Free Operation Cowboy Daddy by Carla Cassidy Page B

risk. No, it had to have been a simple attempted robbery. Nothing else made any sense, but he also couldn’t fathom why he now felt that some sort of darkness was growing near, a darkness that would change them all forever.
    * * *
    “I’m heading out,” Halena announced the following Wednesday night.
    Mary and Tony sat side by side on the sofa and Mary looked at her grandmother in surprise. “Heading out? Where are you going?”
    “You’re leaving us on movie night?” Tony asked incredulously.
    “Mabel just called and invited me to her home for a night of movies. She’s been so lonely since her husband died that I just couldn’t tell her no,” Halena replied. “The poor thing just needs a little company.”
    “That’s nice,” Tony said.
    “Her husband has been dead for four years and last time I saw her she was in great spirits,” Mary said drily. “Tell the truth, you two are going to the casino.”
    “How do you know that?” Halena asked.
    Mary laughed. “Grandmother, you have on your lucky casino blouse.” It was the ugliest blouse Mary had ever seen. The vivid blue had faded over the years and the huge sequined parrot on the front appeared to be smirking.
    “Okay, we might stop into the casino for a few minutes,” Halena confessed.
    “Last time you were stopping in for a few minutes you didn’t get home until after three in the morning.”
    “And I suggest you don’t wait up for me tonight,” Halena retorted. “I think it’s going to be a lucky night.” She then moved to the front door. “And Mabel just pulled into the driveway.”
    “Good luck,” Tony yelled as she flew out the door. He turned to Mary and grinned. “That was her lucky blouse?”
    “Awful, right? It was given to her by one of her friends and the first time she wore it she went to the casino and won a little jackpot, so now it’s her lucky blouse.”
    “Does she gamble a lot?”
    “Not really. She seems to go in spurts. She’ll stay away for a long time and then go two or three times a week for a month or so.” She bent down and picked up Joey, who had awakened from his short nap and was now ready to interact. She placed him in her lap so he faced Tony and the little boy pumped his legs and arms with delight.
    “Hi, Joey,” Tony said. “Did you have a nice sleep?”
    Joey responded with a string of coos and grins. Mary’s heart swelled. Over the last couple of days it had been wonderful to see the growing relationship between Tony and the baby.
    And over the last few days it had been impossible to ignore the simmer of desire that was like another person in the room whenever she and Tony were together.
    The kiss they’d shared had haunted her. It had been years since she’d had a man’s warm lips against her own and tasted the sweet hot fire of desire. Tony Nakni definitely knew how to kiss.
    She wanted him to kiss her again, and that was definitely foolish. A kiss was a promise of something more to come and she could never deliver on that particular promise.
    Still, she wanted Tony and that want filled her with both a wild exhilaration and a bitterness that she’d thought she’d left behind her.
    “Are you all ready for the craft fair?” he asked.
    “As ready as we can be. I’ve rented a truck to take everything to the fairgrounds around dawn on Friday morning and we’ll be open for business by nine thirty. You’re coming on Saturday?”
    “Actually, I talked to Adam and got my work schedule shifted around so I could be there all day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” He smiled at her. “I figured maybe you could use a carnival barker and a babysitter while you and Halena work.”
    “Thank you. That would be terrific and we could definitely use your help with Joey. Now, how about I make us some after-dinner coffee?”
    “Sounds good.”
    She stood and plopped Joey into his lap and then went into the kitchen. As she stood at the counter and waited for the coffee to brew, the sound of Tony talking