The Rancher's City Girl

by Patricia Johns

  There was something in the other woman’s enthusiasm that hinted at more than a simple riding lesson, and Eloise sipped her iced tea to avoid answering. It was flattering to be seen as a romantic option for the rugged cowboy, but Eloise wasn’t exactly “on the market” again after her divorce.

  The side door banged and the sound of men’s voices mingled with the clomp of boots in the mudroom where the men took off their work apparel before coming into the kitchen.

  “There they are.” Nora stood up and headed back to the kitchen counter. “Do you two want a sandwich?” she called.

  Eloise turned to see Cory amble into the kitchen.

  “Robert, can I get you something else?” Cory asked.

  His father shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

  Cory exchanged a look with Eloise and she shook her head ever so slightly. Accepting a sandwich from Nora, Cory slipped into the chair next to Eloise.

  Eloise cast about for a subject of conversation. “This is an interesting old house.”

  “My grandfather built it. I did some renovations when I took the place over, though.”

  Eloise’s gaze roamed over the walnut floors, glowing from a recent polish. A rough-hewn stone fireplace dominated one side of the sitting room, the opening wide and deep, and couches surrounded it. The couches looked worn, as if they’d been used for decades, but the wear and tear only added to the charm, making her wonder about the family members who made their memories surrounding that hearth. The kitchen was large and spacious, dark cabinets combining with the walnut floors to bring a cozy feel without sacrificing space.

  “A home says a lot about a person,” Eloise said. “So do his friends.”

  “Oh no,” Cory groaned. “What did she say?”

  Eloise grinned. “Not too much. She’s nice, though. I like her.”

  A smile twitched at one corner of his lips, and she chuckled.

  “You seem to be the most eligible bachelor in Blaine County,” Eloise offered.

  “To hear Nora tell it.”

  “And if you tell it?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked down at his hands. “I don’t want to waste a woman’s time.”

  Eloise knew that feeling all too well. Even though she’d known Cory only briefly, she suspected they’d understand each other perfectly. Flirting and dating might bring some excitement to her life, but she wasn’t looking for compliments and a dinner out. She was past the age of playing games.

  “Or your own time,” she added.

  “I suppose. I don’t want to get involved with someone just to break up later. It’s not worth the heartache.”

  She nodded. “I feel the same way.”

  “Is my dad doing okay?” he asked, lowering his voice.

  The old man slumped in his chair, his eyelids drooping. Eloise put her hand over her patient’s cool fingers. “Are you all right, Robert?” she asked quietly.

  “Getting tired,” he murmured.

  “And the pain?”

  “Two.”

  “Perfect.” Eloise looked up at Nora. “Would you mind showing us Mr. Bessler’s bedroom? He could use a rest.”

  “Oh, for sure.” Nora gave her husband’s hand a squeeze before heading toward the kitchen doorway. “Come right this way. I got your bedrooms ready this morning. I have Mr. Bessler in the front room—he can see the horses graze right out his window.”

  “Thanks for all of this, Cory,” Eloise said as she rose from the table.

  “It’s nothing.” His warm eyes met hers.

  As Eloise moved around the table, she sensed his gaze following her. She felt off-kilter somehow. Staying at an attractive man’s house was definitely outside her comfort zone.

  The men’s tones dropped as Eloise rolled Mr. Bessler from the room, and Nora chatted about the choices of bedrooms as she led the way down the hallway. She stopped in front of a door.

  “I’ll just let you settle in, handsome. You’re next door, Eloise. Cory sleeps down the other hallway, so you’ll have some privacy.”

  “Thank you,” Eloise said. “It’s really nice to meet you, Nora.”

  “Likewise.” Nora looked back in the direction of the kitchen. “Come on back when you’re ready.”

  Eloise rolled Mr. Bessler into his bedroom and began turning down his bed. The old man looked pale, the exertion of the trip seeming to have taken a toll.

  “It’s a pretty room,” Eloise commented. She opened a door and peeked inside a small washroom. She shut the washroom door and surveyed the bedroom. The head of a sturdy wooden bed was in the center of one wall, a tall mahogany wardrobe looming to the side. It reminded her of the Narnia novels—the wardrobe that held the doorway to a hidden world. A wooden chair sat by the window, a folded patchwork quilt tossed over one arm. The floorboards creaked under them comfortingly, and Eloise pushed her patient closer to the window to give him the benefit of the view. The window opened up over the winding road that separated them from the horse paddock, and she paused to admire the animals. She knew next to nothing about horses, but she recognized that they were well groomed and cared for.

  “You have your own private bath,” Eloise said, by way of making conversation.

  “That’s nice.”

  “Nora seems friendly, doesn’t she?”

  Mr. Bessler didn’t look inclined to cheer up. He regarded her with somber eyes. Eloise let the smile slip from her face.

  “Red?” His voice wavered.

  “Yes?” She squatted down next to his chair.

  “I need your help with something.”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “I promised Ruth I’d scatter her ashes. I never did.”

  “You wanted to keep her close. That’s perfectly understandable.”

  “But I promised her.” A pained look came to his lined face. “It’s one more vow I’ve broken, and I don’t like that.”

  Eloise nodded. “I get that. This would be a pretty place to do it.”

  “Lay my wife to rest on my illegitimate son’s land?” He stared at her incredulously.

  “What do you want to do?” she asked.

  “It needs to be off this land. I can’t die without doing the one thing she asked of me.”

  Eloise nodded. “I’ll help you with that, but right now you need to rest.”

  Mr. Bessler let out a soft grunt as she helped him to his feet. He shuffled the few steps to the bed and sank into it with a deep sigh.

  “Comfortable?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Good.” She moved his wheelchair to a convenient spot out of the way. “Robert, this trip is for you and your relationship with your son. I don’t want you to forget that.”

  “That’s baloney.” A smile twitched at his thin lips.

  “You need to tell me if there is anything I can do to help you. That’s what I’m here for.”

  “Oh, Red.” Tenderness entered the old man’s voice. “Young people are so naive. But life is shorter than you’d think. Don’t waste time.”

  Eloise stopped short, surprised at this sudden gentleness from her short-tempered patient.

  “Do you think I’m wasting time?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said bluntly.

  “What should I be doing differently?” she asked as she pulled the blankets over her patient.

  “Living.”

  “I suppose we all do that in our own ways,” she replied.

  “No, we all stall and avoid getting close to people in our own ways,” he replied drowsily. “Take a few chances, Red. When you get to my age, you don’t want any regrets.”

  The old man shut his eyes and exhaled a slow breath. Eloise stood silently, her patient’s medication sheet in her hands. Warm sunlight poole
d on the floor next to the bed, and outside the window, a rabbit ventured onto the lawn, nose twitching. Was Eloise stalling? Was she avoiding?

  The rabbit scampered away. With a sigh, she turned back toward the door.

  Chapter Four

  Cory hung up his cell phone with a sigh. A ranch hand had cut himself, and he’d need some medical attention.

  “What happened?” Zack asked from where he sat at the table, putting together the work schedule for the next month.

  “Barbed wire.”

  Zack winced. “At least we’ve got a medic now.”

  Cory nodded. “Yeah, thankfully. Can you stay here with my father while we’re gone?”

  “Sure.” Zack shrugged. “What do I need to do?”

  “We’ll ask Eloise, but if he’s already in bed, I doubt there will be too much.”

  Though Cory didn’t want to disturb Eloise while she was working with his dad, he couldn’t just leave a man to lose blood, either. So he headed down the hallway and knocked on his father’s bedroom door.

  “Yes?” Eloise opened it.

  “We’ve got an injury. Can you come?”

  “Give me two minutes. I just have to make sure your father is comfortable. Can someone keep an eye on him?”

  “Zack says he can stick around. He wants to know if there is anything he needs to do.”

  “Just listen in case he asks for something.” She flashed him a smile.

  “Okay.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the kitchen. “I’ll be out there when you’re ready.”

  Cory went back to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, his gaze overlooking the horse pasture. Zack hunched over the schedule, an eraser in one hand and a pencil in the other, deep in concentration.

  This land—this soil—had seeped into Cory over the years. At first, it had been the summer weeks he spent with his grandfather while his mother worked in Billings in a hotel laundry room. She couldn’t afford child care to watch him during school summer vacation, so she sent him to be on the ranch with her parents. This was the place he’d learned about life.

  He had also learned important lessons with his mother, but times were harder in Billings. They couldn’t waste money, and they carefully measured out the milk, never wasting a drop. He saw his mother exhausted from a long day at work, and he listened to those late-night conversations when she’d call her parents on the ranch and refuse to take any money.

  “No, no, we’re fine. I’m doing some overtime. Thanks for inviting Cory to come this summer. I’m going to miss him, though.”

  He’d learned thriftiness and self-reliance at home with his mother in their one-bedroom apartment, and on the ranch, he learned responsibility and hard work as he got up with the sun to start chores. He learned about delayed gratification when he raised a coop full of chicks to maturity before he started gathering eggs. He learned about the birds and the bees when he witnessed enough calves being born to spark the right questions.

  His grandfather had been the male presence in his life, and those early-morning rides out to the herd when the sun eased over the horizon, or those evenings when they stood together in the mudroom, washing their hands with a big bar of soap before going in for supper, were moments that formed him.

  His mother would visibly relax when she drove them up that winding drive, the worry lines in her face softening, and she’d heave a sigh of relief.

  “You’ll have fun this summer,” she’d say. “And I’ll be back in two weeks to spend a couple of days with you. You’ll behave yourself, right? You do as you’re told and listen to Grandma and Grandpa.”

  The lectures hadn’t been necessary, of course. Cory wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his time on the ranch. It was the one place on earth where he could drink all the milk he wanted and roam as far as his legs would take him. Looking out over the pasture, watching the horses graze always reminded him of those summer weeks when his grandfather shouldered the pressures, and Cory got to dream about owning his own horse one day.

  Who knew I’d have the ranch?

  He still felt a familiar surge of gratitude at that thought. This ranch meant more to him than anything else.

  A rustling sound behind him pulled him out of his memories and he turned to see Eloise in the doorway of the kitchen. She hesitated, green eyes meeting his. She pulled her curls away from her face, and her lips parted ever so slightly, and he could feel all of his orderly thoughts slipping away. What was it about this woman that addled his brain like that? He cleared his throat.

  “You ready to head out?” Cory asked. “It’s a pretty deep cut, apparently.”

  “Sure. Let me grab my supplies—”

  “I’ve got a fully stocked kit in the truck.” Cory pulled his thoughts away from dangerous territory and surveyed her attire. Her jeans were all right, but the delicate teal blouse didn’t look as if it would survive long out here. Dare he say anything? There was an injured ranch hand waiting.

  “Then let’s go.” She turned to Zack. “Thanks for checking on Mr. Bessler for me. He’s almost sleeping now. His painkillers have taken effect.”

  “No problem,” Zack said with a wave. “It’s good to have you here.”

  She turned and followed Cory to the door, then out to the truck. He pulled open her door, then headed around to the driver’s side. When he hopped up into his seat and the truck rumbled to life, Eloise eyed him tentatively. “Your father wants to scatter his wife’s ashes one of these days soon.”

  “Okay.” He put the truck into Reverse and eased out of the drive, then pushed it into Drive and headed down the gravel road. “Here?” he clarified. “Does he want me to do anything?”

  It felt awkward to be suddenly so intimately aware of his father’s dying wishes. Moving from boyhood fantasies of a superhero of a father to the startling reality of the dying old man was a shock to the system, and he felt mildly embarrassed at the mention of Ruth. He’d seen the pictures on the wall in the Bessler house, but so far, Ruth Bessler was little more than a shadow—a name his father mentioned with a look of annoyance shot in Cory’s direction. At least right now they were a father and son in the same house, but as soon as Ruth came up, it was as if miles suddenly slid between them.

  “I said I’d help him with it, so you don’t need to worry.” Eloise cleared her throat. “He wants to do it off your property.”

  Cory couldn’t say he was surprised. His father jealously protected Ruth’s memory, and he didn’t imagine that the old man would want to lay her to rest on his illegitimate son’s land.

  “That’s understandable,” he said. He scanned the passing horse barn out of habit, his eyes skipping over each gate to check that it was locked.

  “Why do you put up with him?” Cory’s tone was sharper than he intended and he winced inwardly.

  “It’s part of the job.” Eloise frowned. “But then again, he’s not my father, so I don’t have the same expectations you do.”

  “I don’t have a lot of expectations. I don’t even know the man.”

  “My patients all give me something unique. Your dad is no different.”

  “You must see a different side of him, because I can’t get beyond his surliness.”

  “He definitely can be a grump. But when he talks about Ruth...he really loved her. Still does, I daresay.”

  Cory didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure how much a man could love a woman while cheating on her, and anger simmered inside him again. For all of Robert’s adoration for Ruth, he hadn’t been able to love his only son, and that fact still rubbed him a little raw. Eloise turned her gaze out the window and pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Is it far?” she asked.

  “Just a few minutes. Things are pretty spread out around here.” He cast her a grin. “Don’t worry too much. This is Carl. He’s tough. In fact, I had to order h
im to sit down and wait for us instead of going back to work with a rag tied around his hand.”

  She smiled. “It’s different out here.”

  “We definitely have to be more self-reliant,” he agreed.

  They were silent for a couple of minutes as they bumped over the gravel road, and Cory glanced at Eloise. Her expression was conflicted, and he wondered what she was thinking about.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Her eyes flickered in his direction, and she shrugged. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Well, now I really do.” He chuckled. “Try me.”

  “I was just wondering... What was the difference between your father’s marriage and mine? He chose his wife. My husband chose the other woman. Why?”

  Cory slowed and maneuvered around a pothole in the road. “You didn’t have any suspicions about your husband?”

  “I had no clue.” Eloise looked pained. “I’ve gone over it in my head a thousand times, and I didn’t see any signs. Then one day, he said, ‘Eloise, I love you, but I’m not in love with you.’”

  “Ouch.” Cory grimaced. “That was his line?”

  “That was it.” Eloise rolled her eyes. “He said he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant and he was going to live with her. He held my hand while he told me, as if I were some doddering old woman.”

  “Or so you wouldn’t smack him.”

  “If that was his reasoning, it didn’t work. I still smacked him.” Eloise smiled, but he could see the sadness. She wasn’t over it yet. “I had to start my life again while my husband shopped for cribs with his mistress.”

  Cory tapped the brakes as they approached a cow barn, turning into a space in front of the door.

  “Marriage vows should count for more than that,” Cory replied, and somehow he felt as if he should be defending the good guys out there—pointing out that all men weren’t cads like her ex-husband.

  “They should,” Eloise agreed with a bitter sigh.

  Sympathy welled up inside Cory for this petite beauty—her self-worth rocked by a man’s inability to stay faithful. He didn’t respect men who ran around on their wives—his father included, even though his feelings toward his father were more conflicted.