Free The Husband Hunt - Kat's Season (The Bachelor Series) by Kiki Abbott, Kim Hornsby Page B

corral. “I do this all the time with my horses,” he said. Colton was very attentive and flirty, had been all day. Kat teased him about being a macho man and he pretended to flex his muscles. This new side of him was fun as well as surprising, but she constantly wondered about living in Arkansas.
    Riding back to the ranch house , they trotted and Kat worried that her bra might not be good enough for national TV, but giggled none the less. Dismounting in the barn, Kat saw a little girl outside skip, hand in hand, with a young woman. Jessica Lynn looked about kindergarten age with brown curls bouncing as she skipped along. When the girl saw her dad come around the corner, she squealed and broke away to run to Colton. Kat couldn’t help but have tears in her eyes at the sight.
    B y the end of the afternoon, Kat pictured herself in their lives. When Colton asked if she could see herself fitting in here, she replied “yes,” honestly, but wondered about being in Arkansas. Later, she’d google what there was to do in the nearest town that she’d only seen quickly when driving from the airport to the ranch. Colton’s parents lived five miles down the road on a ranch of their own. When Colton, Bug and her pulled up alongside their picturesque log house, Kat was captivated by the homey beauty of the setting. Weeping willows flanked the house, a porch swing waited for someone to plunk down lazily on a Sunday afternoon and two smiling faces emerged from the doorway to greet them.
    Colton’s parents were warm, lovely people and although Kat knew they were on best behavior for the cameras, she liked them instantly. After a dinner around a huge b lock table with his parents, Bug and Colton’s two brothers, Kat was optimistic that his was a good life and any girl would be lucky to insert herself in to the mix. When Colton walked her to the car to say goodbye, Kat wanted to re-kindle the flirty spark they’d had earlier in the day and as he took her in his arms, she smiled coyly at him. “I like your life, Colton.”
    “I’m glad. Everyone liked you.” He kissed her lightly and drew back too soon. “I think Bug was captivated by you. Your pretty hair, sweet smile.”
    “If this works out, could you see me here, being Bug’s mom? Eventually, I mean.”
    His arm s loosened the hug and a line appeared between his brows. “Well, you know that no one will ever take over from my wife or as Bug’s mom, even though she was just a baby when Darcy died.” A cloud had moved in to cover his face in grief, and Kat almost gasped.
    “Not replace her , of course not, but I’d hope to be called Mom eventually, be the one she goes to when she falls down and scrapes her knee.”
    Colton looked troubled. “I just don’t know if I could ask her to call you Mom, Kat. I want her to remember her real mother, always.”
    “Y ou’d expect me to live here with you, do all the mom things, have children with you, but you’d have her call me Kat?”
    He shrugged. “We’d have to figure out something but I don’t want to di shonor Darcy’s memory. You know?”
    Kat nodded but when she stepped into the waiting SUV, she was very worried about her relationship with this motherless family. She wanted to be Mom. Already Jaxie was being called “Mommy” by Crane’s kids, and she’d only known them four months. Jaxie had said they’d wanted to have a mommy and couldn’t wait to call her that. Not to compare herself with that situation but Kat didn’t want to be called by her name by a child she was thinking of as hers. Did Colton realize how much she’d give to the relationship and how mother-like she’d become? Maybe not, and maybe in time he’d see the merits of Bug calling her mom. Driving to the airport she thought about Colton and her relationship with him, but it always came back to the little girl. Come to think of it, he’d flinched when she called Jessica Lynn, ‘Bug’ earlier in the day. Checking in at the airport, Kat did