The Rancher's Blessed Event

by Stella Bagwell

  “Why does anyone drink?” she countered. “He was unhappy with me, the ranch, life in general.”

  Cooper didn’t want to believe what she was saying. Kenneth had never been a down person. It had always taken so little to make him happy. He couldn’t imagine his brother changing so drastically.

  Seeing the doubt and confusion on his face, Emily said, “I wasn’t having an affair, if that’s what you’re thinking. And as far as I know, Kenneth wasn’t cheating on me. He was—well, he’d changed the last few years. I don’t know what he wanted and apparently whatever it was, I couldn’t give it to him.” She lifted her eyes to his. “So maybe you are right. Maybe I did cause his death.”

  “Oh hell, Emily. That’s not what I needed to hear you say.”

  Her brows inched slowly upward. “Then what do you want to hear from me?”

  Suddenly he couldn’t face her. Too many bittersweet memories of the times he and Emily had spent together were pouring in over the pain he was already feeling for Kenneth.

  With a little groan he got up from the table and walked over to a door that led out to the backyard. Through the windowpanes, he could see a part of the barn and the adjoining corrals. It was a pitiful sight. Much worse than he’d suspected it to be last night. Boards were rotting, fences were sagging, sheets of tin were loose and flopping in the cold wind. It was a far cry from the ranch he remembered as his home.

  “I guess I just wanted to hear that my brother was happy. But it seems as though you can’t even give me that much.”

  She looked down at her plate and blinked. It was the closest she’d come to crying since she’d first set eyes on him last night. Cooper had once been everything to her. When she thought of the word happy, she always thought of him.

  “Your world might be a beautiful place, Cooper. But here on the Diamond D things have been... tough.”

  Folding his arms across his chest, he turned to face her. “Then why are you here?”

  The sight of him standing there so strong and handsome and alive infuriated her. He’d turned his back on her, broke her heart and virtually shunned his brother. He had no right to show his face here again, much less interrogate her!

  Shoving her chair back from the table she marched over to within inches of him. “Because it’s my home, Cooper. But that’s something you wouldn’t understand. You don’t want a home. And from the looks of you, I doubt you’ll ever have one!”

  A sneer twisted his lean face. “If this is what you call a home, I’m damn glad I don’t!”

  Suddenly everything Emily had been through since she’d first met Cooper Dunn came whirling through her like an angry tornado. All she could see was him leaving and never coming back.

  It was the stinging pain in her hand that finally jolted Emily back to reality. Instantly, anger and horror swept across her face. She’d slapped him!

  Rubbing the wounded spot on his jaw, Cooper eyed her flushed cheeks. “So there is life in you after all.”

  Oh God, he didn’t know. He couldn’t know!

  Pressing her hand over her mouth, she ran to the bathroom and prayed he wouldn’t hear her retching.

  Chapter Two

  On the edge of a windswept break, Cooper reined the gray to a halt and gazed out at the snowy mesa floor. Many times in the past he’d ridden to this very spot where the sagebrush grew belly high to a horse and a lone pinon pine stood sentinel over the ranch below.

  However, this morning Cooper felt no joy as he looked down at the home that had been in the Dunn Family for more than a hundred years. The Diamond D was not the same. Not physically nor spiritually and the knowledge saddened him greatly.

  He hadn’t expected it to touch him like this. Hell, it had been years since he’d been on the place. He’d figured once he’d seen it again, the old ranch wouldn’t mean that much to him. After all, it had always been Kenneth’s baby. Their father had seen to that. William Dunn had never hidden the fact that of his two sons he considered Kenneth to be the better rancher. It was one of the main reasons Cooper had worked so hard to succeed at bronc riding. He’d never felt as if he really had a place of importance here on the ranch. Yet in spite of all that, it cut something deep inside him to see the home place like this. So shabby. So empty.

  Pushing his coat collar up against the falling snow, Cooper nudged the gray down the bluff and back toward the house. Smoke was spiraling up from the old rock chimney, signaling him that Emily had just stoked up the fire.

  Unconsciously his fingertips touched the spot on his jaw she’d slapped. The memory of her anger this morning put a wry smile on his lips. Emily was still Emily after all, and he wondered how she was going to react when he told her what he planned to do.

  Almost a half hour later, Cooper found her in the living room in front of the fireplace. The rocking chair she sat in was an old oak one that had belonged to his mother. The back was high and the arms and legs carved. Though he’d never known his mother, others had told him the chair had been a favorite of Laura Dunn’s and it comforted Cooper somehow to see Emily in it now.

  “The snow is getting heavier,” he said as he grew near her and the warm fire.

  She glanced up from the blue jeans she was patching to see him shedding a heavy sheepskin coat. Snow still clung to his shoulders and the brim of his hat His nose and cheeks were reddened by the cold wind. She wondered why he’d bothered to go out on such a nasty morning.

  “It’s only the end of October,” she replied. “I hope this isn’t a forewarning to what the rest of the winter is going to be like.”

  Taking a seat in a stuffed armchair a few feet away from her, his eyes wandered over the room. Other than being run-down, it really hadn’t changed much in appearance, either. The ceiling was low and traversed with dark oak beams, the walls white plaster, the floor Spanish tile. The house was typical hacienda style and in its early years had once been regarded as a showcase. Now it needed money and a complete refurbishment. As did everything else he looked at on the place.

  His eyes coming to rest on her face, he said, “I didn’t see much hay stacked away in the barn. Is that all you have?”

  She nodded. “That’s it. Kenneth didn’t want to bother planting an alfalfa crop.”

  His features twisted with confusion. “What the hell did he plan to feed this winter?”

  Emily grimaced and placed her mending on the floor beside the rocker. “When our alfalfa ran out, he’d planned on buying more hay from Daddy. It would be cheaper that way. Especially with Daddy giving us a generous cut.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Kenneth.”

  Her expression both wry and sad, she glanced over at him. “No. Not the Kenneth you used to know.”

  “For as long as I can remember the Diamond D raised its own alfalfa. It was one of the reasons why the ranch did so well.”

  She looked back at the fire while thinking how ironic to hear Cooper repeating all the old arguments she’d given Kenneth. “I know. But the tractor has been giving us lots of problems. Kenneth figured by the time we fixed it, then counted the cost of fertilizer, labor and baling, we’d be better off not raising a crop of hay.”

  Scooting to the edge of the chair, Cooper leaned toward her. “I’m going to tell you flat out, Emily. This place looks like hell. What’s been going on?”

  Emily had figured that once daylight came, and Cooper had the chance to look around the place, he was going to be appalled. The ranch looked nothing like the one he’d known before he left for the rodeo circuit.

  Rising from the rocker, she stood with her back to the warmth of the fire. “You’ve been here a few hours and you want to hear in one short explanation what’s happened to the ranch,” she said dryly.

  Cooper’s gray eyes drifted up and down the length of her. She was a tall woman and from the looks of her, age hadn’t added any extra pounds to her slender frame. If anything, she appeared thinner. But it was difficult for Cooper to really tell much about her shape beneath the baggy jeans and swe
ater she was wearing.

  “Do you not want to tell me? Or do you just not know? Which one is it?” he asked.

  He sounded outraged and Emily stared at him in disbelief. “In the ten years you’ve been gone, you’ve never wondered or worried about the ranch’s condition. Don’t you think your display of concern is a little late in coming?”

  Her sarcasm made Cooper want to go to her and shake her. But her fragile appearance stopped him. He got the feeling if he touched her, she just might break.

  “Ever since Dad died, the Diamond D has been in Kenneth’s hands. That’s the way he wanted it,” he said quietly. “My brother would have never let it get in this condition without a reason.”

  Lifting her eyes to the ceiling, Emily let out a long sigh. “A reason? Why not several reasons?”

  “Okay. So there was more than one. Tell me.”

  Her mind said she didn’t owe this man any explanations. He’d forfeited everything when he’d walked away. Yet when she looked at him, her heart interfered with her thinking. Kenneth had been his brother and this had been his home. It couldn’t be easy for him to find them both gone.

  “Cooper, the ranch’s decline happened over years. Little by little Kenneth seemed to lose interest. And then all sorts of problems kept popping up, like broken-down vehicles, sick cows, bad weather. The list goes on. But I guess the plummeting price in the cattle market is what finally broke the place.”

  His brows shot up. “The ranch is broke?”

  She supposed that was hard for a man like him to imagine. Through the gossip grapevine and what little bit of sports news she caught on TV, she knew Cooper Dunn had made plenty of money these past ten years riding broncs in the PRCA. He was a champion, a celebrity figure in the world of rodeo. His finances had done nothing but grow.

  “Let me put it this way. The ranch isn’t making money.”

  “How many cattle are you running now?” he asked.

  “A hundred and fifty head.”

  The amount was so paltry she might as well as said none. He looked at her and the disgust on his face brought a flush of anger to her cheeks.

  “I know it sounds and looks bad,” she told him, “but when you have a bad streak of luck—”

  “You get up and fight back,” he interrupted hotly. “You don’t lose interest and you sure as hell don’t start drinking!”

  “I didn’t do either of those things,” she retorted. “Nor do I plan to.”

  But Kenneth had. She couldn’t have made it any plainer to him. But the ranch was still here. Barely. Cooper couldn’t let it die, too.

  Rising from the chair, he went to stand beside her. She looked up at him as his shoulder came close to nudging hers and as Cooper searched her azure blue eyes he realized he’d forgotten nothing about this woman. Her honey pale skin, the length of her pert little nose, the curve of her full lips. Lips that he’d kissed whenever the urge had struck him. And the urge had struck him often. To his dismay, it still was.

  “I was planning on leaving this evening. Along with the bronc riding, I’ve started competing in the team roping and I’m drawn in a rodeo in Arizona two days from now. But I’m not going.”

  Aghast, she whispered, “Not going?”

  Glancing away from her, he shook his head. Emily’s already jumpy stomach took a nosedive. “Why? I’m sure there’s several more rodeos for you to make between now and the National Finals in December.”

  “Eight at least. But they’ll manage to go on without me.”

  Maybe, Emily thought. But she wasn’t at all sure she could survive with him here. All she had to do was look at him and she remembered everything about him. The taste of his skin, the flash of his smile, the sweet bliss of his body next to hers. Oh God, it wasn’t right for her to think of such things with Kenneth barely gone. But she couldn’t stop herself. She’d never been able to stop herself.

  Turning her gaze to the fire, she asked, “Why would you possibly want to stay? There’s nothing for you here.”

  At one time Cooper had thought there was plenty for him here because she was here. He’d hoped and planned to eventually come back a rich man, a man worthy to be Emily’s husband. But she hadn’t waited. She’d married Kenneth instead. Even now, after all these years, the knowledge stabbed him deep and hard.

  “Unless things have changed more than I know, I’m still part owner of this place,” Cooper stated coolly. “I have a right to see that my own property is taken care of. Or were you planning on selling it and moving into Ruidoso or somewhere else in this area?”

  His question put a blank look on her face. “Sell?” she echoed. “I’d never do that. Besides, as you said, you’re half owner. I couldn’t sell without your consent.”

  It really didn’t make any sort of sense, but it was a great relief to Cooper to hear her say she had no notions to sell the Diamond D. Selling would probably be the smart thing to do. She was a woman alone, without the funds to get the place going again. With what money they could get out of the property, she would have enough to start a new home somewhere and he could go on back to his rodeo life and not have the burden of the ranch on his mind.

  But the Diamond D had always belonged to a Dunn. His father had been born here and he’d died here. So had his grandfather. The Dunn men had carved this ranch right out of Apache land. Back then, water had been as precious as gold and the Lincoln county range war had turned the desert plains into a bloody battlefield. It was even rumored that during those days of the 1870s, Cooper’s great-grandfather Dunn had rode with the great rancher, John Tunstall, and rubbed shoulders with Billy the Kid.

  Whether that part of the family history was true or not, Cooper couldn’t really say. But he did know for more than a century, a Dunn had ranched this land. How could he walk away from that?

  “Cooper, is that what you want? You want to sell the Diamond D?”

  Her voice finally penetrated his deep thoughts. “I’m sorry,” he said, swiping a weary hand over his face. “Were you asking me something?”

  She repeated her questions and he quickly shook his head.

  “No. I don’t want to sell the ranch.”

  Her mind spinning, Emily’s gaze clung to his hard face. “But you can’t want to stay here!”

  His gray eyes cut down to hers and once again, memories swamped her. No man, including her husband, had gotten as close to her as Cooper had. When she’d been in his arms, the rest of the world had faded away. Nothing had mattered but him and having him close. If he stayed on the Diamond D she’d be so tempted...so crazy all over again.

  “Why?”

  “Because this isn’t the way you want to live! You’ve got a career. And anyway, I live here alone. It wouldn’t look...right if you were to stay in the house with me.”

  His lips twisting with wry amusement, he went over to the window and glanced outside. “I don’t really see any neighbors out there watching us.”

  “Don’t be flip. You know I have friends and family around here. They’ll all think it rather odd, don’t you think? A brother-in-law moving in with his freshly widowed sister-in-law.”

  “Moving in,” he repeated with a snort. “You make it sound like we’re two lovers who can’t wait to set up housekeeping with each other.”

  His sarcasm stung her and she shot him a disgusted look. “That’s exactly the way it will sound to everybody else, too!”

  Turning his back on her, Cooper stared out the murky windowpanes. He could feel cold air seeping around the wooden window frames, but the draft did little to cool his thoughts. Why did she have to remind him of how it had been to love her? She was his brother’s widow and that’s the way it had to stay.

  “I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks!” he said sharply. “This is between you and me. Like it or not, we own this ranch together. And I don’t want to see it go under.”

  If anyone could get the Diamond D going, Emily thought reluctantly, it would be Cooper. He might have been riding in the spotlight for t
he past ten years, but he knew ranching backward and forward. And from the looks of him, he had the energy to follow his ideas through. But what about the mental commitment? How long would it be before he was bored and ready to head back to Cheyenne or Calgary or San Antonio?

  No, Emily decided. She didn’t want him here. Especially with the baby coming. For so long she’d desperately wanted a child and now that she was finally pregnant she wanted to focus all her energy on carrying a healthy baby to full term. Cooper’s presence would dredge up memories too painful to bear.

  “I won’t let the Diamond D go under. I promise you that,” she told him.

  He turned and stared at her. “What do you mean, you won’t let it? It’s already on its way.”

  She flushed. “Not totally. I still have a hundred and fifty head of cattle and ten head of horses.”

  His eyes quickly narrowed. “What about the horse that caused Kenneth’s accident?”

  She shook her head. “Daddy’s already sold him.”

  He was visibly relieved. “Good. I didn’t relish the idea of putting a horse down, but I would have.”

  Emily shook her head with disapproval. “As if that would do Kenneth any good now. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. A horse for a man. Is that your way of thinking?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I can’t imagine you laying one angry hand on a horse. You always loved them. And they you. I guess that’s why they’ve made you rich and famous.”

  He walked toward her then and for a moment the smile spreading over his face made her forget he’d ever been gone.

  “Who says I’m rich and famous?”

  She shrugged, wishing she could keep quiet around this man. She didn’t want him getting the idea he’d been in her thoughts down through the years. “Oh, everyone here in Lincoln, I suppose.”

  “Then everyone is wrong. I’m just one good cowboy out of many.”

  More than bothered by his closeness, Emily stepped off the hearth and away from him. “I’m going to go make a pot of coffee. It’s nearly time for lunch and then I have to feed the cattle.”