Operation Cowboy Daddy by Carla Cassidy Read Free Book Online Page A

to embrace life.”
    Tony nodded and sat down. “Dr. Rivers assured me of the same thing.”
    Halena nodded. “The leaves on the trees told me the baby was fine. The tree leaves often tell me important things.”
    Tony nodded and shot a quick, uncertain glance at Mary. She simply smiled. If he was around for any length of time, then he would quickly learn Halena’s quirks.
    He eyed the food on the table. “It looks like Mary isn’t the only one who knows her way around a kitchen. Everything looks delicious.”
    “Praise will get you nowhere with me,” Halena replied, but Mary could tell her grandmother was pleased.
    What pleased Halena even more was that Tony was a movie buff, too. He told them that sometimes in the evenings the men at the ranch all gathered in the recreation room and watched DVDs until bedtime.
    Mary listened in amusement as the two talked about failed plots, silly characters and unrealistic action scenes in some of the movies they’d both watched.
    For the first time she saw Tony completely animated. The spark in his eyes and the wide smile that curved his lips drew her in. She shouldn’t enjoy looking at him so much, and she definitely shouldn’t be enjoying his company.
    “Those kick-butt heroines they have in some of the movies today don’t have anything over this old woman,” Halena said. “I can use my broom as a lethal weapon against marauding raccoons and other wild animals. My shotgun stays next to my bed and I can hit anything I aim at.”
    She turned to look at Mary. “Maybe I need to get me a pair of those stiletto heels that actresses wear in the movies.”
    Mary looked at her in horror. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea, Grandmother. You rock your flip-flops and tennis shoes just fine.”
    Halena lifted her chin proudly. “I rock everything I wear just fine.”
    Dinner finished and, as if on cue, Joey cried out, ready for his bottle. While Mary cleaned up the dishes, Tony prepared a bottle and went into the living room and Halena went to her room to write her evening blog.
    It would be easy to fall into a crazy fantasy of a strong, handsome male taking care of the baby in the evenings while Mary attended to the dinner dishes.
    It would be far too easy to imagine the two of them tucking the baby into bed for the night and then going into their own bedroom to make love and sleep in each other’s arms.
    Once upon a time Mary had entertained those kinds of dreams, but over the years they had been stolen from her by a ravaging disease and bitter life experiences.
    She couldn’t fall into any sort of romantic fantasies. It would be foolish, and Mary was no fool. She knew who and what she was and it was nothing any man would ever want.
    When she went into the living room, Tony had finished with the bottle and Joey was ready for a little playtime. She took the blanket from the back of the sofa and spread it on the floor and then put the boy down with a few of his toys in front of him.
    “He doesn’t seem to miss Amy,” Tony said. Joey raised his head and looked at Tony, then grinned and released a string of jabber along with a bit of drool.
    “He also seems to have bonded pretty quickly to you.” She sat down next to him on the sofa. “What made you decide you didn’t want children?” she asked curiously. He was a young, vital man who appeared to have all the qualities that would make a wonderful father.
    “I don’t want to get married. That’s one reason why I never wanted kids. I also didn’t have a father when I was growing up, so I had no role model to know how to do it right. What about you? Are you close to your parents?”
    She had a feeling he’d changed the focus from him to her intentionally. “My mother died of breast cancer when I was eight and then my father was killed in a car accident when I was nine. Halena raised me and she’s been like a mother and a father to me.”
    “And now you’re raising her,” he replied.
    She laughed. “Don’t let her