Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(66)

Then he delighted me by saying, “Control your violent impulse and get over here. My guess is, you steppin’ up is gonna make Reesee’s day. She talked about you a lot last night. All of it good.”

“She did?” I asked and it sounded all breathy.

Mike heard the breathy, read it, liked it and his voice was quiet and warm when he replied, “She did. First time in a long time I had the Reesee I’ve known for years. She liked your coat. Your belt. Your boots. Your fingernail polish. Your jewelry. The sound of your voice. Your hair. And the way you handled Fin, because, she let slip, Fin is messed up about his Dad but refuses to show it.”

I thought the first part of that was awesome, the last bit interesting. I figured my nephew and his daughter had connected but I didn’t know the level. Now I had a guess.

“That’s a lot of things she liked,” I remarked.

“Yeah.” And that word was quiet and warm too.

“All right, honey, open the gate. I’ll be over soon to save the day.”

That got me another chuckle then, “See you soon, Angel.”

“Soon, Mike.”

I hit the button for off, shoved the phone in my pocket, put my glove back on and finished saddling Moonshine. Then I led my baby girl out of the barn, closed the doors to keep the cold off Blaise, swung up on her back and let her loose, galloping across the short expanse from the farmhouse to the opened gate that was seven in, smack in the middle.

Then Moonshine and I galloped right into Mike’s postage stamp backyard where we stopped.

I was dismounting when the backdoor opened and all three members of the Haines family walked out, the male two smiling huge and the female staring. Standoffish a memory, her mouth was hanging open.

Mike’s dog came with and the golden retriever bounced straight toward Moonshine, the dog visibly shivering with excitement at this unprecedented turn of events.

“Jesus, Dusty,” Mike called, his voice vibrating with laughter.

“Total…freaking…cool!” No shouted.

Rees just stared at me as I led Moonshine and a bouncing retriever up to the back deck.

“Hey, guys,” I greeted.

Mike crossed his arms on his chest at the same time he burst out laughing.

“Layla, come here, girl! Here, girl! Away from the big, honkin’ horse in the backyard,” No called, slapping his thighs at the dog, his words like his Dad’s, vibrating with laughter.

Layla. Clapton. Great name.

I grinned my approval at Mike who was smiling and still chuckling at me.

Then I looked to Rees. “Get your jacket, honey. You and I are going decoration shopping and baking a cake.”

She blinked.

Then she asked, “We are?”

Nice. Mike gave me the good part, sharing the news.

“We are,” I answered. “Let’s go. You’re riding back with me to the farm so I can change out of horse clothes and we can go.”

“I’m riding back?” she asked.

“Yep,” I answered then looked at Mike who was still smiling at me. This was a different smile. A better one. “You need to hang around for a minute, babe. Give her a lift up onto the back of Moonshine.”

“I can do that,” Mike muttered then turned to his girl. “Get your jacket, honey.”

She tipped her head back at him. Then she nodded. Then she dashed into the house, all excited teenage girl.

Oh yes, standoffish gone.

“Can I have a ride sometime?” No asked and I looked at him to see he was barely containing an uncontainable Layla by her collar.

“You ride?” I asked back.

“Never,” he answered.

“You want lessons, I have two horses. Just come over and we’ll get you up on one.”

“Awesome,” he breathed.

I grinned.

“Rees too?” he asked.

“She wants it, my horses need exercise. You’d be doing me a favor.”

“Dig it!” he exclaimed.

I saw it then. His boyish exuberance. Fin stopped being like that at least a year ago.

“Get Layla in the house, No, will you?” Mike asked.

“Sure Dad,” No answered and looked at me as he led a still excited Layla to the door calling, “See you later, Dusty.”

“Later, honey.”

Then they were gone.

Mike moved off the deck toward me.

Then he was at me and I knew we probably didn’t have a lot of time because when he got there, he curled a hand warm on my neck and dipped his head but only for a peck on the lips. And I knew I got that because he didn’t want his kids to catch him giving me more but his eyes stated clearly he wanted to give it to me.

“Both my kids love animals. Rees just went from Mom hell to cloud nine,” he whispered, not, thankfully, moving his hand.

“Excellent,” I whispered back.

The light in his eyes that was residual humor died away but they warmed in a way that made the area around my heart warm too.

“Thank you, Angel.” He was still whispering but the words came from the heart.

“Anytime, honey.” I was still whispering too.

His hand gave me a squeeze and the backdoor opened. I lost his hand as Mike stepped aside, turned and I looked to Rees. She had an attractive, light pink corduroy jacket on, a beige fluffy scarf wrapped around her neck making her thick, gorgeous hair fluff out around it like it had been arranged for a photo shoot, matching mittens and a cute little purse with a short strap tucked under her shoulder.