Heart of A Cowboy. Margaret Daley

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СКАЧАТЬ her fingertips into her palm, trying to erase his touch. It had been nearly impossible as a teenager and still was.

      She glanced at her son then at the mare next to her. “Okay, I’ll come along.”

      “Yippee!” Nicholas shouted, pumping one arm into the air.

      Ashley rode in the lead with Jana next to her. Randy followed with Nicholas slightly behind him and to the side. Zachary waited for Jordan to go next then took up the rear. As they crossed the meadow, heading toward a grove of trees, the feel of Zachary’s gaze zapped a fiery trail down her spine. In less than an hour in his presence, he tempted her to forget eleven years of heartache. No, she wouldn’t let him get close this time.

      She listened to her son talk with the other children, who willingly answered his questions about Key Elementary although all of them were homeschooled. Nicholas had only been attending the school for ten days. He hadn’t said much to her, but she sensed the same teasing was happening there that had at his previous one in South Carolina. Her son was a scholar and a pacifist besides being a grade ahead and small. She’d questioned him on the way out to the ranch about how school was going, and he had gone silent. A sure sign something was wrong with her talkative son.

      “He’ll be all right.” Zachary came alongside her.

      She slowed the horse’s gait and let the kids get a little farther ahead because she didn’t want Nicholas to overhear anything that might lead to questions—at least not until she knew what she was going to do about Zachary. She’d tried to tell him about Nicholas, but when he hadn’t returned her calls, she’d decided she could do it without him. She would never force anyone into a relationship he didn’t want. “Who?” she finally asked although she knew he was referring to her son.

      “Nicholas.”

      She wasn’t so sure Nicholas would be all right. A couple of kids at his last school had been awful to him, making his life so miserable that she decided to move back home before school started in August. She was tired of doing everything without any family support, and her mother had said she needed help with Granny. Now at least she had her mother, grandmother and sister here. In all those eleven years, she’d only returned to Tallgrass a couple of times, the last time two years ago when her sister’s husband died unexpectedly from a heart attack.

      “He’s a natural when it comes to riding. He knows instinctively how to flow with his horse.”

      Jordan studied Nicholas for a moment and had to agree. He was a natural—like his father.

      “Are you always this uptight or is it just around me that you get that way?”

      “Uptight?”

      He gestured toward her hands gripping the reins. “Relax. Maybelle is sensitive to her rider.”

      “Do you blame me? We didn’t exactly end our relationship on a good note.”

      He nodded his head toward Nicholas. “It looks like you found someone to replace me pretty fast. What’s your son? Eight?” A tic twitched in his jawline, its strong set strengthening even more.

      “How about you? I thought you would be married by now.” The last time she’d called Zachary’s mother to get hold of him, she would never forget the news the woman imparted before she could tell Zachary’s mom about the baby. He was engaged to someone he served with in the army, and he was still stationed overseas. His mother might as well have said, “Out of your reach.”

      “No. Where’s your husband?” His gaze held hers captive, a hard glitter to his eyes.

      What happened to your fiancée? She bit the inside of her mouth to keep the words inside. She wouldn’t let him know how much that had hurt her when she’d discovered he’d moved on only seven months after they had broken up. “I’m not married.”

      “What happened to Nicholas’s father?”

      “He hasn’t been in the picture for quite some time.”

      “Sorry to hear that—” he paused for a long moment “—for your son’s sake.”

      But not mine. His unspoken words cut her to the core. The pain sliced through her in spite of her efforts to distance herself. Anger rose. “How long have you been back in Tallgrass?”

      “A couple of years. Becca found this ranch for sale for me. The deal was too good to turn down.”

      “How’s your sister?” Becca had been the first one she’d talked to when she’d called after the doctor had told her she was pregnant. She’d only been at art school in Savannah for two and a half months. The news had rocked her world, and she hadn’t known what to do. She’d desperately needed to talk with Zachary, but he’d enlisted in the army and was at boot camp. Becca had promised her she would tell Zachary to call. He never did.

      “She’s still married to the same man, and they have three kids. They live here on the ranch, too. Ashley is the oldest.”

      Jordan glanced toward the children. Zachary’s niece slid from her horse and tied its rein on a tree limb. Jordan nudged her mare to go faster as Jana and Randy dismounted, too. Her son started to bring his leg over and drop to the ground.

      “Hold it, Nicholas,” she shouted, mentally measuring the long distance from the horse to the patch of grass below the mare. “I’ll help you.”

      “Jordan, he’s doing fine. Let him do it himself. That’s the way he’ll learn.”

      She slanted a look toward Zachary. “But…”

      “See.” Zachary pointed toward her son, who’d slipped to the ground and like the others was tying up his horse. “Why are you so protective?”

      “That’s how mothers are supposed to be.” She’d come so close to losing Nicholas. She didn’t know what she would have done if he’d died. He was her world.

      “Yes, protect but not smother.”

      “What do you know about being a parent?” Her hands curled around the reins, and she pulled harder than she should have to halt the mare. He hadn’t wanted children, or at least that was the impression she’d gotten when they had talked about the future right after high school graduation. At the time, his dreams had centered around the rodeo—not having a family.

      A flicker of pain glinted in his eyes before a frown descended. “You’re right. I don’t have personal experience raising a child, but I was a boy once. I know he needs a little breathing room.”

      He dismounted and strode away from her before she could think of a retort, some kind of defense for herself. She shouldn’t have lashed out at him. He was right. Nicholas had told her that on more than one occasion, especially when she’d wanted to march up to the last school and face those kids who’d teased Nicholas and made fun of him. If it had started again, she would have to do something different. She wouldn’t let her son be miserable for another school year.

      Zachary stood at the edge of the stream that ran through his property and watched the kids wade across it. Their giggles peppered the air and brought a smile to his mouth. He’d enjoyed living near his niece and nephews, but at night he always went home to an empty house with no child’s laughter to fill it or bedtime stories to tell. And yet, Jordan had moved on with her life and СКАЧАТЬ