Since she was apparently too late to stop her father from eloping with Marjorie, she should probably just drive her rental back to the airport and catch the quickest flight to California.
On the other hand, that kitchen was still a mess, she was sure. She could scrub down the smoke-damaged kitchen while Wade was gone, perhaps even fix a warm meal for their return.
It was the least she could do, really. None of this would have happened if her father hadn't run off with Marjorie.
She wasn't breaking her vow, Caroline told herself as she walked back into the house and shut the cool fall air behind her. She wasn't cleaning up after her father's messes, something she had sworn never to do again. She was only helping out a man who had his hands full.
She tried to tell herself she wasn't splitting hairs, but even as she went back into the smoke-damaged kitchen and rolled up her sleeves, she wasn't quite convinced.
* * *
"There you go, partner. Now you've got the mummy claw of death to scare Nat with when she comes home from school."
Tanner giggled at his uncle Jake and moved his gauze-wrapped hand experimentally. "It still hurts," he complained.
"Sorry, kid." Jake squeezed his shoulder. "I can give you some medicine so it won't hurt quite so bad. But when you try to put out a fire all by yourself, sometimes you get battle scars. Next time call your dad right away."
"There won't be a next time. Right, Tanner?" Wade said sternly. "You've learned your lesson about roasting marshmallows—or anything else—by yourself."
Tanner sighed. "I guess. I don't like havin' a burn."
Jake straightened. "You were really brave while I was looking at it. I was proud of you, bud. Now you have to be a big kid and make sure you take care of it right. You can't get the bandage wet and you have to try to keep it as clean as you can, okay? Listen to your dad and do what he says."
"Okay." Tanner wiggled off the exam bench. "Can I go ask Carol for my sucker now?"
"Sure. Tell her a big brave kid like you deserves two suckers."
"And a sticker?"
Jake hammed a put-upon sigh. "I guess."
Tanner raised his bandaged hand into the air with delight then rushed out of the exam room, leaving Wade alone with his younger brother.
Unlike old Doc Jorgensen who had run the clinic when they were kids—with his gnarled hands and breath that always smelled of the spearmint toothpicks he chewed—Jake didn't wear a white lab coat in the office. The stethoscope around his neck and the shirt pocket full of tongue depressors gave him away, though.
Wade watched his brother type a few things onto a slender laptop computer—notes for Tanner's chart—and wondered how the little pest in hand-me-down boots and a too-big cowboy hat who used to follow him around the ranch when they were kids had grown into this confident, competent physician.
This wasn't a life Wade would have chosen, either for himself or for his brother, but he had always known Jake hadn't been destined to stay on the ranch. His middle brother was three years younger than he was and, as long as Wade could remember, Jake had carried big dreams inside himself.
He had always read everything he could find and had rarely been without a book in his hand. Whether they'd been waiting at the end of the long drive for the school bus or taking a five minute break from fixing fence lines, Jake had filled every spare moment with learning.
Wade had powerful memories of going on roundup more than once with Jake when his brother would look for strays with one eye and keep the other on the book he'd held.
He loved him. He just never claimed to understand him.
But there was not one second when he'd been anything less than proud of Jake for his drive and determination, for the compassion and caring he showed to the people of Pine Gulch, and for coming home instead of putting his medical skills to work somewhere more lucrative.
After another few seconds of pounding the keys, Jake closed his laptop.
"Well, I'd tell you happy birthday but it sounds like it's a little too late for that."
Wade made a face. "You can say that again. It's been a hell of a day."
"And just think, it's only noon. Who knows what other fun might be in store."
Wade sighed heavily. Noon already and he hadn't done a damn thing all day. He had a million things to do and now he had a little wounded firefighter who couldn't get his bandage dirty to think about.
His mother ought to be here, blast her. He was no good at the nurturing, sympathy thing. Did she ever stop to consider one of the kids might need her to shower kisses and sympathy?
"So what do you suggest we do about Mom?" he asked.
Jake leaned a hip against the exam table, and Wade thought again how he seemed to fit here in this medical clinic, in a way he'd never managed at the Cold Creek.
"What can we do? Sounds like the deed is done."
"We don't have to like it, though."
"I don't know. She's been alone a long time. It's been eighteen years since Hank died and even before that, her life with our dear departed father couldn't have been all roses. If this Montgomery guy makes her happy, I think we should stand behind her."
He stared at his brother. The finest education didn't do a man much good if he lost all common sense. "What do you mean, stand behind her? She doesn't even know the guy! How can we possibly support her eloping with a man she's only corresponded with through e-mail and clandestine phone calls? And what kind of slimy bastard runs off with a woman he's never seen in person? He's got to be working some kind of scam. He and the daughter are in it together."
"You don't know that."
"They've got to be. She trolls for unhappy older women through this life-coaching baloney, finds a vulnerable target like Mom, and then he steps in and charms them out of everything they've got."
"You're such a romantic," Jake said dryly.
"I don't have time to be a romantic, damn it. I've got a national television crew coming to the ranch in six days. How can I possibly get ready for this video shoot when I've got three kids underfoot every second?"
"You could always cancel it."
He glowered at Jake. "You're not helping."
"Why not? It's just a video shoot."
"Just a video shoot I've been working toward for almost a year! This is huge publicity for the ranch. We're one of only a handful of cattle operations in the country using this high-tech data-collection chip on our stock. You know how much of an investment it was for us but it's all part of our strategy of moving the ranch onto the industry's cutting edge. To be recognized for that right now is a big step for the Cold Creek. I don't know why Mom couldn't have scheduled her big rendezvous after the news crew finished."
"So what will you do with the kids?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out. You're the smart one. Any suggestions?"
"You could hire a temporary nanny, just until after the video shoot is over. Didn't Mom's note say she'd be back in a week?"
He started to answer but stopped when he heard Cody wailing from the reception area, something about a "stick-oh."
Wade sighed and headed toward the sound, Jake right behind him.
"Right. A week. Let's hope I'm still sane by then."
* * *
Cody fell asleep on the six-mile drive from Jake's clinic in Pine Gulch to Cold Creek Ranch. Tanner, jacked up by the excitement of the morning and probably still running on adrenaline, kept up a steady stream of conversation that didn't give Wade a minute to think about what he was going to do.
Tanner didn't even stop his running commentary during the phone call Wade took on his cell from Seth, who informed him glumly that the shop in Rexburg wouldn't have the part they needed for the baler until the next day. Without it, they wouldn't be able to bring the hay in, which meant they might lose the whole damn crop to the rain.
"I'm almost home. I'll get the boys some lunch and then try to come down and see if we can jury-rig something until tomorrow."
The clouds continue
d to boil and churn overhead as he drove under the arch that read Cold Creek Land and Cattle Company, and Wade could feel bony fingers of tension dig into his shoulders.
Sometimes he hated the responsibility that came from being the one in charge. He hated knowing he held the livelihood of his own family and those of three other men in his hands, that his every decision could make or break the ranch.
He couldn't just take a week off and play Mr. Mom. Too much depended on him meeting his responsibilities, especially right now.
But who could he ask for help? His mind went through everyone he could think of among their neighbors and friends.
His wife's family had sold their ranch a year ago and her parents were serving in South America as missionaries for their church.
Viviana Cruz was the next logical choice. She owned the small ranch that adjoined the Cold Creek to the west and was his mother's best friend as well as a sort of surrogate grandmother to his kids. Unfortunately, she had left the week before to spend some time with her daughter in Arizona before Maggie's national guard unit shipped off to Afghanistan.
He couldn't think of anyone else, off the top of his head. Everyone who came to mind was either busy with their own ranch or their own kids or already had a job.
Seth knew every female with a pulse in a fifty-mile radius. Maybe his brother could think of somebody in his vast network who might be suitable to help with the kids for a week. Though it didn't really have to be a woman, he supposed as he pulled up to the back door of the ranch house.
"Can I watch TV?" Tanner asked when Wade unhooked him from his booster seat.
"Sure. Just no soap operas."
He grinned at the wrinkled-up face Tanner made. "Yuck," the boy exclaimed. "I hate those shows. Grandma watches them sometimes but they're so boring!"
By that, Wade assumed he didn't have to worry about Tanner developing a deep and abiding love for drama in the afternoons.
His injury apparently forgotten for now, Tanner skipped up the steps and into the house, leaving Wade to carefully unhook the sleeping Cody and heft him to his shoulder, holding his breath that he could keep the boy sleep. Cody murmured something unintelligible then burrowed closer.
So far so good, Wade thought as he went inside and headed straight up the back stairs to Cody's bedroom.
This was always the tricky part, putting him into his bed without disturbing him enough to wake him. He held his breath and lowered him to the crib mattress.
Cody arched a little and slid toward the top edge, where he liked to sleep, but didn't open his eyes. After a breathless moment, Wade covered him with his Bob the Builder quilt, then returned downstairs to find Tanner and figure something out for lunch.
He found Tanner in the great room with the TV on, the volume turned low.
"Can you even hear that?" Wade asked.
Tanner answered by putting a finger to his mouth. "Quiet, Daddy. You'll wake up the lady."
Wade frowned. "What lady?"
Tanner pointed to the other couch, just out of his field of vision. Wade moved forward for a better view and stared at the sight of Caroline Montgomery curled up on his couch, her shoes off and her lovely features still and peaceful.
Looked like she had made herself right at home in his absence.
He wasn't sure why the discovery should send this hot beam of fury through him, but he couldn't stop it any more than he could control those clouds gathering outside.
Chapter Three
"Hey lady! Wake up!"
Caroline barely registered the voice, completely caught up in a perfectly lovely dream. She was riding a little paint mare up a mountain trail, the air sweet and clear, and their way shaded by fringy pines and pale quaking aspen. She'd never been on a horse in her life and might have expected the experience to be frightening, bumpy and precarious, but it wasn't. It was smooth, relaxing, moving in rhythm with a huge, powerful creature.
The mountains promised peace, a warm embrace of balance and serenity she realized she had been seeking forever.
"Lady!" the voice said louder, jerking her off the horse's back and out of the dream. "You want to tell me what you're still doing here?"
Jarred, disoriented, Caroline blinked her hazy way back to awareness. Instead of the beautiful alpine setting and the horse's smooth gait beneath her, she was in a large, open room gazing directly at a painting of a horse and rider climbing a mountain trail.
Beneath the painting stood an angry man glowering at her from beneath a black cowboy hat, and it took her sleep-numbed brain a moment to figure out who he was.
Wade Dalton.
Marjorie Dalton's oldest son. In a flash, she remembered everything—Quinn's gushing e-mail about his lady love, her shocked reaction to find his lady love was her client, then that frenzied trip to eastern Idaho in a mad effort to stop him from doing anything rash.
She'd been too late, she remembered. Instead of Marjorie and Quinn, she had found only a surly, suspicious Wade Dalton and his two darling, troublemaking boys.
Striving desperately for composure, she drew in a deep, cleansing breath to clear the rest of the cobwebs from her brain, then sat up, aware she must look an absolute mess.
She pushed a hank of hair out of her eyes, feeling at a distinct disadvantage that he had caught her this way.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. I sat down to wait for you and must have drifted off."
"Why?"
"Probably because I traveled all night to get here." To her embarrassment, her words ended in a giant yawn, but the man didn't seem to notice.
"I wasn't asking why you fell asleep. I was asking why in the…" He looked over at his son and lowered his voice. "Why in the heck would you think you had to wait for us? As far as I'm concerned, we've said everything we needed to say."
She followed his gaze to the boy, noting the bandage on his hand. "I wanted to make sure Tanner was all right."
"He's fine," he answered. "Second-degree burn but it could have been a lot worse."
"Uncle Jake put lots of stinky stuff on it," Tanner piped up from the other couch, "and said I have to keep it wrapped up for a week 'cept at bedtime, to keep out the 'fection. This is my mummy claw of death."
He made a menacing lunge toward her with his wrapped hand and Caroline laughed, charmed by him.
"You'll have to make sure you do everything your uncle told you. You don't want to get an infection."
"I know." His sigh sounded heartfelt and put-upon. "And I can't ever roast marshmallows by myself again or Daddy will drag me behind Jupiter until my skin falls off."
"Jupiter?"
"My dad's horse. He's really big and mean, too."
Caroline winced at the image and Wade frowned at his son. "I was just kidding about the horse, kid. You know that, right? I just wanted to make sure you know your punishment for playing on the stove again will be swift and severe."
"I know. I told you I wouldn't do it again ever, ever, ever."
"Good decision," Caroline said. "Because you'd look pretty gross without all your skin."
Tanner giggled, then turned back to his television show.
Caroline shifted her attention back to the boy's father and found him watching her closely, a strange look on his features—an expression that for some reason made her wish her hair wasn't so sleep-messed.
Silence stretched between them, awkward and uncomfortable, until she finally broke it.
"I made some soup for you and the boys. It's on the stove."
He scowled. "You what?"
"I figured you would be ready for lunch when you returned from the clinic so I found some potatoes in the pantry and threw together a nice cheesy potato soup."
She wasn't quite sure why, but her announcement turned that odd expression in his eyes into one she recognized all too well. She watched stormclouds gather in those blue depths and saw his mouth tighten with irritation.
"Funny, but I don't remember saying anything about making yourself
right at home." Though his voice was low to prevent Tanner from paying them any attention, it was still hot.
"You didn't. I was only trying to help."
"My mother has apparently been stupid enough to marry your father, but that sure as hell doesn't give you free rein of the Cold Creek, lady."
She inhaled deeply, working hard to keep her emotions under control. No good would come of losing her temper with him, she reminded herself. As far as he was concerned, she had invaded his territory, and his reaction was natural and not unexpected.
At the same time, she couldn't let him minimize her, not when she had only been trying to help.
"My name is Caroline," she said calmly.
"I don't care if you're the frigging queen of England. This is my ranch and right now you're trespassing."
She raised an eyebrow, trying to hang onto her temper. "Are you going to have me thrown in jail because I had the temerity to make you and your boys some soup?"
"The idea holds considerable appeal right about now, believe me!"
Though she knew he was only posturing, dread curled through her just at the possibility of going to jail again. She had a flashing image of concrete walls, hopelessness and a humiliating lack of privacy.
She couldn't bear contemplating that brief time in her life—and couldn't even begin to imagine having to go back.
She took another deep breath, focusing on pushing all the tension out of her body.
"I was only trying to help. I thought perhaps Tanner might need something comforting and warm after his ordeal."
"I don't need your help, Ms. Montgomery. I don't need anything from you. It was the help you gave my mother that led to this whole mess in the first place."
Oh, this man knew how to hit her where she lived. First he threatened her with her worst nightmare, then he dredged up all the guilt she'd been trying so hard to sublimate.
Before she could summon an answer, two noises started up simultaneously—his cell phone rang and strident cries started to float down the stairs as Cody awoke.
Light the Stars Page 3