The Rancher's Christmas Match

Eve smirked. “Doing what?”

He glanced down at Allie. “Work.”

“What work would that be?” Eve continued.

“Believe it or not, Eve, ranch work is real work. There are fences to fix, cattle to work, horses we’re training.”

She saluted. “Gotcha, Sarge.”

He held a hand out to the child at his side. “Even a spitting llama is better than a stubborn female.”

As he walked away, Allie’s hand in his, Eve called out, “When you get done, could you take her to the house? I have to get some work done.”

“No problem,” he called back to her.

Allie was silent for a minute. “Isn’t she your friend?”

He glanced down at the blond-haired child. “She is my friend.”

“Did you date and get mad at each other?”

“No, we just like to tease. She knows how to...” He cut off the explanation because a kid wouldn’t understand Eve getting under his skin the way she did. “We just like to give each other a hard time. But no, we haven’t dated. We’re just friends.”

Neither of them dated. It was the code on the ranch. This was a place for healing, for getting lives back in order. Relationships were unnecessary baggage for people dealing with physical and emotional problems they’d brought back from war.

The last thing he needed was to drag a woman into his messed-up life. He remembered all too well what it had been like living on this ranch with Jack, back when he was still fighting the nightmares of Vietnam. He remembered Jack climbing into the bottle and not climbing out for weeks, the ranch crumbling around his ears and livestock begging to be fed.

He wasn’t Jack, but he feared the what-ifs.

What if he became Jack? What if he hurt a woman and children the way Jack had hurt his wife and kids?

Nah, it wasn’t worth that kind of guilt. And fortunately there’d never been a woman who had made him consider getting serious.

* * *

The room Jack West used as an office was on a back corner of the sprawling log home. Massive windows offered a view of the wide-open fields belonging to the ranch. One wall of the room was lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The shelves were filled with books and family pictures, as well as trophies the ranch had won at different rodeo events in the tristate area. Tristate meaning Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.

Jack had explained it all at the beginning of the meeting. He’d shared personal details that had been uncomfortable to hear. Stories of his wife, his children, his road to recovery and, now, today, trying to forge a relationship with his estranged, adult children.

So far Carson was the only one of the three who had agreed to meet with him. Isaac was not a full brother to Carson and his siblings, Colt and Daisy.

“I’d love to show you the building I have available,” Jack told Rebecca. “I think a salon with the potential to expand to a day spa is a terrific idea. I could see how it would benefit the resort we’re renovating. Now I admit, I’m concerned with your ability to bring in local traffic.”

“I think you might be surprised,” she countered. “Also, we could advertise in nearby communities, like Grove. If people want to get away for the day, go to a top-notch salon, perhaps eat at the tearoom you say is going to be opening in the spring, then why not come to Hope?”

“Why not come to Hope?” He grinned at that. “Good point. We should use that in advertising to local communities.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his approval. Goodness, she had to stop needing this man’s approval and she had to stop basking in his praise. He wasn’t her father. And if he learned about her past, he might not be as easygoing as he appeared.

“Yes, why not come to Hope?” Rebecca repeated.

Jack gave her a long look. “Why did you come to Hope, Rebecca?”

The question took her by surprise. What should she tell him? She had a feeling he would find out her secrets somehow, some way.

“My parents live in Grove. After my aunt passed away last year, I realized Allie and I were adrift in Arizona with no support system. I had friends, but they were busy with their own lives. I decided to move closer to home and I saw your advertisement. My parents...” They wanted nothing to do with her or with Allie. But that didn’t matter. If something happened to Rebecca, her parents would be there for Allie. She had to believe that. After all, she was their only child. Allie their only grandchild.

“Rebecca?”

She shook her head at the question. “I’m sorry, I got lost in thought.”

“If you ever want to talk...” he offered. And then he grinned. “If you ever want to talk, Kylie is a good listener. I give too much advice and have too many opinions. Or at least that’s what the folks hereabouts like to say.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She glanced out the window, gathering thoughts that continued to go astray.

Thoughts that could get a woman in trouble. Thoughts of a cowboy with steel-gray eyes and a smile that flashed often and with a ton of mischievous charm. He’d disappeared yesterday after Allie’s seizure and she hadn’t seen him since. Not even when several of the ranch residents had gathered for dinner in the big dining room that connected to the kitchen.

No one had mentioned him. No one said anything about checking on him to make sure he was okay. Not that it mattered to her.

Her focus needed to stay on taking care of Allie and providing for them as best she could. She was a single mom with only herself to rely on. And now, strangely, she seemed to have a friend in Jack West. With that in mind, she had to do her best. She had to make a success of this salon.

Another quick glance out the window and the object of her thoughts appeared. And next to him, her daughter. They were standing at the fence, and Allie had climbed the bottom rail to stand next to him, her hand reaching for the white-and-black animal.

Rebecca stood. “I should go get Allie. I didn’t mean to impose on Eve. And now it seems Isaac has taken over babysitting duty.”

She diverted her attention back to Jack, who remained sitting in his deeply cushioned office chair. He, too, had spotted Isaac and Allie, but didn’t look concerned.

“She might have had to get some work done,” he said of Eve, who had been a longtime resident of the ranch. “I’m afraid I hadn’t planned on our meeting taking quite this long. And I apologize to you for that. Why don’t you head on out there and make sure things are okay? Later we’ll drive to town and take a look at the building. I’d like for you to see it in person and then we can compare your design ideas to the actual structure. If you like it, it’s all yours.”

“Thank you, Mr. West.”

“Jack.” He smiled as he corrected her.

“Thank you, Jack.”

A moment later she was cutting across the lawn in the direction of the small enclosure where her daughter remained next to Isaac, her hand reaching for the llama, which seemed less interested in the grass in Allie’s hand and more interested in the man next to her.

The llama must be female. He probably charmed all females, young children, animals. Not Rebecca, of course. She couldn’t be charmed. She had no desire to be charmed. Ever again. Because charming men usually had an agenda and it usually ended with her being hurt.

“Hey,” Rebecca called out. Allie glanced her way. Isaac continued to stare straight ahead. Ignoring her, of course.

The phone in her back pocket buzzed. She wanted to ignore it, but pulled it from her pocket and answered.

“Rebecca Barnes?” The voice wasn’t a familiar one. It had been years, but her first thought was that something had happened to her parents.

“This is she.”

“My name is Jared Owens. I’m a parole officer out of Springfield, Missouri.”