An Unlikely Rancher

by Roz Denny Fox

  Ducking away, Jenna set out cups for morning. “Hold that thought for six months. Or maybe there’ll be fireworks before then. Tomorrow I’m telling my parents and my sister.”

  “I’ll phone my mom tonight. She’ll ask why we’re waiting so long.”

  They stayed up talking for longer than either should have since their mornings came early. But Jenna went off to bed thinking it’d been a productive, getting-to-know-more-about-each-other evening.

  Flynn was open about his life. He didn’t hold back. Andrew had always been reticent. She filed away the SID report. It was time to close that part of their lives.

  Andrew had died a hero. As she climbed into bed, she hoped Melody and Rob would also accept that, move on and be happy for her and Flynn. She spent some time rehearsing what she’d say to them.

  * * *

  IN THE DEAD of night, Jenna woke to Beezer barking and snarling. Jumping from bed, she put on slippers and shrugged into a robe. Rushing to the kitchen, she was stunned to see Beezer lunging at the door.

  It was so out of the ordinary that she ran back to make sure Andee was in bed. Not that she was a sleepwalker, but Jenna couldn’t imagine what else might turn the dog into a maniac.

  Andee was sleeping peacefully, her arms over her head. How she could sleep through the yapping was beyond Jenna. Backing from the room, she pulled the door closed.

  The noise had woken Flynn, too. He charged down the stairs, zipping his jeans and carrying his boots. “Something is going on out by the pens. There’s not much moonlight. It could be coyotes or a bobcat strayed down from the foothills. You stay here. Hang on to Beezer. I’m going out.” Bending, he yanked on his boots.

  Jenna grabbed Flynn’s forearm. “Don’t go. You have nothing to use to fend off a wild animal. All the tools, including the pitchfork, are locked up.”

  “I’m not going to let something slaughter your flock, Jenna. Hand me a kitchen pot. I’ll bang on it and scare whatever it is away.”

  She reluctantly did as he asked. Shivers climbed her spine as she latched on to Beezer’s collar. It was hard to hold him when Flynn opened the door. The dog was in a frenzy. Because she hated the very idea of Flynn facing some wild beast alone, she dashed to the laundry room, found Beezer’s leash and hooked it on, telling herself she’d go no farther than the porch.

  Once outside she heard cursing and shouting. Beezer strained at his leash. She would’ve rushed down the path, but concern for Flynn had her dragging Beezer back inside long enough for her to pocket the cell phone she’d left charging on the kitchen counter.

  As she jogged behind the straining dog, she was glad Barney had filled the potholes. All the while she expected the problem to be in the big pen that held all of the birds. They passed it and Beezer didn’t slow down. He continued on to the new fence.

  By then her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Enough for her to make out men on horseback. At least three riders were the ones swearing. She saw Flynn spring up and grab one man by his shirt. Two others still astride demanded Flynn turn loose the intruder he held fast by the scruff of his neck.

  Not knowing how to assist him, Jenna shouted, “Stop, all of you. I’ve phoned the sheriff, and I’m about to sic a killer dog on you.”

  The men on the horses practically sat the animals on their haunches in their haste to depart. They galloped off, leaving their pal behind.

  Jenna was near enough to Flynn to smell beer on the one who’d been caught. He continued to kick and curse and flail at Flynn, but it was too dark to see his features. She let go of Beezer’s leash. He leaped, toppled the assailant and stood over him growling until he begged for mercy.

  Yanking the guy upright, Flynn marched toward the house. “How long did the sheriff say he’d be?” he asked Jenna, who followed with Beezer.

  “I, ah, didn’t actually call. But I will. Let me turn on the porch light. Shall I get some tape to bind his hands first?”

  “I don’t know. He’s falling-down drunk. What idiots. They tore out some of your new fence.” Flynn shook the man, who kept his head down.

  “Oh, no.” Jenna reached inside and turned on the porch light.

  “Travis Hines? What in blazes?” Flynn ducked as the kid came up swinging again.

  Jenna stepped back, dialed 9-1-1 and explained what had happened.

  * * *

  THE SHERIFF ARRIVED in a jiffy. He was followed by Dayton Hines.

  “Sutton, I’m sorry as anything. I told you I’d talk to Travis after Pancho Villa Days, and I did today. Travis, what’s gotten into you, son? Who were your cohorts? Don’t tell me. The Carver twins. They own horses.”

  At first Travis clammed up and looked sullen—until the sheriff threatened to lock him up and let his pals go free. The young man snarled at Flynn, “Because you bellyached to him, my dad took away my plane.”

  “Good, it’s high time you assume responsibility for your actions,” Flynn snapped. “You’ve blitzed Ms. Wood’s pens since the day she moved in. This is your third mischief out here. You slashed my tires and canopy the other day, didn’t you?”

  “So what?”

  Dalton Hines exploded. “You did what?”

  “Your attitude stinks,” Flynn said.

  “He’ll make restitution for everything,” Dayton promised. “Lock him up for the night, Sheriff. Send a deputy to pick up the Carvers.” The elder man gazed at his son in disgust.

  Eventually they all left and Flynn and Jenna took Beezer back into the house.

  “How much damage did those jerks do to my new fence?” Jenna muttered.

  “A few top rails gone. Some of your trees trampled. They were so drunk they couldn’t rope the fence posts. Was your old life this exciting?” Flynn teased, brushing a finger down Jenna’s nose.

  “It was positively monotonous before I moved here and met you.”

  Flynn kissed her and aimed her back toward her bedroom. “We can’t check anything until daylight. I’m betting Papa Hines will have a crew out to repair the damage at first light.”

  “It’d do my heart good if he hauled Travis and friends out here to do the work.”

  “He may. Dayton didn’t become a business mogul by being a pushover.”

  * * *

  IN THE MORNING that was exactly what happened. Dayton Hines and Lew Carver were at the fence overseeing three young men suffering major hangovers. All mumbled apologies to Jenna.

  Lew Carver forked over some cash. “I want you both to know these lunkheads will spend their summer and possibly fall mucking stalls and harvesting hay for minimum wage until they pay me this money back. If they don’t learn their lesson, their mothers are dreaming up chores to last until they get their heads screwed on straight.”

  Leaving the men to deal with their offspring, Flynn took Jenna, Andee and Beezer to town for breakfast. Afterward he drove to the VA clinic.

  Jenna did hold his hand. And he passed his flight physical. “What shall we do to celebrate?” he asked, all but kicking up his heels on the way out.

  Slipping her arm through his as they walked to the Cherokee, Jenna leaned close to his ear. “Can we stop and book the church, just to be sure we have our ducks in a row?”

  “What ducks?” Andee asked, skipping along. “Are we getting ducks and alpacas?”

  “It’s a saying, sugar. It doesn’t mean real ducks. It means your mom and I are setting in motion everything it’ll take for the three of us to be a real family.”

  “And Beezer? He makes four.”

  Jenna touched Flynn’s arm. “Maybe we can have that written on our wedding cake. ‘And Beezer makes four.’”

  He grinned. “Hmm. I don’t suppose you’d put a dot-dot-dot after it, then add ‘and counting’? That might be...too, too...”

  “Yes, it would be ‘too, too,’” Jen
na said. “Behave yourself. My sister teaches history. She owns and lives by a gazillion calendars. I don’t want her crossing off days.”

  Flynn threw up his hands in capitulation. “Okay. December it is.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHRISTMASTIME IN NEW MEXICO, Jenna discovered, meant outlining the roof of the wide front porch with electric strings of luminaria. And multiple strands of a glorious red chili ristra tied with a huge raffia bow hung from the screen door to welcome visitors.

  Jenna and Flynn had spent the previous six months painting the house inside and out. And now, for the past two weeks, the old house overflowed with their families.

  Today, the morning of their wedding, was the first time the two of them had managed to sneak off alone to savor their coffee. They used the pretext of checking the new pens that were now home to woolly alpacas, and watering the newly replaced trees that had even grown a couple of inches.

  Flynn set one foot on a lower fence rung and tucked Jenna tight under his arm.

  “I’m thankful our paint job turned out so well. It looks like a prosperous ranch.”

  Jenna glanced back, admiring how the pale yellow siding gleamed in the frosty morning sun. “I wouldn’t have picked dark green trim. It’s exactly right. You did well, Mr. Sutton.”

  “Glad to oblige, soon-to-be Mrs. Sutton,” he murmured. Kissing her, he commented on how she tasted of the cinnamon coffee her mother brought from Costa Rica.

  Jenna sighed happily, basking in his warmth.

  “Have I said I like your family?” Flynn gestured toward the house with his mug. “Although I can’t believe Rob ran a background check on me.”

  Wincing, Jenna burrowed deeper. “I knew he would. But your sister didn’t do so shabby giving me the third degree.”

  “You must’ve passed. Yesterday our moms and sisters sounded as though they were enjoying one another’s company in the kitchen after Andee asked them to make Christmas cookies for her school party.”

  “How much of their jovial camaraderie was due to the jugs full of eggnog your dad whipped up?” Clearly, Jenna had found that amusing.

  “I’ve got to admit, it tasted great.”

  They turned in one motion as Beezer woofed and struck them from behind. The giant red bow the dog had gotten at the groomer’s hung askew.

  Jenna handed Flynn her mug and straightened it for the umpteenth time. “We’d better go back. If someone let Beezer out, it means the masses are up and raring to start the day.”

  “A very happy day,” Flynn said, his gaze softening on his bride-to-be.

  She threaded her fingers with his. “Do you teach any classes today? I heard you tell Rob you’d added a new student.”

  “I did. He’s number six. But no classes this week. We men are going to play golf today at the request of your dad. I hope it’ll work the kinks out of my back. You’ve no idea how glad I am last night was my last sleeping on Andee’s short mattress with her gobs of stuffed animals.”

  Jenna patted his chest. “At least we accommodated everyone by having her share my bed temporarily. Your sacrifice freed the upstairs for my family.”

  They walked past the massive motor home Flynn’s folks had parked at the side of the house. Looking at it, he shook his head. “I cringe every time I think of my dad driving that monster out on the highway.”

  “Well, it made me a believer that everything in Texas is truly bigger.”

  “Don’t you know it!” Leaning down, Flynn winked at her.

  Jenna blushed and dragged him back to the house, where her dad already had a fire burning in the fireplace she’d been so sure would never be used.

  Beezer claimed his spot on the rug. And Andee sat on the couch between her two doting grandmothers.

  * * *

  MUCH LATER, WITH everyone assembled at the church, Melody straightened the pretty blue necklace Flynn’s mother had loaned Jenna. “Your something borrowed and blue,” she said.

  Staring in the mirror, Jenna smoothed a hand down silk of such pale lavender her wedding dress appeared iridescent in the soft light of the church foyer. “I can’t thank you enough for buying me this perfect dress, Mel.”

  “I’m really happy for you, sis.”

  The gathering was the size Jenna had envisioned. Outside of family, a few of Andee’s new friends and their parents had been invited. It touched Jenna to see that Barney had bought a suit for the occasion.

  Her attendants were Melody and Flynn’s sister. His were their respective brothers-in-law.

  Over the course of the previous two weeks, the grandmothers had found time to take Andee shopping. They’d outfitted her in a long dress of sea-foam-green layers. She wore sparkly shoes and looked like a princess carrying a wand, which was really the lighter to use on the tapers that flanked the unity candle down front.

  Flynn’s youngest nephew wore a navy suit. He’d asked to be the ring bearer. His brother, at ten, insisted he was too old to be in such a girlie event.

  On impulse Jenna had invited Don Winkleman when he came to buy a second set of chicks from her. She was surprised to look out over the pews and see him seated next to Barney. And Andee’s school-bus driver, a jolly woman who stopped each day at the end of the lane, was there. Jenna spied the mayor, the sheriff and his wife, and Dayton Hines and his wife. Flynn had invited them.

  What an eclectic group of friends they’d collected, she thought as the organist started to play and the sanctuary fell silent to watch the wedding party precede the bride down the aisle.

  She tightened her hold on her dad’s arm and on a small bouquet of white baby roses. Next year she hoped to have blossoms like them on bushes Flynn had bought and planted along the house as his special gift to her.

  Thinking of Flynn, of her love, he walked out of a side room and stood near the minister, facing her.

  Tall, with wide shoulders and slim hips accentuated by the charcoal suit he wore so well, Jenna didn’t need the murmured reminder from her father to start her moving down the white satin runner toward him—to where they’d both speak the vows that would join them through good times and bad for however many years they were meant to have together.

  Flynn reached out and Jenna placed her hand in his, fully committed and finally without any lingering fear for his career.

  Her dad stepped back, leaving her with Flynn, who gazed into her eyes, raised her left hand and kissed the knuckle on the finger that would soon wear his ring.

  Andee sidled over and clutched her mother’s dress.

  Jenna and Flynn glanced down at her and smiled. Flynn slid an arm around Jenna and ruffled Andee’s curls. “Reverend,” he said, “the three of us are ready to get married.”

  But the next instant, their ceremony took a turn into pandemonium of the type they’d come to expect practically since the day they’d met.

  Beezer, who’d been parked by the entry, must’ve nosed open the door. With his red bow untied and flapping and his leash banging against each pew, the big dog slid and scrabbled his way along the satin runner until he reached his family.

  Flynn calmly picked up the leash and shrugged at a near-apoplectic minister. “Um, and Beezer makes four,” he announced to the delight of everyone in the church.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN-13: 9781460376300

  An Unlikely Rancher

  Copyright © 2015 by Rosaline Fox

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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