The Rancher And The Redhead

by Leigh, Allison

  He’d been standing at the gas pump, one arm propped against the side of his truck when he saw a flash of auburn hair reflected in the side window.

  He jerked around, splashed gas on the ground and cursed. He shoved the nozzle back on the pump and skirted the island of pickup trucks and one jazzy red sportscar. Standing in the middle of the big parking lot, he looked around, but saw no sight of her.

  The woman was driving him crazy. He needed some sleep. He needed to be back at the Double-C, pulling his own weight rather than dumping it all off on Dan and the two new hands. So what was he doing?

  Chasing after a crazy female, that’s what.

  There she was. Crossing the street toward the hospital.

  Oblivious of his truck still sitting at the gas pump, Matthew grabbed something from the seat then strode after her, crossing against the traffic and weaving in and out of the cars. Ahead of him she disappeared into the hospital.

  An impatient driver tooted his horn at Matthew, but he didn’t care. He jogged the rest of the way, stopping just inside the hospital entrance. He saw the tail end of her braid as she entered an elevator. He watched the display impatiently, waiting to see what floor it stopped at. Then he slammed through the door to the stairwell.

  Jaimie summoned a smile to her face before pushing through the doors of the day care facility. She needed to start this job earlier than scheduled, or she wasn’t going to have a roof over her head by the end of the week. The director had originally wanted her earlier, so she could only hope that it would still be the case.

  She didn’t feel much like smiling. But the situation seemed to call for it. Besides, she didn’t want to scare the kids, who she would hopefully soon be watching, with the grim face she knew she’d been carrying since the moment she’d read that fax in Matthew’s office.

  Lillian Flowers, the director, looked up from the book she was reading to the circle of preschoolers lying quietly on their mats, when Jaimie’s footsteps sounded in the spacious room. Surprise lifted her eyebrows, though she didn’t miss a beat of the story. Jaimie managed another smile. Lillian looked toward the small-scale chairs surrounding the trio of tables, and Jaimie nodded, quietly pulling out a chair to sit. She arranged the hem of her dress around her sharply bent knees and listened along with the children while Lillian finished reading.

  Then the director was stepping around the resting children and joining Jaimie at the table. “I didn’t think we’d see you for another week,” she said softly.

  “Well, I—”

  “I’m glad you did though. There’s been a gentleman here for the past several days asking for you.”

  Jaimie sat up straighter. “What? Who?” Her first thought was Joe. Surely he hadn’t gotten into more trouble.

  Lillian looked past her shoulder. “Well, him, actually.”

  Jaimie whirled around and her heart climbed into her throat. “Matthew.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  He stood in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the jamb, his arms crossed. Despite the hat pulled low over his brow, or perhaps because of it, he looked hard and forbidding.

  What was he doing there?

  Lillian rose behind her and stepped over to Matthew. “Perhaps my office,” she suggested in a tone low enough not to disturb the children. She lifted her arm, indicating the small cubicle immediately to the right of the doorway. He nodded, speared Jaimie with an unreadable look and went into the office.

  Swallowing the boulder-sized lump in her throat, Jaimie rose, nervously brushing her damp palms down the sides of her dress and followed. Her unease mounted when he firmly closed the door behind them.

  The office was barely large enough for the desk and filing cabinet it contained. With him looming large in front of the only exit, Jaimie felt positively hemmed in.

  “You forgot this,” he said without expression.

  Jaimie’s stomach clenched when he set a Cracker Jack box on the desk. She hadn’t forgotten it at the Double-C. She’d left it behind, deliberately, because she knew that she’d never be able to put Matthew behind her if she was forever looking at that box. She knotted her fingers together to keep from snatching it to her. “I don’t understand.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “You saw the fax.”

  His hat dipped.

  “It was pretty clear,” Jaimie managed.

  Again he gave that single nod.

  The muscles in her stomach were so tight, she felt like doubling over. This was the man who could put her brother in jail. Deservedly so. Yet the only thing she could think about was how wonderful he looked, even with his sharp jaw shadowed with more than a few days’ whiskers and the unsmiling set of his lips. His silence tormented her. “What do you plan to do?”

  “That depends on you.”

  She looked out the window overlooking the Center. The dozen children who lay sweetly, silently, on their mats. “What more can I do, Matthew? I told you in my letter that I’d get you the rest of the money. Somehow. I know it doesn’t excuse what he did.” Her hands lifted helplessly. “I guess you being here means you aren’t satisfied with that.” He remained silent. “What will happen to Joe now?”

  He shifted. Pushed his fingertips into his front pockets. “He’s gone.”

  “You pressed charges, then.”

  “No. He was gone before I got back.”

  She absorbed that. Matthew hadn’t gone to the sheriff. “And of course they didn’t say where.”

  “I didn’t say they. Maggie and the baby are still at the ranch. I haven’t heard a word from Joe.”

  Jaimie’s head dropped back and she stared up at the ceiling. She couldn’t even pretend to be surprised. “He ran out on them. On top of everything else, how could he do that?” She didn’t expect an answer, and she didn’t get one. She brushed her hair back. “Well, now what?”

  “Like I said, Red. That depends on you.”

  Pain washed over her. Red. “I swear to you, Matthew, I had no idea what he was doing. If you don’t believe anything else, believe that.” He lifted his hat, and his eyes met hers. Regret flooded through her. Regret that she hadn’t known about Joe’s activities earlier. That she hadn’t been able to prevent any of it from occurring. That she hadn’t been able to help Maggie after all.

  Regret, most of all, for what she could never have with Matthew. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You should be.”

  The knot in her throat tightened. She hugged her arms to her midriff. “I left as much money as I could.” She’d had to borrow one of Matthew’s trucks to make the rushed trip to Casper to sell the bracelet. And she’d been lucky enough to hitch a ride to Gillette with a trucker bound for Canada. She’d thought she’d kept enough cash from the sale to get herself started over again in Gillette. There wouldn’t be any way to continue paying Matthew back if she didn’t have a roof over her head. Unfortunately she hadn’t counted on the cost of a room in town while waiting for her new job to begin, and she was woefully short on funds.

  Beneath his dark blue denim shirt, his big shoulders moved impatiently. “I don’t care about the money.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Her voice rose. “I’ve apologized as much as I know how to. You said Joe’s gone. I don’t—” She paled. “You think he’s with me, don’t you?”

  “Jaimie—”

  “That’s why you tracked me down.”

  “Jaimie—”

  “He wouldn’t have come with me, Matthew. He—”

  “Woman, would you please be quiet for one minute?” Her mouth parted soundlessly. His jaw cocked. “You didn’t know what your brother was doing.”

  “No.”

  “You weren’t responsible for him leaving his wife and baby.”

  “I threatened to call the sheriff,” Jaimie said hoarsely. “On my own brother. You don’t think that had anything to do with him skipping out on them? He’d been gambling. He has a problem—”

  “I know.”

  �
��He...what?”

  “I know about the gambling,” Matthew admitted grimly. “I have since the day Maggie went to the hospital.”

  “But—”

  “I know because when we located him in Casper, he was losing his shirt in a poker game. Well, he’s gone now. Personally, I hope he stays gone. He doesn’t deserve your loyalty. He doesn’t deserve his wife and daughter. Now could you please stop jabbering about him?”

  “But you...why are you here, if not to find him?”

  “Don’t you know?”

  Frustrated tears burned at the backs of her eyes. “No!”

  He thumbed back his hat and stepped around the side chair separating them. “I did a good job convincing you that you didn’t belong at the Double-C.”

  “You were right.”

  His lips pursed. “I was wrong.” Her breathing ground to a halt when his warm hand brushed across her cheek. “I asked you to stay.”

  “That was before.” She swallowed. “You have to know why I left.”

  His eyes narrowed. He took a step closer. “Do you love me?”

  His husky voice wrapped around her senses. “Matthew.”

  “Do you? You said you did. Or have you changed your mind?”

  “No.” She hauled in a shaky breath. “I think I’ve always loved you. Right from the first,” she admitted. “You were racing after those calves that got out...”

  “...when you plowed into the fence...”

  “...and you were so angry. Then you managed to get them penned ” in and you stopped yelling. You looked at me, with sweat and dirt streaking your shirt and your face. And you smiled. Just for a second. Just long enough for me to know that you weren’t going to escort me to the county line.” She swallowed back the lump of tears thickening her voice. Her eyes touched on the still-angry-looking wound on his jaw. “I just didn’t admit it to myself until your accident with the snowmobile.”

  “But you still left,” Matthew said softly.

  “You know why.” Her jaw ached with the strain of holding it still. “The Double-C is your life. Joe hurt that.”

  “Yeah, he did,” Matthew said steadily. “But you hurt me a darned sight more.”

  A burning tear leaked out. “I’m sorry.”

  “So I guess now you’ll have to make it up to me.”

  She dashed her hand across her nose. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do? I can’t just pull that kind of money out of the air!”

  “Would you forget about the damned money? I’m not talking about the money! I’m talking about us!”

  “There is no ‘us.’ Joe...the Double-C—”

  “The Double-C means nothing unless you’re there to share it with me.” He stared at her, his eyes burning over her. “That is what you’ve done to me. And what do I find when I come back after hunting all over Cheyenne for the perfect ring to match your eyes? Nothing! Because you’ve disappeared on me, leaving me nothing but that bloody check and a note telling me you’ll never regret knowing me!”

  “But Joe—”

  “Forget Joe! His mistakes are gonna catch up with him soon enough. I’ll tell you this, though. If he is what keeps you from me, then I will track him to the ends of the earth and make him regret the day he set foot on Double-C land. Don’t you get it by now? I love you. Not your brother. Not the money. You!”

  Stunned into silence, Jaimie stared at him as his voice rose until he was shouting. Her heart felt like he’d pried it open and jumped inside with both of his size-twelve boots. He’d come after her.

  “Come home, Jaimie.” His voice was rough. “Come home and cut out your paper Christmas trees and hearts and shamrocks. Spoil my dog and make pets out of the stock. Tell Miz Flowers out there that you’ve changed your mind about this job and come home.”

  Jaimie bit her lip, uncaring that she couldn’t keep the tears from coming. She didn’t even care that a half dozen small, tousled heads were peering into the window. All she cared was that Matthew had come for her. He could talk until the cows came home, but the very fact that he’d come for her spoke to her heart more deeply than any words.

  Matthew didn’t care that he had no pride left. Pride wouldn’t keep him warm on a cold winter night. It wouldn’t laugh with him and argue with him. It wouldn’t wear snug thermal shirts or smell of lemon, or make angels in the snow. “Come home with me, Jaimie. Wear my ring and have my children. You can even scratch up my trucks if you have to. Just come home. And give me all the rest of your nights.”

  “Oh, Matthew.” Her lips trembled and she closed her hand around the Cracker Jack box to hold it to her heart.

  He cocked his head to one side and cleared his throat. “You never did open the box.”

  No. She’d only treasured it more than she treasured her bracelet.

  “Mebbe you oughta,” he suggested.

  She looked at him. Noticed again the tense set of his lips. Dashing a finger across her damp cheek, she pulled open the box. She stared inside at the scotch-taped paper packet that contained the “prize.” Her heart thundered and she lifted the little square out from its bed of caramel popcorn with fingers that shook. As soon as she touched it, the paper parted and she caught her breath when it revealed a ring.

  Not a dime store ring. Not a Cracker Jack prize.

  She looked up at him. “Oh, Matthew.” seemed to be all she could say.

  His heart beat like a runaway train. He took the ring from her and slid it in place on her slender, trembling finger. “Is that a yes?”

  The beautiful smile that lit her face would fill his dreams for the next hundred years.

  At least.

  “Yes.” She laughed and wound her arms around his neck. “Oh yes, Matthew. Let’s go home.”

  Epilogue

  Jaimie looked at her reflection in the long cheval mirror. Voices and laughter drifted on the April breeze that flitted into the room, riffling the curtains at the window. “You sure this isn’t too...too, you know?” She looked over her shoulder at Emily and Maggie who were both sitting on the foot of the bed in the room that had been Emily’s when she was growing up.

  Emily shook her head, sending a wry glance toward Maggie. “It’s perfect,” she assured.

  Jaimie drew her lip between her teeth and turned back to her reflection. The ivory lace clung to her shoulders and arms, skimmed demurely along her slender hips and fell in a swirl around her ankles.

  “I think the boots have to go, though,” Maggie finally said.

  Jaimie looked at the cowboy boots covering her feet and calves. “Really? I thought they provided a real fashion statement.” She grinned and walked over to Maggie. “Here. Undo me.”

  Maggie deftly opened the row of buttons down the back and Jaimie stepped out of the dress, carefully hanging it on the padded hanger. Then she pulled on the denim dress she’d been wearing earlier. The long hem fell to her ankles and looked entirely suitable with her boots. She rather liked the way the white eyelet underskirt ruffled against the soft gray suede boots that Matthew had given her just the other day.

  She ran her fingers through her hair. Finally, she was satisfied with her appearance, and she looked at the other women. “We ready?”

  Emily nodded, then groaned when she pushed herself to her feet. “This baby better come soon.” she complained lightly. “Every time I move I have to head toward the bathroom. I’ll be lucky if I can make it all the way through your wedding tomorrow.”

  Jaimie couldn’t help but notice the pensive smile on Maggie’s face as the trio trooped out of the bedroom and headed for the stairs. “You okay?”

  Maggie nodded, her expression clearing. “I’m fine. We’d better get down there, or Matthew’s liable to come looking for you. Whenever he does that, you guys disappear for hours.”

  Jaimie flushed, but grinned. “I’ll be glad when all this hoo-ha is over with. I can’t believe Squire insisted on having most of the state’s population come for this barbecue. We’ll have a gazillion people tromping all over t
he place during the wedding tomorrow. Matthew and I thought we’d just have our friends and family.”

  Emily stopped at the foot of the stairs, looking back at Jaimie. “Honey, if Matthew had been determined to stop Squire, he would have. He’s enjoying showing you off, just as much as Squire is. Get used to it. Once a Clay decides to make you his, he has to let the whole world know it.”

  The three trooped through the bustling living room and out onto the front porch. A huge barbecue had been set up across the circular gravel drive on the spring green grass. Jaimie inhaled the delectable scent of the barbecue and spied Matthew and Jefferson standing by Squire. All three men were squabbling over the best method of cooking the mountain of steak. Sandy and D.C. and her brood of kittens sat only a few feet away, obviously interested in the fate of the meat.

  Donna Blanchard came up, and she and Maggie headed for the playpen where J.D. slept beneath the shade of the porch. Emily headed for one of the lawn chairs scattered around, and Jaimie stood on the step, propping her shoulder against a pillar as she eyed the men. How she loved them.

  Her smile grew when a strikingly handsome man jogged toward the group huddled around the huge barbecue. Blond and sinfully good-looking, he was a towering hulk of a man. Tristan. He’d come home to see his brother finally get hitched. Tristan, who was as playful as a pup and who had even managed to coax a smile or two out of Maggie.

  Then Sawyer joined the group, and Jaimie heard Emily’s snicker. The two women exchanged a look. In minutes, Squire was swearing, testy as an old bear. The only Clay missing from the delightful scene was Daniel. He’d announced, much to Matthew’s shock, that he’d taken a job with an outfit in Montana, and he’d packed up his gear and headed out several days ago. Matthew had already hired on two more hands to replace the load that Daniel had carried.

  She’d asked Matthew last night if Daniel’s absence bothered him. Matthew had shrugged, only saying that Daniel needed time away for now. And he would come home when he was ready. Personally Jaimie hoped that would be sooner rather than later.