“Yep, just now. Where are you?”
“I’m at Bullseye Ranch with Brandee and Shane, so you don’t have to worry. Shane’s got everything under control. They have a shelter here, in case the storm gets out of control.”
“Okay. I’m glad you’re not alone. Stay safe.” How well his sister knew him. He’d taken it upon himself to watch out for her over the years. Even though she was an independent woman, strong and fierce when necessary, she was still his baby sis. “How did your trip go?”
“It went well. I’ll tell you about it when I see you. But it’s all good. What about Bradley? Is the middle child still out of town?”
“Yeah, as far as I know. Last I heard from him, he wasn’t coming home for a few weeks. Crescent Moon might be in the path of the storm.” He needed to check out his family home. Crescent Moon was where they were all raised and it was Bradley’s home now. “I’ve got to see to the animals, and let the staff go home.”
“That’s a good idea. Be careful, okay?”
“Always.”
“Uh, Dan. Have you had much luck...with those files?” He pictured his little sis biting her nails like she did when she was kid and something bothered her. Like not having a mother to help her do her hair. Like not having a mom explain about touchy female things. Dan had tried, but hell, what did he know about pigtails and braids? He hadn’t been the greatest at explaining the birds and the bees either.
“I wish I had better news for you, but Erin and I didn’t find a thing that looked suspicious. We’ve been going over the files for two nights.”
“You have, have you?”
“Yeah.”
“I like Erin. It’s awfully nice of her to do this for me.”
“Yeah.”
“Dan? What are you not telling me?”
“Nothin’.”
“Nothin’? As in, ‘None of your business, Chels’? That kind of nothin’?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe is good. I approve. Are you dating her?”
Air blew from his chest. Hell, he liked keeping things private but as sure as anything, his sis would probe him about Erin endlessly if he didn’t shoot straight with her. And if he continued to see Erin, it’d be too hard to hide anyway in a small town like Royal. “Alright, yeah. I’m seeing her, but it’s a casual kind of thing.”
“Casual? With Erin?” Chelsea laughed. As if she had some secret knowledge that casual and Erin didn’t go in the same breath. “Dan, that’s good. You’ve been alone too long.”
“I’m not alone.”
“Sure, sure, big brother. I know the drill. You have a company to run, a cattle ranch and your animals. You have it all.”
She was poking fun at him. He should give her grief, but the storm was looming and he was glad enough that she was safe with her best friend Brandee. “Can’t argue those facts. You called it, baby sis. Talk soon,” he said, and after the phone call he jumped into his SUV, and instead of heading toward his family home, Crescent Moon, he sped toward the Flying E Ranch.
To Erin.
Six
As Erin took her morning jog along one of the Flying E’s paths, she pounded out a pace that would clear her head. She’d woken up feeling restless, missing Dan. Running had always brought clarity and a new perspective, and today she needed that, more than anything. She’d just had a phone interview with the administrator at Lincoln Elementary. The call had gone exceedingly well, with no mention of the Rex Talbot thing. Apparently it had all blown over, and her old school had even given her an excellent reference. Her instincts told her she would love this job. It was everything she wanted; kids, music, a place to belong. She was a teacher and a musician, and when those two paths met, it was where dreams were made.
A Seattle Mariners sweatshirt and her adrenaline keeping her warm, she breathed in the cool crisp air. Clouds gathered above, gray and threatening. This wasn’t new to her. Back in Seattle, cloudy days were the norm and never stopped her from jogging.
It was great having the wind at her back. She waved to ranch employees in the distance as she thundered past the guesthouses on the property, picking up speed, her legs aching in a good way. It was time to put her life back in order and not allow what happened with Rex tear her down anymore. Coming to Texas had been the best thing to happen to her. She needed this time to find her confidence, to find her pride and learn how to let go of the past.
As she rounded the corner leading to her cottage, she spotted Dan’s SUV parked in front. Immediately a smile cracked at the corners of her mouth. A few more steps and yes, there he was standing on the porch.
He turned when he heard her footsteps and gave her an up and down perusal. The grim look on his face surprised her. Before she got close enough to meet his eyes, he said, “Where have you been?”
“Jogging,” she replied. Wasn’t it obvious?
“You don’t take your phone when you jog?”
“I do, usually. Back in Seattle I always did. But since I wasn’t going off the ranch I didn’t think I’d need it. What’s wrong, Dan?”
“I’ve been trying to call you for half an hour,” he said, furrowing his brows in that adorable way, yet there was a serious something in his voice.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t reach me.” She wasn’t sure why she was apologizing. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a storm coming, a big one.”
She glanced at the sky. “I figured. Can we go inside?” As she unlocked the door and gave a little push, a sudden cold gust blew it open the rest of the way. She looked over her shoulder at Dan standing right behind her. “After you,” he said.
She entered and led him into the parlor area of the great room. “I didn’t think I’d see you this morning. Didn’t you have a meeting?”
“I did,” he said, “I sent my employees home.”
“Wow, because of the storm?”
He nodded. “They needed to be home with their families.”
She kept her eyes locked to his, wondering what was up. Was he here to warn her? “Dan, it’s very sweet of you to come by. I’ll be sure to stay inside until the storm is over.”
He shook his head, and suddenly her hand was enveloped in his, his large palm wrapping around her smaller one. His eyes intense, his expression cast in worry, the look on his face completely drew her in. “Erin, this storm could be monstrous. It’s happened once before in Royal, and there was devastation. I’d like you to come with me to Crescent Moon, my family home. I need to see to the animals and make sure the staff went home. There’s an underground shelter there, in case it comes to that. I promise you’ll be safer with me.”
She blinked a few times, absorbing his words, totally touched by his concern. “You came here to get me?”
He nodded, as if the idea was as natural as breathing. Did he think her a stray that needed rescuing? In some cases that was so true, he must look at her as a lost soul, a woman without direction at this point in her life. She hadn’t told him about her job offer because it hadn’t come through officially yet. And something else hadn’t come through, as well. She had the pregnancy test to check out her symptoms, but hadn’t the nerve to take it yet. Shelving that thought for the moment, she stared at Dan, rubbing at his jaw, waiting for her answer. He’d come here, guns blazing, ready to bring her to safety. What woman would refuse such a sweet and generous offer? The way she saw it, she had two options. She could sit alone in this cabin and wait out the storm, or spend her time with Dan at his family home and experience whatever adventure might await them.
When she thought in those terms, there really wasn’t any option.
“Give me a few minutes to shower and change?”
“Just a few, Erin. And you might want to pack a bag, in case we have to spend the night.”
“Okay and I’ll call W
ill and let him know I’m going with you so he doesn’t worry.”
Fifteen minutes later, Erin was seated beside Dan in his black Escalade and as they headed off the Flying E, powerful bolts of rain began to pour down, slashing across the windshield. There was no preamble, no foreplay. One second the land was dry, the next the roads were slick and wet. Windshield wipers fought hard to clear Dan’s vision as he drove with an expertise and caution she appreciated.
“Wow, you were right,” she said, breaking the silence. “It’s torrential.”
“It will be, once the winds kick up. They estimate forty mile an hour winds. Did you bring your power umbrella?”
“I’m from Seattle, of course I did.”
He laughed a little while concentrating hard on the road.
“How much longer?” she asked, after another long silence.
“Just another five miles and we’ll be there.”
The roads were relatively empty. Everyone from around here seemed to know how to brace for the storm. She huddled up tighter in her flannel jacket lined in lambswool.
“Oh damn,” Dan said, staring out the windshield to his right. They passed a car on the side of the road, a woman in the driver’s side with a phone to her ear. Dan immediately slowed the car and pulled over to the embankment. “Looks like she’s stuck.”
Erin strained to look into the car. “Dan, there’s a car seat in the back. There might be a child in there too.”
“Yeah, I see that. Stay put. I’ll go check it out.” Dan shoved the door open and climbed out, ducking his head and hanging on to his hat as he ran to the woman in distress.
Erin waited, strumming her fingers over the seat cushion and after sixty seconds of not knowing, jumped down from the car and made a dash for it. When she reached the car, Dan gave her a look and then resumed working on the windshield wipers.
She waved to the woman who indeed had a toddler in a car seat behind her. Erin reached her driver’s side window, rain pelting her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, just a little frazzled,” she said. “You’re getting soaked. You want to get in?”
Erin didn’t hesitate to get into the passenger side and introduce herself. “I’m Erin Sinclair.”
“Judy Roberts. My wipers are on the blink. They’re old, I should’ve had them replaced. I couldn’t see a darn thing and I didn’t want to take a chance with my son in the car.”
“That’s a smart move. How old is he?”
The little blond-haired boy seemed oblivious to his surroundings. He held his juice bottle and was busy staring out the window at the downpour. “Donny’s two and a half. We were at the doctor’s office. He’s been sick and I thought I could outrun the rain.”
Dan knocked on the woman’s window and she lowered it. “Looks like I might’ve got them working again,” Dan shouted over the rain. “Wanna give it a try?”
“Okay,” she said. She turned on the ignition and the wipers cleared the windshield as they were intended. Relieved, the woman nodded to Dan. “Looks like they’re working now.”
“For now, anyway. If you want to try driving home, we’ll follow you.”
When the woman hesitated, Erin nodded. “We’ll see you and Donny safely home.”
“That’s very kind of you. It’s not far, just a couple of miles from here. Thank you both so very much.”
“Glad to help,” Dan told her. Then he gave her a nod. “Erin, let’s go.”
“We’ll be right behind you,” she assured Judy and then opened the car door. Her boots sunk into muddy gravel and angry drops of rain bombarded her face as she made a quick dash to Dan’s car.
“Whew,” she said, plunking in her seat and slashing her hand over her brow, drying her face the best she could.
Dan tossed his hat into the backseat. He was drenched and staring at her. Her hair plastered to the top of her head, her teeth chattering and her boots mud-soaked, she wasn’t exactly female eye candy at the moment. But Dan’s eyes were warm on her anyway. “It was nice of you to get out and help.”
She pushed wet tendrils off her cheeks, finger-combing her hair. Hopefully it was an improvement. “I figured the woman might need a bit of moral support. Kinda scary getting stuck on the road in the middle of a storm, and with a child no less. But you’re the one who stopped to help her, despite your need to get home.”
He shrugged it off. “I couldn’t just drive by. By the time someone got to her, the storm could’ve been deadly. Anyway, let’s see if my fix-it job worked.”
Judy pulled her car slowly onto the road and Dan followed behind her.
Thunder boomed overhead, the storm’s rage a threat of what was to come.
* * *
“Is this where you grew up?” Erin asked Dan, getting small glimpses of Crescent Moon Ranch between intermittent swipes of the windshield wipers.
“It is,” he said.
Even though big thick drops of rain obscured some of her vision, his family home still looked magnificent. A long winding ranch house stood out on a vast green meadow. As they drove in, a path of arching trees with intersecting branches meeting like linked fingers overhead led them to the home’s entrance. “It’s beautiful.”
He nodded. “Home to me when I’m staying in Royal, although I spend most of my time at Hunt Acres.”
Where he could be alone with his animals.
But wow, this place was a far cry from the humble little studio apartment Erin called home in Seattle, but home was home. And for the most part Erin liked her place. It was just the memories of Seattle that she didn’t like so much.
Dan pulled into one of the five garages on the premises and parked the car. “I’ve got to check on the animals straightaway,” he said. “After I get you inside and warm.”
He was such a protector. He’d already done a good deed today in helping Judy and her son get home safely. And if she were being honest, Dan coming to get her at the Flying E could be added to his list of good deeds. She was safe with him, making the thrill of being with him that much more intense.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll go inside and change into dry clothes.”
“That’ll work,” he said. Dan grabbed both their bags and they got out of the car. He led her past the mudroom and a marvelous kitchen, to a room, she might guess by the floral feel to the space, that was once Chelsea’s bedroom. “You can change in here. There’s a shower too, if you want to warm up.”
“Thanks, maybe I will. Where will you be?”
“I’ve got to make sure the horses are secure in the stable. Should be back in half an hour or so.”
“Do I come looking for you, if you don’t?” She smiled, but it wasn’t a joke. She had a protective streak in her too.
“Not on your life. You stay put inside. This time, Erin, I need you to heed my warning. Don’t go outside. As soon as I get back, I’ll show you where the bunker is.”
The tone of his voice brought chills. “You really think it’ll come to that?”
“It might. Like I said before, the tornado that whipped through Royal a few years back did a lot of destruction.”
He waited patiently, watching her closely. “You don’t come outside, got that?”
Thunder boomed again, the weighty clouds crashing together in the near distance. Another chill ran through her and she couldn’t let him go without lifting on tiptoes and giving him a wet kiss on the cheek. “Got it, but please don’t take any chances out there.”
“Never.”
Telling Dan not to risk himself for the sake of his horses was like telling a papa bear not to protect his cub. She got that, and it scared her a bit but thank goodness he was a big strong beast of a man. “Hurry back,” she whispered.
She followed him to the back door and after he exited, strode to the kitchen window, catching a glimp
se of him heading to a structure some distance away, his head down, his steps rapid, trying to outrun the weather. When he was completely out of sight, she returned to the bedroom.
Chilled to the bone, she stepped out of her clothes quickly, grabbed her bag and entered the bathroom. Setting the shower to medium hot, she got in quickly and the spray hit her in warm bursts. Immediately, her frigid insides began to thaw. In a perfect world, Dan would strip naked and join her there, but that wasn’t going to happen today. He was out in the cold bitter storm and she only prayed that he would return shortly. She’d make hot cocoa or coffee or whatever he wanted to warm himself up.
In such a short time, Dan Hunt had become an important part of her life. In all her crazy dreams, she would never have believed this would happen to her again. Especially while in Texas, of all places. She’d come with the firm resolve to give up on men, at least in the short term. But it was happening and she couldn’t do much to stop it.
After her shower, she dressed in a warm black knit sweater and jeans and covered her feet with fuzzy socks. She strolled around the room, restless, trying to ease her nerves by concentrating on an oil painting on the wall of majestic horses racing through a canyon, their manes lifting, their hooves pounding earth. It was beautiful in its simplicity.
Her phone buzzed and she was grateful for the distraction. Dan had only been gone a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. She took a seat on the bed and picked up on the second ring, smiling. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, honey.” Her mother’s calm voice was just what she needed at the moment. “How are you?”
“I’m doing fine,” she answered.
“Dad and I just got your message. We were out on the golf course this morning. You know your dad, if he doesn’t get thirty-six holes in every week, he gets grouchy.”
A chuckle rumbled from her throat. Her father had to keep ultra busy, even in his retirement. “I figured as much.”
“So, you have good news, I hear?”
“Well, like I said in the message, I think so. Will recommended me for a music director job at an elementary school in Seattle.”
The Texan Takes a Wife Page 9