“Dad!” Luke tugged furiously on Joe’s jeans. “It’s her!”

“Who?” Joe was still staring at her and thinking that he hadn’t been so blown away by the sight of a woman in years. She had dainty feet, encased in fancy sandals in a sparkling silver color. Smooth, trim calves. Cute knees. A long, bulky white jacket—he could have done without that. Delicate hands—no rings, he noted. Pale, peach-colored lips, eyes as blue as the sky. An absolutely dazzling smile, directed at his son.

“The tooth fairy!” Luke said.

“Luke, there’s no such thing as—”

“Uh-ummm.” The woman cleared her throat loudly. She gave him a conspiratorial wink.

Being this close to a woman, having her smile at him baffled Joe. How could he consider allowing another woman into his life? One had been more than enough.

But when he looked at this woman, he felt uneasy. Here, he thought, was a woman who just might be able to change his mind….

Dear Reader,

When Patricia Kay was a child, she could be found hiding somewhere…reading. “Ever since I was old enough to realize someone wrote books and they didn’t just magically appear, I dreamed of writing,” she says. And this month Special Edition is proud to publish Patricia’s twenty-second novel, The Millionaire and the Mom, the next of the STOCKWELLS OF TEXAS series. She admits it isn’t always easy keeping her ideas and her writing fresh. What helps, she says, is “nonwriting” activities, such as singing in her church choir, swimming, taking long walks, going to the movies and traveling. “Staying well-rounded keeps me excited about writing,” she says.

We have plenty of other fresh stories to offer this month. After finding herself in the midst of an armed robbery with a gun to her back in Christie Ridgway’s From This Day Forward, Annie Smith vows to chase her dreams…. In the next of A RANCHING FAMILY series by Victoria Pade, Kate McDermot returns from Vegas unexpectedly married and with a Cowboy’s Baby in her belly! And Sally Tyler Hayes’s Magic in a Jelly Jar is what young Luke Morgan hopes for by saving his teeth in a jelly jar…because he thinks that his dentist is the tooth fairy and can grant him one wish: a mother! Also, don’t miss the surprising twists in Her Mysterious Houseguest by Jane Toombs, and an exciting forbidden love story with Barbara Benedict’s Solution: Marriage.

At Special Edition, fresh, innovative books are our passion. We hope you enjoy them all.

Best,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor

Magic in a Jelly Jar
Sally Tyler Hayes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my son, John, a mathematically gifted and mercenary child who, when he started losing his baby teeth, began with great excitement to count and even do a bit of multiplication in order to figure out what his entire mouth was worth empty of teeth.

And to his first-grade class at St. Mary’s, where the loss of each tooth was dutifully charted and graphed as part of their lessons in math.

SALLY TYLER HAYES

lives in South Carolina with her husband, son and daughter. A former journalist for a South Carolina newspaper, she fondly remembers that her decision to write and explore the frontiers of romance came at about the same time she discovered, in junior high, that she’d never be able to join the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

Happy and proud to be a stay-home mom, she is thrilled to be living her lifelong dream of writing romances.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

My name is Luke, and I saw you last week. You came to my school to talk about teeth, and you were so pretty. I gotta big problem, and I know you’re the one who can help me. I tried everythin’ else and nothin’ worked. Santa didn’t help, even though I was real good. I wished on my birthday candles, but that didn’t work. I wished on the first star at night, but that didn’t work. But you can make everything all right. I saw you, and I know you can do real magic. I gotta plan, too. I’m gonna collect a hundred baby teeth, no matter what it takes! I figure that’ll be enough. And I’ll give ’em to you and make my wish, and you can bring my mother back….

Love,

Luke

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Prologue

“Aw, c’mon, Jenny. It won’t hurt. Promise.”

The girl knew he was lying. After all, he was a boy, and at seven, Jenny knew all about boys. He’d say anything to get what he wanted. And once he did, he’d be off to charm some other girl. Jenny’s mother had told her older sister all about boys one night when she didn’t know Jenny was listening.

“Please. I neeeed it,” he whined pitifully.

She’d heard about that before, too. “I told you—no.”

“Give you a quarter.”

“I heard you offered Betsy fifty cents!”

“’Kay. Fifty cents.”

That made her stop and think. Fifty cents would buy her a soda after school. Or a candy bar. Curiosity made her ask, “But what d’you want with a dumb old tooth, anyway?”

“Shh,” Luke said. “It’s a secret.”

Jenny tried her perfect-princess smile on him. “You can tell me. I’m your best friend.”

“But you’re a girl,” he said, as if it was the ultimate insult.

“I’m still your friend.” Her bottom lip started to tremble.

“’Kay, you’re my friend. Now, do we have a deal?”

“Quarters first,” she insisted, because she’d done business with boys before.

Luke fished them out of his pocket and handed them over.

“Promise it won’t hurt?”

“’Course not. Mine didn’t hurt a bit.” He showed her a gap-toothed grin. “B’sides, it’s already loose, right?”

Jenny nodded, just starting to get scared. She’d never lost a tooth before, and she knew she was being a sucker to give this one to Luke for fifty cents. After all, the tooth fairy would probably give her at least two dollars. Some of the kids in the class who’d already lost a tooth had gotten three dollars.

But Luke was up to something, and he always had the best ideas. He must want this tooth for something really important, especially to give up fifty cents.

“Open up,” Luke said, coming toward her with one of the laces from his shoe dangling from his hand.

Next thing she knew, Luke had nearly his whole hand in her mouth trying to tie that lace around her tooth. Jenny tried to yell, but that didn’t work. She was gagging, instead. She tried to tell Luke she’d changed her mind, but he kept struggling with the shoelace and her loose tooth.

Finally she got so mad she bit him.

Luke screamed and jerked his hand out of her mouth.

Jenny looked down and saw her tooth stuck in the side of Luke’s thumb, and then she screamed, too.

Chapter One

“He what?”

Leaning against the open door of his pickup, his cell phone cradled against his ear and noise from the construction site making it nearly impossible to hear, Joe Morgan was sure there had to be some mistake. Even though Luke was only in first grade, Joe had already gotten some strange phone calls from school. This, however, was the strangest.

“What was he doing with his hand in a girl’s mouth?”

“Trying to pull the tooth, I believe,” said Miss Reynolds, Luke’s twenty-something, ever-so-proper, first-grade teacher. “Maybe Luke will explain that to you. He certainly wouldn’t say anything more to me.”

Joe could just imagine the story Luke would tell about this particular antic. Luke was always up to something, always scheming and planning, always into some sort of trouble.

“He broke the girl’s tooth?”

“Apparently the tooth was already loose. When he tried to get it out of Jenny’s mouth, it hurt. So she bit him. When he pulled his hand out of her mouth, the tooth came with it. It was stuck in the side of his thumb.”

“Wonderful.” Joe could just imagine what this girl’s parents must think of him and his son.

“Neither one of them is hurt. Not really. They both just want the tooth. Luke claims he bought it from Jenny for fifty cents.”

“While it was still in her mouth?” Joe frowned. Other kids were content to play doctor. His son had to be original.

“Honestly, Mr. Morgan, that’s all I’ve managed to get out of them. The children know they’re in trouble and are refusing to talk. We also can’t find the tooth, something that’s causing them considerable anxiety.”

Joe sighed.

Ever since Luke had lost his first tooth—no, even before that—he’d been fascinated with the whole idea of losing teeth. He was definitely up to something. Joe had no idea what. Raising two little kids on his own, now that his wife was gone, was proving to be almost more than he could handle. But he never thought he’d get tripped up so thoroughly over something like teeth.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to come in again, Mr. Morgan. We need to talk about what’s going on with Luke.”

Joe groaned, but he was at the school at three-twenty, right on schedule. He parked his pickup amidst enough minivans and SUVs to stock a car lot, then dusted off his jeans as best he could, sending sawdust flying. His shirt was coated with dust, as well, his cowboy boots caked with dried mud, but there was nothing he could do about that. He worked hard for a living, and by this time of day, it showed.

The school Luke attended was old and steeped in tradition. For more than one hundred years, St. Mark’s Academy had educated the well-to-do children of the well-to-do St. Mark’s parish, and the family of Joe’s former wife had been founding members of the church and the school. His mother-in-law had put the kids’ names on the preenrollment list the day they were born, and she’d probably pulled some strings to get them admitted.

Joe felt as if he’d had no choice but to send Luke and Dani there, even if tuition was killing him and he never quite felt at ease inside this building or with the parents of the other students.

Keeping his eyes down, a tight smile on his face, he made his way across the broad sidewalk, where children were waiting to be picked up from school. In their school plaids and white shirts, the girls were neat and tidy, their hair done in sleek ponytails or intricate braids that Joe would never master. The boys, in dark slacks, white shirts and outrageously expensive sneakers, were louder and rougher as they huddled together laughing and talking about their day. His son was probably in Sister Mary Margaret’s office. Sister was the principal, and Joe had never met a woman so good at invoking guilt and remorse in his weary soul.

He went to Luke’s classroom, with its four neat rows of tiny desks and chairs, every inch of the walls covered with kids’ drawings and posters and signs. Order reigned here, where chaos was king at his home. No wonder Luke didn’t fit in, Joe thought.

“Mr. Morgan?”

Luke’s teacher, who might have been twenty-five years old, was waiting for him. He felt ancient beside her, though he was only thirty-one. Miss Reynolds, as he’d always called her, because that was what Luke called her and Joe didn’t even know her first name, wore a long flowery dress with lace at the collar and the sleeves. Her hair was smoothed back into a neat knot at the back of her head. She always gave him a smile that made him feel like a bowl of cream that had been placed in front of a happy hungry cat. She was husband-hunting, just as he’d feared the first time he came in for one of these little conferences. But Joe wasn’t interested in being anyone’s husband again.

Luke, he thought, you’re going to pay for this.

“Ma’am,” he said, trying to hide all that he was feeling. If he hadn’t left Texas nearly a decade ago, he would have tipped his hat, in that respectful way he’d been taught to greet a lady. Instead, he settled for nodding his head and lowering his eyes.

“Mr. Morgan.” She pointed to one of the kiddie chairs. “Please sit.”

Joe sank into it and tried not to grimace as his knees rose in front of him. He just loved these chairs.

“I sent Luke to the after-school program so we can have our little talk in private,” she said. “Mr. Morgan, I don’t mean to pry, but I was wondering if there was anything going on at home that I should know about.”

Joe groaned. The teacher smiled sweetly, as if she hadn’t asked him to bare his soul to her.

“Sometimes parents aren’t aware of it,” she said, “but problems at home almost always show up in a child’s behavior at school. And if there is a problem, it’s best to tell us so we can be prepared and try to offer some extra help and understanding.”

Everyone at his house could use some extra help and understanding, Joe thought. But still, he hated what it would take to get it for them.

“I know that you and Luke’s mother are divorced,” she began, “and that you have full custody.”

“That’s right,” he said. He’d given the school the bare bones of it on the forms he’d filled out. Who was the custodial parent? Who was authorized to pick up the child from school and who wasn’t? Were there any custody issues the school should be aware of? He’d hated that form.

“And the two of you have been separated for…?”

“Thirteen months.” He could tell her the day, even the hour, if she thought that was necessary.

“And when Luke does see his mother—”

“He doesn’t,” Joe cut in.

“Oh.” Miss Reynolds looked taken aback. “Not ever?”

“No.” Joe’s face burned.

“Well…I wish we had known sooner.”

“Sorry,” he said tightly. It was the first time his wife ever walked out, and he wasn’t up on all the proper procedures to follow.

“Look, I don’t mean to pry. I was just worried about Luke and trying to understand what was going on. I noticed when we returned after Christmas break a few weeks ago that Luke seemed particularly upset. I thought perhaps something happened at Christmas.”

Joe suspected that Luke asked Santa to bring his mother home for Christmas, and Santa hadn’t. Not that Joe was going to share that particular tidbit with Miss Reynolds.

“Luke is rather quick-tempered lately,” she tried. “And irritable.”

She could have easily been describing Joe, but again, he didn’t say anything about that. Still, she looked like she expected a response.

“It’s been a difficult adjustment,” he said, which had to be the understatement of the year.

“Well…I’ll try to be understanding with Luke in class. And if anything happens, anything you think I should know, please feel free to call me. I’ll do anything I can to help Luke.”

She smiled and let her hand rest on his knee for a moment. When did women get so forward? Joe wondered. He and Elena had been together for eight years, and he didn’t remember women coming on to men this way before. Maybe there was just something about a man alone trying to raise two little kids that brought out that protective streak in some women. They just didn’t understand. The last thing Joe wanted was to give another woman a chance to trample all over his heart and his kids’ hearts. He rose to go, the movement freeing him from her touch.

“One more thing,” Miss Reynolds said, getting to her feet, as well. “Luke seems…obsessed—that’s the best word I can think of to describe it—with teeth. All kids this age are excited by the idea, but Luke…”

“I know. I’m not sure why. He won’t tell me.”

“You’re going to have to talk to him,” Miss Reynolds said. “We really can’t have him trying to pull the other children’s teeth here at school.”

“Of course.” Joe gritted his teeth and promised to have the talk.

“I did have an idea about that. We have a wonderful new children’s dentist in town. She came and spoke to the class about taking proper care of their teeth when we did our unit on dental hygiene, and the kids just loved it. Luke was especially attentive that day. He was quite taken with her costume.”

“Costume?”

“Yes. She dressed up as the tooth fairy. The kids talked about her visit for weeks.”

“A grown woman actually dressed up as the tooth fairy to come talk to schoolkids?”

“Yes. We had a terrific time that day. They’re convinced she is the tooth fairy.”

“Luke talked about her at home, too. I thought he was making it up.” Joe hadn’t seen his son so animated since his mother had walked out on them.

“I thought you might take him to see her. Maybe she could explain what’s proper and what’s not when it comes to teeth, and Luke would listen to her.”

Miss Reynolds held out a slip of paper. Joe took it and fled from the classroom, clutching the tooth fairy’s phone number in his hand.

He wasn’t going to call her. He was convinced he could handle this himself without the aid of a woman who dressed up like a fairy. But the next day he got another call from school. Something about an incident in the cafeteria, Luke’s hand in someone else’s mouth, and a flashlight and more kids who weren’t talking. Joe was at a loss. A grown woman in a fairy costume didn’t sound so bad anymore.

He got Luke from school and tried not to think about what it would be like to tell his strange tale to the lady dentist. He just hoped she could help.

When Joe pushed open the front door of the dentist’s office, music flowed out. It was some silly jingle that Dani loved, one the purple dinosaur sang.

“Is this place for babies?” Luke asked, insulted to the core.

“No, it’s for big kids, too,” Joe replied, smiling at the notion that at seven, Luke was big. To Luke, a person was either big or little. There was no in between. Dani, at four, was little. Luke was convinced he was big.

A few moments later the receptionist led them down a hallway colored with a rainbow, one shade dropping out as it made its way into each brightly colored treatment room. Luke drew the blue room, which featured a blue ceiling complete with stars. Luke and Joe stared up at those thousands of glittering stars. Was it a trick of the light or were they truly glittering?

Special paint, he decided. Manufacturers were doing amazing things with paint these days. He’d have to inquire about exactly what brand it was. Some of his clients might be interested.

“Dad!” Luke was tugging on his pant legs. “Look! It glitters! Isn’t it cool? And it’s a sign. I know it is. This place is magic!”

Joe scoffed. Magic was for seven-year-olds.

Then, just as he turned away, he caught a rush of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning back, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was crazy, but he could have sworn he’d just seen a star streak across the ceiling. A shooting star.

Joe blinked to clear his vision. It was the middle of the afternoon, he reminded himself, and he was inside staring at a ceiling painted blue and sprayed with fake stars. Nothing moved in the would-be sky, but the stars still glittered. He almost reached up to touch them, to see if it truly was glitter and would rub off on his fingertips.

He was still trying to figure it out when he heard footsteps behind him, then a rich full voice that said, “Hello, you must be Luke.”

Joe’s son seemed struck dumb, and a moment later Joe supposed they must look like a real pair.

This had to be the fairy.

He took his time looking her over from the bottom up. She had dainty feet, encased in fancy sandals with tiny straps in a sparkling silver color. Smooth trim calves—very nice. Cute little knees, too, peeking out from under a pale skirt that stopped an obliging two inches above her knees. A long loose jacket covered almost all of the rest of her; he could have done without that.

All he could see outside of the jacket was a pair of delicate hands—no rings, he noted—and the enticing curve of her throat and neck. She had pale peach-colored lips, eyes as blue as that fake sky. Her hair was honey-colored and pulled back from her face into an intricate braid Dani would have loved and seriously envied, and it hung to a point halfway down her back. She had dainty moon-shaped earrings, and an absolutely dazzling smile that was directed, full force, at his son, who was positively glowing.

Joe told himself he was being rude, staring at her this way. He simply couldn’t help it.

“Dad!” Luke was tugging furiously on Joe’s jeans. Bending down, Joe let Luke whisper in his ear, “It’s her!”

“Who?” Joe was still staring at her and thinking that he hadn’t been so blown away by the sight of a woman in years. He thought he was over that—that having his and his children’s hearts ripped out by a woman who had pledged to love them forever would have cured him.

“The tooth fairy!” Luke whispered loudly enough for the mischievous-looking woman to hear. He looked as if he was ready to explode with excitement. “She came to my school, ’cept she was all dressed up then in the blue dress with the stars. She even had her magic wand with her. I know it’s her. And she’s real. She’s the tooth fairy.”

“Luke, there’s no such thing as—”

“Uh-hmm.” The woman cleared her throat loudly.

Joe stopped just in time. “Sorry.”

She gave him a conspiratorial wink, then turned to Luke and stuck out her hand. “I’m Dr. Carter. And you are Luke, aren’t you? Please tell me I’m in the right room.”

Luke took the hand she offered and whispered, “You’re her, aren’t you?”

“Who?” she said with a smile.

“The tooth fairy.” Luke was still whispering, as if he couldn’t say it out loud.

She laughed, a sound that invited everyone around to laugh with her. Joe would have, if he’d been able to make a sound.

“But tooth fairies are magic,” she said quite seriously. “I’m just a dentist.”

Then she pulled a quarter from behind Luke’s right ear and handed it to him.

“Wow! Did you see that, Dad? She is magic.”

Dr. Carter was still grinning down at his son. Her hand headed for Luke’s other ear, and before Joe could say anything, she pulled a plastic spider ring from behind Luke’s ear.

“Wow!” Luke just stared up at her and grinned.

“So, what seems to be the problem here, Luke? Or are you just here for a checkup?”

“I dunno,” Luke said, Mr. Innocent now.

“I need to talk to you,” Joe said, not wanting to explain the problem in front of Luke.

“All right.” Dr. Carter turned back to his son. “Luke, I have a very special chair that goes up and down when you press this little button. How ’bout I let you sit in it and take it up and down?”

“Can I really?”

“Sure.” She helped Luke into the chair and showed him the button. “But you have to promise that when Mary comes in to count your teeth and when I check them, you’ll leave the chair alone. Deal?”

She held out her palm. Luke slapped it with enthusiasm. “Deal!”

The chair was revving up and down when the dentist led Joe from the room.

“Don’t the kids wear out the chairs?” he said.

“Eventually, but it makes them happy to take them up and down.” She said it as if that was the only thing that mattered—making the children happy. “Besides, it’s impossible to keep them from playing with the chairs, kind of like telling them to be still or to stay out of the mud on a rainy day. So I cut a deal with them—they can play for a minute, get it out of their system, then they have to leave the chairs alone while we work.”

She led him down the hall and to the right. Joe found himself watching the muscles flex in those trim calves of hers as she walked, and he wished she’d take off that white coat so he could see what was beneath it. She opened a heavy wooden door to the right, then offered him a seat in front of her desk. The desk was old and solid, made of polished cherry, and he guessed it weighed a ton. Joe couldn’t help but admire it.

“They don’t make pieces like this these days,” he said, running a finger around the intricate trim work.

“I know. This was my father’s. In fact, almost all the furniture in here was his.” She stood beside a big leather swivel chair that seemed as if it would swallow her.

Joe glanced around the room, saw bookshelves overflowing with thick heavy texts, a dozen or so plants of all sizes and shapes that almost took over the room, and another glass cabinet with dozens of fairy figurines inside it.

“You’re really into this tooth-fairy thing, aren’t you?”

“My father was. He was a dentist, too, and he’s been collecting fairies since before I was born. He died last year.”

“Sorry,” Joe said. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. But Joe knew it did. The woman who’d been so animated in the other room with his son was quite different now. No mischievous smile waited on her lips, no twinkle in those amazing blue eyes. Joe wished he hadn’t taken her smile away.

“So.” She moved to the front of the desk, then leaned against it. “What’s wrong with Luke?”

Joe ran through the list in his head. Luke wouldn’t give up his teeth. In fact, the ones he had given up to the tooth fairy, he’d cried and begged to buy back within days of giving them up. He played dentist at school, tearing out Jenny’s tooth, and was in some kid’s mouth with a flashlight in the lunchroom earlier that day. He had a mother who’d left and probably wasn’t ever coming back. How much of that could Joe share with this woman who pulled quarters from behind little boys’ ears to make them smile?

“It can’t be that bad,” she offered, then reached a hand out to him.

Joe sat back in the chair. He felt her fingertips brush his chest above the pocket of the clean shirt he’d donned in the truck before he picked Luke up from school, and then she pulled a long yellow scarf from his shirt pocket. It seemed to take forever, and Joe was baffled by the whole procedure.

Being this close to the woman, having her touch him in such an inconsequential way, having her smile at him, then blush as if she’d embarrassed herself—it all baffled him.

Because it felt so good.

Time to go out on a date, he supposed, dismissing the idea just as quickly as he considered allowing another woman into his life. One had been more than enough.

And then he looked up at the woman with the yellow scarf in her small elegant hands, a flush of color in her cheeks.

Here, he thought with flashes of unease shooting through him, was a woman who just might be able to change his mind about that. Not that he wanted it to change. He certainly didn’t intend to let another woman get anywhere near his kids.

Samantha froze, like a mischievous kid caught red-handed, as Joe Morgan stood there, staring at her. He didn’t so much as blink, didn’t say anything. He looked bewildered at first, then impossibly stern.

“I…I’m so sorry,” she stammered, as heat flooded her cheeks. She explained as best she could. “Force of habit.”

“Habit?” the striking dark-haired man said.

She nodded and tried not to stumble over her words. “I do little tricks. To make the children smile. And…”

It had been sheer impulse. She’d seen him sitting there looking sad, so she’d done the first thing that popped into her head—pull a silk scarf from his shirt pocket. Except he was no scared little boy. He was a man. A very attractive man. And she’d just made a fool of herself.

“You looked…troubled,” she said, wondering if he’d felt anything at all when she touched him. She certainly had. Something like a little jolt of static electricity, only better. Something like magic, except Samantha wasn’t sure she believed in magic anymore. She suddenly felt foolish for all the years she had believed. It seemed so naive now.

“It’s been a difficult day,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” she said, thinking she’d like to know about his day, like to know if his had truly been nearly as bad as hers and whether he had any idea how to fix it. Maybe he could tell her how to fix hers, how to fix everything. He looked like a man who fixed things.

Samantha stared at him, at long legs encased in well-worn jeans, snug in all the right places, cowboy boots splattered with dried mud, but a clean shirt, the sleeves rolled up nearly to his elbows. He had the kind of all-over tan worn by a man who worked outside year-round, and the lean corded muscles in his arms indicated he did something physical and likely did it well.

He dusted off his jeans—maybe because he’d caught her staring—and sawdust went flying.

“Sorry. I came straight from work,” he said. “I’m a mess by this time of day.”

“No problem,” she assured him, fingering the shapeless white coat she wore. “I get messy, too. Which is why I live in these.”

She thought about taking off the ugly white coat, but decided that might be too obvious, and she’d never been obvious with a man.

“You must work outside,” she guessed. To her, that was a bold move.

“Yes. I’m a builder.”

He said it as if she might find something objectionable in that. She didn’t. He was obviously a strong man who was good with his hands, and he was gorgeous, in a rough-and-tumble sort of way. What was there for any woman to object to?

Samantha’s only problem was that she’d lost all track of the conversation and forgotten the reason he was here. His son. That was it. Did that mean he had a wife, too?

She checked as discreetly as possible and saw no ring on his left hand. Women did that these days, she’d found. Regularly. For some women it was an automatic action. Check the hand. No ring? No telltale pale band of skin on the ring finger? He wasn’t shy about giving out his home phone number? Didn’t find excuses why you shouldn’t call him at home? He was likely single.

Samantha hadn’t put any of those tactics into practice—until now—but she’d learned all the signs that indicated a married man. Just in case she was ever interested enough to check out a man.

So far, she hadn’t been. She’d hardly met any men at all since she’d been here. At the dentist’s office it was almost all mothers and children, which made this man even more intriguing.

Oh, jeez, Samantha admitted, he’d be intriguing under any circumstances, and she was staring quite rudely, probably making a fool of herself. Not that she’d ever take this any farther than a mild flirtation—just for practice. She was sadly out of practice, after all. It showed in everything she’d said and done to him. She could relate to seven-year-olds better than grown men. And he had a seven-year-old. An adorable one, which made him strictly off-limits, him and his kid.

“Mr. Morgan—”

“Joe,” he cut in.

“Joe.” She liked the sound of his name on her lips. “About Luke—what can I do for him? And for you?”

Looking wary again, Joe just stared at her, then finally started to talk. “Luke has been behaving strangely lately.”

“You can tell me,” she encouraged because this seemed to be so difficult for him.

“It’s…I don’t understand it. He’s obsessed with teeth. Yesterday, on the playground at school, he tried to pull out a little girl’s tooth. Today in the cafeteria, he had a flashlight and his hand inside a little boy’s mouth…”

“Oh.” Samantha considered for a minute. “Does he by any chance go to St. Mark’s?”

“Yes. Why?”

She’d definitely embarrassed him now, and she felt bad.

“I’ve been getting some calls from St. Mark’s. I think I saw his patient, Jenny, yesterday. I’ve been wondering about my competitor, actually.”

“The little girl’s all right, isn’t she? Please tell me Luke didn’t do any damage.”

Samantha wanted to reassure him, felt an almost overwhelming urge to touch him. With the kids, she was generous with her smiles, her laughter, the touch of her hand on a shoulder or a big hug. But this was a man, she reminded herself again. And she’d already made a fool of herself with her little bag of tricks.

“Jenny’s fine.” She managed to keep her hands to herself and rushed on, “She would have lost the tooth in a few days, anyway.”

“Thank goodness for that,” he said.

“So, what else is Luke doing?”

“He’s so caught up in this whole tooth thing. At first I thought it was money. Luke loves money. But after he lost his first tooth and put it under his pillow, the…uh…”

“The tooth fairy came to visit?” she suggested.

“Yes, and he got his money. Then he decided he’d rather have the tooth back. He came and asked if he could buy it back.”

Samantha laughed. “I hope you agreed.”

“Yes. He put his two dollars under his pillow without complaining at all about the loss of the money, and the next morning, there was his tooth.”

“Good,” Samantha said. He was willing to play along, for the sake of his son. “So what did he do with the tooth?”

“He put it in a jelly jar on the shelf in the top of his closet, along with the other three teeth he’s lost. He’s saving them.”

“For what?”

Joe shrugged. “I don’t know. He hasn’t said. Do you think you could explain to my son that dentists are the only people allowed to pull teeth?”

“Of course.”

“He’s up to something. I don’t know what.”

“Something to do with baby teeth? And magic? And wishes?”

Joe nodded.

Once again she wanted to touch him, to soothe him just a bit, maybe make him smile again. She had a feeling he wasn’t normally such a stern-looking man.

“What does Luke want?”

Joe swore so softly she could barely hear it, then added quietly, “I’m afraid to ask.”

“Something that’s not within your power to give?” she guessed.

Joe nodded again.

Samantha couldn’t help but wonder where Mrs. Morgan was right now, and she sensed that was the answer to Luke’s wishes and to his father’s obvious discomfort. She wouldn’t pry any further, because she suspected this man’s pride had taken a beating somewhere along the way. But taking a closer look at his left hand, she now found that strip of paler skin that told her, until recently, he’d worn what she suspected was a wedding ring.

Poor Luke, she thought. What happened to his mother?

“I’ll give Luke my standard speech on the importance of taking care of teeth, letting them come out when they’re ready—all that good stuff,” she said. And she’d throw in a few more magic tricks to make Luke smile.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

And then, because there was nothing left to do, she excused herself to go talk to Luke and left Joe in the peace and quiet of her office.

She was back fifteen minutes later, having left Luke in the waiting room admiring one of her displays of fairy figurines and not sure she’d been any help at all. Joe Morgan stood with his back to her, his impossibly broad shoulders seeped in tension. She wished there was something she could do to soothe him, too.

“Hi,” she said, walking in and closing the door behind her.

He turned around and looked at her, waiting, obviously hoping. She hated disappointing him.

“I’m sorry. Luke has a mouthful of beautiful absolutely healthy teeth and a whole lot of secrets. I tried my best, but I couldn’t get him to crack.”

Joe smiled. “Really put on the pressure, did you, Doc?”

“I tried,” she reassured him. “He’s very bright. He asked me all sorts of questions about baby teeth. How many kids have and when they start to lose them, how long it takes before they’re all gone. He says he has a friend who’s good with numbers who’s going to help him figure everything out. He mentioned something about a formula. I hope we’re talking mathematical and not chemical.”

Joe laughed. “I’ll lock up his chemistry set.”

“That would probably be a good idea.”

“Luke is a schemer. Always has been. He gets an idea in his head, and he doesn’t let go of it. Not for anything.”

“Which is not necessarily a bad trait.”

“In an adult. It’s hell in a kid, especially when you’re the one trying to raise him.”

Samantha shrugged, telling herself not to get drawn in too deeply. She was just here to take care of kids’ teeth. She always got in too deep, always cared too much. Surely she’d learned her lesson by now.

“I’m sure you’ll figure out what he’s up to. Or he’ll tell you,” she said. “I showed Luke all my instruments and explained to him all the things I use to pull out a tooth safely, and I thought that would do it. But I didn’t like the gleam in his eye. I was afraid he’d be off stealing a pair of pliers or an adjustable wrench from your toolbox and using what I told him to be even more efficient at dentistry than he already is. I hope that wasn’t a mistake.”

“I’ll lock up my tools, too,” Joe said. “Just in case.”

“Good. My next idea was to tell him he could be a dentist, but he had to suffer through a ton of schooling and pass all sorts of tests first to be licensed. That may have made some headway with him—the idea that he could be in trouble for practicing dentistry without a license.”

Joe laughed out loud then. She saw little crinkles at the corners of his dark eyes and his mouth. His shoulders shook and he relaxed, at least for a second. How about that? she mused. She’d made him laugh, really laugh. She felt as good as she did when one of her little tricks won her a genuine smile from a kid.

“You’re very good, Doc. I’m impressed.”

She blushed at the praise, thinking she’d thoroughly enjoyed her time with the Morgan men.

“He seemed to like me. Quite a bit,” she admitted. “So my third and final strategy was to tell Luke that if he insisted on taking care of all his classmates’ teeth, pretty soon I wouldn’t have anything to do, that he’d ruin my job.”

“That’s perfect,” Joe said. “I appreciate it. More than I can say.”

“He’s a delightful little boy.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Take good care of him. And call me if there’s anything else I can do,” she offered, wondering if he’d take her up on that, if she’d ever see either one of them again.

Joe Morgan took her hand in both of his. Her entire arm started to tingle in an unsettling way. They stood there, staring at each other. She felt a strange sense of connection with him, something she didn’t want to lose. Which was crazy. She didn’t even know him. She didn’t know anything about him, except that he was too handsome for her own good, she felt a little charge of electricity when he touched her, and he had a great little boy.

Samantha pulled away, because that was how it had to be. She had to look out for herself this time. She had to be smart, safe.

“Thanks, Doc,” he said softly.

“You’re welcome,” she said, fighting this odd urge to beg him to stay.

He turned and walked to the door, was almost gone when she thought of something.

“Joe?”

He turned to face her again. “Yes?”

“I may have convinced Luke to stop practicing dentistry, but he’s absolutely convinced I have magical powers. I’m afraid my little tricks with the coins and things just made it worse. He thinks I’m the tooth fairy.”

Joe considered, then replied, “I’ll take care of it.”

Samantha nodded, wondering what he’d say. That there was no such thing as magic? No wishes coming true? No miracles left in this world?

She hoped not, even though she supposed it was true. But Samantha had seen children who’d stopped believing in magic, who’d been robbed of their illusions, and she didn’t want Luke to be one of them.

Chapter Two

It was much later that evening when Samantha shed her white coat, which she wore to guard her clothes but also for the deep pockets where she stored the tricks of her trade. She took out the glow-in-the-dark toothbrushes, the magic disappearing coins, the fat tongue depressor that turned into a bouquet of flowers and the magic set of teeth that chattered around on tabletops when she wound them up.

Her last patient was long gone, as well as the office staff. There was nothing left to do but go back to the house she’d rented temporarily while she tried out this town, this practice. While she decided whether it was any easier to be here, far away from everyone she’d left behind, everyone she’d lost.

She felt absolutely alone that night, absolutely lost.

She had put the length of the country between her and everyone she knew, everything that was familiar, thinking to start over in a brand-new place. Brand-new house, if she ever got around to finding one. Brand-new practice, if she made up her mind and exercised her option to buy this one. Brand-new what else? she wondered.

Man, came the answer, the image of a certain one coming into her head.

Brand-new kid? She knew better. She did.

So she swiveled around in her chair to face the window of the office that she’d occupied for all of six weeks now and that was starting to feel familiar, thanks to all of the things she’d brought. Her gaze eventually landed on the small glass cabinet in the corner. It had small framed drawings, porcelain figurines, carvings, even a sculpture her father had made, all of his favorite image, the tooth fairy. They always made her smile, always made her patients smile.

It was mostly her father’s collection, one of his most prized possessions. He’d willed them to her, and now she displayed some of them in her office. It added an air of magic to the place, which her father had taught her to use to help get past the fear some children had of dentists.

Little children should never be afraid, her father always said.

She closed her eyes and thought, But I’m afraid, Daddy. I’m so afraid.

Afraid that she would always feel this bad, this sad and alone, this lost, and here were no little magic tricks to make it better. No fairy dust raining down on her.

Which made her think of Luke and Joe. They seemed afraid, too. Sad and lost and hurting. Maybe that was why she found herself so drawn to them, why she felt so bereft without them.

She’d been happy today, just for a little bit. Happy with Luke and Joe. She’d felt what seemed to be a little spark of pure magic, and it had frightened her.

So she had to remember all that she’d lost and the reason she had to stay away from them. It shouldn’t be that hard to remember, especially not here. There was a spot at the end of the credenza, just to the right by the droopy-looking potted fern she’d lugged all the way from Seattle, a spot where she’d always kept a favorite photograph of the girls.

Maybe it had been a mistake to leave the photos behind. She’d debated that point with herself for what seemed like hours, and in the end, she’d left the photos, along with a big chunk of her heart.

Samantha knew she had to safeguard that battered heart of hers now. She had to be careful and cautious and use her head.

No men, she told herself even more sternly. Especially men with kids. If she’d learned anything else in the past four years, surely she’d learned that. No men and, please, God, no more falling in love with kids who didn’t belong to her.

Dr. Carter let Luke keep the quarter and the spider ring. Best of all, she gave him a glow-in-the-dark toothbrush. When Joe brought him home, Luke hid in the closet with the toothbrush all evening watching it glow. He swore the toothbrush was magic, that Dr. Carter was magic and that she was really the tooth fairy in disguise.

Dani wailed off and on all night after they picked her up from late-stay at school. Because she didn’t get to see the tooth fairy, because she still hadn’t lost a tooth and because she hadn’t gotten a quarter, a spider ring or a glow-in-the-dark toothbrush.

Once he’d finally gotten them into bed, Joe put a hand to the back of his neck and tried to work out the tension in the muscles there. Somewhere he had to find another glow-in-the-dark toothbrush—a pink one, because that was Dani’s favorite color. And he had to find a way to talk his daughter out of a trip to the magic dentist, because he wasn’t sure if he could stand there and let Samantha Carter pull another silk scarf from his shirt pocket.

He wondered what kind of magic she used to make that little jolt of awareness shoot through him when her fingertips flitted across his chest for all of half a second. Something from her bag of tricks? He wanted to ask but didn’t think it would be wise for him to see her again.

Because he didn’t believe in magic, yet he was crazy enough to think he’d seen a shooting star on the ceiling in her office today. Joe had almost asked her about the special paint. But she’d think he was nuts, that it was no wonder his son pulled little girls’ teeth on the playground and kept them in a jelly jar in the top of his closet.

Joe shook his head and indulged in the chance to swear out loud, because the kids were asleep.

He was going to stay far, far away from Samantha Carter.

Wandering through the house, he picked up things here and there. Dani’s shoes and dirty socks that made a trail from the hallway to the living room. As usual she’d kicked them off while she made her way from one room to the next. No amount of talking made the least bit of difference about that particular bad habit of hers.

Luke’s book bag from school was on the kitchen table, and Joe dug the lunch box out of the book bag so he could discard whatever Luke hadn’t finished of his lunch. Too many times Joe had forgotten, and the mess that confronted him inside the lunch box on a Monday morning was something he could do without.

Inside the book bag, he also found Luke’s jacket and two sheets of math problems due tomorrow, all of them wadded into a neat little ball. Maybe they could smooth out the math sheets enough that Luke could turn them in.

As Joe picked up the book bag to put it away, he realized it weighed more than it should have. There was something else inside it.

A rock? That was Joe’s first thought. Luke loved rocks. For some reason, he didn’t think they had enough of them here, so he collected them at school and brought them home with him.

He unzipped pockets one by one until he hit on the one that held something long and thin and heavy. Joe’s fingers closed around it and drew it out of the book bag.

“Dammit, Luke,” he said.

In his hand was the tooth-fairy figurine he’d found Luke admiring in the lobby of Samantha Carter’s office when Joe had gone to get him. She had long blond hair, a blue dress with stars and a magic wand with fairy dust streaming after it. Luke must have swiped the figurine while Joe was settling the bill.

Which meant Joe would have to see Samantha again.

He tested out his feelings on the subject. He was not happy. He refused to be. So what if the woman was gorgeous and somehow looked as vulnerable as a fairy who’d gotten her wings singed? So what if touching her, in the simplest of ways, had the power to make him tremble like an overeager teenage boy.

He wasn’t going to do anything about it. He couldn’t. He had his kids to think about. Kids who’d cried themselves to sleep too many nights to count over a woman who was never coming back to them, one he suspected didn’t give them a second thought these days.

No woman was ever going to hurt them again. Joe would see to it.

That meant Samantha Carter was off-limits. He and Luke would take the fairy back and be done with the woman.

Samantha didn’t even get a chance to catch her breath until well past noon. A member of the office staff was kind enough to make a run to the nearby sandwich shop and take orders, so Samantha had a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, a diet soda and all of five minutes to down both before her next patient would be ready for her.

Leaning back into the big leather chair, she let the sandwich sit there on her desk, let the soda get warm and go flat. Feeling altogether out of sorts today, she swiveled around in her chair and gave in to the need to let herself think about Joe Morgan and his adorable son.

They were all she’d heard about today. It seemed they’d charmed the entire office staff, and Samantha had given herself away half-a-dozen times when she’d been teased about Mr. Morgan, Sr. He was so polite. He had a delicious Texas drawl. He was not married anymore. He didn’t seem at all caught up in his own charms, an affliction that tended to absolutely ruin most truly good-looking men. She’d gotten those choice bits of gossip within the first five minutes of arriving in the office. By noon someone had started a pool that had grown to twenty-five dollars already. The bet—how long it would be before he called back.

“Am I that transparent?” Samantha complained, when she was closeted in her office at twelve-thirty with her forty-something, normally no-nonsense office manager, Dixie, who’d just given her the latest update on the pool.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you really smile at anyone over twelve in six weeks. We’ve been worried about you, sweetie. Besides, he really is cute.”

“Lots of men are cute,” she argued.

“Not that cute. Besides, I think he’s nice, too. I liked the way he talked to his little boy. You can tell everything important about a man by the way he talks to his kids,” Dixie claimed.

“If you catch him when no one’s listening,” Sam said. She’d found many parents who were totally different with their kids when they thought no one was listening. And she certainly hadn’t been listening when Richard talked to the girls. She’d missed a great deal there.

“I liked him, and I’m no pushover.” Dixie pointed to the turkey on whole wheat and the soda. “And you owe me five and a quarter.”

“I’ll buy tomorrow?” Sam suggested.

“Fine by me. Unless I win the pot. Then we’ll hit that little French place around the corner for some serious take-out.”

“Dixie! You got in on this?”

“Of course. I don’t suppose you’d like to call him? The bet’s good either way. It doesn’t matter who makes the call, just as long as the two of you talk.”

“No, I’m not going to call him.”

“We have his number,” she offered. “We even have his address.”

“No.”

Dixie laughed and headed for the door. “I have to get back to work. My boss is a slave driver.”

Samantha sighed and told herself to eat. She didn’t have much time. But now she couldn’t help herself. She was thinking about the Morgan men, despite all her intentions not to.

Taken individually, either Joe or his son would have caught her interest. Together they were simply devastating. Luke was just too cute, too full of energy and exuberance and shyly given smiles. She’d felt like a great treasure had been bestowed upon her when Luke smiled. Samantha had done her best to put the fear of God into him when it came to working on other children’s teeth, but it had been hard to do with Luke practically dancing with excitement and begging her to admit to being the tooth fairy in disguise.

Laughter bubbled up inside her. The tooth fairy?

She wished she was, so she could conjure up whatever Luke wanted so badly. As hard as she’d tried, she hadn’t convinced Luke to tell her what that was. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to tell him that sometimes wishing simply wasn’t enough.

Though she knew little about Luke’s situation, she understood quite clearly that Luke needed to believe the magic was real, and she suspected that need came from his wish to have his absent mother back.

Samantha didn’t see a lot of dads bring children to her office. She suspected Joe was all Luke had, and that had her wondering if she’d see him again.

It had her thinking of making a fool of herself by pulling a scarf out of his shirt pocket in an effort to make him smile. Joe Morgan looked as if he needed a reason to smile as badly as his son did, and Samantha’s first impulse had been to give him one, because she’d wanted to see him smile, too.

Her face burned at the memory of being so foolish as to treat a grown man like a little boy.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if Joe hadn’t been…well…

Stop it, Samantha, she chastised herself.

So he was good-looking. That didn’t mean anything, unless she wanted a man she could simply enjoy looking at from time to time. She couldn’t very well sit him in a corner, like a beautiful piece of furniture, or hang him on a wall like a painting and admire him.

So he was charming, in that down-home, straight-off-the-ranch sort of way. Since when did she melt over a man with a Texas accent?

She’d never had a cowboy fantasy in her life, but when she’d closed her eyes the night before, the first thing she saw was a grinning Joe Morgan in a cowboy hat, a dusty pair of jeans and well-worn boots.

Yum, she thought, unable to help herself for a second.

She wasn’t even looking for a man. The last thing she wanted or needed was a man. And the absolute last thing she’d allow herself to want or need was a man with kids.

“Samantha?” The voice came from the intercom system on the phone, startling Samantha as it always did when she suddenly found someone speaking to her when she was absolutely alone in the room.

“Yes, Jess,” she said.

“Sorry to bother you, but there’s a man on the line who said he needs to see you tonight after your last appointment. No emergency. Nothing to do with teeth. And I thought I’d better check with you first before giving him a time. Your last appointment should be over by six.”

“Okay.” Puzzled, Samantha asked, “Who’s the man?”

“Joe Morgan,” Jess said innocently. “The would-be dentist’s dad.”

Samantha couldn’t stop a long slow sigh from escaping her mouth.

Obviously Jess heard it, too, because she laughed. “I thought that was him. Which means I win! If he called anytime before two-thirty today, I win!”

“Jess—” she protested.

“I’ll put him right through.”

The phone buzzed at her, which meant the intercom had been turned off. A light under the button labeled Line 3 started blinking, which meant Joe was there, right at her fingertips.

Samantha closed her eyes and told herself to make up some socially acceptable little lie. She had plans, errands, some reason to get home tonight. But there was nothing. She couldn’t lie to herself. She was intrigued. The cute cowboy wanted to see her again. He’d seemed so reluctant to be here yesterday, although it may have been nothing but embarrassment over what his son had done.

If only he knew, Samantha thought. Kids did the silliest things. Luke certainly wasn’t the first or the last to give his father fits.

Samantha took a breath and reached for the receiver. Play it cool, she told herself. He’s just a man. Okay, a boyishly handsome man, but one with an adorable kid—definitely off-limits.

She punched the button and said, “Hello? This is Dr. Carter.”

“Hi. This is Joe Morgan,” he said. “From yesterday? My son—”

“I remember you,” she jumped in. As if any woman forgot him. He hesitated then, and she wondered just how eager she’d sounded when she told him she remembered him. Trying to be the professional woman she was supposed to be, Samantha said, “Luke didn’t pull another tooth, did he?”

“No. At least, not that anyone’s told me about. But the day’s still young.” Joe might have been smiling then. She couldn’t be sure. “I was wondering if Luke and I could come by your office this evening. He has something of yours that he needs to return.”

“Oh?”

“I’m afraid he swiped one of your ceramic tooth fairies, Doc.”

“He did?” Samantha was surprised and more than a little disappointed now that she knew why he’d called. Despite what she’d told herself about becoming involved with a man like Joe Morgan, a part of her still wanted him to want her enough to call her today. Which was silly, she knew, but that was how she felt.

“I can’t believe Luke did that,” Joe rushed on. “As far as I know, he’s never done anything like that before. I told him he has to return it to you himself so he can explain what he did and tell you how sorry he is. If you could make time for us, of course.”

“Of course,” she said. “Six o’clock?”

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

“It’s no problem at all. Luke is a delightful child.” She couldn’t help but add, “I hope you won’t be too…”

“Harsh?”

“Yes.” Samantha closed her eyes and winced. It was absolutely none of her business. But Luke was special. She remembered the sad puppy-dog eyes when he’d asked her quite seriously how many teeth she thought it took to get a grand wish granted by the tooth fairy. Not an ordinary wish and certainly not money, he’d explained. A real wish. Real magic.

Oh, Luke. She’d lost a bit of her heart to him already.

“I’m sorry,” Samantha rushed on. “I know it’s none of my business.”

“It’s all right. If it will make you feel better, I’ll tell you that I tried to yell at Luke this morning, but I really didn’t have the heart to do it,” Joe admitted. “Still, he has to know he can’t get away with this. And that it’s a serious thing to take something that doesn’t belong to him.”

“Absolutely,” Samantha agreed, thinking she should help him out here. “I’ll try to be stern when he apologizes.”

And then she heard this wonderful rich laughter coming through the phone. Joe Morgan was laughing at her, and she couldn’t have been more surprised, nor could she imagine such a joyous sound coming out of Joe’s mouth. He was altogether too serious.

“You? Stern?” He laughed again, the sound rolling over her and sending little shivers of delight along her skin. “You’d be even more hopeless at it than I was.”

“W-well,” she stammered, all flustered, the room suddenly much too warm, “I could try.”

“Okay, Doc,” he said. “Give it your best shot.”

“I will,” she declared, wondering how long it had been since he’d laughed like that.

It had been wonderful to make him laugh. And she wished he’d been here so she could have seen what it did to his face. Half the office staff would have been swooning.

“I’ll see you at six,” he said, his voice just as deep and sexy as before, a hint of the laughter still there.

“I’ll be waiting,” she said, then didn’t even realize until she’d hung up the phone just how that sounded.

Samantha folded her arms on her desk, then let her head fall into them. She was just so stupid where men were concerned, and she couldn’t seem to think before she spoke. She’d have Joe believe that the highlight of her day was going to be his son returning her stolen fairy—which was sad, but true. It would be the best part of her day.

Still, she didn’t have to tell Joe that.

Her day flew by from there. With every passing minute, Samantha got more and more nervous. And she knew she was making a fool of herself when she dashed into the washroom at five-thirty and combed her hair and put on some lip gloss. Hers was an all-female office, and every one of her staff members knew exactly who was coming to see her this evening and what she was doing in front of the washroom mirror.

She finished with her last patient at five forty-five, then went into her office and hid. There was paperwork to deal with, but she knew she’d never be able to concentrate on it.

There was nothing to describe how she felt except excited. She was going to see Luke, the little rascal, and Joe. Would Joe smile at her today? Would he open up just a little about what he and Luke were going through? Maybe she could help.

Samantha had all sorts of foolish scenarios running through her head when she heard the intercom buzz.

“Samantha?” said Tess. “You there?”

“Yes.” Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was twelve minutes to six. They were early, and she wasn’t ready for them. She was too nervous and too hopeful and too foolish for words.

“There’s a call for you. Line two. Personal business, I think.”

“Thanks, Jess.”

Puzzled, Samantha picked up the phone. She didn’t have any personal business, had made very few friends in the short time she’d been in Virginia, so she couldn’t imagine who this could be.

Unless Joe wasn’t coming.

Samantha picked up the phone and said, “Hello.”

“Sam?” It was a little girl’s voice. “Is that you?”

“Abbie?” Cautious now, she sat back in her chair. In seconds she was all choked up, her eyes brimming with tears. It had been so long since she heard this precious little girl’s voice.

“Hi.” Abbie sounded relieved for a second.

“Hi, baby.” Samantha smiled, finding the moment bittersweet. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” Abbie said tearfully.

“Really?”

“Well—” Abbie hesitated “—maybe not so okay. I know I’m not supposed to call, but Daddy’s not here. And neither is Monica. There’s just the baby-sitter, and she thinks you’re just a friend of mine from school. So I thought it would be okay. Is it? Okay, I mean?”

“Oh, Abbie.” Samantha closed her eyes, and the tears slid down her cheeks. She knew what she had to do, but she wasn’t sure how she’d find the courage. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was hurt Abbie. “Did your father tell you not to call me?”

“Yes. But I found the number in his desk drawer, and I thought as long as he didn’t know, it would be okay. I miss you, Sam.”

“I miss you, too, sweetie. And Sarah. How is she?”

“She’s okay, I guess. She’s mad that we had to move to a new house just because Monica had to have a bigger one, and she doesn’t like her new teacher, but she has a friend in her class. I do, too. The house is big, and it has a great backyard. But there aren’t any kids close by. And Daddy’s…well, Daddy’s okay. Monica is, too, I guess. But…I still miss you so much.”

“Abbie, I’m sorry. I love you very much. You know that, don’t you? And I always will.”

“I don’t understand why you had to go so far away.”

And Samantha simply couldn’t explain it to her, except to say, “You know the worst thing about being a grown-up is that we don’t always get to do what we want or to live where we want or to see the people we love as much as we’d like. But I do love you. I won’t ever stop. And I love Sarah, too.”

“You just don’t love Daddy?”

Samantha sighed, then drew in a shaky breath. Richard didn’t love her anymore. That was the problem. But she couldn’t make him the villain here, not to his daughter. Samantha wanted Abbie and Sarah to be happy now with Richard and his new wife, even if it had broken Samantha’s heart to lose the girls. And if she wanted the girls to be happy, she couldn’t blame their father for what happened.

“Abbie, I’m so sorry. If I could, I’d wave a magic wand and everything would go back to the way it was before, and we’d all be together again.”

“But you can do all sorts of magic,” Abbie argued. “I saw you. Lots of times. Can’t you fix this? So we can be together again?”

“No, sweetie, I can’t.”

“Well…can I at least call you? When Daddy isn’t here? So we can just talk sometimes?”

“Abbie, it’s long distance. Your father’s going to know you called when he gets the bill and sees my number there.”

“He will?”

“I’m afraid so. You’re going to have to tell him.”

“But he’ll get mad.”

“Maybe not so mad if you tell him first, Abbie. Tell him you’re sorry, and then ask him if it’s okay if you call again sometimes. Maybe on my birthday. Do you remember when it is?”

“May?”

“Yes, in May.”

“But that’s four whole months away! What if I don’t want to wait that long? What if I need to talk to you?”

Swallowing hard, barely managing to keep her voice steady, Samantha said, “You’re going to have to ask your father and do what he says. Because he’s your father.”

Whereas, she was nothing to Abbie anymore, at least not according to Abbie’s father. Never mind that Samantha spent three years mothering Abbie and Sarah, or that she couldn’t love them more if she’d given birth to them.

“Abbie?” she said softly, working hard not to let the bitterness come through. “Your father is the one who gets to decide about these things, okay?”

“It’s just not fair,” Abbie said tearfully.

“I know.” Samantha had to cover the receiver for a minute, because she was crying so hard and she didn’t want the little girl to hear. It would only make this harder. “I love you, sweetie. Tell Sarah I love her, too.”

And then Samantha hung up the phone and wept.

Chapter Three

Joe had no choice but to bring Dani along when he took Luke to Dr. Carter’s office. He picked them both up from the late-stay program where they stayed from the time school ended until he got there after work. Then they drove straight to Dr. Carter’s, because that was the only way he was going to make it on time.

In the truck Dani had a million questions about where they were going and why. Once she knew Luke was in trouble, she was beside herself with glee. While Joe tried to deal with whatever Luke had done, she danced around Joe, pointing out that she hadn’t done whatever Luke had.

Joe could be reading Luke the riot act for pulling his sister’s hair, and the next thing he knew, Dani would be smiling and chanting, “I didn’t pull anyone’s hair. I didn’t pull anyone’s hair,” which infuriated Luke even more and didn’t do much for Joe’s mood, either.

Joe finally decided a bribe was in order, because he didn’t want the good doctor to think both his kids were heathens. He told Dani that if she behaved, didn’t break anything or steal anything and managed to keep fairly quiet, they would find out where she could get a glow-in-the-dark toothbrush, too.

“Pink?” she said.

Anything, Joe thought. If only she’d behave for the next ten minutes.

“Pink,” he said, praying that glow-in-the-dark toothbrushes came in pink and that Dr. Carter could find her one.

They pulled into the parking lot and climbed out of the car, Dani singing a limerick at the top of her lungs that had Luke begging Joe to make her be quiet. Joe had the fairy. Luke was dragging his heels. Joe put his hand at his son’s back to propel him toward the door.

“Do y’think she’s gonna be really mad?” Luke said, as if that meant much more to him than making his father mad.

“I think she’s going to be disappointed that you would take something that didn’t belong to you, especially something of hers, because she thought you were her friend.”

“Oh.” Luke looked even more miserable than before, and his steps had slowed to a crawl.

“It’s not going to get any easier,” Joe said, holding open the door so Dani could dance through.

“You sure about that?” Luke hung back on the sidewalk.

“Positive.” Joe motioned for him to move along. “In. Now. She stayed late tonight to talk to us.”

Dani was gazing at the fairies in the display case with the same sort of awe Luke had shown the day before.

“Don’t touch anything,” Joe warned her as he approached the window to the receptionist desk.

A young woman with reddish hair and a bright smile whom he hadn’t noticed the day before was waiting for him. Three more women, all staring at him and smiling, stood behind her.

“Mr. Morgan?” the redhead said.

“Yes.” Lord, he was infamous at the dentist’s office. His kid pulled teeth and lifted fairies from the waiting room.

All four women smiled at him.

“And this is Luke? And…?”

“His sister, Dani.”

Dani turned around and grinned. “Daddy, it’s just like in the book! Luke’s magic book!”

Joe winced, the legend of the tooth fairy growing ever larger in the minds of his children. “Don’t touch anything, sweetheart, okay?”

He turned back to the women, who were still waiting, still smiling. Didn’t they have anything to do?

“Samantha’s in her office. She’s expecting you,” the redhead said. “If you’d like to have a word with her first, Luke and Dani can play here for a few minutes. I’d be happy to keep an eye on them.”

Joe hesitated. Did he trust himself alone with Dr. Carter again? Maybe she’d pull another scarf out of his shirt pocket. Or explain to him how she made the ceiling glitter like that and how stars came to shoot across the starry sky she’d created in her examination room.

He glanced back at the kids, Dani in awe of the fairy collection, Luke sitting miserably in the corner.

“Don’t worry,” the woman said. “I have three kids of my own, and dozens come in here every day. I know all the possibilities for trouble in this room.”

Joe worked up a smile and tipped his head to her. “Thank you, ma’am. I would like to talk to the dentist.”

He told the kids he’d be back shortly, warned them again about behaving, then headed down the hallway grinning like an idiot. He was here to return a piece of stolen property, after all, and to beg for a trick toothbrush for his baby girl.

This in no way resembled a date, even if he had tried to take a bath in the sink at the office after work to get rid of the worst of the grime and the sweat clinging to him, then thrown on the clean shirt he tried to remember to keep in the car for those days he was summoned to Luke’s school on the way home from work.

Hell, he wouldn’t know what a date was, but he for damned sure knew this wasn’t the way to make a good first impression on a woman.

Striding down the hall, Joe thought about how much he’d love to get away, thought about the satisfaction he could find planting himself on the back of a horse and riding from dawn to dusk, even eating dust and smelling bad-tempered cows all day.

He missed Texas. He missed working the ranch and being so tired at the end of the day he just fell into bed and didn’t so much as blink until the sun was nearly up again and it was time to go to work and do it all over.

It had been another life, he reminded himself, one he couldn’t go back to. Besides, the life he had, while frustrating, even infuriating, at times, wasn’t that bad. He had Luke and Dani, and that was forever. No one would ever take them away from him.

And this was all a part of being a parent, Joe told himself.

He’d come here to please his wife; there’d been a time when he’d have done almost anything to make her happy. She’d been pregnant with Luke and uneasy about the whole process and about being a mother, and she’d thought it would be easier having her own mother close by. They couldn’t very well keep following the rodeo circuit—not with a newborn baby. It was time to settle down, and they’d settled here in Virginia.

Joe had considered moving back to Texas after Elena left, but this was the only home the kids had ever known, everything that was familiar in their world at a time when so many things had changed. They’d panicked when he’d even mentioned the possibility of moving, and he’d decided to stay put for their sake. They needed all the stability he could offer them at the moment—same school, same friends, same house. And as much as Elena’s parents had disapproved of him at first, they’d been great to him since Elena had left. They seemed as baffled by their daughter’s behavior as he was, and embarrassed, as well. They were great to his kids and understanding and supportive as Joe fumbled his way through life as a single parent.

He was fumbling right now—over teeth.

Resigned to guiding his son through his apology to the lady dentist, Joe lifted a hand to knock on the door next to the plaque that read Dr. Samantha Carter.

But the door wasn’t quite shut, and as he paused in front of it, he heard something. A muffled strangled sort of sound. Pushing the door open another two inches, he glanced inside and saw the slight figure of a woman hunched over the big desk. Her shoulders were shaking, her head buried in her hands.

Glancing around the office, he saw that she was all alone, and Joe couldn’t quite stomach that. Something about a woman crying her heart out, all alone, just didn’t sit right with him. He had to help her.

Even as he told himself it was none of his business, that he couldn’t let himself touch her, couldn’t hold her, he did, anyway. He didn’t let himself think about the fact that he barely knew her or about how very much he wanted to hold her.

He pushed open the door, then closed it behind him, because she didn’t need an audience right now. She needed a shoulder, someone to hold on to, someone to whisper in her ear some empty meaningless words like “Everything will be all right,” and Joe was the only one here. He’d have to do it. No self-respecting gentleman would have left her alone with her tears.

Joe wasn’t afraid of those tears. He had three sisters, after all. One of them was always crying. He walked across the room and put his hand on her back. “Doc?”

She froze, caught her breath, then turned around slowly, cautiously, as if she couldn’t believe she’d been caught like this. Her eyes were red and glistened with unshed tears. Her nose was a little red, as well. Tear tracks led down her cheeks, giving way to splotches of wetness on her dark blue blouse, and her mouth was trying to work itself into a smile, but failing.

She looked utterly miserable. And adorable. And very kissable.

He wanted to kiss her. That definitely wasn’t part of the plan. He was just supposed to make her feel a little better, to hold her until she managed to dry her tears—no kisses involved.

She hung her head, apparently not willing to meet his gaze any longer. Joe dipped his head low and tried to get her to look at him again.

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong, Doc?” he invited, making himself comfortable leaning against the side of her desk while she remained seated in that huge chair.

She swiped at her tears, missing half of them in her haste, then couldn’t stop more from falling.

“Come on,” he said gently, leaning closer, thinking about pulling her into his arms. “You can tell me.”

He figured he owed her. After all, she’d made him laugh this morning on the phone. How long had it been since he’d laughed like that? The idea of her being stern with a kid just did him in. It was as hopeless as the idea that he’d be able to leave her alone like this.

No way, he told himself.

She rolled her chair back so she could get away from him, but he slid across the desk until he was right in front of her, half sitting on the edge of it. He leaned over, catching her chair by its arms, then reached for her hands, instead. With one fluid motion he pulled her to him, had her plastered against him and clinging to him, this trembling mass of woman, smelling incredible and feeling like a frightened kitten that needed to be gentled to his touch and taught that she had nothing to fear from him.

He drank in the scent of her, because she did smell very good. And she was a tiny little thing, all silky hair and shaky breaths and tears. They just kept falling.

“Tell me,” he said again, knowing she wouldn’t feel better until she got it out.

Her face was pressed against his chest, the contact muffling the sound as she whispered to him, “I was just talking to Abbie.”

“Abbie?” He stroked her hair and bent down closer. “Who’s Abbie?”

“A little girl. A nine-year-old girl. And she was crying and telling me that life just isn’t fair. Which I knew already. But why did she have to learn that at nine? Why does any kid?”

“I don’t know, Doc.” He sighed and tightened his arms around her, because she was still trembling badly.

He should have known this had something to do with a kid in trouble. Any woman who went to so much trouble to help little children not to be so afraid at the dentist obviously had a major soft spot where kids were concerned.

He wondered just what this Abbie was to her. Obviously she cared about the little girl very much. “Tell me about Abbie.”

“She lives in Seattle and I haven’t seen her in months. And I miss her so much,” Samantha whispered.

Joe held her through the worst of it, until her sobs subsided and the trembling ceased, until he felt some warmth come back into her and then tension as she became aware of exactly where she was and who she was with.

He felt her stiffen in his arms, felt her pull away slightly, then saw her staring at him as if she was suddenly afraid. Then she couldn’t get away fast enough. Color flooded her cheeks and she jumped back, hitting her chair. She probably would have fallen if his hands hadn’t shot out and grabbed her again.

“Steady,” he said. “I don’t bite.”

Warily she dried her eyes and curled her bottom lip over her bottom row of teeth. If she even came close to gnawing on that delectable lower lip of hers, he was going to stop her.

By kissing her.

He’d take that lip of hers between his for safekeeping.

Samantha pushed a stray hair behind her ears and looked around the room as if she needed to reassure herself that she truly was in her own office, that this really happened.

“I’m so sorry,” she began, then just stood there with her mouth hanging open.

It made him think of kissing her again, which no gentleman would do right now, because that would clearly be taking advantage of her. And Joe had always thought of himself as a gentleman.

But he was tempted. So tempted.

Flustered, Samantha straightened her coat, then her hair again, then wiped her face dry. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right, Doc. It’s your office. You can cry all you want.”

Color flooding her cheeks again, she reached for him, her fingertips brushing past chest. “I got your shirt all wet.”

He sucked in a breath and fought the urge to catch her hand and hold it there against him. “The shirt’s been wet before. No harm done.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked utterly miserable and embarrassed and at a loss for anything else to say.

Joe decided the woman was in dire need of someone to take care of her, to watch over her and fuss over her and reassure her a little. Wasn’t there anyone around to do that for her?

He reached for her hand and held it in both of his. Her palm was flat against his, his other hand stroking the back of hers. “Who do you go home to at the end of the day, Doc?”

“I used to go home to Felix,” she mumbled, tugging her hand from his.

“Felix?” He certainly didn’t sound like much competition.

“He’s a dog.”

“A real one?” Joe asked hopefully. “Or the kind who walks on two legs?”

She laughed a little then. “Four legs, wags his tail—a real dog.”

“That’s it? A dog?”

She nodded.

“You don’t even have him anymore?”

“No,” she said sadly.

“No family?” He knew her father had died recently, but surely there was someone else.

“No one,” she said, the look on her face making him want to haul her back into his arms.

“No man in your life?”

“Not anymore.”

“No kids?”

She shook her head and turned to look at the painting on the wall to the right, and Joe thought of Abbie. Who was Abbie?

“Well, Doc, sounds like you need a friend.”

She opened her mouth to say something, then obviously thought better of it and closed it again. He watched her waffling back and forth on just what she was going to say, watched the silence make her more and more uncomfortable.

Finally she said, “I haven’t been in town that long.”

“It’s a friendly town,” Joe said, aching to touch her again even in the smallest of ways.

“I’m sure it is.” She turned her wrist over, so she could see the time on that dainty gold watch of hers. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sure I’m keeping you from…something. Where’s Luke?”

“In the waiting room. I thought I’d let him sweat it out a minute before he makes his apology. And I should warn you—my daughter’s here, too.”

She hesitated, looking scared again. “You have a daughter?”

He nodded. “Dani. She’s four. She’s so jealous of Luke’s glow-in-the-dark toothbrush she can hardly stand it. I promised her we’d find her one somewhere.”

“Oh, no problem. I buy them by the case.” She put her hand into the big pockets of her white coat and pulled out a handful of stuff.

He saw scarves in three different colors, coins, thick tongue depressors and a set of plastic teeth. Picking them up, he turned the crank and they started dancing along the desktop.

Joe laughed, as he had this morning, while Samantha fished in the other pocket until she came up with two toothbrushes.

“Pink or purple?” she asked.

“Pink, definitely. What else have you got in those pockets?”

“Tricks of the trade,” she said. “Anything to make the kids smile.”

And then Joe simply couldn’t resist her anymore. Stepping close, tucking her hair behind her ear, then brushing his knuckles against the side of her face, he said, “Who makes you smile, Doc?”

Her eyes got so big and so blue, and she seemed to stop breathing all together. “No one,” she said softly. “Not for a long time.”

“I think it’s time someone did.” He brushed the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip.

She exhaled shakily, her breath skimming across his thumb. Joe caught her face between both hands. Ready to take his time, to savor the moment, because he hadn’t wanted to kiss a woman so much in a long, long time, he started at her eyes, kissing them softly, finding them still wet from her tears. The skin of her cheek was soft, and the tip of her nose was cold. He kissed all of those spots as his hands tangled in her hair.

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