Page 40 of Cowboy's Last Stand
Jason made a noncommittal sound.It had occurred to him that Billy needed help last night.He couldn’t have driven the vehicleandsmashed the mailbox.If he’d recruited Gabe, the kid was more than misguided.He was disturbed.Instead of voicing this speculation, Jason returned to her previous question.“I couldn’t bear to stay in Montana after my mother died.Every open space reminded me of her, and I wanted to see other parts of the world.I also wanted to piss off my dad.”
“Because he got remarried?”
He shrugged, uncomfortable with the admission.His entire life, his father had been rigid and unforgiving.They had that in common.
“You resent him for moving on, but you think I should do the same.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I want you.”
She laughed at his simple statement, which was both bold and hypocritical.
At that moment, Jason didn’t give a damn.“Let’s dance.”
Her eyes slid to the live band at the front of the banquet hall.They were playing a style of music he associated with the 1940s or ’50s.“Do you know how to jitterbug?”
“Do you?”
“No.”
He stood and offered her his hand.“We can fake it.”
After a short hesitation, she accepted.He realized that she didn’t want to draw attention to the two of them.Or she hadn’t before the sheriff had made an ass of himself.Perhaps she felt the urge to annoy the overzealous lawman by refusing to be intimidated.Jason liked her moxie.His attempt to spin her around the floor made her laugh—and he loved the sound.She was the most beautiful woman in the room by far.
Although the dance area wasn’t crowded, it was warm.She removed her cardigan and draped it over a nearby chair.He’d already noted the way her dress molded to her breasts, which were delightfully unbound.It also had skinny straps that crossed over her back.His hands itched to explore her exposed skin.
The band obliged him by starting up a slow song.
Perfect.
He must have looked hungry because she flushed at his perusal.But she didn’t object when he grasped her slim waist and drew her closer.Not too close because they were at a family event.It was one thing to thumb his nose at Sheriff Hendricks and encourage Natalie to live a little.Quite another to end up with a visible erection at the VFW.So he didn’t press his body against hers or let his hands roam.She smiled up at him, her arms twined lightly around his neck.He felt something shift inside him as if a secret compartment had opened.
His stomach sank with the realization that he’d lost control of the situation.He could school his physical reaction but not his emotional response.He was developing feelings for her.Strong feelings.
Jason was still processing that revelation when a child’s high-pitched scream wrenched through the air.
Chapter Nine
Like every motherin the room, Natalie froze at the sound of a child in distress.
One minute, she was gazing up at Jason with stars in her eyes, marveling at how well they fit together despite their differences in height.The next, she was crossing the dance floor, searching for her son in the crowd.
She found him at the center of a small melee.Marcus stood over the prone form of another boy.He held a tin soldier in his little fist.The pointed end stuck out from between his clenched fingers.The kid on the ground, still shrieking, held a hand over his eye.
Natalie’s stomach filled with dread.Her son had struck another child in anger.She pushed Marcus aside and knelt to check on the other boy.It was one of Missy’s twins, sobbing inconsolably.
To make matters worse, Marcus didn’t seem sorry.“Take it back,” he demanded.“Take back what you said!”
Jason helped defuse the situation by lifting Marcus off his feet and hauling him away from the fight.Marcus protested this treatment by pummeling Jason with his fists.Jason made a grunt of pain as one of the blows landed.
“You’re not my dad,” Marcus said.“You can’t send me away!”
Natalie gaped at her son in disbelief.Undeterred by the attack, Jason continued carrying Marcus under one arm, like a football.She turned her attention to the other boy.She imagined him with an eyepatch, his life forever changed.
Missy arrived a second later.She drew the crying child into her arms.
