Rancher's Son

by Leigh Duncan

  Ty sucked in a breath.

  “You’re gonna cover up while we’re riding, aren’t you?” He nearly bit his tongue knowing he sounded a lot gruffer than he’d intended.

  Sarah’s eyes hooded. “It’s warm out,” she said slowly.

  Ty clenched his teeth so hard they ached. The woman’s sweet curves conjured up images of downy mattresses and candlelight, and he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. John had already shown an interest. Once everyone realized Sarah and Jimmy weren’t related, all the other single men on the drive would trip over themselves vying for her attention.

  Suddenly feeling a bit overheated himself, he stripped off the long-sleeved flannel shirt he’d pulled on over a plain white T. “Here,” he said, thrusting it toward Sarah. “Put this on. Cover your arms and…” Chest was the next word, but he couldn’t say it. “Sunburn’s nothing to fool with.”

  Sarah left his outstretched hand hanging. “I sprayed myself with sunblock before I left the house.

  “As fair as you are, sunblock probably won’t be enough. Wear the shirt.”

  “You won’t need it?”

  “I’m good.” His years on the Circle P made him practically burn-proof. He tried not to stare as Sarah took the proffered shirt and shrugged into it. “If some clouds roll in, you should be okay with just sunblock tomorrow.” He might even volunteer to spread the liquid over the freckles that lightly dusted her otherwise creamy white shoulders. Suddenly, the idea of spending the next ten days on a cattle drive didn’t seem like such an imposition, not with Sarah along to brighten the view.

  Ty bit his tongue. Distance. He needed to put some distance between them before he made an absolute fool of himself.

  “Okay, ya’ll. Let’s mount up and get this show on the road,” he called. Across the yard, one of his hands stood holding Ranger’s reins. He strode in that direction, giving orders as he went. “Seth, you help Sarah, there, with Belle.” He’d chosen the even-tempered mare for her ride. “Doris, you got Jimmy, right?”

  “Right, boss.” Doris had climbed into the Jeep beside the boy. Even though, strictly speaking, the law didn’t require one while they were on private property, she stretched a seat belt across the child’s thin frame.

  As the riders gathered for their final instructions, Ty counted heads and horses and vehicles, mentally checking items off his list while, in the back of his mind, he pondered ways to bring a full-fledged smile to Sarah’s lips by the time they reached the end of the trail.

  * * *

  SARAH SLIPPED HER ARMS into Ty’s heavy shirt, rolled the excess cloth to her elbows and tied the dangling ends loosely around her waist. Who would have guessed the big rancher hid so much muscle underneath a pair of long sleeves? Certainly not her. When he’d casually pulled off his shirt, the move had exposed skin that bore a deep, golden tan. Her mouth had gone dry, and she’d stared at the clouds, at the ground, anywhere but at the thin cotton that covered his chest like a glove. Now, with Ty on the far side of the yard, she thought it might be safe to breathe again. She inhaled. Right away she recognized her mistake as a crisp, manly scent filled her lungs. A delicious shiver rippled through her body.

  She shook her head.

  To say Ty Parker was a puzzle, well, that was an understatement. Whenever she’d met with his college fraternity brothers, Ty had been attentive and caring, seemingly dedicated to providing kids in foster care with the experience of a lifetime. Weeks later, the gruff old bear had marched into her office with not one good word to say about his two charges. And today he’d literally given her the clothes off his back before striding into the distance as if he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

  “You ready, ma’am?”

  Sarah snapped her focus back where it belonged. She’d sacrificed her vacation to give Ty and Jimmy a chance to get to know one another. Drooling over the man was not part of the job. She exhaled slowly.

  “Just a second, Seth. I need to check on Jimmy.” She covered the final distance to the chuck wagon. “Are you all set?” she asked the boy.

  Despite the restraint across his chest, the child bounced up and down on the seat. “Ms. Doris says we’re going to see lots of birds. She’s gonna show me some nests later. She said we’d see alligators, too. And snakes.”

  “Did she now?” Sarah flashed a concerned look at the matronly cook on the seat beside him, but Doris was busy settling a walkie-talkie into a holster glued to the dash and didn’t respond. Hoping Jimmy was exaggerating about the wildlife, Sarah pointed to a glossy-coated mare hitched to the post by the corral. “Mr. Seth and I are going to be right over there. You mind Ms. Doris and you call me if you need me.”

  “Don’t you worry about him. We’ll have us a good time.” Sounding far more tender-hearted than she’d appeared in the kitchen, Doris jiggled the radio once more before she gave Jimmy a quick squeeze. “I’ve got five of my own—all grown now, of course. It’ll be nice to spend some time with a young’un.”

  Satisfied that Jimmy was in good hands, Sarah followed Seth to the horse Ty had selected for her.

  “Her name’s Belle.” The grizzled foreman nodded at the mare. “She’s one of my favorites. Sweet, but with a little spice, if you catch my drift. Don’t be afraid to let her know who’s the boss.”

  “Thanks, Seth. She’s a beauty.” Sarah patted the mare’s long neck. When she scratched between the soft ears, the horse nudged closer. “I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. Thanks for earlier, too.” She didn’t believe for a minute that Ty had tasked Seth with the boy, but no harm had been done. If anything, she thought the rancher had learned a valuable lesson about the vigilance required of parenthood. And that was why she was here, wasn’t it? To make sure Ty was well equipped to be Jimmy’s dad.

  “You need a leg up? Or a stand?” Seth handed her the reins while he aimed a thumb at a nearby mounting block.

  “No thanks. I’ve spent a little time in the saddle.” Sarah stepped into the stirrup and swung herself up. Belle shifted slightly beneath her and air fluttered through her lips, but the well-trained horse remained in place. Sarah eased the mare forward and joined the others in a circle around Ty.

  “Happy New Year, and welcome to our first midwinter roundup.” The owner of the Circle P sat atop a big quarter horse. “Some of you have joined us on our annual summer drive. We’re glad to have you back.” He nodded to the men he’d introduced as Matt and Elliott. “As you can see, this one is a bit more low-key, but don’t worry. Doris’ll still whip up her world-famous biscuits every mornin’ and serve the best food east of the Mississippi every night.”

  “Thank goodness,” called Matt. “My mouth’s been watering for those biscuits for months.”

  Ty shot Matt a smile while a few chuckles rippled through the gathered riders.

  “The herd’s about ten miles away, scattered out around Little Lake,” he continued. “We’ll spend a couple of days there, rounding up about fifty head of cattle a rancher up in the Panhandle wants to add to his stock. Once the vet gives ’em the okay, we’ll start the trek to the cow pens in Kissimmee. Everybody okay with that plan?”

  When heads nodded, he added, “If you run into a problem, just tell me or Seth. Here on the Circle P, we’ll do everything we can to let you experience life like it was a hundred years ago.” He grinned. “Well, except there’s clean running water and refrigeration. Not to mention the trucks going back and forth between the ranch all the time.”

  Within minutes, Ty gave the signal t
hat it was time to move out. Whoops and hollers filled the air as guests and ranch hands headed across the grass and scrubland. Erect and holding Belle’s reins in the precise manner she’d learned for dressage, Sarah urged the horse toward the chuck wagon where Kelly had already guided her mount next to Jimmy. While the girl pointed out several bird species and quickly engaged the boy in finding new ones, Sarah listened to the youngster’s banter.

  After seeing that the kids were enjoying themselves, she dropped back. Up ahead, Ty rode with an easy grace, chatting with Matt and his friends. Sarah caught another whiff of Ty’s scent as she brushed a wayward hair from her forehead. Ty Parker was a man of many facets, but he definitely needed help to learn how to raise a small boy. And she was just the person to do that, as long as she didn’t let herself get too involved.

  A trio of sandhill cranes took flight and winged their way across the palmetto not ten yards from where she rode. It wasn’t Hawaii, Sarah thought, watching the birds and listening to their hoarse croaking calls, but a trek across Florida might make a good substitute. Some of the tension bled from her shoulders. By the end of the first mile, the jangle of metal and the soft squeak of leather soothed her misgivings about making the trip. The stark beauty of the saw grass and palms, the warmth of the sun on her back worked their magic, and shifting the reins to one hand, she let her wrists drift down toward the pommel like the rest of the riders.

  She’d just started to succumb to the mesmerizing sway of the saddle when her cell phone rang. The noise already seemed foreign in the land of palmetto and scrub oak. Recognizing her supervisor’s number in the display screen brought a familiar stiffness to her shoulders and Sarah frowned. Connie probably wanted to know why she’d never delivered Jimmy to The Glades.

  Sarah shook her head. Sure, she understood the rules. Most of the time, she even agreed with them. But she’d never understand a system that would force a little kid like Jimmy into a group home when he could just as easily stay with someone who cared for him. Knowing she had to decide whether it was a system she could continue to work with, she reached for her phone.

  * * *

  “SO I SAID TO THE GUY, you can’t afford not to invest with Triple Prime. But he still didn’t bite. Man, I tell you, I was sweating bullets. My commission for the entire year rested on this idiot, and I couldn’t get him to budge.”

  Elliott broke in on Matt’s story. “Not until the stock market plunged two hundred points the week before Thanksgiving.”

  “Lot of people lost money that day,” Ty said, not really interested but making small talk to keep his guests happy. Fifty years from now, who would know—or care—if the broker had closed the deal?

  Matt resettled his hat and squinted in Ty’s direction. “You follow the market, do you?”

  “Not so much anymore, but I used to. Before I came back to the Circle P, I was a junior partner at Jackson Cole.”

  “Seriously?” Matt’s eyebrows rose at the mention of the elite investment company. “What’d you do there?”

  “Handled mutual funds and annuities for the southeast region.”

  Matt whistled low and under his breath. “You ever want to get back into the business, you just let me know.”

  Elliott spoke again. “You ought to take him up on it. Matt’s great about giving his friends a chance.”

  Ty took in the beauty of the hammock they were passing through. Moss dripped from sturdy oaks, filtering the sunlight and creating a strobe-light effect he never tired of seeing. “Nah. The view here is better.”

  Matt flicked his horse’s reins. “Well, there is that. But it’s worth it when you land a really big account and the commission that goes with it.”

  For you maybe. But not for me.

  He’d had that life once. Even thought it was what he wanted. Coming back to the Circle P, he’d realized how wrong he’d been. It had taken a while, but now he couldn’t imagine waking up to an alarm clock instead of the roosters crowing in the henhouse. Except lately, he’d begun to worry about the ranch’s future. Parker cattle had grazed on the Circle P for close to a hundred and fifty years. The thought of the land passing into the hands of someone like Ol’ Man Tompkins gave Ty a bad case of heartburn. He refused to consider the other alternative—that some developer would snap it up, bulldoze the trees, drain the swamps and erect a city.

  The possibility of a child to carry on at the Circle P, now, that would change things.

  Ty tipped his hat back and wiped his forehead. When he and Millie were still in the honeymoon phase of their marriage, they’d decided to wait until Ty made full partner before they had a child. If anything, his ex-wife had been even more determined not to have a baby after they moved back to the ranch. He glanced over one shoulder at the chuck wagon. There wasn’t much chance she’d changed her mind or that the boy was his.

  He drew his hat brim down to shade his eyes while Matt groused about the lengths he’d had to go to bag another wealthy client. His brother Elliott made a good wingman, chiming in as if on cue, pointing out places where a less savvy businessman might have lost the account. Ty waited for a lull in the conversation before he made his excuses and let Matt and Elliott ride on without him. He drifted back, joining the group that followed, exchanging a few words with each of the riders and making sure all his clients were enjoying themselves.

  “Ya’ll doin’ all right?” he asked as he fell in beside Tom and Hope Garrison toward the back of the pack.

  “Couldn’t be better,” exclaimed Tom. “I tell you, the opportunities for bird watching around here are spectacular. You should consider doing more tours specifically geared for birders, like us.”

  “You think there’d be enough interest?” Ty asked.

  “Are you kidding? According to the Audubon Society, birding is the fastest growing sport in North America. Why, thousands attend the annual festival in Brevard County.”

  Hope raised her binoculars in time to watch a white ibis taking flight. “And Lake Okeechobee is a migratory mecca. Your cattle drive offers the perfect opportunity to see hundreds of species up close, instead of from a tour bus.”

  “So, I take it you’re not really interested in the cows themselves.”

  “Oh, no,” answered Tom. “We’re hoping to spot a Smooth-billed Ani.” He lowered his own binoculars. “I hope that’s okay.”

  “Hey, whatever makes you happy,” Ty said, giving the man and his wife his best aw-shucks grin while he made a mental note to look into Tom’s suggestion. In winter, cattle buyers were scarcer than hens’ teeth, which made turning the winter roundup into an annual event somewhat difficult. But a birding trail ride? It was definitely worth consideration. He couldn’t deny how much he’d welcome another revenue stream for the Circle P.

  He listened to Tom and Hope talk about birding for a while before a particular egret caught their attention. As they pulled off the trail, reaching for spiral-bound notebooks and pencils to record the sighting, Ty let the chuck wagon pass by. He waited until Sarah, the last of the trail riders, caught up with him. So far she’d stuck to herself, and he intended to ask if she preferred riding alone. If so, he’d respect her wishes. If not, though…well, he liked to get to know all the guests on his cattle drives, didn’t he?

  Noting her comfortable seat, he drew in alongside her. “You look like you’ve done this before a time or two.”

  “Not since college, but it’s all coming back.”

  “Where’d you go?” Ty asked, aware of the vague tautn
ess in her smile and wishing he could help her relax.

  “Gainesville. Both undergrad and grad school.”

  “A fellow Gator.” He smiled. He’d always associated her reserved manner with an Ivy League education and was surprisingly pleased to learn they’d attended the same state university. “I have my master’s in Finance from there.”

  Sarah hiked an eyebrow above her sunglasses. “What’s a guy with a master’s degree doing on a cattle ranch?”

  “Long story,” Ty answered, uncertain whether he was glad for the opportunity to talk about his past with the woman. “I grew up here.” He swept his arm through the air in an all-encompassing gesture. Circle P land stretched in every direction for as far as anyone could see and beyond. “Loved it as a kid. Resented it as a teen. Couldn’t wait till the day I left for college and said goodbye to my last cow patty.”

  “A lot of kids want something different from the lives their parents lived,” Sarah said softly.

  Had it been that way for her? Or had something else led her into social work? When she didn’t volunteer the information, he filed his questions away for another time. “That was me. Millie, too. She hated the ranch more than I did.”

  “So, why’d you come back?”

  “Same reason as most, I guess. Dad got sick and there wasn’t anyone else—no brothers or sisters. The only other person who could have pitched in was my friend J.D., and he was in the marines. So, I took a leave of absence from my job and moved home to help out. I thought it’d be just for a little while. Till Dad got better. But things didn’t work out that way. The cancer took him quicker than anyone imagined.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” Sarah murmured. After a pause, she asked, “But you stayed on?”

  “Yeah. Ranching was in my blood, I guess.” He relaxed his grip to give Ranger a little more rein. “Once I’d been back on the Circle P for a while, I knew I didn’t ever want to be anywhere else. Millie, she wasn’t happy, but I thought she’d get used to it. She proved me wrong by leaving.”