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Then she looked up and saw him standing there, and that dimpled smile, the mischievous spark in her eyes, damn near stopped his heart.

Only this time, he knew better than to pay any of it any mind.

This time, he was smart enough to avoid complications. To avoid
her
.

Which he more or less managed for the rest of the evening. Not her presence, obviously—small house and all that—but anything resembling real conversation? You bet.

Except it wasn’t as if he couldn’t hear her low laugh, or notice how she’d goof around with her mother...or the way the little ones swarmed her like ants on a sugar cube. How easily and often she’d send the older two into gleeful shrieking by making the goofiest faces he’d ever seen a grown woman make.

Still, Zach remained in control, resolved not to let any of it get to him. To not let Mallory get to him, simply because she was pretty and had a great laugh and could reduce his kids into giggling puddles. Until, a couple hours later, he found her in his parents’ dimly lit living room, his youngest child sacked out against her chest, her cheek resting in his curls, and his heart nearly stopped all over again.

Hell.

Chapter Six

S
ensing Zach’s presence behind her, Mallory silently sighed, gently stirring Liam’s red curls under her chin. And only partly because Zach’s arrival meant giving up this precious bundle in her arms.

“I suppose you want your child back now,” she whispered.

“It is getting late,” Zach whispered back, his boots softly scraping against the worn wood floors in the cozy little room before he sank into an old leather recliner across from her. “Val and my brother already left with their two.”

“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

She could barely see him in the scant light eking from the hallway, but the slump to his shoulders as he sat forward in the chair made her heart ache. Especially since she figured his obvious exhaustion wasn’t only physical. “Val knew you were in here with Liam. She said not to bother you, she’ll catch you later.” He paused. “I can tell, she really likes you.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” In fact, it was almost startling, how quickly she and Val had become friends. Almost as easily as Zach’s mother and hers, chattering away in the kitchen. Her intuition had been dead-on, that Mama needed more human interaction than only hanging out with her daughter 24/7. Could be why she’d taken poor little Edgar to the vet so often, simply to get out of the house. What Mallory hadn’t realized, though, was that Mama wasn’t the only one craving companionship, that maybe Mallory wasn’t as much of a hermit as she’d thought. Then she thought she heard Zach chuckle.

“I don’t blame you for hiding out, though. We definitely get a little loud when we’re all together.”

Zach excepted, Mallory thought, even as she pushed out a little laugh. “Okay, you got me. Don’t get me wrong, I love people. And your family...they’re great. Really. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed myself that much. But I’ve never been much for parties.”

“Not even fancy Hollywood ones?”

“Especially those. Well, except maybe for getting to dress up. That was fun. But it’s one thing to be ‘on’ when you’re in front of the camera, another thing entirely when you’re not. One of the things I do not miss, believe me. Since I’m one of those people who needs to recharge every couple of hours. For both my sake and everyone’s around me.” She looked around. “So this is the house Granville Blake gave your folks after your dad retired?”

She heard Zach release a breath, as though grateful for the subject change. “Yeah. It’s small, but adequate. Mom’s not much of a decorator, but she as least added some color to it. Lots of this stuff clients gave her over the years. And she finds a perfect spot for every gift.”

“I can tell. It’s adorable. And very homey. In fact, it gives me some ideas for my own place, see if I can make it feel more...welcoming.” The little one stirred in her lap; she raked her hand through his silky curls. “Did he get this red hair from his mother?”

A second’s hesitation preceded, “Hers was darker. More...auburn, I guess. Her grandmother had the really red hair.” He smiled. “Good Irish stock. What about you? Or is that...?”

“My true color? It was at one time. Now it has help. And don’t look too closely, I haven’t had a chance yet to find a decent local colorist. If there is such a thing.”

His mouth twitched. “I wouldn’t’ve pegged you to care about stuff like that.”

“You’ve met my mother, what do you think?” she said, and he smiled, then nodded toward the toddler. “How on earth did that happen?”

Mallory angled her head to look down at that angelic little face, smeared with barbecue sauce and ice cream. His mouth open, he released a shuddering little sigh and sagged back into sleep, and her chest cramped. “He wanted a ride on the ‘car chair,’ he called it. So I obliged. I’d forgotten how quickly little kids can pass out, though. One minute we were having quite the conversation and the next—silence.”

“I’m sorry, the kid weighs a ton—”

“I can’t really feel him, Zach,” she said gently. “Not on my legs, anyway.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

“No worries, I’m used to—”

“Idiots being insensitive?”

“You’re hardly insensitive. And you’re definitely not an idiot. And anyway, most people aren’t that way on purpose. They simply don’t know. I sure didn’t before it happened to me. In any case, I don’t take offense very easily.” She paused. “Except when I get the feeling someone’s deliberately avoiding me.” Even in the dark, she could see his eyes dart to hers. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

One side of his mouth ticked up. “It wasn’t personal.”

“The hell you say.”

At least he laughed before he sighed. “I guess I felt a little blindsided. Since I didn’t know you were coming.”

“You’re kidding. I assumed Val told you.”

He shook his head. “Although I did wonder why dinner had been moved here.”

“She said she has too many stairs. But I don’t understand. What was there to be blindsided about?”

Zach reached up to fiddle with his glasses, then leaned forward, his hands clasped together. “Like I said, it wasn’t you. It’s just...well. I probably said more than I should have. Earlier, I mean. At lunch?”

Honestly, what was it with men being so damned afraid of coming across as vulnerable? As
human
, for heaven’s sake? “Please don’t tell me you were embarrassed.”

“Not embarrassed as much as...unnerved.”

No surprise there. “Because?”

“I’m not much of a sharer. Not generally, anyway.”

She smiled. “Not even with your wife?”

A beat or two preceded, “The one exception.”

That didn’t surprise her, either. “And somehow that all added up to you deciding to give me a wide berth.”

He pushed out a sound that was half sigh, half laugh. “I guess it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, does it?”

“Not from where I’m sitting, no. Although what it sounded like to me, was that you’ve been carting some of that stuff around inside your head for a long time. It needed to be set free.”

After a moment, he nodded. “You sound like you’ve been there.”

“Takes one to know one,” she said on a breath. “Because expectations are a real pain in the butt.”

“Whose?”

“Does it matter? Our own, other people’s...the result’s the same. We get so caught up in what we think we’re supposed to be, how we’re supposed to act, that we ignore how we
are
. That what we’re really feeling isn’t valid, you know? Good or bad.”

“Or we don’t want everyone else to worry.”

“Exactly.” The little one stirred, then sat up, blinked at Mallory with a crumpled brow like he couldn’t for the life of him figure out who she was or how he’d gotten there, then reached for his daddy, his lower lip quivering. Chuckling, Zach stood and hiked his son into his arms, his protectiveness so potent it practically bounced off the small room’s walls. “It’s also one of the few things we feel we have control over,” Mallory said, folding her arms over the sudden chill left in the child’s wake.

Molding the little cutie to his chest and cupping his head, Zach looked at her for a long moment. “Is control such a bad thing?”

She wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical or not, but she answered anyway. “It is if it keeps us from living a genuine life. Don’t you think? Especially if it’s only another word for
fear
—”

“Dad? Where are you?”

“Be there in a sec,” Zach yelled back to Jeremy, then frowned at Mallory for another couple of seconds before finally saying, “You up for a little ride tomorrow morning?”

She actually jerked. “With you?”

“Yes, with me. I’ve got an appointment someplace I think you might be interested in seeing.”

“Where?”

“Like I’d give you a chance to say no?”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Guess you’ll just have to trust me, won’t you?”

There was something almost playful in his voice. Something warm and kind and...and challenging. A far different sort of challenge to the ones she was used to facing, she suspected, although no less scary in its own way. But yes, she trusted him. Even if she wasn’t sure she trusted herself.

“What time will you pick me up?” she said, and he grinned.

* * *

Zach wasn’t entirely sure what’d come over him the night before. Except hearing the gentle challenge in her voice, about figuring out the difference between control and fear, about living a genuine life...it occurred to him maybe the woman could use a dose of her own medicine. Why he should be the one to administer it, he hadn’t wholly figured out yet. Except Heidi had been big on looking for ways to make the world a better place, one day at a time, one person at a time. The same philosophy he’d grown up with, actually, but it wasn’t until he fell in love with the world’s most enthusiastic proponent of that mind-set that it finally got through that making someone else happy was the only way to be truly happy yourself.

An area of his life he’d sorely neglected of late.

Of course, it was highly possible his plan could blow up in his face, that Mallory would say, “Oh, hell, no,” and wheel herself into the next county.

“You’ve brought me to another ranch?” she said as they drove up to the Flying Star, not ten miles from the Colorado border.

No, he hadn’t come clean yet. Although he could tell it’d been driving her nuts that he hadn’t. Despite that—not to mention how her musky, floral scent had slapped his senses silly when he’d lifted her out of the wheelchair to set her in the passenger seat of his truck—conversation had been easy enough, on the drive up. Clearly she did trust him, which was equal parts gratifying and terrifying. Yes, even though he’d gotten himself into this mess all by himself. She had a million questions, it seemed, about the area, the town. Not the touristy stuff, which she already knew, but what made its heart beat, she said. What made people call it home.

In answer, Zach had pointed out the windshield toward the landscape, the vibrant fall sky, and she’d slowly nodded, her smile saying she understood.

“It’s so...real.”

“Yeah,” he’d said.

“But it’s more about the people, isn’t it?”

He’d smirked. “Don’t kid yourself. We’re not perfect.”

“Exactly,” she’d sighed out, like this was a huge relief.

She’d also talked a lot about Landon—and to the kid, actually, since he’d called while they were driving. She’d even turned her phone around to introduce him to Zach—Edgar’s vet and their new friend, she’d said. Good enough, he’d decided. Safe, anyway.

“So where are you two going?” Landon had asked. Zach decided the kid must resemble his father more than Mallory, although in the tiny phone he’d only gotten a glimpse of wild dark hair.

“I don’t really know, Zach won’t tell me.”

“Mom. Really?”

“See what you have to look forward to?” she’d said to Zach, only to then laugh and ask how his father was, and the conversation had devolved into the sweetly mundane, a comfortingly ordinary exchange between a mother and son who clearly adored each other. And Zach’s chest had fisted, both because it was obvious the separation sucked for both of them, logic be damned, and because he got to thinking what it would’ve been like, had Heidi lived—

“It’s not just ‘another ranch,’ exactly,” he now said, cutting the engine in front of the main house as he cut off his thoughts. Then he turned to Mallory, his gut doing a quick flip at the puzzled, but amused, look in those clear gray eyes. Because she was real, too. Although not in the least mundane. Or comforting. He looked back at the house. “Think of this as...an opportunity.”

“To...?”

“Take the next step in being that example to Landon.”

He met her gaze again to find her somehow frowning and smiling simultaneously, although by this time, Adrienne and Booth Edison, the facility’s owners, had come out to the truck to meet them, and Mallory looked toward them.

And released a soft “Oh...”

Probably because Adrienne also used a wheelchair.

Around his mother’s age, Zach supposed, Adrienne greeted them both with her customary huge smile, waiting patiently while Zach retrieved Mallory’s chair and got her settled into it. She did everything but huff her annoyance, though, at having to accept his help. Adrienne chuckled.

“Honey, a word of advice—when you get the chance to get a good-lookin’ man’s arms around you, take it!”

“Yeah,” her husband said, “I kinda figured you weren’t nearly as helpless as you make out to be.”

“You got that right. So.” Adrienne looked back at Mallory. “You ready?”

She glanced up at Zach, then back at Adrienne. “I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be ready for.”

The graying brunette gave Zach an admonishing look. “You didn’t tell her?”

“You all came out before I had the chance.”

“Which I suppose you never got in the forty minutes it took you to get up here,” Adrienne said, then turned to Mallory. “Men. Well, come on, Henry’s waiting. You may as well come, too, Zachary, since this was your idea. And no, Booth, the mare can wait, she ain’t gonna foal in the next twenty minutes.”