It Takes a Cowboy

He shrugged, looked at the floor and shuffled his feet, refusing to answer. But, then, he really didn’t have to.

Blair sighed. “ We’ll talk about this at home.”

Dragging his backpack, Jeffrey trudged out with only a mumbled goodbye to his great-aunt.

Wanda rested a reassuring hand on Blair’s shoulder. “This is part of raising a child, too. They make bad decisions sometimes and have to be shown the consequences.”

“I’m not sure how to handle this,” Blair admitted wearily. “If I’m too lenient, he won’t learn a lesson and he might do it again. If I’m too strict, he’s likely to rebel and do something even worse.”

Her aunt looked at her sympathetically. “Since I never raised a child, I’m afraid I can’t be much help. All I can suggest is that you follow your instincts, Blair. They’ve served you well with Jeffrey so far.”

“I hope you’re right,” Blair said, turning toward the door without much enthusiasm.

Because it was raining lightly, Blair had driven into her aunt’s driveway rather than parking in her own garage and walking over to collect Jeffrey, as she usually did. Jeffrey climbed silently into her car, looking so much like the angry, sullen, withdrawn boy he’d been before that it made Blair’s chest ache.

She had been so focused on her nephew that she was surprised to find an unfamiliar vehicle parked in her driveway when she pulled in. It was one of those big four-wheel-drive sport vehicles in a gleaming silver. It looked new and expensive. It looked like something Scott McKay would drive, she thought, even as the driver’s door opened and Scott stepped out into the drizzle, looking lean and tough—and darned near irresistible—in denim shirt, jeans and boots.

Just what she needed to top this day off.

A flash of excitement crossed Jeffrey’s face. “It’s Scott!” he said, then remembered that he was in trouble and fell silent again.

Blair drove past Scott into her garage, parked her car and turned off the engine. Scott stepped forward to open her door for her. “Hi. How’s it going?”

She had rather hoped that time and distance had diluted her response to this man. The moment he took her hand to help her out of the car, she knew she’d hoped in vain. A jolt of excitement sizzled all the way through her, and she reclaimed her hand the moment she was on her feet.

“This is a surprise,” she said unnecessarily. “We weren’t expecting to see you today.”

“I know. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I thought I’d drop by and meet the cat. Unless this is a bad time?”

“Well...”

Jeffrey walked around the front of the car to join them. “Hi, Scott.”

“Hi, part—hey, what happened to your face? Were you in an accident?”

“He ‘accidentally’ connected with another boy’s fist,” Blair remarked dryly.

“Some jerk hit him?” Scott’s brows drew into a scowl. “Who was it? What’s being done about this?”

“Before you get too outraged, you should probably know that Jeffrey hit first,” Blair informed him.

That made him pause for a moment, his gaze on Jeffrey, who huddled miserably in front of them. “I see.”

“Both boys have been suspended from school for the remainder of the week.”

Scott nodded. “Sounds like you’ve got yourselves a situation here.”

“You could say that.”

“Right. So why don’t we talk about it over dinner. I brought barbecue.”

Blair blinked. “You—”

“I figured you’d like an excuse not to cook after a long day at the office, so I stopped for take-out. You don’t mind if I hang around to help your aunt yell at you, do you, Jeff?”

“Uh, no, I guess not,” Jeffrey answered, looking tentatively at Blair.

This evening was definitely spinning out of her control. Scott was obviously not asking permission to stay, though he would have no choice, of course, if she asked him to leave. Knowing she would do no such thing, she pulled her purse and briefcase out of the car and closed her door with a snap. “All right, you can stay. But it’s only because you brought food,” she added.