Mckinley's Miracle
She looked cute swallowed up by his jacket. A small-boned woman, she stirred his protective instincts, and her subtle hourglass shape banished from his mind every stick-thin woman he’d ever dated. Her skin was pale and unblemished, her cheekbones high, her face softly rounded. Her lips were full and naturally pink and had him wondering if they were as sweet as they looked. With her hair pulled into a ponytail she looked about sixteen and more tempting than sin. From the moment she’d turned away in the bar, he’d wondered what colour her eyes were. Now he had his answer. The colour reminded him of fine malt whiskey. They were wide and expressive, guarding a keen intelligence.
Lucy pulled the coat back over her shoulders and tried to ignore the intensity of his watchful gaze. It felt as though he was committing her to memory pore by pore. She refused to be intimidated by his blatant appraisal and motioned to the shop that formed part of the service station.
“I’ve got to get a few things.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Lucy looked up at him. “You think I’m going to get lost between produce and dairy?”
“I’m having fun.” His smile was powerful. His eyes roamed over her from head to toe then made the return journey with lazy intent. Prickles of sensation skittered through her body, skating over nerve endings.
“If grocery shopping is your idea of fun then you must lead a boring life.” She said nothing when he fell into step beside her, hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“How did you know Gerry would be at the Roadhouse?”
Lucy entered the shop and picked up a plastic carry basket. She took a loaf of bread from the shelf. “I didn’t. Max said the bloke had a bunch of prissy cowboys—his words not mine—in the car with him. The Roadhouse is the place to be on a Saturday night. I took a chance.”
“Prissy cowboys?” he repeated, amused. “Now, if you’d laid that one on Gerry he would have died of embarrassment.”
She took down a box of chocolate pops, putting them into the basket. “Harrison House is going to be a success.”
“That’s what you’re calling it?”
She nodded and continued down the aisle. “We took a vote. The kids decided since Mrs. Harrison’s son donated it specifically to be used for the Second Chance project, the name was appropriate. The developers were offering a king’s ransom but he didn’t want it torn down.”
“Gray Harrison did that for you?”
She met his look with a forthright one of her own. “Yes, he did. He figured the kids needed something to work for…a goal. Getting the farm up and running again will give them incentive. Gray has been our guardian angel.”
Clayton found it hard to picture Gray Harrison with wings and a halo. Cable Creek had never been big enough for him. He had outgrown the town long before he’d had the means to leave. Now a major player in Australian financial circles, he had a reputation as a ruthless businessman who guarded his private life fiercely. But none of that mattered to Clayton. All he could think about was what put that soft smile on her face when she spoke the other man’s name.
Lucy filled the basket with orange juice, peanut butter and milk before heading for the checkout. When the cashier was finished packing the groceries, Clayton picked up the plastic bag and waited by the door while Lucy paid for both food and fuel. The attendant met them on the way out.
“All done,” he said, handing her keys back. Lucy thanked him. Clayton walked her to the car, handing her the bag after she got in behind the wheel. She took it from him with a murmured “thanks” and placed it on the passenger seat. He knelt at her door, his face level with hers.
“Oh, your coat.”
“Forget it. I’m following you home.”
Lucy glared at him. “I beg your pardon?”
He grinned. “It’s on my way and I’d like to know you get there safely.”
Did he think she was going to be abducted by aliens between here and there? Lucy bit back the retort. “You don’t intend to take money for the fuel, do you, Mr. McKinley?”
“Not for doing the neighbourly thing. And nobody calls me ‘mister.’ Clayton’s fine. But if you really don’t want to be in my debt, I’ll settle for a cup of coffee.”
“I doubt there’s anyplace open this time of night, and I noticed the machine in the shop was out of order. Would you take a rain check.”
“I’m guessing you own a coffeepot.”
“You want coffee…at my house?” She did owe him something for helping her out. He could easily have kept going, leaving her stranded. Lucy wished he would be mercenary and just take her money. “It’s well after midnight.”
“I’ll drink it fast.”
“The kids are sleeping.”
He shrugged. “I’ll be extra quiet.”
Subtle wasn’t going to work with this man. “I might want to go to bed.”
Clayton smiled. “Well, I’m usually not that easy on a first date but I could be persuaded.”
Lucy blushed, annoyed as much at herself as him. She’d walked right into that one. “I meant I might want to go to bed…alone…to sleep,” she said firmly. “And this isn’t a date.”
He looked as if he’d made a major new discovery. “So that’s the other thing people do in bed.”
Lucy steeled herself as he smiled again. If he would stop doing that maybe she could concentrate on the conversation and keep herself out of trouble. If she kept this up, she’d be in more hot water than she had ever known.
“One cup, McKinley.”
McKinley. Not Clayton. Just McKinley. Polite yet formal. Something that allowed her to keep her distance. Clayton smiled. It would do for now.
“I accept, and remember, I’ll be right behind you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she muttered to herself. She watched in the rearview mirror, studying his compact backside with female appreciation as he walked away. One cup of coffee, she told herself. Then he would leave, if she had to push his gorgeous body and that come-get-me grin out the door.
Chapter Two
At the house he met her on the veranda steps. Once inside she left the groceries on the couch and excused herself to go check on Max. Clayton was left to close the door behind him. He took off his hat, almost able to hear Mrs. Harrison reprimanding him for such a breach of etiquette in her home. This house was like an old friend. He hadn’t been inside in years but the memories came flooding back. The sleepovers and camping trips. The fishing expeditions and the carefree weekends spent helping Gray’s grandfather build the tree house in the backyard. Those days seemed a lifetime ago now.
Lucy came back downstairs, her jaw clenched.
“Everything okay?”
“I’d like to take a two-by-four to Gerry Anderson’s skull, though I doubt it would even leave an impression.” The warmth of the house reminded Lucy that she still wore his coat. She shrugged out of it. “Thanks for the loan.”
“Any time.” Clayton took it from her, making sure his fingers brushed over hers. Lucy looked up, her eyes wide and wary. A reaction was all he’d wanted. He laid the coat over the arm of the couch, inhaling the light, flowery fragrance that clung to it. He sat his hat on top. “It’s a beautiful old house.”
Fine. If he wasn’t going to mention the last few seconds, neither would she. He’d taken her by surprise but she wouldn’t let it happen again. “The hardwood floors need sanding, then I’ll polish. The wallpaper in some rooms needs replacing and the whole structure needs a coat of weatherproof paint.” The house had stood idle for the last two years. The large living room had boxes still stacked in a corner waiting to be emptied. “I think we’re going to be very happy here.” She picked up the sack of groceries. “I’ll put the coffee on.”
Clayton followed her into the kitchen and made himself comfortable on a straight-backed chair at the table. The room was inviting. The pale lemon of the freshly painted walls blended nicely with the brand-new light grey linoleum on the floor. While the coffee perked, Lucy set out ceramic mugs on the counter. She went to the refrigerator and withdrew a container. “Chocolate cake?”
“Thanks.”
She sliced two pieces of cake with medical precision and set them on plates. When she paused to lick a dab of chocolate icing from her finger, he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t do much of anything! The only basic function he maintained was breathing…but only with a concentrated effort. Her lips closed around her finger back to the first knuckle. She pulled it out of her mouth so slowly he almost groaned. She broke the spell by placing the knife in the sink and the cake back in the refrigerator. Clayton shifted in his chair to relieve the beginnings of arousal.
The coffee was finally done and she busied herself placing forks, milk and sugar on the table. She set cake and coffee before him, then went back for her own, carrying a can in the crook of her elbow when she sat down opposite him at the table.
“Whipped cream?” he asked. “I thought all you city people were health nuts. Low-fat this, high-fibre that.”
She shook the can vigorously before squirting a quantity onto her cake. “Not me. There are some things I won’t give up even for the sake of my arteries.”
“Such as?”
She thought about it for a few seconds. “Hamburgers, pizza, potato chips…whipped cream. The kids say my eating habits are going to kill me some day but hey, why not die happy?”
She could eat junk food and still have a body like that? The look of absolute anticipation on her face mesmerized him. Her delicate pink tongue peeked between perfect teeth as she concentrated on sculpting a work of art with the cream. Lucy paused, her fork in midair. “You have a strange look on your face.”
Clayton figured it was a little too soon in their relationship to divulge that watching her smooth whipped cream onto a piece of chocolate cake had aroused him. He didn’t want her thinking he was some kind of pervert.
“I’ve never seen anyone look at a piece of cake like it was a three-course meal.”
“Yeah, well, I skipped lunch because tonight is pizza night and that’s better than sex. But then Max came home and I took him to the doctor, I got so upset, the last thing on my mind was food. Now I’m starving.”
Better than sex? In Clayton’s experience there weren’t many things that even came close to the delicious euphoria of sex.
“Are you saying that you’d rather have pizza than sex?” If that was the case then she hadn’t found the right partner. He was already preparing his application for the position. Fun-loving farmer seeks to warm the bed of prickly little cactus flower. Satisfaction guaranteed every time.
Lucy had given too many safe-sex lectures to streetwise teens to be easily embarrassed, though she wished he weren’t studying her so intently. “You make it sound like nothing could possibly be better.”
“Good sex is pretty tough to top. Two people wanting each other so badly that nothing else matters but the moment,” he said, his gaze dropping to her lips. “A deep-pan cheesy crust with everything doesn’t even come close.”
“At least with a pizza you can order ahead, have it delivered, know what you’re getting, and if it isn’t satisfying you can take it back and get a refund.” With a serene smile that she hoped would effectively end the conversation, she raised the laden fork to her mouth.
Clayton watched her lips close around the fork, gliding along the tines as her eyes closed. He’d eaten meals with a lot of women in his thirty years. But this woman turned eating into one of the most erotic things he’d ever witnessed. Clayton didn’t question the urge he had to lean over and taste the sweetness of cake and cream on her mouth. Nor did he act on it…not just yet. He looked away long enough to get his body back under some sense of control before attacking his own cake.
“How long have you worked with these kids?”
Lucy stirred her coffee. “Five years.”
He smiled. “Not real big on details, are you?”
Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. “That would depend on the topic of discussion.”
He pointed to her with his fork. “You.”
“Then it’s going to be a very short conversation.”
The expression on her face dared him to try to prove her wrong. Normally he didn’t back down from a dare, but he sensed a need to go carefully with her. “So, how do you like your pizza?”
Lucy looked up at him, momentarily startled by the abrupt topic change, and wondered if this was a double-edged sword, given their previous conversation about pizza and sex. “With everything,” she said. “Is there any other way to have it?”
“Cold.”
“God, that’s disgusting!”
Okay. So I’ll never suggest we have cold pizza for breakfast, he thought wryly.
“The one food you couldn’t do without?”
Lucy didn’t even hesitate. “Seafood…any and all.”
He filed it away for future reference.
“What’s going on?”
Clayton looked up. The girl standing in the doorway was in her late teens. She wore pajamas that hung on her thin frame, her long black hair streaked a startling white-blond in places. He wasn’t sure what the nose ring and the black nail polish were in aid of, but despite them she was a very pretty girl.
“Sorry if we woke you, Lisa.”
She stifled a yawn. “No. I’ve been awake on and off since you left,” she said, sparing Clayton a glance.
“Coffee’s hot.”
Lisa looked over at the pot as if it were booby-trapped. “Did you make it?”
Lucy sighed. “Yes, I did.”
“I’ll pass. One medical emergency a day is all you can handle.” She sat down beside Lucy, casting a wary glance at Clayton before looking at her. “You should have taken me with you.”
Lucy smiled and shook her head. “I needed you here to keep Max calm. You’re the only one who can sweet-talk him.”
“I just let her think she can,” said the boy in question, coming into the kitchen, his curly blond hair tousled, his eyes sleepy. “I ache all over, Lucy. I hope you knocked him on his fat old butt.”
Clayton grinned at the sentiment as Lucy fussed over Max, but one look at the boy when he turned around, wearing nothing but bright red shorts, and he was tempted to go find Gerry Anderson and administer a dose of the man’s own medicine. A bruise covered one side of Max’s face. His thin body bore the evidence of his fall. Ugly purple cuts, painful-looking scratches and skin scraped raw. Behind Max two more kids ambled in. The oldest, a dark-haired boy, teetered on the brink of manhood and adopted the stance of a warrior. He was a born survivor. It was in his eyes. The girl standing beside him was younger than Lisa—about fourteen. Her hair was long and red, her smile infectious.
“This is Clayton McKinley. He’s our neighbour from Cable Downs,” Lucy said by way of introduction.
Thomas narrowed his intense glare on Clayton.
“We didn’t mean to wake everyone. Coffee’s hot, Thomas.”
He looked suspicious. “Who made it?”
Lucy made an aggrieved sound. “I made the darn coffee. Besides, McKinley’s drinking it and he hasn’t keeled over yet.”
Thomas shrugged. “It don’t mean he won’t.”
Actually Clayton had yet to taste the coffee she’d made him. He’d tasted bad coffee before. He’d tasted coffee so strong it could anaesthetize a bull at fifty paces. Now he eyed the cup wondering just how bad Lucy’s brew was.
“You’re quite safe, McKinley,” she said, interpreting his look. “I haven’t killed anybody yet.”
Thomas scoffed. “The way you make coffee it’s just a matter of time.”
The redhead swatted him playfully on the arm. “Leave Lucy alone.” Then she smiled at Clayton. “I’m Katie.” She gave Lucy a pointed look. “He’s cute. How about you tie him to your bed and keep him?”
Clayton nearly choked on the mouthful of cake he’d just eaten, and Lucy felt a perverse sense of satisfaction. After having him throw her off balance more than once tonight, turnabout was proving highly entertaining.
“I don’t collect men like stray animals, Katie. We met tonight. The car ran out of petrol on the highway and McKinley was kind enough to help me out.”
Thomas pulled out a chair beside Clayton and plonked into it. “Did you find the guy?” he asked Lucy.
“I found him,” she said. “I handled the whole situation rationally and calmly just the way it needed to be.”
Clayton chuckled and Lucy shot him a warning look to keep his mouth shut, which he promptly ignored.
“I’ve seen rational,” he told her. “And I’ve seen calm. But walking into a bar and challenging a guy twice your size in front of all his friends doesn’t qualify as either, Lucy.” He looked her straight in the eye. “You showed more guts than a lot of men I know.”
Thomas straightened as if he’d been shot and glared at Clayton. “She did that? You were there?”
Clayton nodded. “You would have been proud of her.” He glanced across at Lucy, who looked fit to strangle him. “She might be small, but there’s nothing tiny about her temper.”
Katie hoisted herself onto the waist-high breakfast bar. “Did you at least punch him out or kick him you-know-where?” At the look Clayton gave her, she added, “Lucy knows self-defence.”
Clayton could have sworn there was a thinly veiled warning in there. He smiled. “I know. She took lessons a while back.”
Thomas glared at her. “You walked in there with no one at your back? That’s the quickest way there is to wind up dead.”
Lucy knew she’d allowed her anger to cloud her judgement and she’d put herself in a dangerous position. She had to be more careful. Her family needed her.
“You’re right, Thomas. I shouldn’t have gone alone.”
Thomas shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Yeah, well,” he said, looking embarrassed at his display of concern. “Don’t go doing it again, okay? Any creep who’d hurt a kid as small as Max wouldn’t be afraid of taking on a woman.”
“Hey, I’m not small,” Max grumbled, wiping his eyes while avoiding the bruises. Clayton noticed now that his lip was cut too. “I’ll get bigger…but I don’t want to ride anymore.”
Clayton cautiously sipped the coffee while Lucy was fussing over Max. After the first taste, he placed the mug back on the table, forcing the liquid down his throat. Lucy’s coffee wasn’t bad. It was toxic. He heaped four sugars into it hoping it might at least make the stuff palatable.
“Where did you get the horse?”
“Col Peterson sold me three.” Lucy stroked Max’s head. “Give it a few days until the soreness goes away, sweetie, and then you can take her out again.”
The boy shook his head emphatically. Clayton had been around horses since before he could talk and had been riding them—albeit in his father’s arms—since before he’d taken his first steps.
“School doesn’t start back for another week,” Clayton said, “so anytime you want to come over to the Downs we could use another hand.” And maybe he could coax this kid not to give up on horse riding just yet. He’d let the fear recede first and then see what happened.
“Do you have jillaroos?” asked Katie, her excitement barely contained. “Everything is equal opportunity now, you know.”
Clayton hid a smile. “I don’t have a problem with that. You’ll find as many women doing farm labouring as there are men. In fact, we have three regular shed hands who hire on each year for shearing and they’re female.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “How about it, Lucy?”
Lucy didn’t really have a choice. Clayton McKinley had put the idea out there guessing she would never deny the kids the opportunity. If she had to have the kids learning from anyone, it might as well be him.
“All right, you can do it.”
“Sounds like I just hired myself two more hands.” He looked to Thomas and then to Lisa. “The invitation to visit is extended to all of you.” Thomas nodded slowly. Lisa shrugged.
“When you said hired, did you mean as in paid?”
“Max!” Lucy cast an apologetic look at her guest.
Clayton smiled. “All our hands get paid, even our part-timers.”
“No, McKinley, you’ve done—”
“Nothing more than hire extra hands to help around the farm. We’ve got fences to mend, stock to move and crops to finish harvesting, if they don’t get washed away first. I’ve got three orphaned lambs and no doubt we’ll have more before lambing season is over. Then there’s always the stables to muck out.”
Clayton could afford to pay these kids for the work they would do. He remembered how proud he’d felt when his after-school job had earned him enough money to buy the bike he’d wanted one year. Their eagerness told him he wouldn’t be disappointed. Of course, the fact that it would give him an excuse to see Lucy on a regular basis was just a fringe benefit.
“Lambs?” Katie’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Cool. I’ve never seen one up close.”
Max grinned, wincing slightly because of his split lip. “You want to see one up close, look at your hamburger the next time you eat one.”
“That’s beef,” she replied smugly, “And stop being so gross.” She looked at Clayton. “When do we start?”
“Tomorrow, if it’s okay with Lucy.”
Yeah, right, she thought. Now he defers to my opinion when he’s all but given them a bed and three square meals a day! Neighbourly or not she wasn’t just going to let him steamroll into her life and turn it upside down.
Katie smiled at Lucy’s nod. “What time?”
“I’m usually up and at it by about six.”
Max gulped. “In the morning?”
Katie’s bright smile faltered for the first time. “Are you out of your mind? The sun isn’t even up then.”
Lucy chuckled. “How would you know? You’re never awake that early.”
Katie looked horrified that it might actually be true. “I’m guessing.”
Clayton bit back a smile. “I’ll meet you at the house at ten.” Their relief was almost comical.
“Enough, back to bed everyone,” said Lucy.
Thomas glanced at Clayton then back to Lucy. “You’ll be okay?”
Touched by his concern, she smiled. “Of course. McKinley and I need to talk about a few things.”
Katie gave Clayton an assessing look. “See you in the morning…boss.” She tugged at Thomas’s hand and they followed Max out of the kitchen.
“Why did you offer them jobs?” Lucy asked as soon as the kids were gone.
Clayton sat back in his chair. “Lady, you bring new meaning to the word suspicious.”
“Compliments won’t get you anywhere, now answer the question.”
“You probably think I did it so I could get close to you.”
“Did you?”
He cursed softly and brutally mashed a piece of cake with his fork, looking back at her when he felt more in control. She stared at him with assessing eyes. “What I did here tonight I did for those kids. Not only can I keep them busy but they might learn a thing or two. I may even get Max over his fear of horses. They’ll never be idle, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t want them hurt.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them, make sure they stay out of mischief.”
“I meant emotionally.” She sipped her coffee. “What Gerry said tonight, about the kids being strays. I don’t want them to hear people saying those things,” she said, reining in her anger. “They deserve a chance. They need to be accepted.”
Her words touched him, the strength in them, the fire in her eyes. Did these kids know how much they were loved? he wondered.
“They won’t hear any of that garbage over at Cable Downs. I only have four men on the payroll and they’re all good blokes. Once I introduce the kids, the men know to act accordingly.”
Lucy wished he didn’t sound so sincere. It just made it more difficult not to like him. And Lucy was determined not to like him. Neighbourliness was one thing, but liking opened up a whole other can of worms that Lucy knew should stay very firmly closed. She emptied her cup and looked over at his. “Finished?”
Clayton grinned. “Is that your subtle way of telling me it’s time I was going?”
She raised an imperious eyebrow, trying to ignore what that smile did to her insides. “If subtle worked with you I would be upstairs asleep and you wouldn’t be here.”