His Texas Bride by Deb Kastner Page B

question to both women simultaneously even as he reached to check the helmet for himself.
    “No,” Marty answered directly. “Morgan doesn’t like anything covering her head. It’s just one of those things we have to deal with. She’s especially sensitive around her face. I’m not letting her ride without a safety helmet, though.”
    “Of course not,” Buck and Ellie said at the same time and then glanced at each other in surprise. Once upona time they had often done just that—said the same thing at the same time. Finished each other’s sentences.
    Buck cringed inwardly. Back in the day. It took Buck by surprise that so many things between him and Ellie were still the same even after all those years apart, and his heart lurched uncomfortably in his chest.
    “Bad hat,” Morgan said with a petulant frown, which Buck found endearing.
    “Come on over here, cowgirl,” Buck instructed, inspiration hitting him like a lightning bolt. “Let’s go take another look at the horsey.”
    Hand in hand with Buck, Morgan approached the side of the horse, looking up at Buck as often as she did the horse.
    Ellie held back a grin, but she was smiling inside. When Buck and Tyler had first started sharing the ranch with her, she had been surprised to discover that Tyler, whom she’d first classified as shy, was so good with children. Now she was seeing firsthand where the gift came from.
    Strong and silent—like father, like son. And Buck’s gift with children…Well, that was obvious, too. God had had His hand in this even before Ellie had recognized it.
    She wondered if Buck realized the magnitude of this moment, of what he was accomplishing out here today. Not only was he pitching in, but he was actually working out Morgan’s therapy—better, Ellie acknowledged to herself, though she would never admit as much to Buck, than she could have done.
    “It’s important for you to wear a helmet,” Buck said, his voice low and soft. He swiped a glance atEllie. “You have a man-size helmet around here someplace?” he asked in a whisper.
    Ellie’s gaze widened and she was certain her jaw dropped.
    Buck Redmond in a helmet? A man who’d been riding horses practically since before he was walking?
    Cowboys didn’t wear helmets, though most English riders did.
    But as fast as those thoughts flashed through her mind, Ellie saw where Buck was going with it, and a new sense of appreciation and gratitude washed over her so strongly, it brought tears to the corners of her eyes, which, naturally, she fought to hold back. It wouldn’t do to have Buck see how much his thoughtfulness affected her.
    Ellie dashed to the stable and came back with an adult-size helmet in one hand. Buck swept his cowboy hat off his head and dangled it from the saddle horn as he put the helmet on his head and adjusted the straps under his chin with a no-nonsense movement that surprised Ellie.
    “See, Morgan, you’re just the same as Cowboy Buck,” Marty told the little girl, excitement and bewilderment fighting for prominence in her tone.
    Cowboy Buck .
    Now Ellie really wanted to laugh.
    She pinched her lips together, but when she looked up at Buck, he was staring straight at her. She tried her best to keep a straight face but just couldn’t do it, and in the end a chuckle escaped despite her best efforts to keep it inside.
    Buck scowled, but she could see from the twinklein his eyes he didn’t really mean it. Despite his gruff exterior, he was laughing with her.
    “There’s one more thing,” Buck said, lifting his cowboy hat by the crown. “A real cowgirl needs a hat.”
    With that, he placed his own black Stetson on Morgan’s head. Because of the helmet Morgan already wore, the cowboy hat actually fit rather well, Ellie thought, and it certainly made the little girl grin from ear to ear.
    “Is it okay if Tyler lifts you up here in front of me?” Buck asked Morgan as he swung into the saddle. “That way we can ride the horsey together, and I can