Rodeo Bride

Dillon wanted to smile, but she was clearly a bit embarrassed at her refusal to let him all the way inside her house. “I’ve been a soldier, Colleen. I’ve slept in the mud from time to time, and I’m used to less than comfortable circumstances, so I’m sure I’ll be fine sleeping on the porch.”

“Is he really staying?” a voice rang out. Dillon turned to see a big iron-haired woman making her way across the grass toward the house. “Gretchen said you called and told her that he was, but I didn’t believe her. It’s been a long time since we had a fine-looking man visiting the Applegate,” the woman told Dillon.

Dillon glanced from a suddenly pink-faced Colleen to the older woman. Colleen raised her chin and drew herself up.

“Millie, this is Dillon Farraday. He’s—”

“Toby’s father,” the woman said. “Yes, I know.”

“Millie is my right-hand woman,” Colleen explained.

“She means that I cook, I clean, I mend and I take care of Toby when she has other duties to tend to,” the woman said. She shoved out one large hand. “I can handle all the jobs that a man can handle, too, but…I miss having a man about the place. It’s been a long time since I heard a deep voice around here.”

Dillon shook her strong, weathered hand. “I thought Colleen said that she had other workers. Ranch hands. I assumed—”

Colleen sighed. “Millie, go get them. They must be in from their chores by now, anyway.”

Without another word, Millie whipped out a cell phone, punched a few keys and just said, “Yes, now.”

Immediately, Dillon heard female voices in the distance. He looked up to see two twentysomething women exit a building that had to be the bunkhouse. They headed toward the house.

“Wow, Mil, he’s gorgeous. In a kind of rugged way,” Dillon heard coming through the phone before Colleen reached over, plucked the phone from Millie and clicked it shut.

“I could have done that much,” Colleen told her right-hand woman.

Millie shrugged. “Made more sense than running all the way back to the bunkhouse.”

“Dillon might have needed some time to prepare himself,” Colleen said. She stepped in front of him as if to protect him when the duo drew closer. He countered and moved to her side.

“Gretchen and Julie, this is Mr. Farraday,” Colleen said. “He’ll be with us for at least a few days. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t bite, so show him what he needs to know if he asks. All right?”

“Of course. Will he be eating with us?” one of them asked.

“I normally eat in the bunkhouse,” Colleen explained to Dillon. “It’s just easier for Millie if we’re all in one place, and the bunkhouse kitchen is newer and roomier. But for now,” she said, turning toward the women, “I think Dillon might prefer it at the house with Toby. They’re just getting to know each other.”

Disappointment registered on at least one of the faces. Then the girls smiled and waved goodbye as they went back to the bunkhouse.

“I’ll bring the food over soon,” Millie said as she followed the girls.

Silence set in.

“I suppose you’re wondering why I have only women working here.”

He was. “I suppose you have your reasons and that they’re none of my business. If you think I’m going to offer criticism, you’re dead wrong. Some of the best soldiers I ever met were women and there are a number of fine female engineers working for my engineering firm. Besides, even though I don’t know anything about ranching, your ranch looks as if it’s in pretty good shape.” In fact, the ranch looked significantly better than the house. Clearly, she was pumping her profits back into the business.

“Gretchen and Julie are young, they’re strong, they’re knowledgeable and they need this ranch to succeed as much as I do, so they put their all into it,” Colleen said. “This is their home. They belong here.”

And he didn’t, Dillon knew. He and his shiny expensive car didn’t belong here, but this was where he was going to begin again.

“Thank you for letting me stay and I’ll tell the women thank-you when I see them again. I’ve already disrupted their routines by having you switch the meal. We don’t have to do that.”

She studied him carefully with those dark, serious eyes. “No, I think we do. Toby needs to get used to you being the one he focuses on. It will be easier for him if there aren’t too many other distracting faces around at mealtimes. Not that he really eats meals exactly, but I make sure he’s with us at the table. Being together at mealtime is important to a family.”

He wouldn’t know about that. His family had not been anything like a real family. “Is this my first lesson?” he asked with a smile.

He had clearly caught her by surprise with that question, and Colleen’s cheeks pinked up again. Some women looked less attractive when they were flustered, but not this woman. When she took a long, deep breath, drew herself up to her full, impressive height and opened her mouth slightly as if choosing her words carefully, there was something utterly fascinating about her. As if she was concentrating all of her being into choosing those words. A sliver of heat slipped through Dillon…which wouldn’t do at all.

Colleen shook her head, her curls brushing her shoulders. “I’m afraid I get carried away sometimes. The girls—the women, I mean—have been working here a couple of years, and since Julie is only twenty and Gretchen is twenty-three, a full five years younger than me, I guess I’ve gotten too used to doing that prim schoolteacher thing. Bad habit. I didn’t mean to lecture, so no, that wasn’t your first lesson.”

Prim schoolteacher? Dillon couldn’t help thinking that with Colleen’s generous curves, prim was the last word that came to mind.

A strange, small sound suddenly filled the air. Automatically Colleen and Dillon both glanced down at her baby monitor.

It was the first time Dillon had heard his child’s voice. “He’s crying,” Dillon said with wonder.

“Yes. And that’s going to be your first lesson.” Colleen held the door open. “You’re going to hold your son,” she said as Dillon brushed past her. The combination of her low, husky voice and the prospect of finally meeting his child face-to-face nearly made Dillon’s knees buckle.

He’d faced disasters in his life, business barons and scenes in battle he’d prefer to forget. He had been suited to what he’d face in business and in battle. He had been trained and at least partially prepared for them. Nothing, he thought, had prepared him for the responsibility of molding a life that was so young and fragile.

He really was going to be dependent on Colleen, this woman he found far too intriguing. Bad move. He didn’t do intriguing anymore, so somehow he had to learn all she could teach him as quickly as possible. Once he and Toby were on their own, they could sort everything else out and forget that this woman had ever been a part of their lives.

Everything about Dillon was too big, Colleen thought as she led him back to Toby’s room. He was tall, his shoulders were broad, his hands were big with long fingers, his legs were long and wellmuscled. Even with the limp, he seemed powerful and strong and she felt small. She never, ever felt small. That had been her mother, her charming, petite, pretty and utterly helpless mother, who had not passed along her genes to gawky, awkward, big-boned Colleen.

All of her life she’d wanted to be small. And now? Now, with Dillon behind her, dwarfing her, she just felt vulnerable. More awkward and self-conscious than ever. As if she’d just now realized that she was a woman. And all because Dillon, with that warrior’s body of his, was most definitely a man.

“This way,” she said, feeling instantly stupid.

Dillon chuckled, and Colleen felt her neck growing warm. “You’re right. I guess I didn’t need to direct you. You’ve been in here before,” she conceded.

“And then there’s the crying,” he said dryly.

She couldn’t help herself then. She laughed, too. “Your son does have a good set of lungs.”

“Does he…does he cry often?”

She stopped, turned, and nearly ended up right against Dillon. Close, too close to that muscled chest. Colleen tipped her head up. She never tipped her head up to a man. She never got that close. “Babies cry.” Her voice came out in a whisper, slightly harsh. She cleared her throat. “Toby probably cries less than most. He’s a happy baby.”

“I wasn’t criticizing.” Intense blue eyes stared into her own. She struggled for breath. “I just didn’t know. I wouldn’t even know what was normal for a baby. No experience.”

Somehow she managed to nod, her head feeling oddly wobbly on her body. She needed to back away, to quit staring into those mesmerizing eyes. She was making a fool of herself. That was so not acceptable.

Colleen took a step backward away from Dillon. It wasn’t far enough. She still felt locked in that blue gaze.

One more step.

He lowered his gaze slightly, turned down the intensity. “So, he’s happy?”

Ah, back in safe territory. She managed a small smile as she turned back and began moving toward the room again. “Come see. He’s especially cheerful and cuddly when he first wakes up. As long as he wakes up on his own timetable, that is.”