The Cowboy’s Rescue (McCall Ranch Brothers Book 2)

by Leslie North

Randy swallowed. “I think she's coming out of a pretty bad experience with her ex-husband, and making this strawberry farm a going concern was kind of what she pinned her hopes on, you know? Hasn't turned out to be quite as easy as she was hoping."

  "Never is, is it?" Trevor asked, swiping an arm across his forehead and squinting at the sky. "Hasn't been a cakewalk for any of us, has it?"

  "It could have been worse," Randy answered, although he was surprised to hear himself say it. Not all that long ago, he had been considerably less than thrilled at the prospect of taking up residence in Winding Creek again. Since coming home, though, he'd been so busy that time felt like it was flying by at breakneck speed. Without realizing it, he'd actually begun liking what he was doing. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, anyway, their father’s favorite way of driving home the message, “Got to make the best of things.”

  Apparently, Trevor could read his thoughts on his face. "Hey, don't worry about it, all right?" the older brother said, clapping Randy on the shoulder. "She gets the family discount, my best team, the works. You say she needs it, and I believe you. You'll just have to talk to her about the supplies."

  "I was kind of thinking of skipping that part," Randy said, his face growing hot. Trevor raised a questioning eyebrow, and Randy tugged at the collar of his pearl-snap shirt uncomfortably. While he was fine when he was in charge of conducting an examination, he had never enjoyed being the one under the microscope, especially not when it involved Trevor, an unnervingly perceptive guy.

  “Skipping it, huh?” his older brother asked now. “And how would we accomplish that?”

  Randy forced a nonchalant tone, though he suspected Trevor could see right through him. "I'm going to pay for the materials, okay? You know I’m good for it. But I would rather you didn’t mention it to her unless that violates some kind of contractor-client code of ethics or something."

  Trevor eyed him closely, then grinned. “Nope,” he answered. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  "Good," Randy nodded. "Great. Then don't say anything to her. I know she doesn't have the money right now, but she's not too keen on handouts. If she thought I was putting in my own money, she'd never go for it."

  “Careful there, baby brother,” Trevor said, already ambling back around to the driver’s side door of his truck. “Not a good idea to start lying right at the start.”

  "At the start of what?" Randy asked, his smile hiding a flash of annoyance and, under that, fear. "There's nothing to start. There's no relationship, Trevor; I'm just trying to help out a new neighbor."

  “Okay, if you say so,” Trevor said with a shake of his head, climbing into his truck. “You go on into the hardware store, let them know I’ve got a line of credit with you for the Browning project. Your guess is as good as mine whether or not that’ll stay between the three of us. And—brother?”

  "Yeah?" Randy asked hesitantly. He had a feeling he was about to bear the brunt of some parting wisecrack, and he wasn't in the mood, at least not where Heather was concerned. He was just a little too unsure of himself when it came to her.

  "Just be careful, will you?" Trevor continued, his expression serious. "Try not to stretch yourself too thin. I made that mistake when I first got here, and it almost cost me everything."

  Randy nodded as if in agreement and waved his brother off. In truth, though, Trevor's words had hit him hard. He felt as if he was already well down the road to being stretched too thin. Heather and her children had been living with him for a week now, and things were already harder than he had anticipated. It wasn't their fault, not really, but part of his whole situation. He'd been in town long enough now that people were starting to call on him in droves for veterinary services. It seemed like every other person he ran into needed something looked after, ranging from beloved pets to prize-worthy pigs. At least it’s got the bank account looking healthy. Heather’s supplies would be covered.

  His veterinary workload would have been a lot even if it had been the only thing on his agenda, except that it wasn't by a long shot. In addition to his day job, he was trying to keep up with the work his parents’ ranch required, help Heather get her strawberry farm up and running without her knowing how much help he was actually giving her, and adjust to his new living situation at the same time.

  He hadn't lived with anybody since his freshman year of college. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was still work. He wished he could talk to Carson about it. Carson could always help him see all sides to a situation and find something to laugh about in nearly anything. Still, he had a sneaking suspicion that there might be some truth to what Trevor was saying. Especially if his other nagging concern was true.

  If he was honest with himself, the hardest part was the proximity. It seemed Heather was with him all the time, even when she wasn’t actually present. In the kitchen, he’d find a ring she’d taken off while doing the dishes, or sitting on the couch, he’d catch a whiff of her perfume on one of its cushions. Reminders were everywhere of this lovely woman that he found himself wanting more with each passing day, and yet he knew it wouldn’t be right to make a move. Any move. She had come to stay with him because she had nowhere else to go, not because she was inclined to get involved. As much as he wanted her, she was not available.

  “Right, man,” he mumbled to himself, slapping the heel of his hand on his steering wheel almost angrily. “Except there’s nothing to worry about on that front because you’re not falling for her. You’re not falling for anyone anytime soon.”

  He spoke this mantra to himself every morning upon rising and went to bed repeating it until he fell asleep. No funny business. He had promised her as much. He’d offered her and her kids a temporary place to live without a single ulterior motive. And he'd meant every word, still meant it, except his heart hadn’t gotten the memo.

  If he was being honest with himself, he was fascinated by damn near everything she did. He kept catching himself watching her when she wasn't paying attention. The way she combed her fingers through her hair until it looked like spun gold. The way she threw back her head and laughed until the tendons on the sides of her neck popped out when her kids did something really comical and she thought nobody was looking. She had this funny thing about the texture of cereal when it got wet, and so every morning, without fail, he could find her shoveling spoonful after spoonful of bran flakes into her mouth as if her life depended on it just so she could eat them while they were still crispy. He’d noticed a million tiny things, the kinds of things you learned about a person when you were living together, as he was finding out lately.

  He had noticed other quirks, too, that in contrast gave him pause. They weren’t exactly flaws, although both he and the good Lord knew she had plenty of those, too. It was an itch he couldn’t scratch: little ticks that all hinted at something bigger going on, something that worried and nagged at him off and on as he went about his day.

  “Whoa, there!” he said in surprise, slamming on the brakes to miss a family of ducks crossing the road. Apparently, the little flock hadn’t been apprised of his lovelorn situation. He watched their progress absently, then continued his thoughts as he resumed driving.

  She tended to jump at noise, even if it came from her children playing right in front of her. She was afraid of the dark, too, something he didn't remember seeing in an adult before. She hadn't come right out and said as much, but he had watched her make up excuses, try to avoid any places she couldn't see well enough into. Then there was her phone, which she seemed to have a love-hate relationship with. Every time it so much as chirped, she jumped, clutching it and looking, to Randy’s eyes, as though she was tempted to chuck it across the room. She was secretive about it, too, like she didn't want him to see any of the messages she was receiving. Not that he had any right to the view, but still. Sometimes the messages she got made her smile, and his heart would melt a little, but other times, she would spend the next couple hours looking over her shoulder, as if somebody was after her.
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br />   “Which is not my problem,” he reminded himself as his truck’s wheels hit the dirt of the McCall ranch drive. “Just keep saying it until you believe it, my man. Not my problem.”

  He had been keeping all his energy focused on that thought until he rounded the last bend approaching the house and let out a guffaw of delight. These days, he was as likely as not to be greeted by a dog plus two excited little blond people jumping up and down on his front porch. Today was no different. Except this time, they weren't alone. Randy's brother, Carson, was sitting on the porch with them, grinning. He got up slowly and moseyed toward the truck as Randy killed the engine and opened his door.

  “What the devil are you doing here?” Randy cried, jumping out of his truck, still laughing. He raised his voice to be heard above Rollie’s excited barking. “You didn’t say anything about this on the phone the other day.”

  “A man’s allowed his surprises, right?” Carson said, shrugging. “Just think of me as your regular man of mystery.”

  "You got it!" Randy agreed, pulling his brother in for a hug. "It's good to see you, man! It's one hell of a surprise, I've gotta say."

  "You know I aim to please," Carson answered, tipping his hat. That was just the way Carson was. He'd do something out of the blue to make someone's day, all the while acting like it was no big deal.

  "Well, like I said, it's good to see you," Randy repeated, feeling ridiculously emotional about the impromptu visit all of a sudden. "If I'm being honest, I could use a little help around here. If you've got the time, that is."

  "You know? I thought that might be the case," Carson said with a wink and a little nod. "Plus, I've got to meet this new lady friend of yours. Gotta see for myself what's so dang special about her."

  "Whoa, there," Randy interjected quickly, holding up both hands in a wait-a-minute gesture. "It's not like that. She's not a lady friend, Carson; I'm just trying to help her out."

  "Whatever you say," Carson said with a shrug, but then he fixed Randy with a keen eye. "But you might want to ask yourself one question: are you trying to convince me, or are you trying to convince yourself?"

  Carson turned and sauntered into the house, leaving Randy speechless. Normally, that kind of thing drove him up the wall, but at the moment, he honestly didn't know the answer. Inviting Heather to come and share the rambling ranch house had been born out of a simple, neighborly desire to help, or so he’d told himself. In reality, though, he could feel a tingle of warning that he was falling for her, and falling hard.

  9

  A week had gone by since Heather and her babies had moved into Randy's house. The comfortable abode was exactly what she had envisioned providing for Andy and Amelia when she had purchased her strawberry farm. Of course, that had been before she’d realized that the place was a mess and she was biting off far more than she could chew. Thinking about her mistakes made it hard for her to concentrate on what she was doing, too, easily proven by the soapy water she’d splashed into her eyes while she worked.

  “Ow!” she cried, almost dropping the soapy knife she was in the middle of washing. She set it aside and took a deep breath.

  She wanted to be annoyed by how perfect it all was, which might have actually made her feel better. Randy was her biggest problem. It would be easier to maintain her distance if he weren’t so likeable. It would be a great help if she could resent him for his comfortable living situation. The problem was, Randy worked hard, and as much as she might want to, she couldn't manage to think of him as spoiled. After overhearing him talking with his brothers, she’d realized that the ranch hadn’t simply fallen into Randy’s lap, although she still didn't know all the details. She’d also found his brothers pleasant, personable. Even his dog, Rollie, was completely adorable and had taken to following her around as she went about her day-to-day chores, only to abandon her when he heard Randy’s truck pull in, nearly turning himself inside out greeting his favorite person. It was one more thing that made her want to know him better, to make him more than merely a temporary addition to her life.

  "Not that he’d want more, anyhow," she reminded herself.

  She’d had to keep reminding herself of that over and over as the days passed. In spite of herself, she was growing comfortable with her new position in life. She’d started to imagine what it would be like if she and Randy were a real couple instead of whatever it was they were doing. When she closed her eyes at night, she imagined that he was lying beside her, that at any moment, his hand would slip across her body and—

  “Stop it!” she hissed to herself, her cheeks burning as she did her best to push the illicit thoughts away.

  It would have been a dangerous game to play if she were the only one involved, but adding Amelia and Andy to the mix made it seem borderline reprehensible. The bond between him and the twins was growing stronger by the day, and as much as it filled her heart to see the way their little faces lit up at the sight of him, she knew it would only make things harder when he was no longer a part of their lives. She knew that, but she wasn't sure what to do about it because, dangerous or not, Randy was supplying something her twins sorely needed. And, if she was honest with herself, maybe something she needed. A reminder that there were nice guys in the world, for starters...

  "Hey, there, penny for your thoughts," Randy said behind her, making her jump about a foot in the air. Heather turned away from the kitchen counter she was leaning against and faced Randy, who now wore a sheepish grin.

  "You scared me!" she gasped, her soapy hand to her heart. She was glad she was off of her crutches or she would likely have wound up on her butt. "How is it that you're so stealthy?"

  "Years of working with animals," he said with a smile, though she saw a flush rising on the back of his neck, presumably from the embarrassment of having frightened her. "They don't like loud noises, you know?"

  "Right," she said with a little laugh, wiping her hands off on her shirt and reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ears. Now that her heartbeat was slowing, she was feeling a little embarrassed herself. She didn't like looking so skittish, especially not around Randy. She had the feeling he'd started to notice, and she wasn't sure she was ready to share that part of herself with him. To make herself vulnerable. Especially when she was already fighting her attraction to him, for real.

  "I'm sorry about that," he continued, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his faded jeans. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to pay my compliments to the chef. I honestly don't remember the last time I had a meal that good, and Carson agreed."

  "Thanks," she said with a nervous laugh, her eyes dancing around the room, not wanting to meet his steady gaze. "But there's really no need for that. It was nothing special."

  "I'm going to have to respectfully disagree," Randy said earnestly, his solemn tone almost enough to make her giggle despite her discomfort. "And I'd like to do something in return."

  "What?—no," she declined automatically, in a voice sharper than she would have liked. She cleared her throat and tried again, going for a pleasant tone. "You don't need to do anything for me. I'm filling in as your housekeeper, remember? That was the whole point: earning my keep."

  "And you are," Randy assured her, his eyes shining with sincerity. He was far too charming for his own good, and she had to fight the urge to run her hands through his already tousled hair. "You're doing that, and more.” He looked down at his feet and shuffled them. “I was thinking I might take over the bedtime ritual for the kids tonight, give you a minute to yourself, you know?" He looked up again to meet her gaze, a tentative smile on his face.

  Heather's mouth opened and then closed without a sound. Off the top of her head, she could think of half a dozen women from back home who would have swooned at hearing a man offer to help with the kids. Part of her wanted to do exactly that. Another part of her, though, and a surprisingly large one at that, resented Randy’s offer along with her own response to it. This was part of a temporary arrangement, not something she could re
ly on. She would have to keep on reminding herself of that fact, as many times as she needed to stay safe. She took a step backward as if creating physical distance could keep her emotionally safe as well.

  "I don't know," she began, her voice sounding wooden and strange to her own ears. Before she could say anything else, though, Andy and Amelia burst through the kitchen doorway, both looking decidedly worn out and displaying the abundant energy of overtired children.

  "Please, Mommy!" Andy shouted, his little fists held by his sides, vibrating with excitement.

  "Please say yes!" Amelia added, looking anxiously from Heather to Randy and then back again. "We want him to!"

  "I really don't mind," Randy added, as if Heather hadn't already felt backed into a corner. "I was promised a book about a yeti, and I kind of want to see what that's all about."

  "Okay, fine," Heather finally allowed, sounding for all the world like she was doing Randy a favor instead of the other way around. "I wanted to call my sister anyway. I need to talk to her about the farm."

  "Sure," Randy said quickly. "Whatever you need."

  Andy and Amelia crowed with delight, and each took Randy by a hand, dragging him with surprising strength out of the kitchen. Randy shrugged and allowed himself to be led away, a lopsided smile on his face and a look in his eyes that Heather couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, it had appeared when she’d mentioned the strawberry farm. If she hadn’t known any better, she’d have thought he was disappointed at the idea of her leaving.

  "But you do know better," she said with a sigh, draping the dishcloth over the faucet and picking up her cellphone. A wave of relief out of proportion to the moment rolled over her when Eva picked up on the second ring.

  "Sis!" Eva chirped happily. "What's happening, sweet girl? I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages."

  "Yeah," Heather sighed, trying not to be too distracted by the faint sound of Randy reading and her children laughing in response. "I've had a lot on my plate lately."