Royal Trouble (24 page)

At the bottom of the stairs he skidded to a stop and stared.  "Wow," he said in awe.

"Yeah, wow," she repeated sullenly.  "I think Silas is the one who gave me a bath."

"I'll get you a towel," Trey offered as he spun to run back up the stairs.  A minute later he reappeared carrying a stack of fluffy towels. 

"Here you go," he said shoving them to her.

Leigh Ann dried herself off first, then went back outside to dry off the dog. Trey stood at the door and watched. Silas might not have liked the bath, but he sure seemed to enjoy her rubbing his skin with the soft towel.  His tongue took a swipe at her every time she got close to his face. 

"Yeah, you love me now, huh?" she asked him grumpily, as she patted his ears dry.

"You're pretty, so he probably does.  He is a
hound dog
you know," Trey told her with a giggle.  "He likes the drying part, doesn't much care for the bath though.  Sort of like me."

Leigh Ann glanced back at Trey and his humor-filled eyes were so much like his daddy's hazel gaze, her heart squeezed in her chest.  Trey would be a lady slayer when he grew up.  Handsome just like his daddy.  Trey had the bonus of charm and personality though, something Wes was missing.

"You wanna watch a movie?" Leigh Ann asked, forcing happiness into her tone when she stood back up with the leash in her hand.

"Oh, yeah!" Trey squealed.  "How about the movie
TED
?  My daddy has the DVD!"

"Have you watched it before?" she asked and squeezed past the child into the dining room.  "Isn't that one Rated R?" 

She had seen the trailer and it did look funny.  If she remembered correctly, it was about a child's attachment to a teddy bear that he carried into adulthood, a comedy.  It couldn't be that bad considering the horror and action films that were Rated PG these days.

"Yeah, daddy wouldn't let me watch it," Trey told her sullenly.  "Said it was too mature," he informed her with a frown.

"What makes you think I'll let you watch it then?" she asked him, while she unclipped the leash and closed the sliding door.

"Cause you're nicer than my daddy?" Trey ventured with a sly smile that told her he knew the effect his words and
that
smile would have on her.  Yeah, he was definitely going to be a ladies man when he grew up.  He was honing his skills on her right now. 

Her heart wiggled in her chest, but she knew she shouldn't go against Wes's wishes where Trey was concerned.  Leigh Ann gnawed on her bottom lip considering it.  "If he said you couldn't watch it..."

"
Please
, Miss Leigh Ann?" Trey begged, tenting his hands in front of his chest in a prayer pose. 

"Okay, but you have to sit with me, so I can cover your eyes during the bad parts."

"It's a deal!" he squealed and ran forward to hug her waist.  Leigh Ann put her hand at his nape and bent to kiss the top of his head, her heart doing that funny wiggle again. 

Leigh Ann could love this kid.  Getting attached to him though would mean more heartache.  When she left, it would devastate both of them.  And she was leaving, because his daddy certainly wasn't getting attached to her.

"I'm going to take a quick shower and change, then we can put it on after I make some popcorn," she told him and headed to the stairs.

"
Yes
!" he said enthusiastically then went to the DVD stand to find the movie.

Leigh Ann smiled as she headed up the stairs.  After she got out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around her hair, and put on warm yoga pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, then headed back downstairs.  Trey was curled up in the recliner with the remote in his hand waiting for her.

"Want me to start it now?" he asked with excitement.

"Let me make the popcorn first." 

His impatient
aw shucks
had her smiling as she walked to the kitchen.  A few minutes later, her arms loaded with a huge bowl of buttery popcorn, she stood beside the recliner and waited for him to move over to give her room beside him.  Instead he stood and waved for her to sit down.

After she settled, Trey climbed up in her lap and she put her arms around him so they could share the popcorn.  It was cozy, domestic and...motherly.  Longing coursed through her carrying with it a sense of peace like none she had ever felt before.  Trey clicked the remote to start the movie, and rested his head back against her shoulder.  Leigh Ann pulled the handle on the chair to bring out the foot rest, so they would be more comfortable.  Together, they sat and watched the movie, until she realized he was staring at her, not the movie.

"What?" she asked looking down into his eyes.  Was that longing she saw there?

His reached up to grab an end of her damp hair and rubbed the strand between his fingers.  "You're pretty like my mama, 'cept she had red hair like mine."  He released her hair and patted the top of his head.

Sympathy for the motherless child squeezed her heart painfully.  The woman who left this darling child needed to have her head examined.  She must have been exactly like Wes had described her.  A selfish bitch.

"You remember her?" Leigh Ann asked, remembering from Wes's conversation with his mother that Trey's mother left then when Trey was only three.  Leigh Ann's mother aggravated the crap out of her sometimes, but she couldn't imagine growing up without her.

"I remember some."  He looked down at his hands that were now twisting in his lap.

"What do you remember?" Leigh Ann asked, hoping to help him remember something good about the woman who had abandoned him.

"Her and my daddy fought a lot.  I think that might be why she left.  Either that or she didn't like me," he replied and Leigh Ann wished she hadn't asked.  Her heart not only jerked in her chest, it ripped in two for him.

"You were pretty young, you sure you're not mistaken?" she offered, hoping that would end the conversation.

"No, I remember...she didn't like me much," he said in a choked voice.  "She didn't like my daddy either, I really think that's why she left."

"If that's the case, then she's a fool, because both of you are spectacular men," Leigh Ann told Trey with a tight hug. 

A lot of women would kill for a kid like Trey, and a good man to love her.  She was mad at Wes, but he was a good man, and he loved his son.  Leigh Ann could only hope that one day she would be so lucky.  One thing was for sure, if she ever found that for herself, Leigh Ann wasn't going to take it for granted like Trey's mother had done.

"I like you being here, Miss Leigh Ann." Trey rubbed his cheek against her shoulder, and his voice wobbled when he told her, "I wish you could be my mama."

She wished that too.  He was smart and sweet, a good kid, and she would love to call him her own.  But that wasn't happening.  She couldn't tell him though, that beyond a good roll in the sack, his daddy wasn't interested in her.  She also couldn't tell him, because of how he felt about her, she was leaving.  The last thing she wanted to do was hurt this vulnerable child, or make him blame Wes.  Even though it was his fault.

"Aww, honey...you'll have a mama some day, but I'll always be your friend.  Would you be my forever friend?" Leigh Ann asked through the emotion clogging her throat.

He sat up straighter in her lap to throw his arms around her neck.  "I don't want a friend, I need a mama, so the kids won't tease me anymore.  Please, Miss Leigh Ann," he begged and she felt his shoulders shake under her hands. 

A fist squeezed her heart and stopped it from beating, as tears rushed to her eyes.  Dragging in a ragged breath, she hugged him closer as a blinding need to protect him washed over her.  What Leigh Ann wanted to do was dress in her best suit and head to that school on Monday to confront his teacher, or jerk a knot in those kid's butts for their meanness. 

But she didn't have that right to do that. 

Her getting involved would only make Wes hate her more.  All she could do was tamp down her anger and try to defuse the situation, pass it off to Wes to deal with.  Maybe talk to him about it, if she had the opportunity.  But that would probably piss him off too.  She would be getting into his business, and didn't have a right to do that either.

The best thing she could do was stay out of it, and get the hell out of here.  That didn't sit well with her, went totally against the grain of her nature, but that is what she had to do.  "It doesn't work that way, baby...you need to talk to your daddy about those kids, he'll go to your teacher and straighten things out."

"I told Nana..." Trey muttered pitifully nuzzling his face into her neck. 

She dropped a kiss on his hair then pushed him back to look into his sad eyes.  "Your daddy will handle it, I promise.  But you have to tell him about it."

Trey's chin dropped and he nodded, then leaned back against her chest to sigh.  Leigh Ann rubbed his tense shoulders, then glanced at the television.  "Hey, Ted is talking, because that boy made a wish.  That must be magic, huh?"

"I don't believe it, because I wished for a mama and it didn't work," Trey said softly, almost too soft for her to hear, but she heard and what was left of her heart shot up to her throat.  A moment later, he giggled at something the teddy bear said on the screen, and relief poured through her.  He giggled a few more times, exclaimed at something that happened in the movie, and Leigh Ann was able to relax a little.  She stayed on alert though to make sure she could shield him when inappropriate parts were coming up.  It took a lot of effort, because her mind wasn't on the movie.  She was too busy worrying about the trouble Trey was having at school, and how she might be able to help him.

Toward the end of the movie, Trey yawned several times, which made her yawn too.  She sat the now empty bowl down beside the chair, and snuggled him into her arms.  A glance at the clock over the mantle told her it was almost ten o'clock and she needed to put him to bed, but that was her last thought, before her eyes drifted shut.

At midnight, Wes stumbled into the house and sat his medical kit down by the hall table.  Covered in blood, tired to the bone and frustrated as hell, he wanted to head right upstairs and shower then pass out.  The flicker of the television in the living room caught his attention, so he walked that way.  They must have left it on, and the last thing he needed was a higher electric bill, or to have to buy a new set.

He scanned the room and stopped at the recliner, where the soft glow of the TV illuminated Trey, who was in Leigh Ann's lap, both of them fast asleep.  Held tightly in his arms, she hugged him to her chest protectively.  Like a mother would.

Yearning and regret hit Wes square in the chest, almost bringing him to his knees.  Seeing his son's hand resting over Leigh Ann's heart, his face tucked into the curve of her neck told Wes his son probably had the same ache.  Especially after what Wes's mother told him today.  Trey needed a mother. 

Wes needed a wife for that to happen.  Unfortunately, that woman was not going to be Leigh Ann Baker.  And she was getting too damned close to his son.  Because Wes had allowed her into their lives, knowing she wasn't the right woman for them.  He should have known Trey would cling to her.  She was the first woman, other than his mother, that had ever been in their lives.  By allowing her to live with them, Wes had put his son at risk for being hurt.  Guilt floated through him, and Wes vowed to talk to her first thing tomorrow.

Leigh Ann Baker needed to find her own place soon.  Within two weeks.  Maybe if he gave her a deadline it would help.  Until then, he needed to make sure she stayed away from Trey.  Taking a hesitant step toward them, Wes hesitated, then stopped. 

As filthy as he was, he couldn't touch either one of them.  It was no wonder, after treating two severely injured animals.  The cows had escaped the pasture, crashed through a fence, only to be attacked by wild hogs in the woods.  Even Wes's best effort hadn't been enough to save them.  Before he left he had to euthanize them.

Wes hated to fail, and tonight he had failed on two fronts. 

First he failed the farmer, then he failed his son.  Failing the farmer was an everyday thing, something he just dealt with.  He couldn't deal with failing his son.  Leaving Trey with Leigh Ann had been a mistake.  Inviting her to stay here with them was a bigger mistake. 

He knew Trey was missing his mother, so naturally he would latch onto any available woman who showed him attention.  Just like Wes himself had done with the beautiful woman, because he was lonely.  Considering those facts, he should have known better.

It was nobody's fault but his own that this had happened.

Wes just had to fix things fast to keep his son from getting hurt.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A weight lifted off of her chest, cool air brushed her skin.  Leigh Ann was dragged slowly toward consciousness, but a wave of exhaustion pulled her under again.  Snuggling against the plush material against her cheek, Leigh Ann fought to recapture the wonderful dream she had been having.

She and Wes were riding on a motorcycle in the country, her body pressed to his muscular back, the engine vibrations moving through her, the freedom to put her arms around him and knead the corded muscles of his abdomen.  Heaven.

She leaned in and Wes reached back to rest his hand on her thigh and squeeze. The heat of his palm scorched her, as his thumb worked slow lazy circles on her inner thigh.  With a moan, wanting to feel his hand a little higher, she scooted closer to his touch, spreading her legs wider.

"Leigh
Ann
!" a deep voice growled near her ear.  Her eyes popped open.  Groggily she realized it was a dream, and Wes wasn't rubbing her thigh at all.  He was shaking her awake.  Disappointment flooded her, as Leigh Ann pushed away from him and heat crawled up her neck. 

Wes leaned in closer to demand angrily, "Did you let my son watch a Rated R movie?"

"I made sure I covered his eyes and ears during the bad parts," she told him through a stretch that extended her body.

"He knew I didn't want him watching that damned movie, didn't he tell you?" Wes grated furiously.