The Cowboy's Secret Son. Trish Milburn
Like so many things from those months when she was tutoring Nathan, slices of scrumptious apple pie stood out in her memory as if days and not years had passed.
“Oh, this is good,” Laney said.
Before she slipped up and admitted a part of her actually did like the idea of Nathan being jealous, Grace took a bite of her pie and made appreciative noises.
Laney made a slight nod toward the man at the other table. “You have to admit he’s nice-looking.”
“He is, but the last things I need in my life right now are more complications.”
“Party pooper.”
Grace stared at Laney. “I should have brought Emily instead.”
Laney wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I can’t help it. I’m an incurable matchmaker. How many times did I try to set you up in college?”
“I’m sorry, but you’re still out of luck with me. I’m firmly single and like it that way.”
Most of the time. Except when she looked into Nathan’s eyes and her heart performed some fancy Fred Astaire dance steps in her chest.
Laney pouted. “But I think all the other women here are married. Hot cowboys with no one to pair them with, that’s a crime.”
Grace laughed. “Sorry to spoil your fun.”
“Hey, the week isn’t over yet.”
When Grace finished her pie, she gathered Laney’s and her trash and headed for the large garbage can at the edge of the picnic area. After tossing the trash inside, she turned to find the unnamed cowboy standing behind her. “Oh, excuse me.”
He touched the brim of his hat. “No problem.” He lifted his empty plate. “Good dinner, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The man reached around her and deposited his own trash in the can. “Name’s Barrett Farnsley, from Oklahoma City.” He paused until it registered that he wanted to know her name.
“Grace Cameron.” She deliberately left off where she was from.
“A very pretty name, for a very pretty lady.”
Grace blushed despite herself. She’d had interest from men before, but something about being back here in this place where she’d fallen in love for the first and only time had her emotions heightened. “Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say. Barrett was indeed handsome with short, dark hair just visible at the edges of his hat, and light blue eyes.
But he wasn’t Nathan.
And maybe that was a good thing.
It couldn’t hurt to just be friendly, could it? They’d all be gone in a week anyway.
“I assume one of these wild children is yours.” She pointed toward where all the kids were playing fetch with a couple of large Labradors, one chocolate, one yellow.
“Two, actually. The twins.”
“A handful?”
“To say the least.”
Grace smiled. Evan was a handful all on his own. She couldn’t imagine having to wrangle two boys the same age.
Barrett shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Are you here with anyone?”
Subtle. “Just my son. He’s the one who looks like he’s determined to ride the dog.”
Barrett laughed, and she had to admit it was a nice laugh. Big, full, uninhibited. If she weren’t so tied in emotional knots right now, if all her focus wasn’t on Evan’s future, she might actually be tempted to see where things went with Barrett. If anywhere. She was so bad at reading men’s signals that she could have what she thought was Barrett’s interest totally wrong. After all, she’d once thought that Nathan cared about her.
He’d just been like every other teenage boy, interested only about getting in a girl’s pants.
She made the mistake of looking toward where she’d seen him sitting next to his mother earlier. He was watching her, and he didn’t look happy. For the tiniest of moments, she did hope he wore that look because he was jealous.
Grace reminded herself she wasn’t at the ranch to rekindle things with Nathan. Bad idea, very bad idea. She was simply falling victim to some old wishful thinking. Nathan no doubt wore that unfriendly expression because he was still angry with her and this situation she’d thrust upon him.
A squeal of panic jerked her attention toward the kids. One of the dogs had a little girl down on her back. Parents vacated their tables and conversations and hurried toward the children. Grace got there first and grabbed the dog by the collar. “Choco, no!” She tugged the dog off the little girl.
The child’s mother scooped her up and turned angry eyes toward the Teagues. “How could you let an animal like this near our children?”
Grace touched the woman’s arm, spoke to her in a soothing, mother-to-mother tone. “She’s okay. See, no injuries. Choco was just kissing her, being friendly.”
The woman examined her daughter to see for herself, then pulled her close and headed out of the picnic area without another word.
“Why is that lady mad?” Evan asked from beside Grace.
She wrapped her arm around his waist. “She was just scared, afraid her daughter was hurt.”
“How did you know Choco’s name?”
She hadn’t even thought about it, just identified the dog because she’d known it from when he was a puppy. “I heard someone call him earlier.” She hated lying to her son, but the truth might lead to too many questions she wasn’t ready to answer.
She stood and dusted off her hands. “I think it’s time we called it a night, squirt.”
“Not yet.”
“Yes. If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t get up in time for all the fun stuff tomorrow. You don’t want to miss anything, do you?”
“No.” He said it reluctantly, enough to make her smile.
She looked up from tousling his hair to find herself facing Nathan. Her heart thumped hard, part fear, part an ill-advised thrill at being near him.
“Thanks for that,” he said.
“What?”
“Jumping into the dog fray.”
She shrugged. “No problem. I could tell what Choco was doing.” She glanced down at Evan, hoping he didn’t pick up on anything too familiar between her and Nathan.
Nathan propped his hands on his hips. “I’m guessing we’ll lose another guest tonight though.”
“Maybe not. She probably just needs time to calm down. We moms tend to overreact sometimes.”
Nathan’s gaze shifted to Evan, and she had to fight the burning need to hurry Evan away. And her guilt at feeling that way.
Evan looked up at Nathan. “Do we get to ride tomorrow?”
Nathan hesitated just long enough to increase Grace’s nervousness even more. “If you’re very good and do what your mother says.”
Evan thought about this for a moment, then nodded. “Mom, I need to go to bed.”
She bit her lip to keep from smiling at Evan’s quick about-face. And she tried to ignore the twinge of annoyance that he was so much quicker to agree with Nathan than her, even without the knowledge Nathan was his father. Maybe it was just a guy thing, a boy responding to a male authority figure, something Evan had never had but innately listened to. She couldn’t say that made her particularly happy.
Past Nathan’s