Sandra Hyatt - His Ring, Her Baby / His Bride for the Taking

It was just a dream now, of course. Mike was gone, and Grace and Rupert didn’t exactly fit the image of the extended family she had in her mind. They didn’t want to share her life. They wanted to control it.

Just thinking about her parents-in-law made her uneasy as she carried her things inside and unpacked. She’d telephoned them this morning determined to tell them about her new job, but in the end she hadn’t been able to bring herself to mention it. She would have to do it eventually, but right now she didn’t need the recriminations or emotional blackmail Grace would inflict on her.

She sighed. At best, if she called them three times a week, she’d probably have some vital time to herself before needing to come clean. Only if they called the motel and someone other than Linda or Hugh answered the phone would they learn the truth. Her cousin and Hugh certainly wouldn’t tell them.

Kirk didn’t arrive back until seven. She heard the Range Rover drive around the side of the house, and he came into the kitchen looking ruggedly handsome, his face bronzed by the sun’s rays. He was enough to make any woman catch her breath.

For a moment he just stood there looking at her, his eyes dark and hooded, until she could feel a blush start in her neck. Thankfully his gaze moved to Josh sitting in the high chair before sliding back to her.

“Settled in okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” she said, trying to look busy as she opened a jar of chocolate sprinkles to put on top of the dessert she’d made.

“I see you brought your luggage inside.”

She lifted her shoulder. “I needed to unpack.”

A few seconds ticked by.

“I’ll go shower and clean up before dinner then.”

“It’ll be ready when you are.”

He exited through the kitchen and she concentrated on not thinking about Kirk naked in the shower, water spewing off his shoulders and waist. But the image wouldn’t budge and the parfaits were well and truly covered with chocolate by the time Josh started to fidget in the high chair.

Her cheeks hot, she lifted her son and carried him down the hallway to put him in his crib. Josh generally settled straight away to sleep and she hoped he would this evening. Her first night here, she didn’t want him being too demanding.

She’d already set the table for Kirk in the informal dining room, taking a chance that was where he ate his meals. If he wanted to be served in the more formal dining room then she’d do it his way in the future.

He came to the door as she was checking on the casserole. She caught a glimpse of him dressed in cargo pants and a navy polo shirt. Her pulse skipped a beat.

“Josh gone to bed?”

She closed the door to the wall oven. “Yes. It was a big day for him.”

A moment’s silence, then, “Where are we eating?”

We?

She looked up and saw him frowning at the table in the far corner of the kitchen where she’d set a place for herself. Surely he didn’t want to eat in here with her?

She jerked her head toward the informal dining room. “You’re eating in there.”

His eyes slammed into hers. “You’ll be eating with me, of course.”

She stiffened. “I’m the housekeeper. I’ll eat in here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

She didn’t think she was being ridiculous at all. She was just being … cautious.

She lifted her eyebrow. “Did Martha eat her meals with you?”

“No, but I didn’t dance with her and kiss her, either.”

She gasped. “I don’t believe you said that!”

His mouth tightened. “Don’t argue, Vanessa. You eat in there with me from now on, or I eat in here with you. Take your pick.”

“But … but … this is crazy. You don’t even want me working here. Why would you want to eat with me?”

He looked inflexible. “I’m not going to sit in the living room and eat by myself while you sit in here and eat. You and Josh are to join me. End of argument.”

He was including Josh in this?

All at once she wondered something. Kirk obviously had plenty of friends in town, and he had plenty of staff on the cattle station, and by the look of his study he was a very busy man there as well. But despite appearances, was he lonely living here in this big house by himself? Did he miss his family? She didn’t want to be a family substitute for a man, not even inadvertently. Her own family had already been decimated by the loss of her husband. She couldn’t do this again.

Then she looked at the unforgiving look in Kirk’s eyes and realized she’d gotten it wrong. This man didn’t need her company. He had a full life. He was just determined to make it difficult for her.

Her chin rose as her anger reached its limit. “If you think I’m going to be your whipping boy for the next six months then you have another think coming, Mr. Deverill. You either treat me with the respect you afford any employee or I leave tomorrow and I don’t care what Linda’s reaction will be.”

He appeared a little taken aback.

Then he slowly inclined his head with a look of grudging admiration. “You have my word I’ll treat you with respect.”

She released a breath. “Thank you,” she said, recognizing he hadn’t forgiven her for thinking she’d used him. He wouldn’t forgive her that, but at least now he wouldn’t be in her face all the time. “Okay. Now please go in there and I’ll bring in the food.”

He made a point of grabbing the knife and fork she’d set out for herself. “I’ll take these in for you, shall I?”

She nodded. As she watched him leave, she was wondering how she was going to cope eating her meals with him. Her emotions were already being tossed around like clothes in a dryer. Feelings she wanted tucked away nice and neatly in a drawer where no one could see or touch them.

Definitely not Kirk.

Taking a deep breath, she gave him a generous serving of casserole and herself a smaller portion, then took off her apron and smoothed her hands down her skirt. She was glad now that she’d changed into something more formal than jeans.

She groaned inwardly when she saw where she was expected to sit. Kirk had placed her next to him on his right. She’d half hoped he’d put the length of the table between them.

“Everything fine with your rooms?” Kirk said, after she got settled.

“Yes, thank you.” She remembered the extra items and she softened toward him. “And thank you for arranging all that baby furniture for Josh. I can’t pay you back in one lump sum, but please give me the total amount and I’ll make some arrangement to pay by installments.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But I don’t expect you to supply baby furniture for my son.”

“It’ll get plenty of use in future,” he dismissed, and began eating.

She grasped what he meant. “Oh, of course. If you marry you might use them again.”

His face hardened as he swallowed his food before speaking. “No, I meant they can be passed on to someone else in the family eventually.”

She picked up her fork. “Oh, I see.”

Obviously his future wife wouldn’t want secondhand things used by the housekeeper. Grace certainly would never have used anything secondhand, and Nadine would certainly never have to worry about using secondhand furniture, either. Grace wouldn’t let her.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“No, the list Martha left was very thorough.”

After that they ate their way through dinner while Kirk explained about his routine and more about her duties. At all times his tone was courteous but detached.

Then she brought out the parfaits and tried not to blush at the reason for so many chocolate sprinkles. She had gone a bit crazy with them while she’d been thinking about Kirk in the shower.