Read Cowboy Secret (The Dalton Boys Book 4) for Free Online Page B

either.
    This was going to be one hell of a challenge. He had to find a way to keep her near and help her while resisting the urge to make her scream his name in ecstasy.
    He swiped a hand over his face, slicking away water. Hank and Cash were scattering the healthy cows in the pasture. For a split second, Beck pictured what they had as his own future. Coming out of the fields to a pretty little wife and kids.
    Beck had no idea how to make this custody thing work with Owen’s mother and the idea of finding someone to spend his life with couldn’t be further from his mind.
    Hell.
    “Look alive, Beck,” Kade called.
    He wheeled around to see a cow doing a bucking dance across the field. He dug his heels into his horse’s sides and shot toward the animal. Rain splattered his face and he could finally draw a full breath. Whatever came with Sabrina and his son, he’d deal with it. After all, he had plenty of rope.
    * * * * *
    What had Beck told his family about her, if anything? Sabrina bounced Owen on her knee and his teething keys rattled. Another baby crowed, and Owen wiggled to be set down.
    The Dalton women were all gathered in the big family room. Mothers and babies sat on the carpet and Mrs. Dalton was in her recliner, grinning like a cat with a pail of cream. It was impossible for Sabrina not to feel true joy that she’d given the woman another grandson. But neither she nor Beck had talked to his mother about the situation, and she didn’t know how to open the floor.
    “This tea’s a little sweeter than I like.” The woman with warm brown skin and glossy black hair set aside the glass with a smile. “We use honey to sweeten things in my homeland.”
    “I couldn’t get used to tea without lots of sugar,” Charlotte said. She had brown curly hair so much like Sabrina’s, it was a little unnerving. Either the Dalton boys had similar taste in women or Beck had some strange fantasies.
    “Owen is so adorable. How did you come up with the name? Is it a family name?” Mrs. Dalton looked eager to hear the details.
    “Uh, no. I just liked the name.”
    “I thought it might be your father’s name.”
    “No, no. His name is Alex. We aren’t close.”
    “Oh.”
    Sabrina looked at the faces surrounding her, gathering the courage to spill the story. She and Beck had sorted through the bulk of it—if arguing in a barn equaled discussion. Beck was off in the field with his menfolk, probably talking about it right now. That left Sabrina to handle the women.
    “Beck and I dated for a short time while I was at the Vixen school.”
    The ladies all focused on her. The woman named Shelby rubbed her stomach, which was just starting to round with child. Sabrina couldn’t remember which Dalton man her husband was, though.
    She shook herself and continued. “We broke up rather…abruptly. I didn’t know I was pregnant.”
    Several lips pursed as if the ladies were biting back their words. Whether accusatory or sympathetic, Sabrina couldn’t hear them. She rushed through the rest of her story.
    “I went away, got a teaching position and had Owen. But I lost my job and couldn’t find work that paid enough. I felt too terrible accepting welfare and that’s why I came to Beck.”
    “He’s the father,” Mrs. Dalton said, not unkindly.
    “It’s evident by the look of Owen.” Charlotte picked up her little boy, who was older than Owen by about a year, and plopped him beside his cousin. Someone laughed at the uncanny resemblance.
    “They could be brothers,” Sabrina murmured.
    “Dalton men have strong genes,” the dark-haired woman said.
    Shelby waggled her brows and patted her stomach. “And strong needs.”
    Everyone burst into laughter and Mrs. Dalton pulled her apron up over her face, hiding her blush. But the tips of her ears gave it away.
    Owen flapped his arms and gave a chortle of his own. The baby beside him tweaked Owen’s nose. Pretty soon the pair was babbling to each other and Owen shared his