The Cowboy's Way(32)

“Okay, partner, time for me to go see if my crew has everything unloaded and put away in the barn,” T.J. said, stopping to let Heather lift Seth from his back.

“What do you say, Seth?” Heather prompted.

“Tank ’ou,” he said, smiling.

“You’re welcome, partner,” T.J. said as he rose to his feet.

Holding her son with one arm, Heather reached for T.J.’s jacket with the other. “I’m still not comfortable with all of this,” she said quietly as she handed him the jacket.

“We’ve already settled everything, sweetheart.” He took his jacket from her, pulled it on and wrapped his arms around both her and Seth. “We’ll take things one day at a time and see where each day takes us.” He checked his watch. “I wish I could hang around, but I got a call from one of my brothers after I got home this morning. I’m supposed to meet him over in Beaver Dam for supper.”

“You don’t owe me any kind of explanation,” she said, shaking her head. “I wasn’t even expecting you to come by today.”

“I just wanted you to know where I’d be in case you need me for anything,” he said, kissing her forehead as he handed her a business card with the Dusty Diamond logo printed on it, along with his cell number.

“Seth and I will be just fine,” she assured him, tucking the card into her jeans pocket.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, stepping back to head for the door.

As she watched T.J. leave the house, Heather felt as if she had just jumped off into the deep end of a pool with no idea how to swim. Was she really going to let T.J. help her? Was she really going to go along with his idea that they needed to explore their attraction?

Watching him from the kitchen, she saw him talk to his men then turn to wave to her as he got into his truck. Heather’s heart skipped a beat and she nibbled nervously on her lower lip. Just the thought of becoming involved with anyone scared her beyond words.

Her child deserved a father—a man who would love him, play with him and teach him things. But could a man still care for another man’s child once he had one of his own? Did that kind of man even exist?

Her father had been one of the finest men she had ever known and he hadn’t been able to do it. Her older sister had been the child of their mother’s first marriage and from what she had discerned from Stephanie’s comments, everything had been fine until Heather was born. After that, her father doted on Heather and no longer seemed to have enough time for her sister. She didn’t want to see the same thing happen to her son.

But whether it was smart or not, it appeared that she had already become involved with T.J., and her son had started looking to him as a father figure, even if he was too young to realize it.

* * *

When T.J. spotted Lane at the back of the Broken Spoke, he stopped at the bar for a bottle of beer before walking over to slide into the seat on the opposite side of the wide booth. Taking off his hat, he hung it on one of the pegs on the wall.

“What did you do to piss off Taylor this time?” he asked, unable to keep from grinning.

Lane frowned. “What makes you think my wife is mad at me?”

“Since the two of you got married last spring, I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve gone anywhere without her,” T.J. replied. “And if my memory serves me right, both of those times you had done something that caused her to pitch a hissy fit and you wanted to give her the time and space to cool off.”

T.J. had decided as soon as he met Taylor that the fiery redhead was perfect for Lane. Her passion and enthusiasm for life tempered Lane’s tendency to be overly serious and analytical, while his calm lessened her propensity to overreact.

“Well, I didn’t do anything this time,” his brother said, shaking his head. “She’s not been feeling very well the past couple of days.”

“Does she have the flu?” T.J. asked, hoping that wasn’t the case. “That’s what Hea—” He coughed to cover his blunder. “That’s what I’ve heard is going around.”

“No, she’s got some kind of stomach bug,” Lane said, obviously missing T.J.’s slip of the tongue. “Since she doesn’t feel like cooking and doesn’t want to do anything but sleep, I figured I’d let her rest and see if you and the other guys wanted to grab a steak.”

“Who else is coming?” T.J. asked.

“I think Ryder and Sam are headed this way.” Lane took a swig of his beer, then laughed. “Sam said, after Bria gets little Hank down for the night, she and Mariah are going to experiment with hairstyles for Mariah’s big night in Dallas with her new boyfriend. And Ryder said that Summer told him if he didn’t stop hovering over her and the baby, she was going to bop him.”