Lone Star Daddy

After battling a serious illness, Grace Cameron realizes one thing: her son needs his father. But how can she face Nathan Teague after seven years of lies? To ease into it, she enrolls her boy in the Cowboy Camp run by the Teague family on their Texas Hill Country ranch. Little Evan is bursting with excitement over horses, ropin’ and hanging around real cowboys! Oh, my!

Nathan is in shock when Grace comes back to town. Then when he discovers he’s the father of her cute little boy—a miniature Nathan—he’s not sure if he should be angry, grateful or both. He decides to go with angry. For a while, at least...until he gets the sense that Grace is still hiding something. What’s the secret—and how can he ever trust the woman who stole his son from him?

“He’s your son.”

All the oxygen disappeared from around Nathan. At least it felt that way.

“What?” He stared at Grace, thinking he couldn’t possibly have heard her correctly. “That’s not possible.”

She looked up at him. “I assure you it is.”

Nathan snatched his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. He took a couple of steps away from Grace, away from the words she’d spoken. A wild storm of denial and curiosity whirled within him.

“You got pregnant that night at the party?” he asked without turning back toward Grace.

“Yes.”

Heat rushed through him. “And instead of telling me then, you decided to run away?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

She said it so matter of factly that an unusual anger roared inside him. He spun back toward her, met her gaze. “You always have a choice.”

“Maybe you did, when you decided to pretend nothing had happened between us.”

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Blue Falls, Texas, home to endless fields of colorful wildflowers, a rich German heritage and the Vista Hills Guest Ranch. Vista Hills is home to the Teague family, including three swoon-worthy, cowboy brothers—Nathan, Ryan and Simon.

In The Cowboy’s Secret Son, you get to meet Nathan, the middle brother, the one with the closest connection to the family ranch. I’m fascinated not only with the ranching lifestyle but also with a strong and abiding connection to the land such as that held by the Teague family. It’s as much a part of who they are as the air they breathe and the heartbeats in their chests.

I found inspiration for Blue Falls in several Texas Hill Country towns—Fredericksburg, Marble Falls and Gruene among them. I hope the residents of these places and the rest of the Hill Country can see a little of the places they call home in the stories of the Teague brothers and the women with whom they fall in love. And that everyone else will be anxious to visit the area as soon as they can.

Trish Milburn

The Cowboy’s Secret Son

Trish Milburn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trish Milburn wrote her first book in the fifth grade and has the cardboard-and-fabric-bound, handwritten and colored-pencil-illustrated copy to prove it. That “book” was called Land of the Misty Gems, and not surprisingly it was a romance. She’s always loved stories with happy endings, whether those stories come in the form of books, movies, TV programs or marriage to her own hero.

A print journalist by trade, she still does contract and freelance work in that field, balancing those duties with her dream-come-true career as a novelist. Before she published her first book, she was a finalist eight times in the prestigious Golden Heart contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America, winning twice. Other than reading, Trish enjoys traveling (by car or train—she’s a terra firma girl!), watching TV and movies, hiking, nature photography and visiting national parks.

You can visit Trish online at www.trishmilburn.com. Readers also can write to her at P.O. Box 140875, Nashville, TN 37214-0875.

Grace Cameron, the heroine of The Cowboy’s Secret Son, has two close, special friends who have helped her through the hardest times of her life.

I’m fortunate to have had the same. So here’s to my two oldest friends—love ya, Allison and Kristy!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

A rolling sea of bluebonnets in full bloom flowed out from where Grace Cameron sat at a roadside table. Her son, Evan, ran back and forth, pretending to ride an imaginary horse. But not even his boyish antics could lift her mood today.

Once, hills blanketed in bluebonnets had soothed her, allowing her to believe there was hope and beauty in the world beyond her daily existence. Now, the sight of them and the town in the distance caused fear and uncertainty to swirl inside her like a Texas twister.

Texas. She looked toward the horizon, soaking in a tiny sliver of Texas’s vast and varied expanse. When her parents had dragged her away nearly seven years ago, she’d thought she’d never see it again. Later, she’d avoided the state for fear she’d lose more than she already had. And yet here she sat gazing out across the spring-painted Hill Country, on the verge of taking the final step in a decision that she’d second-guessed every moment since she’d made it.

She glanced at Evan, at his miniature cowboy boots and hat, the pint-size Wrangler jeans, and couldn’t help but smile despite her inner turmoil. When she’d told him they were taking a vacation to Texas, that he was going to attend Cowboy Camp for Kids, he’d transformed into a bouncing ball of joy and excitement. While other little boys his age were into Star Wars and anime cartoons, he loved the reruns of old Westerns. His favorite cartoon character was Woody from Toy Story. He thought horses were God’s greatest creation and believed everyone should have at least one.

You couldn’t fight DNA.

“You ready to go, kiddo?”

Evan stopped midgallop. “Are we almost there?”

She nodded and pointed across the field of wildflowers. “See that town?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Blue Falls. The camp is just a few miles on the other side.”

His face lit up so much Grace wouldn’t have been surprised if he started glowing. He raced to the car and was inside strapping on his seat belt by the time she managed to stand. She stared toward Blue Falls a bit longer, at the waterfalls that gave the town its name, the shimmer off the lake around which the town was built. Thousands of tourists flocked here each year, and all she wanted to do was turn around and leave it far behind.

But this trip wasn’t about what she wanted. It was about what was best for her son.

Her feet felt as if they were encased in wet, heavy concrete as she headed for the car. She placed her hand on her stomach as if the action would calm the nausea plaguing her.

As she drove through Blue Falls, it felt familiar, and yet not. Some businesses she remembered from her youth were gone, others still there. She’d swear the same old coots were sitting out in front of the Primrose Café swapping probably the same old stories. The Blue Falls Music Hall had gotten a sorely needed facelift in the intervening years.

Taking in the view of her hometown was a little like having an out-of-body experience. She wasn’t the same Grace Cameron who’d lived here before, but that didn’t keep a flood of old feelings from washing into every part of her body.

Evan stretched toward the window as far as his seat belt would let him. “I don’t see any cowboys.” The disappointment in his tone made Grace want to laugh and cry at the same time.

“Don’t worry, they’re around. A lot of these people are probably on vacation, like us.” No doubt here for the popular wildflower tours. The appearance of the bluebonnets in March of each year made people crazy for wildflowers.

“Oh.”

Grace looked at the faces they passed, too, searching for someone familiar.

Searching for Nathan.

For what seemed like the millionth time, she imagined all the ways he might respond when he found out he had a son. Shock. Disbelief. Anger. Probably all three. And he’d be entitled to each one.

She shook her head. No sense in torturing herself with possibilities. She’d find out the reality soon enough.

They waited at the last stoplight while a tour bus made the wide turn onto Main Street. The words Wildflower Tours stretched down the side of the bus, and little painted bluebonnets peeked out from around the letters. Grace wondered what it would be like to visit Blue Falls without any previous ties to the town or the people here.

“The light’s green, Mom.”

“Oops.” She reined in her wandering thoughts and proceeded through the intersection.

They began the winding climb out of Blue Falls, and before she was ready—would she ever be ready?—they reached the Vista Hills Guest Ranch. Her palms grew sweaty against the steering wheel as she made the turn and started down the driveway lined with cedar and gnarled live oak trees.

Panic threatened to overwhelm her. What was she doing here?

She was here because Evan had a father.

And Nathan had a son.

Someday that relationship might be the most important one in the world—to her, at least.

When she rounded the last curve that brought her within view of the heart of the ranch, she had to take a deep breath. She didn’t want Evan to sense how nervous she was. He might be only six, but he was observant and not easily fooled. As she pulled into a parking space next to the ranch office, Grace noticed a few other families with small children. They really were here for a vacation, to allow their kids a bit of cowboy fun. How she wished the days ahead would be that simple for her.

She eyed the other guests, but from her vantage point she couldn’t tell if Laney and her daughter, Cheyenne, were among them. Grace didn’t know if she could have come here without Laney for moral support.

“Mom, look! Horses!”

Grace looked toward the barns and surrounding corrals, remembering their locations as if she’d been here only yesterday. Half a dozen horses stood in the fenced enclosure next to the stables, and two families were gathered there as their little ones climbed up the fence for a better view. She noticed a man in jeans and a cowboy hat inside the fence talking to the group, but from this distance she couldn’t tell if it was Nathan, one of his brothers, or an employee.

“Can we go look at the horses?”

“In a few minutes. We have to check in first.”

“But, Mom!”

“Honey, the horses aren’t going anywhere. You want to see our cabin, don’t you?”

“Not as much as the horses.”

The way he said it, all dramatic and pouty-faced, caused a laugh to escape her. Evan met her eyes in the rearview mirror, not at all amused.

Grace shook her head as she got out of the car. If she gave Evan a couple of minutes, he’d forget being put out with her and move on to admiring something else.

Evan’s boots clonked on the wooden front steps of the office, and Grace wondered if Nathan had looked like that when he was young. A full-grown cowboy in his mind but only a little boy in truth.

With another deep breath, Grace opened the door and followed Evan inside.

“Well, hello there, young man,” the older woman at the front desk said when she spotted Evan.

“Hello. I’m here to be a cowboy.”

Merline Teague laughed, totally unaware she was talking to her grandson. Grace’s throat went uncomfortably dry as she realized they’d just stepped beyond the point of no return.

“Well, then, you’ve come to the right place. What’s your name, cowboy?”

“Evan Cameron.”

“Nice to meet you, Evan Cameron.”

Evan flicked up the front of his tan hat the way he’d seen movie-star cowboys do in all those old films. Merline paused as she reached for the appointment book, looking at him a moment longer as if she’d seen something that surprised her. Grace held her breath as her heart did its best to crack her ribs with its frantic beating.

Merline consulted her reservation book then looked at Grace for the first time. “Grace?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Merline glanced at Evan again, but only for a brief moment. “It’s so good to see you. Been a long time.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jeez, could she say nothing else?

Merline waved her hand in a “no need for that” type of gesture. “You’re a grown woman now. Call me Merline.”

“Yes…” Grace caught herself before she three-peated her response.

Merline eyed her reservation book again while Grace marveled at how little Nathan’s mother had changed. She was still trim and fit with a tan that spoke of lots of time spent outdoors. She wasn’t the type of woman to color her hair, but she didn’t need to because she had gorgeous silver hair cut in a bob just below her ears. She was casual and classy at the same time, a woman comfortable in her skin and her surroundings.

“So you’re living in Arkansas now,” Merline said.

Grace could almost imagine the unspoken words. Always wondered where you and your family disappeared to.

“Moved there after college. My best friend was from the area, so we decided to set up shop there.”

“What do you do?” Merline pulled a key from a rack behind her.

“Interior design.”

“Oh, I bet that’s fun. I love watching all those design shows on HGTV. I start watching one, and the next thing you know three hours have passed.”

“Me, too.”

“Even when you do it all day?”

Grace nodded. “Can’t seem to get enough of it, I guess.” She supposed she was still trying to fill her life with beautiful things after so many years of being forbidden them.

Merline handed Grace the key and a sheet of paper. “You’re in cabin twelve. Just take the drive behind the office.”

“I remember.”

Merline smiled, looking as if dozens of questions were swirling unspoken inside her. Could she possibly have put things together that quickly, especially since Grace and Nathan had never really dated? Grace fought the urge to grab the key and run, telling herself that her anxiety was causing her to see things that weren’t there. She tried not to think how Evan might have inherited his keen sense of observation from his paternal grandmother.

“That’s the schedule for the weekend,” Merline said as she pointed to the paper she’d handed Grace. “You’re just in time to get settled before the tour.”

“Will we get to see the horses?” Evan was bouncing on the balls of his feet, unable to keep still.

Merline smiled at him. “Yes, sir. Lots of horses.”

“Awesome!”

Grace laughed right along with Merline.

“Excited, isn’t he?”

Grace pushed down the front of Evan’s hat. “Yes, he’s talked about nothing else since I told him he was going to Cowboy Camp.”

“Our boys were crazy for horses at that age, too. Still are.”

The mention of the Teague brothers ratcheted Grace’s anxiety up another notch. She placed her hand on Evan’s back. “Let’s go, pardner. We need to unpack.”

This time, Evan didn’t express how unpacking was way down his list of things he wanted to do. Instead, he turned and headed for the door.

“Good to see you again, Grace.”

Was there an extra layer of meaning in those words, or was she imagining it?

Grace met the other woman’s gaze only briefly. “You, too, ma— Merline.” She stepped toward the door before she could stumble over something besides Merline’s name.

Just as she and Evan reached the door, it swung open and a much larger version of her son stepped inside.

“Mom, it’s a cowboy,” Evan said in awe.

Yes, it was indeed a cowboy. And Nathan Teague still took her breath away.

NATHAN LOOKED DOWN at the little guy tricked out in full cowboy attire. Whose idea had it been to let the ranch be overrun by munchkins all week? Oh, yeah, his. Temporary insanity, had to be. Already, two campers had cried when the horses got too close. One had screamed so loudly his parents had apologized profusely and headed back to Austin so they could check in to a hotel with a nice, big pool. He looked at their latest arrival and wondered how this one would react. Oh, well, he had to make the best of the situation.

He touched the front of his hat. “Looks to me like there are two cowboys in here.”

The little boy scanned the office before he realized what Nathan meant. He smiled so wide, Nathan couldn’t help but smile back. Maybe there was hope yet.

“Nathan, you remember Grace Cameron?”

He looked at his mom, who nodded at a woman standing to the side of the little boy. It took a few clicks of the cogs in his brain for the truth to slip into place. But beyond the stylish, beautiful blonde in front of him, he could just make out the girl who’d been his algebra tutor. A girl he’d made love to and then pretended like it didn’t happen.

A girl who had disappeared without a trace, without a word. And now she reappeared just as suddenly and without warning.

“Grace.” For some reason, his brain couldn’t force more than her name out of his mouth.

“Nathan, good to see you.”

She only met his eyes for the barest hint of a moment before she turned her attention to the boy.

“Yours?” he asked.

“Yes.” Her voice sounded small, the same as he remembered it. So a part of that teenage girl remained below the surface of the woman she’d grown into.

The little boy looked up at Grace. “Mom, do you know the cowboy?”

“Yes, honey,” she said, her voice stronger. “This is Nathan Teague. We used to go to school together.”

The kid looked as if his mother had just told him she knew his favorite football player or superhero.

Grace placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders in what looked like a protective gesture. Maybe she was nervous that he might get hurt here, a common worry among the parents he’d met so far today. He resisted the odd urge to reassure her.

“Nathan, this little cowboy is Evan,” she said.

Nathan extended his hand, and Evan shook it without hesitation.

“You’ve got a good grip there.”

If possible, Evan grinned even wider.

“Were you good at school, too?” Evan asked.

Nathan laughed. “Not as good as your mom. In fact, she had to help me pass one of my classes.”

Evan nodded. “She helps me with my homework, too.”

“You’re mighty young to have homework.”

“You’d be surprised,” Grace said. “School has changed a lot in just a few years.” So had Grace. Or had her voice always been that pretty, the audible equivalent of a gorgeous spring day, and he’d never noticed it cloaked in her shyness? He had the oddest sensation that he’d like to hear her read to him. This time when she met his eyes, they held for a little longer, allowing him to appreciate their pale blue color. When she seemed to realize this, she ushered her son toward the door. Having forgotten what had brought him inside, he followed in her wake.

“Are you back in Blue Falls?” he asked.

“Just a little vacation.”

Evan spotted the horses and a few more kids down by the corrals. “Mom, can I go see the horses? Please!”

She looked about to refuse, with an edge of concern pulling at her features. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen that look today. “He’ll be safe. Simon and Dad are down there.”

Grace still looked unsure but finally relented. “Okay.” Evan shot off like an Olympic sprinter. “But be careful,” she called after him.

“He seems excited to be here.”

“You have no idea. I swear he’s John Wayne reincarnated.”

He chuckled. “There are worse things.”

“Yeah.”

He followed as she walked slowly toward a bench overlooking the stables and corrals. She sank onto it as though she was utterly exhausted.

“You okay? You look tired.”

“Just a long drive today.”

Instinct told him it was more than that, but if she didn’t want to share, it wasn’t any of his business. Suddenly, he wanted to apologize for the idiot he’d been back in high school, but she’d probably think him an even bigger idiot for bringing it up now when she’d obviously moved on.

He didn’t sit beside her. Rather, he leaned against a nearby oak tree. They both watched as Evan climbed up on the fence rails and reached over to pet a big blonde mare named Dolly.

“At least he’s not running away in terror like some of the kids,” he said.

“Unfortunately, he has no fear. I took him to a rodeo once, and I firmly believe he would have climbed onto the back of one of the bucking horses and given it a whirl.”

Nathan laughed. “Fearlessness can come in handy.”

“I don’t want him to be scared of everything, but a little healthy, self-preserving fear would be nice.”

Nathan looked over at Grace’s golden blond hair. When he’d known her before, it’d been long and straight down her back. Now, she had it cut in a shorter, wavy style that suited her. “Well, it doesn’t look like he’s caused you to go gray yet.”

Grace lifted her hand to her hair, and he noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. “No, not yet.”

A little girl in pink cowgirl boots, a pink shirt with fringe and a pink cowgirl hat climbed up on the fence next to Evan and started petting Dolly, too. She struck up a conversation with Evan, unintelligible at this distance.

“Hey, we’ve got two kids who actually like the horses. This week might work out yet.”

“Do you usually have lots of kids afraid of the horses?”

Nathan shrugged. “Don’t know. This is the first time we’ve done the camp. Maybe the last.”

Grace didn’t respond. Despite looking tired, she didn’t seem terribly relaxed. In fact, her back was as straight as if she was tied to a fence post. She clasped her hands together in her lap so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.

“You sure you’re okay? Can I get you something to drink?”

“He’s yours.”

Her quick response made no sense. “What?”

Grace turned her head slowly, met his gaze. “Evan. He’s your son.”

Chapter Two

All the breathable oxygen disappeared from around Nathan. At least it felt that way.

“What?” He stared at Grace, thinking he couldn’t possibly have heard her correctly.

Grace clasped her hands into a tight ball in her lap and took a deep breath. “Evan is your son.”

“That’s not possible.”

She looked up at him. “I assure you it is.”

Nathan snatched his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. He took a couple of steps away from Grace, away from the words she’d spoken. The boy she claimed was his son was now feeding the horse a carrot with Simon’s help. A wild storm of denial and curiosity whirled within him.

“You got pregnant that night at the party?” he asked without turning back toward Grace.

“Yes.”

Heat rushed through him. “And instead of telling me then, you decided to run away?”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that an unusual anger roared inside him. He spun back toward her, met her gaze. “You always have a choice.”

“Maybe you did, when you decided to pretend nothing had happened between us.”

Despite his anger, he winced at the sharpness of that truth.

Grace shifted her gaze toward the stand of trees opposite where she sat. “But I didn’t when my parents literally dragged me away in the middle of the night in shame.”

He’d met her parents once, and could all too easily imagine them doing such a thing. But he didn’t want to feel sorry for her. Six years had passed since then, years in which she’d cheated him by keeping the existence of a son from him. If Evan was his. Maybe she was mistaken.

“How do you know he’s mine?”

She laughed, but it wasn’t the type of laugh born of amusement. “You’re really asking me that question?”

He crossed his arms and stared at her, every muscle in his body tense. “Yes. You show up here unannounced and tell me some boy I’ve never seen is my son, and I’m supposed to just believe that?”

Grace shifted on the bench so that she more fully faced him. “Think about it. Do you remember me having guys lining up to sleep with me back in high school?”

“I don’t know what you did. You could have met someone after you left here.”

She shook her head, and something about her expression made him feel as if she thought him the most clueless man in the world. “I pretty much lived under lock and key when I lived here, and it only got worse after we left, after my parents discovered I was pregnant. I had to sneak out a window to come to that party.”

“Why did you?”

She didn’t immediately answer. Instead, she seemed to think about it as she let her gaze fall away from him. “Because I liked you. And I thought maybe you liked me.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. The silence stretched to an uncomfortable length. He plopped the hat back on his head and shoved his hands in his jean’s pockets. “I don’t know how to react or what to say. I feel like I just got hit with a cattle prod and a stampede all at once.”

“You don’t have to do anything, at least not now.”

He glanced at her, trying to read this woman he didn’t even know anymore. Had he ever? She was no more the girl who’d helped him raise his algebra grade so he could play football than one of the fence posts around the corral. That girl had barely been able to meet his eyes, even on that night he’d made love to her.

This woman marched onto his ranch and pronounced him the father of her little cowboy wannabe.

Man, he felt as if his head was going to explode.

“What does that mean, not now?”

“I’m not looking for money, or even your help in raising him. I’m doing fine on my own.”

“Then, why tell me at all?”

“Because I’m all he has, and if something ever happens to me, I want him to have somewhere to go.”

The way she sounded as though he was nothing more than a back-up plan caused his anger to swell. “And you thought of the sperm donor?”

She gasped, and her eyes went wide. “Nathan, that’s not how I think of you.”

“It’s not?”

“No.”

“Could have fooled me. What if nothing happens to you, Grace? I get nothing? I’m just supposed to forget you dropped this little bombshell on my head?”

“Of course not.” She appeared flustered, as if she hadn’t anticipated him putting up a fuss. “I just wanted you to know.”

He looked toward the corral when he heard youthful giggles. Evan and the little pink girl were laughing, at what he couldn’t tell. “Why now? I’m assuming you didn’t just leave your parents’ house.”

“I…I just finally got up the nerve. I realized it wasn’t responsible to be a single parent and not make plans in case something happened to me.”

He shook his head and shifted his eyes back to her. “You could have called. Hell, written a letter or something.”

“I thought about it, picked up the phone I don’t know how many times.”

“And you decided just dropping by was better?”

“I didn’t know. I honestly didn’t know if I could go through with it. I almost turned around half a dozen times.”

“Good to know I could still be in the bloody dark about having a kid.”

This time, she winced. “Telling you wasn’t as easy as you obviously think it should have been.”

He shifted from one foot to the other, cursing himself for the fool he’d been that long-ago night. One more idiot kid who couldn’t keep his pants zipped. “Did I really treat you so badly that you’d keep my son from me?”

“This isn’t about you, Nathan.”

“Obviously.” He had to get away, find some air to refill his lungs. Calm the hell down. He couldn’t think when he was so close to this woman spouting words that could change his life so dramatically. When he could see the boy who might very well be the beginning of a new generation of Teagues. “I’ve got work to do.”

He stalked down the hill but didn’t head for the barn. Instead, he made for his truck. Nothing like a drive up to the more remote area of the ranch to help him untangle his thoughts.

If only he’d taken time to think seven years ago.

THAT HAD NOT GONE WELL. Grace sat on the bench, bone weary and wishing she could turn back the clock even an hour. One would think, after all the time she’d spent contemplating various ways she could tell Nathan about Evan, she’d end up doing something other than just blurting it out at the first opportunity.

She didn’t let her doubts get the better of her, tempting her into believing she’d made a mistake in telling Nathan about his son. It was the right thing to do, for many reasons, but she wished he’d stuck around longer so she could explain further. Part of her couldn’t blame him for his reaction. If she were in his spot, she had no idea how she’d react.

There was no going back now, though. She’d simply have to figure out how to progress from her clumsy start.

“Didn’t go how you’d hoped, huh?”

Grace looked up to see Laney Stuart had approached without her noticing. “I don’t know why I bothered running scenarios in my head because my brain and mouth staged a coup and abandoned them all.”

Laney sat on the bench next to Grace. “Well, at least it’s done.”

“It’s far from done. I fear it’s just the beginning.”

“Then at least you can stop imagining how he’ll react. Now you know.”

“And I feel loads better,” Grace said, her voice full of sarcasm. “I thought you were here for moral support, not stating the obvious.”

Laney squeezed Grace’s hand. “I am, sweetie. I’ll listen anytime you need to talk.”

Grace squeezed back. “It’s good to see you. It’s been too long.”

“You just miss my French toast.”

Grace managed a small laugh. “If my stomach ever calms down, I fully expect you to make me some.”

Laney leaned back with a dramatic sigh. “You only love me for my culinary skills.”

“If I remember correctly, French toast is the extent of your culinary skills.”

Laney playfully punched Grace in the arm. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, you’re right. I forgot mac and cheese—from a box.”

Laney gave Grace a narrow-eyed stare. “Tell me again why I like you, why I took a week off from work to come to the-middle-of-nowhere Texas.”

“I babysat your daughter so you could study?”

“Hmm, seems I remember doing something similar for you.”

She had indeed. Laney had been a single mom grad student trying to finish her degree and plan for a wedding to her long-distance boyfriend when she’d advertised for two roommates. Grace, along with Emily Stringer, one of Grace’s fellow interior design students and her current business partner, had answered the ad.

Grace still swore something cosmic had brought the three of them together. She’d bonded with Emily over their shared love of interior design, and with Laney over their single motherhood. Laney and Emily had similar personalities: strong, determined and quick with snappy comebacks. Considering the roommate horror stories she’d heard during her years of college, she’d won the roomie lottery.

While Evan and Cheyenne had played, Grace and her two best friends had studied, laughed, planned for their futures and shared their deepest secrets. Laney and Emily were the loving, nurturing, fun sisters her own had never been.

“It’s so good to see you,” Grace said, growing serious. “You have no idea how much it means to me to have you here.”

“I think I do. You were there for me on some of my most frightening days. And you know Emily would be here, too, if you hadn’t threatened her with bodily harm if she closed the doors.”

“I know, but our business is too new for both of us to be AWOL on the customers we do have. Plus, she’s already been there for me so many times.”

“Don’t worry about that now. Focus on what you came here to do.”

Grace sighed. “I doubt I could think about anything else for more than two seconds if I tried.”

“You’ll get through this, just like everything else.”

“I hope you’re right.” Grace took a deep breath then stood. “I better get us settled in our cabin.”

“He’ll come around. May take some time and he might be angry for a while, but he’ll get over it. And if not, I’ll be forced to kick his ass.”

Grace lifted an eyebrow. Of the three of them, Laney was by far the most girly.

“Okay, hire someone to kick his ass,” Laney admitted.

Grace leaned down and gave Laney a quick hug before walking down the slight incline toward the stables. “Evan.” When he turned at the sound of his name, she motioned for him to come to her. “Come on. We have to take our stuff to the cabin.”

“But, Mom…”

“We’ll be coming back in a bit. Now don’t argue.” Her last words came out a little sharper than she intended, so when he reached her she gave him a big smile and placed her arm lovingly around his shoulders. “I see you and Cheyenne found each other.”

He grunted in confirmation but kept staring back at the corral. “Isn’t she pretty? She ate sugar cubes right out of my hand!”

“Cheyenne?”

He looked at Grace as if she’d suddenly taken leave of her senses. “No! Eww. I was talking about Dolly, the horse.”

“Oh, of course.” Grace bit her lip to keep from laughing.

But as they got into the car and headed up the hill to the cabins, her urge to laugh faded away. When she thought about it, Evan really wasn’t that different from his father. Back when she’d known the younger version of Nathan, he’d been more wrapped up in horses and football than he had in any girl, least of all her.

As Grace pulled up in front of their cabin, she realized she’d never been inside one of them. She’d come to the ranch several times while tutoring Nathan, but they’d been confined to the dining room in the main house where Merline could watch them. That had been one of her parents’ conditions of her employment—that she and Nathan never be left alone. As if the two of them would suddenly go off and do all manner of sinful, indecent things. Little did they know their tight leash contributed to her doing the thing they most feared.

“Mom? Are you getting out?”

Grace shook off the dust of the past and realized Evan had already unbuckled himself and gotten out of the car. He stared at her through the open passenger window.

“Yeah, sweetie.” She needed to pull herself together, regroup. She’d stumbled through her initial meeting with Nathan and the big reveal, but there was no going back for a do-over.

With Evan’s help, she got their bags inside. When she dropped their biggest suitcase on the bed, she noticed Evan had climbed into a chair to look at some framed photos on the wall. She walked up behind him and immediately spotted Nathan in one of the photos, sitting astride a horse in early-morning light. His face wasn’t fully visible, probably wouldn’t even be recognizable to the casual observer, but she knew it instantly. Despite that one night together, they’d never been a couple. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t memorized every contour of his face. It’d been all she could do to not stare at him in class and when they sat across from each other during the tutoring sessions.

But that was a long time ago. A lifetime. Evan’s lifetime.

“Come on, cowboy. Let’s get unpacked so we can get back for the tour.” Yes, this trip was about ensuring Evan’s future, but for him it was supposed to be a dream vacation. And she planned to let him have exactly that. She wouldn’t allow her own issues to ruin her son’s big adventure.

“When will I be able to ride a horse?” Evan asked as he placed his clothes in one of the lower drawers.

“Probably not today.”

“Aww, man. Why not?”

“There are lots of things the cowboys have to show you first.” Like how to stay safe around those horses.

Grace shoved her instinctual worry about Evan’s safety down. There was a delicate balance between protecting him and smothering him the way Bob and Ruth Cameron had her and her siblings. And she refused to follow in their footsteps.

“You just have to take it one thing at a time, squirt,” she said. “I guarantee, you’ll like all of it.”

As they finally finished unpacking, Evan was on the verge of hopping with excitement and anticipation to get back to the main part of the ranch. Grace wondered if she’d ever possessed that sort of giddy energy. It was infectious though, and by the time they returned to the area with the barn and corrals, she was looking forward to the afternoon, too.

That anticipation faltered a bit when she spotted Nathan striding out of the barn straight toward them. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. Surely he wouldn’t reveal his paternity to Evan right here in front of everyone. She started to step forward, to force him inside the barn so they could talk, but he stopped abruptly.

“Good afternoon, folks,” he said to the entire gathering. “Welcome to our first ever Cowboy Camp for Kids. If you’ve had a chance to look at your schedules, you’ll see we’ve got a lot lined up for you this week. Unless anyone has any questions, we’re going to start with a little tour.” Nathan turned without even making eye contact with Grace or glancing at Evan. “If you’ll follow me.”

Grace couldn’t help the bite of concern. Would Nathan reject Evan? She didn’t think she could bear that.

“Don’t borrow trouble,” Laney said low beside her. “Just go with the flow for now, see what happens.”

With a deep breath, Grace followed along with all the other kids and parents, hoping to make it through the afternoon’s activities. Maybe she’d find a chance to talk to Nathan more, force him to agree to her request for silence on the subject of Evan’s paternity. She refused to think about how he might react to that request. Not well if his actions so far were any indication. But she could only handle one big change at a time, and just seeing Nathan and Evan so close to each other was making her pulse jittery. Every time Nathan opened his mouth to talk about stalls or daily chores on a ranch or veterinary care for the horses, she had the unreasonable fear that he was going to reveal all to Evan.

Laney pointed her smooth, manicured hand toward where Evan and Cheyenne hung on Nathan’s every word. “Kindred spirits.”

“Yeah. Even though I don’t think Evan would admit it now.”

“At the ‘eww, girls’ stage?”

“So he says, and I’d like to keep him there for at least two decades.”

Laney shook her head, causing her pretty brunette bob to sway. “Hard to believe they once shared a playpen.”

They paused and listened as Cheyenne asked if Nathan had ever ridden in the rodeo. Grace could have answered this for him, that he’d done a few local things for fun but never seriously. At least that was the answer when she’d still lived here.

Laney shook her head. “I wondered how long it would be before she got to a rodeo question.”

“Still likes rodeo?” Grace asked as they moved out of the barn and into one of the corrals where Dolly and another horse stood saddled.

“So much so you’d swear she was raised on a ranch instead of in downtown Chicago.”

Grace nodded toward Evan. “I blame reruns of Westerns on the Hallmark Channel.”

Laney laughed. “And I blame all those rodeos they run on country music channels.” Just then Cheyenne looked back at them, smiled wide and waved. They returned both the smile and the wave. “But I can’t really complain. They got us through some tough times.”

Grace knew Laney was referring to how Chey had been a sick little girl for about a year. She’d had a heart condition that, thankfully, doctors had been able to fix once she got old enough. But the months of waiting for her to get to an age where the procedure would be safer to perform had been agonizing.

The memory made Grace’s own heart squeeze. She couldn’t fathom having something threaten Evan’s life. “She’s still doing okay?”

“Oh, yes. Totally healthy.” Laney found a spot on a bench next to the fence and sat down.

Still tired, Grace joined her as Nathan continued telling the kids about the parts of a saddle.

“It still seems so weird to me that watching rodeos was the only thing that would keep her calm when she was sick. Not cartoons, not soothing music. Rodeo. Of all the things. But there she was, glued to the TV anytime it was on. I still have some of the ones I recorded back then.” Laney shook her head. “I don’t know where she gets it. Certainly not from her father or me.”

“No hidden rodeoing in your past, huh?”

Laney laughed. “Not even a stint as rodeo queen.”

Grace made the mistake of looking at Nathan at the moment he pushed up the front brim of his hat. The motion was so like Evan’s it took her breath away.

“Grace?”

“Huh?”

“You okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Just tired.”

Worry descended on Laney’s features. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” For now. She shifted her gaze away from her friend’s concern, not wanting to think about why it was there. Once you’d battled the cancer monster, it was hard to get past the idea that it might jump out at you again.

Nathan stepped aside as Merline walked to the front of the group. “I hope everyone is hungry because we’re putting on a big Texas-style barbecue for you all tonight. We’ll get started in about an hour, so that gives you time to go and freshen up. Just come on up behind the house, and you’ll get to mix and mingle, meet the rest of the family and the hands.”

Grace’s nerves fired. The rest of the Teagues. As in Evan’s grandparents and uncles. “Excuse me.”

“Sure,” Laney said. “See you at dinner?”

Grace nodded, but her attention was tracking Nathan as he headed back through the barn. She hurried after him, but his long legs had carried him almost halfway through before she caught him.

“Nathan, I need to talk to you.”

“Not now, Grace,” he said, his voice clipped and without any hint of warmth. He didn’t slow or look at her.

She grabbed his wrist and stopped, forcing him to do the same. When his eyes met hers, she didn’t waver. “Yes, now.”

Chapter Three

Grace held her breath until Nathan finally let out a slow sigh and nodded. He motioned for her to follow him. After a quick glance back to see that Evan was busy talking to some of the other kids, she accompanied Nathan as they walked out of the front of the barn and down the driveway a short distance. When they were out of earshot of the other guests, he propped one booted foot and his forearms up on the fence and gazed out into the distance. The rigidity of his stance told her he was struggling to contain his anger.

“I believe you,” he said.

“What?”

“I believe he’s mine. You never seemed like the type of person to lie. Not outright anyway.”

The half compliment was unexpected, but she didn’t assign too much weight to it. He probably didn’t even mean it as a compliment if his tone was any indication, rather just a truth. Better she think of it that way. Nathan Teague was from another part of her life, and was in her present life only for a brief time out of necessity, nothing more.

“It’s been seven years. I could have changed.”

He glanced at her, all of her, and it made her skin flush. She hoped he couldn’t see it, or attributed it to her being fair and out in the Texas sun.

“Yes, you’ve changed on the surface, but I don’t believe people change at their core. Even if they do make bad decisions.”

Grace did her best to ignore how his words stung. No matter how he felt, she’d never think of Evan as a mistake. She moved closer to the wooden fence and propped her arms on the top slat, as well. “You barely knew me.”

“True. But I tend to pay attention to my gut instincts.”

“What’s it telling you about me now?” Out of the corner of her eye she saw him watching her, but she didn’t face him.

“That something changed in your life, some reason you finally decided to tell me I have a son.”

Grace winced at the harsh edge to his words, but she also acknowledged he was entitled to it. No matter what had transpired between the two of them in the past, it was a big thing to have a child and not know about it. She pushed away those old feelings of hurt and abandonment that had deluged her after that night with Nathan, when he’d avoided her eyes in the school hallways as if he didn’t know her. She was a different person now, an adult, so maybe he was, too.

“I guess I grew up, realized that I have responsibilities. And one of those is ensuring my son’s future in case something happens to me.” She sensed his next question, so she continued before he could speak. “You know, I could die in a car wreck tomorrow.”

He was quiet for a moment, and she wondered if he could tell she was hiding something. She just wasn’t ready to reveal everything, afraid she’d start crying if she thought too much about the cancer returning. She wanted Nathan to agree to care for Evan should the need arise because he felt a kinship to his son, not because of pity for her. She never wanted Evan to feel like a charity case.

“What about your family?”

“I haven’t talked to them since I turned eighteen.”

“You’ve been alone this whole time?”

“I’ve had Evan, and friends once I went to college. My friend Emily and I started a business together, interior design. So I have a good life.” Evan and the fact that she’d made her life what she wanted it to be were what had gotten her through bad doctor reports and body-draining chemo. Only in her darkest moments, when she’d succumbed to the fear that the disease might win, had she yearned for more. For a man to love and be loved by. Someone to offer her support, hold her hand during those endless hours lying in a hospital bed or curled into her own after a chemo session.

Nathan sighed and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe any of this was happening. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I had a right to know.”

She’d anticipated this question, considered so many different ways to answer it. Finally, she’d settled on the truth.

“I was scared.”

“Of me?”

“No, and yes.”

Nathan slipped his foot off the fence and turned toward her. “I wasn’t that bad, Grace.”

She wanted to say, “Yes, you really hurt me,” but that wasn’t what was important anymore. She didn’t shift to face him, not sure if she could get through the next few minutes if she had to look him in the eye and see anger and accusations there.

“I was hurt, yes, but that’s not why I made the choices I did.” She picked at a splinter on the fence, gathering her courage to delve into a part of her life steeped in a lot of pain. “I had lost Evan once, and I couldn’t bear the thought of it happening again.”

“Lost him?”

“When I told my parents I was pregnant, well, I’ve never seen them so mad. They were ashamed I was their daughter, and I know if I’d been of legal age, they would have kicked me out then. Instead, they packed us up in the middle of the night and left town.”

“You knew before you left Blue Falls? And you didn’t tell me then? God, Grace. What were you thinking?”

“That the father of my child didn’t want me, so he wouldn’t want a baby, either.” This time she didn’t bother keeping the bite out of her words.

Nathan didn’t respond, instead shifting his attention out across the pasture again. She didn’t say anything either, and the silence stretched for tense seconds.

“Everyone wondered where you went,” he finally said.

“I doubt everyone did.” She couldn’t help the bitter edge to her words, bits of the old hurt slipping out.

“I did.”

Those simple words were so unexpected that she looked at him before thinking. And for a moment, she was that young girl again looking into the striking green eyes of the boy she loved with all her heart. The one she’d thought might love her back when he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her.

It took more effort than it should, but she pulled her gaze away and refocused on the glint off a pond in the distance.

“We went to Maryland, where my grandparents lived, lots of other people who were as devout as my parents.” She hadn’t planned to tell him everything, especially not at first, but she found herself spilling the details of those days. “I…I basically became a prisoner in my own home. I was forced to finish school homebound. My mother had nothing to do with it though. My sister Sarah had to bring my lessons home from school, and I was on my own. I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere. My parents did not talk to me, but they constantly used me as an example to my younger brothers and sisters of what happens when one ‘descends into a life of sin.’”

Nathan made a sound of disgust, but Grace didn’t acknowledge it. She had to get through this story so she could file it away forever and never have to tell it again.

“I think after a while, I began to believe everything they said. I was sick, miserable…lonely.” And heartbroken.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“You’d made it clear you didn’t want to talk to me.”

“But Grace, a baby would have made a difference.”

She turned toward him. “Would it? Would you have ‘done the right thing’ and married me?”

“Yes.”

A sadness crept over Grace’s heart. “How would it have helped me to go from one home where I wasn’t wanted, just a duty to fulfill, to another?”

“Damn it, it wouldn’t have been like that.”

“Did you love me?”

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“I didn’t think so. Plus, my parents had done a pretty good brainwashing job on me. You were nothing more than a rutting bull in their eyes.”

“And you believed them?”

“You hadn’t given me any reason not to. And when you’re cut off from the world, you begin to believe whatever you’re told.”

“God, Grace.” He paced a couple of steps away, ran his hand over his face.

She tried not to remember what that hand had felt like on her body, how her entire being had lit up like a million stars. She forced herself to remember how all those stars had gone black and cold the day after when he’d walked right by her as though she was a complete stranger. No expression, no eye contact, no recognition. She remembered stopping in the middle of the hallway, wondering if she’d simply dreamed it all. But a positive result on a home pregnancy test a few weeks later had convinced her their night together had been all too real.

“When it came time to have Evan, I had to deliver him at home just like my mother always had.” All twelve times. “It was a hard birth. I probably should have been in a hospital. By the time it was over, I was only about half conscious. My mother said it was best to give him up for adoption. I had no strength to fight her, and she made it sound like he would have a good home, a family who loved him. At the time, it sounded like the right thing to do. I didn’t want him growing up with my family.”

“You gave him away?”

Grace hated the horrified disbelief in his voice, how it echoed the feelings she’d had herself after she’d recovered from the birth.

“My parents had damaged enough of us. I thought it would give him a chance. But…” Grace’s voice broke, and it took her a few moments to bring her emotions back under control. “I thought I’d have the opportunity to say goodbye, but by the time I woke up he was gone. I never even got to hold him.”

“What? How is that possible?”

Grace squeezed her hands into fists at the memory, the betrayal. “There’s a law where newborns can be dropped off at hospitals or police stations, no questions asked. You just sign away the rights to the child, and my mother misrepresented him as hers. She just handed him over, turned her back and walked away from her first grandchild.”

She ventured a glance at Nathan, and he looked stunned to the point of numbness—a feeling with which she was intimately acquainted.

“I was so messed up, Nathan. They’d twisted my mind, and I had bad postpartum. There were points when I just wanted to die. And then on my eighteenth birthday, my parents told me to leave, that I was no longer their responsibility. I was basically dead to them. They forced me out the front door with literally nothing other than the clothes I was wearing. They kept the rest to give to my sisters.”

She hazarded a glance at Nathan. He looked like he wanted to punch something. “What did you do?”

“The first thing I did was walk to the nearest police station and told them my mother had stolen my baby. It was like the moment I was free of that house, all the brain fuzziness went away. I can’t explain it. While the police checked out my story, I engaged in what I like to call creative living.” She smiled a little at that, felt a well of pride at the memory of how she’d taken over her life. “I slept and ate at shelters, got a job at a restaurant, added some more clothes from a church clothing bank. And I applied for college. Being as poor as a person can be, I got a full ride.”

“So you had food and a place to live.”

She gripped the top of the fence. “And I got Evan back.”

Nathan exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath, afraid of where her story was heading. “He hadn’t been adopted? I thought newborns went quickly.”

“There’s a lot of paperwork in that. It takes time. A child has to thrive in a potential adoptive home for at least six months before they’ll allow an adoption to go through. It was so close, Nathan.” She fought tears at the memory. “The first six months were almost up when the potential mom was diagnosed with MS. I mean, I’m so sorry it happened to her, it’s horrible, but they canceled the adoption, and the six months had to start over. I got him back two months into that. I’d missed the first eight months of his life, but I had him back. I was able to finally hold my son.”

“Our son.”

She met Nathan’s eyes, wondering how he was processing all this information, this crazy story that was her life after him. “Yes, our son.”

Those two words—our son—had a ring of intimacy, but it wasn’t one they shared anymore. Never really had.

Nathan was silent for several moments, ones in which Grace could hear the kids laughing and talking on the other side of the barn. She experienced a moment of panic when she wondered if Nathan had told any of the members of his family about Evan. Would they say something to Evan? She glanced through the barn, but he wasn’t visible.

“Why didn’t you tell me then?” Nathan asked, drawing her attention back to them and their conversation. His anger at being shut out was still evident in his tone, might always be there. Especially when he heard everything she had to say.

“I was young and afraid to let anyone in, afraid someone else would try to take Evan away from me.”

“By someone, you mean me.”

“And your family.”

“You must not think much of us.”

“It wasn’t that. I always liked your family, was really envious of you. But you have to understand. I’d just been through the equivalent of psychological torture, at least from my point of view. The way I was looking at things then, I thought that if you knew about Evan, you’d be able to take him from me because you had money, family support, all the things I didn’t have. I’m not saying it was right, but it’s how my brain was working then.”

“We wouldn’t have stolen him from you. We’re not like that. Family is the most important thing to us.”

“Yes, but I’m not family.”

The sound of the kids’ voices grew louder, coming closer. Nathan shifted, made to leave. She touched his arm, praying he wouldn’t think her cold and heartless for what she was about to ask of him but prepared to deal with it if he did.

“Nathan, I need you to not tell Evan you’re his father.”

His expression tightened. “What?”

“I didn’t come here to make any big changes. We have a good life in Little Rock, one we’re going back to soon.”

Nathan shook his head. “I don’t believe you. You come here, tell me I have a son, but that I can’t let him know that.”

Grace let her hand fall away after she realized she was still touching Nathan. “He’s too young to understand, and I don’t want him getting attached and then hurt when we leave.”

Nathan threw up his hands in frustration. “Then why tell me at all?”

“I told you why.”

“Oh, yeah, so you’ll have someone on the line to take care of him in case an asteroid falls on your head. Great to know you think so highly of me. I’m okay only if you’re dead and there’s no other choice.”

Grace flinched. She understood his anger, really she did, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Evan attaching himself to Nathan and having his little heart broken when she took him away from his father.

“It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No, Nathan. I just…please, I want him to have a good time here. He’s been looking forward to this so much.”

“And you think if you tell him I’m his daddy that it’ll ruin his camping experience?” Such bitterness laced his every word.

“No. I don’t know. Can we please just give it a few days, let him get settled?” And maybe by then Nathan would have calmed down enough to see her side of things, that stability was the best thing for Evan as he grew up.

Wouldn’t having a father be the best thing?

She told the voice in her head to shut up, that she knew what she was doing.

Nathan stared at the kids emerging from the barn, Evan among them.

“Nathan?” Grace held her breath as Evan got closer, as he broke away from the others and ran toward her and Nathan.

“Mom, guess what!”

Grace hesitated in responding. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from Nathan, silently pleading with him to keep their secret, at least for now.

“I’ll see you two at dinner,” Nathan said, then stalked away.

Grace let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t know how long he’d keep quiet, but for now she could breathe again. At least as much as she was able to watching the best-looking man she’d ever seen walk away from her. If she’d known the grown-up Nathan could make her heart somersault the way the teenage Nathan had, she wasn’t sure if she would have had the willpower to come back to Blue Falls.

She felt the first chink in the armor around her heart fall away.

NATHAN TRIED NOT TO stare. Not at Grace, with whom he was equal parts angry and, damn it, fascinated. She was so different from the girl he’d known.

And not at Evan, his son. Every time he thought about it, his knees grew weak.

He kept glancing over to where they sat at one of the picnic tables, talking to another of the mothers and the little girl in the pink cowgirl getup. When he noticed Grace laughing at something, he couldn’t look away. How could she laugh after what she’d kept from him? After all she’d been through?

That same rush of hot anger he’d felt when she’d told him about how her mother had given away Evan surged through him again. He might be furious at Grace for stealing the first years of his son’s life from him, but at least she hadn’t tossed Evan away like garbage. His hands clenched into fists. He’d known her parents were strict, odd even, but he’d never imagined they were capable of such cruelty.

Part of him understood why Grace had made the decisions she had, but part of him couldn’t get past that she hadn’t even tried to tell him about Evan. She’d lost eight months with Evan, but he’d been cheated out of six years with his son. He didn’t know if he could forgive her for that.

He noticed his mother making her way through the crowd, stopping to chat with their guests for the week as well as Trudy, the ranch’s longtime cook. Grudgingly willing to keep Grace’s secret for the time being, until he could figure out how to change her mind and make sure she didn’t flee with Evan, he shifted his attention away from her and began filling a plate for himself. Not that he was going to be able to even taste the barbecue, baked beans or potato salad. He doubted even the apple pie would make an impression today.

He knew he should mingle, go and sit with the guests, but he just couldn’t handle that right now. Truth be told, he wished he could send them all home and concentrate on more important matters, like convincing Grace that Evan deserved to know his father. That she couldn’t parade his son in front of his nose and expect him not to say anything. He just had to convince her that he wasn’t going to take Evan away from her.

His mom, now with a full plate of her own, sat beside him. He forced himself to concentrate on his food.

“Pretty nice group of folks,” his mom said as she scooped up a forkful of potato salad.

“Yeah, seem to be.”

“Was a surprise to see Grace.”

Man, don’t go down this road. “Yeah. Said her boy likes cowboys a lot.” He forced himself not to look their direction.

They were silent for a few moments while they both ate, but he gradually became aware of something in the air, an awareness akin to the stillness before a storm.

“I have a grandson, don’t I?”

Nathan let his fork drop the short distance to his plate, and he pushed it all away. He couldn’t meet his mother’s eyes, wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she thought of him and this situation.

“Yes, but don’t say anything. Grace wants to…keep it quiet for now.”

“Not tell him?”

He still didn’t agree with Grace and part of him wanted to scream at her, but he found himself hiding those feelings from his mother. “She’s afraid he’s too young.”

“I don’t understand. Why bring him here then?”

He lost the fight and let his eyes drift toward Grace and Evan again. “She wants to make sure Evan has somewhere to go if anything ever happens to her. And she doesn’t want him going to her family.”

“She’s broken away from them?”

“More like they tossed her out on her butt.”

“That’s sad.”

He watched Grace and tried to put himself in her teenage shoes. Imagined how frightened she’d been that day, standing on her parents’ porch, knowing she was totally on her own with nothing. “It’s more than sad. She’s been through a lot.”

“And yet you’re mad at her.”

“Yes.”

“Understandable, on both sides.”

He glanced at his mother then, and she met his gaze.

“Her family was a real piece of work,” she said. “I hate that she was hurt in the process, but I’m glad she’s free of them.”

“She said it felt like they’d brainwashed her.”

“Of that I have no doubt.”

“They made her afraid to tell me.” Of course, his actions hadn’t helped matters any, but he couldn’t tell his mother how big of an ass he’d been in the days after he’d gotten a bit too tipsy at Blake Chester’s party and taken Grace to bed.

“Then you’ll just have to convince her there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Things worth having are rarely easy.”

A few more silent moments passed as he tried to figure out how to approach Grace, Evan, the entire situation.

“How did you know?” he asked his mother.

“Because he looks just like you at that age.”

Nathan eyed Evan, tried to see himself in the boy. And there it was—the shape of the chin, the dark blond hair so unlike Grace’s bright blond waves, the way he talked to anyone who would listen. If he and his mom could see it, how long before his dad and brothers came to the same conclusion? How long before Grace’s secret was out, even if he stayed quiet?

He just hoped she wouldn’t blame him and take Evan away before he even got a chance to know him. He couldn’t let that happen no matter what Grace wanted or what she’d been through.

He wouldn’t.

Chapter Four

“Don’t look now, but I think Mr. Hunky Cowboy is checking you out,” Laney said as she slid back into her spot next to Grace, two slices of apple pie in hand.

Grace’s skin warmed at the thought that Nathan was watching her, but then common sense took over. If he was staring at her, it likely wasn’t with romantic interest. He was probably stewing in his anger or trying to figure out a way to change her mind about telling Evan about his father’s identity.

“You do remember you’re on my side, right?”

“I’m not talking about Nathan.”

Grace glanced at Laney as her friend placed a slice of pie in front of her. And then she noticed a man at the next table looking her way. When their gazes met, he smiled at her from below his straw cowboy hat. She managed a quick but noncommittal smile back before averting her gaze.

Laney cut off a piece of her pie. “While Evan’s having fun this week, who says you can’t, too?” Laney waggled her eyebrows.

Grace shook her head. “Me, that’s who.”

“Might be a good way to make Nathan jealous.”

“I’m not here for that, either. Plus, I don’t want to do anything else he can hold against me.”

Laney shrugged. “Whatever. You don’t have to be pure as the driven snow to be a good mother.” Having said her piece, as she always managed to do, Laney took her first bite of Merline’s signature apple pie. Grace hadn’t tasted her own yet, but it wasn’t necessary to remember the taste. Like so many things from those months when she was tutoring Nathan, slices of scrumptious apple pie stood out in her memory as if days and not years had passed.

“Oh, this is good,” Laney said.

Before she slipped up and admitted a part of her actually did like the idea of Nathan being jealous, Grace took a bite of her pie and made appreciative noises.

Laney made a slight nod toward the man at the other table. “You have to admit he’s nice-looking.”

“He is, but the last things I need in my life right now are more complications.”

“Party pooper.”

Grace stared at Laney. “I should have brought Emily instead.”

Laney wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I can’t help it. I’m an incurable matchmaker. How many times did I try to set you up in college?”

“I’m sorry, but you’re still out of luck with me. I’m firmly single and like it that way.”

Most of the time. Except when she looked into Nathan’s eyes and her heart performed some fancy Fred Astaire dance steps in her chest.

Laney pouted. “But I think all the other women here are married. Hot cowboys with no one to pair them with, that’s a crime.”

Grace laughed. “Sorry to spoil your fun.”

“Hey, the week isn’t over yet.”

When Grace finished her pie, she gathered Laney’s and her trash and headed for the large garbage can at the edge of the picnic area. After tossing the trash inside, she turned to find the unnamed cowboy standing behind her. “Oh, excuse me.”

He touched the brim of his hat. “No problem.” He lifted his empty plate. “Good dinner, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

The man reached around her and deposited his own trash in the can. “Name’s Barrett Farnsley, from Oklahoma City.” He paused until it registered that he wanted to know her name.

“Grace Cameron.” She deliberately left off where she was from.

“A very pretty name, for a very pretty lady.”

Grace blushed despite herself. She’d had interest from men before, but something about being back here in this place where she’d fallen in love for the first and only time had her emotions heightened. “Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say. Barrett was indeed handsome with short, dark hair just visible at the edges of his hat, and light blue eyes.

But he wasn’t Nathan.

And maybe that was a good thing.

It couldn’t hurt to just be friendly, could it? They’d all be gone in a week anyway.

“I assume one of these wild children is yours.” She pointed toward where all the kids were playing fetch with a couple of large Labradors, one chocolate, one yellow.

“Two, actually. The twins.”

“A handful?”

“To say the least.”

Grace smiled. Evan was a handful all on his own. She couldn’t imagine having to wrangle two boys the same age.

Barrett shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Are you here with anyone?”

Subtle. “Just my son. He’s the one who looks like he’s determined to ride the dog.”

Barrett laughed, and she had to admit it was a nice laugh. Big, full, uninhibited. If she weren’t so tied in emotional knots right now, if all her focus wasn’t on Evan’s future, she might actually be tempted to see where things went with Barrett. If anywhere. She was so bad at reading men’s signals that she could have what she thought was Barrett’s interest totally wrong. After all, she’d once thought that Nathan cared about her.

He’d just been like every other teenage boy, interested only about getting in a girl’s pants.

She made the mistake of looking toward where she’d seen him sitting next to his mother earlier. He was watching her, and he didn’t look happy. For the tiniest of moments, she did hope he wore that look because he was jealous.

Grace reminded herself she wasn’t at the ranch to rekindle things with Nathan. Bad idea, very bad idea. She was simply falling victim to some old wishful thinking. Nathan no doubt wore that unfriendly expression because he was still angry with her and this situation she’d thrust upon him.

A squeal of panic jerked her attention toward the kids. One of the dogs had a little girl down on her back. Parents vacated their tables and conversations and hurried toward the children. Grace got there first and grabbed the dog by the collar. “Choco, no!” She tugged the dog off the little girl.

The child’s mother scooped her up and turned angry eyes toward the Teagues. “How could you let an animal like this near our children?”

Grace touched the woman’s arm, spoke to her in a soothing, mother-to-mother tone. “She’s okay. See, no injuries. Choco was just kissing her, being friendly.”

The woman examined her daughter to see for herself, then pulled her close and headed out of the picnic area without another word.

“Why is that lady mad?” Evan asked from beside Grace.

She wrapped her arm around his waist. “She was just scared, afraid her daughter was hurt.”

“How did you know Choco’s name?”

She hadn’t even thought about it, just identified the dog because she’d known it from when he was a puppy. “I heard someone call him earlier.” She hated lying to her son, but the truth might lead to too many questions she wasn’t ready to answer.

She stood and dusted off her hands. “I think it’s time we called it a night, squirt.”

“Not yet.”

“Yes. If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t get up in time for all the fun stuff tomorrow. You don’t want to miss anything, do you?”

“No.” He said it reluctantly, enough to make her smile.

She looked up from tousling his hair to find herself facing Nathan. Her heart thumped hard, part fear, part an ill-advised thrill at being near him.

“Thanks for that,” he said.

“What?”

“Jumping into the dog fray.”

She shrugged. “No problem. I could tell what Choco was doing.” She glanced down at Evan, hoping he didn’t pick up on anything too familiar between her and Nathan.

Nathan propped his hands on his hips. “I’m guessing we’ll lose another guest tonight though.”

“Maybe not. She probably just needs time to calm down. We moms tend to overreact sometimes.”

Nathan’s gaze shifted to Evan, and she had to fight the burning need to hurry Evan away. And her guilt at feeling that way.

Evan looked up at Nathan. “Do we get to ride tomorrow?”

Nathan hesitated just long enough to increase Grace’s nervousness even more. “If you’re very good and do what your mother says.”

Evan thought about this for a moment, then nodded. “Mom, I need to go to bed.”

She bit her lip to keep from smiling at Evan’s quick about-face. And she tried to ignore the twinge of annoyance that he was so much quicker to agree with Nathan than her, even without the knowledge Nathan was his father. Maybe it was just a guy thing, a boy responding to a male authority figure, something Evan had never had but innately listened to. She couldn’t say that made her particularly happy.

Past Nathan’s shoulder, she noticed Merline watching them. “Evan, go wait in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.” When he was out of hearing range and the rest of the dog-incident spectators had wandered away, she looked at Nathan. “Your mom knows, doesn’t she?”

“She figured it out on her own. I haven’t told anyone.”

“Will she tell the others?”

“Dad, maybe. They don’t keep secrets from each other.”

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