Cherished by the Rancher: A Christian Cowboy Romance (Black Rock Ranch Book 1)

by Jen Peters

  Adam drew her close and rested his forehead against hers. “It really isn’t a problem, Maddy. You don’t have to tell all the details of your private life.”

  Maddy pulled away. “Adam, when I ran, I left my identity behind. I’m not Maddy Ricciolino, I’m Maddy Johnston. And I was Maddy Bianchi before that. I didn’t grow up in Los Angeles, I grew up in a Denver suburb. I’ve never seen the ocean.”

  Adam’s brows drew together. “You’re telling me you didn’t just keep things private, you made up who you are?”

  “Sometimes you have to do what you don’t like.” Maddy had no other response. God, please help me here. I need him to understand.

  He snorted. “Wait a minute. You had to give your real name and Social Security number for payroll.”

  Maddy stiffened, but forced herself to be calm. She didn’t want this to turn into a big fight. “Your dad was the one who hired me. I told him everything, but asked him to introduce me as Maddy Ricciolino. It’s my Nonna’s maiden name.

  “Adam, don’t you see? I couldn’t risk Brock finding me here. Which wouldn’t be hard if everyone in town knew you’d hired a Maddy Johnston.”

  He frowned. “How much does he know now? Does he know you’re here?”

  “No, thank the Lord. But somehow he got phone number and now my email. He sent some threats, which is when I called Mr. Wilkins, who said not to tell anyone while he tracked things down.”

  Adam looked at her intently. “Listen, he can’t find you with just those, but you need to get a new phone and change your email, and—”

  “I already did,” Maddy said. “When I registered Mia for school.”

  “Oh.” Suddenly Adam’s arms were around her, holding her in close, warming the chill that had settled over her. He couldn’t make everything better, but if he were on her side, she could make it through this.

  An eternity of comfort passed in a few minutes. Maddy lifted her head off Adam’s shoulder. “Are we still okay?”

  “Huh. You’ve got an ex-husband after you, and you’ve just announced you’re not who I thought you were. I’m not sure that’s the definition of ‘okay.’”

  “I’ve told you now.”

  He pulled her head back to his shoulder. “You have, and I promise I’ll keep you safe from the dirtbag. Whatever it takes. But geez, you told Dad and not me? And you’ve really never seen the ocean?”

  She smiled, suspecting that telling only Samuel was a bigger deal than anything else. “I’ll see the ocean someday. And remember, you can’t tell anyone else.”

  And then Adam pulled her face up and met her with another kiss.

  22

  Adam worked at his desk Monday morning, not liking the arrangement. Maddy’s office had been finished, the desk and shelves set up, and she had moved back in this morning. The partner’s desk had been centered again, her makeshift computer area had been dismantled, and Dad’s easy chair had taken its place. And it didn’t look right.

  He should be able to look up and watch Maddy working, or catch her glance, or something, anything. His desk time had become boring again.

  He took a phone call, turning to look out the window while he listened. When he hung up, Maddy was standing in his doorway, clutching a handful of papers. His calculations for the solar wells vanished as memories of her story and their Saturday night kisses washed over him. He wanted to leap from behind his desk, take her in his arms, and simply hold her for the next hour.

  But her face carried a troubled look, and he left thoughts of cuddling behind. “What is it?” he asked, ready to do whatever he needed to take away the worry on her pretty face.

  “I think there’s been a mistake,” she said quietly. “I got an email from the bank saying that the checking account is overdrawn. I mean, the overdraft protection kicked in, but my balance doesn’t show us being anywhere close.”

  Adam frowned. They hadn’t expected any more irregularities in Mrs. Evans’ bookkeeping.

  “I printed the last few days of activity on the account—the overdraft would have happened recently—and found this.” She thrust the paper out, one line highlighted.

  “Check number 8356, paid on the 12th,” Adam read. She had made a notation on the side: BLM lease. “But…”

  “I know. You paid that at the beginning of February. Here’s a copy of their emailed receipt.” She handed that to him, too. “So I checked this one out, and it looks like your father wrote the new check.”

  Adam blanched. His father had turned over the day-to-day finances to him quite a while ago. And now he was writing twenty-thousand dollar checks? Adam’s inclination was to storm off and confront his dad. Instead, he inhaled deeply, breathed out a prayer for calmness, and called the bank.

  “We had enough overdraft protection to cover it?” he asked the bank manager.

  “Of course. And if I hadn’t thought it was legitimate, I would have called, I assure you.”

  Adam sighed. “I know, Tom, thanks. But can you set our account to require two signatures? And would you flag our account to call me if you get any checks over a thousand dollars that are not signed by me or Maddy Ri—”

  “Madelena,” Maddy corrected.

  “Madelena Ricciolino,” Adam continued, I’d appreciate it.”

  “I’m marking it as we speak,” the bank manager said. “I can set the two-sig requirement here, but you’ll need to order new checks with room for both.”

  “Will do. Thanks, Tom.” Adam ended the call and sunk his head into his hands. Finally he looked up. “See? You’ve been a good influence on me. I didn’t blow my stack. And I think that deserves a reward.”

  She grinned, her face lighting up. “And what might that be, cowboy?”

  He stood and walked around his desk. “Come closer and I’ll show you.”

  Several minutes of tender kisses later, Adam said, “I need to go talk to Dad about this. Wish me luck!”

  “Luck,” she whispered, a soft smile in her eyes.

  Adam finally found his father over in the stables, working oil into reins that hadn’t seen use in ten years. Lord, help me know what to say. Help me remember it was just a mistake, he prayed silently. Then he cleared the emotion from his face. “Hey, Dad.”

  “Adam! Taking a break from work for once?”

  Adam gave as much of a smile as he could muster. “Sort of. Need to talk to you for a minute.”

  “Sure. Nice to know an old man is still needed.”

  “Aw, come on, Dad, you’re not old.”

  His father chuckled. “Got a good few years on you, that’s for sure. Only one older’n me around here is Uncle Dirt.” Dad nudged him with his shoulder, then wiped the oil off his hands. “So what can I do you for? Need some advice on pasture rotation? Or is it time to decide about the wells?”

  Adam shook his head. “I’ll always want your input on managing the pastures, and the wells won’t happen for a while yet. But…” How could he ask this without accusing his father of stupidity?

  “Do you remember writing a check about a week ago? To the BLM for the lease this year.”

  “No. Yes. Well, I don’t rightly know. I mean, I write one every year. Hard to tell if I just did one or if I’m remembering last year.”

  Adam nodded and leaned against the tack room wall.

  His father reached for the bridles again, then stopped. “Wait. That lease comes up in February, doesn’t it? So I wouldn’t have been writing any checks now.” With a look of satisfaction, he poured more oil on his rag and picked the reins up again.

  “But you did, Dad. You wrote a check for $21,563 on May second this year. Maddy pulled up a copy. Your handwriting, your signature.”

  The older man stared at the wall in front of him, hands not moving, eyes not blinking. “N-no,” he finally murmured. “I must have been sleepwalking or something.”

  Adam twisted the toe of his boot against the concrete floor, wishing he were anywhere but having this conversation with his father. His proud, hard-working fath
er who never wanted help with anything. But the check wasn’t the only problem his dad had been having. The episodes all swirled in Adam’s mind, faster and faster, and the worry he had been tamping down for the last months forced its way to the front. He couldn’t ignore it anymore.

  He sent another prayer upward, then stepped to his father and put his arm around those lean shoulders. “Dad, it’s not just forgetting names. You’re doing work that’s already been done, or doesn’t need to be done. You’ve mixed up words, re-built a gate that was new, forgotten to feed, and now the check. And sometimes I think you get a bit, well, not confused, but not following the track of what someone is saying. I think we need to go see someone.”

  His dad didn’t take his eyes off the wall, just kept shaking his head. “No. There’s nothing wrong with me. Everybody makes mistakes. Losing words is just part of getting old. And so what if I work on something that’s not important?”

  He clenched the rein tightly in his hand and moved away from Adam’s arm, then turned suddenly. “I’m not a useless old man you can just shut away somewhere! I made this ranch what it is, I raised you, this is my home!”

  Adam stepped back, shocked. “Dad! Nobody said anything about you going anywhere!”

  His father glared at him, paler blue eyes flashing. “Just you remember that, boy! You can’t kick me out just so you can run the place on your own.”

  Adam took a deep breath. This was his father, whom he loved. “This isn’t about the ranch, Dad. I don’t want to run it by myself anyway. I don’t think I could. I’m just worried about you. I want you to stick around forever, but I want you healthy and strong. I want you with us.”

  Dad’s eyes had softened a bit, but he was still holding that rein for all it was worth.

  Adam stepped forward, put his hand lightly on his father’s arm. “Dad, we need to see a doctor. Maybe you’ve got a vitamin deficiency or something. I’ve heard that can cause brain fog. Or maybe a heart problem and there’s not enough oxygen getting to your brain. It could be anything.”

  Adam had studiously avoided the “A” word, a specter hovering over every person with an aging parent. It wasn’t something he ever wanted to face, but he especially wasn’t ready to deal with it now. He never thought he’d be praying that his father “only” had a heart problem.

  He moved his hand to cover his father’s. “Would that be okay? Can I make an appointment?”

  Dad blinked, keeping vulnerable tears at bay. He nodded, then stared blankly at the rein and his rag.

  “Can I help you for a bit, Dad? It’s been a long time since I’ve cleaned tack.” Adam reached for another old bridle and began unbuckling the bit. “Got another rag?”

  Dad smiled—a little quavery, but still a smile. “Sure,” he said, handing him a rag from a pile on the counter. “Let me know if you need help.”

  23

  Two days later, Maddy smiled to herself as Adam explained the improvements he wanted to make on their leased BLM land and the application procedures they required. She was turning into as much his assistant as the ranch accountant, but that was fine with her. As long as she could make notes, keep files, be as organized about everything as she wanted, she’d do whatever he asked.

  Maybe even without a kiss as a reward. Although that kiss under the stars…that kiss, his acceptance of her situation, and then more kisses… only Adam was left in her head after that. It only took a glimmer of a thought to have her reliving it and the soft kisses yesterday.

  “Maddy?” Adam’s voice brought her back to the present. “Where’d you go just then?”

  She only shook her head and tried to keep her face from flushing red. Back to business. “So you’re allowed to put a fence and a building on government land?”

  When they finished the lease discussion, Adam leaned over her desk with a gleam in his eye. “Want to take a morning walk with me? No Mia, no brothers, just us?”

  Maddy shot up from her chair without a second thought. “Why is it we live on the same ranch, work together, and still have a hard time finding time by ourselves?” She paused to stack her notes neatly and close her laptop. “Out along the creek?”

  “There're some flowers blooming there now that I thought you’d like.”

  Aww. What a sweetheart he was. She grabbed her sweater just as Caleb came in.

  “Adam, good. I think Dad has all the hands out doing something with the water troughs, and I’ve got a problem with a yearling.” He turned and walked right back out.

  Adam looked at Maddy ruefully and shrugged his shoulders. “Duty calls, I guess. Raincheck?”

  She nodded, but her body sighed and sagged in disappointment. She was falling in love with Adam, which she shouldn’t be after three days, but it was more than just his kisses and the touch of his hand on her cheek. It was all she’d seen of him in the last few weeks. But even with that, she really didn’t know him well enough to see if they might have something real.

  How could they succeed at together-time if the ranch always interrupted them? For that matter, did she want a future with a guy who always had his ranch taking precedence?

  She shook her head, realizing that wasn’t really a problem. Part of what drew her to Adam was his commitment to his family and the ranch. She knew he’d be just as committed to her as he was to them.

  Two hours later, she wandered over to the stables. Adam was just heading into the tack room with a bucket while Caleb led a young horse with a newly bandaged leg out to a paddock.

  “Hey, cowboy,” she greeted Adam. “Got time for that walk?”

  He smiled widely. “Sure!”

  “Nuh-uh, Adam,” Caleb warned. “It’s almost noon. Seth should be Skyping anytime.”

  “Right. It’s Tuesday.” He turned to Maddy. “Want to come meet my youngest brother?”

  It wasn’t quite what she had hoped for, but she wasn’t going to break up a Skype call from Seth. Besides, she’d heard so much about him that she wanted to see if the real-life version held up to the paragon his brothers had described.

  “Does he call every Tuesday?” she asked.

  Adam lifted one shoulder. “Usually. And usually about noon, maybe twelve-thirty. Dad’s glued to the big screen where we have it come in. We all try to be there if we can, but it doesn’t always work.”

  “What if he can’t call?”

  “If it’s something local that’s keeping him busy, he’ll usually email to let us know. But if there’s no warning, then he’s probably gone out on patrol somewhere, and we all worry until we hear from him again.” He took her hand as they walked back to the house.

  “That must be hard, having him over there and in danger.”

  “Yeah, but his area’s been quiet for a while—he’s spending a lot of time in local construction. Working on a school right now.”

  Adam took hold of Maddy’s hand when they left, and she marveled at how right his callouses felt against her soft skin. She wondered if the family knew about their developing relationship. She wouldn’t mind; she just didn’t like to be the center of attention.

  “Hey, you two!” Caleb called after them. “You’re going to get razzed if you walk in holding hands.”

  So much for wondering.

  Adam looked down at her, a smile broadening across his face. “You ready for this? They can tease something fierce.”

  It was going to happen sometime—they weren’t keeping anything a secret. “I don’t think it will surprise them,” she said, squeezing his hand. “May as well get it over with.”

  Adam pulled her hand to his lips, then kissed her softly on the mouth. “Good for you,” he murmured. “Let’s go get ‘em.”

  Samuel grinned widely from his recliner as they walked into the large family room. “About time,” he said, blue eyes sparkling at their joined hands.

  Maddy grinned back. Micah raised his eyebrows, but that was it. And Caleb already knew, so…no problem. No teasing, either.

  Caleb dusted off his jeans as he entered,
then sprawled in what must be his favorite chair. “We’ll let the two lovebirds have the couch,” he said.

  Adam snorted. “So generous.” He swept an arm out, inviting Maddy to sit. They settled with her close enough to smell his personal mixture of horses and aftershave. That was her favorite scent these days, and she took glorious breaths as she gazed around.

  The furniture wasn’t new—wood and worn brown leather, with blankets here and there—but was still comfortable. The room was dominated by a large stone fireplace rising up two stories, and Maddy couldn’t take her eyes off it.

  “Pretty impressive, huh?” Adam murmured in her ear. “Especially when you realize it was built a hundred and fifty years ago. The original Grandpa Black had a wife with a sense of grandeur.”

  “I’ll say. And you’re lucky she did.”

  While she was admiring the fireplace and browsing the books and pictures scattered around, Micah fiddled with his laptop and the settings on the wide-screen TV. Finally, a chime sounded and Micah clicked to connect.

  Seth’s face filled the screen. Dusty forehead, bright eyes, wide grin, and then a well-worn camo t-shirt. “Hey, guys! Great to see you!”

  Caleb and Micah started talking at once.

  “You look good, man.”

  “Busy dodging bullets?”

  Adam watched eagerly, but seemed to be waiting until things calmed down. Maddy snuck a glance at Samuel. The older man’s eyes leaked tears as he soaked up the sight of his youngest son.

  “Come on, Dad, we talked just last week,” Seth said when he noticed. “You miss me that much?”

  Samuel shook his head. “Just so glad to see you.”

  Adam reached over to pat his father’s arm. “We’re cool, Seth. Lots going on here, but nothing I can’t email you about. What’s the situation over there?”

  Seth snorted. “Gimme a break—you know I can’t talk about that. But…” he waggled his eyebrows. “Who’s that pretty thing sitting next to you?”

  Maddy blushed. She’d swear Adam blushed slightly, too.