Page 29 of Rekindled Heart

“Start patrolling the ranch more efficiently, better coverage with y’all’s help. And pray that granny gets distracted by something else.”

“That’s a prayer I can get behind, man. Amen to that.”

FIFTEEN

Margot

Louiseand I peek around the corner at the stranger at the diner. He’s ordering bacon and eggs like he isn’t the most watched man in town right now.

“Are you sure that’s the guy, Margot? He doesn’t look like a lady killer!”

I huff at her. “That phrase has a totally different meaning than you’re using.”

“Okay. What do you want to do? We can’t go up and smack the guy over the head with a lamp or anything like that.”

I eye her cynically. “I wouldn’t do something that plebeian. It’s like you don’t even know me.”

“What then?”

“Call that new guy over at the mechanic’s shop. Baker Tate. He’s a big one. And he’s got some skills with knots. He actually helped the scouts out when they were trying to get their badges. His son volunteered him.”

She glares at me. “I don’t think I want to know what the hell you’re thinking of doing, Margot.”

“Yeah, you do.” I grin.

“You’re probably right,” she snickers. She picks up her phone and dials the garage in town. In less time than I expect, he’sin front of us, his dark brows lifted over coal-black eyes. Silver dapples his dark hair and there are lines in the creases of his eyes.

“What can I do for the famous granny Margot?” His big, bulky arms are crossed over a huge chest and I swear, if I was twenty years younger…hell, maybe ten, I’d be all over that man. He looks like he knows his way around a woman. Like he wouldn’t need a fucking map to find a clit.

“Can you set up a snare over in that deserted lot over there?” I point at it and he nods his head once.

“Yep. Any particular reason why?”

“I need to catch me a predator.”

Both brows lift and he sighs. “Have a feeling that you’re fixing to drag me into something unpleasant, Mrs. Rowe.”

I pat his chest and sigh when I feel the tight muscles jumping under his shirt.

“My, you are a big one, aren’t you?”

“Focus, Margot,” Louise hisses.

He grins at both of us. “I’m gonna help you just because I’m mildly intrigued by what you two could possibly want a snare for.”

I point at him. “It needs to be big enough to catch a man.”

“Of course it does,” he snorts.

But he walks across the street and I turn back to Louise. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”

Two hours later, I’m standing alone in the middle of the street and I’m talking loudly to Louise about the young lady staying out at our house with my son.

“Can you believe he just let this girl move in here with her son? He’s such an idiot. You can’t trust someone who gets all wrapped up with you so quickly. She’s playing at a part and I don’t know exactly what it is but I don’t like it.”

Louise just gives me a sage nod, her lavender curls dancing. “Yeah. You can’t trust a woman who visits all her troubles on a man.”

Both of us nod and then I smile and grab her up in a hug, whispering in her ear, “Here goes nothing.”

---