“And are you glad you took the job?”

“So far,” Vanessa replied. “What about you? Do you wish you’d offered it to someone else?”

“Giving you the job was one of the smartest decisions I’ve ever made.” Conall gently smoothed her hair away from her cheek. “And coming on this trip with you was even smarter.”

By now her breathing was coming in shallow sips and she had to swallow before she could finally form one word. “Why?”

“Because it’s opened my eyes. And I’m beginning to see all the things I’ve been missing.”

“Conall.” His name passed her lips as she hesitantly pressed a hand against his chest. “This… you… I don’t understand.”

“That makes two of us.”

“But we…”

“Don’t talk,” he whispered. “Talking won’t change the fact that I want to kiss you.”

Dear Reader,

Being the eldest child of the Donovan family, Conall feels a load of responsibility to make his parents proud, to keep the Diamond D Ranch running smoothly and prosperously, and to set the best example for his younger siblings to follow.

To say he’s a traditional man is almost an understatement. All Conall has ever wanted was to be like his father and raise a large, loving family of his own, and to know his heirs will carry on the custom of raising some of the best Thoroughbreds in the southwest. But dreams have a way of hitting snags and before Conall can persuade the woman he loves to be his wife, he has to learn that having children isn’t an entitlement, it’s a gift. And that being able to father a child is not the sole measurement of a man.

June is the month for brides, but it also has a special day for fathers, too. I hope you’ll travel with me once again to Lincoln County, New Mexico, and celebrate this Father’s Day with Conall and the rest of the Donovans!

Thank you to all my readers and may God bless each trail you ride,

Stella

About the Author

STELLA BAGWELL has written more than seventy novels. She credits 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. 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. Stella loves to hear from readers and invites them to contact her at stellabagwell@gmail.com

Daddy’s Double Duty
Stella Bagwell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my late father, Louis Copeland Cook, who always said don’t do anything unless you intend to do it right. I hope he thinks I have.

Chapter One

His secretary was crying!

Conall Donovan stared at the woman behind the cherrywood desk. Vanessa Valdez had been in his employ for more than two months and during that time she’d been nothing but cool and professional. He could hardly imagine what had brought about these waterworks. In the past hour, he hadn’t even yelled once! And even if he had, it wouldn’t have been directed at her. She was the epitome of a perfect, professional secretary.

Cautiously, he approached the desk. “Vanessa? Is something wrong?”

With one slender hand dabbing a tissue to her cheek, the petite brunette glanced at him. At thirty-five, she looked more like twenty-five, Conall thought. And though he wouldn’t describe her as gorgeous, she was an attractive woman with honey-brown hair brushing the tops of her shoulders and curling in pretty wisps around her head. Usually, her large brown eyes were soft and luminous but presently her eyes were full of tears.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a strained voice. “It’s… I… Something has happened.”

“Your father? Has he taken ill?” he demanded.

Vanessa paused and he could see her throat working as she tried to swallow. The sight of her discomposure struck him unexpectedly hard. In spite of her being an old family acquaintance, they hardly shared a close bond. For the most part, the woman kept to herself. The only reason he knew she’d lost her mother two years ago, and that her aging father now resided in a nursing home, was because he happened to attend the same small church where her parents had been regular members. Still, these past months, Vanessa had become a quiet and dependable fixture in his life and he’d come to respect her dedication to this job and the subtle finesse she used with clients in order to make his life easier.

“No,” she answered. “It’s not my father.”

When she failed to elaborate, Conall fought back an impatient sigh. He hardly had time to play mind reader.

“Do you need to take the rest of the afternoon off?” he asked bluntly. There was still a hell of a lot of work that he needed finished by the end of the day, but if necessary he’d somehow manage without her. Even if it meant calling on his mother, Fiona, to fill in for the remainder of the afternoon.

Shaking her head, his secretary sniffed and tried to straighten her shoulders. Even so, Conall could see tears sparkling upon her smooth cheeks and he was shocked at the sudden urge he felt to round the desk and wipe them away.

Hell, Conall, you’ve never been good at consoling women. Just ask your ex-wife. Besides, women and tears don’t affect your iron heart. Not anymore.

While he shoved that unbidden thought away, she finally answered in a ragged voice, “I—I’ll be all right, Conall. Just give me a few moments to… get over the shock.”

Shock? As usual, the phone had been ringing all afternoon. The Diamond D Ranch was a huge conglomerate, with business connections all over the world. With it being the middle of summer, they were in the busy height of Thoroughbred racing season. His office was only one of several set in a modern brick building situated north of the ranch yard and west of the main ranch house. His younger brother Liam, the ranch’s horse trainer, also had his own office along with a secretary, and then there was the general accounting for the ranch, which took up several rooms. As for Conall’s job, he rarely saw a quiet moment during working hours and the overflow of correspondence kept his secretary extremely busy. Especially now that he’d also assumed the job of keeping the Golden Spur Mine operations running smoothly.

“Look, Vanessa, I realize I’m asking you to handle an undue amount of work for one human being. But it won’t always be like this. I have plans to hire an assistant for you, just as soon as I have a chance to go over a few résumés.”

Her brown eyes widened even more. “Oh, no, Conall, it’s not the work!” She gestured toward the piles of correspondence lying about on her desk. “I can easily handle this. I just received a call from Las Vegas,” she attempted to explain. “It was… horrible news. A dear friend has passed away. And I… well, I just can’t believe she’s gone. She was—”

Suddenly sobs overtook the remainder of her words and Conall could no longer stop himself from skirting the desk and taking a steadying hold on her trembling shoulders.

“I’m very sorry, Vanessa.”

Averting her face from him, she whispered, “I’m okay. Really, I am.”

Whether she was trying to reassure him or herself, or the both of them, Conall didn’t know. In any case, she was clearly an emotional wreck and he had to do something to help her, even if it was wrong.

“No, you’re hardly okay,” he said gruffly. “You’re shaking. Let me help you over to the couch.”

With firm hands, he drew her up from the rolling desk chair and with an arm at her waist, guided her to a long leather couch positioned along the far wall.

“Just sit and try to relax,” he ordered as he eased her small frame down. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Once she was safely settled, Conall hurriedly crossed the room and stepped into his private office, where he kept an assortment of drinks to offer visiting businessmen. After pouring a mug half-full of coffee, he splashed in a hefty amount of brandy and carried it out to her.

“Here,” he told her. “Drink this. All of it.”

With trembling hands wrapped around the heavy cup, she tilted the contents to her lips. After a few careful sips that made her gasp and cough, she lowered it and cast him an accusing glance.

“That has alcohol in it!”

“Not nearly enough,” he said dryly.

“It’s more than enough for me.” Straightening her shoulders, she offered the cup back to him. “Thank you. I can talk now.”

Relieved to see a faint bit of color returning to her face, Conall took the cup and after placing it on the floor, he eased down beside her. “All right,” he said gently. “Tell me what happened to your friend.”

Closing her eyes, she pressed slender fingers against her forehead. Conall couldn’t help but notice the long sweep of her lashes as they settled against her damp cheeks. Her complexion reminded him of a pink pearl bathed in golden sunlight and not for the first time he thought how her skin was the most fetching thing about her. Smooth and kissable.

Now why the hell was he thinking that sort of thing, especially at a time like this? Kissing a woman’s soft skin was all in his past. And that was where it was going to stay.

With her eyes still closed, she began to speak. “I became friends with Hope Benson not long after I arrived in Las Vegas. We both worked as cocktail waitresses in the Lucky Treasure casino.”

Conall was stunned. He’d not known that Vanessa had ever worked as a cocktail waitress. Not that it mattered. Everyone had to start somewhere. And she’d obviously climbed the ladder. A few months ago, when she’d left Nevada, she’d been a private secretary to a casino executive.

“I didn’t realize you ever worked as a waitress,” he mused, speaking his thoughts out loud.

The guttural sound in her throat was self-deprecating. “What did you expect, Conall? I left Hondo Valley with nothing. It took lots of long, hard hours to put myself through college.”

Of course he’d known that Vanessa was from a poor family. She was the same age as his sister Maura, and the two women had been good friends ever since elementary school. During those years, Vanessa had often visited the ranch. Being two years older, Conall hadn’t paid much attention to her. With the house full of six Donovan kids, there were always plenty of friends hanging around and Vanessa had simply been one more. The main thing he recalled about her was that she’d been very quiet, almost to the point of being a wallflower.

After Conall had gone away to college, he’d heard in passing that Vanessa had moved to Nevada. That had been fifteen years ago and since then he’d not heard anything else about his sister’s old friend. In fact, she’d completely slipped his mind until two months ago, when she’d called him about the secretarial job.

She’d moved back to Hondo Valley to stay, she’d told him, and she was looking for a job. He was secretly ashamed to admit that he’d not expected Vanessa to be qualified. As a teenager, she’d seemed like the shy, homemaker sort, who’d want to devote her life to raising a house full of kids and keeping a husband happy. He couldn’t imagine her as a career woman. But out of courtesy to his sister, he’d invited her to come out to the ranch for an interview. When she’d walked into his office, Conall had been stunned to see a very professional young woman presenting him with an equally impressive résumé. He’d hired her on the spot and since that time had not once regretted his decision.

The soft sigh escaping her lips caught his attention and he watched her eyes open, then level on his face. For the moment her tears had disappeared, but in their place he saw something that amounted to panic. A strange emotion to be experiencing over a friend’s demise, he couldn’t help thinking.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to sound defensive. God knows how He’s blessed me. And now… I just don’t know what to think, Conall. You see, Hope was pregnant. Something happened after she went into labor—I’m not exactly sure what. The lawyer didn’t go into details. Except that she had to have an emergency C-section. Shortly afterward, she died from some sort of complications. I assume it had something to do with her heart condition—a genetic childhood thing. But she always appeared healthy and I thought the doctors were keeping everything under control. In fact, each time I’d talked with her, she’d assured me that she and the babies were doing fine.”

Conall’s attention latched on to one word. “Babies? Are you talking plural?”

Vanessa nodded. “Twins. A boy and a girl. They were born three days ago and Hope’s lawyer has just now had a chance to go over the legalities of her will and wishes.”

“And what does this have to do with you?” Conall asked.

Across the room the telephone on Vanessa’s desk began to ring. She started to rise to answer it, but Conall caught her shoulder with a firm hand. “Forget the phone,” he ordered. “Whoever it is will call back or leave a message. I want to hear the rest of this.”

Groaning, Vanessa dropped her head and shook it back and forth as though she was in a dream. “It’s unbelievable, Conall! Hope wanted me to have custody of her babies. I—I’m to be their mother.”

“Mother?” The word burst from Conall’s mouth before he could stop it. “Are you… serious?”

Her head shot up and for a brief moment she scowled at him. “Very serious. Why? Do you think I’m incapable of being a mother?”

A grimace tightened his lips. Leave it to a woman to misread his words, he thought. “I don’t doubt your abilities, Vanessa. I’m sure you have… great motherly instincts. I was questioning the validity of your friend’s wishes. Isn’t the father around?”

Her shoulders slumped as she thrust a shaky hand through her hair. “The father was only in Hope’s life for a brief period before they went their separate ways. When she learned that she was pregnant, she contacted him with the news, but he wanted nothing to do with her or the babies. Seems as though he was already paying a hefty amount of child support to his ex-wife and he wasn’t keen on adding more to his responsibilities. By then Hope had already come to the conclusion that he wasn’t the sort of man she’d ever want back in her life. And she certainly didn’t want him to have any claims to the babies. When she confronted him with legal documents, he was only too glad to sign away his parental rights.”

“What a bastard,” Conall muttered.

Vanessa sighed. “I knew she was making a mistake when she first got involved with the creep. But she really fell hard for him. Poor thing, she believed he loved her and she desperately wanted a big family. You see, she was adopted and didn’t have many relatives.”

“What about her parents?”

“If you mean her real parents, she never looked for them. She considered the Bensons to be her true parents. But when Hope was still very young, they were killed in the Loma Prieta earthquake in California,” she said ruefully. “Luckily, Hope escaped being physically injured, but I don’t think she ever got over the emotional loss of her parents.”

“Damn. Sounds like your friend didn’t have an easy life.”

“No. Life is never easy for some,” she sadly agreed. “Hope was forty-two. She figured this would be her last and only chance to have children. That’s why she risked carrying the babies. Even though doctors had warned her about being pregnant with her type of heart condition, she wanted them desperately.”

“Had you discussed any of this with your friend?” Conall asked. “I mean, about you becoming their mother if something happened to her?”

Vanessa nodded glumly. “At the very beginning of her pregnancy Hope asked me to be their godmother. I agreed. How could I not? The two of us had been good friends for a long time. We… went through some tough times together. And I wanted to reassure her that no matter what, I’d see that the babies would be well cared for. But I also kept telling her that she was going to be okay—that everything with her and the babies would be fine. I wanted her to concentrate on the future she was going to have with her children.” Tears once again filled her eyes. “Oh, Conall, I didn’t think… I refused to believe that Hope might die.”

Conall hated himself for not knowing the right words to ease the grief that was clearly ripping her apart. But he’d learned with Nancy that he wasn’t good at dealing with women’s problems.

“None of us ever wants to consider losing someone we’re close to, Vanessa. But we can’t go around thinking the worst. Where would that get us?”

Where indeed, Vanessa wondered dazedly. Swallowing at the painful lump in her throat, she rose to her feet and wandered aimlessly across the room.

For years now, she’d desperately wanted children. But as she’d struggled to obtain a degree in business management, she’d set aside having a family. Then when she’d finally achieved that goal, she’d slowly begun to work her way off the casino floor and into the business offices. First as a simple file clerk, then on to secretarial assistant, then a jump to office manager, and finally a great leap to personal secretary to the CEO of Lucky Treasures. During that climb, she’d met her now ex-husband, and she’d believed her dreams of having a family of her own were finally going to become a reality. But Jeff had turned out to be nothing but a hanger-on, a man only too happy to let his wife support him while he went his free and fancy way.

Vanessa supposed it was a good thing that children had never come from their short marriage. But since the divorce, she’d grieved long and hard for what hadn’t been and prayed that someday her fate would change. Still, she’d never expected to become a mother in this shocking fashion and the news was almost too much for her to absorb.

“I suppose you’re right, Conall. We can’t dwell on what might go wrong. But I—” She stopped in front of the huge picture window that framed a view of the mountain ridge that ran along the north edge of the massive horse ranch. “Right now I’m… stunned. In the next few days, the lawyer expects me to be in Vegas to pick up the babies! There’s so much I’m going to have to do! I live in my parents’ house. Do you remember it?”

Vaguely, Conall thought. It had been a long time since he’d driven through that mountainous area northeast of the Diamond D, but he did recall the tiny stucco home where the Valdez family had resided for so many years. The place had always needed work. And to give him credit, Mr. Valdez had done the best he could on a carpenter’s salary. But his four sons had been the worthless sort, never lifting a hand to help their parents or themselves. As far as Conall knew, Vanessa’s brothers were all gone from the area now and all he could think was good riddance. She didn’t need any of them trying to mooch her hard-earned money.

“Yes, I remember,” Conall told her. “Are you living there by yourself? I mean, do you have enough extra room to accommodate the babies?”

“It’s just me living there,” she replied, “so there’s enough room. But the place isn’t equipped to handle two infants! You see, I came back to Hondo Valley, so that I’d be around to see after my father’s needs. I know he has great medical care in the nursing home, but he needs my emotional support—especially now that Mama is gone. And since I’m divorced now I never dreamed about raising a family there! Dear heaven, there are so many things I’ll have to change—buy—to make a nursery for the babies!”

She jerked with surprise when she felt his hands fold over the back of her shoulders. She’d not heard him walk up behind her, but even if she’d been warned of his approach, his touch would have been just as jolting to her senses. Conall Donovan was like no man she’d ever known. For a time, when she’d been a sophomore in high school and he a senior, she’d had an enormous crush on him. He’d been one of those rare guys who’d possessed brains and brawn. He’d also been a perfect gentleman, who’d been nothing but nice and polite to his sister’s poor friend. Now after all these years, he was her employer, and she’d done her best to forget about the crush. Until a few minutes ago, when he’d touched her for the very first time.

“Tell me, Vanessa, do you want these babies in your life?”

The question caused her to whirl around to face him and just as quickly she wished she’d kept her back to him. The man’s presence was always overwhelming, but up close like this, it was downright rattling her already ragged senses.

Nearly black hair lay in undisciplined waves about his head, while one errant hank teased a cool gray eye that peered at her beneath a heavy black brow. His features were large, rough and edged with a haggardness that could only come from working long, hard hours without enough rest. His clothes, which ranged from faded jeans to designer suits, always fit his tall, well-honed body as though they’d been tailored for him. And probably had been, she thought wryly. He was certainly rich enough to afford such an extravagance.

As far as Vanessa was concerned, she always thought of Conall Donovan as dark, dangerous and delicious. And something totally beyond her reach. And standing only inches away from him like this only reinforced those descriptions of the man.

Nervously licking her lips, she attempted to answer his question. “Of course I want the babies! There’s nothing I want more.” She didn’t tell him that during her short marriage she’d wanted children, but her husband had insisted he loved her too much to want to share her with a child. Now Vanessa very nearly gagged when she thought of how phony those words had been. Jeff hadn’t loved her. He’d only loved himself. But Conall didn’t want to hear about the personal mistakes she’d made. Besides, they were far too humiliating to share with a man like him.

“I’ve always wanted children. And I want Hope’s twins to be loved. I’m positive that I can give them that love and raise them as if I gave birth to them myself. But I’m not sure how I can handle all the changes I need to make right now. I have very little time and—”

“Whoa! Slow down, Vanessa. Let’s take one thing at a time,” he said. “What do you need to do first?”

Behind her, the phone began to ring again, but the subtle change in his expression was telling her to, once again, forget the telephone.

Turning her palms upward, she tried to breathe normally and assure herself that this man’s sexual aura wasn’t going to suffocate her. “I suppose the first thing is to go to Vegas and collect the babies. They’ve already been released from the hospital and placed in temporary care at a Catholic orphanage.”

With a dour frown, he turned away from her and began to pace back and forth in front of her desk. Momentarily relieved by the space between them, Vanessa drew in a much-needed breath.

“I’m sure they’re being well cared for,” he said suddenly. “But I’m certain you’ll feel better once we fetch the children back here as soon as possible.”

We? Where had that come from? This was her problem. Not his. But that wasn’t entirely true, she reminded herself. Conall was depending on her to keep his office running smoothly. Bringing two infants all the way from Vegas and getting them settled was going to chop into her work time. Naturally, this whole thing was going to affect him, too, she thought sickly. And what was that going to do to her job? A job that she’d quickly come to love, and now, more than ever, desperately needed.

“I’m sorry, Conall. I suppose I’ll have to ask for time off while I make arrangements to fly out and collect the twins. If you feel you need to let me go permanently,” she added ruefully, “then I’ll understand.”

Stopping in his tracks, he scowled at her. “Let you go? What the hell, Vanessa? Do you think Donovans fire our employees whenever they need help?”

Seeing she’d offended him, she drew in a deep breath and blew it out. “I didn’t mean it like that. You obviously have tons of work to deal with. You can’t do it alone and you put your trust in me to be here every day. I can’t expect you to suffer just because I have a problem.”

He waved a dismissive hand through the air. “This isn’t like you’re asking for time off to go on a shopping binge or some other frivolous excursion,” he barked, then resumed pacing. “I’ll deal with the problems here in the office. Mother will step in your place for the time being. As for me, I suppose I could ask Dad to deal with my most pressing obligations. He doesn’t know anything about the mining business. But he can always call me with questions,” he went on, more to himself than to her. “I’ll discuss this with my parents tonight. In the meantime, you get on the phone and buy plane tickets for tomorrow. You can be ready by then, can’t you?”

Vanessa was accustomed to his rapid-fire orders. Some days he rattled them off as though she were a tape recorder. But this afternoon, she’d been knocked off-kilter and the sudden personal attention Conall was giving her wasn’t helping her brain snap into action. She stared at him with confusion.

“Tickets? Pardon me, Conall, but I only need one round-trip ticket.”

Walking back to her, he held up two fingers. “You need to purchase two tickets. I’m going with you.”

She gasped and he smiled.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Afraid you’ll fall asleep on the plane and I’ll see you with your mouth open?”

Was he saying something about her mouth? she wondered fuzzily. And had something gone wrong with the room’s thermostat? Sweat was popping out on her forehead and upper lip. Her legs felt oddly weak and there was a loud rushing noise in her ears.

“Conall—I—”

The remainder of her words were never uttered as she slumped forward and straight into his arms.

Chapter Two

“Poor little thing. The shock must have gotten to her.”

From somewhere above her, Vanessa could hear Fiona Donovan’s concerned voice, but try as she might, she couldn’t open her eyes or form one word.

“Her pulse is getting stronger. She’s coming around.”

This statement came from Bridget Donovan, the doctor of the family. Vanessa could feel the pressure of the young woman’s fingers wrapped around her wrist.

“Well, if the truth be known, Conall probably forced her to work through lunch,” Fiona continued in an accusing tone. “She probably hasn’t had a bite to eat all day.”

“Mom, I don’t force Vanessa to do anything,” Conall said brusquely. “She probably stopped long enough to eat a sandwich or some of that gooey stuff from a carton that she seems to favor.”

“You don’t know whether she ate or not?” Fiona shot back at her son.

“Hell, no! I’ve been in my office since before daylight and didn’t come out until a few minutes ago when I found her crying. I don’t know about her lunch! But you can see she’s not starving. She has plenty of meat on her bones.”

His last remark was enough to spike Vanessa’s blood pressure and with a weak groan, she slowly opened her eyes to see she was lying on the couch in her office. Bridget was kneeling over her, while Conall and his mother stood just behind the young doctor.

“Hello, pretty lady,” Bridget said with a bright smile. “Glad to see you’re back with the living.”

Vanessa’s fuzzy eyesight darted over the redheaded doctor and then slowly progressed up to Conall’s dour face. Next to him, Fiona was smiling with happy relief.

“What… happened?” Vanessa asked weakly. “I was talking to Conall and the next thing I knew there was a strange rushing noise in my ears.”

“You fainted,” Bridget explained. “Thankfully Conall caught you before you hit your head on the desk or the floor. When he called over to the house for help, I happened to be home on a break from the clinic. How are you feeling now?”

“Weak and groggy,” Vanessa admitted. “But better.”

“Good. Your color is returning,” she said. “Conall tells me you received a bit of a shock about your friend.”

“Yes. I was feeling a bit shaky, but I never dreamed I’d do anything like… faint! This is so embarrassing.” She glanced back at Conall to see his expression was still grim and she figured he had to be terribly annoyed for all this interference in his work schedule. Over the past couple of months, she’d learned his work was his life and he didn’t appreciate anything or anyone intervening. “I’m sorry, Conall. I’ve disrupted the whole office and your family.”

“Nonsense!” Fiona blurted out before her son had a chance to utter a word. “You had every right to have a little fainting spell. Most women have nine months to prepare to be a mother. From what Conall tells us, you didn’t have nine minutes.”

“I’m just glad I happened to be home,” Bridget quickly added. “Conall feared you were having a heart attack.” She clamped a strong hand on Vanessa’s shoulder. “Sit up for me and let’s see how you do now.”

With the young woman’s help, Vanessa rose to a sitting position. “I’m fine. Really,” she told the doctor. “I feel much stronger now and my head isn’t whirling.”

“Well, from what I can see, you had a simple, garden-variety faint. It happens to the best of us sometimes,” Bridget assured her. “But if you have any more trouble—weakness, dizziness or anything like that—please get to your doctor for a checkup. Okay?”

“Yes. I promise. Thank you, Bridget.”

“No problem,” she said, then with a broad smile, she rose to a standing position and pointed a direct look at her brother. “I’ve got to get back to the clinic, so I’m leaving the patient in your hands, Conall. You might go lightly on her the remainder of the day.”

“Vanna is going to get the rest of the afternoon off,” Fiona spoke up, using the shortened name that Maura had given Vanessa many years ago when the two had been teenagers. “In fact, Conall is going to drive her home.”

Vanessa opened her mouth to argue, but quickly decided not to make the effort. Fiona could be just as formidable as her son and with Bridget agreeing that Vanessa could clearly use some rest, she had no choice but to go along with the family’s wishes.

Once Bridget had departed the small office, Conall said to Vanessa, “I’ll get your things and we’ll be on our way.”

While Conall collected her sweater and handbag from a tiny closet located in the short hallway separating her office from his, Fiona was already taking a seat at Vanessa’s desk.

“While you two are gone,” she said to Conall, “I’ll take care of the plane tickets and see to organizing anything else you might need for the trip to Vegas. If there are still empty seats, do you want the first flight out?”

“That would be great, Mom. See what you can do.”

With her things thrown over his arm, he walked over to the couch and slipped a hand beneath Vanessa’s elbow.

“Think you can stand okay now?” he asked gently.

Since she’d gone to work for this tall, dark powerhouse of a man, he’d been polite enough to her, but mostly he was all business. It felt more than strange to have him addressing her about personal things and even more unsettling to have him touching her.

“Yes,” she assured him, then feeling her cheeks warm with an embarrassed flush, added, “I don’t think you need worry about having to catch me again.”

Not bothering to make a reply, he began to guide her toward the door. Across the room, Fiona flung a parting question at her son.

“Conall, the hotel rooms. How many nights do you need reserved? Or do you have any idea about that?”

“No idea,” he said. “Better leave that open.”

“Right,” she replied, then tossed a reassuring smile at Vanessa. “Don’t worry, Vanna. Everything is going to be just fine. Why, in no time you’ll have those little babies of yours home and in your arms.”

Vanessa thanked the woman for her kind thoughts and then Conall ushered her out to a shiny black pickup truck with the Diamond D brand emblazoned on the doors.

After he’d helped her into the cab and they were barreling past a fenced paddock filled with a row of busy mechanical horse walkers, he said, “You gave me a fright back there when you fainted. Are you sure you’re okay?”

He was staring straight ahead and Vanessa could read little from his granite-etched profile. For the most part, she’d always thought of him as an unfeeling man, but maybe that was because he didn’t allow his feelings to show on his face. He was certainly going out of his way to help her. Which created an even bigger question in her mind. Why? Even if she was his one and only secretary, her personal problems were none of his responsibility.

“I’m okay, Conall. Really. I just feel… silly for causing you and your family so much trouble.” Her gaze turned toward the passenger window as they curved away from the Donovan ranch house. The structure’s stalwart appearance hadn’t changed since she’d left the Hondo Valley more than fifteen years ago. And she liked to think the big Irish family that lived inside hadn’t changed, either—that if she stepped inside, she’d still feel like Cinderella visiting the castle.

“Forget it,” he practically snapped.

She looked at him. “But you—”

He interrupted before she could say more. “Let it rest, Vanessa.”

Sighing, she smoothed the hem of her skirt over her knees and stared ahead. One minute everything had been going along fine. As fine as it could be for a divorced woman with her family split in all directions and an aging father too debilitated from a stroke to leave the nursing home. Yet those problems seemed small in comparison to what she was facing now.

Still, Vanessa realized she couldn’t give in to the overwhelming shock. She had to straighten her shoulders and take up the reins of her life again. But taking them out of Conall’s hands was not going to be an easy task. He was a man who was all about using his power to bend operations to his liking. And she was all about independence. She didn’t want to be beholden to anyone and that included her boss. Yet this was one time that agreeing to a little help might be the sensible thing for her to do. Especially for the babies’ sake.

“You don’t like accepting help from anyone, do you?” he asked as he steered the truck off Diamond D ranch land and onto the main highway.

The man must be a mind reader, she thought. “I like taking care of myself,” she answered truthfully, then realizing how ungrateful that probably sounded to him, she glanced over and added, “But this is one time I can’t take care of things entirely on my own. And I am grateful to you, Conall. Please know that.”

He didn’t say anything for a while and she was wondering if she’d offended him, when he said, “You can tell me if I’m getting too personal, Vanessa, but what about your brothers? If I remember right, you had four of them. Are any of them close enough to help you with the babies?”

Vanessa choked back a mocking laugh. Her brothers couldn’t care for themselves, much less two needy babies. “My brothers all moved far away from here. They conveniently forgot their parents and only sister. And that’s fine with me, ‘cause I wouldn’t ask them for the time of day,” she said flatly.

“That’s too bad.”

She heaved out a heavy breath. “It’s probably for the best, Conall. None of them have ever made much effort to become responsible men. The only one who comes close to it is Michael—the one your age. And he’s hardly in the running for sainthood,” she added.

He didn’t make any sort of reply to that and Vanessa figured he was thinking badly of her. The Donovan family had always been a strong unit. They lived together, worked and played together, and stuck close even when life’s problems crashed in unexpectedly. He probably couldn’t understand why she and her brothers lacked the love and devotion it took to keep the Valdez family bonded. But then, she’d never understood it herself.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to sound so… judgmental. But believe me when I say there are no relatives around to help. Not with the babies, my father, the home place, anything.”

In other words, she had her hands full, Conall thought grimly. As he’d suspected, the Valdez brothers had left Lincoln County. He’d not seen any of them in years and even when they had still been around, Conall hadn’t associated with any of them. He’d never been into strutting around in black leather and begging for scrapes with the law. Some time back, he’d heard the eldest son had served time for distributing drugs over in El Paso, but as far as he knew, no gossip had ever surfaced about the remaining three.

Conall cast a brief glance at her. What had her life been like these past years she’d been away from the valley? She’d certainly climbed the workforce ladder. But in spite of her having more financial security, she was more or less alone in life. Like him.

Which only proved that riches didn’t always come in the form of money, he thought.

Ten minutes later, on a five-acre tract of land near the tiny settlement of Tinnie, Conall pulled the truck to a stop in front of a rickety picket fence. Beyond the whitewashed barrier was a small stucco house of faded turquoise. One mesquite tree shaded the front entrance, while a short rock walkway crossed a bare dirt yard. A brown-and-white nanny goat stood on the porch as she reared on her hind legs and nipped at a hanging pot of red geraniums.

Even though he’d not been by the homestead recently, the Valdez home looked pretty much as it always had. Seeing the family’s modest existence normally wouldn’t have affected Conall one way or the other. Rich and poor was a fact of life. Not just in the New Mexico mountains, but everywhere. Yet now that he was beginning to know Vanessa, he was struck by the stark simplicity of the place. She’d left a very high-paying job to return to this, he thought incredibly. All because her father had needed her. How many women would do such a thing?

As she collected her handbag and jacket, Conall walked around to the passenger door to help her to the ground.

“I’ll walk with you to the door,” he told her. “Just in case your knees get spongy.”

With his hand at her back, they walked through a sagging gate and down the rough walkway. To the east, far beyond the house, clouds had gathered over the Capitan Mountains, blotting out the sun and hinting at an oncoming rainstorm.

When they reached the porch, the goat ignored them as they stepped up to the door. “Would you like to come in?” she asked.

He smiled. “Some other time,” he assured her. “If we’re going to leave in the morning, I have a hundred things to tend to before we go. Richardson is coming about the pool at three. I need to be there to see what sort of ideas he has. And to get his estimates for the cost.”

The idea of discussing plans to enlarge the swimming pool for Diamond D racehorses, while Vanessa was worrying how she was going to house two needy infants, made him feel rather small and out of touch. But it was hardly his fault that their worlds were so different.

“Sure,” she said, then suddenly looked up at him. Her features were taut with stress. “Could you let me know about our flight time? Since my vehicle is still at the ranch, I suppose I’ll need someone to pick me up and take me to the airport.”

Placing his forefinger beneath her chin, he passed the pad of his thumb slowly along her jaw line. “Relax,” he said softly. “I’ll take care of everything, Vanessa. Just pack your bags and let me do the rest.”

She nodded and then her gaze skittered shyly away from his and on to the closed door behind her shoulder. Conall told himself it was time to drop his hand and back away. But something about the tender line of her cheek, the warm scent emanating from her hair, made him bend his head and press a kiss to her temple.

For one moment her small hand fluttered to a stop against the middle of his chest, and then just as quickly she was pushing herself away and hurrying into the house.

Conall stared after her for long moments before he finally moved off the porch and walked back to his truck.

Later that evening, as Vanessa attempted to pack what things she needed for the trip to Vegas, the phone rang.

Praying it wasn’t another call from Hope’s lawyer, she picked up the phone located on the nightstand by her bed and was surprised to hear Maura’s voice on the other end of the line.

Even though the two women had been longtime friends, Maura had a husband and two young children to care for, along with her part-time job at Bridget’s medical clinic in Ruidoso. She was too busy to make a habit of calling.

Without preamble, Conall’s sister exclaimed, “Bridget just told me about your friend—and the babies! Dear God, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now!”

Swiping a weary hand through her hair, Vanessa said, “I feel like every ounce of energy has been drained from my body, Maura.”

“Bridget told me about you fainting. Thank God Conall was there with you. How are you feeling now?”

“Physically, better. I’m packing for the trip right now. But my mind is racing around in all directions. How can a person feel grief and happy excitement at the same time? I feel like I’m being pulled in all directions.” She eased down on the edge of the bed. “But mostly, Maura, I’m scared.”

“Scared? You?” Maura scoffed. “You’re one of the strongest and bravest women I’ve ever known. What do you have to be scared about, anyway?”

Brave? Strong? Maybe at one time, years ago when she’d first headed out to Las Vegas on her own, she’d been brave and determined to make a better life for herself. But her mistakes with Jeff had wiped away much of her confidence.

“Two little infants, that’s what! You’ve got to remember I’ve never had a baby. I don’t know the first thing about taking care of one.”

Maura’s soft laugh was meant to reassure her friend. “Trust me, dear friend, giving birth doesn’t give you an inside corner on taking care of babies. It’s a learn-as-you-go thing. Believe me, you’ll be fine. And isn’t it wonderful, Vanna? You with children! You’ve wanted some of your own for so long now.”

As tears stung, Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s true. But I didn’t want them this way—with my friend dying. She was… well, I’ve talked about her to you before. She was such a generous person and so fun and full of life. She was planning to… come back here for a visit later this summer to show me the babies and see where I grew up. Now—” her throat tightened to an aching knot, forcing her to pause “—I’ll be bringing the babies back without her.”

Vanessa could hear Maura sniffing back a tear of her own. “Yes, it’s so tragic, Vanna. I would have loved to meet her. But it wasn’t meant to be and you can’t dwell on her death now. You have to concentrate on the babies and remember how much your friend wanted them to be loved and cared for.”

“You’re right, Maura,” Vanessa said as she tried to gather her ragged emotions. “I have to move forward now.”

Maura cleared her throat. “Well, Bridget says that our brother is traveling with you to Vegas. Frankly, I’m shocked about this, Vanna. The rare times he leaves the ranch are only for business reasons.”

Surely Maura could see that Conall considered Vanessa a business reason and nothing more. “I tried to tell him it wasn’t necessary.”

“Oh. I thought you might have asked him to go.”

Vanessa drew in a sharp breath. “Are you serious? I would never ask Conall to do anything personal for me! He just made all these decisions on his own. And I have no idea why.”

“Hmm. Well, his last secretary was a real bitch,” Maura said bluntly. “And everyone in the family has heard him singing praises about your work. I’m sure he wants to keep you happy.”

Vanessa released a short, dry laugh. “I’ve been told that good secretaries are hard to find.” But earlier this afternoon, when he placed that brief kiss on the top of her head, she’d definitely not felt like his employee, she thought. She’d felt like a woman with something worthwhile to offer a man.

Dear God, the shock of losing Hope and becoming a mother all at once had numbed her brain. Conall Donovan would never look at her as anything more than his employee. Socially, he was several tiers above her. And even though he wasn’t a snob, he was still a Donovan.

“Doesn’t matter why he’s going,” Maura said. “I’m just glad he is. You need someone to support you at a time like this. And Conall has a strong arm to lean on.”

Vanessa had no intentions of leaning on Conall. Certainly not in a physical way. But she kept those thoughts to herself. “Yes. Your brother is a rock.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call him that. Yes, he can be hard. But there’s a soft side to him. You just have to know where to look for it,” Maura explained. “There was a time—” She broke off, then after a long pause, added in a rueful voice, “Let’s just say Conall wasn’t always the man he is now.”

Shying far away from that loaded comment, Vanessa said, “Well, I’m hoping we can wrap up everything in Vegas quickly.”

“And I’d better let you go so that you can finish your packing,” Maura replied. “Is there anything I can help you with while you’re gone? Check on your father? Your house?”

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I’ll keep in touch with the nursing home. And I think the house will be okay for a couple of days. But just in case, you know where I leave an extra key so that you can get inside.”

“Yes, I remember. In the little crack behind the window shutter.”

“Right,” Vanessa replied. “But I doubt we’ll be gone for that long. Besides, the best thing you can do for me is share your experienced mothering skills. I’m definitely going to need advice.”

Maura laughed. “Just wait, Vanna. You’re going to see that a woman can never learn all there is to know about mothering. You just have to go by instinct and you happen to have a good one.”

“I can only hope you’re right,” Vanessa murmured.

The next afternoon, after the short flight to Las Vegas, Conall dealt with their luggage, then picked up their rental car and headed to their hotel. Thankfully Fiona hadn’t booked them into one of the resort monstrosities that lined the busy strip, but a nice peaceful villa on the desert outskirts of the city.

After checking in and sending their bags to adjoining rooms, they drove straight to the lawyer’s office to deal with the legalities of claiming the twins and arranging to store Hope’s ashes.

By the time they finally arrived at the orphanage, an old, ivy-covered Spanish-style building located on the outskirts of town, Vanessa’s exhaustion must have been clearly showing. As they followed a silent Sister down a wide, empty corridor, Conall brought a steadying hand beneath her elbow.

“I’m thinking we should have waited until tomorrow to see the babies,” he said in a low voice. “I’m not sure you’re up to this.”

Vanessa straightened her shoulders as best she could. For the life of her, she wasn’t about to let this granite piece of man think she was made of anything less than grit and determination.

“I’ll be fine. And seeing the babies is the best part of this trip,” she assured him.

Conall studied her pale face and wondered what his secretary could possibly be thinking. Even for the strongest of women, she was receiving a heavy load to carry. Especially without a man to help her.

He didn’t know anything about Vanessa’s marriage or divorce. In fact, he’d only known she was divorced because she’d stated it on her résumé. Of course he could have questioned Maura about her friend and most likely his sister would have given him an honest account of what had occurred. But Conall had never been one to pry into another person’s private life, unless he believed there was a good reason to. He liked his privacy and tried his best to respect everyone else’s. And even if she was his employee, he didn’t consider Vanessa an exception to that rule. Except there were times, he had to admit to himself, that he was curious about her.

He gave her a wry smile. “To be honest, I’m looking forward to seeing them, too.”

At the end of the corridor, the kindly nun ushered them into a sunny nursery filled with rows of cradles and cribs, all of them occupied with babies ranging from infancy to twelve months old. Three more nuns were moving quietly around the room, tending to the needy children, some of whom were crying boisterously.

“The twins are over here in the corner,” the Sister said, motioning for the two of them to follow.

When she finally stopped near a pair of wooden cradles made of dark wood, she gestured toward the sleeping babies. Since the newborns were yet to be named, the two were differentiated with blue and pink blankets, while paper tags were attached to the end of each cradle, one reading Boy Valdez and the other Girl Valdez.

“Here they are,” she announced. “Take as much time with them as you’d like. And if you need anything, please let me know. I’ll be just down the hall in Mother Superior’s office.”

Conall and Vanessa both thanked the woman as she left and then they turned their entire attention to the sleeping twins.

Both babies had red-gold hair with the boy’s being a slightly darker shade than his sister’s. To Conall, they appeared extremely tiny, even though the Sister had told them earlier that each baby weighed over five pounds, a fair amount for newborn twins.

“Oh. Oh, my. How… incredible,” Vanessa whispered in awe as she stared down at the babies. “How perfectly beautiful!”

She bent over the cradles for a closer look and Conall watched as she touched a finger to the top of each velvety head. And then suddenly without warning, she covered her face with one hand and he could see her shoulders began to shake with silent sobs.

Quickly, he moved forward and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Vanessa.” He said her name softly, just to remind her that she wasn’t alone.

She glanced up at him, her brown eyes full of tears. “I’m sorry, Conall. I thought I could do this without breaking down. But… I—” Her gaze swung back to the babies. “I can’t believe that I’ve been blessed with two beautiful babies. And yet I look at them and… can’t help thinking of Hope.”

His hand slipped to her slender shoulder and squeezed. “Your friend had the perfect name. Through you, she’s given her children hope for the future. Remember that and smile.”

She let out a ragged sigh. “You’re right, Conall. I have to put my tears for Hope behind me and smile for the babies.” Glancing up at him, she gave him a wobbly smile. “I’ve chosen names for them. Rose Marie and Richard Madison. What do you think?”

“Very nice. I’ll call them Rose and Rick, if that’s all right with you.”

Her smile grew stronger. “That’s my plan, too. Shall we pick them up?”

He stared at her, amazed that she wanted to include him. “We? You go ahead. I’m just an onlooker.”

She looked a bit disappointed and Conall realized he felt a tad deflated himself. But whether that was because he actually wanted to hold the babies and was stupidly pretending indifference or because he was disheartening her at this special time, he didn’t know.

Frowning, she asked, “You don’t like babies or something?”

“Of course I do. I have baby nieces and nephews. But I didn’t hold them when they were this small. Come to think of it… none of them were ever this small.” He gestured toward the twins. “I might do it all wrong.”

“I might do it all wrong, too,” she suggested. “So we might as well try together.”

Realizing it would look strange if he kept protesting, he said, “All right. I’ll watch you first.”

She bent over Rose’s cradle and after carefully placing a hand beneath the baby’s head, lifted her out of the bed and into her arms. After a moment, Conall moved up to the other cradle and, in the same cautious manner, reached for the boy.

Once he had the child safely positioned in the crook of his arm, he adjusted the thin blue blanket beneath little Rick’s chin so that he could get a better look at his face. It was perfectly formed with a little pug nose and bow-shaped lips. Faint golden brows framed a set of blue eyes that were now wide open and appeared to be searching to see who or what was holding him.

Vulnerable. Needy. Precious. As he held the child, memories carried him back to when he and Nancy had first married. In the beginning, he’d had so many dreams and plans. All of them surrounding a house full of children to carry on the Donovan name and inherit the hard-earned rewards of the Diamond D. But those dreams had slowly and surely come crashing down.

Now as Conall experienced the special warmth and scent of the baby boy lying so helplessly in the crook of his arm, Conall wasn’t sure that Vanessa yet realized what a treasure she’d been handed. But he did. Oh, how he did.

“Conall?”

Reining in his thoughts, he pulled his gaze away from the baby to find her staring at him with a faintly puzzled look on her face. Had she been reading his mind? Conall wondered. Surely not. Down through the years he’d perfected the art of shuttering his emotions. Baby Rick wasn’t strong enough to make him change the longtime habit.

“Am I doing something wrong?” he asked.

For the first time Conall could remember, his secretary actually smiled at him with those big brown eyes of hers.

“No. You look like you were tailor-made for the job of Daddy.”

Her observation struck him hard, but he did his best to keep the pain hidden, as though there was no wide, empty hole inside him.

“Not hardly,” he said gruffly. “I’m not… daddy material.”

One delicate brow arched skeptically upward. “Oh? You don’t ever plan to have children of your own?”

For some reason her question made him pull the baby boy even closer to his chest. “That’s one thing I’m absolutely certain I’ll never have.”

Clearly taken aback by his response, her gaze slipped away from his and dropped to the baby in her arms. “Well, everyone has their own ideas about having children,” she said a bit stiffly. “I just happen to think you’re making a sad mistake.”

A sad mistake. Oh, yes, it was a sad mistake that she was misjudging him, Conall thought. And sad, too, that he couldn’t find the courage to tell this woman that at one time he’d planned to have at least a half-dozen children.

But if he let her in on that dream, then he’d have to explain why he’d been forced to set it aside. And why he planned to live the rest of his life a lone bachelor.

Hardening himself to that certain reality had changed him, he knew. Even his family often considered him unapproachable. But none of them actually understood the loss he felt to see his siblings having children of their own, while knowing he would always be cheated out of one of life’s most blessed gifts.

“You have a right to your opinion, Vanessa. Just like I have a right to live my life the way I see fit.”

She cast him a pained look, then turned her back to him and walked a few steps away as though she’d just seen him for the first time and didn’t like what she was seeing.

Well, that was okay, Conall thought. What his secretary thought about him didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if they were romantically linked, or even close friends.

He looked down at the baby in his arms and felt something raw and sweet swell in his chest. Vanessa would no doubt provide the twins with love. But they needed a father. And at some point in the future she would probably provide them with one. Then her family circle would be complete and that was only right.

Yet strangely, the idea left Conall with a regretful ache.

Chapter Three

Later that evening, long after their visit to the orphanage had ended, Vanessa sat in a quiet courtyard behind their villa-style hotel, and tried to relax from the hectic pace of the day. Along with the busy schedule of flying, meeting with lawyers and visiting the babies, her cell phone had rung continually all afternoon. Most of the calls were from people here in Vegas who’d been mutual friends of her and Hope and were just now hearing about the tragedy. Vanessa appreciated their concern and interest, but she was exhausted from explaining about the twins and sharing her grief over Hope’s death.

Finally, in desperation, she’d left the phone in her room and walked outside to enjoy the cooling desert air. Now as she sat on an iron bench beneath a huge Joshua tree and watched darkness fall on the distant mountains, she wished she could turn off thoughts of Conall as easily as she’d turned off the phone.

The man was an enigma. After weeks of working with him, she still didn’t understand what made Conall tick or what drove him to work long, trying hours for the ranch. Clearly he was ambitious. Every morning he arrived at the office at least two hours ahead of her, which meant he went to work before daylight. And when she left in the evenings, even after working overtime herself, he remained at his desk making calls or meeting with horse-racing connections. Running the Diamond D was clearly more than a job to him. It was the entire sum of his life. Did he invest so much of himself because the ranch was family owned and operated?

She could only guess at the answer to that question. But there was no doubt that Conall was a man of striking looks with plenty of money to match. The ranch could easily afford to hire an assistant in order to free Conall from his grueling schedule. With part of his workload eased, he’d be able to travel the world and indulge in all sorts of lavish recreations, with a trail of willing women trotting behind him. Yet none of those things appeared to interest him in the least. She seriously doubted he would accept the help of an assistant, even if the person volunteered to work for free. He was a man who wanted things done his way and refused to trust just anyone to carry out his orders.

Vanessa often wondered if he was still bitter over his divorce, or perhaps he was still in love with his ex-wife and wanted her back. Maura had never mentioned the cause of her brother’s divorce and Vanessa wasn’t about to question her childhood friend about him. The hopes and dreams and feelings going on inside Conall weren’t her business. Or so she kept telling herself. But ever since she’d looked up in the orphanage and seen him standing there with her baby son in his arms, she’d been consumed with unexpected emotions and questions.

The fact that he didn’t want or expect to ever have children had shaken her deeply. Of all the men she’d met through the years, Conall had always seemed like a man who would love and welcome children into his life. True, he had a dark and dangerous appearance but it belied the responsible man beneath. He wasn’t a roamer or playboy with a wild lifestyle. Why would he not want children? Because there was no room in his heart for them? No. Vanessa couldn’t believe he was that cold or stingy with himself. Not after seeing the way he interacted with the twins.

“Vanessa?”

The unexpected sound of Conall’s voice had her glancing over her shoulder to see him walking a narrow brick pathway toward her. Figuring something had to be wrong for him to come all the way out here to find her, she rose from the bench and met him on the footpath.

“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized. “I left my phone in the room. Has the lawyer or orphanage been trying to reach me?”

Impatience creased his forehead. “You need to quit all this worrying, Vanessa. No one has tried to reach you through me. The lawyer seemed very competent. I’m sure he’ll have the last of the papers for us to sign before we catch our flight out tomorrow afternoon. And from what Mother Superior told us, the babies are perfectly healthy and able to travel.”

Shaking her head, Vanessa forced the tenseness in her shoulders to relax. “I am a bit on edge,” she admitted. “My phone has been ringing all evening and—”

Before she could finish, the cell in his shirt pocket went off and after a quick glance at the caller ID he said, “Sorry, Vanessa, I’ve been having the same problem. This won’t take but a minute or two.”

With a quick nod, she turned her back and took a few steps away to where water trickled over a three-tiered fountain and into a small pool. As she watched colorful koi swim in and out of water plants, she heard him say, “No. That won’t do…. I understand you mean well. But nothing used…. Everything new… Yes, classic…. No. Something like cherry and antique…. Got it?… Yeah. And anything else you can think of that will be needed.” There was a long pause as he listened to the caller and then he replied. “Yeah. Thanks, sis…. Good night.”

His sister? That could be Maura, Dallas or Bridget, she thought. Apparently they were planning something together and the notion sent a sad pang through Vanessa. She’d never had a sister to conspire with and share experiences, only older brothers who’d mostly caused great agony for her parents. Now with Esther, her mother, gone and her father, Alonzo, still having trouble communicating with his halting speech, she couldn’t look for family support. Unlike Conall, who’d always been surrounded by loving siblings, parents and grandmother.

“Well, now that I have that out of the way,” Conall announced behind her, “I came out here to see if you’d like to go to dinner somewhere? We’ve not eaten in hours.”

Vanessa glanced down at herself. She was still wearing the simple pink sheathe she’d started out with this morning, minus the matching bolero sweater, but it was wrinkled and even without the aid of a mirror she knew her hair was blown to a tumbled mess. “I really don’t feel like dressing up for dinner, Conall. You go on without me.”

He chuckled and the sound took her by surprise. He was a man who rarely laughed and when he did it was usually about something that she didn’t find amusing. Now as she looked at him, she was jarred by his jovial attitude.

“Have you taken a look at me?” he asked. “I’m wearing jeans.”

Dragging her gaze away from the charming grin on his lips, she slowly inspected the blue denim encasing his muscled thighs and the pair of brown alligator boots he wore. He was one of those few men who looked comfortable dressed up or down, which meant he would probably look even better without any clothes at all.

Dear, God, what was she doing? Now wasn’t the time for those sorts of indecent thoughts, she scolded herself. As far as Conall went, there would never be a time for them. And she had more important issues to focus on. Like two little tots with golden-red hair and blue eyes.

“I am hungry,” she admitted. For food. Not for a man like him, she mentally added.

“Great. There’s a little restaurant right across the street that looks good.”

“Just give me a moment to fetch my purse and sweater from the room,” she told him.

A few minutes later, they were seated at a small table in a family-type restaurant that featured Italian dishes. Vanessa ordered ravioli while Conall chose steak and pasta. As they waited for their salads and drinks to be served, Conall glanced around the long room decorated with early dated photos of Las Vegas and simple, home-style tables covered in brightly striped cloths.

Seated directly across from him, Vanessa asked, “Is this place not to your liking? We can always find another restaurant.”

Surprised by her suggestion, he turned his gaze on her. “I’m perfectly satisfied. Why do you ask?”

One of her slender shoulders lifted and fell in a negligible way. “I don’t know. The way you were looking around and frowning.”

“I frown all the time.” A wry smile touched one corner of his mouth. “At least, that’s what my mother tells me.”

“Mothers don’t like to see their children frown,” she reasoned. “Mine never did. She always told me to smile and count my blessings.”

As Conall’s gaze dwelled on his secretary’s face, he was surprised at how easy and pleasurable it was to look at her and be in her company. He’d not expected to enjoy any part of this trip. He’d only done it because she was a woman alone and in need, and she was a dedicated employee. But he was quickly discovering that Vanessa was more than an efficient secretary, she was a lovely woman and, like it or not, desire was beginning to stir in him for the first time in a long, long time.

“You must miss your mother terribly,” he said. “I was surprised when I heard about her passing. The last time I’d seen her in church she seemed very spry.”

Her gaze suddenly dropped to the tabletop, but Conall didn’t miss the sadness on her face. The image bothered him almost as much as her tears had yesterday. And for some reason he felt guilty for not attending Mrs. Valdez’s funeral services. Even though he’d not known the woman personally, he should have made the effort for Vanessa’s sake. But at that time, she’d not been working as his secretary; she’d merely been a past acquaintance, who’d left the valley years ago.

“Yes. Mama appeared to be a picture of health. That made her sudden heart attack even harder to take,” she said quietly, then lifted her gaze back to him. “Her death was one of the main reasons I left Las Vegas and returned to Tinnie. I missed the end of my mother’s life. I want to be around for my father as much as I can before… he leaves me.”

Other than the twins, she certainly didn’t have much in the way of family. The idea troubled Conall, although he wasn’t sure why. Plenty of people he knew had lost their parents or were lacking family of any kind and they didn’t necessarily garner his sympathy. At least, not the deep sort of regret he felt for Vanessa.

“You gave up a very good job to return to your family home and your father,” he commented. “I have to admire you for that, Vanessa.”

Her eyes were full of doubt as they connected with his.

“I’m not sure that I made the most sensible decision, Conall. I did have a good job and a little house in a nice part of town. Materially speaking, I had much more here in Vegas than I ever had in the valley. But.” Pausing, she let out a long sigh. “Money isn’t a cure-all.”

No one knew that any better than Conall. Money couldn’t change the fact that a childhood fever had killed his chances to ever father a child of his own. Nor had money been able to fix his shattered marriage. In fact, being rich had only compounded the problems he’d endured with Nancy. But since his divorce he’d tried his best to bury those painful personal details. They certainly weren’t matters he wanted to discuss with a woman, and that included Vanessa.

“You’re not worried about the twins’ financial future, are you?” he asked. “Hope’s life insurance appears to have left them set up nicely for college.”

“I’m not worried about the financial part of this,” she replied. “My parents raised six children. Surely I can manage two.”

“But you’re not married,” he pointed out.

From the stiff line of her shoulders to the purse of her lips, everything about her looked offended by his comment.

“You think having a man around would be a help?”

The bitterness in her short laugh was something he’d never heard from her before. The idea that this gentle woman might hold any sort of hard streak inside her took him by surprise. “I’m a man,” he answered. “I like to think we’re a helpful gender.”

Frowning, her gaze left his to travel to an insignificant spot across the room. “Look, Conall, I’ve already had one husband I had to support, I don’t want another. I can do just fine without that added burden.”

So she’d ended up marrying a man just like her parasitic brothers. No wonder there was bitterness on her tongue. But how and why had she made such a mistake in judgment? He would have thought she’d seen enough freeloading men to spot one at first glance.

Yeah. Just like you’d been able to spot Nancy’s twisted character. You didn’t use good judgment with her, either. You allowed love to lead you around. And around. Until you were walking down a path of destruction.

Clearing his throat, he tried to ignore the mocking voice going off inside him. “I wasn’t trying to suggest—”

Shaking her head, she interrupted, “Forget it, please. I… didn’t mean to sound so catty. It’s just that after Jeff… Well, I resent the idea of being told I need a man.”

Like he resented his family telling him he needed another woman in his life, Conall thought. Hell, getting hooked up with another woman like Nancy would finish him. And finding a nice, family-oriented woman that he could love wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Oh, he’d tried. Once the initial blow of his divorce was over, he’d returned to the dating scene and attempted to put his heart into starting his life over with another woman. But as soon as he made it clear that he couldn’t father children, all his dates had backed away from him. Sure, for the most part they’d all been kind and empathetic to his problem, but in the end none of them had wanted to start out their lives with a man that couldn’t give them a family of their own. After a while, Conall had grown so weary of being rejected over and over that he’d finally given up on finding love, marriage and anything in between. And for the past few years he’d pretty much convinced himself that he was better off being alone and focusing all his attention to his job.

Vanessa’s cynical remark was still dangling in the air between them when the waitress arrived with their drinks and salads. After the young woman served them and went on her way, he could feel Vanessa’s gaze on him and he paused from the task of stirring sugar into his tea to glance at her. Clearly, from the expression on her face, she wanted to speak her mind about something.

“What?” he prompted.

She hesitated before giving her head a slight shake. The gentle waves of hair lying on her shoulders shook with the movement as did the blue teardrops dangling from her earlobes. Suddenly Conall was wondering how it would feel to thrust his fingers into her silky hair, to nibble on the perfect little shell of her ear.

“I don’t know how to say this, Conall, without making you angry.”

Trying to concentrate on her words instead of the erotic images in his mind, he asked, “What makes you think I’ll be angry? I’ve not gotten angry with you yet, have I?”

He would admit that he often got frustrated with business dealings and the roadblocks he encountered while dealing with the multitudes of details that went into managing a ranch the size of the Diamond D. But he’d never gotten upset with Vanessa. She’d always given more than a hundred percent to her job and he appreciated her effort.

She reached for the pepper shaker and shook it vigorously over her salad. “Because you’re going to think I’m ungrateful. And I’m not. I’m actually very indebted to you for making this trip with me and… everything else you’ve taken care of. But I—”

A faint smile curled up one corner of his mouth.

“You don’t want me telling you how to take care of the twins or what you might need in your personal life.

Is that it?”

She studied him for a long moment and then laughed softly under her breath. Conall likened the sound to sweet music.

“That’s about it,” she answered.

Amused by her streak of independence, he finished stirring his tea. “In other words, while we’re on this trip I need to forget that I’m your boss and you’re my secretary.”

The tip of her tongue came out to moisten her lips and Conall found himself gazing at the damp sheen it left behind. What would she taste like? he wondered. Honey? Wine? Or simply all woman? He certainly didn’t need to know. But he sure as hell wouldn’t mind making the effort to find out.

She said, “Uh, well, I suppose that’s a way of putting it.”

The smile on his face deepened and he realized with a start that he was flirting. Something he’d not done in years or, for that matter, even wanted to do.

“Good,” he said.

One of her winged brows shot upward. “Good? I thought you were a man who always wanted to be the boss.”

Chuckling softly, he reached across the table and enfolded her small hand with his. “Not tonight. I’d rather just be a man having dinner with a beautiful woman. What do you think about that?”

She grimaced, but he could see a faint swathe of pink rushing over her cheeks and her breasts rising and falling with each quick intake of breath. The notion that he was affecting her, even in this small way, was like a heady drink of wine to him, and in the far back of his mind, he wondered what was coming over him. Clearly he wasn’t himself. He’d not been himself since yesterday when he’d walked through the office and found Vanessa with tears on her cheeks.

“I think there’s something about this town that makes people forget who and what they are. But I never thought you’d be the type to fall prey to its lure,” she said dryly. “The next thing I know you’ll be saying we should take a stroll down the strip and take in the lights.”

“Hmm. That’s a great idea. We’ll go as soon as we finish eating.”

Less than an hour later, after the two of them found a parking space and made their way to the busy sidewalks lining the city’s most famous boulevard, Vanessa was still wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. Spending time with Conall away from the office was something she’d often dreamed about, but she was smart enough to realize it was risky business.

In spite of what he’d said back at the restaurant, he was her boss and she depended on him for her livelihood. Allowing herself to think of him as anything more than the man who signed her paychecks would be like inviting trouble right through the front door. Yet here she was walking close to his side and enjoying every second of it.

“Is this the first time you’ve ever visited Las Vegas?” Vanessa asked as they slowly made their way southward along the busy sidewalk running adjacent to the congested street.

“No. Believe it or not, I was here once with my parents. We’d gone out to Santa Anita to watch one of our horses run in a graded stakes race. On the way back Mom wanted to stop off and play the slots. So Dad and I endured while she had fun.”

The night had cooled to a balmy temperature and as the light wind caressed her face, Vanessa realized this was the first time she’d relaxed since she’d gotten the call from Hope’s lawyer.

“You don’t like to gamble?” she asked.

“Not that much.”

She smiled with amused disbelief. “How can you say that, Conall? You’re in the racehorse business. That’s a big, big gamble.”

He chuckled. “That’s true. But in my business I pretty much know what I’m investing in. At least I can see my venture and put my hands on it.” He gestured to one of the massive casinos to their right. “In there you’re placing your money on pure chance.”

“Like the stock market,” she joked.

“Exactly,” he said with another short laugh, then added, “I didn’t realize you could be a funny girl.”

“I have my moments.”

She was thinking what a nice deep laugh he had and how much she enjoyed hearing it when his arm suddenly slid around the back of her waist and drew her even closer to his side. The sudden contact nearly took her breath, yet she did her best to hide the havoc he was causing inside her. After all, she wasn’t that same teenager who’d had such a crush on him so many years ago. She’d grown up, dated, married and divorced. Men weren’t a big deal to her anymore. Or so she’d believed. Until tonight. When Conall had suddenly started to treat her like a woman instead of a secretary.

“Even though it’s not my cup of tea, I have to admit there’s something magical about this town. Do you miss all this?” he asked, as he gestured toward the elaborately designed buildings, the endless lights and the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the strip.

“No. I never was into the bright lights and glamour of this place. I only saw it as a town of opportunities. And I took them. Before I ever left the valley, I decided if I had to work my way through college waitressing, I might as well do it where I could make the most money.”

“I certainly don’t blame you for that.”

No. He wouldn’t, Vanessa thought. He was the sort of person who never looked down on anyone because they had less than him. And he admired any person who worked hard for a living.