Daddy Wore Spurs (Mills & Boon Cherish) (Men of the West, Book 32) by Stella Bagwell Page B

a groan, he said, “There is no Montgomery family to speak of, Dad. It’s just Mariah. And she’s hardly out for money.” Resting a shoulder against the board fence of the stall, Finn gazed at the back of the ranch house some fifty yards away. When he’d left to come out here to the barns, Mariah had been in the kitchen preparing some sort of dessert she planned to bake. She’d been quiet and reflective, and Finn didn’t have to wonder what was on her mind. “I am concerned about her, though. She considers herself Harry’s mother. Giving him up is going to crush her.”
    “She needs to remember she’s only the aunt. Whether it’s you or some other man, Harry has a father and he has every right to his son.”
    Finn absently reached over and stroked the stallion’s jaw. “It’s not just the issue of Harry. Without her dad and sister to train the horses, the ranch is going broke. She’s been forced to put it up for sale. If I take Harry she’ll be losing him and her home. So I’m not exactly dealing with a pleasant situation up here, Dad.”
    His father was silent for so long Finn thought the connection between them had broken.
    “Dad, are you still there?”
    “Yes, son. Just thinking. How old is this woman, anyway?”
    Finn mouthed a curse word under his breath. “She’s twenty-eight. But what the heck does her age have to do with anything?”
    “Finn, you’re not up there to fix Ms. Montgomery’s problems. This is about a baby and whether you’re the father. I hope you remember that.”
    What did his father think he was? A teenager, whose brain was dictated by raging hormones instead of common sense? The idea clamped his jaw tight.
    Finn’s silence must have made a point. After a moment, Orin asked, “Are you okay, son? Do you need for me or one of your brothers to come up there?”
    His slouched stance suddenly went rigid as he straightened away from the fence. “No! I’ll handle this in my own way!”
    “There’s no need for you to get defensive, Finn.”
    He was more than defensive. He was disappointed and hurt that his father didn’t trust him to use a lick of sense about Harry or Mariah, or any of it.
    “Look, Dad, don’t expect me to just brush Mariah’s feelings aside. Maybe that’s the way Gramps would do it. But not me!”
    “Okay, Finn. You want to keep your family out of it, so handle it your own way.”
    It was all Finn could do to keep from yelling out a curse word. “I’m not trying to keep my family out of this. But this is my baby. Not yours or Clancy’s or Rafe’s or Evan’s or Bowie’s. I think I have enough sense to decide what my son does or doesn’t need!”
    “Fine,” Orin said bluntly. “So what are your plans? When do you think you’ll be coming home?”
    “I’ll be staying here on Stallion Canyon until we get the results of the DNA test,” Finn told him.
    “But that could be weeks! I know you haven’t forgotten when you and Sassy had the test. It felt like we waited forever on those results.”
    “I’m hoping the process has speeded up since then,” Finn said. “Will you be able to handle my job until I get back? If not, Colley can. He knows as much about horses as I do.”
    “I can handle it.”
    His father sounded snippy, but Finn wasn’t going to fret about that. The Silver Horn ranch had an endless number of hands and the money to keep everything running in tip-top condition. Moreover, his father had all sorts of family surrounding him and supporting him with whatever endeavor or problem arose.
    Mariah had none of those things. Maybe his father could be indifferent to her plight, but Finn couldn’t. His feelings had already gotten mixed up with hers. And he didn’t have a clue as to how to untangle them. Or whether he even wanted to.
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    “Don’t thank me. Just get yourself home—where you belong.”
    “I’ll keep you abreast of things.”
    Finn ended the connection and jammed the phone back into its leather holder.