by Zoe Matthews
Stephanie told him he was probably worrying for nothing, but Spencer just couldn’t let it go. This woman, one he’d never actually met in person, had come to mean something to him. He felt like he knew her. Like she knew him.
He had just entered the house, intent on finding someone to tell them he was going to take his plane up and see if he could spot anyone stranded off the side of the road, when Logan came into the kitchen looking for him.
“Hey, some pretty little gal just pulled up in an SUV and said she was looking for you.” Logan had a twinkle in his eye and it was all he could do to contain his laughter until Spencer had run out of the room.
“That boy’s already gone,” he muttered aloud, not knowing that Sheridan was standing in the hallway.
“Spencer? That girl he met online get here?”
“Just now. I’m thinking he was moving faster than a kid on Christmas morning. I passed Sadie a few minutes ago and she said he was worrying about her having car trouble or something on the drive from Denver.”
Sheridan shook his head. “He should worry more about making sure the numbers he enters into that budgeting app are correct.”
“Another mistake?” Logan asked.
“Yeah. Maybe now that this girl is here, he can finally start focusing on his job again.”
Logan gave him a sideways look and then asked, “Really? You think his head’s going to be any more focused with her physically here?”
Sheridan pulled a face. “No. I don’t know what I was thinking. Guess we’ll just have to trust that he’ll ask for help if he needs it. Stella made me promise to be nicer.”
Logan bit his lip and sagely nodded his head. “Yeah. We all heard her tell you that.” It was common knowledge on the ranch that Stella and Spencer always had each other’s backs. When Sheridan had tried to take Spencer to task over the mix up in the wedding party billing, Stella had gone to bat for him. Loud enough that he and Cade had left the barn and gone up to the big house to see what all the ruckus was about. In the future, both men had agreed to turn a blind ear to such goings on as it wasn’t worth upsetting Sierra and Stephanie to put their two cents in.
“I’m going back to work.”
“Yeah, I’m heading back as well.” Logan left the house whistling and smiling at the two young people currently holding a conversation across the hood of a rented SUV. “Kids,” he muttered, hoping they would eventually get close enough to each other to actually shake hands or maybe give each other a hug.
****
Spencer knew he was acting irrationally as he bolted from the house and came rushing to a stop next to the passenger door of Emma’s rental. She’d just stepped from the driver’s side of the vehicle when she spotted him, a welcoming grin on her face and bright shiny eyes. “Hi!”
“Hi yourself! I was beginning to worry that you’d had car trouble or something,” Spencer told her, trying to take in her appearance all at once. They had shared pictures of themselves several times, but nothing had really prepared him for seeing her the first time in person. She took his breath away!
She had long blonde hair that was currently pulled up on both sides of her head and secured with a clip in the back. Her bangs curled slightly under, providing a perfect offset to her bright blue eyes and long eyelashes. Her nose was slightly upturned and when she smiled, straight even teeth were visible behind her lips.
She was very fit, and while Spencer was just over 6’ in height, Emma was barely 5’2” and she reminded him of a little pixie. She was by far the shortest female on the ranch aside from the kids, but she didn’t seem to have any problems with her height or lack thereof.
She was currently standing on the running board, holding a conversation with him across the hood of the SUV. When she wobbled a bit, he suddenly realized how silly they must both look and he started around the front of the vehicle.
“Jump down from there before you fall.” He stuck out his hand. “We should probably introduce ourselves formally. I’m Spencer Collingsworth.”
Emma giggled but took his hand and shook it very formally before releasing it. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Collingsworth. I’m Emma.”
Spencer grinned down at her and then asked, “You didn’t have any trouble getting here, did you?”
Emma shook her head. “No, but I couldn’t resist stopping along the way to take some pictures. I grew up in Missouri, and then moved to New York right after graduation. I’ve never seen anything close to the mountains you all have here.”
Spencer glanced at the mountains that surrounded his family’s ranch and nodded. “I guess I’m so used to them, I never really thought about them. While in New York, I always lived in the city, so I didn’t really miss the mountains. You wouldn’t be able to see them because of all the skyscrapers anyway.”
Emma laughed. “You’ve got that right. I love all of this open space and the clean air.” She breathed deeply and closed her eyes. “And I can actually smell the flowers and the grasses! Spencer, you don’t know how lucky you are to live in a place like this.”
Chapter 4
Emma’s words kept reverberating through his head the rest of the day. You don’t know how lucky you are to live in a place like this.
That wasn’t entirely true, because he was really beginning to see himself sticking around after the initial six months were up and making a go of things on the ranch.
He was sitting on the patio, waiting for Emma to join him for the family dinner that was going to take place within the hour. The guests had already partaken of their evening meal, and it had become a small part of each day for the family members that were available to meet at the Ranch House for dinner and to discuss how the day had gone.
Their family of six, plus Kathy and Jed, had grown considerably over the last four months, and Spencer found himself nervous as he contemplated introducing Emma to his siblings.
She’d met Kathy and Jed, along with Annie and Sheridan, but none of his other siblings. It had been a long time since he’d brought anyone home to meet his family, and even though Emma was only visiting for a week, it felt an awful lot like bringing a date home for the first time.
The back door of the house opened and Emma stepped out, having showered, and then changed into a pair of jeans and a lightweight sweater. “Hi,” she said as she joined him on the bench where he was sitting.
“Feel better?” he asked.
“I do. I really don’t enjoy travelling all that much to begin with, and something about being stuck on an airplane for several hours, surrounded by several hundred strangers, always makes me feel as if I need a shower when we land.”
“So, you don’t like flying?” he asked, thinking he’d have to come up with something else for them to do on the morrow.
“No, I actually enjoy the flying part. I’m just always glad to be away from all of those people.”
Spencer felt relieved and told her about his plans for the next day. “So, I was thinking we could fly over the ranch tomorrow. Kind of get a bird’s eye view of everything.”
“That sounds fun,” she agreed with a grin.
They both turned when the sound of children’s voices reached them. Mason and Noah were arguing about who was going to catch the biggest fish tomorrow, Misty was carrying on an animated conversation with the puppy that now followed her everywhere, and the three little girls were all making a beeline for…him!
“Uncle Spencer! Tell Ashley and Elysha that I do too get to go fly.” Brooklyn climbed up into his lap without needing an invitation and leveled her little three-year old stare on his own.
“Well, I said we could go flying soon…”
“No! I’s wants to go tomorrow!” She clasped his cheeks between her hands and then smiled prettily at him. “Please?”
Spencer looked over her head, hoping Sadie was somewhere close, but the only adult currently around to help was Emma. “Brookie, maybe we should talk to your momma…”
“No! Momma doesn’t have to go. I’s wants to go!”
“Well…uhm…,” Spencer prevaricated, not knowing what answer to give the little girl. He’d been promising to take her up in his plane so that she could fly like a bird for weeks, but the tourists had taken up all of his available time lately. He was mostly free this week, having arranged to have lots of free time to spend with Emma.
“Why can’t she go up with us tomorrow?” Emma asked him softly, watching him interact with the little girl and thinking what a good father he would make one day.
Brooklyn looked at Emma, and Spencer watched as his niece made a conscious decision to turn on her charm. She scrambled out of his lap and climbed into Emma’s, her curls bouncing. “You’re pretty!”
Emma laughed and then looked at him. “I can see she’s already learning.”
Spencer nodded his head, seeing Sadie heading for them with that mother look in her eyes. “Yep! She learned from the best. Brooklyn, your mom’s heading this way.”
Brooklyn turned around, saw her mother, and then wrapped her little arms around Emma’s neck. “Mommy! I’s gets to go flying with Uncle Spencer’s new friend.”
Sadie stopped in front of the bench and looked from her daughter to the two adults. “Hi. You must be Emma. And I see you’ve already met Brooklyn. Brooklyn, I think you’re choking Emma. Why don’t you let go of her neck?”
Brooklyn looked at her mother and then asked, “Do I’s still gets to go flying tomorrow?”
Sadie shook her head, “I’m not negotiating. Let go of Emma and come sit over here like a little girl instead of a monkey. Now.” Sadie held a hand out and Spencer watched as Brooklyn took her mother’s hand and then wrapped her arms around her knees.
“I love you, mommy.”
“I love you and we’ll see about tomorrow. Maybe Uncle Spencer has other plans.”
“No! Emma said I could go up with them.”
Sadie looked at Emma and then at Spencer. “Did you invite her, or did she invite herself?”
Emma looked sheepish. “I guess I kind of invited her along by asking why she couldn’t tag along with us.”
Spencer nodded his head. “It’s fine if she wants to ride with us. We’re just going to do a fly over of the ranch so that Emma can get a bird’s eye view of everything.”
Hunter came up behind Sadie and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What’s up?”
She looked over her shoulder at him and then back to Spencer. “I have a group heading up to the lake for an overnight tomorrow. I won’t be able to go with her.”
Hunter looked at Spencer and then at his daughter, who was already beginning to get that look in her eye that promised a tantrum of epic proportions was on its way. “I have some time tomorrow and since little one’s going to be hanging out with me while mom’s at the lake, I could tag along with her.”
Spencer smiled. “Perfect. To tell you the truth, she kind of scares me.”
Hunter laughed and then waited until Sadie had walked away before he whispered back, “You’re not alone in that.”
When Emma and Spencer were alone once again, he turned to her. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“She’s cute. So are Sadie and Hunter. Kathy said something about them only being married for a short time.”
“Yeah, Hunter is Brooklyn’s father, but up until a few weeks ago, he wasn’t in either one of their lives. Not really. He was a big extreme sports enthusiast, but after getting hurt he had to re-evaluate his life, he decided that Sadie and his daughter were important enough to go after.”
“What a sweet story!”
Spencer grinned at her. “So you’re a closet romantic?”
“Isn’t every woman?” she countered back.
Chapter 5
“So, exactly how big is the ranch?” Emma asked as the plane banked to the right again.
“Well, the ranch is about 2500 acres in all, but we’re surrounded on all four sides by Federal BLM land and we have the grazing rights on most of it.”
“That’s huge!” Emma exclaimed, trying to envision that many acres of land and failing.
“It really is a lot of land, and we don’t actually use all of it right now. Over the years we’ve used a lot of the lower elevation land for cattle.”
“How long has your family owned the ranch?” Emma asked.
“This year makes one hundred and fifty. The Collingsworth’s have been in this part of Colorado for longer than that.”
“Wow! What a legacy your forefathers have left you all.” She glanced into the back seat, only to see Brooklyn sleeping in her father’s arms. “She’s asleep?”
Hunter grinned and nodded, whispering quietly, “She was so excited about today, she was up way past midnight. At least she’ll remember the take off and seeing that eagle’s nest.”
Right after taking off from the air strip located next to the meadow, Spencer had flown them towards the top of the nearest mountain. He’d made a point of flying at a safe distance from an eagle’s nest he’d found several months ago. The two fledgling eagles now had all of their feathers and were hunting on their own, but still returned to the nest every night.
There were no eagles in the nest when they flew past, but a few seconds later, Spencer was able to direct his passengers to look out the left side of the plane where the mated pair of eagles were soaring high above the mountain, their wings spread as they circled around each other.
“Those eagles were beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like that before. The only bald eagles I’ve ever seen were in a cage at a zoo.”
“That’s a crime, if you ask me,” Hunter commented quietly. “Such majestic creatures should be free to roam where they want to.”
Spencer agreed whole-heartedly, but as he banked the plane back towards the Ranch House, he saw the waterfall up ahead and directed the plane in that direction. “Look out your window.”
Emma did so and he knew the moment she saw the waterfall by her gasp of delight.
“Do you see it?” he asked, just to make sure she was seeing what he wanted her to.
“Can we go there?” she asked him, looking at him briefly and then turning back to the scene below her.
“Do you know how to ride a horse?” Spencer asked her.
“Uhm…well, I’ve been on a horse before, but I somehow don’t think that’s what you’re asking me. So, no. I don’t know how to ride a horse. But I’m willing to learn,” she assured him.
Spencer smiled at her and then caught Hunter grinning at them both, “Then tomorrow we shall take a horseback ride. Although, to get to the waterfall, I think we’ll take one of the gators. Much quicker and we’ll both be able to walk when we get there.”
When Emma gave him a curious look, he lowered his voice and told her, “Riding in a leather saddle for a long time when you’re not used to it isn’t very wise.”
Emma blushed as she realized what he was telling her and then hurriedly nodded her head. “I think taking a gator sounds fantastic.”
“Thought you might,” Spencer told her, loving their easy camaraderie. She’d only been at the ranch for twenty-four hours, but he still felt like he’d known her for a lot longer.
He turned the plane back towards the ranch and soon they were landing. “Thanks for taking us up, Spence. If little miss was awake right now, I’m sure she’d tell you thanks as well.”
Spencer shook Hunter’s hand and then told him, “Go on ahead and climb out. I’ll hand her out to you.”
He slipped from the pilot’s seat into the passenger part of the plane and opened the door. He watched as Hunter secured the small ladder and then he scooped up Brooklyn and turned to hand her to her father.
When she stirred, he shushed her. “It’s okay, we’re home Brookie.”
“Thank you, Uncle Spencer,” she mumbled, turning her head into his shoulder and going right back to sleep.
Spencer kissed her on the forehead and then handed her out of the plane. “You are very welcome, sweetheart.”
He watched as the pai
r headed towards the hangar where Hunter had left his pickup truck. When he turned back to Emma, he saw her watching him carefully. “She’s a sweet kid.”
“And you have a soft spot for her,” she told him, joining him at the door to the plane.
Spencer didn’t answer; instead, he hopped down from the plane and then reached up to give her a helping hand. Her height hadn’t really been more than a passing observation until that moment when he found himself reaching up to lift her down from the Beechcraft G36 Bonanza aircraft.
He also wasn’t prepared for the little tingle of awareness that struck him as he lifted her down. He quickly removed his hands and then suggested they walk back to the main house so that he could show her the new lodge.
He was enjoying spending time with Emma, and their walk would give him more time to have her to himself. She was only staying for a week, and he wanted to make sure they both had every opportunity to get to know each other during that time. He didn’t know where he saw their relationship going, but he figured he had another six days before he needed to really think about that topic.
Chapter 6
The next morning, Spencer found himself with a few hours to himself. At dinner the night before, Kathy had mentioned wanting to make some changes to the gardens behind the main house.
Emma had overheard her and before Spencer had been able to intervene, the women had paper and pencils out and were completely re-designing the flower beds and gardens behind and around the main house.
Since it had been too dark to check things out last night, they were currently doing so now, and Emma had warned him that when her creative juices started flowing, she might have trouble shutting them off.
Spencer had smiled at her, loving the enthusiasm he saw on her face. It was obvious that she loved her job, and he could well understand why she dreamed of living somewhere other than the big city.
He wandered past a window that overlooked the gardens and watched Kathy, Annie, and Emma for a few minutes. Emma was talking animatedly, using her hands expressively while Kathy and Annie looked on with smiles on their faces.
