Page 26 of Cowboy SEAL Homecoming

It was a compliment that shouldn’t have warmed her so much. His opinion shouldn’t have mattered. But it did. She was very nearly giddy at the thought—not just that she was a force to be reckoned with, but that Alex thought she was. A man who’d been through so much, seen more awful things than she could probably imagine. He thought she was something to be admired.

“Don’t let that go to your head.”

“No, it’s too late. My head has swelled. I am a forceful presence. You can’t take it back.”

“Good. You have every right to lead your own life. We all do.”

She stared at him a few minutes, trying to work through the surety with which he spoke, the odd note in his voice. Not gentleness exactly, but something close. “I can see why you were a good leader, Alex.”

“Yeah? Because I’m so forceful?”

“No, because you know when to give someone a hard time and you know when to give them a big head, and I think…this is going to work. Don’t you think?” She grinned, couldn’t help it. That surety that had driven her this far bubbled up. Strong and forceful. “This is a really good idea, and I think we’ll make a really good team.”

“Believing is the first step.” Alex leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together. He looked out over the night sky and she watched him. The grooves around his mouth, the lines fanning out from his eyes, the way the yellow light glinted off his tawny hair.

He watched the stars as if they spelled out the answers to all the world’s problems…in a language he didn’t understand.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed this place, I don’t think. Not until…this.”

“How come you so rarely came home?”

He flicked her a glance, one of those shuttered gazes where he cut off any and all emotional response. She wished she could dig under that and read him better. Understand him.

“Being a Navy SEAL takes a lot of time. I was deployed a lot. Hard to come home.”

“You…” It probably wasn’t any of her business what kept him away—because it had to be something. He’d had a good relationship with Burt, and Burt had always wished he’d come home more.

Not that Burt would have ever admitted it aloud, to Alex or Becca, maybe not even to Mom. Becca wondered if it would be a comfort or another wound to tell them how much Burt had missed his presence on the ranch.

Maybe there was a way to get that across without coming out and saying it. “I know how happy he’d be that you came back.”

Alex’s expression didn’t change, but he immediately got to his feet. “Good night, Becca. Early morning.” He strode inside without a look back.

Well. She’d hit a nerve, and she was a little tempted to hit it again and figure out what was at the bottom of it.

But for tonight, Alex was right. Tomorrow was an early morning with lots of work to do.

---