Rancher in Her Bed

by Joanne Rock

  Giving in and rapping on the door to her cabin, he figured she must be avoiding him. He’d been working almost nonstop since the Texas Cattleman’s Club planning meeting, the fallout from Sterling’s arrest spilling over into the new Houston branch as members questioned whether Sterling belonged in the club.

  That work had taken up much of Ryder’s time, giving Xander more work with Currin Oil. His father was thrilled to have him in the office, and Xander was glad he was finally stepping into the role he’d always planned to have with the company. Especially since he knew his second-in-command on the ranch would finally have a chance to test out the foreman role. But it meant he hadn’t been on the ranch to see Frankie.

  “Frankie,” he called as he knocked a second time.

  The only sound he heard in response was a raven cawing at him from her porch rail. Overhead, the late-afternoon sun beat down with an oppressive heat.

  “She’s out of town, boss,” a man’s voice called to him from the grassy ranch road.

  Xander turned to see Reggie Malloy, the longtime member of the Currin Ranch team who’d been there the night of the rodeo when Xander had talked Frankie out of competing.

  “Out of town?” Xander stepped off the small porch of the cabin, heading down the path toward the dirt road where Reggie sat on a spotted Appaloosa.

  “She asked Len for a couple of personal days. Said something about going to see her folks in Laredo, I heard.” Reggie tipped his hat up, mopping his forehead with the sleeve of his work shirt.

  No surprise that Reggie knew about the trip, since word spread fast in a small community like theirs. Len, Xander’s second-in-command, oversaw more of the personnel concerns. What bugged Xander was that he hadn’t heard a thing about it. Why would she risk a confrontation with her parents by herself? Damn it, he knew he should have checked on her sooner. In giving her time to cool off, had he pushed her away completely?

  He hated the idea that she would see her parents alone after all this time.

  But he’d lost the right to weigh in on those decisions when he’d walked away from her after the meet and greet. The need to be with her, to lend whatever support he could, was so strong he wanted to get in his truck now and start driving. Lost in his own thoughts, he was surprised when Reggie spoke up again.

  “Do you think it’s true she’s going to turn out to be the lost Langley heiress?” The saddle creaked under Reggie as he shifted his weight. “We heard what happened at the Texas Cattleman’s Club meeting—about Abigail Langley recognizing that birthmark.”

  “I’m not sure what to believe.” Xander’s gut told him it was probably true; however, he didn’t want to speculate about her when she wasn’t involved in the conversation.

  He knew she’d probably already made her decision about whether or not to submit a DNA test, but he hoped to at least speak to her before she got the results back, if that was the route she’d chosen. He needed to assure her it didn’t matter to him what the results said—that he wanted her in his life no matter what.

  Reggie grinned from atop the Appaloosa. “Hard to imagine that one of the toughest hands on the payroll might turn out to be as good as Texas royalty. But we told her she’s got a place with us forever either way.”

  Clicking softly to his horse, the herd driver set the Appaloosa in motion, leaving Xander there alone with his thoughts.

  It didn’t speak well of him that the staff of Currin Ranch all knew exactly what to say to Frankie when she’d been confronted with a dramatic revelation about her birth, whereas Xander had put his foot in his mouth and left her to face the consequences alone.

  But he intended to fix that. Right now.

  * * *

  Tossing her rubber apron in a bin outside the back door of a local veterinary practice, Frankie went inside to scrub off the day of volunteer work in the field. She’d put in almost eight hours with Doc Macallan in the mobile veterinary van, visiting sick calves, a wounded horse and one very unhappy pig with an infected hoof. The vet lived on the property, in a farmhouse nearby, and had already retreated to his home for the evening, hoping to leave for a fishing trip as soon as he cleaned up.

  She was on her second round of antibacterial soap up to her elbows when her phone chimed with a text message. She glanced over at the counter above the sink, where she could see the sender’s name.

  Xander.

  Her chest ached and she found her eyes reading the text before she could debate the wisdom of it.

  Flying to Laredo ASAP. Please wait to speak to your parents until I can be there.

  Surprised, she dried her hands quickly.

  The parting with Xander might have hurt, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to waste a flight. Two of the other clinic staffers had left for the day, leaving her alone at the practice with the vet’s niece, who was playing with a kitten one of their clients had found abandoned by the highway and decided to keep.

  Just like me, Frankie thought wryly. She’d been adopted into a strange home, too. Except the family who’d found her hadn’t wanted to look too closely at the truth of where she’d come from. They’d hidden her away from the world on purpose, to prevent her real family from finding her.

  And now she had the DNA test results back that proved in no uncertain terms she was a Langley. The confidential letter from the laboratory had been waiting for her when she’d returned from Laredo. Abigail Langley had paid extra to rush the results, but she’d been kind enough to have the correspondence shipped solely to Frankie so she could have time to think about how she wanted to handle the information.

  She still hadn’t decided.

  Settling into one of the break room chairs near the coffeepot, Frankie typed a response to Xander while the weariness of the day caught up with her. Ranch hand work took a physical toll, but her efforts with the animals took an emotional one. Even the victories in the field could be tiring, as frantic owners worried about their pets and distressed animals needed soothing. As she let the exhaustion roll over her, she tried to contain the spark of hopefulness she felt at hearing from Xander.

  Not in Laredo anymore. Finishing shift at Macallan Clinic.

  She guessed he must have learned her whereabouts from one of the guys at Currin Ranch, since the other ranch hands were the only people who’d known she’d wanted to go home this week. She hadn’t wanted to hear the DNA test results until she’d given her parents an opportunity to tell her the truth.

  Not that she’d had any luck.

  The next text was almost immediate.

  Please don’t leave. I’d like to speak to you.

  To call it quits for good? To tell her he’d had time to think it over and he was more certain than ever that they weren’t a good match? Those were her fears. But her hopes were quite different. She’d missed him these last several days while she’d been finding the courage to speak to him.

  Okay.

  She hit Send on the message, unable to say more than that when her feelings were in knots. She’d been so busy indulging her crush on Xander—so determined to squeeze all the pleasure out of a relationship with him—that she’d missed the chance to really get to know him.

  To understand him.

  To find common ground.

  So now that their relationship was falling apart, she didn’t have a clear idea how to talk to him about the things that mattered. About those hopes and fears of hers.

  She guessed he had plenty of his own, too. Maybe she’d be able to see them now that she’d stopped viewing him as an unattainable hottie and started looking at him as a man.

  A smart, caring, generous man, who’d extended himself to help her even when she hadn’t been able to give him anything in return. No matter what else came of their relationship, she owed him a debt of gratitude for the connections she’d made within the Texas Cattleman’s Club. The access to more potential references for veterinary s
chool. The possibility of new volunteering opportunities that would give her the hours she needed to work with animals.

  But what she still craved was him.

  The anguish in her heart this week hadn’t really been rooted in the DNA test results or her choices about her future with her family or career. All the pain had been over losing Xander. She had the courage to face a lot of challenges, it seemed, but the thought of life without Xander had the power to bring her to her knees.

  When the knock sounded on the back door of the clinic, Frankie felt an answering thump of her heartbeat. Spearing to her feet, she hurried out of the break room to open the door.

  Xander stood on the top step, wearing jeans and a gray jacket, his dark Stetson shielding his face from the late-afternoon sun. The frisson of awareness that jolted her was familiar by now, but it amazed her that it never seemed to fade. She realized that she’d been kidding herself to think an affair might quench her thirst for this man. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted him.

  The deeper she fell in love with him.

  She understood that now.

  Behind him, the vet’s rural practice had an almost-empty parking area except for his truck and the vet’s mobile treatment van. Nearby pens held some of the large animals that were recovering from surgery. A couple of older horses munched their hay while a solitary ostrich squawked unhappily in an enclosure of her own.

  “Hi.” Frankie stood on the threshold, her gaze greedily soaking Xander in after the days spent apart. Longing pierced her heart. “You got here fast.”

  She wondered what he was thinking behind those very blue eyes. She’d always known that he wouldn’t stay in her life, but she hadn’t recognized how much it would devastate her when he left. Thinking about the mystery of her birth these last few days had been—for once in her life—a welcome distraction from thinking about Xander.

  From wishing she knew how to fix things between them.

  “I was halfway to the private airstrip to take a flight to Laredo,” he admitted. He turned to look out over the vet’s small farm. “Is there anywhere we can speak privately?”

  “Sure.” She waved goodbye to the vet’s niece before she closed and locked the door behind them, nervous and agitated. Scared, even, that she’d screwed things up irreparably. “There’s a spot back here if you don’t mind walking for a few minutes.”

  It was still hot outside, but Xander had spent long hours on the ranch in the Texas summer. She led them past the hog pen and donkey barn where Doc Macallan kept his own collection of animals. A rural windmill turned overhead, aerating a pond kept stocked with fish.

  A few moments later, Xander must have caught sight of their destination—a round tent permanently erected on a wooden platform among the pine trees. A small deck extended from the front entrance, where a pair of Adirondack chairs sat side by side.

  “A yurt?” Xander glanced from the tent to her. It was a fleeting moment of shared amusement that made her wonder if she’d ever feel this connection to any human being again.

  The amusement vanished.

  “The vet calls it his retreat space.” She’d visited the spot to have her lunch sometimes when the weather was cooler. “He left town for a long weekend, though, so it’s all ours.”

  Xander followed her up the narrow steps to the deck under the shade of dense pine trees. She took a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs and Xander lowered himself into the other. He sat forward, though, on the edge of the chair, looking at her intently. He removed his hat and slid it on the wood railing along one side of the deck.

  “First of all, I’m sorry you made that trip back home by yourself.” The sincerity in his voice was unmistakable, but then, he was a kind, thoughtful person. “How did it go?”

  Birds argued in the trees overhead, shaking a few needles down onto the soft earth. And Frankie was only too glad to talk about something besides the ashes of their relationship.

  She seized on the topic gladly.

  “I didn’t learn anything.” She’d made the decision to go impulsively, not wanting to call ahead to alert them to her arrival. “At least, not about my past. When I arrived at the home where I grew up, someone else was living there. Turns out my parents put that place on the market two months after I left home.”

  It had hurt to know they’d pulled up stakes so quickly. Not that they could have gotten in touch with her to tell her anyhow, since she’d changed her number deliberately to give herself space from their controlling ways. But their quick departure had told her they hadn’t been concerned about keeping the house in case she wanted to return one day.

  “You didn’t get to see them?”

  “No.” She’d felt foolish when she got there. “I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or disappointed that I drove five hours for nothing. I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but the fact is, I have no idea where to find them.”

  “A private investigator could track them quickly enough,” he volunteered, shrugging out of the suit jacket and laying it over the arm of the chair.

  She followed his movements, watching the play of muscle through the white cotton shirt. Wishing she still had the right to take shelter in his strong arms. But they’d lost themselves in physical attraction too many times, failing to build the deeper connection that might have helped them weather the last tumultuous week.

  Had she lost that right forever?

  Tension and wariness strung her nerves tight.

  “I’m not sure that I want to contact them.” She’d had a long time to think about it on the drive back to Houston and still wasn’t sure of her next step where her adoptive parents were concerned. But she would phone the authorities and give a statement about what had happened so there was an official record of it. “I only made the trip because I thought it would be wise to give my parents an opportunity to come clean before I found out the results of the DNA test.”

  His mouth compressed into a flat line. Because he disagreed with her decision not to track her adoptive family? Or because he didn’t think she should take the DNA test?

  “Has Abigail Langley been in contact with you?” he asked, the question not revealing his thoughts.

  “I spoke to her the night of the party—after Sterling’s arrest—and agreed to go through with the test.” Frankie had known she’d never get any sleep until she addressed the problem, and that meant finding out the truth one way or another. “I’ve asked her not to share the results with anyone for a few more days, even though she generously paid an exorbitant fee for rushed results.”

  Xander went still. Only the sound of a distant tractor and a few chirping birds broke the silence.

  “You already know the results?” His dark eyebrows lifted.

  “I do.” She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she had parents out there she’d never met. A sister, too. Would her return to their family cause them upheaval or happiness? “You’re the first person I’ve told. The first to know besides Abby and me that I’m a Langley.”

  She’d called Abigail after opening the letter to inform her, feeling that she deserved to know firsthand.

  His hand clamped hers tightly, squeezing. “Frankie, I couldn’t be happier for you.”

  The warmth of the words and the sentiment behind them were a welcome relief. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until it huffed out in a sigh.

  “Really? I wasn’t sure how you’d react.” Her gaze darted to where their hands remained clasped.

  A friendly, empathetic gesture? Or could it mean more than that? Her nerves were stretched thin. The thought of losing him for good was killing her inside.

  “I know I didn’t express myself well the other night when we talked about it.” He shook his head, regret tingeing his words. “What I was trying to say—while doing a poor job of it—was that you are an incredible person
no matter your name. But knowing how difficult your childhood must have been, I’m happy that you will be surrounded by a very worthy family from now on. I’ve never met Abigail’s cousin, but if Abby is any indication of the kind of family you come from, rest assured, you’ll be very loved.”

  His words cheered her. Made her hopeful that he wouldn’t turn his back on their friendship even if he wasn’t ready to embrace a deeper relationship.

  But she wanted it all. His heart. His love.

  Xander.

  “Thank you.” The restraint of not talking about them was starting to wear on her, her control fracturing as her voice caught. “That means a lot to me.”

  Nodding, she cleared her throat. Tried to get a hold of herself so she didn’t fall apart in front of him.

  Was she just delaying the inevitable?

  “I’m surprised you aren’t more eager to share the news with the world, though.” He released his hold on her, making her very aware of the absence of his touch. “Is there any reason you don’t want to tell people yet?”

  “I’m still navigating what it means for me, so I’m not sure I’m ready to field the questions about what I’ll do next.” Tucking her feet under her seat, she looked out over the animal pens and picturesque old farm where she’d been volunteering for months, unwilling to think about what a life without Xander would look like. “Do I want to build a mixed practice like Doc Macallan? Specialize in large-animal medicine? Or forsake it all and go into a life of philanthropy now that I’m the heir to a fortune? What kind of obligation do I have to a family who mourned a lost child for twenty-three years?”

  Of course, none of those worries mattered half as much as the one she didn’t speak. The one she couldn’t speak.

  Sliding his chair closer, he draped an arm around her, squeezing her shoulder.

  “Frankie, your first obligation is to yourself.” He comforted her with his physical presence, and with his words even more so. “I know the Langley family, and they would be saddened to think they caused you a moment’s unhappiness after all you’ve been through.”