Daniel decided to keep his thoughts to himself. “Maybe he was thinking about something else. I’m just glad he didn’t hit his head.”
“Me, too.” Her gaze met his for a second. “Robbie said your furniture arrived.”
“Yeah, what there is of it.”
“They rode up to help you, I guess.”
He nodded. “I doubted you knew they’d come over.”
“No.”
“So I sent them home.”
Looking away from him, she nodded. “Um…I appreciate that. Now, we’ll get out of your way, let you move in.” She walked quickly to the other side of the truck, helped Toby out and led him to her vehicle with an arm around his shoulders. Once behind the wheel again, she gave Daniel a wave, echoed by Toby and Susannah, then executed a precise three-point turn and headed back down the hill in a cloud of dust.
Daniel returned to his house to find that the movers, with no direction, had deposited his bedroom furniture in the living room and were ready to be on their way. He offered them fifty bucks in cash to assemble the bed where it belonged and place the dresser and chest of drawers that had belonged to his great-grandmother. Gritting his teeth, he also requested them to unstack the boxes so he could open each one without having to lift. Then, embarrassed, he let them leave.
Sitting in his recliner a few minutes later, he heard the distinct sound of a car engine shutting off outside his door. When he’d levered himself to stand and reached the living room window, he could see that an ancient station wagon—the kind with real wood panels on the sides—had pulled into the yard. As he watched, one of the Mercado ladies came around to the back and lowered the tailgate, at the same time as someone knocked on the door.
The other aunt stood there, as he’d expected. “Good afternoon,” she said brightly. “Lili and I thought you would need some help getting settled. If you’ll hold open the door, we’ll bring these things inside.”
He’d had trouble telling the twins apart at lunch. Now he noticed that Rosa wore a metal bracelet, the kind used to remember prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. That would help him keep them straight. “Miss Rosa, you don’t have to…”
His protest fell on deaf ears. She went back to the wagon and collected a big basket, as Lili approached carrying a cardboard box. “Hello, again, Major Trent. These go to the kitchen.”
“Miss Lili, I can’t let you—”
She, too, ignored him. And so Daniel stood there, bemused, as the two ladies paraded back and forth from house to wagon, carting in groceries and he didn’t know what else.
“That’s all,” Lili said, as she came in again. “You can close the door now. We’ve let out enough of the cool air.” When Daniel followed her into the kitchen, he found Rosa unpacking pots and pans.
“We weren’t sure whether you had kitchen supplies,” she told him. “And I gather, looking at your boxes, that you don’t.”
“Um…no.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “I haven’t cooked much, over the years.”
“That’s quite all right. We have plenty to spare.”
“And dishware?” Lili lifted a stack of plates out of a box. “Do you have your own?”
He shook his head. “You really shouldn’t have—”
Lili waved away his objections. “We didn’t expect a bachelor to have much in the way of provisions. So we brought some basics. And some frozen meals, to get you started. Those are already in the freezer.”
The freezer, Daniel saw when he opened the door, was filled with neatly labeled packages. “Your lasagna,” he said weakly. “That was really good.” He’d been eating peanut butter sandwiches since that one great lunch at Willa’s house.
“And, of course, you’re welcome to any meal at our house,” Lili said. “Even breakfast, if you want to drive down that early. You don’t have to call—just arrive and we’ll feed you.”
“Thanks.” Daniel could just imagine Willa’s face if he showed up for breakfast, or any other meal, unannounced and uninvited by her.
“Now, we’ll get the sheets on your bed.” Rosa headed for the bedroom. “And some towels in the bath.”
“Ladies…” Daniel trailed after them. “I can make the bed. You really don’t have to do all this work.”
Again, his protests fell on deaf ears. The sisters set up his bed and bath to their satisfaction, all the way down to unwrapping the bars of soap for sink and shower. When they started eyeing the boxes, however, Daniel took charge.
“No,” he said firmly, “you aren’t going to unpack for me. I couldn’t live with myself if I let you work so hard. You’ve already done too much.”
“Nonsense.” Lili allowed him to escort her back to the living room. “You’ve saved Toby twice, now—we couldn’t possibly do too much.”
“Then we’ll call it even.” Daniel surveyed them both. “But it’s getting late and you’ll want to be back home before dark.”
He was able to help them into the wagon one-handed, and then stepped back. “Thank you for everything. You’re welcome to visit anytime—come empty-handed, though!”
They laughed and beeped the horn. Daniel watched them out of sight down the road before going back into his house.
His well-provisioned house, now that the Mercado sisters had been there. Between the luxury of choosing whether to enjoy beef stew or meat loaf for dinner, the prospect of a good night’s sleep on cool, smooth sheets and a swig from one of the beers Rosa had stowed in his refrigerator, Daniel felt as if he’d finally come home.
He raised his bottle in a toast. “To the New Moon Ranch,” he said aloud. “Willa, my dear, you’ll just have to learn to like losing!”
TOBY WANTED HIS MOM NEARBY while the doctors examined him, but Robbie and Susannah were told to remain in the waiting room.
“I hope he’s not really hurt.” Susannah hunched her shoulders and hugged her arms around her waist.
Robbie propped his elbows on his knees and stared at his hands. “Yeah, well, he deserves it, pulling a stunt like that.”
“What stunt?”
“You are so gullible.” He threw his sister an impatient look. “He made Patches rear, then deliberately fell off.”
“Oh.” She was quiet for a few seconds. “Why would he do that?”
“’Cause he’s all excited about Major Daniel Trent from the U.S. Army. He wanted that Trent dude to come to the rescue.” He used a sissy voice to make the title sound as silly as possible.
“He’s a nice man, Robbie. I like his smile.”
“You would.”
She punched him in the shoulder. “I’m not stupid.”
“Sure you are,” he said, just to make her mad. Then he grinned, so she’d know he didn’t mean it.
After she stuck out her tongue at him, Susannah said, “Why do you think Toby’s so interested in Major Trent?”
“Duh? Because it’s like Dad coming back again?”
She didn’t say anything. When he looked around, she’d bowed her head over her arms, and he saw a tear splash on her wrist. After a minute, though, she sniffed and straightened up. “So you think Toby wants Major Trent to take Daddy’s place?”
Robbie shrugged one shoulder.
“Marry Mom, and everything?”
“Don’t make me gag. Mom doesn’t need another husband. She’s got us to take care of her.”
“She’s pretty lonely. So maybe—” Susannah stared at him, her eyebrows wrinkled. “Would that make him our dad?”
“Nope.”
“And would he run the ranch? Would he…would he own it, once he married Mom?”
“I—I don’t think so.” Robbie could still hear in his head what his dad had said, kneeling in front of him just before he got on the plane. “I’m counting on you, son. Take care of your mom. And take care of the Blue Moon.”
Susannah tugged on his sleeve. “Robbie, are you sure?”
Robbie realized he’d closed his eyes. He opened them wide and saw his mom and Toby emerge fro
m the examination area across the room. “The Blue Moon belongs to the Mercados, Suze.” He made his voice strong, so she’d believe him. “Always has, always will.”
He’d make sure of that, somehow. For his dad’s sake.
NIGHT HAD FALLEN BY THE TIME Willa pulled her truck into the driveway at the house. She cut the engine, climbed out and went to help Toby off the high seat.
“I don’t need help,” he complained, but then leaned heavily on her hand as he came to the ground.
“I know you don’t. But humor me—moms like to help when their kids have cracked ribs.”
“Okay.” He pulled free soon enough and walked into the house under his own steam, but with a tired slump to his shoulders.
“He doesn’t feel good.” Susannah came up on Willa’s right. “Maybe they should have put him in the hospital.”
“He’s just begging for sympathy,” Robbie countered. “You watch—he’ll want extra dessert because he’s hurt.”
“I think he’s sore,” Willa told them. “But maybe he’s learned a lesson.” They both looked at her in question and she shrugged. “My guess is he tried to fall off…and succeeded better than he expected.”
Susannah held out her hands in a helpless gesture. “But why?”
“I told you. ’Cause he wanted to stay with his new hero,” Robbie said with disgust. “He’s all hung up over the Trent guy.”
“That’s Major Trent to you.” Willa gave him a severe look. “Be respectful. He’s an officer in the Army and was wounded in the service of this country.”
Her son hunched his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah. Why should he have come back, when…” Abruptly, without finishing the thought, he turned on his heel and headed away from the kitchen door, around the corner of the house.
“Dinner’s going to be ready,” Willa called after him. “Don’t stay out long.” She sighed when he didn’t answer.
Susannah put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get him.” She took off after her twin at an easy jog.
Alone in the twilight, Willa seized the opportunity to sit down on the courtyard wall and catch her breath. The day had been hectic even before Robbie had come riding up to report Toby’s accident. Two cowboys had quit on her this morning, demanding back pay that stretched her cash flow to its limit. Her foreman, Jorge Ramirez, had reported that at least fifty head of cattle were missing, thanks no doubt to the rustlers working out of the desert. She’d called the sheriff, again, but there wasn’t much he could do after the fact and he didn’t have the manpower to police her fence line every night.
Added to those concerns, worry and tension over Toby had taken their toll as she and the kids made the long trip into the hospital and waited for a doctor’s verdict. On the way back, which seemed even longer, she’d wrestled with thoughts about Daniel Trent.
She couldn’t believe it, but in the midst of her anxiety this morning, she had again noticed the man’s sheer physical appeal. His black T-shirt had revealed the contoured muscles of his arms and chest, while slim-fitting, well-worn jeans had showcased his long legs. Even knowing how the skin under his clothes had been ravaged, she’d found herself stirred all over again by the shape and proportions of his body.
And then there was his smile, his concerned blue gaze, the reassurance in his rich voice. So tempting, that ice-cream sundae voice. She remembered how he’d said her name as he’d touched her skin, as he’d moved inside of her…
“Willa?” Rosa spoke from the open door to the kitchen. “What in the world are you doing out here in the dark? Dinner is ready.”
“Coming.” She could only hope the night air would cool the heat in her face generated by memories of Daniel Trent.
After dinner, she went to her office to work on the ranch accounts. All too often, however, her concentration faltered, until she threw her pencil across the room in disgust.
Somehow, she had to keep Daniel out of her thoughts. He represented her biggest mistakes—breaking up the Blue Moon and allowing herself to be swept off her feet by a stranger’s sexy grin.
The first mistake would be corrected in three months. Maybe less, when Daniel realized that he simply couldn’t cope with the physical demands of ranching. She’d get that land parcel back, and she’d be sure to keep tight hold of it for the rest of her life. Of course she could use the money from the sale—who couldn’t use almost a million dollars? But the earnest money he’d already paid would help satisfy the most pressing of her current debts.
As a means of encouraging herself, Willa took out a red marker and crossed off the past five days on her big desk pad calendar. Then she turned to the page for December and put a circle around the box for the twenty-first, adding two dots for eyes and an arc for the mouth. A smiling face now looked up at her, marking the day Daniel Trent would be gone.
Her second mistake couldn’t be so easily edited. If it were simply a case of forgetting the night she’d spent with a stranger, she’d have dealt with the guilt and moved on. But the ease with which she’d succumbed to her desire for Daniel reminded Willa of her backseat tryst sixteen years ago with a boy who’d treated her like dirt afterward.
I’ll keep my distance, she promised herself as she turned back to her bookkeeping. And I’ll make sure he keeps his.
Eighty-three days. I can last that long. Eighty-three days to December 21…and counting.
Chapter Five
Daniel had just started on his first cup of Monday morning coffee when the doorbell rang. He was wearing the sweatpants and T-shirt he’d slept in, but this surely couldn’t be Lili and Rosa Mercado. Not so early.
Still, he looked through the window before opening the door. The man standing on his front stoop was on the short side, bowlegged and deeply tanned, with lines in his face from age and the sun. His dusty boots, frayed, faded jeans, and red, long-sleeved shirt with a blue bandana at the throat epitomized the word cowboy.
“You gonna open the door?” he called. “I can smell the coffee out here.”
Grinning, Daniel did as requested. “Good morning.”
The man tipped his standard-issue white cowboy hat. “’Morning. I’m Nate Hernandez. Heard you need a ranch foreman.”
“Where did you hear that?” Daniel hadn’t yet figured out the best way to go about advertising for help.
“Rosa Mercado mentioned it at church yesterday. Sure could use a cup of coffee.”
Of course. With a fatalistic shrug, Daniel stepped back. “Come on in. Help yourself.”
“Thanks.” Nate went straight to the kitchen, found the correct cupboard and pulled out a mug. Only after a couple long draws on the coffee did he look at Daniel again. “I got plenty of references. I worked for the Mercados and other ranchers in the area. Ain’t nothing much needs doing on a ranch I ain’t done or cain’t do.”
“Where are you working now?”
“I been retired for a few years.”
“So why do you want to work for me?”
A tinge of red brightened the dark complexion. “Miss Rosa asked.”
“Ah.” Daniel nodded. “She’s a persuasive lady.”
“That, she is.”
They drank to the bottoms of their mugs in silence. After pouring a refill for them both, Daniel cleared his throat. “I won’t deny I need the help. I did some ranch work as a teenager, and I’ve done a lot of reading but—”
“Ain’t the same as doing it.”
“No.”
“You got a bum leg, too, I hear.”
“Yeah. And some back problems.”
Nate nodded. “Need to be careful about the horse you ride. Some’ll take care of you, some won’t. Plus, you’ll need a crew doing the ground work for you.”
“Do you know a few guys who need jobs?”
“I think I can round up some decent hands. How much you paying?”
“What’s the going rate?”
By the time they’d finished their second cup of coffee, Daniel and Nate had struck a mutually agreeable deal. They talked f
or the rest of the morning about starting up the New Moon operation. Nate knew of a rancher in Jim Hogg County who was selling off equipment and cattle and whom Nate thought would give Daniel a fair deal. “We can take a ride over there this afternoon, see what he’s got.”
“Sounds good.” Daniel brought two steaming bowls of stew to the kitchen table. “I appreciate getting the benefit of your experience.”
With his mouth already full, Nate waved his spoon in dismissal of the gratitude. “This is Miss Lili’s stew, ain’t it?”
“They brought me some frozen meals to get me started.”
The foreman nodded. “Those two women are the best cooks in the county. Maybe in the state of Texas.” He spooned up another mouthful but sighed instead of eating. “Lucky’s the man who could persuade one of them to cook for him full-time.”
“As a job, you mean?”
“Nah.” Nate finished his bowl and went to the stove for seconds. “You’d have to marry her to get her to leave the Blue Moon.”
Daniel hid his smile. “Did you ever ask?”
“Nah,” Nate said again. “A Mercado wouldn’t look at the likes of me. They’re blue bloods, you know? I’m just a cowpoke.” The regret in his rough voice kept Daniel silent.
With his stew finished and his bowl rinsed, Nate returned to business. “What we’re gonna do now is find you a horse. Lotsa ranchers do their work with trucks and ATVs and such—even airplanes—but I hold that a man should be able to ride if he needs to and is able.”
Daniel pushed out of his chair. “Well, I don’t know about the able part, but I’m willing to try.”
“You just need the right animal, careful and smart. I expect Willa’s got one that’ll do. She’s a wonder at breaking and training a good horse.”
“You want me to buy a horse from Willa Mercado?”
“You got a problem with that?”
“No, but she might.”
Nate clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Don’t believe it—she’ll take good money like anybody else. Let’s get down there, see what she’s got for sale.”
Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch Page 5