Stand-In Rancher Daddy

by Renee Ryan

  She was being overly dramatic, a trait she wouldn’t normally attribute to herself. As she’d done so many times in the past three weeks, she locked away her fears, then chatted with the girls about the joy of cooking.

  Near the corral, CJ showed the boys how to dismount properly and then guide their horses into the barn with a gentle hold on the reins. He was incredibly patient with the youths and was rewarded with their undivided attention.

  Several minutes after disappearing into the barn, CJ exited, with boys flanking him on all sides. Their youthful laughter mingled with CJ’s lower-pitched chuckles.

  He chose that moment to look up. His piercing brown eyes turned serious and full of intent, a silent request for the one thing she couldn’t give him—a yes to his marriage proposal.

  Molly had never been this aware of a man. The sensation hurt. Oh, how it hurt.

  “We made excellent progress today, mending not only the broken sections of the fence, but several other weak areas, as well.” CJ came to a stop at the bottom of the porch steps and smiled up at her. “Thanks to these cowpokes, the Triple-T fence line is once again secure.”

  Looks of pride filled their faces.

  “Well, then.” Molly made eye contact with each of the five boys. “Let’s get the cowpokes fed.”

  A cheer rose up from the group.

  The next ten minutes went quickly. CJ took the boys to the well, where the six of them washed off the dirt from the day.

  When they returned, the twins hovered around the boys like bees in a flower garden. Molly’s smile came immediately as she watched their valiant effort to engage the boys in conversation, especially Sean.

  Both girls stared up at the older boy with stars in their eyes.

  Sean, for his part, seemed completely oblivious to their female interest. The tolerant pose he struck reminded Molly of the early days of her acquaintance with CJ. Had she looked at the handsome rancher in the same way his nieces stared up at Sean?

  Molly had only a moment to ponder the question when the man himself came up beside her. His grin flashed and her heart fluttered at the romantic figure he made.

  He was certainly pleasing to look at, tall, lean, muscular in all the right places, but his best features, at least in Molly’s opinion, were his rock-solid character and his patience. He was a man of Christian integrity, who exuded quiet strength and confidence.

  A woman could lean on him in good times and bad.

  Anna caught sight of their uncle and rushed to him. Sarah soon followed, and so began a detailed accounting of what it took to make johnnycakes just the way he liked them.

  Molly’s heart filled with affection. The girls were unusually animated this afternoon, no doubt due to the presence of the Young Ranchers.

  “I’ll get the table set,” she said, pleased her voice sounded even. “Then we’ll eat.”

  Without another word, she went inside the house and shut the door behind her with a soft click.

  * * *

  CJ noticed the change in Molly the moment he and the children were sitting at the table, passing around full platters of food.

  “Aren’t you going to eat with us, Miss Molly?” one of the Gillen brothers asked her.

  Her face went taut and, after a shake of her head, she made some excuse about needing to clean the kitchen. Her answer satisfied the boys.

  It did not satisfy CJ. But he didn’t think challenging her in front of the children was a wise idea.

  Patience, her father had told him. At this point, CJ thought he could win awards for his fortitude.

  As the meal progressed, Molly continued puttering around in the kitchen. She’d grown unnaturally quiet, almost withdrawn, as if intentionally holding a portion of herself separate from the rest of them. CJ couldn’t think what had occurred to make her create such obvious distance, not only with him but with the girls, as well.

  Thankfully, Anna and Sarah didn’t notice. They were too busy mooning over the Gillen and Forester brothers.

  Their obvious adoration was pretty cute. Wondering if Molly noticed, and hoping to share the humorous moment with her, CJ caught her eye.

  She looked even more miserable than before.

  Not for the first time, CJ wondered if her shift in mood had something to do with the children. Was she mourning not having a child with her deceased husband?

  It was possible.

  Though CJ could never replace George Langley, he would love Molly as well as any man could love a woman. She deserved a houseful of her own children. She would be a good, kind, loving mother. CJ couldn’t wait to get started on their life together.

  His patience had just run out.

  “Molly, I’d like to speak with you a moment.”

  Before she could respond, the front door swung open, hitting the wall hard. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound, including CJ.

  A second later, he was on his feet.

  Duke stood in the doorway. “We have a problem—” he broke off, glanced at the children at the table “—in the, uh, barn. Come quick.”

  A sick feeling roiled in CJ’s stomach.

  “Right behind you.” The scrape of chairs accompanied his words. “No,” he told the boys. “I need you to stay here.”

  “What if it’s something we can help with?” Sean asked.

  “You’re more help here, watching over Molly and the twins.” He gave the youth a pointed look. “Understand?”

  To his credit, the kid didn’t argue. “We’ll take care of them,” he answered solemnly.

  “Good man.”

  Out on the porch, Duke told CJ news that turned his blood to ice. “One of the ranch hands caught a man trying to steal one of your horses. We’ve got him cornered in the barn.”

  CJ’s entire bearing went hard.

  “Gage has a gun pointed to his head. Problem is he’s got a gun trained on Terry’s. The three are in a standoff, with the promise of bloodshed if one of them flinches.”

  CJ took off toward the barn.

  Duke fell into step beside him.

  “You get a look at his face?” he asked his foreman.

  “Only his eyes. He’s got a bandanna pulled up to his temples and the brim of his hat is pulled down low.”

  At the barn door, CJ shot out a hand to keep Duke from proceeding. “We do this right and go in smart.”

  He nodded.

  “Give me one of your guns.”

  Without hesitation, his foreman pulled out a Colt 45 revolver from the holster on his hip, then retrieved the other one for himself.

  CJ snapped open the barrel, checked the load and placement of the bullets. Satisfied the gun was fully loaded and in sound working order, he whipped the barrel back in place with a flick of his wrist. “Stay close.”

  They entered the barn shoulder to shoulder.

  CJ’s breathing came fast, his eyes gauging, searching. Hearing the gravelly voices and muttered oaths from the last stall on his right, he inched in the direction of the escalating standoff.

  White-hot rage heightened his senses. Someone had come onto his land with evil intent and now held his men at gunpoint.

  Slowly, very slowly, CJ raised his gun and entered the stall, Duke a step behind. “Drop your weapons.”

  As if he hadn’t spoken, all three men stood rooted to the spot, guns raised.

  “Gage, Terry, you okay?”

  “Yeah, boss,” Gage snarled. “We caught us a horse thief.”

  “So I hear.” CJ inched a step closer to the dangerous stalemate. “There’s four of us and one of you.” He spoke in a calm, conversational tone. “The odds are not in your favor, cowboy.”

  The thief, covered in shadow, twisted his head to the right, then left, as if searching for a solution to his situation out
of empty air.

  “I’d suggest surrendering your weapon before someone, probably you, ends up hurt.”

  “You threatening me? When I have a gun pointed at your man’s head?” The man growled the question in a deep, artificial tone that sounded vaguely familiar.

  CJ narrowed his eyes at the dark form. “Just pointing out the complexities of the situation. You might take out one of us, but we’ll definitely take you out.”

  “I’ll do what you ask, but only if we keep this between you and me.”

  Something in the thief’s stance was familiar, but one thing was clear: CJ wasn’t staring at Ned. He would know his own brother. Relief surged. Ned wasn’t the cattle rustler.

  Then who was this man? “Everybody out.”

  “Boss, you sure this is wise?”

  “If our friend here had plans to shoot, he would have done so by now.” That didn’t mean CJ was taking any chances with his men’s life. He pulled back the hammer. “I expect you to be reasonable as my ranch hands leave.”

  The man nodded. There was enough light for CJ to make out red-rimmed, faded blue eyes. That sense of familiarity struck him again. He still couldn’t pull up a name.

  One by one, his ranch hands filed from the stall, Duke bringing up the rear. The foreman stopped beside CJ. “You want me to get the sheriff?”

  CJ gave a quick, nearly imperceptible nod.

  “Good enough.” Duke continued out of the stall.

  Once they were alone, CJ took a step toward the one remaining occupant. The man’s identity was tucked in his memory but he couldn’t seem to draw it into focus. “It’s just you and me,” he said. “Now drop your weapon.”

  The gun stayed pointed at CJ’s chest. “This’ll go better if you let me leave.”

  “You mean better for you.” CJ kept his focus on the man’s eyes. Any sudden move would show there first.

  “I never meant for things to go this far.” The quick, nervous speech was wrapped in a gruff, raspy voice that CJ didn’t recognize.

  However, the set of his shoulders reminded him of...someone. “I said lower your weapon.”

  With surprising cooperation, the shadowed figure did as ordered.

  “Now, hand it over. Slowly. No, slower. Yes, that’s it.”

  CJ sensed rather than saw the man’s eyes narrow with intent. In a single, desperate move, he reversed the weapon in his grip, leaped forward and slammed the butt of the gun into CJ’s head.

  Reflexively, CJ swung to his left. Not fast enough. Not fast enough. Pain exploded behind his eyes. His feet gave out under him. As he crumpled to the ground, CJ thought of Molly and the twins.

  Numbing darkness grabbed at him, urging him to let go. Just...let...go. He tried to call out to Duke. A swift kick in the ribs stole his ability to speak.

  The shadowy figure stood over him, an unmistakable snarl in his voice. “Should have stayed out of it, CJ.”

  The thief knew him.

  The thought barely had a chance to register before CJ’s world went gray, growing darker, darker. He fought to keep his vision clear, but lost the battle almost immediately.

  An image of Molly appeared behind his eyelids. He’d wasted so much time, time he could never get back. Life was too short, too fragile to let anything stand between them. Nothing else mattered in CJ’s world without Molly in his life.

  He’d had his chance years ago and had let her slip away.

  Lord, if I survive this I’m never letting her go again.

  The prayer brought a moment of utter peace. And then everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty

  Molly exited the house at the same moment a dark figure bolted out of the barn and took off running toward the eastern horizon. The Triple-T ranch hands followed after him, their shouts lifting on the air, their feet pounding hard on the ground.

  Unfortunately, the fleeing figure had a considerable head start. Molly cataloged each of the men pursuing him and came up short by one.

  Where was CJ?

  He needs me. She knew it with the certainty of a woman hopelessly, desperately in love. From the moment he’d left the dinner table, she’d been unable to shake the notion that he was in trouble.

  Now, with the girls still inside the house, Molly’s blood turned cold, ice-cold. Fear punched like a brutal, white-knuckled fist.

  Her feet were moving before her mind registered where they were taking her. As she swung open the barn door, she prayed to God for CJ’s safety. She lifted up her requests with great fervor, asking the Holy Spirit for the words when her mind emptied of coherent thought.

  She called out, “CJ. CJ, where are you?”

  A masculine groan drew her to the back of the barn.

  Following the sound of a second moan, she rushed inside the last stall and dropped to her knees beside CJ’s prone form.

  “CJ.” She put all her love, worry, anger and affection in his name. “Talk to me.”

  There was a single, thready breath. Then his eyes opened. “Molly.”

  Her name sounded like both a caress and an apology.

  Gulping through the storm of emotion rising in her throat, she cupped his face. “Are you hurt?”

  “No idea.” He struggled to sit up.

  “Slowly now.” Molly braced a hand behind his shoulder, urging him along, patient but persistent. All the while she ran her eyes over him, head to toe, toe to head, searching for injury. Other than the lump forming on the right side of his head, he appeared unharmed.

  Once he was in an upright position, she investigated the injury with gentle, probing fingers, then searched for other wounds. Finding none, she let out a relieved sigh, moving her fingers over his scalp a moment longer. “That is one nasty bump.”

  When she pressed a little harder, he winced.

  “Should have seen the blow coming.” The muscles in his jaw flexed. “He caught me by surprise.”

  “You’re going to have a monstrous headache.”

  “Already do.” He raised a tentative hand to his skull, flinched when he touched his injury. “It could have been worse. He could have shot me.”

  A gasp flew out of Molly’s lips. “Are you telling me you faced down a man with a loaded gun?”

  He slanted her a look, one she couldn’t quite read.

  “Molly, my beautiful, lovely, Molly.” CJ reached up and hooked a tendril of her hair around his finger. “Are you worried about me?”

  He’d asked her a similar question yesterday. Her answer was the same, if somewhat escalated. “Terrified.”

  Despite his obvious pain, his well-cut lips spread into a boyish smile. “I like having you worry about me.”

  “Well, I don’t like it. Not one bit.”

  It frightened her to realize how easily she could have lost him. She had a chilling moment, barely the length of a heartbeat, when she saw what her days would be like without him in the world. “You scared ten years off my life.”

  The twins rushed into the stall, eyes wild. They were frantic, out of breath, tears streaking down their puffy cheeks. They skidded to a stop when their eyes landed on CJ.

  “Unca Corny!” Anna screeched in a frightened, panicked voice. The sound was so high-pitched both CJ and Molly winced.

  The girls fell to their knees beside Molly, their faces leached of color.

  “I’m okay,” he told them, pulling them close. “Nothing to worry about.”

  With the brutal honesty of a child, Sarah eyed him suspiciously. “Then how come you look like you’re going to be sick?”

  The question had him climbing hastily to his feet. “I’m fine, really.”

  No, he wasn’t, not if his pinched lips and bunched shoulders were anything to go by. He managed to stand, though he was swaying like a sapling in a s
tiff wind.

  Molly reached for him, thinking to steady him, but he warded her off with a wave of his arm.

  Stubborn, wonderful man.

  Molly took the girls’ hands and tugged them back a few steps to give him room to find his balance.

  Masculine shouts came from the barn door. Within minutes the stall was full of people. First came the Gillen brothers. The Foresters spilled in next, followed by the Triple-T ranch hands. The only people missing were Cookie and Duke.

  Breathing hard, his gaze darting between CJ and the other ranch hands, Gage delivered the bad news. “He got away.”

  CJ absently rubbed at his temples as if to relieve a shard of unexpected pain. “You get a look at his face?”

  “Afraid not.”

  “Me, either.”

  Cookie appeared at the edge of the stall a beat later, scowling and barking at everyone to move aside. “I mean it,” he growled. “Out of my way.”

  A path immediately formed.

  One look at CJ’s face and Cookie was back to issuing orders in rapid-fire succession. “Everybody out, now, all but Miss Molly and the twins.”

  Verbally flinging more threats, all but bodily shoving the men and boys out of the stall, Cookie managed to clear the area as quickly as it had filled up.

  Now that the danger was over, Molly started shaking. She hated giving in to the weakness, but it couldn’t be helped. She cared for CJ too much, loved him too much.

  “Molly.” CJ reached for her. She nearly went into his arms, but her hands were still busy holding on to the twins.

  They broke away and ran to their uncle a second time. He sank to his haunches and tugged them into his embrace.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Sarah whispered into his shoulder.

  Anna seconded the remark and then added, “You can’t leave us, Unca Corny, not ever.”

  “Not ever,” he promised.

  Cookie’s mild blue eyes locked with Molly’s. “Girls, I baked a cake for our Young Ranchers. Want to help me serve it?”

  “Will you give us a piece, too?”