Christmas on the Ranch

by Arlene James

  As for Leanne, she’d still been unconscious and in the hospital. While seeing her so incapacitated had gutted him, in some twisted way it was probably for the best. Reuben wouldn’t have known what to say to her after she’d left him for his brother.

  But the tiny part of him that still clung to hope pushed him to come home.

  “Owen asked me to come talk to the Rodeo Group. About the arena,” Reuben said, determined not to let these two show how much influence they had over his life and emotions.

  “He never said anything to me,” George complained.

  “You’ll have to take that up with him,” Reuben said, trying to keep his tone light and conversational. “But the ranch was on my way to town. I thought I would stop by and say hello.”

  “It’s been a long time since you were here,” George said.

  On this point Reuben couldn’t fault him, though he stifled a beat of resentment at his father’s frowning disapproval. Didn’t matter what he did when he was growing up, George criticized him.

  Come home with good marks?

  Well, he could have done better.

  Ride the rankest bronc in the rodeo?

  Could have scored higher.

  Never as good as his brother. Never as good as Dirk.

  “It has been a while,” Reuben agreed. He wasn’t apologizing for his lack. As the son of the wife who had taken off, Reuben often felt his father held him to account for his mother’s behavior. And Reuben had taken that on, as well, always trying to find ways to earn his gruff father’s approval.

  But it never happened. In fact George had made it clear Dirk would take over the ranch when he was old enough and that there was no place for Reuben in spite of all the work he had done here year after year. Reuben left home as soon as he graduated high school. He rode rodeo in the summer and took on any odd job to help pay for his structural engineering classes. He was determined to show his father he could go it alone. Now he had a degree and had already racked up some impressive jobs. Though his heart had always been here in Cedar Ridge, once he discovered that Dirk and Leanne had had a baby, he shelved any hope of coming back.

  His eyes drifted again to Leanne, the woman who, at one time, he had dared to weave dreams and plans around.

  “So, here we are,” he said.

  Instead of responding, she set his nephew, Austin, on his feet and clung to his chubby little hand. She adjusted the little cowboy hat he wore, then glanced over at George.

  Looking everywhere but at him as a tense silence fell between them.

  Since she’d moved here with her sister, Tabitha, and her father when she was in high school, Leanne Rennie had only had eyes for his older brother, Dirk. And he knew why. Dirk was the good brother. Steady. Solid. Dependable. A Christian.

  Reuben knew exactly who he was. The irresponsible younger brother who could only worship Leanne from afar.

  Though Leanne had dated his brother for years and been engaged to Dirk for four of them, Reuben had never been able to completely let go of his feelings for her.

  But Dirk held off on setting a wedding date for four years. Then, as if she couldn’t wait any longer, Leanne broke up with Dirk. His brother left for Europe, and he and Leanne met up at his cousin’s destination wedding in Costa Rica. They’d spent two glorious weeks together. She’d confessed that, while she had always wanted the security Dirk could offer, she had a hard time denying her changing feelings for Reuben.

  They decided they wanted to be together but she had said that she needed to tell Dirk first. Reuben couldn’t figure out why, but he gave Leanne the space she asked for.

  Then when Dirk came back from his trip, the next thing he heard, via his cousin Cord, was that Dirk and Leanne had eloped. Reuben was devastated, hurt, then the anger kicked in and he threw himself into his work. He was determined to prove he didn’t need anyone. That he could be successful.

  And he had accomplished that. In two weeks he would be starting with a company that promised him prestige and financial independence.

  He thought he had put Leanne out of his mind for good, but seeing her now, even more beautiful than he remembered, created an unwelcome hitch in his heart.

  In the uncomfortable silence that lingered, a bird warbled, and the wind rustled through the trees sheltering the house beyond them. No one said anything more.

  “Well, just thought I’d stop by and say hi.” He looked away from his father and Leanne, then crouched down in front of Austin. “And I thought I would get to know you, little guy. I’m your uncle Reuben.”

  Austin pursed his lips, frowning slightly, as if he didn’t believe he had an uncle.

  The idea that his only nephew didn’t even know who he was cut almost as deep as Leanne’s chilly attitude.

  “Wooben,” Austin said finally. “Uncle Wooben.”

  “That’s right.”

  Austin stared at him then pointed at Reuben’s hat, then his own, looking proud. “My hat. I have my hat.”

  “It’s a pretty cool hat,” Reuben agreed.

  But then Austin looked up at Leanne, no longer interested in his uncle. “Firsty, Mommy.”

  “We’ll get something in a minute, sweetheart.” Leanne hesitated, then glanced over at Reuben, her eyes barely skimming over him. “Would you like some tea?”

  “He might not have time,” his father said, as if Reuben was no more than a salesman whom George felt he had to be polite to.

  Reuben pushed himself up, glancing from his father back to Leanne. He guessed her invitation was more a formality than anything. That his father could be so cool to him he fully understood. Nothing new there.

  But Leanne? The woman he had, at one time, thought would be his?

  “No. I should get going,” Reuben said, fighting down his own resentment and anger.

  Good thing the opinion of other people had never mattered to him. Otherwise this could have been a genuinely painful moment.

  “Will you be coming by again?” his father asked.

  “I’ll have to see how things go” was all he would say. No sense in pushing himself on either his father or his sister-in-law if he didn’t have to.

  George turned to Leanne. “I’m going back to the house.”

  Then without another word to Reuben, he walked away, shoulders bent, head down.

  He looked much older than the last time Reuben had seen him, and in spite of his father’s lack of welcome and veiled animosity, Reuben felt the sting of remorse that he’d stayed away so long.

  It wasn’t your fault.

  Maybe not, but he should have been the bigger man. Should have set aside the old hurts and slights. In spite of how George treated him, he was still Reuben’s father.

  He set aside his regrets for now and looked to Leanne, guessing he would get neither handshake nor hug from her. Not the way she stared daggers at him. As if she had any right.

  “So we might see you around?” she asked. The chill in her voice almost made him shudder.

  But then, to his surprise, she held his gaze a beat longer than necessary and once again the old feelings came back.

  “I’m sure. It’s a small town,” he returned, then he turned to Austin and gave the little boy a quick grin. “So, I’ll see you again,” he said to his nephew.

  “Bring a present?” Austin asked.

  “Austin, that’s not polite.” Leanne gave her son’s hand a gentle reprimanding shake.

  “I should have thought of that,” Reuben said with a light laugh. “After all, I am your uncle and uncles should come with presents.”

  “I like horses. My dad liked horses.”

  Reuben’s heart twisted. Once again his and Leanne’s eyes met.

  “I never had a chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear about Dirk,” he said, thumbing his hat bac
k. As if to see her better.

  “He was your brother too.” Leanne’s voice held a thread of sorrow and for a moment they acknowledged their shared grief.

  “He was a good brother. And I’m sure he was a good husband.”

  Leanne released a harsh laugh. “I hardly had the chance to find out. We were only married two weeks.” She pressed her lips together and Reuben took a quick step toward her. Before he even knew what he was doing he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, tightening it enough to let her know that he understood.

  She stayed where she was a moment, but then jerked back, her features growing hard. She turned to Austin. “I’ll get you a drink, sweetie, but first we should put your horse away.”

  Then she left, Austin trailing alongside her, her head held high, back stiff, exuding waves of rejection.

  “Bye, Uncle Wooben,” Austin called out, looking back.

  Reuben waved goodbye. It was time for him to leave but he waited, watching Leanne as she walked down the grassy path toward the corrals where a horse stood, waiting patiently. She told Austin to stay where he was as she climbed over the fence.

  He wanted to ask her why she thought she had the right to be so angry with him when she was the one who’d run back to his brother as soon as Dirk came back into her life. Ask her what happened to those promises they made to each other in Costa Rica. When she had told him that she’d always cared for him.

  Had they all been lies?

  He spun around, striding back to his truck. That duty was done. He wished he had listened to the realistic part of himself and simply driven past this place and the two people who didn’t want him around.

  Reuben slipped his sunglasses on and climbed into his truck. He started it up and, without a backward glance, drove off the ranch that had been his home for years.

  He and Leanne were over. He had to look to his own future.

  And as he drove, he second-guessed his plan to work in Cedar Ridge for the Rodeo Group.

  He glanced back at the ranch as it grew smaller in his rearview mirror.

  Why should he put himself through this on purpose?

  He would talk to Owen Herne. Tell him he wasn’t taking on the job. He had no reason at all to stay in town.

  Tomorrow he’d leave and Cedar Ridge would only be a memory.

  Copyright © 2017 by Carolyne Aarsen

  ISBN-13: 9781488078835

  Christmas on the Ranch

  Copyright © 2017 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  The Rancher’s Christmas Baby

  Copyright © 2017 by Deborah Rather

  Christmas Eve Cowboy

  Copyright © 2017 by Lois M. Richer

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com