Daddy Wore Spurs (Mills & Boon Cherish) (Men of the West, Book 32)

by Stella Bagwell

  Mariah didn’t wait to see where he was going. With her eyes full of tears, she hurried into the house.

  *

  A few minutes later at the barn, Finn backed his truck up to the door of the feed room and began to unload sacks of grain and alfalfa bales from the bed. As he stacked the feed and hay neatly to one side of the room, Mariah’s parting words continued to eat at him.

  Damn it, did she think all he wanted from a woman was to get her into bed? Having a brief fling with Aimee didn’t make him a playboy. But apparently in Mariah’s eyes it did. And after the way he’d been grabbing her up and kissing her, he could hardly blame her for thinking that way.

  Using his knee to shove the last bale into place, Finn stepped back from the stacked hay and pulled a bandanna from the back pocket of his jeans. As he wiped the sweat from his face, words of warning from his father and brother swirled through his mind, adding to his frustration.

  Deep down, he realized his family was right. Now more than ever, he needed to use common sense. He couldn’t let a pair of soulful gray eyes and warm lips turn him into a randy fool.

  “What is all of this?”

  At the sound of Mariah’s voice he quickly glanced over his shoulder to see her standing in the doorway of the feed room. After stomping off the porch in a huff not more than twenty minutes ago, he certainly hadn’t expected her to show up here at the barn.

  “Where’s Harry?” he blurted the question.

  “He just went to sleep. He’s safe in his crib and I only intend to be here for a few minutes.”

  “What’s the matter? You didn’t jab enough barbs in me a while ago? You decided to come out here to the barn and try to cut me a few more times?”

  Her lips tightened. “I didn’t walk out here to the barn to discuss that—that kissing episode on the porch. We’ve said enough about it. I came out here because I saw your truck was loaded with hay. And I didn’t ask for it.”

  Relieved that she wasn’t going to keep harping about that kiss, or whatever the hell it had been, he turned and walked over to the open doorway. “That’s right. You didn’t ask for it. I took it upon myself to buy some things for the horses.”

  The look of disapproval on her face changed to one of concern. Her mouth opened, then after a moment’s pause, snapped shut. When it opened a second time he expected to hear a loud protest. Instead, she simply said, “All right. Give me the bill and I’ll write you a check.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he told her.

  Her shoulders straightened to a stiff line. “It’s necessary to me.”

  He shook his head, while wondering how one moment he could be so on fire to make love to her and the next he wanted to yell with frustration. “We need to talk,” he said.

  “There’s nothing you can say about this—”

  “It’s not about the hay or the feed.” He stepped out of the barn and shut the door behind him. “Let’s go to the house. I’ll meet you there as soon as I move my truck.”

  “I’ll be in the kitchen,” she told him.

  *

  A few minutes later, Finn entered the kitchen carrying several packages. As he placed them on the breakfast bar, Mariah left the cabinet counter where she’d been peeling apples and joined him.

  He gestured toward the sacks. “I got all the things you had on the list and a few more. There’s a little something for you, too,” he added sheepishly.

  She cast him a guarded glance. “Me? I didn’t write anything on the list for myself.”

  Reaching for the sack closest to her, she pulled out diapers, formula, tiny T-shirts, matching shorts and two pairs of jeans that snapped on the inside of each leg. She couldn’t imagine this man strolling through the baby department, picking out clothes for Harry. It only gave her further proof that he wasn’t about to shy away from fatherhood.

  As she thoughtfully smoothed a finger over the blue fabric, he said, “He might already have plenty of clothes. But I thought they were cute.”

  “Very cute,” she agreed. “I’m surprised you didn’t find a Western shirt to go with the jeans.”

  “I would have, but the store where I bought that stuff didn’t have any. And with it being Sunday the Western store was closed,” he said. “But give me time and I’ll have a stack of shirts for him. And when his feet get big enough, he’ll get a pair of boots. Just like mine.”

  Clearly, Finn was already becoming very attached to Harry. He truly believed he was the father. If his DNA wasn’t a match to Harry’s, it would crush him. And strangely, Mariah didn’t want Finn to go through that heartbreak. Even though it meant he’d be taking the baby to Nevada.

  She glanced down at Finn’s snub-toed brown boots. To her they looked like they were made from expensive alligator hide. And they probably were. She couldn’t imagine him wearing anything fake.

  “Considering the size of your foot, that might take a while.”

  He grinned and Mariah was relieved that the angry tension between them was easing.

  “They do make baby-sized boots, you know.”

  “Yes. And I have no doubt you’ll find a pair.” She reached for the second sack and removed a little stuffed horse, a bright green teething ring, and lastly, a shiny gold box tied with a pale pink ribbon. The fact that he’d bought her a little gift made her feel awful for losing her temper with him.

  “Is this mine?”

  “Yes. And don’t worry,” he told her. “It won’t explode or jump out at you.”

  She pulled the ribbon loose and lifted the lid to see a necklace lying on a bed of velvet. The tiny silver cross attached to a delicate chain was so touching and unexpected she couldn’t utter a word.

  After a weighty stretch of silence, he said, “It’s nothing fancy. But it’s real silver. And I thought it suited you.”

  She swallowed hard. “It’s lovely,” she murmured. “But you shouldn’t have gotten me anything. What you paid for this would’ve bought a week’s work of groceries.”

  *

  Tangled emotions stirred inside Finn as reached for the necklace. “A woman shouldn’t always be practical,” he said huskily. “Let me put it on for you.”

  Expecting her to argue, he was somewhat surprised when she lifted her long hair off her neck and presented her back to him.

  Moving closer, Finn positioned the little cross in the hollow of her throat. With the scent of her hair filling his nostrils and her soft skin beckoning every male cell in his body, the temptation to drop his head and press kisses to the back of her bared neck was so strong it caused his hands to tremble.

  “Sorry,” he murmured as he fumbled with the delicate clasp. “I’m not very practiced at this sort of thing.”

  “Neither am I,” she said softly.

  The poignant note in her voice caused his fingers to pause against the nape of her neck. One minute she was all fire and the next as soft as a kitten. And either way, he wanted her. It was that simple, Finn thought.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Mariah,” he said huskily. “I’m sure other men have given you jewelry before.”

  She was quiet for long moments and then she turned and smiled wanly up at him. “My dad gave me a bracelet for Christmas one year. And once in grade school, a boy gave me a ring that he’d gotten out of a crank machine. That little piece of plastic turned out to be much more heartfelt than a diamond I received…well, later on.”

  A diamond? So she had been deeply involved with a man at one time, he thought. Like a match striking against stone, jealousy flared inside him. He didn’t want to think of Mariah loving another man so much that she’d wanted to marry him.

  “You were engaged?”

  Her head bent downward to hide her face. “For a brief time—a few years ago. It means nothing now.”

  “If you were wearing his ring it must have meant something back then,” he ventured to say.

  “I thought it did. But later I realized I was confused about him…and myself.”

  “Well, tha
t happens,” he told her. “I was confused once, too.”

  She looked up at him and Finn noticed how her fingers were clasping the silver cross as though it were a lifeline.

  “You’ve been engaged before?” she asked.

  He grimaced at the memory of Janelle. She’d been a big part of his young life and for a long time he’d expected her to be a part of his future. But she’d had other ideas. Losing her had forced him to grow up. It had also made Finn decide he wanted no part of marriage until he was certain he could deal with the intricacies of a woman’s emotional needs.

  “Not exactly engaged,” he admitted. “We were a steady couple for a long time in high school. It ended before I asked her to marry me.”

  Curiosity flickered in her gray eyes. “Were you planning to ask her?”

  He shrugged while remembering the humiliation he’d felt when Janelle had turned away from him to marry an older man. “Yes. But at a later time. You see, I was only nineteen. I wasn’t ready.”

  “Oh. Yes, things do get confusing at that age.” Turning her head to one side, she licked her lips. “Well, thank you, Finn. It was very thoughtful of you to remember me with a gift.”

  His gaze took in the strands of black hair resting against the pale creamy skin of her cheek, the silver-gray depths of her eyes and the moist pink curve of her lips. Something about her made his body ache to make love to her, yet at the same time his heart yearned to keep her safe and protected. The conflicting feelings inside him were seesawing back and forth, refusing to settle on common ground.

  “The necklace is just a small token—for being such a good mother to Harry. I truly appreciate what you’ve done for him, Mariah.”

  Her gaze drifted over to the stuffed horse he’d purchased and he watched a melancholy expression creep over her features.

  “It’s been a labor of love, Finn.”

  An uncomfortable lump collected in his throat. He tried to clear it away as he turned and took a seat on one of the bar stools. “Uh—what I wanted to talk to you about, Mariah—there’s a reason I don’t want any money for the feed and hay. And it has nothing to do with charity. I want to purchase the horses from you.”

  The look on her face turned to one of disbelief. “The horses? All of them?”

  He nodded. “The stallion, the geldings and the mares. Just shoot me a fair price and I’ll write you a check. With one stipulation, that is. That I don’t have to ship them out immediately. I’d like for them to stay here until the test comes back and we—uh, get everything settled about Harry. By then I’ll have found a place to put them. Besides, from the looks of the mares, they’re all getting close to foaling. It would be much safer for them to deliver before they have to travel.”

  Her thoughtful gaze roamed his face. “You’re not going to haggle over the price?”

  Finn shook his head. “I trust you to be fair.”

  Easing onto the stool next to his, she stared at the floor. “This past month I’ve prayed for a buyer to show up. Now you’ve come along and answered my prayers. But I don’t feel good about it.” Her head swung back and forth. “Doesn’t make much sense, does it? I should be happy. But I—”

  “Feel like you’re turning loose a part of yourself. I understand.”

  Thrusting a hand through her hair, she looked at him. “How did you know I felt that way? I didn’t even know it myself until this moment.”

  The torn look in her eyes bothered him far more than it should have. “I know how I’d feel to be giving up a part of my home—what this place had been built on. I figured it would be the same for you. If it will make you feel any better, I can assure you I’ll give the horses the best of care.”

  “I have no concerns about that.” Biting down on her bottom lip, her gaze turned away from his. “All right. I’ll sell the horses to you. Just give me a bit of time to think over the price. In the meantime, I’m curious about one thing, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  She looked at him. “You said you’d have to find a place to put them. I don’t get it. You live on a huge ranch. Surely you have space for ten more horses.”

  Avoiding her gaze, Finn rubbed the heels of his palms against his thighs. “Not these horses—they’re mustangs. My father and grandfather refuse to have any wild horses on the ranch.”

  Totally surprised, she said, “Oh. I thought you’d have a say in things on the Silver Horn? I mean where the horses are concerned?”

  He frowned. “I manage the horse division of the ranch. I oversee the breeding, foaling, training and care of all the equines on the ranch. That includes show horses and working horses.”

  “Well, clearly they believe you know your job. I don’t understand.”

  He didn’t understand it, either, Finn thought grimly. After all these years, he wanted to think his father and grandfather respected his ideas and plans. Instead, they refused to consider them. “The Silver Horn has its own foundation breeding. The same bloodlines have continued on for a hundred years or more. Dad and Gramps don’t want it tampered with. You see, they’re all about tried-and-true tradition.”

  “But you could keep the mustangs in a separate area,” Mariah argued. “If the ranch covers thousands of acres, what could they possibly hurt?”

  “The Silver Horn image.”

  She mulled that over, then finally replied, “Your folks must be snobs.”

  “Only where horses and cattle are concerned.” The notion had him grunting with wry amusement and then he cast her a meaningful glance. “If I didn’t know better, Mariah, you sound like you’re proud of those mustangs.”

  “Well, they were my father and sister’s dream. And though there’ve been plenty of times in my life that I wish I’d never seen a horse, I guess a part of me is proud that Stallion Canyon was founded on mustangs. But I can’t keep hanging on to them,” she said huskily. “It’s not possible. Much less practical.”

  “And you must be practical.”

  She left the bar stool and returned to the cabinet. As she sliced an apple into a plastic bowl, she said, “Dad and Aimee were always dreamers. I was always the one who worried over the ranch’s finances. And I’m still worrying over them. A person with money has the luxury of being sentimental rather than sensible. I’m not in the position you are, Finn. I have to think about surviving.”

  So she’d never been the happy-go-lucky sort. Was that the reason her engagement had ended? Finn wondered. Because she’d been all business and no fun?

  Hell, Finn. It doesn’t matter why or how her engagement ended. That part of her past has nothing to do with you. She loved a man once and he wasn’t you. So what? You’re not looking for love or marriage.

  The need to comfort her suddenly pushed away the irritating voice in his head and he walked over to where she stood and rested his hip against the cabinet. “Mariah, money doesn’t fix everything. It doesn’t stop you from losing loved ones. Wealthy people get hurt and betrayed. They also get sick and lonely and lost. Just like poor folks do.”

  She closed her eyes and it was all Finn could do to keep from bending his head and placing his lips on hers. Kissing her stirred more than libido, he realized. It made him dream and want and wish for things that, up until now, he’d never considered important. And he wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or bad.

  “I don’t expect selling the horses and the ranch to feel good. But I have to climb out of this hole some way.” She opened her eyes and attempted to smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go check on Harry.”

  He didn’t want her to go. He wanted to pull her into his arms, stroke her hair and whisper words of reassurance in her ear. He wanted to feel her body go soft and yielding against his, to know that she trusted him completely. But she didn’t trust him. He wasn’t sure she trusted anybody.

  And as he watched her scurry out of the room, Finn decided she was like a little wounded bird, determined to fly away from the very person who wanted to help her.

  Chapter
Seven

  Bright and early the next morning, Mariah and Finn left the ranch to take Harry to the health department in town. After a qualified nurse took swabs from both Finn’s and the baby’s mouths, she managed to get to school just in time to start the second-hour class, while Finn took Harry back to the ranch, where Linda was waiting to take over her usual role as nanny.

  Now a few hours later, Mariah was sitting in a small staff lounge with her friend and fellow teacher, Sage Newcastle, as the two women enjoyed the last few minutes of their lunch break.

  “You’re actually going to Nevada with this man?” Sage asked in a shocked voice. “I don’t believe it!”

  Mariah looked over at the blonde thirty-one-year-old divorcée, who’d given up on marriage but not romance.

  “Shh! I said I’m considering it. But I don’t want the whole staff to know about it!” When Aimee had become a single mother, Mariah had been forced to deal with all sorts of gossip. The rumor mill would surely run rampant if any of the school staff learned she was going to make a trip with Harry’s father.

  “Besides,” she went on, “we only took Harry to the health department this morning to get the DNA swabs sent off. And until I learn that Finn is the father I don’t plan on going anywhere with him.”

  Sage glanced at her with concern. “Having that Nevada cowboy in the house must be causing you a lot of extra work. You look exhausted.”

  Mariah had to bite her lip to keep from groaning. No way did she want Sage to know she’d lost sleep the past two nights because her mind was fixated on Finn. The way he smelled. The way he looked. The sound of his voice, his laughter. And then there were his kisses. She’d relived them over and over in her mind, as though she’d never been kissed before.

  That’s because you hadn’t been really kissed, Mariah. Not until Finn took you into his arms and like a starving man, made a meal of your lips. Now you’re besotted with the way he touched you. The way he made you drunk with desire.

  “Yoo-hoo, Mariah! Are you with me?”

  Shaking away the mimicking voice in her head, Mariah focused on her friend’s earlier remark. “Finn isn’t causing extra work. It’s—well, everything is going to be in limbo until the DNA comes back.”