Page 20 of Cowboy Daddies

Yikes!

Sage knew her eyes went wide because she felt the stretch. Just to be on the safe side, she clamped her teeth down on her lips. She had the worst habit of laughing when she was nervous. She’d learned her automatic response was often misunderstood. And Grady didn’t look to be in a very understanding mood.

From the corner of her eye, Sage caught Rose jumping to her feet and scurrying to join Sage in the foyer. They both looked on as glitter rained down on Grady in a shimmering cloud. He stood with a shell-shocked expression, shoulders hunched and arms straight out to the sides.

Sage bit down harder on her lips.

Grady’s eyes narrowed and honed in on her. Sage’s bottom clenched at the look on his face. He didn’t seem to be taking the prank in the spirit it was given. Pointing a pink sparkly finger straight at her, he growled, “Don’t. You. Move.”

Sounded like “run” to her.

“Swim away! Swim away!” she yelled to Rose.

Laughing hysterically, the two of them scrambled back to the Pillow Palace and did their best to dig an emergency undersea cavern, mermaid skirts flying behind them in their efforts.

Sage squealed as Grady caught her ankle in one large hand and lifted her clean off the floor. “Oh, look. I caught a naughty Little fish.”

Grady seriously needed to work on using his happy voice.

Glitter covered his dark hair, beard, and shoulders. He looked like a very grumpy, very sparkly ogre. Rose covered her face with her hands and peeked around through her fingers, giggling.

Sage grinned up from her upside-down position, trying unsuccessfully to stop her giggling. “You have to admit you look pretty and sparkly, boss.”

“You,” Grady growled, voice low and dangerous as he flipped Sage right side up and held her against his chest, “are in so much trouble, Wildfire.”

Carrying her to the kitchen, he set her on her feet and pointed at the broom and dustpan in the corner. “Sweep it up, Wildfire, all of it. And once you’re done, you will come to the kitchen table, and⁠—”

“We’ll go to the barn, right?” Sage finished his sentence for him, putting her hands behind her and twisting on her heels.

He shook his head, sending glitter all over the room. “No…. you’re going to write lines.”

Sage stifled a groan. She’d never had to write lines in her life, but from everything she’d read in the books, it was not a fun task. She cocked her hip and frowned. “Writing lines is boring, can’t you think of something more… direct?”

Grady smiled, but it held no humor. “Writing lines will do just fine. As for being boring, that’s the point.”

She spun around, and when she had done a complete one-eighty, her frown had turned into a smile. “What a Daddy thing to do.”

Picking up the broom, she spent the next thirty minutes sweeping up glitter. Grady stood and watched, adding to the time it took with every single shake of his head. They could both hear Rose giggling from the kitchen entrance where she now stood as she watched yet more glitter shimmer through the air before drifting to the floor.

Finally, Sage opened the trash can and made a show of dumping the last scoop full of glitter. Rose ran over and held the lid for her as if it were the most important job on earth.

Sage leaned over, catching Rose’s eye. She pointed at Grady, directing both of their eyes toward him. He was standing beside the table, arms crossed and tapping his foot.

“I guess I’m in a lot of trouble with your dad, Rose,” Sage whispered.

“Yeah,” Rose said and then immediately slapped her hand up to her mouth as if surprised that she had spoken again. Grady’s foot stopped tapping but otherwise, he gave no sign he’d heard Rose speak.

Stowing the broom and dustpan, she and Rose walked over and stood in front of Grady. “What should I write, Daddy?”

Grady uncrossed his arms, causing more glitter to fall from his shirt and beard. “I’ll let you decide, but it better contain the word sorry in it somewhere.”

She thought for a moment, then, holding her hand out for the paper, sat down at the table and wrote in her best careful handwriting on the notepad he handed her. Since he was acting like a full-blown Daddy, she wrote, I’m sorry I made Daddy’s life better by making him look like a sparkly ogre.

Grady read it and heaved a long-suffering sigh. But she didn’t miss the twinkle in his eyes.

“Try again,” he ordered, then seemed to reconsider. “Never mind, that’s hopeless. I’ll tell you what to write.”

Sage wrote again, cheeks pink with suppressed laughter as he dictated. “When deciding on my next course of action, I will not let my naughty impulse to pull pranks cause me to write a check my bottom can’t cash.”