Free A Baby in the Bunkhouse by CATHY GILLEN THACKER Page B

end. “But I’m already at the top of the career ladder here. There’s really no room for advancement.”
    He edged closer. “If you liked it so much, why did you leave your last job?”
    Finding that a lot easier to talk about, Jacey sighed. “My boss had promised me I could set up a small nursery in the property office and bring Caitlin to work with me. Unfortunately, he didn’t bother to run this arrangement by the corporate office in Chicago until it was nearly time to process the paperwork for my maternity leave.” She sighed. “Suffice it to say, the head office was not happy. There were liability issues involved, and they weren’t going to go for it. And the property could not be without an onsite manager, so I had to tender my resignation…and give up my furnished luxury apartment on the premises as well.”
    â€œLosing your home must have been tough,” Rafferty said sympathetically.
    â€œI had already been planning to go to El Paso to be with my sister Mindy when Caitlin was born—and stay with her during the majority of my maternity leave—so that part of it wasn’t such a big deal.”
    â€œYou seem awfully accepting of the mess,” he noted, sitting on the edge of his desk.
    Jacey shook her head ruefully. “I’m partially to blame. I should have asked for the agreement in writing much sooner—which would have forced my boss to speak with corporate offices. Had I done that, I would have known, long before I even became pregnant, that it wasn’t going to work.” She sighed again. “So I’m at fault here, too. And they did give me two months’ severance pay, as well as a promise to provide me with excellent references. Almost all of my current salary from this job is going into savings, so when I do leave I’ll have a tidy nest egg built up.”
    Rafferty ran his fingers across the filigreed edge of his massive desk. “Is this something you always wanted to do? Become a property manager?”
    She found herself mesmerized by the stroking of his hand. “No. I sort of fell into it in college.” She forced herself to look up at his face. “I got a part-time job with one of my previous employer’s less fancy apartment complexes, answering phones and showing apartments, and I just got comfortable in that environment really quickly.” The way she had here on the ranch.
    â€œAs you’ve probably noticed, I’m very adaptable.” Too adaptable, her sister Mindy always said. To the point she often forgot about her own wants, needs and desires, in her quest to make other people happy. “Anyway, I worked my way up while I was in school to head manager. From there, I continued to move on to nicer properties, and eventually ended up at the one where I was when I quit. It was great because I always had a furnished apartment with the gig.”
    â€œSo that stuff in your car?” he prompted.
    â€œIs about a fourth of what I own. The rest of my personal belongings—clothes, books, kitchen stuff—are in storage in San Antonio.”
    â€œIf we offered you more salary…”
    She lifted her palm. “That’s not really it.” If it were just the amount of money she was making, the time she was able to spend with Caitlin, she would stay. She wouldn’t care what it did to her career trajectory.
    â€œMore time off?” He upped the ante.
    â€œI’ve got plenty of time off, between meals.” More than she would have at any other job, she knew.
    â€œThen what is it?” Rafferty looked frustrated.
    If only he wanted her to stay for personal reasons. But that wasn’t the case, and she needed to remember that.
    Pushing aside the memory of his kisses and the heat of her response to them, Jacey gave Rafferty the only excuse she felt he would accept. “I’m a city girl at heart.” She swallowed and forced herself to hold his