Page 40 of His First Baby Rodeo

El tensed. It was hardly a confession of romance, but she was anxious all the same.

Jeff’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, El’s always been handy in the kitchen,” he said with a shrug. “I guess you lucked out finding a ranch hand who knows how to help you out in more than one way.”

Mac choked on the juice he’d been drinking.

El stepped forward quickly. “Come on, kids,” she said. “Sit down at the table. You need a big breakfast if you’re going to help us out with the horses and chickens today!”

The kids hurried forward and took seats at the table. “Can we have bacon?” Brody asked.

“Why the hell not?” Mac said. “We can throw some bacon in a pan, right, El? I think we’ve got some.”

“I can definitely do that.” El moved toward the freezer. She could feel her brother’s eyes on her as she went. Did he know something was going on? He definitely seemed suspicious… but maybe she was just being paranoid becausesheknew there was something for him to be suspicious of. It was probably nothing at all.

And what difference does it make, even if he has figured it out? We’re both at perfect liberty to do whatever we want with one another. I know Jeff worries about me, but he doesn’t have any reason to, just because I’m having a little fun.

Except… it had gone beyond that, hadn’t it? Last night had been a whole lot deeper than just a little fun. She was falling for her brother’s best friend. It was exactly what Jeff had warned her against, and if he was suspicious of her now, he was right to be. If he tried to say something, to intervene, she would have to listen to him, because he would be right.

She didn’t want to hear it from him. Not right now.

She grabbed the bacon and a frying pan and laid several strips out to sizzle. “You’d better get going,” she told Jeff. “Don’t want to make Marilyn wait.”

He was looking at her in a way she didn’t like. It was calculated and appraising. “Are you sure you’re okay to watch the kids?” he asked. “If it’s a problem, we can figure something else out.”

“Of course it isn’t a problem,” she said breezily. “You know I’m always more than happy to have them with me.”

“And it’s all right with you, Mac?”

“Sure it is. I know your kids can handle being on a ranch. We’re going to have fun, right guys?”

Brody made affirmative noises through a mouthful of eggs. Phoebe nodded.

Jeff gave Mac a last, lingering look. El couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly enough to read it, but she did pick up on an intensity there. Mac turned away.

“See you in a few hours, then,” Jeff said at last, and he left the kitchen.

El felt every muscle in her body relax. She hadn’t felt that way since high school, when she’d had to sneak boys into and out of her room without getting caught by her parents.

There was something tantalizing about the knowledge that they were sneaking around. She couldn’t deny that she liked the feeling of having gotten away with something.

But at the same time, it worried her to know that her brother — who had always had her best interests at heart — wouldn’t approve of what she was doing.

Against her best judgment, she had let her heart get involved with Mac Palmer. And now it might be too late for her to walk away unscathed.

And if that was true, then Jeff had been right all along.

CHAPTER18

MAC

The sound of Jeff’s car pulling away should have allowed Mac to relax, but it didn’t. All he could think about was what his friend would have said if he had been aware of the state Mac and El had been in when they’d gotten his phone call. It had been too close a call for his comfort, and now he felt as if it had to be a sign that they shouldn’t have been doing what they’d done.

It’s the universe’s way of telling me to stay away from El.

Her brother’s departure seemed to have relaxed her — or perhaps it was just the presence of the kids. The three of them were very at ease in one another’s company, and Mac couldn’t help admiring how good she was with the pair of them.

She’s going to be a great mother someday.

That was an unexpected thought. He had never thought about El in those terms. But now, watching her lean over Phoebe to cut her eggs into bite-sized pieces, it was easy to imagine her tending to her own children. And hadn’t she talked about how she’d wasted her life with ex-boyfriend, how she now found herself years behind other people her own age? Hadn’t she hinted that that fact was distressing to her?

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