Branded as Trouble (Rough Riders 6)

anyway. Kade and Skylar’s home number. “Hello?”

“Colt? Omigod, I’m so glad you answered. I was afraid you were still avoiding me, and—Eliza Belle! Get down right now!”

“Indy? Why are you callin’ from Kade’s house?”

“Sky and Kade planned a romantic getaway and Grama Kimi caught the flu. And rather than let them cancel their first trip alone since the twins were born, I said I’d watch the girls. Only they’re screaming, all three at the same time—” an ear-piercing shriek echoed in the background, “—and I can’t do this by myself! This is insane. How can anyone take care of a two and a half year old and six-month-old twins? Can you please please please come and help me? I’ll pay you, I promise I’ll do anything—”

“Anything?”

“Yes—No! Eliza, do not put that in your mouth!”

Colt grinned for the first time in hours. “Take a deep breath, sugar, I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

“Oh. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I owe you. Big time.”

Dial tone.

“Yes, Miz India Blue, you surely do owe me.”

He spent the remainder of the drive figuring out all sorts of inventive ways India could pay off her debt.

***

“I wanna cookie.”

“No.”

“I wanna cookie…please?”

“No way, Eliza, the last thing you need is more sugar.” India had Shannie cocked on her left hip and Peyton screamed from her high chair.

A mulish look settled on Eliza’s face. “Mama—”

“Mama is not here.” Please, Colt, hurry. Surely it’d been longer than a half hour. She had no idea why her sweet nieces had morphed into monsters.

“I gonna call her,” Eliza announced.

“No!” India snatched the cordless receiver and put it on top of the refrigerator next to the other cordless receivers she’d confiscated. Eliza had already tried to throw India’s cell phone in the toilet in the guise of “washing” it.

Right. Eliza’s devilish smile belied her innocent baby blues.

The girl was the spitting image of her father in looks and her mother in temperament.

Peyton continued to scream. Shannie kept trying to pull out India’s earrings. Eliza stood on her booster seat and hoisted herself on the table, crawling toward the package of animal crackers.

“Oh, no you don’t, missy.” India scooped her up and set her on the floor. “No more. I mean it.”

Startled by India’s unusually stern tone, Eliza began to cry, which made Shannie start bawling.

Wonderful.

“I heard there was a party goin’ on in here with four wild girls.

To be honest, I expected some of ya’ll to be wearin’ less clothes.”

India spun around and saw Colt leaning against the doorjamb.

She wanted to smack him for looking so damn good when she looked like a train wreck. She wanted to burst into tears for his good humor when hers was gone. Mostly, she wanted to kiss him for showing up and saving her sanity when she had no one else to call.

“Unka Cole!” Eliza jumped from the chair and ran toward him full bore. He barely managed to keep her from racking him.

“Hey, short stuff.” He picked her up and propped her on his hip. “Why the tears?”

Eliza, that shameless charmer, laid her head on Colt’s chest and sighed. “I hungry.”

Lord have mercy. The man was about four seconds from melting.

“Don’t fall for it,” India warned. “She is a c-o-o-k-i-e monster today.”

“Huh-uh, I not a monser,” Eliza said. “I jus’ lub cookies.”

Colt grinned. “She’s a smart cookie too.” He looked from Shannie to Peyton, who’d both gone quiet. “Seems you’ve got it all under control now.”

“A temporary delusion.”

“Have they had supper?”

“Miz Eliza has if you count the box of sugary disks she’s stuffed in her sweet face like a rabid squirrel. I was about to heat up the twins’ baby food, when I lost complete control of the situation and called you.”

“That’s your first mistake. Never show ’em fear.” Colt gave Eliza a smacking kiss on her cheek and she giggled. “You wanna color at the table while Auntie Indy and me feed your sisters?”

“Yay!”

He looked at India over Eliza’s head. “The coloring books are…?”

“All over the floor in the living room. There’s some on the stairs I think.”

Colt swung Eliza around for a piggyback to the living room and she squealed with delight.

India tried to put Shannie in her high chair, but Shannie arched her back and held tighter to the big hoop earrings in India’s ear. The kid was part crow; mesmerized by shiny objects. India took out two jars of pureed green beans and two jars of carrots and put them in a shallow pan of water already on the stove.

“Okay, Eliza, here you go. Your colors and your favorite ‘My Little Pony’ coloring book. Make me something purty as you.”

India turned and Colt was right there. In her face. Close enough to kiss.

He cringed when he saw Shannie’s death grip. “Holy crap—”

“Holy crap,” Eliza repeated.

“She’s got hold of your earrings good, doesn’t she?”

“Usually I don’t wear jewelry around the girls, but I forgot today until it was too late. Eliza’s the reason I let my lip piercing grow shut.”

“I’d wondered about that. Damn shame. It was sexy as hell. I spent lots of hours wondering what it’d be like to kiss you with that.” He held out his hands. “Hey, baby girl. Come see your uncle.”

Shannie flashed a gummy grin, let go of India’s earrings, and practically dove at him.

“Do all females fall into your arms so easily?”

“Not all.” Colt granted her a molten look. “Some take a little more coaxing. And that’s when the fall is so much sweeter.”

Now India didn’t know which was worse; dealing with three screaming kids, or one scheming man.

But damn, what a man. If she pressed her lips together, she could still feel the surety of his mouth on hers as he’d leveled her with a steamy kiss last night.

“Need a bib?”

Crap. Was she…drooling? Her back snapped straight. “Why in the hell would I need a bib?”

“The hell,” Eliza mimicked.