Her Small-Town Cowboy by Mia Ross

Author:Mia Ross
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Mom.”

Mike thought he’d made that point already, loudly and more than once. But he heard footsteps coming up behind him and wanted to prevent a long, tedious argument that would accomplish nothing except fanning his simmering temper into an all-out bonfire. Lifting the sledgehammer over his head, he pounded down on the fence post he was replacing. Usually manual labor was the cure for whatever ailed him, bleeding off his frustration in a flood of sweat and tiring him out so he could come up with a solution to whatever problem was confounding him.

This was different. Abby meant the world to him, and nothing was more important to him than her happiness. There was no way he’d allow Dana to worm her way back into his little girl’s life, only to break Abby’s heart when she decided it was time to take off again.

Once bitten, twice shy.

His father’s earthy wisdom rang in his memory, bringing with it both a measure of comfort and sorrow. Of course, as usual Dad had been talking about horses, but Mike figured the advice applied just as well to women.

Except Lily. Mike appreciated the way she’d stood beside him during his unpleasant encounter with Dana. He’d almost felt Lily sending him “be nice” vibes so he wouldn’t say or do anything stupid. Livid as he’d been at the time, once he calmed down, he had to admit he admired the lady’s courage. It wasn’t every day you came across a woman willing to save you from yourself.

“Okay, then I’ll talk and you can listen.”

Stunned to hear Lily’s soft drawl, he whirled to find her standing behind him, a glass of sweet tea in one hand and a paper-wrapped deli sandwich in the other. Her intent was obvious, and he deflected it with a growl. “I’m not hungry, and I’m not listening.”

His traitorous stomach rumbled its own opinion, and she tilted her head with a decidedly feminine smirk. “Does that mean I can talk while you eat?”

“Sure, long as you don’t mention Dana.” He wiped his sweaty face on the sleeve of his grimy T-shirt, then rubbed his hands on his jeans to get the worst of the dirt off them. When he realized she hadn’t responded to his comment, he groaned. “Gimme a break, Lily. The woman ambushed me in front of half the town, and I just about had to bite my tongue in half to keep things civil.”

As usual, she was completely unfazed by his grumbling. She pulled herself up to sit on the new fence rail and set his snack down on the flat top of the post beside her in an unspoken invitation. Resting a hand on each side of her, she gave him the kind of patient look he figured she used on kids who needed extra time to work through a tough math problem.

She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t look away from him, either. Out here, surrounded by blue sky

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