The Second Chance Rancher

by Kate Pearce

Jackson held out his hand and it was firmly shaken. “Nice to see you again, Adam. I’ve spoken to Daisy, but this is the first time I’ve seen any of you guys around town.”

  “We tend to keep to ourselves. Daisy said she’d been seeing a lot of you.”

  There was an ominous note in Adam’s voice that made Jackson stand at attention. “She’s certainly been great at picking out flowers for me.”

  “Yeah, she’s good at her job.” Adam Miller paused. “Would you like to come to dinner tonight?”

  “At your place?” Jackson asked dubiously.

  “Yes.”

  “Is Daisy okay with that?”

  “Why wouldn’t she be?” Adam raised an intimidating eyebrow. “She said you’d been getting along real fine.”

  “Okay, then I’d love to come.” Jackson nodded. “What time do you want me?”

  “Six thirty? Do you need directions?”

  “Nope, I’m good,” Jackson said. “We’re practically neighbors.”

  Adam tipped his hat and walked away, leaving Jackson staring after him. All the Millers were on the large side, but Adam was probably the biggest of the bunch. No one had messed with any of them in school, not even BB Morgan.

  Maybe this was Daisy’s weird way of changing her mind and asking him out? Whatever it was, he was more than willing to go along with it, and he loved a challenge. He’d faced down foreign adversaries in war zones. The Miller brothers didn’t scare him.

  * * *

  “Can someone get the door?” Kaiden yelled from the kitchen as Daisy came down the stairs.

  She’d managed to shut the shop on time and had arrived home to find Kaiden and Adam cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Adam had told her to relax and get changed. For once, she’d taken him at his word, had a long shower, washed her hair, and changed into her favorite pj pants and T-shirt.

  “The front door?” Daisy yelled back.

  “Yeah! Can’t you hear the knocking?”

  As she went to open it, Daisy wondered who on earth was at the front door. Regular folk all used the back entrance by the mudroom. But if Kaiden or Adam were expecting guests, it might explain all the cooking . . .

  She opened the door and found herself face-to-face with Jackson, who was smiling at her from behind a bottle of wine and a big cake box.

  “Hey!”

  She almost shut the door in his face, and would’ve done so except Adam came up behind her.

  “Hey, Jackson. You made it. Come on in.”

  Daisy looked up at her brother as he welcomed Jackson over the threshold. What on earth was going on? No one had mentioned Jackson was coming over, so why not? The penny dropped as Adam winked at her. Dear Lord, she’d suggested Jackson might be boyfriend material, and now her brothers were all over him like a rash . . .

  She tagged along behind Jackson as Adam took him through to the kitchen to meet Kaiden and Ben, and put the wine and dessert in the refrigerator. Jackson didn’t seem unnerved by being surrounded by Millers, which proved he was either adorably overconfident or totally unaware of the significance of being asked to dinner by the brothers. If she’d known what Adam had planned, she would’ve called Jackson and told him to run for the hills.

  But it was her fault he was here, so she’d have to stick around and help him out.

  “That’s the Lymond boy, is it?” Her father spoke from behind her, making her jump. “He looks quite normal—unlike his pa, who had a miserable temper and a face to match.”

  Daisy put her hand on her father’s plaid-covered arm. “Please don’t tell him that, okay?”

  “Like I would do that to a man my little girl is sweet on.” He pinched her cheek like she was five. “At least this one has a real job, honey, not like that other loser you brought home.”

  “That ‘loser’ is now the head of a multimillion-dollar IT company, Dad.”

  “Well, that just goes to show you had a lucky escape.” Her father chuckled. He was a man who believed in speaking his mind, and he had very few filters. Her second boyfriend, Art, had spent one night at the ranch and then fled back to Stanford, never to return or date Daisy again.

  Daisy hurried to intercept Jackson before he met anyone else. She grabbed hold of his arm and marched him toward the mudroom.

  “You can leave your coat and stuff out here, Jackson.”

  “Great.” He met her gaze. “Thanks for inviting me up here.”

  “Oh that!” Daisy smiled. “That was all Adam’s idea. Don’t let me forget to thank him later.”

  He took off his jacket. “I have to say, it was a bit of a surprise.”

  “To me as well,” Daisy murmured. “I had no idea you were coming until I opened the front door.”

  “To be honest, I thought you’d probably be glad to see the back of me for a few days after I messed everything up. I’m really glad you’ve given me a second chance,” Jackson said.

  “Thank Adam.” Daisy led him back into the big kitchen dining area, where someone had even lit candles on the table and put out real napkins rather than from the roll of paper towels. “What’s the occasion, Adam?”

  He turned from his inspection of the oven and gave her one of his rare smiles. “Nothing’s too good for my little sister.”

  The back door slammed, and Daisy just knew without looking that Danny and Evan, the brothers closest in age to her, had also arrived to watch the show. Usually on a Friday night they went down to the Red Dragon, played pool, and ate there before coming home to sleep it off. Adam had obviously decided to call in all his reinforcements to make sure Jackson Lymond got the grilling of his life, and Jackson was totally unaware of what awaited him.

  Daisy mentally girded her loins. It was going to be an interesting night . . .

  * * *

  Being around all six of the Miller men at once made Jackson feel like he’d stumbled into the locker room of a college football team. There was enough testosterone in the air to make him dizzy, but he was used to dealing with USAF fighter pilots, so he didn’t let it faze him too much. They were all being remarkably pleasant to him, which was slightly alarming. He guessed if he was meeting his sister Amy’s potential boyfriend for the first time, he might be acting the same.

  After seeing Daisy’s horrified expression when she’d opened the door, Jackson was rapidly coming to the conclusion she really hadn’t known about the invitation—which begged the question of why he’d been invited in the first place. At some point, he intended to get Daisy to himself and ask her about that interesting little detail.

  At the moment, she was sticking close to his side and determinedly deflecting all the questions her brothers were showering down on him, which he found quite touching. If he took a wild guess, he suspected the Millers had always made a big deal about Daisy dating anyone. He didn’t remember her ever having a boyfriend at school.

  “Would you like some of that wine you brought, Jackson?” Mr. Miller called out to him. “Like a drink, do you? Your father sure did.”

  Jackson smiled and set out to parry the initial salvo. “I’m not a big drinker, sir. I brought the wine for you guys.”

  “Like we look like wine drinkers,” Kaiden murmured. “Have you seen how much beer there is in our refrigerator?”

  “I’m more of a beer drinker myself.” Jackson turned to Kaiden, who seemed to be the most approachable of the brothers and was closest to Jackson in age. “But seeing as I’m driving, I probably won’t have a drink at all.”

  “Come and sit here, Jackson.” Ben Miller, who had reddish hair, patted the seat beside him. “Kaiden and Adam will bring the food over.”

  “Thanks.” Jackson made a quick calculation that they had seated him as far away from Daisy as possible, and realized he couldn’t do a thing about it. “It’s a real pleasure to be here tonight. Thanks again for the invite.”

  The food at least wasn’t some kind of challenge. Being men who worked outside, the Millers tended to eat big meals packed with protein and carbs, just like he and Cauy did
. There were baked potatoes, cheese, broccoli, and some kind of salad, and those were just the sides to the biggest pile of different cuts of steak Jackson had ever seen outside a restaurant.

  “You’re not one of those fancy vegetarians now, are you?” Mr. Miller inquired.

  “I work on a cattle ranch, sir,” Jackson said as he speared himself a nice juicy steak. “I love beef in all its forms.”

  “Shame that Daisy’s a vegetarian then,” Kaiden mused as he passed the salad around. “Don’t you feel conflicted when you’re around her?”

  Jackson took some salad and handed it off to Adam, who was on his other side. “That’s something Daisy and I will have to come to terms with in our own time.”

  “I’m not a vegetarian,” Daisy piped up from the end of the table. “I just don’t like beef, and you all take it like a mortal insult.”

  “Our beef is the best in the valley,” Mr. Miller stated. “You’re missing out.”

  Jackson took a baked potato and liberally anointed it with sour cream and butter. “This all looks great.”

  “Eat up.” Adam thumped him so hard on the back, Jackson was glad he didn’t wear dentures. “There’s plenty more.”

  By the time Jackson was on his second steak, he was beginning to enjoy himself. He’d always relished a challenge, and fending off the Millers’ intense interest was like balancing on a high wire over an alligator pit.

  “So, you were in the air force?” Mr. Miller asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Pilot?”

  “Not all the time. I mainly worked in strategic air intelligence at AFCENT in Qatar.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Jackson shrugged. “Liaising with allied forces, coordinating air attacks, identifying specific targets for the planes in enemy territory, that kind of thing.”

  “Like the videos on YouTube?” Evan asked.

  “Pretty much.” Jackson started eating again, mainly to slow down the rate of questions.

  “Why did you leave?” Adam asked.

  “I’d served for ten years. When my dad got sick and died, I decided I should come home and help Cauy with the ranch.”

  That wasn’t quite how the sequence of events had gone, but the Millers didn’t need to know that.

  “Your daddy certainly ran it into the ground.” Mr. Miller sipped his beer. “I’m surprised you boys didn’t decide to sell up to the Morgans.”

  “Cauy promised Dad he wouldn’t do that,” Jackson explained. “We’ve established a good working relationship with the Morgans now. We’re housing some of their horses until their new barn is built.”

  Mr. Miller snorted. “I can’t believe Ruth Morgan’s letting those city-slicker cowboys ruin a fine ranch.”

  “Are you talking about her grandsons, sir?” Jackson asked. “From what I can tell, if they hadn’t come back, the place was doomed.”

  “There are better ways to save a ranch than turn it into a three-ring circus,” Mr. Miller continued. “We’ve managed to keep going.”

  “Mainly because you have five sons who have been willing to stay here and stick at it,” Daisy pointed out. “Poor Mrs. Morgan had nobody for quite a while, remember?”

  “True,” Mr. Miller acknowledged, and then turned back to Jackson. “If Cauy inherited the ranch from your father—which I find hard to believe because he never liked the boy—what are your plans? Are you going to spend your life as a hired hand?”

  “I’m thinking I’d like to set up on my own at some point.” Jackson conceded defeat and put down his silverware. “Preferably in Morgan Valley.”

  “Yeah?” Adam glanced down the table at Daisy. “Good to know.” He got to his feet. “Let’s clear this lot away and we can start on dessert.”

  * * *

  Daisy volunteered herself and Jackson to do the washing up and firmly steered the rest of the Millers away by reminding them that the game they’d wanted to watch on TV was about to start.

  She scraped a plate off into the pig bin and handed it to Jackson, who rinsed it and stuck it in the dishwasher. He was still smiling, which, considering the interrogation he’d gone through at the dinner table, was quite remarkable. Her family had questioned his views on sports, the environment, religion, and politics and nothing had shaken the man.

  “So how come Adam invited me to dinner without mentioning it to you?” Jackson asked casually. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his blue shirt to help with the washing up.

  Daisy cast a furtive glance around and then turned back to her companion.

  “It might have been something I said.”

  “About me?”

  “Kind of.” She fidgeted with a spoon until Jackson took it from her, washed it, and placed it neatly on the rack. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Can I meet you at Yvonne’s for lunch tomorrow or something? I’m buying.”

  He regarded her steadily for a long moment and then smiled. “After what I’ve just been through for you tonight, Daisy Miller, I should damn well hope you’re buying.”

  Chapter Three

  Daisy found a seat in the back corner of Yvonne’s and settled in to wait for Jackson to arrive. After he’d left the ranch the previous night, she hadn’t heard a peep of criticism from her brothers or father. Having been brought up in Morgantown just like the Millers, Jackson was very much like them, and had answered all their questions with aplomb and without backing down.

  She’d expected them to annihilate him, ensuring that any further ideas he had of becoming her boyfriend would disappear altogether, but it hadn’t worked out like that at all . . . The fact that she’d obtained some kind of grudging family approval for her imaginary relationship with Jackson had inspired Daisy with another idea. She fiddled nervously with the silverware as Lizzie came over to check if she wanted anything.

  Just as she declined to order, Jackson came in through the door, and they both turned to look at him.

  “He’s cute,” Lizzie breathed. “So darn cute.”

  “I suppose he is,” Daisy conceded.

  “Come on, look at him. Long legs, broad shoulders, no fat anywhere, a handsome face . . .” Lizzie sighed.

  “If you like him so much, you should ask him out,” Daisy suggested. “I hear he’s looking for a girlfriend.”

  “He’s not my type,” Lizzie said. “I like the big, strong, quiet ones.”

  “I have a few of those at home,” Daisy joked.

  “Yeah, I know.” Lizzie paused, then hissed, “He’s coming this way!”

  “That’s because he’s having lunch with me,” Daisy explained.

  “Ooh, you sly minx.” Lizzie winked at her. “Then I’ll get out of your hair.”

  Jackson came over, tipped his hat to Lizzie, who looked all flustered, and took the seat opposite Daisy. He wore his usual jeans, a thick working shirt and a Stetson, and looked like every cowgirl or cowboy’s dream.

  “Hey, Jackson, thanks so much for coming.” Daisy smiled at him.

  “I’m not sure how much I can actually eat.” He patted his flat stomach. “I’m still digesting last night’s dinner.”

  “Seeing as I’m paying, you can order as much as you like and take it home in a to-go box for Cauy.”

  “That’s a great idea. Neither of us likes cooking much.” Jackson nodded. “Now what’s going on?”

  “Shall we order first?” Daisy raised her eyebrows. Jackson was way too direct for her sometimes. “I’m starving.”

  * * *

  Daisy looked her usual pretty self, her long brown hair in a single braid over her shoulder, a pink T-shirt advertising her shop with a flowery cardigan wrap thing over it. In fact, she looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but he was rapidly deciding that was a front.

  They both ordered the same thing and sat back to await the food while Lizzie got them their drinks. Cauy and Rachel had waited up to check in on him when he’d gotten home last night. He’d regaled them with a quick rundown of his evening, which had left them i
n stiches. Neither of them had inquired about how he really felt about Daisy, which had been something of a relief until he’d realized they were too busy to worry about his love life when they could get on with their own.

  “So what exactly is going on, Daisy?” Jackson decided to get the conversation back on track.

  She regarded him over her glass of iced tea. “It’s like this. My brothers are always on about me getting a boyfriend, and then when I get one, they’re all over him and scare him away.”

  Jackson scrambled to catch up with her sudden flow of words. “Okay.”

  “I happened to mention to Adam that I’d seen you a few times in town. He assumed I was interested in you and went ahead and invited you to dinner to check you out.” She sat back. “That’s it.”

  She kept her eyes on her silverware as she fiddled around with it.

  “So every time you talk to a guy and your brother finds out, he invites them to dinner?” Jackson asked cautiously. “That sounds . . . odd.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I know your brothers, and while they might be a bit intimidating, none of them have ever struck me as crazy.”

  “That’s because you’re not their sister.” Daisy folded her arms over her chest and finally met his gaze.

  He stared right back, and eventually, she looked away.

  “So you’re sure you didn’t say that you liked me or anything?”

  “Well, as to that . . .” She sighed and put down her water glass with a thump. “I can’t do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “Lie convincingly.”

  “Good.” Jackson held her gaze. “Keep talking.”

  “I need an alibi,” Daisy blurted out. “So I was thinking I could get you to go out with me.”

  “I want to go out with you,” Jackson reminded her. “What’s your take?”

  “My brothers are getting suspicious about the amount of time I spend at the shop. When your name came up the other day, I pretended to be interested in you so they’d think that was why I was staying late in town.”

  “Ah. That explains the dinner invitation.” Jackson nodded.

  “Yes, and I’m really sorry you had to go through that baptism of fire.” She shuddered.