One Man and a Baby Read online

  “This afternoon, I’ll call my travel agent for arrangements for the Thanksgiving trip.”

  “Why not just come down for Thanksgiving and go home after New Year’s Day?”

  “Because I’m trying to learn how to run the farm, remember?”

  “Oh right,” her dad replied. “I forgot.”

  Ashley sunk to the seat of the desk again. Now that didn’t make any sense. Her dad was too smart to forget something as important as his daughter training to take over his beloved farm. Suddenly his offer of a visit to the islands didn’t seem as wonderful as it had two seconds before. It seemed contrived. As if somebody had put him up to it. Maybe to get her away from the farm?

  There was only one person who might have done it. Rick. He could have even called while she was walking up to the house, warned her dad that she was about to call him, and told her dad to get her out of his hair.

  Flooded with disappointment, Ashley said, “I’m doing fine, Daddy. In fact, I’m doing great.”

  And if Rick Capriotti had told him otherwise, she’d just made him look foolish. By the time her father returned in February, she would know how to run every facet of this farm. And Rick would be so far away she hoped she’d never hear his name again.

  When Ashley didn’t return to the barn after lunch, Rick was confused. From the way she’d blown out of the office, he knew she intended to call her dad immediately and he’d expected her to come skipping down the path to the main barn and make a show out of kicking him out. Yet a full hour had gone by since she stormed away and he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her.

  Of course, her dad might have said he wanted to fire Rick personally since he was Seven Hills’s owner. Gene wouldn’t disrespect Rick by firing him through a second party. He had liked Rick and his credentials too much for that.

  Rick frowned. Gene had liked him. He had been very impressed with Rick’s experience and education and was thrilled to have him running Seven Hills.

  Rick’s frown deepened. No. Gene’s reaction was more than plain happiness. When Rick really thought about it, he realized Ashley’s dad had been relieved to find somebody so capable on such short notice. Gene had behaved like a man who could finally retire because he’d found the person into whose care he could entrust his beloved farm.

  Which meant there was a third possibility to Rick’s drama with Gene’s daughter. Ashley might have whined to her dad that she wanted Rick fired, but Gene could very well have refused her.

  Rick grinned. That scenario made the most sense. Gene wasn’t as wrapped around his little girl’s finger as half the people in Calhoun Corners believed and even though he planned to retire he still loved his farm. He wouldn’t leave it in the hands of an amateur. He might have even told Ashley to stop playing farmhand and get involved with something that suited her.

  Now that sounded like something Gene Meljac would say.

  Shoving himself out of the old wooden office chair, Rick grinned again. This situation was simply too rich with possibility to ignore.

  He strode out of the barn and up to the house and knocked on the kitchen door, but no one answered. Hoping Ashley was still talking to “Daddy,” he reached for the doorknob and let himself in.

  Stepping into the kitchen he heard the sounds of singing. Off-key and a cappella, it couldn’t have been a song on a radio or from a CD player so Rick turned to the right, toward the sound, wondering if Ashley had her own office. But when he stepped into the open doorway of the room where the singing was coming from he didn’t see a desk and chair. He saw a washer and dryer and Ashley shimming a pair of worn jeans over skimpy red lace panties.

  He tried to step back or choke out a warning that he was behind her so she didn’t turn, but his throat had tightened shut. The image of those red lace panties combined with the sight of the thin red straps of her bra against the satiny white skin of her back had literally stolen his breath. She grabbed a T-shirt from the dryer, slid it over her head and turned.

  When she saw him her mouth fell open, but she didn’t speak.

  Miraculously Rick found his voice. “From the jeans and T-shirt you’re wearing, I’m guessing you’re going back to work, which means Daddy wouldn’t fire me.”

  She pushed past him, brushing her arm and thigh against his as she strode into the kitchen. “I didn’t ask him to.”

  His heart pounding, Rick forced a laugh through his still-tight throat. “Right.”

  She spun to face him. “I didn’t. You know why? Because when I was talking to him on the phone I realized this isn’t about Daddy. It’s about you and me. Who’s better. I have the advantage of actually owning the farm.”

  He’d seen lots of scantily dressed women in his lifetime. Hell, he’d seen lots of women naked. Lots. And Ashley hadn’t even been naked; he’d only gotten a glimpse of her back. But it wasn’t her physical body that had enticed him and made him curious. It was her choice of red lacy panties and bra beneath scruffy jeans and a ratty T-shirt. It reminded him that she slept in a virtually see-through pink nightie and it caused him to realize that Ashley didn’t just like pretty things; she used them to express her personality. Soft pink for bed. Red lace when she expected to have to fight him.

  He didn’t know whether to be frightened or flattered.

  “Your dad owns the farm.”

  “But I will someday, so it’s a given that he’ll make me the manager if he feels I can do the job. That’s my edge. You, on the other hand, actually have the knowledge and experience I need. That’s your edge.”

  “And it’s a damn good one.”

  “I never said it wasn’t. But the way I see this, all I have to do is survive.”

  But that wasn’t what she intended. The red lace panties said she planned to fight.

  “What are you grinning at?”

  He shook his head. “You.”

  She marched over and stood in front of him, in his space as he’d done to her when he wanted to intimidate her. He had to admit she was a quick learner and more of a challenge than he would have guessed.

  “You don’t think I’m ready for a fight?”

  “Oh, honey, I know you’re ready for a fight. I saw the red panties and bra. That’s underwear that gives a woman courage.”

  Her chin lifted. “How would you know that?”

  “You gonna deny it?”

  She took a soft breath, as if to say she refused to be baited but he smiled. Ran his finger along her soft chin. Bent his head and kissed her.

  He had intended to give her a light peck on the lips, but her mouth was soft and inviting. Rick tumbled into a full-blown kiss as naturally and easily as breathing. The warmth of pleasure mixed and mingled with tingles of arousal, and urged him to take, to satisfy, to explore, to mate. His brain stumbled over that word, but his instincts didn’t. In a very short time, probably because of the intensity of their fight and the intensity of their attraction, they’d gotten to the heart of each other’s personality and he knew he could sleep with her. Not just sexually, but romantically. But that was worse. Lust was one thing. It was simple and manageable. Romance was another. The last time he’d romanced a woman she broke his heart, left him to raise the baby alone and sent him into hiding.

  He jerked away, his shivers of pleasure and arousal now shivers of fear.

  Rubbing his hand along the back of his neck, trying to short-circuit the wave of emotions pouring through him, he said, “Okay, that was an accident.”

  Ashley only stared at him, her breath coming in short, quick gasps, her green eyes dazed.

  “I’m sorry.”

  A spark of anger quickly replaced the dazed look in her eyes. He didn’t blame her. He could kick himself for kissing her. It was just plain stupid. And might be the one thing she could tell her dad that really would get him fired.

  But she didn’t threaten to get him fired. She grabbed her jacket from the back of a kitchen chair and headed for the door. “Let’s just get the hell back to the barn.”

  Tossing
manure with more force than was necessary, Ashley tried to forget about that kiss. But it was no use. With a quick press of his mouth and a few practiced moves, that idiot had weakened her knees and sent her blood singing through her veins in the most extraordinary way. She might have thought he’d done it to remind her that unless she wanted to get her father involved, he was still the boss, except that he’d said the kiss was an accident.

  Accident?

  How did one accidentally kiss somebody? She hadn’t noticed anybody bumping into his back forcing him forward and their lips into intimate contact.

  Rick entered the barn and began striding toward the office and Ashley snorted with disgust. Accident her foot! That kiss was no damned accident.

  So why had he said that? Better yet, why had he kissed her? She stopped shoveling, angled the shovel scoop into the floor and leaned on the handle. Why had he kissed her?

  Knowing that if she didn’t get back to work, she wouldn’t get to her house before eight that night, Ashley put her shovel in motion again, but she didn’t stop thinking about the kiss. Or the feelings. Dear Lord, she didn’t want to revive her rubbery knees and tingling toes. So she thought about the direction of the discussion right before the kiss. She remembered that he’d seen her standing in her red underwear, wiggling into her jeans and pulling on a clean T-shirt and it all became abundantly clear. He was attracted to her.

  She laughed and two horses whinnied. Well now. This was certainly a horse of a different color. And maybe a way to put them on even footing again. This might even be her real bargaining chip to get him to show her the things she really needed to learn to run the farm.

  Now all she had to do was figure out the best time and the best way to “use” this attraction card she’d drawn. Whatever she chose to do, she had to make this count.

  Chapter Five

  Driving up the guesthouse access road, Rick snapped his cell phone closed, then suppressed a strong urge to curse. He wasn’t upset that Tia was sick, he was upset that life wouldn’t stop throwing him curves. Today he was in parent hell, needing, as parents so frequently do, to be in two places at once. He had to decide between going to work to do payroll, the one job on the farm that only he could oversee, and taking care of a baby that only his family knew about.

  He frowned. Technically his family weren’t the only people who knew about Ruthie. He swerved to the right and picked up the main road to the Seven Hills residence. Ashley knew about Ruthie, too.

  Rick jerked his truck to a stop in front of Ashley’s kitchen door, reminding himself that the way to handle this was to negotiate. Not beg. Not give away all his advantage. But standing on her back porch, holding Ruthie huddled against him, Rick knew he was probably going to lose his advantage. If he were in Ashley’s position, he most certainly wouldn’t do a favor for his competition and if he did, he would make her pay. If Ashley were smart, his asking her to babysit would be the straw that broke the camel’s back of their little game. Nonetheless, because payroll was the one job that couldn’t be put off, and because he’d promised Gene he’d run his farm without a hitch, Rick knocked twice.

  The kitchen light was on. Still, despite the cold morning air, he had learned his lesson about walking in on Ashley and he waited on the porch, checking to be sure Ruthie’s blanket was securely around her.

  A few seconds later, Ashley opened the kitchen door. “Have another important mission for me?” she asked, not looking at him, as she swept away from the door, her long red nightgown billowing around her.

  Forgetting all about his reasons for being at her door, Rick only stared. Her nightgown and cover-up weren’t revealing. They were simply pretty. Feminine. And she looked right at home in them.

  “I know I’m late,” she said, her back to him as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “But I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  Over the bunch of Ruthie’s blanket, he glanced at his watch, and his eyes narrowed. She was late and from the casual tone of her voice she didn’t care. She might have even been expecting him to come after her. And if she expected him to come after her, her being in the pretty red satin getup was deliberate.

  “Want some coffee?” Ashley asked as she turned to face him, but as if only now noticing Ruthie, her facial expression and tone of voice went from carefree to concerned. “Oh my goodness! What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Well, Ruthie’s not sick or anything. She’s fine.”

  Ashley visibly relaxed.

  “But Tia is sick.”

  “Your sister?”

  “She normally watches Ruthie, but she has a virus. My mom doesn’t want to risk Ruthie catching it and I agree. But that leaves me without a sitter.” Their gazes met across the kitchen. “I have to do payroll today and you’re the only other person who knows about Ruthie.”

  Ashley set her coffee on the counter and said, “Okay, give me two minutes to get dressed and we’ll go.”

  “Go?”

  “To your house. I’m sure you don’t want me to watch her here.”

  “It’s probably not a good idea.”

  “So I’ll change and you can drive us all to the guesthouse.”

  He nodded and she left the room, pretty red bedclothes billowing around her. Ruthie stirred on his shoulder, but Rick rocked her back to sleep and then called his mother to let her know Ashley would be looking after Ruthie. Pacing the kitchen for the next few minutes, he glanced at copper pots hanging above the center island, studied the reddish colored countertops, walked over southwest print rugs, noticing that the room was unexpectedly homey. Gene wasn’t exactly a homey guy. He liked to impress people. And though the kitchen was impressive, the warmth of it surprised Rick until he realized Ashley had probably decorated this home.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “Good.” Rick said, turning to face Ashley who smiled at him. She should have used his need of a babysitter to her advantage, but she hadn’t. Instead she behaved as if this were a simple favor for a friend. Indescribable relief flooded him.

  “I really appreciate this.”

  Shrugging into a denim jacket, she said, “Yeah, well, once again, remember I’m keeping this secret for Ruthie’s sake, not for yours. You and I are still competitors.”

  Her reminder that they were rivals caused Rick to stop halfway to her door. They were rivals, and she had been expecting him to come to her kitchen to reprimand her about being late, yet she was wearing a billowy red nightgown. Which meant her outfit had been her next move in their competition.

  Rick laughed. “Now I get it.” He opened the door, stepped out onto the porch and started down the steps to his truck with Ashley behind him. “That was what the nightgown was all about. You were running some kind of game to try to trip me up in our competition.”

  “I wasn’t running some kind of game,” Ashley said, rounding the truck as Rick tucked Ruthie into her car seat. “I was running late.”

  “Right. That’s why you were still in your nightgown. A pretty red one. Not the nearly see-through thing you had on a few days ago. A nice covering nightgown so that it wouldn’t look obvious you were trying to…to…”

  “To what, smarty-pants?”

  He jumped behind the steering wheel. “I don’t know.” He grinned across the seat at her. “Maybe make me weak with lust?”

  She laughed.

  “I know I’m right.”

  “Which makes me right and accomplishes what I wanted to accomplish.”

  Rick steered the truck to the guesthouse access road. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m talking about the fact that you’re as attracted to me as I am to you.”

  “Hardly.”

  “Oh, Rick, Rick, Rick. It is impossible to kiss somebody accidentally. It’s too hard to get two mouths together for it to happen as a matter of chance.”

  Confused, he glanced over at her. “What?”

  “You said yesterday that our kiss was an accident. But think it through. There is no
way a kiss can happen accidentally.”

  He drew a long breath.

  “That can only mean that the “accidental” part of that kiss had to be that you “accidentally” slipped up and let your attraction to me get the better of you.”

  Pulling his truck into the parking space beside the guesthouse, he said nothing. He sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her she was right.

  She laughed. “You are so easy to read. Every time I’m right about something you simply don’t talk.”

  “You want me to talk. All right, I’ll talk.” He pushed open the truck door, jumped out, slammed his door closed, then opened the extended cab door to get Ruthie. “Prancing around in your underwear in front of me is a schoolgirl’s game. If you really want to run this farm you have to stop thinking like a girl and start thinking like a businessperson.”

  “And that’s the other thing you do when I have you over a barrel. If being quiet doesn’t work to keep you from having to discuss something, you change the subject.”

  She just wasn’t going to let that kiss go. He sighed. “Okay. Fine. The reason that kiss was an accident is because nothing good can come of our attraction.” He stopped fiddling with the straps of the car seat and caught Ashley’s gaze. “That’s right. Our attraction. You and I are attracted to each other. But we’re also competing for the same job.”

  He took Ruthie from her car seat and jogged up the steps to the porch.

  Ashley jumped out of the truck and was right behind him. “So what you’re really saying is that we shouldn’t use the attraction to get the better of each other in our competition.”

  He sighed with relief. “Yes.”

  “You would have used it.”

  He stepped into the foyer and immediately started up the steps. She was right again. If he hadn’t been as attracted to her as she was to him, he would have used it. But with both of them attracted, neither one of them had the advantage.

  “But I’m not.” He paused on the steps and glanced down at her. “By the way, I’m putting Ruthie in her crib. She may sleep another hour or so.”