*
Brice woke up early Saturday morning with the sense that it was going to be a special day. He grinned when he remembered why. He was going to be able to spend time with two of his favorite people.
Padding out of the bedroom barefoot, he made coffee, then took a cup out on the north terrace and watched the sun rising pink and golden in the eastern sky.
He appreciated the loan of the Scott ranch house. A comfortable, sprawling place, it was surrounded by porches on three sides that offered great views, especially the north porch off the kitchen and family room. The covered area overlooked a meadow that curved gently down to the banks of the creek that wound its way around the eastern side of the Triple A. Grant and Abby’s renovated cabin was located even farther east, not far from the boundary line of the ranch.
If they’d made the tour in the spring, Brice could have shown Mary meadows of bluebonnets. There wasn’t much blooming now after the heat of the summer, but fall asters were winking their starry violet blossoms and the gayflowers’ spikes of purple still decorated the rocky landscape. He’d be proud to show off the land that had been in his family for generations.
Once upon a time, he’d thought to sell out his share to Duncan, maybe settle permanently in Austin. He had enjoyed, he admitted, his first few years in the city. The nightlife, the friendly ladies, the music and film scene. But lately, he was finding the traffic and busyness annoying, finding himself yearning for the wide-open spaces and serenity of the ranch. After his unpleasant breakup with Ashley, he felt even more renewed and refreshed living out here in the pure, honest air.
He hadn’t spent this much time at the ranch in years, probably not since before he left for college. His roots in this Hill Country soil must go deeper than he’d thought, for he was starting to consider selling his downtown condo and buying a smaller place to use as a pied-à-terre when he needed to stay in the city. He was glad now that Duncan had resisted when he’d casually mentioned selling, saying their father wanted all of them to remain owners, even though Duncan would be the one to run the ranch.
Maybe he’d build a house somewhere on the property and use that as his base instead of Austin. Or maybe buy a cottage in town, like the one Mary was renting.
Maybe eventually share a home with her.
That thought crept in before he was aware of it. Not too long ago, such an idea would have surprised him, but this time, he only thought it . . . curious. He was definitely interested in spending more time with her. But he wasn’t close to being sure that meant forever.
He finished his coffee and went back inside to refresh it and throw together some cereal to eat while he checked email to see if any of his team had turned up other evidence in the bank fraud case they were working. Whoever was doing the bank transfers was clever and had avoided leaving a trail so far. The originator of the bank-to-bank transfers was hard to trace, especially if the one doing it was on the inside and knew all the necessary codes. But Brice knew if they kept at it, eventually, they’d pin the perpetrator down. The individual would get greedy, make a mistake, leave a tell. They almost always did.
A few hours later, shaved and showered, Brice donned a clean shirt, tromping jeans, and sturdy boots, and walked out to his truck, his heart rate already rising in anticipation. If his luck held, today he’d show Mary the beauty of the Triple A.
After a pleasant drive through the late-morning sunshine into town, he pulled up in front of Elaine and Tom’s big Victorian. Bunny must have been watching, for she ran out to meet him before he even got out of the truck.
“I got my bug spray and a container for rocks. And Mommy gave me an apple to feed Moondust. Let’s get Miss Mary and go!”
Wait until he broke it to her about the change in plans, Brice thought regretfully. She was going to be so disappointed. Hopefully, the change wouldn’t send Mary running too.
“Whoa, peanut, let me at least say ‘hi’ to your folks first,” Brice said, picking the girl up and hoisting her onto his shoulders. “It’s not polite for me to just rush off with you.”
He walked in and greeted her parents, who were having coffee with Mary. Brice’s heart did a little flip the minute he saw her, and he knew he was smiling. She looked lovely, the ugly sack dress exchanged for a slim pair of jeans, some sturdy walking shoes, and a sleeveless blouse in a golden hue that complemented her eyes. All she needed were some proper boots and a Stetson, and she’d look like a real Texas woman.
“Ready to go?” Bunny said, running over to tug Mary’s hand. “A picnic and riding Moondust and collecting rocks! It’ll be perfect!”
“It’s always perfect when you spend time with your favorite people,” Brice said. “But we’re going to have to change the activities a little. We’ll still go out to the cabin, but my brother called me this morning and said Moondust has a sore foot. Must have picked up a rock in her shoe somewhere. He said you wouldn’t be able to ride her today.”
Bunny’s smile crumpled. “I can’t ride Moondust?”
“Sorry, peanut. But how about this? After we meet Miss Abby at the cabin and have our picnic, she said you could come back with her and play with Katie and her cousin, Sissie. You know how much fun they are.”
“Play with Katie and Sissie?” Bunny echoed, looking a bit brighter.
“Yes, if that’s okay with your parents.” After Elaine gave him a nod, he said, “We’ll still have our picnic, and I’ll arrange another ride for you as soon as Moondust is better. Deal?” He held out his hand.
After a disappointed sigh, Bunny shook his hand. “Deal.”
“So we’ll come back after the picnic?” Mary asked.
“Not unless you want to. Bunny’s already seen the ranch, but I’d still like to show you around the Triple A. Are we still on for that?”
While he held his breath, Mary paused, obviously considering. Then nodded. “Yes, I would like to see the ranch.”
“Great! You guys going out this afternoon?” he asked Elaine and Tom.
“Thought we’d walk downtown after we eat Mary’s luscious salad, maybe have a coffee at Reba’s.”
“Kinda like a date?” Brice asked.
“Kinda,” Elaine said with a wicked little smile. “We might even do a little lingerie shopping at the Fallen Angels boutique.”
Brice put his hands over Bunny’s ears. “Better get this poor innocent girl out of here before she hears something she shouldn’t. Let me carry the picnic basket, ma’am,” he offered, following Mary to the table where she’d gone to retrieve a large basket.
“I can handle it,” Mary said.
“I know you can, but you made the lunch. I can at least tote it.”
“Let him. Makes him feel all masculine and commanding to be useful,” Tom said with a grin, walking out with them. “Have fun, sweetheart,” he added, giving his daughter a hug.
“Abby will drop Bunny off when she brings Sissie back to town,” Brice said. “She’ll have her back before dark.”
“That will be perfect,” Elaine said. “Have a great day, all of you!”
The three of them walked to the truck. Brice hopped Bunny into the back and buckled her into the car seat he kept there just for her, then turned to help Mary up the high step into the passenger seat. The jolt of sensation he felt when he took her hand made him freeze, even as her eyes widened. For a moment, the two of them just stood there, looking at each other. Her gaze was startled—but he read attraction in it too.
What would it be like if she were to go up on tiptoe and kiss him?
Like heaven, probably, he answered himself. But no sense getting all heated up. He hadn’t even learned her story yet, and something told him she’d have to be comfortable enough to tell him about who she was before she’d be anywhere near ready to kiss him.
Still, he felt encouraged by that electric connection—and the knowledge that she’d not only felt it, too, but she hadn’t jerked her hand free or retreated.
“Can we go now, Uncle Brice?” Bunny’s voice recalled them.
>
“Sure, peanut. Let Miss Mary get her seat belt fastened and we’ll be off.” With the hand he still held, he gave her a boost up.
“Abby texted that she’d meet us at the cabin just after noon,” he told Mary as they headed out of town.
“I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
“You won’t be disappointed. It’s a showpiece.”
Mary was quiet on the drive, Bunny more than making up for her spot in the conversation. Something Brice had noticed when they had dinner at her place. She encouraged Bunny to talk, encouraged him to talk, but didn’t talk a lot herself. It certainly wasn’t because she was dull or inarticulate. She just had a sort of quiet self-confidence that didn’t require her to be the center of attention. He liked that.
Half an hour later, he turned off the country road onto a long drive, passing beneath a metal archway with a hanging sign announcing “Triple A.” “From here on, we’ll be on McAllister land,” he told Mary.
“Why was the ranch named the Triple A?” she asked.
“My great-great-grandfather, Alastair, settled here in the 1870s with his wife, Alice, and son, Archibald.”
“Did he come from another part of the states?”
“No, directly from Scotland. He’d raised cattle there and heard there was open land to be had in the Texas territory, so he packed up his wife and son and made the crossing, along with a few head of his prized cattle.” He paused. “It takes a lot of courage to set off into the unknown, to do something entirely new with only yourself to count on.”
“Courage . . . or desperation,” she said quietly.
What desperation had driven her from wherever home had been? So many times he’d been tempted to ask her point-blank. But he reined in his impatience, telling himself if he wanted to know the full story, he’d have to wait for her to tell him in her own time.
Thinking of the sparks that had struck between them when he took her hand, he was more and more certain that eventually, she would.
Chapter Nine
After another ten minutes’ slow drive down the dirt trail, they reached the cabin. Mary had been veering from anticipation back to apprehension at the idea of spending the day with Brice. Predictably—and annoyingly—after the warmth and enjoyment of the evening they’d cooked dinner together, when she’d decided maybe she was ready to explore a relationship with someone, she’d awakened the next morning alarmed and conflicted. Not sure attempting that was a good idea, but locked into the outing, she’d impulsively agreed to attend.
She’d arrived at Elaine’s house uncomfortable and tense. The half hour or so of banter between Brice and their friends had recaptured the warmth and ease of their cooking episode, relaxing her again.
Then he’d helped her up into his truck, and the touch of his hand had sent a jolt of physical awareness through her.
Apparently, that initial awakening of her senses she’d felt in the library wasn’t going to go away. If anything, the attraction grew stronger every time she saw him. Complicating that was the fact that she really liked Brice McAllister.
What was she going to do about it?
The drive out, with Brice and Bunny chatting, gave her time to relax again. It’ll be fine, she told herself. It would have been silly and cowardly to back out at the last minute, just because there was a change in plans. You’ll get to see the cabin and some beautiful ranch land, and get to know Brice better. He hasn’t pushed you for more than you’re willing to give. You don’t need to either retreat or force things. Just let it happen naturally.
She was still repeating that last part as a mantra when they reached the cabin.
Abby’s van was already parked behind the house, and she walked out to meet them, Katie skipping at her side.
“Welcome, everyone,” Abby said. “Bunny, you’ve already seen the cabin. Do you want to color with Katie on the back deck? She brought extra pictures and markers for you.”
“C’mon, Bunny,” Katie said. “Mommy drew me a whole set of princess pictures to color.”
While the two girls scampered off, Brice took the picnic basket from the truck and followed the two women. “Grant wanted furnishings that left the cabin still looking like a cabin, but comfortable, easy to live with and clean,” Abby was telling Mary. “We’ve been real happy with it.”
Mary followed her hostess through the entry door and stopped short, surprise and admiration replacing the anxious thoughts in her brain.
She’d entered from a portico-sheltered porch into a wide, open one-room space. To the left of the door was a farm table surrounded by whitewashed chairs, with an old buffet displaying linens and wineglasses, hung on rake heads mounted to the buffet’s back. To the right, forming most of the wall and flanked by double windows on one side, French doors on the other, a large fireplace made of golden, Hill Country limestone dominated the space. Arranged in front of it were a tan leather couch flanked by two overstuffed chairs covered in a denim fabric, the area defined by a patterned rug in tones of rust, tan, and blue. The kitchen, straight across the room from the entry, had a long island with a stone countertop, the base of it covered in roofing tin, which also formed the backsplash above the kitchen counters. Storage was a combination of cabinets with chicken-wire-fronted doors and open shelving.
“Wow, this is magnificent,” Mary said, truly awed. “The shop was impressive enough, but seeing all these designs together in a unified whole—just wow.”
“Grant wanted a place where he could come home after chasing cows or mowing and be able to put his feet up and relax without worrying about getting something dirty or messing something up. So the walking space is broad, the wood-look tile floors easy to clean, as are the denim covers on the chairs. And he can put his boots up on the coffee table—it’s made from a watering trough, with a wooden top.”
Mary had thought decor using found materials, tin, chicken wire, and a chandelier that looked like it was made of branding irons, would create a style too rustic or primitive to appeal to her—but somehow, it hadn’t. Instead, it looked more like a western twist on modern industrial. Everywhere she looked was another innovative use of some material or object.
“Told you she was a creative genius,” Brice said.
“You are that!” Mary agreed.
“Thanks,” Abby said, pinking a little at their praise. “I’m so pleased you like it. Now, we’d better have lunch so I can get the girls back to the showroom. My sister-in-law Marge is dropping Sissie off while she does some shopping. I’ll take all the girls back into town and leave Katie and Sissie to overnight at Marge’s with their friend, Jillee. Marge wanted to give me and Grant some ‘honeymoon time,’” Abby added, her blush deepening.
“Since you never really took one,” Brice said.
“No place else I’d rather be than here,” she said simply. “Let’s enjoy that picnic! I brought some of Katie’s lemonade.”
They walked out through the French doors beside the fireplace to the deck, with its expansive view across the valley to a series of hills. Mary thought she saw the twinkling reflections of a river in the narrow canyon at the foot of the hill.
“This is ‘wow’ too,” she marveled. “What a magnificent view!”
“You can see why Grant wanted to refurbish the old cabin,” Brice said.
“Yes! With this vista, it would be hard to even consider living anywhere else. I can see why you never want to leave, Abby.”
At a picnic table on the deck, the girls were busy coloring, while several Adirondack chairs lined up adjoining it, positioned for maximum enjoyment of the view. Looking up at the adults as they walked out, Bunny said, “Can we have our lunch now?”
“Nothing like a hungry six-year-old to bring you back to the practical,” Mary said to Brice. Turning to Bunny, she said, “What’s your most favoritest food in the whole world?”
Bunny paused, frowning. “The cheese we cut this morning. Or maybe tomatoes.”
“How about you, Katie?”
“I
love cheese too.”
“Good, because we’re going to make bruschetta. You put the tomatoes and cheese on the Italian bread we toasted, sprinkle with some balsamic vinegar, and add some fresh basil on the top. Or you can eat the tomatoes and cheese and bread by themselves. We brought some sliced ham. So you can make a sandwich, too, if you prefer.”
Bunny paused, obviously considering the bruschetta combination with suspicion. “I want the cheese and bread and tomatoes by themselves.”
“Me, too,” Katie echoed.
“Okay. Remember, we have olives and sliced cucumbers and green peppers from the garden too,” Mary said as she unpacked the basket onto the picnic table.
“Girls, let me take your pictures and crayons to put back in the van. Brice, why don’t you help me bring out the lemonade and the glasses?” Abby said.
After Abby gathered up the art supplies, while she and Brice went back into the cabin to get the drinks, Mary helped the two girls assemble plates of cheese, tomatoes, and bread. After saying a quick grace, she let them plunge in.
“I didn’t make them wait,” she said as Abby and Brice came back out, Brice bearing a tray with the glasses. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Abby laughed. “Not at all. I learned early never to stand between that girl and her food.”
“The adults have the same options. Bruschetta, or you can make a regular sandwich with bread, meat, and cheese. I have mayo and mustard as well as the balsamic vinegar.”
“Bruschetta for sure,” Abby said as Grant added, “Same for me.”
“This is delicious!” Abby exclaimed after her first bite.
“It’s the homegrown tomatoes and fresh basil,” Mary said.
“Whatever, the combination is wonderful,” Brice said.
“Text me sometime when you’re free, Mary,” Abby said between bites. “I make a run into the post office or UPS to mail items several times a week. We could meet for lunch or coffee.”
“I should make an appointment to come out to shop, make those canning-jar pendant lights.” She might not be sure what she wanted to do about Brice McAllister, but she definitely wanted to develop her friendship with this talented lady.
The Ranger Page 11