Daddy Lessons

Joe McCann on Fatherhood:

Dear Megan,

For ten years I had to watch you grow through only snapshots and weekend visits. Then the unexpected chance came for me to be your full-time father, and I was thrilled at the prospect of having my daughter back in my life again.

When you moved into the house with your loud rock music, messy room and headstrong attitude, I was lost. I realized I didn’t know how to be a father. Much less a father to a teenage daughter. All I knew was that I loved you and wanted you to be happy.

Then Savanna stepped in and taught me that being a father didn’t necessarily mean seeing that you went to private school or trying to give you the very best of everything. It simply meant loving you. And I do, my little darling. I do.

Daddy

Daddy Lessons

Stella Bagwell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

STELLA BAGWELL

has written close to seventy novels for Silhouette Books. She credits her longevity in the business to her loyal readers and hopes her stories have brightened their lives in some small way.

A cowgirl through and through, she loves to watch old Westerns, and has recently learned how to rope a steer by the horns and the feet. Her days begin and end helping her husband care for a beloved herd of horses on their little ranch located on the south Texas coast. When she’s not ropin’ and ridin’, you’ll find her at her desk, creating her next tale of love.

The couple have a son, who is a high school math teacher and athletic coach.

To Jason, who’s dedicated his life

to giving lessons.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter One

Savanna Starr furiously pumped the handle of the hydraulic jack and tried to ignore the honks of the traffic whizzing by her. She was fully aware that she and her Volkswagen Beetle were creating a road hazard. But, darn it, I-40 in downtown Oklahoma City wasn’t blessed with a lot of shoulder to safely park on, and she could hardly keep driving with a tire that resembled a black pancake!

Even though it wasn’t yet eight in the morning, the June sun was unbelievably hot. As she worked to jack the little car off its back left wheel, Savanna could feel perspiration popping out beneath her linen shift, on her brow and upper lip.

Great, just great, she muttered to herself. By the time she got to her new job she was going to be covered with sweat and grease. What was her boss going to think?

Never mind that, she told herself as she hurriedly grabbed the spare tire from the trunk and heaved it to the ground. What was he going to say if, God forbid, she was late?

Joe McCann poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot he’d brewed forty minutes ago, then peeped through the slatted blinds on the window.

Where was she? It was fifteen minutes past eight. Joe knew his full-time secretary, Edie, had clearly informed the temporary service that he expected the new girl to be here in the office at eight. That didn’t mean fifteen after!

Hell, he snorted to himself as he sank back into a leather desk chair. He should have interviewed the woman himself. Now, while Edie was away on maternity leave, he was going to have to put up with some irresponsible nitwit in the office for six long weeks. With a pile of worries already on his mind, he didn’t know how he could deal with that, too.

McCann Drilling, the company his late father had built from the ground up, was crying for business. And then there was Megan, his thirteen-year-old daughter. She’d only been back in his life for less than a week now and he was learning what it was like to be a full-time parent all over again.

Damn it all, he silently cursed, a lax secretary was the last thing he needed!

Three miles away, Savanna tossed the lug wrench in with the dilapidated tire and hydraulic jack, slammed the trunk, then jumped back into the driver’s seat. She couldn’t believe her luck. A flat tire and not one person had stopped to offer her a helping hand. She’d strained and tugged at least ten minutes just to loosen the lug nuts. So much for chivalry these days!

After a quick glance over her shoulder, Savanna merged the little orange car back into the heavy stream of traffic, then jammed the accelerator all the way to the floor. She wasn’t worried about getting a speeding ticket. Right now she was more concerned about Joe McCann. According to his secretary, he was a stickler for punctuality.

The thought dared Savanna to glance at her wristwatch. What she saw made her wail loud enough to drown out the rock music playing on the radio. “I’m twenty minutes late! I’m going to be fired before I ever go to work!”

Back at the McCann Drilling office, Joe got up from his desk, tossed the remainder of his coffee into the trash, then began to pace around the sparsely furnished room. He didn’t like waiting for anyone or anything. It was a waste of time.

His mother had often told him that he needed to be more patient with people. And Joe figured that was probably true now that he was trying to deal with his daughter. But he’d always lived his life by hard discipline. He didn’t know how to be patient with his employees or his daughter.

The thought of Megan had him pausing by the corner of his desk where her photo sat smiling up at him. He hated to admit it, but he didn’t know her. At least, not in the ways that really counted. But since his divorce ten years ago he’d been forced to watch her grow up through snapshots and brief weekends spent together in the summer months.

Then a month ago he’d been surprised by a call from his ex-wife, Deirdre. Her husband’s job was taking them to Africa and she believed it would be best for Megan to remain in the States and live with her father.

Joe had been quick to agree. He hadn’t wanted his daughter in a country where civil unrest was rampant and living conditions less than ideal, to say the least. Moreover, for years he’d wanted full custody of his daughter and he wasn’t about to pass up the chance.

But so far, having Megan living under the same roof with him was nothing like he’d expected it to be. Fathering a teenage girl around the clock was like handling a stick of dynamite. One wrong word brought on an explosion. And most of the time he was the one doing the exploding!

The squeal of brakes and the slam of a car door brought Joe out of his thoughts. Quickly he walked over to the window and glanced out the blinds.

An orange Volkswagen Beetle was parked next to his pickup truck. No one was in the ancient little car, and he could only guess that the blond woman streaking up the sidewalk to the front entrance of the building had been the driver.

Could that have been his new secretary? Surely not! She’d looked like a teenager!

Joe sat at his desk, but before he had time to consider that horrible idea the tapping of high heels sounded outside in the corridor, then a softer knock came at the door.

Leaning up in his seat, Joe sucked in a bracing breath, then folded his hands atop the walnut desk.

“Come in,” he called.

Dear Lord, was that her boss’s voice? Savanna swallowed nervously, then forced herself to reach for the doorknob. Even if the man sounded like a grizzly bear, she couldn’t stay out here in the corridor, she scolded herself.

After wiping her sweaty palms down her hips, Savanna slowly turned the knob and pushed open the door. Yet before she could step inside, a male voice barked loudly.

“I said come in!”

The unexpected summons caused Savanna to practically jump over the threshold and into the office.

“Good morning,” she said in a breathless rush to the man staring at her from behind a wide desk. “I’m Savanna Starr. The temporary help. Are you Mr. Joe McCann?”

He nodded, then stood. Savanna’s eyes followed his movements and she was instantly struck by his tall, muscular body, thick, tawny blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

“I am,” he said brusquely. “And you’re late. Did you know you were supposed to be here at eight o’clock?”

Color flooded Savanna’s cheeks, but she bravely held his gaze. Dear Lord, she thought with surprise, Joe McCann was a young man! She hadn’t expected that. How many men in their mid-thirties were capable of drilling for gas or oil, much less owning their own drilling company? She’d been expecting an old man with gray hair and a pot belly. Joe McCann wasn’t anything like that. He was—all man!

Finally managing to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth, she said, “Yes, sir, I did. But—”

“I don’t like tardiness, Ms. Starr.”

Carefully, she placed her purse and lunch sack on the floor beside her feet, then straightened before she spoke. “Neither do I, Mr. McCann,” she said in her most crisp, businesslike voice. “But unfortunately it couldn’t be helped. You see, I—”

“Save the explanations,” he interrupted. “You should have started earlier.”

Before Savanna could stop it, a gasp of disbelief rushed past her lips. She needed this job. But did she really want to work for a man who was looking at her as if he’d never seen a woman before? Much less a woman who had happened to commit the evil sin of being late? What sort of man was he, anyway?

Feeling an unusual spurt of temper, Savanna decided to damn the consequences and speak her mind. “For your information, Mr. McCann, I did start early. But I had a flat tire on I-40. Do you know how many big, strong, macho men like you stopped to help me?”

Joe’s eyebrows shot up as Savanna Starr impatiently tapped the toe of her beige high heel. Obviously she was waiting for his answer, but he could only stare at her. He’d never seen anything like this woman.

When he didn’t immediately respond, Savanna felt inclined to go on before she lost her nerve. “I’ll tell you, Mr. McCann. Not one stopped to give me a hand. I guess they all had bosses like you and were afraid of being late themselves.”

Joe’s lips parted, but still he didn’t say anything. He was too busy trying to figure out what a woman like her was doing in his office. She didn’t look anything like a secretary. And as far as he was concerned, she wasn’t behaving like one, either. What had he done to deserve this? he wondered as frustration poured through him. First Megan and now Savanna Starr. A man couldn’t be expected to deal with two unpredictable females in his life at the same time. It would be impossible. Pure hell, in fact.

From the grim expression on Joe McCann’s face, Savanna knew it was too late to worry about making a first impression on him. She’d opened her big fat mouth before she could stop herself and now he couldn’t get rid of her fast enough.

Well, that was the story of her life, Savanna thought miserably. Until a few months ago she’d hopped from one town and one state to the next. Her jobs had been mixed, some of them several weeks here, or a few short days there. Here today and gone tomorrow. That was the way things went for Savanna Starr. But this time it looked as if she’d be moving on even faster than usual. Like in a matter of minutes!

“Oh, brother,” she groaned aloud as she glanced down at the dress she was wearing. The plain linen sheath was the color of a spring daffodil and had been one of her very favorites. Now grease marks striped her hips where she’d inadvertently wiped her dirty hands. “Looks like I’ve ruined my dress along with my chance for this job. I guess today just wasn’t my day.”

Picking up her purse and lunch sack, she turned toward the door. “I’ll tell the service to send you someone else. I’m sure they can have a secretary here for you within the hour. Goodbye, Mr. McCann.”

She was about to step into the hallway when the telephone began to ring. Joe’s eyes jerked over to the jangling instrument. God help him, it was probably Megan already. He couldn’t deal with another twenty or so calls from her again today. Before he could consider his actions, he reached out and grabbed Savanna’s arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked her.

What did he care? she wondered. He obviously didn’t want her services. And even though she’d been excited about taking this job, she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to work for Joe McCann. He not only angered her, he disturbed her in a primal sort of way. She wanted to lash out at him. Not as an offended employee. But as a woman. Which didn’t make sense. She didn’t know this man. So why was he getting under her skin?

“I think I’m going down to Lilly’s,” she finally answered.

Joe looked as blank as if Savanna had said she was headed to the moon. Behind them the telephone continued to ring.

“Pardon me, did you say Lilly’s?”

Even though Savanna was annoyed with him, she decided to explain anyway. “You know where Lilly’s is, don’t you? That little bakery down on the corner. She has great apple fritters and since I had to miss breakfast this morning, I think I’ll indulge myself. Who gives a damn about sugar and fat? I won’t get to wear this dress again anyway.”

“Ms. Starr!” he practically shouted. “Did I dismiss you?”

Savanna’s chin tilted a fraction higher. She’d never been fired from a job in her life. But if this man was going to make a big issue of terminating her chance to work here, she wished he’d get it over with and let her be on her way. “Not verbally. But—”

His face darkened with color. “Oh, I see,” he drawled mockingly. “Along with your secretarial skills you also read minds. I guess the temporary service forgot to tell me that.”

Savanna couldn’t ever remember meeting any man as obnoxious as Joe McCann. Which was really too bad, she thought. He had the rough sort of looks that turned women’s heads. And she’d be lying if she didn’t admit to herself that just for a second, when she’d walked through the door, he’d turned hers. His tall, well-muscled body was without an ounce of fat. His face was lean, too, with strong, bony features and eyes as blue as a western sky.

But Savanna wasn’t in the market for a man. Especially a man like this one, who looked as though he rarely smiled, if ever. No, she’d tried romance before and her young heart had wound up shattered. She wasn’t ready, or brave enough, to set herself up for that kind of pain again.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t read minds, Mr. McCann. However, I can read faces. And at the moment I’d say yours looks about as happy as a hound with a flea on its back.”

Joe rubbed his fingers against his throbbing temples. The woman might be an irresponsible oddball, but she’d certainly gotten that much right. “What did you come here for in the first place?”

His voice had suddenly gone weary and dull. As Savanna watched him scrub his face with both hands, she wondered if he was physically ill. Could that account for his waspish attitude?

“I came here to work. But I thought—”

“I believe it would be safer for both of us if you didn’t think, Ms. Starr!”

Savanna’s teeth ground together. She’d be crazy to be concerned about the man. He wasn’t ill. He was an ass! Still, she couldn’t entirely ignore the desperation in his eyes or the fatigue on his face. It was plain to her the man needed help—he just didn’t quite know it yet.

Thankfully, the telephone finally quieted. Joe dropped his hold on her arm and took a step back. He didn’t know why he’d grabbed hold of her in the first place. Normally he wouldn’t lay a hand on any employee. Particularly a woman. But something about Savanna Starr was making him act totally out of character.

Tingling from his touch, Savanna stared at him, her mind spinning as she watched him rake a hand through his wavy blond hair.

“Are you suggesting you still want me?” she asked incredulously.

Joe’s blue gaze swept over her petite but very shapely form. Savanna Starr. What kind of name was that? he wondered. It sounded like something a damn Hollywood producer would make up.

Walking over to his desk, he glanced back at her to see she was still standing in the middle of the room, staring at him with eyes the color of a fawn’s coat in summer. He’d never seen such rich brown eyes on a blonde before, but then Joe rarely looked at women that closely. Since he and Deirdre had divorced, he hadn’t had the time or the urge to involve himself with a woman. McCann Drilling took all his attention, and he figured that was the way it always would be. “If you think—”

Before he could go on, the telephone began to ring again. Grimacing, he motioned with his hand for Savanna to answer it. “Get that. And if it’s my daughter, Megan, tell her I’m out in the work yard and that I can’t talk to her now!”

Savanna quickly walked over to the desk and picked up the telephone.

“McCann Drilling,” she said cheerfully. “May I help you?”

“Who are you?” A young female voice blurted the question.

Savanna glanced uncertainly at Joe McCann. Right now she didn’t know if she was a secretary or an unemployed mediator.

“I’m Savanna.”

“Oh, you’re the one who’s taking Edie’s place?”

“That’s right. And who are you?”

“I’m Megan. Joe is my daddy. I need to talk to him.”

Obviously the girl had been forewarned there would be a change in secretaries at her father’s office, Savanna concluded. “Well, Megan, right now your father is unable to come to the telephone. Perhaps I can help?”

The young girl let out a huge sigh of frustration. “I doubt it. But I guess I could tell you, anyway. I want to go to the library, but Ophelia, the housekeeper, isn’t here this morning. She won’t be here until two this afternoon! And I’m only thirteen. I’m not old enough to drive.”

“Oh, I see. Well, you are in a fix, aren’t you? I don’t suppose you’d settle for watching some videos until the housekeeper is there to take you?”

Megan groaned loudly. “What videos? Joe—I mean, Daddy doesn’t even have a VCR. He’s old-fashioned and says time spent in front of the TV isn’t productive.”

Savanna couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s imitation of her father’s voice. “Perhaps you could walk, Megan. Is it very far from your house?”

“Eight blocks,” she said glumly. “But Daddy would never let me walk. He says it’s too dangerous for kids to walk on the streets nowadays. Especially for a girl.”

Savanna dared another glance at Joe McCann and was surprised to see he’d skirted around the desk to stand beside her. At the moment he was shaking his head and mouthing the word no. Savanna couldn’t believe he was being so overprotective. It wasn’t as if the girl was a kindergartner!

“That’s true in many cases,” Savanna said, careful not to go against anything her father might have already instructed her. “But if you had a friend to walk with you, then he might consider it.”

She looked up to see Joe still shaking his head. A burst of anger suddenly spurted through Savanna. Didn’t the man remember what it was like to be thirteen years old, out of school on summer vacation and stuck in the house alone with nothing to do?

“Well, I just came here to live with Daddy last week. So I don’t really know many people,” she said, then suddenly her small, dispirited voice brightened. “But there is someone I’ve made friends with. Cindy. She’s my age and lives across the street. She’d want to go with me!”

If Megan had just now come to live with her father, Savanna mused, that could only mean Joe McCann was widowed or divorced. She didn’t know why that bit of news should strike a nerve in her, but it did. So did the lost, lonely sound in Megan’s voice. Savanna knew what it was like to be in a strange place surrounded by unfamiliar things and people she didn’t know. Joe McCann probably didn’t understand that. But Savanna did. She’d spent her whole life living in places where she felt as if she didn’t belong and that no one cared whether she was around or not. In fact, she was still searching for that place she could call her real home.

“Tell you what, Megan. As soon as your father comes back in the office, I’ll talk to him about it. In the meantime, why don’t you call Cindy and see if she can go.”

“Gee, thanks, Savanna. And please beg him if you have to. I can’t stay in this dreary old house all day!”

Begging Joe McCann was the last thing Savanna intended to do. Aloud, she told Megan, “I’ll do my best. ’Bye, now.”

“So where is Megan wanting to trot off to now?” Joe demanded the moment Savanna hung up the phone. “You should have told her an emphatic no.”

Then why didn’t you answer the phone and give her a no yourself? Savanna wanted to ask him. Instead, she bit her tongue and tried to be pleasant. “Do you want her to keep calling back and asking?”

Joe rubbed a weary hand across the back of his neck. He had to admit the woman had a point. “From the time Megan moved in with me last week, she’s called me constantly here at work. I can’t get anything done and when I point this out to her, she bursts into tears and accuses me of not loving her.”

Poor little girl, Savanna thought sadly. She must be miserable. “Do you love her?” Savanna couldn’t help asking.

Joe stared at her as if she belonged in a mental institution instead of his office. “What the hell kind of question is that? Of course I love her. She’s my daughter!”

Her question had offended him, but it was obvious to Savanna that this man needed some daddy lessons in the worst kind of way. “And just because she’s your daughter, she’s supposed to know that?”

He shot her a look that said she was inching onto dangerous ground. Savanna decided she’d better let well enough alone for the time being. She’d already put herself in a bad light with this man. If she intended to help Megan with her daddy she had to hold on to this job for a few more minutes, at least.

After moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she started again. “Your daughter wants to walk to the library with a friend. The friend’s name is Cindy and she lives across the street from you. Shall I tell Megan she has your permission to go?”

Joe opened his mouth to utter a curse word, then just as quickly snapped it shut. A whole string of expletives wouldn’t relieve the pressure boiling in his head. “Why does she constantly need to be going somewhere? Why can’t she find something to do at home, like any normal person?”

“Because your daughter isn’t any normal person. She’s a teenager.”

His mouth twisted. “That’s supposed to explain everything?”

Savanna was struggling not to lose her patience with him. “Surely you can remember being one, can’t you?”

One eyebrow arched upward as he looked at Savanna. Did he look that old to this woman?

“I’m sure the next thing you’re going to tell me is that I should let her go,” he said, more as a statement than a question.

What was he doing, Savanna wondered. Testing her? Was this job really being a secretary for a drilling company, or in the end would it be more about dealing with his daughter?

“Thirteen is certainly old enough to walk to the library. And it would show her you trust her to be responsible.”

“I haven’t been around my daughter enough to know whether I can trust her or not,” he said with a pang of regret, then wondered why it had taken this woman to point that out to him. Damn it, if he’d been a better father he would have used the few weekends he’d spent with Megan to get to know her better instead of trying to entertain her.

Savanna inwardly shook her head. The man was totally serious. He’d had a daughter for thirteen years. Yet he’d just insinuated he really didn’t know her. Savanna’s own father was hardly perfect, but at least he’d always been there for her. But then, maybe she wasn’t being entirely fair to Joe McCann, Savanna reconsidered. He might not have ever had much time with his daughter. Especially if his ex-wife hadn’t wanted him in the picture.