Page 34 of Mistletoe Cowboy

“I actually know one,” she said. “I used to sing it to Teddie when she was little. It always worked.”

He brushed her mouth with his. “It will take a lot more than a lullaby to get me to sleep, I’m afraid,” he said.

“Bad memories?”

“Very bad,” he said. “And not all from combat.”

She wondered if his father had anything to do with those, but it was far too soon in their very new relationship to start asking intimate questions about his life. Still, there was one question that kept coming up.

“Do you have a first name?” she asked.

He chuckled. “Yes.”

She cocked her head. “Well?”

His dark eyes twinkled. “We need to keep a few secrets just to make ourselves more interesting.”

“Spoilsport.”

“If you’re curious, you won’t mind letting me stay around here.”

“I wouldn’t mind even if I wasn’t curious.”

“We’ll still wait,” he returned. “Tell Teddie I’ll be here bright and early Saturday for her riding lessons, and that we’ll go to a movie Saturday night.”

She made a face. “No places to make out,” she complained.

His eyes twinkled. “That’s not a bad thing. We’ll make haste slowly.”

She let out a deep sigh. “Okay,” she said.

He laughed. “We walk before we run.”

“Some of us are still at the crawling stage, though,” she said with a sting of sarcasm and a big grin.

He just shook his head. “Good night.”

“Good night. Thanks for driving us.”

“No problem.”

He got in the truck and drove off with a wave. Katy watched him all the way out the driveway before she walked back into the house and locked the door.

Teddie was waiting in the hall as she started toward her own bedroom.

“Aha,” Teddie teased.

Katy’s thin eyebrows arched. “Aha?” she repeated.

“Your lipstick is smeared and your hair looks like rats nested in it,” Teddie said with twinkling eyes.

Katy cleared her throat. “Well, you see—”

“It won’t work,” her daughter interrupted. She grinned. “I like Parker,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows. She went back into her room and closed the door.

Katy laughed all the way into her own room.

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