The Men of Medicine Ridge - Diana Palmer [101]
But it was already time to go back up to the room. She hated telling the girls, who begged to stay on the beach.
“We can’t, babies,” she said gently. “Your dad said we have to be in the room when he leaves. There’s a television,” she added. “They might have cartoons.”
They still looked disappointed. “You could read us stories,” Bess said.
Kasie smiled and hugged her. “Yes, I could. And I will. Come on, now, clean out your pails and shovels, and let’s go.”
“Oh, all right, Kasie, but it’s very sad we have to leave,” Bess replied.
“Don’t want to go.” Jenny pouted.
Kasie picked her up and kissed her sandy cheek. “We’ll come out early in the morning, and look for shells on the beach!”
Jenny’s eyes lit up. She loved seashells. “Truly, Kasie?”
“Honest and truly.”
“Whoopee!” Bess yelled. “I’ll get Jenny’s pail, too. Can we have fish for supper?”
“Anything you like,” Kasie told her as she put Jenny down and refastened her swimsuit strap that had come loose.
Above them, at the window of his room, Gil watched the byplay, unseen. He sighed with irritation as he watched the girls respond so wholeheartedly to Kasie. They loved her. How were they going to react if she decided to quit? She was very young; too young to think of making a lifelong baby-sitter. Pauline said she’d been very adamant about sending the girls away to school, but that was hard to believe, watching her with them. She was tender with them, as Darlene had been.
He rammed his hands hard into the pockets of his dress slacks. It hurt remembering how happy the two of them had been, especially after the birth of their second little girl. In the Callister family, girls were special, because there hadn’t been a girl in the lineage for over a hundred years. Gil loved having daughters. A son would have been nice, he supposed, but he wouldn’t have traded either of his little jewels down there for anything else.
It wounded him to remember how cold he’d been to Kasie before and after the plane trip. He hadn’t known about her family dying in a plane crash. He could only imagine how difficult it had been for her to get aboard with those memories. And he’d been sitting with Pauline, talking about Broadway shows. Pauline had said that Kasie wanted to sit by herself, so he hadn’t protested.
Then, of course, there was this handsome stranger who’d comforted her on the flight to keep her from being afraid. He could have done that. He could have held her hand tight in his and kissed her eyes shut while he whispered to her…
He groaned out loud and turned away from the window. She was worming her way not only into his life and his girls’ lives, but into his heart as well. He hadn’t been able to even think about Pauline in any romantic way since Kasie had walked into his living room for the job interview. Up until then, he’d found the gorgeous blonde wonderful company. Now, she was almost an afterthought. He couldn’t imagine why. Kasie wasn’t really pretty. Although, she had a nice figure and a very kissable mouth and those exquisitely tender eyes…
He jerked up the phone and dialed Pauline’s extension. “Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Darling, I haven’t finished my makeup. You did say five-thirty,” she reminded him.
“It is five-thirty,” he muttered.
“Give me ten more minutes,” she said. “I’m going to make you notice me tonight, lover,” she teased. “I’m wearing something very risqué!”
“Fine,” he replied, unimpressed. “I’ll see you in ten minutes.”
He hung up on her faint gasp of irritation. He didn’t care if she wore postage stamps, it wasn’t going to cure him of the hunger for Kasie that was tormenting him.
He heard the suite door open and the sound of his children laughing. Strange how often they laughed these days, when they’d been so somber and quiet before. She brought out the best in people. Well, not in himself, he had to admit. She brought out the worst in him, God knew why.
He went out into the big sitting room, still brooding.
“Daddy, you look nice!” Bess said, running to him to be picked up and kissed heartily. “Doesn’t he