Triple Trouble / A Real Live Cowboy: Triple Trouble

“Hello—there you are.” The woman in the doorway was small, her petite form sturdy in khaki pants, pullover white T-shirt and tennis shoes. Her dark hair was frosted with gray and her deep-brown eyes sparkled, animated behind tortoise-shell-framed glasses. “How was the trip?”

“Exhausting,” Nick said bluntly. “Melissa, this is Charlene London. Charlene, this is Melissa Kennedy, my housekeeper. Charlene’s going to take care of the girls, Melissa.”

“Nice to meet you.” Melissa’s smile held friendly interest. Charlene’s murmured response was lost as Jenny wriggled in Nick’s arms, her little face screwing up into a prelude to full-blown tears. Nick stepped inside and handed Jackie to the housekeeper before he cuddled Jenny closer.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He carried the sobbing little girl down the hall.

Charlene followed him into the living room, Melissa bringing up the rear with Jackie.

As often happened with the three little girls, when one of them began crying, the other two soon followed. Charlene rubbed Jessie’s back in soothing circles and slowly rocked her back and forth. She only cried harder. Melissa murmured to Jackie and gently patted her back, but Jackie’s sobs increased until they matched her sisters’ in volume.

“Jessie needs a diaper change.” Charlene raised her voice to be heard over the combined cries of the three babies.

“Can you and Melissa handle them while I bring in the bags from the car?” Nick asked, looking faintly frazzled.

“Of course,” Charlene responded with easy confidence.

Nick didn’t look convinced but he didn’t argue with her.

“Did the delivery crew set up the cribs, Melissa?” he asked.

“Yes, and the changing tables and dressers too. I put away the diapers and the other supplies in their room, and I had the men carry the high chairs into the kitchen,” she replied.

“Good.” Nick gently patted Jenny’s back with one hand as he strode across the living room toward the stairway, located just inside the front door. “Let’s get them upstairs and I’ll bring in the diaper bags.”

Charlene followed Nick and Melissa up the open stairway, with its wooden railing. The second-floor hallway branched to the right and left. Nick turned left and soon disappeared into the third room, Melissa and Jackie a step behind.

Charlene brought up the rear with Jessie, slowing to glance briefly into the first two rooms as she passed. One held a white, wrought-iron bed, the floor carpeted in light green Berber. The other was a bathroom, fitted in pale wooden cabinets with green marble tops.

The house was lovely but the sparse furnishings clearly stated that this was a bachelor’s home. Downstairs in the living room, she’d noted a large plasma television mounted on one wall, with shelves of electronic equipment beneath. CD cases were piled in stacks on the shelves between stereo speakers. A low, oak coffee table sat in front of a dark-brownleather sofa and a matching club chair and ottoman, angled next to the hearth of a river rock fireplace and chimney. There was no other furniture in the room, leaving an expanse of pale wooden floor gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight that poured through skylights and windows.

She’d glimpsed a dining room through an archway, but again, saw only the minimum of furniture in a table and chairs. She wondered how long Nick had lived in the house, since it appeared to be furnished with only essentials.

She carried Jessie into the bedroom and paused, feeling her eyes widen as she took in the room. It was large, with plenty of space for three white-painted cribs. Two dressers and changing tables matched the cottage-style cribs, and two rocking chairs with deep-rose seat cushions were tucked into a corner. Despite the number of pieces of furniture, the room didn’t feel crowded.

Clearly, Nick hadn’t skimped on furnishings here.

“I had the men put the third dresser, changing table and rocker in the empty bedroom down the hall,” Melissa said to Nick. “I thought it would be too crowded if all of the furniture was in here.”

“We might have to move two of the cribs into other rooms. If one of the girls cries, the other two chime in. Maybe they’d sleep better if we split them up.” He looked at Charlene. “What do you think?”

“We could leave them together for tonight and see how they do. You can always move them tomorrow, if sharing a room doesn’t work out.”

Nick nodded decisively. “We’ll try it.” Gently, he lowered the now quiet Jenny onto the carpet. “I’ll go bring up their bags.”

Charlene slipped the canvas tote off her shoulder and lowered it to the floor before kneeling and setting Jessie down next to it. She took a tissue from the bag and wiped the damp tears from Jessie’s cheeks before handing the baby her blanket and a stuffed bear.

In Melissa’s arms, Jackie’s sobs had slowed to the occasional hiccup. She stretched out her arms and babbled imperiously.

Charlene wondered if she could use that combination of regal commands and pleas on Nick. Would he respond with hugs and kisses, as he did with the triplets?

She nearly groaned aloud.

The image of him rising from her bed at the motel, rumpled and sleepy, seemed to have permanently engraved itself on her brain. Try as she might, she couldn’t forget how his big, powerful body had looked, clad only in gray boxers, as he’d walked across the room.

Jackie’s chattering increased to shriek level and Charlene realized she had no idea how long she’d been standing still, staring unseeingly at the baby. She glanced quickly at Melissa, but the other woman was focused on Jackie, laughing as she jiggled her in her arms.

“I bet the queen of Hollywood divas, whoever she may be this week, doesn’t make as much noise as this little girl,” Melissa commented as she met Charlene’s gaze. The housekeeper’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

Mentally sighing with relief that Melissa appeared oblivious to her distraction, Charlene shoved the memory of Nick’s powerful thighs and broad chest into the back of her mind. She ordered the image to stay put—and desperately hoped it would obey.

Chapter Three

Jackie shrieked again and Charlene laughed out loud. “Yes, your royal highness,” she said teasingly, retrieving the pink blanket with Jackie’s name embroidered across one corner and passing it to Melissa.

“Isn’t that clever?” Melissa said admiringly, as Jackie hugged the blanket and beamed at Charlene. “I wondered how Nick planned to tell one baby’s things from another.” She ran a fingertip gently over the bracelet on Jackie’s wrist. “But everything has their names on it, including the little girls themselves.”

“I thought their parents came up with a brilliant solution,” Charlene agreed. “Though I assume they could tell their daughters apart.”

Melissa’s face sobered. “Such a terrible thing to have happened, isn’t it? How awful to lose both parents at such a young age.”

“Yes,” Charlene agreed, her heart wrenching as she looked at Jessie and Jenny tugging on their stuffed bears. So innocent—and thankfully, too young to grasp the enormity of their loss just now.

Nick strode into the room, pulling two large rolling suitcases and carrying a backpack slung over one shoulder, all stuffed to overflowing with the triplets’ clothing and toys. “I put your suitcase in the room across the hall,” he told Charlene, shrugging the backpack off his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she murmured, delighted to know the lovely room with the white wrought-iron bed and green carpet would be hers during her stay.

In the ensuing bustle of changing diapers and tucking away tiny clothing into dresser drawers, Charlene was too busy to dwell on the triplets’ orphaned status.

Melissa was a godsend, helping with the girls as Charlene and Nick fed and bathed them, then tucked all three into bed. The adults returned to the living room and collapsed, Nick in the leather club chair, Charlene and Melissa on the comfortable sofa.

“They’re wonderful,” Melissa told Nick. “But oh, my goodness.” She sighed, a gust of air stirring her normally smooth hair, where one of the triplets had rumpled and dampened it while the little girl splashed in her bath. “Talk about energy. What you two need to do is find a way to collect some of that for yourself. You’re going to need it.” She looked at Charlene. “Do they sleep through the night?”

“They did last night. I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping we’ll have another quiet ten hours or so.”

“I hope they do too.” Melissa pushed herself up off the sofa. “I’d better get home. Ed will be wondering what happened to me.”

Nick started to shove up out of the chair but she waved him back. “No, no—don’t get up. I can see myself out. You should take advantage of this moment of quiet. Who knows how long it will last?”

“Good point,” Nick agreed, settling into the chair, the worn denim of his jeans going taut over muscled thighs as he stretched out his long legs. “We should make the most of this rare minute. It could be the last one of the night.”

“Exactly.” Melissa grinned at him, eyes twinkling, before she turned to Charlene. “I’ll see you in the morning—about eight?”

“Eight works for me. I’m looking forward to it,” Charlene replied with heartfelt warmth. After watching Melissa’s efficient, comfortable and unflappable handling of the babies over the last couple of hours, Charlene was convinced the housekeeper was going to be an enormous help in caring for the triplets.

“Goodnight, then, you two. I hope you get some sleep. I left my purse and keys in the kitchen. I’ll just collect them and let myself out the back,” she said. She moved briskly across the living room but stopped in the doorway. “I forgot to tell you, Nick, I left Rufus with Ed today so you could get the girls settled in before they meet him. I’ll bring him back with me tomorrow.”

“Good thinking,” Nick told her. “Dealing with the triplets was chaotic. Adding an excited hundred-and-twenty-five-pound dog into the mix would have made it crazy.”