Debra Ullrick (8 page)

“I’ll walk Fletcher out, and I’ll be right back.” Her warm, grateful smile made him glad he’d stayed.

What was it about her that had him wanting to please her?

* * *

Abby couldn’t wait until she finished seeing Fletcher to the door so she could get back to Harrison. Back inside the parlor, Harrison stood at the window with his back to her. How regal he looked, a fine figure of a man to be sure. But she’d already established that earlier and many times in between. “Well, that was a productive morning, I think.” She breezed over to where he stood.

Harrison turned toward her, and if she wasn’t mistaken, unease dotted that gorgeous face of his.

She wondered what had him so concerned. She peered out the window in time to see Fletcher swing his tall frame onto his saddle and ride out of sight; nothing out of the ordinary there.

Should she ask him what the matter was or wait until he hopefully volunteered the information? The latter won. “That man sure does exquisite work. I can’t wait to get my new furniture and get rid of this old stuff.” The sway of her arm and her eyes took in the whole of the parlor, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. The furniture had definitely seen better days.

“That he does.” The furrow between his brows was still there.

“Is something the matter, Harrison?”

Troubled eyes shifted to hers.

Something was definitely wrong. Her stomach pinched with worry. “Please, tell me what’s bothering you?”

He stared at her for a moment as if contemplating what to do.

She laid her hand on his arm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me,” she assured him, then braced herself for whatever it was.

“This is very awkward, Abigail.”

Abigail? Uh-oh. That wasn’t good.

“I don’t want to offend you or anything, but I need to ask you something.”

“All right.” She nodded.

“You said you had counted the cost and that you had plenty of money. That your father had seen to it.” He swallowed, looked away then returned his focus to her. Each moment he didn’t speak caused her stomach to pinch harder.

“And...”

“There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come right out and say it.”

Again she nodded, again she braced herself.

“Do you realize just how many repairs are needed on this place? And just how much money it’s going to cost to fix those repairs?”

She tilted her head and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Several of the windows and doors need replacing. The fireplaces are in need of repair, not to mention needing to be cleaned thoroughly. Plus, there are a few weakened and cracked walls that need fixing.”

“Weakened and cracked walls?”

“Yes. I’m just hoping they’re not from a foundation problem.”

“Foundation problem?” She knew she was mimicking him, but she didn’t understand what he was talking about. She hadn’t seen any cracks in the walls or anything wrong with the building’s structure. Of course, she was no carpenter, either.

“Part of the kitchen floor needs to be replaced, as well.”

“It does? Why?”

“Because, when I stepped in front of the water pump, the floor caved some. It will only get worse, and you can’t have someone falling through that and breaking a leg or getting hurt.”

How come she’d never noticed any of those things before? Especially the kitchen floor. Her gaze brushed over Harrison’s stout physique, then over her petite frame. Did the weight difference have anything to do with the floor giving? She made a mental note to ask Veronique if she had noticed the weakened floor. She wondered just how many more things she had missed. What if the repairs were numerous? More than she’d estimated? While she had plenty of money, she also knew she would need a vast amount to get everything set up and to run things for a time. She rolled her lip under with her top teeth. Might her dream crash at her feet before it ever got a chance to be realized?

“I can see I’ve upset you, Abby. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Fletcher did a thorough inspection of the place. I’m confident that he noticed those things, and that he knows what he’s doing, so why don’t we just wait to see what he says and how much his bid is?”

She gazed up at him and nodded.

“Now, what did you want to discuss with me?”

“Excuse me?”

“You asked me to stay, to discuss business.”

“Oh. Oh. Right. I wanted to show you the chairs and tables I’m going to order. I have the catalogs here.” She strolled over to the coffee table, and he followed.

They sat down on the settee, and she turned the catalog to the earmarked page.

Harrison scooted closer to her. Leaning over, he peered down at it.

His nearness and aftershave swirled through her senses, making it hard to concentrate on anything but him. Being a dreamer and a romantic most of her life, she had to forcefully turn her mind off his masculinity and on to the task at hand. “These are the chairs I had in mind for the theater.” She pointed to a picture of them. “And these are the ones I had in mind for the dining room.”

“Very nice. You have exquisite taste, Abby.”

She turned her face toward him, and his was close enough to where she could see that half-moon color again. Something she found extremely attractive and very appealing. But before she started daydreaming again, she quickly thanked him, flipped to the next earmarked page, and pointed to the next item on her list. “This table is the one I’ve chosen for the dining room.” As an afterthought she added, “That is if that’s all right with you.”

“It’s very nice.” His gaze alighted on hers. “You know, Abby, while I appreciate you running everything by me, you don’t have to. Again, I know that you only have me here because of the town committee’s stipulation. You already know what you want. You should just order it. After all, you’ll be the one to have to look at it when I’m gone.”

Gone.
That one word drove through her, leaving its painful mark. Truth was, she rather liked having a partner, someone to run her ideas by. And not just any partner, either; she liked having
Harrison
as a partner.

After all, the man was easy to get along with and had a special way of easing her loneliness.

As he said, though, he would be leaving, best not to get too used to having him around. She closed the book and sat up straight. “You’re right. I do have to look at it when you’re gone. And I was forced to take on a partner. But I don’t mind running things by you. Truth be known, I rather enjoy it. But if you don’t care to know or to see what I’m doing, then...” She hiked a shoulder and left the sentence dangling for him to pick up.

“I do care. I want this place to succeed. For your sake as well as mine. I just don’t want you to feel like you
have
to share everything with me is all.”

“Oh, but I truly do want to. After all, two heads are better than one, right? Besides, I really am enjoying working with you.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. I’m enjoying working with you, too.” He smiled at her.

Her lips smiled back at him, as did her heart. Mixed emotions, both turbulent and sweet, scattered and rolled across her brain like fast-moving storm clouds.

If only she could have children.

And if only he wasn’t leaving when this business deal ended.

And if only her heart didn’t skip with happiness every time she was around him.

But... She sighed. The “if onlys” would always be there. So it was best if she saved her emotional fantasies of having this man around for the rest of her life for her daydreams because that’s all any of it would ever be.

A fancy.

A dream.

And nothing more.

Chapter Six

“M
ademoiselle.”
Veronique entered the study. “There is a gentleman here to see Mr. Kingsley. He says it is rather urgent.”

Abby glanced up at Harrison.

“Excuse me.” Harrison turned and exited the room.

Abby didn’t know whether to follow him or not, so she opted to stay in the parlor and wait for him.

Minutes ticked by, the noise of a loud ruckus came from outside the room. She pushed herself off the chair and stepped out of the parlor. Her attention immediately flew to the sound of giggling boys near the front door, and to Harrison who was chasing one of his sons, and to a very distraught, yet distinguished gentleman running after the other.

An overturned potted plant lay sprawled across the floor. Harrison’s sons dodged the men, giggling as they did, and kicked at the dirt, sending the mess flying across the floor.

Seeing that the disgruntled men needed help, Abby took pity on them, and bustled their way.

“Josiah! Graham! That’s enough!” Harrison’s loud voice, filled with anger and frustration, echoed off the walls in the large, near-empty room.

His twins stopped and turned wide eyes up at their father. Tears pooled in their gray-blue orbs, and loud wails followed.

Abby’s heart broke seeing their little faces like that. How her arms ached to comfort them, but it wasn’t her place to get involved like that; they weren’t her children. But oh, how she wanted to.

Harrison dropped to his knee, giving no attention to the fact that he had just settled his expensive, tailor-made suit right smack in the middle of the moist plant soil. He pulled the boys into his arms and held them. When they stopped sobbing, he leaned back and peered into their faces. He brushed the moisture from their cheeks with the handkerchief he removed from his pocket, then returned it. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. But you mustn’t run in the house. We need to find Miss Abby and ask her for a broom so you can clean up the mess you made.”

The boys’ blinking eyes widened. Their little gazes took in the mess on the floor. “But we don’t know how to cwean the mess.”

This time Abby stepped in. “I’ll go and get a broom and a dustpan.”

All three pair of eyes swung in her direction. Make that four counting the gentleman in the perfectly pressed suit.

Harrison rose, clasped his sons’ hands, and held one at each side. “I’m sorry about the plant. I’ll have my valet, Staimes, here—” he glanced over to the distinguished gentleman standing feet away from him, then back at her “—find another one and replace it.”

Abby brushed her hand in a dismissing wave. “No, no. That won’t be necessary. It’s just a plant. No harm done.” She smiled down at the boys. “I’ll be right back with the broom, and then if your father doesn’t mind, I’ll show you how to clean up the mess. All right?” Her gaze slid to his.

He nodded and mouthed, “Thank you.”

With a quick brisk to her walk, she made her way into the kitchen, grabbed a broom and a dustpan from the closet and hurried back to them.

After she finished patiently showing Josiah and Graham how to clean up the mess, she eyed each child. “You did a lovely job, boys.”

Their faces beamed, and little chests puffed out.

“You sure did,” Harrison added. “I’m proud of you two.” He glanced over at his valet standing by the door, stiff as a statue. “Staimes, can you handle the boys for a few minutes?”

The valet’s brows yanked upward, then dropped into a V. He glanced down at them, then back up at Harrison. Fear and desperation blinked through the man’s eyes.

“It’s only for a few minutes. You’ll do fine.”

Staimes didn’t look convinced, but he gave a curt nod and stepped forward.

Harrison handed the children over to him, making sure the man had a hold of their hands before letting go. “Boys, do not let go of Staimes’s hands. If you do, Daddy will have to discipline you. Do you understand?”

They lowered their eyes and nodded.

“Very well, then. I’ll be right back.” He looked at Abby. “I need to speak with you, if you will.”

“Is everything all right?”

He led her to the far end of the main room, opposite of where the children were, and stopped. “I’m sorry, but I have to leave. Miss Elderberry, the boys’ nanny, quit, and I have no one to watch my sons. I’m going to have to find a replacement nanny as soon as possible.”

Abby struggled with what to do. She wanted to offer to let the children come with him, but being around them on a daily basis would be too hard. Knowing just how hard it would be for her, after much contemplation, she decided to instead offer to help him find a nanny. “If you’d like, I could help you.” Then as an afterthought, she added, “Until you find one, I’ll see if Zoé would mind watching them for you. She’s very good with children.”

“So was Miss Elderberry. But Staimes said she couldn’t handle these two any longer, that they were just too rambunctious for her.”

“How long was she with you?”

“Two months.”

“Two months!”

“Yes. She stayed longer than the last nanny. Miss Rothman lasted only two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” There she was parroting him again.

“Yes. Mrs. Fairchild, the one before Miss Rothman, stayed the longest, which was four months.” He ran his hand over and under his chin. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried every form of discipline, but they have so much energy. If they aren’t fighting, they’re destroying things.” His focus shifted to where the plant had spilled.

“Don’t you worry about that plant. As for the boys, do they get out much? I mean, do they have a place to burn off all that energy? And are they fed a lot of sweets?”

“No. None of the nannies took them out very often because they were just too much of a handful for them. As for the sweets, I don’t know about them other than the desserts they had after dinner.” His brows furrowed. “Come to think of it, Staimes did say that Miss Elderberry mentioned how bribing them with sweets hadn’t worked, so...” He let his sentence hang.

“I could always tell when my nephews and nieces were given too much sugar. They’d talked a mile a minute and couldn’t stand still for a minute. My brothers finally gave the boys chores to do, and their wives cut down the amount of sugar they consumed and started planning more activities for them during the day.”

“What kind of activities?”

“Well, in the summer, they took them fishing and on long hikes where they explored some of the hidden caves on the ranch and studied different species of animals and rocks. Stuff like that. A lot of times, they just went for a long walk through the woods. In the winter, they’d play games or have treasure hunts in the house. A lot of times they were outside building snowmen, or going for sleigh rides.”

“Weren’t they worried about them getting sick being out in the cold so long?”

“No. In fact, I think children that play outside are healthier than ones who stay indoors all the time. We, my siblings and I, were always outside doing something. Whether it be chores or riding horses or playing in the dirt and snow. We went on a lot of picnics, too. A lot of times, Mother would sit on the bank while we played in the stream. Honestly, most of the time we worked. There was so much to do on the ranch that we all had assigned chores. I was so glad when they hired more hands to help. I hated cleaning the chicken coop.”

“Somehow I can’t picture you cleaning chicken coops.”

“Oh, but I did. And much worse, too.” She wrinkled her nose at the memory of mucking the pig barn and horse corrals.

“I don’t live on a ranch and never have, so I’ll have to see what else I can come up with for them to do. But first, I need to find a nanny. And right away, before they get into any more trouble.”

As if on cue, a loud crash sounded at the opposite end of the room.

“Oh, no,” Harrison groaned and quickly made haste toward his boys.

Abby followed.

Pooled in the middle of the floor was a shattered drinking glass amid a puddle of milk.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Kingsley. It was my fault. I dropped the glass.” Staimes’s words came out rushed.

Harrison’s eyebrows spiked. “You’re responsible for this mess?”

“Yes, sir. The maid brought the boys some milk and cookies. I was trembling so bad that they slipped out of my hand.” The blushing look on the poor man’s face was so comical that Abby couldn’t help herself. She covered her mouth with her hand and tittered.

Harrison and Staimes gawked at her. That, too, was comical, and she wanted to laugh even harder, but she quickly suppressed it so as to not stun the men even further. But on the inside, she was roaring.

* * *

Lunch had been a complete and utter disaster. Harrison wanted to find the nearest rock and crawl under it. Once again, Graham and Josiah had made a mess of things. He shouldn’t have let Abby talk him into staying for the noon meal. Instead, he should have been out searching for another nanny.

Did they even have nannies in Hot Mineral Springs?

Before he decided to stay and help Abby arrange the furniture that would be delivered within the hour, Harrison had tried to talk Staimes into taking the boys for the afternoon, but his valet surprised him by threatening to quit. Harrison knew he wouldn’t, but he also knew that’s how frightened Staimes was of watching the children. The man wasn’t much on taking on young wards. Besides, Staimes wasn’t just his valet, but his only true friend.

He had to admit he’d been relieved when Abby had asked Zoé to watch them for a few hours. The woman was only too happy to, which gave Harrison some peace. Still, he wondered what they were doing right now and if they were minding the woman.

“Don’t worry.” Abby’s hand settled on his arm. “Zoé loves children, and like I said, she’s very good with them.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out. You kept going to the window and looking outside.”

“For all you know, I could have been watching for Fletcher.”

“True, but you haven’t stopped pacing since Zoé took them. And I seriously doubt that you have reason to be nervous about my furniture.”

He smiled down at her. “You got me there.”

“Would you feel better if I went and checked on them?”

“Would you?” He sent her his most hopeful look, and Abby grinned in return.

“I’ll be right back.” She scuttled out of the room.

As soon as she disappeared, he realized that he should’ve gone and checked on them himself instead of letting Abby do it. He hated to admit it, but as much as he loved his sons, sometimes they were even too rambunctious for him, and spending too much time around them made him nervous. What kind of father was he that his own sons made him edgy?

Minutes later, Abby returned.

Harrison turned anxious eyes on her and met her at the doorway. “Well?” His breathing halted while he waited for her answer.

“They’re fine. They’re having the time of their lives.”

He released an audible sigh.

Abby giggled. A sound he enjoyed.

“What are they doing?”

“Playing in the mud.”

“They’re what?” His voice came out louder than he’d meant it to.

“Relax. Zoé found some old clothes up in the attic. They’re wearing them and having a grand time playing out by the water pump. Don’t worry. She’ll clean them up before she brings them inside.”

Relax? How could he? A Kingsley never played in the mud or dirt. Father would never stand for that. It was too low of a thing to do. But then again, his father wasn’t here. And unlike him, his boys would enjoy their childhood, and do the things he’d never been allowed to do. Like play in the mud—something he had to go and see for himself. “Would you show me where they are?”

That brought out one second of uncertainty in her soft face. “Sure.”

Side by side they stood at the back door. His heart smiled, hearing his children’s laughter and seeing them having so much fun. In between bouts of adding another layer to what he assumed was a mud castle, a rather lopsided one at that, he watched his sons toss mud in the air and follow it with their eyes until it landed. The urge to join them was strong. But his deeply embedded upbringing prevented him from doing so. Besides, the furniture would be delivered any minute now.

He stepped back out of the doorway and looked at Abby.

Her smile was infectious, and so were the laughing blue eyes she turned up at him. “I told you they were having fun.”

“That you did. That you did.” He chuckled, and she joined him.

Together they headed back to the front part of the house.

Harrison hadn’t felt this carefree or this good ever, and he had Abby to thank for that.

Abby. She was one special woman. A woman he could easily attach himself to if he wasn’t careful. Careful, he would be. In the meantime, however, he was no fool. He would enjoy every precious moment of the time he had with her before he had to head back to Boston and leave her behind. That thought caused a hitch in his chest. And that was not good. Not good at all.

* * *

The instant Abby saw Fletcher’s wagons pull up in front of her house, her heart skipped, and she felt like a child at Christmastime. She always loved Christmas, watching her nieces and nephews opening their gifts and searching for hidden treasures that she and her siblings would hide all over her mother’s house.

Abby rushed to the door and flung it open.

“You aren’t anxious or anything, are you?” Humor brushed through Harrison’s voice as he came and stood behind her.

She glanced back at him. “No. No. Not at all. Why do you ask?” She sent him a playful smirk.

“No reason.” He sent her one back before he removed his jacket and hung it up. When he rolled up his shirt sleeves, she noticed the rock-solid muscle that had been hidden underneath them. She wondered what it would be like to be held and to be protected by those arms.

Stop it,
she silently reprimanded herself
. You’ve been reading too many romance novels.
Harrison wasn’t some knight riding up on his white steed to sweep her away and to defend her against the forces of evil. Then Mr. Prinker and the committee members faces popped into her mind. On second thought, maybe he was. She muffled a giggle.