Page 24 of Lost and Found Cowboy

Lyle’s gaze flashed toward the tall cowboy who came to stand next to her. “Who the hell are you?”

“Mack Lassiter.” He extended his hand. Lorna waited—and wished—for Mack to crush Lyle’s in a hard vise grip.

But her ex just looked at Mack’s offered hand with disdain, as if it were holding out a dog turd in his palm. “And what are you doing in my wife’s house?”

“Ex-wife,” she and Mack said at the same time.

Mack took Lorna’s hand, squeezing it in silent support, and she held onto him as if he were a life preserver and she’d just been thrown into a shark-infested sea. Except there was only one shark, and she wasn’t sure that even a six-foot something life preserver could save her from it.

“He’s mommy’s friend,” Max said, his small chin raised as he stepped in front of Mack.

Lyle’s gaze turned sharp, glancing from the boy to the man behind him then dropping to their joined hands between them. His lips curled into a sneer. “I didn’t realize Mommy hada friend.”

“I wouldn’t think she’d need to inform you aboutanythingshe had,” Mack told him. “The two of you are divorced, so she can have any kind of friend she wants.”

Lyle’s sneer fixed on Lorna. “I think you need to tell your boyfriend to stand down.”

“I don’t need to tell my boyfriend anything,” she said, pushing her shoulders back as she drew strength from the squeeze of Mack’s hand. “He can do what he wants. But heisthe reason you can’t stay here.”

Lyle’s gaze went back and forth between them as if assessing the situation, then he held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, no problem. I’ll find someplace else to stay tonight. But we’ve got things we need to talk about, so I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Make sure you call first,” Mack told him.

She stood still, clinging to Mack’s hand, as Lyle backed out of the room. Then she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when the sound of the door slamming echoed through the house.

“You guys okay?” Mack asked, reaching for her son’s hand and drawing him closer to them, the concern forallof them etched on his face.

That might have been the moment she fell in love with him.

She nodded, but her voice seemed to have deserted her.

He pulled her in, holding her and Izzy against his shoulder while Max wrapped his arms around their legs, hugging them both at the same time. She let go of Mack’s hand to grip her son’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into the soft flannel of his shirt.

“What the hell for? You didn’t do anything.”

“For insinuating you were my boyfriend. It just sort of came out.”

He shrugged. “It’s fine. I’ll be whatever you need me to be if it helps get rid of that jerk. Did you know he was in town?”

She shook her head. “I had no idea.”

“The nerve of that guy. Walking in here and acting like he was going to stay.”

She could feel the tautness of Mack’s shoulders, the anger humming through his body. She recognized the emotion—the fury that Lyle incited.

“He didn’t even say hello to Max,” she said softly, choking back a sob. “Or try to hug him. He hasn’t seen his son in a year and a half, and he barely acknowledged his presence.”

Don’t you dare let him make you cry.

She swallowed back the tears, but her body betrayed her as her hands trembled, and she squeezed them into tight fists.

“It’s okay, darlin’. I got you. All three of you. And you don’t have to worry. He’s gone now.”

Yeah, he was gonenow, but like a bad penny, she had this terrible imminent feeling he would show up again.

Chapter Eleven

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