The Lawman's Christmas Proposal
Barbara White Daille
A husband for Christmas?Mitch Weston's back in Cowboy Creek, and self-proclaimed matchmaker Jed Garland has his single granddaughter Andi on his mind. Mitch is a lawman, good with the little ones and easy on the eyes. He and Andi were high school sweethearts, for heaven's sake! Why can't they see they're perfect for each other?Because Andi already lost one husband to a dangerous job, and now she's all about playing it safe, for her sake and her children's. Being a cop is everything to Mitch. After discovering Jed's plan, Mitch and Andi come up with their own: they'll pretend to get engaged and then break up due to irreconcilable differences. Jed's got his work cut out for him—because this match needs a Christmas miracle!
A Husband for Christmas?
Mitch Weston’s back in Cowboy Creek, and self-proclaimed matchmaker Jed Garland has his single granddaughter Andi on his mind. Mitch is a lawman, good with the little ones and easy on the eyes. He and Andi were high school sweethearts, for heaven’s sake! Why can’t they see they’re perfect for each other?
Because Andi already lost one husband to a dangerous job, and now she’s all about playing it safe, for her sake and her children’s. Being a cop is everything to Mitch. After discovering Jed’s plan, Mitch and Andi come up with their own: they’ll pretend to get engaged and then break up due to irreconcilable differences. Jed’s got his work cut out for him—because this match needs a Christmas miracle!
Up ahead, she could see the final turnoff to the road leading to the Hitching Post. In just minutes, they would call off their engagement, as planned.
Admitting the engagement couldn’t be real, that she had no hope left for a chance with Mitch, made her feel empty inside. The feeling only confirmed what she had known from the minute she had seen him again. She had always loved him.
But now, she needed to walk away.
When they reached the hotel and he began to turn his truck toward the parking area, she said, “Just drop me off in front, please.”
He kept driving. “I’m not letting you go in to break the news to your family on your own.”
“It’s all right—”
“Not by me, it isn’t.”
“I can handle it, Mitch.”
“It was my idea that got you into this,” he said stubbornly. “Besides, I’m going to have to face your family sometime, too. I might as well do it now.” He parked the truck and took her overnight bag from the rear seat.
She would always regret this morning.
But she could never forget last night.
Dear Reader (#u5c0db350-ed35-53b1-8d4b-91d0af3f55cb),
One of the many things I love about the writing home I’ve found here is I’m able to share my favorite kind of stories with you. Small towns and families. Softhearted yet strong heroines. Sexy and even stronger heroes. Quirky but sometimes interfering characters. When I settle down to write—or to read—a book, those story elements are at the top of my list. I hope they’re favorites for you, too.
The Lawman’s Christmas Proposal has all of the above, along with Grandpa Jed up to his matchmaking tricks again and the entire town joining in on some holiday fun. Enjoy this visit to Cowboy Creek!
I always love to hear from you, so please feel free to get in touch through my website, barbarawhitedaille.com (http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com), or mailing address, PO Box 504 Gilbert, AZ 85299. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.
All my best to you.
Until we meet again,
Barbara White Daille
The Lawman’s Christmas Proposal
Barbara White Daille
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
BARBARA WHITE DAILLE and her husband still inhabit their own special corner of the wild, wild Southwest, where the summers are long and hot and the lizards and scorpions roam.
Barbara loves looking back at the short stories and two books she wrote in grade school and realizing that—except for the scorpions—she’s doing exactly what she planned. She has now hit double digits with published novels and still has a file drawer full of stories to be written.
As always, Barbara hopes you will enjoy reading her books! She would love to have you drop by her website for a visit, barbarawhitedaille.com (http://www.barbarawhitedaille.com).
To all my readers,
thank you for your support,
and Happy Holidays—no matter
which ones you celebrate!
And of course, to my number one reader, Rich.
Contents
Cover (#ub6a94d45-32eb-52d9-8820-ac9bc55f695d)
Back Cover Text (#udbf06716-58b2-5629-89db-1e789789957f)
Introduction (#u4521f666-d0b2-5177-ad9c-a52144b0bcfc)
Dear Reader
Title Page (#u9654fbdd-0dd4-5f13-a7a3-c97d956b32cc)
About the Author (#udc3df003-2023-5964-819f-9c83f130165f)
Dedication (#u204f610c-5a42-5d83-914f-73bd7c30ef27)
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#u5c0db350-ed35-53b1-8d4b-91d0af3f55cb)
“Don’t look now, but here comes trouble,” Jedediah Garland said to his old friend Paz.
He had driven her into town to pick up a food order for the Hitching Post, the hotel he owned and where she worked as his cook. On the way, they had made a quick stop for coffee at SugarPie’s, Cowboy Creek’s popular sandwich shop. As usual at this early hour, they found the place filled to capacity.
The woman approaching their table owned SugarPie’s, which consisted of both the shop and the adjacent bakery.
Paz looked over her shoulder, then turned back. “Why do you say trouble, Jed? Sugar is smiling.”
“That she is. And that smile’s telling me she’s got something more than today’s menu on her mind. Haven’t you?” he asked as the woman came to a halt beside their table. He gestured to an empty chair. “Take a seat, and let’s hear whatever load of gossip you’ve got for us this morning.”
Sugar grinned at him. She plopped into a pink-cushioned chair beside Paz, who scooted her chair over to allow the sturdy businesswoman a little more elbow room.
“Now, Jed,” Sugar said in her soft Southern drawl, “how did you ever know I had something to say?”
He shrugged. “That not-so-sugar-sweet smile on your face is a dead giveaway.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s have it.”
“Well...” After a quick look around the crowded shop, she leaned forward and said, “Lyle stopped in this morning.”
Jed nodded, knowing she meant Lyle Weston, Cowboy Creek’s sheriff.
“Is there something wrong?” Paz asked.
Sugar shook her head. “No. Well...there is and there isn’t. Mitch is home.”
Attention caught, Jed leaned forward. “Home? You mean to stay?”
Sugar shrugged. “Lyle doesn’t know for sure himself. But he’ll settle for having the boy here till the holidays.”
No wonder the woman had been grinning like a fool. Mitch was the sheriff’s oldest son, now an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. While Lyle was fit to bust with pride over all the boy’s commendations, no one in town liked the idea of him living so far away.
Trouble was, nobody knew what had been to blame for Mitch’s departure. And at the moment, Jed didn’t know what had led to the boy’s return.
One of the waitresses signaled to Sugar from over near the kitchen. She hustled away, leaving Jed and Paz staring at each other.
“Oh, Jed,” Paz said in a low voice. “I know that look. You’re at it again.”
His grin must have rivaled Sugar’s, and no doubt Paz had accurately read his mind.
A self-proclaimed matchmaker, he’d had some success bringing two of his granddaughters together with the men meant for them. “Well, why not?” he demanded. “The Christmas season’s almost upon us—and isn’t that the time for miracles? Besides, no sense putting myself out to pasture when I’m on a winning streak on the track. And when I’ve got one granddaughter still unattached.”
“But, Jed...you can’t think Andi is ready for a relationship yet.”
“I don’t think she knows what she’s ready for.” He looked down at his coffee cup rather than meet Paz’s eyes. He couldn’t admit she had a point.
As her gaze caught his again, the tears in her eyes told him he didn’t have to confess a thing. She was as much a part of his family as Tina, the granddaughter they shared and who was now happy and settled, thanks to their efforts.
Paz knew as well as he did that the entire family feared his widowed granddaughter, Andi, would never be happy again.
Chapter One (#u5c0db350-ed35-53b1-8d4b-91d0af3f55cb)
Two days later
With the finesse of a well-trained pickpocket, Mitch Weston snagged a carrot from the vegetable tray his mother was preparing. Of course, a skilled pickpocket wouldn’t have been dumb enough to flash the stolen goods—at least, not until he put them up for sale on some street corner.
Mitch, on the other hand, chomped down on the carrot in full view of his mom.
“You don’t eat enough,” Nancy said.
“I do,” he countered. “But I’m betting while I’m here, you’re going to do your best to fatten me up.”
In the two days he’d been home again, this was the first chance they’d had to talk alone, and he instinctively knew the direction she would take any private conversation between them.
With a long oak table large enough to fit the family, the kitchen didn’t offer much room to hide. With his four younger brothers and sisters living at home, there wasn’t much privacy in the entire house. And with the way he had been feeling lately, he’d rather have solitary confinement.
“Your father mentioned he’ll try to be home early tonight for a change,” Nancy said. “But you know how hard it is to get him away from the office. About as difficult as it is to get you back here for a visit.”
His mom hadn’t intended it, he knew, but her gentle nudging only reminded him he shouldn’t be here now. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his family. He just didn’t enjoy coming back to his hometown. And this time, he didn’t want to think about the circumstances that had brought about his return. The disaster that had left him lying on a cold concrete floor next to his partner’s body.
“I hope you won’t have to rush off too soon.”
He had missed Thanksgiving by just a few days, and already both she and his dad had hinted they hoped he’d stick around for Christmas. He hadn’t had the heart to disillusion them. Hell, he didn’t have a reason. Yet.
This enforced time away from the job could end in an instant. Before the holidays, he had appointments scheduled with both the surgeon who had patched up his knee and the department shrink who thought his mind needed some patching, too. Good reports from them would put him right back where he belonged.
Bending down, he kissed her temple. “Let’s not get into my visits again right now, Mom, okay?”
“Your lack of visits, you mean.” She shot him a glance from eyes the same shade of blue he’d inherited from her. Since he’d gotten his height from his dad, she had to reach up to rest her hand on his shoulder. “I’m worried about you, sweetheart. We’re all worried about you.”
“Don’t be.” Unable to handle seeing her tears, he turned to grab a stalk of celery he had no taste for. “I’ll be fine in no time, just as soon as the last of the stitches dissolve.”
Yeah, he’d be all fixed up and ready to get back to work.
Nancy returned to chopping vegetables. “You had a call while you were out to SugarPie’s for coffee.”
He tensed. “From the department?”
She shook her head. “No, from Jed Garland. He heard you were back in town and wants you to get in touch.”
He nodded. As with most of the guys from his high school, he had once worked as a wrangler on Garland Ranch. He hadn’t seen his old boss for a while...the same length of time he’d been away from his family. The look in Nancy’s eyes said she’d just had a similar thought. That, and knowing why he’d returned now, added fresh layers of guilt.
“I’m surprised it took him this long to find out I’m back in town,” he said. “He’s usually right on top of everything that happens in Cowboy Creek. A regular old gossip, that’s Jed.”
To his relief, his mother laughed. “Gossip and more. He’s in the matchmaking business now.”
“What?”
“They’ve restored the Hitching Post’s banquet hall and reopened the honeymoon cabins. Tina and Cole were married from the chapel in June. They’re planning to hold the first guest wedding there around Christmas.”
“Jed, a matchmaker,” he said with a laugh. “Who’d have believed it? Then again, he’s always had a knack with people.” His former boss had always been there for him, too, especially in those days right out of school when Mitch felt he couldn’t talk to his dad. “I should stop by and check in with him.”
“You certainly should. He’s eager to see you.” She set the vegetable platter in the refrigerator. “And when I saw Paz at the L-G Store yesterday, I promised her some of the surplus I’d canned from my garden last fall. Just give me a few minutes to box up a few jars, and you can take them along with you.”
Fighting yet more guilt about his need for space from his family, he nodded. He knew how much they all loved him, but he had to have a break from seeing them tiptoeing through the house and talking in hushed voices, as if they were attending a wake.
Yet why wouldn’t they act that way in his company?
Thanks to him, a damned good cop was dead.
* * *
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, a warm one even for the tail end of November in New Mexico, Mitch parked near the barn on Garland Ranch. He found Jed Garland standing in the sunshine near the corral. As he loped across the yard toward his former boss, Jed smiled.
Since he’d last seen him, the other man’s face had developed a few more wrinkles, and his hair had turned completely white. But he still had the same piercing blue eyes and the firmest handshake around.
“Good to see you again, boy.” Jed’s fingers kept his trapped for another long beat before he let go.
Mitch nodded. “You’re looking good yourself. So is the Hitching Post. I see you’ve made some changes around here.”
“Yep. Got the signpost redone and the whole place painted.”
“Yeah, my mom said you’re in the wedding business again.”
“That we are.” Jed’s guileless expression put Mitch on alert. “We’ll be all set whenever you’re ready for our services.”
“For a wedding?” Laughing, he shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m not the type to settle down.”
“That’s not what you once said about staying in Cowboy Creek, though, is it? You’d always planned to follow in your dad and granddad’s footsteps and join the sheriff’s department—yet you went and became a big-city policeman.”
“Yeah. I’m a big-time LA cop.” Mitch said the words with a hint of bitterness backed by the knowledge of how drastically his plans had changed.
Jed nodded as if he’d read his mind, something he’d always been good at. Mitch found the trait much more disconcerting right this minute than he ever had years ago.
Probably because now he had things to hide.
“With your family’s connection to the sheriff’s department, I reckon it was a given you’d get involved in law enforcement even after you left town.”
He nodded. “Upholding the family tradition.” As he’d always known he would.
“Yep. Much as you liked horses and ranching, you never had a doubt about what you wanted to do.”
“No.” He still hadn’t, but his decision now had repercussions he couldn’t bring himself to confess to his parents or Jed. His long-held certainty, his downright arrogance that he could handle anything, had let him down when he’d needed it most. Clamping his jaws together, he hooked his biker boot on the lowest fence rung and stared across the corral.
“Let me say, son, I’m sorry about your troubles.” Jed’s clap on his shoulder hadn’t lost any of its strength, either. “I can understand if you’re finding your recuperation painful in more ways than one.”
His vocal cords seized up, overpowered by the lump in his throat. Looked as though his former boss was still here for him.
Jed Garland was one mighty smart man, but he couldn’t know about all his doubts. No one could.
Jed rested his forearms on the fence and linked his fingers together. “I’m sure you realize a man doesn’t reach success without some failure along the way.”
“Yeah,” he said harshly, “but my failure resulted in someone dying.”
“And in your line of work, you think that makes you stand out from the crowd?”
He shot a glance toward the other man. “You’ve been talking to my dad.”
“’Course I have.” Jed sighed. “I’m not saying what happened wasn’t a tragedy. I’m not saying it’s something you can ever shake off. But you’re too good a cop—too good a man—not to get past this.”
Looking away again, Mitch gripped the rail and squinted into the lowering sun. The bright light made his eyes water.
“Meanwhile,” Jed said, “it’s good you’ve come home.”
“Temporarily.” He hoped he sounded convincing. He lived and breathed law enforcement, had done ever since he was a kid watching his dad and grandpa pinning their badges to their uniforms. There was nothing else he wanted to do with his life. Nothing else he could do.
“You’ll have to hang around till Pete and Cole get in from the northern pastures. And Paz will have my hide if I don’t get you to stop in to see her. While you’re here, you can say hello to the girls.”
“The girls?” He gripped the rail even harder.
“Yeah. Tina started off handling the contractors for the upgrades to the Hitching Post, but Jane’s been helping out since she moved in a few months ago. And now we’ve got a wedding booked, Andi’s here to pitch in, too.”
Jed’s three granddaughters.
Tina had grown up on the ranch and become the bookkeeper for the hotel. Jane was a well-respected photojournalist, originally based in New York. And Andi...
Andi was the reason he’d left Cowboy Creek.
* * *
“IF I HAVE to look at one more fabric swatch today, I may scream.”
At her cousin’s pronouncement, Andi Price forced a laugh.
The hotel and its dude ranch activities had always been a big draw for the guests, but their grandfather had recently decided to reopen the banquet hall with a focus on catering wedding receptions.
So far, the one wedding they had scheduled a few months earlier had been canceled, and the business was getting off to a slow start.
“What have you got to scream about?” she said to Jane, only half teasing. “I’m the one dealing with the bride-to-be.”
“Otherwise known as Bridezilla. Sorry, cuz.”
“Don’t be.” She sighed. “It’s the truth. I should have known better than to agree to cater a wedding for the friend of a woman I barely know.”
“Yeah. Especially one who wants everything wrapped up in a bow—within a month.”
“I thought I was helping Grandpa and you and Tina.”
“You are. In Grandpa’s words, he’s tickled we’ve got another wedding booked.”
“I know.” And she couldn’t let him down.
The wedding receptions had always been their late grandmother’s passion. They all knew Jed was determined to see that part of the business flourish again. As Jane had once said, it only made sense to capitalize on a hotel called the Hitching Post.
“Good thing Tina’s around to help,” Andi said. “But what would we both do without you?” Jane’s career as a photojournalist gave her a good eye for envisioning just about anything. “You know you’re the one with the talent for color and line.”
“You’re not doing badly with those yourself. And the designs you’ve come up with for the banquet hall are pure genius.”
“Thanks. I’ve attended a lot of receptions and formal dinners since I got married.” Thoughts of all the events she had attended once she’d become part of the affluent Price family now blended with other memories she tried not to dwell on. “Knowledge of fancy napkin folds comes with the territory,” she attempted to say lightly.
“You’re doing a lot more than arranging napkins.” Jane tossed a sample book onto the pile with all the others. “But, though I hate to say this, there’s an area where you’re not doing such a great job.”
“Really?” She frowned and looked at everything they had spread out on the tabletop. “What’s that?”
“I wish I knew.” Jane shook her head. “You’ve changed since you were here at the end of the summer. There’s something bothering you. Don’t ask me what, because I have no idea, but I think you ought to let me in on it. We didn’t spend all those vacations and holidays together here for nothing, you know.”
While their grandfather and cousin had always lived in Cowboy Creek, Jane and Andi had met up at the family ranch only on school breaks. Neither of them had ever stayed at Garland Ranch longer than a summer vacation—until now. Jane had returned only a few months ago to live here permanently.
Andi had come back to help get the new venture off the ground with this Christmas wedding—and for other reasons she tried to shove aside with her bittersweet memories. “Nothing’s wrong. I just...felt the kids and I needed a change of scenery. When Grandpa asked me to handle this wedding while you and Tina focused on the business end of things, it seemed like the perfect time for a visit.”
Jane’s gray eyes narrowed. “Sorry, but I’m not buying that. It might be hard to handle the heat in Fountain Hills, Arizona, but the scenery there is even better than it is here.”
“I don’t live in Fountain Hills anymore,” she said quietly.
“Oh. When you’d told me the other day you and the kids had moved to an apartment, you didn’t mention it was in another town.” Jane touched her wrist. “Andi, if there’s anything I can do, any way I can give you a hand with something, just say the word. I’ve got some savings built up. I know Grandpa and my dad would help you out in a heartbeat. You know that, too. And wouldn’t your mother-in-law be willing to pitch in?”
“It’s not money.”
Truthfully, it was money that worried her—not enough money and not enough life insurance to pay the mortgage. Grant had insisted they could afford the too-big house in their upscale area not far from his mother. With his salary included, they had gotten by. Without it, she had been forced to sell the home where both her children had lived since they’d been born. But she couldn’t tell her mother-in-law Grant hadn’t provided for his family.
Just as she couldn’t reveal to anyone what Grant’s real job had been. How did you explain to a man’s family that he worked undercover for the CIA?
But now she could tell Jane the truth. Or part of it. “It’s not money so much as the need to get some space from Grant’s family.”
“Things have gotten that bad between you?”
“No.” Andi’s eyes misted. “They’re great.” They just didn’t know he had told them the same cover story she had told her family, that he worked for a computer company with customers and suppliers all over the world. “Ginnie’s always been a fabulous mother-in-law, and everyone else in his family is wonderful. Except...he’s been gone for over a year, and they all act as if he’s just away on business and will walk in the door again any day now.”
She glanced at Jane again. “I loved Grant, you know that. They know that. But I’ve managed to accept that he’s gone. I’ve had to, for Trey and Missy.” Her children had given her the strength she’d needed to survive her loss, and now she needed to stay strong for them. “Ginnie and the rest of Grant’s family still haven’t come to terms with his death. They need—I need—to let go and move on. I know that sounds awful—”
“Not awful at all. It’s a sad fact of life.”
“It’s beyond sad. But I just can’t keep living in the past. For the kids’ sake, I have to think about what comes next.” Her two-year-old son and infant daughter were too young to really feel the loss of their daddy, especially when Grant’s work assignments often had him out of touch for a month or two at a time. But as they got older, they would realize their loss. It was her responsibility to make sure they never lacked for anything else.
So far, she was doing a poor job.
“Then it’s good you’re here,” Jane said. “You’ve got the break from Grant’s family, and you can plan for the future.”
She nodded. Still, despite how determined she might have sounded to Jane, she worried. Her sales assistant job at a clothing store barely covered the rent on her new apartment. She’d had to take the position. With only a year of college behind her, she had left school to get married. Relocating to Arizona, planning a wedding, buying a house and getting swept up in the Price family’s social whirl had made her put school off for a while.
After she had gotten pregnant, she had tabled the idea of school indefinitely. Then she had gotten pregnant again...and Grant had died.
The end result was, she had no employable skills to speak of. The only bright spot was having a best friend with a night job who had volunteered to watch the kids while she worked during the day.
The sound of raised voices came from the hotel lobby. Andi jumped to change the subject. “That’s Grandpa, and he sounds excited.”
They heard a woman’s laugh.
“And that’s Tina,” Jane said. “I wonder what’s going on.”
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. Their cousin Tina entered the dining room. Smiling, she said, “You’ll never guess who Grandpa’s bringing along here with him.”
She was right, at least as far as Andi was concerned.
When Jed Garland walked into the room accompanied by a tall, broad-shouldered man with a noticeable limp, her heart skipped a few critical beats. The man locked gazes with her, and her heart leaped. Never in a million years would she have forgotten those deep blue eyes or that crooked grin or the thick black hair worn just bad-boy long. Never in a million centuries would she have expected—or wished—to run into Mitch Weston again.
She could only hope that since they had last seen each other, he had forgotten all about her.
Or had learned the value of forgiveness.
Chapter Two (#ulink_c4c5a909-8f5f-588e-a23d-aaf886b9885a)
All through the conversation in the dining room, Mitch managed to keep his smile in place. He hadn’t wanted to come in here and see Jed’s granddaughters, but the man had insisted.
No. Truth was, he hadn’t wanted to see Andi again.
Thankfully, his undercover work had prepared him well for slipping into different roles. He’d never had more of a need to hide his true self than he did now. His first glance at blonde, beautiful Andi today had rocked him just the way she had years ago.
Also thankfully, he’d heeded the surgeon’s caution to wear his knee brace. Otherwise, he’d swear his legs would have gone out right from under him.
“How long will you be around?” Jed asked.
Instinctively, he knew the man meant how long would he be in Cowboy Creek, a topic he didn’t want to get into. He forced a grin and pretended to misunderstand. “Surely you’re not inviting me for supper without clearing it with Paz first.”
“Of course you’ll join us.”
He shook his head. “You think you have to worry about Paz skinning your hide? If I didn’t show up at home tonight, my mom would have me stuffed and mounted. It’s the first time the whole family’s sitting down together for a meal since I’ve gotten back.” He shrugged. “Well, it’ll be the whole family if my dad manages to make it home.”
“He’s a good one for sticking to duties,” Jed said.
“And,” Tina put in, “the day he retires, Cowboy Creek will lose a good sheriff.”
“Which probably won’t be any time soon.” Mitch laughed, happy he’d detoured around the conversational land mine. “Like my grandpa, he always said he would never take off the badge.” And like his dad, he wouldn’t be keen on retiring, either. He didn’t like even being away from the job this long. “Well, I need to head back to town.”
“Don’t forget that box you said your mama sent along,” Jed reminded him.
“Yeah, her garden tomatoes. I’ll get them out of the truck now.” He moved slowly, giving his healing knee a chance to loosen up, rather than let them all see him hobbling from the room like an old man.
“I can go out with you,” Tina volunteered.
“Hold on,” Jed said. “I need to talk to you and Jane for a bit.” He turned to Andi. “Why don’t you go along with Mitch and retrieve that box for Paz? She’s eager to see what she can use from it for supper.”
Andi nodded. As they left the room, he caught her profile from the corner of his eye. When he and Jed had walked into the dining room, before she’d had time to raise her defenses, he’d seen the sparkle in her blue eyes and the smile on those full pink lips he’d always remembered.
Now, with her gaze frozen and her mouth pressed into a flat, determined line, she looked as if he were marching her to face a firing squad.
She didn’t have that far wrong. He planned to fire a few shots at her. Verbal ones. Questions he’d spent years asking himself.
And he didn’t intend to let her go free until he got the answers.
* * *
“ALL RIGHT, ABUELO, let’s hear it.”
Jed frowned. The sound of Mitch’s and Andi’s footsteps had barely faded from the dining room.
His youngest granddaughter, Tina, sat back in her chair and stared him down. “What’s so important I couldn’t take a few minutes to give Mitch a hand?”
“I wanted to go over some of those estimates for the last of the cabins again.”
Jane laughed. “You’re in trouble if you want me here for anything involving numbers. Didn’t you always say I’m the artistic one in the family?”
Tina shook her head. “It’s not that, Jane. Grandpa’s up to his tricks again. I know the signs. So should you.” The smile that tugged at her lips gave the lie to her stern expression. “Isn’t that right, Abuelo?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I pulled a few tricks on you both. But I don’t hear either of you complaining.”
“We aren’t,” Jane said. “In fact, you know we’re glad you’re two for two in the matchmaking stakes.”
He beamed at her.
“We’re very glad,” Tina agreed. “Andi’s a different story. We all want to see her happy again. But trying to match her up with someone she barely knows may not be the best idea. At least, not right now.”
“Huh-uh, cuz,” Jane said, “as Grandpa would say, you haven’t come close to hitting the mark there. You didn’t hang out much with us when Andi and I used to visit. But one summer, I spent plenty of time at the barn because that’s where she chose to go. And trust me, it wasn’t all due to her love of riding horses.”
“Really?” Tina’s gaze flew from Jane to him and back again.
Barely able to believe this unexpected good fortune, he grinned. Maybe this wouldn’t be his toughest match, after all. “You’re saying Andi had a hankering for Mitch?”
“I am,” Jane confirmed. “A major crush.”
“Really,” Tina said, thoughtfully this time. “And you think...”
“Yes, I think. Big-time.”
“I think, too.” But he wasn’t yet ready to share the rest of his thoughts on the matter. “And I do more than just let an idea sit in my head. I plan.”
“And you scheme,” Tina said.
“Yes,” Jane said, “and you force people into situations where they can’t avoid each other.”
“Darn straight, I do. Why wouldn’t I? If I didn’t, we’d all still be waiting for the two of you to get together with Cole and Pete.”
Jane laughed. “So now you’re determined to have a try at Andi and Mitch?”
“Darn straight,” he repeated.
“Well, you won’t get any argument from me, Grandpa. I go along with that.”
They both turned to look at Tina.
Quiet, levelheaded, by-the-books accountant Tina looked back at them, meeting their gazes with a frown. “You really think we ought to be pushing Andi into something like this?”
“Not pushing,” he said. “Assisting. If there’s still interest there, why shouldn’t we add a spark to it?”
“Like Grandpa did with you,” Jane said softly.
His granddaughters exchanged a glance.
Finally, Tina smiled. “Well, I can’t argue with that. All right. You can count me in, too.”
“That’s my girls,” he said.
* * *
MITCH AND ANDI left the hotel through the lobby and went down the porch steps, and still, as she walked along beside him, Andi said nothing.
Apprehension showed in the tiny lines around her eyes. Why wouldn’t she feel uneasy? She knew as well as he did they had unfinished business to discuss.
He remembered another day they had spent together when she hadn’t said a word. When they strolled down to the creek hand in hand, accompanied only by the sounds of crickets chirping. When his heart had thumped so hard he worried she could hear that, too.
Now his heart revved only in anger. Jaw clamped tight, he strode toward the parking area behind the hotel as quickly and steadily as his leg would allow.
“Been a long time,” he said as mildly as he could. A half-dozen years had passed since he’d last seen Andi. “I hear a lot has happened in your life.”
She nodded. “I’m a mom now, with two children, a boy and a girl.”
Her voice sounded strained, yet he couldn’t mistake the pride in it. He didn’t want to acknowledge even to himself how her statement made his anger rise.
When they were teens, he hadn’t thought too far into the future. He had simply known he would be settled down in Cowboy Creek and wearing a gold sheriff’s badge. He had also somehow known he would one day be the father of her kids.
Wrong, yet again.
He noticed she hadn’t mentioned her husband. In letters, his mom filled him in on all the happenings in Cowboy Creek. No one knew about his relationship with Andi, but as he had worked with Jed, Nancy put special emphasis on everything concerning Garland Ranch. She had told him about Andi’s becoming a widow, losing her husband when he was killed in a car accident while traveling for his job.
“I was sorry to hear what happened,” he said.
“Thanks.”
She crossed her arms as if the sun had gone behind a cloud and left her chilled. Or as if she needed a comforting hug. He swallowed hard, feeling a small part of his anger slip away. Somehow, he managed to keep from wrapping his arms around her.
He could see the effect the loss had on her. While she was still as beautiful as ever, her face now looked stretched taut. Grief left her with nothing to soften her cheekbones or to fill the hollows beneath them.
Her eyes held a deep sadness. Tiny lines creased the skin in the outside corners. Those lines made him want to touch her. To stroke away her tension.
Instead, he reached into the truck for the box Nancy had sent along with him for the Hitching Post. The action gave him something else to do with his hands. It gave him time to pull himself together. Maybe, if he tried hard enough, that beat of time would let him swallow his remaining anger. For now.
He balanced the box on the truck’s hood and turned back to her. “I’m glad Jed sent you out here. It keeps me from having to track you down.”
He could see her nerves take hold in the way she brushed her hair away from her temple. The movement distracted him, again making him want to reach out to her. Unfortunately, the urge wasn’t strong enough to derail his thoughts for long.
He had all the sympathy in the world for her...but that still couldn’t give him answers. “What happened that summer, Andi? You were here one day and gone the next, and that was it. No note, no letter, nothing.”
She didn’t respond.
“You owe me an explanation, at least,” he said harshly. “You walked away from me as if I’d never existed. I thought we had something good going.” Something good? Hell of an understatement. “I guess, no matter what you’d said then, thought is the key word here.”
Over near the corral, a horse neighed and one ranch hand called out to another. Andi’s silence went on long enough to make him wonder if she would ever answer. But he’d had plenty of practice at holding on, waiting for a witness to make a statement or a perp to make a confession.
Which would she do?
“My mom got sick,” she said finally.
“And when she got better, you couldn’t get in touch?”
“She didn’t get better. She had breast cancer, and she wasn’t a survivor. Grandpa didn’t tell you?”
He sucked in a breath. “I’d heard from my mom...after your mom passed away. But I didn’t know she’d gotten sick back then. Or that it was why you’d left.”
“She wouldn’t let us tell anyone here, because she didn’t want Grandpa to worry.”
“Jed didn’t know?”
“Not right away. And once Mom got sicker, she didn’t want anyone around her except my dad and me. She held out for a long time, and we were grateful for every minute we had left with her. That’s why I didn’t come back here to visit until...until after she was gone.”
Now he couldn’t keep from touching her. He rested his hand on her arm, feeling the warmth of her skin and the way her muscle tightened beneath his fingers. “I’m sorry.”
She nodded, then grabbed the carton from the hood and rushed away, but not quickly enough to keep him from seeing the tears in her eyes.
He’d gotten answers to his questions, discovered his anger had slipped away, but didn’t know what he could find to replace it.
He curled his fingers, trying to hang on to the warmth he would swear he still felt from her skin.
* * *
HER ARMS TREMBLING, Andi carried the carton Mitch had given her into the Hitching Post’s kitchen. She wasn’t shaky from the weight of the box but from seeing him again. And she wasn’t ready to consider what had brought on the reaction.
As Andi set the carton down, Paz crossed the room to investigate. “Ah, very nice,” she murmured with a born chef’s appreciation.
Jane merely leaned forward from her seat at the table to peer into the box. “All those healthy vegetables. They look heavy. I’m surprised Mitch didn’t volunteer to carry the box for you.”
Andi heard the teasing in her cousin’s tone, but couldn’t summon the energy to match it. She said simply, “He had to get home.”
She wasn’t about to tell anyone how abruptly she had turned and walked away. At the porch, she had risked a look over her shoulder and saw him climbing into his truck. Seeing the way he eased into position told her how much he must have been hurting.
She didn’t want to think of him in pain.
She didn’t want to think of him at all.
“That’s good, right, Andi?” Jane said loudly.
She started. “What?”
Paz smiled at her. “I said, tomorrow, I will make my vegetable soup.”
“That’s great. Sorry, I was daydreaming...” Andi looked toward the door. “I need to check on the kids.”
“They’re fine,” Jane said. “Grandpa has them all in the sitting room.”
“Then that’s where I’m headed.”
“I’ll go with you. Unless you need some help, Paz? And if you do, I volunteer Andi.” Jane laughed.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Paz said, attempting to sound stern. “Pete loves my spicy vegetable soup, and this is your chance to learn how to make it.”
At the look on her cousin’s face, Andi laughed.
Smiling, she left the two women and went down the hall leading from the kitchen to the hotel’s lobby. She could hear voices coming from the sitting room.
Her son gave a high-pitched screech of uncontained laughter. At the sound, tears welled in her eyes. Back home again after their last visit to Cowboy Creek, Trey had reverted to being quiet and withdrawn. The change in him had started not long after Grant’s death, and it broke her heart to think that maybe he, like Jane, had sensed changes in her she had hoped no one could see. She hadn’t been able to hide her stress, and all her worries kept her distracted. That had to stop, especially if it was already affecting her children.
Coming back to the ranch for the holidays and to oversee the wedding had been the right decision. Being with Tina’s son, Robbie, and Pete’s kids was good for Trey.
But being around Mitch wasn’t good for her.
Thank goodness he had turned down Jed’s invitation to join them for dinner. Before that, she had noticed how quickly he deflected the question about him staying. She was certain he knew as well as she did Grandpa had meant his visit to Cowboy Creek.
In any case, his answer might not have mattered. He had a long drive between his parents’ house in town and Garland Ranch. Judging by the trouble he’d had climbing into his truck, today’s trip to the hotel could very well be his last while he was here.
In the sitting room, she found Jed in his favorite chair, holding Missy on his lap. “You’ll be spoiling her, Grandpa,” she scolded gently.
“Then she’ll be spoiled,” he said with a grin. “I’m taking every chance I can get to hold her. She’s been away too long. You all have.”
As she took a seat on one of the chairs near them, she forced a smile. Jed hadn’t made any secret of the fact that he wanted her and the kids to move to the ranch permanently.
She wanted only to prove she could take care of her family on her own.
Trey crossed the room to them, thumping his chest with one hand. “Look, Mommy. Look what I got.”
Rachel, Pete’s five-year-old, followed in his footsteps. “It’s Robbie’s badge. Robbie let me play with it and I shared it with Trey.”
“That’s very nice of you, Rachel. And that’s a very nice badge, sweetheart.” She tapped the plastic star-shaped pin and touched her son’s cheek.
“I’m the chef.”
“You mean sheriff,” Rachel corrected. She turned to Andi. “He means sheriff. Grandpa Jed said Mitch has a badge, too. Didn’t you, Grandpa Jed?”
“I sure did.”
Yes, Mitch had a badge. And a gun and an injury and a dangerous job. Grant’s position had the potential for danger, too. They’d both known it. But Mitch’s could expose him to risk every day of his life.
“Mitch is going to show me his badge,” Rachel announced.
“Well,” Andi said, “I think he must have forgotten. He’s gone home already.”
“But he’s coming back tomorrow.”
She froze. The clock on the wall chimed, saving her from having to reply for a moment. When it stopped, she looked from Rachel to Jed. “Mitch is coming here tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Robbie put in. “Grandpa says so.”
Nodding, Jed patted the phone on the end table beside his chair. “Just spoke to Nancy, and she confirmed he’s got nothing on his schedule. I told her I want him to come by and talk with me for a bit. And I want to make sure he catches up with Pete.”
She fisted her hands in her lap. She didn’t want to see Mitch again.
Watching him in the dining room surrounded by her family had been bad enough. It allowed her too much time to resurrect the many sweet memories she had buried long ago.
But to her dismay, standing outside with him had been so much worse. Being with him had forced her to see what she didn’t want to admit.
Time and distance and even marriage to a man she loved with all her heart hadn’t destroyed her feelings for Mitch.
Chapter Three (#ulink_7e35beef-174b-5117-a849-1181ce4df72e)
“Did living in LA turn you off your mom’s good cooking?”
At his dad’s question, Mitch started. He looked up to find everyone at the table sitting with their eyes trained on him. The combined stares of his parents, two brothers and two sisters added up to way more attention than he needed.
“Are you kidding?” He forked up a chunk of onion, chewed and swallowed it. “I’m just trying to draw out the pleasure. You always did tell me I ate too fast.”
“You both do that,” Nancy said.
“Hazard of the profession,” his dad agreed.
Mitch nodded and tried to ignore the elephant in the room. Since he’d been home, he’d had plenty of hugs and kisses from the girls and lots of slaps on the back from the boys. He couldn’t deny his family’s happiness at having him here again. He just hated to see them all suffering on his behalf.
Everybody wanted to comfort him for his loss, he knew, but no one wanted to be the first to bring it up. His dad insisted on acting as though nothing much had happened. Even his mom hadn’t cornered him yet, as he’d expected.
And he didn’t want to think about recent events at all.
He glanced down at his plate. The roast Nancy had made for supper, always his favorite, tasted dry as dust. It wasn’t Mom’s good cooking that had him distracted, though. It was the vision of a slim woman with long blond hair and sad eyes.
“Your mom said you were out to Jed’s place this afternoon.” His dad passed him the meat platter. “How’s everything at Garland Ranch?”
“And how’s Daffodil?” his younger sister Laurie asked. Daffodil was an old mare living out her days at the ranch.
“I didn’t go near the corral,” he had to confess.
Like the typical teen she was, Laurie rolled her eyes. She loved anything that walked on four legs, but especially horses.
“You need to drop by the office,” his dad said, “and say hello to the boys.”
He nodded. He knew most of the men in Cowboy Creek’s sheriff’s department. Heck, he’d grown up with them. Considering what had happened, seeing them didn’t rank high on his list. Then again, stopping by the office gave him something to do.
It might help keep his mind off Andi and his decision not to visit the ranch again.
“Oh, Mitch,” Nancy said. “I forgot to tell you. You hadn’t made it home yet when Jed called. He wants you to go back out to the ranch tomorrow. He seems to have something important on his mind.”
Again, he had to appreciate the work that had trained him to keep his reactions hidden. He also suddenly found a lot more to like in his dad’s idea. “Thanks for passing the message along. I’ll probably be a while at the department tomorrow. But I’ll get out there again one of these days.” On another trip back home. When Andi wasn’t there.
“From what your mom says, maybe you ought to make the trip a priority,” his dad suggested.
“I can go with you after school,” Laurie offered. “I can see Daffodil and then go for a ride.”
“And,” his mother said, “I told Jed I’d send along some more vegetables for Paz.”
His brothers volunteered to help her box up the canning jars.
As he considered the conversation, Mitch sat back in his chair and shifted his leg to make himself more comfortable.
Nothing had been mentioned about what had brought him home. No furtive looks had been exchanged between anyone at the table. Yet somehow, he felt certain every member of his family had given the elephant in the room a strong, steady push in the right direction.
At least, from their perspective.
* * *
LATE THE NEXT AFTERNOON, accompanied by nonstop chatter from Laurie, Mitch drove up the road to Garland Ranch for the second time in two days.
She went on about her classes and friends and riding and the holiday open house Jed held every year at the hotel. He hadn’t made it back for one of those parties since he’d left town to go to school. Maybe he’d be gone for this one.
He thought again about his family ganging up on him over today’s trip. Something had made them all suddenly think the return to Garland Ranch would do him good.
Sure, they wanted him to relax and unwind and go back to being the son and brother they’d always known. That wasn’t going to happen, no matter how much they tried. He would never be the man he was before the incident. The incident...
He’d trained himself to use that cop-speak every time he thought about the day. To put a professional spin on an event leaving more than one man dead. To keep from obsessing over the knowledge his partner’s death was personal and a memory he would always carry with him.
He ran his hand over his face, then opened the window all the way, hoping the fresh air would chase away the images filling his mind.
“Hey,” Laurie yelped. “It’s December. You want me to catch pneumonia and miss the party?”
“You’d go to that open house if you had both legs and one arm in a cast.”
“Sure would.” She laughed.
He thought again of his family’s efforts to get him out to the ranch. Their methods had sent up a red flag. Something wasn’t right about their determination.
“You do much riding out at Jed’s?” he asked.
“Not as much anymore,” she admitted.
“Mom says you spend weekends there, though.”
To his surprise, her cheeks turned red. “Well, I go to see Daffodil. She’s old, you know.”
“Yeah. She had been getting up there even when I worked the ranch. She always thought she should be treated like a queen.”
“Jed said she earned that right. And Eddie... I mean, Pete thinks she likes when I visit.”
“Sounds like Eddie-I-mean-Pete knows a thing or two about horses.”
Laughing, she smacked his arm, the way she had done a hundred times before. It surprised him to realize he’d missed that, along with roughhousing with the boys.
“All right,” she said, “I meant Eddie. He takes care of the stables.”
Just the job he’d had the first time he’d seen Andi. The luckiest day of his life till then.
It looked as though his little sister might have the same kind of good fortune. Maybe hers would last. “Am I going to have to play biggest brother and give the guy a warning about being good to my sister?”
“Show him your gun. That’ll work even better.”
His hands clamped onto the steering wheel so tightly, he could barely make the turn into the drive. The flash of memory that hit made him wince.
PTSD, the psychiatrist assigned to him after the shooting had labeled it, the body giving way as remembered trauma took control. According to the shrink, the stress showed up in different ways.
Yeah, he’d dealt with that, right after the...incident. It had eased up a lot since then. He was fine. Fine, except for those nights he woke up in a sweat. And those times he paced his apartment to outrun the demons chasing him.
And, so it seemed, when he heard his baby sister joke about his weapon.
He parked near the corral on Garland Ranch and shot a glance at the woman who stood outside the fence, her back to them. Andi. He thought of all the drugs the shrink had offered him and he had refused. Seeing Andi again made him feel better than any drug ever could.
With one boot planted on the lowest rail, she watched a blond-haired little boy on a small Shetland. Her son, Trey, he had no doubt.
“That’s him,” Laurie said, as if she’d read his mind. But one glance told him her mind was on the teenager leading the horse. He’d wager he knew who that was, too.
By the time he had eased out of the truck and made his way around it, Laurie had left him far behind.
Either Andi had no interest in newcomers or she hadn’t recognized Laurie as his sister, because she hadn’t moved from her spot near the rail. He had time to notice the fall of blond hair around her shoulders and the way her jeans hugged her curves. He even had time to remember how it had felt to hold those curves. By the time she turned to look his way, he’d broken into a sweat brought on by the memories. That was the kind of healing meds he needed.
Dragging his shirtsleeve across his brow, he took a deep breath. Then he moved forward, cursing his knee brace and every halting step she had to see.
She clung to the top rail the way he’d gripped the steering wheel. Her gaze shot toward the barn.
“Eddie and Laurie are with the boy. Your son?”
She nodded.
“Tell me about your kids.”
The light in her face told him he’d said the right thing. The same light he once saw when she looked at him.
“Trey is two, almost three.”
“Ah. The terrible twos?” When her eyes widened in surprise, he shrugged. “I remember my brothers and sisters going through them.”
“Well, I’ll admit my son has had his moments.” A smile lit her face even more. “It’s been good for Trey to be here on the ranch and around Tina’s son, Robbie, and Pete’s two kids. You remember Pete Brannigan?”
He nodded. “Jed said he’s ranch manager now. And he did mention the kids.”
“Yes. He has a girl and boy of his own. All three of the kids are just old enough not to take any interest yet in my daughter, Missy.”
“She’s...?”
“Six months.”
“Yeah, she’s young.” He did the math. By rights, he and Andi could have started a family of their own before either of her kids had been born. But she had left him, and they had lost their chance.
The sudden faraway look in her eyes prompted him into speech. “Jed tells me you’re staying at the hotel.”
“Temporarily,” she shot back.
He winced at the echo of his response when Jed had mentioned his coming home. Hopefully, he hadn’t sounded as defensive. Looked as if Andi didn’t plan to stay around Cowboy Creek. Neither did he.
“I’m only here through the holidays,” she added.
“This is just a short visit for me, too.”
“And then you’ll go back to Los Angeles.”
She sounded as if what he did concerned her. He couldn’t trust that he’d read her right. But he would bet good money she hadn’t forgotten their summer.
He would never forget that day he’d looked across the barn to find the hottest girl he’d ever seen standing in the doorway, a blonde angel in a T-shirt, jeans and riding boots. He’d fallen head over heels and would have sworn she’d done the same.
Every day, once his work at the ranch was done, they had spent as much time together as they could. Until that one day she had just up and left without saying a word.
But here they were.
He had the feeling she was about to repeat history and walk off. “I belong in LA,” he said, half to remind himself and half to keep her with him, as pathetic as both of those felt for him to admit. “I’m with the police department.”
“That’s a dangerous job. A tough one for you, and just as hard on your wife and kids.”
As she ought to have seen by her own husband’s death, in the right—or wrong—circumstances, any job had its risks. He shook his head. “I don’t have a wife. Or any family there. It’s just me.”
Alone at home. On his own on the job.
And now standing here beside the girl who’d started him down that road.
He couldn’t stop himself from reaching up to gently stroke the fine, lined skin near her eye.
“I’m not wearing well,” she said with a forced laugh.
“We’ve all gotten older.” But maybe not wiser. He cupped her cheek with his palm. The warmth spreading through his hand more than made up for the risk he’d taken in touching her. For a brief moment, she tilted her head, resting against his hand. Her reaction closed the gap left by all the years they had lost. It finally chased away all his resentment.
Her eyes misted. She turned away. “I’m sorry about not contacting you. Everything was just too much for me. I had to focus on my mom.”
She looked toward the barn, as if planning to head over there. He didn’t want her to leave.
“That’s a big load for an eighteen-year-old to handle,” he said.
“For anyone to handle, believe me.” She sighed. “Sometimes, life doesn’t seem fair.”
“That’s because it isn’t. We all get the luck of the draw—and sometimes it’s bad luck.”
Just what he’d heard from everyone back in LA.
After a quick nod, Andi walked away.
He leaned against the rail, easing the pressure on his knee, and watched her go. That summer afternoon years ago, he’d had no idea he wouldn’t see her again. Would the same thing happen now? Was he simply destined to have bad luck when it came to her?
Though he could parrot the words his buddies on the force had told him, that didn’t mean he wanted to accept their verdict about the situation.
And though everything in him said he should keep his distance from Andi, that didn’t mean he had the strength to heed his own warning.
Chapter Four (#ulink_d0024360-564c-5f7a-a60b-4722e5e52b3c)
As she crossed the yard to the barn, Andi could almost feel Mitch’s gaze on her back. She could definitely still feel the warmth filling her from the touch of his hand against her cheek. In that one all-too-brief moment, she had changed into a teen again, and he had become the boy she loved. In his eyes in that moment, she saw the boy who loved her, too.
But their teenagers-in-lust days were long over.
Resolutely, she focused on the group standing in the barn doorway and kept moving toward them, away from Mitch and his warm hands and his crooked smile and his unfamiliar stiff-legged walk.
When she approached the group, her son gave her the wide grin that always reminded her so much of his daddy. “Mommy, I rided Bingo.”
“I saw you,” she said. “You did a great job.”
“He did,” Eddie, the stable hand, agreed. “I’ll be happy to give him another practice run anytime.”
“I’m sure Trey would love that.”
“Yeah, Mommy, wanna ride horse. Bi-i-ig horse.”
“Don’t you worry, mister,” Eddie said, “we’ll get you up on Bingo again tomorrow. How’s that?”
“Yay!” Trey clapped his hands. No sign of the terrible twos now, as Mitch had mentioned.
With a smile, she watched Eddie ruffle her son’s hair. She didn’t need a policeman’s skills to note that the tall, quiet teen grew much more talkative every time Mitch’s sister Laurie arrived at the ranch. Whenever she saw the two of them together, the pair made her think of Mitch and herself.
With luck, this couple’s summer romance would end more happily than her and Mitch’s had done.
When he came to stand beside her, she turned to Trey. “Come on, sweetie, we need to go back to the hotel.”
“I don’t wanna! Wanna see Daff now.”
“So do I,” Laurie said quietly over his head. “Is it okay if I take him with me for just a few minutes?”
“I’ll go and keep an eye on things,” Eddie said.
His tone made it evident he considered himself responsible for everything on the ranch. Just the way Mitch had when she’d met him.
The trio entered the barn.
She went to take a seat on one of the stools the cowhands had left a few yards from the doorway. She hoped Mitch would get the hint, would follow the rest of them in to the stalls or turn and go to the hotel.
But no, he was ambling her way, moving slowly. Maybe to control his limp?
She tried not to stare. Not to let her emotions show in her expression. As a teenager, he had been a star athlete, she knew. Football quarterback. Pitcher for Cowboy Creek’s baseball team. Whatever had happened to him on the job, it would devastate him if he couldn’t return to being just as active.
He took the stool beside hers, his leg stretched out before him. He sat so close, she could count the stitches running down the leg of his jeans. “Seems like Jed’s training up another hand to join the crew.”
“Grandpa’s good at that.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “And I should know.”
“You needed to be trained?”
“Sure did. I might have bummed a ride or two on a friend’s horse when I was a kid, which meant I could handle myself in the saddle, but that was about it.”
“Why did Grandpa take you on in the first place?”
He raised a brow. “This is a dude ranch. Considering all the charm and good looks I had back then, you really have to ask that question?”
Of course, she didn’t have to ask. She remembered. He’d had plenty of charm and tons of good looks, and the years hadn’t taken any of that away. Not that she would ever admit it to him. “You don’t need either of those to groom a horse.”
“Ha,” he said with a laugh. “You never saw me trying to charm Daffodil on one of her cranky days. But Jed probably thought I’d make a good candidate for working with the hotel guests. Growing up in a family of seven, I learned how to get along with people. Like that kid in there.” He jerked his thumb toward the barn doorway. “That one’s a real talker.”
“When your sister’s around.”
“Is that so? Well, I seem to remember girls having that effect on me. Especially you.” He’d lowered his voice to a husky murmur.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and fought an urge to run.
“Tina was always the quietest cousin,” he said, “but you were on the quiet side, too. At first, I couldn’t get you to say two words in a row to me. Maybe it’s because you were an only child.”
No, because she was a tongue-tied teenager who blushed every time he looked at her. A tendency she didn’t seem to have outgrown.
“If not for you wanting to ride,” he said, “I’d bet I never would have met you.”
If he only knew. On previous vacations here, she had always enjoyed riding. Her interest had skyrocketed the summer she had discovered the new stable hand with the tousled black hair, stripped to the waist of his low-riding jeans, pitching hay into a stall. Suddenly, along with riding, she had felt the urge for twice-daily visits to Daffodil. She had dragged poor Jane, who couldn’t have cared less about horses, along with her for company. And camouflage.
“You’re still quiet,” he said.
She shrugged. “I guess we don’t have much to say to each other, do we? We never did much together, except...”
“Except hang out at the barn and sneak away to make out every chance we got?”
Her cheeks burned. “We were kids, Mitch—”
“We’re grown-ups now.”
“—and that’s all in the past. We don’t need this trip down memory lane.”
“Why not? They’re fond memories, aren’t they?”
She heard bitterness in his tone but read something else in his face. Something she couldn’t afford to see. Instead, she gazed past the corral in the direction of the creek. Another thing she couldn’t afford to envision. “Fond memories? Even the final ones?”
From the corner of her eye, she saw his hand clench on his thigh. Why was she reminding him about the way things had ended?
Because she knew they couldn’t start anything between them again.
“I’d better go check on Trey.”
He laid his hand on her arm. “Maybe I’ll give you a second chance for walking away without a word.”
“Thanks. But maybe I don’t want one.” She pulled her arm free.
“I don’t need to ask if you still feel something for me, Andi. Your reaction when I touched you a few minutes ago already gave me the answer.”
She shook her head. “That was just another quick trip down memory lane.”
“Yeah? And don’t your memories match mine?” He leaned toward her.
It took more effort than she wanted to look away from him. “Nothing matches anymore, Mitch.”
“That sounds like a woman at the end of her rope. What’s wrong?”
The question made her jump, but she forced herself to turn to him again. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“You know, one of the first things they teach rookies is to notice a perp’s expression. Always watch the ones who won’t look you in the eye—but pay equal attention to the ones who stare you down.”
“I told you, nothing’s wrong. When I said nothing matches, I just meant we don’t have anything in common anymore.” She rose from the stool. If he caught her eye again, he would trap her in that lie.
A few hurried steps past him took her into the barn, where she hoped the cool shade would ease the flush in her cheeks. What she would need to cool the rest of her, she didn’t know.
Yes, she had lied. She and Mitch had plenty in common. A mutual interest in each other. Leftover lust from their summer together. And somehow, a spark that survived despite the fact she had left him without a word.
* * *
STUNNED BY HIS close encounter with Andi, Mitch stayed in place on the stool.
He’d been so wrapped up in the idea of seeing her again today, he had spent most of the morning exercising his leg on a slow walk through town, made only a brief trip to the sheriff’s office after lunch and found himself sitting outside the school waiting to pick up his sister the minute the final bell rang.
Now he had arrived at the ranch, things hadn’t gone nearly the way he’d planned.
A black stallion trotted into the stable yard. Mitch recognized the cowboy astride the horse—Pete Brannigan, his former wrangling buddy and now the manager of Garland Ranch. By the time Pete dismounted, Mitch had risen to his feet.
The other man approached him, leading his mount. “Jed told me you were back in town. Been a heck of a long time, Mitch.”
“Yeah, it has.”
As they shook hands, Eddie came to lead the horse away. Mitch noted Laurie walking beside the boy. He tried not to notice Andi and her son emerging from the barn. She nodded at Pete before turning away.
The foreman eyed him. “I’m glad you stopped by. If you’ve got time, how about you give me a chance to shower, then come on over for a brew?” Pete lived in the manager’s house on the property, barely the length of a couple of baseball fields from the corral.
“Sure. Jed wanted us to get together. We might as well kick back while you tell me what that’s about.”
“Not a clue,” Pete said. “I saw him around noontime, but he didn’t say a word. You’ll have to find out from him for us both. Hey, Andi,” he called.
She turned back to face them. Mitch saw how carefully she kept from looking his way. No matter what she said, there was something not right. He’d have to prove that to himself...to make up for the last time he hadn’t followed his instincts.
“The boss was looking for this former cowboy earlier. Take Mitch along to the Hitching Post and help him track down Jed, will you?”
When she nodded, Pete strode into the barn.
At a much slower pace, Mitch walked to catch up with Andi and her boy. One look at her brittle smile and suddenly rigid shoulders told him how she felt about having him join them. She couldn’t have cared that much about escorting him to the hotel. Maybe she was afraid of giving herself away.
No matter how quickly she’d backed off from him and run into the barn, it had been too late. He’d already seen the truth in her widened eyes and reddening cheeks, just as he had in her reaction to his touch over at the corral. She wanted him just as much as she had years ago. But something was bothering her. Holding her back. Something she didn’t want to share with him, and maybe with anyone.
“You cowboy?” her son asked.
The kid must have remembered Pete calling him a former cowboy. He shook his head. “No, I’m a cop.”
“What’s a cop?”
“A policeman. You know, like a sheriff. With a uniform and a badge.”
“A badge? Mine.”
Andi took his hand. “You borrowed Robbie’s badge, Trey, remember?”
“Mine,” the kid repeated.
Mine, Mitch had once thought when it came to the kid’s mother.
Wishing something so didn’t make it happen. He’d first learned that years earlier with Andi’s abrupt departure. He’d had his latest lesson only a few weeks ago during an undercover op shot to hell.
Feeling he had failed in both instances didn’t sit well with him at all. He couldn’t save his partner, but he sure could try to find out what troubled Andi.
* * *
“JED IS OUT by the honeymoon cabins, I think,” Paz told them. “Tina wanted to show him something the workmen had done.”
Sagging in relief, Andi rested one hip against the kitchen table. With her son’s short legs, the walk back to the hotel had seemed to last forever. She and Mitch had discovered both the sitting room and Tina’s office empty. Now, thanks to Paz, she could send Mitch off on his own.
“Looks like you’re busy in here,” he said.
Paz nodded. Cooling racks filled with cakes and cookies had taken over almost every flat surface. The kitchen smelled of cinnamon and cloves. “It’s never too early to start my Christmas baking.”
“Cookie, Paz,” Trey demanded.
“What do you say?” Andi prompted him.
“Please.”
Smiling, Paz took a cookie from one of the racks.
“Let’s go track down Jed,” Mitch said.
Andi frowned. “You can do that on your own. I’ll stay here with Trey.”
“I think I’ve forgotten how to get to the cabins.”
She glanced at him, then away again. After what he had said about cops, she didn’t know which was worse from his perspective, locking gazes with him or refusing to look his way at all. She knew what was better for her. Looking. Staring. Getting her fill.
Better for her, but much too risky.
“That’s fine, Andi,” Paz said. “You leave Trey with me and go right along with Mitch.”
“Great,” he said, halfway across the room without waiting for her answer.
Grimly, she followed him out to the porch and down the steps. He took his time, favoring his bad leg. Despite her irritation with him, she had to bite her lip to keep from asking how much he hurt.
She was so wrapped up in concern for him, she hadn’t realized he’d reached the bottom step. He turned back, catching her off guard. Instinctively, she bit down harder, then winced from her own pain.
“It is that bad?” he asked. “Seeing how I hobble down steps like a two-year-old who’s just learned to walk?”
“You handled those steps quite a bit better than my two-year-old does,” she said matter-of-factly. Still, knowing how Mitch must feel made her eyes mist.
“Those tears for me?”
“Of course they’re not.” While she had stopped a couple of steps up, he stood on the ground, putting them at eye level. This time, she was determined not to look away, no matter how his cop’s training would interpret her stare. No matter how shaky her reaction to his blue eyes left her feeling. “I accidentally bit my lip and it hurts. Not as much as your knee must, though, I’m sure.”
“I don’t need your pity, Andi.”
“That wasn’t pity. It was a not-very-smooth attempt to find out what happened.”
“Why? So you can fix it?”
“I never said—”
“You didn’t have to. There’s nothing wrong with me a few weeks of rest won’t cure. And maybe this.”
Before she could blink, he had cupped the back of her head as gently as he had cupped her cheek, urging her toward him. Once his mouth met hers, she had nothing but the memories of another time and another place and all the feelings that came with them.
For this one long, heart-stopping, teenager-in-lust-again moment, she loved Mitch Weston as desperately as she had the last day they had been together. She kissed him as desperately, too, without a thought for her tender lip or her obligations or anything but how she’d always felt when Mitch held her. He was broader now, sturdier, more muscled...and an even better kisser.
Reluctantly, she pulled herself together, resting her hands on his wide shoulders to anchor herself. No, to prepare herself. Finally, she pushed away.
Her legs trembling, she went down the rest of the steps, fighting the urge to raise her hand to her mouth. To touch the warmth he had left against her lips. To hold back the words she would not and couldn’t afford to say.
With unsteady hands, she smoothed her hair as she attempted to catch her breath. “Are you crazy? It’s broad daylight and we’re out here in the open and anyone could have seen us. I told you I don’t want to fix you.” Liar. “So just what was that supposed to prove?”
“I thought it might help speed the healing.”
“Of my lip?”
“No, my knee.” His chest rose, as if he were struggling with his breathing, too. He gave her a crooked smile. “All right, that was also to prove you haven’t forgotten me any more than I’ve forgotten you.”
“Maybe I haven’t. They say you never forget your—” first love “—first kiss. But I’ve had other kisses since then.”
He whistled. “That’s cold, Andi.”
“That’s the truth.”
“All of it?”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“C’mon, don’t play dumb with me.” His laugh sounded strained. “You kissed me back just now.”
“Like I had a choice?”
“We always have choices.” For a moment, his face hardened and his eyes looked bleak.
“I don’t think so. Not always.” He was remembering their past. Good. She wouldn’t have to lay things out for him. And hopefully, once she had finished here, she would never again have to face a sneak attack on her pitifully weak defenses. “When I left you that summer, it wasn’t my decision. But I am making the choice to walk away now.”
Chapter Five (#ulink_00cfb3b3-bb61-588a-839f-7472db479745)
So much for the shy little Andi he had once known. The girl he’d had to coax out of her shell had grown into a strong woman whose still-quiet manner hid one heck of a sucker punch. He could use her as the bad cop to his good cop during an interrogation. He could even admire her skill—if not for the fact that she’d used it against him...and then walked away.
He had changed from the day he first met her, too, in more ways than he wanted to deal with at the moment. But despite everything, he still had a few skills of his own, including his bulldog tenacity when it came to getting to the truth of a matter.
He glanced after Andi, whose hip-swaying departure just about wiped her words from his memory bank. It definitely overrode any annoyance he’d felt at getting sucker punched.
Besides, he’d faced a hell of a lot worse and was still standing. He wasn’t about to let her knock him down. Or to let her get away.
He followed her across the Hitching Post’s backyard toward the cabins a few hundred yards ahead. “Looks like Jed’s had the honeymoon havens fixed up, along with the rest of the place.”
“Yes,” she said shortly, not looking at him. “I’m surprised you noticed the improvements, considering you didn’t seem to recall much about the cabins.”
He laughed. She had seen through his ruse. No big deal. He’d never hoped to get away with claiming he didn’t know the location of the site—not when they’d once spent a rainy afternoon making out in one of those honeymoon havens.
In two strides, he caught up to her. “I recall plenty. But you want to help jog the rest of my memories?” When her cheeks turned pink, making her eyes look even more blue, he couldn’t hold back a smug smile. Yeah, she remembered that day, too.
Up ahead, Jed and his granddaughter Tina came around the side of one of the cabins. Jed hailed them with a wave.
They met halfway, in the shade of a few pines that would protect the cabins from the sun of a long New Mexico summer.
“How’s everything?” Andi asked Jed.
“Looking just fine.”
“The contractors only finished up the remaining cabins this past week,” Tina explained.
Mitch nodded. “My mom said you’ve all done a lot of renovations inside the hotel, too.”
“We sure have,” Jed said. “You’ll have to get Andi to take you on the grand tour.”
He sensed more than saw her stiffen beside him.
“Of course,” she said too politely. “But right now I’ve got to get back and take care of business.”
“Right,” Tina said. “We need to get our order ready for the wedding favors. I’ll go back with you.”
Again, he felt rather than saw Andi’s reaction—relief as she instantly turned away. He went to follow her, then paused, recalling why they had come out this way to begin with. “I got word you wanted me to stop by again,” he said to Jed.
The older man nodded. “Yeah. Let’s sit. You girls go on ahead. Your old grandpa can’t keep up.”
“Oh, you—” Andi cut herself off, but Mitch had picked up on her tone. She’d held back a teasing response—because of him?
“Okay, Abuelo,” Tina said. “See you both later.”
As the women left, Jed gestured to a wooden bench on the porch of the nearest cabin.
He nodded. Though he hadn’t been on his feet for that long, he felt grateful for the chance to sit again.
No matter what Andi had begun to say about Jed’s ability to get around, he had to admit, at the moment, the older man’s healthy stride would put his to shame. It wasn’t pain that drove him to the bench but the stiffness that locked up his knee from time to time. Sitting was the worst danged thing he could do for it, but he’d rather have the opportunity to get limbered up again before he had to cross the yard with Jed. With luck, he would manage a few stretches stealthily enough to keep his former boss from noticing.
He gave thanks Andi had left. Her denial hadn’t carried much weight, not when her eyes had filled with pity, something he refused to accept from anyone and especially not from her.
After they took their seats on the bench, he watched the women cross the yard, Tina’s dark, waist-length braid contrasting sharply with Andi’s flowing blond waves. No doubt in his mind which sight he preferred. The thought of running his hands through Andi’s hair made more than just his bad knee suddenly ache from stiffness. Made him realize how hot he’d gotten over the girl who’d left him behind.
More than anything, his reactions made him see staying close to her might be more of a challenge than he had anticipated.
“Nice view, isn’t it?”
Startled, he turned to stare at Jed. He’d forgotten he had company on this bench.
Jed waved his hand. “A pleasant view of the ranch for any honeymooners who stay out here instead of in the hotel.”
“Yeah...it’s nice scenery.” Especially over near the hotel, where the women were climbing the porch steps. “So, you wanted to see me again.”
“I do.” Jed ran his hand over his pure white hair.
An unmistakable tell. Mom had been right. Something was up with Jed. And the familiar gesture told Mitch his former boss was about to clue him in. “What’s up?”
“Your mama says your time is pretty much your own, and I could use your help.”
“Anything I can do, you know I will.”
Jed smiled. “I figured that. Well, you know we tend to get busy here around the holidays.”
“I remember.” The dude ranch had always been popular with folks wanting a break from colder climates.
“Now we’ve got Christmas and a wedding to prepare for, both coming up in less than a month. My girls are doing most of the work on their own, and they could use an extra pair of hands.”
Mitch nodded slowly.
“Normally, I’d get a couple of the boys in here to give them some assistance. But we’re shorthanded, and Pete’s up to his eyeballs in work as it is. If you could manage to spend some time around here, you’d be doing us all a favor.”
Mitch nodded again. Compared to some of Jed’s plans, this one sounded harmless. And he had meant it when he said he would do anything to help Jed.
To tell the truth, he would be doing himself a few favors, too.
He could avoid his family’s hushed voices and averted gazes.
He could bypass some trips to the sheriff’s department in town. No matter how often his dad encouraged him to drop in, he knew how all those visits would make him look. He’d seem no better than an old retired cop who took his vacations anywhere from Maine to Alaska but spent those days hanging out with the local law.
Most of all...best of all...he would have a reason to hang around the ranch. A chance to be near Andi and to find out what was up with her.
If she wouldn’t tell her family what was worrying her, she’d have to tell someone. She needed an outlet, as his department-assigned shrink would say. Considering her decision to walk away from him, getting her alone had presented a problem. Jed had just handed him the solution.
With all those perks attached to the request, how could he turn the man down?
He couldn’t appear too eager, though. “Sure,” he said casually. “I’ll be happy to lend a hand. For whatever time I’m in town.”
* * *
“WHAT DO YOU think of this design?” Andi turned the pattern book on Tina’s desk to show her cousins the photo she was indicating.
With the waitress on duty ready to set the tables for dinner, they’d had to move all their samples from the dining room into Tina’s small office off the lobby. It didn’t matter to her where they worked, as long as she kept busy enough to keep her mind off Mitch...and that kiss that had made her lose control.
Her face burning, she glanced quickly at her cousins. Luckily, Jane and Tina had both switched their attention to the pattern book.
Jane looked at the fabric swatch in the photo. “I like the other one better.”
“I like this one. Then Tina gets to choose.”
“Oh, no, I don’t,” their cousin said. “You two are the experts.”
“We need a tiebreaker.”
“And if Tina doesn’t want to be on the spot,” Jane said, “she shouldn’t be. Shay’s in the kitchen. Don’t you think we should get her in on this? She’s got a good eye, too.”
“Great idea,” Tina said.
Shay, who was a frequent visitor to the Hitching Post, was dropping off an order of ice cream. Though Paz made the desserts for the hotel dining room, they had contracted SugarPie’s to provide the wedding cakes and pastries for the receptions. But when it came to ice cream, they relied on the Big Dipper, the shop not far from SugarPie’s in the heart of Cowboy Creek’s small business district.
As Tina left the office to track down the other woman, Andi caught Jane looking at her with a thoughtful expression.
“I see Mitch is back again,” Jane said. “And he appeared just when you happened to be at the corral.”
She snapped her head up. “That was a coincidence.”
“On your part or his?”
“What does that mean?”
“It seems way too coincidental he showed up at the same time you were standing there waiting.”
“I wasn’t waiting. I was checking on Trey.” She caught Jane’s grin and realized her cousin was teasing. She also knew she had overreacted. Forcing a smile, she added, “So...you suspect Eddie and Laurie of synchronizing the clocks on their cell phones?”
“No, actually, that hadn’t occurred to me.” Jane’s tone turned serious again. “Maybe fate stepped in, leading Mitch here at just the right time.”
“No. It was Grandpa wanting to see him. And Laurie asking him to bring her to the ranch for a ride.” Hoping to close the subject, she glanced at the pattern book again. “There’s no need to wait for Shay. I don’t know why you’re digging your heels in over this. Now, look. This morning, you agreed with me this pattern’s a better match for the tableware.”
“Yeah, and I’ve always agreed that you and Mitch made a good match.”
“Jane. Please.”
“Now, you look,” Jane said quietly. “You can’t hide anything from me. I know how you felt that summer you were seeing him. And I heard you crying the night before you left the ranch. You cared a lot. So did he. You two really had a chance together.”
A chance she had blown back then, and that circumstances now put out of her reach. “That was a long time ago.” Her children’s births and husband’s death ago.
“And here you are, in town at the same time.”
“Just another coincidence.”
“I won’t argue that. But my point is, how likely is it this will happen again soon?”
Focusing on the pattern book kept her from meeting Jane’s eyes. It couldn’t help close her ears to Jane’s softly spoken words.
“Maybe you both need to take this second chance.”
Shay walked into the office, saving Andi from a response.
“Shay,” Jane said, “you’re still planning to waitress for us the night of the wedding?”
“Oh, yes, I’ll be here. I’m looking forward to it.”
Still shaken by Jane’s statement, Andi fought to focus on the other woman. “How’s your gran?” They all knew Shay’s elderly grandmother had been having some health issues.
“Not too bad. I’m on my way to pick her up now. But Tina said you wanted to show me something?”
“Yes, if you have a few minutes.” She indicated the two samples. “Which one?”
“This one’s a better match,” Shay said immediately, pointing.
“Perfect,” Jane said. “You’ve got a good eye, too.”
Shay had chosen the same pattern Jane had so suddenly been unable to make up her mind about.
“I always did like interior decorating,” Shay said. “Well, if that’s all you need, I’d better get going.”
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