The Texas Cowboy's Quadruplets
Cathy Gillen Thacker
Bound by a secret promiseQuadruplet baby boys and a newly inherited company—Mitzi Martin’s plate is overflowing! The single mum is desperate to save her boys’ legacy and businessman Chase McCabe wants to help. Mitzi and Chase almost made it to the altar once.Could they make it for real this time?
Bound by a secret promise
This cowboy has work to do!
Quadruplet baby boys and a newly inherited company—Mitzi Martin’s plate is overflowing! The single mom is desperate to save her boys’ legacy and businessman Chase McCabe wants to help. Mitzi and Chase almost made it to the altar once...but didn’t. So why is the corporate cowboy interested in her? Because this time, a trip anywhere will most definitely include four diaper-clad guests!
CATHY GILLEN THACKER is married and a mother of three. She and her husband spent eighteen years in Texas and now reside in North Carolina. Her mysteries, romantic comedies and heartwarming family stories have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists, but her best reward, she says, is knowing one of her books made someone’s day a little brighter. A popular Mills & Boon author for many years, she loves telling passionate stories with happy endings and thinks nothing beats a good romance and a hot cup of tea! You can visit Cathy’s website, cathygillenthacker.com (http://www.cathygillenthacker.com), for more information on her upcoming and previously published books, recipes, and a list of her favourite things.
Also by Cathy Gillen Thacker (#u84c59c1f-c695-516c-b530-9ab9ad85c15f)
The Texas Cowboy’s Baby Rescue
A Texas Soldier’s Family
A Texas Cowboy’s Christmas
The Texas Valentine Twins
Wanted: Texas Daddy
A Texas Soldier’s Christmas
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Texas Cowboy’s Quadruplets
Cathy Gillen Thacker
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07826-9
THE TEXAS COWBOY’S QUADRUPLETS
© 2018 Cathy Gillen Thacker
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Cover (#u24e4a013-0aa2-5895-b433-1e6e380c7947)
Back Cover Text (#ud1750d00-6998-52dd-aaca-cd2a9a22d592)
About the Author (#u4c53c360-47fc-563e-9362-262ed495cb3b)
Booklist (#uc8b88198-3888-5a14-909a-e7970834b91c)
Title Page (#u18221f14-8f8d-5680-91f0-6b3d80e3de6e)
Copyright (#uf8d7bf67-8c15-54be-b669-91a48038b722)
Chapter One (#u0e82e8ec-eb78-5c79-bbe4-4c79805fa630)
Chapter Two (#u5505153b-facb-55b3-ab92-6709b79a9e70)
Chapter Three (#u8cd727e8-cae8-509a-8ef9-46b57d0e58a1)
Chapter Four (#ucaf61e3e-d960-5772-8a64-969c543c9ab9)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u84c59c1f-c695-516c-b530-9ab9ad85c15f)
“So,” the way-too-handsome Chase McCabe drawled in a low, sexy voice, “the boot is finally on the other foot.”
Mitzy Martin stared at the indomitable CEO standing on the other side of her front door, looking more rancher than businessman, in nice-fitting jeans, boots and tan Western shirt. Ignoring the sudden skittering of her heart, she heaved a dramatic sigh meant to convey just how unwelcome he was. “What’s your point, cowboy?” she demanded impatiently.
Mischief gleaming in his smoky-blue eyes, Chase poked the brim of his hat back and looked her up and down in a way that made her insides flutter all the more. “Just that you’ve been a social worker for Laramie County Department of Children and Family Services for what...ten years now?”
Electricity sparked between them with all the danger and unpredictability of a downed power line. “Eleven,” Mitzy corrected, doing her best to ignore the impressive amount of testosterone and take-charge attitude he exuded beneath his amiable demeanor.
And it had been slightly less than that since she had abruptly ended their engagement...
“And in all that time, my guess is, very few people have been happy to see you coming up their front walk. Now you seem to be feeling the very same disinclination,” he continued with an ornery grin, angling a thumb at the center of his masculine chest, “seeing me at your door.”
Leave him to point out the almost unbearable irony in that! Mitzy drew a breath, ignoring the considerable physical awareness that never failed to materialize between them. No matter how vigilantly she worked to avoid him.
She remained in the portal, blocking his entrance. And gave him a long level look that let him know he was not going to get to her...no matter how hard he tried. Even if his square jaw and chiseled features, thick, short sandy-brown hair and incredibly buff physique were permanently imprinted on her brain. “There’s a difference, Chase.” She smiled sweetly, tipping her head up to accommodate his six-foot-three-inch frame. “When people get to know me and realize I’m there to help, they usually become quite warm and friendly.”
“Well, what do you know!” He surveyed her pleasantly in return. “That’s exactly what I hope will happen between you and me. Now that we’re older and wiser, that is.”
Twins Bridgett and Bess Monroe, there to assist with her two-month-old quadruplets, appeared behind her. “Hey, Chase.” Bridgett grinned.
“Here to talk business, I bet?” Bess added, a matchmaker’s gleam in her eye.
He nodded, ornery as ever. “I am.”
Mitzy glared. She and Chase had crashed and burned once—spectacularly. There was no way she was doing it again. She folded her arms in front of her militantly. “Well, I’m not.”
He stepped closer, deliberately invading her personal space, inundating her with his wildly intoxicating masculine scent. “Mitzy, come on. You’ve been ducking my calls and messages for weeks now.”
So what? She gave him her most unwelcoming glance. “I know it’s hard for a carefree bachelor like you to understand, but I’ve been ‘a little busy’ since giving birth to four boys.”
He shrugged right back, meeting her word for cavalier word. “Word around town is you’ve had plenty of volunteer help. Plus the high-end nannies your mother sent from Dallas.”
Mitzy groaned and clapped a hand across her forehead. “Don’t remind me,” she muttered miserably.
The sympathy on his face matched his low, commiserating tone. “Didn’t work out?”
“No,” she bit out, “they didn’t.” Mostly because they had been even more ostentatious—and intrusive—than her mom. Telling her how things should be, instead of asking her how she wanted them to be. “Just like this lobbying effort on your part won’t work, either.”
“I know you’d rather not do business with me, Mitzy,” he said, even more gently. “But at least hear me out.”
Silence fell between them, as fragile as the still-shattered pieces of her heart. He rocked forward on his toes and lowered his face to hers. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it were crucial.”
Mitzy caught her breath at the unexpected reminder of what it had been like to kiss him. Or how much the reckless side of her wanted to do so again.
Just to see...
“You could use a break,” Bess pointed out.
Bridgett, who’d recently found her own happily-ever-after with Chase’s older brother, Cullen, agreed. “And you may as well get this talk over with. If—” she paused heavily “—that’s all it is.”
That’s all it could be, Mitzy told herself bluntly. Since there was no way she was opening up her heart to this impossibly sexy cowboy CEO again. “Fine.” She ducked inside long enough to grab a fleece to ward off the chill of the November afternoon and hurried back outside. “You’ve got five minutes, Chase, and that is all!”
* * *
Five minutes wasn’t much, but it was better than what he’d had in a very long time. Plus, he had promised her late father he’d take care of Mitzy, and her quadruplets, whether she wanted him to or not.
Chase followed Mitzy to the end of the porch on her Craftsman-style home, taking a moment to survey the recent changes in her. The birth of her four sons had given her five-nine body a new voluptuousness. Her thick medium brown hair was still threaded with honey-gold strands, but she’d cut it since he last saw her in town a month ago, and now it just brushed the tops of her shoulders. Her fair skin was lit with the inner glow she’d had since she was pregnant, her delicate features just as elegant as ever, and her lips soft and full and enticingly bare.
Which meant she still favored plain balm over lipstick. A fact he had always liked...
She bypassed the chain-hung swing and settled instead on a wicker chair. Acutely aware of how hard this was going to be for her to hear, he removed his hat, set it aside and took the seat kitty-corner from her.
Resisting the urge to take her small hand in his, he leaned toward her, hands knotted between his spread knees. Looked her in the eye and got straight to the point. “Word on the street is that Martin Custom Saddle is in big trouble financially.”
Anger flared between them, even as her long-lashed aquamarine eyes widened in surprise. “I think—as CEO—that I would know if that was the case.”
She certainly should have, Chase thought reprovingly. “Have you been there recently?”
Mitzy straightened. “I’ve been in touch with Buck Phillips—the chief operating officer—at least once a week.”
Chase focused on the pretty pink color flooding her face. Matter-of-factly, he ascertained, “But you haven’t actually been to the facility where the saddles are made.”
She ignored his question. Stood, walked a short distance away, then swung back to face him. “What’s your point, Chase?”
He hated to be the bad guy. In this situation, he had no choice. Gently, but firmly, he said, “You can’t simultaneously run MCS—at least not the way your late father would have wished—and be Laramie County’s best social worker. And all the while care for four infants all by your lonesome to boot. No one could.”
Mitzy stalked toward him. “I’m not trying to do all that. I’m on maternity leave from the Department of Family and Child Services for the next ten months. Maybe longer. I haven’t decided yet.” Ignoring the seat close to him, she perched on the porch railing. “And Buck Phillips is running the business side at the saddle company, same as always.”
Noting the way the dark denim hugged her slender thighs, and the swell of her breasts beneath the snug-fitting black fleece top, he rose and ambled toward her. “Are you sure about that?”
“Someone would have told me if there were issues. Financially, or otherwise.”
Unless they were trying to protect her.
Her lower lip slid out in a sexy pout. “The employees there are not just personally invested in the success of the company, they’re like family to me and each other.”
With effort, Chase ignored the urge to kiss her. “It takes more than good intentions to run a company, Mitzy,” he said quietly.
She tilted her chin at him, a myriad of emotions running riot in her pretty eyes. “You don’t think I have it in me?”
He came closer and perched beside her. Bracing his hands on the rail on either side of him, he murmured, “Your father had a passion for saddle making.”
“I know that.”
He knew this would hurt. Still, it had to be said. “And you don’t.”
She gasped, indignant. Hands balled into fists at her sides, she bounded to her feet and swung on him once again. “I don’t need to have that same passion. All I need to do is keep everything exactly the way it was when he was alive, and honor him by carrying on his legacy. And we—the company and all its employees—will be fine!”
Taking charge of a business was a lot more complicated than that. Clearly, though, she wasn’t ready to hear that.
Help my daughter make it through the holidays, Gus Martin had said. The first, after my death, will be the most difficult.
And with Thanksgiving almost upon them...
Chase could see Mitzy was struggling. Even if she wouldn’t admit it. He tried again, even more gently this time. “The point is, darlin’, I’m interested in doing that, too.”
Abruptly, Mitzy looked like she wanted to deck him. “Like you did when you worked for my dad? Before he was forced to fire you?”
Of course she would bring up the business crisis that had precipitated the end of their engagement. Their breakup had ripped him up inside. Chase shrugged regretfully. “I admit, I was overly ambitious.”
An even rosier hue flooded her high, sculpted cheeks. “You insulted him and everything he stood for with your plans to turn his artistry into a mass-manufacturing business.”
Chase squinted. “I’m not sure your dad saw it that way.”
You’re meant for bigger things, Chase. You’ll never be happy here...was what Gus had said, when he’d cut him loose.
And Mitzy’s father had been right.
Then.
Chase had since had time to reevaluate and reconfigure his earlier career plan to something much more laudable and practical. But, sensing Mitzy was in no mood to hear that now, if ever, he slowly rolled to his feet. “Regardless of the way I left MCS, I learned a lot from your dad when I worked for him, Mitzy. I also built my own company, McCabe Leather Goods.”
Her expression both contemptuous and resentful, she scoffed, “Yes, I know. It’s the premier provider in the entire Southwest of all sorts of leather products. Everything from boots to saddles to leather interiors on pickup trucks and automobiles. And you did it by buying up lots of little entities and folding them into the one bearing your name!”
So she had been following his rise in the business world, Chase noted in satisfaction. He met her level gaze. “Every one of those business units is better off, their employees happier and more financially secure.”
Her expression guarded, she raked her teeth across her lower lip. “So what does that have to do with me?”
“If your family business is in even half as much trouble as is rumored, you’re going to need help getting it back on track.”
She rolled her eyes skeptically. “You’re volunteering?”
Yes, although first I was drafted. “Your dad was always good to me, even after I stopped working for him,” Chase admitted, acutely aware of how much he missed Gus. And Gus’s beautiful, intractable daughter.
Missed the extended family they might have been. “I’d like to repay his kindness.”
Mitzy tilted her head at him, thinking. Seeming to know instinctively there was more to this than what he was letting on. Not about to tell her about the deathbed promises he had made, however, Chase waited for her to make a decision.
Finally, she swallowed, let out a soft little sigh. Wearily, she asked, “Don’t you think it would be a little awkward under the circumstances?”
He could handle awkward. Hell, he could handle anything if it got him back into her life, and her into his. Because actually getting to have a sit-down with her, brief as it might be, had shown him certain things had not changed.
The sparks were still there.
His need to protect her was stronger than ever.
And as for the rest? Well, he guessed time would tell.
Although he couldn’t imagine either of them ever being content to be just friends. Not after what they had once shared...
From the first time he’d laid eyes on her when they were kids, he’d known she was something special. Not just because she was smart and pretty or kinder and more inherently compassionate than anyone he’d ever met. From the very beginning, she just “got” him the way no one else ever had.
She hadn’t wanted to date him. She’d preferred to be friends. So, they started there, but by the time they were in college there was no denying their sexual chemistry. One thing led to another. Before they knew it they were a couple and then engaged. He’d expected to spend his entire life with her.
Would have, if his need to tell it like it was, in business and in life, and her wariness of lasting love, hadn’t gotten in the way. But both had, so...
Aware she was waiting, he shrugged with a great deal more carelessness than he felt. “We’re both adults, Mitzy,” he reminded her gruffly. “We can handle it.” He pulled out a business card, wrote his cell phone number on the back and pressed it into her hand. “So if there is anything I can do,” he said sincerely, resolved to keep his promise to Gus as well as atone for any and all mistakes he had made in the past. He paused to give her a long, steady look. “Anything at all, just pick up the phone and call.”
* * *
Two days later, Chase still hadn’t heard from Mitzy. So he did what he always did when he was trying to understand a woman. He went to see his little sister, Lulu, hoping she’d have the insight he lacked.
She listened to the recap of his visit while making her own special brand of honey iced tea for the McCabe family Thanksgiving celebration they were having later in the day. “You didn’t even see the quadruplets?”
Funny how disappointed he was about that. He’d never been what one would call a baby person, but he’d been hoping to lay eyes on the four infants the stalwartly independent Mitzy’d had via an anonymous donor and a fertility clinic, nevertheless. Keeping his feelings to himself, he shrugged. “Kind of hard to do when she didn’t even let me in the door.”
His cell phone buzzed. Chase looked at the screen. Speak of the devil... Smiling, he strode a distance away. “Hey, Mitzy. What’s up?”
“Are you busy?”
She sounded stressed.
“Not at all,” Chase said.
Lulu grinned and shook her head, then sauntered out of the kitchen to give him privacy.
“I’m headed over to Martin Custom Saddle,” Mitzy continued in the too-casual voice he knew so well. “Want to meet me there?”
Luckily, his sister’s honeybee ranch was closer to town than his. “Be there in ten.”
When Chase arrived, he expected her to already be inside the ten-thousand-square-foot production facility.
Instead, she was sitting in the new custom eight-passenger luxury SUV she’d been driving around town, staring at the front of the one-story rectangular terra-cotta brick building emblazoned with her father’s name like she had never seen it before.
Noticing his pickup truck parking next to hers, she shook herself out of her reverie and emerged from the driver’s seat. Her hair was swept up in a neat twist on the back of her head and she was wearing a burnished gold wool dress and heels that seemed more appropriate for a formal afternoon tea.
As she neared him, he saw the diamond earrings she’d received for her college graduation glittering in her ears, and caught the whiff of her citrus and floral perfume. He also saw faint shadows beneath her eyes that hadn’t been there when he’d last seen her. Sensing her mother’s holiday visit was already doing a number on her, he asked gently, “Everything okay?”
She squared her shoulders defensively. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
He moved to stand beside her, wishing he could take her in his arms and not get chastised for trying to comfort her. “You look tired, I guess. A little on edge.”
She flashed a wry, self-effacing smile and led the way toward the sprawling brick building. “Guilty—to all.”
He moved swiftly to catch up with her and fell in step beside her, adjusting his strides to hers. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Figuring the very least he could do was be a sounding board for her, asked kindly, “Babies giving you a hard time?” Maybe if she would actually allow him to assist her in some way, the way her dad had privately wanted, he would actually get to see them.
“No. My four boys are sweet as ever.” Mitzy sighed. Her eyes took on a turbulent sheen. “It’s the rest of my family that’s putting me through the ringer.”
The idea of rescuing her was a lot more appealing—on a soul-deep level—than it probably should have been. “Judith?”
Her lower lip slid out in a delectable pout. “She and Walter—”
Her mom’s fifth husband, Chase recalled.
“—arrived in time for dinner last night. Along with four nannies.”
Four again. Wow. But then that was Judith. She never did anything on the down low when the completely spectacular was possible. “One for each baby,” he guessed, noting how the sunlight brought out the honey-gold highlights in her hair.
“Right.” Mitzy paused to punch in the security code. Failed. Then, releasing a frustrated sigh, she looked at her phone and tried again. This time the light turned green.
She pushed open the door and, together, they walked on in.
He caught a whiff of her flowery shampoo as she sauntered beside him. His body reacted, way too fast. Ignoring the pressure behind his fly, he asked, “You’re not happy about that?”
Oblivious to the desire welling up inside him, Mitzy waved a dismissive hand and continued to look around as if she had never seen the place. Which was ludicrous. She’d been there frequently as a kid. When he briefly worked there, too. And in all this time nothing had really changed. There were a couple of offices and a break room near the front door. The rest was comprised of the twenty-nine different workstations needed to handcraft the custom leather saddles.
It smelled the same, too. Like leather and dye and industrial-strength cleaner.
Aware she hadn’t answered him yet, he turned back to her again. Even in the fluorescent lighting near the door, he could see she was pale.
“This set of nannies is fine.” She looked over her shoulder at him, as she walked over to the main panel and switched on the rest of the lights in the facility. “I mean, they’re warm and gentle, not stern and impersonal like the first group she brought with her. And they’re just going to be here for the holiday weekend. They’ll all be leaving Sunday afternoon.”
Chase studied her, befuddled over what was really bothering her. “Then what’s the problem?” he asked.
* * *
The problem, Mitzy thought, was that she should have come back here way before now. Instead, she’d neglected to do so, figuring time and the birth of her children would ease her grief.
They had.
And they hadn’t.
Because being here at the warehouse-like workshop that her father had built over the course of forty-five years, in the very place that held so many bittersweet memories for her, was like a punch square in the solar plexus. Making her entire chest hurt to the point that it was hard to breathe. As images of her larger-than-life dad striding through the facility flashed in her brain, she remembered how he had called out to everyone, stopped to admire the workmanship even as he gently added suggestions for making the final product better. How he had charmed the customers and cared for his employees with the same loving familial attitude he exhibited toward her.
With a disgruntled sigh, she also recalled the day he and Chase had gotten into it right in the middle of the shop, their voices rising. How her dad had been forced to do what he had never done in his entire business life—fire someone outright. How furious Chase had looked as he had sworn he was quitting anyway and stomped out.
And most of all, she remembered how frail her dad had been, his body ravaged from multiple surgeries and rounds of chemotherapy, the last time he had been able to walk through here. How he’d still kept up the cheerful attitude, even as he had been forced to lean on her for strength.
Her dad had been incredibly strong to the very end.
Just as she needed to be strong now.
Abruptly, Mitzy became aware that Chase was still watching her, ever so patiently waiting for her to confide in him what was really going on with her and her mother.
Telling herself there was no need to lean on his strong, broad shoulders, she drew a deep invigorating breath, said finally, “It’s just the usual stuff.”
He strode closer. Clad in a pine-green brushed cotton shirt, jeans and dark brown custom boots, he looked sexy and totally at ease. “Judith still doesn’t like the fact you’re a social worker?”
“Correct.”
He stopped just short of her and gave her the slow, thorough once-over. “I’m guessing there’s more.”
His soft, husky baritone sent shivers ghosting over her skin, but Mitzy stiffened her resolve, in a valiant attempt not to lose herself in his potent masculine allure. There was too much water under the bridge between the two of them, after all, and getting swept up again by passion would not be in either of their best interests.
Still avoiding her dad’s private office, she moved through the shop, surveying the various workstations, finding that everything looked the same as she recalled.
Chase moved with her. “She also doesn’t like me living here in Laramie, now that Dad’s gone.”
“She wants you back in Dallas?”
Mitzy suppressed a groan. “Permanently.” Coming to the rear of the building, she stepped out onto the covered patio, where employees often took their lunch breaks.
Chase rubbed the flat of his hand beneath his jaw. “That’s not so surprising, is it? Now that you’ve had children and made her and Walter grandparents?”
Mitzy perched on the edge of a picnic table and took in a breath of the bracing November air. “I can’t go back to Dallas, Chase.” She rubbed the toe of her Italian pump across the cement floor. “I never belonged there. For so many reasons, Laramie has always been my home.”
Chase settled next to her, his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Me, too.” He slanted a commiserating look at her. “Even when I lived away from here, I always knew I’d come back eventually.”
In that sense, she and Chase were the same.
Maybe always would be.
It was too bad so many other things kept them apart. Their attitudes about business, and the role it played in a person’s private life, paramount among them. He hadn’t been able to understand that disrespecting her father had in turn disrespected her. And instead had insisted that she should have defended his right to speak his mind to whomever he chose. He’d also felt that, as his potential wife, she should have sided with him on principle! Even though he was clearly wrong!
When they couldn’t come to terms about that, he had wanted to pretend as if their quarrel had never happened, and simply move on. She couldn’t because she knew, as a social worker, that ignoring problems did not make them go away, it made them fester. A lasting relationship required a lot more than friendship, amusing repartee and incredible, skillful lovemaking. It required being on the same page—about everything important—and she and Chase weren’t. And weren’t going to be.
Heartbroken, she did the responsible thing and called off their engagement. Even as a tiny part of her wistfully hoped they might still find a way to meet each other halfway and work things out.
Instead, Chase had tersely agreed a split was probably for the best. Since she wasn’t giving him what he needed, either. And there was no reason for them to get married, if they were only going to get divorced down the road.
And that had been that. Until now.
Aware he was waiting for her to go on, Mitzy continued cavalierly, “And of course, Judith’s not happy about the whole ‘single mother via artificial means’ business. She would have much preferred I did things the old-fashioned way.” With even Chase as her baby daddy, instead of some anonymous donor. “But since I didn’t choose the more traditional route, she at least wants me to provide them with a proper father, to grow up with.”
He looked down at their perfectly aligned thighs. Though an inch and two layers of fabric separated their limbs, she could still feel the warmth exuded between them. And knew he could, too.
His glance returned to hers. Stayed in a way that had her heartbeat increasing.
“You’re not enthused about finding the quads a baby daddy?”
Surely he wasn’t volunteering for the position?
Was he?
And even if he were, in some alternate reality, it was impossible.
She returned his assessing look. Stood, and replied, as matter-of-fact as possible, “If I were going to get married, cowboy, I would have done so ten years ago.”
His eyes gleamed. “Funny. Me, too.”
Thinking maybe they should go back inside, before she did something really stupid, like kiss the smug look off his handsome face, Mitzy headed for the door.
Able to feel the heat of his smoldering gaze, she tossed the words over her shoulder. “This is no joking matter, Chase.”
For him, either, apparently.
He sobered, the heartbreak of the past dragging them back to the troubled confines of the present. They crossed the threshold. “I gather you asked me to come here to talk about business,” he prodded.
Not sure where or even how to begin, Mitzy nodded. She might not want to turn to her ex, but he had the expertise and the dispassionate outsider’s view that she desperately needed. “I did.”
He looked her in the eye with a sincerity and warmth she found disquieting. “What can I do to help?”
“I went online and read some reviews of our saddles after you and I talked. They weren’t as good as usual.”
He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops on either side of his fly. “I’m aware. I’ve been reading them, too.”
Guilt welled up inside her. She’d promised her dad she would take care of things. She hadn’t. Thus far, anyway. That was about to change. Deliberately, she continued, “Which got me to wondering what’s going on.”
“Have you talked to any of the Martin Custom Saddle employees?”
She shook her head. “I wanted to come in and look around first. And the perfect time for that is today since it’s Thanksgiving, and no one is slated to be working.”
“And I’m here to...?”
She led him toward the front of the facility again, where production of the saddles began, her shoulder briefly nudging his bicep in the process. “Look around,” she said, working to keep a more circumspect physical distance. “See if anything jumps out as a potential problem.”
The first was apparently easy for him to spot. “This leather isn’t top grade.” He moved to another workstation. “The oils and dyes they’re using aren’t top quality, either.”
She frowned, alarm causing her pulse to flutter. “You’re sure about that?”
“Positive.” His gaze narrowed. “But you don’t have to take my word on that. You can look up the reputation of these suppliers yourself.”
Mitzy rubbed the tense muscles of her forehead.
Chase squinted down at her. “I don’t recall your father ever skimping on materials.”
Mitzy winced. Admitting miserably, “He didn’t.”
His brows furrowed. “And you didn’t order it?”
“No.” Heaven’s no!
His expression remained maddeningly inscrutable. “Any idea when the change might have been made?”
Her throat constricting, she headed for her dad’s private office, thinking a clue as to why this all happened might be there. “I don’t know.” Hoarsely, she admitted, “I haven’t been here since Dad died last May.”
And as CEO, she should have been. Frequently. No matter how difficult or gut-wrenching she found it.
Silently berating herself for her inexcusable lapse in judgment, she slogged past the door that had always stayed open. Flipped on the lights. Saw her dad’s worn denim jacket slung over the back of his chair. A box of his favorite mints sitting open on the desk. The World’s Greatest Dad coffee mug she had made for him in elementary school sitting there, next to his calendar, clean and ready to be filled.
For a moment, it was almost as if her father had just stepped out for a spell. And would come striding back in, larger than life, at any second.
A sob caught in her throat, as she realized just how much she wanted that to happen.
An anguished cry left her mouth.
And then the grief and tears she’d been holding back came pouring out in a harsh, wrenching torrent.
The next thing she knew, Chase’s arms were wrapped around her. He pulled her close as even more tears flowed and her slender body shook with sobs. She clung to him and he held her until the worst of the storm passed. And for one sweet moment, time really did stand still. There’d been no decade apart. No heartbreaking end to their engagement. No years of them pretending each other didn’t exist. No years of not speaking.
There was only him and her, and her overwhelming need for comfort and the urge to lean on his incredible strength.
The surprising yearning to kiss him one last time.
So she lifted her head, and did.
Though it was supposed to be the goodbye kiss she had never given him, the final denouement in their ill-fated relationship, the brief caress quickly turned into something else entirely.
A reminder of all they had shared that was at once passionate and tender, sweet and loving, as well as a jarring testament of all they had given up.
And that, too, was more than she could bear on this very emotional day.
She and Chase had let each other down and crushed each other’s hopes and dreams once. She’d be a fool to venture down the same path and hope for a different result.
Hand pressed against his chest, she tore her mouth from his and pushed him away. “No,” she gasped, common sense returning with reassuring speed. It didn’t matter how much she was hurting or how alone she felt.
She looked Chase in the eye. “There’s no way in hell we’re getting involved again!”
Chapter Two (#u84c59c1f-c695-516c-b530-9ab9ad85c15f)
Mitzy half expected Chase to argue with her. Try to persuade her otherwise, as he had during the days immediately following their breakup, years ago. Instead, he stood there, watchful, patient, infuriatingly silent. His implacable calm—in the wake of her complete emotional upheaval—leaving her even more on edge. Finally, he said, “You’re right. We have more important issues to address right now.”
What was more important than where the two of them went from here? If not straight into bed? “Like what?” Mitzy asked, wishing he didn’t look so big and strong and completely irresistible.
He lounged against the wall, arms folded in front of him. “The fate of your dad’s company.”
Needing some distance between them, Mitzy walked around her dad’s desk, then stood facing him with her hands hooked over the back of the chair. She gestured at the dust gathering everywhere she looked. “Obviously, I need to cowgirl up and get it back on track.”
He nodded seriously, then warned, “Before you can do that, however, you’re going to have to assess the depth of the damage.”
His sexy baritone kindled new heat inside her. Aware he was watching her, gauging her reactions as carefully as she was measuring his, she tilted her chin. “You think there’s more?”
“There usually is.”
She inhaled deeply. Breathed out slowly. And tried not to panic considering what else she hadn’t been aware of and didn’t yet know.
“You’re speaking of some of the small companies you’ve purchased and turned around,” she guessed.
He nodded.
Before he could say more, a loud knock sounded on the outer door of the facility. Mitzy looked at Chase. “Expecting anyone?”
“No. You?”
With a mystified shake of her head, Mitzy crossed the cement facility floor. Her sixty-seven-year-old stepfather was standing on the other side, in the usual expensive sport coat, slacks and button-down. His thick silver hair was as neatly combed as always, his eyes warm and assessing behind the silver-rimmed glasses.
“Your mother sent me to check on you,” Walter Fiedler said. “She was worried about you being here alone, but—” his glance took in Mitzy’s just-kissed state and moved to Chase “—I guess she needn’t have been. Hello, Chase.” He extended his hand.
Chase stepped up with his usual masculine grace. “Walter.”
“Good to see you.”
“Likewise.”
The two men exchanged polite smiles. An awkward silence fell.
Walter turned back to Mitzy. “I don’t mean to pressure you, dear, but I think your mother’s feelings are a little hurt by the way you disappeared so soon after we arrived. So if you could wrap this up...and come back to the house soon...?”
Inundated by guilt, Mitzy said, “I’ll be right there, I promise.”
The older gentleman nodded in approval, then turned back to Chase. “Will you be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner? Judith’s cooking all of Mitzy’s favorites.”
It wasn’t such a far-fetched assumption to make, given the two men had initially met at a Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by her mom, years before. Before Mitzy could decline on Chase’s behalf, a spark of mischief lit his eyes. “What time?” he asked genially.
“Two o’clock.”
“Consider me in, then.”
“Splendid.” Walter opened the door. “See you shortly.” He headed back to his Bentley.
Mitzy turned back to her ex. Another silence fell, this one more fraught with tension than the last. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know why he had just accepted an invitation that would have them spending even more potentially awkward time together. Unless it was to get under her skin. A feat that he had always been able to do extremely well. “You really don’t have to feel beholden to attend.”
He shrugged, once again about as movable as a boulder. “I’m not.”
Her nipples pearled under the hot male intensity of his gaze. “Surely, you have a McCabe family function.”
He hovered closer, apparently done talking business—for the moment, anyway. “At eight this evening. Two of my brothers are working today, so my mom pushed our holiday gathering back until later. But if you’d rather not have me there to act as a buffer between you and your mother, I’d completely understand.”
How well he knew her. And Judith.
She studied him, tamping down the whisper of long-suppressed desire, and the notion they might ever make love again. “You’d really put yourself in the line of fire?” she asked, emotions in turmoil.
He tipped his head at her. “For you, darlin’?” He winked. “I’d even put on that sport coat and tie I’ve got in the back of my truck.”
Mitzy had almost forgotten how turned on she got by this inherently gallant side of him and it reinforced what she had to do. “How about, then,” she suggested brazenly, “we take it one step further...”
* * *
Chase had not seen Judith since he and Mitzy had broken up. He wasn’t surprised to see the petite dynamo hadn’t changed. Except to get thinner and blonder and even more elegant than she had been then.
“You’re doing what?” the older woman gaped, after a brief explanation had been made.
“Going to work together to find closure,” Mitzy repeated. She lifted a hand in traffic-cop fashion. “I know it sounds really basic, and in a sense it is, Mother, but the truth is Chase and I never really ended our engagement in a proper—or healthy—manner. And that lapse has kept us both from moving on the way we should.”
Chase knew that to be true for him.
He’d never gotten over losing Mitzy.
It was a shock to hear her admit it so openly, though.
“As a social worker, I should have realized this a whole lot sooner,” Mitzy opined, taking Chase by the hand, and leading him all the way into her cozy but well-equipped kitchen. She gestured for him to take a stool at the island, next to Walter, then sat down beside him. “But I didn’t and now that I have, I want to do something about it.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Judith looked up from the mushroom tartlet canapés she was arranging on a silver tray.
Like Mitzy, she was dressed in a chic dress and heels. A strand of diamonds glittered at her neck.
Judith smoothed a hand over her pristine white chef’s apron. “And how long is this going to take?”
Mitzy paused, seeming to be taken aback by the inquiry. “Um. I’m not sure.” She looked at Chase as if waiting to be rescued again. “At least...?”
“Through the holidays,” he decided.
That would give him plenty of time to figure out what that incredible kiss they’d shared earlier meant. Was she still, as it had seemed, as turned on by him as he was by her? Still privately wishing they’d never broken up. Or trying to prove to them both that it really was over between them. Romantically, anyway.
Judith exchanged a look of concern with her husband. “And then what?” she asked.
Mitzy shrugged. “We say goodbye.”
Or not, Chase thought, figuring that could be negotiated, too. “When did you conclude all of this?” Judith asked.
Pink color swept into Mitzy’s high sculpted cheeks. “Chase stopped by to see me a few days ago. And I, ah, I guess I started putting it all together. Today, I realized I should start following the advice I give my social work clients, and work though the residual emotions so I can move on.”
“And, of course,” Chase added sincerely, “I want to do that, too.” More than Mitzy knew.
In fact, he had wanted to help her for months now. But worrying his presence would make her grieving worse, he had stayed away.
“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?” Judith asked.
Mitzy rose and went to pour glasses of chilled sparkling water for everyone, handing the elders theirs first. “Because I knew you’d probably think it was all unnecessary and wouldn’t approve.” As she turned to hand Chase his, their fingers brushed. A jolt of heat went through him.
Mitzy’s smile was fixed as she slid back onto a high-backed stool, this time being very careful not to touch him in any way. “And I didn’t want to ruin your holiday. But since Walter found us together and the secret is out—” she turned to give Chase a bolstering glance “—Chase and I figured we might as well come clean. So you wouldn’t have to go to all the trouble of fixing me up with anyone else.”
Fixing her up? Chase’s gut tightened with jealousy. Mitzy had said her mother wanted her married. She hadn’t said anything about any matchmaking! But of course, it made sense. This was why she wanted him here. Not just for closure. Which, he figured was real. But to be a detriment to her mother’s plans.
“I see.” Judith’s eyes gleamed knowingly.
She was on to Mitzy, too.
The soft sound of a baby crying had Mitzy heading for the stairs. “I’m going to see if the nannies need any help,” she said.
Judith turned to check on the turkey roasting in the oven, then faced off with Chase yet again. “I’m not sure how I feel about any of this,” she said.
Chase wasn’t, either, if all it was, was a means to the end of him and Mitzy.
“Maybe we should let the young people figure it out for themselves, sweetheart,” Walter said.
“I can’t.” Judith continued, “You broke my daughter’s heart once.”
Chase didn’t mind accepting blame where it was due but he wasn’t about to shoulder all of it. “I think a more apt description was that we broke each other’s hearts,” he clarified gruffly.
Judith paused. In the awkward silence that fell, Chase could see Mitzy’s mother mentally going down the laundry list of all his faults.
As expected, she tried once again to dissuade him.
“The point is, Chase, Mitzy deserves more than you can give her.”
Chase knew he’d been far too focused on fulfilling his ambition then, to the detriment of all else. He nodded. “She deserves more than I did give her, ten years ago.”
Judith’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not just talking about time and attention, although there is that. I’m talking about the financial aspect, too.”
Obviously, although his ex had kept up with his accomplishments, her mother had not.
Chase was still trying to figure out how to disclose his greatly improved status, without sounding like a braggart, when Mitzy came back into the kitchen, an infant in a BabyBjörn carrier, snuggled against her chest. To Chase’s frustration, the infant’s face was turned away from him, so all he could see was the outline of the baby boy’s sturdy little body, encased in the canvas carrier, and the blue-and-white knit cap covering his head.
Clearly, she’d overheard enough of the conversation to know what was going on. “Can we please not talk about money today?” Mitzy swayed back and forth, gently lulling the child. A more natural mother had never been made, Chase thought admiringly. “Besides, haven’t you heard, Mother?” Mitzy added wearily. “Chase is wealthy in his own right now.”
Her spine stiff with indignation, Judith gave the gravy another stir. “Darling, there’s wealthy. And then there’s wealthy.”
Mitzy made a face. She walked farther away from the trio. Giving him an even better view of her enticing backside and spectacular legs.
Judith continued brightly, “The men I have lined up for you to meet at the quadruplets’ debut have fortunes on par with Walter’s.”
Only one problem with that, Chase thought, as he swept another wave of unwanted jealousy aside. Money and/or influence had never been what Judith’s daughter wanted. That had been his ambition.
“Your mother could have a point,” Chase said, playing against Mitzy’s widely stated values.
She met his eyes.
New sparks flew.
He shrugged affably. “The fifty-million-dollar company I started is probably nothing compared to what those dudes likely inherited.” And if their blood was as blue as he imagined, they probably did nothing to earn...
Mitzy shot him a droll look and glided nearer, giving him another tantalizing but maddeningly incomplete glimpse of just one of her four sons.
What was it going to take to get an introduction?
Although he knew very well why she wasn’t showing him her boys.
She was trying to keep at least some boundaries erected between them.
“I want more than money from anyone I’m involved with,” Mitzy said sternly.
Chase was glad to hear that. It meant Mitzy was as deeply romantic as she had once been before practicality trumped all and she had decided to have her babies the new-fashioned way. Sans intimacy of any kind.
“Why do you assume that just because a man is rich he’s somehow not worth having?” Judith demanded, taking the potatoes off the stove to drain.
Chase noted the grinning Walter seemed to agree with Judith that he was very much worth having.
Mitzy continued her gentle waltz about the kitchen. “I don’t know, Mother.” She bent to kiss her baby’s head, then cast a chastising glance over her shoulder. “Maybe your second, third and fourth husbands might have something to do with it?”
Chase knew Mitzy’s previous stepfathers had all been emotionally remote and/or neglectful, at best, often viewing Mitzy as a nuisance. Luckily, she’d had Gus, and her time in Laramie to counter that.
“Exactly why I promptly divorced them after only a year or two,” Judith huffed, handing over a bottle of wine for her husband to open. “They weren’t the right person for me to be married to.”
“But they were increasingly wealthy,” Mitzy pointed out as Walter worked off the cork.
“Well, of course.” Judith refused to apologize for that as she passed the canapés around. “I wasn’t going to fall for anyone who guaranteed us downward mobility!” She paused to put the tray aside then grasped Mitzy by the shoulders. “Listen to me, darling, it is just as easy to fall in love with a wealthy man as it is to fall in love with a poor one. The difference is a truly wealthy man has so many more ways to make you happy! And if you need an example of that—” Judith let go of Mitzy and went to kiss her fifth husband on the cheek “—you need to look no further than my darling Walter.”
Chase wanted to disagree with that, but couldn’t. Not entirely, anyway. It was a heck of a lot easier to be happy if you didn’t have to worry about putting food on the table or a roof over your head.
Mitzy frowned. “I’m not disputing the fact that Walter is wonderful, Mother, or always has been.” She sent Walter an affectionate smile, which he returned. “But it’s not his money or his talent with investing that makes him so exceptional. It’s his kind heart and generosity.”
Judith took the turkey out of the oven and set it on the back of the six-burner stove. “You think Chase has your best interests at heart?”
Mitzy paused, a little too long for his comfort. Which meant he had a lot of work to do to get their relationship back on an even keel.
“Yes. Of course,” Mitzy said finally. She added as a caveat, “Now, anyway.”
Still managing the meal prep with a former chef and caterer’s ease, Judith turned to him with a raised brow. “I assume you’ll attest to the same?”
“Absolutely.” Chase held Mitzy’s pretty aquamarine eyes. If the past few days had taught him anything, it was that he wanted a fresh start with his ex-fiancée. And that yearning had nothing to do with any secret deathbed promise he’d made to Gus.
“Then prove it.” Judith threw down the gauntlet with customary flair. “Use your clout within the industry to find a buyer for Martin Custom Saddle, or purchase it yourself, so Mitzy can finally be free of the company that’s ruined our family from the get-go. And then help my daughter understand that much as she might want to be, she’s not a superwoman.”
Maybe not in Judith’s view, Chase thought wistfully. But in his, she was pretty darn close. For a mortal, anyway.
“Mother,” Mitzy groaned, putting one hand to her head.
Ignoring the entreaty, Judith carried on. “So if she wants her babies to have the fabulous first Christmas they deserve, she needs to put off all this closure business...”
Like hell they would, Chase thought.
“...say goodbye to you. Leave Laramie for good. And come and live with us in Dallas, ASAP.”
* * *
“Thanks for coming by,” Mitzy told Chase at eight o’clock Sunday evening. She ushered him inside the Craftsman-style bungalow she had inherited from her father. As Chase walked in, he took a moment to look around.
Many changes had been made since Gus had passed. Walls in the living area had been opened up. The interior had been painted a welcoming ivory, which attracted tons of sunlight and contrasted nicely with the newly refinished pine floors. Plantation shutters replaced the dated drapes, comfortable neutral furniture had been brought in to replace the old faux leather pieces. And of course the kitchen, family room and dining area between, where they had spent most of Thursday, had all been redone and redecorated with the same classic understated elegance for which Mitzy was known.
Only one room downstairs appeared to have been left untouched, he had noted the other day. Gus’s dark, paneled study. And most of the time, Mitzy left that door closed.
Chase turned his attention back to Mitzy. She was dressed in figure-hugging gray yoga pants and a long-sleeve white T that did equally nice things for her lush breasts. The need to haul her into his arms and make love to her intensifying, he lifted his gaze back to her face. “You said you needed to see me?”
“That’s right, I did.” Mitzy took his jacket and hung it in the coat closet. Then led him toward her father’s old study, where it seemed she had set up quite an organizing operation.
“What’s all this?” Chase looked at the four large bulletin boards set up on easels around the room.
One held sticky notes of calls needing to be made to various colleagues at the DCFS office. The next a schedule of baby-wrangling volunteers for the week. A third, a list of Christmas errands and chores to be done. The fourth was blank except for the initials MCS, the family saddle company.
A glimmer of ambition lit her pretty eyes. “I think of it as my war room.”
He pointed to the holiday to-do list, slanting her a concerned glance. She had at least one activity slated for every day. “You’ll definitely need a battle plan to get this all done. Even without four babies.”
Mitzy’s lips set in a deliciously kissable moue. “Don’t start. You’ll sound like Mother.”
Brought up short by the comparison, Chase lifted a staying hand. “Sorry,” he said brusquely. After that tension-filled Thanksgiving dinner he was pretty sure that Mitzy lamented him impulsively agreeing to attend, that was the last thing either of them wanted. Him criticizing or undermining her at every turn, even in jest. “You deserve my unbridled support,” he said soberly. “I’m here because I plan to give it.”
Their eyes met. Another shimmer of heated desire sizzled between them. “Thank you,” Mitzy choked out emotionally. “I appreciate that.” Her cheeks pinkening, Mitzy swept a hand through her tousled hair. Shoving it away from her face, she went on with difficulty, “I asked you to come over tonight because I wanted to apologize for what happened on Thursday. It was...” She paused, clearly at a loss for words.
Chase guessed at what she was about to say. “One of the most stilted holiday meals either of us have ever had?”
Mitzy laughed ruefully. As did he.
Resisting the urge to pull her into his arms, Chase continued with a shrug, “The food was amazing, though.”
“Still, I should have known better than to let Mother have access to you. She’s never forgiven either of us for canceling our wedding at the last minute. Even if it was the right decision.”
Maybe at the time. Now, seeing Mitzy again, kissing her and feeling those emotions rekindle, Chase was not so sure.
He also knew his ex-fiancée was a “one step at a time” person. He couldn’t rush her into anything.
She reached over to turn on the woefully outdated desktop computer located in the center of the desk. “So, as far as Mother’s third degree about the scope and success of your business. Never mind her wild idea about you finding a buyer for MCS...”
Or purchasing it myself, Chase added silently.
Mitzy winced as the computer slowly—and noisily—booted up. “Or talking me into moving back to Dallas in time for the holidays, in exchange for her blessing on our monthlong closure process...?”
Sensing she needed her space, he moved to the overfilled bookcases. “You’d prefer I earn it some other way.”
Mitzy made a seesawing motion. “I’m not really sure that’s possible,” she admitted, tossing a candid glance his way, “even if you were to do everything Mother asked. As you might have noticed, the women in my family can hold a grudge.”
He sure as heck had.
Mitzy lifted her chin. Totally serious now. “Still, I’d like to call a permanent truce between the two of us.”
Gratitude welled.
He ambled toward her. “I’d like that, too, darlin’.” He paused on the other side of the desk. Noted the quick, excited jump in her pulse and decided to just go for it. “So does this mean you want to start seeing me again instead of just working on ‘closure’?”
Her smile faded. She arched a censuring brow. “I’m seeing you now.”
He shook his head and moved around to stand next to her. “Seeing you as in dating you.” He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “The sparks are still there, Mitzy.” Evidenced anew by the erratic nature of her breathing. “We proved that the other day.”
With a smile, she danced away. “Actually, I was thinking we might try something else while we work our way out of the animosity that has plagued us for the past decade.” She moved one of her easels slightly, before spinning back to him. “Something more platonic and casual.” She met his level gaze with familiar stubbornness. “Like friendship.”
Which was nothing remotely close to what he wanted.
Sifting through his disappointment, Chase took a moment to consider.
In the past, he would have told her it was his way or the highway. She would have said the same to him. That approach had never worked. So if he wanted to pursue any kind of relationship with her, he would have to do more than simply pick up where they had left off. He would have to revise their way of dealing with each other into something that would weather hardship and stand the test of time.
“Okay,” he said, willing to give this friendship thing a whirl, at least for now. Anything to avoid the permanent “closure” she’d been talking about. “I’ll give it a try.”
“Good.” She smiled, mirroring his enthusiastic tone. “Because I need your help.”
“Putting up Christmas decorations?”
So far, she’d done absolutely nothing on that score. Which was unlike her. Usually, Mitzy went to get a tree and started hauling out the decorations the day after Thanksgiving.
Amazing, how easily he could envision himself helping her decorate for the holidays. When he was on his own, it wasn’t really his thing. Although he was always around to help his parents and his sibs.
She tilted her head, as used to denying herself what she wanted as he was in going after it no holds barred. Openly curious, she queried, “Are you volunteering?”
Aware he’d do anything that might bring them closer, Chase nodded. “I am.”
“Well,” she said, mischief sparkling, “I could use someone to help with the heavy lifting.”
Given how fit she was, he doubted she really needed it. “Want” was something else entirely, however. Bolstered by the idea she might privately yearn for more with him, too, he aimed a thumb at the center of his chest. “Then I’m your man.”
Mitzy raked her teeth across the soft lusciousness of her lower lip. “I could also use your help with a few other things, as well...”
Though so far he’d had only a brief, blocked glimpse of one of her four infants, it stunned him to realize how much he wanted to meet them and help her with them, too. “The babies?” he asked eagerly.
She shook her head. Her gaze darkened worriedly. “With figuring out what’s really been going on at MCS.”
Chapter Three (#u84c59c1f-c695-516c-b530-9ab9ad85c15f)
Mitzy wasn’t sure how Chase would take her request. Especially after the “conditions” her mother had thrown out. His long pause indicated she had been right to worry. She could feel him sizing her up, trying to figure out the exact nature of her innermost feelings about him. When she didn’t really know herself.
All she knew for certain was that she had appreciated his kindness. Enjoyed kissing him—way too much! And that she wanted the cold war between them to end, so she wouldn’t have to keep going out of her way to duck his sexy presence, now that he was living back in Laramie.
He continued to study her wordlessly.
She jerked in a breath, wary of inadvertently revealing too much. “That is why you initially came to see me, correct? To lend aid in any way I needed?”
In the kitchen, an “end of cycle” bell sounded.
“Yes.” His mood was suddenly all business.
Mitzy glanced at her watch. The boys would be waking soon for their next feeding. It was time to get a move on. Wishing she weren’t quite so aware of his presence, she retreated into scrupulous politeness. “Unlike my mother, I’m not asking you to find a buyer for MSC.” She pivoted and headed for the kitchen.
Chase stood to the left of her, watching as she opened the dishwasher, pulled out two dozen newly sterilized baby bottles as well as the basket of sterilized nipples and caps, then set them all on the counter.
The way he looked at her then—as if he was thinking what it might be like to make love to her again—sent tremors of aching need tumbling through her.
“And if I could find a buyer?” he asked.
Mitzy shook her head. Aware that every time she got near him her heart beat faster, her senses got sharper and the romantic disappointment she’d felt since their breakup became more acute. All factors, she knew, that made her ripe for a renewed affair. And that could be disastrous, given the fact he was still all business. And she was...now more than ever...all family.
Yes, they still had sparks. And an amazing rapport.
Yes, she was incredibly attracted to him.
And even still enjoyed spending time with him.
But she did not want to end up in the same place they’d been before, with him choosing to pursue a financial bottom line over her feelings, or those she loved.
She couldn’t be with someone who had once felt that semiautomation of the MCS saddle-making process had been the way to go, even if it disrespected her father’s artistry and cost some of their beloved employees their jobs.
She could, however, rely on his expertise in the leather business to help get MCS back on track. And she knew her late father would very much approve of that!
Deciding she had gotten lost in his mesmerizing gaze for far too long, she went to the pantry and emerged with a gallon of purified water and a new can of powdered infant formula.
Promising herself she was not going to let herself fall victim to the attraction simmering between them, she forced her gaze back to the rugged contours of his face. “I could never let the company go.” She set both items on the counter. “Not when I promised my father I would always take care of it.”
His eyes narrowed skeptically. “Did Gus want you to run it personally?”
She made a show of opening both containers, then went down the row, adding one scoop of powdered mix to each bottle. “It’s why Dad left it to me, and made me the CEO before he died.”
“Gus never discussed you selling MCS if it became too much?”
Mitzy flushed. “Well, yes.” She bent her head and added purified water to each bottle, too. “When it became clear my dad’s cancer was terminal and he didn’t have long to live, he and I talked about the possibility.”
“And?” Moving closer, he flashed her an encouraging smile.
Mitzy handed Chase the bottle and gestured for him to continue. While he did, she topped them off with nipple, plastic screw cap and protective cover.
“What did your dad say to you?” he prodded.
“That I could sell if I wanted. But I didn’t want to.”
Chase paused. He slanted her a perplexed look. “Why not?”
“Because his custom saddle company was his baby as much as I was! He started it from scratch in a one-room operation and, over the years, built it into a multimillion-dollar operation with twenty-nine employees. The quality of the work at MCS has always been legendary. Until the last year, while I’ve been in charge,” she admitted unhappily as she lifted the capped bottles and shook them vigorously to mix. “Which is why, more than ever, I have to get things back on track. I have to carry on his incredible legacy, not just for myself, but for my sons! And their offspring, too!”
Chase seemed to understand her need to make this more than a one- or two-generation family business. He stepped in to help with the mixing, his biceps flexing against the soft cotton of his shirt. “Have you talked to anyone at the company yet?”
Mitzy consulted her watch again, then took four of the finished bottles over and put them in the warmers. “No. It’s a holiday weekend.”
“But you’re going to.” He helped her move the rest of the prepared baby bottles into the fridge.
Mitzy nodded. Knowing communication was always key. “Eventually, yes, when I have a better idea of what’s going on.” Chase’s shoulder brushed hers as he put the last of the formula into the fridge. “How are you planning to get the facts without talking to employees?”
Arm tingling, Mitzy stepped back. “That’s where you come in. I was hoping if you looked at the company records with me, via the log-in on my dad’s desktop computer, we might be able to pinpoint how and why and when everything began going wrong.”
“And then what?” He turned his pensive gaze on her.
She adopted a brisk businesslike demeanor. “I’ll talk privately to whoever is responsible for making some of the decisions that have lowered the quality of our saddles substantially.”
He came closer. “Planning to fire them?”
She scoffed and backed up until her spine rested against the quartz countertop. “No! These people are all family.” Her heart ached at the mere idea. “I’ll just make sure they understand, we’ll make a course correction and that will be that.”
He asked, tone matter-of-fact, “You have access to all the company records?”
Glad he was there to help her navigate the unfamiliar inner workings of the business, she said, “Every last one.”
He kept his eyes locked with hers. And leaned forward close enough for her to inhale the brisk masculine scent of his aftershave lotion. “Is everything computerized?”
She ignored the comforting warmth of his body, so near to hers. Frowning, she pushed back the unwanted emotion welling up inside her. “I think so.”
Concentration lines appeared at the corners of his eyes. “You’re not sure.” His expression remained genial, but otherwise inscrutable.
Reluctantly, Mitzy admitted, “I’ve never actually looked. I gave everyone the autonomy to make the decisions they felt necessary, just the way my dad did when he was first diagnosed with stage four bone cancer and began undergoing treatment.”
“Which was a year ago, October.”
Mitzy was surprised Chase remembered that so precisely, since he had still been living in Fort Worth at the time.
Throat tightening, she went to him and laid an entreating hand on his forearm. “The point is, Chase, when I go to them, with whatever the situation is, I want to also have the solution at the ready.”
He nodded. A mixture of understanding and acceptance came into his eyes. Covering her hand with his own, he asked gently, “So what is your timetable?”
Mitzy savored the warmth and strength of him. “I want this all wrapped up before the MCS annual Christmas party, on the twenty-second of December.”
His brow furrowed. “That means we’re going to have to get started with the audit right away.”
Taking comfort in the fact she wasn’t going to be locked in this stressful situation all on her own, Mitzy nodded. Chase might not know her as well as she had always wished, but he did know business.
She frowned as she heard the sound of a fussing baby on the monitor.
She dropped her hold on Chase and stepped back, then headed for the stairs. Remembering to add, “And one more thing, Chase. This all has to be done in secret.”
* * *
Of course it did, Chase thought, as he followed Mitzy up the staircase to the second floor. Trying and failing not to admire the snug fit of her yoga pants over her gently rounded derriere. She cast him a warning look over her shoulder. “I don’t want people worrying unnecessarily, Chase. Especially not during the Christmas season!”
Of course she didn’t.
Just like her father hadn’t wanted her to worry when he was sick.
I’d sell MCS to you right now, Chase, if just the idea of it weren’t so upsetting to my daughter,Gus had said, from his hospital bed, that last week.
Heartsick at the way the disease had ravaged the body of his mentor, and almost father-in-law, Chase had pulled up a chair and taken Gus’s frail hand in his. Did you try talking to her?
Yes. And she took that to mean I was giving up. My death is going to be hard enough on her as it is, and we both know it’s coming, Gus had grimaced, a heck of a lot sooner than I would like.
Unhappily—because no good had ever come from keeping someone deliberately in the dark—Chase had guessed, So the plan is to humor Mitzy?
Gus had nodded. Until the end of the fiscal year. By then, she should have realized she’s not cut out for the business world, any more than I was ever meant to be a social worker. I want you to help her let MCS go, Chase...so she can move into the future, unencumbered...
“Chase?” Mitzy came back to the nursery door, to find him barely clearing the top step. “Did you want to see the babies?”
Abruptly, he realized she had been talking to him. He’d been so lost in the poignant memory of her dad, he hadn’t heard a word of what she’d said.
“Sorry.” He lifted an apologetic hand. “Thinking...”
She looked stressed. “The volunteers are going to be here in another half an hour, but I don’t think the boys are going to make it that long. They’re usually pretty hungry upon waking.”
It was easy to see why she might feel overwhelmed in the moment. He didn’t know how she had made it thus far. “Not to worry. I’m here.”
Glad he was there to come to their rescue in a way he hadn’t been in the past, when he hadn’t spent nearly enough time understanding where Mitzy was coming from or why...never mind tried to meet her halfway on anything...or persuade her to do the same with him... He hurriedly closed the distance between them and followed her into the nursery. He and Mitzy had been too young before to realize just how incredible and rare the love they had was. But they were older now, wiser. So if they ever got even half of what they’d had back, he was damn sure not going to squander it. And he wouldn’t let her do so, either.
In the meantime, he’d help her—and her sons—in every way he could, as a way of making amends.
He wanted her to see she could count on him, the way her father had hoped, and more. And so could her boys.
“Wow,” Chase said, as he caught his first glimpse of Mitzy’s four adorable new sons.
For once, the talk around town had been right on the mark. The quadruplets were gorgeous, just like their mom, with dark hair, fair skin and big, long-lashed blue eyes. As Mitzy surveyed them, she beamed with pride. He could see why. They were just perfect. As was the nursery she had set up for them.
The four full-size white cribs were fit together in the middle of the room, like a foursquare. All were decked out in “baby boy” blue. Colorful, eye-catching mobiles were attached to each bed. The babies all wore engraved bracelets that coincided with the names written across the tops of all the side railings.
Mitzy made the introductions proudly. “This is Joe.” The most social, Chase guessed, taking in the long lashes. “He is always smiling and laughing and cooing.”
She moved to the next bed. “And this is Zach.” Who still seemed sleepy, Chase observed, as the little one yawned. Mitzy smiled. “He’s my little Zen baby. Peaceful, content, never complaining.”
She moved on to the third crib, announcing proudly, “Here’s Alex.” The little fella had worked one arm out of his swaddling, Chase noted with admiration. And was attempting to free the other. “He’s going to be my athlete,” Mitzy proclaimed.
“And then—” she paused at the fourth crib “—there is Gabe.” The infant was staring up at them, intent, seeming wise beyond his days. “He seems to be the most perceptive of the four,” she said softly. “He’s always vigilant, always aware.”
Chase started to speak. Briefly, he was so overwhelmed with emotion it felt like he had a frog in his throat. Finally, he managed to say in a rusty-sounding voice, “They’re amazing.”
“I know.” Mitzy’s eyes gleamed suspiciously, too.
Chase took her in his arms, hugging her. “Congratulations, Mom,” he whispered, his voice still sounding a little hoarse.
She nodded, overcome.
Hanging on to him until it became clear if this continued they would kiss, she cleared her throat. Blinking, she extricated herself and turned away. Chase could hardly blame her. The situation between them was precarious enough as it was.
Plus, the babies needed to be fed.
There would be plenty of time in the month to come for them to explore the rest of their feelings. And hopefully discover why they shouldn’t search out closure...
Mitzy took the elastic from her wrist in one hand, captured the thick silky length of her hair with the other and secured it in a high bouncy ponytail on the back of her head.
Smiling, she pushed up the sleeves on her close-fitting T-shirt, all earth mom now. “Would you mind pushing the play button on the stereo, then starting all the mobiles? The combination helps keep them calm while I change their diapers.”
“Happy to.” Glad she was finally including him in this part of her life, Chase did as asked. The soothing sounds of orchestral lullabies filled the room. He edged closer, wanting to be more than a bystander. Waiting until she was done with the bottle of hand sanitizer, he then helped himself to some and asked, “Can I give you a hand?”
“You know how to do this?” Still rubbing her own hands together, disinfecting them, she shot him an astonished look, reminding him he hadn’t been much for babies when they had been together.
“I helped my brother Jack with his three little ones after he lost his wife.”
She handed him a couple of clean diapers, some wipes. “I remember you being in town a lot for a while after.”
A long while, actually, Chase thought. “He had a nanny, too, but he needed family.”
Mitzy sent him a commiserating glance. “Don’t we all.”
They worked in silence. Unsnapping. Diapering. Until all four boys were clean, dry and comfy.
“Now what?” Chase couldn’t imagine how she faced this alone. Even for a moment. Although to her credit, all four babies were still calm. Patient.
Mitzy smiled, looking both grateful for and appreciative of his help. “We take them downstairs.”
A feat that took two trips for each of them. He was looking forward to giving bottles, too. Would have, if a few members of Mitzy’s volunteer army of other women hadn’t arrived.
The next thing Chase knew, the two helpers were with the babies, and he and Mitzy were alone on the front porch.
She’d waved off his offer to wait while she got a jacket—probably because she wanted to keep this goodbye short—and instead stood, arms crossed in front of her chilled breasts. “So about what we were talking about earlier. I know you have your own work to do during the days.” She lifted her chin to search his eyes. “Would it be possible for you to get started helping me tomorrow evening?”
The sooner he could make inroads on restoring his friendship with Mitzy, the better. “Sure,” he agreed, glad to help her in any way he could. Even if she wasn’t exactly making it easy. “What time?”
She raked her teeth across her lush lower lip. Shivering harder now. “Between eight and ten?”
Chase felt the sharp urge to haul her against the warmth of his body and kiss her again. But instead, he tamped down that desire and settled for touching her hand briefly, telling himself their time would come. “I’ll see you then.”
Chapter Four (#u84c59c1f-c695-516c-b530-9ab9ad85c15f)
Mitzy’s heartbeat accelerated the minute she heard the doorbell ring the following evening.
She inhaled deeply and headed for the door.
Chase was on the other side of the portal. His short sandy-brown hair clean and neatly brushed, his face closely shaven and smelling of aftershave, he was as gussied up as if they had been going on a date.
She’d spent a little time on her appearance, as well.
“Hey,” she breathed, resisting the urge to bring him in close for the casual hug she gave most of her good friends. “You’re right on time.” Something that had almost never been true, years before, when they’d actually been a couple.
He hefted the big beautiful Christmas wreath in one hand, the oversize bag from the hardware store, bearing what appeared to be prelit evergreen garlands and red velvet holiday bows, in the other. She caught a whiff of his brisk woodsy cologne as he stepped over the threshold. He winked at her genially. “And bearing gifts.”
Something he had done a lot, when they were together.
Feeling another whoosh of attraction, she took the packages that he handed her. A self-conscious flush moved from her chest up to her cheeks. “You didn’t have to do this.”
He shrugged affably, his gaze moving up and down the length of her. “I thought decorating the front of your home might help put you in the holiday spirit. You know,” he roughly paraphrased her favorite Christmas story, “deck the halls. And mistletoe...and presents to pretty girls...”
Just being with him again made her heart skip another beat. She focused on the wispy curls springing from the open collar of his shirt. “There isn’t any mistletoe here.”
“Really?” He leaned closer, his warm breath whispering across her ear. “That’s a shame.”
She shot him a “contain yourself” look. “And there better not be any in this bag, either, cowboy.”
“Sad to say.” He sighed comically, holding her eyes in the rakish manner she knew so well. “There’s not.”
Yet, she thought, knowing him a lot better than she wished she did.
Past experience told her he would put the moves on her again.
The current sizzle of chemistry promised she would have a very hard time resisting. No matter how much she wanted to keep them from hurting each other again...
“In any case...” Ignoring the mixture of excitement and ambivalence roaring through her, she worked to get the conversation back on track. “Sorry if I’ve been a little glum. I don’t mean to bring you or anyone else down.” She took his coat and hung it in the hall closet. “But it’s hard to be merry when I’ve got business problems on my mind.”
“Hey.” He curved a gentle hand over her shoulder. Understanding glowed in his gray-blue eyes. “Whatever the difficulties are,” he promised in his husky baritone, “they’re nothing we can’t fix.”
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