A Daddy for Dillon Read Online Free PDF Page A

word love or marriage terrified him.
    “Okay,” she finally said. “He may stay. Just don’t let him out of your sight. He loves to explore and will be gone in a flash if he sees something that catches his eye.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll stick right by him.”
    She gave him a single nod, then turned and hurried into the house. Laramie walked over to where Dillon had climbed back into the swing.
    “Hi, partner,” he said to the boy.
    Dillon’s response was a shy little grin and a drop of his head. Warmed by the boy’s acceptance, Laramie ruffled his dark hair.
    “How about me and you swinging together?” Laramie suggested.
    Taking Dillon’s silence as an agreement, Laramie eased his tall frame onto the small wooden swing. Thankfully Frankie had spared no expense on the gym set. The sturdy quality made it capable of supporting an adult’s weight also.
    “Go,” Dillon said, while pointing to Laramie and the swing. “Go high!”
    Laramie chuckled. Apparently this wasn’t Dillon’s first time on a swing. “Okay. I’ll go if you’ll make yours go, too.”
    Dillon immediately began to kick his legs in an effort to put the swing in motion. Laramie reached over and gave the boy a little push to get him started.
    “Yippee! I’m goin’ fast ’n’ high!”
    “Wow! You are going fast,” Laramie agreed as he carefully kept his own seat at the same gentle pace as Dillon’s. “You must be a really strong young man.”
    Deciding it was more important to display his strength, Dillon leaped from the swing. Standing directly in front of Laramie, he held up his arms and, with a fierce grit of his teeth, attempted to make muscles. “See. I’m big. Mommy says I’m big.”
    Totally charmed by the little guy, Laramie leaned forward and made a show of feeling Dillon’s tiny upper arms. “Your mommy is right. You’re going to grow up to be a big man.”
    “Big. Like you.”
    Dillon stepped forward and patted his small hand against Laramie’s knee. The child’s response touched him in a way that took him by complete surprise. Whenever Quint’s sons were around they were hardly shy about showing him affection. If they weren’t climbing all over him, they were hugging his neck and calling him Uncle Laramie. But Riley and Clancy were very different from this little boy. Unlike the Cantrell boys, Dillon didn’t have a loving daddy who was always around to protect and provide for him, to guide and support him. From what Quint had told him, he had no one but his mother. Just like he’d had no one but Diego.
    Clearing an unexpected tightness from his throat, he said, “You’re going to be way bigger than me, Dillon.”
    The boy moved closer and Laramie gently curved a hand around his shoulder. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”
    His dark eyes wide with wonder, the child shook his head.
    “Do you know what a horse is?”
    Dillon nodded. “Orange.”
    With a comical frown, Laramie asked, “What?
    “Orange,” Dillon repeated.
    “I’m not talking about a piece of fruit, Dillon. I—”
    Before Laramie could finish, Dillon was grabbing his hand and urging him from the swing.
    “I gotta horsey. Orange.”
    Very curious now, Laramie allowed the child to lead him into the house. Once they were in the kitchen, he expected the boy to turn him loose and let Leyla explain the horse matter. Instead, Dillon continued tugging until the two of them were standing in front of the refrigerator.
    Several papers were attached to the appliance with colorful magnets, and when Dillon pointed to one with a horse scribbled with crayon, Laramie suddenly understood.
    “Oh, I see. You have a horse the color of an orange. Hmm. That’s some great work there, Dillon. Your horse must be a color that’s somewhere between sorrel and chestnut.”
    Dillon emphatically shook his head. “Orange.”
    Laramie threw back his head and laughed, while somewhere behind him, Leyla said, “He’s strong-minded.”
    He turned to see her placing a