Harlequin American Romance October 2013 Bundle: Twins Under the Christmas Tree\Big Sky Christmas\Her Wyoming Hero\A Rancher's Christmas (4 page)

Flustered, Rose said, “Wait here, Mr. Cash. I'll get the director.”

Miguel tugged on Conway's pant leg. “Now you're in trouble. Ms. Kibble's mean.”

“You guys go hang up your backpacks. I'll be there in a minute.”

After the boys walked away, an older woman with a salt-and-pepper bob stepped from her office. “Mr. Cash, I understand you'd like to observe today.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He held out his hand.

“Is there a problem with Miguel or Javier?” she asked.

“Well, ma'am, there is. It seems Javier is being picked on and nothing's been done to address the problem.”

The director's eyes rounded and Rose made a hasty exit.

“This is the first I've heard of any bullying going on in my school,” Ms. Kibble said.

“No, ma'am, it's not. According to the boys' mother, she's spoken to you about this before, and because the teasing hasn't stopped, Javier doesn't want to come to school anymore.”

“Which boys are bothering him?”

“He won't say, but I intend to find out.”

“I appreciate your concern, Mr. Cash. I'll make sure the teacher is aware of the situation.”

“Good. I'm eager to see how she deals with the bullies.”

Ms. Kibble's mouth tightened, but she backed down. “Enjoy your afternoon.”

When Conway joined the boys for story time on the floor, Miguel whispered to the kid next to him, “That's Conway Twitty Cash. He's my new friend.”

Javier inched closer to Conway but remained silent. Story time turned out to be boring as hell and it was all Conway could do to keep his eyes open. When the teacher—Ms. Haney—closed the book and asked if anyone had questions, Conway raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Cash?”

“When's recess?” The room erupted in giggles, which earned Conway a dark scowl from the teacher.

“Go to your tables and start your work sheets,” the teacher said.

When the kids bolted in all directions, a boy walked past Javier and elbowed him in the back. Conway noticed the teacher's attention was elsewhere. The boy with the sharp elbow sat at the same table as Javier, and Javier refused to make eye contact with the kid.

One bully identified. Now he needed to find the others. The only way to do that was to sit away from Javier. He joined Miguel at his table and Conway's gut twisted at Javier's hurt expression. It was all he could do not to rush to the boy's side and reassure him.

While the group worked on their alphabet sheets, Conway watched Javier. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until the teacher asked the students to pass the papers to the head of the table. A freckled-faced boy swept Javier's paper onto the floor then stepped on it before putting it back in the pile and handing it to the teacher.

Bully number two identified.

The class spent the next hour moving from activity to activity until snack time. Fruit punch, crackers and small boxes of raisins were doled out to each kid. Miguel stuffed his face, eating everything in front of him and asking for seconds of the punch. Javier didn't touch his food—or rather he didn't have a chance to, because the red-haired bully had stolen his box of raisins and Javier hadn't protested.

By the time recess arrived, Conway was spitting mad that the teacher hadn't noticed what was happening right under her nose. He followed the kids outside and Javier raced to the swings while Miguel veered off toward the monkey bars and a group of gossiping girls.

When the bullies closed in on Javier, Conway made his move. “Mind if I join you guys on the swings?”

The freckle-faced boy crossed his arms over his chest. “We were playing here first.”

Insolent bugger
.

“Yeah.” The chubby kid kicked dirt at Javier. “He's on our swing.”

“This is your swing? You brought this from home?” Conway asked.

Javier giggled then sobered quickly when the bullies glared at him.

“I think you guys have got it wrong. This swing belongs to the school.”

“Get off, stupid,” the redhead told Javier.

Javier made a move to vacate his seat, but Conway set his hand on his shoulder. “You'll have to wait your turn, carrottop.”

“Says who?” the kid glared.

“Says me, Rico.” Javier stood and faced his adversary.

Rico laughed. “You can't stop me.”

“Yes, I can.” Javier shoved Rico in the chest and the kid tripped over his feet and stumbled. Once he gained his balance, Rico swung his fist, but Javier ducked and tackled the boy to the ground. Conway sent the overweight bully a stay-where-you-are glare while Javier and Rico wrestled.

Tiny fists punched mostly air, then a student alerted the playground monitor and the woman hurried over and separated the boys. Holding each by the back of the shirt collar she spoke to Conway. “You stood there and did nothing.”

“The boys had to settle this between themselves,” Conway said.

“Well, I've never heard of—”

“Lady, if you'd have been doing your job rather than texting on your phone, you'd know that Rico and his buddy like to torment kids.”

The woman marched the boys into the building and Conway followed at a distance. Twice Javier peeked over his shoulder and grinned at him. Now that Rico and the other kid knew Javier could stand up for himself, they'd leave him alone.

Conway stood outside Ms. Kibble's office while the playground monitor explained the situation. All three boys were suspended for fighting and told not to return to school until Friday. Grinning from ear to ear, Javier followed Conway out of the school.

“Is my mom gonna be mad at me?” Javier asked.

“Nah.”
She's going to be mad as hell at me
.

* * *

C
ONWAY
HEARD
I
SI
'
S
car pull beneath the carport and he braced himself. When the trailer door opened, he said, “I can explain, Isi.”

“Explain what?” She flashed a nervous smile.

“Didn't the school call you?”

The blood drained from her face. “What happened? Are the boys okay?”

“They're fine.” He hadn't meant to scare her.

She set her backpack by the door. “What's going on?”

He didn't think this would be hard but the speech he'd rehearsed after the boys had gone to bed suddenly didn't sound so clever. “Javier's been expelled from school until Friday.”

Isi's eyes widened. “What happened?”

“It wasn't his fault. You can blame me.”

“What did he do, Conway?”

“He got into a fight on the playground.”

She gasped.

“None of the boys were hurt. I watched the whole thing and—”

“You watched the fight and didn't break it up?”

“Let me explain.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I stayed at school and monitored their class. As I suspected, Javier is being bullied by two boys, one named Rico and the other one was a chubby kid.”

“Mathew.”

“During recess Javier got to the swings first but the bullies tried to make him get off. I told the boys Javier didn't have to give up his swing and all of a sudden Javi shoved Rico. The boys rolled on the ground until the recess monitor intervened and took them to the principal's office.”

“Was Javier upset?”

“Nope.”

“What did Ms. Kibble say?”

“Not a whole lot.”

“Were all the boys suspended?”

“Yep. You'd have been proud of Javier, Isi.”

“I'm supposed to be happy that you taught my son to solve his problems by fighting?”

“I didn't teach him to fight. I taught him to stand up for himself.”

“Do me a favor and don't offer my sons any advice, okay? I'm their mother. I'll handle their problems.” Isi walked down the hall to check on the twins and Conway made a hasty escape before he got suspended from his babysitting job.

Chapter Four

When Conway stepped inside Isi's trailer Friday at noon, he came face-to-face with two pouting grumps.

“What's wrong?”

“I found a sitter,” Isi said.

A weird feeling gripped Conway's stomach, but he blamed it on the three breakfast burritos he'd eaten earlier in the morning. “Is it—” he motioned to the boys “—because of the school suspension?”

“Not at all,” she said. He noticed she didn't make eye contact with him. “A customer at the bar recommended her aunt.”

The swelling in Isi's nose had gone down and the bruising beneath her eyes had faded to a yellow hue. If she wore makeup, no one would be able to tell she'd broken her nose. His gaze drifted to her shirt—she looked hot in the black tank top that hugged her small breasts and the threadbare jeans that made her short legs appear a lot longer than they were. He imagined sliding the strap of the shirt off her shoulder and caressing the exposed skin with his tongue, then licking a trail up her neck toward her ear....

Whoa
.
Hold on, cowboy
. What the heck was wrong with him? When had his brain decided to travel south and vacation in his crotch?

Since you started watching the twins
.

Isi was an attractive woman and it wouldn't take much effort on her part to jumpstart his libido, especially because he wasn't dating other women. As of right now, Isi was the only female taking up space in his thoughts.

“The new sitter's name is Maria,” Isi said. “She'll take the boys to school and pick them up and stay until bedtime. Then my neighbor Mrs. Sneed will come over and watch TV until I get home from work.” Isi handed him a sheet of paper.

Conway caught her scent. The combination of flowery perfume and warm female sent a blast of testosterone through his bloodstream. He focused on the note. Isi had written down Maria's full name, address, birth date and a bunch of numbers—driver's license, social security and cell phone.

“What's this for?” he asked.

“I need you to take Maria to the school and show her the ropes.” Isi took a deep breath. “She doesn't speak English very well and Rose is the only employee at the school who's bilingual. If she's not working, please give Maria's information to whoever's at the front desk.”

“How am I supposed to show Maria anything, if I can't communicate with her?”

“Javier and Miguel will interpret for you.”

“I didn't know they spoke Spanish,” Conway said.

“They're not fluent, but they should be able to understand most of what Maria says.” Isi slung the backpack over her shoulder. “I have to meet with my academic advisor before class, otherwise I'd stay and introduce you to Maria.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” What if he and Maria got their messages mixed up?

“Stop worrying. Everything will be fine.” Isi opened the door. “Thanks for helping with the boys this week.”

“No problem.”

She paused on the porch. “I'll probably see you at the bar.”

“Yeah, I'll drop by.” As he watched Isi's sashaying fanny walk to her car, he worried that their relationship would never be the same as it was before he'd offered to watch her sons. Once she drove off, he said, “Are you guys going to be grouchy all day?”

“We don't want Maria,” Miguel said.

“I bet she can cook.” His comment drew no response.

After the short amount of time he'd spent with the twins, it was nice to know they'd miss him. “You gotta give Maria a chance. I can't watch you guys forever.”

“Why not?” Javier asked.

“The pecan harvest starts next month in November. There's a lot I need to do on the farm to get ready for it.”

“We could help.” Miguel tugged his brother by the shirtsleeve and dragged him across the room until they stood in front of Conway. “We can pick nuts.”

“I appreciate the offer, but you guys have to stay in school.”

“How come?” Javier asked.

“Because that's what kids do. They go to school to get smart and then they go to college like you're mom is doing.”

“Did you go to college?” Miguel asked.

“Nope.”

“How come?”

“Do you always ask a lot of questions?”

Both boys bobbed their heads.

“I didn't go to college because I didn't have anyone telling me I should. Then I got older and figured out that what I wanted to do with my life didn't require a college degree.”

“What did you want to do?” Miguel asked.

“I wanted to be a pecan farmer.”

Javier's nose wrinkled. “I thought you were a cowboy.”

“I'm a cowboy when I rodeo on the weekends.”

“Can we rodeo?” Miguel asked.

Conway wasn't about to let the munchkins change the subject. “I bet Maria's a nice lady.”

“What if she's mean?” Javier's brown eyes pleaded with Conway.

“Then we'll tell your mom.” And let Isi deal with the situation. From now on he'd keep his advice to himself.

The sound of a vehicle pulling up to the trailer drifted through the screen door. “That's Maria. You guys be on your best behavior.” Conway stepped onto the porch.

Holy moly
. The woman was as old and gnarled as the root of an ancient oak tree. She had more wrinkles than a ten-year-old road map. Polyester slacks, a silk-printed long-sleeve blouse with a navy blazer and low-heeled shoes was hardly proper attire for chasing after boys. Then again, this woman was so old, if she chased anything, she'd drop dead of a heart attack.

“
Hola,
Maria.”
Hola
and
sí
were about the only words Conway
knew in Spanish.

She smiled, the gesture generating more facial wrinkles. He motioned for her to follow him inside. “Miguel, ask Maria what she'd like you to call her?”

Miguel translated Conway's words then Maria spoke.

“What did she say?” Conway asked.

“She said we can call her La Anciana.”

Javier giggled.

“Okay.” Conway pointed at Maria and smiled. “La Anciana.” Then he indicated himself and said, “Conway” before moving his finger to the kitchen wall clock. “Miguel, tell La Anciana that it's time to leave for school and she should follow us in her car.”

After Miguel spoke, Conway waited for the boys to get their backpacks then he held the door open for everyone. When Maria walked by him, her mouth curled in a snarl and he couldn't figure out what the heck he'd done to tick her off.

When they arrived at the school, Rose wasn't working. Conway turned over Maria's information to the lady at the counter and explained that the boys' new sitter didn't speak English and that she'd be dropping the boys off and picking them up after school.

While the employee filled out Maria's paperwork, Conway spoke to the boys. “Miguel, play with your brother at recess.” This was Javier's first day back after his suspension. “And no fighting, Javi.” Conway hoped Miguel would stick by his brother's side and ward off any threats by the bullies.

“Are you gonna pick us up?” Miguel asked.

“Yes. Tell Maria that she's to meet me back here at three-thirty.” He wanted to make sure she didn't forget to return for the boys.

Miguel translated and Maria responded.

“What did she say?” Conway asked.

“She wants to know if she's supposed to wash our clothes.”

Conway was certain Isi would appreciate help with the housework. “Sure. Tell her she can wash clothes if she wants.”

Miguel translated then said, “She wants to know what you're going to do.”

“I'll be at the farm.”

After Miguel conveyed the information, Conway said, “Have fun.” He tipped his hat to Maria then left the building.

Anxiety gnawed at his gut as he drove away from the school. Isi was desperate to find a sitter for the boys, but Maria wasn't the right fit. The twins needed a young energetic person who would play outside with them. By the time he reached the edge of town, he'd broken out in a cold sweat. Instead of heading to the farm, he made a U-turn. He'd feel better if he stayed close by in case Javier got into trouble again at school.

* * *

A
SIXTH
SENSE
told Isi she needed to go home after her classes and see how Maria and the boys were getting along, so she'd called in sick to work. She hoped the day had gone well and her sons had been on their best behavior, but she couldn't ignore a nagging suspicion that not all was right. When she'd interviewed Maria over the phone, the woman hadn't sounded very peppy but after raising five children of her own, she was certainly experienced enough to handle the twins. Even so, Isi worried the boys would be too taxing on the seventy-year-old woman.

She turned into the mobile home park and saw Conway's truck next to the trailer.
Uh-oh
. She parked beneath the carport and got out of the car. Conway was throwing the football with Miguel and Javier played with a Slinky on the porch steps.

“Watch this, Mom.” Miguel tossed the ball to Conway.

“Where's Maria?” she asked.

“She left,” Conway said.

“She was supposed to stay with the boys until Mrs. Sneed came over at eight o'clock.”

“I don't know what happened,” Conway said. “Everything was going fine until she took her purse and stormed out of the trailer.”

“I thought you'd planned to work on the farm after you dropped the boys off at school,” Isi said.

“I had errands to do in town.”

Something smelled fishy. Isi noticed that Javier wouldn't make eye contact with her. “Miguel, what happened?”

He shrugged.

“Come to think of it,” Conway said, “Maria seemed agitated when we called her La Anciana, but—”

Isi gasped.

“What?” Conway's gaze bounced between her and Miguel.

“You called her La Anciana?”

“That's what Miguel said she wanted us to call her.”

“You insulted her.
La Anciana
means old lady. It's a derogatory term.” Isi glared at her sons. “We'll discuss this later.”

“I thought you were working at the bar tonight,” Conway said.

“I called in sick, because I had a funny feeling about today. Good thing I listened to my instincts.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult Maria,” Conway said. “I'd be happy to apologize to her.”

Isi appreciated his offer, but waved it off. “What else happened?”

“Maria asked if she should wash clothes while the boys were in school and I said sure, thinking you'd appreciate the help. When we got home from school she had all the laundry done.”

Dear Lord, there had been at least six loads of clothes piled on the laundry room floor.

“And I told her to clean our bedrooms and do the dishes,” Miguel said.

“Cleaning the bedroom is your responsibility, Miguel.” Isi rubbed her aching forehead. “What else did you tell Maria to do?”

“Nothing.”

Javier tattled on his brother. “He dumped all the toys out of the bins after Maria picked them up.”

Isi thought she'd hired a woman experienced enough to stand up to her sons and not let them run roughshod over her. “Is Maria coming back on Monday?”

Miguel played with the laces on his sneakers.

“She's coming back, right?” Conway nudged Miguel's shoulder.

Her son shook his head.

“Why isn't she coming back?” Isi asked.

“'Cause I told her not to.” Miguel stamped his foot. “We want Conway to take care of us.”

“You two go inside and wash up for supper while I speak with Conway,” she said.

Miguel glared at her and she was tempted to paddle his bottom for being disrespectful.

Once the trailer door closed and the boys were out of earshot, Conway spoke. “I had no idea what Miguel was saying to Maria. Had I known he was being rude and misleading her, I would have stopped him.”

“I shouldn't have put you in this position.” She felt bad for Maria and bad for Conway, both having been duped by a pair of four-year-olds. “I'll call Maria later and apologize. Hopefully, she'll agree to return on Monday.”

“What if she doesn't?”

“Then I'll ask Mrs. Sneed to fill in until I find a sitter.”

“Will she watch the boys for free?”

“Probably not. I'll have to scratch a few items off the boys' Christmas lists to come up with the money to pay her.” Isi abruptly shut her mouth. Since when did she unload her problems on Conway? She was the advice-giver not the advice-seeker.

“I'll tell you what,” he said. “I'll watch the boys until you graduate at the end of the semester.” Then he added. “For free. It'll be my graduation gift to you.”

For a man dead set against fatherhood, it was a generous offer. “You're busy with the farm, and what about your rodeos?”

“I'll manage. Well, there might be a problem unless...”

“Unless what?”

“You allow the boys to miss a few days of school the middle of November when I harvest the pecans.”

“The boys will get in your way.”

“I'll put them to work. Once I drive the shaker machine through a row of trees, they can collect the twigs and sticks that fall to the ground. And we've got extra beds in the bunkhouse they can sleep in.”

“I don't know, Conway. They could be more of a hindrance than a help. I have to nag them to do their chores.”

“Farming isn't sissy work like making beds or washing dishes.”

“Sissy work?” Isi struggled not to laugh. “There's nothing wrong with a man who picks up after himself and keeps a clean house.”

“You were the one who said their teacher suggested you ask the boys' father to become involved in their lives. I'm not their father, but I'm offering the boys a chance to do guy stuff.”