Harlequin Heartwarming March 21 Box Set

by Claire McEwen

  * * *

  SETH DIDN’T WANT to talk about his lack of cooking skills. He didn’t want to talk about anything except what he’d learned from Farley in the store. But he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. “Let’s just say, I didn’t eat anything I made, except the eggs and bacon or cold sandwiches.” He put his hat crown-down on the bench beside him.

  “Good to know,” she murmured. Elaine came with their drinks and set a mug and a small basket with some foil packets of tea bags in front of Quinn.

  “It’s nice to have another tea drinker around here,” Elaine said.

  Quinn’s smile looked a bit forced to Seth, but the waitress didn’t seem to notice as she promised their food would be out soon, then left. Quinn stared down at her mug of steaming water. “Is something wrong?” she asked as she looked back at him.

  “What could be wrong?” he countered. Except that she’d lied to him. Plain and simple. And he didn’t know exactly how to deal with it, but he had to get this over with.

  He watched her pick up one of the foil packets and tear it open. “I don’t know,” she said just above a whisper.

  He looked away from her, down into his coffee mug, then before he could tell her exactly what was wrong, he heard a familiar voice coming from across the restaurant. “Hey, Seth, there you are!”

  He turned to see Dr. Boone Williams striding across to their table. The man looked put together as always, in jeans and a thigh-length leather jacket over a chambray shirt. With his dark hair slightly spiked around his clean-shaven face, he was smiling broadly as Seth put his mug down and stood. The doctor’s timing couldn’t be worse.

  “This is a surprise,” Seth said as Boone got to their table.

  Boone took a chair from a nearby table and put it at the end of theirs between Seth and Quinn. He took off his coat, hung it over the back of his chair, then sat down and looked at Quinn. “So, you’re Quinn?”

  Seth could tell the man hadn’t lost any of his great bedside manner by the way Quinn smiled at him right away. “Yes, Quinn Lake.”

  “Good to meet you, Quinn Lake. I’m Dr. Boone Williams. I answer to Boone, Doc, or Doc B. Pick your favorite.”

  “Doc sounds good.”

  Seth cut in, “You were looking for me, Boone?”

  “Yeah. I was at Farley’s to pick up shirts on my way back to the clinic from Wolf Bridge. When I saw Sarge’s old truck out front, I came on in.”

  Elaine called from the lunch counter. “Your regular, Doc?”

  “Yes, thanks,” he called back, then turned to Quinn again. “So, how are you feeling?”

  “Starving.” She glanced at Seth, then back at Boone. “I’ve been told they have great food here.”

  “As long as Seth isn’t cooking,” he said, and scooted his chair closer to Quinn to get a better look at her injury. He nodded when he sat back. “Daniel did a nice job. You’re not going to have much of a scar.”

  “Daniel’s a good doctor,” she said, dipping her tea bag up and down in her mug again, and Seth caught her glancing at him. She looked away quickly, a touch of color in her cheeks as he turned back to Boone.

  “That he is. So, what do you think of this town of ours?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to do much sightseeing, but I’ve noticed that the people are very friendly.”

  Seth watched the two of them, letting them talk while Quinn nervously kept dunking her tea back up and down in the hot water. He looked down and tried to sort through his own thoughts. He’d asked Farley to send anyone looking for a housekeeping job out to the ranch. The thing was, Quinn had approached Farley about how to get to the ranch. She’d been looking for something related to the ranch…was it him? Allie had stalked him, waiting in the coffee shop on the ground floor of his corporate offices in Seattle for four days, hoping to catch him “accidentally” during his morning coffee run. That had worked for her, at least for a while until everything exploded. If Quinn was after him like that, how would she know where he was? Why, was it always the money? He felt nauseated.

  The food came, and while Boone told Quinn all about the town, she seemed pretty silent, and Seth ate without contributing to the conversation.

  “I’d like to see around Eclipse, but I don’t think I should take off on a tour around town…” She pushed her plate away, glancing at Seth.

  He had no idea what she was saying at first, then he understood. Doc had invited her to go sightseeing. He’d wanted answers from her over lunch, to take care of it here, not back at the ranch. He didn’t want Julia or Sarge involved in any way. It didn’t help he felt foolish he’d been so taken by Quinn. He obviously never learned, even after Allie, that the people who appeared most trustworthy could be the most conniving. He gave up on the talk there and then. He’d manage to do it privately after she came back from her ride with Boone. “Go ahead,” he said flatly.

  Quinn frowned at him, then stood. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Boone, then headed toward a hallway on the far side of the diner.

  Seth kept his eyes on her until she was out of sight, then heard Boone ask, “What was that all about?”

  Seth turned and ignored the last few fries on his plate. “What was what about?”

  “You’ve hardly said a thing, and you look annoyed that I asked Quinn to show her around.”

  Seth pushed his mug away. “I don’t care about your ride. She can go if she wants to.”

  “What’s your problem, then? You look like you’ve been sucking on lemons.”

  “I do have a problem to take care of, but I can do it later.”

  “Good. Do that. Meanwhile, I’ll take a pretty lady for a ride and see where that ends up.”

  Seth pushed away what was left of his lunch, too, and sat back. “You do that.”

  “Oh, man, you’re jealous?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. I’m guessing here,” Boone said. “I can’t figure out why you’d be acting like this.”

  Seth shook his head. “I’m not in a good mood. I’m sorry. It’s not about you, not at all.”

  “That’s a relief. Daniel told me about Quinn, said she’s a widow, pretty, funny, and I thought I’d introduce myself.”

  Seth sat straighter. He needed to get out of there. “I’m going to head back now. I’ve got things to do. Tell Quinn I’ll see her when I see her.”

  Before Seth could stand, Quinn was back, and his phone was chiming. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and glanced at the screen. Julia. “Hey, Julia,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  “I had to call the doctor for medication, and the rule is I need to keep you informed of such a request,” the nurse said. “So, Sarge had a rough morning, and the doctor approved a mild sedative for his use. It seems to be working.”

  “What happened?”

  “Sarge was talking about going to find Maggie, then he started to cry.” He closed his eyes when he heard her voice break, then she coughed softly. “He’s calming down, though.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “No, Seth, I didn’t call for you to come back early. I’m just following the rules that you were to be notified about a new medication. You can’t do anything about it.”

  “I’ll see you soon,” he said and didn’t give Julia a chance to argue before he ended the call.

  He put his phone away, then looked up to find Boone and Quinn both watching him. “There’s a problem with Sarge.”

  “What happened?” Boone asked.

  Seth explained, and Boone nodded. “That’s rough, but it’s all part and parcel of his illness. It’ll pass.”

  “I’m heading back now.” Seth started to get out his wallet, but Boone stopped him.

  “I’ve got it. Just go.”

  Quinn surprised Seth when she said, “I’m coming with you.”

  “Oh, no, I
don’t want…” He stopped what he was going to say. Instead, he said, “I can’t ask you to—”

  “You didn’t ask. I’m offering,” she said simply. Then she looked at Boone. “Rain check, Doc?”

  “Absolutely,” Boone said.

  * * *

  ON THE WAY back to the ranch, neither Seth nor Quinn spoke. Seth felt unfocused and scattered, his mind going from Sarge and his episode to what Farley had told him. He hurt thinking about Sarge crying, being so sad and disconnected because the love of his life wasn’t there with him anymore and he couldn’t understand it.

  He also felt conflicted about Quinn. He’d simply liked her in a way he couldn’t remember liking any woman in his past and after only knowing her a few days. He’d liked talking to her, seeing her first thing in the morning, and when she smiled, his world seemed better. But now he was questioning himself for being so instantly attracted to her. He had to take more than a few steps back, clear his head and get some answers from her.

  When they were driving up to the house, Quinn broke the prolonged silence. “I’m sure Sarge will be okay. Boone said it happens.”

  “Yeah, it happens,” he murmured and got out after parking. His phone chimed as Seth swung the truck door shut. He checked. Owen was calling, and Seth ignored it as he headed to the porch and took the steps in two long strides.

  At the door, he was surprised when Quinn stopped him in his tracks by grabbing his jacket sleeve. He turned to her, glanced at her hand on him, then when she released her hold, he looked up at her. “What?”

  She exhaled, then stunned him. “Are you upset with me?”

  “You don’t—”

  “Something’s wrong and you need to explain before we go in there.” Her voice was low, but her expression was tight. Those blue eyes held his.

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “You lied to me.” He could see it right away in her eyes. It was true. His heart sank.

  “Farley told you, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he did. You walked in and asked for directions to this place. He never mentioned a job out here, but you seemed really anxious to get to this area. I guess he gave you an earful about the ranch.”

  “Yes, I asked him about the ranch. Then after the accident when you mentioned a job, I thought I could get it and have a place to stay for a bit, and it would help you and Julia. I’m really sorry that I took the easy way out, but I needed to—”

  The door swung back and Julia was there. “Get in here you two,” she said. “I told you not to rush back. He’s sleeping.”

  Seth tossed his jacket onto the bench, put his hat by it, then sat to tug off his boots. “I need to be here.” He glanced at Quinn as she stepped out of her running shoes. “You should’ve gone with Boone.”

  She looked at Julia. “I want to help.”

  Julia shook her head. “Thanks, but—”

  Quinn never looked at Seth. “I can sit with him while he sleeps or read to him if he wakes up, or whatever you think he needs.”

  “You mean that?”

  “Yes, I do.” She stood. “Just take me in to him.”

  As the two women left, Seth stayed on the bench. What had Quinn started to say? She needed what? Then it hit him. She needed the job. She was in a strange place on her own. But she knew about the ranch. Or maybe she’d just asked for one of the bigger ranches that might need help. He hadn’t straightened that out with Farley.

  His head was spinning. He knew the lie wasn’t much of a lie, nothing like the lies Allie had dished out. It was just one lie, maybe out of convenience. But then again, the first time he caught Allie embellishing something, he’d managed to justify her doing it. He wouldn’t be that gullible again. No matter what, he knew he wouldn’t ask Quinn to leave yet. He owed her that after the accident he’d caused. She could stay until she was fully recovered from the crash. He’d keep an eye on her in the meantime and stop the foolish thoughts he had about her.

  He finally stood and as he stepped into the west wing hallway, Julia waved at him as she went into her room and closed the door behind her. He headed to Sarge’s room and the door was partly ajar. He heard Sarge saying, “Tell me about it.”

  Quinn answered. “Michael and I were in Arizona once and we took a tour around Tombstone. It was terrific.”

  “Did you see anything about Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday?” Sarge asked, sounding really interested.

  “Yes, sir. They had a lot of things related to them. They had a mock gunfight on the streets, and we saw the O.K. Corral. It was pretty great, but the weird thing was everything was smaller.” She chuckled softly. “My husband was over six feet tall, and he had to duck to go in the doors of a couple of houses, and the windows were small. Strange, though, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp both were six feet tall.”

  Sarge laughed. “You know, I’ve had to duck a lot to get through doors in my life. Now Maggie, she was small.”

  “She looks beautiful in that picture.”

  There was silence, and Seth braced himself to go into the room to stop the conversation before Sarge got upset or lost. Then Sarge spoke. “She was the prettiest thing ever. I sure loved her. I still do, you know.”

  “Of course you do. She’ll always be the love of your life.”

  Sarge sounded relieved. “You understand, don’t you? I can tell.”

  “I do. Michael passed away about a year and a half ago.” He thought her voice sounded a bit unsteady, but she kept talking. “Just because he’s not here, doesn’t mean I don’t love him as much as I ever did.”

  Seth closed his eyes, absorbing her words. Then Sarge was speaking. “Yes, yes, yes,” he said in a lower voice. “You know, I don’t say much about Maggie around here. I don’t want to make the boys sad. They loved her, and I can see that it hurts them if I talk about her.”

  “Tell you what,” Quinn said softly. “If you ever want to talk about Maggie, I’d love to hear more about her. She seems to have been a pretty wonderful person. But I think they miss her, too, and maybe they’d like to talk about her with you. Seth told me about how she wished on the Wishing Moon for the boys.”

  He chuckled, a low rough sound. “She sure did. She loved them. You know what else she loved?”

  “You?”

  He actually laughed. “Absolutely. I never figured out why, but she did. What I was talking about was Zane Gray books. She’d read them with me. I was never good at reading myself, but she had the loveliest voice.”

  “How about I read with you for a while?”

  “Yes.” Sarge sighed heavily. “Yes, please.”

  Seth backed up, then walked way. He’d thought it was better for Sarge not to talk too much about Maggie so he wouldn’t get upset. But now he understood his mistake. He loved her. It was normal to want to talk about someone you loved. Quinn’s words echoed in him. Just because he’s not here, doesn’t mean I don’t love him as much as I ever did.

  He headed back to his office and called Owen. He was relieved when he found the subject of the missed call had been about an encrypted file he needed unlocked. Seth hesitated, then put in another call to a service company used for background checks on new hires and gave them what he knew about Quinn. With that done, Seth went back to the west wing and quietly looked into Sarge’s room. The man was in the bed and Quinn was sitting in the chair to his right. The Zane Gray book was closed on her lap.

  He went in and was almost to Quinn by the time she realized he was there and turned to look up at him. “Sleeping?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said in a whisper as she stood quietly.

  “I’ll take over.”

  “Okay. Julia said to leave the picture there.” She motioned to the picture of Sarge and Maggie, a bigger version of the one Libby had given to him in rehab. It was on a table by his bed where he could see it easily. It showed a large man holding a petite woman to his side, her red hair
catching the sun light, and her smiling up at her husband. He knew Sarge would never stop loving Maggie.

  He sat down and couldn’t take his eyes off the man in the bed. Seth didn’t have to think too hard to figure out where he would have ended up if Maggie and Sarge hadn’t come into his life. Hate, anger and fear had driven him until the two of them had pulled him off the ledge. Whether that had been a plan or some coincidence, he didn’t want to think about where he’d be now if it had never happened.

  * * *

  FOR THREE DAYS after their trip into town, Sarge did well, but Quinn barely saw Seth. She wanted to explain about her lie, to get things cleared one way or the other. But she never got a chance. He’d popped in, ask how she was, then was gone. She felt as if she’d been shoved into limbo while he spent his time with Sarge. They played cards. Seth read to him, or they just sat on the couch and talked. He even managed to take Sarge for a short outing in Julia’s car. When he wasn’t with the man, he spent his time in the office or in his exercise room, sometimes far into the night.

  She suspected what had happened with Sarge had scared Seth, and other things, less important things, were pushed away for now. Meanwhile, she’d go in and see Sarge when she knew he was alone, and they talked. The older man missed some things, got confused about them, but he surely did remember his Maggie. She knew how much she needed to talk to someone about Michael and how people just seemed to avoid the topic when they got past giving her their condolences. But she was always looking for a chance to talk with Seth when they were alone. She just hoped when that conversation came it wouldn’t end with him asking her to leave.

  Near dinnertime on the fourth day, Quinn heard, “Hey, there,” and looked up from the homestyle potatoes she was making on the stove. Julia was coming down into the great room. “You promised Sarge a real meat tonight.” Her neon green running shoes were paired with jeans and a green pullover. As she stepped up by the island, she added, “For my sake, please don’t disappoint him.”

  “There’s going to be steak,” Quinn said, answering the smile on Julia’s face with one of her own. “I wouldn’t want him to fire me.”