A Father In The Making by Carolyne Aarsen Read Free Book Online

connected to you now. I don’t want him hurt when you leave, so I would appreciate it if you could discourage him spending time with you, somehow.”
    The heavy silence following her request made her regret what she had said, but it was what she had to do to protect Nico.
    â€œSure. I get it.” Nate looked away from her, bent over and grabbed the rope he had dropped. “You’ve got to take care of your kids. Keep them safe.”
    That was her only reason, she reminded herself as she hesitated, wishing she didn’t feel like such a heel. “I know you rescued him and I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am—”
    â€œYou don’t have to thank me anymore,” Nate said quietly, settling down on the hay bale, his eyes on the rope he was braiding. “We’re good.”
    Mia hesitated a moment more, still not entirely happy with how things had gone down, torn between what Nate had done for her and what she had to do for her children.
    He looked up at her and for the space of a heartbeat their eyes met. And for the space of that same heartbeat she felt it again. That glimmer of appeal. Of attraction.
    Stop this. Quit this right now.
    But she couldn’t look away.
    â€œYou should go,” Nate said finally, twisting the strands of rope together. “You don’t want to be late.”
    She nodded her acknowledgement then without another word, left.
    But as she walked across the yard to her van, she wondered if her warning to Nate was as much about herself as it was about Nico.

Chapter Five
    D on’t watch her leave. Keep your eyes on what you’re doing.
    But it was as if his practical mind and his lonely soul weren’t communicating, and Nate watched Mia as she walked across the yard.
    Her slender frame looked too fragile to carry the responsibility of four children, but he had seen the effect of the thread of steel running through her. The fact that she warned him away from Nico bothered him on one level and yet, at the same time, created a sense of admiration.
    This was a woman who put her kids’ needs first.
    Something his mother never did.
    He shook the foolish thoughts off, grabbed a pail of oats and headed outside to the corrals. He had been headed out to feed them when Nico had come into the barn. Instead, he’d had a one-sided conversation with the boy while he cleaned out Tango’s stall. And then Mia showed up.
    Nate poured the oats out for his other horses, spacing the piles far apart to keep them from fighting. Nola munched at her oats, lifting her head from time to time to make sure the other horses kept their distance. Nate walked around her, grimacing at the scratches that marred her golden coat. “Hey, girl,” he said, running his hands over her expanding belly. “I’m excited to see your foal. Should be a real goer. But can you wait until we get settled in Montana before you have it?”
    She nickered again, as if agreeing with him, then put her head down and continued eating, crunching at the oats.
    Nate checked out the other horses, touching them, reminding them who was in charge. Before he entered the barn he stopped, looking behind him at the snow-capped mountains that edged the ranch feeling a twinge of envy at their beauty. His brother had ended up with a prime piece of real estate thanks to his deal with Evangeline’s father, who had owned it previously.
    He was happy for Denny, though. Nate knew how bad Denny felt after his divorce with his first wife cost the ranch that Nate had seen as a place of refuge. A place he felt safe. At the Norquests’, he never had to worry about someone striking out at him for no reason. Locking him up in the basement for days on end.
    And now, with the death of the man who had hurt and tormented him so often and in so many ways, Nate felt free. Though the letter tucked in his back pocket mocked that very freedom.
    Nate spun around and strode into the barn, tossing the