The Cowboy's Little Surprise by Barbara White Daille

china cabinet near the kitchen door. She forced herself to walk down the hall and through the reception area.
    From the dining room, she heard Cole’s deep voice followed by her cousin’s husky laugh.
    At the doorway, she stopped. In the otherwise vacant room, Cole and Jane were seated at a table for four near a sunlit window, and Robbie and Scott knelt on chairs at a large table in one corner of the room.
    Delaying the inevitable, she focused on that corner table. To her dismay, the boys had already pushed aside the cutlery and lined up a row of plastic farm animals on the tabletop between them. She would have a hard time tearing Robbie away from his play.
    She could understand her son’s interest in Cole’s nephew. Other than an occasional guest at the hotel, Robbie was almost as cut off from companionship his own age here at the ranch as she had been as a child. The ranch manager had a couple of kids, but as far as Robbie was concerned, Pete’s five-year-old daughter was “too bossy” and his two-year-old son was “no fun.”
    Reluctantly, she tore her gaze away from the boys and looked at Cole.
    Jane spotted her standing in the doorway. “Tina,” she said brightly, “where have you been? You’ve got a hungry man waiting here.”
    “Have I?”
    “Yes. I hope you’re ready to take his order.”
    In answer, Tina held up the pad.
    “Then I’ll turn him over to you.” After smiling at Cole, Jane rose from the table. As usual, Tina’s older cousin wore black from head to toe and had shoulder-length dark hair. From the chair beside the one she’d been sitting in, she lifted one of the two cameras she had brought to the ranch with her. “Think I’ll go shoot some local color.”
    As she left the room, Tina plastered a professional smile on her face and went toward Cole’s table.
    In all the years since he had left Cowboy Creek, she had never let herself imagine him here at the ranch again. That would have been too poignant a reminder of the dream that would never come true.
    Now that he was sitting in front of her, he was a reminder of all she needed to protect. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, keeping her voice low.
    “Layne’s working this morning, so I thought I’d give her a break and bring Scott over for brunch. Since I was headed here, anyway.”
    She didn’t miss the unstated warning. He intended to make good on what he had told her the other night. He intended to see Robbie whether she wanted him to or not. She looked from the pot of coffee in front of him to his comfortably sprawled position at the table. Both told her he wouldn’t be in a rush to leave.
    He gestured to the empty chair across from his. “Join me?”
    “I’ve already eaten.” She clamped her hands around the order pad. She had work to do. A long list of reasons to stay away from him. A longer list of reasons to take Robbie out of this room. She had an even more pressing need to find out what Cole was up to. “Robbie is only a four-year-old,” she said, speaking softly but struggling to keep her tone even. “You can’t just walk in here out of nowhere and turn his life upside down.”
    “You really think that’s what I’ve come to do?” He waved as if to brush the question away. “No, don’t answer that. I think I already know.”
    “Then, what is it you’ve got in mind?”
    “Take a seat and you’ll find out.”
    At the end of their conversation at his truck the other day, she’d wanted only to get him off the ranch.
    Now that he was here again and pushing her, she wanted to push back. But that could turn the situation into a custody battle, a fight with them on different sides and her son caught in the middle. She couldn’t risk that.
    After a glance at the corner table where the boys sat engrossed in noisy play, she took the seat across from Cole. “What is it you want?”
    “To spend some time with my son.”
    “But I told you, no one here—” She cut herself off, again unwilling to finish