Free Redheaded Stranger: A Cowboy Love Story (Bluebonnet, Texas) by Amie Stuart Page A

tucked it beneath his chin, still facing the wall, back to his mom and Darrach, who made his usual assortment of baby noises. He gave it a couple of test runs, both abysmal failures, and came away chuckling.
    "Been a while," came his father’s gruff voice from the door.
    He wasn’t ready for that apology yet. Other than the fight they’d had over who would give Darrach his first ride, they’d barely spoken, and that suited him just fine. His brothers and his mom were different.
    "Yes, sir." He tried for simple and managed to pick through something that sounded like "Dixie" and half of "Greensleeves" before giving up with a laugh. He was awful and it felt awkward as hell. He looked over at Darrach, who’d grown strangely quiet, and found him dressed in a light blue turtleneck and jeans, sitting on his grandmother’s lap, one fist in his mouth, legs ‘a swingin’.
    He pulled the bow across the strings, giving a long, drawn out "C". Darrach smiled and leaned against his grandmother. He liked it. Zander tried again, this time picking out "Noel, Noel" while never taking his eyes off his son. It was rough and still a bit ugly, but definitely an improvement, judging from the smiles on his mother and son’s faces, so he pushed on.
    It struck him that he was standing there playing his maternal grandfather’s fiddle for his mom and son. The thought, full of sentiment and nostalgia, wasn’t his usual fare, but something Kei would think up, and that dug at him.
    If you’d asked him a week ago, he would have laughed at the notion or worse, never even given it a second thought, but now it choked him up, and he had to turn away from them again. Turn away from the blue eyes that looked like his; from his mother’s all-knowing green ones; from a touch of guilt that was mixed with the nostalgia. As the last notes faded away, he turned back and give his mother a small smile.
    "I didn’t know you could do that," came a soft voice from the door. Kei stood leaning against his father. She’d never even heard him play before. Again he felt a twinge of regret.
    "He sings, too. I put my boys in the church choir when they were about ten. Well, Darrach’s all dressed, and so am I. Why don’t I take him downstairs, and you two can get cleaned up?" Maggie stood and headed for the door.
    "Are you gonna share that baby?" Jerrod asked as she approached him.
    " No ."
    Alex looked at Kei, who shrugged and giggled, a grin on her pretty lips. He could hear his parents arguing over the baby all the way down the stairs. "You should play more often. Darrach liked it."
    "I know." He turned to set the bow and fiddle back in the case as she came up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist.
    "You’ll have to play for us again." Her fingers slipped between the buttons of his shirt and rubbed his belly.
    He groaned and grasped her wrist, pulling her hand free and turning to face her. He wanted her, needed her . They’d go to that damn Christmas party, but they weren’t staying long. "We don’t have time, but if we did, I’d take you into that shower and give your hands something to do."
    Her brown eyes turned soft and misty as he kissed and nibbled at her fingertips. "I bet you would."
    "Later?"
    "Count on it." She rubbed a thumb across his unshaven chin. "Now we better get dressed, or they’ll leave without us."
    "Maybe we should let ‘em." He kissed her palm.
    She tugged her hand free and skirted around to her suitcase, pulling a white, ribbed turtleneck and a pair of jeans free. "Do you need me to iron a shirt for you? Never mind. You brought everything fresh from the cleaners, didn’t you?"
    He chuckled, looking down at the perfectly creased khaki’s and blue plaid shirt he'd worn shopping. She hated going to the cleaners for him and griped about the bills, so he went himself and never showed them to her.
    "You are so mean." He grinned and shook his head, heading for his own suitcase, which sat atop a chair in the far corner. They