The New Cowboy at Miller Ranch: Miller Brothers of Texas Prologue

by Natalie Dean

  “Thank you, by the way.”

  He blinked up at her, surprised by the sudden comment out of nowhere. “Pardon?”

  “I don’t think I said it, thank-you that is. And despite all my sass, I do want you to know that I appreciate you helping me out.”

  “Not necessary, but you’re welcome. Just doing the right thing.”

  “Is that your thing? Going around and doing what’s right without expecting any gratitude? Sounds like a thankless existence.”

  He thought of his family’s views of him, and how his dad had always called him soft. Weak. Not business-minded. She wasn’t exactly wrong. Except when she said it, it made him sound like some sort of hero. Which he wasn’t. He was just… Samuel.

  “You gonna be able to get home on this?” he asked, changing the subject. Things were always better when not talking about himself. Besides, Virginia was so much more interesting than him.

  “I’m sure I can get one of the boys to slap me on the back of a four-wheeler and get me to my cabin.”

  An uncharacteristic curl of jealousy bloomed in his chest. “The boys?”

  “Yeah, you know, the other workers. Most of them I’ve known since I was in diapers, so we’re fairly close. Even if half of them are real knuckleheads sometimes.”

  He simmered down at that. Besides, he had no right to be possessive of her. He didn’t know her. She wasn’t his girl. She was just a pretty, competent woman that he happened to run into a couple of times more than what was probably reasonable.

  “Well, as long as you’re caref—”

  The words didn’t get out of his mouth, if only because the front door opened, startling him into jumping to his feet. Virginia let out a yelp at the sudden movement, lurching forward, and his hands went up automatically to catch her before she pitched herself off balance.

  “Sorry,” he said breathlessly, feeling embarassed yet again.

  “S’fine,” she managed to answer in a sort of breathless whisper before footsteps sounded behind them.

  “Oh, what are the two of you doing here?” It was none other than Aunt Annie, of course, oven mitts on her good hand and a newer brace on her broken wrist. “Oh goodness, Ginny, is that you? You alright, love?”

  “Ginny?” Samuel heard himself mutter.

  “Hey, Ma. You know no one calls me that anymore and ain’t since I was fifteen.”

  “That’s a shame. It suits you. But stop changing the subject. What happened here?”

  “Stepped in a gopher hole in the coop and twisted my ankle.”

  “A gopher—” the woman flushed a dark shade of red that Samuel wasn’t used to seeing on her. “Are you kidding me?”

  “No, why?” Virginia said, sounding just as surprised as Samuel felt.

  “I told the young ones to fill that up for me. That’s probably the same hole that made me fall down and hurt myself. I didn’t want anyone getting busted up like I did.”

  Virginia let out a dry laugh at that then. “Well, I can tell you that there’s either some very enterprising gophers under the coop or they most certainly did not fill that hole in.”

  “Well, I am going to have some words with them. I love all these children, but some of them think they know everything.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  “I suppose that will wait until later. I just made lunch. You two got a hankering for anything?”

  Virginia flashed Ma a smile. “I could eat.”

  “Good! Well, have Samuel help you in while I get an ice pack and some bandages. I know we’ve got some good pressure wraps somewhere in here.”

  “Of course, Ma.”

  Ma? That word finally hit him. Was… was she a relation? If that was so, it made everything going on in his head take a creepy lilt. She wasn’t a daughter of course. Aunt Annie had only sons, which meant at most she could be a sort of… removed cousin. But that still was pretty unappealing to him.

  He waited until Aunt Annie went back inside and then he scooped Virginia right up. She was solid in his arms, grounding, and he found the courage to ask her. “Didn’t know you were related,” he tried to say nonchalantly with mixed success.

  Virginia didn’t answer him right away, her pupils blown wide and her full lips parted slightly in shock. Oh right, he had literally swept her off her feet. He should have probably asked permission.

  “I’m not really related,” she said. “My Ma came here when she was pregnant with me. But everyone calls Mrs. Miller Ma anyway, so that’s all I’ve ever known to call her.”

  “Ah. That makes sense.” Relief flooded him, which was just about as ridiculous as his concern in the first place. It wasn’t like he had a chance with her.

  “Why are you curious about that?”

  But then they were inside the door and he was setting her down. When he stood, she hadn’t stepped back at all, so they were quite close together, her face tilted up toward his.

  He froze on the spot, and the look she gave him was… odd. Curious, amused, interested all at once. Sure, he was rich enough and alright looking enough that sometimes a woman would give him a look like that, but they were never anyone like Virginia. Not anyone strong and sure and so capable that it was mildly intimidating.

  The moment was interrupted, however, by Aunt Annie calling for help with a pitcher of sweet tea from the kitchen. Both of them jerked, with Samuel stepping back once again.

  Aunt Annie sure had a knack for that sort of thing.

  “I can make it to the dining room myself. You go help her.”

  Samuel nodded, watching for a moment as Virginia hobbled away, then hurried into the kitchen to make sure Aunt Annie didn’t try to carry what was sure to be a big pitcher of tea by herself.

  Lunch was… nice.

  It was a quicker affair than dinner and filled with lighter food. There was only one other worker there, plus Uncle Miller, Missy, and Benji. Apparently that last part was odd, and he was only able to get away because Dani was taking her afternoon nap a little early.

  But even though it was less of a to-do than dinner, there was still plenty of talking. Like they all actually liked each other and wanted to know how each others days were going. Unlike at his own house. Aunt Annie managed to complain only three times about the gopher hole situation.

  As for Virginia, she seemed mostly amused by the whole thing. She chimed in every now and then, personable and confident, but mostly she just kept her gaze on Samuel. Like she was trying to decode him.

  Was this how she had felt when she caught him looking a few times? If so, he suddenly understood a bit of why she’d been so insistent on cornering him and talking to him. There was something intense to her look. A sort of pressure that made all of his insecurities flare up with a biting pain.

  What was she seeing? Was she laughing inside at him? Did she find it amusing that the black sheep of the McLintock Millers was mooning after her like a kid with a high school crush?

  Probably. Other than the money he was set to inherit and a knack for fixing things, he wasn’t good for much.

  But when the meal ended, she was all smiles and told him goodbye as he went to go. He was set to leave and hole up in his borrowed truck somewhere, so he could breathe a minute and catch up with everything that had happened, when Aunt Annie cleared her throat.

  “Yes?” he asked automatically, turning back to look at the matriarch. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes flicked from him to ‘Ginny’ with meaning.

  Wait… did she want him to…?

  Clearing his throat, he figured why not give it a shot? “You’re not gonna be able to work with that ankle today,” he heard himself say. “So why don’t I just drive you home, and you can rest easy for the afternoon?”

  Virginia blinked at him from where she was putting on her one shoe that still fit. Sometime in the scant minutes before lunch, Aunt Annie had gotten a pressure wrap on her ankle. So much for her taking it easy.

  “You sure? It’s a bit out of the way. I have one of the ba
chelor cabins on the edge of the property with the rest of the younger workers.”

  “It’s fine,” he said with what he hoped was a charming smile. “I wouldn’t want all my hard work that went into saving you to be ruined by someone driving too recklessly with a four-wheeler.”

  “Well, if you insist, I’d be a fool to object to a free ride.” She held out her arm. “Help me to your truck?”

  He nodded, and this time he didn’t just pick her up to carry her in his arms. He’d learned from the last time when that had brought them too close, that it made his thoughts turn too much towards things they shouldn’t.

  Instead he put her arm over his shoulders and his arm around her strong waist, supporting as much of her weight as he could while they made it off the porch and down to the drive where his truck was parked.

  They made it to the vehicle and got her in the passenger seat, always careful with her foot, when she made a disappointed sound.

  “Aw, I forgot my shoe over by the porch. Wanna grab it for me?”

  “Sure, I can do that.”

  He had completely forgotten about the boot too, but he hurried over to grab it. It actually took him a moment to find it, but when he did, he returned and deposited it into her lap.

  “Does this make me Cinderella?” she asked with that laugh again.

  “I mean, it could,” Samuel answered before coming around. “But I never figured myself to be much of a prince.”

  “Really? Aren’t you the eldest son of a Texan ranching empire?”

  Samuel grimaced at that, choosing to start the car rather than answer. It was by the time they pulled off on one of the side trails that she made an understanding noise.

  “Alright. Family problems. I understand that.”

  “Do you?”

  “Hey, my Dad ran out on my Ma before I even had a chance to pop out. A lot of places ’round here would have given her a rough time, but the Millers made things easier—from what she tells me.

  “But as nice as they were, there’s still some things you miss out on by being raised by a Ma with a broken heart. It’s one thing if you plan to go into parenthood on your own—people do it all the time—but it’s another when you plan on diving into it with a partner and suddenly, you end up… partnerless.”

  “Yeah,” Samuel said with a breath. “I could imagine.”

  He tried to think back to his parents. His mom and dad loved each other, but they loved each other in an entirely McLintock Miller way. They weren’t much for PDA or kisses or words of encouragement. But they were always there for each other. Supporting each other. Sure, it was behind a sort of reserved wall, but it was there.

  Could he have used a few more hugs as a child? Sure. But he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have only his dad. Only his mom. It would be like having only one half of a coin, the other side completely blank where something important was supposed to be.

  “Is she… still with you?” he asked cautiously. One could never be sure, and he hadn’t seen her mother for all of his not-watching her.

  “What? Oh yeah, she is. She cooks for the workers’ cabin on and off and works part-time at the library in town. She used to do more stuff on the ranch, but she slowed down once I hit college. Living here helped her save up enough that she was able to buy a house in town about four years back. She’s basically retired at the ripe old age of fifty-one and only does the other stuff so she doesn’t get bored. I see her about every other week if it’s not the harvest or foaling season, which is just about right for me.”

  “Oh, do you two not get along?”

  “We get along just fine. It’s just… I’m getting to that age where the conversation turns to babies and boyfriends a little too often, and that’s a conversation I don’t feel like having right now.”

  “Ah, not into that?” he understood. With the way the world was going and how everything kept getting more terrifying and people started to matter less while money kept mattering more and more, he could see why someone their age wouldn’t want to bring another life into the world.

  Besides, marriage just wasn’t for everybody. Romance wasn’t for everybody. Just because he felt a lingering sort of loneliness, a lack of something nameless in the back of his head, that didn’t mean Virginia felt the same way.

  “It’s not that I’m not, it’s just… that’s a big commitment, and I got to watch in real time the consequence of hitching your wagon to the wrong person. I don’t want to go through what my Ma went through, and I especially don’t want my kid to go through that either.

  “Don’t get me wrong, Ma did her best and the Millers helped a ton. But there’s still moments that I wouldn’t want a kid to have to go through it.”

  He nodded, storing that information away as if it were important. What he thought he was going to do with it, he didn’t know, but it seemed like something he should keep in mind.

  “That’s fair.”

  “What about you, Mr. Rich Cowboy? You got a pretty lady back home who’s missing you and all those muscles?”

  He scoffed at that. Muscles? He was skinny compared to the rest of his brothers. The only ones slimmer than him were the twins, but they were a wiry pair who were deceptively strong.

  “No. No one’s waiting for me.”

  “Huh, so what’s wrong with you then?”

  He blinked, taking his eyes off the road to look at her owlishly. Could she see through him so easily?

  “Why does something have to be wrong with me?”

  “Well, you’re rich, handsome, tall, and have a sort of gentle touch you don’t see too often nowadays. So either there’s something wrong with you or… you’re just not really into that whole scene either. Which is fine, ya know. Society’s got too much of a fixation on romantic relationships as it is. Sometimes people just gotta learn to be happy with themselves.”

  He nodded, turning over her words in his head. “And are you?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Happy with yourself?”

  She beamed at him, and it was so cocky, so surefire that he couldn’t help but grin back. “Of course, I am. I could end up being on my own forever and be just fine. Now, would I be opposed to finding a partner? Nope. Someone to be my ride or die, as they say? Sure! But I’m not gonna pine or linger or settle for anyone who isn’t the best for me.”

  “That… that makes sense.”

  “Does it? Ma says she raised me to be a bit too independent and that I’m too stubborn for my own good.”

  “Your Ma just probably wants to make sure that you have someone when she’s gone.”

  “Knowing her, she’d stay alive into her hundreds just to spite me.”

  He chuckled at that. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had talked so much or so freely with a non-relative. Despite how on edge he felt around her, despite how conscious he was of his awkward ways and too-big hands, he still liked being around her. Talking to her.

  “Oh hey, turn here.”

  He did, pulling onto an even less worn road than they were already on. A little ways down the road, he came up to what could barely be called a cul-de-sac with what looked like a large circle made from four-wheelers with a small garden in the middle and three very small cabins arranged around it.

  “I’m all the way on the right.”

  “This is your place?”

  He didn’t mean to say it any other way but neutral, yet he still heard it when it came out in his words. It was just… it was so small. Their pool house at his family’s estate was probably three times as big. He couldn’t imagine anyone living out their whole lives in such a small space.

  But of course, Virginia caught it. She was too sharp not to. But before he could sputter out an apology, she was laughing gently.

  “Rich folks are always so funny when confronted with the real world. Believe it or not, this is a nice place by most standards, especially considering the rent and utilities are included in my pay.”

  “Sorry,” he
said quickly, putting the truck into park and exiting so he could open her door for her.

  She slid out and gave him an appraising look before shrugging.

  “No apologies necessary. If you want to make it up to me, I have Sundays and Tuesdays off and wouldn’t mind a nice dinner in town.”

  It all happened so fast, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek before sauntering carefully on her hurt ankle into her place, waving at him from the door. He stared after her, his mind trying to catch up with what had just happened.

  Had… had he just been asked on a date!?

  5

  Virginia

  She was going on a date.

  She was going on a nice date in town to the diner that had just finished being renovated.

  She was going on a nice date in town to a nice dinner with a literal millionaire.

  Not that she particularly cared about the money. It wasn’t like anything serious would come from it considering he had to run back off to Texas soon, but he was still a huge step up from the few guys she had dated during her short stint in college.

  She had pretty much given up on dating, her last one being somewhere around her mid-twenties. And she didn’t know what had given her the courage to make a move on Samuel. But it seemed to have worked out pretty well because he’d approached her the next day at work and asked if Tuesday night was alright by her.

  And boy was it.

  There was just something about him. He flushed all prettily when she was around, which was flattering. But he didn’t leer, didn’t treat her like she was nothing but eye candy.

  Virginia wasn’t an idiot. She knew how people were to gals with a figure like hers. Missy’s too. It was something they both commiserated together about on a regular basis. Bart had almost gotten into two fights with farmhands about it, and Missy once had to lay a guy out when she was in another city and he got too handsy at a gas station.

  But Samuel wasn’t anything like that. He was strong—she had plenty of evidence of that—but he was sweet and quiet and sometimes so shy she wondered if she was somehow corrupting him. Not that she’d done anything to him, but he was… well, him and she was… her. All rough edges and hard-earned living. She wasn’t some rich, proper lady who went to fancy galas or could help run a business.