Real Men Don't Quit (7 page)

After a boring day at the store, Chloe was in a crotchety mood. “Don’t want peanut butter.”

“Cheese, then?”

“No.” Chloe stuck out her lower lip.

“Baked beans? You love baked beans.”

“No.”

Tyler’s steps faltered as she saw Luke walking up her driveway. He was carrying a football, and trailing behind him were several children, all of them older than Chloe.

“Hi.” Luke’s eyes seemed to light up as he neared them. He tossed the ball between his hands. “We had to come over to retrieve a lost ball. These are my nieces and nephew.” He nodded at the kids surrounding him. The oldest was a pretty teenage girl, the youngest maybe eight or nine. “Guys, say hello to Tyler and her daughter, Chloe.”

Chloe clung shyly to Tyler’s hand as the kids mumbled greetings. The only boy among them resumed munching a grilled corn on the cob.

“I’m surprised you could find anything in my jungle of a backyard,” Tyler said. In a way she was glad she and Luke were meeting like this. Surrounded by so many youngsters, she was forced to act naturally, as if nothing had happened between them, as if they hadn’t shared the most explosive near kiss of her life.

“That’s why I brought my helpers,” Luke said.

“I love the wind chimes on your veranda,” the pretty teenager said. “Luke says you made them.”

“Yes, I did, and, uh, thanks.” She glanced at Luke, who gave her a lazy grin. He seemed very at ease, she thought. Probably he’d dismissed what happened the other night as soon as he’d gotten back home. She pursed her lips at the idea and glanced down at Chloe’s curls.

“Mumma.” Chloe tugged at her hand, her gaze pinned on the boy with the corn on the cob. “Can I have corn, too?” she stage-whispered.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but I don’t have any at the moment.”

“We’ve got heaps next door,” the boy said to Chloe. “Why don’t you come over?”

Chloe flushed and pressed her face into Tyler’s skirt. Before Tyler could respond, Luke hunkered down in front of her daughter. “We’ve got watermelon too, Little Miss Moppet. Do you like watermelon?” He waited until she nodded. “Well, then, looks like you’ll have to come next door with me.” He offered his hand to her.

So Tyler found herself going next door, with Chloe clutching
Luke
’s hand instead of hers. She’d never seen her daughter take to a relative stranger so quickly, and she was part-glad, part-miffed. On the one hand it was reassuring to see her daughter relating positively with a newcomer, but on the other hand, why did it have to be Luke? Tyler had enough trouble guarding her responses to the man without her daughter developing an attachment to him as well.

En masse, Luke’s four older sisters were a tad formidable. When Luke introduced her, one of them gave him a broad wink, while another, a slim, fierce-looking woman, gave her a hard stare.

“Sit down, sit down,” one of the other, friendlier sisters insisted, waving at the laden table on the deck. “We’re just having a casual lunch, picking at whatever we like.”

Luke helped Chloe to corn on the cob and sat her down next to him. Tyler, realizing her stomach was rumbling, piled her plate with salad and cold roast beef. His sisters might be intimidating, but they sure could cook.

The teenager who’d complimented her on her wind chimes drew up a seat next to her. “Is that necklace one of your designs, too?” she asked admiringly, pointing to the silver-and-moonstone chain dangling from Tyler’s neck.

“Yes. I sell them at Java & Joolz if you’re interested,” Tyler replied.

“Oh, Java & Joolz!” One of the sisters—Rosie, perhaps—sat up. “A friend was telling me about it. That’s the new gallery and coffee shop, isn’t it?”

Tyler nodded. “I’m the part owner.”

Rosie tapped the sister next to her. “We must visit there sometime, maybe next week.”

For a while they all chatted about the store, and Tyler found herself enjoying their company. As an only child, she envied Luke his four sisters. They were bossy, no doubt about it, but Luke had a way of defusing them, of making them laugh. Only Helen, the fierce-looking one, seemed to hold back, her expression frequently clouded while everyone else relaxed.

The children began to pester Luke to play with them. Eventually he coaxed Chloe to join him and the younger ones in a game of tetherball.

“Luke’s great with kids,” Karly said to Tyler. “He had no choice. He started babysitting for me and Helen when he was about twelve.”

Mags nodded. “By the time my Hannah was born he was sick of it, but he helped with her too, where he could.”

Tyler watched her daughter giggling as she clumsily swatted the ball to Luke. “Well, he’s certainly a hit with Chloe. It usually takes her a while to warm up to new people.” Her gaze shifted to Luke. The exercise had made his hair flop in his eyes, his skin gleamed with perspiration, and his T-shirt clung to his broad back. As he leaped back and forth over the grass, she couldn’t look away from him. It took quite an effort to wrench her gaze away, and as she did so, she caught Helen studying her.

“Luke’s only here for a short stay,” Helen said rather abruptly. “He’ll be coming back to Goulburn soon.”

Karly sat up. “Oh? He said that, did he?”

“Not in so many words, but I’m sure he will.” Helen lifted her shoulders. “Why should he stay here in someone else’s house when he has a perfectly good home of his own?”

“Why indeed.” Luke appeared out of nowhere and lowered himself into a chair next to Tyler. “There’s no reason except that I want to, and that’s good enough for me.”

“And Mum’s house?” Helen’s mouth twisted bitterly. “I suppose that’s not good enough for you now you’re a world-famous author.”

Instead of answering, Luke rubbed his face wearily.

The tiredness and tension emanating from Luke was palpable to Tyler. She glanced from his fatigued form to his sister, who sat rigid in her chair, her hands fisted and her mouth tight but trembling.

“I’d be very cross with Luke if he suddenly left,” Tyler heard herself saying. “After all, he’s promised to babysit Chloe for me.”

Four pairs of eyes swiveled in her direction. Luke raised his head, his eyes widening with suspicion.

“My regular babysitter came down with shingles,” Tyler continued. “And I can’t find someone suitable at such short notice. But Luke said he’d help me out.” In her sudden urge to help Luke, she’d blurted out the first thing that came to her. Now she had to embroider her story, even as Luke stared at her, his mouth clamped into a tight line, eyebrows drawn into a deep furrow.

“But what about his writing?” Helen asked. “He can’t babysit and write at the same time.”

“It’s only a few hours a couple of times a week.” Tyler waved her hand casually. “Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a godsend to me. You know how hard it is to find good childcare, especially on short notice.”

The sisters exchanged glances. They couldn’t argue with that statement, Tyler knew. “I hate leaving Chloe with new babysitters,” she continued, warming to her theme. “But you’ve seen her with Luke. He’s so good with kids.” She turned to the man slouched next to her. “Aren’t you, Luke?”

Slowly he pushed himself upright. His eyes were coal black, his face impassive, and she had no idea what he was thinking, whether he was thanking her or cursing her for interfering.

Oh well. Might as well go for broke
. She prodded him in the thigh, enjoying the feel of his taut muscle beneath the denim, and made a pretend scowl. “Huh. So you’ve changed your mind, have you? You’re going to let me down?”

He blinked once. “Would I do that?” he slowly replied. “If I said I’d babysit for you, then I will.”

Rosie and Mags nodded. Not even Helen could argue against a promise to babysit, and Tyler knew it. But as Luke continued to scrutinize her, he didn’t seem too grateful to her for rescuing him from a potential argument. Maybe he didn’t appreciate her interfering in family quarrels. Or maybe he was afraid she’d hold him to the babysitting story. Yeah, that’d be right.

…

When Luke’s visitors were gone, sudden silence descended on the house, but peace remained elusive. He put on some music and tried to read the weekend papers but ended up pacing around until the sun went down. An hour after sunset, he heard a knock at the front door. He opened it and drew in a breath.

“Hey there.” Tyler grinned at him.

She was all dressed up for a night out—short black skirt, black leather boots, and a red see-through blouse with a black camisole underneath. Her fiery hair tumbled down her back in luscious waves, and her lips were cherry red, glossy, and pouty. A small quilted black bag dangled from her shoulders.

Realizing he’d been holding his breath, he slowly exhaled. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I just popped by to clear up that babysitting thing.”

Between the hem of her skirt and the black boots were several inches of smooth, creamy thigh, and through the filmy material of her top, her skin glowed like opal. The soft light spilling from his house cast a shadow between her breasts, emphasizing her cleavage. Her light perfume smelled of honeysuckle.

“Um?” he muttered, dazed by the sight and scent of her. This was the first time he’d seen her glammed up, and she was dynamite. So much so it almost hurt his eyes to watch her, but he couldn’t look anywhere else.

“Babysitting Chloe for me. I made it up to get your sister off your back.” She stuck her hip out and tilted her head to one side. “I’m reassuring you I won’t hold you to it.”

His attention wandered to her bare thighs again. Those high-heeled boots of hers made her legs seem even longer, raunchier. He swallowed and forced his gaze up. She looked at him with an amused expression. Yep, she knew what she was doing to him, the impudent minx.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t mind helping out with Chloe now and then.”

Her cherry red lips formed an
O
of astonishment. “You don’t?”

“Yeah, I’m a great babysitter.” Christ, why did he have to impress that on her? A sexy woman in a tiny skirt turned up on his doorstep and he immediately lost all his marbles?

“Oh.” Tyler seemed lost for words. She straightened and toyed with her hair. “Uh, I’ll keep that in mind.” She peered at him again. “Thanks.”

Annoyed with himself, he folded his arms and frowned down at her. “Where’s Chloe now?” The words came out brusquer than he’d intended.

“She’s at home. My aunt Daphne is babysitting tonight.”

“You’re going out?” Dumb question. In that getup, she wasn’t going grocery shopping.

She nodded, her hair gleaming in the light. “Yup. I don’t get out very often, so I’m making the most of it.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. “What’re you going to do?”

“Oh, bit of this and that. Dancing, playing pool, just hanging out.”

Dancing. In that skirt and those killer boots. Playing pool. Bending over and putting that sexy butt on display. Damn, he definitely didn’t like the sound of that. His shoulders tightened along with his voice. “Who with?”

“Some friends. Ally, Nate, a few others.” Her eyes sparkled at him. “Why don’t you come, too? It’s pretty casual, and you’ll have fun.”

He stared at this ravishing dream in front of him. Man, even pulling up weeds with Tyler would be fun. But could he have fun without getting entangled?
Sure
, a voice in him said, while another warned,
Fun doesn’t come free
. Tyler was a siren, luring him into dangerous waters. She was every kind of beautiful, but he had to keep his head. The back of his neck grew damp as the push and pull of his conflicting desires knotted his stomach.

“Thanks, but I’ll take a rain check on that,” he said.

“Okay.” A slight frown creased her forehead. Did she seem a little disappointed? “Guess I’d better be going. My ride will be here any moment.”

“How late will you be?” The words left his mouth before he knew it.

A teasing smile replaced her frown. “Are you giving me a curfew?”

Damn runaway mouth
. “Do you need one?”

“Don’t worry. I promised Chloe I’d be home by midnight or I’d turn into a pumpkin.” She paused, her smile fading. “And I keep my promises to Chloe. I’ll be home on time, and I won’t have more than a couple of drinks. Scout’s honor,” she added, all earnestness.

Guilt ballooned in him. She didn’t need to justify herself to him. She was a hard-working single mother, and she deserved to have a night out once in a while.

“I’m sure Chloe is in good hands,” he said. “You go out and enjoy yourself.”

“Thanks. Good night.”

Luke stood on his porch and watched her saunter off. He sighed. That skimpy skirt and leather boots would be lingering in his mind all night long.

Chapter Five

Tyler muttered a curse as her saw blade broke in the middle of an intricate cut. Sighing, she removed the damaged blade from the saw frame. It was her own fault; she hadn’t been concentrating on the task. Freeing the square of sterling silver she’d been piercing, she examined her progress and sighed again. She wasn’t making much headway with her jewelry, not after the late night she’d had.

The door to her workshop flew open and Chloe marched in, scowling, red cheeks puffed out. “I need you!”

Tyler pushed a strand of hair back from her aching temple. “What is it, baby?” Her daughter had taken off her dress and was clothed in only her underwear. Her hair was a riot of tangles, and her cheeks were smeared with dirt. “Where are your clothes?”

“Don’t want no clothes. I want you to read me a story.”

Tyler cast a glance at her workbench, where several pieces of sheet metal were waiting to be saw pierced. “I’m busy now. I’ll read you a story later.”

“No!” Chloe stamped her foot. “Now.”

Irritation spurted up in Tyler. “I told you I’d be busy this afternoon,” she said sternly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t play with you now.”

Two fierce blue eyes glared at her. “You’re a bad mumma. I don’t like you.”

Tyler gasped, the hurt forcing her to her feet. “How can you say that?”

Her daughter blinked at her sharp tone, then, bursting into tears, she fled from the workshop. Nausea rushed over Tyler. She dropped the saw frame and ran after her daughter. The living room looked like it had been hit by a tornado of all Chloe’s possessions. Tripping over the clutter, Tyler poked her head behind couches and under tables, but her daughter was nowhere to be found.

Her heart clenched tighter. “Chloe!”

She ran into Chloe’s bedroom, where she spotted her curled up in bed, facing the wall. Relieved and angry with herself, Tyler bent and placed a hand on her daughter’s heaving back. “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“Y-you don’t l-love me,” Chloe hiccupped through her tears.

Tyler’s chest ached even more. “That’s not true. You’re my whole life, baby.”

Chloe burst into fresh sobs, her wails bouncing off the thin walls. Tyler tried to gather her up, but the girl burrowed deeper into her pillows and cried even louder. Just then a loud knock sounded at the front door. Tyler glanced at her daughter, but Chloe was still in the throes of her tantrum and probably needed to be alone for a while.

“I’m just going to answer the door, and I’ll be right back, okay?” She kissed her daughter’s tangled mess of hair, then rose to open the front door.

As soon as she did, she wished she hadn’t. A nosy neighbor she could have dealt with, but the woman who stood on her threshold was far more formidable.

Gretchen Stafford’s cold eyes swept over Tyler, her calculating gaze absorbing every detail of her disheveled appearance. “Hello, Tyler.” She gave a brisk nod. “I was in the area, so I thought I’d pop by.”

Gretchen, the mother of Tyler’s ex-boyfriend, was always immaculately turned out. Today she wore a tailored, dove-gray silk dress with matching shoes and bag and a single strand of pearls. In contrast, Tyler’s sundress was old and sloppy, she was barefoot, and she hadn’t brushed her hair.

Tyler hitched up the strap of her dress. “Gretchen, hi. You should have called first. I might have been out.” If she had known Gretchen was in town, she would have made darn sure to be out.

Gretchen’s thin lips, outlined in pale pink lipstick, quirked. “Oh, I wanted to surprise you.” She stepped forward, a look of urgency on her face. “What’s all that crying? Is that Chloe? What’s happened to my granddaughter?”

“Nothing’s happened—”

Gretchen brushed her aside and stalked into the house. “Chloe!” Her strident voice cut through the wailing. “Where are you, precious? It’s your grandmother.”

Tyler opened her mouth to protest, but at the same time, the bawling stopped. Bare feet pattered on the floorboards, and Chloe appeared, still seminaked, her face red and wet. She blinked uncertainly at Gretchen. “Grammy?”

The older woman set down the large carrier bag she’d been holding and kneeled in front of the child. “Yes, it’s me, darling. I came to visit you. Oh, just look at you,” she tut-tutted, shooting a censorious glance over her shoulder at Tyler. “What a state you’re in.”

Tyler opened and closed her fists, outraged and helpless. It had always surprised and dismayed her that her daughter should be drawn to a battle-ax like her grandmother, but for some reason Chloe wasn’t put off by Gretchen’s abrasive nature. Maybe because Gretchen reserved all her harshness for Tyler, the woman she blamed for ruining her son’s life.

“Why were you crying?” Gretchen asked the child.

Chloe’s lower lip jutted out. “Mumma won’t read me a story.”

“That’s a shame.” Gretchen cupped her hands around Chloe’s face. “But I’m here now. I’ll read you a story. As many as you like. And look—see what I brought just for you.” She drew out a big box from the carrier bag. “Do you like it?”

Chloe’s eyes widened at the sight of the large porcelain doll dressed in a glittering ball gown. “Is that for me?” she whispered, tentatively reaching for the doll.

“Of course it is.” Rising to her feet, Gretchen held onto Chloe’s hand. “Come on, show me to your room, and maybe we can find something decent for you to wear.” Without looking at Tyler or asking permission, the woman led Chloe out of the living room.

Alone, Tyler became aware of the pain in her palms where her fingernails were digging in. She forced her fingers to stretch out, but the stinging didn’t fade. As she picked up one of Chloe’s crumpled T-shirts, a wave of despondency hit her. What was the point in trying to clean up this mess? Gretchen had already seen it and condemned her. Tossing the grubby T-shirt aside, she slumped onto the couch and waited for Gretchen’s return.

Twenty minutes later, Gretchen and Chloe walked back to the living room. The whole time Tyler had sagged on the couch, the sounds of the two chatting together had been too audible to ignore. She’d listened and ground her teeth. Now, she sat up as her daughter ran to her. Chloe wore her best dress, her hair was tidy, and her face was shiny clean.

“Mumma!” Beaming with excitement, she patted Tyler’s arm urgently. “Grammy’s taking me to see her ponies.”

“What?” She leaped to her feet and whirled on Gretchen. “Why didn’t you discuss this with me first?”

Gretchen lifted her shoulders. “The poor darling’s so eager I hate to disappoint her.”

Tyler’s heart thudded painfully as fear and anger coursed through her veins. Struggling to keep her voice steady, she said, “Chloe isn’t going anywhere with you.”

“But I wanna see the ponies,” Chloe wailed. “Why can’t I go?”

“Because I’m your mum.”

Chloe opened her mouth, looking set to cry again, but Gretchen forestalled her. “Why don’t you take some of these toys back to your room while I talk to your mother, precious?”

Looking mutinous, Chloe sucked on her lower lip but obeyed and scooped up some toys before marching out of the room. Gretchen glanced suspiciously about before gingerly perching on an armchair.

“Sit down,” she ordered Tyler.

Tyler sat on the couch, and then wanted to kick herself for obeying Gretchen’s command. To make up for it, she scowled heavily at the other woman. “You’re spoiling Chloe. She needs to see that I’m in charge.”

“It certainly doesn’t look like you’re in charge here!” Gretchen cast another critical look around her.

“What’s this about taking her to see ponies?”

“We were reading a book about ponies. I told her I had real ponies on my farm, and puppies and kittens, too. She was very eager to see all the animals, so I said she should come for a visit sometime soon.”

For a few seconds Tyler couldn’t breathe. Eventually she got out, “I know what you’re up to. You’re bribing Chloe with expensive dolls and cute pets because you want to take her away from me.” She breathed in and out furiously, her nostrils flaring. “Well, you won’t succeed. You’ll have to kill me first.”

“Oh please, spare me your cheap theatricals.” Gretchen threw up her hands before gripping the armrests. Her hands were hard and clawlike, with heavy rings crusting her fingers like brass knuckles. “And tell me what would be so wrong if Chloe came to live with me? I have a big house with plenty of space for her to run around and lots of animals. I have a full-time housekeeper and friends with grandchildren her age. My farm is only an hour away. You could come visit her whenever you liked. She’d have the best of both worlds.”

Tyler’s jaw throbbed from clamping her teeth. Black spots danced through her vision. For a second she thought she was going to pass out. “No,” she croaked harshly. “She’s not leaving. She’s my daughter. She stays with me.”

Gretchen made an impatient noise. “It’s obvious you can’t cope on your own. Look at this place. It’s a dump.” Face wrinkled, she gestured at the chaos around them. “And what about Chloe? How often do you let her wander around half-naked and no doubt half-starved as well?”

Tyler gasped. “She’s never starved! And there’s no harm in her taking off her clothes—it’s warm, and she’s just three.”

Gretchen shook her head. “You need help. For yourself. I heard from Chloe that you’d been out late last night. No doubt you stumbled home drunk.” Her bullet eyes chilled Tyler even further. “You can’t hide your hangover from me. I can still smell the alcohol on your breath.”

Gulping, Tyler instinctively covered her mouth. It was true she’d had a few drinks last night. It was also true she’d had more than the two glasses of wine she’d promised Luke. His turning down of her invitation had disappointed her more than she cared to confess, so after the two glasses of wine she’d had one cocktail. But she hadn’t gotten drunk, she didn’t have a hangover, and she was certain her breath was okay. But the censure in Gretchen’s eyes made her shrivel. Made her feel sick with guilt. She shouldn’t have left Chloe last night. She’d been selfish, and this was her punishment.

“You’re making things up. I don’t have a hangover.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “You’d better leave now before I say something I might regret.”

Gretchen’s stony glare scoured her from head to toe. “I’m warning you, Tyler. I won’t give up. My granddaughter would have a much better life with me, and everyone knows it, including you.”

Tyler lifted her head. “Why are you so desperate to get your hands on Chloe? Is it because you want to replace Damien?”

The older woman rose to her feet, her silver hair quivering. “You leave my son out of this,” she hissed. “You were the one who led him astray.”

“He’d already made up his mind to leave home before we met, so don’t try to blame me. You know his reasons better than I do.”

For a split second, Gretchen’s expression wavered.
Finally
, Tyler thought,
I’ve found a chink in the dragon’s armor
. But the woman quickly recovered. “Outrageous.” Gretchen made for the front door. “This isn’t the end. You’ll hear from me again.”

The door shuddered as it slammed shut. Numb, Tyler stared at the mess around her. There was so much cleaning up to do, and Chloe needed attention, and she still had to finish all that jewelry work. Competing demands pressed in on her, and the first flashes of panic darted through her.

Another knock at the door. Her heart lurched. Not Gretchen again. But the knock was a gentle tapping, so it had to be someone else. She forced herself to stand on her shaking legs and answer.

Luke stood before her in running shorts and singlet, his expression concerned. “I was just going for a jog when I heard crying and then doors banging,” he said. “Is everything okay?”

Her legs were like jelly, and her skull pounded from the stress. “Um…” She couldn’t stop her voice from shaking.

Before she could continue, Luke stepped inside and cupped her shoulders. “What is it? Is it Chloe?”

“C-Chloe’s fine. It’s…” A strange prickling sensation stung her eyes. Oh no, were they tears? A moment later, she found her face buried in Luke’s shoulder as he curled his arms around her and pressed her head to him. The shock of finding herself in his embrace almost undid her. Suddenly there was a storm of tears inside her clamoring to be released. Here a gorgeous and sensitive man cradled her, and the temptation to give in to her weakness was almost too much. But old habits died hard. She hadn’t cried in a man’s arms since…forever, and she wasn’t about to start now.

She peeled her head away from his shoulder. “It’s that she-devil who just left my house,” she said after a few deep breaths. “Gretchen Stafford, my ex’s mother. She threatened to take Chloe to go live with her.”

“What!” The look of outrage on Luke’s face was gratifying. “She can’t do that.”

His arms were still around her. She enjoyed being held by him, but now she gently disentangled herself. She couldn’t think straight when Luke was that close to her.

“She’s tried it before, when Chloe was a baby. She tried to get social services to take Chloe from my care, said I wasn’t a fit mother.” Tyler fisted her hands once more at the memory. “It failed then, but she doesn’t give up easily.”

“And your ex? Doesn’t he have anything to say?”

“Damien is estranged from his mother, and I haven’t heard from him in ages. Last I heard, he was in rehab overseas. I guess Gretchen wants a replacement for him. She wants Chloe.”

“The hell with that,” Luke growled.

Sighing, Tyler gestured helplessly around her. “As much as I hate her, she has a point. Look how she found me. Most days I cope, but some days, like today, I feel like I’m drowning.”

“What, so you’re just going to quit? Run away from your responsibilities?”

The roughness in his tone brought her up short. She’d thought he’d commiserate with her, not upbraid her. “Run away? Of course not.”

“Okay then. Why are we standing around? Let’s get this place cleaned up.” He grabbed some dirty plates off the coffee table, looking like he was about to drive a bulldozer through the house.

Tyler watched him. “But weren’t you going jogging? I can clean up by myself, you know.”

“I can jog later, and you just admitted to feeling overwhelmed.”