Triple Trouble / A Real Live Cowboy

She slipped into bed and spent an hour trying to read, but her concentration was fractured as she continued to mull over her changed situation.

The antique clock in the hallway chimed midnight. Charlene realized she’d spent the last hour lying in the dark, unsuccessfully trying to sleep. She muttered in disgust and sat up to switch on the bedside lamp. It cast a pool of light over the bed as she tossed back the covers and padded barefoot across the carpet to retrieve Nicholas’s card from her purse.

The phone number on the back of the card was written in decisive, black slashes. Charlene flipped the square card over to read the front and gasped, feeling her eyes widen.

“Nicholas Fortune?” She stared at the logo on the business card. “He’s a member of the Fortune family?” Stunned, she considered the startling information.

Nicholas’s status as part of the prominent family eliminated many of her concerns. There was little likelihood she’d run into Barry if she worked as a live-in nanny for one of the Fortunes. The two men moved in far different circles. Which put a whole new slant on the possibility of going back to Red Rock, she realized.

It also explained why he’d offered a two-part employment bonus. Fifty-thousand dollars was probably small change for one of the Fortunes.

She tucked the card carefully into her purse and turned out the light. Working for Nicholas could turn out to be the opportunity she’d been looking for.

On the other hand, how would she deal with her attraction to him? Would she end up sleeping with him if she lived in his house to care for the babies?

She frowned, fingertips massaging the slight ache at her temples.

Surely she could handle living in close quarters with a handsome, sexy man for a few weeks, she told herself. And, given Nick’s good looks and probably wealth, he no doubt had beautiful women by the dozens waiting for him to call.

No, it wasn’t likely she needed to worry about Nick making a pass at her. The real question was, could she maintain a purely professional attitude toward him?

When she thought about the bonus he’d offered, she could only conclude she needed to set aside any emotional elements and make a purely practical decision.

The following morning, she waited until she’d showered and broke the news to her mother and Lloyd over breakfast before calling Nicholas.

“Hello.”

The deep male tones shivered up her spine, and for a brief second she questioned the wisdom of agreeing to work for a man as attractive as Nicholas Fortune. Then she reminded herself just how badly she needed this job. “If it’s not too late, I’d like to take you up on your offer of the nanny position,” she said briskly.

“You’re hired. How soon can you be ready to leave?”

“Almost immediately—I didn’t unpack last night. What time is your flight?”

“Change of plans. I’m not flying the triplets back to Red Rock, we’re driving.”

“Oh.”

“Give me your address and I’ll pick you up as soon as I have the car loaded.”

Charlotte quickly recited her mother’s address and said goodbye. For a moment, she stared at her pink cell phone.

Have I just made a colossal mistake?

At the sound of his deep voice, she’d felt shivers of awareness race up her spine and tingle down her arms to her fingertips.

Then she remembered Barry, and her body instantly calmed as if the reaction to Nicholas had never happened. She wasn’t ready to be attracted to another man. All she had to do was remind herself of her poor judgment and disappointment with Barry and she was safe, she realized with relief.

Reassured, she set her nearly full suitcase on top of the bed and tucked her pajamas into it. A quick trip into the bathroom to collect her toiletries, and she was ready to face her mother and Lloyd.

Squaring her shoulders and drawing a deep breath, she slung her purse over her shoulder, picked up her two bags, and headed downstairs.

Across town, Nick wrestled with the complexities of fastening three car seats into the SUV the rental company had delivered. Fortunately, the vehicle was big enough to have a third seat section and had enough room for an adult to sit between two of the triplets, if necessary.

At last, the babies’ car seats were securely locked in place and the bags and boxes filled with the triplets’ clothes, toys and food were packed into the back of the SUV. The girls were buckled into their seats, each with a treasured blanket and a favorite stuffed toy in her arms, and their foster mother tearfully kissed them good-bye. Nick had a brand-new appreciation for the details of traveling with three babies when he finally pulled away from the curb.

Fortunately for him, the girls all fell asleep within minutes of driving off.

The motion of the car must lull them to sleep. Good to know.

If they had trouble sleeping at his house, he realized, he could always drive them around his neighborhood.

But he knew figuring out this clue about the babies wasn’t enough to make him a reliable substitute parent. If he and the triplets were going to survive until the attorney located Amy’s sister, he’d need all the help he could get.

Charlene London was his ace in the hole. He was convinced she had the expertise that he knew damn well he lacked.

He hoped to hell he was right, because he was betting everything on her ability to handle the triplets. If he was wrong, this road trip was going to turn into a nightmare.

Nick’s relief at the triplets falling peacefully asleep didn’t last long. The girls all woke when he reached the address Charlene had given him and the SUV stopped moving. They immediately began to loudly protest being buckled into their car seats. Charlene said goodbye to her mother and friend in the midst of chaos.

Ten minutes after pulling away from the curb, Nick was no longer convinced he’d found the magic bullet to lull the babies asleep. They cried and fussed nonstop, despite the motion of the SUV.

Several hours of driving south and many miles later, Nicholas turned off the highway into a rest stop and parked. The sun shone brightly, but the afternoon air was still chilly. He left the engine running and the heater on to keep the interior as comfortable as possible for Jenny and Jackie while Charlene changed Jessie’s diaper. The little girl lay on the leather seat, kicking her bare legs with obvious delight while Charlene stood in the open V of the door. Despite the churning little legs, Charlene deftly removed, replaced and snugly fastened a clean disposable nappy.

“I’ve done my share of tailgating at football games, but this is a new experience,” Nick commented as Charlene pulled down Jessie’s knit pants and snapped the leg openings closed.

“You’re in a whole new world, Nick.” She lifted the little girl into her arms, tickling her. Jessie chortled and Charlene laughed. They both looked up to grin at him.

Nick shook his head. Crazy as it seemed, he could swear their faces held identical expressions of feminine wisdom and mystery. “I’m not sure I’m ready for a new world,” he murmured as he took the diaper bag from Charlene and returned it to the storage area in the back of the SUV. “I’m getting some coffee,” he said, louder this time, so Charlene could hear him. “Want some?”

“Yes, please, I’d love a cup.”

Nick crossed the patch of grass between the curb where he’d parked the SUV and the concrete apron surrounding the low-roofed building housing the restrooms. Volunteers manned a small kiosk on one side and offered weary travelers coffee and cookies.

By the time he slid behind the steering wheel again, Charlene had Jessie fastened into her car seat and was buckling her own safety belt. She took the foam cup he held out to her and sipped.

“How bad is it?” he asked, unable to look away from the sight of the pink tip of her tongue as she licked a tiny drop of coffee from the corner of her mouth.

“Not too bad.”

He lifted an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

“Okay, so it’s not Starbucks,” she conceded with a chuckle. “But it’s coffee and I need the caffeine. I was awake late last night and up early this morning. I really, really need the jolt.”

Nick glanced at his watch as they drove away from the rest stop. “The attorney told me the girls are in bed and asleep by seven every night. You’re the expert, but I’m guessing it might be a good idea to find a motel earlier rather than later so we can keep them on schedule, if possible.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea.” She glanced over her shoulder at the triplets’ drowsy faces. “If we stop earlier, we’ll have time to feed them, give them baths, and let them play for a little while before tucking them in for the night.”

The motel Nick pulled into was just off the highway. Behind the motel, the tree-lined streets of a small town were laid out in neat blocks, and fairgrounds with an empty grandstand were visible a dozen or so blocks away. Nick was familiar with the motel chain and, as he’d hoped, the staff assured him they could accommodate the needs of three babies.

With quick calculation, he asked for two connecting rooms—one for the girls and Charlene, and one for him. He hoped the babies would sleep through the night.

Not for the first time, he thanked God Charlene had agreed to be the girls’ nanny. If he could manage to ignore the fact that she was a beautiful woman, she made the perfect employee.

“If we both carry the girls in first, I can transfer the luggage while you keep an eye on them in the room,” he told Charlene when he returned to the SUV. “We’re on the ground floor, just inside the lobby and down the hall.”

He handed her a key card. “Why don’t you carry Jessie, I’ll take Jackie and Jenny.”

After unhooking the girls and handing Jenny to Nick while he held Jackie, Charlotte lifted Jessie and followed Nick into the motel.

“Our rooms are through there.” He led the way toward the hallway on the far side of the lobby.

Distracted by her view of his back, Charlene forgot to reply. Beneath the battered brown leather jacket, powerful shoulder muscles flexed as Jackie and Jenny squirmed in his hold. The jacket ended at his waist and faded Levis fit snugly over his taut backside and down the long length of his legs.

Get a grip, she told herself firmly. Stop ogling the man’s rear and focus on the job—and the babies.

“Have you got the key?”

Nick’s question startled her and she realized he’d halted outside a room.

Feeling her cheeks heat and hoping he hadn’t caught her staring at his backside, she quickly slid the key card through the lock slot and opened the door.

“After you.” Nick held the door while she carried Jessie inside.

“Nice. Very nice.” She halted at the foot of the queen-size bed and glanced around, taking in a round table with three chairs tucked into one corner near the draped window.

Nick swept the room with a quick, assessing gaze. “Yeah, not bad. The connecting room is ours too.” He bent and carefully set Jackie on the carpeted floor, then Jenny. Straightening, he took another key card from his back pocket and crossed the room to open the door to the room on the side. “They’re exactly the same,” he said after briefly looking. He returned and halted next to Jackie, bending to remove a handful of bedspread from her mouth. “Hey,” he said gently. “I’m not sure you should be chewing on that.”

“She’s probably hungry.” Charlene set Jessie on her diaper-padded bottom next to Jackie, and handed both girls a small stuffed bear each. Both beamed up at her and Jackie instantly shoved a furry bear leg into her mouth. “Hmmm, make that she’s definitely hungry.”

“I’ll bring up the bag with their food before the rest of the luggage. Anything else you need right away?”

“If you could bring up the diaper bag too, that would be great.”

He nodded and left the room.

“Well, girls, let’s see what we can do to make you comfortable.” Charlene laughed when Jessie blew a raspberry before smiling beatifically. “Are you going to be the class clown?” she teased.

Jessie gurgled and tipped sideways before righting herself and reaching for Jackie’s bear.

“Oh no you don’t, kiddo.” Charlene made sure each little girl had their own stuffed animal before calling the front desk. The clerk assured her he would arrange to have three high chairs from the restaurant sent to the room immediately. He also confirmed that Nick had requested three cribs during check-in and that someone would be delivering and setting them up within a half hour.

Satisfied that arrangements were under way, Charlene barely had time to replace the phone in its cradle before Nick returned with the box containing baby paraphernalia and two bags.

For the next two hours, neither she nor Nick had a moment to draw a deep breath. The high chairs were delivered while he was bringing in the luggage. Later, Charlene and Nick spooned food into little mouths, wiped chins and sticky fingers and tried to keep strained carrots from staining their own clothes.

Neither of them wanted to tackle eating dinner in the restaurant downstairs while accompanied by the triplets, so they ordered in. Nick insisted Charlene eat first, and she hurried to chew bites of surprisingly good pasta and chicken while he lay on the carpet, rolling rubber balls to the triplets. By the time Charlene’s plate was empty, all three babies were yawning and rubbing their eyes.

The two adults switched places—Nick taking Charlene’s chair to eat his steak, Jessie perched on his knee while Jackie played on the floor at his feet. Charlene toted Jenny into the bathroom and popped her into the tub to scrub the smears of strained plums and carrots from her face and out of her hair.

By the time she had Jenny dried, freshly diapered and tucked into footed white pajamas patterned with little brown monkeys, Nick had finished eating.

“Hey, look at you,” he said to Jenny. “What happened to the purple-and-orange face paint?”

Charlene laughed. “She even had it in her hair.”

“I think they all do.” Nick rubbed his hand over Jessie’s black curls and grimaced. “Definitely sticky.”

“I’m guessing that’s the strained plums,” Charlene said. She handed Jenny to him and lifted Jessie into her arms. “Will you watch her and Jackie while I put Jessie in the tub?”

“Sure—but I can bathe her if you’d like a break. I’m sure I can manage.”

“No, I’m fine. Besides,” she perched Jessie on her hip and started unbuttoning and unsnapping the baby’s pants and knit shirt, “I’m already wet from being splashed by Jenny. One of us might as well stay dry.”

Nicholas wished she hadn’t pointed out that she’d been splashed with bathwater. He’d noticed the wet spots on her T-shirt and the way the damp cotton clung to her curves in interesting places. He was trying damned hard to ignore his body’s reaction—and he was losing the battle.

“Uh, yeah. Okay, then. I’ll keep these two occupied out here.” He perched Jenny on his lap and she settled against him, her lashes half-lowered, apparently content to sit quietly. Nick bent his head, breathing in the scent of baby shampoo from her damp curls.

Something about the baby’s warm weight resting trustingly in his arms and the smell of clean soap touched off an onslaught of unexpected emotion, followed quickly by a slam of grief that caught him off guard. The sound of splashing and gurgles from the bathroom, accompanied by Charlene’s murmured reply, only heightened the pain in Nick’s chest.

Stan and Amy must have fed and bathed the girls every night. Stan probably held Jenny just like this.

How was it possible that Stan and Amy were gone—and their children left alone? In what universe did any of this make sense?

It didn’t—none of it, he thought. His arms tightened protectively around the baby.

He was the last person on earth who should be responsible for these kids; but since he was, he’d make damn sure they were cared for—and safe. As safe as he could make them.

Which means I have to rearrange my life.

He was a man who’d avoided the responsibilities of a wife and family until now. He enjoyed the freedom of being single and hadn’t planned to change his status anytime soon; but now that surrogate fatherhood had been thrust on him, he would make the most of it.

While Charlene bathed Jessie and Jackie, Nick considered his schedule at work and the logistics of fitting three babies and a nanny into his house and life.

He was still considering the thorny subject when the triplets were asleep in their cribs and he had said good-night to Charlene before disappearing into the far bedroom. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling above his own bed while he formulated a plan.

He’d just drifted off to sleep when one of the babies cried. By the time he staggered into the room next door, all three of them were awake and crying. Charlene stood at one of the cribs, lifting the sobbing little girl into her arms.

“I’ll take Jessie into your room to change her diaper and try to get her back to sleep. I think she’s running a bit of a fever—probably because of the ear infection. Can you deal with the other two?”

“Sure,” Nick mumbled. Charlene disappeared into her room. He patted the nearest baby on the back but she only cried louder. “Damn,” he muttered. “Now what do I do?”

He picked her up and she burrowed her face into his shoulder, her wails undiminished. Feeling totally clueless, Nick jiggled her up and down, but the sobbing continued unabated. Willing to try anything, he grabbed her abandoned blanket from the crib mattress and handed it to her. She snatched it and clutched it in one hand, sucking on her thumb. She still cried but the sound diminished because her mouth was closed.

Which left him with the baby still standing in her crib, tears streaming down her face, her cries deafening.

Nick’s head began to pound. He leaned over and snagged the abandoned blanket, caught the little girl with one arm and lifted her to a seat on his hip. Then he lowered the two onto the empty bed, his back against the headboard. He managed to juggle both babies until he could cradle each of them against his chest, their security blankets clutched tightly in their hands. The first baby he’d picked up was crying with less volume, but the second one still made enough noise to wake the dead.

Vaguely remembering a comment his mother had made about singing her boys to sleep when they were little, Nick sang the only tune that came to mind. Bob Seger may not have intended his classic, “Rock And Roll Never Forgets” as a lullaby, but the lyrics seemed to strike a chord with the babies.

The loud sobs slowly abated. Nick felt the solid little bodies relax and gradually sink against his own. When the girls were limp and no longer crying, he tilted his head back to peer cautiously at them.

They were sound asleep.

Thank God. He eyed the cribs, trying to figure out how to lower each of the babies into their bed without waking one or both of them.

He drew a blank.

“Aw, hell,” he muttered. He managed to shift one of the little girls onto the bed beside him before sliding lower in the bed until he lay flat. Then he grabbed a pillow, shoved it under his head and pulled the spread up over his legs and hips. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

The sheets were still warm from Charlene’s body, and the scent of her perfume clung to the pillow, teasing his nostrils. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about lying in her bed as he slid into sleep.

Nick woke the following morning with a kink in his neck and the sound of gleeful chortles accompanying thumps on his head from a tiny fist. He slitted his eyes open. He was nose-to-nose with a tiny face whose bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief below a mop of black curls.

He forced his eyes open farther just in time to see a second little girl as she wriggled out of his grasp and crawled toward the edge of the bed with determined speed. He grabbed a handful of her sleeper just in time to keep her from tumbling headfirst onto the floor.

The quick movement corresponded with a hard yank on his hair.

“Ow.” He winced, pried little fingers away from his head and sat up. “You little imp.” The tiny wrist bracelet told him this triplet was Jackie. “I’m gonna remember this,” he told her.

She grinned, babbled nonsensically and began to crawl swiftly toward the end of the bed.

“Oh no you don’t. Come back here.” He hauled her back, then threw the spread back and stood, a wiggling little girl tucked beneath each arm. He lowered them each into a separate crib and grinned when they stood on tiptoes, reaching for him. “No way. You’re trapped now and I’m not letting you out.”

“Good morning.”

He glanced over his shoulder. Charlene stood in the open doorway to the adjoining room, hair tousled, eyes sleepy. She was dressed in jeans and a pullover knit shirt, Jessie perched on one hip.

Nick was abruptly aware he was wearing only gray boxers.

“Morning.” He gestured at the girls in their cribs. “I’ll give you a hand with their breakfast as soon as I’m dressed. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

She murmured an acknowledgment as he left the room.

Both adults were sleep-deprived and weary, but the triplets seemed little worse for their middle-of-the-night activity. By the time they were fed, dressed and strapped in their car seats, Nick was beginning to wonder if he should hire four or five nannies instead of one or two.

The trip from Amarillo south to Red Rock was just over five hundred and fifty miles. In normal circumstances, pretriplets, Nick could have driven the route in eight or nine hours with good road conditions and mild weather. But traveling with three babies on board drastically changed the time frame. After numerous stops to change diapers and feed the little girls, they finally reached his home in Red Rock in late afternoon of the second day.

Charlene stepped out of the SUV and stretched, easing muscles weary from sitting for too many hours. The SUV was parked in the driveway of a Spanish-style two-story stucco house on a quiet residential street in one of Red Rock’s more affluent neighborhoods. She knew very little about this part of town; her previous apartment had been southeast, across the business district and blocks away.

In fact, she thought as she glanced up and down the broad street, with its large homes and neatly trimmed lawns, she didn’t remember ever having been in this part of Red Rock before.

Good, she thought with satisfaction. Her belief that it would be unlikely she might run into Barry or his friends seemed to be accurate.

She turned back to the SUV and leaned inside to unhook Jessie from her seat belt.

“I called my housekeeper this morning,” Nick told her as he unbuckled Jackie on the opposite side of the vehicle. “Melissa promised to come by and fill the fridge and pantry with food for the girls. She said she’d wait for the delivery van with the baby furniture too.”

Surprised, Charlene’s fingers stilled and she stopped unbuckling Jessie’s seat belt to look at him across the width of the SUV’s interior. “I didn’t realize you’d made arrangements—but thank goodness you did.”

Nick’s gaze met hers and she felt her breath catch, helpless to stop her body’s reaction to him.

“We were lucky last night,” he said. “The hotel was prepared to accommodate babies. Trust me, there aren’t any high chairs or cribs stored in my attic.” He lifted Jackie free and grinned. “I’m not sure what we would have done with these three tonight if the store hadn’t agreed to deliver and set up their beds today. The only thing I’ve got that comes close to cribs are a couple of large dog crates in the garage.”

Charlene laughed, the sudden mental image of the three little girls sleeping in boxy carriers with gates was too preposterous.

“Exactly,” Nick said dryly. He shifted Jackie onto his hip and unhooked Jenny from her seat.