A Rugged Ranchin' Dad. Kia Cochrane

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СКАЧАТЬ was so scared, wondering if Blade and Rocky would like me.”

      “My brothers know a good thing when they see it.” Stone grinned at her. “Wasn’t it one of my brothers who played matchmaker and got us together in the first place?”

      “Flint kept telling me about his big brother Stone—”

      “For months he kept telling me about this new girl at college that he’d met and how he thought I’d like her—”

      “And you kept stalling, not wanting to meet another female again for as long as you lived.” Dahlia laughed.

      Stone laughed, too. They’d done this countless times before, each giving their version of his brother Flint’s one and only attempt at matchmaking.

      “I was still scared when it came time to meet the rest of your family, though.” Dahlia shifted slightly in her seat and leaned her head back. “I took classes with Flint, but meeting your other two brothers—and especially your baby boy—was a big day in my life.”

      “And meeting you was a big day in mine,” Stone told her softly, taking his eyes off the road long enough to look at her. Dahlia’s eyes were a startling, dazzling shade of blue, a dark, velvety contrast to her pale gold skin and sunny blond hair. “The most important day in my life.”

      He watched for a second or two as her blue eyes darkened and deepened in wonder, and shock waves of longing splintered through him.

      “Was it, Stone?”

      The wistful note in her voice wrenched at something hidden far back in the boarded-up places of his heart. How long had it been, he wondered uneasily, since he’d said anything even remotely reassuring to her?

      “You know it was,” he answered, suddenly feeling too much, needing too much from her.

      Taking several deep, steady breaths, he concentrated on the traffic, unable to trust his tenuous self-control. They were on a two-lane, paved country road now, and the light, morning traffic was a welcome distraction.

      So were her fingers, snuggled deep inside his hand. Her closeness eased the ache of emptiness that had tormented him the past year. It had been so long since she’d wanted anything to do with him, either physically or emotionally.

      Grief over Brooke’s death had taken its toll.

      Stone grew still as he remembered the one exception. Nine months ago, Dahlia had decided she wanted another baby—but he’d had to refuse.

      Something else she’d wanted that he couldn’t, in good conscience, give to her. Because there was no way in hell that he’d bring another child into this world, to love it, care for it...

      And then lose it.

      The melting ice around Stone’s heart slowly hardened.

      

      Dahlia watched as Stone drove the rest of the way to the ranch, both hands now gripping the steering wheel. Watched the way he’d withdrawn, once again, into that lonely, private place deep inside himself.

      Brooke’s death had absolutely destroyed him, she acknowledged, as fear and doubt swept through her. He wasn’t going to let her help him. And here she was, with only two weeks left to complete her mission!

      Two weeks—when she’d been trying to get through to him for twelve long, painful months.

      But Stone’s will, as always, was one of pure steel.

      How could she possibly make him believe in anything ever again? How could she make him see what a terrific father he was? And that what he needed to do now, most of all, was to trust his feelings when dealing with Field. How could she hope to restore his faith in himself, to trust his own good judgment again?

      But that was her mission from Basil.

      Oh, dear, how was she to accomplish this particular miracle all by herself?

      Dahlia knew how hard it was to let Field be a normal little boy, to protect him without controlling his every move, to love him without smothering him—but Stone wasn’t even trying.

      He was so wrapped up in grief and guilt over Brooke’s death, and fear over losing Field, that he wasn’t listening to anyone.

      She straightened her shoulders. She wanted so much to be a good angel, to live up to the trust that Basil had placed in her. But Stone—he wasn’t the same man she’d married. He’d always wanted more, craved more, fought for more than anyone she’d ever met. But the fight had gone out of him.

      And so had all the love.

      Dahlia could still feel the warmth of his fingers around hers, even though he was no longer holding her hand. But his touch lingered in her mind far longer than she cared to admit.

      Memories tapped at her heart.

      The gentleness that had an unexpected way of peeking through Stone’s oh-so-tough outdoorsy personality. The startling chemistry that had sprung to life upon meeting face-to-face the first time. And the way the sexual attraction had grown and deepened through the years.

      Stone was more than her husband. He was her best friend.

      Which made his...his almost studied emotional distance doubly hard to take. Stone had preferred to live in an emotional vacuum since Brooke’s death, to become isolated from pain—but he was forcing the rest of them to live that way, as well.

      Dahlia’s gaze repeatedly strayed toward Stone’s side of the car. It was hard to believe that the man who had once made her nerve endings sing with joy could cause her heart to ache so much. But when Brooke died, he’d closed off the part of his life that had to do with being happy. He’d also, by all appearances, closed and locked the part of his heart that had to do with love. And he had no desire to open either one.

      Her sigh was soft, and with an effort she pulled herself out of her thoughts. She had work to do, and she was going to do it. But where was she to start?

      “I remember the morning we brought Brooke home from the hospital,” she said brightly. She desperately wanted to gain back some of the closeness that had vanished when Stone had retreated behind one of his moods. “She was wearing that little denim dress embroidered with little red hearts on the collar...”

      “And you tied a red ribbon around her little bald head.”

      Dahlia was surprised at the way he joined in. She wasn’t used to talking about Brooke and having him respond. Usually he tried to change the subject.

      “She wasn’t bald,” Dahlia protested, laughing. “She had hair in the back almost long enough to put into a ponytail.”

      Stone hesitated and then his words came out sort of gruff and tender. “She was the prettiest little thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

      Tears backed up in her throat. Especially when Stone reached out and took her hand in his again. “Was she as pretty as Field?”

      “Guys aren’t pretty.” But he sent her a fleeting grin. “Field was a rugged little guy even on his first day of life.” Then his grin broadened. “All six pounds of СКАЧАТЬ