Cowboy Casanova (Rough Riders #12)(180)

mother showed up, hot under the collar? How was he supposed to look her in the eye when

she questioned him about the rumor? Would she be disappointed? Would she ask where she

’d gone wrong raising him?


Ben managed a nonchalant, “What did you hear?”


She blew across her cup, expecting him to fess up like a ten-year-old boy.


Not happening.


She sighed. “Tell me about the woman you took out for lunch last week.”


Why did she give a rip about that?


“Just answer the damn question, Bennett.”


He was punchy if he hadn’t realized he’d uttered that out loud. His thoughts

backtracked. Last week? Right. A last minute lunch with his client from Jackson Hole

who’d been driving through town to give him an overdue payment. “You mean Dani? She’

s a friend. That’s it.”


“That’s it?” she mimicked. “You move fast, which I find disturbing.”


This conversation wasn’t about Dalton’s intervention? His relief was short lived.


“What happened between you and Ainsley? Weren’t you two an item just last week?

Because I like her.”


I like her too. A lot. In fact, I fell in love with her.


“Bennett?”


“Ah, well, it’s sort of complicated and—”


“What did you do to her?”


Ben’s gaze hooked hers. “Me? Why does the problem have to be from my end?”


His mother rolled her eyes. “Because you’re a McKay.”


“Like that makes me a defective man or something?”


“Watch your tone, Mister,” she warned. “It’s my job as your mother to find out if

you’re being a jackass to the only decent woman to come into your life in years.”


He snorted.


“Were you trying to make Ainsley jealous by having lunch with another woman? Right

under her nose?”


Jesus. Was his mother on crack? “I’m tired of everyone in this family poking their

nose into my personal business—”


“Bennett Andrew McKay.” Her cup hit the counter and liquid sloshed everywhere. “My

God. Sometimes your pigheadedness is astounding.”


Thoroughly reprimanded, Ben sponged up the mess with a paper towel and waited for the

lecture, because guaranteed she had one prepared.


“You brought Ainsley to our attention, by inviting her to a family party. I drive by

your house every day. I know she’s been an overnight guest.” She peered at him over

the tops of her glasses. “On many occasions. I’m pretty sure you two weren’t playing

Parcheesi.”


He blushed. Goddammit. He never blushed.


“So I’m a big enough person to admit my visit the weekend you were sick—and don’t

get me started on how I had to find out that my own son was sick from Rielle—was to

check this woman out for myself. Because heaven knows you’d never tell me if you were

involved with someone. But when I asked her, she insisted there wasn’t anything

between you.”


Why did that sting?


“Of course I didn’t believe her. So when Carolyn called me today because she saw you