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The fact that she’d done that had been comforting in a sense. It meant that she hadn’t completely shut him out of her life, that she’d known somewhere along the line that they’d eventually mend their rift.

Of course, who else was she supposed to leave them with? Their father had been a married man, which was one of several reasons Dan and Jenny had butted heads. So, he supposed, her options had been limited.

Either way, he wasn’t sure what his sister had been thinking when she’d chosen him as the guardian of her children. After all, what in the hell did he know about being a parent?

At thirty-eight he was set in his ways, to say the least, and with some luck and a good deal of determination, he’d managed to avoid marriage and family himself. Of course, even though wedding bells and a wife were still out, apparently single parenthood wasn’t.

After the funeral, he’d been prepared to take the kids back to the ranch with him in spite of all his insecurities. After all, he remembered how it felt to be young, homeless and unwanted. But it had been a stroke of luck for everyone involved when Catherine Loza, Jenny’s roommate, had asked to keep the kids with her in New York for a while.

Dan had been uneasy about leaving them behind, but they’d been so comfortable in a big city environment, in the fourth-floor apartment where they’d lived most of their lives. Besides, they knew Catherine much better than they knew him. So all things considered, it had seemed like the best solution for the kids.

On top of that, Catherine was a woman, and Lord knew that all kids needed a mother figure. Dan sure would have liked having one when he’d been five.

So he’d left Kevin and Kaylee with Catherine, called them regularly and sent monthly checks to cover their living expenses.

But several months later, Catherine got a big part in a Broadway musical and called Dan in a panic. She was looking at a grueling practice schedule followed by evening performances that would keep her out late at night. She could no longer take care of the kids, and Dan had flown back to New York and brought them home to Texas.

And now, two weeks into the whole family ordeal, he hadn’t gained much confidence, which didn’t sit easy with a man who was proud of the fact that he could out-rope, out-ride and out-cowboy just about anyone in Texas.

But parenting two five-year-olds? That was a whole different ball game.

Dan adjusted his Stetson, making sure the brim blocked the sun from his eyes. Then he hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and shifted his weight to one hip.

Damn, he wished he were anywhere but here today. But this wasn’t about him; it was about the kids.

And right now, they were having a blast playing with the other twins and triplets, some of whom were dressed like mirror images of themselves.

But then again, why wouldn’t Kaylee and Kevin be having a good time at the park? Living on a cattle ranch with the uncle they scarcely remembered and a crotchety old cowboy-turned-nanny couldn’t possibly be any fun.

It was good to see them laughing and socializing, though.

Off to his right, he noticed a brunette who was also standing along the perimeter of the playground. She wore sunglasses, so he couldn’t see her entire face, but her cover-girl profile and shape were intriguing.

She didn’t appear to be a typical mom, although he couldn’t put his finger on why he’d come to that conclusion. Maybe because her purse was way too small to fit in all the things some of the other mothers packed, like little baggies filled with snacks, wet wipes and Band-Aids. Or maybe because earlier this morning she’d somehow found the time to weave her long dark hair into a fancy braid that hung down her back.

She was dressed differently than the others, too, with a pink scarf that was stylishly wrapped around her neck, a crisply pressed white cotton blouse and a pair of slim-fit black jeans.

Whether she was a mom or not, he decided she was nice to look at—and that she was an intriguing diversion from the hubbub and the energetic chatter that swarmed around him.

Dan had been so caught up in his perusal of the brunette that he hadn’t paid much attention to the activity on the playground—until a child let out a scream.

He watched the attractive woman dash across the sand toward the slide. As his gaze followed her, he realized that the screaming child was one of his.

Oh, God. His heart dropped to his gut, and his pulse kicked into overdrive as he hurried toward little Kaylee, who’d gotten hurt while Dan was supposed to be looking out for her.

The sight of blood running along the side of her face and her heart-wrenching screams shook him to the core.

Did he need any more proof of his shortcomings than that? He’d been gawking at an attractive woman, rather than watching the kids play, and he’d failed the kids, just as he’d known he would.

Hell, he wasn’t cut out to be a father, no matter what Fate seemed to think.

He dropped to his knees on the sand beside them and started to reach out to Kaylee with stiff arms, but as the brunette continued to tend to the child, he pulled back his hands and let someone more capable do the comforting.

“Oh, sweetie,” she said, lifting her sunglasses from her eyes and resting them atop her head. “What happened?”

“I…fell…down,” Kaylee sobbed. “And I got hurt. Really bad.” She lifted her little hand to her forehead to probe the gash, and as she lowered it, she spotted the blood on her fingers and let out another wail.