Family By The Bunch

Sure enough, from the family room, she could hear the sound of a video game and childish laughter. Too, a delicious mixture of aromas filled the air. Clutching the dish of chicken and dumplings, she felt sheepish. He already had supper under control.

The he in question had headed down the hallway. Trying to concentrate on her mission and not the masculine sway of his broad shoulders and narrow hips, Neesa followed as Hank silently led her into the kitchen where, to her complete amazement, covered dishes filled every inch of counter space.

“Now, let’s see if we can find a spot for yours.” He turned, and she started at the unmistakable twinkle in his eyes. “This is one neighborly neighborhood.”

So it would appear.

Visualizing a line, a very long line, of well-groomed suburban moms bearing casseroles—winding toward the Russell house, she suddenly laughed out loud.

“My reaction exactly.” He reached for the casserole she carried. “Y’all sure do have Chris and Casey’s best interests at heart.”

Neesa nearly choked on the rising guilt. “What do you plan to do with all this?”

“I’m freezing most of it. That way Cilia won’t have to cook for a month.”

“Cool, huh?” Eight-year-old Chris entered the kitchen. He grinned. “Hey, Miss Neesa, what did you bring?”

“Chicken and dumplings.”

“Hank’s favorite.” The boy lifted the lid of a dish on the counter and extracted a breaded chicken leg. “Me, I like mine fried.”

“Don’t you dare take that back in the family room,” Hank warned. “Your mama would give me a tongue lashing and more.”

“I won’t.” Chris headed for the back door. “I’m going to eat it on the deck, then I’m going to the basement to dig out our swim stuff. Pool opens tomorrow, remember.”

“How could I forget?” Hank didn’t look thrilled at the prospect.

“I take it you’re not a swimmer?”

“The swimming part’s fine. I’m just not keen on doing it in a cement pond.”

“Cement pond.” Neesa laughed aloud again. “Why, you sound like Jethro—”

“Of the Beverly Hillbillies,” he finished for her. “I know. It’s a cross I bear.” He rolled his eyes dramatically.

She hadn’t expected him to be approachable and funny and self-deprecating. No. On the contrary, at the bus stop he’d seemed aloof and stern and very macho. Maybe the difference was in the Stetson. Right now, he wasn’t wearing it. And without it, he was still drop-dead gorgeous, but gorgeous in a way that didn’t push her away. That made her, instead, want to get to know him better.

A dangerous thought.

His dark hair was straight and a little too long to be manageable. His forehead was broad and intelligent. Under dark brows, even darker eyes took in everything. Didn’t miss a trick. Tonight his strong jawline and chin showed the blue of a five-o’clock shadow. Very masculine. Neesa wondered if a heavy beard meant...

Mentally admonishing herself to remember the point of this visit, Neesa took a step backward as if standing outside his considerable aura might protect her.

“Hank!” Little six-year-old Casey Russell hurtled into the room. “Nobody will play video games with me! I’m all alone in there. Chris left me. Nobody loves me.” In a piping voice, her blue-streak complaint held more drama than substance.

“How awful!” Hank scooped the girl into his arms. “I love you. If I ever had a little girl, I’d want her to be just like you.”

Casey blushed, clearly enjoying the compliment. Still she affected a pout. “But nobody will play pokey pony with me.”

“Did that fact make you lose your manners?”

Casey gave him a perplexed stare.

“We have a guest. Say hey to Miss Neesa.”

The child snuggled against Hank’s neck. “Miss Neesa isn’t a guest. She’s our neighbor. She gives real big chocolate bars at Halloween.”

Hank raised one dark eyebrow in question.

“True,” Neesa replied, chuckling. “My favorite.”

“Remind me to come back to the neighborhood for Halloween,” he said, his voice low and lazy, his eyes now a seductive shade of dark gray. “I love trick or treat.”

She just bet.

He lowered Casey to the floor. With one big hand he ruffled the little girl’s hair. “Let me walk Miss Neesa to the door. Then I’ll play pokey pony with you. Now scoot.”

The man obviously liked kids. That would be perfect in her professional scheme of things. It was an automatic out, however, in her personal relationships ball game.

When Hank turned to look at Neesa, it was with the same soul-searching gaze he’d sent her this morning. Only in the close confines of the kitchen, it seemed a hundred times more potent. Why did he throw her one of those looks when she was feeling most vulnerable? Her knees suddenly went wobbly. She felt color drain from her cheeks. Felt unexplainably giddy.

“Are you all right?” He reached for her. Encircled her upper arms with a strong grip. “You’re looking mighty peaked all of a sudden.”

His touch only increased the giddiness.

“I’m fine,” she managed, drawing away from him with difficulty. “It’s just that it’s been a long day at work.”

“And here you thought to bring us supper.” His eyes turned the color of smoke. Tender. “We’re much obliged.” Lordy, if he’d been wearing the Stetson, he most certainly would have tipped it.

“You’re very welcome.” The words stuck in her throat. She prayed her knees would hold. “I’d better be going.”

Concern flickering in those dark eyes, he walked her to the door, then opened it for her. “See you at the pool tomorrow?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She attempted a smile. “I’m not much for cement ponds, either.”

He smiled with enough wattage to blow a fuse. “Well, Miss Neesa. See you at Halloween then. Save me a real big chocolate bar.”

He winked and slowly closed the door, leaving Neesa standing on the Russells’ front doorstep, weak-kneed, flustered and frustrated. Flustered because she’d just experienced a full-blown case of attraction for a stranger who, for all she knew, had a wife and kids of his own back at the ranch. Kids. It was clear from just a few moments of observing him that he was a natural-born parent. Even if he were single, his obvious desire for children would eliminate him from her eligible bachelor list.

She was frustrated, too, because she’d paid good money for that chicken and dumplings at Myra’s Diner. Even as good as it had smelled, it hadn’t come close to getting Hank Whittaker to admit he was a rancher. Hadn’t provided the opportunity for Neesa to innocently say, Is that right? Funny, but I’ve been on the lookout for a rancher for my Kids & Animals program....

She harrumphed softly. Now she had to dig her bathing suit out of mothballs and visit that cement pond tomorrow.

Chapter Two

“Hank?” Poolside, eight-year-old Chris Russell stopped blowing air into the rubber raft. “Why aren’t you married?”

Why wasn’t he married?

Funny, but you could hem and haw and evade a similar question from an adult, but a kid deserved an honest answer.

From his lounge chair Hank reached for a soft drink in the cooler. The noises and bustle surrounding the neighborhood pool assailed him. He longed for the quiet of his ranch. But Chris’s stare didn’t waver, and his question remained unanswered.

“I almost was,” Hank replied simply.

“What happened?”

“Oh, she was a city gal, and I was a country boy. We just couldn’t agree on most of the things you need to go about your daily business.”

“Did you love her?”

“Yup.” Now, that was the godshonest truth. And it had hurt like hell when she’d left him. The memory of it stil did, at times. The pain provided a good reminder that he might search high and low, but it would take a very special woman to become a rancher’s wife.

“I could help you find someone new.” Chris grinned. “My teacher’s real pretty.”

“Have you been talking to Willy?” Hank growled playfully. Reaching for the rubber raft, he ruffled the boy’s hair en route. “Here. Let me blow this up for you. Otherwise it’ll be dark before you get in the water.” He began to blow up the raft, safe from Chris’s questions. At least if Chris asked them, he now had an excuse not to answer them.

Casey streaked by with a friend.

Hank lifted his head from the task at hand. “Casey! Slow down, darlin’. The lifeguard will kick us all out, and Chris here hasn’t even had a chance to dip his toes in the water.” He sighed heavily. Would he survive this suburban weekend?

“Looks like you have your hands full.” The voice was soft and sultry and very familiar. But he’d heard so many new voices in the past twenty-four hours.

Peering up from under the brim of his Stetson, Hank saw a shapely silhouette etched against the early-afternoon sun. Shadow obscured the face, however.

“I don’t need the raft,” Chris said suddenly. He leaned close and whispered in Hank’s ear. “She’s even prettier than my teacher.” Before Hank could answer, the boy dashed off, executing a cannonball in the deep end of the pool.

“This seat taken?” That unmistakably feminine voice again.

“It is now. It’s yours.” Tipping his hat, Hank gallantly rose from his lounge chair while inwardly bemoaning the loss of his privacy. “Ma’am,” he added to give the invitation a distancing formality.

“Neesa. Please.”

Oh, that voice. Neesa Little of the angel blue eyes and the tiny red sports car. His suburban weekend just got more complicated.

Having fully expected that he’d never see the woman again, he’d allowed himself to flirt with her—just a little—yesterday evening when she’d come bearing chicken and dumplings. Damned good chicken and dumplings. But now here she stood, intending to occupy the lounge chair right next to him. Perhaps for the rest of the afternoon.

Regrets settled over him like dusk over the mountains, even as his pulse picked up in her presence.

Her beautiful blue eyes were covered with dark sun glasses, but her other attributes, covered only by a short. silky top, were much in evidence. He noticed for the first time that she wore no wedding ring. Trying to swallow, he found his tongue and throat uncommonly parched.

As Hank returned to a sitting position, Neesa lowered a small canvas bag to the pool deck, then spread a towel on the lounge next to his. Kicking off sandals, she perched, ramrod straight, hands folded in her lap, on the very end of her chair. “Well!” Her voice became breathy. Despite the pool paraphernalia, she didn’t look as if she came here often.

In fact, with her creamy smooth skin and delicate build, she didn’t look as if she was much the outdoors type at all.

The kids in the pool had taken up a raucous Marco Polo chant. Water from a particularly messy belly flop lapped its way along the decking toward their chairs. They both reached out at the same moment to rescue her canvas bag; their hands touched. Hank felt a fool as his heart began to hammer like a schoolboy’s.

“Sorry!” they said together, both recoiling.

The trickle of water edged closer.

Again, at the same time, they reached for the bag.

This time Hank gripped her hand firmly, then with his free hand scooped the bag to safety. He grinned. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

She blushed.

Must be the heat, because he’d never considered himself a smooth operator.

To his surprise he found he still held her hand. Within his grasp her fingers were long and slender. Fragile. Her skin was warm and incredibly soft. Never before had he understood his parents’ constant hand-holding. Now he did. He could, quite simply, hold Neesa Little’s hand from now ill Georgians lost their drawl. It felt that good.

Glancing pointedly at their clasped hands, she cleared ier throat. Reluctantly he released her.

He wished she weren’t wearing those sunglasses. Eyes reflected much of what a person felt deep inside. As long is she kept hers covered, he felt at a disadvantage.

With abrupt businesslike gestures, she unzipped the can-was bag, then withdrew a laptop computer.

“Excuse me?” He couldn’t help himself. The hardware ooked so out of place amid the trappings of sun worship.

She gave a sheepish little shrug. “I thought I should get out and get some fresh air. But I was right in the middle of something.”

“Business or pleasure?”

“Business. But the fulfillment of it gives me pleasure.”

He found himself intrigued.

She flipped up the computer screen. “I’m creating Web rites for our hardest-to-place children.”

“Whoa!” He held up his hands. Our hardest-to-place children? “You’re going to have to back up for me.”

Slowly removing her sun glasses, she looked long and lard at him. The blue of her unshaded eyes took his breath away.

“Would you really like to hear about it?” she asked. “It’s a little complicated.”

He was struck then by how vulnerable she looked, even with her hands hovering efficiently above the high-tech keyboard. There was a quality of wistfulness that played about her pretty features. He suddenly felt an unaccountable but overwhelming urge to protect her.

“I really would like to know about the children,” he answered, fighting the attraction he felt for her.

“I work for a private agency called Georgia’s Waiting Children. We help government agencies find foster homes and adoptive homes for children with special needs.”

“Special needs?”

“These aren’t your healthy babies typically associated with adoption. These kids are older. They may have phys. ical, mental or emotional disabilities. Or they may be broth. ers and sisters who want to stay together.”

And she worked to help these children. Neesa Little rose in his estimation. “How exactly do you fit into the pro. cess?”

“I’m an idea person.” She lowered her gaze modestly “I think of programs to support the kids who may never leave state care. Programs like—” She frowned. Setting her chin resolutely, she looked him in the eyes again. “I try to think of new and innovative ways to make these children who need families visible to the public.”

“How?”

“You have to use every tool at your disposal. And lately I’ve been creating Web sites on the Internet.”

Hank shook his head. “I know I’m from a different era but the Internet?” Computers, to him, meant the games the Russell kids played or the business records he kept at the ranch. Period.

“It’s a natural.” She beamed, obviously warming to the subject, and in the process, warming the far reaches or Hank’s heart. “Anyone with access to a computer and connection to the Internet can learn about waiting children through color photographs and descriptions.”

“But this isn’t like casual shopping on-line at a clothing store. These are living, breathing kids.” Genuine concert crept into his words. He hoped the hell she saw them as children and not as some product.

“Believe me, we don’t treat the process as if it were casual shopping for a child.” She looked faintly horrified He took comfort in her reaction. “Very often this is the final recourse to finding good homes. After we’ve explored all other options. Our overriding motivation is our belief that every child deserves a loving home.”

“You said some of the kids have special needs.”

“Yes, and the Net surfer who is more than merely curious can go beyond instant profiles of the children. At the click of a mouse, they can also learn more about a child’s disability or special situation. We provide an extensive reference library.” Her eyes widened. “Of course the real identities of the children are well protected. The prospective parents must go through our agency or a government agency before they ever meet the child in person. Our screening process is stringent.” There was a fierce, protective pride in her eyes. “Our first concern is always the welfare of the child.”

Damn. He’d heard of everything now. The lovely, delicate-looking lady who sat before him was certainly made of stronger stuff than he’d first imagined. And what a coincidence: in a grander sense, she did with children what he did with his Noah’s ark animals. Her caring nature made the attraction he felt for her all the more difficult to fight. This weekend was not working out at all as he’d anticipated.

Neesa watched the color of Hank’s eyes change from dark midnight blue to a warmer cobalt. He seemed genuinely interested in her job. In the children.

Interested, yes, but when he finally found out about her proposed Kids & Animals program, would he be interested enough?

“So what do you do?” she asked brightly. She needed a more solid footing—a little voluntarily shared history—with him before she asked her enormous favor.

A large, colorful beach ball blew out of nowhere and into her lap. Casey Russell came running up, breathless. “Hank! We’re playing a game. But we need a very big person to be the goal post.”

Hank chuckled. “How flattering! No skills required. Just stand there, dumb as a post.”

Casey scooped up the beach ball. “Will you, huh?”

He gently tapped her on the nose. “Will you, please?”

“Pretty please, with whipped cream and a cherry on top!” The little girl batted. her eyelashes.

“How can I resist?” With a grin to set a heart aflutter, he rose from his lounge chair, laid the Stetson on his towel, took Casey by the hand, then followed her to the shallow end of the pool.

Neesa sighed. Would he ever tell her in his own words that he ran a ranch? She felt awkward now, coming out and explaining that she’d heard it through the grapevine. For some inexplicable reason she felt as. if this man wouldn’t like prying of any kind, either early or late.

Then, too, maybe Claire’s information wasn’t accurate. Maybe he wasn’t even a rancher.

Maybe she sat here, risking sunstroke and worse—risk—ing letting her hormones run amok—for a very attractive man who couldn’t offer her anything professionally and could only offer her the wrong things personally. Goodness, but she didn’t even know if he was married. She hadn’t noted a wedding ring, but that didn’t mean a fig....

In an attempt at self-protection, she again put on her sun glasses. Settling herself comfortably on the lounge chair, she made a show of working at her laptop. In reality she watched Hank Whittaker playing with the children in the pool.

The man was, she had to admit, irresistible. She noticed several of the moms sit up in their poolside chairs, suddenly much more attentive to their kids in the water.

With long, well-muscled arms and legs, big hands and a broad, tanned chest that indicated hard work out-of-doors, Hank Whittaker was a sight to behold. Exuding a patience Neesa couldn’t quite believe, he played goal post for the kids’ impromptu game. When interest in that particular game seemed to wane, he helped them think up a new game. And another. And yet another. He welcomed all omers. All ages. All skill levels. He refereed fairly and gently, making no child feel inadequate. In the middle of 11 those kids, he didn’t look at all like a lonesome cowboy. le looked, instead, like a man destined to head a large, ambunctious and ever-expanding family.

Maybe he already did.

Unaccountably, Neesa’s heart sank.

“Miss Neesa!” Called out in a deep masculine voice, he neighborhood children’s name for her startled her. We’re short one player for sharks and minnows.”

Glancing in Hank’s direction, she raised both hands and look her head, declining the offer. The children around lank groaned.

Hank waded through the water to the side of the pool ght at the end of her lounge chair. He crossed his arms n the cement edge, lowered his chin to his arms, then looked up at her with a dark and soulful, definitely-hard -resist gaze.

“Please.” He filled the one word with husky undercur ents, sending little shivers up Neesa’s arms. “For the ds.”

The man certainly knew which button to push.

“If I recall,” she replied, steadfastly holding out, “in tarks and minnows it doesn’t matter how many players you have.”

“Well...technically.” Hank grinned up at her. “But the ds get a kick out of pursuing really big minnows. I was eling kind of outnumbered.”

His eyes twinkled merrily. The man was actually being ayful. And far too sexy.

The foundation in Neesa’s resolve began to crumble. He cocked one dark eyebrow. “All work and no play...” Makes for a nice safe existence, Neesa finished mentally. e shook her head. If she got in that water, if she spent e afternoon horsing around with Hank Whittaker and his ng of neighborhood kids, if she let down her guard, she was in for trouble. Pure emotional trouble. She couldn’t afford that.

As Neesa tried to resist, Hank rallied reinforcements. This children he’d been playing with, one by one, swam to hi side. Cast baleful glances up at Neesa.

“Miss Neesa,” Chris Russell coaxed, “it’s always mon fun when we can capture an adult.”

Her dormant competitive nature awoke. “And who say any one of you could capture me?” She chuckled. “I swan on my college team.”

“Ooooh...” Rolling his eyes, Hank started the cheerfu taunt. The kids chimed in. “Ooooh...”

In the end, it wasn’t the dare that sucked Neesa into th game. It was the realization that she’d come to the pool to get a job done. She’d come there to get to know Han Whittaker better, so that if and when he finally talked about his ranch, she would feel comfortable broaching the subjec of Kids & Animals. She couldn’t do that if he remained i the water and she remained on the sidelines.

She rose and removed her silk wrapper. “All right.”

“All right!” the kids shouted, clambering out of the water onto the edge of the pool.

Hank remained in the water.

Neesa eyed him suspiciously. “I thought you, big mi now, needed reinforcements. You’re looking pretty shark like to me.”

“The lady’s very quick.” He winked at the gigglin kids.

“And you better be quick, Miss Neesa,” Casey Russe added, “’cause Hank will gobble you up in a minute.”

The look he shot her certainly made him appear capable of gobbling her up. But not in the way little Casey mean

Neesa shivered. “Can we get started? We’re freezing u here.” Freezing? Maybe not, but she was trembling.

“Yeah!” the kids chorused.

“Anytime you’re ready.” With a mock-sinister glan Hank began to circle in the center of the pool, never takin is eyes off his prey. “Dum-dum. Dum-dum. Dum-dum,” he chanted in movie-shark challenge.

The kids on the sidelines hopped from foot to foot and .ttered nervously.

“Now!” someone whispered loudly, and a dozen little odies plummeted into the water.

Keeping the mass of children between Hank and her, Neesa dove, stroked and came up effortlessly on the other ide of the pool. Climbing out, she noticed that Casey had een right. Hank had single-handedly captured a half dozen ids, turning them automatically into sharklets. The uncathed children flopped like manic fish onto the pool deck ng next to her.

Now the pool water roiled with the added predators. Caught up in the fun, Neesa grinned from ear to ear. If nly the kids her agency dealt with could have such careree afternoons. Specifically, she thought of the five Had-ways. She glanced at Hank, king shark, in the center of ne frolic. Thoroughly enjoying the kids. He’d help her, she ist knew it. He’d help her if she ever got a chance to talk bout his ranch.

“Now!” The minnow directive went out.

This time, with six added hungry sharks, crossing the ool would require more skill. This time Neesa dove to the ottom, then, with eyes wide open, maneuvered under the angle of thrashing arms and legs. She came up on the other ide of the pool with only one other uncaught minnow remaining.

“Shark bait! Shark bait!” the swimmers in the pool hanted gleefully as Neesa and the sole minnow child crambled onto the decking.

With a sharp whistle, Hank gathered his forces around im. Whispered a quick directive. Looked Neesa straight the eye, and declared, “You’re mine.”