The Rancher's Unexpected Twins--A Clean Romance

by Trish Milburn

  Time to spill all the beans.

  Sunny sped through the explanation of what she and Dean were doing and why, not giving Maya a chance to interrupt. When she was finished, Maya was staring at her with her mouth partly open.

  After a long pause, she asked, “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Quite possibly.” It wasn’t as if she hadn’t wondered the same thing.

  “You literally let something your dad said when he was upset inspire this whole bananas plan?”

  “In a word, yes.”

  Maya was uncharacteristically quiet. She turned so that her side was facing Sunny and watched the kids play for several seconds.

  “Are you sure this is the best thing for your family? Don’t you think losing the ranch would be one blow too many for your dad? And what if he likes having Dean as a son-in-law and then you two end things?”

  Sunny had asked herself those same questions over and over. But when she wavered, her next thought was always how losing the ranch was a million times better than losing another family member or not being able to spend enough time with what little family she had left.

  “I wish I could lay out the pros of moving to California before my dad and he’d agree, but he won’t. I keep thinking about how he’s there alone with the twins. What if something happened to him when no one else was around? There would be no one to call for help. No one to take care of Lily and Liam.”

  “But Dean is right down the road. He or one of the other hands would notice if your dad went missing.”

  “But how long before they noticed? Would it be too long?”

  Maya looked over at her. “You’re going full worst-case scenario.”

  “That’s because my family is intimately acquainted with worst-case scenario.”

  Sunny’s core personality fit her name. She typically had a positive outlook on things, but that attitude had taken repeated hits. Maya’s silence was evidence that she couldn’t argue with what Sunny had said.

  Still, Sunny wanted to create a bright future for the twins, her dad and herself. Even for Dean. She was a fan of win-win situations. When she consulted with business clients, she often told them that the best way to create both profits and goodwill among customers was to create those types of win-win situations.

  Maya sighed and looked at Sunny.

  “If you succeed in this and don’t come to visit me, I’m never going to forgive you.”

  Sunny smiled.

  “You know that won’t happen. And you can come to California too, you know? Planes go both ways.”

  “When it’s colder than a deep freeze here in the middle of the winter, I might just show up without warning.”

  “And I’d be thrilled to see you. So would Dad and the twins.”

  Maya huffed.

  “More like you’ll all forget me. Out of sight, out of mind.”

  “Now you’re being ridiculous. Me messaging you from the literal other side of the world proves I’ll never forget my bestie.”

  Maya pointed at her and narrowed her eyes.

  “You better not. And for me not trying to talk you out of this madness, I expect a travel piece from you each week for the next three months.”

  “What? That’s extortion,” Sunny said in mock outrage.

  Maya gave her an evil grin.

  “Yes, yes it is.”

  Sunny stared at her dearest friend for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing.

  “Fine, I’ll pay your price.”

  “And I’ll help you get your man.”

  Sunny didn’t even bother to remind Maya that this was all an act. Let her friend have her fun. Let this situation be a win-win-win-win-win. The more wins, the better Sunny would feel about a little necessary deception.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  DEAN STOOD STARING in his bathroom mirror, a little-used bottle of cologne in his hand. His mom had bought it for him a couple of Christmases ago on the recommendation of a fragrance-counter clerk in Cheyenne. She’d said it would smell nice when he went on dates.

  It had been a not-at-all-hidden desire on the part of his mom to see him married and giving her grandchildren. It didn’t matter that his dad had told his mom countless times to Let the boy live his own life. He’ll get married when he’s ready.

  His mom always responded by saying she just wanted Dean to be happy, that she was worried he was lonely out on the ranch by himself. That might be partially true, but he also knew that she really wanted grandkids to spoil absolutely rotten. By only thinking of how his and Sunny’s ruse would affect Jonathon, the twins, Sunny, even himself, he’d neglected to fully think about how this was going to affect his parents when he and Sunny split up and she left Jade Valley for good.

  And how were they going to handle the timing of things? They couldn’t believably start dating and get married and divorced during her current vacation. Were they going to do a long-distance relationship with her traveling back and forth to Jade Valley when she could? Was he supposed to fly to LA? That would cut into the funds he’d saved for the purchase of the ranch. Even with a possible loan he’d discussed with Ben Jorgenson at that bank earlier in the day, he still needed to be frugal.

  It wouldn’t matter anyway if he and Sunny didn’t iron out some more details.

  He stared at the bottle of cologne. Would wearing it send up a red flag to Jonathon that Dean was trying too hard to sell this relationship? Or would it actually make him believe the budding romance was real?

  Dean sighed. Maybe a little wouldn’t hurt. Plus, maybe Sunny would think he smelled nice.

  Yeah, he shouldn’t have those types of thoughts, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

  After a quick spritz of what he’d been told was a woodsy, manly scent, he stuffed the bottle back in the medicine cabinet where it spent the vast majority of its time and headed out so he wasn’t late for dinner.

  He tried to ignore the little buzz of nervousness that inhabited his middle as he stepped into the Breckinridge home a few minutes later.

  “Boy, why do you smell like you’re going on a date?” Jonathon joked when he greeted him at the door.

  As sure-footed as Dean was, the question nearly made him trip over his own feet.

  “I figured if I didn’t have to eat my own cooking tonight, then I shouldn’t show up smelling like the herd.”

  Jonathon’s quick laugh revealed that he didn’t buy it for a minute, and Dean fought the urge to try again to convince his boss that it wasn’t what he might be thinking. Because the plan was to actually make the man think exactly that.

  Everything was so much more complicated because Dean was pretending to feel things that he actually felt without letting Sunny know he wasn’t pretending at all.

  “What are you all talking about in here?” Sunny asked as she came up the hallway carrying Lily.

  “About how Dean here felt the need to break out the cologne.”

  Sunny gave Dean a startled look before she seemed to deliberately turn her back to her dad as she put Lily in the playpen with her brother.

  “What’s wrong with wearing cologne?” she asked as she turned back around, any hint of her surprise gone. “A person doesn’t have to be going out for a night on the town to want to smell good. It’s why I buy the floral shampoo I do. Isn’t it nice?”

  Dean pressed his lips together to keep from laughing as Sunny brought her head suddenly under her dad’s nose.

  Jonathon made the audible equivalent of an eye roll, as if to say he didn’t understand young people and their strange need to smell like the various flora.

  “I much prefer the smell of dinner.”

  Sunny smiled.

  “You act as if you’re starving when I know you didn’t leave a bite of the lunch I brought you.”

  “I haven’t had anything from Trudy’s since I bro
ke this stupid leg.”

  Despite staying busy on the ranch, Jonathon never missed his regular Sunday morning breakfast with his core set of friends while enjoying hearty meals that likely didn’t do good things for their cholesterol levels.

  “You mean Dean didn’t tote you into town so you could shoot the breeze with the other old geezers?”

  “Someone has to take up the slack around here,” Dean said, joining the teasing.

  Jonathon pointed at him then his daughter then back to Dean.

  “I don’t know what has gotten into the two of you, but I don’t like it.”

  Sunny laughed then planted a smacking kiss on her dad’s cheek.

  “You know you love us. And it’s not like you don’t give as good as you get when you have the chance.”

  “Yeah, you should remember that.”

  When Sunny glanced at him, Dean tried not to wonder if their ruse would include her kissing him on the cheek like that at some point.

  “Uh, you need any help?” he asked her, hoping he didn’t sound as flustered as he felt. His face felt as hot as if he was standing out on the range under the midday sun without a hat.

  This time, her amused smile was directed at him.

  “I’m not sure I want help from the guy who has on multiple occasions proclaimed that he has no cooking skills.”

  “I think I can manage to set the table without incident.”

  He almost made a liar of himself when he nearly fumbled a glass onto the floor a couple minutes later.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Sunny asked in a whisper as she leaned close. Too close for his comfort.

  “Nothing.”

  Sunny thankfully put some distance between them again.

  “Dad was right. You do smell nice,” she said.

  Dean really wished she hadn’t said that because she didn’t mean it in the way he wanted. It was all part of the act, evidenced by the fact that she’d said it loud enough that her dad could hear her if he was listening from the other room. He reminded himself that he’d agreed to this, and that he needed to contribute as much to the selling of the narrative as she did.

  “Don’t get a lot of opportunities to use cologne. Pretty sure the cows don’t care what I smell like.”

  “I doubt the hands do either.”

  Dean laughed. “They have no right to, smelling no better themselves.”

  When he heard Jonathon get up in the living room, Dean went to stand next to Sunny as she chopped tomatoes for the tacos she was making. As he heard the crutches coming closer, he leaned close to Sunny’s ear.

  “Think this will help?” he whispered.

  Sunny startled, and for a moment he was afraid she’d accidentally cut herself. He reached out on instinct to protect her and ended up with his hand atop hers right as Jonathon reached the kitchen.

  Dean removed his hand in a flash. From Jonathon’s perspective it probably looked as if they were trying not to get caught flirting, which was good for Sunny’s plan. Dean hoped Sunny believed that was why he’d reacted that way as well, and not because it had felt as if he’d stuck his fingers in an electric outlet.

  * * *

  DEAN WAS A better actor than Sunny had given him credit for because for a moment earlier he’d made even her believe he was actually flirting with her. But that made no sense. They’d known each other literally their entire lives. If there was any sort of attraction between them, wouldn’t it have made an appearance when they were hormonal teenagers?

  Maybe it was precisely because they’d seen each other all the time then that it hadn’t. It wouldn’t have occurred to them to be attracted to each other. Right?

  Why in the world was she even having those kinds of thoughts? She’d had to push them aside all throughout dinner.

  “How do you think it’s going?”

  “Huh?”

  Dean stopped walking toward his truck and turned to look at her, then pointed back toward the house.

  “Do you think your dad is beginning to suspect what you want him to?”

  “Oh,” she said, wanting to smack herself for letting her mind wander in odd directions. “I don’t know. Maybe. I caught him watching us a couple of times during dinner. Then again when you were helping me put the twins to bed.”

  “How quickly do you think we should move and have it still be believable?”

  “I wish I knew the answer to that question.” She continued walking until she was next to his truck then turned to lean back against the cool metal. “Maybe we should go somewhere beyond the ranch and do something together that looks more like a date. I can get Maya to babysit. Oh, by the way, she knows everything.”

  “I figured.”

  “Actually, I was going to hold off telling her, but you know how Maya is.”

  “A bloodhound in human form.”

  “Precisely.”

  Dean leaned against the truck bed next to her. “What about the rodeo at the fairgrounds tomorrow?”

  She nodded. “Sounds like a good option, nightlife being what it is in Jade Valley.”

  “Except that your dad will want to go too.”

  “And there’s a fifty-fifty chance that Maya will be covering it for the paper.” Seeing as how the paper only had one other staff member. “Is this why you’re not dating anyone? Lack of options both in dating partners and places to actually go on a date?”

  “Among other things.”

  She wondered what those other things were, but they weren’t her business unless he decided to share them. They were good friends, but not the kind who shared in-depth discussions about their romantic endeavors or lack thereof—except for the current fake one.

  “Let’s do the rodeo anyway,” she said. “Bring the whole entourage. It’s still an outing away from the ranch. I’ll even let you buy me something I shouldn’t eat from the concession stand.”

  “Ah, romance in funnel-cake form.”

  “Hey, don’t knock the romantic possibilities of a good funnel cake.”

  “If we keep eating sweets at this rate, our teeth are going to be as fake as this relationship.”

  “I’ll make sure I make a giant salad the next time you come over. And we’ll drink water.”

  “Who said romance was dead?”

  Sunny swatted him on the arm with the back of her hand.

  “Good night, Dean,” she said as she stepped away from him then started walking backward toward the house. “Be sure to brush and floss before you go to bed.”

  “I might even get fancy and use mouthwash.”

  “Oh,” she said, making it sound as if she was truly impressed.

  Dean laughed and shook his head. “See you tomorrow.”

  When Sunny reached the porch, she stopped and turned to watch Dean’s taillights disappear. For some reason she waited until she saw his headlights pulling into his driveway in the distance.

  Dean wasn’t only a good guy, a hard worker. He was also funnier than she remembered. Too bad none of her real dates were as easy and relaxed as these fake ones with Dean.

  * * *

  DEAN RETURNED TO the bleachers where he’d left Sunny, Jonathon and the twins, armed with two funnel cakes, a bag of popcorn and three sodas. He smiled when he thought about their dental discussion the night before. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so many sweets in a short amount of time. Probably over Christmas when his mom went full tilt on baking.

  First had been the cake Sunny had made for him when they picnicked by the river. Then apple pie with vanilla ice cream the night before. And now funnel cake and sodas. Good thing their pretend relationship wouldn’t last long or they were going to end up with diabetes as well as cavities.

  When he rounded the corner at the end of the bleachers, the smile dropped off his face. Ryan Taylor was sitting next to Sunny, and both of
them were laughing. Ryan wasn’t originally from Jade Valley, but he’d moved down from near Billings to help run his grandparents’ ranch. And even Dean had to admit the guy was good-looking. Just about every unattached woman between the ages of sixteen and seventy-six had taken notice of that fact since his arrival in town last summer. Dean was surprised there hadn’t been a county-wide arm-wrestling contest yet with Ryan as the prize.

  “Oh good, you’re back,” Jonathon said when he spotted Dean.

  Dean handed his boss the popcorn and funnel cake he’d requested.

  “Didn’t you get anything?”

  “I’ll share this with Sunny,” Dean said, barely resisting emphasizing her name while staring hard at Ryan.

  “I introduced her to Ryan,” Jonathon said. “Said he should come over for dinner sometime since Sunny’s been cooking so much that she’s going to make the two of us have to buy bigger pants.”

  Dean wanted to swat Ryan away like a pesky fly even though he actually liked the guy. He didn’t, however, like the way Ryan was looking at Sunny—the same way the local female population looked at him, like they could gobble him up with a spoon.

  “Thanks,” Sunny said as he climbed up to the spot next to her on the level above Jonathon and handed her the funnel cake and her drink.

  “Good to see you,” Ryan said with a nod.

  “You too.” Dean tried not to sound as unenthusiastic as he felt, but he was pretty sure he didn’t succeed based on the look Sunny shot him.

  “How long are you visiting for?” Ryan asked Sunny.

  Dean reached over and ripped off a significant piece of funnel cake and took a big bite.

  “I’ll have to go back to work soon.”

  Dean resisted the urge to smile.

  Lily started to fuss where she sat beside her brother in the double stroller.

  “What’s wrong, cutie?” Ryan asked as he leaned over and attempted to tickle her, which only made her start crying.

  “I evidently don’t have a way with kids,” Ryan said.