The Cowboy's Forever Family by Deb Kastner

Author:Deb Kastner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Slade was anxious to get to the Becketts so he could see Laney again, even if only to test his new theories about her—he hesitated to call them feelings.

Somewhere along the way, something had shifted between the two of them and Slade was at a loss as to how to describe where things stood. He only wished he knew what had changed. He couldn’t believe he was admitting this, even to himself, but maybe he’d been unfair in his judgment of Laney. Could his perception of her as a purely selfish woman who’d married Brody and then tried to change him have been so far off?

It was as if his eyes were suddenly opened and he was seeing her for the first time. He’d always acknowledged her outer beauty, even from the first time he and Brody had noticed her. A man would have to be blind not to recognize how pretty she was with her caramel-brown hair and deep chocolate-brown eyes. He’d always assumed that was what Brody had been attracted to—her outward beauty. No doubt that had been part of it. Laney had turned Brody’s head from the very first moment he’d met the gorgeous rodeo princess.

But now Slade wondered if that was all it had been. Had Brody recognized what a treasure he had in Laney? That her sweetness extended beyond her appearance and into her heart?

Great. Now he was spouting nonsense, even if it was only in his mind. Next thing he knew, the same drivel would start coming out of his mouth. He’d have to watch everything he said from now on.

And what did it matter, anyway? No matter how Slade’s feelings might have started to change, the fact was that Laney was carrying Brody’s baby. Slade’s job was to protect and care for both of them as Brody would have wanted him to.

No more, no less. Simple as that.

He only wished it felt as clear-cut as it should be. He had to get his act together, and fast, just the way he did before going into the arena. Riding a bull was as much a mental exercise as it was a physical one. He needed to extend the same principles to his friendship with Laney. Keep his wits about him at all times.

When he arrived at the Becketts’, Slade first checked the ranch office. That’s where he usually found Laney when he came to visit her, sitting behind her desk and up to her cute black reading glasses in paperwork.

He couldn’t help but be impressed by how well she’d taken to ranch management—the part of it she could do now, anyway. She’d said she’d worked at a large marketing firm in business management, but running a ranch could hardly require the same skills. Yet she handled it all with grace, picking up on the unfamiliar aspects quickly and competently. And he had the sneaking suspicion that once Baby Beckett was born, Laney would tackle the rest of ranch management with a vengeance, becoming as equally capable on the back of a horse as she was behind the desk.

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