Page 54 of The Honorable Texan
“I’ll go with you,” Blake said easily.
She met his eyes and it was like lightning striking.She cleared her throat.“Thanks.”
He nodded, lost in that soft, hungry gaze.
Duke whacked Harley with a big fist.“Speaking of routines, we’ve got cattle to move.”He glanced at Blake.“I didn’t realize why you were here.Sorry about the reception.”
Blake shrugged.“No harm done.”
Duke hesitated.“I’ll make sure she gets enough breaks,” he added.“I remember how my wife was, before our son was born.”His face closed up.
“We heard she’s coming down for a visit,” Blake said, fishing.
Duke’s poker face was hard to read.“We’re discussing a revision of the custody rights.She’s spending a lot of time in the air, and the boy stays in a day care center or with a sitter most of the week.”His eyes flashed angrily.“I want to bring him here to live.”
“Will she do it, do you think?”Violet asked gently.
“It was a messy divorce,” he replied.“But I’m just beginning to realize how much of it was my own fault.I ran her off.”He shrugged.“Maybe we can work things out better now.”He stared at Blake.“You tried to tell me that, and I punched you.”
Blake chuckled.“No harm done.I punched back.”
Duke managed a smile.“He was a captain in the special forces, did you know?”he asked Violet.“He and Cag Hart served together.”
“I don’t talk about that,” Blake said curtly.
“Well, excuse me,” Duke said easily.“It wasn’t as ifyou hid in a foxhole and looked for ways out of combat, you know.”
Violet was looking at Blake curiously.
Duke grinned.“He’ll tell you one day, I suppose,” he said.“Or show you the medals, if he’s in a good mood.”
Blake’s eyes were blazing.
“I’m going!”Duke said, palms out.“Come on, Harley, we’ll go load up that bull your boss wants.”
“Yes, sir,” Harley replied, with a wink at Violet.Blake glared at him.He held his palms out, too, chuckling, and followed Duke out the door.
Violet stared after them, then at Blake.He didn’t look guilty.He looked smug, standing there with a grin on his face and his hands in his pockets.He wasn’t a man who smiled often.He seemed to do it a lot with Violet, she noticed.It eased her embarrassment.
“Now you’ll marry me, won’t you?”he mused with pursed lips.
Her eyes narrowed as she sat back down.“That wasn’t fair.”
His eyes twinkled.“Neither is walking around town with my baby under your heart, smiling at other men.Especially Harley Fowler,” he added, just to make it clear.
She blinked.“I’m not interested in Harley, that way.”
“Well, he’s interested in you.Or he was.”
“You’re not serious.”
“I am.”The smile faded as he looked at her, and felt a new and tender protectiveness for her.“You don’t have much of a self-image.I’ve been a bad influence on you, and I haven’t given you the support you need.That’s going to change.”
“Do you feel all right?”she asked warily.
“Maybe Duke isn’t the only one who’d done some soul-searching lately,” he replied.“I spent weeks putting you down, when you came to work for me.You’d never given me anything except concern and kindness.I resented it.I suppose I knew even that long ago that you were under my skin.I fought it, of course.”
“It might just be the baby,” she began.
