With a quick flick, he had the sheets free of any dirt he’d tracked in last night from the speedway. Tossing them on the mattress, he didn’t bother to remake the bed; he was already one cup behind his brothers.
Grabbing his jeans off the floor, he pulled them up and reminded himself to thank Emily for the clothes that had been neatly folded on his dresser top. Dressed, he headed downstairs where the sumptuous scent of fresh-brewed coffee and pan-fried steak had his stomach rumbling.
Both brothers were crowding their women close enough to have Jesse wondering if they needed birth control. He almost asked, then remembered the clean clothes, and said, “Thanks for doing my laundry, Em.”
She slipped out of Tyler’s arms and smiled at him. “Don’t you just love the way they smell when they’ve been dried on the clothesline?”
“Yeah.” A glance in his brother’s direction had him wondering why he was looking all pissed off at him. Still sore that they’d dumped him out of bed, he added, “Thanks, Em. You are the best!”
Just to test his theory that his brother was jealous, Jesse moved toward Emily to hug her. He swallowed a chuckle as the muscle beneath Tyler’s left eye began to twitch. If he wasn’t so hungry, he might have pushed his brother even further by kissing Emily—he missed their morning rumbles in the kitchen.
His stomach growled again and he focused on the food. “Hey, Ronnie, you save any steak for me?”
His sister-in-law pushed the hair out of her eyes and nodded. He almost laughed because that same hank of hair slid back in her face. He had a feeling Dylan was the one responsible for her delightfully disheveled appearance. She finally got her hair tucked behind her ears and reached for an empty plate. After she filled it with pan-seared steak, eggs, and potatoes, she handed it to him.
“You are an angel, Ronnie.”
“Hey.” Dylan moved closer, staking his claim and outlining his territory. If his brothers had their way, no one would get within three feet of their women. Normally he felt crappy about being envious of them all the time, but today was different—he had two pretty women waiting on him to finish his chores so he could pick them up and bring them out to the Circle G.
If he played his cards right, he’d be kissing Danielle’s delectable lips this afternoon. He wondered if they’d be honey sweet or berry tart?
“Are you all right, Jesse?”
Emily’s soft voice jolted him to the present and the realization that he hadn’t moved. “Uh, yeah.” He walked over to the table and sat down. “Just low on caffeine.”
Magically, a cup appeared at his elbow—milk and two sugars, just the way he liked it. He drank some down before looking up. “Thanks, Emily. I could have gotten it.” The grim look on Tyler’s face nearly had him giving in to the laughter building inside of him. It was just too hard to hang on to being mad when there was breakfast a man could count on to carry him through till noon, coffee just this side of perfect, and pretty women smiling and smelling like—he paused and, before his brothers could stop him, leaned toward Ronnie first and then Emily, breathing deeply. The ladies were an intriguing combination of rain-washed lavender and lemons.
With a grin, he plowed through his meal while his mind wandered and he wondered what scent Danielle favored. Damn, he couldn’t remember. He’d have to get real close to her again and find out. He’d better get a move on with his chores and volunteer to head on into town to get the supplies. “So, need anything at Harrison’s?”
“Nah, Dylan’s got it covered. You and me will be riding fences today.”
“Sorry, Bro. I’ve got plans for this afternoon.”
“Change ’em,” Tyler grumbled.
“Can’t,” Jesse answered, surprised that he was in such a good mood. Was it the prospect of seeing Danielle again, or teaching a certain little cowgirl how to ride? Probably both, he reasoned before looking at both brothers.
Dylan asked, “You got a special reason to want to head into town?” His brother’s gaze was watchful, interested.
He shrugged, got up, and rinsed his plate and utensils. As he put them in the dishwasher, he looked up and caught Ronnie’s nod of approval. He winked at her and hotfooted it out of Dylan’s reach. Damn, but his brothers were touchy where their women were concerned.
As the door closed behind him, he realized that he couldn’t wait to bring the Brockway ladies to the ranch and see how they fit. He was smiling as he made his way over to the barn.
Dodge whickered a welcome as Jesse made his way toward his horse’s stall. His horse nudged him while Jesse placed the bit in his mouth and the bridle into place, keeping Jesse’s mind occupied and off of the dangerous subject of women. It wouldn’t be smart to be distracted working around large animals.
“Dodge, there’s a little lady who would love to meet you.”
His horse nodded and whinnied, and Jesse couldn’t help but smile. Humming to himself, he checked the cinch and mounted his horse. Right on cue, Tyler opened the back door and before Jesse could look away, the oldest Garahan gathered his woman into his arms and held her tight, burying his face in her curly red hair.
“Damn,” Jesse rasped. “To be loved like that.” Hell, he thought, to love like that. It must have been what his parents had shared before his dad had gone on that fateful mission to Beirut.
He wondered if Danielle was the one… he had a feeling she might be and wondered if she would be willing to take a chance on another cowboy. Shaking his head, he wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He was starting to sound like an old woman. With one last look over his shoulder, he rode out, ready to tackle the first of the day’s jobs. Tyler would catch up and they’d plow through their never-ending list. One thing was certain—come four o’clock that afternoon, he would be driving into town.
***
“Mommy, when’s he coming?”
Danielle sighed and finished combing Lacy’s hair. “I’m not sure, sweetie, but you know he’s a busy man, with so many longhorns to look after.”
Lacy’s mouth was set in a firm line. Recognizing the look, Danielle tried to dig deeper for the patience to deal with the fallout of one more sweet-talking cowboy who hadn’t kept his word.
“But he was ’sposed to pick us up yesterday.” Lacy was pouting, and Danielle didn’t blame her daughter.
“I know it’s hard to understand, Lacy,” she soothed, digging deeply to find the patience to come up with an explanation for why Jesse had stood them up. “But sometimes grown-ups have to do things they don’t want to do in order to make the time to do the things they want to do.”
“I ’member. You said that when Daddy left.”
Danielle’s heart clenched and a wave of cold swept up from the tips of her toes. “That’s right, sweet pea. He left us, but I’m still here.”
Lacy reached out and wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck. “I love you.”
Tears burned the back of her eyes, but Danielle blinked them away. “I love you back.”
Letting go, Lacy spun around and clomped toward the doorway. “Can we have pie for breakfast?”
This time, Danielle laughed out loud. “Maybe a sliver, you little rascal.”
Lacy danced out the door and down the hallway. Danielle could hear her daughter singing to herself, just slightly off key, and the words hit home—hard. “Save a horse, ride a cowboy.”
Thank goodness her little girl had no idea what those words really meant; she just liked the tune and the beat that accompanied it—well, that and it was about Lacy’s favorite thing in the whole world… cowboys.
Following along behind, she hoped she’d be able to keep her daughter busy enough over at the diner to have her forgetting about a certain dark-eyed cowboy for the rest of the morning. Danielle had thought Jesse would have kept his word. He seemed so down to earth, so connected, not superficial. Maybe something had come up. But he hadn’t called or left her a note.
By the time they were cleaning up from the lunch shift, she knew it was going to be difficul
t to interest Lacy in anything else. Her daughter talked to everyone who came into the diner, pleased to be Uncle Jimmy’s little June bug and setting the napkins rolled around utensils at every table. Her daughter’s voice always increased in volume when she was excited, so it was easy to keep track of the conversations her little one was having with the patrons of Sullivan’s Diner. Every one started or ended with her tale of being rescued by the biggest cowboy she’d ever seen.
The people in Pleasure were as friendly as she remembered, from her times visiting as a child, and treated Lacy as if she were someone special. There were quite a few long looks in her direction when they thought Danielle was too busy to notice, but she noticed all right. She’d heard from her uncle that the speculation was already running high as far as Jesse Garahan and Danielle were concerned.
A sliver of awareness raced up her spine. He was a man worth getting to know, but if he didn’t show up, how could she? Then another worry took hold: when he got here, would he want to stick around?
Once they’d bid the last customer good-bye, they got to work cleaning up and setting up for tomorrow morning. It was hard, honest work—a lot harder than her office job had been. That had only taxed her brain and stressed her out, worrying whether or not she’d get home from work in time to pick Lacy up from day care. Compared to worrying about Lacy, manual labor was a cinch.
“Do you mind if Lacy and I leave the diner before closing tomorrow?”
Her uncle looked up from grill he was scraping. “Sure thing. Have you got a date?”
The look on her face must have been priceless, because he started laughing deep, belly laughs.
“No, but I thought I’d head on over to the Circle G ranch and see if I can’t talk a certain cowboy into keeping his promise to my little girl.”
Her uncle looked over his shoulder to where they’d left Lacy and nodded. “Might be a good idea, else little June bug just might start asking one of my regulars to drive her out there.”
Danielle laughed despite her uneasiness discussing Jesse. “She’s pretty obvious.”
“Like her momma—with a one-track mind.”
Danielle smiled. “You could always figure out a person’s motives five minutes after meeting them.” Trusting her uncle to tell her the truth she asked, “Do you think Jesse is like Buddy?”
Her uncle emptied the griddle’s grease trap and wiped his hands on a towel. “In some ways yes, in others, no.”
“Great.” She walked over to where Lacy stood looking out the window. She didn’t think her daughter noticed her, so she was surprised when Lacy turned and asked, “Do you think he’ll ’member about his promise?”
“It takes a lot of time and hard work to keep a ranch going,” Uncle Jimmy said. “There is the herd to take care of and the horses that they use when working the herd.”
“How come you know so much ’bout ranching, Unca Jimmy?”
He smiled. “I’ve lived in Pleasure most of my life and have friends that took over the running of their family’s ranch.”
Lacy was quiet on the ride home and went to the living room to watch television rather than keep them company in the kitchen. In between rolling out crust and worrying about broken promises, Danielle tiptoed down the hallway. As she’d hoped, Lacy had fallen asleep. Since she looked comfortable, she let her be.
“She all right?”
“Yes. I just wish Jesse had kept his promise and stopped by.”
“Well now, I’d say that maybe you and my favorite grandniece are a mite impatient.”
“Uncle Jimmy—”
“Don’t Uncle Jimmy me,” he said, brushing the flour from his hands. “I’m not pleased that he didn’t call to explain himself, and will have something to say to him if and when he shows up, but sometimes emergencies happen—especially out on a ranch.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted. “There might be a perfectly good reason why he didn’t show up.”
By the time he’d put the last batch of pies in the oven, Danielle was washing the last of the mixing bowls when Lacy wandered back in. “Can I help?”
“You’re just in time to help us decide what to fix for dinner.”
“Hamburgers!”
“Sure,” Uncle Jimmy answered.
“Lacy and I can make Gramma’s short-cut baked beans.”
Her uncle smiled. “That would be great. I’ve got some canned pork and beans in the pantry. What else do you need?”
Danielle wished she’d thought to unpack her file box of recipes; now she’d have to recreate it from memory. “Onion, butter, and brown sugar.”
“No chili powder?”
She grinned. “Dad can’t eat hot spices anymore, so Mom adapted her recipe so he could eat it.”
“Do you need any help?”
“It’s our turn to wait on you.” She wondered if she and Lacy would have coped as well if they didn’t have Uncle Jimmy. “How about if you take a break and go on out to the back porch?”
He hugged Lacy first and Danielle second. “You cook, I clean.”
She shook her head. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, you deserve a nice long break while my partner and I fix your supper.”
“Call me if you need me.”
“We will,” Lacy called out. Watching him leave, her daughter turned and asked, “Did Jesse call yet?”
The urge to smack her forehead with the heel of her hand was so strong, she almost gave into the need, but at the last minute, she dug deeper and found the patience to simply shake her head and not give in to the frustration. “Not yet.”
Was it wrong to pray that Lacy would wait until tomorrow to ask again?
Throwing herself into dinner preparations, she helped Lacy form the round meat patties and set them in the fridge to keep cool while they sautéed the onions in butter.
“How do you know when they’re done?”
“See the part of the onion we didn’t use?”
“Uh-huh,” Lacy answered.
“Now look at the onion I’ve been stirring.”
“It looks different.”
“Exactly,” Danielle said, pleased that her daughter was observant. “Just a little more time so the onions are translucent and we’ll add the brown sugar until it gets all melted and smooth.”
“Do I like onions and sugar?”
Delighted with her little one, Danielle answered, “You love them, especially in Gramma’s special beans.”
Scrunching up her nose as if she wasn’t quite sure, Lacy shrugged. “When will they be ready?”
“Hmmm, how does Gramma know when they’re ready?”
Lacy considered the question, and like a flower, her face bloomed with a smile that seemed to glow from within. “She tastes it!”
Smart as a whip and cute as a button.
Lifting the wooden spoon to her lips, Danielle taste tested the mixture. “Hmmm… just right.”
“That’s what Gramma always says.”
“Then it must be ready,” Uncle Jimmy said, walking back inside.
“Do you want to heat up the kitchen some more?” Danielle asked. “Or do you want to cook those burgers outside?”
“Let me fire up the gas grill. It’ll be hot in just a few minutes. Besides,” he said, looking at the beanless pot, “don’t you need to let the beans soak up some of that saucy stuff?”
“That’s next.”
Lacy nodded. “Know what, Unca Jimmy?”
He got down to her level and asked, “What?”
“Mommy taste-tested it and it’s good. Know how I know?”
He shook his head. “Tell me.”
“She didn’t make a funny face, so it must taste good.”
Putting his hands on his knees, he straightened up and walked over to the frying pan. “Can I try it?”
Danielle handed him a teaspoon. “Sure, but you can’t fiddle with it till it’s on your plate.”
He frowned at her but dipped his spoon in and scooped up the sauce. He touched th
e tip of his tongue to it. “It’s not too hot.” While they watched, he sampled the mixture and smiled. “It’s good.”
“’Course it is, silly,” Lacy said. “Mommy’s a good cook.”
He nodded and grabbed the kitchen matches. “I’ll light the grill. Be right back.”
Later that night, when she was tucking Lacy in, her daughter asked, “If I’m really good tomorrow, Mommy, do you think cowboy Jesse will come and see us?”
“Oh, sweet pea.” Danielle struggled to hold it together and not break down and cry. “He’s just busy, honey, that’s all.”
“Are you sure? ’Cause daddy said he couldn’t stay ’cause of me.”
Danielle’s heart broke. “Lacy, that’s not true.”
“He said he din’t want to be my daddy anymore. I heard him!”
Gathering her daughter in her arms, she pressed her lips to the top of Lacy’s head. “He didn’t mean it that way.”
“He said it,” Lacy insisted.
“But—”
“Am I bad?”
This had gone far enough. Even though her uncle was right, she should be patient, she couldn’t let her daughter worry that Lacy was the reason her daddy had left, or the reason Jesse had yet to fulfill his promise.
That her daughter would even think that cut a hole in Danielle’s heart until it bled. “No. You are not bad. You are my perfectly wonderful, beautiful, talented daughter and the light of my life.”
“But Daddy said—”
“Daddy left me too, sweetie.”
“So, maybe cowboy Jesse isn’t mad at me?”
Holding Lacy close, she whispered, “He isn’t mad at you, and you know what? We’re going out to the Circle G tomorrow.”
“We are?”
“Yes, ma’am. So close your eyes and get plenty of sleep because tomorrow will be a really big day.” She settled Lacy under the covers and kissed her forehead. “I love you, sweet pea.”
“I love you back, Mommy.”
The rumble of deep voices surprised Danielle as she was coming down the stairs. Her heart fluttered when she recognized Jesse’s smooth baritone. He was here! Taking a deep cleansing breath, she prayed she would keep her cool and not demand he tell her why he hadn’t kept his promise to Lacy.
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