Page 50 of Pure Temptation in Cowboy Boots

Tess laughed. “Me, too. This girl’s a regular spray machine.”

“Hey, look!” shouted Joe, Joan’s six-year-old. “Uncle Mac’s here!”

Uncle Mac. Of course the kids had always called him that, considering that he was an honorary Blakely, but today, after she’d been hearing herself referred to as Aunt Tess for hours, the title struck her differently. Aunt Tess and Uncle Mac.

The idea hit her with more force than any cannonball jump of Kimberly’s. Uh-oh. She hadn’t subconsciously been having that little fantasy, had she? If so, she could forget it right now. Mac was only helping her out. Sure, he might be having a good time in the bargain, but if he’d ever considered having a relationship with her, he would have spoken up long before this.

And he certainly could have spoken up on Sunday night, she thought as she watched him get out of his truck. Instead, he’d been more intent than she was on keeping their secret. Nope, he definitely didn’t have dreams of happily-ever-after with her.

“Hey, Uncle Mac!” Joan’s daughter, Sarah, called. She started to run across the parking lot.

“Sarah!” Joan yelled a warning and bolted after her as a low-slung car pulled quickly into the lot, apparently oblivious to the running girl. Sarah had a good head start on her mother.

Still holding Kimberly, Tess ran forward, too, knowing neither she nor Joan would make it in time.

At the last minute, when Tess was too horrified even to scream, Mac hurtled into the path of the car, snatched Sarah out of the way and leaped to safety.

The driver, a teenage boy, slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. “Oh, God! I didn’t see her!” he wailed. “Is she okay?”

Mac held a quaking Sarah tight in his arms. He was breathing hard. “I think so.” He leaned away from the child. “You okay, sweetheart?”

Her voice was muffled against his shirt. “I... think so.”

“Sarah!” Joan reached them and wrapped her arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Did you get bumped? Does anything hurt?”

“N-no.” Sarah sounded close to tears.

Joan sagged with relief as Cindy and Deena came up and put comforting arms around her. Everyone started talking at once, exclaiming over the close call, while Joan took several deep breaths and the color seeped back into her face.

Finally Joan held up her hand for silence. “Put her down, please, Mac. She and I are going over to that tree and having a little talk about running in parking lots.”

“I don’t run,” Joe announced.

“Me, neither,” said Jason.

“Me, neither,” piped up Kimberly from her perch in Tess’s arms.

“And we’re going to hold you all to that,” Mac said, glancing at each of them with a stern expression.

The teenager stepped toward Joan. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Blakely. I shouldn’t have driven in so fast. I just got the car today, and I was all like, wow, I want to show my friends. But if anything bad had happened to her...”

Joan took Sarah’s hand and gave the teenager a weary smile. “Fortunately it didn’t. It’s Eddie, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am. Eddie Durnett.”

“Well, we’re lucky, Eddie. Hopefully we’ve learned something without suffering a tragedy in the process. Sarah shouldn’t have been running without looking, and you should probably remember how dangerous parking lots can be around here, especially this one in the summer.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Eddie glanced at Mac. “Thanks, Mr. MacDougal. Thanks a lot.”

“I’m glad I still have some reflexes left,” Mac said.

“Yeah, no quarterback at CHS could run the option play like you. My dad still talks about it.”

Mac looked uncomfortable. “That was a long time ago. So, is everybody ready for some ice cream? My treat.”

“In that case, I’ll have the jumbo banana split,” Deena said with a grin. “I was going to settle for a small cone, but if the gentleman’s buying⁠—”

“Okay, but I’m gonna tell Hammer you took advantage of me,” Mac retorted.