The Cowboy's Little Surprise

by Barbara White Daille

  “Hey,” he murmured. “Come on, you’ll feel better if you talk about it. Are you still worrying about the changes Jed’s making to the hotel?”

  For a moment, he thought she wouldn’t answer.

  “It’s not just renovations now,” she said at last. “Andi and Jane are trying to convince him to hire a chef.”

  “For the weddings? That makes sense.”

  “Yes,” she said grudgingly. “I’d factored in hiring caterers for any events we book for the banquet room. But Jed’s not talking about parties and wedding receptions. He means hiring another chef in the kitchen. Which doesn’t make sense. No matter how popular the Hitching Post becomes, we’ve only got so many rooms. Abuela accommodates all the guests with help from just the kitchen staff. And from me, if they take time off unexpectedly. We would never have a need for two full-time cooks.”

  “Then tell Jed. He’s a reasonable man.”

  “I don’t know how reasonable he is, but this is the last straw.” She sighed. “The Hitching Post can’t afford all this.” She spoke so softly, he had to lean forward again to hear her. “More staff, yes, but not if we implement almost any of the upgrades Andi and Tina have suggested.”

  “Then don’t do them. You said you didn’t want to see changes around here, anyway.”

  Her eyes gleamed again.

  He recalled their conversation that day in the sitting room. “This is more than just a hotel to you. You told me that. It’s your home.”

  “It’s not just that,” she said. “It’s Jed. You heard what he said when he announced his plans. This is what he wants. And I owe him too much not to help him achieve his dream.”

  “Sometimes dreams don’t measure up against reality.”

  She flushed and looked away. “Maybe they don’t.”

  “Jed can always talk to his bank.”

  She said nothing.

  He frowned. “He won’t agree to a loan, will he?”

  Again, she didn’t answer. She wouldn’t even look in his direction. He’d bet if he hadn’t stretched his legs out in front of him, blocking her way, she would have gotten up and walked out of the room.

  Nodding slowly, he said, “That’s it. He won’t take out a loan. I remember once Jed said he hasn’t trusted bankers since his grandfather told him about losing his life’s savings in the Depression.”

  “He keeps enough money in checking to take care of payroll and bills. But he’d never pay interest to a bank.”

  “Then just explain to Andi and Jane they need to ease up on the spending.”

  Her eyes flashed. “And what? Tell them they’re building their grandfather’s dreams on money he doesn’t have? Obviously, he doesn’t want them to know or he would have said something himself. And just because my job gives me inside knowledge, I can’t be the one to tell them.”

  * * *

  COLE SPENT MOST of Saturday doing some painting at Layne’s apartment while she was at work. Andi and Jane had offered to watch Scott, and he had picked up the boy and dropped him off at the Hitching Post earlier that morning.

  When Layne arrived home in midafternoon, he had just finished the last of the trim in the living room. “The paint’s already dry in Scott’s room. I did that one first and moved the furniture back into place already.”

  She sank onto the couch and put her feet up. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you for all this.” She touched her stomach. “I could name the baby after you.”

  He laughed. “What if it’s a girl?”

  “I’ll call her Colette. Or Colleen.”

  “I think you’d better come up with something else, even for a boy. I’m one of a kind, you know.”

  “That is true.”

  Frowning, he set the paint tray on the plastic tarp and settled on the short step stool.

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “I’m helping you pick out your baby’s name. I didn’t get to do that for my own.”

  “You missed out on a lot,” she said softly. “But you’re catching up now. How’s Robbie?”

  “Good. He and Scott are like twins.”

  “Scott’s so happy to have a new friend. I’m thrilled our kids are cousins. And how are you and Tina getting along?”

  He picked up the paint tray and rose from the stool. “It’s complicated.”

  “Most relationships are.”

  “So is being a parent.”

  “You’ve got that right. And when the kids are as little as our guys, it’s hard to get a handle on things. They grow so fast. They change so much. No two days—no two conversations—are the same. And speaking of conversations,” she said lightly, “don’t think I didn’t notice how you redirected this one.”

  “I didn’t redirect. There’s not a lot going on with the two of us.”

  “Just what I like. A man who doesn’t kiss and tell.”

  He almost lost his grip on the paint tray. Hoping to cover his startled reaction, he leaned down to pick up the can of paint he had left beside the ladder.

  When he finally looked at Layne again, he found her grinning at him.

  “Not a lot going on, huh?”

  “Nothing worth talking about yet.”

  “Yet? That’s good. At least you’re staying open to possibilities.”

  But I shouldn’t be.

  Relieved to get out of the room, he carried the paint tray into the bathroom to clean the brushes.

  He shouldn’t think about Tina, either, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

  When he had kissed her that night after their date and then again in her office, he had made the mistake of looking into those dark eyes he had always felt drawn to. In them he read more than he wanted to know. He saw what he had realized as a teen all those years ago and what had made him want to back off, then and now.

  She wanted a relationship. Something lasting. Something permanent.

  All things he didn’t do.

  * * *

  BY THE TIME Cole got back to Garland Ranch, Pete and the other wranglers had the campfire blazing. From the parking area, he could see smoke rising and hear the sound of faraway voices.

  He thought of Tina’s voice and what she had said before he’d left her that afternoon. Long after their conversation had ended, her words seemed to echo inside his head.

  I owe him too much not to help him achieve his dreams...

  He owed the old man a huge debt, too.

  He’d put into motion the one thing he could do that might help him finally write that debt off. Before he had left Layne’s, he’d called the friends he had talked with a while back about pooling some cash for a good investment. Those friends might be his answer to the question of how to help Jed. At the same time, he could solve Tina’s financial dilemma.

  To tell the truth, he didn’t know which would give him the most satisfaction.

  The kitchen door of the hotel swung open. Tina stepped onto the porch. A loaded serving tray rested on her upturned forearm. In her other hand, she clutched several paper sacks she seemed in danger of dropping.

  He hurried across to the porch and vaulted the steps to take the sacks from her hand.

  She exhaled heavily and leaned against the railing. “Thanks. Those were all more awkward to carry than I’d expected. Did you get much accomplished at Layne’s?”

  “Making progress. She ought to be settled in soon.” He hefted the sacks. “Looks like I arrived in the nick of time.”

  “We could have used you even more an hour ago.”

  “Why? Something wrong?”

  “Scott had a meltdown when Pete told him he couldn’t help build the fire.”

  He winced. “Sorry to let you in for that. I guess I shouldn’t have taken Andi up on the offer and left him here all day. But I’ve got to be honest and say I’ve only seen him have one short spat with Rachel. I’ve never witnessed a full-blown tantrum and probably wouldn’t have been much help, anyway.”

  Still, he couldn’t help feeling good that Tina
thought he could’ve handled Scott. Maybe that proved he had made some progress in the time he’d been back in Cowboy Creek.

  She shrugged. “He calmed down when I told him he could be in charge of giving everyone their bottles of pop.”

  “Plastic bottles.” He nodded. “Good thinking. When it comes to the kids, you beat me hands down.”

  Her cheeks turned a dusky pink.

  He reached up and tapped her chin lightly just below those soft, pink lips he wanted to taste again. But not here in the afternoon sunshine on the Hitching Post’s back porch. Not where someone could come along any moment and see them. Or worse, to interrupt.

  “I’d like to think that blush comes from standing so close to me,” he said. “But I’ve got a hunch the compliment’s having more of an effect.”

  Now her entire face flamed.

  He transferred one of the sacks to his free hand for safety’s sake. His own safety. That platter she held sure didn’t create enough space between them. Having his hands full just might keep him from reaching out to her again.

  “No need to feel embarrassed,” he said. “I’m only stating the truth.”

  “You don’t need to compliment me for it. I’m just doing the best I can, like everyone else does.”

  “Not everyone,” he said grimly. “Some folks haven’t got what it takes to be a parent.” He tried to push away the memory of his father’s face. “But you’re a heck of a mom. And you’ve done a great job with Robbie.”

  She pressed her lips together, forcing their softness into a firm line. The sight piled yet more guilt onto him, a weight he couldn’t shift the way he could the sacks in his hands.

  She shrugged. “I’ve had help.”

  “But not from me,” he said shortly.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to. I see it in your face.”

  “You’re so sure you know everything that crosses my mind, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I am. You’re easy to read. You always have been.”

  “Maybe,” she agreed. “Or maybe I’ve always let you read only what I want you to know.” Brushing past him, she went down the stairs.

  Yeah. And maybe you’ve always told me only what you want me to know.

  Lies of omission are still lies.

  Either of those thoughts were enough to make him keep his distance. Yet he was finding it more and more difficult to stay away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Her seat in the shadows on the far side of the fire ring, away from the crowd, allowed Tina a full view of the entire campsite. Automatically, she scanned the area for anything that might spoil the evening for their guests. Technically, Pete and the cowhands oversaw all the dude ranch activities. But even as a child, she had considered herself their backup. Part of the team.

  Her scan complete, she looked across the fire ring at her son.

  Robbie sat beside Cole, who at this very moment was breaking her heart. When he had claimed some people didn’t know what it took to be a parent, she knew he had meant himself. And yet he had spent most of this evening with Robbie and Scott, doing exactly what a parent did best.

  Days ago, she had noticed how Scott had taken to her son. Now Robbie seemed to have done the same with Cole. He had shadowed him all evening, dogging his heels and doing everything Cole did.

  Cole had chosen Robbie as his teammate for a game of horseshoes. The last horseshoe clanged, hitting its mark. Cole high-fived Robbie. They had won.

  She couldn’t keep from cheering along with the rest of the crowd.

  Cole smiled at her across the open space between them, and her heart gave a tiny leap, just the way it had every time he had looked her way in school.

  “Got any room left on that log?”

  Startled, Tina turned to see Jane standing beside her. She scooted sideways. “Have a seat.”

  Jane sank gracefully onto the log. She wore jeans and a T-shirt in her usual black. Though Tina found the color even blander than her own neutral choices, she had to admit black suited the other woman, making her look taller and slimmer and more sophisticated than ever.

  “Not a bad view from here.” Jane looked across the fire ring. At Cole.

  “There are some extra seats over there.”

  “Hey,” Jane said. “Showing your claws, aren’t you, cuz?”

  To her dismay, her cheeks burned just as they had when she’d stood on the porch with Cole, only not for the same reason. Jane hadn’t given her a compliment. Still, her tone hadn’t sounded malicious, and she sat smiling.

  “Sorry,” Tina said. “I didn’t mean that the way it must have sounded. I just thought you might like getting closer and need a push.”

  “Closer to Cole? I don’t think so. He’s all yours.”

  “No, he’s not.”

  “You could have fooled me.”

  She stiffened. Abuela had admitted knowing all along about her schoolgirl crush on Cole. Andi had said something similar. A week ago, she wouldn’t have followed up on Jane’s comment. “What do you mean?”

  “You watch him... He watches you... That’s what I mean.”

  “We’re just keeping an eye on the kids.”

  “Yeah, right.” Jane laughed softly, her teeth flashing. Everything about her gleamed in the firelight—her eyes, her dark, shoulder-length hair, the silver jewelry she favored. She shook her head and tapped the camera hanging by its strap from her neck. “You’ll be surprised when I show you a couple of the shots of you and Cole together.”

  “You might as well delete them.”

  “And you might regret that.”

  What did it matter? She had plenty of regrets. She wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at the flames.

  “You don’t want the photos now,” Jane added softly, “but you might want them in the future. For Robbie.”

  Tina froze. “How—?”

  “How do I know? I notice similarities.”

  “And when did you notice these?”

  “As soon as I got here.”

  Now she turned to meet Jane’s eyes. “Who else knows?”

  “No one. Not from me, anyhow. And Andi hasn’t said anything. I doubt she picked up on it.” She glanced quickly across the fire ring and back at Tina. “Except for their eyes, the likeness isn’t that obvious. It’s just apparent to me because I spend a lot of my time behind the camera, watching faces.”

  For a moment, Jane looked as upset as she felt.

  “I’d appreciate it,” Tina said, “if you’d keep this conversation to yourself.”

  “Don’t worry. I intend to.” Suddenly, she smiled. “But the night’s still young. You might feel differently about that even before I board the plane back to New York tomorrow.”

  Tina hesitated, on the verge of telling Jane that since Cole had returned, she didn’t seem able to understand her feelings at all.

  Before she could say anything, Jane rose. “I think I’ll go make another one of those s’mores.”

  After she walked away, Tina stole a glance across the fire ring.

  Cole had kicked back with a beer, and the boys had done the same with bottles of pop. Cole guzzled his last few mouthfuls and then pretended to make a basket as he dropped the empty bottle in the tall metal bin. He lifted first Robbie, then Scott so they could make their shots too.

  Years ago, she’d had so many good reasons for not telling him about her pregnancy. He had dumped her. He was nothing but a playboy. He had left Cowboy Creek and his sister and everyone else behind him and never come back. She had struggled to hang on to all those reasons by reinforcing them with the most important fact of all. The reason she couldn’t share her secret.

  Cole could never be a good daddy to her son.

  But now he had returned and she had seen him with Robbie and Rachel and the boys, she realized she had been deceiving herself.

  Yes, he sometimes was apprehensive around the kids. But he was also always patient and attentive and kind.

  Sh
e thought of what he had said about getting left at the altar, about not wanting to get married, not wanting a family of his own.

  Maybe he had been deceiving himself, too.

  * * *

  LATER IN THE EVENING, one of the cowhands brought out a guitar. The guests clustered around, eager to join in a singalong.

  Cole had been vigilant about watching the boys while they roasted their franks over the campfire. He didn’t feel paranoid about it, but neither did he want to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t kept his eyes open. One moment of inattention... One distraction that lasted too long...

  Taking care of kids was a full-time job. Being a responsible parent meant working 24/7. Any fool could see that.

  Being the best daddy a man could be...

  He had no frame of reference for that one. But the more time he spent with Robbie, the more it worried him.

  Robbie sat rubbing his cheeks.

  “Tired?” he asked.

  “Huh-uh. But that smoke keeps getting in my eyes.”

  “All right, then. Let’s head this way. I think it’s time for dessert now, anyway.” Cole led the boys upwind and watched them run to join Andi and Jane near the picnic table still laden with food.

  Their relocation brought them within a few yards of Tina, who had been sitting on the fringes of the action for most of the evening. He sauntered across the clearing and took a seat on the log beside her. “Just thought I’d mosey on over and stake a claim before this spot gets taken.”

  She smiled and slipped her braid behind her shoulder. “You noticed Jane sitting here earlier.”

  “No. I noticed you.”

  She shifted as if she felt uncomfortable. When her hip bumped against his, he damned sure felt something, too, but uncomfortable wasn’t it. “Same old Tina, always shying away when someone tries to give you a compliment.”

  “I’d say calling someone ‘same’ and ‘old’ cancels out the compliment.”

  He laughed. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  “People don’t always say what they mean. And sometimes they don’t mean what they do say.”

  “That’s a little deep for me. Maybe it’s the couple of beers I had after the horseshoes.”

  “I don’t think so. You’re smarter than you let on. I should know.”