A Rancher to Trust

by Laurel Blount

  Bailey did know Abel. The man had a heart of gold—and a real gift for sticking his foot in his mouth. Abel always meant well, but if he knew their secret, he was likely to blurt it out at the worst possible time.

  On the other hand, Bailey knew it wasn’t fair for her to ask Dan to be less than honest with his brother.

  “I’m sorry,” Dan added. “I don’t mean to make any more trouble for you.”

  She shook her head. “If I’d been honest years ago, none of this would even be an issue now. I’m the one who’s sorry. When I asked you not to tell Abel, I didn’t really think about the unfair position I was putting you in.”

  “Whoa.” Dan reached out and curved a finger under her chin, tilting her face up toward his. “This is on me, Bailey. All of it. I don’t want you blaming yourself. I just never expected Abel to take me back in like he has. If he’d thrown me off the farm like I expected him to this would never have been an issue. Like I said, I can wait on telling him until things are decided one way or the other. Our secret’s kept this long—it can keep a little while longer.”

  “Thanks.” She darted a grateful glance up at him. As their gazes caught, she saw his expression shift from concern into something else. Suddenly the air between them seemed oddly charged. He leaned toward her, and the barnyard around them blurred and softened.

  “You’re both here! Wonderful! Come on in!” Emily called from the back porch. “Supper’s almost ready!”

  Bailey felt as if she’d been dunked in cold water—and just in time, too. Giving Dan a flustered smile, she pulled away. Then she scurried up the steps and into the warm safety of the Whitlocks’ kitchen.

  “Oh, goodie! Some of your jams! Thanks, Bailey!” Emily hurried back to her stove, which was covered with gleaming pots. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair straggled down the back of her neck, but the table was set with a pretty checkered cloth and the air smelled delicious. “I’ve just got to get these biscuits out of the oven, and we’ll be good to go.”

  “Anything I can do to help?” Dan hesitated in the kitchen doorway. Bailey kept her eyes on the bubbling food, but she could feel his gaze on her.

  “Why don’t you go get Abel? He’s in the living room playing a board game with Paul and Phoebe. Luke and Lily are over at Natalie Stone’s for the evening, bless her sweet heart. I don’t know how I’d have managed with two toddlers underfoot today.”

  Dan vanished, and Bailey stepped over to her friend’s side and began peeking under pot lids. A scrumptious-looking stew bubbled in the biggest pot, and cinnamon apples steamed in another.

  “This all looks great, Emily. Need me to taste test anything for you?”

  Emily laughed wearily. “If you really want to help, you could go upstairs and fetch Nana Lois. She wanted to lie down for a few minutes before dinner. Phoebe and Paul spent the afternoon with her, and as much as she adores them, I think they wore her out.”

  “Sure.” Bailey agreed readily, but she mounted the stairs with a sinking heart. As she stepped into the upstairs hall, Lois cracked opened the door of the spare bedroom, not a silver hair out of place.

  Nap, my foot, thought Bailey.

  “Bailey, dear, I’m so glad to have a moment alone with you. Is he here? Abel’s brother?”

  “Dan’s downstairs with Abel and the kids. Emily says dinner is just about—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Lois reached out and drew Bailey inside the spare room, closing the heavy door behind them.

  “With Paul and Phoebe? Oh my.” The older woman clucked her tongue. “That’s what I was afraid of. Such a bad influence! Can you believe he’s turned back up after all this time? Just like a bad penny, that’s what!”

  Bailey frowned. “Dan’s changed a lot since he’s been away, Miss Lois. And I know it means the world to Abel to have him back home.”

  “Dear Abel has such a trusting heart. And naturally he’d like to believe the best about his family. But, Abel, I told him, when a man like Daniel Whitlock shows back up out of the blue, you know he’s up to something!” Lois shook her head sadly. “I don’t think Abel can bring himself to see that.” She shot Bailey a sharp glance. “I do hope you will be more careful this time, my dear.”

  “Careful about what?”

  “Well, I don’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject, but that young man did manage to turn your head years ago. Most unsuitable, of course, and so distressing for your dear mother, rest her soul.”

  Bailey felt a surge of annoyance. All right. That was enough of that. She should put an end to this little conversation before she lost her grip on her temper. “We’d better go downstairs now, Miss Lois. Dinner is ready.”

  The other woman wasn’t listening. “No good ever came of associating with a Whitlock. Everybody in town knows that. Abel is the one and only exception. As for Daniel? Well, once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker. That’s what I told Emily, not that she thanked me for pointing it out.”

  “Nana Lois? Bailey?” Emily called up from the kitchen, sounding worried. “Supper’s on the table.”

  “We should go downstairs.” Bailey pulled her arm free and opened the door.

  “I’m just so concerned about dear Paul and Phoebe,” Lois murmured as she followed Bailey into the hall. “Children are very easily influenced.”

  Bailey didn’t answer. She stayed silent all the way down the stairs, devoutly relieved when they made it back into the kitchen. Lois couldn’t very well keep up her fussing in front of Abel and Dan.

  And that was a good thing. Bailey might have a few doubts of her own about Dan, but it still irritated her to hear Lois Gordon’s pessimistic fretting. People in Pine Valley had never been willing to see the good in Dan. And there was good in him—there always had been, even back when he’d been at his lowest point. Maybe if people had spent a little more time focusing on that goodness—and a little less time spotlighting Dan’s problems—things could’ve turned out better for everybody.

  “Come with me, Nana Lois.” Paul, Emily’s eight-year-old son, offered his grandmother an arm. “Let me help you to your seat.”

  The worried creases on Lois’s forehead relaxed as she beamed at her grandson. “What a gentleman you are, Paul! You take after your grandfather. He had the loveliest manners.” She allowed herself to be led toward the table.

  “I put Paul up to that.” A basket of steaming biscuits cradled against her apron, Emily paused close to Bailey and whispered into her ear. “I wanted a chance to apologize for sending you into the lion’s den. I wasn’t thinking. Lois has had a bee in her bonnet all day about Danny being back home. She’s part of our family, and we love her dearly, but she isn’t always the easiest person to reason with when she gets on one of her rampages. I imagine she gave you an earful. I’m so sorry.”

  Bailey managed a smile. “Don’t worry. I can hold my own with Lois Gordon. Now, something smells wonderful, and I’m starving! Let’s eat.”

  “Sit here next to me, Miss Bailey! Please?” Phoebe, Paul’s twin sister, patted the chair beside her own.

  “Sure!” As Bailey settled into her seat, she glanced up to see Dan looking uneasily at the only empty chair left at the crowded table. It was right next to Lois. Dan looked as if he’d rather sit next to a rattlesnake.

  He wasn’t the only one less than thrilled. As he sat, Lois made a show of picking up her black suitcase of a purse and stowing it carefully on the opposite side of her own chair.

  “You’re the guest of honor tonight, Danny.” Abel beamed from his position at the head of the table. “How about you say grace?”

  “Humph.” Lois’s skeptical murmur was barely audible, but Bailey saw a muscle flicker in Dan’s cheek. He’d heard her, as no doubt he’d been meant to.

  Bailey’s heartbeat sped back up indignantly, and she bit down on her tongue. Okay, so Dan didn’t have the most squeaky-clean past. Bu
t Lois Gordon had plenty of her own faults, just like everybody else.

  As they clasped hands and bowed their heads, Bailey heard Dan clear his throat.

  “Thank You, Lord, for this food and this family and these...friends.” Bailey felt a little tickle run up her spine. Had that slight hesitation had been because of her or because of Lois? “Bless this food to our body’s use and us to Your service. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

  Bailey lifted her head in time to see Lois snatch her fingers away from Dan’s. She picked up her spoon and stirred the stew in her bowl.

  “My late husband was sought after for his lovely table blessings. I’ve always believed you can tell a real Christian by the grace he offers at a table.”

  “Have a biscuit, Nana Lois.” Emily sounded desperate as she poked the basket in Lois’s direction. “Have two.”

  Lois accepted the basket, but it was going to take more than biscuits to slow her down. “So, Daniel, it’s my understanding that you’re involved in some sort of farming enterprise out west? If that’s so, I’m surprised you were able to get away for such an—extended time.”

  “Danny manages a ranch, Nana Lois,” Abel explained proudly. “But now the rancher’s grandson’s taken over, so Danny isn’t as needed. I’m doing my best to talk him into coming back to Georgia permanently. He says he’s thinking it over.”

  Bailey stiffened. She glanced at Dan, and their eyes met.

  “Permanently?” Lois sounded alarmed. “Are you seriously considering that, Daniel?”

  “I haven’t made my mind up yet. Could you pass the butter, please, Paul? These biscuits are really good, Emily.”

  “Of course they’re good. She bakes professionally.” Lois spoke impatiently. “Well, if you’re considering moving here, I’d think you’d be behaving yourself a bit better. You’ve barely been in town any time, and you’ve already tried to pass a bad check to Myron Banks. You needn’t all gasp at me like that! This is a small town, and word gets around. In the future you’d do well to remember that, Daniel. You won’t be getting away with any of your dishonest shenanigans around here!”

  Bailey saw Dan shoot a concerned glance at his brother. “The check was good. Myron just didn’t want to take it because...” He trailed off. “I took it to the bank, and they cashed it with no trouble.”

  Bailey frowned at Lois, but the older woman was buttering her biscuit with a self-righteous expression. Bailey set her own biscuit back down on the plate. She’d lost her appetite.

  It wasn’t right for Dan to have to defend himself when he’d done nothing wrong. It wasn’t right, and it felt all too familiar.

  Caution was one thing. Caution was sensible. This was just...mean.

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, Dan.” Abel’s lean cheeks had gone ruddy with frustration. “I can guess the truth of it. But I reckon it’s a blessing you did have to go to the bank. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have been around to help Bailey when that delivery guy got fresh with her.”

  “Abel—” Dan and Bailey spoke at the same time, but it was too late. Lois straightened up and peered at Abel, the biscuit in her hand unbitten.

  “I hadn’t heard a thing about that.” She sounded a little insulted. “What happened?”

  Well, at least it was a distraction. “There’s not much to tell,” Bailey interjected quickly. “Dan stepped in before things got out of hand.”

  “So you see? It was a good thing he had to go to the bank after all,” Abel pointed out triumphantly.

  Lois’s eyes narrowed. “But why was he hanging around Bailey’s store at all? That’s my question. The bank’s a good little walk from there.”

  “Dan’s doing some repairs at my new farm. For free. Isn’t that kind of him?” The explanation didn’t help much. Lois arched her eyebrows.

  “Why would he do that? For that matter, why’s he come back to town at all? I’m sorry, but somebody has to speak up here! Nobody understands the importance of family better than I do, but every family has its black sheep. Of course,” Lois amended, “in the case of the Whitlocks, it’s more like they had one white sheep. And that’s you, Abel, dear. Daniel here has never been anything but trouble. And he wouldn’t have come back to Pine Valley if he didn’t want something, I promise you that. Money, most likely. I was talking about that very thing upstairs just now with Bailey.”

  Dan glanced at Bailey, and then back down at his plate. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and the expression on his face made her feel sick to her stomach. Her lips moved, but she couldn’t seem to get any words out.

  Abruptly, Dan pushed back his chair and stood. “Maybe I’d better go.”

  “Danny, please don’t—”

  Emily’s protest was interrupted by the trill of Dan’s cell phone. He fished it out of his pocket, looking relieved.

  “It’s the ranch. Colt wouldn’t be calling me without a good reason, so I’ll need to call him back. I’ll head on back to the cabin. Abel, Emily, I’m sorry. I...” He seemed not to know what to say next. Finally, he just nodded, snagged his hat from the counter and started toward the door.

  Bailey looked desperately around the table. She hated seeing that grim, defeated look on Dan’s face, and she was partly responsible for it. He couldn’t tell people the truth about why he was really back in town because she’d asked him not to.

  Dan had his hand on the doorknob. Abel rose and exchanged a horrified glance with his wife. Neither of them seemed to know what to do.

  Lois’s wrinkled cheeks were a defiant pink. “Good riddance is what I say. Whatever trouble this scoundrel has come back here to cause we can certainly do well without.”

  That did it. Bailey stood. “Dan didn’t come back here to cause trouble. He came back because I called him.”

  Everybody froze. Dan turned to look at her, the door open, one boot already on the back porch.

  “Bailey,” he said. Just the one quiet word, but she knew what he was telling her. You don’t have to do this. I can take care of myself.

  “You called him?” Emily looked up at Abel. “Did you know—?”

  He shook his head. “No. Danny never said why he came back, and I never asked.”

  “You called him?” Lois shook her head. “Bailey Quinn! Why on earth would you do a foolish thing like that?”

  “Because—” Bailey locked eyes with Dan and raised her chin a defiant notch. “He’s my husband.”

  Chapter Seven

  Three hours later, Dan stood in front of the fireplace in the cabin watching Bailey pace. She muttered to herself as she stalked from one end of the small room to the other.

  “Why did I do that?”

  Dan didn’t try to answer her. Right now Bailey wasn’t looking for answers from anybody other than herself.

  It had taken them two full hours to pull themselves away from the chaos at Goosefeather Farm, and they were both still a little shell-shocked. There had been long explanations and apologies to work through, and he had a feeling they’d only gotten started.

  He was relieved Bailey had agreed to come to the cabin, even if all she’d done so far was try to wear a hole in Abel’s braided rug. He wasn’t being much help, but at least she wasn’t working through all this on her own.

  Bailey stopped at one end of the room, staring out the darkened window, the first time she’d been still in half an hour.

  Maybe it was time for him to step in.

  “Bailey? Come on. Why don’t we sit down and talk this over?”

  She glanced at him, and his heart stuttered. Her face was so pale that her eyes looked even darker than usual.

  “I’ve made a huge mess, haven’t I?” she murmured.

  Dan crossed the room and took her gently by the elbow. She allowed herself to be led to the sofa, and as Dan settled himself next to her, he prayed he’d have the ability to say the right thing.
<
br />   “Look, Bailey, you have nothing to feel bad about. All you did was tell the truth, okay? And I’m glad you did.”

  “You can’t be serious.” She swallowed. “I know you were planning to tell Abel eventually, but spilling it out like that with no warning was a terrible thing for me to do. Did you see their faces? Emily and Abel were just...floored, especially Abel. I never really thought before about he’d feel, finding out I’d kept this from him all these years.”

  “He just needs a little time. He’ll get past it. You know he will. And I don’t know Emily all that well yet, but I’m thinking she’s cut from the same cloth.”

  “Maybe, but Lois Gordon is a different story.” Bailey groaned and dropped her head in her hand. “I can’t believe I blurted this out in front of her. There’s no putting the cat back in the bag now. It’ll be all over town tomorrow. If it isn’t already. Why did I do that?”

  “You were sticking up for me.” He was trying to keep a lid on his own feelings, but a crazy hope expanded in his chest as he pointed that out. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

  “Save it, because I don’t think I did you any favors. After Lois gets through spinning this, you’re not going to come out looking very good. And neither am I.” Bailey groaned. “That woman knows everybody in town, and I gave her the exclusive on a nugget of gossip beyond her wildest dreams. I just made her whole year, I’ll tell you that.” She stared distractedly at the small fire he’d kindled. “And I ruined mine.”

  Bailey’s knee was jiggling up and down, and she was twisting her fingers together nervously. Impulsively he reached out and captured her hands. “I’m sorry. I know it’s embarrassing to you, having everybody know you’re married to somebody like me. I can’t do much about that, but—”

  Her hands, which had gone limp in his, suddenly clenched his fingers in a grip so tight that he winced. “Wait a minute. Dan, do you think I kept our marriage secret all this time because I was ashamed of you?”