He rolled onto his side and turned on the bedside lamp. He picked up the business card Angel Hartley had given him and his phone. He’d take her up on her offer to go speak to the kids about rodeo, see if her sister’s attitude toward him was any warmer in the light of day. If nothing else, it would beat hanging around the fairgrounds all day dwelling on his mistakes.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he sent Angel a text. He was surprised by how quickly she replied, confirming that ten the next morning was perfect.
As he turned the light back off, he smiled. It was nice to have something to look forward to, something that wasn’t accompanied by the pressure to win.
* * *
“CAN WE RIDE real horses?” Daron asked as Sloane helped a little girl named Alice out of the saddle sitting atop a saddle rack in the barn’s alley.
“You’ll get to ride around the paddock with us helping you.” The thing she always feared the most was one of the kids getting hurt, and she took every precaution against that happening.
She held Alice’s little hand until she made her way to the ground via the hay bale steps.
“So, who wants to learn how to play horseshoes?”
“We actually have something else planned right now,” Angel said.
Sloane gave her sister a questioning look for a moment before she realized what she must mean.
“Is that right?”
The sound of an approaching truck engine caused a long-suffering sigh to escape Sloane. She got enough teasing from her brothers and not-so-subtle hints from her mother about finding a good man. She didn’t need it from her sister, too.
“I believe that’s our special guest now,” Angel said with way too much glee in her voice before heading out the door of the barn.
By the time Sloane gathered up the kids and ushered them outside, Jason was already out of his truck and talking to Angel. He held one of the recognizable bags from Mehlerhaus Bakery. When he spotted her, he lifted it as if she hadn’t been able to see it before.
“I brought breakfast,” he said.
Behind him, she saw the front door to the house open and out stepped her brothers. Normally, that protectiveness she saw in their stances would annoy the living daylights out of her, but this time it might actually prove amusing. She barely suppressed a smile.
“We ate hours ago. Some of us don’t sleep half the morning,” she said.
He’d probably been partying at the Blue Falls Music Hall until late. On rodeo nights, the place was filled to bursting with cowboys looking for a cold beer, a few spins around the dance floor and maybe a night with a pretty woman.
She couldn’t knock the place. She enjoyed an evening out dancing and hanging with friends as much as the next person. But for some reason the thought of Jason picking up a woman and spending the night with her, then a few hours later strolling onto her ranch to speak to these innocent kids rubbed her the wrong way.
He lowered the bag and shrugged. “It’s never too late for pastries.”
Angel grinned at Sloane. “I have to agree with him there.”
“Aren’t you two going to introduce us?” her oldest brother, Neil, asked as he descended the steps, followed by Ben and Adam.
“That’s Jason,” Daron piped up. “He’s a steer wrestler.”
“Is he, now?” Neil eyed Jason like he did every man who came within close proximity of either of his sisters.
Jason extended his hand for a shake. “Jason Till. Your sisters invited me out to talk to the kids about the rodeo.”
“Sister, singular,” Sloane said under her breath, drawing a curious look from Daron and a couple of the other kids.
Neil took Jason’s hand, and even from where she stood she could tell big bro had made sure Jason knew just how strong he was. A glance at Ben and Adam showed they were doing a pitiful job of hiding their amusement.
She rolled her eyes. Okay, the scene ceased being funny and strode right into annoying. She wasn’t a damsel in distress and she didn’t need her brothers’ protection. She didn’t have any statistics to back it up, but she sincerely doubted guys who posed a threat showed up with a bag of fresh pastries.
“All right,” she said. “Pastries for everyone.”
The kids squealed and jumped up and down, making her smile and ending the testosterone-off.
She motioned everyone to the campsite in a shady area beyond the barn. The circle of tents surrounded log benches and a fire pit. Flying from a small flagpole was a blue flag with white lettering that said Camp Rocking Horse and sported the outline of the ranch’s brand. The kids seated themselves on the logs, and Jason squatted in the center of the circle. She refused to notice how snug his jeans fit his backside in that position.
Yeah, right. She’d have to be dead for that to escape her notice.
“Okay, who likes cherries?” Jason asked.
Phoebe’s hand and that of another girl named Ginny shot into the air.
“Good thing I got two, huh?”
He handed those out, followed by a variety of other Danish and doughnuts. When only one child remained empty-handed, he shifted his attention to Brent, the quietest of the bunch. His story hurt Sloane’s heart, and she’d had to fight the urge to simply wrap the little boy in her arms and tell him everything would be okay. Of course, she couldn’t know that. She got these kids for a weekend, to give them a little light and fun in their lives, a different environment. But then they had to go back to their group homes or to families that had problems of one sort or another. She’d never counted on seeing them leave being so difficult.
“What do you like, little man?”
Brent shrugged.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Okay,” Brent said in the small voice she’d only heard a few times.
Jason leaned in toward Brent a little. “The best one is still in here. It’s my favorite. Want to see what it is?”
Brent glanced toward her, and she gave him an encouraging smile. The boy returned his gaze to Jason and nodded.
Jason pulled a pastry from the bag and placed it on a napkin in his palm. “Behold, the cruller.”
He said it with such awe and reverence that one would think he was displaying Excalibur rather than a piece of fried dough.
Angel leaned in next to her and whispered. “He’s good with them.”
Sloane couldn’t disagree, but even that annoyed her for some reason.
After handing the cruller to Brent, Jason turned toward where Angel and Sloane stood.
“What about you ladies?” He glanced down into the bag. “I’ve still got glazed doughnuts and a couple of apple Danish.”
“Doughnut, please,” Angel said.
He gave the doughnut to Angel, then shifted his questioning gaze to Sloane.
“I’m good.”
Beside her, Angel made a frustrated sound. “She’ll take a Danish.”
When Jason extended the pastry toward her, she almost kept her arms crossed. But she realized she was being unnecessarily prickly and accepted his offering.
“Thanks.” When he placed the bakery bag down on an empty log bench, she pointed at it. “Aren’t you having something? It’s only fair since you’ve foisted a ton of sugar and calories off on the