Free A Cowgirl's Secret by Laura Marie Altom Page B

back here to work.”
    â€œWhich has me wondering…” He rose and crossed the room to sit on the box of books alongside her. “Why so many treks to my house, acting as if there’s something pressing on your mind, yet you never say a damned meaningful thing.”
    â€œPlease, stop,” she begged, sliding her hands into the hair at her temples. “It’s complicated—my reasoning.”
    Leaning in, close enough for her to have sworn she caught a hint of sweet ice cream still on his breath, he said, “I’m a big boy. You’d be surprised how much I might understand.” His nearness transported her back to a time before Kolt. Before fear had gotten in the way of love. Back to when she’d wanted nothing more from life than to spend her every waking moment in Luke’s arms. To when she’d believed a life with him protecting her would forever keep her from harm.
    â€œYou can admit it,” he said, still too close for her mind to function properly.
    â€œWh-what?”
    â€œYou’re flustered about being close to me.” Cupping her cheeks, he kissed her.
    Yes! the teen girl in her cried.
    No! warned the world-weary professional she’d become.
    â€œI am, too—about being around you, but see? We kissed and nothing happened. No sparks. Not a single firework or marching band. So now that we have that established, we can get down to the business of setting up a formal visitation schedule for Kolt.”
    â€œWhoa. Time out.” She pushed him from her in a frantic search for air. Standing, hands on her hips, she paced. How dare he toy with her this way. As if he knew how flustered he made her and wanted her to squirm. “What the hell was that?”
    â€œI told you. Just clearing the air.”
    Â 
    â€œH ELLO, THERE .”
    Kolt looked out the window of the awesome fort that used to belong to his uncles to see Henry. Uncle Dallas had introduced them and told Kolt what a cool guy he was. Adjusting his pirate eye patch, Kolt said, “Hi, Henry!”
    â€œPermission to climb aboard, Cap’n?”
    Kolt laughed. “Yeah! I didn’t know you knew how to play pirates.”
    â€œI play all kinds of fun games,” Henry said, climbing the fort’s ladder. Once he’d made it to the top, he sat on a wooden crate, and then pulled a Snickers bar out from under his cowboy hat. “Like candy?”
    â€œYou bet. Thanks!” While Kolt chewed, Henry took a pocket knife and a small block of wood from his back pocket.
    â€œUncle Cash said he’s gonna get me a knife, but I have to ask my mom first.”
    The old guy nodded. “Always a good thing to ask your mom. When she was little, we used to play all the time. Now that you’re here, I’m sure she’d want me to be great friends with you.”
    â€œThat’s cool.” Kolt handed Henry his favorite sword. “Do you want to be the good guy or the bad guy?”
    Henry took a long time to answer, but then smiled. “I want to be the good guy, you naughty little pirate. That way I can teach you the proper way to treat a gentleman.”
    â€œArgh!” Kolt said in his best pirate voice. “You’ll never tame me.”
    Â 
    F IVE DAYS LATER AND Daisy still couldn’t stop thinking of Luke’s kiss. Clearing the air? Of what? Sexual tension? Had that indeed been his plan, it hadn’t worked—at least not for her.
    More than ever, Luke was on her mind, but then so was Henry. So many old, frightening feelings coursed through her. Part of her wanted to work toward earning Luke’s forgiveness and possibly forging a family with their son. Another part knew that fairy tale would never happen. Henry wasn’t just in her nightmares, but living a couple of hundred yards from her bedroom in his tidy little house.
    She had never needed Luke more.
    But she also knew if he were one day to forgive her for hiding his son, as