The Rancher's Unexpected Twins--A Clean Romance

by Trish Milburn

  Even though he’d acknowledged her text with a simple okay, it was still after dark when she heard his truck pull up outside. She stirred the pot of chili then glanced over her shoulder as the front door opened. In the same moment, Dean sneezed three times in quick succession.

  Sunny dropped the lid back onto the pot and walked toward him.

  “Are you sick?”

  He looked up as if he was surprised to see her there then shook his head.

  “I’m fine. Just a little chilled from the rain. The wind shifted and it’s cooler than normal.”

  She pointed down the short hallway to the bathroom. “Go take a hot shower then come eat.”

  He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  While he was in the bathroom, she fed the twins and played with them, dutifully laughing every time they stacked then knocked over a few of their soft fabric blocks decorated with letters and animals. When she heard the shower shut off, she caressed Lily and Liam atop their heads then left them to amuse each other within the safety of their playpen.

  After Dean was dressed in dry clothes and emerged from the bathroom, she heard him sneeze again. She needed to get some hot food into him to finish driving out the chill.

  As soon as he sat down at the table and she placed his food in front of him, her phone rang. She started to ignore it but then saw it was her boss. Considering he typically texted, she figured she should pick up.

  “Sorry. Duty calls.” She took the phone and retreated to the bedroom.

  “Hey, Mike. What’s up?”

  “You, on an airplane soon.”

  She resisted sighing at Mike’s no-filter way of speaking. He only managed to filter himself when speaking with clients.

  “I’ve been doing my work satisfactorily from here, right? And by me taking a break from traveling, it’s giving others more experience in the field.”

  “While all true, you’re going to want to come back soon. A position is opening up that will allow you to build a new division and pick the type of clients you want.”

  A surge of excitement shot through Sunny. “Really?”

  “But you’re going to have to work for it. It’s company-wide, so you will be competing with the top people from other branches. Each of you will be presenting a proposal for the new division, and the executives will choose the one they like the best and let the new division head launch their proposal.”

  “How long do I have to prepare?” Being in charge of an entire division built by her was more than she’d dreamed of for the immediate future.

  “That’s still being discussed. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear, but I wanted to give you a heads-up so you could start working up a killer plan.”

  Her excitement dimmed a fraction. She was already so busy, but this was a huge opportunity.

  One that would take her away from Jade Valley sooner than she’d expected.

  When one of the twins let out a wail, she thanked Mike again then ended the call. But by the time she took the few steps required to return to the living room, Dean already had Lily up in his arms, bouncing her gently as he talked in a soothing voice.

  “Your aunt’s on an important call,” he said as if Lily would understand what he was saying. “We need to be quiet so she can talk.”

  Sunny stopped and stared at the picture they made together. If she didn’t know Lily was her brother’s child, she could easily assume Dean was her father. He seemed so at ease with the twins, as if he knew exactly how to speak to them in order to bring calm to their little world.

  He spotted Sunny but didn’t stop his movements meant to soothe his tiny companion.

  “Sorry, I should have shut the door before I came to pick her up.”

  Sunny shook her head. “No, I was at the end of the conversation when she started crying. I should check her diaper.”

  “I checked. She’s not wet. I think she just missed being able to see my handsome face.”

  The comment was so unexpected, especially after how she and he had been keeping their distance since the kiss, that she didn’t immediately react. But when she saw his teasing grin, she laughed. Then she directed her attention to her niece.

  “Lily, never date a man who is full of himself. Nothing but trouble.”

  Dean made an exaggerated expression of shock, which alleviated more of the tense feeling Sunny had been walking around with lately. She stepped forward and took Lily from him then pointed at the table.

  “Finish your dinner.”

  Lily continued to border on being fussy, so Sunny held her in her lap as she ate her own food and listened as Dean talked about how the mountain lion that had given everyone a scare on their wedding day had been trapped farther up the valley and relocated to a more remote area to protect not only residents and cattle but the lion itself.

  “That’s a relief.”

  “Now if Mother Nature would cooperate. I don’t want a drought, but I’d like to not have to swim through my days either.”

  But as the next few days progressed, the unusual rain seemed to have settled in for a good long stay. Sunny felt bad that her job allowed her to stay dry and warm indoors while Dean got wet on a regular basis despite his inclement-weather gear. Despite trying to keep her focus on taking care of the twins and the various projects she had going, her thoughts strayed to him often. Strayed to the kiss that hadn’t been given for the benefit of a crowd they needed to convince of their relationship.

  After a long session at her computer communicating with festival committee members, writing her next travel piece for Maya and working on her proposal she planned to present to the company in hopes of earning the promotion, she quickly loaded Lily and Liam in the car and headed to her dad’s house. She and Dean had started having family dinner with her dad a couple of times a week, and each time she had to try to ignore how domestic and easy it felt.

  “First day it isn’t raining, I’m going to grill so much meat I’ll be able to feed the county,” her dad said as she set about fixing dinner. He stood staring out the window at the gray day outside.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  When Dean arrived and left his wet coat, hat and boots on the front porch, she asked if he wanted to go home to shower and change before eating.

  He shook his head. “I’m okay. I’ll dry off in a few minutes.”

  They’d barely taken their seats at the table when there was a knock at the door. When her dad called out for the person to enter, Carlos quickly stepped inside, concern on his face.

  “What is it?” Dean asked, already getting to his feet.

  “Billy just rode in, said there’s a break in the fence and the cattle are filing through.”

  Sunny knew not only the logistical problems with getting all the cattle back into the pasture so they could fix the fence, but also the danger if the herd got too close to the swollen river. All the rain had the river higher than she’d ever seen it, even during spring runoff, and it was flowing fast.

  As Dean headed for the door, she followed. She didn’t even need to tell her dad to take care of the twins.

  “You don’t have to go,” Dean said when he noticed her intention.

  “One more set of experienced hands will make this go faster. I might not have done it in a while, but I still know how to herd cattle.”

  Thankfully her slicker, hat and boots were still in her room, so she prepped quickly. By the time she reached the barn, Dean had both his and her horses ready to go. Even wearing protective gear, the slanting rain made its way down her collar and she shivered as she rode alongside Dean. When they met up with Carlos, AJ and Billy, who had gone ahead with a utility vehicle loaded with fence-mending supplies, she realized that the incessant rain had probably loosened the soil so that some of the poles had toppled when brushed against by cattle.

  Though it had been a while since she’d done th
is type of ranch work, it was still second nature. As AJ prepped the mending materials and Carlos and Dean rode farther out, down toward where the river was out of its banks, she and Billy herded closer to the break in the fence. When they had the cattle where they were supposed to be, they made sure the cattle didn’t stray back over.

  A yell drew her attention toward the river, where Dean had lassoed a calf that had managed to get too close to the rushing water. She couldn’t look away as he struggled against the panicking calf. And then his horse stumbled, dumping Dean into the river.

  “Dean!” She spurred her horse, racing toward where he’d disappeared below the churning brown water.

  No, no, no! She couldn’t lose anyone else. She wouldn’t.

  His head and an arm appeared above the water, and Carlos headed in that direction. Sunny followed in his tracks. She could barely keep her eyes open against the rain, but she was determined not to lose sight of Dean. Carlos quickly threw out a lasso, but it fell behind Dean and out of his reach.

  Sunny spurred harder, hoping her own horse didn’t slip and fall. She had to get out ahead of Dean so that the timing of her own lasso would be right. Her heart beat faster than the horse’s hooves as she prayed her aim was true. When she let the rope fly, it honestly felt as if it moved in slow motion through the air.

  Please, please, please!

  At first Dean’s reach for the rope failed, but then the water swirled in the right direction and he latched on. Sunny didn’t even have time to sigh in relief before she quickly wrapped her end of the rope around the pommel of her saddle and started backing her horse up, not willing to take her eyes off Dean while he was still in danger. Though he was no doubt exhausted, he wrapped the rope tightly around his arm and kicked himself in the direction of the shore as she pulled.

  She made the horse take a couple more steps back even after Dean was free of the water, irrationally worried that the rushing river would reach out and pull him back in. When he weakly held up a hand, she leaped to the ground and rushed toward him as Carlos, AJ and Billy joined them.

  Dean was coughing up the water he’d swallowed during his brush with death, and she immediately helped him sit up when she dropped to her knees beside him. She didn’t ask if he was okay because that was a stupid question. Instead, she placed one hand against his back and wrapped the other around his upper arm. It felt like a decade passed before he finally stopped coughing.

  Sunny fought tears even though they’d probably be indistinguishable from the rain rolling down her cheeks since she’d managed to lose her hat somewhere.

  “Are you injured anywhere?” Carlos asked while Sunny wondered if the fear she’d just experienced had eradicated her ability to speak.

  Dean shook his head, but his fatigue was obvious.

  “How’s the horse?”

  “Fine, calf too. Spooked but no injuries.”

  “Stop worrying about the horse,” Sunny said, but her words were so quiet they were swallowed by the weather.

  Dean started to push to his feet. “We need to get these cattle rounded up and the fence mended.”

  “We’ll handle that,” Billy said.

  Again, Dean shook his head. “Faster with all of us working.”

  “Are you an idiot?” This time her words were heard loud and clear by everyone. All four men looked at her, but her focus remained on Dean, who coughed again. “You almost died just now and you want to go back to rounding up cows as if nothing more happened than a sneeze?”

  Dean looked confused, as if he couldn’t understand why she was so angry.

  “You’re going home, taking a hot shower, eating some hot soup and going to bed with every quilt in the house piled on top of you.”

  “I’ll do all that once the work is done.”

  She tried to get him to listen to reason but finally gave up, deciding that helping get the work done would get him home, dry and warm faster. By the time all the cattle were accounted for, the fence repaired and they’d ridden back to the barn, Dean was coughing and sneezing. Sunny would bet every penny she had he was shivering too.

  “You get him home,” Carlos said when they reached the barn. “We’ll take care of the horses and let your dad know what’s going on.”

  She looked toward her dad’s house, hoping he was coping with the twins okay.

  “Don’t worry. The kiddos will be fine. I’ll help him out if he needs it.”

  “Thank you.”

  It was a testament to how bad Dean was feeling that he didn’t argue to take care of his own horse, instead letting her drive him home and get him into the house. All potential embarrassment fled as she escorted him straight to the bathroom after he discarded his slicker and toed off his sodden boots outside the front door.

  “I can manage,” he said in a not very convincing tone.

  “Hush.” She pushed his hands out of the way and proceeded to unbutton his shirt. Her heart rate kicked up again when his bare chest was right in front of her. She’d of course seen it when they were younger and they’d swum in the river, but it was the chest of a full-grown man now and nicely made. The chest of her lawfully wedded husband.

  She shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Dean asked, his voice tired but also holding a hint of teasing.

  “You scared me nearly all the way to death.” She said those words to distract herself and him from any physical attraction on her part, but they were also painfully true.

  Dean placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “I’m fine.” But then he coughed, and she didn’t like how deep in his chest it was.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t sound fine.” She spun out of his grasp and turned on the hot water in the shower. Before she could face him again, he hugged her from behind. Sunny froze and not because of how chilled his skin felt.

  “Thank you for saving me,” he said close to her ear, then pulled away and pushed her out of the bathroom. “I’ll manage the rest myself.”

  She turned around in time to see the door close in her face, which was probably for the best since the only thing he’d still been wearing that wouldn’t have been really embarrassing to remove were his socks.

  A knock at the front door startled her from her thoughts.

  Please don’t let something else have happened.

  When she opened it, Maya stood there with two plates covered in aluminum foil.

  “Your dad told me to bring you these,” Maya said. “He called me when you rode out, and Carlos just told us what happened. Is Dean okay?”

  “He’s taking a hot shower. After he gets some food in him, I’m sending him to bed. He’s already coughing and sneezing, so I don’t want it to get worse.”

  Maya gave her a look that Sunny was too tired to identify. Instead, she accepted the plates and stepped back so Maya could come in out of the damp air. But Maya shook her head.

  “I’m just making the delivery. I’m going to go back and help your dad with the babies. I doubt Dean wants company right now anyway.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You know you don’t have to thank me for stuff like this. I love every opportunity I get to give your dad a hard time.”

  Sunny smiled, knowing that both her dad and Maya loved their routine of good-natured teasing.

  After Maya left, Sunny realized that Dean didn’t have any clean clothes in the bathroom. She deposited the food on the table then hurried into his bedroom to pull out something comfortable to sleep in. Right as she reached the bathroom door, the water shut off. She knocked lightly.

  “I’m going to open the door to leave some clothes for you.”

  “Okay.” Even that single word sounded as if it took a lot of effort.

  She opened the door only wide enough to slip the clothes through and place them on the vanity. Her gaze lifted to the mirror, but thankfully it was fogged over
.

  If Dean didn’t need to eat, she would have sent him directly to bed as soon as he walked into the kitchen. Instead, she pulled out his chair then went to grab one of the quilts off the couch. She wrapped it around his shoulders but left his arms free so he could feed himself.

  She didn’t initiate conversation, partly because he didn’t need to expend the energy but mainly because she didn’t think she could talk about what happened without crying. To be honest, she felt very close to the edge simply sitting across from him.

  “I’m okay,” he said, unprompted, repeating what he’d said in the bathroom as if she either hadn’t heard him or hadn’t believed him the first time.

  Against all her efforts, two tears broke free and rolled down her cheeks.

  “I can’t survive losing anyone else,” she said, not looking up at him and trying not to think about how much he’d come to mean to her, more than he had even during their long friendship.

  “You didn’t. I’m right here.” He reached across the table and placed his hand atop hers. When she tried to pull away, he didn’t let her. “Look at me.”

  She hesitated, not quite sure why since she’d already lost the battle with her tears. When she finally met his gaze, he squeezed her hand.

  “You’re not going to lose me.”

  That’s where he was wrong. Whether she convinced her dad to come to California with her or not, she was eventually going back. Sooner rather than later because of the promotion presentation. And when she went, Dean wouldn’t be with her. It would be the beginning of the end for them.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  DESPITE REASSURING SUNNY that he was fine, words she needed to hear, Dean felt like death. He’d come closer to actual death in that flooded river than he ever had in his life, and he had zero energy left. It was all he could do to lift his fork to his mouth to fill his empty stomach. He couldn’t even clean his plate though.

  “Come on, you’re going to bed,” Sunny said, rounding the table and putting her arm around his back as he stood. When he tried to head toward the couch, she steered him instead toward his room. “You are sleeping in your own bed tonight. You need room and comfort and every quilt and blanket I can pile on top of you.”