The Cowboy's Surprise Baby (Cowboy Country Book 3) by Deb Kastner Page A

deserved a swift kick in their behinds.
    But before he could say a thing, Tessa whirled on the lads, her face as white as a sheet. He would have expected her cheeks to be flushed, because she was clearly angry enough to spit nails.
    “You,” she said, pointing to the smug blond, “and you. I want you off your horses. Now.”
    Cole wondered if anyone else noticed that she was speaking through clenched teeth. He wouldn’t want to be those boys right now. No matter what her peaked complexion hinted at, she was steaming-from-the-ears mad.
    The boys slid from their saddles, and Cole moved to hold their horses’ heads.
    “What do you have to say for yourselves?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at the young men. She marched back and forth in front of them, her hands propped on her hips.
    “We were just trying to have a little fun,” the blond-haired kid mumbled, looking at the ground and kicking up dirt with the toe of his white sneaker.
    “You think it’s
fun
to put a girl in danger?” Tessa fumed. “Whitley could have been seriously hurt. She could have fallen or been trampled or worse. It’s a good thing I saw her when I did or who knows what might have happened. Are you two the only ones responsible here?”
    The blond kid remained silent, his gaze focused on his shoes. Indigo glanced at his friend and then at Tessa. He swallowed hard. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Well, there’s something. At least you’re owning up to it. I appreciate your honesty. Now I want to know what you’re going to do about it. Reparation is in order.”
    Neither of the boys spoke up. Cole cringed. Couldn’t they see Tessa wasn’t messing around with them? Did they have a death wish or something?
    “Apparently I haven’t made myself clear,” she continued. “For starters, I want to hear you—
both
of you—apologize to Whitley. Right now. Like you mean it.”
    Whitley’s face turned the shade of a ripe apple. Cole wasn’t sure she appreciated the extra attention she was getting. Not this way.
    The blond boy shrugged. “Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath.
    “Like you mean it,” Tessa repeated sternly.
    “Sorry,” the blond said again. “Uh, Whitley. We didn’t mean anything bad by it. Sorry if we scared you. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt or anything.”
    The other boy nodded voraciously. “Yeah. Me, too. Sorry, Whitley.”
    “That’s a decent start, young men, but unfortunately for you, it’s not good enough.” Tessa continued to march between the two boys, reminding Cole of his recruit division commander in navy boot camp. She had a sense of authority about her that permeated both her voice and the air around her. “Here at Redemption Ranch, we have a zero tolerance policy where violence is concerned, and this—”
    She paused and worried her lower lip. Cole’s fists clenched the leather reins he held beneath the horses’ chins, not because the horses were giving him any trouble, but because it was all he could do not to step in and take over for Tessa. She appeared to be faltering, if only for a moment. He’d led his fair share of men in the navy and knew he would have no problem exhibiting a commanding presence that would have those ill-behaved boys shaking in their fancy sneakers.
    He restrained himself only when he realized Tessa had everything under control—her features were evenly schooled and the boys were slump-shouldered and cowering. He didn’t know why, but for some reason, this particular prank had rubbed Tessa the wrong way and made her especially emotional. Cole admired the way she’d stopped herself before she’d gone overboard and said or done something she might later regret. Yes, the boys had played a mean joke on Whitley, but Cole didn’t think it had been malicious, and everything had turned out all right in the end. Thankfully, Whitley hadn’t been hurt, and though it had taken the boys a while to admit their part in the prank, they now appeared genuinely repentant. From the