Kate Hoffmann - Paris or Bust!

“Thanks for trusting me with them. I know it isn’t easy under the circumstances.” He gazed at her in a way that made Jody want to forget about moving the steers and corral him instead.

“No sweat,” she managed to say, and turned to follow Gladys.

Callum should find it easy to persuade the Wiltons to grant an interview, since their enterprise would benefit from publicity. Too bad their six-year-old son had school today. He and the twins enjoyed playing together.

All morning as Jody worked, Callum made guest appearances in her thoughts. Whipping up dinner for the boys. Dancing with his arms looped around her. Burying his face in her hair.

She could so easily fall in love with the man again. Heck, she was halfway there already, but she refused to make a fool of herself by running after him to California and getting her heart squashed like a bug on a highway. Life in the fast lane was out of Jody’s league and she knew it.

What she needed was that trip to Paris-a few weeks of enchantment, a chance to reawaken the devil-may-care attitude of her younger days. Then she could return to her familiar world and live contentedly without the things she’d loved and lost, like teaching and, above all, Callum.

At noon, when she rode back to the big house, Jody got an unpleasant surprise. She mopped her forehead with a sleeve as she stared at the battered sedan and Everett Landing Weekly News van parked in front. There was the tractor Freddy had been using this morning, too. What on earth were all these people doing here?

Not just people. Male friends.

Since she had no intention of greeting visitors in her mussed condition, Jody slipped around to the rear of the house, where she entered her office through its exterior door. The office connected to her bedroom, into which masculine voices drifted from the front. She recognized Bo’s, then Freddy’s and finally his brother, Frank’s. They sounded polite and uncertain.

Callum had gathered her suitors together, omitting only Andy, who didn’t count anyway. What colossal nerve! Jody was so steamed at his interference that she nearly stomped into the living room, smelly clothes and all. What steadied her was common sense plus the memory of her mother’s admonitions to act like a lady.

Twenty minutes later, damp from the shower, she marched out wearing a long denim skirt and a ruffled blouse. The three men scrambled to their feet. Callum, who was fixing sandwiches in the kitchen, was already standing.

He’d swapped his jeans and jacket for a silky dark-blue suit that looked casual yet sleek. “Perfect timing,” he said serenely. “Lunch is about to be served.”

“What’s going on?”

“I called a summit meeting.” Callum set a pitcher of lemonade on the table. “We’ll have to eat buffet style. It would be too cramped at the table with five of us. Louise is making macaroni and cheese for the boys at her place, by the way.”

His gift for taking charge had impressed the heck out of Jody in their early days. Now, she wanted to kick him for his arrogance.

“You had no right to invite my friends without asking me,” she said in a low voice. The three guests shifted uncomfortably in their seats. She guessed that they all wished they could disappear, which was probably Callum’s goal.

Bo, who had the advantage of already knowing their shameless host, wore an eager-to-please expression. It wasn’t his fault that his brown slacks and tweed jacket appeared baggy compared to Callum’s stylish outfit.

As for Freddy, his incomplete effort to clean the morning’s mud from his boots and overalls had left him with a kind of sepia tone that did nothing to enhance his short, stocky build. His older brother, Frank, wore a nearly identical outfit, sans dirt and, while several inches taller, he was even stockier.

“I didn’t mean to go behind your back, but you were busy and the idea just struck me,” Callum said with feigned blandness. “I got their phone numbers out of your directory.” He indicated a spiral address book on the counter.

“What do you mean by a summit meeting?” Jody demanded.

“We’ll get to that in a minute.” Callum set out plates of sandwiches on the counter. He’d also fixed celery stuffed with reddish cream cheese. Following her gaze, he explained, “Pimientos. Guys, come and get it!”

Bo rubbed his hands together as he surveyed the spread. “This looks tasty.”

“I did work up an appetite this morning,” Freddy agreed, and took one of the paper plates.

“By the way,” Bo said, “is there any chance I could interview you for my paper? You’re the closest thing to a celebrity we’ve got around here.”

“I’d be honored.” Callum sounded as though he meant it. “Later, all right?”

“Sure thing.”

Soon the men were arrayed around the living room, balancing paper plates and cups as if at a tea party. The only one not noticeably ill at ease, Callum had chosen to eat standing by the mantel. This saved him from having to juggle his food and gave him a commanding advantage over the others, Jody noted with grudging admiration.

When the men were on their second helpings and the sound of chomping had slowed, Callum spoke. “As you probably know, Jody is a finalist in the Mother of the Year contest presented by Family Voyager magazine, which I publish. She and I also were close friends for many years. After reading her entry, I wanted to meet the people who are important to her now.”

“Are you interviewing all the finalists?” Bo asked.

“Well, no,” Callum admitted.

“Then why fly all the way to Texas to see Jody?” In his own polite way, Bo was defending his territory, or what he wished was his territory, Jody surmised.

“I wasn’t sure I should bring this up, and I hope Jody will forgive me, but the truth is, I’m the father of her children,” Callum said.

Freddy choked on a piece of celery until his brother whacked him between the shoulder blades. Bo paled. Oh, great. Although Jody had realized she wouldn’t be able to keep the secret much longer, she hadn’t expected Callum to make a public announcement. Even though he’d begged her pardon, he sure had a lot of nerve!

“You?” Bo said. “I thought…” His voice trailed off. Guiltily, Jody remembered mentioning that nonsense to him about the alleged rodeo Romeo. That had been several years ago, before there was any suggestion of Bo’s courting her.

It wasn’t as if she’d owed anyone an explanation. Still, she wished he hadn’t found out in such a blunt manner.

“Where’ve you been, huh?” Freddy demanded. “Where’ve you been all these years?”

“I should have come sooner. A lot sooner,” Callum began.

“I didn’t tell him he was a father.” Jody knew the fault was largely hers. “I didn’t even mention that I’d had children.”

She winced at Bo’s expression of disappointment. “Didn’t you think he had a right to know?”

“We’ve all made mistakes,” Callum interjected. “Well, maybe not you personally, but Jody and I are working this out together.”

“I knew you two used to date, but it always seemed kind of casual,” Bo admitted. “I didn’t know there was any more to it.”

“There wasn’t,” Jody said. “Just that once.”

“So you’re not getting married?” Freddy persisted.

His brother fixed him with a quelling look. “That’s none of our business.”

“You like her, too! She ought to go to one of us.” Realizing he’d overstepped his bounds, the hired hand said, “I mean, ’stead of some guy who hasn’t been around since gosh knows when. We’re the ones who understand about ranching. At least, Frank and I do. We’re more her type.”

“I guess you didn’t read her contest entry on the Web site,” Bo said. “I have to say, that was a clever literary reference to Penelope, although I hope you don’t feel like I’ve been pressuring you, Jody.”