Free Her Small-Town Cowboy by Mia Ross Page A

and she couldn’t help thinking no cologne company could have come up with anything that suited him any better.
    “I think we’re done,” he murmured into her ear.
    When she registered the fact that the lights had come up and the audience was clapping, she hastily joined in. What on earth was wrong with her? The play was over, and she’d hardly taken in a single line. Knowing that part of her distraction was the father of one of her students only reinforced her determination to keep things between them strictly professional. Becoming a full-fledged teacher was too important to her to risk it for anything. Or anyone.
    Lily was gathering her class together to return to their room when Erin and Parker approached them. While many of the actors had shed their costumes, Parker still wore his, even though he was obviously miserable being dressed as his least favorite vegetable.
    “Lemme help you with that,” Mike teased, tipping the brim of the boy’s cap so it popped off and into Mike’s hand. “Better?”
    Parker responded with a timid half grin, but it was the most emotion Lily had seen from him so far. “Thanks.”
    “Anytime, sport. Next time my sister volunteers you for something, tell ’em you want to be something cool, okay?”
    The boy gazed up at Mike with wide eyes, clearly intrigued. “Like what?”
    “Like a wolf or a lion.”
    “It was a play about eating right and staying healthy,” Erin reminded him curtly.
    “Steak, then. Everyone likes steak,” he added with a wink for her foster son.
    Parker’s grin deepened, and he nodded. “I’ll remember.”
    “Good man.” When Maggie tapped Mike’s shoulder, he gazed down at her with a patient look. “What?”
    “Aren’t you going to introduce Lily to your brother?”
    “Don’t hold your breath, Mom,” the tall man warned with a laugh. “Don’t forget, the last time he did that, I ran off with his prom date.”
    Mike made a face back at him, then turned to Lily. “Lily St. George, this is my pain-in-the-neck little brother Drew. Not to be confused with my other pain-in-the-neck little brother Josh. Where is he, anyway?”
    “Some kind of haying emergency,” Drew replied smoothly before turning a megawatt smile on Lily. “I’ve been hearing all kinds of great things about you, Miss St. George. It’s great to finally meet you and find out they’re all true.”
    As she shook the hand he offered her, she couldn’t help thinking how incredibly different he and Mike were. Unlike his older brother, Drew seemed to have inherited a large helping of his father’s Irish charm. She wasn’t sure why, but while they chatted, it dawned on her that for some odd reason, she preferred Mike’s honest gruffness to his brother’s well-rehearsed approach.
    After what felt like a polite amount of time, she said, “Well, it’s time for us to get back to class. It was nice meeting you.”
    “I’m always out at the farm,” Drew said with a practiced version of Mike’s creaky grin. “We’ll be seeing plenty of each other over the summer, I’m sure.”
    “I’ll look forward to that,” she replied, grasping Abby’s hand and looking over her head to make sure the rest of the kids were ready to go. “Goodbye.”
    As she led them toward the open rear doors, out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Mike standing apart from his family, arms folded while he glowered mercilessly at Drew. They were locked in what appeared to be a very intense discussion, and from what she could see, Mike was doing most of the talking. Growling, probably.
    Lily had no idea what that could be about, and she firmly put the image from her mind. She had her hands full with a gaggle of restless students and a lesson on photosynthesis to finish explaining in as simple terms as possible. The last thing she needed was to get distracted by a spat between the Kinley men.

Chapter Five
    M ike was still stewing over his confrontation with Drew earlier when he noticed a