Colton Cowboy Hideout. Carla Cassidy
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dressed all in purple.
The room was obviously not only a place for the twins to sleep, but also where they played. A large wooden box rested between the two cribs and was filled with toys, and a miniature table and chairs in bright primary colors was set against one wall.
“What’s going on?” Tanner asked. The little girl in Brianna’s arms reached out to him and he took her from the nanny.
Josie didn’t hesitate. She leaned down and plucked the other twin from Brianna’s legs. “Hi, baby,” she said with a big smile. “Are you Lily or Leigh?”
The beautiful blond-haired girl stopped crying and eyed Josie soberly, and then her rosebud lips curled up into a responding smile.
“You have Lily,” Tanner said. “Lily wears purple and Leigh wears pink to make it easy for people to tell them apart.” He patted Leigh’s back as she sniffled a final little hiccuping sob. “How long have they been crying?” He looked at Brianna.
“Just for a couple of minutes,” she replied and her pointed chin thrust upward defensively. “It’s time for them to go down for their morning nap and they always get a bit crabby around now.”
As if to support Brianna’s claim, Lily yawned and snuggled closer against Josie’s chest. Josie’s heart squeezed with a sharp surge of unexpected emotion.
There had never been much softness in Josie’s life, but her head was now filled with the scent of sweet baby and Lily’s little body warmed not just the front of her blouse, but radiated through the cotton material to heat her heart in a way she’d never felt before.
Tanner gazed at Lily and Josie for a long moment. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just get them settled down in their cribs before we take off.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Josie replied. “Take all the time you need.”
Brianna sat on a tiny chair at a miniature table as Tanner carried Leigh to one of the cribs.
Josie followed his lead and took Lily to the other crib and placed her on the mattress on her tummy. She rubbed Lily’s back and Lily scrubbed at her eyes with a balled fist.
Within minutes both girls were sound asleep and Tanner gestured for Brianna and Josie to follow him out of the nursery and back into the living room.
“Has there been any word about Eldridge?” Brianna asked. Her hand worried the end of her braid with sparkling blue-painted fingernails.
Tanner frowned. “No, nothing, but hopefully the sheriff will have some answers for everyone soon. I’ll check in later this afternoon.” With a nod to Brianna, he then gestured for Josie to follow him out of the suite.
“I’m fairly sure the room next door to mine is empty,” he said. He raked a hand through his hair and appeared distracted.
“Before you show me a room, why don’t we see if I can dig up the watch? Hopefully by that time the mystery of Eldridge’s disappearance will be solved and the sheriff will let me leave and go home,” Josie replied.
She had a feeling the last thing Tanner Grange needed was to babysit her. It had been obvious he was concerned about Eldridge and the additional worry over a nanny who wanted to burn sage in a children’s nursery. He had enough on his plate without her.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “We could get you settled in here before taking off for that tree.”
She shook her head. “Maybe I won’t have to get settled in here at all.”
“All right, then.” He looked slightly relieved.
“I just hate that you have to take the time to show me to that tree.”
“It’s not a problem. In fact, the distraction will be good for me,” he assured her.
Minutes later they were outside in the hot July sun and heading for a black king-cab pickup truck parked by one of the many barns on the property.
“This is some spread,” Josie said as she hurried her steps to keep up with his long strides. As far as the eye could see were pastures and outbuildings.
“It is,” he agreed. “Someday I’d like to have a ranch of my own, although certainly nothing on this scale. It’s my dream to have a place of my own to work, a place my girls can really call home.” They reached the truck. “Why don’t you go ahead and get in and I’ll just grab a shovel from the barn.”
As he disappeared into the building, Josie climbed into the passenger seat. The truck interior smelled like Tanner, a heady combination of clean male and woodsy-scented cologne.
When he came back out of the barn, a black cowboy hat covered his head and he carried a shovel. Once again she couldn’t help but notice his attractiveness. Nothing better than a man in tight jeans and a cowboy hat, she thought.
The last time she’d experienced this kind of strong magnetic tug toward a man had been when she was sixteen years old and had fallen head over heels in love with Michael Evans. Her heart squeezed tight as old memories of her first and only love washed over her.
She and Michael had been achingly young and full of silly dreams—dreams that had been unable to last under the harshness of her reality.
Her thoughts returned to the here and now and the man who had instantly sparked something inside of her. Tanner Grange had a tough road ahead of him as a single parent. How tragic that he’d lost his ex-wife so young, leaving him as the sole parent to those two beautiful girls.
The shovel clanged noisily as he placed it in the pickup bed and then he got in behind the wheel.
“Your daughters are darling,” she said as he started the engine and took off.
“Thanks. They’re my entire life.” He frowned. “And finding a good nanny for them has been almost impossible. Brianna is the fourth one I’ve hired in the past six months or so.”
“What was wrong with the first three?” Josie asked curiously. She was eager to talk about anything but the fact that there were still several official vehicles parked at the house, indicating that the investigation was ongoing.
“The first woman was too impatient. She snapped at the girls constantly. The second lost one of the twins at the petting zoo we have here on the property, and the one before Brianna thought it was perfectly okay to strap the girls into the chairs at their little table with belts whenever they misbehaved.” His jaw tensed. “I know the girls can be a handful, but no way will I tolerate that kind of discipline.”
Josie was horrified that anyone would think it was okay to tie up a child anywhere. “That’s appalling, but Brianna seems nice enough.”
His muscles relaxed a bit. “She’s kind to the girls, although I think she gets overwhelmed easily and her chakra is constantly getting out of joint, so there’s no telling how long she’ll hang around.” He shot her a quick glance. “You seem like you’re good with children.”
A small laugh escaped her. “Other than when I was mothering the little ones in foster care, I’ve never had an opportunity to be around any before today.”
“Then I guess that makes you a natural,” he replied.
Josie stared out the passenger window and considered his words. Was she a natural with children? She had no idea what she was good at or where she was going. Until a month ago she hadn’t believed she had any kind of a future at all.
At the moment her future held only the need to find the watch and take it back to Granite Gulch so she and her siblings could take it to her father in prison.
She only hoped Eldridge Colton didn’t wind up murdered. She’d had more than enough of murder and mayhem to last the rest of her life.
She glanced at Tanner once again. His attention was directed out the window, but a pulse had begun working in his jaw again. She fought against a crazy impulse to lean over and stroke away the knot