The Playboy's Own Miss Prim Read online

  And at the moment she was enjoying herself immensely.

  Ozzie elbowed her. “Well, come on, girl. Put the boy out of his misery. You come here for him. Might as well be able to call the shots. You buy him, he’s gotta give you all his attention. And I’ll personally see to it he pays for the date himself.”

  “You know that’s not strictly necessary. I’ve got gobs of money.” Her grandfather was Texas oilman, Quentin Watkins. Her trust fund alone was more than most people saw in a lifetime—somewhat to the dismay of her conservative parents. “But I didn’t come here for him. Katie did.”

  “Same thing.” He winked. “You bet.”

  Darned if she didn’t like this old man. He was intent on matchmaking and being obvious about it. She’d perused the program when she’d sat down, read the captioned advertisement they’d obviously run in the city papers:

  Come to Shotgun Ridge’s Cowboy Bachelor Auction. Have a Date That’ll Likely End in a Marriage Proposal.

  Dora wondered if any of the cowboys had seen that little tidbit on the program.

  But Dora wasn’t here for matchmaking or marriage. She only wanted one thing from Ethan Callahan.

  Custody of Katie for herself.

  But before she could ask for that, she had to uphold her promise to Amanda. She had to give Ethan a chance to know his daughter.

  One month, she told herself. Then he would be begging her to take the baby and leave him to his playboy cowboy ways.

  She looked back at the plea in Ethan’s sexy blue eyes, saw a trickle of sweat make its way down his temple.

  Her smile widened. She didn’t in any way think this man could be tamed, but she liked the power she held just now.

  “Going—”

  “Seven thousand.” She said it aloud, calmly, and for an instant not a soul in the room moved.

  Ethan whipped around and glared at the male bidder. It was a fierce look that would have had the meanest grizzly apologizing for daring to show his face.

  The man shrugged and shook his head, ceding to Dora’s thousand-dollar raise.

  “Sold!” Lloyd shouted and banged a gavel on the dais.

  Ethan’s shoulders visibly relaxed. His gaze when he turned it back to her was tender and filled with emotion. It was a look that stole her breath and made her knees tremble.

  “Thank you.” Again the words were silently formed.

  She inclined her head and got up, needing a breath of air.

  She had to collect herself before she confronted the man who had every legal right to the child she desperately wanted.

  ETHAN STEPPED DOWN off the stage more relieved than he cared to admit. What had started out as fun had nearly turned to panic. Man, that kind of thing had never happened to him before.

  As he made his way through the crowd of women, pausing to speak to a few, he couldn’t stop thinking about the little blonde who’d bought a date with him. She’d been so calm, so self-assured, never even batted an eye at the amount.

  With her smile wide and her eyes locked to his, she’d been toying with him. Now that he was able to relax, he could appreciate her verve, her sass. She was a woman he could spend a while on. Instinctively he knew he wouldn’t be bored.

  Nodding to several of his neighbors and skirting a cluster of women getting to know their cowboy dates, Ethan looked up and came face-to-face with the young man who’d nearly shaken his cool.

  He reached up to tug his hat before he realized he wasn’t wearing one.

  The young man extended his hand, and Ethan stared at it as though it was a diamondback rattler. This was ridiculous, he knew.

  He accepted the handshake, gripping harder than usual just to make himself feel better, to establish his position in case there was any question as to what his preference was.

  “Tyler Redding,” the man said. “I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”

  In a strictly objective sense, Ethan allowed that Tyler Redding was a decent-looking guy. His jet-black tuxedo spoke of wealth, and his shoulders beneath the jacket were broad on a body kept in good shape.

  “I have to ask…” He didn’t quite know how to form the words. “Did I do something that gave you the impression I was…that we could…?” He couldn’t finish. And now that he’d bumbled through the vague question, he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer. His masculinity was smarting.

  Tyler shouted with laughter, and Ethan looked around to see if the outburst had drawn attention. It had. Great.

  “That’s one of the reasons I stopped you,” Tyler said. “I figured you had the wrong idea and thought I’d better straighten things out. I was trying to get a date for my sister. She’s too shy to bid on her own.”

  “Oh.” Thank God. Given that the room was filled with women, he could be forgiven for not noticing a shy one next to Tyler. “Well, then. No harm, no foul.”

  Tyler shoved his hands in his pockets and turned. “Enjoy your date. And it better be something really good for that price.”

  Ethan hadn’t even thought of that. It was only his bad luck that one of his mares had gone into premature labor. Otherwise he’d have been out of town with his brothers and would have escaped this fiasco.

  Instead, he’d been wide open for Ozzie and company to corner him, to shame him into doing his duty for the town.

  He remembered coming here as a wary eight-year-old. Remembered this town—headed by Ozzie and Vanessa Peyton—rallying around Fred Callahan in his quest to adopt three messed-up boys who didn’t know the first thing about love and family. But with the help of all the citizens in Shotgun Ridge, Fred Callahan had taught Ethan and his brothers just that.

  Ethan owed the town.

  But was he supposed to parade himself, nearly get bought by a man and organize the date?

  Recalling the small, spunky woman, his body sent several highly appealing ideas to his brain.

  He moved through the swinging saloon doors into the room that was normally set up for pool tables, dancing and—most recently—a cordoned-off section for cigar smoking.

  Ozzie, Lloyd, Henry and Vern were lined up like crows watching a cornfield. Ethan felt his heart soften. Their intentions were good. But as much as he was attracted to the sexy blonde who’d “bought” him, could picture himself having more than one date with her, getting to know her, he wasn’t about to settle into marriage.

  “So where’s my date?” he asked.

  “Right here,” came a soft voice.

  He turned slowly. She was a tiny woman with a presence and assurance that made her appear taller, and a whisky voice that grabbed a man’s attention and held him in thrall.

  And in her arms, she held a cute baby in a frilly pink dress.

  He turned up the wattage of his smile. So she had a kid. No problem. The town was full of willing babysitters. “Thanks for bailing me out, darlin’. I gotta tell you, you’re more my idea of a fine date than that fella was.”

  “Oh, I’m not your date…darlin’. I bought you for her.” She inclined her head toward the baby, who watched him with curious eyes, her little mouth wrapped around a thumb.

  “Ethan Callahan, meet your daughter, Kathryn Lynn Callahan.”

  Chapter Two

  Ethan was so stunned it was a moment before her words actually registered. His daughter?

  He held up his hands, backed away. “I’ve never seen you before in my life!” My God, had the whole world gone mad tonight?

  She shook her head, glanced at the avid audience they had. “Perhaps we could discuss this somewhere more private?”

  “Darlin’, I promise you, there’s nothing to discuss.”

  “Suit yourself. I’ve got no problem with telling the whole town about your indiscretions.”

  Ethan swore and carefully gripped her by the arm that wasn’t supporting the baby, almost surprised he could be gentle when his insides were roiling. But Fred Callahan—even though he’d been a bachelor all his life—had taught Ethan and his brothers that woman were to be revered, respected
and protected at all costs. No exceptions.

  Turning her, he slipped his arm around her waist,

  felt her stiffen. He ignored the reaction and steered her outside.

  Once they were away from prying eyes and ears, he dropped his arm and turned to face her.

  “I’m not sure what game you’re playing here, but you’ve picked the wrong man. I repeat. I’ve never seen you before in my life, and believe me, sugar, I’d remember. And before you tell me some crazy lie about being too drunk to recall, I’ll head you off right now and tell you that’s not a possibility.” He undid his bow tie with a jerk and snatched open the top button of his shirt.

  “Do you always accuse before you know the facts?”

  “Depends.” His gaze rested on the baby girl who still watched him so closely, her thumb stuck in her mouth. He wasn’t a good judge of age, but if he had to guess, he’d estimate a year or younger. He looked back at the woman. “What’s your name?”

  “Dora Watkins.”

  He pounced. “See, there? You automatically told me. That’s as good as admitting that we’ve never met.”

  “Of course. I never said we had.”

  Her tone was reasonable, soothing, calm. Any minute now he was going to wake up from this crazy nightmare. “But you introduced this child as my daughter.”

  “And so she is.”

  “Now hold on a minute—”

  “I’m not Katie’s mother.”

  The very softness of her voice, the hint of anguish,

  had him looking close. Paying attention. This shed a whole new, scary light on the subject.

  Not the mother? Katie was his daughter? Ethan wasn’t a saint by any stretch of the imagination, but he prided himself on being careful, of protecting a woman if their relationship became intimate.

  “Maybe it’s the shock,” he said at last, “or this whole crazy auction thing, but I’m having trouble keeping up.”

  “Do you remember a fishing trip on the Madison?”

  “I fish there every…Amanda,” he said, an image gelling, touching a soft place in his heart. Almost two years ago.

  “Yes. Amanda. She was my best friend.”

  “Was?”

  “She’s gone—a tourist who’d had too much alcohol and not enough brains to stay out from behind the wheel of a car.”

  “I’m sorry.” And he was. He’d thought of Amanda over the past two years—and he hadn’t even known her last name. He’d gone to Madison for fishing, not sex. Then over a drink at the local pub, he’d met Amanda. And although he hadn’t been prepared, she’d been sad and insistent, a combination Ethan couldn’t refuse.

  With his heart slamming against his ribs like the hooves on a high-strung stallion, he looked down at the baby, swallowed. “Are you sure?” His wealth made him a target, and he had to be careful.

  “I’m sure. Your name’s on the birth certificate.”

  “Anybody can pick a name out of a hat and put it on a birth certificate.” But something in Dora’s lake blue eyes made his gut twist in panic, convinced him that wasn’t the case. Pain was there, a raw lick of flame that nearly shouted. As though she loved this baby the way a devoted mother would. That in itself suggested this was no game.

  “Katie is your daughter, Ethan. I was with Amanda before, during and after her pregnancy, every step of the way until now. And you mentioned her name before I did.” She ran a protective hand over the little girl’s small shoulder.

  A child. He had a child. He didn’t know what to think, how to feel, how to react. His lifestyle wasn’t one that would easily accommodate children. He hadn’t planned on having any. But he couldn’t—wouldn’t—turn his back on responsibility. The enormity of the realization nearly brought him to his knees.

  Tentatively he reached out, almost afraid to touch.

  The baby’s bottom lip poked out, and her little bow mouth turned down.

  He backed up. “Hey, pretty baby, none of that. You’ll put a black mark on my reputation with the females.”

  Dora Watkins arched a brow at him.

  Well, hell. He was a nervous wreck—a state he didn’t like at all. What did she expect?

  Hoping to cover his turmoil, he grinned at both her and the baby. And just that quickly, Katie mimicked the gesture, showing eight tiny teeth. She’d gone from cloudy to sunshine in a blink.

  And though he was confused and off balance, felt as though his whole world had been turned upside down, Ethan fell instantly and totally headlong in love.

  “She’s a sweetheart,” he said softly. “Happy. Amanda did a good job with her.”

  Dora rubbed Katie’s back and straightened the flounce of the frilly dress, unable to resist showing her off. “Yes.” The admission elicited an odd mix of pride and pain. Dora had had as much influence on this child’s disposition as Amanda had. Maybe more.

  “What now?” Ethan asked.

  “I promised Amanda that I would find you, take Katie to you, see if you…if you wanted her.”

  “Of course I want her. She’s a Callahan. We take care of our own.” His eyes held a banked panic, but his voice was resolute and strong, without even a hint of hesitation.

  Dora felt a piece of her heart break. She’d loved Amanda like a sister, but deep inside she was bitterly hurt that Amanda would ask this of her, that her friend wouldn’t just agree that Dora should adopt Katie, and be done with it. Dora adored Katie, had practically raised the child. Why should she have to find this man? Track him down when she was capable and more than willing to keep Katie? In fact, wanted desperately to keep her.

  But Amanda had been dying. There hadn’t been time for red tape and legal papers. And without those legal papers, Katie’s life could well be thrust into the arms of Social Services, or worse yet, the hands of her maternal grandparents—and that was something Dora would never, ever allow to happen.

  Inwardly she’d railed at what she considered an almost intolerable situation. She hadn’t wanted to come here, had imagined that she could fight the system and Amanda’s parents using her fierce love as a weapon. As for the one person who indeed had a legal right to the child, Dora had rationalized that what Ethan Callahan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  But Dora was honest to a fault and knew she’d move heaven and earth to honor her promise to Amanda.

  However, that didn’t mean she would arbitrarily turn the baby over to this cowboy. No matter how strongly he’d stated his intention and desire to have his daughter.

  She stared at the loosened ends of his tie and nodded. “Fine then. Which one of these trucks is yours?”

  He frowned at the question, then his sexy smile tipped slightly. “None of them. The fine-looking ’Vette over there is mine.”

  “Figures. I doubt that souped-up cracker box will hold a state-approved car seat.”

  “Darlin’, you shouldn’t malign a man’s car. It hurts his ego.” He wiggled his fingers at the baby, but Katie ducked her head shyly into Dora’s neck. He peeked at her and made a goofy face, and Katie grinned around her thumb, her eyes sleepy.

  “I don’t think your ego’s in any danger—unless of course you can’t get it to fit inside that sports car.”

  He grinned. “Are we going somewhere?”

  “Home?” she suggested with a lift of her brows. “In case you’ve forgotten, I did just pay seven thousand dollars for you.”

  “About that. I appreciate what you did. And I’ll write you a reimbursement check. Unless you want me to go back in there and take care of it right now?”

  “Afraid mine’ll bounce?”

  “I don’t mean to offend, darlin’, but not everybody keeps that sort of balance in their checking account.”

  She patted his cheek. “Don’t worry. I’m good for it.”

  That surprised him. Just who was Dora Watkins? “Still, whether you can afford it or not, it’s obvious you didn’t come here to buy a date.” He ran a fingertip over Katie’s baby-soft, pudgy arm. She was nearly asleep against Dora�
��s chest. “I’ll pay you back.”

  She shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll follow you.”

  Her confidence and sass intrigued him. And though he was still reeling from finding out he had a daughter—and imagined he’d be even more so later when it truly hit him—this sexy woman set off his innate flirting antennae.

  “In my most cherished fantasies, I’d never imagined my auction date would be so eager to spend the night.”

  “Oh, I’ll be spending more than just one night, cowboy.”

  “Ah, shacking up. Even better.”

  “You’re pushing it, ace.”

  “Ethan,” he said softly, stroking a finger down her cheek.

  She went perfectly still. “What?”

  He grinned at the breathy word. He’d surprised her. He liked seeing her off balance. Liked that he’d done the unsettling. Turnabout was fair play since she’d definitely set him off balance. “My name’s Ethan.”

  Her powers of recovery were quick and amazing. His grin widened when she stepped back out of reach.

  “I know what your name is. And you can quit with the flirting. I’m not affected.”

  “Liar.”

  “That’s the second time tonight you’ve called me that. I don’t think I like it.”

  “I’ll apologize for the first one. But not the second.” His raised brow dared her to challenge.

  She ceded with a nod. “We’ve come a long way…Ethan. The baby’s tired and so am I. I made a promise to Amanda, and part of that promise was that I stick around and make sure Katie’s properly cared for, that you want to care for her.”

  “I’ve told you I do.”

  “Easy words to hand out when she’s sleeping like an angel. You talk to me a month from now, after you’ve been through teething and crying spells and diapers and spit-up and juice dribbles on your carpet.”

  She had no way of knowing how her words hit him. He knew all about a kid being tossed away because he made a mess or too much noise, or simply because he was an annoying burden to adult freedom, a cramp in their lifestyle.