Levi spruced up the living room, ran a dust rag over the coffee table, and put on a fresh pot of coffee. Emily was due any minute. With Mason.

After his latest visit to the Triple C, Emily had changed. Maybe he’d somehow proved himself worthy of caring for Mason. Or maybe she’d realized she couldn’t win and tossed in the towel. Either way, she now seemed almost agreeable to the idea of his adopting the boy. Anyway, she didn’t constantly nag him to change his mind.

In the days since, they’d fallen into a regular routine. Nearly every day, Emily shot him a text and brought Mason to the ranch. Sometimes she appeared in the afternoon but usually after her regular work hours ended. If the evening extended longer each time, he wasn’t complaining.

Rubbing at his almost healed knee, Levi considered an ice pack, but there wasn’t time. He didn’t want Emily thinking he was too banged up to raise Mason. She already had enough reservations in that department.

During the day, he worked his body until he was nearly crippled trying to get the ranch ready to sell. Jack Parnell had called with the news that, given the tragic circumstances, the retiring manager had agreed to stay on a few weeks longer.

At least, he had some breathing room.

Time to become a daddy. Time to fix the ranch. Time to make his brother proud. Time to prove his worth to Emily.

He stashed the dust rag under the kitchen cabinet and sniffed the air. Lemon cleaner. Cooking smells. No cow manure.

He checked his boots. All good.

Even though Mason technically qualified as part of Emily’s job, Levi liked to think she enjoyed being here. With him. At least they were talking, and often they shared a laugh and reminisced about the good times, though he avoided anything that even resembled a discussion of the event that had driven them apart.

Good times. There had been some of those. Being with Emily not only brought back the humiliation and regret, it forced him to examine his time here and the time in between.

His anger and resentment toward his father had affected every decision he’d ever made. Maybe it was time to do something about that.

Emily must be praying for him. He was doing a little of that himself. Thinking about God. Praying. He’d even found Scott’s Bible and read a few of the red parts.

But the resentment toward the old man still festered like a wound left untreated.

He and Emily were such different people now. He was the problem. She was pretty special, as always. Educated, successful, and in high demand, Emily was a Calypso powerhouse whose magpie of a cell phone chirped constantly. People liked her, needed her expertise, wanted her on committees. Someone even asked her to run for mayor. She’d turned that request down flat and laughed after she’d hung up.

He’d laughed with her, feeling good, feeling positive. He’d teasingly referred to her as, “Mayor Em.”

Teenage Emily had been beautiful, warm, and generous. The adult Emily was all those things, but she was more. Much more.

He already knew what she thought of the adult Levi. Drifter, irresponsible. He couldn’t argue the point. He’d been all that. Still was, though he was trying to change.

Lately, he thought she liked him anyway.

He sure liked her.

His pulsed bucked like a wild bronco every time she texted him or turned down the lane to his house.

Like now, he was antsy, anxious, eager to see her and the miniature cowboy.

Yeah. He liked that idea. Mason would be a cowboy like his daddy. And his uncle.

He paced to the window to stare out. No sign of a burnt orange SUV. He went back to the kitchen and set out a plate of grapes to impress her with health food. Didn’t want her thinking he didn’t know how to properly feed a growing boy.

Not that Mason was anywhere near ready for solid food.

Yesterday she’d arrived in mid-afternoon because she attended church on Wednesday night. She’d even invited him to go along. He hadn’t, but he’d thought about it. Nate had texted him an invite to a men’s fellowship breakfast on Saturday, too. What would it hurt? If he was honest, he could use some extra prayers right now. The ranch repairs and Mason’s paperwork were taking forever.

He couldn’t put Jack Parnell and The Long Spur off much longer.

For the third time since coming in from the pasture, he washed and dried his hands. Babies were susceptible to germs. Emily never let him forget.

When a knock sounded, he rushed to the front door and yanked it open. His stomach dropped in disappointment.

The visitor wasn’t Emily. She was much shorter and a lot younger—a slender little girl in jeans and T-shirt, maybe nine or ten, with long, cotton-pale hair and a scatter of light freckles across her cheekbones. She looked familiar.

“Who are you?” the girl asked with the frankness of childhood.

“Levi Donley. Who are you?”

“Daisy Beech.” She turned and pointed across his pasture. “I live over there.”

Ah, so that’s who she was. “In my pasture?”

She giggled, one hand against her mouth. “No, silly, in my dad’s house on the other side of the fence. Besides, this isn’t your pasture.”

At the moment it was, but he didn’t know how to explain the situation to a child.

“We’ve met before.”

She tilted her pert face up and up, forehead scrunched in thought. Her nearly invisible eyebrows merged into one. “We have?”

“In the rain. I carried your buckets to the barn.”

“That was you?” she asked as if he was a rock star or something.

“Yep. You didn’t get in any trouble, did you?”

“No.”

Maybe he’d misread the situation. He had a habit of projecting his bad experiences onto other situations. He certainly hoped for her sake he’d been mistaken.

Levi leaned out to scan the driveway for an orange SUV before returning his attention to the child. “What can I do for you, Daisy?”

“I came to see Mason. Miss Jessica let me hold him every single day.” Her eyes grew glassy, and she sniffed. “She was my friend.”

Levi felt a pinch of fire behind his nose and rubbed at it. “I hear she was a real nice lady.”

Daisy’s head bobbed. Her hair could use a comb. “She was. So was Mr. Scott. He let me ride his horse sometimes. And Miss Jessica took me to children’s church. Sometimes she’d braid my hair, and she gave me these for my birthday.” The little girl stuck out a foot encased in sparkly pink sneakers.

“I guess you heard about what happened.” Levi hoped she had, so he wouldn’t have to explain.

The bottom lip quivered, and the palest eyelashes imaginable fluttered up and down. She was fighting tears. Trying to be strong. Gutsy, he thought, for such a little thing.

“They died. Daddy wouldn’t let me go to the funeral. I wanted to. But Mason didn’t die, and I thought he would be home by now.” Face sad, mouth downturned, she raised her palms in a shrug. “Where else would he be?”

“Babies can’t live alone, Daisy.” To cheer her, Levi widened his eyes and offered his silliest, most horrified look. “They can’t cook.”

The sunny giggle returned. “I know that. I thought he’d be here with you. This is his house.”

In a manner of speaking, Daisy was right. This was Mason’s home, his birthright. Was selling out the best choice for his nephew?

He didn’t know, didn’t want to think about it. He despised this ranch and was selling it, and that was that.

“Mason is with the social worker right now. She should be here any minute, if you want to hang around and see him.”

Daisy clapped her hands together. “Oh, I do. I truly do. Thank you, Mister—” Her forehead scrunched again. “What did you say your name was?”

“Levi.”

The rumble of a car engine spun them both toward the end of the driveway, where the main road ran east and west. The glint of burnt orange made Levi’s heart leap.

And there went his rambunctious bronco pulse again.

Emily was here.

---

Emily saw him coming, saw those long, jean-clad legs stride toward her car, saw a light in his eyes. Was it for her? Or the baby? Or was grief’s grip finally loosening enough for him to breathe again?

A flutter of awareness, the one that started when she’d first talked to him after Jessica’s funeral and wouldn’t go away, danced in her belly. The past weeks of visits were getting under her skin. Seeing him so much, being in his company, watching him with Mason—all that and more was getting under her skin. The Levi she’d known was still there, but in the interim years, he’d become a stronger, more appealing man—if such a thing were possible.

Like her, he was falling hard for Mason. Sometimes he looked at her as if he might be falling for her, too.

This afternoon, Connie had fretted, afraid she was getting too involved with Levi, worried she’d get hurt again. Emily had denied it, of course, claiming Mason’s best interest, but to herself, she couldn’t deny the tumultuous emotions the cowboy stirred.

She wasn’t a complete idiot. Levi had been very clear in his intentions. He was moving to Texas ASAP. Nothing in Calypso could hold him. Certainly not her.

She’d already loved two men who’d left her. She didn’t want to go through that again.

Levi reached the car and pulled the handle to open her door. Cowboy courtesy. He would open doors for any woman.

She stepped out, attention going to the blond child who had followed the cowboy to the car. “Oh. You have a visitor. Hello, Daisy.”

“Hi, Miss Emily.”

Levi looked surprised. “You two know each other?”

She saw the flare of wariness in the little girl’s eyes and kept the explanation simple. “From church. Daisy and Jessica were very good friends.”

“I came to see Mason.” Daisy stuck her hands behind her back and rocked on sparkly blue tennis shoes. “Mr. Levi said I could.”

“Of course, you can.” Emily pivoted toward the back of the car, but Levi was already there unbuckling the carrier.

“Look at him.” Levi motioned to the arm-flailing baby. “He wants me to pick him up. He’s reaching for me.”

Emily snorted. “He wants out of that car seat.”

He shot her a slanted look. “Don’t be a spoiler. He’s flapping and kicking, and any minute, he’ll grin like he did last time.”

Mason did seem to respond to the cowboy, particularly to his voice, a good sign for bonding. The little one twisted his head to follow the sound, eyes wide open and staring.

Emily was tempted to do the same.

As if they weighed nothing, Levi hoisted the baby and carrier and led the parade into the house.

A man with a baby did funny things to a woman’s heart. To her heart.

Unaware of her admiring stare, he deposited the carrier onto the couch. “Come to Uncle Levi.” The cowboy lifted Mason from the car seat. “Whoa, little man, you’re getting heavy. What is this woman feeding you? Bricks? Cars? Elephants?”

Daisy, bouncing like a trampoline, giggled. “You’re funny.”

Mason cooed as if in agreement.

Emily blinked. Levi? Funny? She remembered a serious boy with the load of the world on his shoulders.

Scott had been the joker. Levi had been the deep one, the boy who listened to her rant about the world’s injustices and cheered her on in support of her many causes.

Once, he’d stayed up all night with her and a handful of others to pack shoeboxes for orphans in Africa and then worked on this very ranch all the next day in the heat and sun without so much as a nap. Slim Donley allowed no slacking.

She had never forgotten that kind and loving boy, a boy who didn’t know how to express himself any way except through hard labor. Emily had been the expressive one, the one who’d reached out to him.

Now she was too afraid.

Hand over her rapidly beating heart, she took a seat on the couch next to him. His manly scent washed over her in more memories. Once upon a birthday, she’d given him cologne, and he’d been stunned and painfully grateful. His father didn’t buy presents. Hers were the only birthday gifts Levi had ever received.

He’d worn the Cool Water every day until the bottle was empty. He wore that fragrance today.

Had he always worn the crisp, fresh scent? Or had he remembered and bought it again because of her? An impossible yearning for something long past tightened in her chest.

Daisy, clearly enamored of Mason, perched on the other side of Levi and jiggled the baby’s hand.

“Ready to hold him?” Levi lifted one eyebrow toward the excited little girl.

Daisy’s head bobbed up and down. “Miss Jessica showed me. I know how.”

“Then you’re way ahead of me. I’m still learning.” With a reassuring wink, Levi placed the baby in the girl’s outstretched arms.

Daisy stared down at Mason with the sweetest expression. Poor little kid. Harsh father. No mother. She’d been dealt a difficult lot in life.

Levi’s lot hadn’t been much different.

He met her eyes across the Daisy’s pale blond head. “Want some coffee or tea?”

“Water is fine.”

“I have grapes,” he said hopefully.

Her lips curved. He always tried to feed her. “No cookies this time?”

He grinned right back. “A man doesn’t give up his Oreos that easily. I’m thinking Daisy would like a few, too.”

“How about it, Daisy?” Emily asked.

Daisy’s blue eyes sparkled. “Miss Jessica gave me cookies sometimes. I love Oreos.”

When Levi started toward the kitchen, the little girl called, “Don’t bring any for Mason. He doesn’t have any teeth.”

“What?” Levi teased. “No teeth? How will he eat that T-bone steak I was gonna fix for supper?”

Daisy giggled and scrunched her shoulders. To Emily, she said, “He’s nice. I like him. Don’t you?”

Yes, she did. Very much. But like was as far as she would let things go.

She held a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell him. His head will get too big for his hat.”

“I heard that.” Levi returned with the snacks and reclaimed Mason.

Emily watched with a full feeling in her chest as he cajoled smiles and coos from his nephew.

“Admit it. I’m getting good at this,” he said to Emily with a smug look.

“Maybe,” she conceded.

For all her misgivings, she was coming to realize that the cowboy could be a good parent to Mason.

She studied the man, his handsome face, the dimple in his chin that perfectly matched Mason’s, the tenderness he displayed toward the baby and the little girl.

Oh, heart, what are you doing?

When he takes that baby and leaves, what will you do?

But he hadn’t mentioned Texas or selling the ranch in days. Maybe he was growing fond of Calypso. Maybe he would stay.

Mason began to fuss and squirm. In seconds, he was in an all out, red-faced squall.

Daisy gently patted the infant’s cheek. “Don’t cry, baby. Don’t cry.”

Levi’s confident air disappeared like Daisy’s Oreos—fast. With worried eyes, he looked at Emily. “What’s wrong? Is he hungry?”

“Most likely. It’s nearly seven.”

“Seven?” Daisy’s pale eyes widened. She jumped to her feet. “I have to go. Right now!”

In a flurry, she rushed to the door but spun around. Over Mason’s cries, she asked, her face pinched and anxious, “Can I come back?”

Levi nodded. “Anytime.”

Then she was gone, sparkly shoes pounding across the wooden porch.

“What was that all about?” Levi jiggled the crying baby.

Emily rummaged in the diaper bag for a bottle, unsure how much to share. She knew Daisy, knew about her home life, and was concerned. As a social worker, confidentiality was important, but on the other hand, Levi was a neighbor, and Daisy would be coming around. He could keep an eye out for trouble.

“Let’s get him settled first, and then we’ll talk.”

With a small frown denting the space between his eyebrows, Levi followed her into the kitchen where she ran warm water over the bottle. She dried off the excess moisture and popped the nipple into Mason’s open mouth. Silence descended. Total, abject silence.

“He sure can make a lot of noise,” Levi said in awe.

Emily smiled tenderly at the little one. The way Mason stared up at Levi as if the cowboy had saved his life touched a tender spot inside.

“Wait until you’re dead asleep and he starts wailing like that. He scares me right out of bed.”

They were standing close. She should move away. Levi grinned down at her. She stayed right where she was.

“I’d like to see that.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Trust me. Wild hair sticking up everywhere, no make-up. Ugly.”

“You’re always beautiful, Emily. Nothing can change that.” He’d gone as serious as a heart attack—like the one she was about to have. She really should step back. Or better yet, grab Mason and head for home. She didn’t.

The air crackled with an emotion she’d never wanted to feel again. Levi felt it too. He swallowed and shifted his gaze from her to the baby and back again.

“Em,” he started softly.

Em. The nickname that turned her to mush.

Calling on memories of a teenage girl crying her eyes out for weeks and weeks, and with the word Texas in her mind, Emily turned away.

“Let’s move to the living room, shall we?”

---

The woman bewildered him. But then, women always bewildered him. He wasn’t a complete dunce, but she’d said she liked him. He’d thought maybe they were becoming close again.

No such luck.

With a sigh, he carried the slurping, smacking infant to the living room but chose the chair across from Emily instead of sitting next to her again.

She might like him a little, but she didn’t want him to get too close.

“You wanted to know about Daisy.” Emily was all business now, hands in her lap and back straight as a two-by-four. He’d upset her, but he didn’t know how or why, nor did he know how to ask.

“She seems like a nice kid.”

“She’s a terrific little girl, and Jessica adored her, mentored her, and tried to be the mother figure Daisy doesn’t have. Her mom died when Daisy was born.”

The revelation hit him right in the sternum. His mom hadn’t died. She’d left when he was four and Scott was two, but he understood growing up without a mother. “Poor kid.”

“Yes, and to make matters worse, her dad is no candidate for father of the year.”

Emily bent forward and plucked a grape from the plate but studied it instead of eating. “I’m limited on what I can say because of my job, but some things are common knowledge.”

“I know a little.” He told her about meeting Daisy in the rain. “She was scared her dad would see me. She said he didn’t like strangers on his land.”

“That’s her father’s right, of course, to limit visitors.” She raised a palm. “I know. And I agree with you, but Arlo Beech is not the neighborly kind.”

“Is he abusive?” Levi’s shoulders tensed. “Does he hit her?”

If he did, Levi would cross the pasture and engage in a little man-to-man.

“No evidence of abuse at this point. She does miss a lot of school, which is where I come in.” She rolled the grape between her thumb and index finger. “From my single encounter at their home, and by all accounts from her teachers and what Jessica told me, he’s a difficult, demanding man. But there’s no law against being a jerk, as you can attest.”

He huffed, his jaw tightening. Could he ever. The old man hadn’t been a beater, but he’d been every other kind of hard case. “Sad deal.”

“I suspect the relationship is anything but warm and fuzzy. Daisy’s a ray of sunshine, a born optimist, but she’s needy too. She latched on to Jessica like a wood tick. According to Jessica, her dad doesn’t like for her to leave the property, but she’d sneak across the field any time she could to be here.”

“Where someone cared about her.”

“That was Jessica’s take, and mine too. She absolutely blossomed when Jessica began taking her to church.”

Now her generous, caring mother figure was gone. “Does she have anyone else? Siblings maybe?”

“She’s an only child.”

Harsh, demanding father. No mother. He could definitely relate. At least, he and Scott had had each other.

He was getting a real bad attitude toward his neighbor across the back fence.

“She can hang out over here any time,” he said gruffly. As long as he was here.

“Perhaps I could speak to her father and ask permission to take her to church the way Jessica did.”

“That’s a great idea,” Levi said. “I remember how much the VBS meant to me and Scott. Being around kind people and learning that not all men were like my dad made a difference.”

Mason squirmed and began to fuss, reminding Levi to tilt the bottle higher.

“Not to push,” Emily said softly, “but Evangel Church still has some great people, many of whom you know. You should come.”

“You’re the second person today to invite me.” He told her about Nate’s text. “Must be a conspiracy.”

“A Jesus conspiracy of love.”

The word love took on a new meaning. She didn’t speak of romantic love. He knew that. But he couldn’t stop his thoughts from going there. Not that he had any right. No right. At. All.

Her face grew tender, and she tilted her chin toward the baby in his arms. “He needs to be burped.”

A reprieve from a too-serious topic.

Mason squirmed, grunting as he fought against the half-empty bottle with his mouth. “Either that, or he’s doing something diabolical to his diaper.”

Emily laughed, a real laugh that warmed Levi from the inside out. “You get diaper duty if that’s the case.”

“I might as well get used to it. This little cowboy is stuck with me.” He hadn’t been there for Scott. He could be there for his son. “Any news on my background check?”

“We should hear soon. All the paperwork’s been submitted.” A frown appeared between her smooth, dark eyebrows. “Are you positive about this, Levi?”

He wasn’t sure about a lot of things—his future, the ranch, and particularly, his strange feelings for Emily—but Mason? He had no doubt. “I won’t let him down.”

“Mason or Scott?”

“Both.”

“You can’t raise a child out of guilt.”

They were back to that, the abandonment. Of her. Of Scott. Sure he had guilt, but guilt was not his motivation for wanting Mason.

He blew out a frustrated breath. “I get that you despise me, Emily, and I get why. But is it so hard for you to believe that I might care about him?”

“I don’t despise you. I never did. I couldn’t.”

The quietly spoken words pierced his heart. Her pained expression shook him.

“Not even…” He glanced away from those soft green eyes and swallowed. Do not go there.

“We’ve never talked about what happened, Levi. Maybe we should clear the air once and for—”

“Don’t. Leave it.”

The last thing he needed was to rehash a day of humiliation and loss with reminders that he’d let her down, that he’d hurt her.

She didn’t say any more, but her eyes darkened and grew glassy. An uncomfortable silence filled the room, leaving him with the feeling that he was exactly the sorry cowboy she thought he was.

Emily rifled in the diaper bag and, after a few painful moments, came at him with Mason’s baby blanket. “We should go.”

“Em—” He stuttered, searching for the words. He’d never been good at saying the right things. “Cut me some slack, okay? I’m trying.”

Her face softened. She put a hand on his forearm. “I know. You’ll do fine.”

“I will. I promise.” He gently held the baby away from his body, so she could wrap him in the blanket.

Mason stretched and made cute, groaning noises. Levi’s gaze connected with Emily’s. They both smiled, and a balloon of pleasure expanded in his chest.

“Every time you bring him out here, I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

“You mean, you wish Mason didn’t have to leave.”

He didn’t want either of them to go. Every day Emily was here, he remembered more of the reasons he’d once loved her.

A very bad idea.

“I worry,” she said.

“About me doing something stupid?”

She bit down on her lip and fiddled with the soft blue blanket. “Are you still taking the job in Texas?”

His heart jumped, both hopeful and dismayed. Did she want him here? Was that what she was trying to say? Could she possibly have forgiven him? “Why does it matter where I go?”

She put a hand on Mason’s chest. “This is his home.”

Levi’s heart tumbled back to earth. Her concern was for Mason. Levi was not part of the equation. And he couldn’t even argue with her logic.