The Cowboy's Little Surprise

by Barbara White Daille

  As he closed the door behind him, Tina put her arm around Abuela’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I never told you.”

  “It’s not that. I don’t like seeing the hurt in your eyes.”

  “I hurt you and Abuelo.”

  “And I did the same to you both by not telling Jed about you. It’s better for Robbie that Cole knows the truth. Trust me.”

  She did trust Abuela.

  But could she say the same about Cole?

  Chapter Ten

  Tina left the hotel by the kitchen door and went out to the back porch.

  In the days after her talk with Abuela and Jed, she hadn’t known what reactions to expect from them once the shock of her announcement had worn off. Reproach, cold shoulders or, on the other hand, even more of the love they had always showered on her and Robbie.

  As it turned out, she had noticed no difference at all in the way they behaved with her and Robbie or how they acted toward Cole.

  Jed was sitting in a porch rocker, keeping an eye on Robbie and Pete’s daughter, Rachel, who were playing by the benches near the corral. Even from here, she could hear their voices raised in whatever game they were playing.

  Jane and Andi and her kids had gone into town for lunch, and on the way back to the ranch, they planned to pick up Scott.

  “I’ll go see how those two are doing,” she offered.

  “Between me here and Cole over there, we’ve been making a good job of it. But suit yourself.”

  She went down the porch steps. As she neared the kids, the noise level of their play increased. Judging by the sounds, they seemed to be pretending to be monsters.

  Over by the barn, Cole and another hand stood grooming a couple of the horses.

  As she crossed the yard, Cole looked up. He dropped his sponge into his bucket and began to cut across the corral.

  Her heart skipped a couple of beats, but her pace didn’t falter noticeably. She hoped.

  She and Cole had continued to work together while giving the riding lessons, but they hadn’t had time to talk the way they had during the first session. In fact, they hadn’t had any time alone together since then. She hadn’t yet told him her grandparents now knew he was Robbie’s father.

  He had enough to deal with.

  Though, at the moment, as he propped one boot on the lowest rail and smiled at her over the top rail, he looked as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

  “What do you think?” he asked, gesturing toward Robbie and Rachel.

  They had draped an old drop cloth across two of the benches. Except for one gaping area, the edges of the drop cloth had been weighted down with rocks. The sounds of roars and screeches came from beneath the cloth.

  “I think I must have watched the wrong channel on television this morning,” she said. “They didn’t say anything about needing to take cover from a tornado.”

  “Very funny,” Cole said. Looking smug, he explained, “It’s not a shelter, it’s a cave. They started out as wilderness campers and have gone on to become lions in their den.”

  “And I’m guessing you came up with the idea?”

  “I sure did. Gave them some training in lion roars, too.”

  “Thanks for that,” she said drily. “A word of advice, if you don’t mind.”

  “You’re the expert,” he said with a grin that made her pulse race.

  “When they play indoors, the camping scenario will keep them much quieter.”

  “Yeah, you’ve got a point there.” More roars almost drowned out his voice. “Hey, guys!”

  Rachel and Robbie looked out from beneath the cloth-shrouded benches.

  “Lions need to check out the jungle once in a while. It’s thataway.” He pointed toward the swing set in Rachel’s yard.

  Roaring, the pair took off in that direction.

  He had made good progress with the kids in the past few days. She had to give him that. He was still trying. “The new idea isn’t bad. For outdoors, of course. Very inventive.”

  “I have my moments.” He laughed, low and deep and too danged sexy for his own good. And for hers.

  She took a step backward. “I need to go talk with Jed.”

  “Is it me or the lions?”

  She stared at him. “What?”

  “All of a sudden, you jumped as if something had scared you.”

  “Oh.” Ashamed of the reaction, she forced a smile. “It was the lions. You really did a very good job of training them.”

  “I’ll add it to my résumé.” Grinning, he touched the brim of his Stetson.

  As she made her way across the yard again, she was conscious of his gaze on her. But by the time she took a seat on the porch step, he had gone back to his work.

  She rubbed her temples.

  “Your head hurt?” Jed asked. His rocker was just a few feet from her. She turned and smiled at him. A genuine smile.

  “Just a bit.” The nagging headache had begun what seemed like days ago, and the conversation with Cole had only made it worse.

  He might have plenty to deal with right now, but so did she. Along with everything else, she didn’t need to find herself fighting an attraction for him. But that’s just what she was doing...had been doing, for longer than she wanted to admit.

  “I keep telling you, you work too hard. You need to get together with the girls—”

  “—and take them on the next tour.” Somehow, he didn’t consider that work. “It’s on the agenda for this afternoon, Abuelo.”

  “Good.” He smiled in satisfaction and continued rocking.

  Of course, he would want Jane to check out any good views for photos for the website. She could understand that. But their destinations for the tour—the wedding chapel and the small cabins adjacent to it—had all been unused for so long, she had hoped Jed wouldn’t think to add them to the list for their second tour.

  No such luck.

  “We’ll have things pulled together before we know it,” he said.

  “Well...yes, but the renovations are going to take some time.” And money they didn’t have.

  “I know that, especially with everything we’re fixin’ to do. But I’ll make sure the girls are ready to do their parts just as soon as you give me the word.”

  “Good.” She struggled to sound enthusiastic.

  While he had been captivated by Jane and Andi’s ideas for the hotel, she still felt unhappy about the extravagant changes they had proposed. She had a list of her own, this one of local contractors. Maybe fresh paint and new curtains would satisfy her cousins. With luck, they would agree to her modifications of their plans before they shared any other costly ideas with Jed.

  When she had tried again to discuss the hotel budget with him, he had almost brushed away her concerns.

  “You know,” she reminded him, “we haven’t got enough in the hotel account to cover everything Jane and Andi have mentioned. Unless you want to take out a bank loan—”

  “You know how I feel about borrowed money,” he grumbled.

  “I do. Then whatever renovations you make will have to be done in stages.”

  “Yeah, so you said.” He nodded. “And as I told you, I’ve got complete confidence you’ll get the job done.”

  She swallowed a sigh. It wasn’t Jed’s confidence she would need. But she was in this for him. To pull her weight with the project and to give him his dream. She had to find a way to do that...without putting them into bankruptcy.

  “Kids seem to be having a good time out there.”

  “Yes.” She looked again at the “den” they had made. Then her gaze went to Cole.

  “You and Cole seem to be hitting it off, too.”

  She straightened. “Has he said that?”

  “Nope. Didn’t have to. My eyes might not work as well as they once did, but I can still see things that happen right in front of my nose. And what I saw just now was the two of you getting along just fine. Maybe we’ll need that wedding chapel ready sooner than you think.”

  Her
vision blurred as she stared out toward the barn. She tried to respond, but her throat felt so tight, she wasn’t sure she could swallow, let alone say a word.

  Long seconds later, she finally managed to find her voice. “I knew something was up with you, Jed.” Resting back against the porch rail, she turned to face him. “You’re the most wonderful man I know, and you have a bigger heart than anyone I’ve ever met. But it wasn’t just out of the goodness of your big heart that you hired Cole and asked him to stay here in the hotel, was it?”

  He wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  She rose and walked over to stand beside the rocker.

  After a moment, he looked up. Deep lines bracketed his blue eyes.

  She rested her hand on his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Don’t worry, Abuelo. I know you and Abuela want everything to work out right for Robbie. But that’s something only Cole and I can handle. And I need you to step back and let us handle it.”

  Unfortunately, as sincere as it had been, that last comment only made her recall the way she had stepped back from Cole.

  * * *

  FOOTSTEPS IN THE lobby followed by the sound of familiar female voices alerted Cole that Tina and her cousins had returned to the hotel. He rested against the sitting room sofa, crossed his arms over his chest and stretched his legs out in front of him, ankles crossed. And he waited.

  The three women had taken a trip around the hotel the day before. Today, Jed told him, they had expanded the tour, going outside to inspect the wedding chapel and a couple of the small cabins situated near the hotel.

  When the women reached the registration desk, he saw Tina wielding a notepad and pencil like a shield and a dangerous weapon. Still, her expression looked a little less guarded than usual.

  Other than their brief conversation yesterday, they hadn’t had time alone again since the afternoon at the corral a few days ago. And what an afternoon that had been.

  He’d had plenty of time to get a good view of her as she’d walked the pony around the enclosure. Plenty of opportunities to watch that long braid of hers switching back and forth across hips covered in tight-fitting jeans. For a while there, his body had gotten so tight below his belt, he hadn’t trusted he could walk normally.

  Then later, they had talked and he had seen the look in her eyes. As always, they told him everything she had on her mind. That afternoon, they had been saying she wasn’t nearly as immune to him as she pretended.

  But that was a road he had no intention of traveling, no matter how much he liked the view ahead.

  What he needed with Tina was a cordial relationship. And some time to finally take care of their current business.

  The three women entered the room.

  “Everything’s looking good in here,” Jane said.

  “Yep. Things are just fine.”

  Layne had taken extra hours at SugarPie’s tonight, so he had gone into town to pick up his nephew. The three boys had a car race underway in the lobby. They sent their cars zooming past the women and into one corner of the sitting room.

  “A man who knows what he’s doing around kids,” Andi said. “I’m impressed.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” He grinned.

  Tina said nothing. She looked peeved, but whether at her cousins’ comments or his responses, he didn’t know.

  The other two women settled into a couple of chairs, which left Tina on her feet in the doorway and the couch beside him wide open. He patted the cushion. “No sense standing,” he told her. “It’ll make conversation awkward.”

  Andi and Jane had their backs toward her, which left her free to shoot daggers at him with her eyes.

  Still, she came to take the seat beside him.

  Making sure to keep his gaze focused on the other women, he said, “To tell you the truth, I’m pretty impressed with myself. And I’m feeling the need to celebrate.”

  He put his arm around Tina’s shoulders in a very brotherly way, much as he would have with Layne.

  Nothing at all like with his sister, she trembled.

  Oh, yeah. Not nearly as immune to him as she let on.

  “With all the help Tina’s given me with the kids, I really feel I ought to take her out for supper.”

  Beneath his arm, her shoulders went rigid.

  “That’s a great idea,” Andi said. “Why don’t you go tonight? Jane and I can watch the boys.”

  “Me?” Jane asked.

  “Yes, you. We need the time together, anyhow. We still have a lot to catch up on.”

  “No,” Tina blurted. “I mean, thanks, but there’s no need for Cole to take me out to dinner.”

  “Oh, there’s definitely a need.” He waited till she looked at him. “We have a lot to catch up on, too.”

  “Go ahead, Tina,” Andi urged.

  Tina leaned down to pick up a car that had rolled to a stop against the coffee table. As she moved, his hand trailed across her shoulders. He didn’t care for her skill in slipping away from him. And he enjoyed the touch more than he should have.

  Both reactions told him how much he’d been fooling himself. He wanted to go down that road with the tempting view.

  “Thanks,” she said to the women, “but you’re both here to visit, not to work. You’re doing enough already with planning for the renovations.”

  Andi laughed. “Don’t worry about it. You know no matter what I said to Jane, Grandpa will be doing most of the work watching the kids. Which reminds me, I really ought to give him a break now. If I can find him.” She stood.

  “Check the kitchen,” Cole told her.

  Jane’s face lit up. “Then, I’ll go with you. Paz might still have some of that cheesecake we had for lunch. And we’ll let her know we’ll have two fewer people at dinner tonight.”

  The minute they were left alone—except for the boys in the lobby, of course—Tina jumped up as if the couch had caught fire. Hands on her hips right where he wanted to put his hands, she glared at him. “You didn’t give me a chance to say no,” she said in a low voice.

  “That’s right. Me or your cousins. They know a good idea when they hear one.”

  “You’d be surprised how unworkable their ideas are. So is this one. You should have stopped at the lion’s den.”

  Damn. She’d also perfected the skill of throwing a low blow.

  “Unworkable?” He shrugged. “I was thinking my ideas were just the opposite. As in the way I’m putting in hours at my day job. Bringing Scott here to hang out with the boys. Spending time with him while I’m getting to know Robbie. That was the deal, wasn’t it?”

  She didn’t respond.

  “Besides, we’ve got the sitters all lined up.” He tried for a smile. “So, tell me, ma’am, what’s your pleasure for this evening?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Tina watched as Cole grimaced and ran his thumb along the edge of his plate.

  “I don’t believe this,” he muttered.

  “You wanted this,” she countered, swallowing a nerve-induced giggle.

  He looked at her thoughtfully. “You always give a man—”

  —what he wants?

  The words hung in the air. She knew exactly why he had cut himself off. Unwilling to help him, she said nothing. But she wondered. Putting his arm around her as they’d sat on the couch at the Hitching Post... Insisting they needed to catch up...

  Just what did he want from her?

  The thought made her grab her glass of sweet tea for something steady to hold on to. She couldn’t believe this situation, either. Dinner. A night out. A date with the father of her child—the man who had once left her in the dust.

  She had accepted his invitation for an entire list of reasons. Not analytical reasons, she was ashamed to admit, but a list of purely emotional ifs.

  If Andi and Jane hadn’t pressed her, insisting they would babysit and claiming they needed the time to reconnect.

  If that statement hadn’t once again left her on the outside looking in at them.


  If turning down Andi’s perfect excuse for her to accept Cole’s invitation wouldn’t have made her look foolish.

  If Jane’s interest in the man who now sat across from her hadn’t brought to life the teeniest bit of green-eyed jealousy.

  And if, heaven help her, her reunion with Cole hadn’t unleashed feelings she found impossible to push away. Conflicting feelings that bounced between one emotional extreme and the other. At one end, spine-strengthening pride. At the opposite end, raging, fingertip-tingling, butterflies-in-the-stomach desire.

  Cole pushed his plate away and scooted his chair closer to hers.

  Her throat tightened, but she couldn’t seem to lift her glass of sweet tea. Praying she would survive this evening, she met his gaze.

  “I’d have taken you someplace in Albuquerque or Santa Fe,” he said. “Heck, I’d have settled for a restaurant here in town, limited though our options might be. And you wanted supper at the Lucky Strike.”

  “Of course,” she said, widening her eyes. “They have the best burgers in the county.”

  He muttered under his breath.

  “Yummy, Uncle Cole,” Scott said.

  “The best,” Robbie agreed.

  “Yeah,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “But are you finished yet?”

  The three kids looked expectantly at Cole. Tina bit her lip to hide her smile.

  “I am now,” he said evenly. “Let’s go pick out some bowling balls.”

  “Yeah!”

  The metallic screech as the kids shoved their chairs away from the table barely registered over the noise in the crowded snack bar.

  “We were lucky to get a lane reservation,” she said brightly as she and Cole followed the kids. “The Bowl-a-Rama always draws a crowd on league nights.”

  “Yeah, I remember that. The place to be in Cowboy Creek.”

  “Yes.” But not the place to be for them as a couple.

  Starting in grade school, all the kids had bowled together in groups. Later, they started pairing off. She and Cole were never a pair. Technically, tonight, they were more like part of a team.

  And that was her most important reason for accepting Cole’s invitation. As she’d told him on their way into the building, she was upholding her end of the deal and giving him another opportunity to be with Robbie.