She raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know what kind of girl you take me for, sir, but I’m not the kind to back out of my end of a bargain. Unless you’re worried I’m going to show you up, that is. If that’s the case –“

  “No, no,” Alex said, throwing up his hands. Busy schedule or not, he wasn’t ready for her to go—not if she wanted to stay. “Not a chance of that. If you’re really game, then I’ve got plenty of work for us to do.”

  The girls cheered loudly, and even Sophia joined in.

  Juniper knew her way around ranch chores, of course—even if she’d never really enjoyed them and was currently rather out of practice. But Alex was every bit as at home with the work they were doing in the barn as she was in the kitchen or with a paintbrush in her hand. She felt mesmerized watching the way he moved from one task to the next, all lithe muscle and a confidence she found incredibly sexy.

  She was also completely in love with the way he was acting with his girls. The work they were handling today was beyond their usual chores, but even though the tasks were usually handled by adults, he found ways to break them down to suit the girls’ size and physical strength. He didn’t talk down to them or act like they weren’t capable. Instead, he praised them for everything they accomplished. On top of that, he took the time to explain the things he was doing so that they could do them on their own, someday. Juniper knew how much faster it would be for him to just blow through everything. Seeing him choose to focus on his daughters made her heart swell with a feeling she didn’t want to look too closely at.

  “Juniper! Come on, you know you want to get in on this.”

  Juniper turned to the sound of her name, just in time to catch a face full of hay. It was something she would have expected from Thora, but she was pleasantly surprised to see that Sophia was the culprit. Her cheeks were pink with work and cold, and she looked more vibrant than she had in all of the previous times Juniper had seen her.

  “Ooh, are you trying to start something with me?” Juniper asked as menacingly as she was able, although she couldn’t keep from giggling.

  Sophia put her hands on her hips, closely mimicking what Juniper had done when she had sassed Alex. “I don’t know. I might be!” Then both of them started laughing, elbowing each other playfully as they got back to work.

  Juniper had never really considered having children in her life, or a family of her own. She had felt so separate as a child and had long ago concluded that a solitary life was likely the choice she’d have. The only glimpses of a big, happy family she’d had were the times she had spent in the Harvey home. At the time, she had watched that family with wonder, happy to witness it even if she was never quite part of it.

  Now, she found herself questioning everything she had thought so well established. This was the closest she’d gotten to really feeling a part of a family. It felt good. There was a warmth to it that spread over her like honey, and she wasn’t sure it was something she could easily give up. Alex and his girls were opening up an entire world for her that she had never even considered before.

  Alex and Juniper shared a look, and Juniper felt the warmth in her spread. It wasn’t just the good feeling of being part of a family that was causing it now. There was a good deal of wanting mixed in there, too.

  “Okay, girls,” Alex said, clearing his throat and sliding his hands into his pockets. “Here’s what I’m thinking. You’ve put in some good work, and the chores are just about done. I couldn’t have gotten through them half this fast without your help.” Juniper was pretty sure that was a total lie, but Alex managed to deliver it with convincing sincerity.

  Thora’s expression turned hopeful. “Does that mean we can go out and play in the snow?”

  “Well,” Alex answered musingly, drawing the response out to make them sweat before relenting. “Yes. In fact, I think that’s exactly what it means.”

  The three girls didn’t wait around to give him time to change his mind. They took off toward the barn’s door at a dead run, Sophia pausing only to grab Lizzie’s forgotten knit cap from the floor.

  When they were gone, the barn felt very quiet. Juniper was suddenly very aware of Alex’s proximity to her, and all she could think about was the way his scent had enveloped her as he drew her in for their first, long-awaited kiss.

  He stepped closer to her, moving slowly, as if he wasn’t quite sure of himself. “I think this is the part where I tell you thank you, Juniper. Although that doesn’t feel like nearly enough.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked with genuine surprise. “Thank you for what?”

  “For today,” he answered, so close now she could smell his spicy scent again. “For everything you’re doing for me and my girls. You’re so good with them, you know? It kind of amazes me.”

  Juniper tugged at her cap and fiddled with a strand of hair. She had felt totally at ease all afternoon, but now she was suddenly shy. “Are you kidding? I’m so impressed with you, Alex. You’re amazing with your daughters. They love you more than anything. A total stranger would be able to see that. You’re a really great dad. Your girls are lucky to have you.”

  “It’s good to see them smiling,” he said in a low, husky voice. He was so close now that they were almost touching, and Juniper’s body ached with desire for that contact. “And I won’t pretend that I haven’t been smiling more these days, too. Especially when you’re around.”

  Juniper took a shaky breath. “Yeah,” she said in a small voice. “I can relate.”

  There was more to be said, but the time for talking was over now. Alex saw to that when he folded her in his arms and kissed her again. If their first kiss had been good, this one was better. It was the kind of kiss you didn’t ever want to let go.

  9

  With Juniper wrapped tightly in his arms, Alex felt zero hesitation. Especially since he could tell she wanted him, too. Instead of pulling back, creating distance, she pressed her body against him. It was amazing how well she fit there, as if they were made to hold each other. A small, distant part of his brain not currently occupied with how badly he wanted the woman in his arms couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed her in this way sooner.

  He would happily have gone on kissing her just like that indefinitely. He could hardly even bring himself to worry about the possibility of one or all of his daughters walking in and finding them entangled this way. He had spent the last several years pushing down his own wants so far, he’d thought they were dead. Now, they were awake again, and they had resurfaced with a hunger.

  It was the sudden drop in temperature that finally pulled them apart. Juniper let out a little sound of discontent, but she didn’t argue. She knew the signs of a coming storm just as well as he did.

  “Did it just get colder in here, or is that me?” She frowned, turning toward the door.

  Alex shook his head, his adrenaline pumping. “Nope. Not just you. Weather report said something big is brewing. I think it’s almost here. I also think I need to get the girls inside. Is that okay?”

  “More than okay,” she answered, already heading toward the sound of their laughter. “We need to get them in where it’s warm and safe.”

  They hurried outside to find Sophia already rounding her sisters up. Alex was proud to see her leadership skills coming into play.

  “It looks like it’s going to get bad, Daddy,” she said when she saw Alex and Juniper approaching. “We should all go inside, don’t you think?”

  Alex nodded, glancing at the rapidly darkening sky. The clouds were fat and heavy, and it was clear that when the snow started falling again, it would come in a storm.

  “That also means it’s time for me to head home.” Juniper pulled her keys out of her coat pocket, her eyes trained on the sky as well.

  Alex’s heart clenched as something inside of him told him not to let her go. He could be highly protective of the people he cared about, and somehow Juniper had moved into that camp.

  He let the girls continue for the porch but stopped and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, Juniper? It looks like it’s going to get really bad. The roads might not be safe all the way back to town.”

  She smiled brightly. “I’ll be fine. Don’t forget, mister, I grew up around here, too. I’m not afraid to drive in the snow. I’ll make it back to my little apartment safe and sound.”

  Alex wanted to argue with her, but he could feel his girls watching him from the open front door. If they kept it open for long enough, his dad would start grumbling. Besides, Juniper was a grown woman, and clearly a very capable one. She didn’t need him stepping in and trying to act like a white knight.

  “Alright, if you’re sure,” he said, unable to keep the doubt out of his voice. “But do me a favor and give me a call when you get there, okay? Just so I don’t worry.”

  Her face softened and she leaned into him, letting her forehead rest on his shoulder for the briefest of moments before putting space between them again. “It’s very sweet of you to care, Alex. And yes, I will definitely let you know when I’m home safe.”

  He knew he had to let that be enough, so he stood on the porch and watched her go, trying to ignore the growing feeling of foreboding in the pit of his stomach.

  “She’s fine,” he told himself as he went inside. “Stop being so foolish. There’s nothing at all to worry about.”

  He managed to keep that line in his head while he prepared dinner, his daughters commandeering the dining room to decorate the long-since-cooled cookies. He had a feeling he’d be finding sprinkles and frosting in odd places for days to come, but he was fine with that. It had been a long time since he’d seen them so excited about anything, and he knew Juniper was a big part of that. She seemed to be the glue he hadn’t known they were missing, and the effect she had was immediate.

  She stayed on his mind while they all ate dinner, too—and was still dominating his thoughts when the meal was over, and he was cleaning up the kitchen. He spent so much time sneaking glances at the clock and the phone—waiting for her to call, worrying that she hadn’t—that he barely paid attention to what he was doing and almost took off the tip of his finger while trying to wash a paring knife.

  “That’s it. Enough of this. What bee is it you have in your bonnet? Because you’re acting like a man whose lost his marbles.”

  The sound of his dad’s voice startled him badly enough that he let fly a string of curse words ill-advised for a father with children in the next room.

  “Man, I need to put bells on your wheelchair,” he said, a comment which had stopped amusing his father long ago. “Why would you sneak up on me like that?”

  His dad waved his comment off with a sniff of disgust. “Never mind that. What’s wrong with you? Where’s your head?”

  What was wrong with him was that he had spent every second since watching Juniper drive away waiting for her call. “Juniper said she’d call and let me know when she got home safe.” He glanced at the clock, hoping his instincts were misleading him about how long it had been since she’d left. But no, way too much time had passed. “I should have heard from her by now.” He grabbed his cell and dialed her number but got no response. The bad feeling in his stomach grew, reminding him of three years earlier—the crash that had killed his mother and left his father in a wheelchair. If, God forbid, something had happened to Juniper, all because he hadn’t insisted on her staying over instead of driving out in the storm…

  All at once, he couldn’t keep the feelings at bay any longer.

  “I need you to keep an eye on the girls, Pops,” he said, already going for his coat and keys. “Just for a little while. Just until I know she’s safe.”

  “Well, shit.”

  Juniper wasn’t much for swearing, but in some circumstances, nothing else would do. And if being stuck in a ditch in a steadily worsening snowstorm didn’t count, she wasn’t really sure what did.

  She struck the steering wheel in frustration and shut her eyes. “Okay, so I get that this is partly my fault for being overconfident about being able to handle driving in the storm. But it came on so fast. I didn’t realize it would get so bad so fast!”

  She had been so intent on trying to see through the thick flakes falling from the sky that she hadn’t noticed the icy patch on the asphalt until it was too late. One minute she was on the road, and the next she was careening out of control, landing in a ditch.

  Her little car’s heater was rapidly losing its fight against the oppressive cold. She had to get out and find some place warm. The trouble lay in figuring out how to do that without making her situation even worse.

  She rolled her shoulders back and took a deep breath, then unfastened her belt. The last thing she needed to do now was panic. She just had to take it step by step. First step—retrieve her phone from where her purse had fallen and call a tow truck. Ernie down at the gas station would grumble about how she should have known better, but he’d come get her all the same, and would drop her off at her apartment.

  Her fingers finally closed around her phone, but her hopes for an easy solution were dashed when she saw that she didn’t have even one bar of service. For the first time, it occurred to her that she might be in real danger.

  She could pry her car door open and crawl out of the ditch. It was possible that if she walked along the road for long enough, she would find a pocket of service that would allow her to make her much-needed call. But there was real danger that in taking that kind of walk. She wasn’t wearing anything bright, so there was a chance that she might get struck by another driver trying to push through the storm. And even if no one else was foolish enough to be out on this road, there was the issue that her coat simply wasn’t warm enough to protect her for long.

  Staying in her car was no solution, either. She didn’t have any blankets, nothing to protect her. People had died in these kinds of conditions before.

  She was already starting to shiver as she struggled to figure out her best option—but then she saw a pair of lights pulling up alongside her car on the side of the road above. And then came the voice. It was faint, but she recognized its owner. It was Alex. She wasn’t sure how, but he had found her.

  “Juniper! Are you okay down there? Please, honey, tell me you’re okay!”

  She rolled down the window, shrinking back from the influx of cold air. “I’m here! I’m feeling a bit foolish, but I’m okay!”

  A few seconds later, his face was in her window, his features tight with worry. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, her relief at seeing him was so great.

  “It’s okay, Juniper,” he said, his tone low and even, betraying none of the anxiety she saw in his eyes. “I’m going to get you out of here, and then we’re going to get you warm. How does that sound?”

  She nodded with chattering teeth. “I’m not going to lie; it sounds pretty good. If I can just get somewhere with service, I can call a tow truck and be on my way.”

  Alex said nothing to this. Instead, he opened her door and scooped his arms underneath her, pulling her out of the driver’s seat and into his arms as if she weighed no more than Lizzie. She expected him to put her down once she was out, but he carried her up the embankment to the passenger’s seat of his truck.

  “Alright,” he said once he was back in the driver’s seat with the heat on full blast. “So, that was a little bit of an adventure, wouldn’t you say?”

  Juniper laughed a little unsteadily. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. How on earth did you know I was out here?”

  “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I just had a feeling. I’m glad I listened to it.”

  “So am I, although I’m so sorry to take you away from your evening. Like I said, I’ll call a truck as soon as one of us gets service.”

  Alex remained still, his hands resting on the steering wheel. When he looked at her, his face was full of anxiety she couldn’t understand. “If I’m going to be honest, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Ernie’s going to have his hands full tonight. Who knows how long it would take before he could get to you?”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, with the distinct impression that she was missing something big. “Then I’m not really sure where that leaves me.”

  He nodded to himself like he was making some final decision. “Stay at my house. There’s a guestroom, and it’s already made up. Stay there, where you’ll be safe.”

  10

  The drive back to the ranch from her car, woefully lodged in its new resting place, was a slow one. By the time they got back to the house, Alex’s dad had already put the girls to bed, and he was asleep himself. The house was still and quiet, with only a table lamp or two to provide some light. Juniper felt a weird compulsion to tiptoe and speak only in whispers, like they were teenagers sneaking around. When she looked at Alex, she saw he felt the same way.

  “I feel like this place is boobytrapped or something!” He spoke in a comically loud whisper, and Juniper clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loud.

  Alex gestured for her to sit, and she made herself comfortable on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her.

  “I think we deserve some eggnog,” Alex announced. “What do you say?”

  “I say yes, please.”

  He grinned and made a low, silly bow that made her giggle all over again. He headed for the kitchen, and she allowed herself the luxury of watching him as he walked away. His jeans weren’t overly tight, but they fit him well enough that she wanted to see more.

  She was still indulging in this fantasy when he returned with two cups filled to the brim with frothy white eggnog. Alex handed her a cup, then set his attention to building up a comfortable blaze in the fireplace. When he was satisfied with his work, he joined her on the couch, pulling a throw blanket off of the back of a chair and tucking it gently over her legs.