The Housekeeper's Daughter. Laurie Paige

and her sister, Lana.

      She sighed in resignation. Yeah, she was one tough cookie.

      “How are you feeling this morning?” Drake asked, looking directly at her.

      His father turned his kind gaze on her, too, while they waited for an answer.

      “Fine,” she murmured. “I’m just fine.”

      “Back not hurting?”

      The question sounded so intimate, she felt as if he were making love to her right there at the table. The awful blush started again. “No. Excuse me. I have to be at the Hopechest soon.” She picked up her plate of half-eaten food and fled.

      “You didn’t eat much,” her mother noted as soon as Maya entered the kitchen.

      “I had plenty. I have to run now, Mom.” She kissed her mother’s cheek. “Love you.”

      “Love you,” Inez repeated, her dark eyes checking her over anxiously.

      On the drive to the children’s ranch, Maya wished she didn’t have to hurt her parents. They loved her and worried about her, but she just couldn’t admit Drake was the father of her child and that he didn’t want them.

      The contents of that note still burned in her heart, making her chest tighten so that she could scarcely breathe whenever she recalled it. His lovemaking had meant nothing. He’d made no promises, not one.

      Pushing her troubles into the background, she turned in at the Hopechest Ranch. The kids who lived here had it rough. Compared to them, her life was a piece of cake.

      “Hey, Miss Ramirez,” Johnny Collins called, spotting her getting out of her car. He came over to help carry her books and papers.

      “Hey, Johnny,” she greeted the fourteen-year-old, one of her favorites. His mother had abandoned him and his father years ago. The boy’s father had taken to drinking and couldn’t keep a job. Johnny had been caught with his hand in the till, so to speak, at a fast-food place where he’d lied about his age and gotten a job. “Did you get through the book I assigned last week?”

      “Yeah. I wrote down the words I didn’t know and looked them up after I got through each chapter, like you said. It made reading easier.”

      “Good.” They went into the classroom where she privately tutored the kids who were way behind. “I got your test graded. You aced it. Wow!” she exclaimed softly, giving him the praise he deserved.

      His dark eyes lit up. She noted the golden flecks in them and thought of Drake’s dark eyes that flashed golden when the light hit them.

      “Okay, let’s see your list of words,” she requested when she was at her desk and ready to start.

      For the next two hours she worked with Johnny, then a group of students who were further advanced. At three, she rushed home to check on Joe Junior and Teddy and make sure they did their homework correctly. Ms. Meredith was a stickler about that, too.

      Drake was in the corral, working with one of the young cow ponies when she arrived. She stood by the car and watched him for a few minutes.

      He had a firm touch on the reins and made sure the gelding knew what was expected and performed the task correctly before he went on to something else. He would make a good teacher for the students at the children’s ranch—

      Reality check, she interrupted herself. Drake didn’t need her advice on what to do with his life when he grew tired of risking it on daring rescues in places where he could get himself shot on sight. It wasn’t her business.

      Just as she turned to head inside, Drake stopped his mount beside the fence. He dipped his head toward her in greeting, then simply watched her, making her think of lunch and the way he had looked at her then. There was an invitation in those dark depths, but she didn’t know what it was an invitation to.

      The baby stirred and kicked vigorously as if sensing her agitation. Flustered, she rushed into the house.