Home on the Ranch: Texas Cowboy, Be Mine

by Trish Milburn

  You still got two good arms, don’t you?

  He smiled, thinking about that long-ago moment that had set him on the path to carving little horses out of scrap pieces of wood he found lying around the ranch. He didn’t do it much anymore because he didn’t have the time. But whenever he couldn’t sleep, he sometimes found some peace in the familiar hobby. In the days right after his mom’s diagnosis, he’d carved a dozen of them. They were now all living in a wooden crate out in the barn along with many of his earlier efforts.

  “What’s that smile for?” Mildred asked.

  “Just thankful Mom has such a good friend.”

  “Well, that’s not hard. She’s a good woman and she’s been there for me on more than one occasion.” No doubt she was thinking about when his mom was by her side almost constantly when Mildred’s son, Shawn, had been in a terrible accident in high school and they didn’t know whether he’d live. Thankfully he had and was now married with three kids, and living in Waco.

  After Mildred left, Hunter took a shower and changed into clean clothes before joining his mom in the kitchen. She was just finishing putting dinner on the table, and his stomach rumbled in response.

  She laughed. “Sounds like someone worked up an appetite today.”

  “That I did.” For more than just food. Oh, good grief, he needed to stop thinking about things that couldn’t be. How many signs did the universe have to send him that he and Angel Hartley weren’t written in the stars?

  When they sat down, he took a tentative bite despite how good everything smelled. He figured he was safe from harm since he’d moved all the cleaners and nonfood items out of the kitchen and put them in the cabinets above the washer and dryer, but sometimes ingredient mistakes happened. He was happy that his first bite of pork roast was every bit as good as the brownies his mom had made.

  “So Angel Hartley, she’s the pretty one, right?”

  The question was odd considering Sloane was beautiful, too. He just happened to be more attracted to her sister. Good thing since Sloane was now a married woman.

  “None of the Hartleys are what I’d call ugly, Mom.” Yeah, he could even recognize that the three Hartley sons were handsome guys. And obviously their other halves agreed.

  “I know, but Angel’s the one you always liked.”

  He choked on the green beans he’d been chewing. When he managed to get his breath again, the look on his mom’s face changed from concern to a knowing smile.

  “I don’t know where you got that idea,” he said.

  She lifted a brow. “I know I’m forgetting more and more, but there are things I still remember really well. And the way you’ve always looked at that girl, I don’t know why you haven’t asked her out already.”

  “When do I have time to date?”

  “Yes, life is busy, but you know what makes those burdens easier? Someone to share them with.”

  “I’ve got you, Mom.”

  “That’s not the same thing and you know it.”

  Hunter was beginning to think that going to Angel’s show opening wasn’t the best idea. What if his mom decided to share her theory on his attraction to Angel with the woman in question? Then it wouldn’t be his mom standing embarrassed in the middle of the gallery. It’d be him.

  * * *

  Angel hauled the large framed print of a cattle roundup out of the truck, nearly dropping it because of its awkward size.

  “Here, let me get that for you.”

  She looked over to see Hunter quickly approach and grasp the end of the frame.

  “Thanks.” She scanned their surroundings. “Where did you come from?”

  He nodded toward a large tree on the far side of the gallery. “My lunch spot.” He took the frame away from her, then stepped back. “After you.”

  Oddly self-conscious, she led the way toward the gallery. Once inside, she pointed to the front counter.

  “You can just set it there.”

  “I doubt that’s its final destination. Where’s it going?”

  Why in the world was one part of her brain screaming at her to get Hunter out of the gallery as fast as she could while another part wanted him to stay?

  “Uh, back wall.” She pointed as if he couldn’t figure out where that might be.

  He carried the heavy framed piece as if it weren’t any heavier than an eight-by-ten. After a few steps, he stood in front of the only bare display area left. Since the hanging hardware was already in place, he simply lifted the photo and hung it before stepping to the side.

  “How’s it look?” he asked.

  Perfect, actually. “How did you do that?”

  His eyebrows bunched slightly. “Hang a photo?”

  “No. Well, yes. I mean you got it perfectly straight on the first go.” She gestured at the entirety of the gallery’s showroom. “I had to make no less than half a dozen attempts on every one of these before they were right.”

  Hunter glanced at the piece he’d hung. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”

  “So you’re a picture-hanging expert, roofer, rancher and gifter of brownies. Is there a jack-of-all-trades competition going on that I’m not aware of?”

  Hunter smiled at that, and Angel mentally added great smiles to his list of attributes. Seriously, had he always possessed that smile? If so, why was there not a pantie shortage in Blue Falls because every woman had tossed hers at Hunter like he was a rock star? She suddenly became very aware of the pair of blue cotton panties she was wearing. Not exactly sexy, but that hadn’t been a concern for quite some time. And she wasn’t planning on showing them to anyone. Still, Hunter’s smile had made her think about them.

  “If there is such a competition, Bernie Shumaker would win. I hear his latest venture is selling painted rocks online.”

  She laughed. “You know, one day he’s going to hit on something and strike it rich while the rest of us are still working our tails off.”

  “You’re probably right.” He glanced around them. “Though he’s probably not the only one on the way to striking it rich.”

  “That’s nice of you to say, but I’ll be satisfied with being able to pay the bills.” Which wasn’t exactly true. She daydreamed of becoming a success, maybe even so noted that her work graced the covers of magazines and earned spots in top-notch Western galleries. But first things first. She wanted this local show to be a success.

  He gave her another smile, but this one seemed to say that he suspected she was just being modest. Did he want more from his life than ranching and working on hot roofs? She suddenly wanted to know what those dreams might be.

  Hunter walked over to another of her photos, this one of a barrel racer as she rounded a barrel, her face reflecting her drive to post a fast time.

  “You’re really talented.”

  “Thank you.” People had told her that before, but something about the way he said it, like he was looking at a painting by one of the great masters, caused warmth to fill her chest.

  “How did you get started?”

  She took a few steps until she was standing beside him, gazing at her work. “I’ve liked taking photos for as long as I can remember. With the ranch right out the front door, I guess I just gravitated naturally toward the subject.”

  He pointed at the photo in front of them. “What about the rodeo shots?”

  “I started taking a few at the local rodeos and became determined to get the best shots possible. It’s not easy considering how fast the action is. I have to weed through hundreds of unusable photos to find a single one that I’d be willing to put my name on.”

  “I guess this exhibit is the result of lots of hours of work, then.”

  “You have no idea. It’s like I’m never truly done, not like hauling a load of cattle to market. There is no finish, not when there is more to photograph, ways to continually improve, brainstorm
ing about new directions to try. Arden, Neil’s wife, says it’s the same with writing. You’re always on.”

  “You could say the same about ranching. One task or season always flows into the next.”

  “That’s true. Still, it’s different.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  The sound of the front door opening drew their attention. In came Merline, making Angel aware that she hadn’t even thought about whether the other woman had been in the building.

  “Hey, you two,” Merline said as she approached. “Oh, that last piece looks wonderful.”

  “Thanks. I sure hope someone buys it because I don’t want to lug it back home. I got lucky that your roofer was here to lend a hand.” Angel gave Hunter a smile she hoped conveyed her gratitude.

  He gave her a slight nod.

  “So, will we see you and your mom at the opening?” Merline asked Hunter.

  He glanced at Angel with an expression she couldn’t pinpoint before answering. “Yeah, if she’s feeling up to it.”

  “Great. It’ll be nice to see Evelyn.”

  After Merline headed for her office, Hunter said, “I better get back to work.”

  “Hunter, I wanted to thank you for the brownie yesterday. It really hit the spot.”

  “Good. Mom made them.”

  “I’m glad you’re bringing her to the opening.” She tried not to believe she felt that way for selfish reasons.

  Hunter looked surprised by her words but then shifted his gaze toward one of her photos. “I hope it’s the right thing to do.”

  Before she could figure what to say in response, he headed toward the exit. As he opened the door, he stepped to the side to let someone else in. Angel jerked her gaze away from Hunter when she realized the person stepping inside was Lauren, her newest sister-in-law.

  “Who was that?” Lauren asked as she came near and gestured over her shoulder.

  “Hunter Millbrook. He’s working on the roof.” As if to provide evidence she was telling the truth, she heard the thump of his footsteps above their heads.

  “Huh. I had an entire restaurant reroofed and I have to say none of the roofers looked that fine.”

  “And here I thought you only had eyes for my brother.”

  “I wasn’t noting the man’s hotness for my own benefit. Seems like the last unattached Hartley might be smitten.”

  Angel waved away Lauren’s too-close-to-the-truth observation. “You’re not a credible judge. You’re still floating around in the newlywed fog.”

  “Be that as it may, I still trust my eyes. And they saw you checking out the roofer’s rear view.”

  Angel rolled her eyes. “I suppose I should have expected this. With the rest of my siblings married off now, Mom has set her sights on me and recruited you to her cause.”

  “Actually, no. She hasn’t said a word to me or Adam.”

  That surprised Angel, but maybe it shouldn’t. While Neil, Ben, Sloane and Adam had all been the target of teasing about pairing up, it was as if the family had a moratorium on doing the same to her. In an odd way, it was nice that Lauren hadn’t gotten the memo and treated her like a normal person, one who didn’t have a history of being abandoned by the people who were supposed to love her.

  “Listen,” Lauren said. “I’m the expert on not wanting to get involved with anyone after being done wrong, so hopefully you’ll trust me when I say the asses in our pasts aren’t worth forfeiting our opportunities for happiness.”

  “Do I seem unhappy?”

  “No, not really. But I also know what it’s like to hide what I’m really feeling from the people around me. And having the support and love of family is great, but it’s not the same as being in love.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say a bit of innocent ogling is being in love.”

  Lauren smiled. “But sometimes it leads to it.”

  Angel held up her hand. “Please don’t go into detail about you ogling Adam’s butt or something.”

  Lauren laughed. “Well, actually—”

  Angel put her hands over her ears. “I’m not listening.”

  Lauren shook her head and pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. “Fine, be a spoilsport. I came by to see what you think about these for your opening.”

  Angel accepted the list of food items. “I told you I trusted you, cooking being your area of expertise and all.”

  “Yes, but it’s still your big night. I’d hate to have something out that makes you want to gag.”

  “As long as there isn’t any peanut butter, you’re golden.”

  “That’s still weird, not liking peanut butter without being allergic to it.”

  “It’s nasty, end of story.”

  After they settled on the refreshment menu and Lauren left, Angel sank onto a bench facing the large roundup photo. Setting aside the teasing, she considered Lauren’s words. If Lauren could get past what her ex-fiancé had done to her—trying to cheat her out of her business and denying his twin daughters were even his—maybe there was hope for Angel to find love again.

  She ran her hand over her face. Why was she even thinking about love a mere day after she realized she was attracted to Hunter? Shouldn’t she perhaps think about casual dating first? Had she not learned her lesson about falling head over heels too quickly? That hadn’t turned out so well last time. Were it not for Julia, it would have been a total disaster.

  Julia. The thought of her daughter caused her to take a mental step back. Angel had deliberately not gotten too involved with anyone since the birth of her daughter to protect Julia in every way a mother could protect her child.

  Maybe she was just feeling lonely and left out now that all her brothers and sister were happily married. They had someone to wake up next to each morning, someone with whom to share intimacy. Loneliness had made its presence known now and then since the day she’d told Dave she was pregnant and he’d responded by saying he didn’t want to be a father and promptly leaving town. It had been as if she’d been kicked in the heart. Again, someone who’d claimed to love her had chosen abandoning her instead of sticking around. When you started out life being left at a hospital by your birth mother with only a blanket and a short note, trust wasn’t automatically given. To have the man who’d claimed to love her take off for parts unknown... Well, that didn’t help.

  She snorted lightly. Dave hadn’t been a man. He’d been an immature boy who wanted the fun of sex without the responsibility of the baby that resulted. She’d wager money she couldn’t afford that he was still that immature ass.

  Even knowing all that, something about Lauren and Adam’s wedding the month before, coinciding with the big grand opening of her Brazos Baker Barbecue restaurant, had caused the loneliness that made only periodic appearances to take up seemingly permanent residence within Angel.

  Not wanting to think about Dave or her unattached status anymore, she headed to Merline’s office.

  “You finished, hon?” Merline asked when she looked up from her desk.

  “For today. All that’s left to do is get some small matted prints of the bigger pieces ready. I’ll bring those by tomorrow.”

  Angel thought about walking straight to the truck without acknowledging Hunter, but that felt rude somehow. So she shaded her eyes as she looked up to where he stood on the roof.

  “Don’t melt up there.”

  He smiled, making it more likely she was the one who might melt.

  “No promises.”

  All the way back to the Rocking Horse Ranch, that smile and her zingy reaction to it kept replaying in her mind—along with the thought that it was odd how you could know someone for years and then one day suddenly see them in an entirely different light. And how that realization left you at a complete loss for what you were going to do about it. Or if you should do nothing at all.

  Chapter 3<
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  Hunter finished putting his tools in his truck before giving the roof a final once-over. Not bad if he did say so himself. Those summers of working on a roofing crew when he was in high school came in handy when he needed to make extra money, which seemed to be all the time.

  Though he needed to be back at the ranch to catch up on work there, he’d miss seeing Angel. Even if it was just in passing. It was likely for the best, however, that he be removed from seeing her too often. Even if she could be interested in him as a man, he wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to get involved when all he could offer was a hardscrabble ranch and years of his mom’s declining health. Angel seemed to be on the cusp of big things in her career, and who knew where that might take her. He wasn’t about to even consider standing in the way of that journey.

  Refocusing his attention on what really mattered, he headed toward the gallery to get paid for his work.

  “All done?” Merline asked as he stepped into the cooler interior.

  “Yes, ma’am. Your roof shouldn’t cause you any more problems.”

  “How are you at painting?”

  Her question surprised him, but the prospect of more income was welcome. “I’ve done my share.”

  “Do you have time to repaint the gazebo, the benches in the garden and the fence around the edge of the lot?”

  He weighed the hours needed to complete those tasks, hours he’d have to be away from his mom, against how much he’d make. “I do.”

  “Great. How quickly can you get it done? I was hoping to have the place looking all freshened up by Angel’s opening.”

  He realized the painting might have the additional benefit of more opportunities to be around Angel. And despite the knowledge that not seeing her was probably the wiser course, he couldn’t deny that he really liked the idea of more opportunities to talk to her. “I can make that happen.”