Cowboy Daddy. Carolyne Aarsen

Miss Nicole,” he said. “Alone.”

      His anger seemed extreme for the circumstances. That could mean only one thing. He knew about her momentary deception.

      Time to come clean. She had seen the boys and was ready to face him down. She had Tricia’s will and the law on her side.

      Justin jumped down and scampered around the barn, Tristan close behind.

      Kip watched them leave, then walked toward her, his booted feet stirring up little clouds of dust. The utter stillness of the air felt fraught with uncertainty and a feeling of waiting.

      He stopped in front of her, crossed his arms over his chest and angled his head to one side.

      Fear trembled in her midsection, threaded with a peculiar awareness of him. She pushed her reaction aside and focused on the job she had come here to do.

      “We need to talk,” he said quietly.

      “I know—”

      “I’ve decided to hire you,” he said.

      This wasn’t what she had expected when he came storming around the barn, anger and fury in his eyes.

      “I’ve got a lot going,” he said. “And I can’t stay on top of everything. I really could use your help.”

      The appeal in his voice and the confusion of his expression created an answering flash of sympathy. When she first came into his house, she felt overwhelmed at the mess. When she saw poor Mrs. Cosgrove, trying to fold laundry from her wheelchair, she knew she couldn’t walk away.

      So she pitched in and started cleaning. Mrs. Cosgrove’s gratitude made her momentary subterfuge seem worthwhile.

      Now a man who looked like he could eat bullets and spit out the casings was launching an appeal for her help.

      He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “So tell me what you want to get paid, and we’ll see if we can figure something out.”

      Nicole held his gaze, and when he gave her a half smile, her heart shifted and softened. For a moment, as their eyes held, a tiny crack opened in her defenses, a delicate pining for something missing in her life. As quickly as it came, she sealed it off. Opening herself up to someone would cost too much.

      Besides, he was the enemy. The one who stood between her and her beloved sister’s boys. When he found out who she was, the warmth in his eyes would freeze.

      She took a breath and plunged in.

      “You may as well know, I didn’t come to apply for the housekeeping position.” Nicole spoke quietly, folding her hands in front of her and forcing herself to hold his gaze. “I’m Tricia’s adoptive sister. Justin and Tristan’s aunt. I’ve come to take the boys.”

      Chapter Two

      Kip stared at the woman in front of him, her words spinning around his head.

      Tricia’s sister? Come to take his boys? His brother’s sons?

      “What are you talking about? What do you mean?” His heart did a slow flip as the implications of what she said registered.

      He had come here to offer her a job, and when he saw Justin climbing the fence of the horse corral, he’d lost it. In front of his very attractive prospective employee.

      Now, with his heart still pounding from seeing Justin up on the fence, he was sandbagged with this piece of information.

      “When were you going to tell me that you weren’t applying for the job?” Kip growled, unable to keep his anger tamped down.

      “I just did.” Nicole raised her chin and looked at him with her cool gray-green eyes. “I had no intention of fooling anyone.”

      Kip gave a short laugh. “So how do you figure you’re taking the boys? How does that work?”

      Nicole pressed her lips together and looked away. “It works because Tricia wrote up a will stating that our parents get custody and now she’s…now she’s dead.”

      Kip took a step back, the news hitting him like a blow.

      “What? When?” His poor nephews. How was he going to tell them?

      Nicole didn’t answer right away, and Kip saw the silvery track of a tear on her cheek. She swiped it away with the cuff of her tailored jacket.

      “Tricia died about three years ago. We found out a only few weeks ago.” Her voice sounded strangled, and for a moment Kip sympathized with her. The first few weeks after his brother Scott died, he could barely function. He went through the motions of work, hoping, praying, he could find his balance again. Hoping, praying the pain in his heart would someday ease. Hoping the guilt that tormented him over his brother’s death would someday be gone as well.

      His brother had died only six months ago, and they had only recently found out about Tricia. Her pain must be so raw yet…

      He pulled his thoughts back to the problem at hand. “Why did it take so long for you to find out about Tricia’s death?” he asked, steeling his own emotions to her sorrow.

      “She hadn’t told anyone about her family. Apparently she had just come out of a drug-rehab program. Then she was going to find her boys.”

      “Drug rehab?” Kip’s anger returned. “No wonder Scott came back with the boys.”

      Nicole shot him an angry glance. “According to Tricia’s diary and letters, he took them away without her knowledge or permission. Tricia had moved out of the apartment she shared with Scott and had taken the boys with her. She had brought the boys to a friend’s place so she could go into rehab. She was in for two weeks, and when she came back to see the boys, Scott had taken them and was gone.”

      Kip laughed. “Really.”

      Nicole shot him a frown. “Yes. Really.”

      “And you believe a drug user?”

      Nicole’s frown deepened. “I truly believe that after the boys were born, Tricia had changed. I also believe my sister would not willingly abandon her children.”

      “But she did.”

      “Scott took them away from a home she had placed them in so she could get her life together.” Nicole drew in a quick breath. “Something he had no right to do.”

      “How do you figure that?” Kip’s anger grew. “He was their father.”

      “According to what Tricia wrote, the boys were born before she moved in with Scott. He wasn’t their father.”

      Disbelief and anger battled with each other. “That I refuse to believe,” he barked. “My brother loved those boys. They are his. You can’t prove otherwise. Your sister is a liar.”

      Nicole’s eyes narrowed, and Kip knew he had stepped over a line. He didn’t care. This woman waltzes into their lives with this complicated lie and he’s supposed to be polite and swallow it all? And then let her take the boys away?

      Over his dead body.

      “So how do you want to proceed on this?” Nicole asked, arching one perfectly plucked eyebrow in his direction.

      Kip mentally heaved a sigh. For a small moment he’d thought this woman was the solution to part of his problems.

      Not only was he was back to where he started, even if she was lying, he now had a whole new legal tangle to deal with.

      Dear Lord, I don’t need anything else right now. I don’t have the strength.

      He held her steady gaze, determined not to be swayed by the sparkling in her eyes that he suspected were tears. “The boys were left with me as per my brother’s verbal request,” he said. “I’m their guardian, and until I am notified otherwise, they’re not going anywhere and you’re not to come back here.”

      He