Emily was mad enough to chew bricks. And more than a little shaken.

She’d been having a great day until now. Sunshine, no wind, in a state known for its hearty breezes, the drift of honeysuckle on the air, bluebirds perched on a wire fence. Her favorite time of year. But nature’s beauty was lost to her at the moment. Thanks to Daisy’s father.

Of all the jerks she’d ever met, and she’d met plenty in her line of work, Arlo Beech owned the grand prize.

Sucking back long gulps of fury and a good dose of anxiety, she drove away from his farm.

The cretin. The unmitigated, mean-spirited, hateful excuse for a human being.

At the intersection, fingers still shaky against the steering wheel, she changed directions and pulled down the long driveway to the Donley Ranch. She was close by, might as well stop in and say hello. Yes, it was an excuse. Right now, she needed a friend. She needed Levi.

Emily slammed out of the vehicle, annoyed that her legs wobbled. She started toward the front porch but stopped when she saw movement near the horse barn. The yellow dog spotted her and woofed.

Levi glanced up and waved. He was in the corral, a hose aimed at a water trough. Mason snuggled close to the cowboy’s chest in a baby sling.

Some of Emily’s anxiety leaked out. Tenderness moved in. For the baby. For the man.

The yellow dog moseyed out to meet her. She dropped a hand to his head. “Hi, Butter.”

Mouth open in pleasure, the sweet stray followed her back to the corral.

Levi twisted the faucet closed and wrapped the hose around a wheel mounted on the side of the barn. “Be with you in a sec.”

“No rush.” She opened the corral and went inside, relieved to be in Levi’s company. Secure. Protected.

“What’s up?” Levi ambled toward her across the loose dirt, a slight limp betraying the knee that wouldn’t heal. The bad knee was doing well, mending. The worse knee, as he called it, not so much. She needed to nag him to see a doctor until he took action.

“I was in the neighborhood.” A joke, of course, given the rural nature of his ranch and that of Arlo Beech.

As Levi drew near, his steps faltered. He stopped, tilted his head and studied her. His eyes narrowed. “Are you okay?”

Emily pushed a lock of hair behind one ear. “I am now.”

“What happened? You’re pale.” Cowboy-strong hands gripped her upper arms. “And you’re shaking.”

She shouldn’t tell him. He’d be angry. But she knew she would. She needed to.

“I paid an official visit to Daisy’s dad. She’s missed school twice this week. Her absences are becoming a serious problem.”

A scowl pulled his eyebrows together. “She was here this morning. I assumed she was headed to school.”

“She wasn’t. He kept her home to help with the plowing.”

Levi’s jaw clenched and unclenched. “I’ve been over there. The guy is a first-class goon. What did he say that upset you?”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“Tell me.”

So she did, spilling out the vitriolic conversation minus the worst swear words. She didn’t even want to think those.

Levi stepped closer, into her personal space, shielding her. “He was toting a rifle, wasn’t he? That’s what scared you.”

Mason stirred. Emily placed a hand on the baby’s back. “How did you know?”

“Seems to be his motis operandi. He didn’t point it at you, did he?”

She swallowed. The gun had scared her, and Beech had seen the fear and held the rifle waist high, a mean little grin on his lips. The veiled threat had been enough to shake her. But Emily didn’t share that information with Levi. Heat and anger already emanated from him. She didn’t want him doing something crazy.

“No. He didn’t point it at me. Nothing like that. He was all talk. Saying if I knew what was good for me, I’d mind my own business.” Emily rubbed Mason’s cheek with one finger, drawing comfort from the content child. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.”

Levi’s scowl deepened. “What did he mean by that?”

“Nothing, probably. An empty threat by a small man. Now that I’m here, reviewing the incident with you, I think I over-reacted.”

“Or not.” His fists clenched and unclenched. She shouldn’t have told him. “Maybe we should report this to the sheriff.”

“No.” Not a good idea at all. Lawson Hawk was a friend of her brothers. If she told the sheriff, Ace and Nate would hear about the incident and go nuts. “A man has a right to carry a rifle on his own property. He didn’t threaten to shoot me or do anything physical. I don’t think he’s that crazy. He was just so hateful and rude. I worry for Daisy.”

“Me too.”

Emily blew out the last of her nerves in a gusty breath. She was better now. With Levi.

“But Daisy seems happy, and never once has anyone seen a bruise on her. I’ve asked.”

“I still don’t like the way he treated you.” He tugged her up as close as he could with a baby hanging between them. Mason squirmed and grunted. “Come in the house. Let me fix you a Coke. Feed you cookies. Rub your feet. Anything to make you feel better.”

She felt better already.

“Levi, really.” She stroked the sleeve of his denim shirt, soothing both of them at the same time. “I’m okay.”

She was tougher than that, and she’d had irate people swear at her before. But when Levi persisted, endearingly kind, she followed him toward the house. A little pampering by a handsome cowboy sounded good right now.

---

Levi considered his options. He could call the sheriff, call Nate and Ace, ride over and beat the meanness out of Arlo Beech, or take care of Emily in the here and now.

The latter seemed most pleasant and least likely to end in a jail sentence, so he ushered her into the house. He couldn’t help wondering what Emily might be keeping from him in the interest of peace. For certain, the dirt bag of a neighbor had scared her.

He filled a glass with cola, waited until the foam settled, added some more, and then carried it to her. She’d plopped down on the couch as if her knees wouldn’t hold her any longer. The notion made him madder.

Gratefully, Emily took the glass and sipped. Her fingers trembled the slightest bit. That made him madder still.

Levi tugged a chair up in front of her and sat so their knees touched. Lately, he’d used any excuse to touch her, but right now, she seemed to need the connection more than he did.

She’d been afraid, and she’d come to him. That had to mean something. Probably that he was the closest friendly face.

While she drank and got her bearings, he got up again and unharnessed the baby, kissed his forehead and placed him in the playpen. Daisy had been right. Having the portable crib in the living room saved him a million trips upstairs. In fact, the whole living room looked like a nursery. Life was easier this way.

Moving around behind the sofa, he massaged Emily’s shoulders. She rolled her head back to look at him. “You can do that all day. And my feet tomorrow.”

Levi grinned down into the green eyes. “I charge by the minute.”

“Sold.” Her eyes dropped shut. She made a little moaning sound that sent his mind into places he tried to stay out of. If she was his wife, he could think anything he wanted.

His kneading hands paused. Where had that come from? Emily wasn’t his wife, never could be. She was way above his pay grade.

He dropped his hands to his side and stepped back. Emily opened her eyes. His chest tightened. She sure did crazy things to his head.

“Want to go for a ride?” Yeah. A ride in the fields and woods, along the ponds and creek with the wind blowing in his face. That would erase his wild thoughts and Emily’s stress. He wanted her to feel better and to forget Arlo Beech and his nasty mouth.

“Sounds good. I have a ton of paperwork waiting, but I could use some fresh air to clear my head.”

That made two of them.

---

When he’d saddled the horses—Freckles and a quiet Palomino he called Goldie—Levi led them to the front porch and texted Emily that he was outside, waiting. She was upset enough for one day. No way he expected her to come inside the hated barn.

She exited the house in too-long jeans, a bright blue shirt, and western boots she must have gotten from Jessica’s closet. One of these days, he’d clean that out. So far, he’d not had the heart to go through Scott’s belongings either.

“Looking good, Miss Caldwell.”

“Jessica wouldn’t mind.” She handed off Mason and swung into the saddle with the natural ease of a woman who’d ridden all her life. Then she reached back for the baby.

“You sure? I can carry him.”

“Are you kidding?” She patted the sling around her shoulders. “I’m already dressed for the occasion. Gimme that precious angel.”

He lifted the child into her arms and held the palomino while she made the adjustments. Mason cooed happy noises and grinned at her.

“Look at him.” Levi offered up the reins. “Already charming the ladies.”

“Like uncle, like nephew.” Emily tapped the palomino’s sides and moseyed away, leaving Levi to stare after her straight back.

She thought he was charming? Him? After the heartache and humiliation he’d brought to her door? After years of silence?

He gave Freckles a heel tap and trotted after the woman and child. “Was that a compliment?”

She glanced over her shoulder with a mild expression. “I believe you’re one of the most clueless humans I’ve ever met.”

What was that supposed to mean?

And what happened to charming?

Freckles, never to be out-distanced, pulled alongside Goldie, and they moseyed side by side across the spring grass. Butter trotted ahead, nose to the ground and thin tail swinging like a gate in a gale.

Levi sure liked that dog. Like Ruby said, a keeper.

He sat back in the saddle, content and relaxed. The rains had turned everything a rich, fertile kelly green, and the ponds were full and shiny in the sunlight. Black cattle swished their tails and grazed, growing fatter by the day. The biggest repairs were completed, and the small ones would get there before the end of the month.

The Donley Ranch was market-ready, lock, stock, and barrel. He should be happy about that, but something niggled at him; something didn’t feel right.

Emily broke into his thoughts. “I’ve always loved this pasture and that little line of woods along the creek.”

He gazed at the side of her face, the way she sat a horse like a pro and held the reins lightly. That she loved anything about the Donley Ranch shocked him.

“Remember when we snuck down there one night after your chores were done and fished in the moonlight?” she asked, voice nostalgic.

Snuck was right. Moonlight. Starlight. Emily. “Fished? Was that what we were doing?”

A flush tinged her cheekbones. “Yes, it was, silly.”

He laughed. “I remember. It must have been eleven o’clock or later, but I caught three baby perch, and you caught a nice bass, maybe three pounds.”

“And got so many chiggers, I itched for a month.”

“Good times.” The words were out before he’d realized what he said. Words from the heart. There had been good times, and being with Emily reminded him that not every memory of this ranch was bitter. “We should do it again. You, me, my little partner there, and fishing poles.”

“And lots of bug spray.”

They shared a grin and rode on a while without talking, comfortable together in a way he’d never expected. He and Emily. The way it should be. Ruby’s statement rattled around in the loose shell intended for his brain.

Without pre-planning, he guided Freckles toward the creek and woods. Emily noticed and shot him a smile. A really big smile, as if she were happy, as if she enjoyed his company here on this place that had changed the direction of both their lives.

His chest ballooned.

She pointed toward a patch of Indian Paintbrush, the bright coral blooms like a carpet over the grass. He didn’t tell her that they’d have to be mowed. She knew they were weeds that choked out pasture grass, but she’d always liked them.

He pulled Freckles to a halt and slid to the ground, where he picked a handful. Butter, exploring up ahead, circled back to him and waited, mouth agape and golden eyes bright with adoration. How did anyone discard such a loving dog? Levi smoothed a hand over the floppy ears before handing up the flowers.

“For the beautiful lady. Don’t sniff them. You’ll sneeze.”

Expression pleased, Emily stuck the stems through the hole in the saddle’s pommel. “Thank you.”

They weren’t roses or a spring bouquet from the florist, but she liked them. Yeah. And he liked her.

He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Probably a stupid thing.

Levi touched the baby’s foot, more as an excuse to stay close to Emily than anything. “Mason seems to be enjoying the ride.”

She dipped her head to look into the sleeping face. “He’s an easy baby.”

The look of love on her face was soft and tender, the look of a mother for her child. Mason would never know that kind of love.

One more worry. Being a dad to an orphaned baby had more potholes than an unmarked county road.

The saddle creaked as he mounted and reseated. “You think he’ll miss having a mother?”

He thought about the question a lot.

“Did you?”

“Yeah. I always wished she was there, that I had a mom like other kids.” He pointed to a yellow butterfly flitting in front of them before continuing. “I kind of remember my mother, but not very well. She had long brown hair. Other than that, she’s all fuzzy.”

He sure didn’t remember anyone ever looking at him the way Emily looked at Mason. No one had ever sung to him either, or heard his bedtime prayers, or kissed his boo-boos.

“I would love to have known my mother, too, but it’s hard to miss someone you never knew.” Emily kissed the top of Mason’s head, and the balloon in Levi’s chest almost exploded. “Connie’s been a mother to all of us Caldwell kids. In fact, it’s always seemed as if she is my mother. We were blessed to have her.”

“Did she sing to you the way you do for Mason?” Weird that he would ask that, but her singing to his nephew soothed a bruised place in his heart. He didn’t want the little cowboy to have bruises or hurts or a life of regrets.

“Oh, yes. I know all kinds of Spanish lullabies and kids’ songs.”

“Was that what you were singing to Mason the other night?”

“Probably.”

Mason needed a mother to sing to him. In these few weeks, the little cowboy had had Emily. Would something in his tiny psyche remember? Or would he, like Levi, grow up with an empty hole where his mama should be?

“My singing’s lousy, but I can teach him to pray,” he said. And doctor his skinned knees and hug him when he cried. “I don’t know anything about mothering.” He wished he did.

One hand on the reins and the other on Mason’s back, Emily turned her head. “You care, Levi. That’s the most important thing.”

Yeah, he cared. Love for that tiny human being had slammed him in the gut like a wrecking ball. He’d do anything, anything, to give Mason the happy childhood he hadn’t experienced himself.

Anything? You’d even live here and raise him on the Donley Ranch where his Daddy and Mama were happy? You’d bury your ghosts and let go of the anger?

The questions came unbidden, as if someone else had said them inside his head. He didn’t want to answer.

They entered the copse of trees, mostly blackjack and cottonwood and a few blooming redbud and dogwood. The woods smelled fertile and moist and scented with spring blossoms of unknown origin. Shade and whispering creek water cooled the temperature.

“Is he warm enough?”

Emily touched Mason’s cheeks. “He’s fine. It’s not that cool, and he’s snug against me.”

“Lucky kid.”

Emily ignored him. “Is that the same rock where we went fishing?”

“Looks like it.”

She reined Goldie to a stop. “Let’s get off.”

Before he could dismount and help her, Emily turned her back to the horse, protecting the baby, and slid to the ground with a soft thump. Mason didn’t even wake up.

Levi dropped the reins and ground-tied Freckles as a red bird flew from one tree to the next. Emily stilled, watching, until the cardinal disappeared in the leaves. Overhead, but invisible, a warbler sang his courting song.

Courting, an old-fashioned word for what Levi was feeling in his heart. Emily deserved so much more than a broken-down cowboy who’d done nothing but cause her trouble. He had no right to court her.

What have you been doing for the last month?

The voice in his head was back.

He and Emily had grown close again. He loved being with her. He loved kissing her and listening to her laugh and watching her with Mason. Was that courting?

He hoped not. He couldn’t. He had to be in Texas by the end of the month, and the last thing he wanted to do was upset Emily again.

“Want me to carry the papoose for a while?”

She shook her head. “I like holding him.”

He heard what she didn’t say. She liked holding him while she could, while baby and Levi were still here in Calypso.

His chest grew heavy, as if he’d swallowed a boulder. He should tell Emily that he was leaving soon.

She perched on the edge of the big rock next to the creek, swishing a hand back and forth in the clear water. Levi sat next to her. He smelled her perfume, spicy and fresh, like Emily.

She turned her head toward him and smiled. Everything inside Levi reached for her, leaned toward her, yearned for her.

Pivoting slightly, he cupped her jaw with one hand and stared into her green eyes, wishing he could stay right here with Emily forever.

She’d had a rough afternoon. Today was not a good day for goodbyes.

---

Emily watched emotions move across Levi’s handsome face. Worry. Tenderness. Caring.

Bold as a red dress, she leaned forward and kissed him. Then just as quick, she stood and walked to the water’s edge.

“Tadpoles. Hundreds of them.”

Levi was silent for a beat before he answered. “Remember the time we caught a jar full, and you took them to science class? Mr. Black was cool like that.”

“Then one morning we found tiny frogs hopping all over the classroom.” She turned her head, holding him with her quiet gaze. “See? Not everything about this ranch was bad.”

---

Levi blinked and glanced away, but not before Emily saw the doubt on his face. She’d prayed and prayed that he would let go of his bitterness toward his father and stop dwelling on the hurtful incident that happened a long time ago. It hadn’t been pleasant, but she hadn’t let it destroy her.

Sometimes, she thought Levi had.

The truth she’d faced was plain and simple. She loved Levi, and every day with him, she loved him deeper. A woman’s love for a man, not a girl’s love for her teenage boyfriend.

She didn’t want him to sell the ranch and move to Texas or anywhere else. Mason was part of the reason, but not the only one.

“This is a great place to raise a little boy.” Emily kept her tone light, but she heard the hope hiding behind her words.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It should have been. The ranch didn’t make your childhood miserable, Levi. The owner did.”

Expression going stern, he held up a hand. “Don’t.”

They’d never spoken of his father and what had happened. Yet the issue was there, between them every second, hovering like a stench that Levi refused to excise. “It’s been fourteen years. We’re adults now, not overreacting kids. We should be able to discuss the past and deal with it.”

“Let it go, Emily.”

Frustrated, she charged toward him. “That’s exactly what you should do. Let it go. Forgive your dad. Deal with what happened, and forget about it.”

Bitterly, he glared at her. “Have you?”

“Yes, until—”

He tilted away, knowing in his eyes. “Until I came back and dredged up everything.”

Yes. And no. “All the more reason to get it out into the open, discuss it, and let it go. What your father did was reprehensible—”

“I said stop!” He spun away. At his loud voice, the horses jerked their heads up.

“Levi!”

He stalked to Freckles, mounted, and rode out of the woods, leaving her behind.

Again.

She grabbed Goldie’s reins, but before she could figure out how to mount with a baby around her neck, Levi and his horse reappeared. He leaped to the ground, stalked toward her, and said, “I’m as big as jerk as Arlo Beech.”

Emily opened her mouth to respond just as the cowboy yanked her as close as possible with Mason between them and kissed her with so much passion and emotion, her knees buckled.

There was desperation in his kisses, and unless she had lost her reason completely, a sweet hunger that said he cared. Maybe more than cared.

When he lifted his head, breathing like a dragon, she glared at him. “Are you finished?”

His nostrils flared. “No.”

“Good. Me either.” She pulled his face down and kissed him with all the love he didn’t want her to feel.