Page 15 of The Cowboy Takes a Nanny
While Leo had trusted her with his precious daughter, guilt continued to nag at her. It didn’t sit well that she was bending her own rules. After all, she was living under the man’s roof; and she wasn’t being completely honest with him.
So, sharing a little, without revealing too much was only right. Quid pro quo? It seemed fair.
Leo had said nothing since her adamant embargo on any more questions about her father, and lying there on the carpet, his long body so close to her own, the silence between them grew heavy and awkward. Though surely that had to be an atmosphere conjured by her imagination given the racket echoing around them in the otherwise empty room. Big noises created by little people. After Benny had moved on to banging a toy drum, Mia had crawled over to accompany him with the xylophone, managing to actually strike a plastic key and not just the frame or Benny every third or fourth swing.
The silence gnawed at Ella, her thoughts bouncing in all directions as she searched for a way to elegantly extricate herself from the topic without appearing churlish or overly secretive. Relief came in the form of her beautiful baby boy. She watched as he toddled over to rescue her, not due to some spiritual mother-son connection, but because Mia had taken his drum. Any upset had obviously been brief and as always, she found it impossible to resist his gorgeous smile; the one so like his father’s. A smile that also warned mischief was afoot; she was ready for him when he launched himself, squealing as he straddled her, his sturdy little legs pumping as he bounced up and down on her tummy.
“Horsey wide! Do horsey, Mama!”
Laughing she grabbed him and stretched her arms high, jiggling him until he laughed so hard a long string of drool dripped toward her face, prompting her to squeal in return.
Not one to miss the fun, Mia had speed-crawled over and joined him, assuming the same position Benny had taken up and was bouncing on her stomach as well. “More! More!” she called, her nose scrunched as she mock-laughed. It was her latest trick, one that mimicked Benny, and Ella loved it. Plonking Benny back to include Mia in the fun, Ella rocked up and down, as wild as she dared, until both children slid off to roll around the carpet, laughing and shrieking as they dragged themselves up for another turn.
“Whoa! Let’s give poor Ella break!” Leo scooped up his daughter. “Come here little tiger. You wanna play rides? I’ll show you a real ride!”
“It’s a competition? Really Leo?” She shouted indignantly to be heard over the shrieks, the sparkle in his eyes confirming she’d hit the target. “Alright! Let’s show these colonials a few tricks, Benny boy. They think because they’re rodeo people, they can do better than us? Challenge accepted!” Still holding her son she rolled to her knees, competently hoisting him up onto her back with one hand. “Hang on beautiful boy, we’re heading out!”
Familiar with the game, Benny grabbed her sweater with his little fists and hung on as she, on all fours, raced him around the empty space. High on her back, Benny laughed so hard he almost slid off several times, rocking and rolling from side to side.
As expected, Leo was a fierce competitor, but still, her confidence took a bit of a hit when she felt him come up beside her, overtaking her with way too much ease, ignoring his passing quip about eating dust. But she didn’t give up easily. Eyeing his determined grin, she hastened her pace, but after a very short sprint fraught with potential carpet burns, Ella was forced to admit Leo had superior horsey skills. Especially when he had Mia perched on his shoulders, not his back, and crawled—very quickly—using just three limbs, his other hand steadying his daughter so she wouldn’t fall.
Show off.
No one had ever accused her of being a good loser, though, and that wasn’t going to start now. Giggling so hard she was in danger of collapsing; she tried to grab his shirt. “Unfair advantage! I’m calling foul.”
“On what grounds?”
“I believe I should have been given a handicap—my jockey is at least five pounds heavier than yours.” Though while she wouldn’t admit it out loud, she was quite content with the very acceptable consolation prize. Traveling behind Leo Halligan while he was on all fours had its distinct advantages. Not a bad view at all …
Collapsing, his chuckle was contagious, easily swinging Mia into his lap, and reaching for Benny so Ella could collapse beside him.
This time the silence wasn’t awkward and after watching him for a few minutes, she dared to ask for his thoughts.
His sigh was resigned. “That this room isn’t going to be half as much fun when we get furniture in here.”
“Really?” She shook her head. “But you’ll be able to use it as a room. It will actually be useful.”
His eyes snagged and held hers. “Maybe. But it seems to me that there’s still a whole lot of fun things to do here just like it is. Plenty of room to roll around …”
“Oh.” It was all she could manage. Had there been innuendo there? She thought so, but …
Flames swept through her and she momentarily stilled; snatching her eyes away as she busied herself with everything possible that would keep her from having to face him. Unfortunately it took mere minutes to tidy away the toys, and she was left scrambling to find something else. She heard his low chuckle but refused to turn to him. Perhaps he’d laughed at one of the children. And perhaps not …
Irrespective he’d gone and done it again. Planted the seeds that would later grow to fantasies and keep her awake long into the night.
Her head spat out a silent sarcastic thank you.
Her body refuted the sarcasm, insisting on focusing on the pure delight.
Closing her eyes she forced herself to breathe slowly; and calmly pull herself together. Even knowing it was an impossible ask. Her body throbbed with an energy that could be salved by only one thing—one man.
And as that was never going to happen. She was in big trouble.
Perhaps the township of Marietta could use a one-woman, human snow plow. Surely that was one way to get rid of this energy!
“Hey,” he called softly. “In a few days I have to go away, and I was thinking maybe we could all make a trip down into town before I go? Grab some lunch … I could introduce you around. I figured it might help you get more familiar with Marietta.”
Okay … Interesting. She was conjuring erotic fantasies, and he was thinking about introducing her around town? That was a bucket of cold water, right there. Lingering too long to position colored rings over the plastic post they circled, she ordered her body to behave, and only then finally turned to him.
