She was totally in love with this man.But she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. She wasn’t certain if she’d been celibate so long that Kane’s expertise in bed turned her feelings of lust into love. Not only that, if she confessed her feelings, would he think she was no different than the other mothers in the Little Buddies program, angling for a permanent piece of him?She’d never want Kane to think she prized his potential as a father over everything else that made him such a good man. And she wouldn’t put the weight of her confession of her feelings for him when his day had already been filled with emotional upheaval.Ginger felt her father’s curiosity as he watched the boy and the man still snuggled on the couch.Without a word, or even a look her direction, he refocused on his crossword puzzle.She put her father’s guarded reaction out of her mind and prepared supper. After they ate, her father pleaded a headache and retired to his room. She thought about finishing paperwork
“Then it’s probably the real deal and she’s running scared.”“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not the type of guy she thought she’d end up with,” he said, hating he sounded like a fucking whiner.Colt frowned at him. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You feelin’ like you’re not good enough for her? So she’s a lawyer. Big deal. That just means when you do something stupid and get your ass tossed in jail she can give you a helluva defense.”Kane laughed. “Asshole.”“Listen to me. Don’t be a dumbass and waste any more time. Do the adult thing and quit mopin’ around. It’s annoying as hell.”“How the hell do you know I’ve been moping? You ain’t been around.”“Like anything can be a goddamned secret for long in this family.”Before he could tell Colt to mind his own fucking business, the door blew open and a whole mass of people crowded in. Kade, Cord, Colby, Cam and Quinn.Kade spoke up. “We’re staging an intervention.”Kane glared at Colt. “Was this your doin’?”“Yep.” Colt smirked. “Paybac
“Yes.” She paused and counted. “Oh. My. God. It’s…March!”“Which means, in my estimation, that you are eight weeks pregnant.”Holy hell. She’d probably gotten pregnant the very first time they’d had sex. Ginger’s thoughts bounced like a million rubber balls. Her tears fell—part frustration, part relief, part fear. “How am I going to tell Kane? He’s been calving for almost three weeks and he has limited cell phone service…” Not something she wanted to tell him over the phone anyway.But Dr. Monroe didn’t have any magical advice about how to break the news to the father-to-be. She helped Ginger sit up. “Eat small meals until the morning sickness passes. I’ll give you vitamins. And obviously you can stop taking the pill.”“Funny.” Ginger dressed. She ran her hand down her stomach. Was it her imagination or did she have pooch there? Already?She dreaded going back to the office, so she wandered down the sidewalk and found herself standing in front of Sky Blue.Coincidence?The aroma of sa
“I moved to Wyoming a few years ago to take over my father’s law practice.”“You’re a lawyer?”Ginger almost laughed at the comical look on Daphne’s face. She half expected Daphne to blurt, “But you don’t look that smart!” Wouldn’t have been the first time Ginger had heard that. “Yes, I am. Are you originally from Sundance?”“Born and raised in Lusk. Moved to Sundance to be with Lock’s daddy, but the man took off before Lock was born so it’s just been me and him.”“Same,” Ginger offered.“Men. Only good for one thing. Since my daddy took off too, I wanted something different for my boy, so I signed up Lock for that Little Buddies program.”“It’s been great for Hayden.”Daphne gave Ginger a curious once-over. “You mean Buck’s been great for Hayden?”“That too.”“Did you request Buck?”“No. Hayden was assigned to Kane from the start.”“Well, I specifically requested him.”“Really?”“Uh-huh.” Daphne pursed her pink frosted lips around the straw and sucked. “Those dreamy McKay blue eyes,
“But these last few months when I’ve gotten to know you? How I feel about you has nothin’ to do with Hayden. Besides the fact he’s such a great kid because he’s got such a great mom.”Tears flooded her eyes. “Kane—”“Let me finish. Yesterday, as soon as we finished calving, I stopped by Stacy Lynnwood’s office and resigned as a mentor in the Big Buddies/Little Buddies program. I didn’t give her a specific reason.” His eyes narrowed. “I assume Stacy told you about what’d happened with Brandi?”“Not in detail, just the general gist.”“Then you understand why I didn’t want our relationship to be dissected by the organization or anyone else?”She nodded.“So I resigned. That wasn’t something I was gonna tell you over the phone. I don’t want to be in your life only as Hayden’s mentor. I want to be in your life as your lover and your partner. I want us to be a family.”“Kane—”“Don’t interrupt.” He dropped to his knees and gathered both her hands in his. “I’d hoped to do this differently, b
Hayden had taken the news of them becoming a family far better than either he or Ginger anticipated.When Kane mentioned adoption, Hayden immediately stopped calling him Buck and started calling him“Dad”, which had been beyond cool in Kane’s opinion. But it also drove home the point there was a big difference between being a Big Buddy and being a father. But he couldn’t imagine loving any kid more than he did Hayden.Kane knocked on Ginger’s office door. He heard a muffled “Come in,” and entered the room.The redheaded woman of his dreams stood in front of the window behind her desk, her left arm braced across her lower belly, her left hand up by her face.“Ginger? Everything okay?”She shook her head and he was by her side instantaneously.Kane turned her to face him. His heart plummeted at seeing her tear-stained face and red-rimmed eyes. “Do you feel all right?”“No.” Her arms circled his waist. She sobbed against his chest. She cried so hard he couldn’t make heads nor tails of th
“Better for who?”“For all of you."“Bullshit.” Kane gave him a long, measured look. “Did you know that my Grandpa McKay lived with us from my fourth birthday until he passed when I was almost thirteen?”“I vaguely recall something about that.”“Since Carson was older than my dad by like ten minutes, Grandpop deeded him the family ranch house after my grandma died. Plus, Uncle Carson and Aunt Carolyn kept havin’ all them kids and needed the space. Grandpop didn’t much like his son Casper, so movin’ in with him was out as an option. And he wasn’t too fond of my Uncle Charles’ wife, Vi, neither. So he came to live with us.”“How’d your mama feel about that? Wasn’t there bad blood between the Wests and the McKays?”“For years. But my Ma never got along with her own father, and Grandpop never had a daughter, so surprisingly, the two of them hit it off like gangbusters.”“It’s hard not to like your mama.”“She is something else.” Kane smiled. “So Kade and I were raised by both our parents
(Prologue)“Who’s up for a threesome?”Whoops and catcalls echoed around the campfire while Brandt McKay seethed in the shadows of the pine trees.“And I mean anyone,” Mike, that little fucking prick, emphasized with a drunken leer. “Guys, gals.Hell, it don’t matter if it’s more than three. In fact, the more the merrier! Me’n Jessica here—” he whacked Jessie’s bikini-clad butt hard, “—are up for a good fuckin’ time tonight.”“Or a good time fucking,” someone shouted.“You got that right,” Mike shot back to additional wolf whistles.Jessica. The little fucking prick didn’t even know Jessie’s name, for Christsake. What the hell was she doing with him?Ain’t that why you’re spying on her like some lovesick peeping Tom? To figure out why she turned you down but she’s hooked up with a loser worse than you?Brandt ignored his sarcastic internal voice that resembled his father’s. He remained as still as a hunter tracking prey as he spied on his brother’s widow. The woman he’d purposely stay