of Cottonwood Ranch, Justus’s colossal spread. The drive leading up to the enormous white house was long and straight. No meandering for a man like Justus. Direct and to the point.
Rick knew Justus would be irate with him for not bringing Kate directly to the ranch, but he’d rather deal with Justus’s anger than deal with being thrown into prison for binding and gagging Kate Newman then shoving her into the backseat of his car.
The thought of controlling Kate appealed to him. He envisioned her under his power, and desire stirred inside him. That was seriously whacked, so he checked that feeling as he parked on the checkerboard grass-and-stone parking area.
Justus’s wife, Vera, dabbled in gardening and landscaping, so she’d designed this parking area declaring it more welcoming than concrete. Every time his foot crushed the low-growing thyme in between the pavers, a sweet aroma filled the air. Leave it to Vera to deliver an unexpected gift to the person parking outside her home.
“Rick,” Vera called out from the prayer garden she’d built behind the carriage-style garage. “Come see what I’ve found.”
Rick could no more ignore the hint of pleasure in Vera’s voice than he could turn out a hungry stray. Grains of happiness were few and far between for the woman Justus had brought to Cottonwood and made his bride over twenty years ago.
He rounded the corner and found her kneeling in a patch of withered canna lily stalks. He looked around at the garden they’d neglected during the holidays. “I guess I need to clear all this dead stuff away and put down another layer of mulch.”
Vera looked up at him, her hair falling over her shoulders, brown eyes crinkled with a haunting smile. “I know, but look what I found.”
He bent and pushed a hand through the matted pine straw. Small green stalks barely cleared the fertile loam. “Crocus?”
“Yes,” she breathed, passing a bare hand over the tiny new growth rising in the grayness. “Ryan planted them when he was a child. Some years they don’t come up. I don’t know why, but this year they’re making an appearance.”
“A sign of good fortune, I bet. Better cover them well,” he said, straightening and eyeing the low, dark clouds. “Those clouds carry rain and with temperatures dipping tonight, we might have a freeze.”
She carefully covered the plants then stood. She brushed her hands on her worn jeans and pulled her hair to the side. She looked much younger