Page 16 of A Rancher's Heart
Him as well.
It suddenly struck him— “What happened to your job at the hospital? You were a nurse. Why did you want to become a nanny?”
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip for a second, and he was damn near shocked. She wasn’t the type to hesitate.
When she spoke it wasn’t with her usual flair. “Dare never told you?”
Caleb shook his head. “She’s my sister. I trust her. She says you’re the one for the job, and I believe her, God help me.”
Amusement lightened her expression as a snicker escaped. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. You really think you need heavenly intervention with me working for you?”
He needed it to stop dreaming about decidedly non-heavenly pursuits. Like her lips, soft and delicious. And those damn glasses she wore—he’d never realized he had a thing for glasses, but obviously, he did. The ones she had on today were black-rimmed with tipped-up outside edges. The way she peered at him through them made the dirty thoughts rise, along with his cock.
Which wasn’t completely surprising because it had been a hell of a long time since the thing had gotten attention from anything other than his hand…
…and this was a direction he needed to avoid heading in the future.
Tamara spoke in a rush, probably taking his silence as judgment. “I didn’t do anything terrible, but I was hoping to keep small-town gossip from starting before I’d been here twenty-four hours.”
If she’d been sent by anyone other than his sister, that wouldn’t have been nearly enough. “Dare wouldn’t let you come within two inches of my little girls if she didn’t know everything, and still trust you. I don’t suppose I need details.”
She visibly relaxed.
“Dare knows?” he asked, just to be sure.
Tamara nodded. “We sat down and talked before I came out. I hope you don’t mind, but she also gave me all the details about your family. I mean, the part about how your parents and hers were best friends, and how after the accident you made sure that she got to stay at Silver Stone, fostering her as a sister.”
The stupid, tragic, accident that had taken his parents, Dare’s and her little sister in one moment. Caleb took a deep breath, the pain still sharp after all these years. “She’d lost enough. I figured she didn’t need to lose all of us as well.”
“Still, she thinks a lot of you, taking her on when you already had Ginny and Dustin to look after. Making sure that you all got to stay together as a family.”
“It was the right thing to do.” Caleb met her eyes. “Dare was a good kid who’d been dealt a shitty hand for a sixteen-year-old. I’m glad it worked for her to live with us. And I had help. Luke was twenty, and Walker nearly eighteen.”
Tamara spoke softly. “It was a kind thing, that’s all I’m saying. I’m sure being in familiar surroundings helped a lot.”
“I think routine and familiarity was good for us all back then.” There’d been times he’d wondered at the people who jumped from place to place all their lives. “There’s something special about living in one place your entire life, but it’s also a strange sort of burden.”
She was nodding slowly, fingers brushing the handle of her coffee mug in slow circles. “I went away to go to school, but other than that, I’ve lived in Rocky Mountain House. It feels strange to realize the next time I go to town I won’t see familiar faces at the grocery store.” Her lips twitched. “It also means I won’t be hit on by Samuel Tate. Can’t say I’m going to miss that part.”
Caleb hesitated in the middle of stealing a not-so-hot-anymore biscuit off the cooling rack. “He an old beau of yours?”
“He’s an old something, but normally the words on either side ofoldwould bedirtyandman. He’s mostly harmless, but a local hazard I don’t mind leaving behind.”
“I’m sure someone in Heart Falls will be just as annoying.”
Her half smile slipped into full bloom. “Well, now, you do have a sense of humour.”
“Never said I didn’t. Just don’t feel the need to poke and tease as much as Luke does.”
With a firm dip of her head, Tamara pulled over a notepad she’d had ready on the island counter. “I went over the email you sent, but your list of what you wanted me to do on a daily basis was a little bare-bones. I thought I should double-check what you want me to focus on here for the next while.” She glanced around the room. “You mentioned a calendar last night, but I don’t see one.”
“It’s in the office.”
She made a few notes on her paper. “If you don’t mind, I’ll set one up out here that we can all see. That will make it easier for me as I get into a routine. Probably make it easier for the girls as well.”
Caleb brushed crumbs from his fingers, wondering if he could snag another biscuit or if that would be pushing it. “Smart idea. Go ahead and get what you need. We have an account at Independent Grocers that you can charge stuff to. Just get them to phone me for approval the first time.”
Her eyes widened for a second before she brought it under control. “Now that’s something I haven’t heard in a long time. They let you keep a running tab at the grocery store?”
