Macy lost track of time while she was with the local wine merchant, selecting options for the daily wine and cheese hour Liam had proposed and negotiating quantities and prices. When she finally signed the order and glanced at her watch, she hurried to the library and her daughter.
Any concerns she’d harbored about momnesia interfering with her job performance had, so far, proven to be unfounded. In fact, with each day that passed, she felt more and more confident in her role.
And increasingly unnerved by the unexpected—and unwanted—attraction to her boss.
The revelation that she had three infants seemed to have effectively killed any romantic interest on his part, for which she knew she should be grateful. Instead, being in close proximity to the sexy cowboy-turned-innkeeper only made her feel churned up.
And that was before she stopped in the doorway of the library and saw him cuddling her baby girl in his arms.
“You really are just a little bitty thing, aren’t you?” he mused aloud. “Of course, you’re a few months younger than Tessa, but I don’t think my niece was ever such a lightweight.”
Ava’s gaze was focused on his face, as if trying to decide if he was a friend or foe. She didn’t have a lot of experience with strangers, and the furrow in her tiny brow along with the quiver of her lower lip warned Macy that the little girl was close to tears.
She started to take another step forward but paused when Liam spoke again, obviously reading the same signals and wanting to soothe the baby’s distress.
“I know I’m not your mama,” he said. “But your mama’s busy right now, so we’re just going to hang together until she finishes her meeting. She shouldn’t be too much longer, and if you give me a chance, you might discover that I’m not such a bad guy, really.
“And when I say ‘give me a chance,’ I mean no crying, okay? Because I’m at a complete loss when it comes to tears.”
What was it about a strong man showing his gentle side that arrowed directly to her heart? Macy wondered.
Or was it specifically this man?
Or maybe the fact that her baby was the beneficiary of the tender demonstration?
Regardless of the rationale, she suddenly realized that she was in trouble.
Prior to this exact moment, she’d been so focused on her excitement over the job that she hadn’t let herself worry that working in close proximity to a sexy man would be a problem.
Obviously she’d been wrong.
“Some people might say I’m clueless about a lot of things when it comes to women,” Liam continued his confession. “And they’d be right, but tears are probably my biggest weakness. Thankfully you’re too young to understand what I’m saying—so this will be our little secret, okay?”
“My lips are sealed,” Macy promised.
Liam started and turned toward the doorway, then spoke to Ava again, “See? I said your mama wouldn’t be too long.”
The baby squirmed in his arms, stretching her own out toward her mother.
“Your books were delivered,” Liam said, as Macy took Ava from him. “And when I came in to unpack the shipment, I discovered that she was awake. I hope you don’t mind that I picked her up. She seemed to be looking for you, and getting distressed when she couldn’t find you, so I tried to distract her.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m grateful you were here.” She patted Ava’s bottom, then reached for the tote bag beside the playpen. “But I do wonder—if my meeting had gone five minutes longer, would she be wearing a clean diaper?”
“Not likely,” he said.
She laughed softly. “At least you’re honest.”
“I’ve found that’s the best way to eliminate misunderstandings.”
“In which case—” she unfolded the portable change pad and laid Ava on top of it “—there’s something I should tell you.”
“What’s that?” he asked, wariness evident in his tone.
“This probably won’t be the last time I have to bring one or more of my kids to work with me.”
“You don’t have an unsuspecting brother you could leave them with?” he asked dryly.
She smiled as she unsnapped Ava’s pants. “Actually, I have two brothers, but neither of them lives in town.”
“I was only joking, anyway,” he assured her. “I’ve grown to appreciate the juggling act that is required of a working mom, and I don’t have a problem with you bringing your kids to work on occasion. But if I have a choice, I don’t do diapers.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she promised, sliding a dry one under her daughter’s bottom.
“And since you’re busy with that...do you want me to shelve these books? Or will you just rearrange everything when I’m done?”
“Can you group them by genre then alphabetize them by author?”
“I can take them out of the box and put them on the shelves.”
She shook her head as she refastened the snaps on Ava’s pants. “I’ll do it.”
And she’d be grateful for a task that required her focus and attention, keeping her mind busy so it wouldn’t spin any romantic fairy tales about handsome cowboys and single moms and sweet babies.
“Okay,” Liam agreed readily. “I was planning to head out to the Circle G after the staff meeting to show my grandparents the new brochures this afternoon, anyway.”
While they were at the antique and craft market, he’d confided that his grandparents had helped him with the down payment on the property, allowing him to move ahead with his plan to purchase the Stagecoach Inn.
But it was the first part of his statement that snagged her attention. “Staff meeting?”
“‘Meeting’ sounds more official than ‘greeting,’” he explained. “But it really is just a chance for the employees to get acquainted with one another.”
The total number of employees was six—including Liam and Macy. Rose was a part-time desk clerk who would be called upon to fill any gaps in the schedule, Camille would help out with the housekeeping on weekends, Emily would cook breakfast for the inn’s guests and her grandson Nathan would serve it. Macy was pleased that Liam had thought to bring them together to make the introductions and, after that was done, she was looking forward to working with all of them.
“How was work today?” Beverly asked, when Macy sat down for dinner with her parents later that day. “Did you manage okay with Ava?”
“Ava wasn’t a problem at all,” she said. “And work was good. Of course, the inn isn’t officially open yet, but I’ve loved helping with all the little details. Folding sheets and fluffing pillows, cutting flower stems and arranging decorative soaps. With every task, I feel more invested in the inn and its success.”
“You always did love playing house as a kid,” Norm recalled. “You would push that pretend vacuum around with one hand, carrying a doll in the other.”
“Multitasking,” she said.
“Fake multitasking,” her mother pointed out. “You were never as eager to push around a real vacuum.”
“I learned, though,” Macy said. “I vacuumed more guest rooms than I could count when I worked in housekeeping.”
“And now you’re the manager of Haven’s own upscale hotel,” Bev said proudly.
“Which sounds good but doesn’t get me out of folding sheets and fluffing pillows.”
“I’ve thought about stopping by, to sneak a peek into one of those fancy guest rooms,” her mother confided.
“You should do more than sneak a peek,” Macy said. “You and Dad should spend a couple of nights.”
“Why would I pay to sleep in a hotel less than five miles away from the perfectly good bed I have here?” Norm wanted to know.
“You wouldn’t have to pay—it would be my treat,” Macy said, knowing it was the least she could do to thank her parents for everything they’d done for her. “As for the why...it might add a little romance to your marriage.”
Her father scoffed at the notion. “I don’t think we need to be taking romantic advice from our unmarried daughter.”
He was teasing, of course, but it still stung when the barb struck home.
Because her dad was right—compared to her parents, who had been married for almost forty-one years, Macy knew less than nothing about romance. And when she’d become disillusioned with the whole dating scene, she’d given up hope of ever finding love.
Except that wasn’t really true. Even while she’d moved forward with her plan to have a baby, she hadn’t completely written off the possibility that she might someday meet a special someone. A man whose eyes would meet hers across a crowded room and be drawn to close that distance by the instant sparks he felt. Then they’d meet and they’d talk, they’d kiss and fall in love, and he’d love her baby, too, and want nothing more than to marry her so they could be together forever—a family.
It was, admittedly, a romantic dream.
When she’d realized she was going to have three babies, that romantic dream shot straight into the realm of fantasy.
Because only in the pages of a novel could she imagine a man wanting to take on the responsibility of three kids who weren’t his own.
“This was not a good idea,” Macy muttered, as she juggled the baby while rifling through the diaper bag for the tube of homeopathic teething gel she was certain she’d tucked inside—to no avail.
Sam continued to cry, deep, wracking sobs that shook his whole body. She offered a teething ring, which he immediately threw to the ground.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I can’t give you what’s not here.”
He wailed louder.
“Shh.” She jiggled him gently, swaying and swirling, trying to take his mind off his obvious distress. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. But you need to pipe down a little so that Mama’s boss doesn’t fire her.”
“Do you really think your boss would be that callous?” Liam asked.
“No,” she said, turning to face him. “But I think he’d be justified in feeling irritated that there’s a screaming baby in the lobby of his fancy hotel.”
“A fancy hotel that is, at the moment, empty of guests who might complain about the screaming baby.” He took a few steps closer to peer at the infant in her arms. “Who’s this big guy?”
Sam looked back at Liam through tear-drenched eyes, then he drew in a deep, shuddery breath and stretched his arms out.
“Benedict Arnold,” Macy muttered.
Liam chuckled. “Do you want me to hold him while you pack all that stuff back up?”
“Please,” she said, and willingly passed him the baby.
Sam sniffled...then offered his new friend a droolly smile as Macy began to shove diapers and toys and various paraphernalia into the bag.
“I didn’t think there existed, anywhere in the world, a diaper bag bigger than the one my sister hauls around,” he noted. “But I think hers would fit inside of yours.”
“I have three babies,” she reminded him, then shook her head as she looked at the one currently snuggled contentedly in her boss’s arms. “And that one was crying for forty minutes before you showed up. Nothing I said or did would make him stop. Now suddenly he’s all smiles and cuddles.”
“Kate says that babies sense when their mothers are stressed,” he said. “And that mothers with babies are almost always stressed.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Macy told him. “And I promise, this won’t be a regular occurrence, but my mom was going to Battle Mountain with Frieda Zimmerman today and, as great as my dad is with his grandbabies, I couldn’t leave all three of them with him for the whole day.”
“Is Frieda having her surgery today?”
She shouldn’t have been surprised by the question. After all, this was Haven, where everyone knew everyone else’s business, and her mother’s best friend hadn’t been shy about telling people that she was having a double mastectomy—a preventative measure after two of her sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer in the past year.
Macy nodded.
“Well, there’s nothing urgent happening here today, if you want to take Ben home.”
“Sam,” she corrected automatically, then smiled when she realized that he’d derived the name from her comment about her traitorous son—whose gaze was riveted on the face of the man who was holding him. “And it might not be urgent, but I’m meeting with Emily to go over the breakfast menus.”
“Breakfast menus?” Liam echoed blankly.
“We talked about this yesterday.”
“When?”
“First thing in the morning. You did seem a little distracted,” she noted. “But when I suggested that cook-to-order breakfasts had more appeal than a buffet—and would result in less waste—you said you’d defer to my expertise.”
“I was distracted,” he acknowledged. “My dad refuses to listen to anything I say about the ranch, because obviously I don’t care enough about the ranch to stick around and help run it.”
“And yet, you’re there every morning,” she remarked.
“Ranching isn’t a part-time job,” he said, in what she suspected was an echo of words his father had spoken to him.
“Neither is owning and operating a hotel,” she pointed out.
“Or parenthood,” he commented, as Sam dropped his head down on Liam’s shoulder.
Macy felt her heart swell inside her chest as she watched her baby curl his hand into a fist and lift his thumb to his mouth, totally content and secure in the cowboy’s arms. “You know, you’re much better with kids than you think you are.”
“So it would seem,” he agreed.
“Sam doesn’t usually take to strangers.”
“Well, maybe I’m not as strange as you think I am.”
She smiled at that. “Actually, I think you’re pretty great. If you could keep an eye on Sam while I meet with Emily, I’d bump ‘pretty great’ up to ‘awesome.’”
For the first few months after her babies were born, Macy stuck close to home. Worried about their premature immune systems, she’d tried to shield them—as much as possible—from the potentially hazardous germs carried by those who might want to pinch their cheeks or tickle their toes.
Maybe she was a little paranoid, but she’d seen how people gravitated toward babies. Twins drew twice as much attention, and triplets—adorable times three—were an even bigger draw.
She got a little braver after Ava, Max and Sam had had their six-month immunizations. She’d even taken them to the mall in Battle Mountain to see Santa before Christmas, though she’d questioned the wisdom of that decision the whole time they’d waited in line with countless runny-nosed kids and likely would have bolted if her mother hadn’t been there to stop her.
Now she was more willing to venture out with them, but their outings were restricted to venues that could be navigated with the triple tandem stroller. The Trading Post was one of those places—if she was picking up a limited number of items that would fit in the basket beneath the stroller. For a major shopping excursion, she usually took only one of her babies.
This week, it was Max’s turn to go, but her sweet baby boy had woken up with a bit of a fever, so she let him stay home under the watchful eyes of his grandparents and took Ava instead. Her little girl already thought herself a princess and accepted it as her due when strangers oohed and ahhed over her.
On her way to the grocery store, Macy popped in to Diggers’ to say “hi” to her former boss. After a brief visit that included lots of fussing over Ava, she headed out—just as Liam and an older woman were on their way in.
He introduced his companion as his grandmother, Evelyn Gilmore, and Macy and Ava as his innkeeper and her adorable baby girl.
“I’ve been meaning to stop by the inn to meet you,” Evelyn said, shaking Macy’s hand warmly.
“Now you don’t have to,” Liam told her.
“My grandson doesn’t like me poking around in his business,” Evelyn confided to Macy.
“Because my grandmother has trouble with the silent part of our silent partnership,” he said.
The older woman waved a hand, dismissing his comment. “Have you had your lunch already?” she asked Macy.
“No, we just stopped in to see Duke for a minute on our way to the Trading Post.”
“Then you can join us,” Evelyn decided.
“Thanks, but we really need to get to the store—”
“The store will still be there after you’ve had a bite to eat,” Evelyn said reasonably. “Besides, I want to talk to you about The Home Station.”
Macy sent a quizzical glance in Liam’s direction.
“That’s the name Grams has chosen for the restaurant we don’t have,” he explained.
“Yet,” Evelyn clarified.
And that was how Macy ended up having lunch with her boss and his grandmother—and Ava ended up wrapping another new acquaintance around her tiny finger.
As opening day drew nearer, Liam had to admit that hiring Macy Clayton was the smartest decision he could have made for the business—even when she brought one or more of her kids in to work with her. Truthfully, he didn’t mind having the babies around and was sometimes disappointed when she showed up alone.
He’d thought the little ones would act as a buffer between them, but the more time he spent with her, the more his attraction continued to grow. However, she gave him no reason to suspect that his feelings might be reciprocated—until the day before Valentine’s Day, when they were doing a final check in preparation of the grand opening.
“Tomorrow’s the big day,” she said, practically bubbling with enthusiasm.
“So it is,” he agreed, unwilling to admit that he was probably more apprehensive than he was excited. The family and friends who’d stopped by over the past few weeks had raved about everything, so he had no concerns about the adequacy of the accommodations. And he’d taken Macy’s suggestion and partnered with the spa to offer special weekend packages, but he still worried that no one would show up.
“Another two reservations came in today,” Macy said, and that information eased a little of his worry.
“How many is that now?” He asked her because he knew she’d be able to answer the question more quickly than he could look it up in the reservation system.
“Five,” she immediately replied. “Two rooms are booked for single nights, but three more are occupied through the weekend.”
“Out-of-towners?” he guessed.
She nodded.
“I can’t imagine how they’re going to keep busy for three days and two nights.”
“They’re in town for a company retreat, participating in team-building exercises at Adventure Village,” she told him, naming the local family-friendly activity center that was primarily responsible for the modest rise of tourism in the northern Nevada town.
“Team building exercises?” he echoed dubiously. “Is that really a thing?”
“A very popular thing,” she assured him.
“Who would’ve guessed?”
“Anyone who picked up one of the brochures in the rack by the front desk,” she told him.
“You were right,” he admitted. “The rack was a good idea. Partnering with local businesses was a good idea.”
“The partnerships were a great idea,” she amended.
But it had been an uphill battle to convince Liam of the benefits of working with Jason Channing, the owner and operator of Adventure Village. Because Jason’s mother was a Blake, and the Gilmore–Blake Feud was deeply entrenched in Haven’s history, dating back to the settlement of the area more than a hundred and fifty years earlier. Both Everett Gilmore and Samuel Blake had been sold deeds for the same parcel of land and, unwilling to admit that they’d been duped, they decided to split the property down the middle.
As Everett Gilmore had arrived first and already started to build his homestead on the west side of the river, he got the prime grazing land for his cattle, leaving Samuel Blake with the less hospitable terrain on the east side. While the Circle G grew into one of the most prosperous cattle ranches in the whole state, the Crooked Creek Ranch struggled for a lot of years—until gold and silver were discovered in the hills. But the change in their fortunes did not change the bad blood between the families.
“And don’t you think it’s long past time the Blake–Gilmore Feud was put to rest?” she asked him.
“It’s hardly up to me,” Liam said.
“Well, I’m glad you and Jason were able to overlook the history between your families for the benefit of both of your businesses.”
“Did I have a choice?” he asked.
His dry tone made her smile. “You made your choice when you hired me.”
“Probably the smartest decision I’ve made since buying this building,” he said.
Grateful for his comment—and the job she already loved—she impulsively hugged him. “Thank you.”
The gesture was intended as a simple and sincere expression of appreciation. The heat generated by the contact between their bodies was unintended and unexpected. And undeniably arousing.
His arms went around her, as if to prevent her retreat. And though she knew she should draw away, she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to continue pretending she was unaware of the chemistry that hummed between them. She didn’t want to ignore her growing feelings for him.
So instead of drawing away, she pressed closer and lifted her mouth to his.