The Rancher's Secret Child

He walked away mumbling about books and toys and a shopping list. Oliver followed him out of the exam room, leaving Lissa alone. She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer. For her shoulder. For the doctor. And for the situation with Marcus and Oliver.

Her peace was short-lived. She heard male voices from the waiting room. Doc’s more gentle voice resonated through the door. She couldn’t make out his words. There were footsteps in the hall, a door closed, more talking. She heard Oliver telling them about how hard he hit his head and that he was sure he must have a headache. She smiled at his matter-of-fact assessment of his condition. He was fine, she assured herself. He wouldn’t be talking and laughing if he wasn’t okay.

And then the door opened and Marcus Palermo charged through, looking ragged and worn. Without greeting her, he took off his hat and hung it on a hook. He brushed a hand through curly, dark hair and then he seemed to remember her presence.

“What happened?”

“I’m fine, thank you. So is Oliver.” She didn’t have the patience for overbearing, take-charge men.

“I’m sorry—” he shook his head “—I shouldn’t have let you leave in this weather.”

“You didn’t have a choice. I’m an adult and I made the decision.” She grimaced as a hot flash of pain hit her shoulder, payment for what should have been a carefree shrug.

“It wasn’t safe,” he said as he took a seat on the rolling stool next to the exam table.

“I’m twenty-eight. I know how to drive in the rain. Could you please go sit with Oliver? He’s alone. I don’t want him to be alone.” She also didn’t want to be told what she could or couldn’t do. Her short relationship with Troy Larson had taught her that there was a fine line between a caring man who wanted to spend time with a woman and a controlling jerk who didn’t trust her out of his sight.

“Oliver isn’t alone. He’s with Doc and my brother, Alex.” He pinned her with his dark gaze. “Doc said your shoulder is dislocated.”

“Yes. It’s happened before and it isn’t too bad this time. I’m more worried about Oliver. If you could sit with him. Make sure he isn’t nauseated. Watch that his speech doesn’t slur.”

The door opened and Doc stepped inside the cramped room with the green carpet and mustard-yellow walls. He glanced at his watch and then at her.

“Well, young lady, let’s get this shoulder taken care of so we don’t miss lunch. Essie has the best enchiladas on Tuesdays.”

She nodded toward the door. “Cowboy, you should go. This isn’t going to be pleasant.”

Doc cackled at her warning. “You think I haven’t reset a bone or two for these boys? Marcus could probably set this shoulder with his eyes closed. He only lets me do it because he’s polite. Shy, quiet type, you know.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. “Yes, he is quiet.”

“Well, I can’t fix everything,” Doc said softly. She wondered what he meant by that. “Now, let me see.”

He felt her shoulder and then gently rotated her arm. She took a deep breath, knowing what would come next. Still, she wasn’t prepared. Not for the bolt of lightning-deep pain or the arm that encircled her, holding her steady. Marcus smelled of rain, soap and aftershave, the kind of spicy scent that made a girl think of mountains and lakes. For a brief moment it took her mind off the pain in her shoulder. He was strong. Definitely the kind of guy a girl could lean on. But just for a moment.

Doc handed her a couple of pills and a glass of water. “I’m sorry about that. No way to do it without causing a lot of hurt. I’m going to put some ice on your shoulder and we’ll put that arm in a sling. I guess you’ll know when it’s time to start exercising it a bit. And I guess I don’t have to tell you not to drive. From the looks of your car, it won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

She briefly closed her eyes. “I need to call my insurance. I can get a rental.”

“That won’t be possible.” Marcus gave her a sympathetic look. Maybe a grimace. She wasn’t sure. “Not only is your car totaled but the bridge is going to be under water.”

“I’m not sure what to do,” she admitted as the full impact of the situation hit home.

“For now you stay put.” Marcus’s voice, soft and raspy, had an edge to it. And she got it. He wasn’t any happier about this than she was. He probably thought he’d seen the last of her.

Doc cleared his throat. “If I might be so bold, Essie is in the waiting room. She heard about the accident on the scanner and she came right over. She’s a bit nosy. But she’s ready to take you to her place.”

“Doc, could we have a minute alone?” Marcus asked.

“You and me?” Doc didn’t show a hint of amusement, but a knowing twinkle lit his eyes.

“Doc,” Marcus’s tone held a warning.

Lissa cringed. Controlling men. They were all the same. When he’d dated Sammy, had he asked her where she was going? Who she was going with? When she would call him?

Doc looked from one to the other of them and sighed. “Right, I’ll go check on that young man of yours.”

Lissa watched Doc slip through the door, closing it tightly behind him. Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Stay with Aunt Essie,” he said finally. “The flooding is going to be worse. The next few days could get pretty bad. You obviously can’t drive with your right arm in a sling.”

Stay. She knew that this was the fork in the road. There were many in life, and this time the choice was hers and it would affect not only her life but Oliver’s. And Marcus’s.

“Fine, I’ll stay. But I have conditions.”

“Name your price.”

She shook her head at the reference to money. “There is no price. I’m not after money. I’m after your time, Marcus. While we are here, you have to spend time with Oliver. And at some point we have to tell him that you’re his father.”

“I don’t know how to be a father.”

Of course he didn’t. But what man did? It happened to everyone. People decided to have children. They became parents. It wasn’t as if they knew how to do it beforehand. It was on-the-job training.

“Maybe you don’t know how, but you’ll learn. I’ll be here and I can help.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “That’s a lot to put on a man who, until you showed up, hadn’t planned on having a family. Ever.”

“I understand. But you do have a son. He’s sitting in that waiting room and he thinks you’re the best thing ever.”

“He’s a good kid,” Marcus said softly in his gruff way. She realized now it wasn’t that he was gruff. It was his voice.

“Yes, he is.”

She sighed, knowing the decision she had to make, and knowing that it meant eventually losing Oliver to this man, his father. “I have vacation time,” she told him. “I’ll give you three weeks to get this figured out. And I’ll help you as much as I can. But I don’t want to lose Oliver, either.” And she hoped that in the end she wouldn’t lose him, not completely.

“I understand.”

Her heart pounded hard against her ribs as she realized she’d just given this man a piece of her life. She’d given him a part of her heart. The part that belonged to a little boy.

As she tried to process her emotions, he took her hand gently in his and held it briefly, before shaking it to seal the deal.

That gentleness undid some of her fears and multiplied others. She’d come to Bluebonnet Springs thinking it would be easy to discount him as a parent. He would be the angry, difficult man that Sammy had described, and Lissa would have walked away with Oliver, thinking she had done her best.

But he wasn’t that man. If the eyes were the mirror of the soul, then he wasn’t cruel and unfeeling. He wasn’t a monster. He had been wounded. Deeply. And he cared for his family. Very much.

Chapter Four (#u564ad831-6c0d-5924-b3b3-6e69e0263085)

The rain continued to come down, and by Thursday, as Marcus made his way up the long gravel drive to Essie’s house, it looked as if the ponds had turned to lakes and the ditches were streams carrying debris all the way to the main road. They were in trouble. They all knew it. Farmers were moving cattle away from the spring that ran through town and the countryside. Roads were being closed left and right.