Cowboy Defender. Carla Cassidy

now smiled at her. Darn, but she was one fine-looking woman. The royal-blue blouse she wore enhanced the hue of her blue-gray eyes, and sitting this close to her he could see her long, beautiful dark eyelashes. Unfortunately, she didn’t return his smile.

      For the next few minutes he tried to make more small talk with her, but whatever he asked she answered with short, curt replies. All too quickly the kids were finished eating and they all got up to leave.

      “This has been an unexpected pleasure,” he said.

      “It was definitely unexpected,” Miranda replied. “Thank you, Clay.”

      “No problem.” He looked at Henry. “And I’ll see you on Monday afternoon.”

      “You promise?” Henry asked.

      “I promise,” Clay replied.

      The kids ran ahead of them to exit the shop. “You don’t really have to come over on Monday,” she said softly so the kids wouldn’t hear.

      “I made a promise. You might not know this about me, but I never break my promises,” he replied.

      They stepped out into the warm evening air. “Thank you again,” she said. “This was a nice thing to do for the kids.”

      “I like to do nice things. Good night, Miranda and I’ll see you on Monday.” He turned on his boot heel and headed in the opposite direction, toward where his truck was parked in front of the General Mercantile store.

      He got inside his vehicle and headed for home with thoughts of Miranda Silver whirling around in his head. Being near her had excited him. There was something about her that drew him, but it was pretty obvious she didn’t feel the same way about him.

      He rolled down his window and allowed the late May evening breeze to fill the cab. The air smelled fresh and sweet with a hint of blooming flowers.

      Clay loved spring, when the barren winter pastures turned a lush green and the trees once again sprouted leaves. It was usually the season of birth...cows calved and horses foaled and rabbits ran everywhere. All the cowboys had new purpose as they went about their chores after the winter’s slower pace.

      Fifteen minutes later he pulled through the entry to the Holiday Ranch. This had been his home since he’d been thirteen years old and had finally gotten up the courage to run away from his home in Fox Hill, a small town about thirty miles outside of Oklahoma City. He’d run to escape his father’s physical and emotional abuse. He’d hitched a ride to Oklahoma City and had spent three brutal months living on the streets.

      Luck had landed him here, along with eleven other lost boys, in the custody of Cass Holiday. Cass had passed away, but the ranch continued to thrive under the hand of Cass’s niece, Cassie.

      He drove past the big white two-story house where Cassie lived with her husband, Chief of Police Dillon Bowie. In the distance lights had begun to appear in the cowboy motel against dusk’s deepening shadows.

      The long building housed the cowboys in small individual rooms and in the back of the building was the dining/rec room. Clay parked his truck and headed around to the rec room, knowing that several of his fellow hands would probably be there chilling out after a day of work.

      Sure enough, seated on the sofas and chairs were Jarod Steen, Flint McCay and Mac McBride. As usual Mac strummed his guitar, filling the large space with the sweet melody of a ballad. When he spied Clay, he stopped playing and put his guitar aside.

      “Hey, man, what’s happening?” Mac asked.

      “Nothing much.” Clay sank down on the sofa next to Jerod. “I just had cupcakes and ice cream with Miranda Silver and her two kids.”

      All three men stared at him as if he’d just announced he had decided to marry a cow and have the wedding on the planet Venus.

      “You and Miranda Silver? No way,” Flint said.

      “Well, she is probably the last woman in the entire state Clay hasn’t dated,” Mac said dryly.

      “Ha ha,” Clay replied and then told them about the chance meeting with Miranda and her children. “I’ll admit I’ve kind of had a thing for her for a while, so this evening was a great chance to get to talk to her. I’d really like to get to know her better.” But there had been no way he felt that asking for a date would be a good thing when they were leaving the cupcake place.

      “And does she have a thing for you?” Mac asked.

      Clay thought about the awkward conversation and the subtle jabs she’d given him while they’d been together. “Definitely she has a thing for me. I’m pretty sure she hates me.”

      “Well, that’s going to make having any kind of a relationship with her fairly difficult,” Mac replied.

      “The good news is Henry asked me to do some baseball training with him, so I’ll be seeing her several times a week when I work with him,” Clay replied.

      “Too bad that kid’s father is such a horse’s ass,” Jerrod said. A deep frown appeared between his dark brows. “Henry and his sister have participated in some of the activities at the community center. They are both great kids. They deserve better than Hank.”

      “Then all I have to do is convince Miranda I’m not just another horse’s ass,” Clay replied. “I’ll have to pull out all my famous charm.”

      “I know you’re good with the ladies, Clay, but I have a feeling you can pull out all the charm you possess, but that’s one lady you don’t have a chance with,” Mac said.

      It wasn’t until later when Clay was in his twin bed in his room that he replayed the conversation in his head. It was true that Clay had dated a lot of women, especially over the past year. But how did a man find the right woman if he didn’t go actively looking for her?

      All he could hope for was that Mac was wrong, because Clay really wanted Miranda to give him a chance.

      * * *

      Two hours ago Miranda had left The Cupcake Palace with Clay Madison. As usual, Miranda had looked perfectly put together in her black slacks and bright-blue blouse. Her shoulder-length blond hair had shone in the waning sunlight and she looked as pretty as she had in high school when she’d been the runner-up for homecoming queen.

      She had to die, or at least be badly maimed.

      She had to either leave this earth and be gone forever, or be crippled and ugly for the world to be right again. There was an enormous sense of satisfaction in finally deciding what had to be done.

      Now it was just a matter of time and opportunity. The beautiful Miranda Silver didn’t know it, but she now had an expiration date stamped on her forehead.

       Chapter 2

      Miranda woke up on Saturday morning feeling a little bit guilty about the way she had acted the night before. There was no question that she’d been rude to Clay and that wasn’t really who she was.

      However, there was something about Clay Madison that set her on edge. Maybe it was because she was far too aware of him whenever they were in the same space.

      Okay, she could admit that she’d always been secretly physically attracted to him. But she also believed he was a fairly vacuous man, sliding through his life and women on his good looks and easy charm.

      Besides, she wasn’t interested in having a man in her life. Being married to Hank had soured her on the whole notion. She had given up her dignity and self-respect in staying with Hank as long as she had. Now she just wanted to be the best teacher she could be and raise her children to be happy, healthy and good people. She didn’t need a man to accomplish those goals.

      At ten o’clock the kids were in the living room with their overnight bags packed. “Do