And this—this deceptive-looking field of cacti surrounding this frame house and barn that had seen better days—this was where their dreams were going to come true.
She refused to think the past few hours could have changed that.
“Mom!” Max yelled.
She spun and watched her gangly teenage son zigzag toward her through the cacti. In his gloved hand he held a canvas bag aloft like the trophy that it was.
“I’ve got a bagful,” he said, skidding to a halt, his beautiful eyes sparkling from behind the protective goggles. She could hear the grin in his voice behind the bandana covering the rest of his face. The tiny, hairlike stingers on the fruit and the cactus plant were not something to take chances with. They were horribly irritating if they got on skin; in the eyes would be even worse. He’d grumbled when she’d first asked him to wear the goggles, but no protective wear, no deal. When she’d gotten home from town he’d been so anxious to get to work he hadn’t blinked twice as he’d snapped the goggles into place.
He was too excited about the prospect of harvesting the fruit to notice that she was upset. She was glad because, though she tried to hide it, there had still been the chance that her observant son might notice. She wasn’t ready to explain Zane…Mule Hollow’s new deputy!
Her temperature rose at the thought of him.
Desperately in need of a distraction, she stood dressed in her own gear harvesting prickly pear. Just what she needed. Denial was the name of the game. And at the moment, she’d play the game, because Zane, here in Mule Hollow, was simply too overwhelming to take in one dose.
She needed time to process it. Needed time to find a way to explain it all to Max. He knew that they’d spent many years in one shelter after the other, but he didn’t know all the circumstances that had led up to their nomadic way of life. He didn’t know that she’d witnessed a murder when she was twenty. Or that she’d briefly entered the witness protection program, when her testimony had sent the killer to prison. Nor did he know the whole truth about why or how she’d taken back her real name.
Max had been too young to remember anything of that life and she wanted to keep it that way.
Forcing the thoughts away, she held up her matching bag of fruit. “Me, too,” she said. “But, Max, please slow down. If you trip and fall into a cactus, those bristles are going to eat you alive.”
He tugged the bandana down. “Mom, stop worrying. I’m covered up like a mummy. Besides, I don’t trip.” The words were spoken like only a cocky teenager could do. “I’m an entrepreneur. The guys still can’t believe I’m opening my own business at fourteen.”
Rose teasingly lifted a brow at his words, loving his willingness to succeed. He was a fighter. Ambitious to achieve his goals. He was as proud as she was to have their first home, because at his young age he knew what it meant not to have a place to call their own. His ambition would help him survive.
“We’re opening a business,” he amended with a wide grin and teasing brow of his own. “Just you and me, kid,” he said with a wink of his beautiful golden eyes.
Instantly a stab of worry cut Rose to the core. Those eyes coupled with that wide grin…She was standing on top of a house of cards that had already begun to buckle.
But not here. Not in this moment when everything was supposed to be so perfect. “We’re full partners,” she said, forcing the conversation forward. “You are welcome to be as involved in this as you want to be. I’m going to rely on you a lot. If you’re sure you want the responsibilities.”
His eyes turned serious in an instant. “I’m in all the way. Remember, I have a ranch to buy. That means I better get to work. It’s torch time.” He took her bag, then sauntered off toward the worktable where his torches waited.
Cleaning off the stickers required singeing the bristles off with the hot flame. Like Pete said, it was a guy thing.
Watching him, panic crowded near. Zane was here. In her town.
She could run, leave all of this behind—but she couldn’t do that to Max. She sucked in a shaky breath, attempting to calm her fears. Deep down she’d feared this day might come. And now that it was here there was only one thing she could do.
Stay put.
No more running.
It was time to make a stand, whether she was ready to or not.
“I still can’t believe we got ourselves a real live Texas Ranger as a deputy in our little town,” Applegate Thornton said, sounding like he was talking through a bullhorn the minute Zane entered Sam’s Diner. Applegate was a reedy, dour elderly man of average height—Zane figured his scarecrow thinness probably made him seem taller to most on first glance. He was a mainstay of Sam’s Diner. With his buddy Stanley Orr, he seemed to have the pulse of the community well in hand. They sat front and center at the window table and were deep into their morning checker tournament. Zane had met them the previous day after his encounter with Rose. The two men and Sam had practically interrogated him for an hour.
It was pretty evident to Zane that though they looked like they were engrossed in their game, their eagle eyes saw everything that happened on the street beyond their window.
Softer, shorter and smiling, Stanley nodded in agreement. “Brady’s a good man, too. I bet he’d a made a good Ranger. Hard ta b’lieve our little town’s been fortunate ta get y’all both.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Zane said, with a nod their direction. It was true. He’d only been in the small town a couple of days, but he already felt a connection to it. His natural sense of protectiveness had gone on full alert. Not that he was expecting any trouble—but if it came calling he’d meet it head-on. Zane had never taken his job lightly, as a Ranger or now, as a sworn deputy. He’d always prided himself on making choices in the best interests of the people or places entrusted in his care. For the most part, that code had left him with few regrets and enabled him to be proud of looking back. Rose was the exception.
“So, what do the two of you do?” he asked.
Sam hustled from the kitchen with tray of clean coffee cups. He was five feet, if that, with the bow-legged gait of a man who’d been built to sit a horse. Zane saw the craggy-faced proprietor as a small man with a big heart and more than likely a tenacious one. There was something about his eyes and his stout handshake that spoke to Zane. He was a mainstay of the community. Zane had studied people all his life, and then trained for it in his job, but there were some people who wore their character like an open book for all the world to see—that was Sam Green. He was a man who could be counted on. It was the way Zane had always hoped he could be described by those who knew him. It cut deep that Rose couldn’t say that about him.
“Them two,” Sam said, indicating Applegate and Stanley with a nod and talking loud enough for them to hear his every word. “Don’t let ’m fool ya. They kin get into more trouble than two teenagers let loose fer the first time in thar daddy’s pickup.”
Zane chuckled. “That so?”
Applegate scowled from across the room. “No mor’n anybody else. We’re retired and plum tired of it. So now we help out at The Barn Theater on the outskirts of town and that fills some of’r time.”
“That’s right.” Stanley jumped one of his checkers over Applegate’s, winning him a hard look. “You’ll have ta come on out and take in a show. We got ourselves a right smart good program.”
Applegate grinned for the first time and surprised Zane so much by the transformation that he almost spit out the coffee he’d just taken a sip of.
“Got some mighty fine talent out thar. Why we got reviewed in pert near ever newspaper that’s worth its salt. And our Sugar Rae Denton even got invited to be in a movie and on Broadway!”
“I’m impressed,” Zane said.
Sam arched a brow. “We got all kinds of good thangs going on in this little town. One of them thangs is my wife and her two friends. You bein’ a single man, ya ought to be prepared ta draw their special attentions.”
“Why do I get th
e feeling you’ve had this conversation several times in the past?” He knew resident journalist, Molly Jacobs, wrote a syndicated newspaper column about the goings-on of the town. He had heard it frequently covered matchmaking.
“’Cuz it’s true,” Applegate grunted, then plopped a handful of sunflower seeds into his mouth and grinned. He was more amiable than Zane had first taken him to be. “And it kin be downright entertainin’ fer us old-timers ta see you young bucks get snared up in their good intentions. Ain’t that so, Stanley?”
“Yup. This here spot in front of this window is better seat’n than front row at one of them movie theaters.”
Sam grinned at Zane. “We figure’d ta warn ya and then sit back and watch the show when they start in on ya.”
Their candor caused Zane to laugh, but it faded quickly when the older men all stared at him funny.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, feeling suddenly like he was in a lineup.
Stanley pulled at his ear. “When you laugh like that, I seemed ta thank maybe I met you someplace b’fore.”
“Yeah,” Applegate agreed.
Sam nodded. “But I ain’t one ta forget faces, so I know I ain’t met you.”
Zane had had his fair share of so-called twins through the years. He was certain everyone got told several times in their life that they looked just like someone else. “Someone in this area must resemble me,” he offered.
“That must be it,” Sam said, rubbing his chin and continuing to study Zane.
“We know e’vrbody,” Applegate grunted, piercing Zane with his scrutiny. “Who do y’all thank it is?”
“Cain’t put a finger on it,” Stanley mumbled. “But it’s that smile and something else…I jest cain’t figure it out.”
Zane chuckled. “Well, boys, relax. Given the size of Mule Hollow, one of us is bound to run into my look-alike pretty quick. When we do, the mystery will be solved.”
Zane, who was used to challenging jobs, figured that would be the biggest mystery he might face in the peaceful little community. It was going to take some getting used to. But if he could make things right with Rose, then he would gladly settle into this quiet life with a happy heart.
Chapter Three
Mule Hollow was having a baby and everyone was in an uproar! For a town that had been on the verge of dying not so very long ago, it was pure joy to think that babies were coming. Rose couldn’t miss Dottie’s shower, no matter how much she’d considered hiding out at home. Dottie had been on bed rest for a month, so the shower was being held at her home. The place was packed with women.
Even though Rose was apprehensive about what was going to happen with Zane, she was determined to go on as if her world hadn’t been turned upside down.
As she’d done with Max in the cactus field, she focused on what was going on around her. It was always lively when the women of Mule Hollow got together. So unlike her own silent, secretive pregnancy. The comparison slipped in unbidden; it was as if Zane coming into her life again had brought her past back to haunt her. By the time she was as far along as Dottie, Rose realized she’d gotten herself into a mess. By this time she’d stopped thinking David, her exhusband, was the answer to her troubles. By then he’d begun to show his true colors and she was regretting her rash decision to marry him. His overprotectiveness had first drawn her to him, but she’d soon learned it was control and not care that drove him. Almost the instant their vows were spoken, he’d begun shutting her in and shutting out the world. She made no friends and even if she had, he wouldn’t have allowed them to come around. A gathering like this wouldn’t have happened.
“This is from Norma Sue,” Dottie said, reading the card. She was sitting on the couch and melted as she pulled back the tissue paper, exposing a pair of red, satin baby slippers and a matching dress. “Ohhh,” she cooed, lifting them for everyone to see.
“I love red!” Scarlet-haired Esther Mae’s voice rose above the others’ exclamations. Esther Mae was in her sixties and as vibrant as the color she dyed her hair. “Every baby girl needs a red outfit. You did good, Norma.”
Her friend and cohort in all kinds of escapades, Norma Sue Jenkins’s plump cheeks beamed. “I figured if the baby has a head of black hair like Dottie, that the red would look real nice.”
“You are so right,” Dottie sighed, her navy eyes bright against her pale skin. She handed the gift off and it began to make its trip around the room.
“This is from Lacy,” Rose said, glancing at the card on the bag, then holding it toward Dottie. Her hand was resting on her rounded stomach and she looked slightly uncomfortable. Rose hesitated. “Are you okay? Not too tired?”
“I’m fine. Really,” she said, but didn’t look completely convincing.
Rose hadn’t been ill a single day while she was carrying Max, a blessing in more ways than one. Her life had been so messed up in other ways that she’d been thankful not to add morning sickness to the mix. Still, she felt for Dottie.
“You do look tired,” Lacy Matlock said. Live-wire Lacy had enough energy to share with anyone who needed it. “Is there anything we can do to help you more?”
All the ladies seemed to lean forward, reminding Rose of racers in the starting blocks. Rose got the sudden picture of Dottie saying she could use a glass of water and the entire room blasting forward to get it for her. It was a sweet picture and so like her town. A lump formed in her throat. Her emotions were unusually volatile today. What would it have been like to have had this kind of support when Max had been born?
“Please don’t worry about me,” Dottie urged everyone. “The doctor assures me that the lack of energy is nothing to get worried about. You all know, my body went through an ordeal in that hurricane in Florida. He said considering all that my poor body had been through that I’m doing great. God has me in the palm of His hand.”
“Yes, you are, my dear,” Adela said. She was a wisp of a woman with a snowy-white pixie cut, and together with Norma Sue and Esther Mae completed the notorious matchmaking posse of Mule Hollow.
Esther Mae relaxed. “Y’all are right. My goodness, Dottie, the good Lord brought you through being crushed under that house so I expect He’s got bringing our sweet baby into the world under control.”
Rose let those words sink in. God was in control of her life, too…but she couldn’t help feeling like she was riding in a car without brakes. She managed to make it through the present opening without letting her thoughts dwell on Zane. However, a few minutes later, while everyone was enjoying cookies and punch, that became impossible when talk turned suddenly to the new deputy in town. Of course it would—she should have expected it. Not much went on in a small town that didn’t get talked about and a new deputy, especially a handsome ex-Texas Ranger, would draw attention. Rose had half expected it to be one of the matchmakers who brought him up, but it was Dottie.
“I’m so happy to have Zane helping Brady out,” Dottie said as she sipped her strawberry punch.
“He seems like a real nice, upstanding man,” Norma Sue said. “And he’s single.”
“And sooo good-looking,” Esther Mae added. “I met him yesterday. He has the most intense eyes. I mean really, they just come alive with all that gold sparking them up. It just gave me goose bumps when he looked at me.”
“They are unique,” Norma Sue added. “Just think how they’ll light up when the right woman comes along!”
If Rose hadn’t been so upset she might have gotten tickled watching the matchmakers setting their sights on a fresh target. But that wasn’t the case. As she took a long drink of her punch, she was too busy trying to keep her hand from shaking while the fear she’d been trying to deny began to surface. Zane’s eyes were unique—but she saw a similar set across the dinner table every night. Would they realize?
All the questions that she was trying to put off suddenly came screaming forward. His coming here couldn’t be an accident. He had to have discovered she lived here. But why had he followed her here after all the
se years?
Did he know?
The question knocked the breath out of Rose. Panic hit her and she hurried to the kitchen. Her hand was shaking and as she set her cup down punch sloshed onto the counter.
“You okay?”
She jumped, startled as Lacy came through the doorway behind her.
“You look as white as the tablecloth.”
Panic clawed at Rose. “I—I need to go. Could you tell the others I had to leave?” She was already headed toward the door. She could feel her friend watching her. She knew Lacy would be worried about her, but Rose was too distraught to attempt a smoother exit. The denial she’d been struggling to keep at bay came down on her head in a landslide.
What had she been thinking? She couldn’t put her head in the sand and pretend this wasn’t happening. She had to confront Zane and she had to do it now.
She had to find out what had brought him to Mule Hollow.
She had to find out if he knew her secret.
“Thank you, Officer Cantrell. You saved my life.”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Lovelace. But all I did was change your tire.” Zane stepped back from the SUV and tipped his hat to the petite brunette. From the backseat the excited barks of two miniature poodles erupted.
“Oh, you saved me all right. If you hadn’t come along when you did, me and my babies wouldn’t have been able to make it to San Antonio in time for registration.”
“Drive safe. You’ve got plenty of time.” Zane waved as Mrs. Lovelace and her barking menagerie headed off in pursuit of dog-show glory. He was grinning as he got into his truck and drove back toward town. So far during his first couple of days at work, he hadn’t done much of anything. This roadside rescue was his first actual official act. Brady had assured him that the job had its days when everything happened at once. He was supposed to expect the unexpected at any given moment.
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