Carla Cassidy – Cowboy Defender (страница 2)

The two kids came to an abrupt halt at a storefront that sported frilly pink-and-white curtains at the window. “Mom, can we go in and get a treat?” Jenny asked, her big blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

Henry ran back, grabbed Miranda’s hand and looked up at her with a sweet appeal. “Come on, Mom, we’ve been really good all week. We did our homework and made our beds and everything. Please? Please?”

Unfortunately The Cupcake Palace was a little pricey. “Yes, you both have been very good all week, but I just spent a lot of money on your new summer clothes.” She hated to see the disappointed looks that settled on their little faces. Darn Hank anyway for never paying his child support.

“I’d love to treat a couple of cute kids and their mother to cupcakes and ice cream.” The smooth, deep voice came from behind Miranda and instantly she stiffened.

“For real, Mr. Clay?” Henry asked. He dropped his mother’s hand. “That would be totally awesome.”

“Yeah, awesome,” Jenny echoed.

Miranda turned to look at the cowboy who made almost all the female hearts in the small town beat faster.

Clay Madison was ridiculously handsome with his slightly shaggy blond hair and beautiful bright-blue eyes. His brown cowboy hat sat on his head at a cocky angle, and the smile that curved his lips not only showcased deep twin dimples but also seemed to light up the entire area around them.

“Evening, Miranda,” he said with a gentlemanly dip of his cowboy hat.

“Clay,” she replied with a curt nod of her head.

“Mommy, Mr. Clay said he’d treat us,” Henry said. “Did you hear him say that? That’s what he said.” Once again excitement lit Henry’s and Jenny’s features.

“And how do you know Mr. Clay?” she asked her son. Bitterroot, Oklahoma was a small town but there was no reason her eight-year-old son would know Clay Madison, who was a cowboy on the Holiday Ranch on the outskirts of town.

“He came and talked to our class last week about being a cowboy,” Henry replied. “I want to be a cowboy just like Mr. Clay when I grow up.”

She was surprised Clay hadn’t talked to the class about being a womanizer and a party boy. Rumor had it he did both things quite well.

“And I meant what I said. I’d love to treat you all.” He gestured toward the shop door.

“Mom, please?” Jenny begged.

When Miranda hesitated Clay leaned toward her, his eyes sparkling merrily. “It’s just a cupcake, Miranda,” he said beneath his breath.

“All right,” she capitulated, knowing to say no now would make her the meanest, most hateful mom in the entire world. Henry and Jenny jumped up and down in excitement. “Good manners,” she murmured to them as Clay opened the door and ushered them inside.

Myriad scents greeted them, all of them good. The smell of chocolate competed with a sweet fruity mix. Cinnamon and sugar added to the mouthwatering combination.

Pink-and-white ice cream parlor tables and chairs beckoned people to sit and enjoy. Miranda stifled an inward moan as she saw the older couple who occupied one of the tall tables. Wally Stern worked at the post office and his wife worked at being the town’s biggest gossip. Who knew what rumors would be whipping through the town about Clay and Miranda by morning?

Henry and Jenny danced up to the counter where cupcakes the size of small dinner plates were displayed. When you ordered one of the cupcakes you also got a healthy serving of ice cream on the side, making for a totally decadent dessert.

Mandy Booth greeted them with a big smile. The dark-haired woman was clad in jeans and a pink T-shirt advertising The Cupcake Palace.

“You don’t have enough to do with the café?” Miranda asked Mandy. Mandy had bought the town’s popular café several months ago and had opened The Cupcake Palace a month ago.

Mandy laughed. “The café is my bread and butter, but this place is my heart. I’d thought about opening some sort of fine dining place here in town, but Bitterroot isn’t really a fine dining kind of place, and Tammy’s Tea House already fills that need. Then I came up with this idea where I can bake to my heart’s content.”

“What does Brody think about you working all those hours?” Miranda asked. Mandy and Brody Booth had married two months before.

“Oh, trust me, I make plenty of time to keep my cowboy happy,” she replied with her dark eyes twinkling merrily. “Now, what can I get for you all?”

Throughout the brief conversation Miranda had been acutely aware of Clay’s presence. He stood so close to her that, despite the fragrance of the shop, she could smell sunshine and minty soap and a fresh-scented cologne that wafted from him.

“Hmm,” Henry murmured as he and Jenny stared at all the choices, as if this was the single most important decision they would ever make in their entire lives.

“I’d like one of those blue cupcakes,” Henry finally said. “Blue is my favorite color.”

“Ah, an excellent choice,” Mandy replied. “It’s a cream cheese cupcake with blueberry frosting.”

“And I’d like the pink one,” Jenny said.

“And I’ll bet pink is your favorite color,” Mandy said.

“I love pink, but I also love purple,” Jenny replied.

“Well, the pink is also an excellent choice. It’s a rich chocolate with a raspberry frosting.” Mandy began to plate the cupcakes. “And what about for you, Miranda?”

“Nothing for me,” she replied. She wouldn’t even be in here right now if Clay hadn’t manipulated her into an awkward position in front of her kids. He could treat the kids, but she didn’t need a treat from Clay Madison.

“Ah, come on, surely you want something,” Clay protested.

“No, thanks, I’m good,” she replied.

“Then why don’t you and the kids go get us a table and I’ll bring the goodies over when they’re ready,” he said.

“Okay,” she replied and corralled the kids to one of the tables across the room from where Wally and his nosy wife Dinah sat.

She settled into a chair and watched Clay at the display counter. The blue shirt he wore was stretched taut across his back muscles and nobody wore jeans better than him. He said something and Mandy threw back her head and laughed. There was no question the man was a charmer...the town’s Romeo. Well, Miranda wasn’t interested in anything he was selling.

Clay Madison was the last man on earth she’d want to hook up with for anything. Hopefully the kids would eat their cupcakes fast and that would be the end of it.

She pulled her gaze away from Clay and, instead, glanced across the room to see Dinah staring at her and then leaning closer to her husband to talk. Of all the couples to be here at this precise moment, why did it have to be that particular couple?

“This is so cool,” Henry said.

“We asked Daddy to bring us here last weekend but he said no. He always says no when we want to do stuff with him,” Jenny replied. “He just mostly sleeps when we’re at his house.”

“And he snores really, really loud,” Henry said with a giggle. “But Ms. Lori plays games with us and stuff. She’s real nice.”

Ms. Lori was Lori Stillwell, the attractive woman who lived with Hank in the small ranch house he rented. She worked from the house as a medical transcriber. She didn’t seem to mind Hank’s drinking or that she was assuredly paying all the bills. All Miranda cared about was that the woman was kind to her children when they were with Hank on the weekends.

Clay walked over with a tray that held the kids’ treats and then returned to the counter and brought back two more. He slid a chocolate-covered creation in front of Miranda.

“I’ve never known any woman to turn up her nose at chocolate,” he said.

“And you of all people should know about women,” she replied stiffly.

“Ouch. I see my reputation has preceded me.” The sparkle in his eyes appeared to dim a bit. “And you should know you can’t believe everything you hear.”

“What kind of a cupcake did you get, Mr. Clay?” Jenny asked him.

“This is a banana cupcake with rum-flavored frosting,” he replied. “I love bananas.”

There followed a conversation between him and the kids on what kinds of fruits they liked and what ones they thought were yucky.

Miranda listened to the conversation absently. She was just grateful that his beautiful eyes were no longer focused on her. Despite her intense wishes to the contrary, when he gazed at her she subtly warmed, as if he’d caressed her with his work-roughened hands.

She suspected that was his super power, that with just a look he could make a woman feel like she was the most important woman in the entire world.

She had no idea why he had decided to treat them all to cupcakes and ice cream, but if he had thought in his head to somehow seduce her then he had another thought coming.

She refused to be just another notch on Clay Madison’s bedpost. There was no way she was going to play Juliet to his Romeo.

As far as Clay was concerned, Miranda Silver was not only one of the prettiest women in town but she was also a respected teacher and had the reputation of being a terrific mother.

He’d had his eye on her ever since she divorced Hank just over a year ago. For the past year Clay had been on a quest to find his forever gal.

He’d watched as his fellow cowboys at the Holiday Ranch had found happiness and begun to build futures with the women of their dreams, but so far Clay hadn’t found the special woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And he wanted that. He longed for that.