Page 49 of Giddy Up, Daddy

Uh oh.

“Uh, well, that’s okay. You guys were coming out for a nice night, and I don’t want to put a damper on that.”

“Pfft, you’re not.” Kiesha waved a hand in the air dismissively. “We’ve just come for a couple of drinks for Noah’s birthday.”

“Who’s Noah?” she asked as Kiesha tugged her inside.

She guessed she was going in.

“Oh, he’s the guy who owns The Wishing Well. But Noah’s not important.”

“Hey, I happen to think I’m very important.”

Blakely jumped and turned to see a tall, lean man with a trimmed beard standing to their right. He was smiling, so she guessed he wasn’t too upset at what Kiesha said.

“Noah! Happy Birthday!” Kiesha let go of Blakely to throw her arms around the other man.

Harry leaned into Blakely to speak in her ear. “If you want to run, go now. I’ll cover for you.”

She stared up at him with her mouth open in surprise.

He winked. “Or stay. It won’t be too painful, I promise.”

Kiesha turned back and grabbed her hand. “Oh, sorry, Blakely. That was rude of me. Blakely, Noah. Noah, Blakely.”

“Hello, Blakely,” Noah said warmly. “Welcome to The Wishing Well.”

“Noah?”

Noah spun as a gorgeous, tall woman with dark, curly hair walked over to him. He wrapped his arm around her, staring down at her with a besotted look. The rock on the woman's left ring finger told the world that she was taken.

And from the look on Noah’s face, he was the one who had put it there.

“Hello. Who are you?” the woman asked her.

Oh. That was direct.

“Cleo!” Kiesha said. “That was kind of rude.”

“It was?” Cleo asked.

“I’m Blakely.”

“Are you new in town or something?” Cleo asked.

“She’s working for Jack Hill. Well, for his grandson, Stafford,” Kiesha said.

“Ahh, Stafford is such a hunk,” Cleo said.

“He sure is,” Kiesha said, bouncing on her toes with enthusiasm.

“Hey!” Noah said.

Harry just shook his head and wrapped his arm around Kiesha’s waist. “I think I need to meet this Stafford.”

“He doesn’t leave the ranch much . . . well, pretty much never unless he needs some supplies or something,” Blakely said.

“All work and no play is going to make Stafford a boring guy,” Kiesha said. “He needs to be more like me. I live my life about ninety percent play and ten percent work. And no one has ever called me boring.”

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