“No, nothing like that. Work got out of hand last week, and I never had the chance to say I’m sorry for the reason you’re back in town. It’s gotta be rough for your sister, out on her own now with her boy and another kid on the way.”
“Yeah, she’s having a tough time. But she’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure she will.”
According to what Jed had told him, Pete had gone through a tough time, too. The ranch manager and his wife had split up, leaving him with custody of his kids. Another single parent like Layne.
And Tina.
What had life been like for her after he’d left? She’d been pregnant, with not even her closest relatives to confide in and with the father of her baby nowhere in sight. Keeping her secret from Jed and Paz had been her decision. As for the rest...
Well, she’d made the choice to keep the news from him, too.
He focused on Pete again. “I hear you’ve got kids now, one of each. Can’t be too easy on you, either, taking care of them alone.”
“Most of the time, it’s harder on them than it is on me.” The other man ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “But I sure can’t call it a ride in a pony cart, I’ll tell you that. Especially now my daughter, Rachel, asks so darned many questions. She’s a smart kid, though, for being only five.”
Hearing the pride in Pete’s tone made him want to brag on his own son. But Tina’s decision meant he had to keep quiet, too.
“Between the pair of them,” Pete continued, “they keep me hopping.”
“I think Layne’s feeling the same thing.”
“Yeah. Luckily, she’s now got you to take up some of the slack.” Pete grinned. “I hear you’re practically a professional nanny to her boy.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. But I’m helping out since her ex is backtracking as fast as he can.” Scowling at the memory, he explained, “He was supposed to pick up her son last night, take him out for ice cream. That never happened.”
“Not a big surprise. Terry was hired on here for a short time after you’d left. A real short time. He wasn’t the most reliable of wranglers. And you know the boss doesn’t put up with any crap.”
Yet, Jed had shaken his hand in friendship and taken him on again even after he’d walked out years ago. Then the man had given him a room in his hotel.
“Anyway,” Pete went on, “the situation with Terry brings me to my second point. As you’re the only wrangler living off the ranch with family, I’ll do my best to get you out of here on time at the end of the day.”
“I appreciate that, but I was planning to tell you this morning. I’ve moved. For now, Jed’s putting me up at the hotel.”
Pete whistled. “Nice. But better not let any of the boys hear about it, or we’ll have a lynch mob on our hands.”
“Hey, how can they complain? There’s no room in the bunkhouse.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Jed.”
Pete’s brows shot up, but he only nodded and shifted the conversation to their jobs for the day. Pretty good control, since obviously the announcement had thrown him.
Pete’s reaction confirmed what Tina had claimed. Normally, ranch hands didn’t bunk in at the hotel.
Jed had pulled a fast one. Which only reinforced Cole’s feeling there was something strange going on around here.
* * *
TINA STOOD AT the kitchen sink to rinse the plates Robbie and Trey had used for their afternoon snack.
At the counter beside her, Abuela diced green peppers on a cutting board, the steady chop-chop familiar to Tina’s ears. As a child, when she wasn’t upstairs in her attic hideaway, she was often down here in the kitchen with Abuela, doing homework, chatting, asking questions.
In a way, the tables had just been turned. She had spent half her time in the kitchen with the boys, answering Robbie’s questions about Scott. How long would it be before he began asking about Cole, especially once the man moved into the hotel later today?
Abuela slid the peppers into a bowl and began chopping onions. The strong scent made Tina’s eyes water.
“Those boys play well together,” Abuela said.
“Yes, they do.” She was glad for that.
“I think Robbie is happy to have other little boys in the hotel. Maybe Cole will bring Scott back again.”
“Maybe.” She hesitated, then said, “Do you know why Jed fired Cole?”
Abuela looked at her. “Fired? Jed did no such thing. Cole left on his own.”
Tina stared back. She had always thought Jed had a reason for letting Cole go. But he had never said and she had never felt she could ask. “Do you know why he left Cowboy Creek?”
“No.”
She watched Abuela’s steady hands. The soothing rhythm let her mind wander.
Since she couldn’t find answers to her questions about Cole right that moment, her thoughts went to her son. Robbie had never asked her about his father. That day would come, and probably soon.
She hadn’t been much older than Robbie when she had begun questioning Abuela about her parents.
Why don’t I have a mama and a daddy? Where did they go? Why don’t they love me?
Tina brushed at her eyes. Abuela looked up from her cutting board. Tina laughed and pointed to the onions, then moved a step away to lean against the sink.
When she had asked those questions aloud, Abuela’s eyes had always filled with tears. Too distraught to respond, she would call on Jed to provide the answers Tina wanted.
He had long ago explained that her father—his son—had left Cowboy Creek before she was born. Her mother had followed him within days after giving birth, leaving her for Abuela and Jed to raise. Neither of her parents had ever returned to Cowboy Creek. But until Abuela had needed Jed’s help to register her for school, even he hadn’t known she was his granddaughter.
“Jed’s happy to have the girls and Andi’s children visit.” Abuela sighed. “It’s hard for him when he doesn’t see them.” She looked up from her work to smile at Tina. “I am so thankful I have you and Robbie right here with me.”
“So are we.” She linked her fingers in front of her and stared down at them. “Abuela...why did you wait so long to tell Jed I was his granddaughter?”
The knife stilled on the cutting board. After a moment, Abuela said, “I was afraid.”
“Of Jed?”
“Never of Jed. But for my job. I needed my income to take care of you.”
“And you’ve always done that. You’ve always been here for me.” She had to swallow hard before she could continue. “Did you really think Jed would fire you?”
“I didn’t know.” Abuela slid the onions into the bowl with the peppers and reached for the plastic wrap. “I’d been here only a short time. Once his son left town, Jed was upset, and I didn’t know how he would feel if I told him. It was foolish maybe, but I decided I couldn’t take the chance.” She set the covered bowl into the cavernous refrigerator, then closed the door with a heavy thump.
Tina could almost feel her grandmother’s need to get away. But there was one more question she had to ask. “Abuela...”
“Yes?” She stood gripping the door handle.
“Did you think Jed wouldn’t want to know the truth?”
“Don’t say that.” Her voice broke. She turned to Tina, her eyes brimming with tears. “That makes me feel more guilt than I already do. Of course he would want to know.” She crossed the room and clasped Tina’s hands in hers. “It’s true I didn’t tell Jed until later. But that makes no difference to him. Don’t ever forget that, querida. He loves you just as much as he loves all his family. The same way—” Again, her voice broke.
“I know,” Tina said, hugging her tight. “The same way you’ve always loved me.”
* * *
TINA SAT AT the kitchen table and ruffled the edges of the hand-woven place mat in front of her without seeing it. Abuela had gone to the dining room to make sure everything was in place for dinner. The wai
tress on the afternoon shift would already have done that. But as always when their conversations wandered into the past, Abuela felt the need to escape.
After a while, Tina had learned to take those conversations directly to Jed. He always had answers—except when she asked what had happened to her parents after they left. Not even he could tell her that, until notice had come of their deaths in an auto accident when she was twelve.
* * *
JED WALKED INTO the kitchen. She jumped at the sight of him. She had been so caught up in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard his footsteps.
“Didn’t mean to startle you.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, then took his usual seat at the table. “The girls won’t be here long, you know. How are you all coming along with the plans?”
“We haven’t gotten too far,” she admitted.
“You’ll need to get a move on, then.” She watched him take a sip from his mug. Abuela was right. He looked happy. Pleased with himself. Or maybe with Jane and Andi. So far, he had gone right along with every suggestion they had made.
Ally would tease her for being too much of an accountant, but she kept the books and knew their financial situation better than Jed did. She disliked having to remind him of the bottom line with this project. Yet wasn’t that exactly why he had chosen her for this new role?
“You know, Abuelo, the ranch has always made a profit, but that’s not true for the hotel. We don’t have a lot of capital to sink into extensive renovations. Andi and Jane... Well, they don’t have much experience working with budgets.” That was the kindest way she could think of to phrase it.
The girls’ parents had never hurt for money, which meant neither had they. And over the years, that hadn’t changed.
Andi had married into a wealthy family and still lived with her husband’s relatives in Arizona. Jane was based in New York City but traveled all over the world for her well-paying job. During their brief meeting in the dining room, her cousins had acted as if they’d never before heard the word budget.
The renovations might be meant to help Jed fulfill his dream, but his other granddaughters’ costly suggestions were giving her nightmares.
“Don’t get yourself worked up, girl,” he said. “We’ll worry about money when we get to that stage. You know I’m good for going with the flow.”
That was just what she feared. As down-to-earth as Jed could be, he sometimes fell short in the planning stages. Ally wouldn’t hesitate to tell her she did too much planning, but still, there were some things even she couldn’t anticipate.
She thought of Jed’s claim that he wanted to provide live entertainment for his guests. That little brainstorm was interfering with her sleep, too. Even she would admit the idea had potential. But why had he chosen the ranch’s newest hire to be their resident cowboy?
Cole had returned to town after five years away. Andi and Jane, Jed’s “surprise,” hadn’t visited for a while until now, either. And yet, here they were, too. An odd coincidence.
Or was it?
Had the timing not been accidental at all?
“Abuelo,” she said, “speaking of going with the flow...this thought of yours about inviting a cowhand into the dining room—”
“Yeah, an inspiration, wasn’t it? I don’t know why I never thought of it before.”
“I don’t know, either. Or why you’ve thought of it now.” She looked him in the eye. “Jed, are you up to something?”
“Me? What makes you ask that?” He rose to take his mug to the sink.
She frowned. He’d sounded so surprised. So innocent. “I don’t know. Giving Cole a job on the ranch when he hasn’t been back in town for years... And then inviting him to stay in the hotel, when you’ve never done that with any employee... It makes me think you’ve got an ulterior motive.”
“Not an ulterior one. A profit motive. That ought to make you happy. I’m thinking about what’s good for business, that’s all.” He smiled. “Speaking of which, we’ll have our new guests lining up for their first riding lesson tomorrow. You’ll give Pete a hand?”
She wanted to raise the issue about Cole and her cousins, but with nothing to support her suspicions, how could she?
“Of course I’ll help Pete. As always.” Jed claimed she provided a calming presence in the corral for all their guests, especially the children. She didn’t mind. She loved to ride and loved working with kids, and helping out with the lessons got her out of the house. “‘You can’t sit at your desk all day, every day,’” she teased, repeating the comment he often made to her.
“That’s my girl. I knew you’d start seeing reason sooner or later.”
After he had left the room, she sighed, wishing he would see reason about her cousins’ ideas for the Hitching Post.
She thought of having to tell Jed and Abuela the truth about Robbie’s daddy. Her cousins would find out eventually, too, but her grandparents needed to be the first ones she told. At last.
Confessing once would take all the courage she had. She couldn’t hold that conversation a second time. When she talked to Abuela and Jed, she wanted them both together. And not in this room. It was never easy to get Abuela away from her kitchen for any length of time, but this certainly wasn’t the best place for a private chat.
She dreaded having to share the news even now. Especially now, as she’d kept her secret from them for so many years. Abuela would be shocked at learning about Cole and hurt by her long silence. And Jed—who had always loved her, just as Abuela had said—would be hurt, too. They both loved Robbie as much as they loved her.
She rose to transfer the few dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. To wipe down every already immaculate counter in the room. To do anything that would provide a distraction from her thoughts.
Someone was bound to walk in here at any moment, and she now had no onions handy to blame for her tear-filled eyes.
* * *
FOR TINA, DINNER at the Hitching Post was fast becoming the most uncomfortable meal she could ever remember.
Shortly before they had sat down to eat, she had been finishing up some emails in her office. She had heard boot steps on the hardwood floor of the lobby and looked up to find Cole leaning against the door frame. After his day on the ranch, he had showered and dressed in nearly full cowboy attire, down to and including fringed chaps.
As she looked him over and raised her brows, he had grinned. “Might as well give the crowd a thrill. I’d have worn spurs, too, if I didn’t think Paz would have my hide for it.”
“Abuela wouldn’t be too happy if you scratched the furniture,” she had agreed.
Now she wasn’t at all happy watching him charm everyone in the dining room.
But he had always been Cole Slater, the playboy. The boy who had once had her under his spell. The boy whose magic had ultimately proved to be an act full of smoke and mirrors. A well-practiced act, like the one he was performing now.
Yet, somehow he seemed different tonight. More relaxed. More genuine. More sincere than the boy she had known years ago.
And definitely sexier than ever.
Startled, she stared down at her plate. Where had that thought come from? And what had she done with all her common sense? One show of weakness in front of Cole could give him an advantage over her. Again.
Almost against her will, she found herself looking in his direction. She sat and she watched and she worried as he played the role of cowpoke to the hilt. Or rather, to the shiny silver buckle on his belt. A buckle, he’d told their guests, he had won at a rodeo in Abilene. Then he’d proceeded to regale them with tales of his bull-riding days.
The guests weren’t the only ones wide-eyed and plying him with questions.
“Y-you killed a animal?” Robbie asked, his bottom lip quivering.
“No,” Cole said immediately. “I just tested my skill against those bulls. Like this—here.” He took a dinner roll from the basket in front of him and tossed it underhand toward Robbie.
Robbie grabbed th
e roll between his palms and grinned.
Cole smiled back at him. “See how fast you caught that? Those bulls are fast, too. I wanted to see how long I could stay on ’em before they threw me off. It’s a lot different from riding a horse.”
“Like Bingo?” Robbie asked.
Bingo was the smallest pony in Jed’s stable. Before Tina could respond, Cole answered.
“Yeah, like Bingo. He’s your horse, huh?”
“Yep. He’s little, like me. But Scott’s littler. If Scott comes sometimes, I can ride Shadow. Right, Grandpa?”
“Sure you can. You’re getting plenty big enough for Shadow. Now, you see?” Jed looked at the guests seated at two of the smaller tables. “If my little guy can handle himself on a horse, we’ll have y’all up in the saddle in no time.”
Tina noticed he was careful not to let his gaze linger on the elder of the couples. When they had checked in and he had mentioned horseback riding, Mr. Dunbar had responded enthusiastically, but his wife had said nothing.
Trust Jed to find a way of offering reassurances kindly, and without making an issue of it.
Just as Cole had done with Robbie.
She thought of her conversation in the kitchen that afternoon, of the question she had asked Abuela.
Did you think Jed wouldn’t want to know the truth?
From the minute Cole had met her son, she had watched his reactions. She had read the anger in his posture. Had heard the hurt in his tone. At this moment, she could see the wonder in his eyes.
Every single emotion said he would have wanted to know about Robbie.
Chapter Eight
After dinner ended, Cole asked Robbie about his ponies. When her son enthusiastically led him down the hall, with Trey toddling behind them, Tina found herself trailing along, too.
To keep an eye on the boys, she told herself. And of course, to visit with their guests.
She and Jed always kept themselves accessible to those who stayed in the hotel. They made a point of joining their guests for a while in the sitting room during the afternoons and evenings. When Abuela was free after dinner, she often stopped in before going to her room in their family wing of the hotel. Now Cole would be there, too.
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