Kate Hoffmann - Paris or Bust!

Her laughter flowed around him in a warm current. “Gladys doesn’t sleep in the machine shop! She has her own house. And no, I meant you could use the spare bedroom.”

After being shown to a small bedroom off the hallway, Callum unpacked his suitcase and set up his laptop. Jody had explained that he would share a bathroom with the boys, while the master bedroom and her office were located off the living room. Although that was too far away for Callum’s taste, at least he got to be near his sons.

Fortunately, there was a phone line in the room, which meant he could read his e-mail and hook up with the Internet while talking on his cell phone. Eight o’clock in Texas was six in California. Tisa might still be in her office.

In a few minutes, Callum was immersed in work as if he’d never left.

“WOW. DO YOU HAVE any good games on your computer?” The little boy stood in the doorway, blond hair rumpled, blue eyes wide. His pajamas had cartoon robots printed on them.

Tearing himself away from his editing, Callum searched for a clue to the twin’s identity. At dinner, the boys’ different-colored shirts had made it easy to tell them apart, but which… Aha! The robots were red.

“There’s a few games, Ben, but I use the computer mainly for working,” he said. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?”

The four-year-old climbed onto Callum’s lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do. “I’m not sleepy.”

He closed his file. He’d been working for two hours and deserved a break, anyway. “Let’s see what we can find.” A few clicks later, a Roman centurion appeared on the screen. “My goodness. Where did he come from?” he joked.

His son felt warm and solid on Callum’s lap as he snatched the mouse. “I want to play!”

“Do you know this game?”

“Yeah.” The little boy worked the mouse eagerly. Although it soon became apparent that he had no idea of either the rules or the strategy, he had good aim. “Yay! I wiped him out!” he crowed as a hairy Visigoth bit the dust.

“You sure did.” It occurred to Callum that Jody might not appreciate his encouraging Ben to commit mayhem. “I think that’s enough for one night.”

“Okay.” His son gave him the mouse.

“Are you always this cooperative?”

“Mostly. Jerry’s not.” Ben nestled against Callum’s chest. “He doesn’t like you.”

This was news. “Why not?” he asked. “I’m such a likable guy.”

A sigh greeted this blatant play for sympathy. “He says he can take care of Mommy. I want a daddy.”

Callum wrapped his arms around the boy. He didn’t want to make promises, not yet. Having barged into his family’s lives without warning, he had no right to try to change everything to suit himself.

Although he hadn’t deliberately abandoned them, five years ago he’d been so absorbed in trying to make a go of his Web site that he’d only called Jody once after he got home, and hadn’t pressed to make sure she felt all right about what had happened between them. Maybe if he had, she’d have told him the truth. At the very least, he didn’t want to upset the delicate balance she’d achieved in his absence.

“You do have a daddy,” he told Ben. “I’m him, and from now on I’m going to see you as often as I can. But my magazine is based in Los Angeles, which is a long ways from here.”

“You can take a plane,” said his son.

“You mean commute long-distance? It’s a bit far,” Callum said.

The child yawned and snuggled closer. “We need a daddy who lives around here.”

Callum frowned. “Anyone in particular?”

Ben didn’t answer. Apparently he’d fallen asleep between one breath and another.

As Callum carried his son across the hallway and tucked him into the top bunk, his mood darkened. He’d only just discovered that he had a family. He wasn’t about to lose them to some Johnny-on-the-spot.

The key was to get rid of those other guys before Jody foolishly married one of them. All he lacked was a plan.

By morning, he intended to come up with one.

JODY AROSE EARLY, downed a bowlful of cereal and went about tending the animals with Freddy’s help. Usually Louise came by to fix breakfast and watch the boys, but Jody had given the girl the day off, assuming Callum would want to fill that role.

In their stall, Elsie and Half-Pint had settled into wary mutual toleration, she was pleased to note. At least one relationship was on track around here.

It was several hours later before Jody returned to the big house. In the play yard, Ben dug in the sandbox while Jerry swung as high as he could on the swing set.

Gladys, taking a break from her own chores, sat on the side patio sharing a cup of coffee with Callum. Designer jeans and a denim jacket highlighted his lithe body and, in the bright sunlight, he seemed to glow from within.

Usually, the forewoman treated male visitors the way she treated stray dogs, with casual tolerance punctuated by the occasional sharp command. It surprised Jody to hear her laughing freely.

Tall, with her light-brown hair pulled into a ponytail, Gladys looked like what she was: a woman who’d grown up on a ranch. The daughter of a foreman, she’d married a man who owned a small spread and treated her little better than a hired hand. When they split up, she’d taken their daughter and set out on her own.

Eight years ago, she’d persuaded Jody’s father to hire her as forewoman, despite the scoffing of some neighbors. She’d more than proven them wrong.

Without her, the Wandering I would never have survived the past year. And without her daughter, Louise, who’d graduated from high school early and was taking a correspondence course in medical transcribing, Jody didn’t know where she’d have found a baby-sitter for the twins.

She’d phoned Gladys this morning and explained about the boys’ father. In her usual low-key manner, the forewoman had accepted the situation with only a few questions. She’d no doubt intended to decide for herself whether she approved of the man. Apparently, she did.

Callum waved when Jody came through the door. “I can heat up some pancakes if you’re hungry.”

“No, thanks.” She poured herself coffee from an insulated pot and leaned against the railing. Even on a Saturday, there was too much work left for her to get comfortable.

“Gladys was telling me about the Curly Q,” Callum said. The spread, dubbed a “non-dude ranch,” took paying guests who pitched in with the chores. “I think I’ll drive over there later and conduct an interview for the magazine, if the owners are willing. I’ll take my digital camera.”

“I want to get one of those.” Turning to Jody, the forewoman explained, “Callum took some shots of the boys earlier and you could see the pictures right inside the camera. You can get rid of the bad ones, and e-mail the good ones to your friends.”

“I thought you hated computers,” Jody said. Although her friend used one occasionally for ranch business, she avoided them otherwise.

“That doesn’t mean I have to act like a mule about every kind of new technology that comes along,” Gladys answered.

That was Callum’s good influence, Jody thought. Still, she hoped Gladys wasn’t going to get too cozy with him, because he’d be gone soon. “We need to move those steers today. Freddy’s going to be tied up seeding a field.”

“Darn right.” Gladys uncoiled from her chair. “Callum, I’d love to stay and chat, but duty calls.”

“For me, too,” he said. “Jody, if it’s all right with you, I’ll take the boys with me over to the Curly Q. Gladys gave me directions.”

Although she didn’t want the boys getting too used to being around him, Louise needed to put in more hours on her studies. The young woman would always rather tend the livestock or play with the kids than do her assignments, to Gladys’s dismay. “Okay. You can get their booster seats out of the pickup.”