Page 17 of Grissom
But he hadn’t grown up trusting women, an early lesson his mother had taught, then enforced regularly. Looking back, he’d always known something was wrong with her, that not all moms had vicious streaks. The fact that he’d married a woman exactly like her didn’t speak well of his ability to navigate the world ofwomen. Not that he’d had a choice. When it came to accepting responsibility for fathering his firstborn, he would gladly endure a dozen Pams. He would. For Tanner and Luke, he’d do anything. No child should ever have to learn how tough life was as a newborn. Or face it alone. Not a day went by he wasn’t thankful for the two steady lights in his life, which brought him back to Tuesday. She wasn’t anything like his mother or his deceased wife.
Damned if the evil witch sitting on his shoulder didn’t whisper, ‘So far, asshole. Just you wait and see.’
Grissom brushed his mother’s mean spirit away yet one more time. He’d read the newspaper accounts of the standoff in Little Rock, Arkansas. As pretty as she was, Tuesday seemed tougher and, at the same time, kinder than the two females in his past life. She’d had a shitty life, too, losing her parents like she had, then losing the older gentleman she’d married to that cold-blooded murderess, Maeve Astor. Among the long list of heinous atrocities Astor had committed, she’d poisoned Mr. Lamb. Those were damned hard blows for anyone to have to deal with, much less a teenager. They’d turned Tuesday into a recluse who preferred the far-off solitude of the Arctic and Antarctic. Or so the press said, not like they printed the truth anymore. Still…
He sensed a canyon of lonesomeness behind her cheery façade, and he had the strangest need to vanquish the demons causing that pain. If the bright light dancing out of her green eyes every time she spoke with Tanner or Luke was any indicator, she was not the hermit the press had portrayed her to be. She wasn’t just talkingathis boys. She was actively engagedwiththem. She was interested and listening. Hanging on every word. Enjoying them. Treating them with respect. Even now, with Luke riding high on her shoulder and giggling like a… a three-year-old. Damned if both his sons weren’t acting like kids again. Grissom knew damned well he owed that positive changein their lives to the woman who’d taken them in when their mother had thrown them out.
Like the damned sullen cowboy he was, TEAM Agent Maverick Carson stood at the double-wide side door that led to the barn’s inner sanctum. ’Least that was what his wife China called it. Maverick’s one knee was bent, the heel of that dusty boot braced against the side of the barn. His black Stetson was low over his forehead. A scuffed, black leather holster hung low on his hips. Neither pistol strap was secured, which meant both weapons had a round in their chamber, common practice for people who always carried.
If Grissom didn’t know better, he’d think he was looking at a gunslinger, not another victim of the war in Afghanistan. Maverick had lost his brother, another jarhead, in an operation where the intel had been flawed. Make that FUBAR, as in fucked up beyond all recognition. He’d been on the same hillside, in the same ambush, the day his life went to hell. That event and a later altercation with another TEAM agent over a woman, precipitated Maverick quitting The TEAM and walking all the way to Wyoming—just because.
Grissom knew damned well that, somewhere during that marathon journey, Maverick had intended to disappear himself off the face of the earth. Instead, he’d met China Wolfe, a well-known Wyoming horse breeder and the proud owner of the Wild Wolf Ranch. She gave him a job. He helped her out of an ugly situation with her sister. In the end, her sister committed suicide. China still owned the ranch and a sizable parcel of land in Wyoming, and their new ranch wasn’t far from TEAM HQ. Maverick was once again a trusted TEAM agent, as well as China’s husband and father to her adopted daughter, Kyrie.
He might not look the type, but Maverick was also the light at the end of Grissom’s tunnel. If Maverick could put his life back together after all he’d lost—and he’d lost plenty—Grissom coulddo it, too. Losing Pam was no loss. He counted that a total plus. Good riddance. All she’d ever been was the biggest mistake of his life, and he was damned glad that chapter was over. But he’d die if anything happened to his boys.
“Hey, Grissom. Who’s your girlfriend?” Maverick asked, sticking a finger into the brim of his hat and pushing it back.
Grissom set him straight. “She’s not my girlfriend. Tuesday Smart, meet Maverick Carson. He and his wife own these horses.”
Tuesday stepped forward, her right arm extended, the other still flat on Luke’s wiggling rump. “Mr. Carson, good to meet you.”
“Maverick,” he grumbled, even as he straightened to attention and took her hand in his. “Likewise, Ms. Smart,” he said more politely. The guy was tall, lean, and dark-haired. Damned if his brown eyes weren’t attentive as hell now that he had a pretty lady in sight. The dog.
And damned if him touching Tuesday like she’d just said something fascinating—which she hadn’t—didn’t irk the shit out of Grissom. Maverick had big, capable hands that had gentled many a skittish horse or fearful rider. He had no business stepping in so close to Tuesday and touching her like he was. He was holding onto her hand too damned long.
Not like Grissom cared. He didn’t. Didn’t know why the sight of her slender fingers caught in Maverick’s powerful paw bothered him, either. Grissom had no business worrying about Miss Smart. She was a professional. She didn’t need him to interfere and could certainly handle Maverick on her own. She’d probably seen more of the world than he had, and she certainly knew how to handle a weapon, if Heston’s yammering about her cool head and sharp shooting was fact, not fiction.
“Everyone’s a Cowboy, huh?” Tuesday asked when Maverick finally released her. With a feminine grunt, she leaned over andset Luke’s feet on the ground. “Brilliant concept, but isn’t this breed a little large for most handicapped kids?” she asked once she was upright again.
“Nah,” Maverick replied, staring over her head at Star, the nosey gelding who seemed to love human company more than he liked hanging out with his four-legged buddies. “First thing we do is let them handle and get to know the horse they’ll be riding, from a loading ramp. Next, we teach ’em how to saddle up and mount, if they’re physically able. Nothing to it once they’re comfortable being around our kids. We start our severely handicapped clients with one of our miniature donkeys unless they insist on a horse. Percherons aren’t all we breed. We’ve got a few quarter horses. Vanners, too. Hop up on Star, why don’tcha? He’ll show you how good all my kids are.”
“There’s that word again, kids. Do you really see kids when you look at these” —she waved a hand at easy-going Star— “giants?”
A genuine grin cracked Maverick’s ugly face. “Yes, ma’am, I do. Raising horses is no different than raising kids. It’s not rocket science.” Hewasflirting! The ass! “All you gotta do is love ’em and never let ’em down. You’ll see soon as you git up on Star. He’s a good kid to start with.”
She cocked her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Sure!” Tanner exclaimed. “Dad! Let’s go riding with Miss Tuesday. Please?”
Grissom coughed. He’d been so focused on Maverick’s flirtation that he nearly forgot he had an audience.
“Yeah, Daddy! Pleeeezzzzeee,” Luke asked, both pudgy hands clasped under his chin. Someone must’ve told him that pose made him look adorable. Which it did and he was, the little turkey.
If the way Tuesday’s top teeth were worrying her bottom lip was any indication, she was tempted. “Your call,” Grissomtold her, puzzled at why his mouth was dry and his heart was thumping. Now was not the time for a panic attack, damn it.
“Your horses are still saddled” —Maverick aimed a spiked brow at Grissom— “because some guys ran out of the barn when they should’ve been brushing their rides down.”
“Get over it, Carson,” Grissom growled. “My kids’ll always come first.”
Luke giggled, and Tuesday did a funny thing with her face, making an upside-down ‘oh, oh’ smile that stretched the chords in her neck. “Oh, my. I haven’t been on a horse in years.”
By then, Tanner and Luke each had one of her hands and were pulling her deeper into the barn. “Please, please, please!” they chanted in unison.
“Might as well, ma’am,” Maverick declared with the same cavalier tone he’d used when he’d said raising horses was as easy as raising kids. “Only takes a minute to saddle another horse, right, Grissom?”
Tuesday’s shoulders lifted, and Grissom blinked, then blinked again. Talk about adorable. But another close encounter with Tuesday Smart might get him hurt and hurt bad. Could he risk his boys’ hearts along with his? Because that was what he was doing. Taking a chance. On a woman. Again.
He opened his mouth to tell everyone, ‘No,’ when Tuesday murmured a timid, “Well, okay. A short ride wouldn’t hurt, I guess. As long as you’re sure?”
