The SEAL's Secret Heirs

He didn’t have any choice but to let it go for the time being. He had a job to do and men to manage.

By the time the sun set, the entire Wade Ranch staff was giving Kyle a wide berth. So the cow extraction hadn’t earned him any points. Figured. His surly mood didn’t help and he finally just called it a day.

When he got back to the main house, Liam met him in the mudroom off the back.

“Hey,” Liam called as Kyle sat on the long bench seat to remove his boots, which were a far sight cleaner than they’d been earlier, but still weren’t fit to walk the floors inside.

Kyle jerked his chin, not trusting himself to actually speak to anyone civilly. Though if anyone deserved the brunt of his temper, it was Liam.

“Hadley and I are flying to Vail this weekend. Just wanted to give you a heads-up.” Liam’s mouth tightened. “You’ll be okay handling the babies for a couple of days by yourself, right?”

“Yep.”

Liam hesitated, clearly expecting more of a conversation or maybe even an argument about it, but what else was there to say? Kyle couldn’t force the couple to stay, and Maddie and Maggie were his kids. He’d figure it out. Somehow. The little pang in his stomach must be left over from Grace. Probably.

“Okay. We’re leaving in an hour or so.”

Kyle let the first boot hit the floor with a resounding thunk and nodded. Liam kept talking.

“I’m flying my Cessna, so it’s no problem to delay for a bit if you need to talk to Hadley about anything.”

The other boot hit the floor. Hadley had already imparted as much baby knowledge as she possibly could. Another hour of blathering wasn’t going to make a difference. “Not necessary.”

Liam still didn’t leave. “You have my cell phone number. It’s okay if you want to call and ask questions.”

“Yep.”

Geez. Was his brother really that much of an ass? Liam had taken care of the babies before Kyle had gotten there without anyone standing over him waiting for his first mistake. Did Liam really think babysitting was something only he could do and that Kyle was hopelessly inept? Seemed so. Which only set Kyle’s resolve.

He wouldn’t call. Obviously Liam and Hadley had plans that didn’t include taking care of Kyle’s children. Who was he to stand in the way of that? Never mind that Kyle had never even stayed alone in the house with the babies. Hadley had always just been there, ready to pick up the slack.

This was the part where Kyle wished he had someone like Hadley. His kids needed a mother. Problem was, he could only picture Grace’s face when thinking of a likely candidate. And she was too skittish about everything. Mentioning motherhood would likely send her over the edge.

Finally, Liam shuffled off to finish packing or whatever, leaving Kyle to his morose thoughts. It was fine, really. So he’d envisioned asking Grace if she’d like to drive into Odessa for dinner and a movie. Get out of Royal, where there were no prying eyes. Maybe he would have even talked her into spending the night in a swanky motel. He had scads of money he never spent and he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather spend it on than Grace.

Guess that wasn’t happening. A grown-up field trip didn’t sound too much like Grace’s definition of slow anyway, so it hardly mattered that his half-formed plan wasn’t going to work out.

No matter. He’d spend the weekend with his daughters and it would be great. They’d bond and his love for them would grow. Maybe this was actually a good step toward relieving Hadley permanently of her baby duties. He could keep telling himself that she loved them and didn’t mind taking care of his daughters all he wanted, but at the end of the day, it was just an excuse.

He’d decided to stay in Royal, taking a job managing the cattle side of Wade Ranch, and it was time for him to man up and start building the family life his daughters needed.

Liam and Hadley left in a flurry of instructions and worried backward glances until finally Kyle was alone with Maddie and Maggie. That little pang in his stomach was back and he pushed on it with his thumb. The feeling didn’t go away and started resembling panic more than anything else.

God Almighty. Maddie and Maggie were babies, for crying out loud. Kyle had faced down a high-ranking, card-carrying member of the Taliban with less sweat.

He wandered into the nursery and thought about covering his eyes to shield them from all the pink. But there his girls were. Two of ’em. Staring up at him with the slightly unfocused, slightly bemused expression his daughters seemed to favor. The babies were kind of sweet when they weren’t crying.