He heard her move from the post and walk across the porch to the front door. When at last it closed behind her, he let out a long, shaky breath. Sleep well. What a laugh.
7
LEIGH WAS DETERMINED that the trip to the corrals the next morning would be a good experience for Kyle. If Joe wasn’t satisfied with the way everything turned out, that was too damn bad. Joe needed an attitude adjustment, and she was just the woman to give him one.
All three of them rode down in her truck with Kyle sitting between Leigh and Joe. She’d located a couple of fishing poles and lures that Chase Lavette had used on his last expedition to the pond, and Belinda had packed them all a lunch, just in case Kyle agreed to the trail ride. But Joe would not force the issue. Not on her watch, she’d decided.
“Do you think Penny Lover could have her baby today?” Kyle asked as the truck bounced along the road, rattling the fishing poles in the back.
“I don’t know,” Leigh said. “After I check her this morning, I’ll be able to tell you.”
“I wish she would. I’ve never seen a real baby horse before.” Kyle looked up at Joe. “Have you, Dad?”
“Just in the movies,” Joe said.
“They’re pretty cute,” Leigh said, “trying to stand on those wobbly legs, their stubby little tails wiggling around for balance. As far as I’m concerned, the birth of a foal is the most exciting thing that happens on the True Love.”
“I think so, too,” Kyle said, his voice full of reverence. As they reached the corrals and Leigh stopped the truck, he scrambled to his knees, digging the toe of his boot into her thigh in the process. “Which one is she?”
“You can’t see her too well from here. I have her in one of the far corrals by herself.” She opened her door. “Ready?”
“Yep.”
Leigh smiled to herself. The afternoon spent with Dexter had made an impression. Kyle was beginning to sound like a cowboy. Except for the Spock ears, he looked like any other little boy who’d grown up on a ranch, with his red plaid Western shirt and a belt cinching his jeans tight so they wouldn’t slide down over his skinny hips. But when his booted feet hit the ground, his city roots became obvious. A ranch boy would have taken off running for the corrals. Kyle looked over at the milling herd of horses, which looked more imposing now that he was out of the truck. He shrank back and grabbed Leigh’s hand.
She wished he’d grabbed Joe’s hand instead. Joe had his stoic mask in place, as if he hadn’t noticed Kyle’s gesture, but she’d bet money he had, and was hurt by it. The day Joe Gilardini surrendered completely to his human emotions would be a glorious one indeed. Leigh wondered if she’d be around to see it.
Leigh gave Kyle’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s go see Penny Lover.”
Kyle nodded, too overwhelmed by his surroundings to speak.
When they neared the corral, the Appaloosa spotted Leigh and shoved her nose over the fence. Leigh fed her a carrot from her pocket and scratched behind the horse’s ear. “How’s my little mother today? I brought you some visitors.”
“All I can see is her head,” Kyle complained.
Leigh had anticipated that Kyle wouldn’t be able to see over the solid mesquite fence, but she’d decided against picking him up. Like any young animal, he needed to start learning how to get around on his own.
“Here’s how you climb up, Kyle.” She demonstrated by placing her foot in a crevice and pulling herself up.
Kyle looked at her doubtfully. “I might fall.”
“Not if you choose your footholds carefully. You can do it.”
Kyle took a deep breath and stepped up to the fence. His progress was slow, but Leigh resisted the urge to help. At one point, she glanced at Joe. He returned her glance and mouthed the word thanks. She felt inordinately pleased with herself.
Kyle reached the top and peered over. “Wow, she’s fat.”
Leigh and Joe laughed, and Penny Lover tossed her head.
“She won’t be fat much longer,” Leigh said. Unlatching the gate, she slipped inside the corral, another piece of carrot handy to calm the horse. “Easy, girl. She’s a Blanket-hip Appaloosa,” she explained as she stroked Penny Lover’s swollen belly. “That means the front part of her is solid, in this case brown, and her rump and hips are flecked with white.”
“Will her baby look like that?” Kyle asked.
“I sure hope so. That’s the gamble. We never know if the offspring will carry the Appaloosa markings or not.” She took another piece of carrot from her jeans pocket and walked toward Kyle. Penny Lover followed. “Want to give her a piece of carrot?”
Fear and yearning vied in his blue gaze.
“She won’t bite you. Just hold your hand flat and she’ll take the carrot off with her lips.”
Slowly Kyle extended his hand, palm up, and Leigh placed the carrot in the center. Penny Lover’s ears pricked forward and she took a step toward Kyle. He jerked his hand back. Joe, leaning against the fence, sighed, and Leigh could have kicked him.
“Keep your hand steady,” Leigh instructed. “Carrots are like candy to her. Give her a piece of carrot and she’ll love you forever.”
Eyes wide, Kyle extended his hand again. Penny Lover walked forward, her nostrils flared.
“She looks scary,” Kyle said. But he didn’t move his hand.
Leigh’s voice became almost a croon. “She won’t hurt you. Easy. Easy. That’s it.”
The Appaloosa stretched her lips over the carrot and picked it up.
Kyle giggled and snatched his hand away. “She tickled me.” Then he gazed with pride as Penny Lover crunched the carrot between her teeth. “Is that good, Penny Lover?” The horse tossed her head, and Kyle giggled again. “Can you tell if she’ll have her baby today?” he asked.
Leigh had been evaluating Penny Lover the entire time she’d been inside the pen. “I doubt if it will be today,” she said.
“Aw,” Kyle said, his face cloudy with disappointment.
“Since she won’t have her baby today, how about a picnic?” Leigh suggested as she let herself out of the corral and latched it behind her.
Kyle called a last goodbye to Penny Lover and climbed carefully down from his perch. “Where?”
“There’s a beautiful little canyon with a pond not far from here. We could all go if you want.”
Kyle looked at Joe. “Do you want to?”
To his credit, Joe tried to appear nonchalant. “Sure.”
“How will we get there?”
He was a smart little kid, Leigh thought. “We’ll take a trail ride.”
Kyle shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“You could ride the horse I had yesterday,” Joe said. “Mikey’s very gentle. You’d like him.”
Kyle shook his head again.
“What if you rode Mikey with me?” Joe asked. “I could make sure you don’t fall.”
Kyle stood for a long moment, considering. “I’d ride with Leigh,” he said at last.
Leigh’s heart wrenched at the sadness that flashed in Joe’s eyes before he covered it with his usual calm expression. “Okay,” he said.
Leigh crouched next to Kyle. “Your dad’s a terrific rider,” she said. “Why don’t you—”
“I said it was okay,” Joe interrupted. “Now let’s get going.”
* * *
HIS SON WAS on a horse. Joe tried to take comfort in that as he followed Leigh and Kyle up the narrow trail into Rogue Canyon. The trouble was, Leigh was responsible for all the progress with Kyle. She had the pregnant mare that had lured Kyle to the corrals and she’d been the one to coax Kyle to climb the fence and feed carrots to Penny Lover. Now Kyle was riding a horse because he trusted Leigh to keep him from falling off. Joe was glad for all of it if that meant Kyle would begin to love the ranch, but as Leigh skillfully handled each situation with Kyle, Joe’s feelings of inadequacy deepened. If there was one emotion Joe hated more than any other, it was that one.
Both fishing poles we
re stashed in his saddlebags. With his luck, Leigh would be a better fisherman than he was too. It was a petty thought and he brushed it aside, irritated with himself. He was probably looking for a reason to be upset with Leigh so he could distance himself from her. After their encounter on the porch, he’d tossed and turned all night. It was against his personal policy to become entangled in a relationship as complicated as this one threatened to be.
Along the trail he watched Leigh carefully as she pointed out the scarred acres blackened by the brushfire a month earlier. She seemed genuinely distressed by the destruction, but he wasn’t letting her off the hook yet. He’d keep watching her, along with Freddy, Belinda and Duane. Somebody would get careless eventually.
The horses picked their way up into the canyon, their hooves clipping the rocks embedded in the trail. Joe took off his hat and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. The humidity from yesterday’s rain turned the canyon into a giant sauna, but Joe didn’t mind the heat. Better canyon walls than New York skyscrapers, better a hawk circling in the breeze than a flock of pigeons. Despite all his emotional turmoil since he’d arrived, he didn’t regret a penny of his investment.
At last a bouquet of green farther up the canyon announced the location of the pond. When they rounded another bend, Joe could make out the rock-and-earth dam that sat astride the dry creek bed. Leigh urged Pussywillow up a steep bank to the right of the dam and he followed on Mikey, who smelled the water and nickered.
“Look, Dad!” Kyle pointed with excitement to the pond cradled by the dam. Its surface caught the reflection of cobalt sky and a crowd of majestic cottonwoods rimming the oasis. An orange dragonfly skimmed the water and barely escaped the fish leaping after it.
“Looks great, Kyle.” Joe noted the size of the fish and immediately picked out two spots for casting—the sandy beach on the left side of the pond and a large rock on the back side. From either spot he should be able to avoid the reeds that swayed on the pond’s far right bank.
Nudging Mikey, he rode up beside Leigh and dismounted, dropping the reins to the ground. “I’ll take Kyle,” he said, ducking under Mikey’s neck and reaching for his son. Kyle came into his arms without hesitation, and his heart jerked with pleasure. “How’d you like the ride, buddy?” he asked as he set him on the ground.
“It was awesome!”
Joe flashed a smile at Leigh. It didn’t really matter that she’d been the one to bring Kyle up here. They’d made it, and Kyle would be more than ready to go again. He returned to Mikey and opened the saddlebag. “Hey, Kyle, ready to do some fishing?”
“Okay.”
Joe’s happiness quotient increased. A day fishing with his son. Everything was going to be fine, just fine.
Leigh dismounted and opened her saddlebag. “I’ll set up the picnic under that cottonwood tree, and we can eat whenever you want to.”
Joe suddenly realized he’d only brought two poles. How stupid. “Do you want to fish? You can have one pole and Kyle can have the other. I really don’t need to—”
“Don’t be silly. You two go do your thing. I’ll sit over here and be lazy. I brought a book, anyway.”
He wondered if it was the same one he’d found in the glove compartment of her truck. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” She gave him that mysterious, mind-bending smile of hers, the one that knocked him right on his rear. With that smile alone, she made him want her.
“Okay. Come on, Kyle. You’re going to love this.” As he assembled the poles and threaded the line, he wondered why he hadn’t thought earlier of fishing as an activity to share with Kyle. There was nothing scary about fishing. Just a lot of thinking time, talking time. He attached a lure for Kyle and helped him cast the line out into the water.
“Now what?” Kyle asked.
“I’ll cast mine out, and we’ll sit and wait for the fish to come.”
“Oh.” Kyle stood patiently holding his pole while Joe got his line in the water. When Joe sat, Kyle sat, in exact imitation.
“Did you see how that horse Penny Lover took my carrot?” Kyle asked.
“I sure did.”
“Horse lips feel funny.” Kyle sat there staring at the water for a while. “I wonder what cow lips feel like. Or elephant lips.”
“Or bird lips.”
Kyle glanced at him, then saw he was teasing and laughed. “Bird lips. What about...” His rolled his eyes and pursed his mouth. “What about bug lips?”
“Don’t you think ladybugs have lips?”
“No!” Kyle laughed again. Still smiling, he gazed across the pond. “I like this, Dad.”
“Good. Me, too.” Joe glanced over at Leigh, propped against the tree reading her book. She’d taken off her hat and sunlight filtered down through the leaves to dapple her golden hair. Joe’s heart swelled with gratitude, and something else that was linked to desire, but wasn’t quite the same. Something he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
“She’s a nice lady,” Kyle said.
Joe brought his attention back to Kyle, who had noticed the direction of his glance. “Yes, she is.”
“I think—”
But Joe never learned what Kyle thought. Kyle screeched as his fishing rod was nearly jerked from his hands.
“You’ve got a fish! Hold tight! Leigh, come hold my rod!” Joe didn’t understand her peal of laughter until much later. He was too busy issuing instructions to Kyle to notice sexual innuendos.
“It’s pulling really hard, Dad!” Kyle had staggered to his feet and was struggling to hold on.
Leigh arrived and Joe handed her his fishing pole. Then he crouched behind Kyle and wrapped his hands around Kyle’s. “We’ll pull him in gradually. Let me help you turn the reel. That’s it.” Joe’s voice quivered with excitement. His son’s first catch, and he was there. Maybe they should have the fish mounted.
“He’s jumping around, Dad. Here he comes! Here he comes!”
Joe reached for the line and hauled in the bass, a respectable size for a first catch. He held it suspended by the gills as its tail flipped wildly back and forth. “A beauty, Kyle. You did great.” He bestowed a proud smile on his son. Then he blinked. Kyle’s face was white, his eyes wide with horror. “What’s wrong, buddy? This is a great fish!”
“The hook’s through his mouth, Dad! And he can’t breathe. He’s dying!”
“Kyle, it’s a fish. We catch fish. We eat fish.”
“Not me!”
“Where do you think fish sticks come from? Or those tuna sandwiches you like?”
“They don’t look like that!”
“Once they did.”
Kyle’s lower lip quivered. “Put him back, Dad. Please. Take the hook out and put him back, so he can breathe.”
Although Joe had his back to Leigh, he could feel her eyes on him. Hell, he could hear that soft, compelling voice of hers inside his head telling him to release the fish. She should stand by him on this. She lived on a ranch, for God’s sake. Where did Kyle think hamburgers came from?
A tear dribbled down Kyle’s cheek, making a track in the dust he’d picked up on the trail. “Please, Daddy.”
Joe blew out a long, exasperated breath. The hook was imbedded pretty deep. As he tried to work it free, the bass jerked and he jabbed his thumb. Cursing under his breath he kept working, his blood mingling with that of the fish. Finally, the hook was out, and he tossed the fish back into the pond with a loud splash. It flipped its tail and disappeared beneath the surface. Kyle let out a gigantic sigh and plopped to the sand as if his legs wouldn’t hold him another minute.
“I guess that’s it for fishing,” Joe said as he turned to Leigh. “I might as well reel that line in, too.”
She handed him the fishing pole with a sympathetic glance.
“I’m leaving the issue of cows up to you,” he said in an undertone.
She shrugged and gave him a small smile.
“Don’t tell me you’re a vegetarian.”
“Pretty much.�
�
“Swell. What’s for lunch, cucumber sandwiches?”
“Roast beef for you, cheese for me and peanut butter and jelly for Kyle.” She walked over to where Kyle sat on the sand and stared at the water. “The fish will be okay, Kyle.”
“I sure hope so.”
“Come on and help me get the sandwiches out.” Leigh glanced up at the sky. “The clouds are moving in, so we’d better eat and mount up.”
Joe looked up at the thunderheads forming against the mountains at the end of the canyon. After yesterday, he accorded them a lot of respect. He reeled in the line quickly and hurried to where Leigh had lunch laid out. “You’re right,” he said to her, tipping his head toward the clouds. “We’d better eat and run.”
“I think we can stay ahead of it.”
“Good. One encounter with lightning is enough for me.”
She caught his eye for a moment and then quickly looked away again. “I understand.”
He knew from her expression she’d read more into what he’d said than he’d intended. “I’m a simple man, Leigh. Don’t look for hidden meanings.”
Kyle gazed at his father. He hadn’t spoken directly to him since they’d let the fish go. “What are you talking about, Dad?”
Joe couldn’t imagine how he could give Kyle an explanation that would make any sense to a seven-year-old, so he didn’t try. “Nothing, Kyle.”
“Oh.” Kyle returned his attention to his sandwich.
“Your dad thought I misunderstood him, but I don’t think I did,” Leigh said. “Now finish your sandwich quickly so we can get going. He’s right. We don’t want to get caught in the storm.”
Moments later, as Joe was stashing the poles in the saddlebag, he thought he saw something move beyond the trees. A deer? He peered through the foliage, but whatever it was seemed to be gone. He turned to Leigh, who was mounting up. “Do you have deer up in this canyon?”
“A few. Why?”
“I may have just seen one.”
“A deer?” Kyle gazed around. “Where?”
“It would be unusual to see a deer this time of day,” Leigh said. “They prefer early morning or twilight.”
“I must have been mistaken,” Joe said. “Come on, buddy, and I’ll lift you up in front of Leigh.” He decided against suggesting Kyle ride down with him. No matter what he tried to do with the boy, it never worked out right. Apparently, he wasn’t cut out to be a father to a boy like Kyle.
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