“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Me ridiculous?”
“I have a son I love very much. I do not intend to leave him back in New York or make him stay in the house for however long it takes you to pack your bags.”
Her annoyance shot across the line to pure fury at his insolence. The wooden chair made a screeching sound as she bounded to her feet. Her hands rested on the table as she leaned toward Alec. “I can’t believe you’d stoop so low as to bring an innocent child into this...insanity.”
Alec met her angry glare and rose slowly from his chair like a mountain lion ready to pounce. His hands rested on his side of the table as he leaned toward her. “I didn’t cause this. I was not the one who refused to relinquish possession of land that didn’t belong to me!”
“Oh, yes,” she hissed, her voice coated with vehemence. “Just try and convince me you’re the innocent victim! Do you make a habit of throwing people out of their homes? Do you get your kicks from watching them scurry around trying to find another place to live?”
“I offered you a sizeable sum of money to leave. Not exactly the same as throwing you out on the street.”
“Money. All you seem to care about is money! I feel sorry for you, Alec. I pity your son that he must live the kind of life you deem appropriate when you don’t even know what family or tradition is all about.”
“Leave Scotty out of this.”
“I’m not the one who brought him into it!”
“And you’ve made your feelings quite clear.”
“Apparently not. You’re still here.”
A movement out of the corner of her eye told her they had an audience. Turning toward Scotty, she pasted a smile on her face.
“The cookies were good,” he said, his gaze going back and forth from his father to Shea.
“Oh. Great.” Down shift. “I’m glad you like them. Is the cartoon over?”
“Are you and Daddy always gonna fight at each other?” He tilted his head in a manner she’d seen his father do. Guilt quickly dissolved the anger as she realized this little boy had heard their heated exchange.
“I...I don’t know, sweetie,” she hedged and then decided to be honest. If she and Alec didn’t kill each other before this was over, it would be nothing short of a miracle. “Your dad and I, well, we have a lot of things to work out between us. There’s a lot he doesn’t understand.”
The child seemed to take the answer in stride.
“Freddy Correnski said his mommy and daddy used to fight all the time. Then Freddy and his mommy moved to another house. Are Daddy and me gonna live in your house with you?”
“Uh. Well. Yes. I guess you are,” she answered, trying to force happiness into her tone. Her eyes cut to Alec as she added, “For a while.”
“Cool.” He walked over to stand in front of Shea. “Sometimes Daddy gets sad and I ask him why and he says he’s not sad, but I know he is ’cause he just sits there in his chair and looks real tired, but he says he’s not tired but he won’t get up.” He took a deep breath and looked at Shea. “Will you make Daddy not be sad?”
For the life of her, Shea couldn’t think of an appropriate reply. Alec, apparently, had no such difficulty.
“She is going to do her best, Scott,” he said as a wide grin spread across his face. The mischievous twinkle was back in his eyes.
“Good. Can I have another cookie?”
Her voice seemed to have abandoned her, so Shea merely nodded her head.
As the youngster scrambled for the cookie jar, she whispered to Alec, “You can bring a hundred kids out here. A thousand. I’m still not going to let you have this ranch.”
His eyes roamed over her face. “Why don’t you show us where we’ll be sleeping?” he suggested, choosing to ignore her blatant declaration. “It’s been a long day. I have a feeling we’re going to have an early night.”
Six
Shea turned and marched toward the stairs. She didn’t pause until she stood just inside the doorway to a second-floor bedroom overlooking the barn and paddock area. She crossed to the window and opened the blinds, letting the sunshine in.
“I think Scotty will be comfortable in here. If you had bothered to call and let me know he was coming, I could have had the room prepared. Yolanda, the wife of one of our ranch hands, comes in twice a week and helps with the laundry and general cleaning. She should be here soon to start dinner. I’ll have her change the bedding and air the room.”
“This is gonna be my room?” Scotty asked in delight, oblivious to the tension still hanging heavy between the adults. “Cool!” He ran to the bed and joyfully bounced on the springy mattress before bounding to the floor and running to the large double window. “Wow! Daddy! Look at this! Is that where you keep the horsees?” He pointed a finger at the barn.
“Some of them.” Shea smiled down at Alec’s son.
“Can I ride one?” He looked up at her, his bright, eager eyes hopeful.
She reached out and tousled his hair. “You’ll have to ask your dad.”
“He’ll say okay. Won’t you, Daddy?” Not waiting for an answer he added, “I like it here.” He turned and surveyed the room, then nodded his head as if he’d made a great decision. “Yep. This is gonna be all right.”
“I assume you brought extra clothes and personal items?” Alec nodded. “I’ll get Jason to help you with your suitcases. Just tell him if you want to change anything around, move the bed, whatever.”
“This will be fine.”
“Hey, Daddy, where is your bed?”
Shea had started out of the room. This question, however, made her pause. Clearly, Alec hadn’t shared the fact he’d gotten married with his son. She couldn’t pass up the chance to see how he was going to handle this one. She turned toward him, eyebrows raised, her head tilted as she waited for the answer along with Scotty.
Alec stood staring down at the small child in front of him. He rubbed a hand over his mouth, sighed, then rested his hands on his hips. “Actually, I’m going to be sleeping...in another room.”
“Where?”
“I’ll be bedding down with Shea.”
“How come?”
Get him, Scotty!
Alec put his large hands together, cracking his knuckles as he fought to answer that one. Then his head shot up, he glanced at Shea and back to his son. “She’s afraid of the dark.”
“Oh.”
He did not just say that. She couldn’t withhold a snort of laughter, which earned her a glare of warning from Alec.
“Okaaaaay.” Your son. Your bad. “Well, I’ve still got a lot of work to do this afternoon. Yolanda will start supper about six.” She again looked at Scotty. “What do you like to eat?”
“Hot dogs! With ketchup.”
Her lips slid into a full, easy grin and Alec had to wonder if it had the same effect on his son as it did him. Damn, she was beautiful.
“I’ll see what we can do.”
As she disappeared around the corner, Scotty’s voice rang out. “I like her, Daddy.”
Alec nodded. His son had just answered his unspoken question and he wasn’t surprised. He’d carried the far-fetched hope that returning to the ranch would dispel his initial attraction to Shea and he could chalk up the whole thing to stress.
No such luck.
He looked around the room. The wallpaper was faded, its edges peeling away from the walls in a couple of places. Slightly discolored stains on the ceiling indicated water had entered uninvited at some time in the past and left its murky calling card. The light fixture, a remnant from a bygone era, dangled precariously from the twelve-foot-high ceiling. The faint scents of mothballs and lemon touched his senses. But in spite of its worn appearance, this room, in fact the entire house, brought to mind childhood memories of home-baked bread and leftover meatloaf sandwiches. Of the big tree that had been outside his window, perfect for sneaking out of the house to go night fishing with Grandpa Jacob and old man Muldoon.
Alec moved to stand beside his son at the large window. Shea came into view directly below, walking toward the barn.
“Hey, Dad? Do you think she likes us?”
“Oh, I’m sure she does, son,” he lied.
Shea was standing next to a big Appaloosa and a portable medic unit writing something on a form attached to a clipboard when Alec and Scotty walked into the paddock area near the main barn. The tension in her carriage was obvious. He was tempted to step over and give her shoulders a quick massage, but immediately decided against it. The last thing he needed was to get so close to temptation.
“What are you gonna do?” Scotty asked her, his eyes wide and curious.
“I gave him a shot that’ll help keep him healthy,” she explained simply. She patted the horse’s shoulder. “Okay, Jason, take him away.”
After making some additional notations she turned her attention back to Scotty. “Have you ever seen a horse get shoes?”
Scotty shook his head.
“No? Then, come with me.”
Alec followed as they walked to the north end of the barn where a blacksmith had set up his rig for shoeing horses. The clang of his hammer rang out through the late afternoon calm. Alec stood slightly to the side, content to watch the interaction between Shea and his son. It appeared they already were bonding, a fact that both surprised and intrigued him.