The Rancher's Second Chance

by Leigh Riker

  Their mother’s face set. “Must you two quarrel? If Jesse’s willing to take over the NLS, why not let him? You’re a young woman with her whole future ahead. Why tie yourself to this place when you could have—”

  “A luncheon date with friends at The Stockyard? A tennis lesson?”

  “Don’t take that tone with me, Nell Marie Sutherland. Instead of riding around with a shotgun, spending the day with Cooper Ransom, you should be worrying about tomorrow, not the past.”

  Nell flushed. Because that’s what she had been doing, especially in Cooper’s room, remembering all their happy yesterdays.

  Her brother chimed in. “Mom’s right, and I’m here, so you can let Cooper go. No sense paying someone when family can help.”

  “You’re not helping, Jesse. I have to follow after you to clean up your mess—or handle whatever you failed to do. The other hands weren’t happy to pick up your slack with the calves or the dirty stalls.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not a cowhand. I’m the future owner of this ranch.”

  “With an entitlement attitude. There’s no place for that here. If you were anything close to a real rancher, you’d know that by now. Everyone does his job, including Cooper—”

  “Ah. Leap to his defense, Nell, why don’t you?” Jesse glanced at their mother, a clear expression of triumph in his eyes. “See what I mean?”

  “Jesse has a point,” Mom said, carrying a bowl of steaming spaghetti to the table. She’d made her special sauce that simmered all day, and as she mixed it with the pasta, Nell’s mouth watered. While spending her afternoon with Cooper, she’d forgotten to eat lunch. “Sit, please. We won’t settle this tonight.”

  Nell sat, reached for a slice of garlic bread fresh from the oven. She loved her mother, even loved her brother when he wasn’t threatening her livelihood, but she’d be darned if she let them win. Two against one. “Outnumbered,” she said to her plate, “but no one is going to drive me off the NLS into Kansas City, so I can meet some eligible man and go shopping at the mall every day on his money.”

  “That’s enough, Nell,” her mom said, passing the bowl to Jesse.

  “Sorry, that was mean.” The words had popped out of her mouth, but Nell hadn’t finished. “You’re entitled to your opinion. You assume you need to protect me, but your view is as outdated as PawPaw’s—or Jesse’s, for that matter.”

  “Because we’re right,” he muttered.

  Well, about one issue they could be. Cooper posed an even bigger threat to Nell than she wanted to believe. After she’d impulsively hugged him in his old bedroom in the former Ransom ranch house, she couldn’t deny the truth, at least inwardly, that was right in front of her. Her attraction to him was not only still there; in the years they’d been apart, it had gained another dimension. Understanding. Compassion, maybe. Even caring once more.

  How could she not understand his love for that house, for the land that would have been his? Certainly, he knew how she felt about the NLS, and Cooper had shown his support for her more than once.

  Yet, she couldn’t let her feelings deter her. Nell’s sole focus now had to be on the NLS, which also meant having to deal with her brother every day, hoping their grandfather didn’t show up too soon. Before Cooper made his offer to PawPaw to buy his old land, which she had no doubt he would, she had to nail down her right—not Jesse’s—to inherit the ranch.

  * * *

  THE DOORBELL RANG and Amy tensed as if the sound had been a rifle shot. Squaring her shoulders, she went to answer. Her heartbeat kicked up as soon as she saw him, her soon-to-be ex, unless she had her way. “Hadley. Come on in.”

  “Can’t stay,” he said. “I’m working for Grey Wilson this week. He didn’t much care for my taking off after you called.”

  “This is more important.” Amy would fight for what she wanted—just as she had tried to settle in at the NLS after she married Hadley against her family’s wishes. She’d tried to make the simple foreman’s house—a temporary space, as it turned out—into a home. Unused to domestic chores, she’d somehow managed to keep it clean and cook Hadley’s favorite meals since she was a better cook than she was a housekeeper. Still, she’d never adjusted to living on a strict budget. Amy glanced around the living room of the apartment she rented in Barren.

  Without Hadley, she felt adrift. Didn’t he realize how much she missed him? If she didn’t, she would have tried to smooth things over with her parents. She steered him into the main room. Big and broad-shouldered, he seemed to dominate the modest area, and Amy left him the sofa, his hat propped on his knee, while she sat in her one upholstered chair beside the TV. “Have you spoken to Ned Sutherland?”

  “No, but I got my pay. Ned’s still in Canada out of cell phone range, as far as I know. I’ve left messages. Nothing more I can do.” Hadley set his Stetson on his knee. “You said this was urgent.”

  She smiled a little. His interest again in her well-being was a good start.

  “I don’t want the divorce,” she said, laying a hand on her abdomen.

  “Amy, we’ve worked out most of the details. If you’re so worried about my having a job to pay alimony, then I need to get back to work and stop sending every other dime I make to the lawyer.”

  “Is Grey going to hire you full-time?”

  He shook his head. “Grey already has a foreman. I can give him a few hours, lend a hand for a week or two, but I don’t want a regular job as a cowpoke. That would be going backward and that’s not part of my plan.”

  “Your plan used to include me. We were doing fine until you decided to cut me loose,” she said, hating the way her lower lip had begun to tremble. Her emotions were all over the place these days, and she suffered from nausea. It was no fun being pregnant without Hadley to take care of her. “Why don’t we talk about everything? There must be some way for us to...reconcile,” she insisted.

  “You want to get back together?” He gaped at her. He spun the hat on his knee and focused his gaze on it. “I had enough of all the fighting, the tears whenever I said something you didn’t like. I was never what you wanted. I was sure not what your folks had in mind, and you—”

  “We loved each other, Hadley. You know we did.”

  He frowned. “If that was love, I’m not buying.”

  Amy flinched. He’d always claimed he couldn’t love anyone and she’d vowed to change that. This wasn’t how she’d expected things to go now. “I realize you had a tough time growing up,” she began but he talked over her.

  “One big reason why we didn’t work. What did I know about marriage? We were two trains on a track heading straight for a crash.” But it wasn’t her fault she’d been raised in a comfortable home with loving parents. What was wrong with wanting that for their baby too? “What do I know about being a father?” he asked.

  She blinked. “Now you’re being nasty.”

  Without warning, she burst into tears. Through the screen of her lashes and blurred vision, she watched a look of horror come over his face. Hadley hated tears. She supposed most men did, which could work to her advantage.

  He bolted from his chair, then hunkered down in front of her but didn’t take her in his arms. He patted her shoulder. “Now, now...don’t cry.”

  “I hate it here,” she said, gulping down a sob. “I want to come...home.”

  “There is no home,” he pointed out. “I got thrown out of the foreman’s house at the NLS and kicked off the ranch. Someone else is living there now. I’ve been sleeping in my truck.” He shrugged his shoulders as if to ease a knot in his neck. “Is that how you want to live? I bet it’s not.”

  She couldn’t deny the statement. She’d always had expensive taste, or rather dreams of buying the best of whatever she wanted. But Hadley couldn’t supply that, and her parents had practically disowned her. “Sleeping in your truck? You poor man.” With the tears streaking down her face, she
gestured at the apartment. “Why not move in with me then? I don’t have much room but...” She started to bat her probably tear-starred eyelashes, then thought better of it. She shouldn’t overplay her hand. “Why not? You could find work here in town.” Amy added, “After all, I need to be near my doctor.”

  Hadley scowled. “What kind of work would that be? All I understand is cows, and horses, and manure. If you wanted some guy with a fancy college degree, somebody who could get a desk job and make real money, you made a bad choice.” He paused. “We’re a lousy match, Amy. I can’t believe you’d try this a second time.”

  She jumped up from her chair. She swiped her hands down her cheeks. “Hadley, I loved you—and no matter how we messed up before, I still do.”

  He stood too. “Amy, if you hadn’t walked into Rowdy’s bar that night, we never would have met. We shouldn’t have,” he said. “Your folks are right about us. You could do better.”

  “But I can help you overcome your bad experiences as a kid. Together we could be happy.”

  He briefly pressed his lips tight. “They were more than bad,” he said, his gaze meeting hers for a second.

  Still, she could sense him weakening. “I can help you to...heal.” She laid a palm against her stomach again. “If you don’t care about me, think of the baby.”

  Hadley flinched. “You’re really going to play that card?”

  “I realize you never wanted kids—I understand why. But I am having a baby—we are having a baby—and I can’t believe you’d abandon us like this.”

  He swore softly under his breath. “I’m not going to fight about this anymore, or about anything else.” He stood, then started for the door. “Unlike my father, I’ll own up to my responsibilities. Somehow, I’ll find the money to support you and...the kid. Whatever the court says I have to do. But that’s all, Amy.”

  And it wasn’t enough. She knew she was good for him. She knew he’d make a wonderful father once he got used to the idea. She knew that, even when he couldn’t say so, he still loved her.

  “Hadley.” But before she could say please, he was gone.

  * * *

  “WHAT DO YOU MEAN, you fired Hadley Smith?”

  In the ranch office, Nell listened to the tick of the clock on PawPaw’s bookshelf, feeling more isolated and alone than she ever had before. She didn’t do well with anger, especially from someone she loved with all her heart, and Nell was still reeling from her quarrel with her mom and Jesse earlier. Now—at last—her grandfather was on the phone. She’d been expecting his call ever since she let Hadley go and to say he wasn’t happy with her was putting it mildly. “Yes, I did fire him. How did you learn about that?”

  “When Will and I got into town up here in Canada, I checked my messages. Most of them from Hadley begging for his job.”

  Nell propped her boots on the desk and took the offensive. “Why are you surprised I let him go? You knew he wasn’t doing his job for me the way he did with you, PawPaw. He didn’t respect me and so neither did the cowhands. Hadley did as he pleased. He tried to intimidate me. If I’m to run the NLS while you’re not home—” and in the future, she silently added, remembering her brother’s taunts “—it makes sense I should hire my own people. I decided that was best for the ranch.”

  PawPaw’s familiar voice seemed to blast the airwaves between the NLS and the village where he and Will were apparently staying the night. “Nell, I didn’t give you that authority.”

  “I guess I took it then,” she said, trying a cheeky smile he couldn’t see. Then she sobered because this was serious business, and if he knew about Hadley, he might also know about his replacement. “I won’t be worrying every day and night how Hadley will try to override me. Wondering what he’s kept from me. That’s not healthy, PawPaw—and now I have Jesse in his place, thank you very much. Which I’ve been waiting to talk to you about. I never imagined you were so against my taking over the NLS. You were the one who trained me. What’s changed your mind?” She hesitated, remembering their previous conversation with Will in the background. “I can’t believe you sent Jesse here to watch my every move.”

  “That isn’t why,” he said. “The last time I spoke to your brother, I realized this is exactly what Jesse needs.” He paused. “You do too.” When he continued, she could hear the growing anger in his tone. “I just talked to him again—and he tells me you’ve hired a new foreman. Again, without my permission.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. That was two strikes against her. She should have mentioned that sooner. “Then I suppose he also told you his name.”

  Her grandfather all but spit the next words. “Cooper Ransom is not welcome on that ranch. It’s my land, Nell, and I still have a more than bad taste in my mouth from fourteen years ago. I regret what happened to his family. I regret how losing their ranch affected his father, his mother too. John Ransom was a good friend of mine, but I did what I had to do—and I don’t regret that. Cooper was a hotheaded kid then and I wouldn’t normally care about some threats made in the heat of the moment. But he went too far.”

  “I agreed with you then, remember. I chose family over Cooper. But he’s the best man for this job now.” Even when he meant to buy back his land.

  “I care about you,” PawPaw said, and Nell could envision him shaking his head.

  “I’m glad you do, but I don’t need Jesse here. He’s no help at all, and his notion to take over the NLS instead of me one day is crazy. My brother is the furthest thing from a cowboy you could get. You know that.”

  “Yes I do, and no, I haven’t lost my mind. I’m certainly not senile. I see this as Jesse’s chance to prove himself. If the ranch is really what he wants, it will make a man of him.”

  But he didn’t fool Nell. “You mean may the best man—or woman—win.” She could scarcely contain her disappointment in her grandfather. “I don’t mean to throw Jesse under the bus, but I don’t intend to let him win any competition between us. I will prove to you that I can do the job, PawPaw. And to be clear, Cooper is not holding me up so I don’t fall down. We work together,” she said.

  “Is that all? Or did you hire him for another reason?”

  Nell groaned. “You see, there’s the problem! Right there. Why automatically assume I’m about to fall in love? With any man?”

  “Because that’s what I want for you, Nell. Except not Cooper.”

  The clock ticked steadily as if to remind her time was running out. “Well, I’m not about to fulfill your dream with him or anyone else. Why can’t you accept me as a rancher, which others have done with their daughters around Barren and Farrier and a lot of other places in this state? As a capable person?”

  “Yes, you’re a woman, Nell, a fine one, and you love the NLS, but you’re not a girl following me around now. Your mother is right. It’s too hard a life. I don’t want you to learn that lesson as she did and break your heart in the process.” This time he didn’t add, with Cooper.

  Nell sniffed. She was outnumbered all over again. “I know you love me.” Her voice broke. “I love you too, PawPaw, but please. Give me a chance.”

  “I’m giving you and Jesse both a chance. Let’s see what happens.”

  He hung up before she could respond.

  Nell collapsed in the chair with a groan. And realized she hadn’t told him about the coyotes and Elsie.

  Yet another point against Nell.

  CHAPTER NINE

  COOPER RODE OUT with Jesse to check the herd and search for coyotes. The sun felt good on his shoulders, and Cooper was in a fine mood this morning—until he reminded himself that Nell had lost a pair of calves only last night. She hadn’t taken that well, but he’d persuaded her to stay behind while he managed Jesse.

  Jesse glanced around warily. Cooper noted the tense set of his shoulders and the tight grip on his reins. Jesse had never been a horseman. “You don’t think that pack of ja
ckals will be here now, do you?”

  Cooper shrugged. “I promised Nell we’d find out. She and I did run into that one near this very spot after that first cow was killed.” The day they’d visited his old home, the day he’d sensed a new connection to her. Once he got his land back, he hoped not to deal with Jesse for the rest of his life.

  “This is a waste of time,” Jesse grumbled. “And so what if we find a bad section of fence somewhere while we’re out here? I don’t want to fix more fence. You should have sent Clete.”

  Cooper turned slightly in his saddle toward Jesse, who was lagging a few paces to the rear. “You have something more important to do?”

  “Thought I’d drive into town today, pick up my saddle at the tack store.”

  “That’s a personal errand,” Cooper said, guessing Jesse had ordered a custom-made, high-end model that must have cost thousands. Nudging his horse up to the old boundary of the Ransom ranch, he left Jesse to trot after him. “Pull your weight. On the NLS there are no prima donnas.”

  “I do my share.” His tone sharpened. “You calling me a girl?”

  “I hope you don’t mean like Nell.” Cooper stopped the new mount he’d chosen from the ranch’s string of quarter horses, a big black named Domino with a white star on his face. He’d decided Hadley’s bay wasn’t for him. “Good thing she didn’t hear you say that. Don’t do it again.”

  Jesse trotted up the small hill. He reined in his mare, which stood fifteen hands to Domino’s sixteen, and glared up at Cooper. “You may have Nell’s ear, but that won’t matter, Ransom. I’m the one you should keep on the good side of...and don’t forget that.”

  Cooper’s jaw tightened. “Stop pulling rank on me, Sutherland.”

  “Or what?”

  Cooper didn’t respond. He didn’t need a petty argument. “Be quiet for a second, will you? I want to listen for coyotes.”

  Cooper heard none, which came as no surprise. The animals were, if nothing else, crafty and secretive. The sad damage they’d already wrought on the herd though was obvious. He didn’t want to bury or haul any more carcasses away, and the two calves they’d lost had been valuable assets too—something Jesse should understand.