Sweet but Sexy Boxed Set (21 page)

“
I mean it. And I don’t always
run away.”

“
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.” Truth. It had felt good to call Hailey out on her inability to face him. But, being right didn’t justify kicking her while life had laid her out on her butt. “I was frustrated. Jake says your father is going into Pioneer. He and Kelly need to lease out the property to help pay for his care. I need to get a house outside of town with enough space to get my daughter a horse. This arrangement is a perfect answer to all our problems.”

“
So I should stand by and put my dad in a nursing home so you can get your kid a horse?”

Nate couldn
’t just sit in the chair and take it anymore. He found his feet. “You’re living in a dream world. You always have. Even I can see how much your father’s health has declined since your mother died. Now, I can totally get why you wouldn’t
want
to see
that, but the only one you’re hurting by not facing the truth is your dad.
And
my kid. Mess up your family all you want, but I’ll be damned if I just step aside and let you hurt mine.”

“
Daddy!” Lori’s shrill voice cut through the room, so loud it seemed to rattle the windows.

Nate turned and started for the hall but twisted back to Hailey. He spoke with determination.
“Do not
leave! We’re not done, yet.”

Lori was sitting up in bed, her eyes squeezed shut and her hands clutching the quilt. She screamed for him again, rocking back and forth.

He pushed a knee to the side of the bed and leaned over her, wrapping his arms around her neck. “Shhh. It’s okay.”

The nightmares weren
’t new. She’d been having them regularly for nearly a year and a half. They started about the same time his parents moved out and retired to Arizona. About the same time her stammering had started.

Before that, Nate had shared the bedroom with Lori. He
’d just begun looking for a place for the two of them—citing that Lori was getting too old to have to share a room with her father—when his parents announced their plans to move out west.

His father
’s emphysema had been growing worse—still Nate suspected they’d pushed ahead their plans to move to a warmer, drier climate to make things easier on him. Either way, Lori’s social circle had been cut in half.

The grandparents she
’d adored were gone. As her speech deteriorated, phone conversations grew impossible. The less contact she had with them, the more frequent the nightmares had become.

“
Daddy’s here, baby. Take a deep breath.”

She opened her eyes and the terror that had been on her face melted to something different. She collapsed against him, whimpering.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head against his shoulder.

He squeezed her a little tighter and slid his fingers through her long hair, trying to untangle the knots that formed during her fitful sleep.

“
Nate, is there anything I can do to help?”

Hailey
’s voice.

He flipped his attention toward her.
“Just wait in the other room.”

The words came harsher than was warranted, but he
’d been specific in his instructions and didn’t appreciate the intrusion in his daughter’s sanctuary.

Hailey might get a lot of leeway from him, might always hold a special place in his heart no matter how hard he fought it, but she didn
’t supersede the needs of his daughter.

No how. No way.

Lori folded her shoulders, no doubt trying to melt into his chest, to disappear from the prying eyes of the stranger. He tried to reassure her but had to reach for the words. “It’s okay, she’s a friend of mine.”

She leaned back enough that he could see her hands.
I’ve never seen her before.

“
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her too. She doesn’t live around here anymore. Only in town to see her dad because it’s Christmas.”

If you don
’t see her, how is she a friend?

“
We knew each other when we were in school together.”

Is she nice?

Nate slid a finger down her nose, debating the question even though he had a clear answer. “Yes. She is.”

After the words had slipped through his mouth, he wondered if Hailey was still in the doorway to hear them. A quick check over his shoulder confirmed she
’d done as he asked this time.

He lifted Lori
’s chin and looked down into his daughter’s tear streaked face. “What are you afraid of, baby?”

Scary dream.

He kissed her forehead and pushed her hair back over her shoulder. “You know I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Don’t you?”

She nodded her head and then collapsed back into him, hugging his neck.

“Do you want a drink of water?”

She nodded again.

Nate found his feet and picked her up off the bed, balancing her on his hip. She tightened her grip and laid her head against his shoulders.

He paused in the hall, leaning back against the wall, trying to collect his emotions. Of all the trials he
’d endured, nothing—not even what Hailey had done to him—hurt as bad as seeing Lori in pain or watching her struggle with the simplest things. If possible, he’d take every hurt for her.

His resolve cemented in his gut. Anything he
’d felt for Hailey way back when couldn’t influence this moment.

He felt bad for the difficult situation Hailey was in, but Lori
’s needs came first. Without question.

If only he could help Hailey see the truth about Bill.

The living room was empty.

He should have known she
’d run again. Then, the smell of sweet chocolate hit his senses. He rounded the corner and found Hailey at his stove. “What are you doing?”

Hailey turned to face him. Taking a dishtowel from where it hung on the handle of the oven door, she wiped her hands, stumbling for something to say.
“I hope you don’t mind. I thought that maybe your daughter would like some cocoa. My mom used to make it for me after I had a nightmare.”

Nate tightened his hold on Lori and took two long strides toward the table. Pulling out a chair, he set her down.
“I usually don’t let her have sweets this late at night.”

Wedging his way between Hailey and the stove, he took the pan from the burner and turned the flame off. The kindness of her actions doused the acidic flames burning his stomach, but he didn
’t want that. Even though he told Lori that Hailey was nice, remembering just how kind she could be made it harder to fight for what he wanted.

Looking back over his shoulder, he asked,
“Would you like some?”

Lori folded her shoulders, trying to make herself look smaller in the chair and signed a simple
yes.

“
She’d like that. Thanks.”

“
How about her daddy? Is he allowed?”

It did smell delicious, and he couldn
’t remember the last time he’d had a cup that wasn’t made from one of those envelopes of instant powder. He was actually flabbergasted that she’d found baking chocolate in his cupboard. “Sure.”

Hailey went about pouring her concoction into the cups and sprinkling tiny marshmallows on top.
Again, where did that come from?
His sister must have a sugar stash he knew nothing about.

He turned back to the table and grinned at Lori. Pulling out the chair she was sitting in he lifted her in the air. After he took the seat, he brought her back down to his lap.

Her giggle—music to his ears—reminded him of the light in his life. Confirmed what was important.

Hailey set the cocoa on the table and then dropped to the chair next to him and Lori. She sipped slowly from the cup, seemingly enjoying the aroma as well as the taste. As she set it back down, her tongue flicked across her lips catching every drop of the drink.

Nate tried to break his obsession with kissing her and gently blew over the rim, before taking a small sip. He hated to admit it, but it was perfect: rich, creamy, and sweet. It warmed a trail all the way to his stomach.

Lori slurped loudly from the cup, then set it down and signed to her father.
It’s very good. Tastes like candy!

“
It is.” Nate said. “Do you have something to say to Hailey?”

Lori hesitantly turned back.
Thank you.

Nate bit his lip. He
’d hoped Lori would choose to speak. “She says thank you. And I do too. This was very thoughtful.”

She shrugged, but spoke to Lori.
“Nightmares stink.” Her gaze flickered to him. “I’m sorry. I wish I knew sign language.”

He pulled Lori
’s hair over her shoulder as she sipped from the cup again. “She can hear. You just get shy around new people, huh?”

Lori nodded.

Hailey turned her attention back to her cup. After taking another sip, she ran a finger around the rim, wiping away a stray drip before it could fall to the table. “Your dad tells me you like to ride horses.”

“
Y-y-yes.” She said. “My aunt…takes me.”

“
Anna works out at Sunnydale,” Nate explained. When Hailey looked as though she couldn’t place the stable, he continued. “Betty Crawford started a hippotherapy program out at her place.”

“
I don’t know what that is.”

“
Therapeutic horse riding.”

Hailey turned back to Lori.
“Mrs. Crawford taught me how to ride when I was in 4-H.”

Lori
’s eyes lit up and she leaned over the table, slightly closer to Hailey. “You…ride…horses?”

Hailey scrunched up her face and shook her head.
“Not anymore. But when I was younger—a little older than you—I did.”

“
I don’t remember that,” Nate said.

“
I quit riding when I was about twelve I think. I had a growth spurt and got too big to ride the pony we had. I remember Mom and Dad talking about finding me a more suitable mount, but my interest was waning.”

What happened to your pony?
Lori returned to signing.

After Nate translated, Hailey answered.
“I just asked my dad that same question last night. Polly is living out at my uncle’s farm and his grandkids still ride her. I want to go visit her before I go home. Maybe, if it’s okay with your dad, the two of you could come along.”

Lori leaned back, stretching her neck so she could look up at Nate with big pleading eyes.

“We’ll see. Okay?”

She nodded.

“I’ll call my uncle and see when we can come out and then call your dad.”

Nate narrowed his gaze. He didn
’t think Hailey was trying to give his daughter false hope, but also knew she wasn’t going to be in town long and had a lot of family issues to deal with. The last thing he wanted was Lori to get excited and then be let down when time ran out for Hailey to fulfill her offer. “Everyone is really busy this time of year, though. So we’ll just wait and see what happens.”

Lori nodded again.

He kissed her forehead. “Do you think you can sleep now?”

Lori nodded, and turned back toward Hailey. After signing
“thank you” again, she slid off Nate’s lap and scampered toward the bedroom.

The emotions he
’d firmly grabbed hold of in the hallway were beginning to fade in her presence and he gave himself a silent pep talk.

Be firm
.
Be strong
.

The past is just that. Leave it be.

“I do appreciate you doing this for her. It was nice, but don’t raise her hopes about going to see horses. She’s really sensitive and her feelings get easily hurt.”

“
It wasn’t a false promise. I plan to call my uncle tomorrow and see if it’s okay.”

“
Why?”

She pushed her chair away from the table and took her mug to the sink.
“Because she likes horses. And I thought she’d enjoy going over to their farm and seeing all the animals.”

She turned on the water and looked in the cupboard beneath the sink.

That brought Nate to his feet. Having her in his kitchen doing dishes came just a little too close to his fantasies for comfort. He crossed and took the dish soap from her hand. “You don’t need to do that.”

“
I’m not going to come in here, make a mess, and not clean it up.”

“
Too late,” he exhaled the words, then immediately wanted to pull them back. “I’m sorry. I just don’t understand why you came over here tonight. Why you’re being nice to my daughter?”