The Cowboy Way: A Creed in Stone Creek / Part Time Cowboy

Okay, sure, he was new in town, and he’d said something in her office the day before about helping out. Joining groups was a good way of getting acquainted with the locals, and all that, but, still. Could he really be all that concerned about whether or not toilet paper could be used to bedeck floats in the Fourth of July parade?

“I guess,” she said, well aware that her tone was lackluster.

A low, speculative murmur moved through the crowd.

Stone Creek liked to think of itself as a friendly place, extending a ready welcome to newcomers, and it was.

Mostly.

Steven Creed merely grinned, probably enjoying Melissa’s discomfort, though only in the kindest possible way, of course.

And he waited for the proverbial ball to bounce back into his court.

Melissa worked up a smile. “Sure,” she said. “We can always use another volunteer—can’t we, people?”

Everybody clapped.

“Okay,” Melissa went on, wobbly-smiled, ready to bring this thing in for a landing so she could go home, weed her tomato plants, dine on canned soup or something equally easy to prepare and curl up in the corner of her couch to read. “Remember—we’re doing a walk-through next Saturday afternoon, in the parking lot behind the high school. Nobody bring an actual float, though. We’ll be tweaking the marching order, that’s all.”

There were nods and comments, but the meeting was finally over.

Melissa collected her purse and her clipboard, hanging back while the dozen or so parade participants and general committee members meandered out.

Steven Creed didn’t leave with them.

He stood near the door now, watching her, his arms folded, a twinkle in those summer-blue eyes.

Hoping he’d just go because, frankly, she didn’t have the first idea how to deal with him, Melissa nodded, coolly cordial, and got busy folding up the chairs and stacking them against the far wall.

Steven remained. In fact, he helped her put away the chairs.

“I didn’t expect to run into you here,” she said, when the work was done and there was no avoiding looking at him.

“Matt starts day camp here on Monday, so I brought him out for a tour,” he explained, just as the boy appeared behind him, half dragged by the sheepdog she’d seen them with that morning, at the Sunflower.

Elaine Carpenter, J.P.’s daughter and a friend of Melissa’s, brought up the rear, smiling.

“Ms. Carpenter said I could show Zeke the inside of the school building,” Matt told his father. “So far, he likes it.”

He was such a cute kid, and so bright. Just looking at the little guy made Melissa’s biological clock tick audibly. And here she’d thought the battery was dead.

Seeing Melissa, Matt beamed at her and said hello.

Melissa relaxed a little, though she was still conscious of the man standing so nearby that she could actually feel the hard warmth of his body.

Okay, maybe she’d just assumed the “hard” part. It wasn’t difficult to make the leap, since he looked so lean and yet so muscular...

What was it about him that set off all her internal alarm bells?

“Hello, again,” she told the child.

“We’re staying in your brother’s tour bus,” Matt told her exuberantly. “He says you’ve got a twin sister, but the two of you don’t look anything alike.”

Melissa smiled, nodded. “Ashley and I are fraternal twins,” she said.

The boy frowned, holding Zeke’s leash in both hands to restrain the animal. “What’s fraternal?” he asked.

Steven Creed’s eyes twinkled at that, and his mouth had a “you’re-on-your-own” kind of hitch at one corner.

Not about to explain the fertilization process to a child, Melissa brightened her smile and replied, “I think you should ask your dad about that.”

“My real dad died,” Matt said, wiping that smile right off her face. “But I could ask Steven.”

Melissa saw pain mute the twinkle in Steven’s eyes, and she felt a twinge of regret. J.P. had mentioned that the child was adopted, but she’d forgotten. “Oh,” she said.

“We haven’t exactly worked out what I should be called,” Steven told her.

Elaine had already left the room by that time, so it was just the three of them and, of course, the dog.

Melissa felt a strange, hollow ache in her throat. This time, she couldn’t even manage an “Oh.”

For the next few moments, the room seemed to pulse, like a quiet heartbeat.

Then Steven smiled at her and said, “I’ve never helped out with a parade before, but I’m pretty good with a hammer and nails.”

“It’s kind of you to offer,” Melissa said, finding her voice at last.

“Do you want to come out to our place and have supper?” Matt asked her, out of the blue.

Steven looked a little taken aback, though he had the good grace not to come right out and say it wasn’t a good idea.

Melissa was oddly reluctant to see Steven Creed go, even though she hadn’t wanted him there in the first place.

He was just too—much. Too good-looking. Too sexy. Too lots of things.

All of which worked together to make her say the crazy thing she said next.

“What if you and your—you and Mr. Creed—came to my house for supper, instead?” I’m not the greatest cook in the world, Melissa thought to herself, but my sister is, and I’m willing to raid her freezer for an entrée even though it means risking another encounter with a naked croquet team.

Matt giggled, probably at the reference to “Mr. Creed,” and then swung around to look up at the man standing behind him.

“Can we?” he asked eagerly. “Please?”

Steven’s smile seemed a touch wistful to Melissa; he probably thought she’d suggested supper at her place to be polite, as a way of letting him off the hook for the impulsive invitation Matt had issued.

He’d be right, if he thought that, Melissa concluded, but she still hoped he’d say yes. And it surprised her how much she hoped that.

“Six o’clock?” Melissa added, when Steven still hesitated.