Anything for Her Family Read online

  He was much bigger than she’d envisioned, at least six four or five, with a well-toned, muscular body that projected an intense masculinity. Well-worn jeans, thin at the knees, frayed at the cuffs, fit his muscled legs like a glove. The hand-tooled but scruffy boots he wore added even more height to the big man.

  The plaid, chambray work shirt he wore was nearly threadbare in spots and stretched across wide shoulders obviously broadened by heavy work.

  There was a dark intensity about him and his gaze that reminded her of cowboys of the Wild West.

  His hair was inky black, and worn long enough to graze the collar of his work shirt. His eyes were an incredible shade of blue—almost silver, like a wolf. He had a sculptured mouth that fit his face perfectly.

  His features were harsh, blunt, and yet beautiful in a stark, masculine way. Confidence radiated from him in waves, enough to make any woman immediately take note.

  With his gaze still measuring her, Natalie found she had to swallow again, wishing she wasn’t quite so aware of him. It was unnerving.

  “Please have a seat.” His words sounded more like another order than a polite request, but though his tone of voice made her bristle, she did as he asked.

  When he entered the room to walk around his desk and take his own seat, it seemed as if the space shrunk, bringing her in even closer proximity to him. As he passed, she caught a hint of a masculine scent—no hint of flowery aftershave, but a fragrance so pleasant it almost made her head swim.

  Confused by the sudden feelings that Jared Ryan had brought out, Natalie tried to remain calm. She hadn’t had much experience with men—certainly not before Raymond, whom she’d met through her father her last year in college, and definitely not after.

  Raymond had been the only serious boyfriend she’d ever had. He’d been one of her father’s key employees, and she’d felt honored that he’d even noticed her. She’d been very shy and a bit insecure, and found that Raymond’s charm had eased the way for her.

  Only later did she realize that Raymond’s charm was about as lethal as a snakebite, and hid a poisonous nature and intent. Even then Raymond had been embezzling money, and he’d married her simply as insurance. He’d been certain that, if he ever got caught, his wife wouldn’t allow him to go to jail. In the end, he’d been just as wrong about her as she’d been about him.

  During the three years since she’d divorced him and lost her children, Natalie had concentrated all her energy on finding the twins. The thought of dating was not something she’d even contemplated, let alone considered.

  She wasn’t certain she could ever trust another man after her experiences. She wasn’t the type to condemn a whole gender because of one person, but neither did she trust her own judgment about men. She’d made a terrible mistake with Raymond, a mistake that had destroyed her father and cost her her children. Raymond’s embezzlement from her father’s firm had bankrupted her dad. And when he’d kidnapped her sons, it had broken her father’s heart. Raymond’s actions had ruined her and her children’s lives.

  It was a mistake that had carried a very heavy price and a heavy load of guilt—guilt she was still struggling with on a daily basis.

  So being faced with someone as strongly masculine, as well as attractive and confident as Jared Ryan was enough to make her nerves thrum from worry.

  Struggling to remain calm, Natalie realized she couldn’t do anything to further arouse his suspicions. She had to appear cool, calm and totally collected. As if she had nothing more on her mind than interviewing for this position.

  Hiding her simmering emotions and fears was mandatory.

  Aware that he was scrutinizing her, Natalie laced her ringless fingers together to stop them from shaking, praying her voice would be calmer than her nerves, and casually crossed one leg over the other, aware that his gaze momentarily followed the movement of her legs.

  Finally, he brought his intense gaze to hers. “Ms. McMahon, I want to apologize for my behavior outside.”

  “Excuse me?” His apology caught her completely off guard. She’d been fully prepared to go into a lengthy apology and explanation about what she’d been doing there, with his boys, since he hadn’t given her time to thoroughly explain outside. So his comment threw her off balance for a moment.

  Not liking the way her stomach seemed to quiver every time she looked into his eyes, Natalie glanced away. Something about the way he focused his gaze on her made her pulse thud inexplicably, made her incredibly aware of her own femininity.

  “I said I want to apologize for my behavior outside.” He flashed that slow, lazy smile, and Natalie’s mind went blank. His smile was megabright and softened the harsh planes of his face. “Mrs. Taylor, our cook, is getting on in years and is a bit forgetful at times, I’m afraid. She just told me that you had called earlier today inquiring about the nanny position.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Natalie replied with a slight frown. “But I told you that outside.” Her voice held a hint of accusation, and she made a deliberate effort to soften her stance.

  “Yes, I know,” he admitted sheepishly.

  “But you didn’t believe me?”

  “I’m sorry…” His voice trailed off and he lifted his hands in supplication. “You see, I’d been working out in the back acres most of the day, at least until the boys came home from school, and Mrs. Taylor neglected to mention to me that you were coming by for an interview.” He smiled that lazy smile again and Natalie found herself unable to draw her gaze from it.

  She licked her dry lips, realizing that fooling Jared Ryan was not going to be easy. “I told you that outside but—”

  “But I wasn’t listening.” Jared nodded. “I know. Stubbornness is a Ryan trait, I’m afraid.” He flashed a grin that made her stomach muscles tighten. “Again, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude, or to scare you, but when it comes to my boys I am admittedly a bit overprotective. We don’t get many strangers around here, so when I saw you talking to my sons, I guess I just panicked.”

  “I understand.” It was going to be hard not to bristle every time he called them his boys, Natalie realized. The urge to shout that they were hers was nearly overwhelming.

  “I have very few rules, Ms. McMahon—”

  “Natalie, please?” she said with a small smile.

  “What?” He blinked at her. He’d been studying her face, those exquisite features, and had missed what she’d said.

  “Please call me Natalie.”

  Jared looked at her, stunned anew by the impact she was having on him. He’d been totally taken aback when Mrs. Taylor had told him Natalie McMahon had indeed called earlier in the day inquiring about the nanny position. The confirmation only added to his embarrassment over his knee-jerk behavior outside.

  He let his gaze rake over Natalie again, from the top of her shiny black hair to the tips of her polished toes, bare in her high-heeled sandals. The woman definitely had the kind of legs that could make a man trip over his drooling tongue.

  He realized with a frown that she certainly didn’t look like any nanny he’d ever seen before.

  And the idea of calling her by her first name, inviting that kind of familiarity between them, made him suddenly wary. But then again, he’d been wary around woman for so long it had become habit, he realized. Especially beautiful woman.

  He’d deliberately kept his distance from women, all women, not wanting to even consider the possibility of any kind of entanglement. It wouldn’t be fair, not when he wasn’t prepared to allow a woman into his life—at least not that part of his life that contained his sons. And his sons were his life. So there was really no point.

  But now, through no fault of his own, he was face-to-face with a beautiful woman, and Jared found his imagination going haywire. Natalie McMahon was definitely a distraction in his normal humdrum existence.

  It made him nervous.

  He didn’t want a nanny who made him think about the things he’d been missing. He didn’t want a woman in his lif
e who heated his blood or stirred his imagination.

  However, always practical, Jared realized that the fact that he found her stunningly attractive was not a good enough reason to dismiss her without even giving her the courtesy of an interview. She could be perfectly qualified and a jewel of a nanny. He’d never know unless he gave her the benefit of the doubt and talked with her.

  Out of fairness, and his own desperation, he owed her that much.

  But he would have felt better if she’d been eighty and toothless, Jared thought grimly. He was only human and, he had to admit, a bit lonely. Starved for female companionship, his brother Jake was always telling him.

  But he had priorities, he reminded himself firmly, and a woman certainly wasn’t one of them. The boys, the ranch and his family—those were his priorities, in that order. He didn’t have time for anything or anyone else, especially a woman who was far too beautiful for his peace of mind.

  But at this point, especially after what happened today with the boys, he realized he couldn’t afford to be picky, nor could he afford to pass up a competent nanny simply because she was a bit too attractive for his liking.

  He needed someone to mind the boys so he could work the ranch and handle the rest of his responsibilities without feeling he was neglecting his sons. What happened with the boys today—the two of them wandering off—had scared Jared enough to realize that something had to change—immediately.

  He wasn’t looking for a wife, he was looking for an employee, and with any luck at all, Natalie McMahon just might fill the bill. He would simply ignore the feelings she aroused in him. He’d learned the hard way that life would be simpler that way, and far, far safer.

  “Natalie,” he acknowledged with a curt nod, determined to keep some distance between them simply because of the reaction he was having to her. “I don’t have a lot of rules, but one of my golden rules is the boys are never allowed off the ranch without an adult with them, nor are they allowed to talk to strangers. Ever.” He hesitated. “Since their mother left when they were barely two and a half, I’ve been both mother and father to them, and their safety and security are of the utmost importance to me.”

  “Of course,” Natalie said, understanding perfectly. If she’d been more scrupulous about the boys’ security, she wouldn’t be in the position she was now. But she’d had no idea how desperate, how delusional Raymond had become. She’d never dreamed he would use the boys to get back at her. It was a mistake she’d never ever make again.

  “When I came around front to see what the twins were up to and found they were gone…” His voice trailed off and he shook his dark head, paling slightly at the thought. “I panicked,” he stated with a shrug. “I’ll be the first to admit the boys have given me some wild scares with their antics, but this one…” Blowing out a breath, Jared rubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw, still shaken. “The thought of the boys being gone utterly terrified me.” For the second time that day, his mind went back to his little brother Jesse, and he couldn’t shake away the thought or the sudden fear.

  “The boys know better.” A muscle in his jaw twitched when he thought of what could have happened had he not gone to check on them when he had. “So I just don’t understand what they were doing, or why they’d directly disobey me. It’s not like them.” Shaking his head again, Jared leaned back further in his chair and rocked a bit, lost in thought. “Where on earth did they think they were going and why?” he said almost to himself. “Why would they deliberately disobey me?”

  “Did you ask them?” Natalie inquired quietly, and Jared looked at her in surprise for a long moment, feeling a bit stung, wondering if she was criticizing his parental abilities.

  “No, I guess not.” He shook his head, not certain why it was important she understand. “I was too relieved that they were safe, I guess, and too upset that they’d directly disobeyed me. It never occurred to me to ask them why they’d disobeyed me.”

  Natalie smiled at him, simply because he looked so utterly miserable. “Being a parent is never easy, and being a single parent is sort of like walking a tightrope backward, wearing high heels that are too big for you.” She broke off when he laughed at the visual image. “But we do the best we can and hope it’s enough. Sometimes we make mistakes.” She shrugged. “Parents aren’t perfect, but most mistakes are made out of fear and love—a very weighty, emotional combination for any parent.”

  Cocking his head, Jared looked at her with a new appreciation. “Sounds like you’ve had a little bit of experience with children?” The fact that she’d hit the nail on the head with what had happened to him today impressed the hell out of him.

  “A little,” she admitted, shifting uncomfortably. At all costs she wanted to avoid any discussion of her private life. She was not accustomed to lying, and knew that it would be difficult for her to do so now or to make up a believable story.

  She’d decided even before coming here that she would tell him as much of the truth as possible, at least a version of the truth that would protect her true identity and why she was really there. It would be far simpler that way. She didn’t particularly like the idea of deceiving him. It felt wrong somehow.

  “I think you might feel better if you knew the boys weren’t deliberately trying to disobey you. They were running away,” she stated calmly.

  “Running away? What on earth makes you say that?”

  “I asked,” she said quietly, shrugging slightly. “I don’t think they even considered the fact that they were disobeying you, at least not consciously. They were just focused on handling their own problem—”

  “What problem?” Jared demanded, wondering what the hell was going on, and more importantly, how he could not be aware of it. “What kind of problem can two five-year-olds have that would make them run away?” The thought of anything bothering his boys troubled him. “And why didn’t they come and talk to me about it? They know they can talk to me about anything.”

  “I honestly don’t know. That I didn’t have time to ask.”

  Wearily, Jared dragged a hand through his hair. “Whatever it was must have been pretty serious for them to think they had to run away,” he said, fighting back a bout of fear at the mere thought.

  “Well, I’m sure they thought it was pretty serious.” She paused for a moment and her mouth quirked with humor. “It involved a girl.”

  “A girl?” Jared repeated, still clearly confused. “But they’re five-year-olds,” he protested, making her laugh.

  “Yes, but if you have any experience with male-female relations, I’m sure you know it’s never too early to get into trouble with the opposite sex.”

  He laughed in turn, and some of the tension left him. “Well, you’re right about that.” Jared shook his head. “Okay, so who’s the girl and what did the boys do?” He almost added “this time,” but thought it better not to scare her off—just yet.

  “Well, I believe the girl is Lucy the frog-face.”

  One of his brows rose and Jared eyed Natalie curiously, amusement suddenly glinting in his blue eyes. “Lucy? The frog-face?” he repeated, causing her to laugh.

  The soft, feminine sound raked along Jared’s nerve endings, reminding him how long it had been since he’d been in the company of a beautiful woman.

  Too long, he decided. Much too long. But that didn’t mean he was going to allow himself any interest in this one.

  Right now, she was the first decent nanny prospect he’d seen in a long time. She had a sense of humor, an understanding of children and obvious experience with them. He couldn’t afford to scare her off.

  “Well,” Natalie said, “I’m sure that’s not the name her mother gave her, but it is the name the boys did.”

  “I see,” he said with a knowing nod. “And let me guess—Lucy took great umbrage at this new name the boys gave her?” he asked with a grin, lifting a finger to rub his brow as understanding dawned.

  “Well, her older brother was the one who apparently took great umbrage at her new
name.” Her smile widened. “Lucy apparently kissed Timmy on the playground in front of everyone. And he in turn—”

  “Called her a frog-face?” Jared finished with a nod of understanding. “So Lucy’s brother threatened to…what? Rip Timmy’s eyes out with fishhooks?”

  “Close,” she admitted with a smile. “Which means you must have some experience at this?”

  Jared laughed. “Lots. Must run in the family. Me and my brothers have been getting into trouble with women since we were old enough to walk.”

  “I’m not certain I find that very comforting,” she said with a laugh, making light of something that made her more than nervous. If Jared Ryan’s brothers looked anything like him, she had a feeling they had given mothers and brothers everywhere fits.

  Amusement glinted in his eyes and he grinned. “Jake’s the oldest, then me, then Josh. We were affectionately known as the town terrors,” he said, making her laugh again. “Much to my grandfather Tommy’s chagrin.”

  “Then it should probably not come as any surprise that Lucy’s brother apparently threatened to rip out Timmy’s tongue and paint the school building with it.”

  “Ouch.” Jared shuddered, then nodded in sudden understanding. “So that’s why the boys were running away?”

  “You got it.”

  “Okay, I get the picture. So if I’m following the little munchkins’ minds, they were running away so they wouldn’t have to go to school tomorrow and face Lucy’s brother, right?”

  Natalie laughed, surprised by how in tune he was to the boys, and not certain if it was comforting or alarming. “Right.” She sighed softly. “I was just trying to convince them to go back home and tell you what they were up to when you arrived.”

  Cocking his head, he was thoughtful for a moment. “You know, Natalie, it seems to me I should have been thanking you instead of barking at you.” He shrugged, feeling a growing sense of comfort with her, something that was very unusual for him. His wariness with women was almost legendary. “I am sorry, but when it comes to the boys, I feel you can never be too careful.” He rubbed his stubbled jaw again, wishing he’d had time to shave before interviewing her. “Those boys mean the world to me.”