Her Rodeo Man

“I’ve missed working with horses.” He opened the gate to the pen and swung it wide.

“A pony ride can’t be what you had in mind.”

“I’m free until dinner tonight with Liberty and Deacon. Might as well spend the time with you.”

Her heart skipped, and, all at once, she was twelve years old again and deep in the throes of a crush. Tatum had grown up with the two older Beckett siblings, she and Cassidy becoming friends in first grade. Funny, Tatum hadn’t noticed Ryder much until that last year before he left. She blamed puberty for her heart flutters then. She couldn’t say the same thing now.

“Me, first.” Drew abandoned his stick the moment they entered the pen.

“My turn. I’m oldest.” Gretchen pushed past Drew, grabbing the saddle horn and trying to hoist herself up. She lacked the extra foot in height to manage it on her own.

“Now, now.” Tatum set Adam on the ground, but he instantly wrapped his arms around her leg and stuck his thumb in his mouth, a habit he’d mostly given up months ago. Had something happened at day care to prompt this worse-than-usual insecurity? She’d ask in the morning when she dropped him off. “No need to fight. You and Drew can ride Cupcake together.”

Their combined weight was easy enough for the sturdy pony to handle.

“I’m not riding with him.” If looks could vaporize, Gretchen’s younger brother would be no more than a puff of smoke.

“All right,” Tatum said evenly. “Then Drew can go first.”

“Not fair!” Gretchen shrieked.

Who were these incorrigible monsters? Sure, her children could act up with the best of them. But why today and why in front of Ryder?

“That’s enough, young lady. Lower your voice, please.”

“But I’m outside.”

The argument wasn’t entirely illogical. Tatum often chastised her offspring for yelling in the house and cautioned them to “use their inside voices.”

“How about you ride Cupcake,” Ryder suggested, “and I’ll give Drew a piggyback ride?”

Not quite sure she’d heard him right, Tatum stared. She wasn’t the only one. Gretchen and Drew did, too, their small mouths slack-jawed.

“You’re spoiling them,” Tatum insisted.

Without waiting for an answer, Ryder lifted Gretchen on to Cupcake’s back and settled her in the saddle. Next, he grabbed Drew by the arms and swung him around on to his back. Drew had to hold tight or he’d have fallen.

Gretchen gave Cupcake a nudge with her heels and jiggled the reins. “Giddyup.”

Drew did the same to Ryder, though instead of reins, he tugged on Ryder’s shirt collar. Cupcake started out, making a circle of the pen. Ryder followed, with Drew laughing and Gretchen pouting because, in her mind, she’d been trumped by her brother.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a good sport?” Tatum said to Ryder as he passed.

“I need the exercise after driving all day.”

Right. If there was an ounce of fat on him, it was buried beneath layers of muscles. The guy was built.

Gripping Adam’s hand, she moved to the corner of the pen and watched Ryder play with Drew. The same charm that had won her over yesterday, before she knew who he was, worked its magic on her now. Tatum could hardly catch her breath. Looks and confidence were definitely sexy, but, to her, nothing made a man more attractive than being good with children. Stronger even than a powerful love potion.

During his next pass, his gaze sought hers. Tatum glanced quickly away, afraid her expression would reveal too much.

This beautiful, crazy arrangement lasted five whole minutes. Just long enough for Tatum to fall a little further under his spell. It might have continued longer if Adam didn’t suddenly start wailing.

“Wanna ride. Wanna ride.”

“Your turn next, sweetie.”

“Now!” He let his legs go limp and flung himself to the ground, nearly jerking Tatum’s arm from its socket. When she didn’t let go, he twisted from side to side. She had ten seconds at most before he succumbed to a complete meltdown. Wouldn’t that be icing on the cake?

“Enough, Adam,” Tatum said sharply.

In the classroom, be it school or art, and with other people’s children, Tatum never lost control or raised her voice. She couldn’t make that claim when it came to her own brood, especially when they were testing the limits of her patience like today.

“Ride,” Adam howled.

Ryder came over, and Tatum felt her cheeks burn. “Honey, please, stop.”

He did. But not because of anything Tatum said or did. Ryder had scooped up the boy and held him close to his chest.

“You really don’t have to do this.” She wanted to tell Ryder that giving in to Adam’s tantrum was teaching him the wrong lesson. She didn’t. The boys’ giggles were too hard to resist.

“My dad used to cart me and Cassidy around when we were his age.”

Tatum had to wonder if her best friend remembered any of the good times with Mercer like her brother obviously did.

“Hey.” Gretchen reined Cupcake to a stop in front of them and glared. “Mom says we’re not supposed to roughhouse around the horses.”

Tatum did say that and was frequently ignored. Gretchen likely wanted in on the fun her brothers were having but refused to ask. Next best was ruining their fun.

“It’s okay.” Drew hugged Ryder’s neck harder. “We have an adult present.”

Tatum’s throat closed. She ached for her children, who missed their father and moments like this. Monty had come around only a few times since their divorce, though his work as an installation foreman for a national auto parts chain brought him to the Phoenix area at least every other month from his home in Flagstaff. Gretchen, old enough and smart enough to figure out that her father didn’t want to see her, was especially hurt.

“She’s got you there,” Tatum told Ryder. “You might spook Cupcake, and Gretchen could fall.”

“Aw, no, Mom,” Drew threw his head back and wailed.

“Noooo,” Adam echoed.

Without missing a beat, Ryder turned toward the gate. “Come on, boys. We’ve got bigger pastures to ride.”

While Gretchen continued circling the pen with Cupcake, an activity that had lost a lot of its appeal, Ryder and the boys frolicked outside the round pen. Before long, Gretchen reached her fill of being excluded and pronounced, “It’s Drew’s turn.”

“Okay.” Tatum didn’t think either of her sons would abandon Ryder in favor of Cupcake.

Even so, she helped her daughter dismount, then looped Cupcake’s reins over a fence railing. “Your turn,” Tatum said to Drew upon leaving the pen.

“I don’t want to ride.”