Page 18 of The Cowboy Takes a Nanny
He was still chuckling when he took his seat, but they’d barely taken a bite of their creamy dessert before the bell above the door announced another customer. Looking up was instinctive, but it was Mia’s squeal of delight that directed his attention to the big guy entering. Of all the days …
Jack’s grin was broad as he strode to them, greeting Mia first. “Hey, little one!” he called back. “How’s one of my two favorite nieces?” His eyes slid straight across to Benny. “And what about you, big guy? Having fun?”
“Ice cream!” Benny joyfully waved his baby cone, managing fling a melted blob on Ella as it passed her face.
Greeting the two adults, Jack grinned. “Taking some time out? That’s great. Nothing like an ice-cream break, right?” His grin turned to a frown, and Leo knew he was about to outed.
He wasn’t wrong.
“What’s with you, bro? Marion’s out of choc mint?” Looking across at Ella he added, “We used to bet him that he couldn’t choose anything else when we were kids. He’d be all fluff and dander about it, but in the end, he just couldn’t make himself do it!”
Leo watched as Ella’s mouth curved with amusement, and she shot him mocking glance.
Jack took in this silent communication, and his roar of laughter was echoed by both children who were, as always, happy to join in.
“Choc mint?” she said innocently. “Now, who’d have ever guessed? Sounds like a noncommitter to me. Someone a bit slippery, not quite as upfront as they pretend to be?”
Ignoring the last part of her assessment, Leo felt his own mouth twitch as he tried not to laugh. “Maybe the choc chips guys are slow to commit because the rocky road gals are bossy and smart-mouthed.”
“The rocky r—”
Leo was so glad he’d kept his eyes trained on her because he wouldn’t have wanted to miss her reaction for all the choc mint ice cream in the store. He watched as she recalled what Marion had said. He saw it in her eyes, as a soft pink flush stained her smooth clear cheeks.
And he was suddenly grateful for the fact that he was sitting; and had a table to hide his body’s reaction. She was breathtaking. He looked away and licked his ice cream, glad of the distraction of the frozen treat, yet knowing it would take more than a butter pecan cone to quell the fires she ignited in him.
A quick glance over found her eyes were still trained on him, and dammit he needed to pull away but she somehow her gaze drew him in and held him captive.
“Maybe I need to repeat this,” Jack was saying to no one in particular, “but as I said half hour ago, take all the time you need. I’ll just tend the kids, okay?”
Ella reacted first. “Half—?”
Shaking his head, Leo answered her unfinished question. “He’s joshing. Being a smart—donkey, as usual. He also needs to know when to read the room. Surely you have someplace—else—to be, bro?” He glared up at his older, should-know-better, yet smirking, brother.
“Dunno, why I’d want to leave when the fun’s all here…”
Eyes narrowed, Leo held the gaze of his next brother up, his mouth clamped tight as every cuss word he knew danced on his tongue.
Of course, Jack didn’t miss his silent message, which only made his older brother laugh harder.
*
There was still daylight, and that meant there was still time to get more work done, but Leo had been restless all day. He tried to blame the trip he had coming up the next day but he knew deep down it had been the look on his brother’s face yesterday at the ice-cream store that continued to burn into him. It’d been a look that said the man was reading way too much into a simple moment. A blink in time. Nothing more. He thought he’d caught a similar look in his sister Joey’s eyes when she visited a few days ago.
And he was going to have to do something about it. Ensure they both knew they were wrong; that whatever they thought they’d seen, there was nothing going on. The last thing he was going to admit to either of them was that Ella Staunton Hawes turned his heat dials up to high. But there was nothing more to it than basic attraction. The last thing he needed was to throw fuel on his siblings totally imagined fires. No, that was the second last. The last thing he’d ever want or do was embarrass or humiliate Ella.
There was no valid reason for calling it a day when there still work to do, but the crew hadn’t argued when he’d announced they could head home.
However, he was glad he did when he entered the back of his house. Even from the mudroom he could hear the music. Some pop song, maybe on the radio, but it was Ella’s voice, sweet but slightly out of tune, that he heard above all. He hadn’t meant to sneak up on them, but the racket they were making covered his approach—and he was grateful to have a moment to just stand back and watch.
With Mia on her hip, and her other hand hold Benny’s hand, Ella swiveled her shapely hips, her saucy little derriere, outlined in skin tight jeans, moved in time to the music as she danced the kids around the room to their laughing delight.
His heart filled and tightened, the only thing holding him back from joining them was that it was so awesome to watch. This was what made a home … How would he ever fill that gap for Mia if, or when, Ella moved on?
And you? How will you fill the gap in your life?
He brushed away the thought and focused on trying to stay in the moment, but the magic was broken and other little things crept in through the cracks. Like the realization that Ella was singing in a different language. French? He’d been so mesmerized; he’d initially missed that the music wasn’t coming from a radio, it was a recording.
But it was his daughter’s baby-soft voice that speared him, yanking him cruelly, back to the present. “More, Mama! More!”
