The Cowboy’s Mixed-Up Matchmaker

by Valerie Comer

  “Sounds good. I spend way too much time sitting around on my computer editing manuscripts. The great outdoors is one of the reasons I wanted to move back here from Missoula. I have such good memories of all my visits to Dad’s when I was growing up, and I guess I want to recapture some of that.”

  A shadow fell over the end of the table as a large Stetson blocked the light from the wagon-wheel chandelier. “Hey, Lauren. Thanks for lancing that calf’s abscess. I thought you’d like to know his leg is healing up well.”

  “That’s great, Trevor!” Lauren beamed at the oldest Delgado brother. “I was hoping to make it up to Eaglecrest today, but we had a super full day at the clinic.”

  He nodded. “If you get a chance to check on him, I’d appreciate it. Just to be on the safe side.”

  Lauren mentally scanned the next day’s agenda. “Probably in the afternoon.”

  “Good.” He glanced over at Denae.

  “Trevor, you remember Denae Archibald, don’t you? Stewy’s daughter. She used to spend summers with her dad way back when.”

  He tipped his hat. “I’d never have recognized you from the scrawny little kid you once were.”

  Lauren winced at the way he mentioned his memory, but Denae laughed. “Trevor Delgado, right? Your dad bought out my dad’s ranch when he and Michelle moved back to Missoula.”

  “That’s right.”

  “It’s even funnier than that,” interjected Lauren. “Trevor’s actually living in the Standing Rock ranch house.”

  “It’s a lovely family home.” Denae gave a wistful sigh.

  “Trevor’s single.”

  The cowboy shot her an indecipherable look. Well, it was true, wasn’t it? He turned back to Denae. “You want to come up and have a look around sometime for old time’s sake, give me a call. It’s a real nice place.”

  “Thanks. I might do that.”

  Trevor tipped his hat again and stepped back from the table right into Anna’s path, sending their drinks sloshing on her tray. “Excuse me, miss.”

  “It’s fine.” She smiled up at him. “No harm done.” She wiped the glasses with a napkin as she set each on the table. “Your dinner will be right out.”

  When Lauren looked up, Trevor had disappeared, but Denae stared off into space with a little smile. “Whatcha thinking?”

  “Oh, nothing.” Denae swirled her glass, clinking the ice. “I can’t wait to get moved into the duplex. Dad’s driving up the U-Haul Sunday after church. Think we can round up any help to get it offloaded? Like maybe Trevor?” Denae giggled. “I shouldn’t even ask. Wow, he’s filled out fine since he was a teen.”

  Lauren needed to get her friend on the same page as her. “I’m sure James will be available. Maybe others.” At Denae’s raised eyebrows, she stifled a sigh. “I can check with Trevor.”

  Chapter Five

  Remind him again why he couldn’t ever turn Lauren down? Here he was, eyes wide open, walking directly into her not-so-invisible trap to set him up with her renter, all because it meant being near her for a few hours… which was all he could handle.

  She’d managed to round up most of the gang, though Kade and Cheri had sent their apologies. No surprise. Not only were they just back from their honeymoon, they had two little kids who’d missed their parents and would only be underfoot.

  James grunted under the weight of a walnut desk as he and Trevor navigated the narrow staircase’s tight turn.

  “It’s no easier at this end.” Trevor glared at him from above, bent over and hands gripping the narrow lip around the polished top.

  “I know,” growled James. “There isn’t any pizza worth this stupid desk.”

  Humor flickered in the other guy’s eyes. “If we leave it right here, I’ll have to jump out an upstairs window, and no one can ever use these stairs again. Might be worth it.”

  James turned the desk with an eighth of an inch to spare before leaving a scratch on the wall paint. “Got it.” Which meant they were halfway, and the worst was over. “Which way at the top?”

  “Back,” grunted Trevor, making the turn. “Says it will be her office.”

  “At least this is the biggest piece.”

  “You haven’t seen the bookcases yet, I take it.”

  Lauren and Denae jogged up the stairs behind them as they set the desk in the middle of the room.

  “Right over here.” Denae pointed toward the left. “I want to see the mountains while I work.”

  James hated to be a dream-breaker. “Window’s not that low.”

  Denae crouched, mimicking sitting on a chair, and her face fell. “Oh, no. I was so looking forward to the view.”

  “You could sleep upstairs and use the downstairs bedroom for the office. The windows are bigger.”

  “No,” James and Trevor said in unison.

  “Maybe I could get my landlady up here with a chainsaw to put in a bigger window?” Denae tossed Lauren a saucy grin.

  “In your dreams. Look, I know this place isn’t ideal. It’s much smaller than you’re used to. I get that, but there aren’t many rentals in town. I only snagged this from my dad’s estate so I didn’t have to live with my mother anymore.”

  Doc Yanovich had bought up several rental properties back when the town was half empty and houses were cheap. Lauren’s mom, Dora, had sold most of them after her husband died, turning a pretty penny.

  “It’s fine, Lauren. I was just kidding. Although if you had said it was doable, I wouldn’t have complained.”

  “What are you planning for the other bedroom up here?” James peered down the hall.

  “I thought a guest bedroom.”

  “There’s no way anything bigger than a twin box spring will fit up those stairs. Trevor and I are good, but we’re not magicians.”

  Deep in thought, Denae pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, but James’s gaze caught on Lauren’s face. She looked super sad, like it was all her fault. He stepped closer and bumped her shoulder with his arm. “Hey.”

  She leaned away just enough to break contact and looked up at him. “Hey, yourself.”

  “It’ll all work out.”

  Denae walked down the short hall into the other room, Trevor at her heels. Their low voices filtered back as they discussed whether Denae’s plan was possible. A tape measure rattled.

  Lauren shook her head. “Sometimes I think I should sell this place and buy something laid out a bit better. Quit having a rental.”

  His heart ached with all his hopes. “Why don’t you?”

  “It’s so close to the clinic. I thought at first I’d walk to work, but I need my Wrangler for call-outs, so I drive anyway. And... I’ve been here four years and it doesn’t feel like home. I don’t get to spend that much time here.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No need for pity.” She pushed off the wall and strode over to the small window overlooking the backyard. “I’m lucky to have all this. To have made it through vet school. To be a partner in the clinic my dad helped start.”

  He knew that. He remembered how hard she’d studied and planned to meet her goals. She’d always been independent. Driven. He admired that about her, but he wanted to offer her more.

  More what? He all but lived with his parents, and she definitely couldn’t walk to work from the ranch. “I’m thinking of building a house,” he heard himself say.

  She turned, arms crossed over her chest, her short dark curls framing her face. “You are?”

  That the thought had taken root surprised him, too. “Out on the ranch, of course. Probably timber frame. Dad and I have been looking at building spots.” He hesitated, praying his brain would catch up to his mouth. “I haven’t picked out a design or anything. The build might not be be until next year. I could use another eye analyzing floor plans.”

  Lauren pivoted toward the window. “Denae’s really good at stuff like that. She took interior design in college before deciding to become an editor.”

  When would she stop foisting her fri
ends on him? “I asked you.”

  She shrugged, her back still to him. “I don’t have opinions worth hearing.”

  “I think you do.”

  “That’s sweet of you, James. I’m happy for you. It should be a lot of fun, seeing your home come to reality before your eyes.”

  Fun? It sounded like a million piddly decisions, probably all coming in a machine gun blast during the busy tourist season. It sounded empty. Lonely. “It will be nice, I think.”

  “Denae’s spare king-size bed will barely fit in the room, never mind up the stairs,” announced Trevor. “No room to walk around it. You’d have to jump in from the doorway.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking.” Denae followed Trevor into the back bedroom-slash-office, her cheeks flushed. “I’ll have to go shopping for something smaller. Or does the Hats Off Motel have king beds? Maybe Dad and Michelle can rent a room when they’re visiting overnight. That won’t be very often since it’s only a couple of hours from Missoula.”

  “I have plenty of room,” Trevor said. “If you need a place to put up guests, send them my way. Any of you.”

  Testy Trevor wasn’t interested in the scrawny editor, was he? If it went both ways, Lauren would have to stop throwing Denae at James. Go, Trevor!

  “That might be a solution.” Denae beamed at Trevor. “It won’t happen often. I promise.”

  James turned to the hall, hiding a grin. “Okay, so we should figure out what else needs to come up these stairs, then. I heard there would be pizza, and I’m starving.”

  * * *

  James is building a house.

  Lauren couldn’t shake the thought. It meant he’d met someone — obviously not Denae — and was thinking toward the future. Who had caught his eye? She could envision a sprawling log house with a troop of little cowpokes in it out on the gorgeous Flying Horseshoe. A big kitchen, worthy of a ranch house, with alder cabinetry and a massive butcher-block island in a sea of granite counters. A woman stood looking out the expansive sink window, stubbornly refusing to turn and reveal her identity to Lauren.

  This was what she wanted for him. To fall in love, get married, and be happy. Right?

  It was. But only if the woman was her, and there was no chance of that. James didn’t love her. He’d had years to act on it if he did. Yeah, they were good friends, but there was a huge chasm between friends and lovers. If there was a way to bridge that abyss, she hadn’t found it.

  Lauren had stood staring into the postage-stamp-sized backyard so long that James and Trevor were stuck in the stair landing again, this time with a bookcase. They muttered to each other amid the thuds of wood on carpet.

  She couldn’t take this any longer. Maybe she should try to sell her half of the business. Sell her duplex. Leave Saddle Springs and her annoying, interfering mother.

  Leave James.

  Not before their thirtieth birthday, just in case he came through, but she’d consider it more closely afterward. Her heart warred with itself like a dog chewing its own leg off to escape a trap. She didn’t want to be James’s best friend or pity project. Not anyone’s. She wanted to be loved beyond measure. To be swept off her feet as someone’s entire universe. James’s sun and moon and stars.

  Was it too much to ask? God? Staring down the barrel at thirty indicated her dreams had been too big. Too crazy. Too selfish.

  One of the men grunted as they lowered the tall bookcase to the floor behind her.

  She turned. James wiped sweat from his brow as he grinned at her. “She’s lucky to have you for a friend, is all I can say. And that you know how to bribe your other friends.”

  Yeah, that’s all it was. James was a kind-hearted man who always watched out for the underdog. No mean bones in his body.

  Trevor laughed and jogged down the stairs.

  “Have you come up with a name for the filly yet?”

  Lauren shook her head. She’d probably spend less time naming her firstborn. Why this opportunity paralyzed her, she had no idea.

  “Tori’s threatening to call her Yanni.”

  She frowned. “Yanni?”

  “Short for Yanovich.”

  “Um, no. Terrible idea.”

  “My nephew suggested Mud.”

  “What on earth?”

  “Aiden is obsessed with puddles. Thankfully it’s starting to dry up out there and the grass is peeking through.” James studied her. “You haven’t been out for a few days.”

  It was true. The foal’s birth had seemed so intimate she’d stayed away all week. It had almost seemed like something passed between her and James that night but, just like always, time ticked on and nothing changed. Either he was the most clueless guy on the planet, or they really were only friends like they’d both always claimed.

  “While I hate to disappoint a three-year-old, I’ll come up with something better than Mud. Promise.”

  His eyes crinkled when he smiled. “I’m counting on it. Although Yanni isn’t so bad.”

  “Funny boy.”

  James leaned closer. “It’s your call, Lauren.”

  Her knees went weak, and she sagged against the window. Why was he so close? Filling her vision with his gorgeous face, neatly trimmed beard, and intense blue eyes? Filling her senses with his masculine cologne? Her ears with his soft, melodic voice? Although she could barely hear his words over the pounding of her heart.

  His hand touched her arm and then he was gone, his feet thudding down the carpeted steps.

  Lauren inhaled sharply and rubbed the spot where he’d touched. What was her call? Was he still talking about the filly? Because that was a whole lot of intensity for a newborn horse. Far more fervor than it deserved. Wasn’t it?

  She pulled herself together and jogged down the stairs. “Rosebud,” she announced, brushing past James in the doorway.

  “Rosebud?”

  “For the filly. What do you think?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Sure. Works for me.”

  “Okay, then. I’m off the hook.” She looked around the main floor with oversized furniture crowding the space. “How much more to unload?” The answer better be ‘nothing’ because there was no place to put it.

  “A few things for upstairs. Two more bookcases.” Denae smiled brightly. “And about twenty boxes of books.”

  Trevor groaned. “Why so many?”

  “I’m an editor,” she informed him. “And even before that, I was an avid reader. Consider them my collection.”

  “I carried in four boxes labeled figurines: fragile.”

  “That’s my other collection.”

  James looked out the open doorway. “Let’s get them before it rains. Shouldn’t take too long, right?”

  Ever the optimist.

  “I’ll head next door and get the pizza ordered, if you all think half an hour is long enough. What kind do you like?”

  James opened his mouth.

  “Besides you. It’s always double the pepperoni and add jalapeños for you.”

  He grinned. “You know me so well.”

  Did she? It wasn’t nearly well enough.

  Chapter Six

  Garret rocked his wooden chair in Java Springs back on two legs and eyed Kade. “So, how’s married life treating you?”

  Kade offered a lopsided grin and a small shrug. “Definitely can’t complain.”

  James focused on twisting his coffee cup round and round, listening to the ceramic base scraping the table. Being happy for his buddy was hard right now. Kade Delgado had always been one of the good guys. A loyal friend. A listening ear. Steady as the shifting seasons. He’d been jilted, raised his young son alone for over two years, and been reunited with the love of his life. He deserved happiness.

  Except it shone a shaft of light on the emptiness in James’s life. It’d been a couple of weeks since the day they’d moved Denae in, and he’d only seen Lauren at church since. He’d had no reason to call her to the ranch as a veterinarian, and no other schemes presented themselves. He hadn’t n
eeded schemes in the past. Pizza and a movie, a horseback ride, jamming some music... all valid. And now they all sounded forced.

  “And the new house?” asked Garret.

  James pulled his focus back to the conversation. “Are you happy with Timber Framing Plus? We’re thinking of hiring them for more guest cabins.”

  Kade shot him a sharp look. “That’s not what I heard.”

  “And maybe a house for me.” James shook his head. “I’m not sure I want one.”

  Garret’s chair thumped to all fours. “Why not? Man, I’d give anything to spread my wings a little. This working-for-the-parents thing has its perks, but living arrangements isn’t one of them.”

  James forced a chuckle. “Guess I always figured I’d build when I had a wife, and that seems farther off than ever.”

  Kade’s arms crossed over his chest. “Have you told her how you feel?”

  “And sound super pathetic when she doesn’t feel the same?”

  “Maybe she’s as good an actor as you are.”

  “You think?” James straightened. Was it possible?

  “You are pathetic.” Kade shook his head. “Are you seriously just going to keep letting things drift along forever? At some point, you have to man up.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  His friend’s eyebrows shot up as he offered a piercing look. “Easy to say, maybe, but not easy to do. You were there with me and Cheri. You know.”

  James did know. He sagged back into his chair. “Not forever, no. We’ll soon be thirty.”

  “And that’s significant because...?” Garret looked from one to the other.

  “Kade knows.”

  But Kade’s brow furrowed. “What’re you talking about, man?”

  “When we were sixteen. Remember? Dillon had just ditched Lauren, and...”

  Light dawned on Kade’s face. “And you told her if she was still single at thirty, you’d marry her.”

  “We high-fived on it.” That was practically the same thing as blood vows.