Trish Milburn - The Cowboy's Secret Son

“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.

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