Teresa Southwick - From Maverick to Daddy

“She’s pretty lucky to have you.”

Rays from the setting sun brought out the red in her auburn hair and made her sad smile angelic. “That’s nice of you to say.”

“Not nice. Just the truth.”

“Still...”

She looked down and her long, silky hair fell forward, hiding her face. It took every ounce of willpower not to bury his fingers in all that softness and slide it back to see the beautiful curve of her cheek.

“Caleb, I didn’t mean to dump all that on you. Here I am going on and we hardly know each other.”

The devil of it was that the more he found out, the better he wanted to know her. “For what it’s worth, Lily is a great kid. She seems to be really well-adjusted.”

“Guess I must be doing something right.” She shrugged. “Starting with finding a job at your dad’s law firm.”

“Yeah, he’s okay.”

“Trust me. Not every boss would invite an employee home to dinner.” She smiled. “You have an extraordinary family and that’s something Mona and I didn’t have. It’s the model for what I’d like to give Lily.”

“Speaking of her...” Caleb stood abruptly. “We should probably go inside and check on her.”

She blinked up at him, then nodded. “Of course.”

That could have been more smoothly done but he was acting purely on survival instinct. And he was really doing her a favor. He’d enjoyed being with her and wasn’t ready for it to end, but staying wasn’t fair to her. She might not realize it yet, but a husband would be part of the family she wanted for her niece. That was significant and he wasn’t anyone’s idea of a significant other. He was the good-time guy who didn’t do serious.

Not even when a woman was as pretty and tempting as Mallory Franklin.

Chapter Three

“Lily, maybe your book is at home.”

At five-fifteen on Monday Mallory picked her niece up from Country Kids Day Care. After a brutal day at work she was so ready to get home. They were buckled in the car and ready to head in that direction when the little girl had told her about the missing book.

“No, Aunt Mallory. I thought I left it at school, but it wasn’t there. The last time I remember seeing it was at your office.”

“I can look for it tomorrow.” She turned right out of the parking lot and headed north on Pine Street.

“But I want to read after dinner.”

“What about reading something else?”

“I have to finish it before I start another one.”

Of course. Mallory should have thought of that. She took a deep breath and pulled together the tattered edges of her patience. There were so many things she loved about being a single parent, but this wasn’t one of them.

“Okay,” she finally said. “I’ll stop there and we can run inside to take a look around.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.”

When she stopped for a red light, Mallory glanced in the rearview mirror and the big smile on the little girl’s face tugged at her heart. Getting home required a series of left and right turns, basically a square that would take them to the bridge that crossed Rust Creek. The route took them close to the office and wasn’t that far out of her way. Definitely worth the minor detour to see Lily happy.

When the light changed, Mallory took Pine Street north and made a left onto Sawmill Street. One block down was a two-story wooden building with a western facade. The weathered sign on top said Dalton Law Office in bold black letters. She drove into the small paved parking lot and beside Ben’s car saw a four-door F-150 truck that she recognized. Just yesterday she’d seen it in front of her boss’s house, and since they all worked on the ranch, one of his sons was probably the owner.

Some rogue part of her brain acknowledged which of the Dalton men she was hoping for, but she chalked it up to a completely involuntary reaction.

“Let’s go find your book,” she said to Lily.

They walked into the reception area at the same time Caleb Dalton was coming through the doorway of the back office. Just the Dalton man she’d hoped to see.

“Caleb!” Lily apparently didn’t mind seeing him again, either. “What did you forget?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” His puzzled gaze lifted to Mallory’s.

“Lily can’t find her book,” she explained. “She thinks she left it here the other night when I worked late.”

“I remember.” He winked at the little girl. “When you filled in for the receptionist.”

Lily nodded. “I’ll go look for it.”

“Try the break room, sweetie. If Jessica found it on her desk, she would probably have put it there, then forgotten to say something to me.”

“Okay. Be right back.” She disappeared through the doorway.

Mallory expected Caleb to politely say Nice to see you and walk out the door. When he didn’t, she felt the awkward silence. Last night she’d told him a lot about herself, which wasn’t like her at all. He’d been understanding. Supportive even. Just when things had been most comfortable, he’d abruptly suggested they go back inside. Probably she’d shared more than she should have. TMI—too much information. Once burned made her hesitant to say anything now.

Except...she’d been working here for six months and had never seen him in the office until three days ago. Coincidence? Probably.

“So what brings you here today?” she finally asked.

“Ranch business.” He nudged his black straw Stetson a little higher on his forehead. “Anderson has a new cattle sale contract. He wanted Dad to look it over before he signs and was too busy to bring it into town. I volunteered to save Dad a trip out to the ranch.”

“I see.” What she saw was that he’d arrived in his father’s office after five, when she was supposed to be gone for the day. There was only one way to interpret that—he was avoiding her.

They looked at each other and she felt the need to say something more but everything that popped into her head sounded stupid. I had a nice time last night at dinner. It was great talking to you. Why did you go out of your way to get me away from Travis, then take off like I was on fire?

Fortunately Lily came back and all of those stupid statements stayed in Mallory’s head. Looking closer, she noticed the little girl was empty-handed.

“I don’t see your book.”

“It’s not here.” She looked up at the tall man beside her. “But at least I got to see Caleb.”

Apparently the wanting-to-see-Caleb condition was turning into a family epidemic.

“You got that wrong, little bit.” He gently tapped her cute button nose. “I got to see you.”

He got points for making Lily smile as if she felt really special. If the moonstruck expression on her face was anything to go by, the little girl was half in love with him. That was okay because Mallory would protect her.

“Okay, ladybug, it’s almost time for dinner. We have to get home.”

“Aunt Mallory, I have a great idea.”

Uh-oh. That could mean anything from Can we get a puppy? to wanting takeout from her favorite place in New York.

“What?” she asked patiently.

“Caleb should come to our house for dinner. You always say we have to return the favor. It’s the nice thing to do, since his mom and dad asked us over last night.”

There was no way to explain the invitations weren’t reciprocal, but surely he could use a diplomatic way out. “It’s really sweet of you to think of that, Lily, but Caleb probably has plans.”

“Do you?” Lily glanced up at him.

The easygoing charm in his eyes disappeared when he looked at Mallory. “No.”

Well, darn. He didn’t take the bait, so she needed to give him another hint. “We’re just having hamburgers. I’d have planned something better for a guest.”