Daddy Lessons. Stella Bagwell

and helpful to the career she planned to have in accounting. Petroleum was one of the state’s major industries, and gas and oil companies would always need CPAs.

      True, she needed her degree in accounting before she could land a job of that importance. But Savanna only needed a few more hours of college to acquire it. And thankfully, the chance for her to complete her education had finally come to her here in Oklahoma City. She didn’t intend to let anything stand in her way of that. Not even a difficult boss.

      Smiling as brightly as she could manage, she said, “I’ve never had any complaints.”

      Edie had already told him that Savanna Starr was twenty-five. Yet as he looked at her smooth face and slender body, he found it hard to believe. A woman with her looks was usually married by that age. But then, maybe she was married. He hadn’t asked Edie. Normally that sort of information didn’t interest him and it irked the hell out of him that it did now.

      “So why have you worked as a temp for so long? Wouldn’t you rather have a permanent job?”

      Her eyes dropped to his desktop. He’d never know just how much she wanted—needed—permanency in her life. From the time Savanna had been a small child she’d lived her life on a part-time basis. Her father’s job had demanded the family move from one town and state to the next. As she’d grown older she’d planned to escape the vagabond existence as soon as she was old enough to make a permanent home for herself.

      But things hadn’t worked out that way. Just about the time Savanna had planned to move out, her mother had suddenly died from a stroke. After that, she knew she couldn’t leave. Her father had a mild heart condition. He’d needed someone to look after him and make sure he took care of himself. Because she loved him, Savanna had stayed and never regretted it.

      “Working as a temp fits my lifestyle. Since I’ve never really been sure where I was going to be living or for how long, temporary work was all I could commit myself to.”

      So she was a gypsy, he thought. Joe couldn’t imagine such a life. He was a man who always stuck to his plan and never deviated for any reason. He couldn’t imagine flitting around from one place to the next, never knowing if he’d be able to find a job or not. He worked hard to keep stability and security in his life. Yet this past month both of those things seemed to be slipping away.

      Megan’s arrival had definitely wrecked the stability of his day-to-day schedule. As for his drilling company, it desperately needed new revenue to stay afloat. Now, on top of everything else, he had to get used to a new secretary, one that created some strange sort of upheaval inside him every time he looked at her.

      “So you move around a lot?” he asked. “You like that sort of living?”

      From the expression on his face, Savanna figured he was summing her up as a flighty female who probably couldn’t hang on to a job, a man or a home. The idea irked her, but she decided now wasn’t the time to set him straight. She needed money for college tuition and rent for her new apartment. And this job with Joe McCann was the way to get it.

      Shrugging, she said, “It’s been—necessary for me to move around. But now it’s not and I’m hoping to stay permanently here in Oklahoma City.”

      Joe shuffled a stack of papers on his desk and tried his best to appear indifferent. “Why is that? Did you marry someone here in the city?”

      Surprised by his question, Savanna shook her head. “Mercy, no! I’m not looking to get married. Actually, my father remarried a couple of months ago and—well, he doesn’t need me to travel with him anymore. So I’m free to sink my roots,” she explained, then cast him a speculative glance. “Are you married?”

      This wasn’t a normal conversation between a boss and a new temporary secretary, Joe thought. He should have already pointed out her duties and gotten on with his work. But somehow one word had led to another and he still hadn’t found a stopping place.

      “No. I’m not. Why?”

      Savanna shrugged again. “Just curious. Megan mentioned a housekeeper. I wondered if her stepmother was at work or something.”

      Joe heard her speaking but the words barely registered with him. He didn’t know what it was about her, but she was the first woman he’d really wanted to look at in a long time. Which didn’t make a bit of sense. She wasn’t his type at all.

      Still, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from noticing the most minute things about her. Like the tiny pearl earrings she was wearing. He had the strangest urge to see what it would feel like to nibble it loose and sink his teeth into her earlobe.

      Irritated by his unexpected thoughts, Joe cleared his throat and said, “No. There’s no stepmother around to come between me and my daughter.”

      Savanna looked at him curiously. “What makes you think a stepmother would come between you and your daughter? A second mother figure might be just what she needs.”

      Maybe so, Joe thought, but a wife was the very last thing he needed or wanted. “And what makes you think you know so much about children? Are you a mother?” he asked.

      “No. But I was a child once.”

      Grimacing, he picked up several pieces of correspondence. “Everyone is a child once in their life.”

      She was beginning to wonder if Joe McCann had ever been eight years old with freckles on his nose and a gap between his front teeth. “It’s unfortunate some of us forget what that’s like,” she couldn’t help replying.

      With a warning glint in his blue eyes he thrust the papers at her. “Here’s a few letters you can begin working on. I’ve attached notes to the things that need immediate replies. You might attend to those now.”

      Relieved to be out from under his scrutiny, Savanna carried the letters over to the empty desk. Before she had time to put her things away, the telephone rang. It was Megan again, who seemed very surprised when Savanna informed her that her father was allowing her to walk with her friend to the library.

      “He really said I could go?”

      Megan screeched the question with disbelief and Savanna could only wonder if Joe McCann was actually that strict with his daughter or if Megan was simply displaying typical teenage exaggeration. She hoped it was the latter, but from what little she’d seen of her boss this morning, she thought he probably ruled his daughter the way he ran his office. With a stern hand.

      “Yes. As long as you’re back in an hour and a half. I’ll be calling then to make sure you’re home.”

      “Wow, I can’t wait to meet you, Savanna! Edie would never have talked Daddy into letting me go!”

      Savanna glanced over at Joe, who’d now taken a seat at his desk. His attention seemed to be focused on a long piece of green graph paper with a bunch of squiggly lines that looked something like an electrocardiogram. However, Savanna got the feeling that he was actually listening to her instead of studying what she figured was a seismograph report.

      “I wouldn’t say that,” Savanna said carefully. “It really wasn’t that hard.”

      Megan giggled then and Savanna tried to picture the child in her mind. She sounded impish and sweet and full of life. Nothing like her father, she thought as she glanced once again at Joe McCann’s bent head.

      “You don’t know him yet! But you will after today.”

      “Serious, huh?”

      Megan groaned. “Look up the word in the dictionary, Savanna, and you’ll find Daddy’s picture beside it.”

      Savanna could hardly keep from laughing at the teenager’s old joke, but she managed to clamp her lips together just as Joe looked up at her. “Uh, I’ve got to go to work, Megan.”

      “He’s giving you one of those looks, isn’t he?”

      Savanna breathed deeply. Joe was giving her some sort of look. Whether it was the kind Megan meant,