been there seemed to have been extinguished when he busted her son. Still, this welcome party was in her honor. Not talking to her would be rude. He approached the table where the women were chatting. Mr. Ross stood a few feet off to the side, working the grill.
As Cole neared the group, he overheard Mrs. Ross bragging about her son, Jarrett. “...so good with young people. He spends a few weeks every summer working at a horse-riding camp. It’s a shame he couldn’t be here today.”
Kate’s expression was a discordant cross between placating smile and deer-in-the-headlights stare. Cole experienced a twinge of sympathy. Were they already trying to fix her up with someone? Jarrett Ross was a good guy, but he was gone a lot on the rodeo circuit. Although Mrs. Ross might be eager for her son to settle into a steady relationship, as far as Cole knew, Jarrett was thoroughly enjoying the admiration of his female fans.
“It’s also a shame Crystal couldn’t be here,” Kate interjected, surprising Cole by glancing his way. She was obviously desperate for a change of subject. “If her family had made it, your girls would have had more kids to play with.”
“Luckily for me, the girls are pretty good at entertaining themselves. Mandy’s happy as long as she has a soccer ball, and Alyssa...” He looked toward the tree where his daughter had been sitting. She was often content with quieter hobbies, like coloring or reading her favorite picture books. But she was no longer there.
Following his gaze, Joan Denby said, “She’s with Luke. I watched them walk over that hill a few minutes ago.”
“You’re kidding.” Last Cole had heard, his daughter was still ticked off at the teen. What had enticed her to wander off with him?
Joan nodded. “They headed in the general direction of the barn.”
“Maybe I should round them up.” Kate shot hastily to her feet.
Was she worried the two kids were into mischief? Cole didn’t know Luke Sullivan. Had the kid’s shoplifting been an aberration, or was he a habitual troublemaker?
“I’ll go with you,” Cole volunteered.
Kate bit her lip. Whether she wanted his company or not, it wasn’t as though she could forbid him to check on his own child.
They fell into step with each other, making their way down the small green slope that curved behind the farmhouse. The barn was visible, the distance of a couple of football fields away, but he didn’t see the kids yet. They might have been inside or around the corner, where the overhang provided shade. Kate was quiet as they walked, her gait stiff. He attempted to defuse the situation with humor.
“Could be worse,” he deadpanned. “You could be stuck at the table, sitting through countless pictures of Jarrett Ross’s rodeo buckles on Mrs. Ross’s phone.”
“Did I look as trapped as I felt?”
“So much that I was questioning whether I’d need my hostage negotiation training to rescue you.”
Her lips curved in an impish grin. “Think Mrs. Ross would have let me go in exchange for a fully fueled helicopter and a briefcase of unmarked bills? Not that she was the only guilty party. Before she started regaling me with Jarrett’s many fine qualities, Gram— Oh.” She sucked in a breath as her foot slid sideways, catching a root that jutted out from the hillside.
Cole reached for her automatically, his hands going to her waist so she wouldn’t tumble. As soon as his fingers settled above her hips, a potent sense of awareness jolted through him. The only thing separating her skin from his was the soft thin cotton of her dress. It was an absurdly tantalizing thought, given the hands-on nature of his job. From shaking hands with voters to demonstrating first-aid techniques in community classes, his days were full of physical contact. Yet he couldn’t recall the last time he’d been so deeply affected.
Kate, however, didn’t seem to share his enjoyment of the moment. Her eyes were wide, as if she found his touch disconcerting. As soon as he noticed, he let go of her so fast she almost lost her balance again.
He winced. When had he become such a bumbling ass? “Sorry.” This time he steadied her with a strictly platonic grip on her elbow.
“No reason to be,” she said, her voice shaky. “You were, um, just trying to be helpful.”
Exactly. Helpful. Not lustful.
Well, maybe a bit of both. “I didn’t mean to startle you, grabbing you like that.” The expression on her face had been damned near panicky.
“It’s been a really long—” Her cheeks reddened. “I guess I shouldn’t be tromping around the farm in wedge sandals. They’re not exactly all-terrain. What was I saying? Before?”
The better question was, what had she been about to say now, before she’d interrupted herself to denounce her shoes?
She snapped her fingers. “Oh, I remember! Just that Jarrett Ross wasn’t the only man Gram and her friends mentioned. There was also prolonged discussion of one of Crystal’s cousins, an accountant named Greg Tucker? Your mother can’t imagine why someone who would be ‘such a good provider’ is still single.”
“Possibly because Greg hates kids,” Cole guessed. “Well, hate may be too strong a word. But not by much.” From what Cole had seen when the Tuckers were together en masse, Greg barely tolerated his legion of nieces and nephews. He was a completely illogical match for a single mom.
“I definitely can’t get involved with anyone who dislikes kids. Luke’s challenging enough to people who are crazy about them.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “Lord, that sounded awful. I didn’t mean... I know he didn’t make a stellar first impression on you, but deep down he’s a good boy.”
“All kids make mistakes,” he reassured her, remembering his own scalding embarrassment when he was called into the principal’s office to discuss Alyssa’s marker-on-the-bathroom-wall misadventure. “Even a cop’s kids.”
Kate’s laugh was hollow. “That’s exactly what Luke is.”
He swung his gaze to her in surprise. “Your ex-husband is a policeman?”
“Was,” she corrected softly. “My late husband was a policeman.”
He was too shocked to respond. Why hadn’t his mother mentioned Kate was a widow? “I—”
“There they are.” She gestured toward the left of the barn. The two kids sat with their heads close together as they looked down, too focused to notice the approaching adults. As Cole and Kate got closer, the breeze carried Alyssa’s exclamations of delight.
“It’s perfect!” she cried. “Except it needs wings.”
Luke chuckled. “First you said you wanted a horse, then you said unicorn. Now a Pegasus? What’s next, a whole herd?”
“No. I just want one winged unicorn. But she’d look better if she was glittery. Do you have any sparkly crayons?” she asked hopefully.
“Hell, no.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed at the kid’s language, but Kate’s fingers on his forearms stopped his intended reprimand. He glanced up, his annoyance fading
