Page 20 of Wounded Cowboy
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You’ve got to be kidding me!Kelsey thought as she scanned the six printed pages—with scribbled notes—laid out on the dining table.
They were crammed with details, and the next twelve hours had been broken down into fifteen-minute increments.
Unbelievable!The sight of that timetable dissipated the lingering glow of whatever had just happened when they touched.
Which was just as well. Crushing on her employer would be bad and wrong.
He might be a hot cowboy, but he clearly had Issues.
Then she remembered the practical jokes that the Snowberry siblings regularly pulled on each other, and relaxed a little.Of course, he’s not serious.This is some kind of test to see if I have a sense of humor. That’s important when you’re dealing with kids.
She smiled and looked him in the face. He had beautiful eyes, long-lashed and the same bright blue shade as his grandmother’s eyes. The coating of reddish stubble covering his strong, tanned jaw was distractingly attractive.
“You’re joking, right?” She kept her tone light, pointing at the neat row of papers on the table. She didn’t want him to think she was too uptight and humorless to deal with two energetic young girls.“I don’t need all this. Just an emergency contact list and the answers to my questions yesterday.”
The furrow of his brow and the tightening of his jaw told her all she needed to know. Her heart sank.Oh, great. He’s actually serious about this bananacrackers schedule.
“Kelsey,” he said through gritted teeth,“I spent a lot of time yesterday working on that plan, and I expect you to follow through on it. I’ll be spending the morning out in the boonies, helping my ranch hands repair fences. The girls won’t be able to come to me if they need anything, so I’m covering all my bases.”
“Look, I know you haven’t had a nanny before and this is all new to you.” Kelsey tried to infuse her voice with a mixture of sympathy and resolve.“And I totally understand your concerns, Spring. But trust me when I say I’ve got this. I’ve been doing this job for years. Your daughters will be safe and happy with me.”
His glower didn’t lighten.“Ineedyou to stick to the plan.”
A plan that’s more suited to a military boot camp than a day spent with two young children on summer vacation,Kelsey thought, but didn’t say out loud.
“I’ll do my best,” she said.
It wasn’t a lie to promise that. She knew from years of experience that no plan this rigid ever survived more than an hour when little kids were involved. She’d learned the hard way that even the best-laid plans were often in tatters by mid-morning snack time.
But she sensed that pointing this out would only aggravate Spring further. And she needed him to remain calm and confident in her ability to do her job.
She added,“And I promise I’ll text or call you if the girls are unhappy or anything goes wrong. Deal?”
“Fine,” he said reluctantly. His phone buzzed. He pulled it out of the back pocket of his jeans and glanced at it.
“Fuck.” His already grim expression turned into a full-on scowl.
“Is everything okay?” Kelsey asked.
“Storm last night tore the roof off our hay barn,” Spring reported.
“Yikes. Sorry to hear that,” Kelsey said.“Was anyone hurt? Are your animals okay?”
“Everyone’s fine, as far as I know.” Spring shook his head.“Well, so much for getting that fence line repaired today. It’s alwayssomethingaround here.” He blew out his breath and looked up at the large clock hanging on the wall behind the table.“I, uh, I need to get going. That barn isn’t gonna fix itself, and there’s another storm predicted for this afternoon.”
He strode over to the kitchen counter and unzipped an insulated lunchbox.
“Speaking of which,” Spring said to her as he pulled open the fridge door.“I might not be able to come home for lunch today. That barn is located in our north pasture, at the bottom of the hills.”
Kelsey nodded.“Not a problem.” She’d been living on the ranch long enough to know that the north pasture was a good half-hour’s drive down a rutted dirt road from the cluster of cottages surrounding the ranch house.
A wave of relief washed over her. Spring’s absence would make her first day on the job easier, allowing her to get to know his daughters and to settle into her role as their nanny without him hovering and trying to micromanage her every move.
She tried to be understanding.
Nick had been nervous, too, when she first started working as Kegan’s nanny, even though she and Nick had known each other since kindergarten. She added,“Don’t worry about anything. We’ll manage just fine here.”
