Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) (13 page)

“What’s
got you looking so serious, cowboy?”

“Nothin’.”

“Nothin’,
huh?
It didn’t look like nothin’ to me. You looked ready
to shoot someone.”

“If
I could, I would.
My ex.”

“Oh.
Let’s not talk about her, okay?”

“Good.
I don’t want to anyway.”

The
rest of the family had cleared out from the dining room, leaving the two of
them and Ben finishing up.

“Can
I go out and play, Daddy?”

“Wait
until Grandma can go out with you. I have to get my chores done.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll
take him in a minute, Jeff. Let me finish up these bills first,” his mother
called from her office.

“Sure,
Ma.
We’ll take him to the barn with us until you’re
ready.” He finished his cup as Terri was finishing hers. “Ready?”

“Yes.
I can’t wait to see everything. I’m so excited!”

He
laughed. Surely a bunch of cattle, hay, horses and animal droppings didn’t seem
so exciting, but then again, she lived in Houston where they had things like
this, but you didn’t see it much. “This stuff ain’t that exciting.”

“Sure
it is, Jeff.” She bounced on her toes like a little kid waiting for candy.

“All
right.
Off to the barn then.” He helped Ben off the chair.
“Come on, buddy.”

“Can
I hold your hand, Ms. Terri?”

“Oh,
Ben.
Of course you
can,
pumpkin.”

Ben
grinned from ear to ear as he took one adult hand in each of his. They headed
out to the barn like a happy little family.

Oh fuck!

Chapter
Seven

The
barn smelled of hay, horse manure and leather. Smells she didn’t like before,
but she seemed to inhale them now with a new sense of worth or purpose, she
wasn’t sure which. Deceiving Jeff like this didn’t sit well with her. Unfortunately,
she had to with the hope things would work out for the best.

“What
do you want to see?”

“Everything.”

“Well,
the horses are stabled here at night and in bad weather. Each has their own
stall where we feed them and water them. We have a feed room and a tack room
where we keep various things like grain or hay. The tack room is where we keep
all the riding paraphernalia for the horses. You’ve already seen it.”

“Yes.
The lovely smell of leather.”

“Daddy,
can I show Ms. Terri my horse?”

“Sure,
buddy.”

Ben
pulled her along to the small stall at the end. Inside, there was a beautiful
palomino gelding. “Wow, he’s gorgeous, Ben.”

“I
know. He’s gold.”

“What’s
his name?”

“Blackie.”

She
smiled when all she wanted to do was laugh. “Why did you call him Blackie when
he’s gold?”

“’Cause
Daddy’s horse is Blackie and I wanted to be like Daddy.”

“Oh,
I see.”

“We
call him Blackie and my horse Black Jack so we can tell them apart,” Jeff said
with a proud grin.

They
two of them were so cute together, she couldn’t help but smile.

“Will
you be my new mama, Ms. Terri?”

“Ben,
we already discussed this.”

“I
know, Daddy, but I thought I’d ask Ms. Terri for you.”

“Sorry,”
he mouthed.

What do I say a three-year-old?
“Honey, you have a mama already.”

“I
know, but I don’t want her to be my mama anymore. I want you to be.”

“Ben,
listen. I can’t be your mama. I don’t live here with you and your new mama
should live here so she can love you all the time.”

“Okay.”

The
disappointment on the little boys face broke her heart.

“But
we can be friends while I’m here.”

“Yay!”
Ben bounced in front of her on his little feet until she picked him up in her
arms.

A
quick kiss to her cheek almost made her cry.
What a great little boy.

“Can
we go for a ride, Daddy?”

“Not
now, buddy. I have some work to get done. I need to organize the feed room.” He
glanced at Terri. “Would you mind
keepin
’ an eye on
him until my mom can take him back to the house?”

“Sure.”
She glanced at Ben. “How about we go dig in the dirt for a while?”

“Can
I get my trucks, Daddy?”

“Of
course you can, Ben.”

“You
have dump trucks?”

Ben
nodded quickly.

“Awesome.
I love playing with dump trucks.”

“I
have lots of different ones too.” He squirmed to get down.

“He
keeps them in the feed room,” Jeff said, following the running little boy down
the dirt aisle of the barn.

Two
cowboys in their finery.
Ben had his little hat, tiny jeans
and miniature cowboy boots where Jeff had the mighty fine grownup version. The
man looked delicious. His ass looked tight in the Wranglers.
Damn.

“You
comin
’?”

“I
wish,” she mumbled, following the man as she admired his backside.

Ben
grabbed the box with his trucks in it, struggling to hold all of them. “Let me
help.”

“Okay.”

She
took the box out of his arms. “Will you hold my hand and show me where you
play?”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

With
a quick glance at his beaming father, she winked and said, “After you, sir.”

Ben
led her back down the aisle of the barn, around the outside and to a small dirt
mound next to the wall. Shaded by a large tree she wasn’t familiar with, she
made a mental note to include it in her findings for the development company
although she wasn’t sure she’d get a lot accomplished on her mission by playing
trucks with a three-year-old. Today, she didn’t care. Today was about playing
and having fun. Later, she’d worry about details like how much feed they went
through, where they bought their stock and how many guests they had in a month.
She didn’t know how that would help the land developers, but she figured the
more information she had on Thunder Ridge Guest Ranch, the better.

For
the next hour, she played alongside the little boy in the dirt pile, until his
grandmother came outside.

“What
are you two doin’ over there?” Nina asked, coming to a stop next to them.

“We
are building houses, Gram.”

“Are
you now? Is Ms. Terri helping you build those houses?”

“Yes,
ma’am.
She draws them on paper and then the
constuction
man put them together.”

“Oh?”

Shit.
“I’m an architect by trade.”

“Really?
We’ve thought about adding on to the main lodge at times, maybe you can talk to
me about square footage, building plans and permits one of these days before
you leave.”

“I
would love to.”

“Pick
up your trucks, Ben. It’s time to wash up.”

“Aw,
Gram.”

“Come
on, little man. You need to come inside so Ms. Terri can talk to your daddy. I
believe she has some questions for him.”

The
twinkle in Nina’s eye didn’t go unnoticed. What was the woman up to? Playing
matchmaker? Surely, she didn’t think anything could come of her short stay here
at the ranch? “Thanks, Nina. I do need to talk to him about some things.”

Nina
patted her on the hand. “There
ya
go. I knew you two
needed some alone time.”

Terri
shook her head in denial. “It’s not like that. I need to make some notes on a
project I’m working on.”

“Of
course you do, honey.”

Terri
rolled her eyes. Apparently, Nina wanted her son hooked up with someone
hopefully better than his ex.
You’re
spying on him. Does that make you better?
She bit her lip to keep from
blurting out her purpose. She didn’t like lying to these people.

“Come
on, Ben. Let’s go inside.”

Nina
walked away with Ben in tow, leaving Terri with the box of trucks at her feet.
She grabbed it in her arms and headed back inside the barn to find Jeff. He
stood inside the feed room with a clipboard in his hands as he scratched his
head in apparent frustration.

“What’s
wrong?”

“Huh?
Oh, hi.”
He pushed his hat back down on his forehead,
and then jotted down some numbers. “I can’t figure out where all the feed is
going. We seem to be going through a lot more than normal this month.”

“I
wonder why.”

“Well
it could be because it’s been rather dry so far. I’ll have to ask Joey if he’s
been doubling up on feed or something for some reason.”

“How
much do you go through a month normally?”

He
narrowed his eyes as he looked at her for a moment. It took him a second to
answer and she hoped he wouldn’t get suspicious about her questions.
“Several tons of both hay and grain.”

“How
many animals do you have?”

“We
have fifty horses and thousands of head of cattle. We don’t feed the cattle
much out of the stores unless the grazing is bad. They have round bales of hay
we feed them to supplement their grazing.”

“Sounds
like a huge operation.”

“It
is. With the guests and running the cattle operation, it’s a big job.”

“I
can’t imagine.”

“What
are you getting at, Terri.”

“Me?
Nothing, why?”

“Why
all the questions?
I thought you had everything you needed
when I took you out to the property lines.”

“I
did. I mean, I do. I want to spend some time myself learning about the
operation though for my own information. It has nothing to do with the
developers, Jeff.” She cringed. Lying to him put a bad taste in her mouth.

“Why
don’t I necessarily believe you?”

“I
don’t know. I haven’t given you a reason to distrust me.”

“I
distrust all women so it’s not just you.”

“I
wish you didn’t have such a terrible view of women. You’ve been hurt. I get it,
but you know not all women are like your ex. You should think hard on that
before you mistrust everyone.”

He
put the clipboard down on the bale of hay and pulled her close. “True.” He
brushed her lips with his. “I want you.
Right now.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.
We can lock the door. Ever fucked in a tack room on a bale of hay?”

“Can’t
say that I have.”

“This
can be your first,” he said, trailing his lips down her neck.

“You’re
very persuasive, you know.” Shivers raced down her arms as she grabbed a
fistful of his shirt. The snaps gave way with a forceful tug of her hands. “I
love your chest.”

He
lifted her shirt over her head before he unsnapped her bra and drew it down her
arms. “I love your tits.”

She
rolled her eyes.

“What?”

“Women
don’t like the word tits. It’s vulgar.”

“What
do you call them?”

“Breasts
or boobs.”

He
cupped her bare breasts in his palms, thumbing her nipples to hard little
points. “I like your boobs, then.”

“Men.”

“They
fit perfectly in my palms.”

“They’re
too small.”

“No
they aren’t. They’re perfect.”

He
ran his tongue over one nipple, pulling a gasp from her lips. She hadn’t
realized her nipples were so sensitive to his touch.
“Mmm.”

“Like
that?”

“Oh,
hell yeah.”

He
worked the button at her waist loose while he continued to bite at her nipple.
Her jeans fell to a puddle at her feet.

“My
shoes.”

“Up
on the bale and I’ll pull them off. I want to eat you anyway.”

Her
pussy clenched as desire raced through her.

“Let
me grab a blanket. It might be a bit itchy.” An older horse blanket lay in the
corner. He grabbed it and spread it on the hay bale. “This would be better in
your bed or mine, but I’m so damned hard for you, I can’t wait.”