Read Online Lonesome Cowboy (Honky Tonk Hearts) by Stacy Dawn - Free Book Online Page A

from Gus and Keira. You remember them,” he added with a tap on the button nose. “They own the Lonesome Steer—first place you ever saw. And I don’t want to see you back there again ’til you’re twenty-one.” He chuckled under his breath. “Bet you’ll be as pretty as your mama, too.” Marshall sobered quickly, then heaved a heavy breath. “God, I loved her.”
    Small fingers stretched up toward him. He held out one of his own, and tiny ones curled tight around it as innocent eyes gazed up in pure trust.
    “She used to look at me like that, too. I just don’t get why she stopped. I told her to trust me, it would all work out. She obviously didn’t believe me.”
    The baby’s fair brows tipped up, and his finger was yanked.
    “Well, she didn’t,” he argued quietly. “She went and married another guy, didn’t she. Pretty damn quick, too, if you ask me. Wouldn’t be surprised if your gram put her up to it, though.” He scrubbed at his chin and raised his gaze to find a small streak of sunlight brushing the ends of Amy’s silky hair. “Maybe if I had tried a bit harder, not taken Beverly’s word for it. Insisted she get Amy on the phone…” He shook his head and dropped his attention back to his small listener. “Sorry, but your gram could be a spiteful woman, and I didn’t want to cause any friction for your mama. But I guess I should have.”
    Another yank on his finger was emphasized with a loud gurgle that almost sounded like, A-a-and?
    “Okay, okay, shhh already,” he whispered, wagging the tiny hand back and forth gently. “Yes, maybe I should have come back after Beverly read me the riot act that night. But I was so mad your mama wasn’t taking my calls and…and I figured she’d change her mind if I could just show her I was as good a man as any lawyer.”
    Marshall interpreted the small snuffle-snort as Charlotte’s disapproval. And he couldn’t blame her. The more he said it out loud, the less logical it sounded to him, too.
    “Maybe you’re right after all, Peanut. Maybe I am an idiot.”
    The fingers let go to fist wave haphazardly against his chest.
    His lips tipped up. “Okay, okay already. I’ll take my part of the blame in this.”
    But the admission didn’t take the rock out of his chest. Or change the fact that Amy stopped waiting and married another man.
    ****
    Amy burrowed deeper into the cozy warmth, knowing if she opened her eyes, the lazy comfort would go away because—
    “ Charlotte. ”
    Fighting the grogginess, she shoved herself to a sitting position. How could she sleep! What if her baby needed her? What if she hadn’t heard h—
    “It’s okay, Amy. She’s fine.”
    The low, gentle voice threatened to lull her back to sleep, and she wiped at her eyes, clearing the last of the fogginess away. But what she saw made her think she was still dreaming.
    Marshall…holding her daughter. A small smile on his handsome face, the tiny child in the crook of big, solid arms. Her emotions warred within her, the sight so amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.
    Heartbreaking won.
    She should’ve been your child . This should have been our life…
    Amy fought the collapse of her chest and pushed the “should have beens” back into the dark closet of her heart. “H-how long have I been asleep?” She avidly remembered him coming upon her in a weak moment when she’d been tired and angry at the stupid stroller. How embarrassing to cry in front of him over something so ridiculous.
    “Less than an hour.”
    And he stayed? Why?
    “She was getting a little antsy,” he said as if reading her mind. “You were pretty worn out, and I didn’t want her to wake you.”
    So, you just picked her up and rocked a baby for an hour? And he looked so natural sitting there in the chair, her daughter’s small body protected within his arms.
    Reality took hold along with a singeing of her cheeks, and she rushed over to relieve him of his undue burden.
    Charlotte’s warm body