“It’s not your fault. Sometimes we can do everything that’s possible and bad things still happen.”
“But—”
“Stop blaming yourself. It won’t change the past and can actually hurt the future.” Is that what she’d been doing unconsciously, blaming herself for not being more aware of her surroundings?
She mentally shook her head. No. How could she have possibly known that a man bent on doing her harm had found a way into her home while she was gone?
Stop thinking about that. Now isn’t the time.
Tyler met her gaze, and his softened. He placed his hand atop hers where it lay against his upper arm. Her breath caught as she looked up at him. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes out here, but she saw it in her mind.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?” Her words came out a little shaky.
“Taking an interest in Maddie, telling her the stories, reassuring her.” He paused, running his thumb across the back of her hand. “For telling her that I love her, because I do. I did from the moment I met her tiny little face in the hospital after she was born. She was only minutes old and crying like crazy, but I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything more beautiful.”
Something moved in Leah’s heart. Tyler Lowe appeared to be the type of man with whom women fell head over heels in love, probably had even though he for some reason remained single. She wasn’t sure she wasn’t tumbling down that path herself. What wasn’t to love? He took in his niece and loved her to pieces, did his best to provide for her, had been kind to Leah in her hour of need, as well. Not to mention he was gorgeous. There was no other word for the way the man looked. She suddenly wished she’d met him before Garton invaded her life, that the attack had never happened.
But then she and Tyler might never have met.
She became intensely aware of how he was looking at her, like he was every bit as attracted as she was. Excitement bubbled up within her, but when he leaned toward her she stepped back from him without conscious thought. It was the damned self-protective instinct overriding the very real desire to know what it would feel like to have Tyler kiss her. Would she ever get past that dark nugget of fear within herself that made her worry that Tyler might hurt her? Had Garton irreparably scarred her? Destroyed her ability to trust?
“It’s getting late. I better grab my laundry and turn in. I’ve got some errands to run tomorrow.”
Tyler nodded and took his own step back. “I should have your new water heater installed by the time you get home.”
“Thank you. And thank you for dinner, and for letting me use the shower and the laundry room.”
Tyler smiled, making her wish she hadn’t broken contact with him.
“It sounds like we’re having a contest to see who can thank the other the most,” he said.
She laughed a little. “Then I’ll just say good-night. And... I know it’s hard, but give Maddie time. She considers things carefully, especially for someone her age. I have faith she will see the truth of what I told her about you.”
“I hope you’re right.”
As Leah hurried up the drive a few minutes later, laundry basket in hand and trying to ignore the darkness pressing in on her, stealing her breath, she hoped she was right, too. That she hadn’t given Tyler false hope.
* * *
DESPITE WHAT LEAH had said, Tyler didn’t see any difference in how Maddie acted around him. She replied when he asked her questions, but beyond that she spent her time playing outside, watching cartoons or coloring. A few times he’d notice her forehead furrowed as if she were thinking hard. It reminded him of something else Leah had said the night before, that Maddie took her time to think things through and that he had to have faith that his niece would come around.
Thinking of Leah also brought back the memory of how small and soft her hand had felt beneath his, how he would have kissed her had she not stepped away. Again, he’d sensed a layer of fear in her, increasing his belief that someone had hurt her.
He let out a long breath. Why did people have to hurt each other? It made no sense.
He’d spent the morning getting her new water heater installed, but Leah had already been gone by the time he returned from town with it. Already the bunkhouse felt wrong when she wasn’t there.
Now, as he drove out to the Brody ranch to tend to a couple of horses Owen Brody was training for rodeo stock, his thoughts shifted back to Maddie. He glanced over toward her, saw she was hugging her ever-present stuffed puppy. Out of the blue, he remembered a little green stuffed frog that Kendra had carried around when she’d been little more than Maddie’s age. He smiled when he remembered her telling their mother that one day she would kiss the frog and he’d be a prince.
Had his sister been kissing frogs ever since in hopes of finding her prince? Tears threatened to blur his vision at how lost his sister was. Sometimes he felt just as lost.
He shoved heavy thoughts away as he pulled into the Brody ranch and waved at Owen and his wife, Linnea.
“Hello,” Linnea said as Tyler helped Maddie out of the truck. “This must be your niece.”
Tyler made the introductions.
“Maddie, I just made a batch of cookies. Would you help me out by testing one to see if it’s good or not?” Linnea smiled as she met Tyler’s gaze.
Maddie looked up at him, as well. “Can I?”
“Sure.”
Tyler noticed the way Owen watched his wife lead Maddie toward the house, a smile of contentment on his face. “Seems married life is agreeing with you.”
“It is indeed. You should try it yourself.”
An image of Leah in his arms, looking up at him with love and admiration, shook Tyler. He forced his mind away from that thought and back to Owen.
“Owen Brody, giving out relationship advice. How the world has changed.”
“Don’t knock it till you try it.” Owen slapped him on the back as he directed Tyler toward the barn.
Tyler pulled out his tools as Owen positioned the horse so Tyler could trim its hooves.
“Heard you rented out your bunkhouse to Conner’s cousin.”
“Yep. Building was just sitting there. Figured it might as well be earning me some money.”
“Leah’s a pretty woman. Maybe you won’t have to look far for love.”
Tyler looked at Owen. “Has Verona Charles infected everyone in town with some matchmaking virus?”
Owen laughed. “Just putting the idea out there.”
Tyler didn’t need help with that. It seemed he’d been thinking about Leah and how pretty she was since he’d met her. But he didn’t need Owen to know that. Or anyone else for that matter.
“Why are you so interested? Did she turn you down too before you got blissfully married?”
“Too?” Owen’s eyebrow rose as if he’d caught Tyler in a slipup.
“Yeah. Greg said he asked her out once and she declined.”
Owen snorted. “I would have given good money to see the look on his face. But how did you and Greg get on that topic?”
“For some reason, everyone seems to be interested in my love life all of a sudden.”
Owen shrugged. “Small town.”
“Where gossip is the main form of entertainment.” Which was exactly why he didn’t need to get involved with Leah. What if they got together and it impacted Maddie in a negative way? He got the impression she hadn’t seen any positive instances of people dating. Plus, what if things didn’t work out between him and Leah? How awkward would that be when she came to pay the rent?
Not to mention Leah might not even be interested. He thought he’d seen something in her eyes the night before, felt a shiver go through her body, but there was also his increasing belief that she’d been hurt somehow, that she was more cautious than m
ost women. If so, he needed to be as careful with her as he was Maddie, even more so.
Owen went off to meet with someone interested in buying a horse, leaving Tyler to his work and his thoughts. When he finally finished with the horses, he didn’t immediately leave the barn. Instead, he sank onto a wooden bench and leaned back against one of the stalls. He hadn’t been sleeping well, all his worries refusing to quiet enough to rest. It felt good to just be for a moment. He had no more work scheduled for today and Maddie was being looked after. He closed his eyes and listened to the shifting and breathing of the horses, smelled fresh hay, felt a gentle breeze drifting through the barn.
The sound of a child’s giggling brought him away from the verge of sleep. It took a couple of seconds to realize it was Maddie giggling. He had to see what miracle had brought out that reaction in his niece.
Tyler rose to his feet and walked to the barn’s entrance. There on the porch sat Maddie petting the Brodys’ two old bassett hounds. One of them licked Maddie’s face, making her giggles ring out across the ranch again. It was wonderful to see her happy, and the reason why gave him an idea.
After they returned home and Maddie had gone up to her room, Tyler spotted Leah out by the line of trees taking photos. He wondered what his reception would be considering how quickly she’d made her departure the night before, but he found himself walking up the drive anyway.
When she noticed him, she stood.
“Taking up nature photography?” he asked as he motioned toward the wildflowers.
“Was just taking a break from work and decided to snap some shots. They’re very pretty.”
Not as pretty as Leah. But he didn’t say that out loud.
She turned to face him. “How are things with Maddie today?”
“About the same, maybe a little better. That’s why I’m here. I have a favor to ask.”
“Sure, I’ll help if I can.”
He told her about Maddie’s reaction to the dogs at the Brody ranch. “I want to get her a puppy. Would you go to the shelter with me when she’s in school tomorrow?”
Leah smiled. “That’s a great idea. I’d love to help.”
Tyler breathed a little easier that the uneasiness he’d seen in her eyes the night before had disappeared with the light of day. And though it wasn’t a date, he was already looking forward to spending time alone with her.
* * *
LEAH PACED HER living area, ridiculously nervous about going to the animal shelter with Tyler. And this time it wasn’t because she was scared he might hurt her. It was the being alone with him after the way he’d looked at her the night on the porch, the way his hand had felt atop hers—gentle with a layer of roughness that came from good, honest work.
She realized in that moment that even Tyler’s career showed he was a person who cared for others, animals included. Even his idea of getting Maddie a puppy showed he knew how important connections were, how a pet could sometimes soothe hurts that words couldn’t.
Already, she considered Tyler a friend. The fact it had happened so quickly surprised her since it came so soon after her attack. That she’d allowed him to touch her, more than once, spoke to something else entirely. Something she wasn’t sure she was ready to explore.
But how could she refuse him when he was trying so hard to connect with his niece, to help Maddie trust him?
At least Leah wouldn’t be riding with him in the close confines of his truck. She’d heard him leave a few minutes earlier to take Maddie to her first day of school. Leah had told him the previous evening that it didn’t make sense for him to return to the ranch to pick her up, so she was to meet him at the shelter.
If she got up the nerve to walk out her front door.
Leah stopped pacing. “Don’t overthink it. You’re going to pick out a puppy, for heaven’s sake.”
She grabbed her purse and a few boxes filled with jewelry orders she needed to drop off at the post office, and headed out the door.
By the time she reached the animal shelter, Tyler was already there, sitting on the open tailgate of his truck. A man shouldn’t look so delicious without even making any effort. As she hesitated getting out of her car, she wondered what Tyler Lowe was hiding under that short-sleeved, button-up shirt. If it was anything like the arms and hands she could see, it might cause her to have heart palpitations. Were those kinds of thoughts a sign she was beginning to get past what had happened to her or just the power of Tyler’s attractiveness?
Puppies, puppies, puppies. Think about puppies.
“Thought maybe you’d changed your mind,” Tyler said when she finally stepped out of the car.
“Long line at the post office.” And a long line of competing thoughts in her head.
“Always is on Monday.”
He held the door to the building open for her, adding evidence to the case that he was a good guy.
They were met by a pixieish young woman at the front desk. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to adopt a puppy for my niece.”
Pixie girl, whose name turned out to be Clary, launched into several questions: How old was his niece? Did he live in town or in the country? Were there other pets in the home?
When she finally finished, Tyler said, “I feel like I’ve just been interviewed for a position with the CIA.”
Clary laughed. “It is a lot, but we use the information to make sure the animals are going to a safe environment and we pair you with the best possible match. Could your niece come in to interact with the puppies?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Clary nodded. “Okay. If you’ll follow me.”
Again Tyler let Leah precede him, holding open the door that led back to the kennels. She wasn’t the type of woman who needed men to do everything for her, but a girl could get used to a little chivalry doled out by a handsome cowboy.
“Take a walk through and see if any of these little guys and girls look promising,” Clary said. “You can interact with however many you want to until you find the right one for your niece.”
As if they smelled freedom and a new life, the wide variety of puppies barked and wagged their tails as they stood at the front of their cages.
“There are so many,” Leah said as they slowly walked down the line. “Makes me want to take all of them.”
“You might have a new job as puppy wrangler then,” Tyler said.
“There are worse jobs.”
“Until you have to clean up all the puppy poop.”
“You make an excellent point. Although it is a ranch with lots of fields. And the cows already fertilize the place.”
“And feed themselves for the most part.”
“Oh, you and your facts.”
Tyler laughed then stuck his finger inside the cage with an adorable little beagle. The puppy licked his finger with a lot of enthusiasm.
Clary opened the cage and placed the puppy on the floor. Leah watched as Tyler got down on one knee and played with the little guy. Something about that pose, down on one knee, caused her breath to catch.
Needing to look at anything but an impossibly handsome man playing with an impossibly cute puppy, she walked down another row of cages. When she came to the last one, she noticed the brown puppy inside didn’t come to the front to greet her like the others. Instead, he was curled in on himself in the back corner, a thick bandage wrapped around one of his hind legs. She noticed the tag on the outside of the cage said he was a mixed breed and his name was Felix.
Carly stepped up beside her. “This is one of the ones that break your heart.”
“What happened to him?” Leah carefully placed her fingers around the wire mesh of the cage and wiggled them slowly.
“He was found in a ditch, shivering, with a broken leg.”
“Someone hit him?
”
“Worse. Someone threw him out the window of a truck then sped off. There was a witness, but he wasn’t close enough to get a license plate.”
Leah’s heart broke right there.
A ding indicated someone else had come into the front office of the shelter, requiring Clary’s attention.
Leah moved closer to the cage and looked into Felix’s eyes. He might be a puppy, but she felt an immediate bond with him. They’d both been brutalized and now harbored fear and distrust because of it.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said. “Aren’t you a handsome fella?”
To her surprise, Felix slowly started to uncurl himself, paused then got to his feet and hobbled cautiously to the front of the cage. She let Felix make the first contact, though it took him several tries. She nearly cried at how it was obvious he wanted to believe she was trustworthy but was scarred from his experience, and not just physically. It was as if she were looking at a canine version of herself.
And she knew that even if she had to move again, she wasn’t leaving this building without this poor, broken puppy. He would know that despite the cruelty he’d experienced, there was at least one person in the world who loved him. That he was worthy of love and a life that was as filled with happiness as it could be.
Leah slowly turned her head to look at Tyler, and wondered if she could have the same thing, too.
Chapter Ten
Tyler was glad Leah had adopted a puppy, as well. One look at the little guy in her arms, at the look of pure love and devotion on her face, and he’d known it was meant to be. That he’d immediately wondered what it would be like if she wore that look for him... Well, she didn’t need to know that.
But if she’d been through something that hurt her, maybe little Felix was just what she needed.
He watched as she put a puppy bed in her cart.
“I guess the store hit the jackpot with us today,” he said as he reached up above her and grabbed a chew toy she’d been trying to reach while standing on her tiptoes.
“Yeah.” She accepted the toy. “Thanks. Sucks being short sometimes.”
A Rancher to Love Page 10
