“I didn’t ask. It’s none of my business.”
“Whatever you say,” he said with a sly grin. “Come on. Let’s head back. Tracy’s expecting me to help with the barbecue.”
Feeling out of sorts after his conversation with Carson, Buck got in the Jeep and started out for the ranch house. Carson followed in his truck. By the time they reached the parking area, he’d gotten himself under control. He was taking all of this way too seriously and Carson had just been teasing him.
Chill out, Summerhayes.
Taking a deep breath, he exited the Jeep. While Carson hurried inside to find his wife, Buck walked around the other side of the house to see what was going on. Sounds of shouts and laughter came from the pool area where tables of food had already been set up on the patio. Some of the guests were eating and others were in the pool, Tracy among them.
He would have been all right if he hadn’t seen Ross cleaving the water to bear down on Alex, ready to dunk her. Buck didn’t know Ross had returned from the overnight campout.
She screamed, laughing, trying to get away from the inevitable. Watching his friend horse around with her should have made him laugh. Instead he was knocked sideways. Ross usually swam laps in the pool before calling it a night, but he did it when the guests weren’t around.
Buck hadn’t known a feeling like this since he’d first learned about Melanie and his brother. How could he possibly be jealous? Ross was one of the greatest guys he knew.
As for Alex, she’d arrived only last night and would soon belong to another man. She and Ross were just fooling around and having fun. Last night, Alex had told him that fun was exactly what she and Jenny needed. But Buck had no other answer for what was bothering him. There had to be something seriously wrong with him.
“Buck—come and help us!” Jenny cried out the second she saw him. At least Buck had one fan: a precious little girl who was making inroads into his heart.
Johnny’s brown head bobbed next to hers. “We’re having a water fight with Ross. Come and be on our side!”
Whatever he was feeling, he needed to put it away for now. “I’ll get on my suit and be right out.”
“Yippee!” the kids cried.
He dashed through the side doors of the games room into the hall and hurried up the stairs to his bedroom to change. Once he’d put on his trunks, he grabbed a towel and rushed outside again. He’d be all right if he stayed with the children.
Ignore what’s going on with Grandma and the thirty-year-old ex-marine who ought to know better.
Except that Ross probably didn’t know the whole story about Alexis Wilson.
Taking a running leap, Buck did a cannonball in front of the kids that spread water in every direction like a tidal wave. Their screams of delight were followed by more screams as Carson plunged in, practically emptying the pool. When he surfaced, he was holding a ball. “Okay, everybody. It’s the girls against the guys for a game of volleyball. Girls over there.” He pointed to the shallow end.
Buck didn’t put it past Carson to have seen Ross zero in on Alex and decide to do something about it. Whatever. Buck joined his friends and a couple of the older teenage boys. Johnny swam over to their side.
“Hey, sport.” Carson immediately put Johnny on his shoulders while Ross spiked the ball to the other side.
One of the older teenage girls returned it and the game was on, but Buck had trouble concentrating. Alex’s hair was in a braid she’d pinned to the top of her head. The style emphasized her angelic face. When she jumped to hit the ball, he caught a glimpse of her shapely body in her two-piece emerald suit. His lungs gave out in reaction, leaving him coughing up a storm.
The battle wore on for ten minutes. “Give up yet?” Carson called out with a gloating expression.
“Never!” Tracy retorted and spiked a ball that Buck never saw coming because he was looking somewhere else.
Carson turned to him. “Hey, buddy. We’re supposed to be throttling them.” But his eyes were crinkled with laughter, conveying a private message that he knew exactly what was going on with Buck.
Making a quick recovery, Buck served a fast ball that had the girls scrambling. Within minutes it was all over. Thirty-one to nine in favor of the guys.
“It’s not fair,” Jenny complained when Buck swam over to her. She looked so cute in her red suit, but she was so upset that he needed to turn things around for her.
“I know, but there’s something we can do to make things equal. If you get on my shoulders, we’ll have a water fight with Carson and Johnny.”
“Goody!” She’d adopted one of Johnny’s words. In the next instant, she flew toward Buck so he could lift her onto his shoulders. Ignoring Alex, who was treading water while she watched them, he headed for the other end. Johnny saw them coming and yelped.
“I hope you guys are ready, because Jenny and I are going to whomp you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Carson countered.
“Start chopping the water, Jenny.”
“Okay.”
The game was on while the kids fought like warriors. Buck and Carson were laughing so hard, they started coughing and Johnny got dumped in the water by accident.
“We won!” Jenny squealed, hugging Buck around the neck so hard he almost choked.
Johnny hung on to his daddy’s arm. “We’ll get you tomorrow night.”
“No, you won’t. Buck and I are the best!”
Yeah. Buck loved it.
By now everyone had gotten out of the pool, including Alex. She was covered in a beach robe that hid her exquisite figure and long legs from view. She stood at the edge of the pool to throw another large beach towel around Jenny who bragged to her grandmother about winning the contest against Carson and Johnny.
“You two deserve a prize.”
“What kind?” she wanted to know immediately.
“I don’t know yet.” Those deep blue eyes found Buck’s. Maybe it was the exertion from the water fight that caused adrenaline to pump through him, but he doubted it. “I’ll have to think about it while we eat. Come on.”
Buck ran back inside the house to change into jeans and a polo shirt. Once dressed, he came out to help himself to steak and corn on the cob. Jenny waved him over to one of the candlelit tables where she and Alex were sitting with Carson’s family and Ross. He was telling them about the elk his group had seen while camping.
“You know something, Johnny? I believe it was the same elk as the one on the dude ranch brochure.”
“You mean, the one with the giant antlers?” He nodded. “I bet that’s another one of your fish stories, Uncle Ross.”
“I swear, it isn’t! I took a picture with my phone.”
“Dad doesn’t think it’s around anymore.”
“Then maybe it’s his brother.”
“His brother?” Jenny laughed over the comment, causing Buck to smile. Despite all the pain she’d lived through, Alex’s granddaughter had a great sense of humor. His heart warmed to her more and more.
“Where’s your phone?” Johnny asked.
“In my bedroom.”
“Could I go get it?”
“Sure. It’s on the top of the dresser.”
“It can wait,” Tracy reminded her son. “Ross can show it to us at breakfast. Right now let’s all finish our dinner.”
“Your mother’s right,” Carson backed her up.
Johnny turned to Buck with pleading brown eyes. “If it’s the granddaddy elk, can we go on a campout tomorrow in the same place? I want to see it.” He glanced at Jenny. “You want to see it, too, don’t you? It’s huge.”
“I know. I saw it on the brochure.” She turned to Alex. “Can—I mean—may we go see it, Nana? Please?”
“Maybe in a few days, sweetheart. Remember what Buck said? You and the pony need to get
used to each other. After a few days of short rides, you’ll be ready for a longer ride. Doesn’t that make sense?”
“I guess.”
“But what if the elk isn’t there by then?”
Carson put an arm around Johnny. “You have the rest of your life to find him.”
“Yeah, but Jenny will be going home pretty soon and might not see it.”
“I don’t want to go home,” she piped up out of the blue.
Alex looked chagrined. She put her fork down and got to her feet. “You know what, sweetheart? You sound tired. So am I. Let’s thank everyone for this delicious meal and go back to the cabin.”
Jenny mumbled her thanks before standing up. “Good night everybody. It’s been really fun.”
“Good night,” Johnny muttered back, clearly unhappy. “See you in the morning. We’ll go hunting for bad guys with our guns.”
“Buck? Can we ride back to the cabin with you?”
It thrilled him that Jenny wanted his company. He got up from the deck chair. “I was just going to suggest it. The air is cooling down too fast for you to have to walk in your swimsuit. Even though the Jeep will be cold, we’ll get there faster. But as soon as we arrive, I’ll start a fire and make the cabin cozy for you.”
Jenny hurried around the table toward Buck with a smile that reached down inside him.
“Can I come with you?” Johnny was already on his feet.
Tracy put the kibosh on that idea. “Not tonight. You’ve had a big day and need a good sleep, too.”
Good. Buck wanted to be alone with Alex and Jenny. In Afghanistan he’d been around a lot of buddies who were family men and talked about their wives and children. During that period, Buck found himself wanting the same thing but he hadn’t met the right woman yet.
When the guys had been hospitalized and they’d conceived of the idea of a daddy dude ranch, he’d had many fantasies about being married and having a family. Now that Alex and Jenny had arrived on the ranch, he found himself hungering for the experience.
But to fantasize about the three of them being a family was wrong. She’d pledged herself to another man. Buck needed to remember that or he’d go a little insane.
Chapter Four
Troubled by the direction of the conversation in the past few minutes, Alex said good-night and followed Jenny and Buck around the side of the ranch house. But Jenny didn’t wait for Alex to catch up. To her dismay, she saw her granddaughter reach for Buck’s hand the way she might have done with her father.
It all happened naturally. That was because he took such good care of them and made Jenny feel safe, just the way Daniel had done. Though that was his job while they were here, she knew instinctively that Buck would always be attentive and fun that way. Being there at the ranch, she could see the contrast between him and Frank, who’d already raised a family and had grandchildren. Frank was good to Jenny, but it was different because Frank was more attentive to Alex.
When they reached the Jeep, Alex climbed in front and settled Jenny on her lap to help keep her warm. Buck drove them to the cabin in record time. After putting on another oxygen mask he kept in the Jeep, he got a fire going while they showered and washed their hair.
After dressing in their pajamas, they went back to the living room to dry their hair in front of the fire with the bathroom towels. Buck checked their stock of supplies while Alex put Jenny’s hair in a ponytail.
Her granddaughter stared at Buck, seemingly fascinated by everything about him. “Do you have to leave now?”
“In about three more minutes. That’s when my oxygen runs out.”
“I wish you could stay longer.” She looked up at Alex. “Tomorrow night let’s not have a fire. Then Buck won’t have to leave.”
“He might have other plans, sweetheart.”
Jenny’s eyes switched to Buck with a worried expression. “Do you?”
“I was thinking that after dinner tomorrow we could watch a movie here with Johnny. There are a half dozen family DVDs in that armoire.”
“Could we, Nana?”
It wouldn’t be wise for Alex to spend any more time in Buck’s company if she wanted to forget he existed, but it would mean the world to her granddaughter. “Sure. Maybe we can get Tracy and Carson to come, too. It sounds like fun. You and Johnny can pick the movie.”
“Then it’s a date.”
Not that kind of a date. No, no, no.
Buck got to his feet and moved his hard-muscled frame to the door. Alex averted her gaze to avoid feasting her eyes on him. “I’ll see you lovely ladies at breakfast tomorrow. Afterward we’ll go fishing with anyone who wants to come.”
“I want to catch a big one!”
“Then we’ll do it.” He grinned. “And you’ll have to eat it.”
“I’ll get Johnny to help me.”
“Good thinking.” He started for the door. Jenny darted after him. “Good night, Buck.”
“Good night, Red.”
She laughed. “Red—”
“That’s your favorite color, right?” She nodded. He sent Alex a brief glance before shutting the door.
Alex knew the unexpected nickname had slipped out in the same natural way Jenny had reached for his hand earlier. She could see Buck and Jenny bonding before her eyes and moaned inwardly.
The second he left, Alex hurried over to lock the door, but she found her fingers trembled.
“Do I have to go to bed yet?”
“You can stay up until I finish doing my hair.” Alex dried it a little more before securing it at the nape with an elastic.
“You’re going to talk to Frank tonight, huh?”
Her heart pounded harder. “Yes.”
“Is he mad at me?”
“Of course not!” Alex picked her up and hugged her.
“I wish you didn’t like him so much.”
They’d been over this many times before. Alex could see how much Jenny needed reassurance of her love. “It’s because of all the good things he does. But don’t you know there’s nobody in the whole world more important to me than you? I love you with all my heart.”
Jenny clung to her. “I love you, too. I wish we could stay here forever.”
That was the second time in an hour her granddaughter had expressed the same sentiment. “I love it here, too, and I know exactly how you feel, sweetheart. Everyone needs to go on vacation once in a while. You forget all your problems and just have fun.”
“Do you think Buck goes on vacation sometimes?”
Alex groaned. Buck again. Where had that question come from? “I’m sure he does. Now, let’s go in the bedroom. It’s time to get some sleep.”
Tears escaped Alex’s lids when her granddaughter ended her prayer by asking God to cure Buck’s disease. Jenny had a tender heart made much more sensitive by the loss of her parents. Alex supposed it was possible Jenny worried Buck might die because of his condition. The thought was too terrible to contemplate.
Once she’d gone to sleep, Alex went back to the living room and stretched out on the floor in front of the fire. She checked her watch. It was twenty after ten. There was an hour’s time difference between Wyoming and California. Frank might be home from his daughter’s by now, but there was time to spare before she needed to phone him.
Unfortunately the longer she put off making the call, the guiltier she would feel. Turning on her side, she pressed the speed dial for his number. He picked up before the second ring. “I’ve been waiting to hear your voice.”
“Hi. I just got Jenny to bed. How was your dinner?”
“My daughter’s a great cook. Phil got a promotion, which is good news, but I want to know about you. I keep thinking about you being there without me. I have to tell you I’m having a hard time. Work isn’t the same.”
<
br /> “I know what you mean. It’s too bad you can’t be here. You’d love it.”
“I’ve been to the Tetons several times in my life. It’s a beautiful place, no doubt about it. Does Jenny like it?”
If he only knew. “Yes. She spent all day with Johnny, that boy I told you about. His father was a marine who lost his life, so they have that bond between them.” But Jenny had formed another bond, too. That was the one that made Alex break out in a cold sweat.
“If you think it’s helping, then I’m glad you went.”
“To be honest, I haven’t seen her this carefree since before Daniel’s death. Tomorrow we’re all going fishing.”
“Who all?”
Her pulse picked up speed when she thought of Buck. “Different members of the staff and guests. Today Jenny rode one of the ponies.”
“They have ponies?”
“Yes. Thanks to Hugh, she was able to ride around with a lot of confidence.” After a pause she said, “Frank, tonight she opened up to me about some of her feelings. We have to talk about it.”
“I can hear you hesitating. What’s wrong?”
Alex closed her eyes tightly. “She isn’t ready for me to get married yet.”
“That’s not news. Will she ever be? Honestly?”
“I realize that’s the last thing you want to hear, but it’s clear she’s not over Christy’s death.”
“Alexis—”
She sat up. “I know what you’re going to say. We’ve been over this before, so here’s my idea. When we fly back to Sacramento, I’m going to get us into counseling. When Daniel died, I was advised to seek help and I would have, but then Christy got so ill, I put it off.”
“Counseling could take months.”
“Maybe, maybe not. The point is, I can’t marry you until she’s able to accept it, otherwise we’ll have a nightmare on our hands. I’m so sorry it has to be this way. You have to know this isn’t what I want.”
“But let’s be truthful about one thing. She has resented me from the beginning and is holding you hostage.”
Alex bristled. “It’s not personal, Frank. She’s scared she’s going to lose me. She’d feel that way about any man I wanted to marry.”
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