Cowboy Casanova (Rough Riders #12)(121)

“You seem to get along with Rielle,” Ben remarked.


“This is the third time I’ve stayed with her.”


Like that explained it. “So how long you staying?”


“I leave at six tonight on the direct flight out of Rapid City to Phoenix.” He cut

the banana into precise quarters. “I’d like to stay longer, but my ex-wife can’t

handle our daughter for more than a weekend so I have to be back to take Sierra to

school tomorrow.”


“Don’t have a friendly relationship with your ex?”


Gavin separated his muffin into four equal sections. “If friendly fire counts, then,

yes, it’s friendly.”


Ben laughed. “Sorry, you probably didn’t mean that to be funny.”


“So little is amusing about the situation that I’ll take laughter when I can get it.

” He chewed and swallowed a piece of muffin, followed by a piece of banana.


“Tell me about—” my niece, “—your daughter.”


“Sierra is a typical teenage girl. Lots of drama and angst in her daily life. Her

mother just adds to it by refusing to be Sierra’s parent—she prefers to be Sierra’s

shopping buddy and confidante. So when Sierra comes to my house after a weekend with my

ex, she argues incessantly, breaks the rules and drives me so f*cking crazy I want to

send her to boarding school.”


“No offense, but I’m glad I don’t have kids.”


“Ah. Therein lies the rub. After a couple days, Sierra is back to being my sweet,

funny, wonderful, only slightly annoying, typical daughter.”


“At least she isn’t bratty all the time.”


Gavin ate a third bite of the muffin and banana combination. “That’s what Rielle

tells me to focus on. Since she survived her daughter’s teen years, I’m hoping to

survive it too.”


Ben couldn’t help but stare at Gavin as he shoved his hand through his short hair.

That was the most obvious difference between him and his brothers—they all had the

almost black hair color from the McKay side. But Gavin’s hair was brown and slightly

curly, like their mother’s. And it was sort of freaky, to realize he had facial

characteristics of Quinn, Chase and their father, almost in a perfect blend, so he didn

’t look exactly like any of them, but like all of them.


“You’d think I’d be used to such scrutiny after last night.”


“Sorry. How was your portion of the dog and pony show anyway?”


“Chase was the Thoroughbred and I was the mutt they dragged home that everyone

expected to do awesome tricks. I was most likely a severe disappointment.”


Whoa. That was a harsh assessment.


Gavin sighed and looked at Ben. “That was uncalled for. It’s just… Can I be blunt? I

don’t know what the f*ck I’m doing here. It’s all still pretty surreal, this, hey,

you’ve got a whole ’nother family. Especially last night. I felt like I was standing

in front of one of those small clown cars, and more and more people kept pouring out,

and I’m somehow related to all of them.”


The McKay family overwhelmed Ben sometimes and he’d grown up around them. He couldn’t