by Lori Wilde
She tilted her head, studied Ranger with a sidelong glance. He looked so serious. Eyes dark and lowered. Mouth stern. His default expression. She had an almost irresistible urge to reach over and ruffle his hair or tickle his ribs, anything to make him smile.
“And don’t forget,” Father Dubanowski said. “It takes courage to do God’s will. Sometimes love demands a supreme sacrifice, and we must give up our humanly wants and needs in order to serve Him.”
Yes, okay, she got the message loud and clear. By holding on to Ranger she was getting in the way of him having a fuller, richer life. Check.
“The Lockharts would like to invite everyone to the Silver Feather Ranch for a late luncheon to celebrate Ingrid’s baptism. See Aria Alzate if you need transportation to and from the ranch,” Father Dubanowski announced, and the baptism was over.
Ingrid was gumming the candle that Father Dubanowski had given her. While Kaia tried to wrestle it away from her daughter, Ridge went for the baby carrier. The rest of the family surged to the altar to hug, slap backs, and offer heartfelt congratulations.
“Wanna ride with me?” Ranger invited Ember. “I’ll bring you back for your car afterward.”
Ember was just about to say, “sure” when she spied Fiona Kelton talking to Aria and remembered what Father Dubanowski had said.
Sometimes love demands a supreme sacrifice.
“Offer Fiona a ride,” she said to Ranger. “I have to swing back by my house first. I forgot the baby’s gift.” Okay, that wasn’t true. The baby blanket she’d quilted for Ingrid was in the backseat of her Infinity, but surely God would forgive this little white lie in the grand scheme of finding Ranger a wife.
He jammed his hands in his pockets, the unconscious body language he used when he didn’t really want to do something. “I don’t mind stopping off at your place.”
“Fiona needs a ride,” Ember said. “I have my own vehicle. It would be a nice thing to do so she isn’t stuck riding with Aria. The way Aria rides the brake could make a cast-iron skillet throw up.”
Ranger shot her an odd look. “Are you trying to ditch me, Sparky?”
“Nooo.”
His eyes narrowed and his dark brows drew together. “What have you got up your sleeve?”
“Nothing, nothing . . . I’ve just, well, there’s something I need to do before I go to the ranch.”
“Is there a man in your life you haven’t told me about?” He cocked his head, studied her for a long moment.
Her heart hopped out of her stomach and leaped into her throat. She’d already told one lie for his own good, she wasn’t comfortable reeling out another one, not here in the middle of church, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t let him assume she had a guy. She gave him a Monty Python–style smile—nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
“So you’ll give Fiona a ride?”
“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled, jammed his hands deeper into his pockets. “But as soon as I get you alone, I want to hear all about this guy. I’m not going to let you make another mistake like you did with Trey.”
“Don’t worry about that,” she said, speaking her truth. “I’m never getting married again.”
Ranger shot her a troubled look that left her feeling out of sorts and she almost told him she’d changed her mind, but he’d already started toward Fiona.
Fiona Kelton was not a chatterbox.
Which Ranger liked about her to some degree. By and large, chatty women drove him batty, but Fiona was so quiet he could hear himself breathing, and it was sixteen miles from the church to the Silver Feather Ranch.
Dressed in a plain brown dress, Fiona had her hands in her lap and was staring straight ahead. She was pretty enough, in an understated way, with soft brown hair and brown eyes. Not the kind of woman who stood out, and he couldn’t help comparing her to bright, vivacious Ember.
What was Ember up to, by the way? Why had she stuck him with Fiona? Why hadn’t she come along, as well? Where was she going? Who was she secretly meeting?
It set his teeth on edge to think that she was slipping off to meet some guy on the day of their niece’s christening. It wasn’t so much the idea that she had a man on the string, but rather it was because she hadn’t told him about it. They were best friends. He told her everything—well, he hadn’t told her about Dawn yet, but he hadn’t had a chance—and he expected her to reciprocate.
Was that unreasonable?
Hell, maybe it was. She didn’t owe him any explanations. Truth be told, he’d gotten his feelings hurt, and he wasn’t used to Ember hurting his feelings.
Suck it up.
He needed to stop being a dullard and make conversation with his passenger. That was the way people who were good fund-raisers did things. They excelled at small talk. Ugh. “So Fiona . . .”
“Yes?” She exhaled as if she’d been holding her breath for miles.
“How long have you lived in Cupid?”
“Three months.”
“You like it here?”
“The people are very nice.”
“But it’s pretty isolated country.”
“Yes.”
Was he going to have to get a dental license to yank a conversation out of her? “What brought you to town?”
“A moving van.”
Ahh, that was better. Ranger chuckled. “Too many questions?”
“I just don’t like talking about myself.”
“Why not? You on the run from the law?”
“I did forget to return a library book when I lived in Pennsylvania, but I plan on mailing it back to them when I find it. I haven’t gotten completely unpacked yet.” She offered up a shy smile.
Hey, Fiona wasn’t so bad. At least she could make jokes.
“You go to a lot of baby christenings?” he asked.
“This is my first. I’ve only been working at the church for three months.”
“Mine too,” he said. “I’m not a terribly religious guy.”
“I figured,” she said. “What with you being a scientist and all.”
“True enough, but there is a whole lot that science can’t explain about how the universe works. Everything is just a hypothesis until it’s proven true.”
“Good point.”
Ranger tried to imagine them on a date. Fiona had a pleasant disposition, and was well put together. Everything on her matched, which was more than he could usually say for himself. She certainly wouldn’t offend anyone, at least not what he’d seen of her so far.
“How old are you?” he asked.
Okay, that was blunt and probably a little rude, and it sounded far more like something Ember would ask. Usually he didn’t give a good damn about someone’s vital statistics.
But Fiona answered easily. “Twenty-five.”
Seven years younger than he. Was he too old for her? He thought about what Ember had told him the night before. That he needed to find a wife who could navigate social situations. To be a partner in his career aspirations. Problem with that? He didn’t want a wife.
Of course, Ember would claim that his lack of desire to follow tradition was the problem. Did he really need to get married to advance his career? Was she right about that? Should he get married just so he’d have a wife who could deal with social niceties?
And leave Ember behind forever?
It didn’t seem fair to anyone. Not him. Not the intended wife. Not Ember.
“It was very generous of you,” Fiona said. “To donate so much money to Cupid’s children’s summer reading program.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I volunteer at the library part-time. Your name is on a wall plaque.”
Ranger winced. “I told them not to do that.”
“They’re proud of the donation,” she said. “They’re proud of you.”
Last year, before heading to New Zealand, he’d sold off his livestock and donated the proceeds to the library. Growing up, the local library had meant so much to him. If it hadn’t been for books, and
Ember, he surely would have lost his mind those long months and years he’d spent recovering from rheumatic fever and his subsequent heart surgery. Things hadn’t been easy for him as a kid, and he’d disappeared into books and daydreams long before he’d gotten sick. The ailment had just cemented his introversion.
He was the second son, but the first legitimate Lockhart heir. His older brother, Ridge, had been the product of their father’s affair with a stripper, and she’d abandoned Ridge on the doorstep of the Silver Feather when Ridge was three and Ranger was eighteen months. Though he and Ridge had been close in age, there had always been an undercurrent of tension running between them. Things had improved greatly two years ago when Ridge had returned to the ranch, married Kaia, and took over day-to-day running of the Silver Feather.
Ranger had been surprised that he wasn’t the least bit jealous about his father turning the reins over to Ridge. Truth be told, he’d been relieved to have someone else shoulder the mantle. As much as he loved the Silver Feather, he wasn’t a rancher at heart. His first and last love would always be the stars. Although, he couldn’t deny that cowboy blood ran through his veins. Five generations of Lockharts dug into the Trans-Pecos saw to that.
“They love you at the library.” Fiona turned and gave him a luminescent smile that seemed to say, I think I love you too.
The look stunned him. Holy extraterrestrial, did the woman have a crush on him?
That pumped up his ego a bit. He eyed Fiona up and down. Why not give her a chance? She wasn’t bad looking in a rather ordinary way. Taken feature by feature, she was pretty, even if the total did not add up to a beautiful face.
She certainly didn’t compare to Ember. Then again, who could compare to his best friend? In Ranger’s estimation, Ember was the most beautiful woman in town. Hell, in the whole of the Trans-Pecos.
“Ember said you keep books in your microwave.”
“I ran out of storage space and the microwave was just sitting there unused . . .”
“So you found a way to use it.”
“Do you find that weird?”
“I find it endearing.” Fiona clutched her hands in her lap and hazarded a quick glance at him.
All at once, it dawned on Ranger why Ember had pushed him to give Fiona a ride. She wasn’t sneaking off to meet some guy. The sly minx was playing matchmaker.
He was both irritated and relieved.
He should pretend to fall in love with Fiona just to teach Ember a lesson. It would serve her right. But of course, he wouldn’t do that to a sweet person like Fiona. Wouldn’t turn her into an unwitting pawn in a mental chess game with his best friend.
“You’ve just come back home from a year in New Zealand,” Fiona said.
“Yes, I was at the University of Canterbury, doing advanced research on the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.”
“Sometimes,” she said, “it’s hard finding signs of intelligent life in this town, much less the universe.”
That struck his funny bone and he let loose with a laugh. “For sure.”
“So did you find E.T.?”
“Not yet. He must be hiding in a closet.”
“Eating Reese’s Pieces.”
“That’s a pretty archaic reference for a twenty-five-year old.”
“E.T. is iconic. I bet you watched it a hundred times when you were a kid,” she said.
He grinned. “Probably more like a thousand.”
“Me too.” Fiona’s smile was a flashlight on a moonless night, bright and welcoming.
Ranger could see why Ember was trying to hook him up with her. Fiona was a nice woman . . . for someone.
“May I ask you a question?” she asked.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“If it’s embarrassing enough to cut off my circulation.”
She laughed again, a soft sound of enjoyment. “You don’t have to answer.”
“Fire away. What would you like to know?”
“Are you and Ember . . .” She didn’t finish the sentence. Just let it dangle.
“Best friends? Yes, we’ve known each other since we were babies.”
“Oh . . . good.”
“What does that mean?”
“I ask because there’s rumors around town that you two are much more than just friends.”
“Look, Fiona, gossips are going to gossip. It doesn’t matter what the truth is. Some people can’t believe that a man and a woman can be just friends.”
“So you and Ember have never—”
“God, no.” He cut that off short and quick.
“Are you involved with anyone else?”
“I’m concentrating on my work at the moment.” That was the truth. Then again, he was always concentrating on his work. The right woman could sway his interest, but so far, he hadn’t found anyone who interested him as much as his job, except of course for Ember, but she was off-limits.
“Oh,” Fiona said, her voice sounding like Humpty Dumpty after he fell off the wall. “So you’re not interested in—”
“E.T. takes up most of my time.”
“And your friendship with Ember takes up the remainder?”
“Pretty much.”
“I see.”
Silence filled the pickup.
Ranger couldn’t think of anything else to say, and Fiona wasn’t holding up her end of the conversation, and he was mighty relieved when the elaborate wrought-iron gates leading into the Silver Feather came into view.
The main house, where his father and Vivi lived, sat dead center in the middle of the hundred-thousand-acre spread that sprawled across Presidio and Jeff Davis counties. His grandfather, Cyril Lockhart, had left his four grandsons two-acre parcels of land on each of the four quadrants of the ranch, with the stipulation that none of them could sell their plots without approval from the entire family.
Ranger’s acreage lay to the north. Three years ago, despite his father’s ridicule, Ranger had built an off-the-grid, sustainable earthship house by hand, using reclaimed and recycled products, and he was damn proud of it. Most people thought it an odd house, but then those same people thought Ranger odd, so it fit. They were a headstrong lot, the Lockharts.
Cars packed the driveway.
He blotted his brow with his arm, dampening the sleeve of his suit jacket. He was tempted to drive over to his house before going to the luncheon and change clothes, but he had Fiona in the truck, and he didn’t want to take her to the earthship.
Ranger parked and helped Fiona out. She gave him a shy smile when he offered her his elbow, and she eagerly slipped her arm through his. His stepmother, Lucy, had drummed good manners into his head. If it hadn’t been for Lucy, he and Ridge would have turned out rank heathens. He still missed his stepmother. Except for Ember’s mother, Bridgette Alzate, Lucy had been the only maternal influence in his life.
“Where’s Ember?” Kaia asked the second he and Fiona came through the front door.
“I dunno,” he said. “It wasn’t my turn to watch her.”
“It’s always your turn to watch her,” Kaia said.
“Oh really?” He lifted his eyebrows. “Says who?”
“Me. Without you around to keep her on the straight and narrow, no telling where my sister would end up. You should have seen her this past year while you were in New Zealand.”
Huh. Ember had been struggling? Ranger dropped Fiona’s arm and stepped closer to Kaia. “What’s been going on with her?”
“She’s completely at loose ends with her life. Going around in circles, decorating her house and then immediately redecorating. Dating like mad, but never going out with anyone more than once. She’s volunteered and overscheduled herself to keep from missing you, and she kept roping me and Tara and Aria into helping her. I’m making a rule. You can’t leave the country again unless you take Ember with you.”
“Really?” He absorbed that, processing it slowly like he did most things. As a rule, he did not rush.
“Here.” Kaia plopped Ingrid in his arms. “Hold your niece while I mingle. Fiona”—Kaia linked her arm through the other woman’s—“let me show you where you can put your purse.”
Fiona went away with Kaia but cast a longing gaze over her shoulder at Ranger. Yipes. He was going to give Ember an earful about this matchmaking nonsense.
Speaking of his best friend, where was she? And why hadn’t she told him she was struggling?
Ingrid stared at Ranger and started whimpering.
Panic took hold of him. “Shh, shh, don’t do that,” he pleaded with the baby and went in search of his brother. He found his older brother talking to Father Dubanowski in the dining room.
“Here, here, take your kid.” Ranger deposited Ingrid in her father’s arms.
“Scared of a baby?” Ridge teased.
“I’m not scared of her. I’ve just . . . er . . . got something I need to do.”
“Riiight.”
“I’m not scared of a baby.”
“Better not be. You’re her godfather.”
“We’ll bond more when she’s older, and I’ll teach her how to find the Big Dipper.”
“You’re missing out, buddy.” Ridge grinned and rocked his daughter in his arms. “One of these days you’re going to want one of these. Mark my word.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ranger scooted out the back door, breathed deep and whipped his cell phone from his jacket pocket to text Ember. Where R U?
A few minutes later, his phone dinged. En route.
Ranger texted: Hurry. It’s boring without U.
Ember: Talk to Fiona.
Ranger: About that . . .
He texted her a gif file of a man in a coma.
Ember: Behave. She’s nice.
Ranger texted the coma gif again.
Ember: Haha.
Ranger: Get over here, ASAP.
Ember: Keep U’R shorts on. Deputy Greenwood has it out for me and I can’t afford another ticket.
Ranger grinned and wrote: Speed Racer.
Ember sent a gif of a girl sticking out her tongue.
God, he’d missed their easy camaraderie. Their natural way of teasing each other. This was the main reason he didn’t want to take that job in New Zealand. He couldn’t be that far away from Ember again.
