Montana Dad by Jeannie Watt

Author:Jeannie Watt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-11-14T20:53:27+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

ALEX HAD SAID he could bring the girls with him, and the next morning, Nick did just that. Katie had gone to town the night before to help Rosalie make more doodads for the June in Bloom vendor show and promised to pick up Kendra and Bailey from Alex’s on her way back to the ranch during the early afternoon.

The girls would have loved to have helped with the crafting, but Nick thought that Katie and Gloria and Rosalie could get more done without his girls underfoot. This show was important to them. They’d had a soft opening of their store a few months prior, but the formal announcement would come at June in Bloom, followed by a grand opening at the store, and that, in turn, would tick off Vince Taylor. He wanted Rosalie and Gloria’s business to fail so that he could snap up their house, which sat between the two Grand Ladies he’d recently opened as swanky bed-and-breakfast inns.

Nick understood that having a house between his two was inconvenient, but if Vince had chosen to work with Rosalie and Gloria, instead of trying to intimidate them into selling, everyone could have benefited. That wasn’t Vince’s way. Nope. In Vince’s mind, his way was the only way. And if he couldn’t get his way, then he did crappy things like pulling in favors to slow down the permitting for the replacement bridge.

“Daddy, shouldn’t you lock the gate?” Kendra asked when he drove through without stopping.

“We’ll lock it on our way home, kiddo.”

“My turn,” Bailey announced.

“You did it last time.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Yes,” Kendra said adamantly. “You did.”

Bailey let out a defiant humph as Nick glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Kendra took after him—her blond hair was already showing signs of going dark, as his had done, but Bailey was going to be a blonde-blonde, like her mother. And she had Kayla’s stubborn chin and short nose. He missed his wife, and he had no business thinking about Alex so much when his primary job in in life was parenting his girls.

But he was.

After they pulled up to the house, Nick laid down a few rules. “You have books and crayons and your music. I want you to stay in the yard. If Ms. Ryan lets you play with the dogs, cool. If she says no, then that means...”

“No,” the girls answered in unison.

“I want to play with the dogs,” Bailey whispered to Kendra.

“You can unless the lady says no,” Kendra replied in a no-nonsense way.

“The Wapunzel lady.”

“Rapunzel,” Kendra corrected.

“That’s the one,” Nick agreed. “Okay. Best behavior. Dad has to get some work done and I don’t want to worry about you getting hurt by falling stuff.”

“We’ll be good,” Kendra promised. Bailey nodded her agreement as she unbuckled her seat.

Once again, he was greeted by the low woofs and sharp yips as he climbed the rebuilt porch stairs, and Bailey, who loved dogs, grinned up at him. He scooped her up in his arms at the last minute, so that the dogs didn’t flatten her when they went into the house.

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