The Tycoon's Tots (4 page)

What was it about this man? Chloe wondered. How could he make her feel so infuriated and so torn all at once? He was full of sarcasm, and she wanted to tell him how superficially he viewed life. Yet she also wanted to give and show him the kindness, the closeness she knew he desperately needed.

“That wasn't really what I meant,” she said, then made an impatient swipe through the air with her hand. “And since you don't understand, I'll try to explain it this way. I'd much rather the twins be watching ‘Lassie' on Sunday evening with their family than worrying over how to fatten their bank accounts.”

“From the look of things, it wouldn't hurt you and your sisters to do a little worrying.”

He could have said anything but that. For months Chloe had lain awake at nights wondering where the ranch's next dollar would come from and how it was going to cover everything her family needed to live. And his sister had put them in this desperate situation!

Acid words burned her tongue, but she kept them to herself as she stood and quickly began to unbuckle the babies from their high chairs.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm going home.”

His eyes roamed her flushed face. “I've made you an gry.”

She let out a dry little laugh as she lifted Anna from the chair and placed her into the stroller. Once she'd straightened from her task, she looked Wyatt square in the eyes. “I know all about having money and not having money. Your sister took all of ours away. But you know, I still think I'm far richer than you'll ever be.”

In that instant Wyatt knew he wasn't dealing with just any woman. Chloe Murdock wasn't typical or gullible or easily impressed. She wasn't like any woman he'd ever known. So how did he ever expect to get through to her?

Without a backward glance, she pushed the stroller out of the little café and headed toward her pickup. She was only a few steps away from the door when Wyatt's hand came down on her forearm. She whirled on him, her green eyes flashing with outrage.

“What are you doing?” she asked, glancing pointedly to where his fingers snared her arm.

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you back there.”

She told herself not to look at him, but her eyes betrayed her. “Forget it. It's ridiculous for us to think we could talk civilly about anything. We're on opposite sides.”

“No. That's where you're wrong. We both want what's best for the twins, don't we?”

She contemplated his question for a moment, then nodded. “I hope you really mean that.”

“I do.”

Most of her anger faded as quickly as it had flared. Yet she moved toward the pickup anyway. It was time for her to go home and get away from this man.

“Chloe?”

With Adam cradled in her arms, she glanced at him. “Yes?”

“Did my sister really take all your money?”

She could see he was appalled by the very idea. And she couldn't help thinking the Murdock family weren't the only ones Belinda had duped.

Chloe gave one rueful nod of her head. “Once the ranch account was depleted, Daddy borrowed several thousand dollars from Harlan. He wasn't Rose's husband then. Just a friend and neighbor. But he loaned Daddy the money, accepting the Bar M as collateral. All of that money went to Belinda, too.”

Dear Lord, what had his sister been thinking? What was she doing with the money and why would she have wanted to take from these people? She'd had so much of her own.

“Then technically the ranch belongs to your brother-inlaw, Harlan?”

Chloe frowned at him. “There's no technically about it. After he and Rose married, he was generous enough to dissolve the loan. You see, there is no yours or mine in our family. It's strictly ours.”

One corner of his mouth cocked upward. “I've always heard it was bad business to be partners with family members.”

She gave him a weary look. “We're not talking about business here, Wyatt. We're talking about our home.”

Not wanting to let things go at that, Wyatt followed as she pushed the stroller to the pickup.

Chloe opened the door, then turned around to retrieve the twins from their stroller.

“Oh!” She gasped as her face nearly collided with Wyatt's chest. “I didn't know you were back there.”

Amused by her surprise, Wyatt's eyes took their time going over every feature of her face. “There was something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

He was standing so close she could see the pores in his
dark skin, the granite flecks radiating out from his pupils and the uneven line of his very white teeth. The wind had ruffled his black hair, sending two straight locks spilling over his forehead. The faintest hint of sandalwood and musk emanated from his pale blue shirt, reminding Chloe even more of his maleness.

“Don't you think we've already said it all?”

A faint smile touched his face. “I wanted to see if it would be okay with you if I came out to the ranch again tomorrow.”

“To see the twins?”

“And you.”

Chloe wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that and for the moment she was too unsettled to ask.

“Well, since I haven't persuaded you to pack your bags and head back to Houston—yet—I guess I could do it over supper tomorrow night. If plain old ranch grub will be all right with you.”

Supper with Chloe and her family? It wasn't what Wyatt had in mind. He wanted to be on this woman's good side, but that didn't mean he wanted or needed to rub elbows with her. Still, the invitation was too good to turn down for any reason.

“I'll be there. What time?”

“Six or so. No, better make it seven. The farrier is coming tomorrow afternoon and sometimes one or two of the horses give him a bad time and it takes him longer than expected to finish.”

“I can't imagine
you
having a temperamental horse.”

She gave him a provocative smile. “It would be boring if everything and everyone bent to my will, now wouldn't it?”

If she wasn't flirting with him, she was getting damn close. The idea excited Wyatt in spite of his intentions to remain distant.

“I believe you'll find I don't bend very easily, Chloe.”

No. She didn't imagine he complied to anyone's wishes. Unless he wanted to.

Ducking beneath the arm he'd propped on the pickup door, she lifted Anna out of the stroller.

Turning to help her, Wyatt lifted. Adam out of the stroller and into his arms. The boy immediately grabbed for Wyatt's chin and hung on with a healthy grip.

“I guess he's checking out my shaving ability,” Wyatt joked, surprised at how much the baby's soft little hand affected him.

Back in Houston, Wyatt hadn't expected to feel instant love for the twins. Even though they were his sister's children, he hadn't even known they'd existed until a few short weeks ago when he'd been contacted about Belinda's death.

The twins were strangers to him. And yet he couldn't deny that yesterday when he'd walked into the Bar M kitchen, the sight of the babies had gone straight to his heart. And now, holding Adam and feeling the baby's hand exploring his face, he knew that coming here had been the right thing to do. The twins needed him. And if Wyatt wanted to be totally honest with himself, he needed the twins.

“Babies like to touch what they see.”

She reached for Adam and Wyatt reluctantly handed him over to her.

“That must prove troublesome at times.”

Her expression bemused, she asked, “Have you never been around babies before?”

“No. But I plan to remedy that in the coming days.”

She raised her eyebrows but said nothing as she turned and placed Adam into the car seat beside his sister. Her fingers fumbled several times before she finally managed to secure the seat belts across both children. All the while she could feel Wyatt just behind her shoulder. Waiting for
what, she didn't know. She only knew he was playing havoc with her senses.

“I'd better be getting home. Aunt Kitty wasn't expecting me to be gone this long,” she told him. “She'll be worried if I don't show up soon.”

He wanted to tell her she should have a cellular phone in her truck, especially traveling with the children over a twenty-mile stretch of desert mountain highway. But he stopped himself short. Chloe Murdock couldn't afford a cellular phone. Was that really Belinda's fault? Was this woman having to struggle to make ends meet because of his sister's reckless behavior? He didn't want to think so. But even if it were true, he didn't owe Chloe anything. Did he?

He stepped back so she could shut the door.

“Drive carefully,” he said.

She skirted the cab of the truck and climbed behind the wheel. “I'm always careful with the children.”

He hadn't been thinking only of the twins' safety. He'd been thinking of her, too. Thank goodness, she didn't know that. The last thing he needed was for Chloe Murdock believing she'd gotten under his skin.

“T
his is totally unnecessary,” Chloe said to her sisters the next evening as they both attempted to shoo her out of the stable.

“We'll finish up here,” Rose assured her. “You go on to the house and get ready for your dinner guest.”

“Dinner guest. Hell's bells, Rose! Belinda Waller's brother isn't my dinner guest!”

Justine rolled her eyes. “Well, the man is coming to supper, Chloe. What else would you call him?”

Chloe could think of several choice words, but she knew her sisters, especially Rose, wouldn't appreciate hearing them.

Turning to Justine, she said, “You shouldn't even be down here. Roy will have a fit if he finds out!”

“Roy knows exactly where I am and what I'm doing. The doctor wants me to get exercise and I won't lift anything I shouldn't. Rose will make sure of that.”

Seeing she couldn't argue with either of them, Chloe threw up her hands and headed out of the stable.

“Chloe, please hold on to your temper and be nice to the man,” Rose called after her.

“Remember,” Justine added, “sugar catches more flies than vinegar.”

“Who's going to be doing any fly catching? I just want to make the man see he's wasting his time here.”

Up at the house Chloe found Kitty already busy in the kitchen. When she spotted several New York strips lying on the butcher block, she asked in a scandalized voice, “You're not going to fix these, are you? These are the ranch's best steaks! We only eat these on special occasions.”

Kitty shrugged as she cut shortening into a bowl of flour. “This is a special occasion. The twins' uncle is coming for dinner.”

Just hearing Kitty say the word
uncle
chilled her. “You make it sound like he's already a part of the family!”

Kitty pointed the pastry blender at her niece. “Chloe, I think you need to face the fact that Wyatt Sanders will always be Adam and Anna's uncle. No matter what.”

“I can live with that as long as he stays in Houston and the twins stay here,” she said.

With a helpless shake of her head, Kitty turned back to her pastry bowl. “Do you mean to tell me that you'd like it if the twins never saw him?”

Sighing, Chloe walked over to the refrigerator and pushed a glass under the water dispenser on the door. “Would that be so bad?”

“Chloe, I'd be the first one to put up a fight if Wyatt tried to take the twins from this ranch. I don't think he should even consider trying to do such a thing. But I also believe it would be wrong of us to try to cut him totally out of their lives. He has a right to his family. Just like we do.”

And the twins were the only family Wyatt had now, Chloe couldn't help thinking. For his sake, she regretted
that. Everybody needed family. Including Wyatt Sanders. But he was a young, handsome man. He could marry and have children of his own. Chloe couldn't As far as she was concerned that was the gist of the matter.

“You're probably right, Aunt Kitty. And don't worry, I'm going to politely invite Wyatt to be the twins' uncle. But not their father!”

She drained the glass of water and left the kitchen before Kitty could say more.

By seven that evening, Chloe was dressed in a pair of black silk pants and a red mohair sweater. Her hair was brushed loosely on her shoulders and tucked behind her ears, to which she'd clipped rhinestone teardrops.

She was still trying to decide if she was overdressed when she heard Wyatt's car pull up in front of the house. Glancing one last time in the mirror, she assured herself that anything more than jeans would look dressed up for her. Besides, Wyatt Sanders opinion of her looks mattered nothing whatsoever.

But a few moments later as she opened the door for him, her heart was pattering like a schoolgirl's on prom night

“Good evening, Wyatt,” she greeted while gesturing for him to come in. “You timed your arrival just right. Aunt Kitty is about to take the rolls out of the oven.”

He stepped into a living room furnished with comfortable leather furniture. Throw rugs woven in bright southwestern patterns were scattered over the Spanish tiled floor. At one end of the room a small fire was burning in a rock fireplace.

Smells of good cooking reached his nose, but they didn't quite drown out the exotic scent of Chloe. Nor did his hunger pains divert his attention from the sight of her.

The deep red of her sweater suited her coloring, and the black pants, though loose and fluttery, still allowed him a glimpse of a voluptuous figure.

Suddenly remembering the wine in his hands, he thrust the bottle at her. “I didn't know what to bring.” He'd been tempted to purchase a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers, but had quickly censured the idea. He wasn't Chloe's dinner date. He wasn't even her friend. “I hope some of your family likes burgundy.”

“We all like wine,” she assured him. “Thank you.”

“It's already getting cool outside, but it feels good in here,” he said, glancing once again at the welcoming fire.

“The twins like to crawl in this room before bedtime, and I didn't want the floor to be cold.” She motioned toward the couch. “Have a seat and I'll go see if Aunt Kitty needs any help.”

“Where are the twins? In the kitchen?”

Chloe nodded and he said, “Then I'd like to come with you and say hello.”

“Suit yourself.”

He followed her down a long hallway. At the end and to the right were a pair of wide, batwing doors. Chloe pushed through them and Wyatt found himself in the kitchen he'd been in two days ago.

Like then, the room was warm and full of the smells of cooking. The stacks of dirty dishes were gone as was the ironing board, but it was still very cluttered compared to his own kitchen.

At the sound of their footsteps, Kitty looked up from the salad she was tossing. “Hello, Mr. Sanders,” she greeted.

Wyatt went over to the woman and offered her his hand. “Hello, Ms.—I don't believe I caught your last name the other day.”

She wiped her hand on the front of her apron, then reached to shake Wyatt's. “No one ever uses my last name. Just call me Kitty.”

“And I'd like you to call me Wyatt, if you would.”

“Certainly. And if I seemed rude the other day, I hope
you'll forgive me. Learning the twins had an uncle just about floored me. It wasn't anything personal against you.”

He waved away her words. “You have nothing to apologize for. This whole thing is—an unusual set of circumstances.”

That was definitely an understatement, Chloe thought. She placed the bottle of wine on the cabinet counter. “Wyatt followed nfe to the kitchen to say hello to the twins,” she told her aunt.

Kitty motioned to the other side of the room. “They're in their playpen.”

Wyatt looked over to where a playpen had been wedged between a chest-type deep freeze and a Formica kitchen table. The twins were sitting up, facing each other. Scattered around them on the floor of the playpen were several cans of vegetables, a small cooking pot with a.lid and a number of spoons and rubber spatulas. At the moment, Adam was banging one of the spatulas on everything within his reach, including his sister.

Walking over to the playpen, Wyatt squatted down on his heels to the babies' level. “Don't the twins have any toys?” he asked.

Chloe snorted while Kitty laughed and said, “Just a whole nursery full. But babies get bored with toys pretty fast. They like grown-up things to play with.”

“I hope that doesn't include knives and guns.”

“We're not crazy,” Chloe said sharply.

“Chloe! Wyatt was only teasing,” Kitty admonished her niece.

He hadn't been teasing, exactly. But he was glad Kitty had thought so. He didn't want to be insulting. It was just that these people lived so differently from him and he didn't know anything about babies. Being ignorant left him saying things he was constantly wanting to take back.

Walking over to the playpen, Chloe looked down at him. “Were you teasing?”

It seemed all they could do was ruffle each other's feathers, Wyatt thought. Which was a puzzle to him. Usually he didn't have any problem dealing with women. “I know you don't let the children play with anything dangerous,” he assured her.

Somewhat mollified, Chloe held out her arms toward the two babies. “Okay little darlings, show Uncle Wyatt how you can stand up all by yourselves.”

Like typical children, when asked to show off their achievements the twins refused to cooperate.

Wyatt smiled. “They don't seem to mind you too well.”

She grimaced. “They're too young to mind anyone.”

“Can they walk? When will they have teeth?”

So he truly didn't know about babies or toddlers. It made her wonder why he would want to take on the enormous task of raising two. Surely there was more to it than just wanting to help his late sister.

“Some babies walk at nine months, some are much older. Adam and Anna are trying. They can stand with just a little bit of help now. As for their teeth, they each have five.”

“Five teeth!” He appeared surprised and impressed. “Then they can chew regular food?”

“A few soft things. They still take a bottle and will for a couple of more months.”

“Chloe, everything is ready if you want to help me carry things into the dining room,” Kitty spoke up behind them.

Wyatt straightened to his full height. “There's no need to do that for me. We could eat here in the kitchen, unless you have more people coming and need the room.”

“There's no one else coming for dinner,” Chloe assured him. “My sisters and their families were busy tonight.” Deliberately she could have added. For some reason she couldn't fathom, they had all agreed it would be better if
she negotiated with Wyatt by herself, rather than throw a whole army of family at him.

“Are you sure?” Kitty asked him. “We have a nice dining room. We don't use it too often except when company, or more of the family comes.”

Well, Wyatt was neither company nor family. Worse than that, he knew he wasn't really wanted here. They were tolerating him, welcoming him into their home because he'd practically left them no choice. And suddenly, as he took in the babies and Chloe, Kitty and the warm, cluttered kitchen, he wished it wasn't that way. He wished he wasn't someone they feared and resented.

“Eating here in the kitchen will be fine with me. Can I do anything to help?”

Neither Chloe nor Kitty was used to a man's help in the kitchen. While he was living, Tomas had avoided the room. The only thing Harlan and Roy were good at was opening a can and heating the contents. And that was only when they had to. Wyatt's offer had both women staring at him with disbelief.

“I do know my way around the kitchen,” he assured them. “I've cooked for myself for years.”

The last thing Chloe had expected him to be tonight was amicable. It made her wonder if he was merely trying to butter them up. Or did he actually want to be helpful? How could she know? How could she trust him about anything?

“I'll help Aunt Kitty carry the food to the table. You might open the wine you brought,” she suggested.

Smiling to himself, Wyatt went to fetch the wine bottle from the cabinet counter. Chloe might not want him here, but little by little she was bending. Maybe after a few more days he'd have her changing her mind about a lot of things.

Moments later they sat down to steak, wilted salad, baked potatoes and hot rolls. Between bites for herself, Chloe fed Adam and Anna mashed baked potatoes.

“The babies usually have their meal a little earlier than
we do,” Kitty told Wyatt. “But Chloe always likes to feed them a bit of table food when we eat.”

“They like it better than that pureed stuff,” Chloe explained.

“Well, pretty soon you're going to have them so spoiled they'll be spitting out the baby food and crying for meat and potatoes.”

Chloe made an exaggerated happy face at both twins and the babies giggled loudly. “That's okay. Justine said I could put most any sort of meat in the blender and break it down to a consistency they can eat.”

Wyatt thought he remembered Justine being the name of the woman who'd found the babies on the front porch. “Justine is your sister?”

“She's the middle one of us,” Chloe answered.

“She and Roy Pardee married back in the early part of July so she doesn't live on the ranch anymore,” Kitty explained.

Chloe added, “She has a five-year-old son and another child on the way. She's also a nurse, so she knows all about caring for children.”

Wyatt tried to digest all this information. “Then her son is from a former marriage?”

Kitty shook her head, while Chloe wondered why he was bothering to learn about her family. If she would agree to let him take the twins, he'd be gone from here in the wink of an eye and never think twice about any of the Murdocks.

“No. Charlie is Roy's son. Roy just didn't know about Charlie for a while. And for a while Justine believed he didn't want to know about him,” Kitty told him, then waved her fork through the air. “It's a long, complicated story. Maybe Chloe will tell you about it sometime.”

Wyatt glanced curiously at Chloe. “So both your sisters have married recently. That hasn't made you get the itch for a husband?”

Her expression unmoving, she said, “When I get an itch I get out the calamine lotion. I don't go looking for a man.”

Kitty made a production of clearing her throat. “Chloe vows she'll never marry.”

Chloe cast her aunt a look that warned her to go no further with explanations.

As Wyatt sliced off a bite of steak, he glanced at Chloe. “Is that so?”

Unconsciously lifting her chin, she said, “I told you. I'm not good marriage material. I have a mind of my own and I've found my horses make far better companions than men.”