The Double Heart Ranch

He wanted to lean forward and kiss her, test the simmer he felt each time they touched to see if it would boil. But that wasn’t what was important now. Or was it?

Tension pulled at the corners of Elise’s mouth. Her throat went bone dry. What did he mean?

She’d seen that look in a man’s eyes. Desire. Plain and simple. The way it made Cole’s eyes darken like a cloud bank of sin unnerved her. She felt his gaze move over her like a slow caress. The hair at the back of her neck prickled and a shimmy of anticipation—no, wariness—rippled down her spine. She stared at his wide, generous mouth, unsure if he made her nervous or if it was the scintillating thoughts churning inside her mind. “What kind of a test?”

“You need to meet Haley,” he said, as cool and controlled as she was hot and uneasy. “If you get along, then maybe we can work something out.”

It wasn’t exactly a proposal to write home about. But then she didn’t have a home. Or anyone to write to. What more could a woman like her ask for? “And if we don’t…” she offered, squaring her shoulders, preparing herself for the inevitable rejection, “then I guess all bets are off.”

He nodded. “I guess so.”

An hour later, tension twisted her insides into constricting knots as she waited for Cole to return home with his daughter from school. Elise had never been good at taking tests or giving auditions. She was suffering from an acute case of performance anxiety.

How many times had she “performed” for wanna-be adoptive parents and failed? How many times had she been lacking whatever it was the adoptive couples wanted in their child. A boy? Blue eyes? Blond hair? The perfect smile? Top grades? She knew she’d set herself up for failure this time. After all, Haley probably didn’t want just any mommy. She wanted her own. How could Elise compete?

Or maybe Cole had set her up for failure. Maybe he still wanted a way out of this deal without feeling like a bad guy. She couldn’t blame him really. It was asking a lot for a stranger to take on the extra responsibility of a wife and new baby. Then again, it wasn’t asking any more than he was requiring for his mail-order bride.

As she waited in Cole’s living room, Elise sat on the edge of the sofa as if it might swallow her if she were to lean back and relax. She wondered if he’d been honest about his precious darling. Maybe Haley was a little tyrant. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t been able to keep even a nanny.

Worrying her lower lip, she tried to remember how she’d worked with the younger kids at the orphanage. The nuns had said she was a natural. Placing her hand over her abdomen, she hoped and prayed that was true. She wanted to be a wonderful mother for her baby. Trouble was, she had nobody to compare herself to, no role model, except for Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Cleaver on television.

The front door of Cole’s house swung open and banged against a wall. Elise heard the patter of tiny feet and guessed little Haley was running or skipping, like most five year olds. She plastered on her best smile, straightened her shoulders and prepared to meet Cole’s daughter. But she only caught a blur of bouncing blond curls as the little girl raced through the den and up the stairs.

The slamming of a distant door had Elise’s spine stiffening. Something wasn’t right. And she had to be the reason. The little girl had asked for a mommy in a weak moment, but when faced with the real possibility, Haley must have had visions of an evil stepmom, like in “Hansel and Gretel.”

“Sorry about that.” A weathered and weary-looking Cole stepped into the room and leaned against the door-jamb. The lines in his face looked deeper, starker, like cracks in granite. His eyes deepened to a dark, troubled blue.

“Guess she didn’t like the idea of a stepmother.” Elise clutched her purse in her lap and knew she’d met her match. There was no fighting a five year old who had her father wrapped around her little finger. She wouldn’t blame Cole for wanting to back out now. Not when his daughter was obviously so upset by the idea.

He shook his head and combed his fingers through his short-cropped hair, about the hundredth time to do so in the last hour. “That’s not it. She’s upset at me.”

Tension in her shoulders pinched her nerve endings. “Why?”

“I forgot about today.”

Elise sank back against the sofa cushions and expelled a breath. She remembered crying herself to sleep when no one had remembered her sixteenth birthday. No square birthday cake with frosting flowers and candles. No presents. No nothing. She’d gotten over it eventually. Now it never bothered her that no one cared. It wasn’t such a special day. “It’s her birthday, isn’t it?”

“No. I could never forget that date. But it was fairy tale day in her kindergarten class.” He walked across the room, his motions stiff, as if with each step he punished himself. “I forgot all about it. Haley was the only one who didn’t dress up like her favorite fairy-tale character.”

“Oh, I see.” Elise studied the distraught father and sensed his self-loathing.

“I have no idea how to make it better.” He cursed beneath his breath, the words aimed like a rifle at himself. “If she’d skinned her knee, I’d know how to treat that.”

“You’ve learned how to kiss boo-boos, eh?” Elise asked, trying to lighten the situation and her own somber mood. This wasn’t as big a travesty as Cole thought.

“Dammit, I’ve broken her heart. How do I fix that?” The pain in his voice slapped at Elise.

A crack opened in her heart. No one had ever worried about her feelings. Yet this father acted like he’d committed a grievous sin against his little daughter. His reaction moved Elise in ways she’d never anticipated.

“Believe me,” she said, sympathizing with Cole, “she’ll get over this.” She had a strange urge to go to him and wrap her arms around him. Instead, she crossed her arms over her middle. “All little girls have disappointments. And they survive. It’s part of growing up. She’ll forget all about this in time.”

“I don’t know. She’s pretty upset. She cried all the way home.” His ragged face told Elise how those childish tears had flooded his own heart.

His pain touched her soul, made her yearn for someone to care as much about her child—and her. “Maybe I can help,” she offered, putting her purse on the sofa and rising. “I’ll go talk to her.”

He shifted, as if coming to attention. “I didn’t tell her about you yet. I didn’t have a chance.”

“It’s okay. I’ll introduce myself and tell her I’m your new friend. Okay?”

“But what will you say? How can you fix things?” His brow bunched into a frown of despair.

She gave him a soft smile and put a hand on his warm, sturdy shoulder. A spark of electricity rippled up her arm and she jerked her hand away, unwilling and unable to consider anything other than friendship with him. But she did feel a bond forming, an understanding that only two parents could truly experience. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Cole paced back and forth, along an imaginary worry line in the carpet. With each step he cursed himself for his stupidity. How could he have forgotten Haley’s special day at school? How could he ever make it up to her?

As the minutes ticked slowly by he began to doubt the wisdom of sending Elise to clean up his mess. He was responsible. He should fix it. But how?

If Haley didn’t take to Elise, then it could easily make matters worse. But he’d wanted to believe Elise could help. He’d been grateful that she’d offered. But should he have let her take charge? Maybe he should check on his daughter. He started to climb the stairs but stopped at the strange noise coming from Haley’s bedroom. It sounded like…