Daddy Wore Spurs (Mills & Boon Cherish) (Men of the West, Book 32)

by Stella Bagwell

  “Let’s get Harry and go inside,” he whispered.

  She smiled against his lips. “It’s pretty early to go to bed. Especially when I’m not a bit sleepy.”

  He chuckled. “It’s going to be a long, long time before you get any sleep, my darling.”

  Chapter Ten

  Nearly a week later, on late Thursday afternoon, Finn was in the mares’ paddock, studying their condition and trying to determine how long it would be before the last three dropped their foals. Two days ago the brown mare had safely delivered a black colt, and Finn was thrilled to see he was thriving and already running and bucking alongside his mother.

  To help him get an idea of their due dates, Mariah had searched through some of the last notes Aimee had recorded regarding the ranch’s breeding schedule. The dates had given him a fairly close idea of when the mares would deliver, but sometimes they were as unpredictable as women. The last thing he wanted to do was put them on a horse van to travel several hours. But time was winding down and sooner rather than later, he was going to have to decide what to do with the mustangs.

  You have a hell of a lot more than the mustangs to worry about, Finn. Mariah has built herself a home smack in the middle of your heart. So what are you going to do about her?

  The nagging voice in his head prompted Finn to walk over to the wooden fence and stare thoughtfully toward the house. Tomorrow was Mariah’s last day at school. And they both expected Harry’s DNA test to arrive at any time now. Once that happened there would be no reason for him to continue to stay here on Stallion Canyon. Unless Mariah asked him to. And so far that hadn’t happened. But then Stallion Canyon wasn’t going to be hers for much longer. She might feel it was pointless to ask him.

  During the past week their relationship had grown even deeper. At least, it had felt that way to Finn. Each night she’d made love to him as though a lifetime of kissing him, holding him, would never be enough. Yet she’d never whispered a word to him about love, or forever, or the future. And now, as time was closing in, he was beginning to wonder if she’d become his bed partner only to ease her loneliness, not because she was falling in love with him.

  Was that what he wanted? To hear Mariah say she loved him? Because he’d already fallen in love with her? For the past few days Finn had been in a perpetual wrestling match with those questions. Now he was beginning to realize it had been wrong of him to expect Mariah to open her heart to him first. Especially when he’d not said a word to her about love or marriage, something he should’ve done days ago. But he’d hesitated because he’d wanted to make sure what he was feeling was more than infatuation or lust.

  Finn had never been in love before. As a very young man, he’d thought the attachment he’d felt to Janelle was love, but now he could see his relationship with her had been little more than a childhood crush that had lasted longer than it should have. What he felt for Mariah was much, much deeper. He wanted the connection they’d built between them to go on forever. If that was love, then he needed to decide what it meant for both of their futures.

  Thoughts about Mariah were continuing to roll through his head when he suddenly spotted a man and woman he’d never seen before step out the back door of the house. Dressed in dark office-type clothing, the woman had short gray hair and was carrying some sort of briefcase beneath one arm. The man was tall and wearing traditional ranch clothing. From this distance, Finn guessed him to be somewhere in his fifties.

  The two paused on the edge of the patio, then the woman pointed toward the barn. At that moment, Finn realized the woman had to be the real estate agent Mariah had hired to sell Stallion Canyon. Obviously, the man with her was a serious buyer. Otherwise, the woman would’ve never bothered to bring him all the way out here to view the property.

  With a sick feeling swimming in the pit of his stomach, Finn let himself out of the paddock and walked over to the shed row. By then the man and woman were fast approaching, and not wanting to appear evasive or rude, he forced himself to stand there and wait for them to arrive.

  The woman introduced herself to Finn as Ella Clark, a real estate agent from Alturas. The man with her was Don Larson, a rancher looking for a larger spread to run cattle. After a short exchange of small talk, Finn decided Larson appeared friendly enough. But all the while the other man was talking, Finn was trying to picture him working around these barns and arena, of him living in the house and perhaps even sleeping in the same room where he and Mariah made love. The idea sickened Finn more than he’d ever imagined it would. It also made him realize just how much he’d come to think of Stallion Canyon as his home.

  Smiling at Finn, Ella said, “Mr. Larson is looking for good grazing land. I’ve been telling him how the Montgomery family has raised horses on this land for years, so it’s bound to have a good supply of grass.”

  “It’s like any place else. It has to rain to have grass,” Finn said bluntly.

  The woman’s brows shot up, while Larson asked, “And how often does it rain around here?”

  “I’m not the one to ask. I’m just a temporary resident.” The admission was worse than coughing up nails, Finn thought. But the truth just the same.

  “Oh,” the man said. “I thought you worked here.”

  Finn grimaced. “There are no hired hands here on Stallion Canyon. And pretty soon there won’t be any horses.”

  Ella Clark awkwardly cleared her throat. “Things must’ve changed around here.”

  “Yeah. You could say that,” Finn replied. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll let you show Mr. Larson the rest of the property.”

  Finn quickly left the two of them and headed to the house. When he let himself into the kitchen, he found Linda sitting at the breakfast bar, sniffing back tears. Across the room, Harry was sitting in his high chair working diligently to eat a graham cracker.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked Linda.

  She used the corner of a paper towel to dab her eyes. “To have people traipsing through here like—this place already belongs to someone else.” She sucked in a deep breath and looked at him. “When I think of Ray I can hardly bear it.”

  Since Finn had gotten to know Linda, he was beginning to understand more and more that the woman had been very close to Mariah’s father. And that fact was even more apparent as he watched tears roll down her face.

  “I met them out at the barn,” was all he could say. “He’s only looking. It’s hardly a done deal.”

  “If he doesn’t buy, the next one will,” she said bitterly, then turned her back to him.

  There wasn’t much Finn could say to that. Instead of trying, he walked over and plucked Harry out of the high chair. Holding the boy in his arms always comforted him. But this evening he could only think of how much his son was about to lose.

  *

  A short while later, at the end of the long gravel drive leading to the ranch house, Mariah stopped her car at a rural mailbox fastened to a fat fence post. She’d lowered the window on the driver’s side and was plucking a stack of envelopes from the metal box when the sound of an approaching vehicle had her peering through the windshield.

  She recognized Linda’s old red Ford heading toward her, and from the wake of dust billowing behind it, the woman was in a hurry. Apparently she’d gotten Finn to watch Harry so she could leave early.

  By the time Mariah closed the mailbox and tossed the correspondence in the passenger seat, Linda’s vehicle was drawing near. Mariah lowered the passenger window and waited for Linda to stop alongside the car to give her some sort of explanation as to why she was leaving early. Instead, the truck sped on, even as Mariah waved at the woman.

  Puzzled by Linda’s unusual behavior, Mariah started to drive on, but a piece of mail suddenly caught her eye. With her foot back on the brake, she twisted her head to read the return address.

  The word Laboratory was all she needed to see. The results of Harry and Finn’s DNA test had finally arrived. One way or the other, they were about to find out wheth
er Finn had a legal right to the boy, or if the search for Harry’s real father was just now beginning.

  With Linda’s unusual behavior momentarily pushed to the back of her mind, Mariah finished the short drive to the ranch house and hurried inside through the back entrance.

  Immediately she spotted Finn standing in front of the microwave. Harry was propped against his shoulder and at the moment was emitting hungry wails around the tiny fist crammed in his mouth.

  “Hi, darlin’,” he greeted. “I’m heating Harry a bottle. Linda’s already gone. Maybe you saw her.”

  Mariah walked to the breakfast bar and placed the stack of mail on one end. “All I saw was a blur. She was flooring that old Ford. She must’ve been running late to an appointment in town.”

  The microwave dinged and Finn pulled out the warmed bottle. “No appointment. She was upset. I suggested she go on home and let me handle Harry.”

  “Upset?” Mariah frowned. “Linda is always a rock. Did she get bad news or something?”

  Finn carried Harry over to the bar, and after he’d taken a seat on one of the stools, offered the baby his bottle. With Harry happily drinking, Finn looked up at Mariah and she couldn’t help but notice that the usual sparkle in his blue eyes was definitely missing.

  He said, “She considered it bad news. The real estate agent and a potential buyer just left the place a few minutes ago. Linda is pretty torn up that the ranch might be selling soon.”

  A heavy weight of doom fell on Mariah’s shoulders and sank to the bottom of her stomach. “Ms. Clark called me earlier today and informed me she’d be showing the place today. I could hardly tell her that now wasn’t a good time. No time would be a good time.”

  “Really?”

  A month ago she would’ve been shouting hallelujah at the idea of the ranch being taken off her hands. Now the whole idea made her sick. Was that what being in love did to a woman? she wondered. Was that the reason she was looking at everything differently? This place had once seemed such a burden. Now it felt like a home again. And all because of Finn. But he would be going back to Nevada soon. It would be irresponsible of her to dream the foolish dream of keeping him and Harry here, wouldn’t it?

  Her throat suddenly aching, she said, “I’ve come to realize how much I still love this place, Finn. But I… Well, we’ll talk about Stallion Canyon later. Right now, there’s something more important.”

  She picked up the piece of mail and with a trembling hand, thrust it at him. “The results are here. I think you should be the one to open it. This is all about you and Harry.”

  His gaze gently probed hers. “It’s all about you, too,” he said quietly.

  Tears stung the back of her eyes and in a hoarse voice, she said, “Please open the damned thing before I decide to set a match to it.”

  With one hand occupied with holding Harry’s bottle, he used the other to lift the envelope to his mouth. Using his teeth, he tore off the end, then fished out the contents.

  As he began to read, Mariah suddenly found herself standing next to his shoulder. And in spite of all the certainty she’d felt about Finn being Harry’s father, her heart was pounding and her mouth had gone dry with fear. What if the DNA didn’t match? Finn would be crushed. And so would she.

  Eons seemed to drag by before he finally spoke, and by then Mariah’s emotions had run the gamut from panic to joy and everything in between.

  “I am Harry’s father,” he said simply.

  Mariah began to tremble all over and she wasn’t sure if the reaction was from relief or the realization that everything was suddenly coming to an end. Harry was truly Finn’s child. And even though he’d asked her to travel with him to his family ranch in Nevada, the short stay there to help get Harry accustomed to new surroundings would be only a temporary bandage on the gaping wound in her heart.

  Her hand came to rest on Finn’s shoulder and as she looked down at Harry’s cheek pressed against his father’s strong chest, she could only feel a sense of rightness. Harry would always be loved. And dear God, that was the thing she wanted most for him.

  “Are you happy?”

  He looked up at her and she was relieved to see that the sparkle had returned to his eyes.

  “In my heart Harry was already mine. But it’s great to see it verified. How do you feel about the news?”

  Her fingers squeezed his shoulder. “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone but you to be Harry’s father. That’s the way I feel.”

  A slow grin lifted the corner of his mouth. “When Harry gets finished with this bottle, I’m going to kiss you.”

  Chuckling now, she bent and kissed him gently on the cheek. “I’m going to remind you of that.”

  *

  That night after dinner, as Finn helped Mariah clear away the remnants of their meal, she had little to say and he could see that her thoughts were preoccupied with something. Now that the matter of the DNA test was resolved and her job was finished for the summer, she had to be wondering what was next for the three of them.

  Finn realized she deserved to know his feelings and what his plans included. But how could he explain to her that everything inside him was scattered and racing in all different directions? The plans he’d had when he’d first arrived on Stallion Canyon no longer appealed to him. Now when he thought of his and Harry’s future, Mariah had to be in it. But was that what she wanted too?

  “Have you called your family to let them know about the DNA?”

  Her question interrupted his thoughts and he glanced over to see her scraping scraps of leftover food into the garbage container.

  Running a hand through his hair, he said, “No. What with feeding the horses and having dinner, I haven’t had a quiet moment yet.”

  “Then go on and make your call,” she urged him. “I’ll finish things here.”

  He hesitated. “There’s no hurry about it.”

  Placing the plate in the bottom of the sink, she turned to him. A puzzled frown creased her forehead. “Finn, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re putting off talking to your family.”

  Realizing he looked more than sheepish, he wiped a hand over his face. “To tell you the truth, I’m not looking forward to it.”

  Her brows pulled together. “But why? I thought you were thrilled about the test results.”

  “I am. But they’ll be asking me questions that— Well, after the awful conversation I had with Dad, I’m not sure what I want to tell them—about anything.”

  “If you feel awkward about calling your father, then talk to one of your brothers,” she suggested.

  Yes, he could speak with Rafe. Of all his brothers he was closest to him. But even Rafe would want to know his plans, and Finn wasn’t ready to give him, or anyone, answers. Not until he knew exactly how Mariah felt about him.

  “I will, Mariah. Just give me time.”

  Her expression full of concern, she stepped closer and rested her palms against his chest. “Tell me what’s bothering you, Finn. And don’t give me the old ‘everything is fine’ routine. I can see you’re troubled.”

  He let out a heavy breath. “I’m not troubled. I’m thinking.” Forcing a smile on his face, he looped his arms around her in a loose embrace. “I haven’t even congratulated you for finishing the school year. Are you excited about summer vacation?”

  She smiled gently up at him and Finn desperately wanted to crush his mouth down on hers and carry her to the bedroom. To feel the need in her lips and the urgency of her hands moving over him would send all the anguish and worry from his mind. But Harry was still awake. And once Finn started making love to her, he didn’t want anything to interrupt them.

  “I always enjoy my time off in the summer. But come next fall I’ll be anxious to get back in the classroom. Teaching is a part of me, I guess.”

  And her teaching job was here. She couldn’t have made that any plainer, Finn thought.

  “Hmm. Well, I never was a teacher’s pet. But maybe there’s hope for me yet.” He
kissed her gently in the middle of her forehead, then dropped his hold on her. “If you don’t mind, Mariah, I think I’ll go out to the barn for a while and check on the mares.”

  “I don’t mind. Take your time.”

  He planted another kiss on the top of her head, then left the house with Mariah staring worriedly after him.

  *

  It was nearly dark by the time she heard Finn return to the house. As his boots echoed on the tiled floor of the breezeway, she carefully tucked a blanket around Harry’s shoulders. The baby was growing every day. Before long he would be sitting alone and crawling. And then he would be walking and racing all over the place. But she wouldn’t be chasing after him. Not unless some sort of miracle happened. And so far in her life, she hadn’t experienced any of those.

  She turned away from the crib and was stepping through the open doorway when she crashed head-on into Finn. His big hands grabbed her shoulders and steadied her.

  “Mariah! I was just coming to see if you were here in the nursery. Did I hurt you?”

  “No,” she quickly assured him. “I heard you crossing the breezeway, but I thought you’d gone to your bedroom. Sorry I wasn’t watching where I was walking.”

  His hands began to knead her shoulders. “Don’t be sorry. I like being whammed in the belly by a beautiful brunette.”

  Beautiful. Not until Finn had come into her life had she ever felt truly beautiful. Oh, she’d been told in so many words by other men that she was attractive, but none of the compliments had come across as sincere. But something about the way Finn looked at her, touched her, made her feel special and womanly.

  Laughing softly, she splayed her hands against his midsection. “I won’t wham you again, but maybe I can think of doing something else you might like.”

  He pulled her close and whispered against her lips, “Is Harry asleep?”

  “Yes.” She slipped her arms around his waist. “How was everything at the barn? Did you have a good visit with the mares?”

  “I’ll tell you about it later,” he said, then with a heady groan he closed the tiny space between their lips.