Jaxon stood then rounded the couch, his arms behind his back and his ten-year-old frame stiff. He studied Dani, the shaggy ends of his brown hair falling forward, brushing his eyebrows. The strands were the same shade as his mother’s.
A stabbing pain shot thorough Mac. He hunched his shoulders and motioned toward Jaxon’s obscured arms. “What have you got there?”
Jaxon scowled. “You said you were gonna take the day off and play baseball with me. I’m tired of babysitting.”
Mac sighed. So was Ann. But he couldn’t afford to hire a babysitter on a permanent basis. Or take a day off work like he’d planned. Not if he expected to hold on to this place. “I just asked you to stay put for an hour—not babysit.”
“We ain’t babies,” Nadine said.
“Yeah,” Maddie added.
“Aw, hush up.” Jaxon’s eyes flashed. “No one asked you two.”
“That’s enough. All of you.” Mac dragged a hand over the back of his neck, the weight of Dani’s stare heating his face. “It took me hours to clean this place up, Jaxon. You’re going to spend the afternoon scrubbing this floor. Now, show me what you’ve got behind your back because I swear, if you’ve gotten into Tim’s tools again—”
“I ain’t got any tools.” Jaxon stalked over and thrust a bundle against Mac’s gut. “You promised you were gonna play ball with me.”
Mac looked down, catching the baseball glove before it fell. Deep croaks, muffled by the mitt, vibrated the material against his hand. He unfolded it and a muddy bullfrog sprang from the center then plopped onto the floor.
Maddie squealed and hid her face against the back of his thigh. “Ew.”
“Cool.” Nadine chased it through the door and down the front steps.
Something else was lodged in the top portion of the mitt. Mac thumbed smudges of mud away from the paper-thin item, revealing a familiar smile. His throat thickened as he studied the well-worn photo of his late wife. The shape of Nicole’s eyes and nose were exact replicas of Jaxon’s.
“You promised.”
Mac blinked hard and glanced up.
Jaxon glared at him but his chin trembled and his eyes glistened.
Gut churning, Mac said gently, “I’m sorry, Jaxon. I’ll make it up to you. I promise—”
“Yeah, right.” Jaxon snatched the glove back, shoved past him and stomped out of the cabin.
“Why’s he so mean all the time?” Maddie asked, poking her head around his thigh and frowning up at him.
Mac forced a smile and tugged the pink ribbon brushing her cheek. “He’s not mean, baby. He just...” Misses his mother. Mac swallowed hard. God help him, so did he. “He just needs his space once in a while. That’s all.” He motioned toward the door. “Why don’t you play outside with your sister for a few minutes while I talk to Ms. Dani?”
“Yes, sir.” Maddie brushed a speck of dirt off her sundress then skipped outside.
“Don’t wander off, all right?” Mac called after her. “Stay near the cabin.”
He relaxed slightly at her affirmative response then thrust his fists in his jeans pockets and avoided Dani’s eyes. “Sorry about that.”
She was silent for a moment then her soft voice drifted in, soothing the tight knot in his neck. “It’s okay.” Her footsteps drew closer. “I don’t mean to pry but...is your wife here?”
“Nicole passed away four years ago. The girls were too young to remember her but Jaxon does.”
Mac cringed at the gruff sound of his voice. He walked to the door and peered out against the glare of the midmorning sun. Nadine chased the bullfrog across the grass while Maddie picked wildflowers nearby. Jaxon was nowhere to be found. As usual.
Mac closed his eyes, his limbs heavy.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Dani whispered.
“They’re normally not underfoot,” he said. “But it’s July and school’s out so they wander around from time to time. Just don’t mind them and go about your business as usual.”
“Does that mean I have the job?” Dani’s voice was hesitant. “Because if so, I think I should tell you now that...that I’m really...”
He opened his eyes and faced her. She stared at the muddy streaks marring the floor and her fingers picked at the hem of her T-shirt. Her soft curves and gentle tone made him yearn to cross the room to her side, ask her to wrap those slender arms around him and hug him close. Have someone hold him for a change.
She met his eyes and hitched the bag strap higher on her shoulder. “I’m actually here to—”
The strap snapped and her bulky bag slammed to the floor, clothing spilling from the gaping hole left behind. An unladylike word burst from her lips.
Blushing, she knelt beside the bag, gathering up lacy bras and ragged T-shirts then shoving them back inside. “Sorry.” She puffed a wisp of hair out of her face. “That was rude.”
A rusty chuckle stirred in Mac’s chest. Smothering it, he grinned and tried his best to keep his gaze from straying to her tempting cleavage. “You really do need this job, don’t you?”
Her hands stilled. “Honestly?” She looked up, eyes lingering on his smile. “I really do need to be here. And woman or not, I know I can help you.” Her slim throat moved on a hard swallow. “If you give me a chance to prove it, I promise you won’t regret it.”
Mac’s smile slipped at the shift in her tone. A strange coldness trickled into his gut and pricked at his skin.
“Trial basis.” He forced the words past stiff lips. “It’ll only take a day or two for me to see if you can hack it.”
Dani was going to hell—straight down a hole she’d dug herself. And she was tempted to drag lead hand, Cal McCoy, with her.
“Now this here is what we call an ax.” Cal’s mouth—still chewing on that filthy straw of hay from earlier—delivered each syllable with slow, exaggerated movements. He eased the tool closer to her face, pointed a blunt finger at the sharp end and raised his brows. “And this here is the blade.”
Dani narrowed her eyes on the scruffy cowboy in front of her, a spark of anger overtaking the guilt that had lodged in her gut one hour earlier during her conversation with Mac. Only ten minutes in Cal’s presence and she was ready to flip her wig. How in the world was she going to hold on to her temper long enough to secure this job?
“And this here...” Cal grabbed a log from the ground, balanced it in his palm then hefted it in front of his chest. “This here is what we call wood.”
“Butthead.”
Choking back a laugh at the muttered insult, Dani glanced over her shoulder.
Jaxon stood several feet away, leaning against a fence and tossing a baseball into the glove on his hand. Just as he had for the past ten minutes as Cal led her through her first assigned task on the ranch.
“What was that, boy?” Cal frowned at Jaxon, the hay dangling precariously from the corner of his chapped lips.
Jaxon looked away and thrust the baseball harder into his glove. “Nothing. Sorry, sir.”
“You got fire, kid,” Cal said, laughing. “I’ll give you that. Ain’t you supposed to be babysitting? Your dad’s havin’ a time keeping up with those sisters