Heart of a Rancher

by Renee Andrews

  “Yes, I do know how to make coffee.” She finished peeling the last sweet potato. “I’ll make some—” she checked the recipe card “—then cut the sweet potatoes and put them on to boil.”

  Eden sat at the table. “Here, I’ll cut them while you make the coffee. Georgiana, will you start the water for us?”

  “Sure.”

  Dana didn’t know when she’d felt more at ease around a group of people, or when she’d felt more like part of a family unit. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t grown up with a family; she’d had her father and Ryan, after all. But she couldn’t recall a time where they had to work together to accomplish a goal. Even in business, they each had their own projects, their individual goals. On the other hand, the Cutter family joined hands to accomplish every task—whether major or trivial—around the house and around the farm. And they included Dana as though she belonged here.

  “This is wonderful.” She opened the lid on the coffee canister, and the scent of the ground coffee filled the air.

  “Coffee does smell good, doesn’t it?” Abi asked.

  Dana nodded. “Yes, it does.” But she hadn’t been talking about the coffee. She was talking about her time with the Cutters. She finished preparing the coffeepot, turned it on then helped Eden with the dishes while she waited for the Cutter family member who’d made her feel the most wonderful of all, and the one who’d evidently had a hard day.

  By the time she heard him start down the stairs, the coffee was done. She poured him a cup and met him in the living area. “Would you like some coffee?” She extended the mug.

  John accepted the cup, his fingers brushing against hers as he took it. “Thanks.”

  Dana lowered her voice. “Are—are you okay?”

  He took a sip of the coffee, those amber eyes looking at her from over the rim, then he swallowed. “I will be, I guess.” His head shook subtly, as though he wasn’t sure what to say, what to do, and Dana wished there was some way she could help.

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  He took another sip of coffee. “Just not sure what God has planned for me right now. Maybe it isn’t a dude ranch, after all.”

  The door bounded open and Landon came in, water pouring off his hat and his clothes dripping all over the towels Eden had put down after John’s arrival. “I think Sam’s doing better,” he said. “Doc Sheridan said it’s probably just a cold, but he gave me some meds to help.”

  “Horses get colds?” Dana’s question was worth the laughs she got from the rest of the family, because it also produced a small smile from John.

  He nodded. “Yep, just like their riders. And Sam is typically too interested in what’s happening in the field to come in out of the rain.”

  “She just likes knowing what’s going on.” Abi crossed the room and started to hug Landon, but then planted her feet on the hardwood floor. “Whoa, you’re all wet. I’ll hug you after you change your clothes.”

  Landon’s smile and the glint of mischievousness in his eyes gave Abi a slight warning, and she turned to run, but his arm reached out and snagged her. He pulled her to his wet chest and kissed her cheeks while she giggled.

  “You’re—you’re getting me all wet!” She squealed and laughed.

  “Landon—” Georgiana barely contained her own smile “—now she’ll have to change her clothes, too.”

  Georgiana couldn’t see Landon to know what was coming, but everyone else did, and she must have suspected that he’d released Abi and turned his focus on his wife.

  “Oh, Landon, don’t you dare.” She turned and started toward the kitchen, but he caught her in two strides, pulled her close and rubbed his face against her neck while she—and everyone else—laughed.

  Eventually, they all went upstairs to change, since Georgiana and Abi were nearly as wet as Landon, and Eden, John and Dana moved to the kitchen to get the table ready for dinner.

  “That was precious,” Eden said. “It does me good to see them all so happy.”

  John poured himself another cup of coffee. “I’m glad, too.”

  Dana had seen him laughing at his brother’s display, but now he’d sobered again, and she suspected that he could also use a bit of happiness. But he’d seemed happy over the past week, even if a little disappointed in the weather. Tonight, however, he didn’t. And she had no idea what he’d meant about God not having it in His plan for John to run the dude ranch.

  One of her strengths at Brooks International had been identifying strategies and fixing problems with investments. By the time they finished dinner, she had no doubt that John’s mood had something to do with a problem with his business. And after Eden left for her home, and Georgiana, Landon and Abi went to deliver the casseroles to Mitch, she’d decided that it was time to put her talents to work here and, one way or another, fix John’s problem, too.

  He poured another cup of coffee, glanced at Dana. “You want a cup?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do you take in it?” He filled his mug, took another from the cabinet and filled it, as well.

  “Just black.”

  He nodded. “Georgiana puts so much milk in hers, it’s barely brown. And Abi, well, we make her coffee milk just so she’ll feel big.”

  “That’s precious.” Dana took the mug, sipped the hot liquid. “That’s three cups for you, isn’t it? Aren’t you a little worried that you won’t sleep?”

  “Figured I’d just stay up until it was time to go to the plant. I’ll sleep a couple of hours in the morning before my first class.”

  “That’s not enough rest, is it?”

  “I’ll try to grab a few hours before tomorrow night’s shift, too.” He leaned against the counter, continued drinking the coffee and sighed audibly. Even his tone was different than it’d been all week, and Dana hated hearing the loss of hope.

  “It sounds like the rain has stopped. Would you like to go sit on the porch?” She knew he liked sitting outside at night and viewing the fields. They’d ended each day that way since she’d arrived at the farm.

  He nodded. “I’ll grab a couple of towels in case the rockers are wet.” He walked from the kitchen to the adjoining laundry room, then returned carrying two thick towels. Apparently, he finished his coffee while walking, because he placed the empty mug in the sink.

  Not wanting too much caffeine this late, Dana took another sip of hers, put her cup beside his in the sink and then followed him out to the rockers on the porch.

  A rain-scented breeze blew across the fields, and Dana inhaled the gentle fragrance as she rocked. She didn’t want to barrel right into asking him why he’d lost his enthusiasm for the dude ranch, so she selected a nice, neutral topic. The weather—or, rather, the fact that it would change soon. “The meteorologist said the rain should move out tonight.”

  His rocker creaked as he moved back and forth. “I heard that on the radio when I was driving home.”

  Dana watched a group of cows slowly move higher on a hill, she assumed to get out of the saturated low spots. She saw the gray clouds shift and spotted a brief hint of the moon attempting to peek through the thick barricade. The ranch always appealed to Dana, but after the storm, its beauty was captivating. Yet the rancher beside her stared straight ahead, definitely not paying attention to his surroundings tonight.

  She waited as long as she could, then asked, “What happened? Why don’t you think it’s God’s plan for you to start a dude ranch?” It still felt a little odd discussing God as though she knew Him, but bit by bit through the week, she’d begun to feel that she did, or at least that she was getting closer to knowing Him the way she wanted to.

  Even in the dimness of the porch, she saw John’s jaw tighten. He slowly rocked back and forth a couple of times, then finally answered, “I can’t have a dude ranch if I can’t get the place insured.”


  A small red flag went off amid her plans for the ranch. Insurance. She’d known he’d need insurance for guests at the ranch, but she hadn’t thought he’d have any problem getting approved. “You’re having trouble getting insurance?”

  “I only found seven companies that would even consider insuring a dude ranch from someone with no experience.”

  Before he could continue, Dana interjected. “You have experience. This ranch has been in your family since before you were born, right? What more do they want?”

  “Experience in business—specifically a dude ranch business. And the fish camp doesn’t count, since it is basically only a site rental. The dude ranch will have activities—lots of activities—where guests could presumably get injured. Therefore, I need more insurance. And I need a history with running dude ranches.”

  Dana understood the companies’ point, but that didn’t make her any happier about it. “We’ll find insurance.”

  “I’m telling you, I requested a quote from every place I could find that insures places like this. You’d have thought from their letters that they all got together on their reasoning for turning me down.” He shrugged. “The ranch is a risk—too big of a risk for them to take.” A couple of beats passed, then he pushed up from the rocker and stood. “You should think about that, Dana. This is probably too big a risk for you to take, too. And I’m not into wasting other people’s money.” He cleared his throat. “No matter how much money they have.”

  “But I’m sure we can find some insurance for the ranch.”

  He’d already moved to the steps. “We may need to cut our losses. On top of the insurance problem, I hadn’t thought about the potential for rain. All of our fishing camp guests canceled for this weekend, thinking the place would be too swampy, and if the sun doesn’t come out in full force tomorrow and Saturday, it will be. When it rains like that, the dude ranch won’t be any good to tourists, either.”

  “You could offer rain checks to people booked on the rainy days.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. But if I can’t insure them, we won’t have any guests here, anyway.” His boots slapped against the wet ground as he left the porch and started toward his truck. He hadn’t been able to ride Red to his cabin since Sunday, and he had to drive the truck and leave it parked in the driveway near his place each night. Dana figured the fact that he couldn’t end his day riding his horse only added to his gloomy disposition. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And if you do decide this isn’t what you want to invest in and you want to head back to Chicago, I’ll understand.”

  She watched him walk away, her throat thick with emotion at seeing the strong cowboy at his breaking point. He backed up the truck, lifted a hand and drove away.

  Then Dana fished her cell phone from her pocket and wasted no time dialing.

  Ryan answered on the second ring. “Meanwhile, back at the ranch...”

  “Not funny. Listen, I need some help...”

  Chapter Nine

  “Are you done yet?” Abi kept her head turned away, her freckled face scrunched in dismay while John put the worm on her hook.

  Dana still hadn’t got used to watching the process, either, so she kept her eyes on Abi while John quickly finished the task and released the bait toward the water.

  “All done and ready to go, but try to wait a little longer before catching a fish this time. I can’t keep my line in the water when I have to keep baiting yours.” He tapped Abi’s shoulder. “You really shouldn’t be such a good fishing lady already. I’m just sayin’.”

  “I can’t help it—I’m good.” Abi nodded her head and sent strawberry-colored pigtails bouncing in the process. Her red-and-white cork hit the top of the water, and she coaxed, “Come on, little fishy, bite. I’m gonna catch more than Uncle John, ’cause he’s gotta keep baiting my hook.”

  Dana hid her grin behind her hand, and John winked at her from his spot on the other side of his niece. Thankfully, his dour mood over the insurance problem had disappeared since he’d told Dana about his dilemma two nights ago. But since then, he’d completely stopped talking about the dude ranch. And he’d mentioned a couple of times that Dana should enjoy a few things around the farm before she headed back to Chicago, as though he’d already dismissed the concept of the dude ranch and presumed she couldn’t wait to head home.

  Wrong on both counts. The dude ranch would be insured and ready to go; he’d find that out soon. And Dana had no desire to go home. None at all. In fact, she rather dreaded it. She didn’t want to leave the ranch, didn’t want to leave the quaintness of Claremont and sure didn’t want to leave the handsome, compassionate cowboy currently pointing a warning finger at his niece as she brought yet another fish out of the water and held it in front of his face.

  “What did I tell you?” he asked.

  Abi laughed so hard she snorted.

  John deftly removed the bream from the hook and tossed it back in the water. Then he tweaked Abi’s pigtail. “You weren’t supposed to catch any more, not that quick, anyway.”

  “And I told you—” her small shoulders shook with her giggle “—I can’t help it if I’m good.”

  Since the campsites for the ranch were still too wet to set up tents, Abi had settled for a fishing trip before her Daddy picked her up for spring break. But she made sure John and Dana knew she expected to go camping when she got back.

  “There, you’re ready to go again.” John released the hooked worm toward the water, where it fell in, and then the cork...promptly headed south.

  “Hah! That’s the fastest catch yet!” Abi yanked up the line and, sure enough, another fat bream hung from the hook.

  “I’m telling you, that’s the same fish.” John removed the hook then held the shiny bream toward Abi.

  The little girl shook her head with gusto. “Nope, the last one didn’t have that kind of eyes.”

  John looked skeptical. “You think you can see a difference in their eyes?”

  “Yep. That one has sad eyes.” She leaned forward, tilted her head and got a good look. “Sad, aren’t you?” Then she glanced up at John. “The other one had sweet eyes.”

  “If you ask me, they’re probably all sad because you took them out of the water and away from their home.”

  Abi moved her face even closer to the fish. “And that’s why we put you back in.”

  He grinned. “Yes, that’s why. So, do you want to put her back in this time?”

  Abi studied the bream again. “How do you know it’s a girl?”

  “Just guessing.”

  “I think it’s a boy.” She nodded her head with the statement, as though already determining the fact.

  “All right. So do you want to put him back in?”

  Abi hadn’t touched a fish yet, but Dana could tell curiosity was getting the better of her. “If you help me, I will.”

  “Okay. You can hold him two ways. The first is you put your thumb in his mouth and pinch a little, like this.” John demonstrated holding up the fish.

  Abi’s hazel eyes grew big. “What’s the other way?”

  He grinned. “The other way is to cup your hands around him like this, and don’t worry, his gills won’t hurt you.”

  Abi’s hands drew into little fists. “But Mama said some gills do hurt you. She told me to be careful. She said it today, when I told her we were going fishing.”

  John nodded. “Catfish gills. That’s what she’s talking about. This is just a little bream.”

  “He looks like a big bream to me.”

  John checked his grin. “He’s big for a bream, but he’s much smaller than those big ol’ catfish that live on the bottom of the pond. And his gills won’t hurt you, I promise.” He eased the fish into Abi’s waiting palms. “See?”

  “Hey, he doesn’t feel slimy at all,” Abi said in su
rprise. “Just kind of cold. And wet.” She looked at Dana. “You want to feel him?”

  Dana did her best not to make a face. “I think I’ll save that for another day.”

  John laughed. “It isn’t bad, is it, Abi?”

  “Nope, not bad.” She peered into the fish’s eyes again. “Hey there, fish. I’m the one who caught you, but I’m gonna let you go back to swim again now, okay?” She lifted her brows as though waiting for the bream to answer, then smiled, leaned toward the edge and gently released the fish into the water.

  The low rumble of an engine and crunching gravel alerted them that a vehicle had started up the driveway. Dana looked up to see a black Mercedes slowing near the fence, the tinted window easing down and a man’s face coming into view. He was the city version of attractive, and Dana got the strangest sense of pleasure that she only noticed him as that, a good-looking city guy. She turned toward the cowboy on the other side of the patchwork quilt, the rancher who’d spent the past hour helping his niece fish, and she inwardly saluted the differences between this man and the one in the car.

  The city boy was fake, money-made, living-an-easy-life attractive. But the tall, muscled, hardworking cowboy lounging on the quilt—now that was Dana’s idea of handsome.

  She noticed John made no effort to get up and go greet the other guy. In fact, his face turned into a semi-snarl.

  “Abi, what are you doing out there getting all dirty before we go on our trip? You knew I was coming this afternoon, didn’t you? I told you this morning to be ready when I got here.”

  “I am ready. I just wanted to go fishing for a little bit until you got here, Daddy.”

  “I haven’t got a lot of time to wait for you to get cleaned up before we leave,” he said, his mouth tense, but then he appeared to force a smile. “And we’ve got several fun stops to make along the way back to Tampa.”