A Cowboy at Heart

by Roz Denny Fox

  No one had to be told one of those other details was Jenny’s status. Another was the placement of the younger kids.

  Subdued, Miranda gave Linc only what he asked for. “Our classes begin at six. We need to leave here no later than five-fifteen.”

  “Good. I’ll make sure I’m back by then. And I’ll see that you have a full tank of gas.”

  “Thanks. With Mrs. Phelps taking over meals, I can be ready to roll in no time. Jenny, too, I guess.”

  “Actually, I’m thinking of signing a withdrawal form tomorrow night,” Jenny said. “Linc shouldn’t have to pay for a class I probably won’t get to finish.”

  He paused at the door. “We’re not sure you’ll be extradited, Jenny, or whatever it is they call sending you home. It’s quite possible the judge may decide it’s better for you to stay here. That’s one thing I intend to bring up with Mrs. Bishop. But I can hardly suggest she tell a judge you’re thriving and attending school, if a day later that’s not true.”

  “Okay. I’ll wait to see what the dragon lady says. I think you can still get part of your money back if I drop out before the second class.”

  “Answer me this,” Linc said. “Are you happy here, Jenny? Until lately, I’d thought so.”

  She looked startled. “Maybe I don’t know how I’m s’posed to feel.”

  “You and Eric go walking in the woods a lot.” Linc smiled when they exchanged glances. “Yes, I’ve seen you. It’s not that I object to exercise or fresh air, but the rest of you seem to invest more time and interest in the welfare of the ranch.”

  Eric rammed his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders forward, drawing his chin down. He said nothing to suggest to Linc that they were really going to the cave.

  “You think we don’t take an interest and the others do?” Jenny asked.

  “Well, Miranda cooks, sews and teaches crafts to the little girls. Shawn’s showing Greg and Wolfie how to ride horses in exchange for Wolfie teaching him to fish. You’ve all been here two months, yet you and Eric still seem…restless.”

  “We’re musicians, man,” Eric growled. “All you have on your CD or on TV is the crap they play at rich folks’ weddings or funerals.”

  Linc didn’t find his remark amusing. “I don’t know that the classical greats like Chopin, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky would appreciate having their work termed crap, but I get the picture. I’d frankly hoped exposure to works of the great composers might broaden your musical appreciation.”

  “Not likely,” Eric said, throwing back his shoulders.

  “Okay. We’ll agree to disagree about music. Otherwise, is the ranch meeting your needs?”

  Jenny and Eric flashed a look of confusion between them. “Yes,” they said simultaneously. “I do some things with the kids,” Jenny added. “In fact, I bought some cool sequins in town today. I was planning to help Cassie and Hana glue them around the bottoms of their jeans.”

  Linc nodded, about to ask a further question, but the room emptied so fast, Linc blinked—and he discovered himself alone with Miranda for the first time in days. She was rinsing dishes and arranging them in the dishwasher, which should not have been sexy. But there was something about her flyaway blond bob and the curve of her elbow, coupled with the bow of her slender neck, that moved Linc to cross the room, take her in his arms and kiss her hungrily.

  Water dripped down the back of his shirt as Miranda clasped his shoulders. Her heels rose two inches off the ground when she stretched up. It wasn’t until they were both breathless and he finally broke away that she slowly drifted back to her feet. “What was all that about?” she asked huskily.

  “I felt like it. And it felt good. Damned good.”

  She gazed up through her lashes and smiled. “Here I thought you were getting ready to replace me in your bed with Mrs. Phelps.”

  Swinging her aloft, Linc threw back his head and laughed. “That’s what I love about you, Miranda. You make me laugh. If you asked anyone who knew me in Hollywood, one thing they’d tell you is how serious I am.”

  He set her down gently. Although she remained a bit dizzy and drunk on the fact that he’d said he loved her, however casual the declaration, she ached for the man who had nothing in his life to laugh about.

  Linc bent and once again kissed away all her thoughts. “Swear to me,” he said, “there’s no reason I’d ever have to let you leave here.”

  He’d turned so serious that Miranda just wanted to say or do something to bring back the laugh lines in his tanned cheeks. She poked a finger in his ribs. “Any man who’d say that to a frazzled woman with dishpan hands is either proposing marriage or off his rocker.”

  Grinning, he shoved a finger in the watch pocket of his too-tight jeans and pulled out an eye-popping square-cut diamond set in either white gold or platinum. The flash of the gemstone in the overhead light nearly blinded Miranda. She was certain her jaw dropped a good six inches.

  The ring said so much, and yet she had to deal with a surge of nausea. Linc was aware she still held secrets inside. Oh, how she wanted to accept everything he’d humbled himself to offer her. Yet how, in good conscience, could she commit herself to this man—or anyone? What about the mess she’d left behind? The far-reaching conglomerate of Misty subsidiaries, two homes—one in Nashville, the other the Kimbrough homeplace in Cumberland County. To say nothing of a newly released CD, money sitting in two banks and an apparently unbreakable contract with Wesley Carlisle.

  Linc’s hopeful smile began to fade. He pulled back the ring. “Is that a flat ‘no way in hell’ I see in your eyes? Or does your hesitation represent a maybe?” He sighed. “I’ve been thinking about this since our visit with Mrs. Bishop. I know I’m springing it on you. I bought the ring one day when I went into town for feed. The fire in the stone reminded me of you.”

  She cleared her throat several times and covered his hand with a shaking one of her own that was still damp and now cold as ice. “I want to say yes, Linc. If only you knew how badly. You, the ranch, what you’re trying to do here—it all speaks to needs I feel strongly about.”

  “Then say yes, Miranda. It’s a simple word.” He reached for her trembling left hand and uncurled her third finger enough to slip the ring up to her knuckle. “If you want me and all this ring stands for, take it. Even if you need time to get rid of the excess baggage we both know you came with, I’m willing to wait.”

  She swallowed the lumps that threatened to choke her. “I do have an albatross hanging around my neck, Linc. I promise you that what’s here—you, school, a home—they’re the things I want with all my heart.”

  Not letting her go on talking, in case she begin to think of reasons for turning down his proposal, Linc drew her to his chest. In one deft move, he slid the ring past the resistance of her knuckle and sealed their loose promise with another kiss.

  This time when the necessity to breathe broke them apart, her hands roamed up and down his shirtfront and tears of happiness stood in her eyes, rivaling the sparkle of the diamond. “Is our engagement a secret?” she murmured. “Or dare we go public?”

  He framed her smile with his thumbs. “As far as I’m concerned, we can broadcast it to the world.”

  “Does that mean you’ll tell Mrs. Bishop?”

  “Uh…why not?”

  “Well, then, what if the kids ask us for a wedding date?”

  “We’ll say the date hasn’t been decided. If you’re in agreement, we can tell them that no matter what happens in the future, they’ll all be invited to attend.”

  She nodded once, twice, then whirled him around the room until both of them were laughing and completely winded. All the problems she’d left behind still hung over her, but in Linc’s arms, none of them seemed important somehow.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THEY TOLD THE BOYS about their engagement first and received a so-so response. Miranda expected more in the way of congratulations from the girls. Hana, while not completely sure what engagement meant, couldn’t sto
p touching the ring. Cassie brought her hands to her thin chest. “My prayer tonight is gonna be that when Miranda and Mr. Linc get married, they’ll be foster folks to me, Wolfie and Hana.”

  Linc shifted uneasily. “Uh, instead, Cassie, pray that the new doctor you’re going to see can help you walk again.”

  “Okay. Hana, let’s pray for both.”

  The littler girl bobbed her head.

  Jenny didn’t even get up from where she sat with sequins and glue gun spread out around her. She may have muttered congratulations, but Miranda wasn’t positive.

  “Should we let them get back to their project?” Linc asked after their anticlimactic announcement.

  Miranda nodded and walked him out of the bunkhouse, then pulled his head down to her level and kissed him hard.

  “Coming back with me?” he cajoled, tugging on her hand. “Or maybe we’d better abstain from now until the wedding.”

  “That’s probably best, Linc. I’d better see what’s up with Jenny. Her lack of reaction really surprised me.”

  “If you find out and there’s anything I can do, give a yell.” Linc lifted Miranda’s left hand, brushed a thumb over the stone, then pressed a kiss to her palm. Reluctantly, he walked toward the main house, but kept turning back to smile foolishly at her.

  Miranda hugged her jacket around her shivering body. It crossed her mind to run after him and suggest celebrating their engagement in his bed. Resisting the urge, she turned and went into the bunkhouse.

  That was when Jenny decided to have her say. As Miranda closed the door behind her, Jenny clapped loudly and slowly. “Con…gra…tu…lations! Now I see what coming to the ranch was all about for you.”

  Miranda’s fixed smile fled. “Excuse me?”

  “I finally get it—you being older but pretending to be one of us. It’s obvious how you know so much about music, but had to hide it. I don’t know where you first saw Linc, but this was all an elaborate plot to follow him here and end up with that rock on your finger.”

  “You are so wrong! I swear I’d never heard of him until we arrived here.”

  “Like, right,” Jenny jeered. “I didn’t fall off a cabbage truck.”

  “It’s the truth, Jenny. The day you and I met was my first time ever in L.A.”

  “And you expect us to buy your story about reading some article that gave you all your huge amount of knowledge about music? Get real!”

  Miranda realized Jenny wasn’t going to let up unless she fed the girl’s curiosity. As she sat and pulled on her pajamas, Miranda said, “I told you my dad traveled a lot on business. Well, his business was playing guitar in a pretty famous country band. Nearly all of them died in a plane crash.” Tears filled her eyes. “I…still can’t talk about it.”

  “Gosh, I’m so sorry, Randi. Shoot me for being such a bitch. I guess you’d pick up a lot about the business if you went to gigs with him.”

  “I wasn’t stringing you along when I said you guys have talent, Jenny. You’re young, but with hard work, I honestly believe you can succeed. Make no mistake though, it’s a rough, tough business.”

  “It’s all Eric and I have ever wanted to do. For Greg, it’s something to keep his mind occupied and off the fact that he hasn’t been able to locate his biological dad. For Eric and me, it’s a passion.” Obviously feeling bad for the way she’d attacked Miranda, Jenny got up and gave her an apologetic hug.

  Miranda willingly let the subject drop. She sat cross-legged on the floor and helped decorate the bottom edges of the little girls’ jeans for the next hour.

  Later, as she heard Cassie’s prayers, Miranda wished Linc hadn’t acted so unnerved by Cassie’s suggestion. Why was it so outrageous? Fostering the kids would ensure consistency in their lives. And they’d have a good home. She made a mental note to at least discuss the possibility with Linc. Together they would be good parents.

  The next day didn’t look promising for a heart-to-heart chat. The morning started with a sick horse and the early arrival of Mrs. Phelps. Linc headed for the barn, leaving the housekeeper to Miranda and Jenny. “I’ve phoned the vet,” he called back over his shoulder. “Point her my direction when she pulls in.”

  By the time the vet arrived, treated the horse and left, Linc had to dash off to town. If he didn’t, not only wouldn’t his papers get notarized and make the overnight courier, but he’d never get back in time for Miranda and Jenny to make their night classes. “This one-vehicle situation is the pits,” Linc grumbled to Miranda. “The first free minute we have after today, we need to see about buying a used pickup.”

  “I agree.” Miranda trailed him outside to pass him the grocery list she and Mrs. Phelps had drawn up. “The surgeon’s office phoned, Linc. They had a cancelation at ten tomorrow and are willing to do Cassie’s initial workup then.”

  “So soon? Wow, I’m glad you told me. I’ll move funds from savings to checking while I’m at the bank today.”

  “I want you to go with me to the appointment,” she said.

  “We’ll see.” He brushed a kiss across Miranda’s lips before climbing into the SUV. Glancing up, Linc noticed Mrs. Phelps staring out the window. “Hey, did you tell the housekeeper that you and I are engaged?”

  “No. I didn’t know how to bring it up. And I thought maybe it should come from you, since you’re her employer.”

  He smiled. “I think you’d better go tell her now. I’ll break the news to Mrs. Bishop. Otherwise, if Mrs. Phelps reports to the director that I kissed you, the dragon lady—as Jenny calls her—may jerk my license before I get there.”

  Although she felt odd introducing the subject to the older woman, Miranda did as Linc requested.

  “I’m glad you told me, dear. I didn’t mean to spy, but I saw that send-off.” Her eyes twinkled a moment, then dulled. “But does your good news mean I’ll soon be without a job?”

  “He and I haven’t discussed a wedding date. Frankly, being engaged is so new to us both, I don’t even know if Linc believes in long or short engagements. Plus, I have some business to attend to that will necessitate going out of town for…a while.” She chewed her lip, knowing this was something she needed to sit down and discuss with Linc.

  That afternoon it was Jenny, not Miranda, who was pacing the porch in the drizzling rain, anxious for Linc to get home. The teen flew down the steps the minute he parked, and pounced on him before he’d unloaded the sacks of groceries piled in the back seat. “What did she say?”

  “What did who say?” Distracted, Linc shoved two bags full of produce into Jenny’s wildly waving arms.

  “Mrs. Bishop. You said you’d find out what she heard from the judge.”

  “Oh, that. They didn’t connect. He’s had prostate surgery apparently, and his cases have been postponed for two weeks.”

  “So I’m just hanging on until he gets well? Now I don’t know whether to drop that poetry class or stick with it.”

  “You’re registered, so go. Say, Jenny, did I get any phone messages today? Do you know if my partner, Dennis Morrison, called?”

  She shrugged. “Mrs. Phelps had me and Randi scrubbing bathrooms and the floors in both bunkhouses today. The woman’s a neat freak. We tried to tell her the bathrooms are new and that we’d only just moved into our bunkhouse after giving it a thorough cleaning. But I guess I shouldn’t gripe. Now I’ve earned my week’s wage.”

  “Yeah. Hey, let’s not stand in the rain talking about money.” He grimaced. “My banker in town chewed my ear off enough on that subject today.”

  Miranda stepped out onto the porch, zipping her jacket and juggling her purse and book bag. “We’ve gotta run, Jenny, or we’ll be late for class. There’s Wolfie coming up the walk. Have him carry those groceries inside for you.”

  Linc sidled past her, trying to flatten his heavier sacks, but asked her the same question he’d asked Jenny. “Did Dennis Morrison phone me today?”

  “The only call I took was from Cassie’s surgeon. Oh, and the vet called back to se
e how the roan was getting along. Who’s Dennis Morrison?”

  “My business partner. Dennis took on my client contracts when I came here. We agreed he’d pay me five percent of the fifteen they pay. He’s been paying by automatic deposit, but I discovered at the bank today that I haven’t received the last two. And when I went to transfer funds from the office savings account he and I share, the bank manager I’ve worked with for years in Hollywood said Dennis blew up at him and closed the account. I left messages on Dennis’s voice mail, and gave him my cell and the ranch number. He’s probably out of town. Sometimes we have to meet prospective clients on a movie shoot.”

  Miranda started to let the screen shut, but she grabbed it and propped it ajar. “Didn’t he need your okay to close a joint account?”

  “Apparently not. But don’t worry about it. I’ve worked with Dennis since we got out of college. We’ll straighten things out.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess you’d know way more about that stuff than I do. I remember you said any contract a person makes can be broken. I was wondering how.”

  “Well, by hiring a crackerjack financial lawyer.” He dropped a kiss on her rain-wet nose. “Marriage isn’t that kind of contract, sweetheart. But if you’re worried, we can discuss signing a prenuptial agreement.” Chuckling, he ducked in out of the rain. “Have fun at your first class, but you’d better take off. I don’t want you speeding, especially in this rain. The roads are slick.”

  She blew him a kiss. “Knowing you worry makes me feel warm and fuzzy.” If she expected Linc to laugh at that, she was mistaken. Instead, she heard him greet Mrs. Phelps and immediately ask her if he’d received a call from Dennis Morrison. Linc sounded worried to Miranda. Still, he’d assured her that he and his friend and partner would work out any problem. And he’d given her something to think about concerning her own situation. Could she find and hire a suitable lawyer?

  “Wolfie,” she said, passing the boy, “Mrs. Phelps said she’d see that Cassie and Hana get a story before they go to bed. But since she’s so new, the girls might feel better if you tucked them in. We’ll be home around eight-thirty. I know Hana is nervous about staying alone in the bunkhouse.”