A Sweetheart For The Single Dad (The Camdens Of Colorado Book 8) (4 page)

“So what is there about you that isn’t business?” he challenged.

“I have a nephew—Carter—who I love to death. And there’s a new baby in the family—Immy—that my cousin’s about-to-be wife inherited. I love babysitting for her, too. And there’s my family. And I have four dogs.”

“
Four?
Let me guess, some snobby kind of show dogs?”

“Actually, they’re four rescue mutts that were hard to place. And whenever there’s a need for a temporary foster home for dogs requiring special care until they can be adopted, I take those, too.” Because all the local animal shelters knew she was a soft touch.

“You realize that when your stores do what they’ve done to places like Wheatley and the economy suffers, so do pets. If people are struggling to feed their kids, they certainly can’t feed their dogs and those dogs end up needing to be rescued.”

“Oh, you just never miss an opening, do you?” she lamented, feeling more weight on her conscience.

But this time, rather than tell her she deserved it, he grinned and said somewhat sheepishly, “One too many jabs?”

“If I cry uncle will you stop?”

“Maybe for now.”

“Uncle!” she said.

That made him grin again. “Okay. You
did
do your own little cleanup tonight along the way, I’ll give you that.”

Lindie made a face, knowing that picking up a bicycle here or a newspaper there was inconsequential and that nothing had really been solved tonight. Not for Wheatley and not for her goal of winning over and compensating Sawyer Huffman.

Yet, somehow, even given all that, she’d enjoyed the long walk and talking to Sawyer in spite of everything else.

“So Thursday...” she said. “What time do you come here?”

“I’m with the kids on Thursdays,” he warned, reminding her that he was unavailable.

“I’ll still be here,” she insisted. After seeing more of Wheatley she felt a need to do something. Coming to the center wasn’t only about finding an excuse to get to him anymore.

“I end my work schedule at two-thirty on Thursdays so I can get here by three, about the time the kids start showing up after school.”

“I’ll be here at three, then,” she said.

He didn’t say anything but this time it didn’t look as if he doubted her the way he had yesterday.

Instead, sounding as if he was admitting something reluctantly, he said, “I’m glad you came tonight.” He smiled mischievously. “Even if I did give you a hard time, it was better than walking the streets alone.”

Lindie laughed at his gentle gibe over her verbal gaffe at the start of the evening. “You just couldn’t let it go completely.”

“I couldn’t,” he confessed. “But that was so much tamer than anything else I could have said.”

He pushed off his SUV and reached around her to open her door for her, waiting with it open as she got in behind the wheel.

“I’ll see you Thursday,” she repeated.

For some reason he smiled as if he was glad to hear it this time. But all he said was “Drive safe,” before he closed her door.

Lindie started her engine and drove off. As she did she hated to admit to herself that—in spite of how it had made her feel to see the damage that her family had caused—she’d been on dates that she’d enjoyed less than her time with Sawyer Huffman tonight.

But as soon as she realized that, she decided to take it as a caution.

The man
really
didn’t like Camdens and could easily have a hidden agenda when it came to one of them.

And since Lindie was already no stranger to men with hidden agendas that ended up hurting her, she knew very well to watch out.

Chapter Three

“I
f I lived in that part of Wheatley I’d hate us, too,” Lindie concluded.

It was lunchtime on Thursday. Lindie was in her office on the top floor of the Camden Building that housed the offices for all ten of the Camden grandchildren. But the door was closed and no one was in on that particular lunch but Lindie and her grandmother.

Georgianna Camden—who everyone called GiGi—had brought beautiful Cobb salads for Lindie and herself to eat so that Lindie could report on her first two encounters with Sawyer Huffman.

As matriarch of the Camden family, GiGi had been the one to read the journals kept by the late H. J. Camden—founder of all of the Camden enterprises, great-grandfather to Lindie, her brothers, sisters and cousins, and father-in-law to GiGi.

As much as all of the current Camdens wished it wasn’t true, having H.J. on a list of modern-day robber barons was not unfounded.

Rumors and accusations had always swirled around H.J.; his son Hank, who was GiGi’s husband; and Hank and GiGi’s sons, Howard and Mitchum. Through the years various people had claimed their business practices were dirty, unscrupulous, underhanded, ruthless and all-round heinous. The men themselves had denied any wrongdoing. And since they’d been loving, caring husbands, fathers and grandfathers, those denials were believed within the family.

Until H.J.’s journals had been discovered at the Camden ranch in Northbridge, Montana.

Reading the journals had proved to GiGi that most of the accusations against the men that all of the current Camdens had loved and respected were actually true. As a result the current Camdens were attempting to seek out some of the people who had taken the brunt of former Camdens’ misdeeds and trying to make it up to them directly or through remaining family members.

Settling business grudges was hard enough. Personal grudges, as with the Huffmans, were even tougher. And what had occurred for personal reasons now had business consequences for the Camdens.

“It’s just awful, GiGi,” Lindie went on. “Seeing firsthand how, because of us, people have lost their livelihoods. How perfectly nice homes are now run-down. How hard times are causing domestic violence and crime and families coming apart at the seams and—”

“Okay, okay, slow down, Lindie,” her grandmother interrupted. “You’re getting carried away again. I know you think you have to cure all the ills in the world but you’re supposed to be working on trying to curb some of that, remember?”

“I know. I know,” Lindie said. “But—”

“No buts.”

“But there are kids and—”

“No buts!” GiGi raised her voice. “You
need
to stop this! To toughen up. We’ve caused problems. We’ll do what we can about them. We’ll do whatever it takes to avoid them in the future. But that’s not what you’re supposed to be looking at now and so far that’s all you’ve talked about. We’ve finished with lunch and I still haven’t heard anything about Sawyer Huffman. The situation with
him
is what we need you to work on now.”

Lindie took a deep breath and exhaled, knowing her grandmother was right; that she did need to get control of her runaway compulsion to save everyone.

“It’s one thing to be sensitive,” her grandmother went on lecturing. “To care as much as you about...well, everything. We’re all proud of that in you. But you can’t take care of everything or everyone. There has to be limits and you still have to learn when and where to set them. So for right now, let’s just concentrate on Sawyer Huffman.”

Sawyer Huffman with those pale, crystal-clear blue eyes shot through with silver rays...

She might not have said much about him yet but her grandmother didn’t need to be worried that she wasn’t concentrating on him. Yes, her sense of responsibility and guilt was in overdrive again when it came to Wheatley, but not even that had kept her from thinking far, far, far too much about Sawyer Huffman.

Although she had to admit that her thoughts were less on the situation than on the man himself. The image of that sculpted face...that dented chin. The way his lips quirked just so when he smiled. Those broad shoulders and big, big hands and arms he liked to cross over that impressive chest...

Even the deep, whiskey tone of his voice had gotten to her so much she’d been having trouble
not
thinking about him. And she’d tried. Boy, had she tried!

She just hadn’t succeeded.

“He’s pretty unwavering about us and not taking us on as clients,” Lindie told her grandmother, using business to defuse some of those rampant thoughts about Sawyer Huffman. “He’s nice enough about it. He’s not hostile and so far I haven’t seen signs that he bears too much of a grudge for what went on with his father. He mentioned that it was an influence on him but he hasn’t said more than that.”

“Yet.”

“Right. Yet. But up to now all I’ve seen is that he’s very matter-of-fact about how much he likes the role he’s carved out for himself as our enemy. It’s a role he thinks needs to be filled on behalf of places like Wheatley and its residents, and I’m not sure how—or
if
—I can get him to change anything. He doesn’t even seem to care about the money he could make from us. I don’t think it even tempts him, so I’m not quite sure what will.”

“These things always look impossible at the start,” GiGi insisted. “Especially this one because Samuel Huffman and Huffman Construction rebounded so well after what your uncle Howard did that I couldn’t find any way that we could make anything up to him directly. That’s why you have to really get to know his son. That will help you find a way in. Then you’ll be able to figure out what we can do in the form of restitution for what happened in the past and, hopefully, get us on the path to better relations for the future. This project is tailor-made for you, Lindie. You like to fix everyone’s problems and I think this is a good avenue for that. You just can’t let yourself be pulled in other directions. Put the problems of Wheatley, its economy and the people in it on hold for the time being and just find a way to fix things with Sawyer Huffman first. Tunnel vision—you have
got
to develop some!”

Lindie nodded, understanding what her grandmother was saying. Agreeing with it. She just wasn’t altogether sure she was capable of ignoring so many other problems to deal only with the task she’d been given.

But there was a lot riding on this particular mission beyond making amends. Huffman Consulting turned every proposed new store into a political hotbed to keep it from happening. The situation needed to be neutralized somehow and it was her job to do that.

“I’m volunteering this afternoon at the Wheatley Community Center so I can see him again,” she said, wondering after the words were out why that didn’t sound as businesslike as it should.

“Okay, but remember that
he’s
your goal. Don’t get sucked into other things,” GiGi warned, apparently not hearing what Lindie had heard in her own words.

“I won’t,” she promised as her grandmother stood to leave.

“Keep me posted,” the elderly woman said by way of a goodbye.

“I will,” Lindie assured her.

Once she was alone in her office she chastised herself for what she’d said.

Technically it was true that she was volunteering at the center to see Sawyer again. But it wasn’t as if seeing him again was for pleasure.

And yet...

Okay, she was looking forward to seeing him again, she admitted to herself. She didn’t want to be, but she couldn’t help it.

The guy was great-looking. He was intelligent. Interesting. He had a sense of humor.

And she was only human. If she’d met him at a party she would have hoped he’d ask for her number or ask her out.

But even if they’d met under those circumstances, even if there wasn’t history between their families to start things off on the wrong foot, even if he wasn’t her business foe, he still wasn’t someone she would be looking at as a potential partner, she reminded herself.

At thirty she knew it would be naive and unrealistic to expect to meet eligible men who didn’t have any romantic problems in their past at all. Sure, she’d never been married, didn’t have any kids, and it would be nice to find someone in that same situation. Someone who’d had just a couple of serious relationships in their past to teach them a thing or two and leave them with valuable experience that wasn’t baggage they’d never be able to leave behind.

So given that that requirement might narrow the field a little too much, she was okay with a past that included a divorce. She even tried to look on the bright side by acknowledging that while a divorce was a bigger deal than a long-term romance gone bad, she could still consider it evidence that the man could make a serious commitment, that he could get all the way to the altar.

What she didn’t want was a man who had a child.

She loved kids. She wanted kids. But she really wanted her kids to be the only kids her husband had. She really didn’t want someone who was pulled in two directions—toward the family he had with her and the family he’d started with someone else.

At thirty she knew that also narrowed the field, but that was a narrowing she was willing to accept to have a man without lifelong complications from his past.

And Sawyer Huffman had a child.

To her that put an immediate kibosh on the slightest idea of anything romantic between them, even if there weren’t the obstacles of family history and business.

It was just that the man also had a lot to offer at a glance...

Those looks.

That confident, brash, strong personality tempered with humor and what appeared to be an even temper.

That sexiness that just seemed to be natural to him without him putting any effort into it.

And that whole fighting-for-the-underdog determination that really hit home for her.

That was a whole lot that was impossible to ignore and, yes, it did make her want to see him again.

But if she controlled anything, she vowed, it was going to be what she would only admit reluctantly might be an attraction to him.

Because there just wasn’t anywhere for that to go. There just wasn’t anywhere she wanted it to go. Anywhere she would let it go.

As far as she was concerned, Sawyer Huffman already had three strikes against him.

The bad history between their families, their professional conflicts and a child.

And that counted him out as a relationship prospect regardless of his appeal.

Because as determined as she was to get this job she’d been given done, she was even more determined about that!

* * *

Angel, Casey, Biz—who was really Elizabeth—and Clara. Lindie had repeated the names of the four Murphy sisters several times to remember which was which as she worked with them in the community center’s kitchen that afternoon. Angel was the oldest at eleven, Casey was nine, Biz was eight and Clara was seven.

They were the four girls whose dad had died, whose mother had turned to computer crime to support them, who were now living with their grandmother while their mother went to jail.

When Lindie had arrived at the center she’d again said only that she was there to see Sawyer. But this time she was asked her name and when she gave it—only Lindie—the woman who introduced herself as Marie greeted her warmly and said, “Sawyer told us you might be coming to volunteer.”

Marie had then cheerily explained that she was the volunteer coordinator and that it was her job to familiarize new volunteers with the center’s layout and to put them to work.

A tour was the first order of business and as Lindie was shown the recreation room, she saw Sawyer in the distance at a chess table, playing chess with the boy—Parker Cauzel—who he’d been asked to talk to on Monday.

Sawyer appeared to be watching for her because he spotted her the minute she entered the rec room and waved. But that was the extent of their interaction. He stayed at the chess table and Marie kept Lindie occupied.

It made her wonder if he’d set up the whole thing to make sure she
didn’t
get to him. And while that frustrated and concerned her since she was there expressly for the purpose of seeing him, it also disappointed her and struck a bit of a blow to her ego.

He’d warned her that he spent Thursdays with the kids and wouldn’t be available to her. But she hadn’t taken that too seriously.

Since she’d been so eager to get there today to see him, it was a little demoralizing to think that he hadn’t been as eager to see her; that instead he might have arranged for her to be intercepted by someone else to keep her away from him.

In fact, it was more than a little demoralizing.

But with no choice except to go through the new-volunteer orientation with Marie, that’s what Lindie did. When it came to deciding where her skills could be best used and she tried for the rec room, she was told that there were enough volunteers in the rec room today. Instead she was steered toward the kitchen where help was needed.

Still, making the best of the situation and hoping to connect with him later, Lindie had jumped in in the kitchen and accepted the assignment of making a snack using what was available—several boxes of graham crackers.

Since there were also the ingredients for frosting, Lindie made a suggestion and got the okay before she was left with the four Murphy girls to get to work.

“This was our favorite afterschool snack when I was little,” she said as she taught the girls how to make a simple chocolate frosting. Then she and the two older Murphys spread the frosting on one side of graham crackers, handing them over to the younger girls to top with a second graham cracker and stack on plates.

As they worked it didn’t take much for the girls to warm up to her—they were impressed with her hair and interested in how she twisted it in back and left curls to erupt out of the twist at her crown. They liked her simple twill slacks and the embroidery down the front of her blouse. They
loved
her shoes—ballet flats that were the same blue-black of her pants and had white polka dots all over them.

The longer they worked together, the more they interjected information about themselves, too, letting Lindie get to know them. She concluded that they were lovely, polite little girls trying to cover up the fact that their mother had done something wrong.