The Cowboy's Little Surprise Read Online Free PDF

finishing up his coffee. Paz stood at the counter where she was making one of her fancy desserts for tonight’s supper. With Tina and Robbie at the breakfast table, they hadn’t had a moment to themselves till now.
    She cracked an egg into the ceramic bowl in front of her. “I think,” she said, “by asking Cole to return to work here, you have stirred up more than the sugar in your coffee.”
    Frowning, he looked at her. She had sounded tart and a few worry lines creased her forehead, but she gave him a faint smile.
    He grinned back. “I
have
set some things in motion, haven’t I? For step one, anyhow.”
    “Do you think everything will go as you want it to?”
    “Of course. All according to plan. And once the other girls are here, we’ll move on to step two.”
    She cracked another egg into the bowl and added a spoonful of vanilla. “Sugar called me this morning. Tina and Ally were at the shop last night.”
    “To see Layne?”
    “Yes. And asking about Cole.”
    He chuckled. “What did I tell you? Nothing to worry about. Everything’s falling into place.” At the sound of light, familiar footsteps in the hallway, he added, “Hush. Here comes the girl now.” He got up to rinse his mug at the sink.
    Tina entered the room and set a tray of dishes on the counter beside him. “Thank goodness for the Women’s Society and their monthly breakfast! Maria’s just clearing the last couple of tables. I’ll take care of loading the dishwasher for you, Abuela. I’ll take that, too.” She plucked the rinsed mug from Jed’s hand. “And then I’ve got to get to my office.”
    “Already?” he asked.
    “Yes, unfortunately. And I know the next part by heart, Abuelo.” She laughed. “‘You can’t work all day, every day.’”
    “Well, it’s true. You need to relax once in a while, girl. Have some fun. You work too hard.”
    “Somebody has to, while you brush up on being lord of the manor. You’ll want to make a good impression on Andi and Jane when they get here.”
    “Oh, I’ll make an impression on them, all right. One of these days, I might even make you sit up and take notice, too.” Smiling, he left the room.
    * * *
    I N HER OFFICE behind the hotel registration desk, Tina entered items into the accounting software. Working with finances normally grabbed her attention, but for the past couple of days, she’d had trouble concentrating.
    Again, her thoughts flew to the cause of her distraction—her brief reunion with the man who had fathered her child.
    Cole had broken her heart years ago. That was nobody’s fault but her own. She was over that—and over him.
    Still, his return had resurrected the old memories.
    She had gotten close to him, yet he had walked away from her without looking back.
    Apology or no apology, if she let him get close to Robbie, how could she believe he wouldn’t walk away from their son?
    She pushed the thoughts of Cole from her thoughts and envisioned her little family—Robbie, Abuela and Jed. For their sakes she needed to focus on her work. On what was important to her. And that definitely didn’t include Cole.
    She forced her attention back to the computer screen.
    Though she made sure to double-check each entry, the numbers didn’t look good. Not because she hadn’t totaled them correctly, but because they didn’t add up to enough.
    She had just finished her entries when she heard the familiar sound of Jed’s boots on the stairs. His steps grew louder as he approached the front desk in the hotel lobby.
    “Tina, you in there?”
    “Yes,” she called. “Give me a second.” She hurried to back up her file and close the program.
    In the kitchen that morning, Jed had seemed more like his old self. But that couldn’t make her forget the past few weeks, when every time she’d tried to talk to him about her concerns, he’d brushed her off. Maybe now, he finally wanted to discuss what he had on his mind.
    The office doorway led right to the lobby’s registration