The Rancher Takes a Bride

They entered the room as a nurse was settling Lilly back in, covering her with heated blankets and tucking in the edges.

The nurse smiled at her patient. “Told you they’d be right back.”

Oregon leaned to kiss her daughter’s cheek.

Their daughter. Duke hung back, trying hard not to let this moment get the best of him. This shouldn’t be the first time he saw her as his daughter. There should have been a lifetime of moments. A newborn in a hospital, first steps, first words, first day of school. Yeah, he’d missed out on a lot.

He wanted to be angry with Oregon. He was angry, not just with her, with himself. He hadn’t been the kind of man a woman would turn to.

This girl could have pulled him back to where he needed to be.

She still could.

For the moment he stood on the sidelines and watched as the nurse checked IV lines, as Oregon spoke in soft whispers and then as Joe reentered the room with a cup of coffee. Why in the world did this drama include Joe?

How did a man adjust to suddenly being a dad?

The doctor walked through the sliding door. He looked at his chart, looked up and smiled at Lilly, then at Oregon. He didn’t look at Duke or Joe, because they were just the extras in this scene.

The doctor pulled back the blanket, touched Lilly’s toes on her left foot, rested a hand on the splinted leg. “Well, we have a minor concussion, and she’s very fortunate it wasn’t worse. No internal bleeding, for which we’re thankful. And then this broken leg that we’re going to set. She’ll be down for about six weeks, then back to work earning money for that horse.”

“Oh, she told you.” Oregon smiled down at her daughter.

“Yes, she did. She also told me you have stairs. She’s not going to have an easy time on stairs with the cast and crutches.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Duke cut in. Oregon shot him a look that clearly told him to stay out of her business.

Thing is, her business had become his. He gave her a look that he hoped told her he wasn’t going to back down and pretend this didn’t matter. He ignored the daggers Oregon shot at him from eyes damp with unshed tears and smiled at Lilly. She smiled back with a smile he should have recognized.

Yeah, this mattered.

* * *

After it was decided Lilly would spend the night in the hospital, Duke took Joe home, then headed for the ranch. Or his section of the nearly twelve hundred acres that made up the Circle M.

He bypassed Jake’s place and drove down the dirt road to his house. The two-story home had a pillared front porch and a veranda that ran across the second floor. It had been a showplace years ago when his grandfather had been alive. And then it had been abandoned and had started to fall apart. Posts on the porch had needed to be replaced, along with the roof, siding and many of the windows.

Beyond this house was a caretaker’s cottage, with two bedrooms and a sunny living room. He’d lived in the cottage for six months, since he’d begun the initial repairs to the main house. Today he’d had an idea.

The cottage was one story, no steps and no porches. Just a nice little rock house with a front door, a back patio and a few flower gardens. Perfect for Oregon and Lilly. Not that he thought it would be that easy. He could already hear Oregon’s objections in his head.

A truck pulled up the drive as he sat there looking at the cottage. He groaned as he took a quick look in his rearview mirror. The last thing he needed was big brother time. But sooner or later it would have to take place.

He got out of his truck as Jake parked. Jake stepped out of his own vehicle with an easy smile on his face. Jake had always been the one taking charge of their family, making the hard decisions. Duke guessed it hadn’t been all Jake’s fault. Duke hadn’t been that much younger; he’d just found other ways to deal with life. He’d been out partying, team roping and running from the pain their mother had caused them all.

Jake had grown more and more resentful, taking the burden of raising the Martins and keeping the ranch in the black.

“Saw you drive by,” Jake said as he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and rocked on the heels of his boots. He looked from the house to Duke. “Is Lilly okay?”

Duke stared at the cottage and avoided looking at his brother. He guessed that Jake really wanted to ask if he was sober. He’d passed seven bars and three liquor stores on his way home. He hadn’t stopped at one of them. Hadn’t even been tempted. That said something.

“Yeah, she’ll be okay. Broken leg, concussion, a bruised spleen.”

“Where are they?”

“Still at the hospital. I thought they might be able to stay here. More room and no stairs.”

“Right.” Silence stretched on, and finally Jake smiled a little. “She’s yours, isn’t she?”

Duke nodded. “Yeah, she’s mine.”

“Do we need a DNA test?”

That made him mad. “She isn’t here to get anything from me. The last thing she wanted to do was tell me I had a daughter. But today seemed to be the day.”

He had a daughter. The idea settled inside him, making him angry and glad and hurt, all at the same time. Jake’s grinning wasn’t going to help. He shot his brother a warning look and stomped off. Jake gave him a few minutes to cool his heels before following him inside the cottage.

“This isn’t something you keep from a man,” he told Jake as he rummaged through the kitchen cabinets.

“No, I reckon it isn’t.” Jake opened the fridge and pulled out a package of moldy lunch meat. “Wouldn’t hurt you to get a wife.”

“I proposed. She isn’t interested.”

Jake laughed. “Proposed? What did you say, ‘Gee, I guess we should get married’? You’re the ladies’ man. I expect better from you.”

Duke laughed, and it loosened something inside him, something that had been tight as a clock and ready to spring loose. “I expect better from myself. I guess if a guy was going to have a kid, he’d expect to remember that he had her.”

He brushed a hand across the top of his head. Jake watched, hip against the counter, cowboy hat pulled low.

“Well, now you know. Guess what you gotta do is decide how to go forward from here.”

“I go forward as a dad. End of story.”

Jake shrugged, looking comfortable in his own skin. Duke had always thought of himself as the comfortable one. Today cool and unflustered belonged to Jake.

“Might call Charlie and get advice.”

“I don’t need your attorney.”

“Fine, you’ll figure it out.” Jake gave the easy answer as he stepped away from the cabinet.

Yes, he would find a way to be Lilly’s dad. He guessed he’d start by getting her that horse she wanted.

And he’d have to figure out his relationship with Oregon.

Chapter Three (#ulink_a63ffb10-9696-598d-abdf-b2b2f3836bee)

“Where are we going?” Lilly asked as they got closer to Martin’s Crossing. She was in Duke’s truck, leaning against Oregon. Her leg in the bright pink knee-to-foot cast was stretched out, nearly touching Duke’s leg as he drove.