Page 38 of Curvy Nanny for the Cowboy

“Sure, Wyatt, come on in. I’m not busy or anything.”

“I know,” he said as his grin grew. “Heard you talking to yourself and figured you were in the middle of a mental breakdown or something. Wanna talk about it?”

“Nope.” The last thing I wanted to do was talk about it, to put a voice to all the worry racing through my body since last night. “Thanks for stopping by.”

Wyatt, undeterred, stepped inside and took the empty chair in front of my desk. “You’ve been such a real peach today; I decided to come and make sure everything was all right. The business isn’t in trouble, is it?”

“You know damn well it’s not.”

He flashed a toothy smile at my angry words. “Hmm, then I wonder what it could be. Hunter’s good? He’s not sick or anything, is he?”

My gaze narrowed in his direction. “He’s perfectly healthy.”

Wyatt nodded, a sage expression on his face as he crossed one ankle at the knee and plucked a baked good from a napkin I hadn’t realized he was holding. “That means that the culprit for your foul mood must be sweet Molly.”

“Don’t call her that,” I growled and glared even harder at him.

A loud laugh burst out of my so-called best friend. “Save that look for the ranch hands; it just might work on them. Me? I’m immune to your surly ass.”

“What are you eating?” I nodded towards the golden-brown square headed towards his mouth, hoping the distraction would get him onto a different subject.

“This?” He bit into the treat with a loud groan. “It’s a blondie. Molly and Hunter brought ’em to the cafeteria just before lunch finished.”

I frowned and glanced at the clock on the screen. Dammit, I’d missed lunch, and worse, she hadn’t come to make sure I ate. It wasn’t her job, but it wasn’t unheard of for her to track me down and make sure I ate.Another bad sign,I thought to myself. “How did she seem? Did she say anything?”

“She didn’t pass me any notes in homeroom if that’s what you’re asking.” His lips twitched; the fucker was having too much fun at my expense. “Or are you asking if she plans on staying at the ranch or not?”

My heart raced, and my ears perked up. I tried to look calm and relaxed, unbothered, but dammit, I wasn’t any of those things. “Wyatt,” I growled, gripping the wireless mouse so hard it started to creak.

He smiled wide and chewed slowly, then swallowed finally. “She didn’t say either way, but she wanted us all to know that her ex was causing problems and to know what he looked like just in case he got too close.”

I sat taller. That had to be a good sign, that she was staying, right? It was so like Molly to think about everybody but herself, which only made me more determined to get her to stay here. With me. Where she belonged.

“You could just ask her, you know? I find that women love all that communication shit.”

I shook my head, willing to admit to some of what was bothering me. “I could, but she needs to decide what she’s going to do on her own. I can’t pressure her,” I admitted with a reluctant sigh. “She was only here for sixty days guaranteed, and I want her to stay, but she thinks leaving will make us and Hunter safe.” I told him about the tracker, and his look of surprise confirmed that Molly hadn’t shared everything.

“You can’t let her leave.” Wyatt sat straight up and then leaned forward, a look of concern on his face. “She didn’t say the asshole was stalking her, just that he wasn’t accepting the breakup.”

“They broke up months ago,” I informed him and let him know about all the voice and text messages. “It’s more than that.”

“A hell of a lot more,” he agreed.

“She asked if I thought he might be behind the problems we’ve had with the animals.”

“Do you?”

I shrugged. “Hard not to think that now. But I can’t tie her up and force her to stay.”

“Sure you can; this is Texas, and you’re a rich rancher. Not a whole lot you can’t do, I’d say.” He smiled again, but the worry darkened his gaze. “If I were you—and I’m damn glad that I’m not—I might do something like give her a reason to stay beyond a pay check.”

Give her a reason to stay. Did she really want a life with a gruff rancher out in the middle of nowhere? “Sara grew to hate it out here.”

“Sara thought you’d get tired of being a rancher. She loved you, but she didn’t get how much the land and the legacy meant to you. Molly seems to love it just as much. And those tomatoes prove she’s got a magic touch in the dirt.”

I smiled, because he wasn’t wrong. “I caught Hunter eating a tomato like it was an apple, juices running down his chin and all.”

Wyatt laughed. “That smile right there should be reason enough to ask her to stay. Use that cowboy magic the women are so fond of if you have to. Unless that’s not what you really want.” The accusation was there, but I didn’t take the bait.

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