Her Cowboy Reunion. Ruth Logan Herne

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СКАЧАТЬ smiled up at Zeke, and despite Heath’s warnings about strangers, Zeke grinned back, then raced down the broad side steps.

      “Are you staying here?” He slid to a quick stop in front of Lizzie. There was no curtailing his excitement. “My dad said we’ve got people who are coming here to stay, so that must be you. Right?”

      “Correct.” She didn’t look at Heath and wonder about his dark-skinned son, and he gave her reluctant points for that. Zeke’s skin was a gift from his African American mother, but his gray-blue eyes were Caufield, through and through.

      Lizzie squatted to Zeke’s level and held his attention with a pretty smile. “My name’s Lizzie. My friend Corrie and I are living on the ranch with you. I hope that’s all right.”

      “Do you snore?”

      She paused as if considering the question. “Not to my knowledge. But then, I’m asleep, so how would I know?”

      “I do not snore,” declared Zeke. He shoved his hands into two little pockets, total cowboy. “But I have bad dreams sometimes and then Dad lets me come sleep with him.”

      “I’m glad he does.”

      “I know. Me, too.”

      Heath came down the stairs. Zeke smiled his way. “This is the first girl visitor we’ve ever had, Dad!”

      Lizzie raised her gaze to Heath’s. He thought she’d tease him, or play off the boy’s bold statement. There hadn’t ever been a woman visitor to the ranch house, except for the shepherds’ wives.

      She didn’t tease. Sympathy marked her expression, and the kindness in her eyes made his chest hurt.

      Maybe she’d grown up, too.

      Maybe she could handle life better now. That was all well and good, but he’d lost something a dozen years before. A part of his heart and a chunk of his soul had fallen by the wayside when she chose school over their unborn child.

      Guilt hit him, because he was four years older than Lizzie, and it took two to create a child. He’d let them both down back then, and the consequences of their actions haunted him still.

      “You’ve got your daddy’s eyes. And the look of him in some ways.”

      “And his mother.”

      He didn’t mean the words to come out curtly, but they did and there was no snatching them back. Lizzie stayed still, gazing down, then seemed to collect herself. “That’s the way of things, of course.”

      “Do you look like your mother?” Zeke asked as Lizzie stood up.

      “I don’t. I look more like my dad and my Uncle Sean. My two sisters look like my mother.”

      “Mister Sean was your uncle?” That fact surprised Zeke. “So we’re almost like family!”

      “Or at least very good friends.” She smiled down at him. “I think I’d like to be your friend, Zeke Caufield.”

      “And I will like being your friend, too, Miss Lizzie!”

      “Just Lizzie,” she told him. She reached out and palmed his head. No fancy nail polish gilded her nails. And from the looks of them, she still bit them when she got nervous. Was the move to the ranch making her nervous? Or was it him?

      “But Dad says I’m asposed to call people stuff like that,” Zeke explained in a matter-of-fact voice. “To be polite.”

      “I think if you say my name politely, then it is polite. Isn’t it?”

      “Yes!”

      She looked at Heath then.

      He tried to read her expression, but failed. What was she feeling, seeing his son? Did her mind go back to their past, like his did? Would this old ache ever come to some kind of peace between them? How could it?

      “Dad, I’m so starving!”

      “Hey, little man, lunch is ready inside.” Cookie, the ranch house manager, called to Zeke through the screen door. He saw Heath’s questioning look and waved toward the road. “Rosina had a doctor’s appointment, remember? So Zeke is hanging with me for a few hours.”

      He’d forgotten that, even though he’d made a note in his phone. What kind of father was he?

      “I’ll see to him, boss.” Cookie’s deep voice offered reassurance, but it wasn’t his job to watch Zeke, and keeping a five-year-old safe on a working ranch wasn’t a piece of cake. “No big deal.”

      It wasn’t a big deal to the cook because he had a good heart, but it was a huge deal to Heath. His first priority should be caring for his son, and since he’d lost his friend and mentor, Heath was pretty sure he’d fallen down on that. He’d add it to the list of necessary improvements, a list that seemed to be getting longer every day.

      “Maybe I can be with you?” Zeke had started for the stairs, but he paused and looked back at Lizzie. “Like while Dad’s working and Cookie’s busy. I won’t get in the way.” He shook his head in an earnest attempt to convince her. “I like almost never get in the way.”

      Cookie bit back a laugh.

      Heath didn’t. He slanted his gaze down. “Miss Lizzie will be busy. You stay here with Cookie. Got it?”

      Zeke peeked past him to Lizzie, then sighed. “Yes, sir.”

      “But for now we can have lunch together,” said Lizzie as she followed Zeke up the stairs.

      He couldn’t stop Zeke from eating with Lizzie, and the reality of having her here was a done deal. But he could set limits when it came to Zeke. He was his father, after all.

      But when Zeke aimed a grin up to Lizzie and she smiled right back down, another dose of reality hit him.

      He couldn’t enforce sanctions on emotions. And from the way his son was smiling up at Lizzie, then reaching for her hand...

      He swallowed a sigh and headed for the barn.

      Emotions and Lizzie were a whole other rodeo. One he knew too well.

       Chapter Two

      “Sean did something your father never seemed to understand,” Corrie said softly as she and Lizzie approached the stablemaster’s quarters after a quick lunch. She indicated the sprawling ranch around her and the pristine buildings, a trait for classic perfection that came straight from Lizzie’s grandfather. “He worked hard and made his own success.”

      In sheep...and now horses. Only he was gone too soon.

      Lizzie found the whole thing pretty unbelievable, even though she was a huge fan of great woolens made by pricey designers. Or had been, when she’d had money for such things.

      “Liz.”

      Oh, СКАЧАТЬ