Their Inherited Triplets. Cathy Gillen Thacker

so it really wouldn’t be worthwhile for anyone to go in and try to locate and then steal their boxes.”

      She went into the barn, came out with a wooden pallet and carried it over to the apiary. She wanted any remaining bees in the area to have a place to go.

      Sam kept pace with her, inundating her with his brisk, masculine scent. He watched her set down the pallet in the middle of the barren field. “Why would they want to do that, anyway? I mean, given the risk of getting caught?”

      She returned to the barn for a brand-new wooden bee box bearing the Honeybee Ranch brand and a metal water pan. Already thinking about getting a new queen for the hive. “Because adding hives to orchards can increase the yield up to four hundred percent.” At his look of amazement, she added, “I’ve had offers to rent out my bees to almond orchards in California, watermelon fields in south Texas and cranberry bogs in Wisconsin.”

      His large frame blocking out the late-afternoon June sunshine, Sam stood back and gave her room to work. “And you said no?”

      Acutely aware of his fiercely masculine presence, she carried both items over to the pallet inside the apiary. Set the lidded box down, filled a water pan from the outdoor faucet and left it nearby. “Every time.”

      His brow furrowed. She could see he didn’t understand.

      Sighing, she explained, “I could earn money that way, but it’d be hard on my bees, and it would bring with it risk of mites and disease and infection to the hives. Which would not be worth it in my opinion, since I already have a very good market for my honey. Or had.”

      Briefly, guilt and remorse etched the handsome features of his face. “I’m so sorry, darlin’.”

      Again. Too little, too late.

      Arms folded, she moved even farther away.

      Gruffly, he promised, “We’ll find your bees, Lulu.”

      She dug in her heels. Now was not the time for idle comfort, just as earlier had not been the time for idle promises. “And if we don’t?” The tears she’d been holding back flooded her eyes. “Then what?” She blotted the moisture with her fingertips. “I’m going to have to start my honey business all over, Sam.”

      He shook his head, stubbornly nixing even the possibility of that outcome. “Someone had to have seen something unusual, even if they didn’t put it together at the time. With the sheriff’s department and the cattleman’s association both working on finding answers ASAP, we should know something soon.”

      Would they? Lulu wished she could be as certain of that as Sam. Heck, she wished she had even a tenth of his confidence.

      “In the meantime,” he continued in an agreeable tone that warmed her through and through, “I’d like to help you in whatever way I can.”

      Lulu studied him. “Do you mean that?” she asked thickly, turning her attention to the other big challenge currently facing her. The one with even more potential to break her heart. “Because if you do,” she said slowly, “I’ve got a proposition for you.” She paused, bracing for battle. “I’d like to be the children’s nanny.”

      * * *

      Sam had known that Lulu would not accept him as the triplets’ guardian when she was next on the list. And hence she would continue to fight the decision, in one way or another.

      But he hadn’t expected her to offer this.

      “You...want to be the triplets’ nanny?” he repeated in disbelief, staring down into her pretty face.

      Lulu tossed her head, her dark hair flowing over her shoulders in soft, touchable waves. And as she stepped closer, tempting him with the scent of her perfume, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to haul her into his arms and simply breathe her in.

      “Well, I’m right in my assumption, aren’t I?” she demanded. “You are planning on hiring one to help you with the three little boys.”

      “Yes.” He intended to call a five-star service as soon as he got home and have them send someone out. Hopefully, by tomorrow evening. “I was.”

      “Well, I’m telling you there is no need for that,” she went on sweetly, “when you have me, volunteering for the position.”

      Actually, there were a lot of reasons, Sam thought. Starting with the fact he had never really gotten over Lulu. Or the way their relationship had ended. Or the fact that, even now, he found himself wanting to take her to bed and make love to her over and over again.

      Was she feeling the same damning pull of attraction? And if so, where would that lead them? “Why do you want to do this?” he asked.

      She shrugged, suddenly holding back as much as he was. She spread her hands wide. “Well, at the moment, it’s not like I have anything else to do.”

      Uh-huh. “And if I believe that, you have some prime swampland to sell me.”

      “Okay.” She flushed guiltily and her tongue snaked out to wet her lower lip. “You’re right.” A small sigh. “I do have an ulterior motive.”

      Now they were talking.

      “I want to be there for the children in case things don’t work out with the four of you.”

      “Except...they’re going to work out, darlin’,” he promised, just as persuasively.

      At his assertion, an inscrutable veil slipped over her eyes. Her slender body stiffened and he took in the gentle rise and fall of her breasts.

      “You seem sure of that,” she said finally.

      Sam nodded. Trying to keep his own latent anger and disappointment at bay, he replied, “When I make a commitment, Lulu, I keep it.” Their eyes locked, held. Memories came flooding back.

      Reminded of their falling-out all those years ago, and the reason for it, the color in her cheeks grew even rosier.

      “Even if they do work out just fine with you...as their single daddy...you’re going to need loving backup for them. And what better person for that role than their next, and only remaining, named legal guardian?”

      She had a point. What she was suggesting did sort of make sense. At least when it came to doing what was best for the three little ones.

      “You’d have to come to my ranch,” he warned.

      “Obviously.”

      “And be available to help whenever, wherever, however I need you.”

      He expected her to resist. Instead, she did not so much as flinch. She rocked forward on the toes of her cowgirl boots, patient and ready. “I can make plenty of sacrifices, when necessary.”

      There had been a time, he thought irritably, when that wasn’t the case.

      “In fact, if you’ll let me take charge of them, you won’t even have to pay me or be anything more than an admirable father figure in their lives. I’m perfectly willing to handle everything on my own.”

      She was deliberately calling the shots and shutting him out. He frowned, warning her, “I intend to be a lot more hands-on than that, darlin’. And if you take this on, I will pay you the going rate.”

      “Okay. Well, then, if you want, I’ll do the days while you’re out working. When you get home at night, you could take over completely in the evening.”

      As much as he wanted that to be the case, he knew that might be a little much for him. Especially in the beginning, until the kids got settled in and developed a routine.

      As if sensing that, she continued, “Or you could have me stay and help you until they’re all in bed for the night. And then I could still head home to my place. After all...” Lulu sighed, pausing to look him in the eye, letting him know that nothing essential would ever change between the two of them,