The Rancher's Texas Match

Before he could finish, Chloe slid off the stool and closed the distance between them. Yeah, he was in trouble. She’d always known how to work him. With a soft smile, she kissed his cheek and then patted it.

“You’re the best big brother a girl could have.”

“And you always say that when you get what you want.”

She didn’t move away. Her blue eyes glistened with tears, and his own throat tightened in response because he knew she was going to drag them back into the past, into memories she didn’t have because she’d been too young.

“You’ve been taking care of me for a long time,” she started. “Since I was a baby you’ve been the one feeding me, changing my diapers and keeping me safe.”

“How would you know? You were a baby.”

“Travis told me. And Aunt May. She said she had a hard time getting you to let go and just be a kid. You were always the one. You took care of us. And then you took care of May.”

“Do you have a point?” he asked, his voice more gruff than he’d intended. It didn’t seem to bother her. No, not his little sister. She smiled and dug her heels in, intent on some emotional rabbit trail.

“Yes, I have a point. Find someone to love, Tanner. You’re not getting any younger, you know. And I’m past the age of really needing a caretaker.”

“Thanks for that reminder of my advancing age.”

She grinned at that. “It’s the truth. You are getting a little long in the tooth. But, seriously, you’d make an amazing dad and a great husband. So why not let yourself be loved? Stop thinking you have to be there for everyone else, and let someone be there for you.”

“Words of wisdom?”

She scooted around him and headed for the door. “I am wise. I’m also right. It’s time for you to find a wife. Travis is happy in California. I’m eventually going to get married. And then you’ll be alone in that castle you’ve built.”

“It isn’t a castle.”

“It’s your kingdom,” she countered. “Fill it with kids.”

She left, and he didn’t have a thing to say in response to her lecture. It was almost closing time. He walked to the front door and watched as his salesman and mechanic, Larry, walked past the building to an old farm truck. The customer was old Joe Falkner, known to be worth millions. Joe still drove a truck he’d bought new a couple of decades ago. He lived in a house that appeared to be falling apart. But he raised some of the best Angus in the state.

He joined Larry as Joe drove off.

“Don’t tell me Joe is thinking of getting a new stock trailer.”

Larry laughed and pulled a stick of gum out of his pocket. He’d been trying to quit smoking for six months. So now he chewed gum. A lot of gum. He offered a piece to Tanner.

“Yeah, he’s going to have to buy a trailer. The floor rotted out of his. The guy who normally fixes it said no more, he isn’t fixing that trailer again.”

“Did you close him on one?”

Larry shook his head. “He won’t turn loose of a dime. He said in 1970-something he could get that trailer for, I don’t know, a ridiculous amount.”

“I guess if he decides to haul some cattle to auction, he’ll come back and buy a trailer.”

“Knowing Joe, he’ll go hire some drovers and herd those cattle to the auction like they did a hundred years ago.”

“Don’t give him that idea.” Tanner glanced at his watch. “I’m going to take a drive. You’ll be here for a bit?”

“Yeah, anything you need me to do?”

“Yeah, pray. We’ve got six months to find some people, or old Cyrus Culpepper’s place is going to be paved over.”

“I’d heard rumors about a crazy will. You can’t pave over that many acres, and Cyrus hated those types of developments.”

“Tell that to his will.”

Larry adjusted the bent-up cowboy hat he always wore. “He was an ornery old cuss. It’s hard to tell what he was thinking, but I’m sure he had some kind of angle when he came up with this plan.”

“I’d sure like to know what it was. If I don’t get back, will you close up?”

“You got it, boss.” Larry headed back to the building.

Tanner didn’t really have a plan when he left, but he found himself heading up the drive of the Triple C. It wasn’t too far from his own spread. When he pulled up, he saw another car in the driveway. He got out of his truck, surprised to see Macy sitting on the hood of her car looking at the old Culpepper place.

For a long minute he stood watching her. Her blond hair was pulled back with a headband, and sunglasses perched on the end of her nose. She looked out of place in jeans, boots and a plaid shirt, as if she was trying to fit, but she didn’t. She was city, from her manicured nails to the way she stepped around mud to keep it from getting on those boots of hers.

He admired that she wanted to blend, that she wanted to transplant herself in this community for the sake of a little boy who had already lost too much.

Admiring was as far as he wanted to let his thoughts take him on a sunny day in October when his sister was looking at wedding dresses, his brother was currently on temporary duty somewhere in the Middle East and Cyrus had strung them all up by their toes, asking for something that might be impossible. “I came to pray,” she finally said without turning to look at him.

The words took him by surprise, but they weren’t uncomfortable the way they might have been if someone else had said them. She was simply stating a fact.

He closed the distance between them.

“I came to take a look around. I haven’t been here in years. I don’t know if anyone has been up here. Cyrus kept a loaded shotgun, and he made it pretty clear he’d shoot first and ask questions later.” He grinned at the memory of the old guy.

“He didn’t like people?”

He leaned a hip against the hood of her car, leaving a good bit of space between them. “I guess he liked people okay. He just didn’t want anyone messing around up here. He must have liked people, because he’s making a big donation to the LSCL Boys Ranch.”

“He isn’t making it easy.”

“I guess that’s true. But we’ll work it out. Like most of us, Cyrus had baggage. I never knew he had a kid, let alone a granddaughter. I didn’t know he’d lived at the ranch.”

“There are several Avery Culpeppers in the area.”

It hadn’t taken her long to get started. He hadn’t even thought about where to start his search for Theo Linley. He doubted Gabriel would be much help.

“We’ll find them all,” he assured her. Or maybe he was hoping to assure himself.

They sat in silence looking at the big house with the pillared front porch. There were three wings. Plenty of space for kids to run and be kids. He’d looked over the will, and it said they could go ahead and begin moving. It would take weeks to get the process started. There would be supplies to purchase, as well as volunteers to organize. A place like this meant more of everything. More staff. More furniture. More food. More time. But it would be worth it.

It would be good to have the boys in this house so they could celebrate Christmas in their new home.

“I should be going.” She slid off the hood of her car.

“Me, too.” He paused, watching as she dug her keys out of her pocket. “Have you thought about what I asked you earlier? About reading to the boys?”