Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  “Creek’s running slow. The wind the other night knocked deadfall further up. Until she gets in there with a chain saw, she plans to haul in water.”

  Keith gave him an accusing glare. “That’s hard work. Slippery, too. Fall with a chain saw and—” He sucked in his breath.

  “I offered to help but she has a hired hand through to the end of the month.”

  “Then what?”

  He was talking as if Will was at fault for not managing Dana’s life. “How is it either one of our business?”

  Keith jerked up the zipper on the coveralls. “Austin’s still napping, so I’ll get started here.”

  “You know,” Will said, “you can take a break now and again.”

  “You got the easy life all figured out. You and Dana were talking away.”

  Enough. Time he had it out with Keith. “And it might’ve gone on longer except she couldn’t wait to hightail it out once you pulled in.”

  Keith ripped at the box. “I planned to say hello once I got the milk and cream in the fridge, but she’d already left.”

  “Can you blame her? You blew her off at the wedding.”

  Keith pulled out the part. “What the...? This isn’t it. I told them.I gave them a picture, wrote it down. And still they get it wrong. I don’t have time for this.” He shoved it back in the box and made to go.

  “Never mind it. You won’t make it to town before the store closes, and there’ll be another day at least before they get the part in. I’ll go in first thing and give them a piece of your mind, okay?”

  Will held out his hands for the box and Keith thrust it at him. “Now how about you answer my question before Austin wakes and you have to turn into dad.”

  Keith sat in the hub of the giant tractor wheel. “He said it, last night. He was walking ahead to his room. He stops, looks back and says, ‘Dad.’”

  Will felt a beam of pride. “Well now. His second word.”

  “Third. He also says ‘up.’”

  “True. Dad, up and Dana.”

  Keith rubbed his cheek. “Yeah, well, he hasn’t said her name in the past while.”

  “He did today. She stopped by the house to see him.”

  Keith brightened. “She did?”

  “She’s visited a few times...when you weren’t around.”

  Keith kicked out his legs, scrubbed his head. “What could I have told her? ‘Sure, I’ve got feelings for you, too. Let’s give it a shot because I’m the kind of guy that’ll give anything a whirl.’”

  Will leaned on the wheel of the tractor, hoping the shade from the tractor would make the conversation less heated.

  “So...you do have feelings for her?”

  “Yes. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, you did.”

  Not the way he did for Krista. His regard for Dana was logical, but now that he’d a taste of Krista—well, if there was no going forward for them, there was no going back for him, either. “Not the same way, that’s clear now. You never let on. When did you figure it out?”

  “About two seconds after I suggested she could do better. I guess I realized how much I was giving up.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell her that you’d said a real dumb thing and would she maybe let you reconsider?”

  “Because two seconds after that, I also realized that I’d made the right decision. I’ve got nothing to offer.”

  “What do you mean? You’ve got the section of land.” Each of the three kids had one, jointly owned with Dave. On his death, the kids took full title. None of them wanted that to happen anytime soon, though. Will had also taken on a second section.

  “And she has four in her name. She’s not interested in more land. Or bills, and that’s all I’ve got. Nothing but bills, no matter how hard I work. I don’t have the time to be with Dana, and even if I did, I can’t afford to do anything with her.”

  “She understands your circumstances, Keith. She has her own means, too. If she chose you, it was because of you. Well, you and Austin.”

  Keith bowed his head. “She really seems to care for him.”

  “Loves him like family. And Austin feels the same about her.”

  “He is a great kid, isn’t he?”

  “You’re doing an incredible job, Keith. That thing with Macey, you’re going to look back on it one day and call it a bump on the road. Be happy you got a great kid out of it. But are you going to find some silver lining from turning down Dana?”

  Keith sent Will a piercing stare. “A month of dating Krista make you the relationship expert?”

  “I’d describe it as a sharp learning curve.”

  Keith grinned. “Sounds as if she’s on one with horses.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t go so well. Which I don’t get, Keith. Dana’s your complete package. You have feelings for her and you guys agree on everything. Well, except for kids.”

  “What do you mean? I like kids.”

  “She wants four.”

  Keith blinked.

  “Anyway, my point is that I’ve got feelings for Krista, but I admit there’s nothing we have in common. She hasn’t even given me a clear answer on whether she wants kids.”

  “Not good news, for the heir apparent to the Claverley dynasty.”

  It wasn’t, but neither could he deny that he still wanted her.

  “Does she know about your shoulder?”

  “Not the whole story.”

  “And how do you think she’s going to react when she finds out?”

  He recalled her face when he’d admitted to lying about the missing calf. Wait until she found out about his fear of water, never mind his shoulder. “Not well.”

  Keith stood. “We’re walking disasters.”

  * * *

  FROM THE FIRM boards of the dock, Will eyed the Montgomery boat as it undulated from the impact of the boarding passengers. The bit of floatage that separated him from the dark and cool depths of Spirit Lake seemed sturdy enough. It had chairs with arms to grip and seats deep enough so he wouldn’t fly out like a plastic bag, as well as life jackets. Bridget was handing some out to her daughters. He spotted a few adult ones. Good, he wouldn’t have to embarrass himself by asking if they had life jackets, or come off as challenging their responsibility as boaters.

  He might be able to fake his way through this. He was secretly relieved that Mara had begged off. Krista would be hard enough to fool. Mara’s professional sharp eye would blister right through his facade.

  The girls protested they didn’t need life jackets, having passed “level four swimming,” four more than he’d ever managed. Bridget snapped them into one, anyway. Wise mother.

  “Anyone else want one?” Krista said. But she only looked at him.

  He gazed pointedly at the girls puffed out in their jackets over their bathing suits. “Sure,” he said. “Good idea. Can never be too safe.” And there, he’d found a clever way to save himself without revealing his total lack of water skills.

  He stepped onto the boat, taking a wide stance to absorb the motion. It was barely rocking; his stomach stayed solid. Now, if they could remain tied to the dock...

  Jack stood at the helm. “Everyone ready for the best day of their lives?”

  A whole day? “I didn’t realize it would be for that long,” he said to Krista, who sat beside him on the transom seats. She was applying sunscreen onto the exposed parts of her skin, of which there were many.

  “We share the boat with another family, so when our turn comes up and the forecast is for sun and clear skies, we take advantage of it. Why? Do you need to be somewhere?”

  Yes, anywhere else. “Uh, no.”

  She took in his jeans, T-shirt, running shoes and baseball cap with the brand of a farm equipment dealership. “You wore your sun protection.”

  He registered Jack’s cargo shorts and sandals. “A
bit overdressed, am I?”

  She patted his knee. “It’s adorable. But the only change room here is in the bow.” She assumed that his bag had a swimsuit in it. It had a change of clothes only.

  “Um, well, I don’t have swimming trunks.”

  She flipped open the next seat over. “Sure, you do.” She held up a brand-spanking-new pair, pickle green with pink flamingos. And some wraparound shades. “Time to saddle up, cowboy.”

  Fine, he’d dress the part. He took himself up to the hot and airy privacy of the bow. Jack puttered the boat out of the marina as Will wiggled out of his jeans. Jack kicked up the engine a notch. The bow rose up and the towel that Will had discreetly placed across his midsection slipped off.

  “Sorry, man,” Jack called, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

  Payback for the steak insult. Will never got into a piece of clothing faster. He pulled on his socks and running shoes. He looked like a farmer who’d shopped at a boater’s thrift shop.

  In the stern of the boat, Bridget was doing safety checks with her daughters.

  “Do you enter the water from the back of the boat when it’s moving?”

  “No.”

  “Do you enter the water without permission from Jack or me?”

  “No.”

  “Do you enter the water only when there is another adult who has volunteered to supervise you?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are the consequences if you do not follow any of the rules?”

  “No stories and no desserts until next time we’re out on the lake.”

  Will thought of a punishment that he’d much prefer. “Wouldn’t you ban them from going on the water?”

  The Montgomery bunch looked at him as if he’d suggested diving into an empty pool. “We’re punishing them, not us,” Krista said. “We wouldn’t be able to go on the lake, either.”

  Clear of the shoreline with kayakers, canoeists and dapplers on their inflatables, Jack throttled up even more. Will’s stomach lurched with the surge in power. Definitely in deep water now. He slid a look at Krista, who was seated on the bow. With her head tilted back and her arms out wide to receive the wind and the spray, she was in her element. Bridget walked past him to stand beside Jack, her arm looped around his back. He raised his face and they kissed.

  For crying out loud, keep your eyes on the ro—lake.

  When they’d reached what seemed to Will the point farthest from any shore, where shiny blue spread in all deathly directions, Jack cut the engine. Will’s insides sloshed to the same flat calmness as the water.

  Krista peeled off her shirt and shorts, kicked off her sandals and splash!—had transformed into a seal. The girls and Bridget followed. All screamed at the cold temperatures but made no move to return to the boat.

  “I’ll stay in, if you want to join them,” Will said quickly to Jack.

  “Do you have a boater’s license? Only those with one can be alone in a powered boat while it’s in the water.”

  “No, didn’t think of that,” Will mumbled.

  “You can go in,” Jack told Will. “I’ll stay here and switch out with Bridge in a bit.”

  “Uh, I’m good.”

  Jack gave a friendly smile. “You don’t know how to swim.”

  “Not comfortably.”

  Krista bobbed up beside the boat. “Come in, Will.”

  Why had he ever thought he could fake this? “Thing is, I’m not very good in the water.”

  Her blond hair slicked down from an underwater glide, Krista and Jack laughed together. “Kinda figured that out from the speed you put on the lifejacket.”

  He’d not fooled anybody, especially the one he’d wanted to convince.

  “Don’t worry, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Krista said. “No one here is going to notice if you have a life jacket on. Your reputation is intact.”

  He wanted his life intact. Isabella and Sofia swam and dunked freely in the water. Krista grinned up at him. “It’s as easy as riding a horse.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  He stood at the back of the boat, toes curled and heart pounding, like an overgrown four-year-old on the edge of a swimming pool.

  Jack came up beside him, his back to the girls in the water so only Will heard what he said next. “Can’t be the first time you did something that scared you.”

  “If there was, I can’t remember it,” Will said as quietly.

  “Try this, then. Krista’s watching.”

  Krista with her laughing eyes, inviting him to join her world, her family. But his muscles had seized.

  “Push me,” he told Jack through a clenched jaw.

  “You sure?”

  Will gave a quick nod. And just like that, Jack slipped, wobbled and slammed into Will, who toppled into water cold enough to inflict freezer burn.

  “Sorry,” Jack called from the boat where he’d righted himself.

  “No worries,” Will said. “You did me a favor, actually.”

  “You don’t have to wear your life jacket,” Isabella said, “since you’re an adult.”

  “I want to,” Will said. “I...I’m not a great swimmer.”

  “You should’ve said something,” Krista admonished.

  “And wreck the fun for you all?”

  “It does make me feel better about flubbing up the horse riding.” She dove under water and tweaked his toes, popping up beside him. “A whole lot better.”

  Will felt like a discarded cork, bobbing around in the lake, trying to stay afloat. “I was born with a fear of water.”

  Krista twirled otter-like, around him. “I can’t fathom that. I’ve been swimming for as long as I can remember. Mom and Dad were always traveling, and our days seemed to consistently end up at some kind of water—lake, river, ocean. I think it was a cheap way to bathe us. Did I mention they were born hippies?”

  She didn’t have to. His mother had brought up the subject of Deidre “going off with some guy in a van that looked painted by a kid.”

  “Like I don’t remember learning how to ride a horse,” Will said.

  “Yep,” Krista said. “We’re even.”

  They weren’t. Horses and horse riding were his existence. Water was recreation for her. He couldn’t imagine being with someone who wasn’t comfortable around horses. He’d have to get her back in the saddle.

  After lunch, out came the water skis. When would he wake from this sunny nightmare? His shoulder emitted a long moan of protest which Krista seemed to hear. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

  She was giving him a rock solid out. But he’d also give up a perfect opportunity.

  “I do this, and you get back on a horse. Deal?”

  Her smile faltered. “I already did my part. You need to catch up to me.”

  “How many times do I have to ride water before you consider it even?”

  She rolled her eyes. “This is stupid. You’re risking further injury to your shoulder to impress me, and you promised you wouldn’t.”

  “My shoulder is fine. If it hurts, I’ll do it one-handed.”

  “As if.”

  He waited.

  “Three, okay? Do it three times and we’re even.”

  “You’re on. Tell me what to do.”

  “Bend your knees. No more. Closer to your chest. Not so much.” She deliberately echoed his choppy, conflicting instructions from when she was on Molly.

  “And when you start coming up, don’t stand straight up right away, keep your knees bent.”

  “Right.”

  “Say ‘go’ when you’re ready.”

  “Krista,” he said, “I think I’ve got a leech on my neck. Can you check?”

  Revulsion and concern warred on her face as she leaned close. He snatched a kiss. “Sorry, I was
wrong.” Jack waited for his signal at the helm. “Go!”

  If there was anything he’d learned from bronc riding, it was how to hold on for the money. He rose up and bumped along in the boat’s wake. He kept his knees bent, as if sitting in a chair. Still, this was actual waterskiing. As he straightened from his crouch, a wave—and no ordinary wave but a freak tsunami of one—rode underneath his skis and threw him.

  His entire waterskiing experience might’ve lasted for half a minute.

  Jack circled around. “You want to get back in the saddle?”

  He wanted to get out of the freezing cold lake and get his feet back on solid ground...or at least the semisolid surface of the boat.

  But if he didn’t keep at it, Krista would never get on top of another horse. She was slicing forward in a powerful front crawl through the water to retrieve the rope. He touched the clasps on his lifejacket. All in place.

  “I’m good.”

  But Krista didn’t hand him the rope. “All right, fine. We’re even. I can’t stand to see your shoulder yanked about.” She slapped the water when he opened his mouth. “Get into the boat. It’s my turn. Don’t even argue.”

  He didn’t.

  He flopped into the boat with all the grace of a walrus and watched Krista as she took off on the skis.

  She was good, really good. She rode the bumps like a pro and did a full turn.

  “Show-off,” Bridget grumbled from the seat across from him. She’d stood up straight and hadn’t fallen, either. “You had a bad experience in water, Will, or what?”

  “Nope. Just don’t like the feeling. I argued about it with my mom and she didn’t push it. Keith and Laura are good enough swimmers, but not as natural as you guys.”

  “Krista’s the best, hands down,” Bridget said. “Don’t tell her that, though. She does not need one more thing to lord over us.”

  “She’s rubbing it in because she had a hard go of it last time she was on a horse.”

  “Noticed the bruises myself,” Bridget said neutrally. “Lucky thing you put a helmet on her. She said a hoof clipped her on the side of the head.”

  Will felt as if the hoof had struck his chest. “She said nothing to me. I have my work cut out now to get her on a horse again.”