The Rancher's Surprise Baby

“What are you not saying?”

That was the problem with being friends with someone most of your life. They could even read your thoughts, no eye contact required.

“Nothing. I’m worn out and I’ve had some wine. I just need to go to bed and sleep today away.”

“Do you know how to party on a Saturday night or what?”

“Not all of us have a sizzling-hot cowboy to get frisky with.”

“Maybe you could,” Devon said. “Last I heard, Ben was single. And you gotta admit he’s not hard to look at.”

She’d walked right into that one, hadn’t she?

“I’ll be sure to tell Cole you think so the next time I see him.”

“Listen, chickie, I received no end of teasing from you about Cole, so it’s my turn to dish it out.”

“Good night, Devon.” Mandy hung up and knew exactly how Devon would react the moment she did. They’d been through many similar scenarios since the moment they both acquired their first cell phones.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed with a text. With a sigh, she looked at the display.

You know you just confirmed you like Ben by hanging up on me, right?

Mandy took a swig of wine and texted back. Sorry, wrong number.

She imagined Devon laughing as she read the reply. Why hadn’t she just let Devon think her mother was the one driving her?

Because there was a part of her, the part that inhabited all giggly teenage girls and evidently never went away, that wanted to talk about a boy she thought was cute. And Ben Hartley was way beyond cute. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, picturing how he’d looked standing there next to her car, talking to Greg. Tall, lean, his blond hair peeking out from under his cowboy hat. Her body temperature had gone up more than even the scorching heat of the day could account for, and it did so again now just thinking about it. Even the blissfully cool interior of her home wasn’t enough to prevent the flush to her skin.

Maybe this was all Devon’s fault. After all, her best friend wore a permanent grin of satisfaction on her face these days. It was only natural to want a little of that for herself, right? And she could do worse than Ben Hartley. Not that he was even interested. They’d lived in the same town for as long as she could remember and they’d never been more than classmates as kids and passing acquaintances as adults. But couldn’t the same be said about Devon and Cole? And look how that had turned out—wedded bliss.

Mandy shook that thought away. Ben was only going out of his way to help her because he felt responsible for the accident.

But a bit of fantasizing never hurt anybody, did it? No one ever needed to know what she thought about while sitting here in her own home enjoying her wine. Enjoying imagining what it might be like to kiss Ben Hartley.

* * *

OF COURSE HALF his family was outside and able to see his return in a truck more damaged than when he’d left earlier that afternoon. That was just how his day was going. And when he parked and got out of the truck, the amusement on his brother Adam’s and sister Sloane’s faces told him the pigeon story was already winging its way around the county.

“You’re just in time for dinner,” Sloane said. “We’re having pigeon pie.”

He moved quickly, grabbing her and tossing her over his shoulder and spinning her round and round.

Sloane banged on his back. “Put me down!”

He just laughed until the toe of her boot connected with his thigh. That caused him to release her so quickly she stumbled and nearly fell when her feet hit the ground.

“Can’t take a little teasing?” she asked.

“I’ve already had more than a little.”

“You had to see this coming the moment that bird flew in your window,” Adam said as he leaned against the front of his own truck.

Ben walked past his siblings. “Some days I wish Mom and Dad had adopted only one kid.”

“That would have been me,” Neil said as he appeared at the edge of the front porch, evidently on his way home to Arden.

Ben growled at his older brother as he shoved past him, as well, on his way inside. He’d retreat to his leather shop if he wasn’t so hungry he was afraid he might eat one of the saddles he was making.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, his mom hurried over to him and clasped his chin in her fingers then turned his head sideways the same way she had when Billy Castner had given him a shiner in the sixth grade.

Ben took a step back from her. “I’m okay. It was just a little fender bender. Stop worrying.”

She placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m your mother. It’s what moms do. I swear, I thought I’d get you kids grown and you’d stop giving me gray hairs.”

He tilted his head at that comment.

His mom held up a finger. “Not one word about how would I even be able to tell.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

She patted his cheek. “Smart boy.”

He’d stopped being a boy a long time ago, but he loved his mom enough to let her call him whatever she wanted. She and his dad had saved him from a life of way worse than overzealous mothering, after all. Not that he’d made it easy for them.

Damn, that was the last thing he wanted to think about. He’d rather deal with jokes about head-butting a pigeon every day for the next year.

“Doesn’t look like too much damage to your truck,” his dad said as he entered the kitchen.

“No. Mandy’s car got the worst of it.”

“How bad?” his mom asked.

“It’s crunched in the front. Probably the radiator is done for. Greg’s looking at it.”

Sloane snorted. “He’ll probably charge her a few dates to pay for it.”

Ben’s jaw clenched at the thought of Greg with his hands all over Mandy. What in the—

“Nah,” his youngest sister, Angel, said. “They already went out once. No spark.”

“Really?” his mom said. “Mandy’s such a pretty girl, and it’s about time Greg stopped flitting around like a butterfly and settled down.”

“Not everyone wants to get married and have two-point-five kids, Mom,” Adam said.

Their mom ruffled Adam’s thick, dark, wavy hair as she passed behind where he sat at the table. “They do when they find the right person. You’ll see.”

Ben disagreed in his mind but kept quiet. He’d never told anyone about his decision not to have a family. He knew it’d upset his mother especially, that she’d try to talk him out of it. Best just to avoid the topic altogether.