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“What kind of work are you looking for, Jenna, sugar?” Shirley asked, never looking up from Sophie’s sleeping face.
“I’m not at all particular, but I would like to secure a position where I could keep my baby with me.”
“Hmm. Well, that leaves out the fast-food places. I send a lot of folks to them. The junior high is always looking for substitutes, though you’d have to leave this precious one with a sitter.” She glanced up, brows drawing together over her black plastic glasses. “Don’t suppose you have a degree in education or computers?”
Jenna shook her head, hopes tumbling. “No.”
She’d spent one semester at Brown University under the watchful eyes of her grandparents. Unfortunately, neither they nor her ever-present bodyguards were as watchful as her mother would have liked. She’d met Derek there. Heads had rolled but Mother’s fury had come too late.
“How about the medical field? There’s always a need for that. Nurses, paramedics, lab techs…”
Again Jenna shook her head. An overprotected heiress was a useless human being.
Shirley studied her beneath thick blond bangs. “Do you have any training? Any experience at all?”
Jenna’s hopes fell even further as she bowed her head to the application and didn’t answer. She could plan a dinner party for fifty, direct servants and organize a charity auction; none of those skills appeared all that useful in Saddleback, Texas.
Even if no one recognized her here, she might have to move on. Yet, Saddleback’s friendliness and easy pace drew her. She wanted to remain in this remote place where her daughter had been born and where people treated her as just another person.
Shirley pushed her glasses up with one finger. “You don’t seem the type, but would you mind doing domestic work? We get a few calls for that.”
Domestics? As in a maid? Or a cook?
An idea popped into her head. She and Mother had taken a gourmet cooking class from a well-known chef. She’d loved it.
“Could I possibly keep Sophie with me?”
“That would be up to your employer, but I think most people would be all right with a little one around as long as you did the work.”
“Then,” Jenna said, suddenly thrilled at the idea, “I am a fabulous chef and quite amenable to domestics.”
Surely, cleaning a house couldn’t be that difficult. She’d watched the maids dozens of times.
Shirley grinned. “My dear girl, I think I may have something for you. A family outside of town needs a cook and general housekeeper. Want to check it out?”
A renewed zip of energy had Jenna sitting up straighter. “Absolutely.”
The woman returned a still-sleeping Sophie to Jenna’s arms and then riffled through a set of files, pulling out a card.
“Here you go,” she said, handing the information to Jenna. “I’ll call and let him know you’re coming for an interview.”
Jenna was beyond delighted, though admittedly a bit nervous as she gripped the index card in her fingers. This was her opportunity to start life all over again, to make a life for herself and Sophie, to finally be her own person.
With held breath, she glanced at the name and address of her prospective employer.
The information she read froze the smile on her lips.
Southpaw Cattle Company. Dax Coleman.
Dax slammed the telephone receiver down, then looked around the living room to be sure no one was listening before letting out a curse.
Last night, he’d dreamed of the little mama and her baby. Again. Then he’d lain awake, staring up at the dark ceiling as he listened to a north wind rattle the trees outside and wondered if the fragile pair was all right.
They haunted him. He couldn’t get them out of his head, a fact that infuriated him.
Now a phone call to the hospital told him exactly nothing. What had he expected? The day he’d visited her, he hadn’t even thought to ask her name. He’d just asked for the mother and baby he’d brought into the emergency room. How stupid was that? All the receptionist would tell him was that mother and baby had been discharged, but unless Dax was next of kin, and she knew danged well he wasn’t, no other information could be shared.
A distant relative of Reba’s, the hateful old biddy had never liked him anyway. She’d enjoyed putting him in his place.
“Fine,” he said to absolutely no one. The little mama and her baby were gone. They were all right. He could forget them. They were not his responsibility. He had enough of that to choke a horse already. End of topic.
No use fretting over a baby girl he’d never see again when he had his own problems to contend with. Shirley down at the employment office was sending him a new recruit this morning.
