Free Taming the Montana Millionaire by Teresa Southwick Page A

And that wouldn’t do her any good at all.
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    After a restless night dreaming about kissing Marlon, Haley drove into town with Roy. She had to work the breakfast shift at The Hitching Post, but couldn’t order the teen to sit at a back table with some crayons and a coloring book to keep him out of trouble. As he pointedly said, he wasn’t a baby and she wasn’t his mother. She couldn’t tell him what to do. After that he’d left and she hoped he was staying out of trouble.
    There was a cockiness to Roy that reminded her of Marlon Cates, and she didn’t mean that in a good way.
    Apparently she had a weakness for bad boy charmers of all ages.
    After her shift ended, she left her truck parked at work and walked over to ROOTS. The basics were there—TV, fridge, furniture. She’d hoped to have more on the walls, give the place a personality, but that would come eventually. School opening was still a few weeks away and a bad economy meant fewer jobs and more kids with time on their hands who needed a hangout.
    She’d made some phone calls to Tori Jones and Allaire Traub, English and art teachers respectively at Thunder Canyon High School, and asked them to spread the word that ROOTS was open. Haley planned to spend every minute that she wasn’t working or taking her own part-time college classes at her new venture.
    Key in hand, she prepared to open the door, but then she looked in the window and saw a group of kids inside. But how did they get in? No one was supposed to be here without adult supervision.
    Haley walked inside, struggling for calm. “Hi.”
    A chorus of four voices answered “hi” back. Roy was sitting on the sofa with Kim Wallace, a sixteen-year-old blue-eyed blonde. On the loveseat, C. J. McFarlane was rubbing shoulders with his best friend Jerilyn Doolin. Both of them were fifteen. He was a good-looking boy with auburn hair forever in need of a trim. A slender girl with dark hair and eyes, Jerilyn was dealing with her widower dad’s drinking problem. The two kids hung out together and they made a cute couple. But she didn’t want them to be a couple here at ROOTS without supervision.
    â€œSo, I see you’ve all met Roy,” she said as casually as possible. She stared at the runaway and asked, “You didn’t break in again, did you?”
    â€œNah. Marlon let us in.”
    Haley followed his look to the TV stand in the corner where the man in question had his broad back to the room and was dealing with what looked like a video game.
    Marlon glanced over his shoulder. “Hi. I still have the key you gave me yesterday.”
    She’d completely forgotten. “I see.”
    He stood and walked over to stand beside her in front of the teenagers. “I ran into Roy this morning and we decided to come over here. Shoot some hoops. Watch TV. Hang out.”
    Would she have worried about the kid more or less if she’d known he was with Marlon? She would never know.
    â€œThen C.J. and Jerilyn stopped by and he hooked us up,” Roy said.
    â€œAnd I was just walking by and saw them inside,” Kim volunteered. “I needed to get out of the house.”
    â€œWhy is that?” Marlon asked.
    She tossed a long strand of blond hair over her shoulder. “My parents. They’re fighting.”
    Haley’s heart went out to the girl. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    Kim squirmed on the sofa. “They’re getting a divorce.”
    â€œDidn’t I hear that your parents divorced, C.J.?” Marlon folded his arms over his wide chest as he looked down at the teens.
    C.J. nodded. “It was hard.”
    Kim looked at him. “Did you get the ‘we both love you but fell out of love with each other’ speech?”
    â€œSomething like that,” he agreed.
    â€œI think the divorce manual has a chapter on how to talk to the kids.” Kim looked sad and angry in equal parts.