Shotgun Vows

“Different good? Or different bad?”

“Different as in less like a stuffed shirt.”

“Well, thank you, I think, your ladyship,” he said dryly.

She thought he was a stuffed shirt? If he wasn’t on assignment for Griff Fortune, he’d show her a thing or two about stuffed shirts. But the fact was that he was here to fend off the other guys, not to teach her anything about men.

She looked around. “I wonder where Ethan is. It’s almost ten. I did tell him nine-thirty.”

“Actually you told him around nine-thirty. I talked to the foreman. He said he needed him for a job. Since I’m here to assist you with your charges, it didn’t seem necessary to replace him.” He glanced at the kids. The boys were eyeing him as if he had just torched their baseball card collection, and the little girl openly stared at him as if he walked on water. “I’m your only backup.”

“That’s too bad,” she said. “I was looking forward to spending some time with him.”

He felt only a slight twinge of guilt for his part in producing her disappointed look. At least, he thought it was guilt. It couldn’t be jealousy. He wasn’t interested in Mattie that way. Even if she were his type, she was too young. All he cared about was fulfilling his promise to her brother and getting himself off baby-sitting detail. If she found the cowboy type she was looking for, it wouldn’t be on his watch.

But her reaction surprised him. Disappointment was a far cry from the explosion he’d expected. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

And it didn’t much matter. If they got this show on the road pronto, maybe he could get in a couple of hours at the office later.

“So where do we start?” he asked.

“How about introductions.” She looked around at the kids and her gaze rested on the small redheaded girl with cornflower-blue eyes. “Ladies first. Katie Mansfield, meet Dawson Prescott.”

He held his hand out and the girl, who looked about eleven years old, put hers into his palm, squeezing with a surprising strength. “Miss Mansfield, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And this motley macho male crew are Nate Howe, Juan Castaneda, and Kevin Dolan.” She pointed to a tall, skinny blonde, then a husky dark-haired, black-eyed boy and a chubby guy with unruly brown hair. The boys appeared to be about the same age as Katie.

One by one, they shook hands with Dawson. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said.

“Now we need to find you just the right mounts,” Mattie said. “C’mon, mates.”

She lead the way toward the barn, and Dawson’s gaze was pulled to the feminine grace of her walk. The hem of her plaid shirt hitched up a notch, and he got a better look at her curvy rear end. He couldn’t help wondering if she had a small waist and shapely hips to go with those dynamite legs. All the Matilda images he’d been fighting against—legs wrapped around his waist, twisted sheets and bodies entwined—flooded his consciousness with a vengeance.

All those thoughts were at odds with her fresh-scrubbed face and the long blond braid hanging down her back. She was just a kid. And he was her chaperone—not her Casanova. He was abruptly drawn back to the present by a persistent tugging.

“Don’t you just love her accent?” Katie asked Dawson. She took his hand and tugged him forward.

“I do,” he answered. Oddly enough, he meant it.

Inside the barn, Mattie walked down the hay-strewn aisle between stalls. She looked from side to side, tapping her lips thoughtfully. Stopping beside one, she said, “Juan, this one is for you. His name is Buck.” She continued on until she came to a black, beige, and white pinto. “Katie, this is Buttercup. She has a disposition as sweet as yours.”

Dawson watched her pick out two more mounts for Kevin and Nate. Then she grabbed a bridle, handed it to him, and said, “Mr. Prescott is going to demonstrate bridling a horse.”

She tapped her lip again. “He’ll show you on Buttercup. She’s very patient, but—” she gave the kids a serious look “—you must be very gentle with the animals. Treat them the way you would like to be treated. You don’t like it if someone punches or slaps you. Right?”

Kevin nodded. “Juan and Nate do that to each other all the time when we line up at school.”

Mattie glanced at the two who looked guilty. “But you’re not going to do that now. Are you, guys?”

“No,” they said in unison.

She looked at him. “Mr. Prescott, you’re on.”

“Dawson.” He looked at the kids. “It’s all right to call me by my first name.”

Mattie met his gaze. “He thinks Mr. Prescott makes him sound old,” she said conspiratorially to the kids.

“He is old,” Nate said.

“Do you think so?” she said, eyeing Dawson critically. “I guess you just have to get to know him. He doesn’t look so ancient to me.”

Dawson gritted his teeth. He had no problem being gentle with Buttercup, but there was a certain smart-mouthed female who could use a dressing-down. He wasn’t ancient. But the part of him that disconnected from his wounded ego acknowledged that the kid was right. Compared to Mattie, he was old.

He congratulated himself on controlling his temper, while Mattie led the way as they walked back to the multicolored Buttercup’s stall. When they stopped in front of the mare, she looked at the group with sweet, gentle brown eyes. Dawson hated to admit it, but Mattie was right to pick this animal to demonstrate on. Not only that, but being familiar with all the horses in the barn, he knew each one she’d chosen was sweet-natured and pliable. He realized why Lily Fortune had asked her to supervise the schoolkids. Mattie knew her stuff. And she was as good with the kids as she was with horses.

“Okay, listen up, you guys—and ladies,” he added. He didn’t miss Katie’s pleased smile. Too bad his charm didn’t work to tame a certain impertinent Australian miss. “I’m going to show you how this is done, but before you try it, there’s something you have to do. Anyone have a clue what it is?”

“Get a ladder for Katie?” Juan said to a round of laughter from his friends.

“No.” Dawson looked at each one in turn, but they all shrugged and shook their heads. He met Mattie’s gaze, and the sparkle in her eyes told him she knew what he had in mind. “Do you want to tell them?” he asked her.

She nodded. “You must get to know the animal before you try to do anything. These horses are used to a lot of different people riding them, and they’re okay with that. But not all animals are that way.”

“How do we get to know them?” Nate asked Dawson.

“Have you ever heard the expression that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” Four pairs of eyes looked back at him blankly. Maybe he was more ancient than he’d thought. When he looked into the fifth pair of eyes, he saw laughter. The merriment made Mattie’s eyes very beautiful. The look made him very warm.

“What Dawson means is that you can make friends with the animals by feeding them, gently touching them and talking quietly to them. They respond best to gentle kindness, not fear and intimidation. After he shows you how to bridle Buttercup, I’ll show you where the carrots are kept for feeding the horses. But before we do that, I’ll show you how it’s done so that you don’t get your fingers nipped.” She smiled sweetly at Dawson. “Please continue, professor.”

Oh, good, he thought. Not teacher, but professor. She just had to make him feel that much older. He spread the leather strips so that they could see the configuration and how it would fit around the horse’s face.

“This metal part, called a bit, goes in the horse’s mouth. If you haven’t made friends with the horse, no way will the animal open up willingly. Consequently, no way will you get it in. Observe.” He patted the horse’s neck and crooned to her. Then he put the bit in front of her, and she opened her mouth. He used his palm to push it until she allowed it to settle behind her teeth. “Voilà,” he said.

Kevin scratched his head, which didn’t do his unruly brown hair any favor. “What does walla mean?”

“It means he did it easy as pie,” Mattie explained. “Did you notice the way Dawson pushed the bit in with his palm? He kept his fingers out of the way. Horses can get confused and bite. They don’t mean to hurt you, but it can happen if you’re not careful.”

“You mean accidentally?” Katie asked.

“Exactly,” Mattie answered, as if the little girl were a star pupil. She moved to the other side of the horse and glanced at Dawson. He thought there was approval in her eyes. Obviously she was surprised that he’d passed her bridle test. He knew that’s why she’d asked him to show the kids how it was done. He was glad he’d favorably surprised her.

Mattie patted Buttercup’s neck. “For safety purposes, when you give them carrots, keep your palm flat and your fingers out of the way. Buttercup would feel awful if she hurt you.”

“How do you know that?” Juan asked.

“I can see it in her eyes.” She hugged the horse for a few seconds. “All right. Dawson, you take Katie and Juan. I’ll take Kevin and Nate, and we’ll get the horses bridled and saddled. Meet you in the corral.”

“Right,” he said.