A Family For The Soldier

“If I may ask, what made her mother leave?”

Chloe’s conscience fought with a desire to tell him the bare truth. There hadn’t been enough money for Etta Vane. The ranch hadn’t been as prosperous as she had thought.

“I don’t think ranch life suited Etta. Or Vanessa. The reality was a shock for them.”

“Somehow she seems to like our place just fine,” Grady said.

Because there’s money here.

But she dismissed the thought. The little boy sleeping in the crib in front of her was her stepsister’s reason for returning. As was the man standing beside her.

“I...I should go,” she said.

To her dismay, she felt Grady’s hand on her shoulder as she straightened. The warmth of his fingers through her shirt sent a tingle of awareness down her spine; the glint of his eyes in the soft glow of the night-light created an unexpected and unwelcome attraction. “Don’t take to heart what Vanessa said to you.”

“I’m used to it,” Chloe said, struggling to keep the breathless tone out of her voice.

“Was it hard? Living with her?”

Chloe shrugged, then gave him a faint smile. “I just wished we could have been closer. But maybe there’s time now that she’s here.”

He held her gaze, his expression earnest. “I feel as if I need to tell you because you’re working here now, with Cody, that while I know I’m not his father, neither do I believe she’s Cody’s mother.”

“What?” Vanessa’s screech from the doorway broke into the moment. “How dare you say things like that? I’m his mother, Grady Stillwater.” She rounded on Chloe. “You were feeding him some lies, weren’t you? You always were jealous of me. You’re so plain and dumpy. You could never compete with me. You and your useless father. I can’t believe my mother even married him. He was a lousy rancher and a crippled drunk.”

Chloe fought her inborn urge to defend her father. It wasn’t his fault his grandfather hadn’t left as much money as Etta had hoped. It wasn’t his fault he’d been injured when he had his ATV accident.

“Vanessa, that’s enough,” Grady snapped.

“Enough of what?” Vanessa said, rounding on him. “You don’t need to stand up for her. You need to face the truth.”

“If we’re talking about truth, it should be an easy matter to get a DNA test done on you,” Cody said, his voice surprisingly calm. “That should give us the truth about who Cody’s biological mother is.”

Vanessa paled at that, glancing from Chloe to Grady, her eyes wide. “I can’t believe you doubt me. I can’t believe you think I’m not his mother...” Her voice drifted off and with another accusing glare at Chloe, Vanessa spun around and strode away.

Grady blew out a sigh as he shoved his hands through his hair. “Again. Sorry about that,” he said. “I shouldn’t have confronted her. Made her say those things about you and your father.”

Chloe looked down at Cody, who lay fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding in his nursery. “I’m just glad he didn’t wake up” was all she could manage.

Grady touched her again and she turned to him.

“You always were a pure, sweet person,” he said.

Once again her former attraction to him bubbled to the surface.

Then Chloe felt another flicker of nausea.

She pulled back, turned away from him, the feeling a stark reminder of the main reason she couldn’t encourage him. Couldn’t be with him.

The child she carried. The child conceived with her ex-husband.

Chapter Four (#ulink_79c81b87-89f9-5ddb-a24d-cf466c258389)

“Have you seen Vanessa this morning?” Mamie asked, beating some eggs in a bowl.

Grady looked up from the laptop he had propped on the eating bar of the kitchen. Ben had all the livestock records, all the bookkeeping, all the information on the Future Ranchers in files on the computer, and Grady had been poring over them in an attempt to get up to speed.

“No. I thought she was sleeping in.”

“I had to get something from the closet in her room and knocked on the door but when I opened it, there was no one in the room. Her bed was empty.” Mamie beat the eggs, the frown on her face clearly expressing her concern. “I’m glad we hired Chloe to help us.”

“I am, too.” Grady’s thoughts skipped back to that moment last night in the nursery. Seeing Chloe standing by the crib, smiling down at Cody, had created a mixture of emotions he had a hard time processing. He knew he was attracted to her. And he sensed something building between them.

But all it took was one shift of his weight on his leg, one look at the crutch to remind him of the foolishness of letting these feelings take over. He wasn’t the man he once was.

No. She deserved better than this.

Just as he made this resolution, she came into the kitchen, Cody cuddled up against her. The baby still wore his sleeper. He was rubbing his eyes, his rosy cheeks holding the imprint of one of his chubby hands, his blanket tucked under one arm.

Grady felt a warmth kindle in him at the sight.

Trouble was he knew it wasn’t the sight of Cody that caused it, but the woman holding him.

“Good morning, Chloe,” he said, giving her a wary smile.

She just nodded at him, suddenly impersonal. Clearly he had stepped over some line she had drawn last night.

“Hey, sweetie.” Mamie reached for the boy, beaming at the sight of Cody holding out his arms to her in answer. “Did you have a good sleep?”