by Leigh Riker
Teddie shouted, “Be careful, Mommy!”
Kate had feared the horse might run her down or change course toward Teddie. Instead, breathing hard, he downshifted into a high-stepping trot like a Tennessee Walker, finally sliding to a halt in the snow. As if he’d been lost and was happy to be found. “Whoa, easy,” she said, holding out one hand.
Thank goodness, the stallion took only a lazy interest in her pretty mare, sidling up to them, sniffing the air, until Kate was able to reach for his bridle. If she remembered right, Zach called him Midnight. “There,” she murmured in a soothing tone, using his name several times to show him she was a friend. “What got you so lathered up, huh?” He looked like he’d been running free for a while, white foam flying from his mouth.
She eyed Midnight for any signs of trouble. Kate had never spent time with this horse, didn’t know what to expect of him. She’d seen other horses without their riders, had caught a few of them herself. She’d also seen several people get badly injured.
As the animal quieted down, his sides still heaving, she told Teddie, “Stay behind me, Bunny, but we need to go find his owner.” Zach could be hurt.
She took Midnight’s reins to lead him, and the horse snorted. His eyes had calmed, though, no longer rolling to show the whites. “I think he scared himself,” she told Teddie.
“Like Bandit does sometimes?” Their dog usually came with them, but Kate had thought the snow too deep and left him at home.
“Barking at shadows, yes,” she said, trying to keep things light so Teddie wouldn’t fret. Praying they weren’t about to run into a desperate situation.
They were halfway to the WB that adjoined Kate’s land when Teddie cried out.
“There’s a man! He can’t walk right!”
Following his pointing finger, Kate saw not Zach but Noah Bodine, who had crested a small rise and was stumping toward them through the snow. Despite his tentative gait, he cut quite a figure, backlit by the morning sun, a battered Stetson on his head, and wearing worn jeans with a navy blue shirt under his unzipped winter jacket. She preferred that look to his three-piece suit, like an ID badge from New York announcing a life she wouldn’t have on a silver platter—but which Rob had wanted enough to leave her. Kate drew up close to Noah. “What happened?”
He looked up at her from the ground. “Obvious, isn’t it? I just ruined a good pair of boots in this snow. Or do you want to hear me say it?” He didn’t quite smile. “My first time on a horse in a while and I had to pick this one.” He reached out to stroke the side of Midnight’s muscular neck. “Guess I got my comeuppance.”
Kate remembered Willow telling her how competitive her two brothers could be. “You were trying to show Zach you could handle anything?”
“I suppose I was,” he admitted.
“Really?” As soon as a person got comfortable around a horse, complacent, you were asking for trouble. He should know that. “You win the Hubris Award of the day.” Then she glanced at his leg. “Are you actually hurt?”
“Mostly my masculine pride. I may have sprained my ankle.”
Teddie was watching them, as if pleased by this latest adventure, but so far—for once—he hadn’t said a word. Kate hesitated, knowing she should make introductions yet reluctant to do so; she didn’t want her son, trying to clear his fogged glasses with one mittened hand, to know Noah Bodine. If, while Rob had worked for him, she’d mentioned him by name to Teddie, it had been only once or twice. She hoped he wouldn’t remember.
Teddie made up his own mind. “Hi,” he said, pushing his glasses back on his face, then edging Spencer too close to the stallion. “I’m Theodore Robert Lancaster. Who are you?”
“Noah,” he said, offering his ungloved hand. “Your, um, neighbor.”
“I’m a better rider than you,” Teddie pointed out.
Kate said, “Honey, don’t be rude.”
“No, he’s right,” Noah agreed as the two shook hands. He sighed. “My brother took off this morning with his fiancée for somewhere, anywhere, I imagine, that left me to work the WB until my sister gets home.”
“I can’t picture that,” she said, not setting a good example for Teddie.
Noah looked offended or pretended to be. His eyes held a glint of amusement. “Why not?” He hooked a thumb toward the WB. “My only mistake was choosing this guy instead of Willow’s mare. I may be out of practice, but if I have to—which it seems I must—I can still do some ranching.”
“Apparently not,” she murmured with a look that said he was on foot and his horse had crossed the range without him. “Maybe you should stick with one of the ATVs.”
The stallion nudged Noah in the stomach as if to apologize for throwing him. Noah stroked one hand down its nose. “You don’t know me very well, do you?”
His question seemed loaded, and she and Noah had had all the cozy conversation they were going to have in this lifetime the other night. Then, as if they were the only two people left in the snowy world, talk had been acceptable as long as they stuck to safe topics. She’d wanted to reach home as soon as possible more than she’d needed to shut him out. But she wasn’t about to remind him now of Rob’s loss with Teddie sitting here on his pony. “I think I know you well enough,” she finally said. “I am surprised, though, that you agreed to stay.”
“Zach didn’t give me much choice. And he did have a point. I had all night to think about that. I left the WB to him years ago. I left him to deal with Dad then, and I’ve even kept away since Dad died. Can’t tell you how many birthdays, Christmases, summers I’ve missed, visiting the family, so a few days shouldn’t have to matter. Won’t be long,” he added. “Then there’s my mom. I wouldn’t leave her to cope with the ranch alone.”
“Are you mad, Mommy? You look mad.” Teddie was frowning at her. “Why? I think he likes us.”
“I do,” Noah said, looking at Teddie, not her, as if the two of them had already forged a friendship. As if, right now, Noah needed a friend. “While I’m here, if it’s all right with your mother, maybe you’ll come visit someday, short stuff. My mom’s always ready for company.”
“Can I, Mommy?”
“We’ll see.” Kate blinked. Was Noah baiting her? She had her own opinion of him, which, after all, hadn’t changed. She’d hoped he was passing through when now, it seemed, he would be here at least for a short time. She hoped Willow would return soon. “Teddie, come on. Aunt Meg will be waiting. We need to drive into town.”
He turned in his tiny saddle. “No, we don’t. She already got groceries.”
“I said, let’s go. Please don’t argue.” She handed Noah his reins. “Can you ride? I mean are you okay to ride home.”
“I’m sure not walking all the way back,” he said, massaging his leg again. “I’ll manage.”
With a light touch of the reins against Lady’s neck, Kate turned her mare toward home. In the opposite direction. Although Noah was an attractive guy, and there was nothing sweeter to her than a man who was kind to a child—her child, in this case—she couldn’t overlook Noah’s part in Rob’s death. She didn’t want him here now, and Kate vowed to keep her distance from him.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she heard Teddie say and glanced back. He was still sitting there on his pony, petting Spencer and staring at Noah with a little smile, which Noah returned.
“Thanks. Nice to meet you.” He and Teddie were on their best behavior when Kate wanted to spur her horse and hightail it back to the barn—as if a faster pace were possible in the snow. Her son watched Noah shift his lopsided saddle, tighten the cinch, then flip the reins he held over Midnight’s head into place. With a soft grunt and the creak of leather, a jingle of brass, he climbed into the saddle.
Kate stopped her horse. Had he been saving his pride until she was out of sight? Maybe he was hurt worse than he’d claimed. Should she accompany him to the WB— In that, he
might be like Rob, who’d never wanted to show any weakness. But why worry about Noah Bodine? She would not, Kate told herself. Still, she didn’t go on until she saw that he was able to ride.
Then she trotted on a short way, hoping Teddie would catch up so she didn’t have to go back for him, wishing she’d stayed home this morning in her nice, warm house. She needed to avoid any further chance meetings with Noah.
She was about to use her best Mom voice when Teddie finally started toward her.
They were nearly home, trotting into the barnyard, before he spoke again. “Why don’t you like Noah?”
“I don’t need to like him, Bunny. He isn’t staying here. He lives far away.”
He gazed up at her, owlishly. “Where you went to the wedding?”
“Close enough,” she hedged, ruffling his hair again. “Now, Mr. Twenty Questions, how about we make some lunch?”
But Teddie wasn’t done. He rarely was, and Kate had been fielding questions from the time he said his first words, her little boy whose pediatrician had recently called him a genius—and meant that literally. Way beyond a four-year-old’s normal innate interest in the world, Teddie’s acute mind never stopped working. He saw everything. At the moment, he saw too much, and his curiosity knew no limits. Neither did his firm conviction that, one day, Rob would walk through their front door.
Kate’s hands tightened on her reins at his next question, which she’d dreaded. She heard some variation of Teddie’s fantasy every day.
“Mommy. Does Noah know where my daddy lives?”
Kate couldn’t come up with an answer. There was none that would satisfy Teddie, except to have his dad home again. In her mind, the issue was very different. Kate missed Rob, at least most of what they’d had together, but she already knew—and accepted—that he wouldn’t ever hold her again, kiss her or talk about planning the rest of their family. Never roll around on the living room floor with Teddie while he tickled him and Teddie roared with laughter.
Why, in the midst of that sad reality, had Noah come back into her life? Whether he wore a suit or a pair of jeans, and no matter how good he looked, she definitely needed to avoid him. Not only for her son’s sake.
CHAPTER FOUR
“GOOD HEAVENS. WHAT happened to you?” Noah’s mother had rushed into the kitchen as soon as he’d opened the back door and limped into the house. He hadn’t seen her when he arrived last night while she was staying in town.
“Midnight happened,” he said. “Nobody warned me that Zach’s horse can be a killer.”
“Why on earth did you try to ride him?” She pulled out a chair. “Here. Sit down before you fall down.”
Noah didn’t argue. The ride home after he’d met up with Kate and her son had been slow torture. At least the stallion had shown him some mercy, but Noah hadn’t trusted him not to throw him again. He’d left the also-tired horse in the barn with one of the hands to be cooled down and groomed. By then, Noah had been gasping, defenseless against the pain that now radiated from his ankle and up his leg. It certainly wasn’t numb any longer.
“If I’d known you were coming, Noah, I would have stayed home.” Her still-blond hair flying, she bustled around the room, taking a bag of peas from the freezer, grabbing a clean towel from a drawer and clucking her tongue the whole time.
Jean Bodine was the WB’s matriarch, the glue that had always held this ranch, and their family, together. As she lifted his throbbing ankle and slapped the improvised ice bag on it, he managed, “Hey, Mom. Good to see you too.”
She stepped back, hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
“Zach asked the same question.”
“Yes, and it’s a good one. Noah Andrew Bodine, we haven’t seen you since—”
“I know, Dad’s funeral.” He said it for her because any mention of his father must still be more painful for her than his hurting ankle was to Noah. He could see tears in her eyes.
“Then not to turn up for Willow’s wedding—”
“Inexcusable.” He tried to explain his unexpected trip to London at exactly the wrong time for Willow. “I hope you can forgive me.”
Her eyes, a softer hazel than his or Zach’s, softened. “You know I do.” She leaned over to hug him, and he could feel the beat of her heart against him. “How could I not forgive my firstborn son? It’s wonderful to have you home.”
“Thanks, but Zach didn’t share your opinion.”
“No, he wouldn’t. Is that why he and Cass took off before dawn?”
“Partly. I think he really wanted to stick me with the WB until Willow gets back.”
She gave him a wistful smile. “Wait till you see her with Cody. I’ve never known Willow to be this happy—even when she and Cody were together before. Maybe their breakup—and his determination to reform his wild ways—produced more good than even I’d hoped.”
He grinned. “And you’re already looking for that first grandchild, aren’t you?”
“Guilty.” She ruffled his hair. “So, you’re managing the ranch after all.”
“For a few days. Willow’s cruise gets back to Miami next Sunday, right?”
So, he’d spend a week all told on the WB again, then go back to his real life, to J&B and that talk with Margot about their relationship. Far away from Kate Lancaster and her cute little boy, if not his own memories of Rob lying on the pavement in New York, bleeding. If it weren’t for Noah, she believed her husband would still be alive. He couldn’t say she was totally wrong.
“Willow sent me a text from the ship,” Jean said. “She doesn’t know you’re here.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No, until I got home this morning, I hadn’t seen you yet, and I couldn’t know how you wanted to handle this—she really wanted you here for the wedding, Noah.”
He tried again to explain, which only ended up sounding as if he put business before his sister’s happiness. Without intending to, he actually had. That apology would be the hardest of all to make.
“I do hope you weren’t inadvertently punishing Willow, staying away because of the break with your father years ago.”
“Not that I’m aware of, and I am sorry, Mom.”
“Well, I imagine Zach made this family’s disappointment clear enough.” She turned away, and Noah saw her dab at her eyes. “You missed a beautiful wedding. If only Dad could have walked her down that aisle, danced with her...”
With a fresh twinge of guilt, he touched her shoulder. “Hey. I’m sure he was there in spirit. He always doted on Willow.” So had Noah. He waited until his mom turned back. “How could he miss that?”
She managed a laugh. “Can you just see him? His chest all puffed out, his eyes, so blue, and sparkling?”
“Complaining the whole time about the cost of the thing.”
“Yes, he would have.” Then she sobered. “Noah, I wish you and he had made peace before he died. He did love you so.”
Noah couldn’t call that love. “Not that he ever let it show.”
“I know he could be difficult, but please try to understand. His fondest dream—”
Noah had a bitter taste in his mouth. “Was to see me take over this ranch.” That was all that had mattered to his dad. So why, after their final argument, had he willed a part of the WB to Noah? Maybe it’s time you earned that, Zach had said.
Their mom hesitated. “And I know that wasn’t the right choice for you.”
The words were like a punch to the heart. She’d forgiven him twice today, which he didn’t deserve, and he hadn’t spent time with her like this, just the two of them talking, in the past fifteen years except for the one visit she’d made solo to see him in New York after he’d first met Margot. His father had stayed home.
As if she’d read his mind, she said, “I wouldn’t trade the WB for that city if someone tried to force me,
but I’m proud of you, honey. You’ve made such a success of that company you started on a shoestring, and that’s only the beginning.”
“I started J&B in part with an investment from you.”
“A small one.”
His father would have been livid.
“You never told him, did you?”
She shook her head. “I should have. We had no other secrets from each other, but I’m still glad I could help you out. You were living then in that tiny studio apartment in the old building above the subway, remember, existing on noodles and oatmeal—”
Noah murmured, “I could afford a fast-food burger occasionally.”
“Now you’re in that gorgeous high-rise condo with its own elevator that opens right into your entryway. Didn’t Margot help you with the interior design?”
“She did.” Uh-oh. Here it comes.
“How is she? I enjoyed my visit with you both before your father took ill.”
He hadn’t taken sick. He’d dropped dead of a sudden heart attack without warning. And his mom’s tone had been dry as it always was whenever she mentioned Margot.
“You enjoyed that visit?”
She glanced away. “Yes, of course. You showed me Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Chrysler and Empire State buildings, and I’ll never forget that glorious dinner we had at... What was the name of the restaurant?”
“Gramercy Tavern.”
“Where you told me the wait time for reservations could be three months, yet we just walked in as we would at the Bon Appetit or the café here—and they fell all over themselves to seat us right away.”
“Margot and I go there quite a bit.” Thanks to her father’s influence.
A short silence told Noah his mother wouldn’t ask the real question. Are you going to marry her? He knew his mother didn’t like Margot, but she was too polite to say so, which said more than any words might. “Yes, we’re still seeing each other, Mom, but the launch of the new London office takes up most of my time right now.”
The change of subject apparently suited them both.