Page 16 of Outlaw

He stopped in front of me and tucked it behind my right ear. “All right, my wild gypsy girl, tell me what has you in a mood.”

“My dad,” I grumbled.

He looked surprised. “Your dad? You got a great dad. One of the best.”

I knew that. But sometimes, he wasn’t fair. Like today, when I’d wanted to ride the colt.

I shrugged. “He’s being unfair.”

Linc threw his leg over the bench and sat down, straddling it so that he was closer to my eye level. “That’s a parent’s job. To be unfair. But he has a reason. I’m sure of it. Hell, I wish I could be the kind of dad yours is. I happen to suck at it, Ringlets. Parenting is hard.”

I hated the reminder that he had a family. A wife and son. People that he belonged to when my heart believed that he belonged to me. I was his Ringlets.

I bit my bottom lip and dropped my eyes to the ground. “I bet you don’t boss Levi around all the time. Tell him no when he really wants to do something.”

I didn’t see him with Levi that much, but I did see Garrett with his son, Blaise, who was the same age. Garrett never corrected the kid, and he was a hellion.

Linc chuckled. The deep rumble always gave me goose bumps.

“Levi is a six-year-old boy. All I do is tell him no. You’ve seenhim. Last time I brought him here, what did he do?”

The corner of my mouth drew up, even when I didn’t want to smile. The memory of it was funny. I’d wanted to hate Levi because Linc loved him so much. I was jealous. I didn’t like seeing him with another kid. One he seemed to care about more than me. But Levi had been cute and hard not to like.

“He let out Wolfgang after breaking the railing on the south pen, walking on it like he was on a tightrope in the circus,” I replied.

Wolfgang was one of Garrett’s champion horses. He’d won more races than any other horse at the stables.

Linc reached out and tugged on one of my curls. “That last part he did was to impress you,” he told me. “Couldn’t really blame the kid. He might be young, but he isn’t blind. But what did I do to him after all that?”

I thought back. “Um, you tossed him over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes and hauled him to your truck while he screamed and pounded his fists on your back.”

Linc nodded. “Yep. He wanted to stay and ride, like I’d promised him, but he didn’t listen, and I took him home without getting to ride. Reckon he thought I was unfair then too. Like I said, being a dad is hard work, but whatever your dad did, it was for your own good.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not liking the fact that he was taking my dad’s side. Linc was supposed to always side with me.

“I just want to ride the new colt. Garrett let Blaise ride him, and he’s only six. I’m ten, and I’ve been riding longer than that.”

Blaise Hughes was a terror. Levi might have broken a railing, but Blaise did much worse than that on a regular basis. His mom might never come to the stables, but Blaise was here too often. Daddy never corrected him either. He just let Blaise do what he wanted.

Linc studied me as I fought off the tears welling in my eyes. Ididn’t want to cry in front of him and look like a baby. I liked it when he called me fearless. He let out a sigh, then stood up. Disappointment that he was leaving had me scrambling to think of anything to keep him with me for a little longer.

“Why don’t you get your saddle ready?” he said. “I’ll go see if I can talk to Demeter.”

I blinked, my heart soaring as I stared up at him. When he glanced down at me, his blue eyes twinkled, and he winked before heading toward the door. I watched him go, sure that I would love Linc Shephard with all my heart forever.

Seven

Linc

Present Day

I opened the front door to the house and stood back so that Branwen and Stevie could enter. My eyes followed the little curly-headed blonde, unable to stop watching her. Now that I knew she was mine, it was all I wanted to do.

I’d never wanted another kid. Life with Maggie had been rough, and we managed to raise Levi, but the day he turned eighteen, she packed up and left us both. Took off to fucking Europe. I hadn’t expected it. As toxic as we had been together, she had been my wife. We’d made it through some bad times. She always forgave me for my mistakes and weak moments.

When she was gone, it was then that I realized I loved her. Not the way a woman wanted to be loved by her husband, but I did love her. I cared about her. I had to face all the shit I’d done to her over the years because I hadn’t been in love with her. Orobsessed with her. Or whatever the fuck a man needed to be to not want other pussy. The regret had been difficult. It caused me to withdraw and deal internally. She’d given me my son. For that, I owed her my life, and she had deserved my fidelity. Forgiving myself for the way I had treated her had been a long road. I wasn’t sure I ever had, if I was honest. Knowing Maggie was now happily married to a man who adored her helped though. I liked that she had what she’d deserved all along.

Blue eyes looked up at me. Levi had his mother’s hazel eyes. But my…daughter, she had mine. My chest felt tight as she smiled. I had another kid. A girl.

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