by Marin Thomas
“I can’t see.” Dani stopped in the shadows.
“I’m right here, honey.” Sara walked toward her daughter. “It takes a minute for your eyes to adjust after being in the bright sunlight.” She whisked her daughter’s hair off her forehead. Heart still racing from a kiss that never got off the ground, she said, “You need your bangs trimmed.”
Dani peeked around Sara. “Can I help Mr. Cruz?”
“I told Papa to have you do your work sheets.”
“I hate work sheets. I wanna help Mr. Cruz.”
Sara heard the longing in her daughter’s voice. Dani wasn’t just bored; she wanted attention—Cruz’s attention. José smothered Dani with affection and love but he was her papa. Sara was certain Dani viewed Cruz in a different light—most likely as a father figure.
“She can stay.”
Sara couldn’t read Cruz’s expression and Dani didn’t wait for her mother to decide before she ran through the barn, skidding to a stop at the stall Cruz was repairing. “I can help you paint.”
“We don’t need to paint this time,” he said. “Once I nail this board into place, you can sweep out the stall.”
“Okay. I’ll get a broom.” Dani raced off.
“I can find something for her to do,” Sara said.
“She’ll be fine.” He cleared his throat. “Unless you don’t want her helping me.”
Why would he think she’d object to Dani being with him? There it was again—a tiny shiver that warned her Cruz was hiding something. Even though intuition said there was a lot more to Cruz than just a cowboy passing through town, Sara didn’t feel threatened by him.
“I gotta broom,” Dani said when she returned.
“You stand back for a minute and let me nail this board in place.”
“Papa says it’s stupid to fix the barn, but I think the donkeys are gonna like their new home.”
“You’re right. The animals will appreciate a clean place to rest when it’s cold outside.”
Forgotten by Cruz and Dani, Sara returned to the house. She’d hardly be a good mother if she was jealous of her daughter. Even so, she couldn’t help being a little envious of a five-year-old.
“Aren’t you going to stay out there with Dani?” José stood in the doorway, blocking her entrance.
“Why? Dani’s not afraid of Cruz.”
“She should be.”
Sara pushed past her father-in-law and stopped in the kitchen. “Why should Dani be afraid of him? Do you know something I don’t?”
“A man just called, wanting to speak to me about Cruz.” José held out a piece of note paper.
“‘Ed Kline,’” Sara read the name out loud. “What did he want?”
The lines bracketing José’s mouth deepened. “He’s a parole officer.”
The blood drained from Sara’s face and her gaze shot back to the barn.
“Cruz Rivera just got out of prison.”
“What did the parole officer want?”
“He wanted to make sure I gave permission for Cruz to stay on the property.”
“What else did he ask?”
“If I was employing Cruz. I said yes.”
“And?”
“And I’m to call him right away when Cruz leaves.”
Sara nibbled her lower lip. Dani was sweeping horse stalls with an ex-con. Darn it, she’d had a feeling Cruz was hiding something.
“Tell him to go,” José said. “I don’t want my granddaughter near a man who’s been in prison.”
“I’m a pretty good judge of character,” she said. “If I thought for one moment that Dani was in danger I’d ask Cruz to leave.”
“Sara.”
“What?”
“Cruz Rivera was in prison for attempted manslaughter.”
Manslaughter?
“What happened?”
“I didn’t ask and the parole officer didn’t volunteer the information.”
“What else did you learn?” she asked.
“Rivera was the prison’s shining rodeo star. He set records in bronc busting.”
Sara rubbed her brow. She seriously hadn’t given a thought to where Cruz had come from when he’d shown up two weeks ago. Never in her wildest imagination would she have pegged him for an ex-con. Her protective instincts kicked in, and she said, “I better fetch Dani.”
“Are you going to tell him to leave?”
Hand on the door, she froze. Cruz was working for room and board. If she kicked him to the curb, she’d have to pay a huge sum of money to a contractor to finish the repairs to the barn. “Once he finishes working on the barn I’ll tell him he has to move on.”
“And what about you?”
She forced herself to make eye contact with her father-in-law. “What about me...what?”
“Are you going to let him go?”
Evidently she hadn’t hidden her attraction to Cruz very well. “There’s nothing going on between me and Cruz.”
“Yet.”
“I can take care of myself.” She’d been doing as much the entire time she’d been married to his son.
“You admitted you’re lonely.”
She looked away.
“The first few years are the hardest.” José’s eyes glazed over as if he were going back in time to when Sofia had died. “You come into the house expecting to hear their voice, but only silence greets you. So you talk out loud, thinking they can hear and tell you what to do. Then you dream about them. Night after night you beg them to come to back, only to wake up in the morning alone in bed.” He shook his head and stared at Sara. “You’re young. You shouldn’t live the rest of your life alone, but Tony would not approve of Rivera. He would want a better man to help raise his Dani.”
Seriously? Tony wouldn’t care who raised his daughter.
As soon as the thought entered her mind, Sara felt ashamed. Just because Tony had chosen his career over his family didn’t mean he hadn’t cared about them or hadn’t loved them as best he could. Still...there was something about Cruz Rivera that didn’t jive with a manslaughter charge.
“You don’t have to worry about me or Dani, José. Cruz is only here to help us before he moves on.” She left the house and made a beeline for the barn, stopping inside the doorway. She didn’t see Dani or Cruz. In a moment of panic her heart stopped beating, then she silently cursed José for putting bad thoughts about Cruz into her head.
She heard voices coming from the storage room. When she reached the back of the barn, she eavesdropped.
“Mama said my daddy was a good doctor and he helped lots of people,” Dani said.
“Helping people is important.”
That didn’t sound like something a hardened criminal would say.
“Do you help people?” Dani asked.
“Sometimes. I’m helping your papa by fixing his barn.” After a moment of silence he said, “And I helped a friend once, but that didn’t work out as I’d planned.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Can you hold this bucket while I look for another box of nails?”
“Are you gonna go home with me and my mom?”
“Dani?” Sara stepped through the doorway. “Papa wants you.”
“But I’m helping Mr. Cruz.”
Cruz’s gaze collided with Sara’s and he frowned. “That’s okay, Dani. I’ll find the nails.”
Dani looked beseechingly at Sara. “Can I help Mr. Cruz later?”
“We’ll see.” She set her hands on Dani’s shoulders and gave her a gentle nudge toward the exit. “Go on.”
Once Dani left, Cruz asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, why?”
He shook his head. “You look nervous.”
“I do?”
Her smile trembled.
His eyes were a turbulent swirl of brown and black. “You know, don’t you?”
Chapter Five
Sara swallowed hard. “Your parole officer called José.”
Cruz closed his eyes and silently let loose a string of cuss words. He’d known all along Papago Springs was a temporary pit stop before he hit the rodeo circuit. But somewhere in the past two weeks he’d dropped his guard and had gotten caught in a fantasy of belonging here with Sara, Dani and José.
But you don’t belong with them.
No kidding. He opened his eyes and winced at the uncertainty reflected in Sara’s blue gaze. “I’ll pack my things and be gone in an hour.” He made a move to step past her, but her fingers clamped down on his arm and he froze. The warmth from her touch spread through his muscles and he fisted his hands to keep from pulling her close. He ached to kiss her—really kiss her—before he left. He wanted to take the taste and feel of her lips with him.
“Did you try to kill the person or was it an accident?” she whispered.
He looked her straight in the eye. “It was an accident.”
She studied him for the longest time and the indecision in her gaze hurt more than he wanted to admit. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I believe you.”
His knees went weak with relief. He barely knew Sara, yet it mattered a heck of a lot that she believed he hadn’t meant to shoot a man. “Thanks.”
He pulled free of her hold and headed for the exit.
“Where are you going?”
He stopped. “To pack my things.”
“Stay.”
He swallowed hard at her soft plea, savoring the feeling of rightness that filled him. “It’s better if I go.” José would want him gone.
“I didn’t peg you for a man who left people in a lurch.”
She knew him better than he knew himself. If he’d let Victor go alone instead of tagging along, he wouldn’t be standing here right now.
And you never would have met Sara.
“It’s better if I go.”
“Better for whom?”
“You.” Then he added, “And Dani and José.”
“All I’m asking is for you to stay until the barn is repaired. Then you can...take off.”
That was the problem. He had nowhere to go once he left Papago Springs.
“Please. If you don’t help me, I’ll never convince José to leave this one-horse town and move to Albuquerque.”
He wanted to stay—more than anything. But this wasn’t Sara’s property and she didn’t have the final say. He left the barn, aware of her eyes burning a hole in his back as he walked to the house. He knocked on the back door and when José appeared, he said, “I need to talk to you.”
José nodded and turned away so Cruz took that as an invitation to enter. He stepped into the kitchen but remained by the door. José returned to the stove where he was frying fajita meat.
“Sara said my parole officer called you.” He wished the old man would look at him. He hated talking to the back of his head. “I did twelve years for attempted manslaughter.”
“Are you guilty?” José asked.
“The gun went off by accident and I was holding it, so yeah, I guess I was guilty.”
A quick glance over his shoulder was all José offered as acknowledgment that he’d heard the confession. “I’ll leave if you want me to,” Cruz said.
José’s shoulders slumped. “I think you should go—” Cruz spun toward the door “—but my daughter-in-law wants you to stay.”
Clutching the handle, Cruz waited for him to continue. When only silence filled the room, he faced the old man.
“You don’t have the eyes of a killer,” José said. “You can stay until the barn is finished, but then you go. And when you go, you don’t take Sara or Dani with you.”
José was afraid Cruz would woo his daughter-in-law and granddaughter away and he’d be left alone. He wanted to reassure him that he had no intention of letting anything happen between Sara and him. “I’m not the right man for Sara. She deserves better.”
“Good. We agree on that.”
“Did Kline want me to call him?”
“No. He wants me to call him when you leave.”
Cruz nodded. “I better get back to work.”
“One more thing,” José said.
“What?”
“Don’t hurt Sara or Dani.”
“I would never—”
“I’m not talking about that kind of hurt. I’m telling you not to break their hearts.”
“I’ll keep my distance.” He’d try to, anyway.
“Hi, Mr. Cruz.” Dani walked into the kitchen, carrying a doll in one hand and its head in the other. “Can you fix her?” She held up the toy. “Misty’s head keeps falling off.”
Cruz glanced at José, but he’d already turned back to the stove. “Let me try.” He used a little muscle to attach the doll head to the body. “There you go.”
“Thanks. Wanna come to our tea party?”
Cruz caught the way José’s body went rigid. “No, thanks. I have work to do.” He slipped out the door and returned to the barn where Sara waited for him.
“Well?” she asked.
“I’m staying. Until the barn is repaired.”
“Thank you.”
She should thank José for allowing him to remain on the property. She touched his arm and he quickly stepped out of reach. “What’s wrong?”
Now that he knew for certain Sara was off-limits, touching was forbidden. Before his past had caught up with him, he could at least pretend they had a chance at a budding romance—now there would be no more pretending.
“It’s best if you keep Dani out of my way.”
She frowned. “Did José tell you to stay away from her?”
“In so many words. You, too.” He went into the storage room, pretending he needed something in there—anything to put distance between him and Sara.
“I’m a grown woman, Cruz. I can make decisions for myself and my daughter even if my father-in-law can’t accept that.”
Her words did nothing to reassure him. All he had to do was look at her. Smell her. Touch her. And his testosterone spiked. But there was no way he’d come between Sara and José. Family was important—he had no idea how he’d come to that conclusion when his own family had fallen by the wayside years ago.
Your father still cares.
The last time Cruz had seen his father had been right before his world had caved in on him. Riley Fitzgerald had flown Cruz to the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls so he could visit his old man. What would Sara think if she knew he’d followed in his father’s footsteps—the only difference being that the man Cruz had shot had survived and the one who’d fallen on his father’s knife hadn’t? T.C. Rivera still had ten years left on his sentence. Who the heck knew if there would be anything remaining of the father he’d once known after he got out.
“I should be finished with the repairs next week,” he said. When she didn’t respond, he looked over his shoulder and discovered he was alone in the barn. Sara had spunk and determination, but from now on he’d do his admiring of her from afar. Suddenly Saturday’s rodeo in Alamogordo was looking better and better. It wouldn’t hurt to get out of Papago Springs for a while and he was pretty sure José wouldn’t mind him disappearing for a day.
* * *
“ARE YOU SURE you don’t want to come to the rodeo with us?” Sara asked José early Saturday morning. She flipped the pancakes on the griddle, then went in search of the maple syrup.
“Leroy and Betty are coming in for dinner tonight.”
Sara forgot that the couple made a trip into Papago Springs once a month to socialize with Jos�
�. “I’m sure they’d understand if you canceled on them.”
“Too late now. I made the enchilada sauce last night.”
He was lying, but she didn’t call him on it. Truth be told, she was looking forward to her and Dani spending the day with Cruz. It would be a relief to not have her every move around him watched and analyzed by her father-in-law. And Dani was excited to go to her first rodeo.
“I have no idea when we’ll be home but I’ll call you after we leave the fairgrounds.” If Cruz had been shocked that she’d invited herself and Dani along with him for the day, he’d hid it well.
The sooner they left the better, because she didn’t expect José’s mood to improve. She slid the pancakes onto a platter, then left the kitchen to check on Dani’s progress. When she opened the door she found the room empty and the outfit she’d left out for Dani to wear missing from the chair.
Sara bypassed the kitchen and went outside through the front door where she discovered Dani sitting on the hood of Cruz’s truck, chatting his ear off.
“Mama, Mr. Cruz said he’s gonna ride a horse today but not the bulls ’cause the bulls are big and mean.”
“Is that right?” Sara couldn’t take her eyes off Cruz. He looked h-o-t in his brand-new jeans and Western pearl-snap shirt. Then her gaze dropped lower and she caught sight of his belt buckle. She nodded to the silver. “That looks like a bull, not a horse.”
“The buckle belonged to my father. My mother sent it to me years ago.”
Amazing that the buckle hadn’t gone missing while he’d been in prison. “Is it real?”
“Yep. Championship buckle from the Foothills Bull Bash Rodeo in South Dakota.”
So rodeoing ran in Cruz’s blood. She wanted to ask about his family but now wasn’t the time. “I have breakfast on the table.” She lifted Dani off the hood and set her on the ground. “Hurry and eat, then we can leave.” Dani raced into the house. “You’re welcome to join us or, if you’d rather, I can bring your meal out here.” After their talk yesterday afternoon, Cruz had avoided the house and she’d left a supper plate for him inside the barn, where he’d worked until dark.