Charmed by Nora Roberts

seriously considered hiring a housekeeper. Both his mother and his mother-in-law had urged him to, and then they’d gone into one of their competitive huddles on how to choose the proper woman to fit the bill. But the idea of having someone in the house, someone who might gradually take over the rearing of his daughter, had deterred him.
    Jessie was his. One hundred percent his. Despite dinner decisions and grocery shopping, that was the way he liked it.
    As he added a generous slice of butter to the creamy potatoes, he heard her footsteps racing across the deck.
    “Good timing, frog face. I was just about to give you a whistle.” He turned, licking potatoes from his finger, and saw Ana standing in the doorway, one hand on Jessie’s shoulder. The muscles in his stomach tightened so quickly that he nearly winced. “Well, hello.”
    “I didn’t mean to interrupt your cooking,” Ana began. “I just wanted to thank you for the book. It was very nice of you to send it over.”
    “I’m glad you like it.” He realized he had a dishcloth tucked in his jeans and hastily tugged it out. “It was the best peace offering I could think of.”
    “It worked.” She smiled, charmed by the sight of him hovering busily over a hot stove. “Thanks for thinking of me. Now, I’d better get out of your way so you can finish cooking your dinner.”
    “She can come in, can’t she?” Jessie was already tugging on Ana’s hand. “Can’t she, Daddy?”
    “Sure. Please.” He shoved a box out of her way. “We haven’t finished unpacking yet. It’s taking longer than I thought it would.”
    Out of politeness, and curiosity, Ana stepped inside. There were no curtains on the window as yet, and a few packing boxes littered the stone-colored floor tiles. But ranged along the royal blue countertop there was a glossy ceramic cookie jar in the shape of Alice’s white rabbit, a teapot of the mad hatter, and a dormouse sugar bowl. Potholders, obviously hooked by a child’s hand, hung on little brass hooks. The refrigerator’s art gallery was crowded with Jessie’s drawings, and the puppy was snoozing in the corner.
    Unpacked and tidy, no, she thought. But this was already a home.
    “It’s a great house,” she commented. “I wasn’t surprised when it sold quickly.”
    “You want to see my room?” Jessie tugged on Ana’s hand again. “I have a bed with a roof on it, and lots of stuffed animals.”
    “You can take Ana up later,” Boone put in. “Now you should go wash your hands.”
    “Okay.” She looked imploringly at Ana. “Don’t go.”
    “How about a glass of wine?” Boone offered when his daughter raced off. “A good way to seal a truce.”
    “All right.” Drawings rustled as he opened the fridge. “Jessie’s quite an artist. It was awfully sweet of her to draw a picture for me.”
    “Careful, or you’ll have to start papering the walls with them.” He hesitated, the bottle in his hand, wondering where he’d put the wineglasses, or if he’d unpacked them at all. A quick search through cupboards made it clear that he hadn’t. “Can you handle chardonnay in a Bugs Bunny glass?”
    She laughed. “Absolutely.” She waited for him to pour hers, and his—Elmer Fudd. “Welcome to Monterey,” she said, raising Bugs in a toast.
    “Thanks.” When she lifted the glass to her lips and smiled at him over the rim, he lost his train of thought. “I … Have you lived here long?”
    “All my life, on and off.” The scent of simmering chicken and the cheerful disarray of the kitchen were sohomey that she relaxed. “My parents had a home here, and one in Ireland. They’re based in Ireland for the most part now, but my cousins and I settled here. Morgana was born in the house she lives in, on Seventeen Mile Drive. Sebastian and I were born in Ireland, in Castle Donovan.”
    “Castle Donovan.”
    She laughed a little. “It sounds pretentious. But it actually is a castle, quite old, quite lovely, and quite