Wyatt's Ready-Made Family

“Jeff, you didn’t ask to be excused and I think you forgot about your plate.”

“Can I be excused?” He came back to get his plate and all but tossed it into the sink.

Maura didn’t want to call her son on his rude behavior, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with it, either. She’d talk with him later. Jeff had had these bouts with rudeness on and off since they’d left Dallas…and his dad. Of course, he had blamed their separation on her, but she couldn’t bring herself to discipline him, especially in front of a stranger.

“Mommy, I ate all my green beans. Can I be ’cused?” Kelly flashed a bright smile at Wyatt. “I want to play with my dolly. Her name is Suzy.”

“That’s a nice name,” Wyatt said.

Again Kelly smiled. If Maura didn’t know better she’d say her daughter was flirting with Wyatt Gentry. “Just remember that your bedtime is in one hour and you still need a bath.”

“Can I have a bubble bath?”

Maura was too tired. “Not tonight, honey. Mommy has to do dishes.”

“Why don’t you go on with Kelly? I’ll clean up,” Wyatt suggested.

Maura shook her head. “No, I can’t ask you to do them.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered.” He got up and carried his plate to the sink. “You just need to tell where things are.”

Maura got up, too. “Kelly, you go play, I’ll be up in a while.”

The little girl took off.

“You’ve worked all day, Mr. Gentry. I can’t ask you to do dishes.”

“And you have worked all day, taken care of two kids and fixed dinner. And I thought you were going to call me Wyatt.”

Wyatt closed the drain in the sink and began running water, then he looked in the most obvious place for the soap, under the counter. That was where he found the small off-brand bottle of green liquid. The room might have needed paint and the pine cupboards were scarred, but everything in the house had been cleaned within an inch of its life. He squirted a generous amount of soap in the water, creating bubbles. “I guess Kelly could have helped me and played in bubbles here.”

“The operative word is play,” she said. “She’d make a mess.”

Maura tried to scoot in front of the basin so he would move, but the man didn’t budge at all. She wasn’t comfortable standing so close to him and stepped back.

“You mean like this?” He slashed bubbles at her.

She gasped. “Mr. Gen—Wyatt!”

He cocked an eyebrow, looking far too handsome…and dangerous. A warning went off. She didn’t like the feelings he created in her.

“If you don’t want more of the same, I suggest you head upstairs to help your daughter. Don’t worry, Maura. I can manage a few dishes. But you have a lot more to handle.” He stared at her a moment, then said, “I’m not trying to pry, but in case he shows up one day, is there a Mr. Wells?”

She felt herself tense. God, no. “There is… I mean was, but he’s not in our lives any longer. I’m divorced and I have full custody of the children.”

“The man must have been a fool to let you and the kids go.”

“He had nothing to do with it,” she said. “It was my decision to leave, and it was a good decision.” She felt her anger building and she took a calming breath. “If you don’t mind, I will go upstairs and help Kelly with her bath.” Maura turned and walked out, nearly running was more like it. She never had much experience with men, and definitely not men like Wyatt Gentry.

She’d be better off to stay far away.

After two bedtime stories and a back rub, Kelly finally went to sleep. Maura had gone into her son’s room. Jeff was reading, and he never even looked at her, but with some coaxing, she left with a good-night kiss.

Coming down the stairs, she brushed a tear from her eye, telling herself that although Jeff hated her now, she knew she’d done the right thing leaving Darren. Her ex-husband’s abuse had gotten out of control long ago. Although she’d protected the kids most of the time, she couldn’t stay and watch as Jeff turned into the same type of person. All he ever saw from his father had been cruel and abusive behavior, especially to women.

Worse, Maura knew that if she stayed, Darren would someday kill her. And her kids would be left alone. So she had to do something, even if it meant turning her husband in to the police.

Maura knew it hadn’t been the best thing to steal her children away in the middle of the night, but it had been her only escape, the only way she could leave Darren. After the police took him in, she grabbed everything she could put in the station wagon and got out of Dallas. The small amount of money she’d managed to save only went a little way. And what was she supposed to do for a job and a place to live? She’d gotten the help at a women’s shelter in San Angelo.

Maura turned off the lamp in the living room, then walked into the kitchen. She gasped when she found Wyatt sitting at the table, reading the newspaper.

“I didn’t realize you were still here.”

He smiled at her. “I hope you don’t mind. I’m having another cup of your good coffee.” He stood and offered her a chair. “Care to join me?”

So polite, but so had been Darren…at first. “I really should get to bed.”

“I know, but I only want a few minutes.”

Maura made her way to the table and sat down. “Is there a problem?”

“That’s what I want to know, Maura. Did I do something to upset you? I mean, if it bothers you to have me at the dinner table, I can eat in the cottage.”

“No, of course not. You’ve been so generous letting us stay here. I mean, you could have insisted we leave.”

He shook his head, blue eyes piercing into hers. “I couldn’t do that.” He took a breath. “I don’t want to pry, Maura, but it’s obvious that you’ve had some hard times. I don’t want to make them worse. So you take your time. I promise I won’t get in your way.” The chair scooted against the worn floor when he stood. Then he headed out the back door.

Maura wanted to call after him, tell him the truth, but she couldn’t, not yet. She still had a long way to go before she trusted a man.

Maybe never.

Chapter Three

The next morning, Wyatt rolled over on the lumpy mattress and groaned as bright sunlight came through the bare, cracked window, reminding him where he was. His new home. Unable to get back to sleep, he decided to get up. He swung his legs over the edge and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the travel clock on the table and realized it was nearly six-thirty.

He released a long sigh, thinking about what he had to do today…and tomorrow, and the next day. He was already tired but it had nothing to do with his endless list of future chores, and more to do with his lack of sleep last night. No matter how many times he’d told himself to forget about Maura Wells, she still had managed to keep him awake. He was breaking his own rule—to never get involved with a woman with kids…again.

Memories of Amanda Burke and her son, Scott, flooded into his head. He’d fallen hard for the pretty barrel racer. So he’d knocked himself out trying to win the kid over, too. Thanks to the example of Earl Keys, he hadn’t known about being a father figure, but he’d tried his damnedest. In the end he’d lost them both when Amanda went back to her ex-husband.

Maybe that was what intrigued him about Maura. She didn’t seem to want anything to do with him. From the moment they’d met, she’d acted as if he had the plague. But that hadn’t stopped the attraction. He was drawn to her. Maybe it was the sadness in those big brown eyes of hers, or the fear he saw every time he got too close. At the dinner table last night, he’d felt the tension with Maura. And she couldn’t get him out of the house fast enough.

Wyatt never had trouble getting female attention, not since he and Dylan had been fourteen and grown to six feet tall. They’d learned quickly how to charm the ladies. But he had outgrown conquests with the buckle bunnies at the rodeos long ago. He’d passed thirty now and wanted to put his full concentration on the ranch and start his business. He had no time or desire to get involved with someone else’s problems. So he would put up with the minor inconvenience for the next month, then she and her kids would be gone.

Wyatt slipped on his jeans and walked to the small and shabby kitchen area. It needed a good cleaning, and a lot of work. He tried to close one of the cabinet doors, and it swung back open. Yesterday, he’d chased out a family of squirrels and broke up several spiderwebs. This morning he would call an exterminator and have the cottage sprayed. Probably wouldn’t hurt to do the house, too. He’d just have to make sure that Maura and the kids would be gone for the day.

There was a soft knocking sound. He went to the door and found Kelly standing on the stoop. She looked cute dressed in a pair of blue shorts and white top, her hair in a neat ponytail. In her hands she had an insulated coffee mug covered securely with a tight lid.

She smiled. “Good morning, Wyatt. Mommy says you prob’bly need this.” She handed him the coffee. “And breakfast is in ten minutes.” Her brown eyes rounded as she shook her finger at him. “And you better not be late.” The child turned around and skipped off toward the house.