The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Cowboys of Chance Creek Book 8)

by Cora Seton

  “I think so,” Fila said, but she didn’t sound too certain. “I’d better get back in the kitchen. I can’t believe how many people are waiting. What if they don’t like the food?”

  “Are you kidding? They’ll love it! Don’t you remember our test run?” Mia gave her friend a tight hug then spun her around toward the kitchen. “Get back to cooking—I have a feeling we’ll go through everything we have available tonight.”

  “Don’t say that,” Camila cried from the kitchen where she was busily prepping enchilada fixings. “I don’t know what we’ll do if we run out of food!”

  “Close down, silly.” Mia laughed at Camila’s horrified expression and moved back to her place behind the till. Twenty minutes later, her hands were damp with sweat, though, when she unlocked the doors and ushered the first customers in. What if she messed up the till? Or couldn’t keep up with orders? What if she ran out of change?

  She took a deep breath, smiled at Morgan and Rob and said, “Welcome to Fila’s Familia! What can I get you?”

  Four hours later, she thought her feet would fall off they ached so badly. She hadn’t sat down once, nor had she had a chance to take so much as a bite of food. The restaurant was still packed because some of the guests who’d eaten early and gone home had come back to celebrate the end of the first night. Starting tomorrow, the restaurant would be open from eleven in the morning to nine at night. Mia was glad they’d only started with dinner today. She didn’t know how she’d last through a full shift tomorrow.

  “How are you holding up?”

  She hadn’t noticed Luke standing in line, but then she could barely keep up with the whirlwind of orders the customers ahead of him had thrown at her. A large party of cowboys had just come through the line, back from some event somewhere. They had each ordered multiple entrees, as if they were cramming in calories before a fast.

  “I’m doing okay. Tired.”

  “You shouldn’t work so hard.”

  Mia laughed. “This is nothing. I’ve got longer days ahead of me—but that’s all right. I’m strong.”

  “Here. I got this for you.” He handed her a green striped gift bag with yellow tissue paper poking out the top.

  “I don’t think I’m supposed to stop working.”

  “It’ll just take a minute. Open it up.”

  She did, and found a small, plush teddy bear inside. A green ribbon around its neck held a card. When she opened it, she found an invitation to a private viewing. The address listed was Luke’s cabin on the Double-Bar-K.

  “A private viewing?” she whispered, scandalized that Luke was propositioning her right here in line.

  “It ain’t what you think. Be there, tomorrow morning at nine.”

  “I work at eleven.”

  “I have to work, too. It won’t take much time.”

  “Hmph. That’s not much of an invitation.” She hadn’t meant to snort aloud, but she did. Cheeks burning, she darted a glance at Luke and found him grinning back at her. He put his hands on the counter and leaned forward.

  “It can take as long as you want.” His voice was low and intimate. “It’s up to you.”

  “Go on, get out of here.” She stuffed the teddy bear and gift bag on a shelf under the counter.

  “I’ve got to order first.”

  “Well, hurry up!” But it was hard to stay angry. She was flushed with the success of Fila’s Familia and the truth was she’d love to spend a good long time with him at the bunkhouse tomorrow morning. She couldn’t, though. She had to stand strong—at least until Luke proved he was taking her seriously.

  By the time Mia knocked on his front door at nine-fifteen the next morning, Luke was ready to jump out of his skin. He’d begun to think she’d decided to stand him up and he didn’t know what he’d do if that was the case. He’d worked hard on the nursery and he wanted her to see it. Hell, he wanted her to fall in love with it. If she didn’t even bother to stop by, what was the use of all his work?

  But she had come at last. He pulled the door open and she tumbled in on a cold breeze.

  “Take off your coat. Come on in.” Luke bit back more inane sentences that sprang to his mouth. He’d lived with Mia for weeks. No need to act like she’d never been here before.

  “Something smells good,” Mia said. She handed her coat to Luke, kicked her snow boots off clumsily and leaned against the wall for a minute.

  “Mia? You okay?”

  She instantly straightened. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  But she didn’t look fine. Not at all. “You look tired.”

  “Thank you very much. Just what every girl wants to hear first thing in the morning.”

  “You know what I mean.” He held his ground. “You’re always beautiful, and you’re usually full of energy, too. What happened?”

  She sighed and moved into the living room. “Fila’s happened. Those customers ran me ragged last night. I didn’t get a break once. Then we were up late cleaning and prepping for today. I have no idea how I’ll get through a full shift. Especially since I’ll probably have to stay late again. Plus, there are other things going on.”

  Luke bit back the words he wanted to say—that she should quit her restaurant job, that she should forget about her wedding planning business. That she should let him take care of her. “Would you like some breakfast? I made French toast.”

  “That sounds good, actually.”

  Mia brightened up as she ate and she confessed she’d slept until the last minute and hadn’t eaten before she left the house. Luke piled on slices of French toast, bacon and orange slices and was gratified when she cleaned her plate. He kept the conversation light, but as soon as she finished he stood up.

  “Come on.” He held out his hand.

  She took it and let him lead her to the stairs. “If you’re really going ahead with this private viewing you shouldn’t have let me eat so much.” She flashed him an uncertain smile that he found all too sexy.

  “It’s not that kind of a private viewing, although that could be arranged any time you’d like.” He grinned, letting her know he’d be glad to do just that.

  “Hmm,” was all the answer he got. He led her upstairs and paused in front of the guest room door.

  “I can change things if you don’t like it.”

  Mia was frowning. “Luke, I’m not going to move back in. We’re not—”

  Luke pushed open the door and Mia’s words trailed off as she stepped inside the bedroom and took in the crib, changing table, and dresser, the sunny yellow walls, white trim around the windows and doors and the colorful rag rugs on the floor.

  “Oh, Luke.” She bit her lip and her eyes shone with tears. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”

  His heart leaped. For once he’d gotten it right. “It’s all for you. And for our baby girl. I want you to come back home. I want us to make this a home together.” He followed her around the room as she examined the furniture. “What do you think?”

  “I love it. I can’t believe you did all of this.”

  “You know I love you.” He drew her into an embrace. “You know I do, Mia.”

  She nodded, her gaze searching his.

  “Don’t you see?” He waved a hand at the room. “I can give you everything you need. Everything. You’ll never need to work another day in your life.”

  Mia went rigid in his arms. “I’m not giving up on my wedding planning business.”

  “Look at you, honey. You’re exhausted after one day at the restaurant. You haven’t even started event planning. How will you handle that on top of everything? And once you’re a mom you won’t want to leave the baby, will you?” He couldn’t bear to see Mia as tired as she’d been when she walked in this morning. She took too much on. She needed him to help her.

  Mia backed right out of his arms. “Is staying home with the baby mandatory?”

  “What do you mean?” And why was she staring at him like that, with her arms crossed over her chest? Luke stepped away, too. “Don’t you want
to?”

  “Sure! Of course. But I want to work, too. It doesn’t have to be either/or.”

  “You can’t work two jobs and take care of a baby.” Why would she want to when he was there to pick up the slack?

  She spun on her heel and marched out the bedroom door. “Watch me!”

  Mia didn’t know why she was crying when she drove back to the Cruz ranch, except she was so exhausted she could hardly hold her head up. She didn’t understand it. She’d managed to make it through her first trimester without anyone even noticing she’d been pregnant. Now a couple of weeks later, she looked like something the cat dragged in and felt worse. When she reached the ranch, she managed to slip upstairs in the guest house without running into Autumn or anyone else. She sank down on her bed and had a good cry.

  She’d actually thought Luke finally got it—that he realized how important it was to her to succeed in her wedding planning business. Not so much for the money, as for the proof it would give everyone that she wasn’t just a pretty face. It was sweet that he wanted to provide for her, and a year ago she would have accepted gladly. But now she didn’t want to quit, and she wanted Luke to support her in it. It hurt her feelings that no one except Rose seemed to believe she was capable of anything other than running a cash register. Was it because of all those beauty pageants? Couldn’t anyone look beyond her face? She was capable of far more—she knew it. And she wanted to show everyone else.

  Luke was right—it was lousy timing to start her business now, but if she worked hard she could have things established before the baby was born. Then she could buy one of those baby slings that were all the rage, wrap up the baby and keep on working.

  It wasn’t only the work wearing her out, anyway. Last night she’d tried to write the letter Inez wanted, and it had dredged up so many painful memories she’d hardly been able to sleep. It was so tempting to give up and let Luke have his way. She could lie in bed and let him take care of everything. If she told him about Warner, he’d probably take care of that, too.

  Mia frowned. He might take care of it in all the wrong ways. She had to admit, there’d be a certain satisfaction in knowing Warner had gotten what he had coming, but she didn’t want Luke to get into trouble and she wasn’t a woman who approved of violence.

  No, she had to do things the right way. She had to finish the letter and do whatever else it took to get Warner banned from the pageants for life.

  That decision made, she rolled over onto her side, plumped a pillow under her head and daydreamed about what it would be like to hold her baby.

  A girl. She was having a girl. Would the baby look like her at all?

  She hoped so.

  A tiny Mia. No—the baby needed her own name, just like she’d have her own personality. A tiny…Jasmine, or Lucy, or Pamela.

  She needed to make a list.

  She allowed her daydream to expand and saw a two-year-old with long dark hair racing around a playground. She saw herself chasing the little girl, playing tag with her, going down a slide.

  She saw Luke pick her up and put her on his shoulders, the three of them walking back to their car.

  No. Darn it—no! Luke wasn’t in this picture. It was just her and Lucy. Or Pamela. Just the two of them. Going home to their…apartment.

  Mia sat up. Apartment? That might be okay while Pamela was small, but not when she grew older. Mia wanted a yard for her child. Room to roam.

  She thought of Ellis’s two hundred thousand dollars sitting in her bank account. Maybe she could buy a house. A small one.

  She lifted her chin. She’d go look at real estate her next day off.

  Without Luke.

  ‡

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I’m going to go out of my mind if this leg doesn’t heal soon,” Ned said a few days later as he, Luke, Ethan and Jamie leaned against a corral on the Double-Bar-K.

  Jamie had stopped by to take a look at Silver, a mare that had grown increasingly skittish the last few days. She’d taken to bucking and rearing when anyone tried to handle her—odd behavior in the normally placid animal. In a way, the mare reminded Luke of Mia, who also seemed to have changed from a sweet young thing into a woman determined to have her way. Ned, Ethan and Jamie had managed to get the horse from the stable to the corral without incident, but only just. Luke hoped Jamie would have some insight into the matter, since he was known around these parts as something of a horse whisperer.

  “And I’m going to go out of my mind if I keep having to do all your work,” Luke said to Ned, watching Silver dance around in the corral. After a few moments she calmed down, walked a few steps, then suddenly shied to the left in a big leap before circling the corral again in nervous, tentative steps. He didn’t have time for this new problem. It was calving season, he still needed to check the rest of the fences, and he had plenty of other chores to do, too.

  “You must have loads of time on your hands if you’re redecorating your cabin.” Ned resettled his hat on his head and leaned on the top rail of the corral.

  “How’d that go?” Jamie asked. “Did Mia like it?”

  Ethan turned an interested look his way.

  Luke couldn’t believe Jamie didn’t know the answer to that already. He bet Ethan did, from his expression. “She liked the room just fine, but she didn’t like what I had to say.”

  “Sorry to hear it.” Jamie’s attention was back on the horse. After a few moments of concentration, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and clicked away at it.

  “Calling for backup?” Ned shifted again and Luke could tell his leg was bothering him. It was out of its cast, but he’d need physical therapy before it was truly right again.

  “Of a kind.”

  “Autumn says Mia was pretty upset when she got home the other day.” Ethan moved closer.

  “She was pretty upset when she was here.”

  “I don’t think you’re seeing the forest for the trees. You need to—”

  “Speaking of trees, I think that’s your problem,” Jamie said. “Hold up a second.” He listened to the person on the other end of the phone. “Yeah—could you hold up your phone so I can hear?” He kept the phone to his ear and held out his left hand for silence. They all watched the mare step nervously around the corral. Suddenly Jamie pointed at the horse just as she bucked and bolted again. “Yep. That’s it!” He turned to the others. “They’re logging over at Hardy’s place. The chain saws are spooking her.”

  “I can’t hear any chainsaws,” Ned said.

  “Nope. But she can. I had Nancy Hardy step out of her kitchen and hold up her phone. Every time the chain saws start up, your horse jumps.”

  “Now how the hell did you think of that?” Ethan cocked his hat back.

  “I’ve seen it happen before, and I overheard Bill Hardy talking with his buddies about the logging last week at DelMonaco’s. It was just a hunch.”

  “One hell of a hunch,” Ethan said.

  “Don’t you ever get hunches?” Jamie slipped his phone back into his pocket.

  “I’ve got a hunch you spend way too much time with horses. And listening to other people’s conversations at restaurants.”

  “I’ve got a hunch you haven’t gotten laid in a long time,” Jamie rejoined. “You’re mighty testy these days.”

  “Dude—the man just had a baby,” Ned said, then grinned. “Probably has hemorrhoids on top of everything else.” Ethan gave him a good-natured shove, which nearly unbalanced Ned, but he managed to grab the fence rail and hold on. “Jamie’s right. You are testy.”

  “Wait ’til you have kids. I haven’t slept a full night in weeks.”

  “Yeah, but it’s worth it, right?” Jamie leaned against the corral and watched the mare kick up her heels again.

  “Yeah, that’s for sure. Think you and Fila will have kids?” he asked Ned.

  “We’re working on it.”

  Luke felt the other three men’s satisfaction as if it was wafting off of them in waves, and suddenly h
is chest ached with frustration.

  He should be married to Mia already. He should be preparing to be a father to her little girl.

  Instead he was still alone.

  It was several days before Mia got a chance to stop in at one of the real estate offices in town. The wall to the right of the entryway was covered in corkboard and held all the current listings. A receptionist sat behind a counter typing at a desktop computer. A row of faux leather chairs formed a waiting area. Only one other potential client was in the office—a lean man in his early thirties with light brown hair and gray eyes. He had the build of a serious athlete and Mia bet he spent his off hours doing extreme sports. He didn’t look like a rancher, exactly. He lacked the easygoing, down-home attitude, for one thing. Instead he had a kind of intensity she couldn’t entirely place.

  Mia smiled and nodded at him politely, then turned to examine the wall of possibilities. She wouldn’t want to spend all the money that Ellis gave her on a house. She needed savings to start her business and to tide her over until she got enough clients. She also wanted a college fund for baby Pamela. And she wanted to travel someday—just enough to give Pam a wider sense of the world.

  As she began to examine the house listings, she bit her lip, surprised at the prices. The cheapest ones were well over a hundred thousand dollars and they all had frightening words like water damage, needs work or handyman special in their descriptions. The houses closer to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars were somewhat better, but they weren’t in the best parts of town and most of them had postage stamp lawns. She’d hoped for something more than that. Trailers were cheaper, of course, but then she’d have to pay a pad fee, and most of them barely had yards at all.

  When she finally spotted a house she really liked, its list price was a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Her fingers tightened into fists in the pockets of her jeans. That left just twenty-five thousand dollars from Ellis’s money. What if the house needed repairs, or her truck broke down, or the baby got sick?