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

make a rancher out of you one day, young lady,” he said with a grin.

      “Billy’s dad said he was sure glad he had a son instead of girls. Daddy, do you ever wish me and Jenny was boys?” she asked.

      He stopped, dropped to one knee and hugged the child close. “Daddy loves little girls,” he said softly. “And he wouldn’t trade you and Jenny for all the boys in the world. You tell Billy I said that.”

      Bess chuckled. “I will!” She kissed his cheek with a big smack. “I love you, Daddy!”

      “I love you, too, little chick.”

      Jenny, jealous, had to have a hug, too, and they ended up each clinging to a strong, lean hand as they went into the house.

      Kasie watched them, feeling more lost and alone than she had in months. She ached to be part of a family again. Watching Gil with the girls only emphasized what she’d lost.

      She went up onto the porch and up the staircase slowly, her hand smoothing over the silky wood of the banister as she tried once again to come to grips with her loss.

      She was curled up in her easy chair watching an old movie on television when there was a soft knock at the door just before it opened. Bess and Jenny sneaked in wearing their gowns and bathrobes and slippers, peering cautiously down the hall before they closed the door.

      “Hello,” Kasie said with a smile, opening her arms as they clambered up into the big chair with her and cuddled close. “You smell nice.”

      “We had baths,” Bess said. “Miss Parsons said we was covered with chocolate sauce.” She giggled. “We splashed her.”

      “You bad babies,” she chided softly and kissed little cheeks.

      “Could you tell us a story?” they asked.

      “Sure. What would you like to hear?”

      “The one with the bears.”

      “Okay.” She started the story, speaking in all the different parts, while they snuggled close and listened with attention.

      Just to see if they were really listening, she added, “And then the wolf huffed and puffed…”

      “No, Kasie!” Bess interrupted. “That’s the pig story!”

      “Is it?” she exclaimed. “All right, then. Well, the bears came home…”

      “Huffing and puffing?” came a deep, amused query from the doorway. The little girls glanced at him, looking guilty and worried. “Miss Parsons is looking for you two fugitives,” he drawled. “If I were you, I’d get into my beds real fast. She’s glowering.”

      “Goodness! We got to go, Kasie!” Bess said, and she and Jenny scrambled to their feet and ran past their father down the hall, calling good-nights as they went.

      Gil studied Kasie from the doorway. She was wearing her own white gown, with a matching cotton robe this time, and her long hair waved around her shoulders. She looked very young.

      “You weren’t reading from a book. What did you do, memorize the story?” he asked curiously.

      “I guess so,” she confided, smiling. “I’ve told it so many times, I suppose I do have it down pretty well.”

      “Who did you tell it to?” he asked reasonably.

      The smile never faded, but she withdrew behind it. “A little girl who stayed with us sometimes,” she replied.

      “I see.”

      “They came in and asked for a story,” she explained. “I hated telling them to go away…”

      “I haven’t said a word.”

      “You did,” she reminded him worriedly. “I know that Miss Parsons looks after them. I’m not trying to interfere.”

      “I know that. But it’s making things hard for her when they come to you instead,” he said firmly.

      She grimaced. “I can’t hurt their feelings.”

      “I’ll speak to them.” He held up a hand when she started to protest. “I’ll speak to them nicely,” he added. “I won’t make an issue of it.”

      She hesitated. “Okay.”

      “You have your own duties,” he continued. “It isn’t fair to let you take on two jobs, no matter how you feel about it. I don’t pay Miss Parsons to sit and read tax manuals.”

      Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding,” she said, sitting up straight. “She reads tax manuals? What for? Did you ask her?”

      “I did. She says she reads them for pleasure,” he said. “Apparently she didn’t really want to retire from the accounting business, but she was faced with a clerical position or retirement,” he added with a droll smile.

      “Oh, dear.”

      He pushed away from the door facing. “Don’t stay up too late. John needs to get an early start. He’ll be away for a week showing Ebony King on the road.”

      “He’s the new young bull,” Kasie recalled. “He eats corn out of my hand,” she added with a smile. “I never thought of bulls as being gentle.”

      “They’re a real liability if they’re not,” he pointed out. “A bull that size could trample a man with very little difficulty.”

      “I guess he could.” She stood up, with her hands in the pockets of the cotton robe. “I’m sorry about the girls coming in here.”

      “Oh, hell, I don’t mind,” he said on a rough breath. “But it isn’t wise to let them get too attached to you, Kasie. You know it, and you know why.”

      “They think you’re going to marry Pauline,” she blurted out, and then flushed at having been so personal with him.

      “I haven’t thought a lot about remarrying,” he replied quietly. His eyes went over her with a suddenly intent appraisal. “But maybe I should. They’re getting to the age where they’re going to need a woman’s hand in their lives. I love them, but I can’t see things from a female point of view.”

      “You’ve done marvelously with them so far,” she told him. “They’re polite and generous and loving.”

      “So was their mother,” he remarked and for a few seconds, his face was lined with grief before he got it under control. “She loved them.”

      “You said Bess was like her,” she reminded him.

      “Yes,” he said at once. “She had long, wavy blond hair, just that same color. Jenny looks more like me. But Bess is more like me.”

      She smiled. “I’ve noticed. She has a very hard head when she doesn’t want to do something.”

      He shrugged. “Being stubborn isn’t always a bad thing. Persistence is the key to most successes in life.”

      “Yes.” She searched his hard face, seeing the years of work and worry. It was a good, strong face, but it wasn’t handsome.

      He was looking at her, too, and something stirred inside him, a need that he had to work to put down. He moved out the door. “Sleep well, Kasie,” he said curtly.

      “You, too.”

      He closed the door behind him, without looking at her again. She went back to her movie, but with much less enthusiasm.

      Chapter Five

      The week went by slowly, and the girls, to Kasie’s dismay, became her shadows. She worried herself sick trying to keep Gil from noticing, especially after the harsh comments he’d made about her job responsibilities. It didn’t help that she kept remembering the feel of his arm around her at the movie theater, and the