Christmas With the Mustang Man by Stella Bagwell Read Free Book Online Page B

ranch.”
    Hayley’s features suddenly perked with interest. “Uh—we’ve had a few, but they’ve all been old men. But…well…gosh, it’ll be nice to have you stay!”
    Dallas smiled with relief. “I’m glad you feel that way.”
    Her eyes sparkling, Hayley scooted closer to Dallas. “Earlier, when you said goodbye I was wishing you could stay longer. I’ve never seen anybody as pretty as you. And I wanted to ask you what it’s like where you live and things like that. Would you care to tell me?”
    She’d never expected such an endearing reaction from Hayley. In fact, she’d thought the girl would probably resent the intrusion of having a guest in the house.
    â€œThank you for the compliment, Hayley, but I’m just average-looking. I have two sisters who are much prettier than I am.”
    â€œWow, you have two sisters?” she asked, then like a switch had been flipped, her expression turned glum. “I wish I had a sister or even a brother. But I guess all I’ll ever have is just me.”
    Dallas let out a silent groan. Babies. She just couldn’t get away from the subject tonight.
    â€œYour father is still young,” Dallas said with as much encouragement as she could muster. “He might marry again and have more children.”
    Shaking her head, Hayley leaned toward Dallas and lowered her voice. “Dad wouldn’t like it if he heard me talking about this kind of stuff. And I don’t ever—butyou’re a grown-up woman and I don’t get to talk to anybody like you.”
    Dallas was perplexed. “What about your friends? Surely they have mothers you can talk with?”
    The girl wrinkled up her nose. “I don’t trust any of them. They’re all friends of my dad’s and whatever I said might get back to him. And then I’d be grounded for weeks.”
    â€œOh. I see.” Dallas reached over and patted the girl’s hand. “Well, for what it’s worth, you can trust me. I’ll keep our conversation in confidence.”
    Sighing with relief, Hayley quickly leaned closer and lowered her voice another notch. “Well, the reason I don’t think I’ll ever get a brother or sister is ’cause Dad doesn’t want to ever get married again. Because my mother was so awful. And he says that so many years would be between me and a little brother or sister that we most likely wouldn’t be close. But I believe we would. Dad just uses that for an excuse. And it’s a dumb one.”
    Dallas ached for this young girl with sad brown eyes and a wish in her heart to belong to a whole family. “Do you see your mother often?”
    Hayley shot her a puzzled, almost comical look. “Often? Shoot, I never see her. Dad says I was three the last time she came around. But I don’t remember it.”
    Dazed by what she was hearing, Dallas hardly knew how to respond to this girl who seemed so hungry for female guidance. “I’m sorry, Hayley. That must be rough.”
    The girl shrugged one shoulder as though to say she wasn’t bothered by the fact. But Dallas could see that being abandoned by her mother had obviously had a profound effect on the child.
    Hayley said, “I don’t sweat it that much. I mean, Idon’t remember her, so there’s not a lot for me to miss. Dad says she had psychological problems and had to live in a mental clinic for a while. Now I guess she’s well enough. She’s married to someone else. Once in a while I get a postcard from her. But that’s about it.”
    Oh, God, what kind of woman could simply walk away from her own daughter? A woman who had some sort of mental or emotional breakdown, Dallas realized. But if she’d gotten well enough to remarry, what was her reason for staying away from Hayley now? Boone? No. Dallas couldn’t imagine him keeping his ex-wife away from their daughter just for