Home on the Ranch--The Cowboy's Dilemma

by Pamela Britton

  “I’m sure we could. Generators, extension cords, whatever you need. My brothers would work it out.”

  “Great.”

  And maybe a lit carriage, too. Ooh. And the horses lit up somehow.

  “Can you wind lights around a horse’s legs?” she asked.

  Jayden’s mouth dropped open. “Well, I don’t know. They have those battery-operated lights now. We could probably use vet wrapping to hold them in place. You should ask Flynn.”

  He’d probably think she was crazy, but that was the whole point of her idea. It was her job to take a wild fantasy and make it come to life. She’d just have to sell Maverick and Charlotte on the idea, although if she did her job right, gave them enough visuals to get an idea of her concept, the idea would sell itself.

  “I don’t think I need to see the rest of the ranch. This is the spot. This one right here.”

  Jayden’s smile was huge. “I thought you might say that.”

  “Thank you,” Amy said. “You and Flynn, you’ve been so kind to me.” She turned, once again taking in the beauty of the valley beneath them. Rain hung down from a cloud in the distance. “I promise you won’t regret allowing me to do this.”

  “I have a feeling we won’t.” Jayden followed her gaze. “And that Maverick and Charlotte will be lucky to have you.” She reached out a hand and touched her again. And for the first time since she’d found out she was pregnant, Amy wasn’t as terrified. Things would be all right. She could do this...with the Gillians’ help.

  Chapter 6

  He told himself to stay away. That Amy Jensen’s health and well-being were none of his concern, but the minute he said the words to himself he knew it was hogwash. So he’d popped by at odd hours, making sure her car had moved or that her mail had been picked up or that lights were on. Kind of stalkerish, but he didn’t care. Like finding a baby bird on the ground, he could no sooner walk away from Amy now than he could let a nestling fend for itself.

  Still, he managed to stay away for a couple of days, but it was Jayden who informed him Amy had some horse-related questions. He waited for her to call, and when she didn’t, decided he might as well head over to her place to see how she was doing. That was what he told himself even as a little voice inside his head warned him to stay away.

  He found her in the front yard, halfway up an oak tree.

  “What the heck are you doing up there?”

  She’d called out to him the moment he pulled up, although it’d taken him a few seconds to find her.

  “Research,” she called back.

  “You’re crazy. What if you fall?”

  “I’m not going to fall,” she said standing in the V of the tree trunk. “As it happens, I have a lot of experience climbing trees. I used to do it all the time when I was growing up.”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t pregnant back then.”

  She looked like a little kid up there, her long brown hair streaming down her back, a smile on her face. “I’m not going to fall. I was just trying to get an idea of how many lights I’d need.”

  “For what?”

  “For your brother’s wedding.”

  Of course. He should have known.

  “Please get down.”

  She might be up above him, but he could perfectly see her face and the frown she shot down at him. “I’m fine.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll have to come up and get you.”

  “No, don’t do that.” But she didn’t move. “Honestly, I’ll be down in two seconds. By the time you climb up here, we’ll both have to get down.”

  He had a feeling she might be underestimating the length of time she’d be up there, but he’d give her a minute, anyway. “How’d you get up there, anyway?”

  “I used the nubs on the other side as footholds.”

  She took something out of her pocket. A tape measure, he realized.

  “When I was little, I used to climb the tree at our apartment complex. It was a great place to sit and think.” She wrapped the tape measure around one of the branches. “I love trees,” he heard her say. “It’s one of the reasons why I rented this place from your dad. So many trees all around me. Not like the city.”

  He watched as she turned and measured the length of a branch, although for the life of him, he didn’t understand why. He was tempted to point out that each tree was different, but he had a feeling she would just ignore him. Once she finished measuring, she looked up and around, clearly taking stock of something.

  “Please get down.”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

  She actually appeared to listen this time, sitting down in the V of the tree. He went around to catch her.

  “Move out of my way,” she said when he held his arms up toward her.

  “I’m just going to spot you.”

  “I’m going to land on your face if you don’t move.”

  “Not if I catch you.”

  “You don’t need to catch me. I’m just going to hop down.”

  He realized how ridiculous he sounded arguing with her about jumping out of a tree, but he wasn’t going to move.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  “Don’t remind me,” she muttered.

  “Come on down.”

  She stared down at him, clearly impatient with him, but also amused. He could see it in her green eyes, the farthest edges of them crinkling just a bit, a small smile on her face. She rolled her eyes heavenward before leaping down.

  He almost blew it, almost sent both of them tumbling to the ground, but he somehow managed to break her fall, her arms wrapping around him as if she sensed his unsteadiness. He hugged her to him, their bodies connecting, his head telling him to let go, a tiny voice inside his head saying “Well, hello” to the way she felt up against him.

  He let her go.

  “Thanks,” she said, peering up at him. She was so small, like a tiny surprise wrapped up in feminine curves, one that smelled like his mother’s favorite sugar cookies.

  “You’re welcome,” he said, tucking his hands in his pockets because, Lord help him, he felt the urge to tuck away a stray wisp of hair.

  Pregnant.

  With another man’s child.

  The words sat on his chest with the weight of an elephant. Pregnant and still embroiled with her ex. She was the last woman on earth he should be having lascivious thoughts about, but damned if he wasn’t.

  “What were you doing up there, anyway?”

  “I was trying to get a feel for how many lights I’d need.”

  “Lights?”

  She turned, faced the tree. “Picture this,” she said.

  But all he could do was admire how pretty her hair was. It might be brown—a totally average color—but it was thick and it smelled nice and he realized it was because she smelled like vanilla. That was why she reminded him of sugar cookies. It was coming from her hair.

  “Lights.” She waved her hands like Mickey Mouse doing a magic trick. “Everywhere. Thousands of them wrapped around the trunk of that big old tree up by your aunt’s house. The grandfather tree, I heard your sister call it. We’re talking head to toe, up and down and all throughout the branches. I found some pictures online of something similar, but it’s nothing like I want to do. When I’m finished, that tree will glow like the Las Vegas strip.”

  “You’ll probably burn the tree down.”

  She turned on him. “Excuse me?”

  “A lot of lights will generate a lot of heat. What if you set the tree on fire?”

  She frowned, but then she shot him a look of disappointment, her hands resting on her hips. “You, sir, are a party pooper.”

  “It’s a valid point.”

  “If I use low-wattage lights I’ll be fine. Here. Come inside. I’ll show you what it’s going to look like.”

  “Th
at’s okay. I’ll take your word for it.”

  “No. I want you to see it. Come on in.”

  She trotted off before he could object and he realized he’d look like an idiot if he didn’t follow. “I actually only dropped by for a second to see how you were doing. I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “Yeah, your sister said you’ve been dropping by and checking on me.”

  Damn that Jayden. He’d been ratted out.

  “Just to make sure you’re okay.”

  “Crazy thing is I didn’t hear you drive by once.”

  “Because I rode.”

  She stopped, turned.

  He motioned over his back. “There’s a path through the trees. You can get to the main ranch if you take a right out of your driveway, but it’s not really a road. Just a trail. I use it all the time to school the horses.”

  Lies, lies, lies.

  “It’s good to get the horses out of the arena from time to time.”

  That much was true.

  “Well, next time you ride by, stop in and say hello.”

  She left the front door open and he was reminded of the first time he’d seen her, sitting on the bottom step of the porch, crying.

  “Oh,” he heard her exclaim, excitement in her voice. “Before I forget, I have that rent check.”

  “Rent?” Why did he feel so discombobulated all of a sudden?

  “Mmm-hmm. Didn’t your sister tell you? Debbie finally paid me, thank God, although it was kind of your sister to drop off those groceries. Did you tell her to do that? If you did, I think I might kiss you.”

  He froze in the open doorway, scrubbed a hand over his face. “All I did was mention we had a single pregnant mom living on the property. She took it upon herself to do the rest.”

  She handed him the check, bowing a little as if presenting to royalty. “Last month’s rent and this month’s. I’m all caught up. And I have a wedding to do next week and this particular couple has been great about paying me on time, so I’ll have next month’s rent covered soon. And then I’ll have the Christmas wedding in December, so I think I’m covered for the next few months.”

  But then her eyes dimmed and he wondered if she was thinking about her ex and the baby she carried, and for some reason he would never understand, he wanted to touch her.

  “It would have been fine if you didn’t pay us, you know. But now there’s no pressure for you to handle my brother’s wedding if you don’t need to.”

  “Oh, but I do.” She smiled and the grin made him happy for reasons he didn’t care to examine. “Want to do it, that is.”

  She dashed toward the kitchen and picked up her tablet, bringing it over to him. She motioned him farther inside and he really didn’t want to be alone with her, felt better for some reason with the door open behind him.

  “Come on,” she said when he didn’t move.

  He took a tiny step forward. It was enough for her to reach behind him and close the door.

  “You can’t see with that glare,” she said. “Here. Look. By the way, that tea your sister brought me? It’s a miracle worker. I only tossed my cookies once this morning.”

  If one could consider that an improvement, he thought, but then she was standing next to him, and he caught a whiff of her scent again, and all he wanted to do was go back outside even though, technically, he was barely inside.

  What the heck was wrong with him?

  “Can you see with the glare from the window behind you like that? Why don’t you come into the kitchen? It’s not as bright in there.”

  “No,” he said sharply, too sharply. He swallowed. “That’s okay. I can see just fine.”

  But he took a step forward, turning a bit so that the glare disappeared. It was a picture of a tree, one whose branches had been covered with lights, thousands of them. It took him a moment to realize there was a couple getting married standing in front of the massive trunk. Their forms were in shadow thanks to the dazzling display behind them.

  “This is what I want to do, only I want to light up every single branch on that tree. I mean every one of them.” She flipped to a daytime photo of a tree he instantly recognized as his aunt and uncle’s. “See, I want to string hundreds of lights around the big trunk, then move upward to this branch here and here.” She swiped to another picture. “And then hang these from the branches.”

  “These” were giant lit-up balls of some sort.

  “It’ll be like a constellation of stars or a universe, you know, just a twinkling galaxy of love.”

  A twinkling galaxy of love?

  “And I was thinking, and this is where you come in, that we could have the bride arrive in a carriage drawn by horses. You don’t happen to have one of those, do you?”

  He nodded. “But it’s probably not the kind of carriage you’re thinking of. It’s a buckboard, the kind with a flatbed behind the seat.”

  “Hmm. Maybe that will work. And I want the horses wearing lights, too, you see.” She swiped again. “Like this.”

  She brought up a picture from an old movie he’d once seen.

  “You want to light up the horses like in Electric Horseman?”

  “Electric Horseman?”

  “It’s the movie this picture is from.”

  She tapped some keys and he realized she was searching for images from the movie, and then her brows shot up and he was fascinated with how her eyes seemed to glow like the lights she wanted to string through the tree.

  “Exactly like that, except lights have improved since this movie was made, you know. There are solar-powered lights now and tiny battery packs. We could really do it up right, if you’d help me. And the carriage, too. Although now that I think about it, I really had my heart set on one of those romantic carriages. Or maybe a stagecoach. That would be cool, too. I’d want to light that up, too. Nothing like the tree, though. I don’t want to outshine the bride when she arrives, but we could outline it like this.” She switched to another picture of a carriage whose edges were outlined by lights. “I’d want to do the wheels, too, though. Is that possible? That’s what I wanted to ask you about. That and lighting up the horses’ legs.”

  She was insane. Either that or genius, but he was staring to see what she’d meant when she’d said she did things differently. This was different all right.

  “So, my question to you is, do you have any horses that would pull a carriage? Or does Maverick have a horse he loves that could pull one?”

  Option number one: one sandwich short of a picnic.

  “First of all, the type of carriage you want would have to be pulled by two horses. Second, it’s not like you can hook any old horse up to a carriage. Third, those types of carriages are very, very rare and hard to find.”

  “But you could train them, right? The horses, I mean. They already pull your flatbed thing, so it wouldn’t be that hard. Because I really want to use horses from the ranch. That would be so special.”

  She really had no clue, but he’d give her bonus points for being so committed to her project.

  “You never know how a horse will react to something new. Going from a buckboard to an honest-to-goodness carriage might be scary to them. We’d have to work on it.”

  “And that would take...what? Weeks? Months? Because we have that kind of time. We don’t need them until the spring. You could train them over the winter.”

  “And what about the carriage? Where am I going to get that?”

  “I’ll admit, that is a pickle. I usually have brides rent the carriage and it comes with horses. This would be the first time I’ve ever had someone use their own horses. I somehow doubt the rental agencies would allow us to use our own horses. I wonder if we’d be better off just buying our own carriage.”

  “Do you know how expensive those things are?”

  “I’m guessing a lot, by the look o
n your face. Okay, so totally impractical. Good to know.”

  And the way she peered at him, like a teacher disappointed by something a student had said, almost made him laugh.

  “Thousands of dollars. That’s if you can even find one. I don’t think Maverick and Charlotte would want to spend that kind of money.”

  “No.” She appeared crestfallen. “Then we’ll have to rent one.”

  “From whom? Like you said, most people who rent those things out to people insist on using their own animals...for a good reason.”

  “Leave that to me.” She shut off the tablet. “The bigger question is, can we tape lights to the horses somehow?”

  “Tape? Not likely. When we pull them off, it’d pull their coat off with it, too. No. You’d have to use something like veterinary wrap or something.”

  “That’s what Jayden said. Or maybe masking tape. That doesn’t have a lot of stick to it.”

  “And it breaks super easy, too. You need something with some flex that will stay put.”

  “Then veterinary wrapping it is.” Her face had lit up again. “Perfect. Now all I need to do is run this by your brother and future sister-in-law, if you think they’ll like it. It’s not too over-the-top, is it?”

  She stared up at him in such hopeful anticipation that even if he’d thought the idea terrible—which he sort of did—he wouldn’t have had the heart to tell her otherwise.

  “I think it’s not up to me.”

  Her shoulders deflated.

  “But I like it.” Sometimes little white lies were necessary in life.

  Her whole body inflated again. “Do you think? I was so worried they might not be the sparkly type.”

  They weren’t. Charlotte was a social worker who was all business, and Maverick was the quiet, serious type, even more so than he was, which was saying a lot. He suspected they wouldn’t want a whole lot of flash, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.

  “I think I’ll text them right now and tell them I have an idea I want to present.”

  “Sure. Good idea.”

  He turned for the door, happy for the escape.

  “Thanks for your help.” She called out after him.

  “You’re welcome.”