Front Range Cowboys (5 Book Box Set)

by Evie Nichole

  “I guess so.” Darren opened the passenger door of her little car and got out. “I’ve never met him. He’s apparently a very good friend of my brother’s secretary.”

  “Laredo’s secretary?” Maggie stumbled out of her car and tried not to focus on how odd that was. People got referrals about rental houses from all sorts of sources. Right?

  “Don’t ask,” Darren told her wryly. “It was a really weird morning. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  Maggie could almost leave it at that. There was one detail bothering her. “What about Bella? Is someone picking her up?”

  “My mother.” Darren was waving to a lanky man in chambray work pants and shirt. “I told Laredo to send Bella with her for a few days until he got his shit together.”

  Maggie was pleasantly surprised by Darren’s quickness of mind. “Great idea.”

  “Are you Darren Hernandez?” The landlord pulled off a pair of work gloves and slapped them against his thigh. “I’m Jason Alder. This here is my place.”

  “I’m Darren.” Darren held out his hand and firmly took Jason Alder’s. “Nice to meet you.”

  Maggie was suddenly struck by just how proud she was to be standing at this man’s side. She remembered going places with her fiancé. The man had never been much of a prize in the attitude department. There were plenty of times that Maggie had felt as though she needed to apologize for his bad behavior. But at the time she had been worried there were no other options out there for her. After her parents had passed away within six months of each other and she’d been so overwhelmed dealing with their estate issues, she had realized that it was better to be without someone altogether than to feel as though you were with someone you were ashamed of. It just wasn’t worth the emotional angst.

  “This is my close friend Maggie Brown,” Darren told Jason Alder as he stepped aside and presented Maggie as though he were announcing a queen’s arrival.

  Maggie’s cheeks flushed. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mr. Alder.”

  The man was beaming. “And you, ma’am. Shall we go inside? There’s not really much to look at out here. My mother kept some plants and things, but I took them out once she passed. It’s been my experience that renters don’t much care to do outside work.”

  “I don’t mind a little,” Darren mused. “It’s always less than it was at the ranch.”

  “Yeah,” Alder said good-humoredly. “I bet this tiny half-acre lot will require significantly less than those hundreds of thousands of acres of land and animals.”

  “That’s for sure.” Darren moved toward the side of the house and peered over the side gate. “But it is nice to think that my son will be able to play outside.” Darren’s expression was priceless. He looked as excited as a kid. “I could even get a swing set or something.”

  Maggie touched his arm. She felt such a welling up of love and warmth for him right now it was impossible not to make physical contact. She needed to feel him next to her. She threaded her fingers through his and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. “I bet Jaeger will love anything you put out here for him. Even if it’s just a ball.”

  “That’s right.” Alder bobbed his head as he opened the front door and let them inside. “Gloria did say you had a kid.”

  “He’s five.” Darren’s tone was so eager that Maggie’s heart went out to him. How could anyone ever think he wouldn’t be a good father? Was his family completely daft?

  “Well, this house has the two bedrooms, so you should both have plenty of room.” Alder led the way into the front room.

  It was a quaint little place. It very much looked like grandma’s house. There was a fireplace on the left side of the room, and Maggie could see the kitchen to the right. There was one more hallway straight back and three doors. Presumably they were talking about a bathroom and two bedrooms.

  “The other thing that’s great about this house,” Alder continued as he walked through the front room. “There’s a little half bath off the master bedroom. I put a shower in there when my mother was getting older. There’s no tub, but there’s a commode and a shower and sink. It’s handy as hell when you have two or three people living in the house.”

  “That’s great!” Darren said eagerly. He was busy pulling open doors and exclaiming over closets and storage space. He checked out the aging but still fully functioning appliances and laughed about the tiny fridge. “That’s going to have to change,” Darren commented to Alder about the fridge. “We’re guys living here, you know.”

  “That’s all right.” Alder chuckled. “I would suggest putting this one in that detached garage in the backyard so you can store some extra drinks.”

  “Now that is a good idea.” Darren was laughing and joking with Alder about having a beer fridge.

  As Maggie wandered through this small but cozy space, she could not help but contrast this little two-bedroom house with Laredo’s monster house. Were the two brothers really that different? Or was there something else going on here? It was no stretch to say that the Hernandez family came from money. But Maggie did not know them well enough to know if they had always lived that way. In her experience, ranchers were sometimes quite different when it came to luxury. It was about the animals and feeding the animals and having enough money on hand at any given time for a natural disaster to occur. Ranching was not an easy life. It didn’t breed soft people. It made them hard.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  Maggie turned to smile at Darren. “I think it’s perfect, although you’re going to have a hard time getting your boy a pony and keeping it in the backyard.”

  “A pony.” Darren looked absolutely shell-shocked. “I hadn’t even thought about it, but you’re right. I’ll need a pony. And maybe some little boots and one of those tiny silver buckles.”

  “Ma’am?” Alder’s laugh was infectious. The man was going to be a wonderful landlord. “Does it sound to you as though this boy is accessorizing his son in his head?”

  “It sure does!” Maggie teased. “He’ll have him bull riding on the rodeo circuit in no time.”

  “Bull riding?” Darren scoffed. “Baby, at five my boy is going to be mutton busting!”

  Maggie didn’t have any trouble at all picturing Darren standing on the edge of an arena while his son tried like hell to ride some sheep while they bucked and twisted. Mutton busting was indeed where a lot of youngsters started when they were kiddos. How incredible was it that Darren was now getting to think about actually sharing his ranching heritage with his son?

  “I’ll take it,” Darren told Alder. “I know we discussed the deposit and such on the phone. I’d like to move in as soon as possible, but I don’t have much in the way of stuff to really fill the place up.” Darren pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. “I’ve got your cash though. I don’t want to lose out on this opportunity.”

  Alder took the money. “I’ve got some papers for you to sign. If you’ll just step out to my truck, we can get the lease executed right away.”

  “I’m going to step outside, sweetheart.” Darren pressed a kiss to her cheek and followed Alder out of the little house.

  Maggie wandered through the rooms and thought about how much it cost to furnish a house. She had no idea what Darren’s financial situation was. It wasn’t really any of her business. They were a couple. But not like that. Yet here he was about to try and set up a household for himself and a young boy. The two of them were practically strangers. They needed a place where they could be comfortable. It needed to be welcoming and, well—homey. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Darren was capable of creating that. But he’d never tried to establish a residence with an eye toward pleasing family services and making a home for a child.

  Swallowing back her dislike for Laredo Hernandez, Maggie pulled out her phone and sent him a text. It was only two lines. It felt like a million. There was no immediate response. She hadn’t really expected one. In fact, Maggie wasn’t sure what she was expecting. She just felt as though a man like Darre
n who had such a large immediate family should be able to count on them for something.

  “Hey!” Darren came bouncing back into the house. His expression made it seem as though he were on cloud nine. She had never seen any one man so appreciative of a tiny little house like this one. But, then, Darren was one in a million. “Are you ready to go? I have keys. I have a lease. I have to call and start the utilities or something. I could use some help with that. I’ll admit that I have never actually had a place of my own. I’ve always just lived in dorms or places that were arranged for me by a contract negotiator or something.”

  “I’ll help you out,” she promised. “It’s really not that complicated. I’m pretty sure once you get started you won’t even need my help.” Maggie held out her hand. “Now I have to find the perfect housewarming gift. That takes some thought, you know.”

  “You are the perfect housewarming gift.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. He kissed her lips and nuzzled her neck and made her feel as though she could fly. “I can’t thank you enough for all of your help. You’ve made this possible for me. In fact, you’ve changed my whole life, Maggie. You believe in me. I don’t think anyone ever has.”

  His words made Maggie feel both exhilarated and also a little bit strange since she’d just contacted his family on his behalf. What if that made him angry? She opened her mouth to tell him what she’d done, but he was already halfway out the door dragging her behind him. His excitement was infectious. How could she spoil that? Not now. She would tell him later.

  “I need kitchen stuff.” He was muttering to himself. “Weird. I’ve never needed that before. Plastic silverware and some paper plates would work. Right?”

  Oh, yeah, Maggie had been right to call in reinforcements. This was going to take some doing. She lifted Darren’s hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “I think it might be time to graduate from paper plates, Darren.”

  “To plastic? I could do that. There’s a dishwasher. That will help a lot!” Darren was still talking a mile a minute, and Maggie let him go. She loved his sheer exuberance. This was a man who would never do anything halfway. Of that she was absolutely certain.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Maggie wondered if it was possible to screw things up any more than she already had, and suspected that it was, but that she just hadn’t found the method yet. Of course, the biggest thing that was messed up was the fact that Maggie still couldn’t bring herself to tell Darren what she’d done by telling his family about his need for home furnishings and supplies.

  “I just got the strangest text from my brother Cisco.” Darren stared at his phone and then gave Maggie a lopsided grin. “The ass says he wants to get together soon. I don’t think I’ve seen Cisco in years. He’s almost done with law school, and he’s practically insufferable to be around.”

  Maggie tried to nod her head and seem normal. At least as normal as it was possible to be when you suspected that the reason your boyfriend’s semi-estranged brother wanted to get together had something to do with the text you had sent to another one of the brothers a few hours ago.

  Maggie hadn’t gotten a response from Laredo for what seemed like hours. Then, all of a sudden, she’d received one of Laredo’s infamous brush-offs. The text simply read, WE’LL TAKE CARE OF IT. Really? That was Laredo’s big plan to be a part of Darren’s life and help him out? He would take care of it? Ever since that moment, Maggie was very much afraid that she had pushed a boulder off a cliff and started an avalanche without realizing it.

  The two of them had grabbed some things at a local department store and then had also picked up dinner on their way back to Darren’s new place. Now they were having what amounted to a carpet picnic in Darren’s living room. He was amusing himself chatting with her about what sort of chair might work in this space, or wondering what kind of couch a five-year-old might like. Maggie was trying not to feel totally uncomfortable as she realized that she had potentially taken those choices away from him and from Jaeger.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Maggie’s heart stopped. Who would be knocking now? She surreptitiously checked her phone to see that it was after eight o’clock. She still hadn’t heard back from Cara. That was only one of about a dozen things that were preying on Maggie’s mind.

  “Who would come knocking here?” Darren wondered as he levered himself up off the floor. It was times like these that Maggie could see he had some physical hurts that he almost never mentioned. He was stiff getting up but shook it off. “I hope it’s not a mistaken pizza order. I’m too stuffed with fried chicken to eat another bite.”

  Maggie smiled, but she felt as though the expression was frozen on her face. This could be very bad. There was no telling who was on the other side of that door. If it was Cara, there was no furniture in this house and even if Jaeger wanted to stay with the father he’d never met, Cara wouldn’t be able to allow it. If it happened to be a member of Darren’s family, Maggie would have to explain that she’d spilled the beans. Why, oh why, hadn’t she just told him? Darren wasn’t an ogre. He would have been understanding—most likely.

  Darren flipped on the porch light. Then the door creaked open. Maggie held her breath as she watched Darren peer out the front door. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Dammit. That did not sound like a good thing. Or at least it didn’t sound as if Darren thought it was a good thing. There were words exchanged, and then Darren swung around to stare at Maggie. She swallowed back the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.

  “Did you honestly give my brother my new address and then tell him I needed help furnishing my place?” Darren was gaping as though he couldn’t believe it.

  Maggie managed to swallow the lump. “It didn’t happen quite like that,” she hedged.

  Laredo Hernandez pushed open the front door and shoved his way past Darren. “The hell it didn’t, woman. You texted me and told me that Darren had rented a place and needed furnishings. Fast.”

  “Well, yes.” This was far more uncomfortable than Maggie had anticipated. And that was saying something because she’d been pretty damn nervous about this for the last several hours. “But I was only saying that because the house needs furnishing so quickly.”

  “What?” Darren looked completely aghast. He stared at Maggie as though she had committed the worst of betrayals.

  Darren started to say something else, but then three more people entered the front room. Maggie didn’t recognize all of them, but she did recognize Darren’s adopted sister, Jesse.

  “Can I just say that I was totally thrilled to hear that you’d finally gotten a place?” Jesse gushed. She flung her arms around Darren’s neck. “Laredo said something about getting your son back too. We’ve got you covered, big brother.”

  The way that Jesse pointed to the other Hernandez clones, it was quickly becoming obvious that those two were the younger brothers, Cisco and Met. One of the men was dressed in khakis and a button-down dress shirt. The other one was wearing dirty blue jeans, boots caked with mud, and a belt buckle so huge that it took up practically his whole torso.

  “I’m getting…” Darren still looked shell-shocked. Finally he turned to Maggie. “Is that why you called them?”

  Maggie bit her lip. “You have to understand,” she told Darren in a plaintive tone of voice. “I haven’t heard from Cara. I only got a text saying that she hadn’t made contact with the boy’s mother just yet. She was supposed to text me when the welfare check was complete. There is still a chance that family services could show up on your doorstep at any moment with Jaeger.”

  “Whoa,” Jesse murmured. She took a step back and did a slow turn. “Then, we need to get this place in order fast.”

  Maggie had never been so glad for the presence of another woman before in her life. She pointed to Jesse and nodded emphatically. “Exactly! That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “Then, why didn’t you say something to me directly?” Darren demanded. His blue
eyes were flashing fire, and he looked truly upset. “Why would you go behind my back? Don’t you understand how that makes me feel? I’m doing my best here to be a freaking adult! And instead of supporting me, you basically let me know that you don’t feel like I can handle it!”

  Jesse’s eyebrows shot up. She grabbed the shoulders of the two younger Hernandez brothers and shoved them toward the door. “Get your asses outside and start unloading. We need to get started anyway, and they need privacy.” Then Jesse pointed to Laredo, who was watching all of this with great interest. “And you!” Jesse snapped at him like a rabid dog. “Do not give me another reason to kick your ass. Get outside and help us.”

  The Hernandez gang left through the front door, and Maggie could hear the doors of a large truck slamming as they began carrying boxes inside the house. She moved closer to Darren and tried to take his hand. He pulled away from her. The cutting gesture drove deep. She hadn’t meant to screw everything up so badly.

  “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you to figure things out,” Maggie murmured to Darren. “It was just that you have such a small window of time to fix this and it’s a lot to fix. Do you understand? You told me yourself you’ve never done this before. But we need to make it look like you’ve got the steadiest of steady homes for this kid. I know that you can do it. I know that you can be the dad that boy needs, but convincing family services isn’t always that easy.”

  “You didn’t even tell me.” He was still shaking his head at her. “You didn’t even ask if I wanted their help. Why not?”

  “I was just standing there watching you hand that wad of cash to the landlord and realizing how much money it costs and how much time it takes to set up a household. I thought about how unfair it is that you have such a huge family and yet you were doing this all by yourself. That isn’t right, Darren. Families are supposed to help each other.”

  “So, you decided to make my family help me?” he asked bitterly.