Wife For Hire. Amy Fetzer J.

matter. Even if she was too stubborn to admit it. His daughters’ and the ranch hands’ voices filtered to the kitchen. This was not the place or the time to discuss this. But they would, dammit. They would. And are you prepared to tell her the truth? a voice pestered.

      “Spend the time with your children, Nash. Ask how long they treaded water.” She focused on the book and again Nash felt dismissed in his own house. He turned to the doorway. “And they helped make supper, too,” she added.

      That was a hint to praise them, and Nash felt like a heel for leaving the girls all the time. But that couldn’t be helped and was the singular reason Hayley was here. He stepped back into the dining room.

      Hayley bowed her head, clutching the book to her chest and swallowing the tears threatening to erupt. She thought she’d dealt with this years ago. Hadn’t she gone on with her life? Hadn’t she focused ever bit of energy on her education? Yet she was here, in his house, working for him and she hated it. Hated the reminders that said she’d never let him out of her heart. Oh, Lord. How could she ever forgive him when it hurt so badly just to see what she’d lost? The worst of it was that she’d loved him back then very deeply, and when he’d asked her to put her education on hold, to marry him and raise a family, she’d almost conceded. They’d fought over it. He just couldn’t understand that she’d dreamed of being a doctor since she was a child. She couldn’t let anything stop her then, and he was unwilling to compromise. Besides, she didn’t know a thing about having a home and family. She’d had little of that herself. She’d wanted her career and knew if she’d given in to him, she’d never have gone back to school, and she would have resented him for it.

      However, she never expected him to go straight into Michelle’s arms.

      Michelle had had her sights on Nash the instant he and Hayley had started dating. Hayley had known that, but she’d just never believed her own sorority sister would betray her or that Nash would fall for Michelle’s helpless-Southern-belle bit. But that was only part of it. Hayley wasn’t good enough for him. She didn’t have the social graces, the impeccable background that Michelle Criswell had. Michelle was a socialite; she traveled in Nash’s social circles, possessing all the proper qualities a man like Nash needed in a wife. Hayley, on the other hand, was nearly poverty-stricken, on scholarships and working two jobs to survive. She could never measure up to the Rayburn two-hundred-year-old lineage.

      Michelle had flashed her indecently large engagement ring in her face and victoriously said just that.

      Hayley sniffled and swallowed, reaching for a napkin to dry her tears. Then, she couldn’t have made plans till she had her MD, and she couldn’t now.

      Nash’s deep voice rumbled through the distance to the kitchen, making her heart skip and she looked up at the wall separating the kitchen and dining room. It’s too late to go back, she thought.

      “Calm down, Hayley.”

      “Calm down?” she said into the phone. “I swear, Kat, if I was there, I’d—”

      “Beat me senseless about the head and shoulders?”

      Hayley’s lips curved in a smile and she sighed. “Yeah. But that would ruin your hairdo.” She sank onto the bed, rubbing her forehead. “How could you do this to me?”

      “Sugah, it was fate, I swear it. He called and you were next on the list, available.”

      “Didn’t you consider the position you put me in?”

      “You can handle him. You’re a strong woman, Hayley.”

      “And his former lover.”

      “It would have been rude to mention that.”

      “He doesn’t want me here.”

      “How do you know that?”

      Hayley scoffed. “I’m a bad penny turning up, Kat, and the fact that I’m inches from residency is just one reminder of why we split.”

      “And Michelle didn’t have a thing to do with it, right?”

      Hayley didn’t want to talk about Michelle. She was dead, part of the past, unchangeable. No one, not even Kat, knew the details of Nash’s marriage. It was as if he’d shut out the world then. And it was too painful a subject to approach, especially with Nash. “Michelle didn’t tackle him till he and I argued. Besides, she had all the right qualities, obviously, and—”

      “That’s bunk.”

      “—it wouldn’t have worked,” Hayley said as if Kat hadn’t spoken. “He wanted a wife and mother. I wanted a career. I still want that. Besides, I don’t have time.”

      “You have two weeks.”

      Hayley didn’t bother to comment on that. “Fine, be that way.” Kat paused and then said, “So, how’s he look?”

      Smiling at the purely feminine interest in Kat’s voice, Hayley shook her head and flopped back onto the pillows. “Well, you know how fine wine gets with age.”

      “Oh, lawd, he must be devastating.”

      “An understatement.” Wealthy, commanding, handsome, strong-willed and, as she recalled, a great kisser. What more could a girl ask for?

      Kat’s voice broke back into her thoughts. “His daughters?”

      She smiled. “Beautiful. Sweet, well behaved.”

      “You’re falling in love with them.”

      “Anyone with a heart would.”

      “And their daddy?”

      “That is a dead subject, Kat. But…”

      Kat jumped on her hesitation. “But what?”

      “Nothing…it’s nothing.”

      “Dag-gummit, Hayley Ann!”

      Hayley smiled. Let her stew, she thought. Kat deserves to be left out in the cold. Not that there was anything to tell. “You know, Katherine, what goes around comes around.”

      “Hah! I wish something long-legged and slow talkin’ like Nashville Rayburn would come calling around me.”

      Nashville. She’d forgotten about that little secret. “Careful what you wish for, you tart.”

      “Pest. Always were. Worst little sister I’ve ever sponsored.” The love in Kat’s tone was unmistakable.

      Hayley heard voices, and frowning, she walked to her bedroom door and opened it, peering into the hall. It was coming from the girls’ quarters upstairs. “I’ve got to go. I can hear Nash hollering, and he sounds like he’s going to bust a vein or something.”

      “Well, you just go to him, then, sugah.”

      Distracted, Hayley didn’t recognize the smugness in Katherine’s voice before she cut the line and tossed the phone on the bed.

      Had she, she might not have gone upstairs.

      “Kimberly Grace Rayburn, open this door!”

      “I can’t, Daddy!”

      “I promised not to come in, but you promised not to lock the door.”

      “We’re fine, Daddy. We’re not babies.”

      “But you’re my babies.” They just giggled. “I can get it open, you know.”

      “No!” the twins wailed.

      Nash sighed, falling back against the wall and rubbing his hand over his face. They’d been at this for ten minutes and he didn’t want them bathing without supervision. Why were they so shy around him lately?

      “It’s normal.”

      He opened his eyes to find Hayley standing nearby, a stack of towels in her arms. “I’m their father,” he said.

      “You’re