The Texan Quartet (Books 1-4) Omnibus Read online

  “Libby!” Kate called.

  Libby turned, smiled and waved back at the girl. “How was your day?”

  Adrian didn’t hear Kate’s response. He was too busy taking in Libby’s appearance. She was wearing a black leather jacket and green top that made her eyes more emerald, but it was the skinny-leg jeans and high heels that attracted his attention. Where the heck had those legs come from? They went on and on and the jeans clung to them like a second skin.

  His mouth went dry. What would it be like to peel off those jeans and – Christ, he couldn’t have those kinds of thoughts about Kate’s nanny.

  Kate tugged on his hand. “Can’t she, Uncle Ade?”

  He realized Kate has said something to him. “What?”

  “I said Libby can have a double choc, whipped cream, marshmallow delight with the chocolate we got from the chocolate factory, can’t she?”

  He swallowed to get some moisture back in his mouth. Everyone was waiting for his answer. “Sure, but not tonight. You need to go to bed.”

  “Aw.”

  Adrian smiled at the way she drew out the sound. “No. You can teach Libby how to make it tomorrow night while I’m at the concert.”

  The elevator dinged, signaling its arrival, and they got in.

  Distracted, Kate spoke a mile a minute about what she and Libby were going to do tomorrow night. Libby threw in some suggestions of her own and Adrian began to wish he was able to stay and hang out with them instead of going to work.

  He needed help.

  George gave him a meaningful look. No hiding his reaction from his best friend. Of course George wouldn’t approve – Adrian didn’t approve either. He would have to make sure he spent as little time as possible with Libby, but it shouldn’t be too hard. He’d managed it with Emily.

  The elevator dinged and they all got out. Libby interrupted Kate mid-sentence. “My room’s the other way. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

  “Definitely.” Kate turned to Adrian. “We have to walk her to her door.”

  Adrian bit back a curse. He had promised Kate he would but hadn’t thought he’d ever have to. “Of course.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that.” Libby put up a hand as if to stop them.

  “I did promise,” Adrian answered. He said goodbye to George and followed Libby and Kate down the deserted corridor, trying to ignore the swing of Libby’s hips and the shape of her bottom in her jeans.

  Christ. He was doing it again.

  Libby stopped and fumbled in her purse for her room card. She slipped it into the gap and the door clicked open. Holding it ajar, she turned back to them. “Thank you for walking me to my room.”

  “No prob,” Kate said.

  “My pleasure, ma’am.” It wasn’t every day he walked a pretty lady to her door.

  Libby reddened. “I’ll see you tomorrow evening,” she said to Kate.

  “I’ll get Uncle Ade to write down the chocolate recipe for you,” Kate said.

  Libby smiled at Adrian and it hit him in the chest like an arrow. That smile was something. So open and friendly. “Goodnight.”

  “Night.”

  She closed the door and he let out the breath he’d been holding. Kate took his hand and they walked down the corridor to their room.

  “Libby’s so nice,” Kate said. “I’m so glad she’s going to be my nanny. We’re going to have a great time.”

  Listening to Kate and Libby chat, Adrian was sure they would have fun. They had clicked and there was nothing forced or faked with Libby.

  He was the one having issues.

  He needed to get the image of Libby’s butt in those jeans out of his head.

  Then everything would be fine.

  He hoped.

  ***

  Libby double-checked she had everything she needed for an evening with Kate, and then checked everything again.

  This was ridiculous. She was prepared and ready to go. Why was she procrastinating?

  It was Adrian. The way he’d looked at her last night, the cheetah look that said he wanted to devour her, had her blood hot even now. How was she supposed to behave? No one, not even Clint, had ever looked at her that way.

  She was an adult and she’d behave as one. Kate was her main focus and anything else was inappropriate. She would go over, listen to Adrian’s instructions and then he would leave and she and Kate would have an adventure.

  The hotel had returned all her washing, so she was dressed in regular jeans, T-shirt and jacket. On her feet she had flats. Nothing inappropriate there.

  She retrieved her hotel card from its place and walked the short distance down the hallway to Adrian’s suite. She let out a deep breath and knocked.

  Kate opened the door almost instantly, as if she’d been waiting for her. “Come in, come in.”

  Libby followed her through to the living area. Kate’s laptop was already set up and humming.

  “Don’t think Libby arriving is going to get you out of drying up.”

  Libby turned to Adrian at the sink of the kitchenette, his hands in the soapy water washing dishes. A lovely homely image. She hadn’t ever seen her father washing up. It had been her job to stack the dishwasher and wash any remaining dishes. She wasn’t sure why Adrian would be doing the dishes when the hotel staff would do anything he left on the sink.

  “No, Uncle Ade.” Kate wandered over as Adrian dried his hands on the tea towel and handed it to her.

  “We may have left the lunch dishes for a while.” He was sheepish.

  “I always do,” Libby admitted, ignoring the warm flush she felt at Adrian’s cute confession.

  Adrian took a purse from the table and handed it to her. “This is your cookie jar money,” he said. “It’s for groceries and any activities you do with Kate. I’ll top it up each week, but tell me if you need any more.”

  “Do you want me to keep receipts of my purchases?”

  He hesitated. “Yes, please.”

  Libby mentally reviewed the list of questions she’d written down. “Is there anything Kate’s not allowed to do?”

  “Not particularly. If you go to the movies, choose movies suitable for her age.”

  “Finished.” Kate threw the tea towel on the bench and walked over.

  Adrian raised an eyebrow at her and she went to hang the tea towel up with a sigh. Libby smothered a smile.

  “You’ll need to get some more groceries and snack foods, because we’re running low. You might like to talk to Kate about what you both want to eat.”

  Adrian’s cell rang. “Be right there.” He turned to Kate. “That’s my ride, kiddo.”

  Kate giggled. “Have fun, Uncle Ade. I’ll see you in the morning.” She gave him a kiss.

  Adrian lifted his gear bag. “Behave yourself.” He turned to Libby. “You’ve still got George’s number?”

  Libby nodded.

  “Good. I’ll see you later.”

  Libby smiled at him as he walked out of the room. When he was gone she let out a sigh of relief.

  “You ready to start writing?” Kate asked.

  Libby opened the purse she held, checked inside and gasped. More money than she earned in a week. She wasn’t going to run out anytime soon. “How about we work out dinner first?”

  “Let’s get room service again!”

  Libby laughed. “Your uncle has given me orders to cook you healthy meals. I’ll be in trouble if I ignore him on the first day.” She walked over to the small fridge. “Let’s see what we’ve got to work with.”

  Inside there was half a carton of milk, a couple of eggs and some jam. Not a whole lot. She opened the cupboards until she found a box of cereal, half a loaf of bread and some Cup-A-Soup packets. “I think we need to go shopping.”

  Kate glowered. “Emily always took me shopping. I don’t like it.”

  “We need to get some food so we can eat, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make an adventure of it. What’s your favorite food?”

  “Spaghetti.”


  Libby was relieved. She cooked so rarely, but she could manage spaghetti. “Have you ever made spaghetti before?”’

  “Nope.”

  “Then I think we need to head to a bookshop first, get a couple of recipe books and decide what we want to cook for the next few days and get our supplies.” Libby paused. “We’ll need writing rations as well.”

  “Writing rations?”

  “The types of food you can prepare quick smart when you don’t want to stop writing but need to eat.”

  “I get it. We need to get lots of those.” Kate said.

  “Get your jacket then and let’s go.”

  ***

  Libby had already found the nearest supermarket and bookshop, so they headed into town, stopping at the bookshop first.

  Kate browsed the cookbooks, oohing and aahing over the food until she settled on an Italian cookbook and a basic cookbook. Then she chose the meals she wanted to make and wrote down the ingredients in her notebook.

  On the way to the supermarket they passed a Vietnamese restaurant. The rich coriander scents wafting out smelled delicious.

  “Mmm, we should have got a Vietnamese cookbook,” Kate said.

  Libby agreed. It did smell fabulous. She would have to take Kate out for Vietnamese at some stage on the tour.

  At the supermarket Kate insisted on pushing the trolley and going up and down every aisle, choosing the ingredients and writing rations they needed. Libby had to stop her when the trolley began to fill.

  “We don’t want to buy too much, because we have to be able to carry it back to the hotel,” she explained, taking a couple of items out. “And we need to make sure we stick to budget.”

  “Why? Uncle Ade will always give us more money if we need it.”

  “Just because he’s got a lot of money doesn’t mean we should spend it. He’s given us a very generous amount and to go over would be inconsiderate.”

  “When I’m older, I’m going to be a writer and be rich.”

  Libby laughed. “Most writers are lucky if they earn enough to live on, Kate. There are only a few who make a lot of money. If you want to be rich, you should choose a different profession.”

  Kate frowned. “Don’t you make lots of money?”

  Libby shook her head. “I work part time as well as writing.” And even then, her budget was tight. She’d learned how to be frugal after leaving home at eighteen. She’d been determined not to ask her parents for any help and they hadn’t offered any. Her father had even refused to pay for her arts degree at university because it was a waste of money.

  “I’ll tell Uncle Ade to pay you more so you don’t have to work two jobs.” Kate dusted her hands together as if that solved everything.

  Alarmed, Libby put a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “No, Kate. Your uncle is paying me well. I don’t want you to say anything to him. Promise me?”

  Kate thought about it a moment and then said, “Okay.”

  Relieved, Libby led the way to the check-out and paid. She tucked the receipt in the purse to give to Adrian.

  “So how much money have we got left?” Kate asked as they walked back to the hotel carrying the shopping bags.

  “Enough to have some fun later,” Libby told her.

  They arrived back at the room and unpacked their shopping, leaving out what they would need to make spaghetti.

  It was time to get to work.

  ***

  Several hours later the food had been cooked and eaten, the kitchenette had been cleaned and they’d spent some time writing. Kate now claimed she loved cooking and if writing didn’t work out she’d be a chef. Libby had put her to bed, then done some house hunting and applied for a couple of places online. Now she was working on her manuscript, with the ending hurtling toward her and her fingers frantically trying to keep up with her brain.

  A knock on the door tore her out of her story. She checked the clock. It was late. She got up and went to the entrance, checking through the peephole to see who it was. A tall, blond woman stood there waiting. She looked slightly familiar.

  Cautious, Libby opened the door and smiled at the woman. “Can I help you?”

  The woman seemed surprised and stepped back. “Oh, I’m sorry. I must have the wrong room number.” Her American accent was low, and somehow strained, as if she was trying to disguise it. The woman looked down at the piece of paper in her hand and then back at Libby. “Room 1010?”

  “No. This is room 1001.”

  “Sorry for disturbing you.” The blonde paused mid turn and squinted at Libby. “Are you Libby Myles?”

  It was said ever so casually but something about her demeanor had Libby on alert.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I recognize you from the talk show the other night. My niece is a big fan. She’ll be so excited when I tell her I met you.” The woman was all smiles.

  Libby didn’t believe her for a second. Where had she seen her – in the hotel lobby perhaps? “I’m glad she enjoys my books. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go.”

  “Wait. You were on the show with Kent Downer. What’s he really like?”

  Libby debated her answer. “He was nice,” she said, using the blandest adjective she could think of. “Good night.”

  “Sorry for the mix-up.”

  Libby shut the door and then peered through the peephole. The woman smiled as if satisfied and walked down the hall.

  There was something about the whole episode that felt wrong. Could she have been a groupie of Kent’s?

  She’d have to ask Adrian.

  Suddenly Libby heard a noise from Kate’s bedroom. She walked down the hall and listened.

  A groan, followed by the sound of a body tossing and turning in bed.

  “Mama. No. Mama, talk to me.” Kate’s voice was full of panic and pain.

  Libby rushed into the room. Kate was still asleep but tangled in the sheets, her hair drenched in sweat. Libby hurried over and turned on the star lamp for some light. She put her hands on Kate’s arms. The girl’s skin was burning hot. “Wake up, Kate.” She shook her gently.

  Kate stirred but didn’t wake. She moaned again.

  “Kate, wake up.” Libby said it louder and squeezed Kate’s arms.

  Kate’s eyes popped open, wide with fear, and she sat straight up in bed.

  “It’s Libby. You were having a bad dream.”

  Kate’s faced crumpled and tears flooded from her eyes. Libby sat down next to her and pulled her close. “It’s all right. It was just a dream.”

  Kate pushed her away. “No it wasn’t. It really happened. They’re really dead.” She sobbed harder.

  Libby didn’t know what to say. She stroked Kate’s arm and made soothing hushing noises. Kate flung her arms around Libby and held her tight. Kate’s nightdress was soaked in sweat, her little body overheated. Libby’s heart broke for the little girl as she hugged Kate back.

  When finally the sobs faded and the shuddering died down, Libby reached for the tissue box next to the bed and handed it to Kate. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Kate sat up and took a tissue, blowing her nose hard. She hiccupped.

  Libby handed her the glass of water from the bedside table. Kate took a sip.

  “It was the same dream as always.”

  “How often do you get them?” Libby asked.

  Kate shrugged. “Not so much now. Maybe once a month.”

  “Do you want to tell me about the dream?” Libby wouldn’t push. She didn’t want to make it worse for the girl.

  “It’s best if you know. You’re my nanny now.” Kate said it in such an adult manner, as if she’d heard someone else say the same thing.

  Kate took a deep breath. “Mama and Dad died in a car accident. I dream about the accident. I wake up in the car, trapped by the front seat – it’s pushed against my legs. I can’t see Dad properly, just his head in the seat in front, but I can see Mama.” Kate paused, closed her eyes and then flashed them open as if she didn’t like what she saw when t
hey were closed. “She’s bleeding and not moving. She won’t answer me and the steering wheel is crushed against her stomach.” Kate’s voice hitched and she took a shuddery breath.

  Libby clasped Kate’s hand and rubbed it.

  Kate gave a half smile and then stared up at the stars on the ceiling. “Then everything gets blurry but I can hear voices trying to get us out. They’re taking too long. They need to be faster but I can’t tell them. I can’t say anything. And then I wake up.” She turned to face Libby. “Mama and Dad died before they got us out of the car.”

  There was nothing Libby could say. The horror of watching your parents die, or knowing they were dead while you were trapped, unable to help, was unimaginable. No wonder Kate had nightmares. “I’m so sorry, Kate.” Libby hugged her tightly.

  Kate clung back. “At least I have Uncle Adrian. He takes care of me.”

  It must have been difficult for Adrian as well. Losing his brother and sister-in-law and then caring for a niece who had been through such trauma.

  “How about you get up and take a shower to freshen up?” Libby suggested. “I’ll make a hot chocolate for you.”

  “All right.” Kate slipped out of bed. She opened a dresser drawer and took out a fresh nightie before walking down the hall toward the bathroom and disappearing inside.

  Libby put a hand to her eyes to stem the tears that threatened to fall and swallowed the lump in her throat. It was her job to be the strong one. To make sure Kate was safe and secure and comforted. She could cry later. She hurried out to the kitchenette and prepared the hot chocolate.

  Ten minutes later Kate came out of the bathroom, freshly scrubbed. Libby sat with the hot chocolate and Kate’s teddy bear in the living area. Kate wandered over and sat down, clutching the teddy bear to her chest. She tucked her feet up under her and reached for the hot drink.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” Kate said and took a sip.

  “Good.”

  They sat in silence drinking their hot chocolate. Libby didn’t want to make conversation for the sake of it. Kate would talk when she was ready.

  As they were finishing their drinks Adrian returned.

  “Uncle Adrian’s back.” Kate put down her mug and raced to the entrance.