The Lawman's Convenient Bride
Page 20
“Please, sit down,” Jake said to her. He went to the sidebar and got a plate, then cut his steak in half, split his potato and handed her the plate. “Least I can do.”
That sure was nice. “Thanks. I’m starving.”
“Hey, Jake, I thought you said no one had answered the ad for a cook since the last fake who was really one of CJ’s broken hearts,” said the eldest of the five men, the tall, large one with the unruly hair and beard.
CJ shot the older man a glare with his very blue eyes.
Jake took a bite of salad. “No one has.”
“Then where did this gorgeous creature come from?” CJ said, sliding a killer smile over to her.
She ignored the faux flattery and swiped her bite of potato in sour cream. “I’m staying with my great-aunt Essie—she owns Hurley’s Homestyle Kitchen in town. Know of it?”
Jake smiled. “Know of it? We’re there half the week.”
“I work in the kitchen part-time,” she said, then took a sip of her iced tea. “But the reason I’m here is that I heard a cowboy named Joshua—Tex—works at the Full Circle. I’ve come to see him on personal business.”
Every one of the men stopped eating. Stopped talking. They looked at one another, then at her.
“Miss—ma’am,” Jake said. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but Tex had an accident about three weeks ago. He didn’t survive.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
She felt Jake’s hand on her shoulder. “Miss?”
She closed her eyes and put down her fork. “Oh.” That was all she could manage.
“Was Tex a friend of yours?” another of the men asked. “I’m Grizzle. We’re the crew here at the ranch,” he added, gesturing at the guys at the table. “We all became great buddies with Tex, even though we’d only been working here together for about a week when he died.”
“I’m Hank Timber,” said the redhead with a nod at her. “The foreman at the Full Circle.” He tilted his head and stared at her. “His death left us dumbstruck too back when it happened.”
“I’m pregnant with his baby,” she blurted out. Five set of eyes stared at her, a few open jaws. She hadn’t meant to say it, but it just came out. “I’ve been looking for him ever since I found out. We met at the rodeo in Stockton in January, but then...lost touch. When I found out I was pregnant, I tried to track him down but I only knew his given name.”
“Joshua Smith,” Jake said. He had a look of reverence in his expression that told her he’d gotten close to Joshua too. Based on how close she’d felt to the guy in one night, she could imagine how these men had felt after even just a week of working long days together on a ranch.
The cowboys ate quickly, then all nodded at her, said they were “real sorry for her loss,” and practically ran from the dining room, leaving her and Jake Morrow.
The foreman, Hank, came back. “Sorry for the baby’s loss too. That’s real sad.” Then he turned back and hurried from the room.
Jake turned to her, his green eyes full of sympathy. “I own the Full Circle. That was the entire crew, including my brother CJ. He’s the one who helped me bring back the goat. Tex—Joshua—was one of the hands and we all liked him a lot. He was an old soul and wise for his age, all of twenty-seven. Even though his nickname was Tex, Grizzle referred to him as Owl.”
She found herself unable to speak again. She hadn’t even been sure what to expect when she would finally lock eyes with Joshua again and tell him she was expecting his baby. She’d been pretty sure he’d run for the hills, disappear the way he had after their one great night together. But part of her thought he wouldn’t, that he’d at least say, “Okay, this baby is my responsibility, and I don’t duck out on that.” Of course, now she’d never know.
Jake stared at her for a moment. “He talked about you.” He seemed to be remembering something, then nodded. “One morning he was preoccupied, and that wasn’t Tex’s way. He finally told us he’d sneaked out on a woman in the middle of the night without leaving his name or a number and that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He’d said if he’d been a settling down guy, he would have chosen that ‘smart, interesting woman with the honey-colored hair and the biggest blue eyes he’d ever seen.’ That was exactly how he put it.”
Emma did have honey-colored hair, or so Joshua had referred to it many times the night he’d run his fingers through it. And she did have big blue eyes, like her mother’s. So he must have been talking about her. She appreciated the “smart” and “interesting.” Plus the timing was right.
And now the rancher knew every detail of her failed romance with Joshua Smith.
“I’m very sorry,” Jake said again. He seemed about to say something, but then took a gulp of beer.
Now it was her turn to say “oh hell,” except the two words just kept echoing in her head. Along with Now what?
She didn’t want to leave. She still had her apartment a town over in Oak Creek, but her lease was ending this month anyway, and when she thought of Oak Creek she thought of her father and how he’d reacted when she told him she was pregnant, that she was keeping the baby and, yes, she knew who the father was but not where, exactly.
Oh for God’s sake, Emma, Reginald Hurley had said. Now you’ve really done it. A baby out of wedlock. What the hell will people think? He’d shaken his head, a few times for good measure, then had added, I’ll start a list of colleagues who might come to your rescue. Of course, most will be a bit lacking in some area or another to take on a pregnant woman. But they’ll all be solvent and ambitious. I’ll set up some dates for you and I’m sure you’ll hit it off with one of them.
She’d packed her bags and left town an hour later, feeling more alone than ever, then had settled in Blue Gulch, grateful for kind relatives nearby, sure she’d find Tex soon. Her father had called a few times, bellowing into the phone that she’d lose her window for the blind dates—once she lost her figure, forget it. She’d told her father in no uncertain terms that she would not be going on any of his husband dates and was staying in Blue Gulch, at least until she found Joshua. Appalling, he’d said. Chasing after some two-bit rodeo loser who ran off on you. That was three weeks ago. A week ago, in a kinder but still demanding, controlling tone: Emma, come home already. You’ll move in and we’ll fix up the guest room for a nursery. At least I can assure my grandchild will want for nothing. She’d forced herself to thank her dad for the offer, but had told him she was staying put.
She wasn’t going back to Oak Creek. And she couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something in how her baby’s father had lived and worked here, spent his final moment on this land, among friends, that made her want to stay. And somehow, she felt at home at the Full Circle, maybe because she’d fixed dinner and had eaten with the crew, who all seemed like nice people. And she liked this Jake Morrow, who’d told her with real sympathy in his voice that Joshua had passed away.
“Jake, I could use a job and a place to live. I could learn how to be a cowgirl, take over Joshua’s job.” Even when she was six or nine months pregnant she could certainly lead cattle out to pasture and groom the horses.
He stared at her. “You’re looking for a job?” A smile lit his face. God, he was handsome when he smiled. “What I really need is a cook for me and the guys. When you said you worked at Hurley’s, I thought I must be dreaming since I’ve been saying I need a cook for weeks and suddenly, you turn up and not only save dinner but serve the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”
“Well, thank you for that. I’ve been a cook for years. Most Saturday mornings at the diner in Oak Creek I was averaging seventy-five pancakes and cracking a hundred eggs an hour. I can definitely handle five hungry cowboys.”
Relief was evident on Jake’s face. “The job comes with room and board, plus a salary.” Her
eyes widened at the pay he mentioned. Three times better than her hourly wages at the diner. “This house is plenty big. I live here with CJ—our rooms are on the second floor—and there’s a third floor that will be all yours. It has a sitting area, good-sized bedroom and a bathroom with a spa tub.”
Perfect. Her aunt would be relieved that she’d found a just-right-for-her job and home. The Victorian that housed Hurley’s Homestyle Kitchen was large, and only Essie and her two black lab puppies lived there but, unfortunately, Emma was allergic to dogs. Considering that Emma hadn’t sneezed once since arriving at the Full Circle, there likely wasn’t a dog around. That would be unusual for a ranch, so maybe dog allergies were something she and Jake Morrow had in common.
Jake took another sip of his beer. “The job involves serving breakfast—and these guys like their morning chow—at five sharp so we can starting chores at five thirty, fixings for a cold lunch that we can serve ourselves whenever we’re ready to take a break, and then a hot dinner at 5:30 p.m. Sound good?”
“Sounds great. I work for my aunt two days a week, just the lunch shift. This way I can keep that.” She didn’t want to give up the lunch shift at Hurley’s. The past few weeks she’d loved getting to know her great-aunt and cousins and their families. She loved the idea of raising her baby in a town where he or she would have a lot of family close by.
“Then we have ourselves a deal,” Jake said, the waning sun glinting through the window on his tanned forearms. “Start tomorrow morning?”
They shook on it, the feel of his warm, strong hand such a surprising comfort she didn’t want to let go. That was unexpected. She forced her gaze away from his kind, curious green eyes.
She wasn’t about to let herself fall for another man, no matter how seemingly kind and chivalrous when kind and chivalrous was a comfort. She was determined to make her own way, to not need anyone, to be self-sufficient and a good mother. She already knew she was a good cook. Right now, she’d spend her spare time reading her book on baby development and saving up money for onesies and bottles and diapers, not to mention a bassinet and all the other baby things her little one would need.
She could and would stand on her own two feet.
Copyright © 2017 by Meg Maxwell
ISBN-13: 9781488014239
The Lawman’s Convenient Bride
Copyright © 2017 by Christine Rimmer
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, M3B 3K9 Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com