by Addison Fox
They’d met while Hoyt had been on a ranch exchange in Arizona, learning some new sustainability techniques by day and bored out of his mind after each session had ended. The ranch owner had taken in several mustangs from a rescue organization and Hoyt had bonded with Stink, the horse providing a ready distraction. When the owner had seen how well they fit, he’d given Hoyt the horse for the simple price of paying to transport Stink back to Texas.
The brushing and grooming had been one of the things that had connected them early, and Hoyt had always felt the time spent in making the animal feel comfort, attention and, ultimately, love had done more to bond them than any amount of training ever could.
An animal trainer would have dubbed it domestication, but Hoyt preferred to look at it as mutual affection and a desire to work together. Whatever you wanted to call it, the outcome had paid dividends in spades. He had a working partner on the ranch who understood him, what he needed to manage the land and was a ready listener on the rare days Hoyt chose to talk.
And had he spilled his guts this morning.
The same dream had visited him for several nights in a row, each as vivid as the last. First he’d be on active duty, that time morphing into a special ops mission, then in his home, then he’d discover the bodies of his father and Reese’s father. It never wavered, and even as he knew he ghost-walked through the nightmare, he couldn’t seem to shake himself out of it.
Couldn’t seem to forge his way to a new outcome.
Why now?
While he wouldn’t say he was immune to what he’d dealt with in special ops, he’d done the work for his country and had believed in it. He dealt with the occasional memory from time to time and when they got too heavy to handle he had a doctor a few towns over he wasn’t ashamed to go and talk to. Pride in his job didn’t mean he’d refuse help.
But it did mean the dream had caught him off guard. Especially the addition of his father. He’d likely give Ted a call and see if he could fit him in this week because the dreams weren’t getting better and the ball in the pit of his stomach was getting worse.
In the meantime, he had Stink. And the work.
The western pasture had been their destination, and a day spent inspecting fence line, as well as checking on several of the new calves they’d recently branded, had given Hoyt a lot of time with his thoughts. Though tedious work, inspecting fence line was hardly interesting or mentally taxing and it had given him more than ample time to think about Reese Grantham.
It had been a week since their dinner and the explosive kiss—or kisses—they’d shared on her front driveway. He’d wanted more—the thought of more was inevitable when he was around her—but he had pulled back, settling for a mini make-out session instead.
His body had cursed him for the choice and he’d stood under more than a few cold showers this past week, but he wasn’t sorry for his decision. Moving forward into a physical relationship with Reese came with expectation. On his part and definitely on hers. He had to decide if he was all in and what exactly that would even mean.
And besides, she still hadn’t given him an answer on his marriage proposal. She hadn’t even brought the subject up, as a matter of fact.
A fact, he reflected as he offered up another sugar cube to Stink, that was beginning to stick in his craw.
It was a simple matter of giving him a yes or no. Ignoring the subject was akin to leaving an elephant standing in the middle of her living room. An elephant they’d both sidestepped when he went over on Sunday to mow her lawn.
The invisible pachyderm they both also sidestepped each evening when he called her to see how she was doing.
Stink’s ears had perked as Hoyt had spilled all this earlier and he’d have sworn the horse even nodded his head a few times, so it made little sense to rehash it.
But damn it, why was the woman being so stubborn?
And why was that subtle itch beneath his skin—to be on a firm path toward their future—growing stronger and stronger each day?
They didn’t know each other. Yet, every time he tried that rational argument on himself he got nowhere.
He’d nearly launched into another diatribe to Stink when the sound of female voices filled the barn. The last thing he needed was his sister or his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Belle, hearing him talking to himself. They’d both already been keeping a suspiciously close eye on him every time they were in each other’s company and he didn’t need any more of the new family pastime: “let’s psychoanalyze Hoyt.”
“I’m fine, Belle. Really, I am.”
Was that Reese?
Hoyt stuck his head out of Stink’s stall and dropped the currycomb, moving toward Belle and Reese at a run. Belle’s arm was draped over Reese’s shoulders in an unmistakable sign of support.
“What’s wrong?” He already had his hands out and was pulling Reese into his arms. “What happened?”
“Just a scare.” Belle’s voice moved firmly into authority territory as she crossed over to close Stink’s stall door. “But why don’t you give Reese a chance to tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Reese’s cheekbones arched high over hollowed cheeks and her tan had visibly faded in the paling of her skin. “It’s nothing.”
“You don’t look like it’s nothing. Nor does walking in here with a member of the Midnight Pass PD set my mind at ease that whatever happened is nothing.”
“Last time I checked, a spider isn’t a criminal offense.”
“What?”
“Reese,” Belle said gently. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
Hoyt moved them over toward a small bench at the end of a row of stalls and pulled Reese down onto the seat next to him. “What happened?”
It didn’t take long to get a picture of her front porch visitor and the scare a large spider would give anyone. What troubled him was the idea of the doorbell ringing that had preceded the incident.
“And you didn’t see anyone?”
“No.” Reese shook her head. “Not through the peephole or across the street.”
“What about when you left the house to go to the police?”
“I didn’t—” She broke off and stared down at her hands, a light blush filling in those hollows. “I didn’t even think to look.”
He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, catching sight of Belle over the top of Reese’s head. Although Belle was kind and mothering when needed, she was also a hard-nosed cop, who had a keen eye and a strong sense of right and wrong.
“Do you think this is anything?” Hoyt asked.
“I think it’s strange,” Belle said. “That’s for sure. I’m also suspicious on the timing.”
Before she could say anything more, the phone at her belt began to ring and Belle excused herself to take the call.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.” Reese nodded, straightening up from where she’d taken comfort against his chest. “I’m perfectly fine and beginning to feel really stupid for overreacting.”
“You were scared. And I’m still bothered by the doorbell.”
“Probably a few kids being kids.”
“Last time I checked, teenage troublemakers aren’t exactly quiet. And you said there wasn’t even a hint of sound when you opened the door.”
“No, there wasn’t.”
“Is the spider dangerous?”
“I know our biology teacher pretty well. Fred would know if the spider is dangerous or not, but I don’t think that it is. I did some research and while horribly ugly, there’s not much reason to think a tarantula is poisonous.”
“That’s what it was?”
“I think,” she said, and Hoyt felt her shudder beneath his arm.
“I’m not sure waiting to be bitten is the way to find that out,” Hoyt said, his imagination already racing
toward harm to Reese and the baby.
“Well, I wasn’t bitten. And we have a few at the high school. I’d hardly think the school board would appreciate having poisonous animals around the kids.”
The thought that the danger was likely minimal went some way toward calming his racing heart but he couldn’t quite calm away the sense of menace that had brought a spider to her front door. Texas was known for its wild creatures and his cowboy boots were way more practical than they were for show, but it was the mysterious doorbell ring that kept gnawing at him.
Did someone deliberately do this to scare Reese?
And why?
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Hoyt was still trying to catch his own breath, the mix of fear and concern still tripping his heartbeat every time he thought about what had awaited Reese on her front porch.
“I’m sure. It was gross, I’m not going to lie about that,” Reese said with a smile. “But I do teach teenagers for a living. I’m made of sterner stuff.”
Wasn’t that the heart of the matter?
The woman was made of stern stuff. She’d shown that, over and over again. Surviving and thriving during and after her brother’s addiction and death. Surviving and thriving again after the news of her father. It would’ve been very easy for Reese to go into hiding, but she’d done the exact opposite.
She had pressed on and continued with her life, her head held high.
“You’re pretty amazing, do you know that?” Unable to hold back, he reached out and ran his fingers over the edge of her hair, teasing one of the tendrils into a curl around his index finger.
“It was just a spider.” Even as she said it, her voice softened and her gaze went a little hazy.
“No. I know what I know. You deal with spiders as easily as you’ve dealt with news that’s changed your life. You are amazing.”
“Aren’t you sweet.”
“I don’t feel sweet.” He leaned in, his lips hovering near the edge of her ear. “In fact, I don’t feel sweet at all.”
“How do you feel?” That softness in her voice had morphed, becoming breathy and shallow as his lips moved over the rim of her ear.
“Edgy.”
“Maybe... Maybe there’s something we can do about that.”
“You think so?”
Reese was prevented from answering as Belle stomped back across the stable.
“What is it?” Hoyt was already on his feet, moving forward toward Belle. “What happened?”
“That was the biology teacher. Fred McNamara. I left him a message and he was kind enough to call me back.”
“You called Fred?” Reese asked.
“I did,” Belle said. “You mentioned him when we were talking in my office, so I gave him a quick call.”
“What did you ask him?”
“I wanted to know if the two spiders he keeps in his classroom are still there.”
Hoyt saw the ready set of Belle’s face and knew the answer before she even spoke. “What did Fred say?”
“From the sounds of it, those spiders are his pride and joy. The man panicked when I suggested one or both of them might be missing, and drove straight over to the school to check.”
“Fred left a spider at my door?” Reese shook her head. “That’s not possible.”
“No. Fred didn’t leave anything at your door. But from the looks of it, someone did go into his classroom and take one of the two tarantulas.”
“Well, then it has to be a kid,” Reese said, her voice triumphant, as if the news clearly eased her mind on the subject. “This is the exact kind of thing a teenager would do. It’s the end of summer and they’ve got too much time on their hands.”
“What’s a kid doing hanging around school a few weeks early?” Hoyt asked. “Aren’t they trying to avoid it?”
“But what else could it be?” That eager readiness to put a solution on the problem visibly ebbed, a frown tipping the corners of Reese’s mouth down.
“I’m going to look at some of the security footage from around the school, but I don’t think it’s a kid.” Belle still held her phone, and slapped it against her thigh. “Fred doesn’t think it is, either. He was at the school most of yesterday getting his classroom set up, and the spiders were there the whole time.”
“So somebody broke into the school after hours just to steal a spider? It doesn’t make sense.”
Whether it was a matter of trying to mentally prepare herself for the news or the sheer inability to believe the safe haven she called the Midnight Pass High School had suddenly put her at risk, Hoyt didn’t know why Reese was in denial.
But he kept his voice gentle when he pressed Reese further. “I think what Belle is trying to say is that someone broke into Fred’s classroom with the intention to steal that spider and scare you or do you harm.”
“The scaring, I understand. They’re teenagers, Hoyt. They dare each other and engage in dumb rituals that make no sense to anyone over the age of twenty. I’m the English teacher and someone probably got wind of the fact I’m going to make them read seven books this year. No one meant me any harm.”
Reese’s expectant gaze shifted from him to Belle before landing back on him. “Come on. It’s no big deal.”
“Or it is a big deal, it’s not a kid and it’s someone who’s trying to hurt you.”
Chapter 8
Reese was still trying to digest the events of her day an hour later as she peeled carrots at the sink in the middle of Hoyt’s kitchen. To be fair, it was Ace, Tate and Arden’s kitchen, too, but after telling Hoyt he was going to be a father at that very table, she’d sort of equated the room with him.
And now she was taking part in a Reynolds family dinner.
Hoyt and Belle had both insisted she stay and Reese had figured out pretty quickly it was useless to argue. Hoyt had called his brothers and headed out after he was confident she was settled into the kitchen; Belle and Arden’s arrival a few minutes later had sealed the deal.
“Are you okay?” Arden had drawn her into a tight hug before stepping back. “And the baby, too?”
That was all it had taken for the conversation to turn personal, with a series of coos and squeals and feminine laughter that a new baby was coming into the family.
So here she was. Peeling carrots and struggling to keep the tears at bay because of how tight Belle and Arden had hung on.
Darn hormones.
She fought the lump in her throat and just peeled harder, attempting to ease her frustrations with an ever-growing pile of shaved carrots.
“Whoa, there. I think we have enough.” Arden reached over and took the peeler from her hands. “But you’re definitely our girl when we prep for next year’s Fourth of July party.”
Next year.
Arden’s tone was so easy and matter-of-fact that Reese barely held back the tears she’d struggled with for the past half hour.
Arden spoke as if there would be a next year.
Well, there would be a next year and a year after that and millennia more, but that wasn’t what had the tears thickening her throat and filling her eyes. It was the idea that there would be a scenario where she was a part of the lives of Hoyt Reynolds and his family.
“Come on, why don’t you sit down with me?” Belle said, gesturing toward the empty seat next to her.
Reese took the offered seat, well aware sitting next to Belle Granger likely wasn’t going to do a whole lot for her tears. Up until now, the baby had managed to stifle the elephant in the room, but it wasn’t going to take that long for them to swing back around to it.
Her father had been Belle’s boss at the police department.
Her father had also been the one to kidnap Belle, scaring everyone with the thought that he would hurt her or worse—kill her—as his hostage.
And then in an apparent ch
ange of heart, it was her father who’d killed himself within a few feet of Belle.
Yep, Reese thought to herself, that elephant was awfully large, its trunk up and damn near ready to trumpet.
“Tell us about the baby. How are you feeling? How long have you known?” Belle’s voice interrupted the imagined sounds.
“A little over a month. I’d suspected, but...” Reese trailed off, memories of those days between wondering if she was pregnant and actually taking the test still fresh in her mind. “I’ve known a little over a month.”
Arden turned from where she stood at the counter. “It’s so wonderful. Babies are happy news.”
“If I’m honest, that’s not quite the reaction I was expecting.” While Reese wasn’t looking for trouble, she’d hardly expected coming into Hoyt’s home as his unmarried non-girlfriend and the woman carrying his baby was going to be met with open arms.
Yet, here they were.
And Arden’s arms seemed rather open.
“What were you expecting?” Belle’s voice was gentle, her gaze equally so.
“I don’t know. But I know my family isn’t necessarily the town favorite. And since Hoyt and I don’t have a relationship, news like this is, well...surprising.”
“I’ll give you that.” Arden smiled, taking one of the empty seats at the large family table. “Not the town favorite part, but the non-relationship with Hoyt. But you must know that doesn’t make the news any less welcome, Reese. I hope you can come to understand that.”
“Does your mom know yet?” Belle asked.
“No, not yet. I want to tell her, but I felt Hoyt deserved to know first. Now that he does, she’ll definitely be next.”
“Oh, she’s going to be so excited,” Belle said. “I can see her already, with her warm smile, gazing down at the new baby.”
Although Reese had seen similar images in her own mind, fervently hoping reality would come to match it, she’d also seen her mother in her more recent days. Sadness and emptiness, loss of hope and that terrible, seemingly bereft loss of spirit that seemed to surround her.
