Mandy smiled. “That makes me happy. Mom has always worked so much that I feel she’s missed out on just having girlfriends and doing fun stuff. Even though the farmers’ market will be work, it’s actually something she’ll enjoy and will allow her to mix and mingle. Who knows? Maybe she’ll meet a handsome guy in need of fresh tomatoes or zucchini.”
“She never dated after your dad left?”
Mandy shook her head. “She always told me that she didn’t need anyone to make her happy except me. While that’s sweet and she’s an awesome mom, I wish she’d found someone else. Not for me—I was totally fine without a dad because it was all I ever knew—but for her. I even delayed moving out on my own because I was afraid she’d be lonely.”
“Is she?” he asked as he placed plastic-wrapped sandwiches out on the quilt.
“If she is, she’ll never tell me.”
“Maybe we should put Verona on the case.”
Mandy smiled. “Not a half-bad idea.”
They continued pulling food out of the cooler, pausing to return the greetings of friends and acquaintances, many of whom wore knowing smiles. She tried to ignore the feeling that she and Ben were the main attraction tonight and not the comedy due to be shown on the screen when night fell.
She retrieved a couple of sodas in glass bottles and a container of brownies from the cooler.
“Did your mom think she was feeding everyone attending the movie?”
“Remember what I said about her not wanting anyone to go hungry.”
“If we’re trapped in this park for a week, we’re safe.”
Ben laughed. “I’m telling her you said that.”
“Fine by me. I’m a tell-it-like-it-is kind of person.” Except where her growing feelings toward him were concerned. She realized in that moment that what she felt was much more than an attraction born of Ben’s physical attributes. It was his kindness, the way he talked about his mom even though she wasn’t his birth mother, how hard he worked, his sense of humor. She decided then and there that the single women of Blue Falls were either stupid or blind. Surely someone had tried to change his mind about holy matrimony.
Why was she even thinking about this? It was only their first date.
“Guess you’re glad to have your car back,” he said before popping a cube of cantaloupe into his mouth.
“Yeah, though my chauffeur was a decent enough guy.”
“That right?”
Feeling a little more daring, she said, “Kind of cute, too.”
He leaned on his elbow, a satisfied grin on his face. “Didn’t know that was necessary in a chauffeur.”
She gave him a wicked smile. “Doesn’t hurt.”
“Maybe that’s how I can help bring more revenue into the ranch, start the Cute Guy Cab Service.”
“I’d think two jobs were enough.”
“Says the woman who asked me to add carpentry to the mix.”
“Hey, that’s for our moms. And it’s a onetime thing.”
Ben laughed as he looked up at her, appearing more relaxed than she’d ever seen him.
As they ate, he told her about how he got into saddle making, beginning with a simple leatherworking project during shop class in high school.
“Then I saw how much people would pay for a well-crafted saddle and decided to start learning how to do it myself in my free time.”
When the screen finally flickered to life, Mandy realized how much time had passed while they talked about his work, hers and how many people had signed up to take part in the street fair in the short time since it had been announced. That was the thing about Blue Falls. Locals hadn’t met a community event they didn’t love. The way the night was going so far, she had to give two thumbs up to the movie-in-the-park idea.
The movie was a funny one, and Mandy noticed that she and Ben tended to laugh at all the same parts, even when no one else did. When they got a couple of odd looks from those nearby, that just made them laugh more.
“If we’re not careful, we’re going to be kicked out of here,” Ben said as he moved closer to her.
“You’re a bad influence,” she said.
Someone behind them shushed them, which made her giggle. She leaned into Ben’s shoulder to try to stifle the sound, but his hand on her neck froze the giggles as if they were water bubbles at the North Pole. She eased away from his shoulder only to find herself looking into his eyes. There was a brightness there that drew her, but somehow the knowledge that they were in the middle of what seemed like half the population of Blue Falls intruded and made her break eye contact.
After that, they grew quiet. She became acutely aware of how close he sat to her, of his warmth and how it was distinct even from the warmth of the night. When they both reached for brownies at the same time, Ben instead wrapped her hand in his. She continued to stare at the screen, but she couldn’t for the life of her tell anyone what was going on between the characters. Every single one of her brain cells was locked in on the feel of Ben’s fingers entwined with hers.
Honestly, the only way she knew that the movie ended was when people around them started to stand. She glanced at the screen and saw the credits rolling. As she nervously glanced at Ben, she noticed Simon Teague walking toward them. Though he wasn’t in uniform, the fact he wasn’t smiling in the way he normally did sent a jolt of concern through her. Was something wrong with her mom? Someone in Ben’s family?
“Ben, Mandy,” Simon said as he stopped beside the quilt on which they sat.
“Simon,” Ben said as he stood, then helped her to her feet. “How’s it going?”
“Fair.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, as if he had to do something unpleasant.
Mandy’s heart flooded with adrenaline. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve found evidence that you two were involved in a vandalism incident.”
Mandy shot a glance at Ben in time to see him laugh a little.
“We have fingerprint evidence, and Greg wants to press charges.”
Ben stared at Simon, a look of disbelief on his face. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Mandy began to freak out as she became acutely aware of the stares of people around them. How quickly she was going from respected member of the downtown business community to criminal. The delicious food Ben’s mom had made churned in her stomach.
“The law’s the law,” Simon said.
“It was my idea,” she said suddenly, unwilling to have Ben punished because of her impulsiveness. “I did all the damage.”
“Mandy—”
Whatever Ben had been about to say was interrupted by laughter. Everyone looked toward the source to find Greg leaning against a tree, looking as if he might pee himself from laughing.
Ben and Mandy looked at Simon at the same time, saw the conspiratorial grin spreading across his face.
“You’re both jerks,” Ben said, but there was a hint of reluctant appreciation for the effectiveness of the joke.
“Yeah, I can live with that,” Greg said.
While the guys were laughing, Mandy felt as if she might collapse with relief.
Chapter Nine
Mandy’s heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal by the time they reached Ben’s truck, though she’d admit that she wasn’t sure how much was due to temporarily thinking she might be headed to jail and how much was a result of the way things seemed to be changing with Ben. Every time he’d touched her throughout the movie, it had sent a jolt all the way through her. A jolt of hyperawareness and longing.
“You okay?” he asked as he stepped up next to her on the passenger side of the truck.
“Not sure. It felt as if my stomach dropped to my feet back there.”
“You know this calls for payback, right?”
; She shook her head. “Oh no, I’m not escalating this. I don’t want to worry that the next time I’m having a nice evening a cannonball is going to land in the middle of it.”
Ben took a step closer to her. “You were having a nice time, huh?”
Her breath caught. “Uh, yeah. It was a good movie.”
He lessened the distance between them by half, making him seem so much taller. “That’s all?”
“The food was good, too.” Why couldn’t she just say she liked how she felt when he touched her?
Because for some reason, it scared her half to death.
“It was,” he said, so close now she feared he’d hear her pulse racing. “Only one thing missing.”
“Wha—”
Ben’s hands rested on her shoulders a moment before he lowered his lips to hers. She’d swear on her life she heard the sizzle and pop of her nerves short-circuiting. There had been kisses in her past—at least she’d thought there had been. But they paled in comparison to the gentle but firm pressure of Ben’s mouth against hers, the way the efforts of a preschool baseball player would when compared to those of a major leaguer.
Her hands went to his ribs and she so wanted to let them roam. As visions of unbuttoning his shirt to find what he hid beneath danced in her head, she somehow maintained a hold on just enough sanity to not act on that desire. After all, they were out where half the town could see them.
As if he’d had the same thought, Ben eased away from her, planting a quick kiss on her nose before breaking contact altogether.
Mandy bit her bottom lip to keep from whimpering. When Ben gave her a grin that said he knew exactly what he’d done to her, she narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t get too full of yourself.”
He just laughed as he opened the door for her. She rolled her eyes but allowed him to hold her hand as she heaved herself up into the truck.
Even with all the cars leaving the park, it still took less than five minutes for them to reach A Good Yarn. When Ben pulled into a parking space right in front of the store, he wrapped her hand in his.
“I had a good time tonight, too,” he said. “We should do it again.”
The fizzy feeling came back. “I’d like that.”
They didn’t make any definite plans and Ben didn’t kiss her again, but when she got in her own car a couple of minutes later, she still felt as giddy as a chocoholic in the middle of the Hershey factory.
* * *
DESPITE THE FACT that he’d meant it when he told Mandy he’d like to go out again, the second date still hadn’t happened a week later. Unless you counted the quick lunch they’d grabbed at the Primrose in the middle of the week. They’d both been so busy with work—her at the yarn shop and helping their mothers prepare for the inaugural run of their farmers’ market booth, him with repairs on the ranch and making progress on saddle orders. And building the display tables and signage for the farmers’ market. He and Mandy managed to at least text each other every day, but they were both falling into bed at night wiped out.
He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to fall into bed with her. If their brief kiss was any indication, he’d be willing to give up a good week of sleep to find out.
He shook his head as he parked along a side street close to the farmers’ market’s assigned booth space. One date and one kiss and he was already feeling a little too involved for comfort. Probably the smartest thing to do would be to just let time pass without going on that second date, but he didn’t want to. Still, he’d need to keep the relationship in check. More than likely sex wouldn’t enter the picture. He liked it as much as any man, but it was a step he didn’t take very often because he didn’t want to deal with the question that always accompanied it—how had he gotten the scars on his arms, chest and back?
He cursed under his breath, not wanting to think about the answer to that question.
“You okay?”
Ben turned his head to see none other than the object of his unexpected desire.
“Yep, fine. You’re just in time.”
She didn’t look as if she believed him, but he pretended he didn’t notice. He couldn’t tell her what he’d really been thinking about. The side of the street sure wasn’t the place to have that kind of conversation.
Attempting to push the past out of his mind, he lowered the tailgate on his truck and handed her one of the shallow wooden display boxes for the fruits and vegetables.
“We’ll take a few of these up to the booth area and I’ll get the tent set up.”
“It’s already up. Found another good-looking cowboy to do it.”
Ben turned to face her. “That right?”
“Yeah, my mom likes him, too. So does your mom.”
This thing between him and Mandy was casual, short-term, right? So why was jealousy worming its way through him? And why did Mandy have to look so dang good in a pair of yellow shorts and a green top? He was beginning to think she could wear a rain slicker and rubber boots and still make him want to sweep her up into his arms and carry her to the nearest bed.
Mandy laughed, bringing him out of his own head.
“What’s so funny?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were jealous.” She turned to head up the street, wooden box in hand. “And the cowboy’s taken already anyway.”
When they rounded the corner, he saw Cole Davis laughing with his mom, who’d insisted on driving herself into town but now sat in a lawn chair while Mandy’s mom and Devon organized bags of produce and boxes of jams and treats that Ms. Richardson was giving a trial run.
“There you two are,” his mom said, as if he and Mandy had taken too long to reach the tent because they’d been sidetracked by a make-out session. There was an extra layer of mischievousness surrounding his mom today, and from the smile on Mandy’s mom’s face, she was in total agreement.
If things were different, having both of their moms approve would be a good thing. Now he just feared it was going to lead to disappointment for everyone. Maybe he should cut things off with Mandy while he was ahead.
But was he really ahead? How casual was it if he thought about her all the time?
Not wanting to think about the answer to that question too much, he ignored his mom’s teasing and began setting up the displays. As he worked, he listened to how easily all the women got along, laughing and sharing ideas about how best to display their wares. Mandy had told him that she was close to her mom, but seeing it drove home that point. And it caused a pang in his middle he hadn’t experienced in a long time—a desire to have that kind of close bond with the person who had borne him. Not that he wasn’t close with his mom, but she hadn’t become his mom the moment he was conceived. There was no blood tie, no bonding from before he was even born.
But the woman who had given birth to him had no right to be a parent. Same with his father. Ben was glad to be alive, but he’d lost count of how many times he’d wished he’d actually been born a Hartley.
“Ben, honey, can you put these peppers in the display in front of you?” his mom asked.
“Yeah. You sit back down. Going to be a long day, and I don’t want your ankle swelling back up.”
She patted his cheek. “It’s lots better. You worry too much.”
“Then don’t make me.”
“Fine, fine,” she said with a chuckle, returning to her chair.
Mandy stepped up next to him to arrange what looked like a few jars of strawberry jam on the table next to the display box.
“You’re good with your mom,” she said.
He nodded at her mother. “So are you, with both of them.”
“I really want this to go well for them.”
“They have enough combined determination that I don’t doubt they’ll sell every last thing.”
>
She smiled. It was a simple, quick smile, but something about it hit him right in the chest and he couldn’t help but think he’d like to see that smile every day. But he knew that kind of thinking was dangerous.
“I hate to run, but Devon and I have to get things set up at the shop. The knitting group is going to come in to do demonstrations.”
He chuckled. “Just don’t let Cora Steenburgen have her husband model anything she’s made.”
Mandy laughed so suddenly that she snorted. “Thanks for putting that image in my head.”
“Hey, payback. I’ve been trying to get rid of it since you told me about it.”
He tried without much success to keep his eyes from straying to Mandy as she and Devon walked away down Main Street toward the yarn shop.
“It better not be my wife you’re watching,” Cole said as he stepped up next to Ben. Thankfully he kept his voice quiet enough that the chattering moms behind them didn’t hear.
“Well, she is a pretty woman.”
“As is Mandy.”
Ben hesitated a breath before nodding once. “Yeah.”
“You sound as if that’s not a good thing.”
“No, it’s fine.” He situated a pile of squash in a row above the peppers.
Cole made an amused sound. “Don’t want to get serious but she’s making it difficult not to think that way.”
It wasn’t a question, rather what sounded like the voice of experience. That Cole was now a married man provided more evidence that Ben needed to tread carefully and not let Mandy’s pretty smile or the sway of her hips as she walked down the street make him forget why he was a no-commitment kind of guy.
* * *
IN BETWEEN RINGING up customers, Mandy stared out the window of the shop on the off chance that she might see Ben wander by. With him and his siblings all taking turns helping out at the farmers’ market, it was conceivable that he might come see her during a break. But as the hours passed, none of the many faces she saw filling Main Street belonged to the man she couldn’t get out of her mind. How many times had she relived their kiss? She’d lost count before she’d even gone to sleep that night.
The Rancher's Surprise Baby Page 10
