Something was up.
Alaina understood why Gideon had bought his neighbor’s ranch. His frustration with the overgrazing issue was understandable, and he also wanted to help protect his sister’s archeological interests. But why consider calling it the Westcott Wolf Preserve? The name alone would raise a huge amount of ire.
Finally Alaina called Libby. “What’s going on with Gideon?” she asked bluntly.
“Oh, well, I’m not supposed to...”
“Tell me what’s up.”
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but Gideon is confronting Yancy and his buddies at the ranch association meeting tonight. He says things haven’t settled down about your husband and he won’t let it go any further.”
“But it takes months for something like this to cool off. It doesn’t happen in a few weeks.”
“You know my brother.”
Alaina looked at the time and did some fast calculations in her head. “I’m coming down. If I hurry, I can get there before it’s over.”
“You’ll have company. I left Bozeman an hour ago. I couldn’t let him do it without me. I’ll meet you at the house.”
“Thanks.”
Alaina’s habit of breaking down camp each morning stood her well. She mostly needed to fill her backpack and get moving. Adrenaline and frustration gave her extra speed and she got to the cabin earlier than expected. After a quick shower and a change into clean clothes, she raced outside to find both Helene and Libby.
“I’m going, too,” Helene said obstinately.
Alaina saw the determination in their faces and nodded. They got into her SUV and headed for Bannister. Since the meeting had started by the time they arrived, she stayed in the rear to assess the best moment to speak up.
The Double Branch ranch hands were standing in front with Gideon, along with Deke in his uniform and an older man who looked exactly like him. They were a visible show of support and dismay gathered in Alaina’s stomach. It wasn’t right that Gideon was having trouble because of her background, and now Libby’s fiancé and future father-in-law were being drawn into the conflict.
“The question of wolves was settled a long time ago and I won’t allow anyone on my ranch to be harassed because of it,” Gideon was saying.
“Ah, you’re just in love with the woman,” yelled an older man. It was Yancy, the man from the post office.
“That doesn’t change what’s right, as you well know,” Gideon declared. “Not only that, Alaina is no threat to you or your cattle.”
“Your great-grandfather would be ashamed of you.”
Though Alaina’s pulse had leaped when Gideon didn’t deny his feelings for her, she tried to focus on the moment. She stepped forward, determined to face Yancy down herself.
Gideon caught her gaze and shook his head.
She hesitated.
Perhaps this was one of the compromises she’d have to make if they were going to have a future together. Sometimes Gideon would need to handle things; it didn’t mean she wasn’t holding up her end. She’d find a moment to speak up, but she needed to let him have his say now.
“You’re dead wrong,” Gideon said, his calm voice more quelling than if it was louder. “Colby Westcott would have let wolves live in his house before he’d treat anyone unfairly.”
A faint murmur ran around the room.
“Have you forgotten my great-grandfather hosted a team of wolf scientists at the Double Branch?” he continued. “Grandpa Colby understood the difference between disagreeing with an opinion and respecting the person who held that opinion. If he were here today, he wouldn’t tolerate anyone who gave Alaina such a poor reception in town, even to the point of forcing her off the road in his old red truck.”
This time the murmur that went through the meeting hall was distinctly appalled and almost every attendee’s head swiveled to look at Yancy.
He sat abruptly.
Another man stood, saying that he’d been trying to live with wolves on his spread; he’d even consulted with Yellowstone scientists about ways to make it easier. Others rose in agreement. None were thrilled about the predators, which was understandable, but quite a number seemed to feel wolves and bears had a place. And while any lost cow or calf was a concern, having compensation available to recoup those losses was a help.
“We also don’t make questionable claims about predator kills,” one rancher declared, again looking pointedly at Yancy. “At least most of us don’t.”
Yancy’s face had sunk deep between the lapels of his coat and his gaze seemed permanently affixed to the floor.
When Alaina was recognized, another murmur rippled through the air, this time of surprise. But she didn’t sense hostility in their expressions; it seemed more like curiosity.
She stepped forward again. “I understand you’re concerned about your cattle. And that’s completely valid. One thing I’ve learned over the past few months is that ranching isn’t easy. You do it because you love this amazing place and the lives you’ve made here. But please don’t be angry at Gideon. He’s an incredibly good and decent man who I really...really care about. He’s just trying to do the right thing.”
She’d almost confessed to being in love with Gideon, too, but it was hard to bare her heart in front of strangers.
Following the meeting, a group of ranchers came over and apologized, saying they’d allowed old attitudes to have too much influence.
“Don’t worry,” the president of the ranch association said grimly. “After Gideon explained what was happening, I spoke to Bill Anders at the garage and the folks at the grocery store. They’re related to Yancy, but that’s a shoddy excuse for going against conscience, which is exactly what I told them. They seem pretty ashamed of themselves. I’ll also get everyone else straightened out who needs it. We might be behind the times in this county, but we’re decent folks.”
Alaina thanked them, though she wondered if she’d ever be comfortable in Bannister again.
Then one of the ranchers held up the last book she and Mason had written together. “Um, could I get your autograph?” he asked. “We never had a real writer here before.”
Alaina laughed and signed the title page. Perhaps feeling comfortable again wouldn’t be as hard as she’d thought.
* * *
GIDEON WATCHED YANCY FELDER leave after getting a stern lecture from Deke and Sheriff Hewitt. He looked contrite and more than a little alarmed. Like so many bullies, he was a coward at heart. With the entire community watching him now, Gideon was confident that he’d stay in line. He might even be willing to sell his ranch to the Westcott Trust.
As for Alaina?
It was plain that the ranchers crowding around her had succumbed to her appeal. Hardly a surprise—she’d banished most of his doubts. They also had to admire her nerve at being willing to face them.
Gideon admired it himself, though nothing would stop him from wanting to protect her, that’s what you did when you loved someone. You wanted to take care of them. Alaina even seemed to be accepting that about herself. He’d always cherish the moment when she’d urged him to be careful in the storm.
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Helene said.
“Don’t get your hopes up, Mom.”
“I’ve had my hopes up since the first day Alaina came to the ranch and you couldn’t stop reading the paperwork she’d left.”
“You didn’t even get a good look at her.”
“But I saw your face.”
Gideon didn’t know if his feelings for Alaina had been a foregone conclusion, but he couldn’t deny the way she’d impacted him from the very beginning. It wasn’t just her beauty and talent. She also made him a better person. How many people could do that? He and Celeste had been terrible as a couple, bringing out the worst in each other. But he liked the man he was with Alaina. Even though he had a long way to
go, he knew he could get there if she was at his side.
“I still wouldn’t start hoping,” he advised his mother. “Remember, Alaina was deeply in love with her husband. The love of her life, you called him.”
Helene smiled determinedly. “Loving one person doesn’t mean she can’t love someone else, just as deeply. I saw her face when Yancy accused you of being in love with her and you didn’t deny it. She started glowing. And she admitted to caring about you, too. Love was all over her face.”
Gideon had seen it, too, and his heart had begun pounding so hard he’d had trouble catching his breath.
Libby came over as the ranchers began leaving and looked at him defensively. “Alaina called me. I couldn’t lie when she started asking questions about what was up, could I?”
“No, but I hope you didn’t break the speed limit getting up here. You’re engaged to a lawman now and wouldn’t want to compromise him.”
She grinned. “Compromise him? How very old West.”
Gideon made a gesture of mock surrender. “I don’t know what old West is supposed to mean, but it can’t be any worse than anything else you’ve accused me of as your big brother.”
“Wrong, you’re the best big brother and you’ve finally caught up to someone from the nineteenth century. I’d call that progress.”
Alaina shook hands with the last rancher and came over to them. “I had to come when I found out what was going on,” she said. “Are you upset?”
Gideon shook his head. “It worked out for the best. You earned their respect by showing up. I should have taken that into account.”
“Good. Your mom, Libby and I drove in together, so we’d better get going. Will I see you back at the Double Branch?”
The mysterious glow was still in her blue-green eyes and it was all he could do not to declare himself immediately. But they needed to return home and he had a truckload of ranch hands waiting.
“Yes,” he told her, his voice hoarse.
Back at the Double Branch, Gideon crunched through the snow to Alaina’s cheerfully lit cabin. It felt more like home than the big ranch house, but that had nothing to do with the holiday lights bedecking the smaller structure—it was because she lived there.
Alaina opened the door at his first knock.
“I love you,” he blurted, unable to stay quiet any longer. “Though I suppose that isn’t a secret after what happened at the meeting. The problem is I don’t know if I can deal with coming second to a memory.”
* * *
ALAINA THREW HER arms around Gideon’s neck and kissed him with a giddy joy.
“I love you, too, and you could never come second.”
“But you said you couldn’t imagine loving someone as much as you loved Mason.”
Alaina kissed Gideon again, an I’m-going-to-be-with-you-forever kind of kiss, reveling in the freedom to touch him. Then she dropped her head back to look into his eyes.
“Listen to me,” she said intently. “I’m a different person now than when Mason was alive. It doesn’t mean what I felt for him wasn’t strong and real, but I’ve changed.”
“I want to believe you.”
“You can. You’re the love of my new life, and it’s more powerful and intense than I could have imagined. If you’re going to trust me about anything, trust that. Love has no limits.”
Alaina saw the struggle to believe in his eyes.
“Do you remember what else I said?” she asked. “I told you that I could never marry somebody without being completely in love with them. I think even then I was aware that something had started between us.”
“It had.”
“Well, I meant every word,” she murmured. “I’m an utter romantic when it comes to love and marriage. And I’m not talking about the trappings of candlelight and flowers. I don’t believe in marrying someone for practical reasons. I believe in loving to the absolute depths of my soul, through all the good and bad.”
“That’s how I see it, too. I think that’s why my divorce was such a shock. Even though things weren’t good between us, a part of me thought we’d work through it, because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Alaina tugged him inside the cabin. She’d only just started a fire in the stove so it wasn’t warm yet, but at least it was out of the wind.
“Were you genuinely in love with Celeste?” she asked.
Gideon sighed. “No, I just thought so at the time. And it turned out there wasn’t anything to work through because we didn’t value any of the same things. Or even cared that much about each other.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. If I was still with Celeste, I’d be miserable. And I wouldn’t be here with you right now. You see, I’m old-fashioned about commitment. Even when things were bad with her, I never looked at another woman that way.”
His sweet, endearing tone made Alaina’s heart ache.
“I’m old-fashioned about commitment, too,” she said. “And however much of a romantic I might be, I know that a good marriage takes work and meeting each other halfway.”
A wry smile grew on Gideon’s face. “That’s going to be hard when it comes to you taking risks for your photography.”
“It will be just as hard for me,” she said seriously. “You take risks, too, every single day on the ranch. You just aren’t used to seeing it like that. I was afraid when you went out to work in the storm and I couldn’t help asking you to be careful, even though I knew you would be. But if we live our lives afraid for each other, we won’t really be living.”
* * *
GIDEON KNEW ALAINA was right.
“What if I have to shoot a bear or wolf someday? Could you ever forgive me?”
It was a hard question to ask, but he needed to ask it. She’d talked about accepting the balance of nature, but she might not see protecting the Double Branch’s herds the same as he did.
Alaina smiled sadly. “I know you wouldn’t do it unless you had no other choice. So while I’d grieve that something so beautiful was gone, there wouldn’t be anything to forgive.”
Gideon saw the sincerity in her eyes and certainty swept through him.
To really love Alaina, he’d have to let go sometimes, to let her be the wildlife photographer who trekked into the mountains for her photographs, even when it gave him heart failure to think of her so far from safety. But then he was starting to believe that bears were her guardian angels, along with wolves and dogs and all other living creatures.
They all seemed to adore her.
“Well?” Alaina prompted.
“I guess there’s only one thing left to ask—how about a Christmas wedding?”
Christmas, the following year...
“HOW IS DADDY’S ANGEL?” Gideon asked his daughter as he changed her diaper.
Helen Noelle cooed and kicked her tiny legs. The doctor claimed her smiles were still just a reflex, but Gideon knew better. Noelle knew exactly who he was and had twined him around her little finger as effectively as her mother had.
He wrapped Noelle in the baby quilt Grandma Claire had made and carried her to the loveseat, illuminated by the flickering light from the fireplace and the bright Christmas tree in front of the window.
“She’s almost asleep,” he said, laying her in Alaina’s arms.
“Then maybe you should use the quiet and get some rest, too.”
“Nah.” Gideon sat next to his wife and put his arm around her and the baby. This was their time, with the house quiet and their holiday guests settled down for the night.
With his mother, Alaina had decorated every single room for Christmas and outside, as well. Nearby trees, along with the barns, were outlined by strings of lights. The night sky was crisp and clear, the thermometer below zero, with stars sparkling against the snow in a merry competition with the Christmas cheer. Even the old foreman�
�s cabin—where Alaina’s brothers were sleeping—was decorated.
She’d filled his world with light and love and he adored it. The grinding work on the ranch hadn’t lessened, but having Alaina in his life made the load easier.
* * *
ALAINA PUT HER head on Gideon’s shoulder, gazing dreamily at the fire and the dogs and cats asleep in front of it. “It’s a full house,” she murmured.
“Yeah. You would have brought Griz and Nikko inside if there had been enough room,” Gideon teased.
“Ha. You only married me so your great-grandfather’s horse wouldn’t be lonely.”
“He’s your horse now,” Gideon murmured. “Griz loves you almost as much as I do. But not quite.”
Alaina smiled. She finally had the big family she’d always wanted, and it included wonderful animals like Grizzly, Nikko, Danger and Merlin, who had promptly moved indoors after the wedding, abandoning his life as a barn cat. Gideon had also welcomed Mason’s sister, saying she was as a much a member of the family as anyone else. Mason’s parents remained wary and distant, but with time they might be able to see Noelle as a surrogate grandchild.
Deke and Libby had gotten married in August and were living on the Westcott Memorial Ranch since it was closer to Libby’s archeological site than the Double Branch. They were debating the best time to try for a family, but Alaina suspected they’d wait awhile longer.
Alaina snuggled closer to her husband, happy and grateful. She’d given up thoughts of marriage and children, only to find them when she wasn’t looking. She adored Gideon more each day, and now they had a beautiful daughter. In the years to come, she hoped there would be more children to share their lives.
She was right.
Love had no limits.
* * *
If you missed Twins for the Rodeo Star, the first charming romance in this series from Julianna Morris, visit www.Harlequin.com today!
Christmas on the Ranch--A Clean Romance Page 23