The Bridal Path: Danielle (3 page)

“Are you saying you’re no longer interested in having a houseful of kids?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, then, what’s wrong with nudging that along a little? You have to admit Slade Watkins is the most likely candidate to stride into Riverton in years. He’s a widower. He has two cute-as-the-dickens little boys who’ve obviously already stolen your good sense and your heart, despite their obvious character flaws. Marrying him would be a whole lot better than marrying one of the candidates Daddy’s dreamed up for you.”

“Maybe so, but I can handle my own love life, thank you very much.”

Sara regarded her skeptically. “I haven’t seen any evidence of that up until now. When was the last time you actually had a date? And don’t count lunch with Horace to discuss how many pies to bake for his store.”

For a fleeting instant Dani almost longed for her father’s interference. At least she had learned to tell him to butt out. Sara was harder to dislodge than a burr. She sighed and tried to exhibit a little patience. The more she balked, the longer Sara was likely to stay.

“Like you just said, there haven’t been any candidates around worth mentioning.”

Sara’s expression turned triumphant. “Then you do agree that Slade Watkins has potential?”

Unfortunately, persistence was a trait shared by all three of the Wilde sisters. “If I do, will you go home?” she pleaded.

“Naturally,” Sara said. “I’ll have what I came for–insider information.”

Dani waved her spoon threateningly under her sister’s nose. “And you know what happens to people who share insider information, don’t you?”

“What?”

At first Dani couldn’t think of anything quite dire enough to terrify her sister into silence. She eventually settled for telling her that she would happily put a bug in Trent Wilde’s ear that Sara and Jake were about to make him a grandparent. Horror spread across her sister’s face.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Sara said.

“Oh, but I would,” Dani assured her. “Just imagine how Daddy will be plaguing you two for news about the impending big event. He’ll probably take up a post outside your bedroom door to make sure you and Jake are working on the project. He won’t let it rest until you’ve delivered the perfect grandbaby. You’ve already been married a year. He thinks it’s way past time for you to produce an heir. He’ll be so excited to know you’re trying that he’ll start passing out cigars in town. Everyone in Riverton will know the details of your sex life. Are you beginning to get the picture of the misery your life will become?”

“Yes, sister dearest, you’ve made your point.”

Satisfied that Sara was suitably impressed with the consequences of blabbing a single word about Dani’s interest in Slade Watkins, Dani grinned. “So, do I have your word that nothing leaves this room?”

Sara solemnly crossed her heart. “On my oath to Jake that we will wait at least another year before having a baby. Now, talk.”

“Slade Watkins makes my knees go weak,” Dani confessed.

Her sister bounced out of her seat and threw her arms around Dani. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so glad for you. It’s about time.”

“Way past time, if you ask me.”

“Does he know how you feel?”

“Sara, I just met the man this morning. Other than talking about his sons, we barely said two words.”

“When are you seeing him again?” Sara asked. When Dani didn’t respond, she demanded, “You are seeing him again, aren’t you? Tell me you didn’t let this opportunity slip through your fingers.”

“I certainly did not. I’m seeing him tomorrow,” Dani finally admitted.

“Well, hallelujah!”

Lest her sister get too carried away, she added, “He’s dropping the kids off at eight.”

Sara looked thunderstruck. “You’re baby-sitting those terrors?”

“Sara,” Dani warned.

“Sorry, but I can’t believe you’ve actually invited them back here without seeing to it that they’ve been put through some sort of military school regimen to break their wild little spirits.”

“Their wild little spirits, as you put it, are what I love about them. Besides, they’re working off the damage they did,” Dani said defensively.

Sara’s expression turned thoughtful. “And you’ll be seeing a lot of their father. I take it back. That’s ingenious. Subtle. You don’t want to scare him off by appearing too eager. Dani, it’s perfect.”

“This isn’t just some scheme to lure Slade Watkins back here. I like the boys,” Dani argued. “They’re sweet.”

“If you say so.”

“I want them here.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Go home, Sara.”

Sara dutifully headed for the door.

“And keep your mouth shut.”

“I promised, didn’t I?”

“I know exactly how persuasive and sneaky Daddy can be when he wants information,” Dani reminded her. “If you heard about this morning, he will have, too. He’ll have questions. He’d better not get answers from you. One word crosses your lips and the talk at Sunday dinner will turn to babies. I guarantee it.”

Sara looked suitably impressed with the repeated warning, but Dani knew her father as well as anyone on earth. If he couldn’t wrangle anything out of Sara when she got home, he’d be on Dani’s doorstep in the morning. Fortunately, years of ranching had made him an early riser. With any luck, he’d come and go before Slade Watkins showed up with the boys. It was certainly something worth praying for.

* * *

Naturally her prayers fell on deaf ears. Slade was in the process of admonishing the boys to be good-for the tenth time–when Trent Wilde pulled to a stop at the curb in front of Dani’s house promptly at eight the next morning. His smirking expression as he exited his four-wheel-drive vehicle set her teeth on edge. Given the impeccable timing of his arrival, she vowed to throw Sara and Jake’s timetable for baby-making to the wolves. In the meantime, she had her father to deal with.

“Hello, Daddy,” she said, kissing his cheek. Then she added pointedly, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Since when can’t a father pay a surprise visit to his daughter?” he inquired distractedly, most of his attention already focused on her company. “You must be Slade Watkins. I knew your grandparents. I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately.”

“I’m sure,” Slade said dryly. “And I’d wager these two are the cause of most of it.”

“Mr. Watkins, this is my father, Trent Wilde,” Dani said. “He used to be a rancher. Now he spends his retirement meddling.”

Slade grinned. It was the first time Dani had seen anything resembling a smile on his face and it was enough to weaken not just her knees, but her spine. What it did to other parts of her anatomy made her breathless.

“That’s what fathers do,” he reminded her, then glanced at his sons. “Right, boys?”

“Yes, sir,” Timmy said, though most of his attention was reserved for Dani’s father, who was wearing his favorite handmade snakeskin boots, pressed jeans, a Western-cut shirt and his best Stetson in honor of this opportunity to meet Dani’s potential beau.

Kevin was staring, as well. “Are you a real cowboy, sir?”

“Some would say so,” Trent said, hunkering down in front of him. “You interested in being a cowboy?”

“Do you have to ride a horse?”

“Quite a lot,” her father said.

Kevin’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow, that’s the best. I want to learn to ride.”

“Sure you do, squirt,” Timmy said with big-brotherly skepticism. “You’re scared of horses.”

“Am not.”

“Are, too.”

“You’re the one who’s chicken.”

“Boys,” Slade said softly. “Enough.” He glanced worriedly at Dani for about the hundredth time since his arrival. “Are you sure…?”

“We’ll be just fine,” she promised. Pirate woofed his agreement in that bizarre, husky tone he had, then settled down in a patch of sunlight nearby.

Slade handed her his business card. “You can reach me anytime. I can be here in ten minutes or less.”

“That won’t be necessary, I’m sure.”

Her father’s intent gaze was fixed on Slade. “You work close by?”

“Actually, I work at home. I’m a computer software designer.”

“He’s the best,” Timmy said with unmistakable pride. “You should see some of the stuff he’s created. It’s awesome. I’ve only beat one of his games once. Kevin can’t beat them at all. And everybody says we’re computer whizzes.”

“I just do those games for you guys,” Slade reminded them. “I get paid for designing business and investment programs.”

“Fancy that,” Trent said.

He looked a little too fascinated for Dani’s liking. She jumped in. “Well, I’m sure Mr. Watkins would like to get to work, Daddy. We should let him go.”

Amusement lit her father’s eyes. “Don’t rush the man off, Dani. We were just getting acquainted.” He turned back to Slade. “I can’t say that I know too much about computers, but I’d be mighty interested in seeing what you do sometime.”

Before Slade could reply, he added, “Maybe now, if it’s not too much of an imposition.”

The very thought of her father going off with Slade Watkins made Dani’s blood run cold. “You can’t,” she blurted at once.

Both men stared at her.

“Why the devil not?” her father demanded.

Heaven help her, Dani thought, as she said, “Because I need you here.”

Her father seemed intrigued by that, especially since she’d been declaring her independence from him for the past decade. She hadn’t accepted so much as advice on snow shoveling in all that time. Not that that had kept him from offering unsolicited advice on every subject imaginable.

“Really?” he said. “To do what?”

“You can supervise while the boys scrub the porch.”

Her father’s eyes sparkled with merriment. “That would be the porch stained with blueberries?”

“That’s the one.”

He turned back to Slade and shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to do it another time.”

Dani noticed that Slade appeared almost as relieved as she was. Apparently he’d detected all those fatherly undercurrents, too.

“You’re welcome anytime,” he assured her father politely before his gaze settled on Dani again. “Are you sure…?”

“If you ask me that one more time, I’m going to be insulted,” Dani told him. “Go on to work and don’t worry about a thing. Anything I can’t handle, I’m sure Daddy can.” She shot a pointed look at her father. “He’s always wanted a houseful of little boys to mold in his own image.”

“I’ll be back by five,” Slade promised. “Unless you need me before then.”

“Five will be just fine,” she said, wondering how she’d live through the hours until she caught the next glimpse of him. Lordy, but just the sight of the man was addictive. What would happen if they turned out to be compatible, too? Her body would probably go up in flames from internal combustion.

When Slade had finally departed with obvious reluctance, her father gazed at her. “Interesting man, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes,” Dani said, then briskly turned her attention to the boys. “Let’s get busy with the porch, shall we?” She beamed at her father. “Daddy, I was serious. You can supervise.”

“I figured you made that up just to keep me from chasing after your young man.”

Dani shot a worried look at the boys. Fortunately they weren’t paying any attention. They were trying to coax Pirate into chasing a Frisbee.

“Slade is not my young man.”

“Whatever,” her father said. “At any rate, I thought I’d run on over to visit Ashley for a bit. See how things are coming with that fool business she’s started up. Whoever heard of making money by teaching women how to fix their faces?”

If Dani had ever suffered from sibling rivalry or a desire for revenge, she would have let him go, but she figured her sister deserved a break just this once. Besides, keeping him here might break the gossip chain, at least until suppertime when he went back to the ranch.

“I need you here,” she insisted.

“In a pig’s eye,” he retorted. “But I’ll stay.” He grinned at the boys, who’d given up on getting Pirate’s attention. “Can’t have a woman getting herself all mussed up doing men’s work, can we?”

Timmy and Kevin seemed intrigued by the notion that the scrubbing they were about to do qualified as “men’s work.” Dani left the three of them with buckets of sudsy water, stiff brushes and the hose. Pirate finally roused himself from his spot in the sun and began racing through the showers of water, barking his fool head off. The noise was deafening…and wonderful.

When Dani came back to check on them an hour later with milk and fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, she found all of them soaking wet from head to toe. Her father looked more bedraggled than she could ever recall seeing him. He usually prided himself on his dapper appearance. As for the porch, the supposed object of all their energy, it looked only marginally better.

“It’s going to take some paint,” Timmy told her excitedly. “Uncle Trent says we can pick any color we want.”

“
Uncle Trent
said that, did he?” She regarded her father sweetly. “Did he stop to consider what kind of taste you two boys might have?”

Her father winced at that. “We won’t do anything too outlandish, will we, boys? Maybe a nice bright yellow.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Yellow’s a really happy color.”

Her father squeezed Kevin’s shoulder. “Then yellow it is.” He beamed at Dani. “Haven’t had this much fun in a long time. Come on, boys. Let’s get on over to the hardware store.”

“Before we have cinnamon rolls?” Timmy asked plaintively, eyeing the tray that was still in Dani’s hand.

“Well, of course not,” her father told him. “I can’t imagine what I was thinking of. Grab a few and we’ll eat ‘em as we walk over there. That’ll keep our energy up for sure.”

Dani watched the three of them head off down the street. The six-foot-two rancher and his two pint-size companions made quite a picture. They hadn’t gone far when Dani realized something about herself she’d never known before. She was capable of deep, gut-wrenching jealousy. She wanted those boys to be chattering excitedly to her, not her father.

She reminded herself sternly that it was just one day. And there was a good reason for putting them into her father’s capable hands. It was to keep him, not the boys, out of mischief.

She stood back and stared at the porch and tried to envision it being bright yellow. It would be…colorful, she concluded.