Aurora's Cowboy Daddy. Melinda Barron

      “So is she spank worthy?” Hawk asked. “Or more to the point, is she Daddy worthy?”

      “I didn’t notice,” Holt answered.

      “Liar.” Hawk chuckled. “Maybe she needs your guiding hand to bring her out of her shell. I can see the twinkle in your eye when you talk about her.”

      Holt thought he was right, but he didn’t intend to go down that path. “Don’t we have a rule about not messing with our charges?”

      Hawk leaned toward his brother. “She’s not one of our charges, is she? She’s an employee. How long has it been since you’ve been laid?”

      “None of your fucking business.” Holt picked up a paperclip and threw it at his brother. “Unlike you, I don’t see every woman I meet as a potential sex partner.”

      “You should,” Hawk said. “You might have a better attitude toward life if you fucked someone every now and then.”

      “Shouldn’t you be on patrol?” Holt asked.

      “To do what, help Mrs. Pascel across the street with her groceries?”

      “At least you’d be earning your salary.” Holt indicated his desk. “I have paperwork to do.”

      “Jerk face,” Hawk said as he stood. “Maybe I’ll be able to get cozy with Aurora while she’s here, since you’re not interested.”

      “Keep your hands off her,” Holt said.

      Hawk strode toward the door. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Hawk laughed deeply as he left the office. Holt stared at the spot where his brother had sat. He was right when he’d said he had work to do, plenty of it. The state required copious amounts of paperwork on each of the charges that came to visit the Rescue Ranch, and he needed to start the process on their current charge.

      He sat at his computer and started to fill out the forms, grateful for the ability to use the computer and not have to do it all by hand. As he worked he thought about Aurora, and those beautiful green eyes and that heart shaped mouth. He imagined kissing her, caressing her, taking care of her and punishing her when necessary. He finished the last page and hit print. As the machine whirled to life and started to print out pages, he settled back in his chair.

      Was Aurora the sort of woman who would want to be taken care of, or was she the sort who wanted nothing more than to take charge? He was sure her time in prison would have changed her, as would the abusive years before, make her vulnerable. He didn’t want that for her. He wanted her to be strong, to know what she wanted out of life and get it all.

      He also wanted to take care of her, to guide her on the right path. Those thoughts had started to build in his mind before he’d ever met her. When he’d read her application he’d wanted to hold her, comfort her. He couldn’t imagine what she’d gone through, how she’d faced the pain of killing someone, and then faced the consequences of her actions.

      The night she’d applied for the job he’d read the form over and over, and then he’d called Hawk, who had been out patrolling the streets, and had him read it, too. His brother had said the same thing then that he’d said now.

      “Do you want her for an employee, or as your Little?”

      Holt had answered him the same way then as he’d done today, telling him to go to the devil. But he knew now that those feelings were seventy-five percent of why he’d contacted her. It was why he’d taken the unprecedented step of offering her the job without consulting his siblings. True he was the manager of the rescue part of the ranch, but they always made decisions together. He didn’t think they would be upset when he informed them at dinner tonight, but he did think Wyatt, his one brother who tended to offer dissenting opinions on most matters, would demand to know why Holt had made the decision on his own.

      Should Holt tell Wyatt the truth, or should he lie? If he did lie what would be the best one to tell? His mind spun as he thought about Wyatt telling Holt he was thinking with his dick instead of his brain. Wyatt had been the only one of them who was concerned by Aurora’s past. She was unstable, he’d said. His exact words had been, “We need to do a psych evaluation on her. Or maybe we should just look for someone else.”

      Instead of taking Wyatt’s advice, Holt had offered her the job and she’d taken it. The meeting after dinner tonight should be interesting.

      Chapter 3

      Aurora took a deep breath and knocked on the French doors that led to the main part of the house. To her relief Holt answered. He still wore jeans but his chaps were gone, and he had on a different shirt.

      “Come in,” he said. “You don’t have to knock, you’re pretty much family now.”

      Her heart swelled at his words. Even her parents didn’t think of her as family anymore. “I’ll remember that,” she whispered.

      “Good.” Holt indicated the room. “You know Austin, and this is Hawk, my second in command, and there are the triplets, Reed, Kyle, and Wyatt.”

      Every one of them nodded in her direction and tipped an imaginary hat, since they weren’t wearing any. Hawk wore a lawman’s uniform, and she had to admit it startled her a little. Men in uniform were not what she liked to see. She thought all the Coleman brothers worked on the ranch, and only the ranch.

      “So I’ll give you the breakdown,” Holt said. “Reed and Kyle are the local veterinarians. They are good and attract clients from several towns over. Hawk is the local constable. Wyatt and Austin work the ranch, as I do when I’m not working on paperwork for the rescue part of the ranch. Hawk helps me with a lot of it. Guys, this is our new den mother.”

      “Welcome,” they all seemed to say at once. Everyone stepped forward to shake her hand, except for Wyatt, who stared at her as if she were about to set the house on fire. Finally, Wyatt inclined his head in her direction and said, “Ma’am.”

      Aurora figured that was as close to a welcome she was going to get from Wyatt. She glanced at Holt, to see him glaring at Wyatt. When Holt started to turn his head in her direction she glanced away.

      “Dinner’s ready,” Austin announced loudly. “Hawk, would you take the potatoes out of the oven for me? And the asparagus is in the top oven.” He pointed tongs at her. “I hope medium rare is okay with you. If not I’ll leave yours on the grill a little longer.”

      “That’s fine with me,” she said.

      “Which one?” Holt asked. “And don’t say medium rare’s fine if you don’t care for it.”

      Aurora cleared her throat. “Medium is better for me.”

      “Got it,” Austin said. He went to the kitchen, then came back and exited the French doors with a platter and tongs in his hand. Hawk went into the kitchen, and the triplets stayed where they were.

      “So you trade cooking duties?” Aurora said when the room grew quiet. Who said she couldn’t use her words?

      “The only day we don’t cook is Sunday,” Holt answered. “We take Sundays off from each other. We all feed the animals, and then try to stay away from each other as much as possible.”

      “Which isn’t easy to do when you live in the same house,” Kyle said.

      “And work together,” Reed said with a snort.

      Kyle tossed a throw pillow in Reed’s direction, and Aurora couldn’t help but smile.

      “Could one of y’all come help me?” Hawk called out from the kitchen. Kyle and Reed both stayed where they were, but Wyatt took off for the kitchen like his rear end was on fire. It was obvious the two of them were not going to get along, at least not at first. Hopefully, she would be able to avoid him as much as possible.

      “We’re ready!” Austin called out as he came back inside.