RaeAnne Thayne - The Wrangler And The Runaway Mom

“I don’t think I can climb up there.”

“I’ll help you.” He lifted Nick and swung him onto the saddle. The boy looked incongruously small atop the big horse, but he sat in the saddle like he’d been born to it. He reached forward and patted Scout’s neck. “Hi there, Scout. My name’s Nicholas.”

“Okay now, I’m comin’ up Hang on.” Colt grabbed the horn and swung up behind him. The boy settled into his arms and gave a little squeal of excitement when Colt spurred Scout forward

“Mom!” he yelled to Maggie, watching from the fence. “Look, Mom! I’m ridin’ a horse!”

“I can see that,” she called back. “Hang on.”

They were the only ones using the practice race track, and Nick chattered excitedly as Scout moved along at a steady walk. Colt smiled at one of the boy’s funny little observations and was astonished at the pleasure he found in his excitement.

He’d never thought about having a child before. Not that he was consciously opposed to the idea; he’d just never had the opportunity. Cynthia hadn’t exactly been the maternal type, and he’d never had strong feelings either way.

Besides, during their two-year marriage he’d been so completely focused on the job he’d never given the idea of bringing children into the world a second thought.

With the soft weight of Maggie’s son in his arms pressing against his chest, though, he couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have a kid of his own, to be teaching his own boy how to ride.

His father had taken him up on a horse just like this before he could walk. It was one of his earliest memories of Jack McKendrick: his father’s rough, scarred hands on the reins, his gravelly voice in his ear, telling him how to hold the reins and guide with his knees.

The ache in his throat took him completely by surprise. Jack had been gone nearly fourteen years, after all, since Colt was twenty-two. He thought he’d long ago become accustomed to the realization that he’d never be able to make things right with his father.

“Hi, Mom!” Nicky suddenly yelled. While he was busy woolgathering, Scout had carried them back around the track to where Maggie stood watching. She waved and smiled, and the breeze caught strands of her hair, twisting them around her face.

Lord, she was beautiful. The unique thing about Maggie Rawlings was that she seemed completely oblivious to her appeal. There was a shy kind of innocence about her.

Unless he was a hell of a lot better at concealing it than he thought, she had no idea of the heated little darts of desire that sizzled beneath his skin that would have been obvious to another woman.

He thought again about his vow to contain his growing attraction. He was fairly sure he could handle the physical end of things. It was the emotional tug he felt toward both Maggie and Nick that scared the hell out of him.

“Can we go around again?” Nicky asked.

Colt looked at Maggie for permission. She shrugged. “It’s up to you. It’s your horse.”

“I hate to disappoint a customer. Hang on.” He spurred Scout to a trot and was rewarded with a shriek of glee from the boy.

The warm summer sun warmed her back as Maggie leaned on the fence watching Colt and her son. Nicky was absolutely eating this up. Already, he was imitating everything the cowboy did, from his slow—and she had to admit, very sexy—drawl, to the the way he cocked his dark head when he grinned.

She wasn’t exactly sure how that made her feel. Amused, certainly. And maybe a little bereft, too, as if Nicky was pulling away from her.

She did know it shouldn’t move her so much to see the big, rough cowboy being so gentle with her son. Colt sat with one hand around Nicholas’s belly to hold him in place and the other on the reins. As they came around the track again, she could see him dipping his dark head as he talked to Nicky. A few moments later he handed him the reins to let him control the horse for the rest of the ride.

Soon they reined in the horse in front of her again.

“Did you see me, Mom?” Nicky nearly bubbled over with excitement. “I rode Scout, and Colt didn’t even help me. Well—” honesty compelled him to admit “—not very much.”

“I watched you. You make a good wrangler.”

“That’s what Colt says. He says maybe I can ride Scout again tomorrow. Can I, Mom?”

“We’ll see.”

He was still chattering when Colt hefted him down from the saddle and set him on the ground.

Colt glanced up at the sun, now high overhead. “Looks like it’s about lunchtime. How would you two like to go somewhere for lunch?”

The invitation took her completely by surprise. “I don’t—”

“Please, Mom!” Nicky asked, obviously loath to leave his new hero’s side.

Refusing would sound churlish, especially after he had been kind enough to take them riding, but she knew he couldn’t have much money or he wouldn’t be desperate enough to ride on the circuit.

And heaven knew she didn’t have much, not even to go Dutch for fast food.

“Why don’t I make us some sandwiches?” she offered, knowing even as she said it that she would regret it later. “We could take them over to the park across the way and have a picnic.”

“Sounds great,” he replied. “Nick, why don’t you help me take care of Scout, here, and then the two of us can see if we can rustle up something to drink.”

Yes, she was definitely going to regret this, she thought as she watched Nicky’s eyes light up with excitement. How was she supposed to keep distance between them when her son obviously adored the man?

Chapter 5

Would two sandwiches be enough for Colt? Knife in hand, Maggie studied the bread laid out in front of her, then pulled two more slices out of the bag. Better safe than sorry. And she hoped he liked turkey, since that was the only lunch meat she had.

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