Her Texas Hero (7 page)

No sooner had that last thought crossed his mind than his cell phone set to ringing, bringing all conversation to a halt. “Sorry,” he apologized as he pulled the phone from his jeans pocket. Normally, he set it on vibrate during family meals, as did his brothers, but that night he'd forgotten to switch it over. A glance at the lit screen showed a number with an area code he wasn't familiar with. “Probably a wrong number,” he said as he brought the phone to his ear. “Carter Cooper speaking.”

“Carter...” the soft, very feminine voice on the other end of the line said.

“Audra?”

“I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time.” She sounded anxious.

“No,” he replied, ignoring his family's curious stares. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes and no.”

Well, that helped to ease his concern. With a frown, he asked, “Is it one of the children?”

“Lily and Mason are fine,” she assured him. “But thank you for caring enough to ask.”

His caring about them was the problem. He didn't want to care at the level he did. Had done his best to squash those warm-and-fuzzy, care-too-much thoughts Audra and her children stirred in him.

“I'm calling because...” she began and then hesitated for a long moment. Finally, she said, “Well, because I need you.”

Run!
The grilled cheese was nothing when compared to those last three little words.
I need you.

“I know it's last-minute,” she continued, “but you were right.”

“I was?” He had no idea what he'd been right about. All his mind could focus on was that softly spoken
I need you
.

“I can't do the renovations on my own. I'd like to hire you if you have the time to fit the work into your schedule.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in. “You're calling to hire me?” Not to tell him that she'd noticed his absence in her life. One that had been intentional on his part. So why then, when it was what he'd wanted, did it bother him that she hadn't missed him? Maybe because he'd found himself missing her. Missing them. How had that happened when their paths had only crossed for the first time barely a week ago?

“I know what I said,” she admitted with a sigh. “But I have discovered that I'm a much better homemaker than home repairer. Far better suited to being a mother to my children. That includes having the ability to throw impromptu tea parties for dolls, to make paper airplanes that actually fly, to bake the best chocolate chip cookies around and to teach them what it means to love and be loved.”

To be loved.
They deserved that.
She
deserved that. Carter cleared the unwanted emotion from his throat. “Admirable skills to have,” he said, meaning it wholeheartedly.

“Did I mention that I'm far less suited for plumbing issues? And that my living room floor has a hole in it?”

That got his attention. “A hole?” he asked, straightening in his chair.

Around the table, his entire family was hanging on to his every word. Even little Katie was staring up at him in wide-eyed silence. A rarity for his little chatterbox of a niece.

“The floor was making such loud, creaking noises,” Audra explained, “that I decided to glue the loose boards down. Only when I managed to get a few of the squeaky boards pulled up, I discovered the flooring beneath it is slightly rotted.”

The thought of that weak flooring giving way and Audra or one of her young children accidentally slipping through to the unfinished basement below had him cringing. “Steer clear of that room,” he said firmly. “I'll be there first thing in the morning to have a look at it. What's wrong with your plumbing?”

She hesitated and then admitted, “I attempted to repair a leak under the kitchen sink and now it's really dripping.”

“Do you need me to come over tonight?” he asked with a worried frown.

“Tomorrow is fine,” she assured him. “I placed a bucket under the pipe and have a spare to switch out when it gets too full.”

From the sound of things, she really did need him. Or, at least, she needed his help. “Whatever you do,” he told her, “don't attempt to fix anything else.”

Her lilting laughter filled his ear. “I promise you have no worry there. I'm hanging up my home-repair hat. Well, except for the small tasks like painting.”

He was more than glad to hear it. “Then I can sleep easy tonight,” he said with a grin.

“One more thing...” she began.

“Don't tell me you tried to do roof repairs.”

“Not a chance,” she replied, much to his relief. “I was wondering if you might be able to give me an estimate, so I'll have an idea of what I'm getting into financially.”

“Once I have a look around, I can do that. But I promise it's gonna be lower than any other contractor in these parts can offer. You pay for the materials. I'll take care of the labor.”

“I can't let you do that.”

“It's that or nothing,” he said, digging in his heels.

“Carter...”

“Audra...”

“Fine, but only if you allow me to make you some home-cooked meals whenever you're here working.”

He could almost envision the stubborn tilt of her chin at that moment. “That's not necessary.”

“If you're going to work on my house without charging me for it, the least I can do is feed you,” she told him. “And in case you were wondering, my cooking skills far surpass my plumbing skills.”

That had him chuckling. “Reckon we'll work well together, because I know how to plumb, but my cooking leaves something to be desired.”

“Then don't eat before you come over in the morning. I'm making waffles for breakfast.”

“I look forward to it. See you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning.”

He ended the call and shoved his phone back into his jeans pocket. A glance around the dinner table revealed three faces staring his way. “What?”

“What?” Logan repeated. “Are you serious? You get a call from the very woman you've been avoiding all week and went from a look of panic to concern to grinning from ear to ear all in one short phone call. Care to fill us in on what's going on?”

“Why were you avoiding Ms. Marshall?” Katie asked with a frown. Of course, those would be the words she'd latch on to.

“Not avoiding,” he told her. “I've been busy.”

“Fortunately for Ms. Marshall,” Nathan said, “Uncle Carter's busy schedule suddenly seems to have freed up.”

“She pulled up some of the hardwood planking in the living room and discovered the subfloor is rotted.”

His older brother frowned. “I was worried that might be the case as much give as it had when we carried her furniture in.”

“Pretty safe bet the whole subfloor's in need of replacing,” Logan muttered around the bite of buttered corn bread he'd just taken.

Carter nodded.

“I don't want them to fall through the floor like I did,” Katie blurted out, her dark eyes wide with worry.

Nathan lifted her off the chair and settled her onto his lap. “They're not gonna,” he said quietly. “There is no storm. And Uncle Carter is gonna make sure to keep them safe.”

Keep them safe.
Just as he had promised Isabel he would do for Nathan and Katie.

Her tiny head shifted, her dark eyes looking up at Carter. “Will you, Uncle Carter?”

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” For a man determined to avoid any sort of emotional commitment, at least beyond what he had with his family, he was sure piling on the responsibility, promising to keep someone else he cared about safe from harm. And there was no denying that he cared about Audra Marshall and her two young children. Thankfully, his responsibility toward Audra and her children would only last as long as the renovations. Once they'd been completed, giving them a safe place to start their new lives, he'd be able to put a little distance between himself and the woman who had his thoughts and emotions all in a tangle.

Carter looked to Nathan. “I'm not sure what I'll be getting into tomorrow morning.”

“Not a problem,” his older brother replied. “The crew and I can handle things at the site. We're ready to start wrapping the job up anyway. You do what you need to do to assure Audra and the kids are safe.”

He nodded. “Appreciate it.”

“Can I go to Lily and Mason's with you, Uncle Carter?” Katie asked, her dark eyes pleading.

He offered a tender smile. “Afraid not, Katydid. You've got school tomorrow.”

Her lips formed a pout. “Mason and Lily don't have to go to school.”

“They will,” he told her. “Once their momma has a chance to get them signed up for school here.”

“If you need any help out there,” Logan said, “I'm free the day after tomorrow.”

Carter nodded. “I'll keep that in mind.”

“Same goes for me,” Nathan said. “I could run out in the evenings to lend a hand if need be.”

His niece clapped excitedly. “Me, too!”

“Tell you what. How about I see what I'm getting into first?” Carter said. “Then we'll see what sort of help I'll be needing.”

His brothers nodded and went back to eating. However, Katie still had her gaze pinned on him.

“Something wrong, Katydid?”

She hemmed and hawed for a moment and then said, “Be sure to make their house real pretty so they'll wanna stay here. Lily says her mommy likes red flowers.”

He chuckled. “Flowers and making places pretty are your uncle Logan's specialty.” Yet he found himself storing that little tidbit of information away. Even if he was quite certain he'd never have need of it.

Chapter Six

“C
arter!” Lily exclaimed as she and Mason ran out of the house to greet him.

“Mr. Cooper,” Audra said, correcting her daughter as she followed after them.

The kids wrapped themselves around his long legs like the hardiest of vines, smiling up at him. Their response to his arrival had him chuckling.

“Kids,” Audra said, the flush of what he could only assume was embarrassment flooding her cheeks. Not that she had any reason to be embarrassed.

“They're okay,” he assured her with a grin. Then he looked down at her children. “Step on my boots and hold on tight.”

What was he doing? She didn't have to wait long to find out as Carter Cooper, large hands braced on her children's backs, started once more for the house. Her children, giggling in delight, clung to his jean-clad legs as he moved.

Such a silly thing, yet it delighted her children to no end.

“Morning,” he greeted with a smile as he stepped up onto the porch with his tiny hitchhikers firmly attached.

She returned the smile. “Morning.”

“Brought you a special delivery,” he teased. “A pair of candlesticks for the mantel.”

Mason snickered. Lily squealed. “We're not candlesticks. We're people.”

“Kids who aren't going to be having waffles for breakfast if we don't get back to making them,” Audra said, laughing softly as both her children pushed away from Carter and ran inside. The old screen door banged shut behind them. Turning to Carter with an apologetic smile, she said, “I'm so sorry about the ambush. That's the last thing I expected from them. My children are usually pretty standoffish when it comes to men.” She paused, then amended, “Well, except for when it comes to you, it seems.”

He flashed a crooked grin. “No need to apologize. It's nice having someone, or in this case two little someones, excited to see me.”

Three, she wanted to say. Thankfully, she refrained from adding herself to that list. She was not about to complicate her life any more than it already was. Especially when that complication came in the form of a tall, dark and handsome Texan. One with the most knee-weakening smile she had ever seen.

“Besides,” he continued, “Mason and Lily aren't to blame for their enthusiastic greeting. I am.”

“You are?” she replied with a curious tilt of her head. “How do you figure that?” Hadn't it been her children who had charged out of the house like a stampeding herd of cattle, practically mowing him down in their excitement to see him?

“They couldn't help themselves,” he told her. “You see, dogs and kids can't seem to resist my charm.”

“And every woman in the county, no doubt,” she replied, intending the remark to be teasing. But his playful expression changed and she found herself wishing she could pull the words back.

“Seeing as how I'm not looking for anything long-term, I try and keep my charm securely under wraps when it comes to husband-hunting females.”

His response should have given her a sense of relief. She was anything but a husband-hunting female. In fact, a husband was the last thing she wanted or needed in her life. But she couldn't help but wonder why he felt the way he did. “Another reason we'll work well together as a team,” she told him with a soft smile. “I'm not looking for anything long-term, either. Not even short-term. So there's no chance of any sort of messy emotional entanglements getting in the way of our business arrangement.”

He nodded in agreement.

She reached for the door. “Hope you brought an appetite. We made double the waffle batter.”

He chuckled. “I think I can hold my own.”

She led him inside, pausing when she realized he wasn't following her to the kitchen. Turning, she found him looking into the living room with a frown and she knew why. “I can explain...”

He glanced her way, all humor gone from his face. “When we spoke on the phone you said you had only pulled up a few of the floorboards.”

“I had. Then I went in and pulled up a couple more to see if the floor was bad in other places.”

“What part of ‘steer clear of this room' did I fail to get across to you last night?”

“I was careful,” she said in her own defense. “I only removed a board or two here and there to get a better idea of what I was going to be getting into.”

He dragged a hand down over his tanned face with a heavy sigh as if struggling for patience. “Look,” he said with forced calm, “these floors are old and, as you've already seen, unsafe in places. Please, Audra, let me do what I do best.”

“Mommy,” Lily whined from the kitchen doorway, drawing both their gazes her way. “We're hungry.”

She glanced up at Carter. “Looks like it's time for me to do what I do best.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Carter was seated at the breakfast table, feasting on the best waffles he'd ever tasted. And that was saying a lot, because his momma had been a mighty fine cook.

“We get to go to church with Mommy,” Lily announced before shoving a syrup-covered fingertip into her mouth.

“Then I'll be seeing you there,” he said, meeting Audra's gaze across the table.

“I think my daughter's referring to my new job,” she replied, lowering her gaze as she stabbed at another bite of waffle. “But we'll be attending worship on Sundays, as well.”

“Job?” he repeated.

“Mommy's going to be working for God,” Mason explained.

Audra laughed softly. “I suppose in a way I am. I've been hired on as the church's secretary and will be handling bookkeeping duties, as well. In fact, we're running into town this afternoon to get Mason enrolled in school and see if we can get Lily into a preschool class. If not, Mrs. Johns said I can bring Lily in with me and she can entertain herself in the playroom while I work.”

“Me, too!” Mason exclaimed.

Audra smile at him. “Yes, Mason, too, if he has a day off school that I have to work.”

“Sounds like the perfect job for you,” Carter told her.

“My prayers have been answered,” she said, meeting his gaze. “More than once this past week, truth be told.”

“You're not the only one whose prayers were answered this week,” he admitted as he plucked up a crispy strip of bacon and bit into it. “When I saw you up on that there roof...” He shook his head, letting the rest of his statement go unsaid.

“I prayed you would come back,” Lily chirped, looking up at him with her brightest smile, one nearly identical to her mother's.

Carter looked down at her, his guarded heart melting just a little. “That was mighty nice of you to think of me in your prayers. And here I am.”

“Praying never worked with our daddy,” Mason grumbled into his orange juice. “He didn't like being around us.”

What did one say to that? From what Audra had told him, it was the truth. His jaw clenched in anger at what this man had done to his children emotionally. “Well, I like being around you.”

Mason glanced up. “Then why did you stay away so long?”

Though it had only been days, he knew to a child it could seem like forever. Before Carter could respond, Audra said, “Honey, Mr. Cooper has a construction company to run. He doesn't have a lot of free time.”

Guilt dug its claws deep into his conscience. He had time to spare. His not stopping by had been his attempt to push Audra from his thoughts. It hadn't worked. And in the process, he'd made a young boy feel abandoned—again. “The schedule's lightening up some. How about I take a look at things around the place for your mom and fix her sink and then afterward maybe we could play a little ball?”

Mason shrugged, his gaze pinned to his plate. “I'm not very good at it.”

“Neither was I at your age,” Carter told him. “But I got better. I just had to practice a little more. So what do you say? Wanna throw the ball around later?”

A soft sniffle drew his gaze back to Audra, who immediately shot to her feet and walked over to the sink carrying her plate and half-empty juice glass.

“Can I, Mommy?” Mason called out to her.

She reached out, her back to them, and turned on the sink to rinse off her plate. “If Mr. Carter's sure he has time,” she said, her voice catching.

Carter watched her worriedly. The slight shudder in her shoulders had him wanting to push out of his chair and go over to her. “I wouldn't have made the offer if I didn't have the time to spare.” Had he said something to upset her?

“I like to dance,” Lily announced. “Do you know how to dance?”

“He's not a girl,” her brother replied.

Carter dragged his troubled gaze from Audra to focus on her children. “Dancing isn't just for girls,” he told Mason and then turned to Lily. “I've danced with Katydid a few times, but I bet I'm nowhere near as good as you and my niece are. How about you teach me a few dance moves after Mason and I finish playing catch?” He certainly didn't want her to feel like he was leaving her out.

“Okay!”

“Kids,” Audra called out without turning, “why don't you bring your dishes over to the sink? Then you can go upstairs and brush your teeth.”

They did as their mother asked, quickly gathering up their empty plates, forks and juice glasses and carrying them over to where Audra was still scrubbing away at her own plate. One that looked plenty clean to him, which had him frowning in concern once more.

When the children scurried from the room, smiles on their faces, Carter pushed away from the table and stood, intending to collect his dishes and carry them over to the sink.

“You can leave your dishes,” Audra said over her shoulder. “I'll see to them.”

“You already fed me,” he told her as he crossed the room. “Least I can do is help with the cleanup.” He reached past her to lower his plate into the sudsy water. His glass and fork followed. “Audra...” he said as she continued looking down at the plate in her hands.

“Yes?” she replied with a slight tremor in her voice.

He couldn't take it. The knowledge that he might have unintentionally said or done something to make her cry. With a sigh, he reached out, took the plate she had been rinsing off and set it on the counter, and then gently turned her to face him. Sure enough, tears shimmered, unshed, in her beautiful eyes. “Wanna talk about it?”

She sniffed softly. “And turn on the real waterworks?” Shaking her head, she said with a half sob, “I can't.”

“You can,” he said softly. “I promise I'm a good listener.”

She searched his concerned gaze as if questioning the sincerity of his words. “I thought that men preferred to avoid a woman's tears,” she said, her bottom lip trembling.

It was clear she was struggling to hold back those aforementioned tears. “For the most part,” he admitted honestly. “But there are times when tears have just gotta happen.”

She groaned as if in pain. “If I allow myself to break down now, I'm afraid I might keep on breaking until there's nothing left of me. I need to be strong—for my children,” she said on a broken sob.

Her words tore at his heart. He pulled her close, folding his arms around her in a comforting embrace as she buried her face in his shirt. “Let me be strong for you, darlin',” he told her, his own words close to breaking.

Warm tears soaked through the cotton of his T-shirt.

“If it was something I said or did...” he said, gently running a hand up and down her trembling back. He wanted desperately to fix whatever it was that had set her off. Because that's what he did. He fixed things.

Her head lifted, her cheeks damp with tears. “You didn't do anything. Yet,” she added with a sniffle, “you did everything.”

He lifted a dark brow. “Darlin', I'm a man. We need answers plain and simply put. We're not real good at trying to read between the lines.”

She managed a smile that lightened the heaviness that had fallen over his heart. Then she pushed away from him, scrubbing the tears from her cheeks. Carter wanted to draw her back into his arms. Wanted to hold her until he knew everything was all right. But he held back, letting his hands fall to his sides.

Audra glanced out the window and then back up at him. “My children used to beg their father to play with them. Anything from coloring in books to pushing them in a swing in our backyard. Bradford would always send them away, telling them he didn't have time for ridiculous child's play.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “And here you are, a man who barely knows my children, a man who so generously offered to fit our home repairs into your own busy schedule, and yet you offer to play catch with my son, and...” She burst into another round of sobs, choking out, “...even dance with my daughter.”

His initial thought to her admission was relief that he hadn't been the one to cause her tears. Then anger followed. Anger on behalf of her children who had longed for their father's love and attention only to be pushed aside time and time again.

Reaching out, he swiped a trail of tears away from her damp cheek with his thumb. “I'm real sorry you had to live that way. That Mason and Lily had to live that way. You all deserved so much more than you were given. Unlike your ex, I don't have any issues with joining in child's play. Katie always has me playing something that most grown men would feel a little silly doing, but I treasure every moment of it.”

Her expression was one of surprise and then softened. “You're a very special man, Carter Cooper. Katie is very blessed to have you in her life.”

“No,” he replied. “We're the ones who are blessed. After nearly losing her in the tornado that struck Braxton a while back, my brothers and I all have a whole new appreciation for life and for family.”

“The same storm she lost her mother in?” she asked.

He met her searching gaze. “She told you?” Katie rarely spoke about what had happened that day. The fact that she felt comfortable enough to bring up her painful past with Audra spoke volumes.