To Wear His Ring: Circle of Gold / Trophy Wives / Dakota Bride. Wendy Warren

she was, with that same vulnerable, kind, generous spirit. He had two little girls and a high-pressure business that gave him little free time. He was still grieving, in a way, for Darlene, whom he’d loved since grammar school. But there was something about Kasie that made him hungry. It wasn’t desire, although he was aware of heady sensations when she was close to him. No, it was the sort of hunger a man got when he was standing outside in the snow with a wet coat and soaked jeans, looking through the window at a warm, glowing fireplace. He couldn’t really explain the feelings. They made him uneasy.

      He noticed that she was still a little stiff. He touched a curl at her ear. “Hey,” he whispered.

      She turned her head and looked up at him in the semidarkness.

      “I’m not hitting on you,” he whispered into her ear. “Okay?”

      She relaxed. “Okay.”

      The obvious relief in her voice made him feel guilty and offended. He moved his arm back to the chair and forced himself to watch the movie. He had to remember that Kasie worked for him. It wasn’t fair to use her to ward off other women. But…was it really that?

      The dinosaur movie was really well-done, Kasie thought as she became involved in the storyline and the wonder of creatures that looked really alive up there on the screen. It was a bittersweet sort of cartoon, though, and she was sorry for the little girls. Because when it was over, Bess and Jenny came to them crying about the dinosaurs that had died in the film.

      “Oh, sweetheart, it was only a movie,” Kasie said at once, and bent to pick up Bess, hugging her close. “Just a movie. Okay?”

      “But it was so sad, Kasie,” cried the little girl. “Why do things have to die?”

      “I don’t know, baby,” she said softly, and her eyes closed for an instant on a wave of remembered pain. She’d lost so many people she loved.

      Gil had Jenny up in his arms, and they walked out of the theater carrying the children. Behind them, other mothers were trying to explain about extinction.

      “There, there, baby,” he cooed at Jenny and kissed her wet eyes. “It was only make-believe. Dinosaurs don’t really talk, you know, and they had brains the size of peas.” He shifted her and smiled. “Hey, remember what I told you about chickens, about how they’ll walk right up to a rattlesnake and let it strike them? Well, dinosaurs didn’t even have brains that big.”

      “They didn’t?” Bess asked from her secure hold on Kasie.

      “They didn’t,” Gil said. “If a meteor had struck them, they’d be standing right in its path waiting for it. And they wouldn’t be discussing it, either.”

      Kasie laughed as she looked at Gil, delighted at the way he handled the sticky situation. He was, she thought, a marvelous parent.

      “Can we get some ice cream on the way home?” Bess asked then, wiping her tears.

      “You bet. We’ll stop by the yogurt place.”

      “Thanks, Daddy!” Bess cried.

      “You’re the nicest daddy,” Jenny murmured against his throat.

      “You really are, you know,” Kasie agreed as they strapped the little girls into the back seat.

      His eyes met hers across the children. “I’m a veteran daddy,” he told her dryly.

      “Is that what it is?” Kasie chuckled.

      “You get better with practice, or so they tell me. Do you like frozen yogurt? I get them that instead of ice cream. It’s healthy stuff.”

      “I like it, too,” Kasie said as she got into the front seat beside him.

      “We’ll get some to take home for Mrs. Charters and Miss Parsons,” he added, “so that we don’t get blamed for ruining their appetites for supper.”

      “Now that’s superior thinking,” Kasie had to admit.

      He started the engine and eased them out of the crowded parking lot.

      The yogurt shop was a few miles from home. They stopped and got the treat in carryout cups, because Gil was expecting a phone call from a buyer out of state.

      “I don’t like to work on Sundays,” he remarked as they drove home. “But sometimes it’s unavoidable.”

      “Do you ever take the girls to church?”

      He hesitated. “Well…no.”

      She was watching him with those big, soft gray eyes, in which there wasn’t condemnation or censure. It was almost as if she knew that his faith had suffered since the death of his wife. No, for longer than that. It had suffered since childhood, when his parents had…

      “I haven’t gone for several months, myself,” Kasie remarked quietly. She twisted her purse slowly in her hands. “If I…start back, I could take them with me, if you didn’t mind.”

      “I don’t mind,” he replied.

      Her eyes softened and she smiled at him.

      He tore his gaze away from that warm affection and forced it back to the road. His hand tightened on the steering wheel. She really was getting to him. He wished he knew some way to head off trouble. He found her far too attractive, and she continued to make her lack of receptiveness known. He didn’t want to do something stupid and send her looking for another job.

      “I enjoyed today,” he said after a minute. “But you remember that Miss Parsons is supposed to be responsible for the girls,” he added with a stern glance. “You have enough to do keeping John’s paperwork current. Understand?”

      “Yes, I do. I’ll try very hard to stop interfering,” she promised.

      “Good. Pauline is out of town for the next week, but she’ll be home in time for the pool party we’re giving next Saturday. She’ll be in the office the following Monday morning. You can give her another computer lesson.”

      She grimaced. “She doesn’t like me.”

      “I know. Don’t let it worry you. She’s efficient.”

      She wasn’t, but apparently she’d managed to conceal it from Gil. Kasie wondered how he’d managed not to notice the work Pauline didn’t do.

      “Did John have a secretary before me?” she asked suddenly.

      “He did, and she was a terrific one, too. But she quit with only a week’s notice.”

      “Did she say why?” she fished with apparent unconcern.

      “Something about being worked to death. John didn’t buy it. She didn’t have that much to do.”

      She did, if she was doing John’s work and having Gil’s pawned off on her as well. Kasie’s eyes narrowed. Well, she wasn’t going to get away with it now. If Pauline started expecting Kasie to do her job for her, she was in for a surprise.

      “Funny,” Gil murmured as he turned onto the black shale ranch road that led to the Double C. “Pauline said she couldn’t use the computer, but she always had my herd records printed out. Even if they weren’t updated properly.”

      Kasie didn’t say a word. Surely he’d work it out by himself one day. She glanced back at the girls, who were still contentedly eating frozen yogurt out of little cups. They were so pretty and sweet. Her heart ached just looking at them. Sandy had been just Bess’s age…

      She bit down hard on her lip. She mustn’t cry. Tears were no help at all. She had to look ahead, not backward.

      Gil pulled up in front of the house and helped Kasie get the girls out.

      “Thanks for the movie,” Kasie told him, feeling shy now.

      “My pleasure,” he said carelessly. “Come on, girls, let’s get you settled with Miss Parsons. Daddy’s got to