Cowboy Dad

“Well, he should,” Deana said with a huff. “He was national bronc-riding champion for three straight years. Saddle and bareback.”

Only half listening, Natalie put the rattle in Shiloh’s pudgy hand. The baby immediately thrust the rattle into her mouth and began gnawing on it, freeing Natalie to drink her coffee and eat her pie.

“He’s a fine-looking man.”

Natalie hoped her lack of response would bring about a change of topic. Her efforts were in vain.

“I’ll say. He’s hot,” Alice Gilbert added. She sat directly across from Natalie and had been watching Aaron along with her mother. “Did you see him in those magazine ads? Whew! Made me want to buy vet supplies and I don’t even own a horse.”

“And what about that cable-TV show he was on for a while?” Deana elbowed Natalie’s father. “You used to watch it.”

“Rodeo Week in Review,” he mumbled.

“That’s it.” Deana quit trying to be subtle and openly studied Aaron. “No one could blame Hailey falling for him. How much younger than her was he?” She answered her own question before someone else could. “Four years, right? No, five. Which, of course, is no big deal these days.”

Natalie remembered the age difference really bothering Jake. But then, everything about his little sister’s marriage bothered him.

“How much money do you think he has?”

“Mom!”

“Did you see that silver belt buckle he’s wearing? The thing has to be worth a couple thousand dollars. I bet he has a whole drawer full of them.”

“His truck isn’t worth much more than that belt buckle,” Natalie’s father commented. “Whatever money he made rodeoing must be spent.”

“If he ever made any money at it to begin with,” Alice added with a knowing look. “I heard Jake say once that Aaron Reyes only married his sister for her money and the family connection.”

Natalie had her doubts. While certainly comfortable, the Tuckers weren’t as rich as they looked. And an ex-national rodeo champion who regularly appeared in magazine ads and on television wasn’t someone who needed the clout of the Tucker name. In her opinion, her boss had been looking for reasons to dislike Aaron.

“Maybe he blew all his money,” Deana offered.

“Or lost it on bad investments,” Alice suggested.

“Stop it, all of you.” Natalie frowned at her tablemates. Though she secretly agreed with her father’s assessment of Aaron’s financial situation, she refused to gossip about him. “You’re as bad as everyone else here.”

Deana rushed to their defense. “Naturally, we’re curious. Who wouldn’t be?”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious, too?” her father asked. A slight smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

Natalie tried to muster up some annoyance and failed. He knew her too well, better even than her mother and sister. “A little,” she admitted out loud. A lot, she admitted to herself. “But I won’t gossip about him.”

She herself had been the subject of countless dinner-table discussions when her flash-in-the-pan romance with Shiloh’s father ended.

Natalie met Shiloh’s father at the Payson rodeo last year when Jake’s cousin, Carolina, coerced her into going. For all her twenty-seven years, Natalie didn’t have much experience with men. Fraternizing with the guests was strictly prohibited. Guests were pretty much the only men Natalie met. As a result, she didn’t date much. Okay, hardly at all.

Like Aaron Reyes, Shiloh’s father made his living as a professional rodeo rider, though he wasn’t nearly as successful. He’d swept Natalie off her feet with his easy charm and heart-stopping sexy smile. She succumbed quickly, and when he didn’t leave right away for the next rodeo, she started hoping he’d stay on and that maybe her father would give him a job on the ranch.

The positive home-pregnancy test panicked him. It had panicked her, too. He might have done the right thing eventually, given the time and the chance. Married her, stayed on the ranch, paid monthly child support. But Natalie sent him packing the second she realized how much he didn’t want a child. She’d justified her actions, saying she deserved more than an irresponsible drifter for a husband and that Shiloh deserved a father who wanted her. But there were nights when she lay in bed awake, wondering if she’d been wrong to act so hastily.

Aaron Reyes reminded her too much of Shiloh’s father. No matter how interesting he might be, how “fine-looking” he was, how pleasant he seemed, Natalie had dated her last rodeo rider. More importantly, her boss didn’t like Aaron, and she refused to go against the Tuckers. Not voluntarily.

Shiloh began crying. Natalie unbuckled the straps holding her daughter in the carrier and lifted her out, automatically checking her diaper. It was dry. A few soothing words whispered in her ear helped to settle her.

“He can’t be that broke.” Deana wasn’t ready to abandon the topic of Aaron Reyes. “Not with the money he gets from the family trust.”

“Depends on annual profits,” Alice said. “We had a few lean years there, though things are picking up.”

Based on advance bookings, the ranch was in for the busiest season they’d had in a long while.

“And a lot of Jake Tucker’s wealth comes from his business investments outside of the ranch.” Her father gave her mother a very pointed stare.

“True.” Deana had the decency to look chagrined.

When she’d retired from Natalie’s job, it was to pursue a longtime dream of owning and running her own business. With Jake Tucker’s financial backing, she and Millie Sweetwater, Jake’s aunt, opened an antique shop in Payson that was so far operating in the black and showed promise of really taking off. Jake, Natalie knew, was satisfied with the return on his investment.

Yet one more reason for Natalie to steer clear of Aaron Reyes. It was unlikely Jake would withdraw his support of the business because of his aunt. But if he did, Natalie’s mother would suffer. Possibly lose the business. Jake and his aunt could withstand the financial hit. Not Deana.

Shiloh finally had enough and was now crying in earnest.

“I think this is my cue to go home.” Natalie returned Shiloh to the carrier and refastened the straps, then stood. “I’ll see you all in the morning.” She went around the table to the other side and gave each of her parents a kiss on the cheek.

“Night, baby girl.” Deana reached out and tickled Shiloh’s sock-covered foot. “I hope she doesn’t keep you up all hours of the night.”

“She’ll be fine once we get home.” Shiloh usually went to sleep quickly and often as not, didn’t wake up until morning. “I might walk around a bit first. Fresh air makes her sleepy.”

“You sure? It’s getting cold out there.”

Natalie tucked a blanket around the baby. “We won’t be long.”

She noticed Aaron still sitting and chatting as she wove between the tables and headed toward the kitchen. Apparently, he’d yet to grow weary of hearing his name on every person’s lips. Good for him.

Taking a shortcut through the kitchen, she stopped at the walk-in refrigerator and grabbed a bottled water before going outside. The instant they hit the cool evening air, Shiloh stopped crying and started looking around.

The peace and quiet was a welcome relief. Natalie paused a moment to enjoy the silence before cutting across a small strip of lawn that ran between the dining hall and the main lodge. She’d driven her compact car from her bunkhouse, not wanting to take Shiloh in the golf cart.

Light spilled from a window in the laundry room behind the kitchen, catching Natalie’s attention. She sighed and changed direction. This was hardly the first time she had to follow behind careless employees, shutting off lights they left on or picking up their discarded trash.

An empty bag sat atop one of the washers. Natalie looked around and when she saw nothing else amiss, switched off the light. She turned to leave…only to shop short when she came face-to-face with Aaron Reyes.

“Oh!” Her heart suddenly beat faster. “You startled me.”

“Sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was here.” He moved aside to let her pass.

She stepped around him, carefully maneuvering Shiloh’s carrier. “I’m always shutting lights off.” She flicked the switch, turning the light back on.

“My fault. I’ll be more careful next time.”

He flashed her a smile. Not threatening or predatory or even sexy like Shiloh’s father. Just nice.