And Cowboy Makes Three (Cowboys To The Rescue 2) by Martha Shields Page A

her.
    “Mrs. Anderson, do you really have to—”
    Claire’s head snapped around to see a red-faced Jim Gordon. Her own cheeks flaming, she sprang from Jake’s lap, jerked her skirt down and tried to snap her brain back into the “on” mode. “Jim! I didn’t know you were still here.”
    “I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson. I didn’t know you were—” he cleared his throat miserably “—occupied.”
    A muffled laugh escaped Jake. Claire kicked his foot under cover of her desk and tried hard to keep her composure. “What did you need, Jim?”
    “I just wondered if you wanted the payroll files tonight. Michele has already gone home and she had most of them locked up in her office.”
    “Go home, Jim,” Jake told him. “Mrs. Anderson doesn’t need those files tonight. We’re headed out the door.”
    Claire wheeled around to pin him with a scathing look. How dare he make that decision for her? That damn eyebrow of his rose, daring her to contradict him. With a lift of her chin, she turned back to her employee to do just that.
    “Then you won’t be needing me any more tonight?” Jim asked hopefully. “It’s my wife’s birthday, and I promised to take her to dinner.”
    Claire’s pique faded. She felt like a heel that had stepped in something in the barn. “Why didn’t you tell me this was a special occasion? You should’ve gone home hours ago.”
    “It was your first day, Mrs. Anderson. As second in command I needed—and wanted—to help smooth your way.”
    Claire smiled at him. After today she understood why Jim had been Alan Townsend’s most trusted employee. He would’ve made an excellent director of accounting. “You’ve been a tremendous help, Jim. Thank you. We’ll continue tomorrow. Now go home and be with your family. I never asked. Do you have children?”
    The thin, slightly balding man beamed. “Three girls. Ten, seven and four.”
    “I’m sure they’re waiting for you. See you in the morning.” She felt Jake’s hand slip around hers and squeeze.
    “I’ll be here at seven, as usual.”
    “I’ll be here early, too. See you then.”
    As Jim left, Jake rose and snaked an arm around her waist. “You handled that well.”
    Claire’s eyes narrowed, and she stepped back. “I didn’t handle it at all. You did.”
    He looked surprised. “What did I do?”
    “You answered questions my employee addressed to me. Is this or isn’t it my department?”
    “Of course it is.”
    “Then please let me run it. I know you’re their boss and mine, but I’m not going to have much respect if you keep talking for me.”
    He held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what I was doing. Cut me some slack, okay?”
    Claire released a hot breath and turned to grab her purse. “I’ll cut you some slack, all right, the next time you paw me in front of my employees.”
    He took her arm in a viselike grip and pulled her around to face him. “In the first place, I didn’t know he was still here. Neither did you. In the second, I’m not ashamed of wanting my wife. Hell, Gordon had to do a little pawing himself to get three kids.”
    “And?” she asked impatiently.
    “And what?”
    “Everything with you comes in threes. Surely, you have a third place.”
    He drew her inexorably against him with a lecherous smile. “You’re the third place. You were doing more than a little pawing of your own, Mrs. Anderson.”
    Claire’s chin rose, but she wouldn’t admit he was right. He touched her, and she melted. Not a good sign, not if her plan to hold herself aloof from him was to succeed. She was going to have to try a heck of a lot harder. For Pete’s sake, she’d have let Jake take her right there on her desk. What an eyeful that would’ve been for Jim.
    She couldn’t cover a smile as she imagined the look on her employee’s bespectacled face.
    “Let’s go home,” Jake said. “Where we can do our pawing in private.”
     
    Three nights later, Jake pushed open the door