She shook her head, busy picking flowers.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Taft said. “Unless you need me on tree duty?”
She shook her head, amused despite herself, at the term. “I’ve got it.”
As she walked away, she didn’t want to think about what a good team they made or how very similar this was to those fantasies she used to weave.
Alex thought it was quite a novel thing to take care of his business against a tree and didn’t even complain when she whipped the hand sanitizer out of her pocket and made him use it afterward.
The moment they returned to the others, Caidy’s dog King brought a stick over and dropped it at Alex’s feet, apparently knowing an easy mark when he saw one. Alex picked up the stick and chucked it for the dog as far as his little arm could go and the dog bounded after it while Maya clapped her hands with excitement.
“Me next,” she said.
The two were perfectly content to play with the dog and Laura was just as content to lean against a sun-warmed granite boulder and watch them while she listened to a meadowlark’s familiar song.
Idaho is a pretty little place. That’s what her mother always used to say the birds were trilling. The memory made her smile.
“I can picture you just like that when you were younger. Your hair was longer, but you haven’t changed much at all.”
He had leaned his hip against the boulder where she sat and her body responded instantly to his proximity, to the familiar scent of him. She edged away so their shoulders wouldn’t brush and wondered if he noticed.
“I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong. I’m a very different person. Who doesn’t change in ten years?”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not the same man I was a decade ago. I like to think I’m smarter these days about holding on to what’s important.”
“Do you ride often?” she asked.
A glint in his eye told her he knew very well she didn’t want to tug on that particular conversational line, but he went along with the obvious change of topic. “Not as much as I would like. My niece, Destry, loves to ride and now Gabi has caught the bug. As often as they can manage it, they do their best to persuade one of us to take them for a ride. I haven’t been up for a few months, though.”
He obviously loved his niece. She had already noticed that soft note in his voice when he talked about the girl. She would have expected it. The Bowmans had always been a close, loving family before their parents’ brutal murder. She expected they would welcome Becca and her sister into the family’s embrace, as well.
“Too busy with your social life?”
The little niggle of envy under her skin turned her tone more caustic than she intended, but he didn’t seem offended.
He even chuckled. “Sure. If by social life you mean the house I’m building on the edge of town that’s filled all my waking hours for the last six months. I haven’t had much room for other things.”
“You’re building it yourself?”
“Most of it. I’ve had help here and there. Plumbing. HVAC. That sort of thing. I don’t have the patience for good drywall work, so I paid somebody else to do that, too. But I’ve done all the carpentry and most of the electrical. I can give you some good names of subcontractors I trust if you decide to do more on the inn.”
“Why a house?”
He appeared to be giving her question serious thought as he watched the children playing with the dog, with the grand sprawl of the ranch below them. “I guess I was tired of throwing away rent money and living in a little apartment where I didn’t have room to stretch out. I’ve had this land for a long time. I don’t know. Seemed like it was time.”
“You’re building a house. That’s pretty permanent. Does that mean you’re planning to stay in Pine Gulch?”
He shrugged, and despite her efforts to keep as much distance as possible between them, his big shoulder still brushed hers. “Where else would I go? Maybe I should have taken off for somewhere exotic when I had the chance. What do they pay firefighters in Madrid?”
“I’m afraid I have no idea. I have friends I can ask, though.” He would fit in well there, she thought, and the madrileñas—the women of Madrid—would go crazy for his green eyes and teasing smile.
Which he utilized to full effect on her now. “That eager to get rid of me?”
She had no answer to that, so she again changed the subject. “Where did you say your house was?”
“A couple of miles from here, near the mouth of Cold Creek Canyon. I’ve got about five acres there in the trees. Enough room to move over some of my own horses eventually.”
He paused, an oddly intent look in his green eyes. “You ought to come see it sometime. I would even let Alex pound a couple of nails if he wanted.”
She couldn’t afford to spend more time with him, not when he seemed already to be sneaking past all her careful defenses. “I’m sure we’ve got all the nails Alex could wish to pound at the inn.”
“Sure. Yeah. Of course.” He nodded, appearing nonchalant, but she had the impression she had hurt him somehow.
She wanted to make it right, tell him she would love to come see his house under construction anytime he wanted them to, but she caught the ridiculous words before she could blurt them out.
Taft picked up an early-spring wildflower—she thought it might be some kind of phlox—and twirled it between his fingers, his gaze on the children playing with the dog. This time he was the one who picked another subject. “How are the kids settling into Pine Gulch?”
“So far they’re loving it, especially having their grandmother around.”
“What about you?”
She looked out over the ranch and at the mountains in the distance. “It’s good. There are a lot of things I love about being home, things I missed more than I realized while I was in Spain. Those mountains, for instance. I had forgotten how truly quiet and peaceful it could be here.”
“This is one of my favorite places on the ranch.”
“I remember.”
Her soft words hung between them and she heartily wished she could yank them back. Tension suddenly seethed between them and she saw that he also remembered the significance of this place.
Right here in this flower-strewn meadow was where they had kissed that first time when he had returned after the dangerous flashover. She had always considered it their place, and every time she came here after that, she remembered the sheer joy bursting through her as he finally—finally!—saw her as more than just his friend.
They had come here often after that. He had proposed, right here, while they were stretched out on a blanket in the meadow grass.
She suddenly knew it was no accident he had stopped the horses here. Anger pumped through her, hot and fierce, that he would dredge up all these hopes and dreams and emotions she had buried after she left Pine Gulch.
With jerky motions, she climbed off the boulder. “We should probably be heading back.”
His mouth tightened and he looked as if he wanted to say something else but he seemed to change his mind. “Yeah, you’re right. That sky is looking a little ominous.”
She looked up to find dark clouds smearing the sky, a perfect match to her mood, as if she had conjured them. “Where did those come from? A minute ago it was perfectly sunny.”
“It’s springtime in Idaho, where you can enjoy all four seasons in a single afternoon. Caidy warned us about possible rain. I should have been paying more attention. You ready, kids?” he called. “We’ve got to go.”
Alex frowned from where he and Maya were flopped in the dirt petting the dog. “Do we have to?”
“Unless you want to get drenched and have to ride down on a mud slide all the way to the ranch.”
“Can we?” Alex asked eagerly.
Taft laughed, although it sounded strained around the edges. “Not this time. It’s up to us to make sure the ladies make it back in one piece. Think you’re up to it?”
If she hadn�
��t been so annoyed with Taft, she might have laughed at the way Alex puffed out his little chest. “Yes, sir,” he answered.
“Up you go, then, son.” He lifted the boy up onto the saddle and adjusted his helmet before he turned back to Maya.
“What about you, Maya, my girl? Are you ready?”
Her daughter beamed and scampered toward him. Watching them all only hardened Laura’s intention to fortify her defenses around Taft.
One person in her family needed to resist the man. By the looks of things, she was the only one up for the job.
Maybe.
* * *
They nearly made it.
About a quarter mile from the ranch, the clouds finally let loose, unleashing a torrent of rain in one of those spring showers that come on so fast, so cold and merciless that they had no time to really prepare themselves.
By the time they reached the barn, Alex was shivering, Laura’s hair was bedraggled and Taft was kicking himself for not hurrying them down the hill a little faster. At least Maya stayed warm and dry, wrapped in the spare raincoat he pulled out of his saddlebag.
He took them straight to the house instead of the barn. After he climbed quickly down from his horse, he set Laura’s little girl on the porch, then quickly returned to the horses to help Alex dismount.
“Head on up to the porch with your sister,” he ordered. After making sure the boy complied, he reached up without waiting for permission and lifted Laura down, as well. He winced as her slight frame trembled when he set her onto solid ground again.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have been paying better attention to the weather. That storm took me by surprise.”
Her teeth chattered and her lips had a blue tinge to them he didn’t like at all. “It’s okay. My SUV has a good heater. We’ll warm up soon enough.”
“Forget it. You’re not going home in wet clothes. Come inside and we’ll find something you and the kids can change into.”
“It’s fine. We’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”
“If I let you go home cold and wet, I would never hear the end of it from Caidy. Trust me—the wrath of Caidy is a fearful thing and she would shoot me if I let you get sick. Come on. The horses can wait out here for a minute.”
He scooped both kids into his arms, much to their giggly enjoyment, and carried them into the ranch house to cut off any further argument. That they could still laugh under such cold and miserable conditions touched something deep inside him.
He loved these kids already. How had that happened? Alex, with his million questions, Maya with her loving spirit and eager smile. Somehow when he wasn’t looking, they had tiptoed straight into his heart and he had a powerful feeling he wasn’t going to be able to shoo them out again anytime soon.
He wanted more afternoons like this one, full of fun and laughter and this sense of belonging. Hell, he wasn’t picky. He would take mornings or evenings or any time he could have with Laura and her kids.
Yet Laura seemed quite determined to keep adding bricks to the wall between them. Every time he felt as if he was maybe making a little progress, she built up another layer and he didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
“Here’s the plan,” he said when she trailed reluctantly inside after him. “You get the kids out of their wet clothes and wrapped in warm blankets. We’ve got a gas fireplace in the TV room that will warm you up in a second. Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can do about finding something for you to wear.”
“This is ridiculous. Honestly, Taft, we can be home and changed into our own clothes in the time it’s going to take you to find something here.”
He aimed a stern look at her. “Forget it. I’m not letting you leave this ranch until you’re dry, and that’s the end of it. I’m a paramedic, trained in public safety. How would it look if the Pine Gulch fire chief stood around twiddling his thumbs while his town’s newest citizens got hypothermia?”
“Oh, stop exaggerating. We’re not going to get hypothermia,” she muttered, but she still followed him to the media room of the ranch house, a big, comfortable space with multiple sofas and recliners.
This happened to be one of his favorite rooms at River Bow Ranch, a place where he and his brothers often gathered to watch college football and NBA basketball.
He flipped the switch for the fireplace. The blower immediately came on, throwing welcome heat into the room while he grabbed a couple of blankets from behind one of the leather sofas for the kids.
“Here you go. You guys shuck your duds and wrap up in these blankets.”
“Really?” Alex looked wide-eyed. “Can we, Mama?”
“Just for a few minutes, while we throw our clothes in the dryer.”
“I’ll be back in a second with something of Caidy’s for you,” he told her.
He headed into his sister’s room and quickly found a pair of sweats and a hooded sweatshirt in the immaculately organized walk-in closet.
By the time he returned to the TV room, the children were bundled in blankets and cuddled up on the couch. He set the small pile of clothes on the edge of the sofa.
“Here you go. I know Caidy won’t mind if you borrow them. The only thing in this situation that would make her angry would be if I didn’t give you dry clothes.”
Even though her mouth tightened as if she wanted to argue, she only nodded. The wet locks of hair hanging loosely around her face somehow made her even more beautiful to him. She seemed delicate and vulnerable here in the flickering firelight, and he wanted to tuck her up against him and keep her safe forever.
Yeah, he probably should keep that particular desire to himself for the moment.
“Give me a few minutes to take care of the horses and then I can throw your clothes in the dryer.”
“I think I can probably manage to find the laundry room by myself,” she murmured. “I’ll just toss everything in there together after I change.”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Caring for the horses took longer than he’d hoped. He was out of practice, he guessed, plus he had three horses to unsaddle.
When he finally finished up in the barn about half an hour later, the rain was still pouring in sheets that slanted sideways from the wind. Harsh, punishing drops cut into him as he headed back up the porch steps and into the entryway.
Caidy wouldn’t be happy about him dripping all over her floor but she would probably forgive him, especially because he had done his best to take good care of the horses—and her guests. That would go a long way toward keeping him out of the doghouse.
He headed into Ridge’s room to swipe a dry pair of jeans and a soft green henley. After quickly changing, he walked through the house in his bare feet to the TV room to check on Laura and her kids.
When he opened the door, she pressed a finger to her mouth and gestured to one of the sofas. He followed her gaze and found both Alex and Maya asleep, wrapped in blankets and nestled together like Caidy’s puppies while a cartoon on the television murmured softly in the background.
“Wow, that was fast,” he whispered. “How did that happen?”
She rose with a sidelong look at her sleeping children and led the way back into the hall. She had changed into Caidy’s clothes, he could see, and pulled her damp hair back into a ponytail. In the too-big hoodie, she looked young and sweet and very much like the girl he had fallen in love with.
“It’s been a big afternoon for them, full of much more excitement than they’re used to, and Maya, at least, missed her nap. Of course, Alex insists he’s too old for a nap, but every once in a while he still falls asleep in front of the TV.”
“Yeah, I have that problem, too, sometimes.”
“Really? With all that company I’ve heard you keep? That must be so disappointing for them.”
He frowned. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but the rumors about my social life are greatly exaggerated.”
“Are they?”
He didn’t want to talk about this now
. What he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her, press her up against that wall and kiss her for the next five or six hours. Because he couldn’t do that, he figured he should at least try to set the record straight.
“After you broke things off and left for Spain, I…went a little crazy, I’ll admit.” He had mostly been trying to forget her and the aching emptiness she left behind, but he wasn’t quite ready to confess that much to her. A few years later when he found out she had married another man in Madrid and was expecting a baby, he hadn’t seen any reason for restraint.
“I did a lot more drinking and partying than I should have. I’m not particularly proud of who I was back then. The thing is, a guy gets a reputation around Pine Gulch and that’s how people tend to see him forever. I haven’t been that wild in a long time.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Taft,” she said, rather stiffly.
“I don’t want you to think I’m the Cold Creek Casanova people seem to think.”
“What does it matter what I think?”
“It matters,” he said simply and couldn’t resist taking her hand. Her fingers were still cold and he wrapped his bigger hands around hers. “Brrr. Let me warm up your hands. I’m sorry I didn’t keep a better eye on the weather. I should have at least provided gloves for you.”
“It’s fine. I’m not really cold anymore.” She met his gaze, then quickly looked away, and her fingers trembled slightly inside his. “Anyway, I don’t think the children minded the rain that much. To them, it was all part of the adventure. Alex already told me he pretended he was a Texas marshal trying to track a bad guy. Rain and all, the whole day will be a cherished memory for them both.”
Tenderness for this woman—and her children—washed through him just like that rain, carving rivulets and channels through all the places inside him that had been parched for far too long. “You’re amazing at that.”
A faint blush soaked her cheeks. “At what?”
“Finding the good in every situation. You always used to do that. Somehow I’d forgotten it. If you had a flat tire, you would say you appreciated the chance to slow down for a minute and enjoy your surroundings. If you broke a nail, you would just say you now had a good excuse to give yourself a manicure.”
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