One Night with a Cowboy - Sara Richardson Page 0,11

to where they stood caught the ball, halting the game.

“We were supposed to get here tomorrow,” Thea went on when no one said anything. “I texted her we were going to be early, but I haven’t heard back…”

“You must be Thea.” The man who held the ball—who she now recognized as Wes Harding—started toward her. She should’ve known. Of course Wes was having a party. Last fall, when Thea had come for Jane’s wedding, Wes had been front and center at the reception, dancing and making toasts and charming unsuspecting women. But Thea knew to avoid him, thanks to the stories Jane had told her about Wild Wes and her remembrance of the time Thea had met him when she’d visited the ranch during college.

Oh, she knew about Wes all right. If it hadn’t been for the backward ball cap and the dark aviator shades he wore now, Thea would’ve pegged him right away.

“Yes. I’m Thea.” Her face heated. He clearly didn’t remember her the way she remembered him.

Jane’s brother tossed the volleyball to another man on his way off the court, and the game resumed. “I’m Wes. Jane’s older brother.”

“I remember.” She could feel those gorgeous women staring at her. “We’ve met.” Had he really forgotten?

“Have we?” He flicked off his shades and seemed to give her a good once-over.

Yep, his eyes were still as blue as that glacier water. “I was at Jane and Toby’s wedding.” No surprise he didn’t remember seeing her there. He’d been much too busy. “And I came home with Jane our first semester of school.” Though it was tempting to refresh his memory, she stopped there. Her children didn’t need to hear how Thea had been in awe when she’d first met Wes on that dock right over there. Her facial expression had probably looked a lot like Liv’s did now. Ironic, the man had been shirtless back then too. And she’d been young and stupid.

Wes had flirted with her—telling her how shocked he was that his sister had such a hot friend, and then he’d invited her to go to a party with him later that night. She believed his exact words were Want to be my date? She’d spent two hours getting ready—changing her outfit about twenty times, asking Jane to help her with her hair and makeup, all the while ignoring her friend’s warning about how unreliable her brother was.

At seven o’clock, she’d walked to the lake to meet him like they’d planned—her stomach a knot of nerves and anticipation—except Wes wasn’t there. He’d already left for the party. Without her.

“You came home with Jane back in college?” The prompt didn’t seem to spark his memory. “Huh.”

“You have really big muscles.” Leave it to Ryan to state the obvious. Thea, on the other hand, had been purposely not noticing how well defined his pectorals and biceps and abs and whatever else was rippling right in front of her face were.

Wes grinned at her son. “You’ve got some big guns yourself there, Sport.”

“Really?” Ryan held up his arm and flexed his bicep. “Well, I do play baseball.”

“I can tell,” the man said as though impressed.

“I’m Ryan.” Uh-oh. Thea had seen that smile on her son’s face before. He’d just made a new best friend.

“And I’m Olivia.” Her daughter nearly bumped her brother out of her way to introduce herself to shirtless Wes.

“Nice to meet you both.” All he had to do was smile and her children gazed up at him as though completely captivated. Well, she wouldn’t be so easily charmed. She was all too familiar with Wes’s notorious reputation for being a ladies’ man. And at the moment she had other things on her mind.

“So anyway…” Thea slung one arm around Ryan and the other around Liv. “Where’s Jane?”

“Oh.” Wes’s forehead furrowed. He led them away from the party and up to the massive deck that ran the full length of the lodge. “She didn’t call you? There’s been a slight change of plans.”

Thea stopped abruptly. “A change?” That wasn’t what she wanted to hear less than twenty-four hours before the rest of the group showed up. She didn’t do change well on a normal day, let alone when she had been planning something for the better part of a year.

Wes faced her, no longer smiling. “Jane went into preterm labor two days ago.”

“Oh no.” Dread pinched her heart. “Is she okay? What about the baby?” Only last week, they’d talked about the fact that Jane had over two months