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“See you then.”
Fearing if he sat down in his large office, he might doze off, Liam headed into the attached barn where twelve champion American quarter horse stallions stood at stud. Three of them belonged to Wade Ranch; the other nine belonged to clients.
Liam was proud of all they’d accomplished and wished that his grandfather had lived to see their annual auction reach a record million dollars for 145 horses. Each fall they joined with three other ranches to offer aged geldings, sought after for their proven ranch performance, as well as some promising young colts and fillies with top bloodlines.
At the far end of the barn, double doors opened into a medium-sized indoor arena used primarily for showing clients’ horses. One wall held twenty feet of glass windows. On the other side was a spacious, comfortable lounge used for entertaining the frequent visitors to the ranch. A large television played videos of his stallions in action as well as highlights from the current show and racing seasons.
Liam went through the arena and entered the show barn. Here is where he spent the majority of his time away from ranch business. He’d grown up riding and training reining horses and had won dozens of national titles as well as over a million dollars in prize money before he’d turned twenty-five.
Not realizing his destination until he stood in front of the colt’s stall, Liam slid open the door and regarded WR Electric Slide, son of Hadley’s former mount, Lolita. The three-year-old chestnut shifted in the stall and pushed his nose against Liam’s chest. Chuckling, he scratched the colt’s cheek, and his mind returned to Hadley.
While he understood that college and grad school hadn’t left her the time or the money to own a horse any longer, it didn’t make sense the way she’d shot down his suggestion that she visit this son of her former mount. And he didn’t believe that she’d lost interest in horses. Something more was going on, and he wasn’t going to let it go.
Three
Hadley sat in the nursery’s comfortable rocking chair with Maggie on her lap, lightly tapping her back to encourage the release of whatever air she’d swallowed while feeding. It was 3:00 a.m., and Hadley fended off the house’s heavy silence by quietly humming. The noise soothed the baby and gave Hadley’s happiness a voice.
She’d been living in the Wade house for three days, and each morning dawned a little brighter than the last. The baby fussed less. Liam smiled more. And Hadley got to enjoy Candace’s terrific cooking as well as a sense of accomplishment.
Often the agency sent her to handle the most difficult situations, knowing that she had a knack for creating cooperation in the most tumultuous of households. She attributed her success to patience, techniques she’d learned in her child development classes and determination. Preaching boundaries and cooperation, she’d teach new habits to the children and demonstrate to the parents how consistency made their lives easier.
Feeling more than hearing Maggie burp, Hadley resettled the baby on her back and picked up the bottle once more. Her appetite had increased after her pediatrician diagnosed acid reflux, probably due to her immature digestive system, and prescribed medication to neutralize her stomach acids. Now a week old, Maggie had stopped losing weight and was almost back to where she’d started.
In addition to the reflux problem, Maggie had symptoms of jaundice. Dr. Stringer had taken blood samples to run for DNA, and the bilirubinometer that tested jaundice levels had shown a higher-than-average reading. To Liam’s dismay, the doctor had suggested they wait a couple weeks to see if the jaundice went away on its own. He’d only relaxed after the pediatrician suggested they’d look at conventional phototherapy when the blood tests came back.
By the time Hadley settled Maggie back into her crib, it was almost four in the morning. With the late-night feedings taking longer than average because of Maggie’s reflux problem, Hadley had gotten in the habit of napping during the day when the baby slept. The abbreviated sleep patterns were beginning to wear on her, but in four short days she would be back spending the night in her tiny apartment once more.
Yawning into her pajama sleeve, Hadley shuffled down the hall to her room. Seeing that her door was open brought her back to wakefulness. In her haste to reach Maggie before she awakened Liam, Hadley hadn’t pulled her door fully shut, and after a quick check under the bed and behind the chair, she conceded that the cat was missing. Damn. She didn’t want to tiptoe around the quiet house in search of a feline who enjoyed playing hide-and-seek. Given the size of the place, she could be at it for hours.
Silently cursing, Hadley picked up a pouch of kitty treats and slipped out of her room. The floorboards squeaked beneath her. Moving with as much stealth as possible, she stole past Liam’s room and headed toward the stairs.
Once on the first floor, Hadley began shaking the tre
at bag and calling Waldo’s name in a stage whisper. She began in the living room, peering under furniture and trying not to sound as frustrated as she felt. No cat. Next, she moved on to the den. That, too, was feline free. After a quick and fruitless sweep of the dining room, she headed into the kitchen, praying Waldo had found himself a perch on top of the refrigerator or made a nest in the basket of dirty clothes in the laundry room. She found no sign of the gray tabby anywhere.
Hadley returned to the second floor, resigned to let the cat find his own way back, hoping he did before Liam woke up. But as she retraced her steps down the dim corridor, she noticed something that had eluded her earlier. Liam’s door was open just wide enough for a cat to slip inside. She paused in the hall and stared at the gap. Had it been like that when she’d passed by earlier? It would be just like Waldo to gravitate toward the one person in the house who didn’t like him.
She gave the pouch of cat treats a little shake. The sound was barely above a whisper, but Waldo had fantastic hearing, and while he might disregard her calls, he never ignored his stomach. Hadley held her breath for a few tense, silent seconds and listened for the patter of cat paws on the wood floor, but heard nothing but Liam’s deep, rhythmic breathing. Confident that he was sound asleep, she eased open his door until she could slip inside.
Her first step into Liam’s bedroom sent alarm bells shrilling in her head. Had she lost her mind? She was sneaking into her employer’s room in the middle of the night while he slept. How would she explain herself if he woke? Would he believe that she was in search of her missing cat or would he assume she was just another opportunistic female? As the absurdity of the situation hit her, Hadley pressed her face into the crook of her arm and smothered a giggle. Several deep breaths later she had herself mostly back under control and advanced another careful step into Liam’s room.
Her eyes had long ago grown accustomed to the darkness, and the light of a three-quarter moon spilled through the large window, so it was easy for her to make out the modern-looking king-size bed and the large man sprawled beneath the pale comforter. And there was Waldo, lying on top of Liam’s stomach looking for all the world as if he’d found the most comfortable place on earth. He stared at Hadley, the tip of his tail sweeping across Liam’s chin in a subtle taunt.
This could not be happening.
Hadley shook the pouch gently and Waldo’s gold eyes narrowed, but he showed no intention of moving. Afraid that Liam would wake if she called the cat, Hadley risked approaching the bed. He simply had to move on his own. In order to pick him up, she’d have to slide her hand between Waldo’s belly and Liam’s stomach. Surely that would wake the sleeping man.
Pulling out a treat, she waved it in front of the cat’s nose. Waldo’s nose twitched with interest, but he displayed typical catlike disdain for doing anything expected of him. He merely blinked and glanced away. Could she snatch up the cat and make it to the door before Liam knew what had happened? Her mind ran through the possibilities and saw nothing but disaster.
Maybe she could nudge the cat off Liam. She poked the cat’s shoulder. Waldo might have been glued where he lay. Working carefully, she slid her finger into his armpit and prodded upward, hoping to annoy him into a sitting position. He resisted by turning his body to stone.
Crossing her fingers that Liam was as sound a sleeper as he appeared, Hadley tried one last gambit. She scratched Waldo’s head and was rewarded by a soft purr. Now that he was relaxed, she slid her nails down his spine and was rewarded when he pushed to his feet, the better to enjoy the caress. Leaning farther over the mattress, she slid one hand behind his front legs and cupped his butt in her other palm when she felt the air stir the fabric of her pajama top against her skin.
Hadley almost yelped as a large hand skimmed beneath the hem of her top and traced upward over her rib cage to the lower curve of her breast. Awkwardly looming over Liam’s bed, her hands wrapped around an increasingly unhappy feline, she glanced at Liam’s face and noticed that while his eyes remained closed, one corner of his lips had lifted into a half smile.
* * *
Liam was having an amazing dream. He lay on a couch in front of a roaring fire with a woman draped across him. Her long hair tickled his chin as his hands swept under her shirt, fingers tracing her ribs. Her bare skin was warm and soft beneath his caress and smelled like lavender and vanilla.
