Falling for a Father of Four. Arlene James
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Free for the summer, she was ready for a job and the slow pace of the hot summertime in Duncan. She’d be happier still if she never had to set eyes again on the hallowed old halls of higher education, but after only two years at the university, it was doubtful her father would hear of her leaving college.
As if conjured by her thoughts, she jerked open her bedroom door to find Evans Kincaid standing with fist raised to knock, his tan uniform as crisp as his badge was shiny, despite a full day put in as one of Duncan’s finest. Tall and fit in his mid-forties, his inky hair trimmed close to his head, he was the quintessential police officer.
“Hello, sweetheart! How was your day?” He bent and kissed her on the cheek.
“Oh, fine. Amy’s out back lighting the grill.”
“Ah. Well, I’ll run out and tell her I’m home. You, however, have company.”
He grinned, his leaf green eyes twinkling with delight. Mattie almost groaned aloud. That look could mean anything from a new puppy to a “playmate,” all designed to delight the little girl she no longer was. Poor Dad! He just couldn’t accept that she was no longer a child. At nineteen-going-on-twenty, Mattie was far more mature than most of her contemporaries. Truth be told, she felt decades older than the young people with whom she shared classes at OSU. She supposed it had something to do with losing her mother at so young an age and stepping into the role of housekeeper during the years before her father found Amy, his sweet second wife, who used to be their next-door neighbor. She counted Amy more good friend than stepmother and loved her—if for no other reason—for making her father happy and for occasionally running interference when Evans Kincaid became too obsessively “parental.”
Evans pointed her in the direction of the living room and went on out through the kitchen to kiss his wife. Mattie sighed and took herself off to greet her unknown guest. She stifled a second groan and rolled her eyes upon discovering Brick Carter studying the display of her father’s medals and awards won in the line of duty. Brick swung around, freckled face splitting in a wide grin.
“Hey, Mat!” Brick had an annoying habit of shortening everyone’s name to a single syllable like his own. His carrot red hair had been shorn so close that the pink of his scalp shone through, and the prominence of his front teeth gave him a rabbity look. “How long you been home?”
“Just since Wednesday,” Mattie answered, as if that explained why she hadn’t seen him, when in truth she’d avoided him like the plague, even sneaking out of church early to avoid an accidental meeting. “Congratulations on your graduation.”
Brick stuck out his thin chest, his hands jingling the change in his chino pockets. “Thanks. It sure feels good to have that sheepskin!”
“What are you going to do now that you’ve finished university?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Take some time off, I guess. I’m kind of young to get tied down to a job already, and Mom wants me to think about grad school. I’ll probably do that. Right now, though, I just want to have some fun! Hey, how about taking in an early movie and—”
“Sorry,” Mattie interrupted. “I was just on my way out. I have a job interview.”
“A job interview?” This came from behind her, her father’s voice.
She turned, masking her irritation with a smile. “That’s right, and I really have to go. Mr. Ellis is expecting me.”
“Ellis?” Evans turned the name over in his mind. “Can’t say I know any Ellis.”
Mattie shot a pleading look over his shoulder at her stepmother. “Must be law-abiding,” Amy quipped with a wink at Mattie.
“What kind of job is it?” Evans wanted to know.
“Baby-sitting,” Mattie said easily, not yet ready to reveal that it was full time.
“Oh, well, then, that’s all right. But, honey, you really don’t have to work. You have your allowance and—”
“Dad!” Mattie closed her eyes in humiliation. “I’m not a child. I don’t need or want an allowance. I’m perfectly capable of earning my own way. If you hadn’t insisted I come home, I could have moved into a secretarial job in Stillwater.”
Evans waved that away with a deprecating chuckle. “You don’t want to be a secretary.”
Mattie had to bite her tongue to keep from asking how he knew what she wanted to be when she didn’t know herself—except that the idea of working with children did hold a good deal more appeal than remaining with the real estate firm for which she’d worked part time last semester. In fact, she hoped the Ellis household contained a number of children, two or three, at least. With another pleading look at Amy, she said, “I really have to go now,” and whirled away, flipping a wave in farewell. “So long, Brick. Say hello to your sister for me. Bye, Dad.”
“Hey, what about dinner?” Evans called after her, moving into the doorway.
“Oh, don’t worry about me!” she called back, hurrying down the walk toward her car. “I’ll get something later. Maybe Brick will want to stay.”
Evans frowned as she all but skipped down the walkway. He almost called her back, but his wife’s hand on his forearm stayed him. A glance in her direction told him that he was in danger of becoming the heavy-handed father again. With a sigh, he closed the door and turned back into the living room. “Well, Brick, how about it? Want to stay for dinner?”
Brick shrugged. “Sure!” Brick’s personal theory, well known to all acquainted with him, was that he ought never to turn down a free meal. Evans smiled lamely and went to change his clothes.
“She’s here!” Chaz announced, moving away from the kitchen sink where he’d kept watch through the window. Orren glanced up in time to see the late-model red two-door turn into the drive. It was a make with a good reputation for safety and dependability, yet had a racy look about it. A good choice for a second car, a single person more intent on value than prestige, or a teenager with particularly careful parents. He prayed it wasn’t a teenager—these kids of his would eat the average teenager alive—but he didn’t have time to watch from a distance as she got out of the car and moved toward the door. Instead, he ran across the hallway into his bedroom, where he dumped another armload of junk, kicking it out of the way as he wrestled the door closed and ran back to the living area. She knocked just as he moved on into the kitchen.
Motioning for Chaz to get out of the way, Orren crossed to the door, where he paused and pulled a deep, calming breath, drying his sweating palms on his jeaned thighs. He opened the door to a petite cutie with enormous green eyes and dark hair falling down her back in a sleek sheet. She wore a gauzy yellow blouse over a white tank top and a faded denim miniskirt, yellow sandals on her small, bare feet. She had that firm, fit look of the well-endowed teenager, but something about her face hinted that she might be older. Perhaps it was the carefully applied lipstick in a sensible shade of peach or the hint of blush across her high cheekbones. Whatever it was, it gave him a glimmer of hope.
“Mr. Ellis?” she asked. “I’m Matilda Kincaid.”
Nodding, he backed out of the doorway. “Miss Kincaid. Won’t you come in?”
She stepped up into the house and shrugged off the backpack she carried slung over one shoulder. Looking around in blatant curiosity, she spied Chaz and moved in his direction, hand extended. “Hello. I’m Mattie.”
“This is my son, Chaz,” Orren said, proudly dropping his hands onto Chaz’s stout shoulders as Chaz stiffly placed his hand in Mattie’s.
“Pleased to meet you, Chaz.” She smiled and lifted her gaze to Orren’s, the shock of those emerald eyes rocking him back a little. “Are there others? Children, I mean.”
She sounded almost eager, but Orren wasn’t taking any chances. She was young, but she handled herself with a certain maturity. He wouldn’t count her out until they’d talked—and