Elle James - Cowboy Brigade

“A few.” Lindsay guarded her words, her gaze shooting from the girls to Wade and across to Stacy whose eyes had narrowed. She raised a finger and tapped her lips.

Please don’t say anything, Lindsay begged silently. She didn’t want Stacy to state the obvious.

Based on his easy rapport with the twins, Wade hadn’t put the pieces together. He didn’t see himself in the miniature versions of him right under his nose.

If she didn’t have an autistic child riding a horse that she was leading, Lindsay might have given in to the urge to run screaming from the pen.

“I want to ride next,” Lacey demanded.

“I want to ride next,” Lyric parroted.

Wade laughed and turned to Stacy. “Hi, I’m Wade Coltrane, the new ranch hand.” He held out his hand.

Stacy took it, a grin spreading across her pretty face.

At that moment, Lindsay could have scratched her friend’s eyes right out of her head.

She wanted to scream Hands off!

But she couldn’t. Five years ago, she’d made it clear that she didn’t want Wade in her life. Now that she had the girls, she had them to consider. And she didn’t want Wade back if the only reason was the girls.

Lindsay closed her eyes and counted to five. What the heck was she thinking? The girls were as much his as they were hers. He was bound to figure it out sooner or later. Better to tell him, let him get all mad and hope it blows over so she can get on with her life as a single mother.

But not now. Not here. And not in front of the girls and Stacy.

And did she really think he’d let it blow over? Let her continue on with full custody of their girls like their father never existed?

Her feet dragged in the dust of the pen as she led Whiskers in a circle.

The steady, ordered life she’d carefully constructed for the girls was about to change and she could do very little to stop it.

“Mommy, can I ride Little Joe?” Lacey called out.

“Mommy, can I ride Sweetie Pie?” Lyric asked.

Lindsay stared across the length of the pen, her gaze capturing Wade’s as realization dawned on him.

That look of utter shock could not be faked. He stared at her and then down at the girls. “These girls are yours?”

A hundred questions barreled through Wade’s head. Lindsay had twin daughters? Who was the father? Where was he now? Did he live at the ranch with Lindsay? Where did Cal Murphy fit in the picture? Was Cal the father?

Wade stared at the tops of the girls’ heads. Lindsay had children.

Anger followed closely behind the shock. If Cal was the father, why the hell didn’t he step up to the responsibility of raising his own children? Why hadn’t he married Lindsay?

“Zachary, sweetie, the lesson is over for now.” Lindsay stopped the horse at the rail in front of Stacy and gave her a weak smile. “I’m sorry, Stacy, I just can’t do it today.” She reached up and hooked Zachary beneath the arms.

He clung to the saddle horn and grunted, his face wrinkling in a fierce frown. “Ride!”

Wade placed the girls on the ground and entered the pen with Lindsay. “Hey, big guy, let me help you down.”

The little boy’s eyes rounded and his gaze darted from Lindsay to Stacy and back to Wade.

When Wade reached up for him, Zachary let go of the horn and let Wade lift him off. As soon as he cleared the saddle, he reached for his mother.

Stacy took him in her arms and hugged him. “It’s okay, Zachary. Mr. Coltrane is a nice man. He just wants to help.” She looked across at Lindsay, her brows rising as if in silent question.

Lindsay shook her head. “I’ll see you the day after tomorrow at the fundraiser, right?”

“Right. I kinda have to be there.” Stacy laughed. “Seeing as I’m organizing it. And if you’re in town before then, call me, we can do lunch.” She held her thumb and pinky to her face like she was talking into a telephone and mouthed the words call me.

“Yeah, I will,” Lindsay lied. She loved Stacy, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk to her best friend about Wade Coltrane. Not yet, not when she didn’t know what to do or say. She led Whiskers out of the pen and toward the barn.

“Can I ride Whiskers now?” Lacey danced beside Lindsay out of range of the horse’s hooves.

“Not now. I have to get supper on the table. Maybe tomorrow morning when it’s nice and cool outside.”

Lacey’s face puckered in a frown. “But I want to ride now.”

“I want to ride, too.” Lyric caught up with Lacey and automatically reached for her sister’s hand.

“You can help me brush Whiskers. How about that?”

Both girls hopped up and down. “Yay! We get to brush Whiskers!”

Lindsay thanked God for the buffer her girls created, delaying the inevitable confrontation with Wade. “As long as you’re working here, and I’m not saying that it will last, you can bring in the horses from the pasture. They need to be fed.”

Wade’s eyes narrowed as if he could read her mind and knew she was stalling. “We need to talk.”

No, we don’t. She led Whiskers into the barn and tied him to the outside of his stall, completely ignoring the man she’d left standing in the barnyard. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him watching her and her skin twitched, her heart beating ninety-to-nothing, the mind-numbing, breath-stealing sexual attraction she’d always felt toward Wade still palpable and real. When he turned and walked toward the pasture to bring in the horses, she breathed a sigh and vowed to make quick work of brushing Whiskers so that she could get to the house before Wade.

She had to talk with her grandfather. Wade Coltrane couldn’t work at the Long K Ranch. After he discovered the girls were his, he’d be impossible to avoid. At least if he lived in town, they’d only meet when he had his scheduled visitation.

Lindsay grabbed two hard-bristled brushes and a curry comb, handing the brushes to the girls. “Stand on either side of his head so that he can see you. I don’t want him to spook and kick you.”

Lacey ducked beneath Whiskers’s chin and brushed as high as she could reach. Lyric spent her time petting the horse’s soft nose, the brush forgotten in her other hand.

Meanwhile, Lindsay removed the saddle and blanket, storing them on the saddle rack before hurrying to the feed bin where she scooped up a bucket of sweet feed. She was hooking the bucket to the inside of Whiskers’s stall when Wade led two horses into the barn.

“Where do you want them?” he asked.

“The sorrel mare is Sweetie Pie, she goes in the end stall. Little Joe is the bay, he goes next to Sweetie Pie.” Lindsay turned to the girls. “Okay, I’ll finish up. You two go on up to the house and wash your hands. You can help me cook dinner.”

“Can we have macaroni and cheese?” Lacey asked, her blue eyes sparkling so much like Wade’s in the light shining in through the open barn door.

“I thought you wanted grilled cheese sandwiches.”

Lacey bounced up and down. “We want macaroni and cheese now.”

“Yeah, macaroni and cheese.” Lyric took her sister’s hand, grinning.

“Okay.” How could Lindsay refuse when they looked so eager? “But you have to eat your green beans, too.”

Both girls shouted, “Yay!” Then they handed their brushes to Lindsay and ran for the door.

Lindsay realized her mistake as she stood with the brushes in her hand, alone in the barn with Wade. She grabbed Whiskers’s bridle and led him into the stall, closing the gate behind her. Taking her time, she finished currying the horse, while she held her breath, willing Wade to go back out to the pasture. As soon as he left, she could escape to the house and have that conversation with her grandfather.