Kennon didn’t bother turning around. She had work to do.
I fully intend to, Nathan. I fully intend to.
Simon glared and willed the doorbell to be silent.
But it rang again.
Because the girls were within earshot, he swallowed the oath that rose to his lips. He didn’t feel like putting up with anyone. Moreover, he wasn’t expecting anyone. There wasn’t anyone to expect, especially since they were new to the area and, other than the chief of surgery and the principal of the girls’ school, neither of whom had any reason to be ringing his doorbell, he didn’t actually know anyone yet.
Just then, Meghan ran by him like a shot, her focus, the front door.
“Hold it, Meghan!” he called out, exasperated as he came to life and ran after her. “I told you never to let anyone in.”
Looking crestfallen, his younger daughter halted mid-dash, her mission suddenly aborted. “Sorry, Daddy. I was just trying to help.”
He was on the verge of lecturing her that there was a right way and a wrong way to “help,” but she seemed so sad and so earnest at the same time, he found he hadn’t the heart to reprimand her. Instead, he decided to make no comment, feeling it might be better that way.
These days, he operated with a shorter fuse, much shorter than usual, and he didn’t want to risk saying anything in anger that would upset either one of his daughters. Their feelings were particularly fragile and he wasn’t given to apologies. He would have no idea how to reinstate himself into their favor should he ever do anything to bruise their feelings and cause them to look upon him with either fear or a childish sort of disdain.
By the time the doorbell rang for a third time, he’d reached it. Yanking the door open he all but shouted, “Yes?” only to find Kennon Cassidy standing on his doorstep. Again.
A definite sensation of déjà vu washed over him. As did an unexpected, warm feeling he immediately banked down. He did his best to collect his temper and lower his tone. “Did you forget something?”
Now here was a man whose very voice could scare off burglars, she thought. Lucky for her she wasn’t faint of heart. “Yes, that you had no actual pots and pans beyond the one I used for soup.”
And what did that have to do with anything? he wondered. He glanced at the large box she held. By the way she boosted it, he figured it had to be heavy. “And what? You bought a set for us?”
“No, I’m lending you a set.”
As she confirmed his suspicions, Simon took the box from her. He was right, these were heavy. The woman was stronger than she looked.
“These are mine,” she told him, following him into the house. “You can use them until we start outfitting your kitchen.”
Hearing her voice, Madelyn came hurrying into the foyer to join her sister. Both girls wiggled in ahead of him, Simon noted, in their efforts to get closer to this woman who was obviously some sort of modern-day female Pied Piper.
Either that or she’d cast some kind of hypnotic spell over his daughters. He’d never seen them take to anyone so quickly. Or so eagerly.
“You came back!” Meghan cried happily, her eyes shining.
Kennon grinned at her and tousled the girl’s dark hair affectionately. “Yes, I did.”
“Are you going to come in?” Madelyn asked in a sophisticated tone, though it didn’t hide her feelings about Kennon’s return.
Kennon looked up at the girls’ father. He appeared almost stoic, standing there with the box of pots in his hands.
“I don’t know. Am I, Dr. Sheffield?” she asked the man.
He feigned surprise. “You’re actually asking my permission?”
Her expression said that was a given—he had no idea if she was sincere or merely putting him on. He had a feeling that his decorator got her way a lot.
“It is your house, Dr. Sheffield. You can invite anyone you want, or bar them from your property just as easily.”
He supposed, all things considered, it could be that easy—if he weren’t dealing with wistful, turned-up little faces.
“Lucky me.” And then he stepped back, giving her some room. “Come on in. The girls have already invited you. Who am I to stand in your way?”
As if it were that easy, Kennon thought. If the good doctor didn’t want her here, she’d be gone in a heartbeat and they both knew it.
Even as he invited her in, he saw her turn toward her vehicle. Now what?
“Just let me get the rest of the pots and pans out of the car,” she told him.
There were more? Who did she expect Edna to be cooking for? A reserve branch of the marines?
“Can we help?” Meghan asked eagerly.
Kennon paused. “That’s up to your dad, but I would love some help if he says it’s all right.”
How had she done that? Simon wondered. How had she lobbed the ball back onto his court and stolen his team at the same time? He wondered if that was part of her business training or if executing sleights of hand like that just came naturally to her. In either case, this was not the simple, fluffy-looking woman she appeared to be at first encounter.
“Fine.”
Balancing the box she’d given him and shifting it to one side against his hip, he silently gestured for his daughters to go ahead and help the woman retrieve whatever else she’d decided to bring along to “lend” him.
For once, neither Madelyn nor Meghan needed to be told twice.
Chapter Six
The next half hour was a whirl of activity. Aided and abetted by her two pint-size assistants, Kennon took over the kitchen and within exactly twenty-eight minutes produced a small pork loin that tantalized with an aroma that whispered of Italian herbs and various grated cheeses. There was a side dish of brown rice, initially cooked in chicken broth, that had been mixed with shredded asparagus, shredded carrots and shredded zucchini, to mention only the three main vegetables that had been added to it.
His daughters, avowed vegetable haters both, couldn’t dig in fast enough.
Simon began to think he’d opened up his house to a sorceress. She had definitely charmed his daughters and his housekeeper within an inch of their lives. Edna was still in the living room, eating the same dinner that was being served in the kitchen. Kennon had seen to that, bringing out a full plate for the woman before finally sitting down at the table herself.
There was conversation at the table, something that had been seriously lacking in the last year. Both girls were eager to snare the sorceress’s attention. For her part, the woman was equal handed, giving both the same amount of attention.
No doubt about it, she was good. And, he supposed, he could learn from her. Meghan, and especially Madelyn, looked happier than he remembered them being in a long time.
“You know, if this decorating thing doesn’t work out for you …” Simon began after he realized that he had cleaned his plate not once, but twice. Only the fear of settling in for an evening nap rather than doing the work he’d brought home had kept him from taking a third helping. “… you could always get a job as a chef,” he continued.
Or as an all-round whirling dervish, he added silently.
Humor highlighted her face, fluidly moving from her lips to her eyes. She looked very pleased with herself. He supposed she had every right to be.