Free Should've Been a Cowboy by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page B

for that.”
    “Don’t worry. He is.”
    Alex covered his reaction with a coughing fit as Tyler, cheeks pink, quickly left the room.
    “Oh, dear.” Sarah peered at him. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”
    “I’m fine. Just swallowed wrong.”
    “Listen, it’s not my place to interfere, but I think that girl is extremely focused on getting her promotion. And I don’t blame her. That’s impressive, being named a cruise director at her age.”
    Alex gazed into Sarah’s blue eyes, so much like Gabe’s. Although Sarah was a devoted mother to all three men, Gabe was her only biological child. Jack had been four when she’d married his father, and then baby Nick had appeared on the doorstep, the unexpected result of Jonathan’s affair in the period between his divorce from Jack’s mother and meeting Sarah. Sarah had accepted all three boys as hers to raise. In fact, she was fast becoming a second mother to him, as well.
    “I know Tyler’s dedicated to her career,” Alex said. “And I think that’s great.”
    “It is great. People should have jobs they love.” Sarah laid a hand on his damp sleeve. “But it means she won’t be sticking around here.”
    “No, she won’t. I understand that, too.”
    Sarah squeezed his arm and let go. “I hope you do, because I’ve seen the way you look at each other.”
    “It’ll be okay.” He was touched by the gentle nature of her concern. No doubt Josie’s warnings would come across like air-raid sirens.
    “I probably shouldn’t have put her right across the hall from you, but I didn’t realize there was something going on between you two. Did it start last August?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I wondered after I thought about your reaction when she showed up here today. She’s a nice girl, and if I thought she’d consider staying, I’d be matchmaking like crazy. But she won’t, so I want you to be careful.”
    “Thanks, Sarah.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I will.” Which was a damn lie, because it was too late to be careful. And he had a problem.
    He could have dealt with the loss of great sex when Tyler left next week. He might not have been happy about it, but he could have managed.
    Unfortunately for him, she’d chosen to sing “Oklahoma” in the middle of a rainstorm, and then she’d finished off her performance with a few dance steps. Watching her take that little bow, he’d felt his heart slip-sliding away. Halting that slide would be a real trick, but he’d have to try for both their sakes.

6
    TYLER THOUGHT ABOUT waiting for Alex before going down to dinner and decided against it. They were liable to catch enough flak for their flimsy caught-in-the-rain story, so she’d demonstrate to the family that she and Alex weren’t joined at the hip. She hoped they’d be joining different body parts later in the evening, but she’d like the next hour or so to be strictly PG-13.
    She’d put on a clean pair of jeans and a black V-neck shirt. Then she added her turquoise necklace and earrings because…because she liked looking good. At times she wondered if she was too hung up on that.
    Her job demanded that she be well groomed, and she’d always appreciated having a reason to dress well. But, to her surprise, she’d had fun getting all muddy and bedraggled. That would happen a lot on a ranch, where appearance wouldn’t count as much as performance.
    She contemplated that as an appealing change of pace and discovered she didn’t recoil the way she might have a couple of years ago. She loved her job. She did. But sometimes the constant need to look great wore on her. She’d never admitted that to herself before.
    As she descended the wide staircase to the first floor, she ran her hand along the banister again. Without Alex as a distraction, she could pause a moment and take in the welcoming sight of roomy leather chairs facing a gigantic rock fireplace. Framed family photographs lined the wooden mantel. A paperback lay on a small wooden