Cowboy Enchantment - By Pamela Browning Page 0,21

I forgot. You wouldn’t know. Hank took over Kaylie’s care when his ex-wife died in an accident a few months ago. Anne-Marie was adamant about not letting him be part of their lives, so he’d only seen Kaylie a couple of times and didn’t have a clue about how to take care of her. Divorce is a sad business.”

“And so is losing your mother when you’re only a baby. Poor Kaylie. How is she doing?”

“Quite well. All of us at the ranch were upset by Anne-Marie’s death. She was a fitness instructor here and one of my dearest friends.” Justine looked pensive for a moment. “She was a fine person and a do-gooder to boot. Nothing I could say would stop her from riding over the state line to Nevada to that old ranch…but I’m running on, aren’t I? Please excuse me, Erica. Would you care for more beans?”

Erica accepted the plate of beans, but her interest had been piqued. “I’d like to hear what happened to Anne-Marie, Justine.”

Justine breathed a deep sigh. “Well, we had an elderly seamstress working here when Anne-Marie first arrived. Mattie was half Shoshone Indian, and she’d worked at one of the big hotels in Las Vegas before she came here. She was an excellent wardrobe person, but her arthritis finally made it necessary for her to retire to a ranch just over the Nevada state line. Anne-Marie took Mattie under her wing, was always running soup or cookies or something out to her at the ranch.”

“But Anne-Marie had a baby, right? Wasn’t it difficult for her to get away, even to do good works?”

“No. We have this wonderful baby-sitter, Paloma, who is happy to be here whenever she can, and I’ve been crazy about my niece since the day she was born. I was a willing sitter whenever I was available. I wish…but there’s no point in wishing. I could have kept Anne-Marie from going that night. If only I’d said I couldn’t baby-sit, she would have stayed home. I was taking care of Kaylie that night. A big storm came out of nowhere when Anne-Marie was on her way back to Rancho Encantado. She lost control of her car and hit a boulder. She died instantly.”

Erica’s heart went out to Justine, who, judging from her expression, still held herself responsible for her friend’s death. She reached across the table and touched Justine’s hand.

“It wasn’t your fault,” she said.

Justine bit her lip. “I keep telling myself that. I don’t believe it, though.” She seemed to pull herself together with great effort. “Well, enough of that. I need to stop dwelling on it. Tell me about your day, Erica.”

Erica would rather have heard more about Hank, but she didn’t feel comfortable fishing for information. At least now she knew how he happened to be a single father. Knowing that his life had been touched by tragedy, she felt extremely sympathetic toward him. And not any less attracted.

However, her wish that he would drop by tonight while she was at the Big House for dinner was probably a futile one. Nevertheless, she found herself wishing, anyway.

Justine brought out huge slabs of chocolate cake topped with Rocky Road ice cream, and Erica thought she should wish for something she could actually have. Like a second scoop of ice cream, which Justine was happy to provide.

HANK, WORN-OUT from work, wanted nothing so much as a steaming hot shower and an ice-cold beer.

After feeding Kaylie and eating his own solitary dinner, neither option was in the offing. Instead, at the moment he was picking up after Kaylie as she tossed her toys around the small living room, her favorite after-dinner activity.

Both the beer and the shower would have to wait until Kaylie was in bed, and that could be a while, considering her present energy and insistence that he play with her. He tossed the blue plush duckie into the playpen and jotted himself a mental note to tell Paloma to cut out Kaylie’s morning nap.

“Babababa?” Kaylie said.

Hank snatched his daughter up from the blanket on the floor where she played, smooching her at the curve of her neck and making her laugh. “When are you going to learn to say ‘Dada,’ huh? Isn’t it about time you did something more than babble cute nothings?”

“Babababa!”

“Okay, so I’ll have to wait for you to talk. That’s fine, Kay-Kay. I’m a patient man.”

He sat down on the couch with his daughter in his lap, thinking how great it was going to