Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) Read Online Free PDF

for some ice cream?” Nina said, pushing him
and Ben toward the double swinging doors. “I’m sure there are even some
sprinkles in there.”
    “But,
Ma?”
    “Nonsense. He needs some Daddy time right now, Jeff. Go on.”
    “Thanks.”
    “You’re
welcome, son. Don’t worry about her. She’s all talk.”
    “I
hope you’re right.”
    He
took Ben into the kitchen, found the scoop and the five gallon bucket of ice
cream.
    “Want
some ice cream, buddy?”
    Ben
nodded before he wiggled to get down. “I love you, Daddy.”
    “I
love you too, Ben.”
    After
about an hour, they finished eating their ice cream, cleaned up the kitchen and
he took Ben out to his truck to head for home. He hoped he didn’t run into any
guests. He didn’t want to have to play nicey -nice with
anyone tonight. If they could just run cattle on the place, he’d be a happy
man. His parents didn’t see it the way he did though.
    As
he walked out toward his truck, he noticed a blonde woman standing on the porch
of one of the cabins the guests stayed in. From a distance, she looked
familiar, but he couldn’t quit place her. He shrugged. Didn’t
matter. He didn’t mix with guests. He avoided them more times than not,
unlike his brothers who liked schmoozing with them. His job was to take care of
the cattle and keep the ranch running smoothly. Keep the stock fed. Keep everything
from falling apart on the cattle side of the operation. If he did that, the
rest of them could run the guest ranch into the ground for all he cared. He
didn’t like having people on the ranch playing cowboy, but he supposed the
investment kept things in the black.
    The
woman backed away into the shadow of the porch. Odd. He shrugged.
    “Let’s
get you to bed, buddy. It’s past your bedtime.”
    “I
don’t wanna go to bed.”
    “Sorry.
It’s bedtime. We have to be up early to feed the horses.”
    “Okay.”
    Jeff
opened the passenger side door on his truck and put Ben in his seat before he
belted the boy in. When he went around to the driver’s side, he glanced over
his shoulder to see the woman again on the porch. He wondered for a moment why
she seemed to be watching him, but he blew it off as a curious guest.
    He
drove up to his cabin a few minutes later. The place was home even though it
didn’t have a woman’s touch. He didn’t need it anyway. He liked his place just
like it was. Roughhewn logs with a porch going around the front of the house.
Two small windows overlooked the front yard he had fenced off for Ben to play
in. He loved the small living room with the large fireplace gracing one wall
and the kitchen where he had hoped one day a woman would love to cook for him
and their children. “Bah! Women. They aren’t worth the
trouble.”
    He
got a sleepy Ben out of his car seat and carried him inside. Within minutes, he
had the boy stripped down to his Spiderman underwear, into his pajamas, and
between the sheets on his bed. Ben snuggled down beneath his blankets.
    “Night,
Daddy.”
    “Night,
buddy.” Jeff turned off the lamp, but didn’t leave the room
right away.
    Moonlight
played on Ben’s face coming through the window over his bed. His
little boy. The tyke carried his dark hair and gray eyes, thank
goodness. He was glad he couldn’t see much of Misha in the child, but he knew
she was his mother all the same and that chafed his hide.
    If
he would have listened to his brothers, he probably wouldn’t have married her
in the first place, but he hadn’t. He’d loved her with all his heart. They’d
told him she flirted and propositioned them for months before the wedding. Then
when she’d disappeared right after the ceremony with her friends and didn’t
come home for two days, he should have realized what a mistake he’d made. Stubborn fool.
    “I’m
sorry, buddy. God, I wish your mama was someone else.”
    Jeff
wandered out to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. Damn, he needed to unwind
before he tried to sleep. Dealing with his ex