Rodeo Rancher

Why? What had he expected? That because she was beautiful, she’d be spoiled and temperamental? Well, yeah. That had been his experience.

He stopped and turned to face her.

“What is it?” he asked, wary.

“Can you vacuum before you put all of that on the floor?”

So she didn’t like his housekeeping. Michael stiffened. Tough.

Samantha placed slim fingers on his forearm. At her soft touch, he stiffened further and she dropped her hand.

“I don’t mean to criticize. It’s just that Jason has asthma. He’s growing out of it, but it still affects him. I don’t want to risk an attack when we’re stuck so far out here.”

Out here in the back of beyond, she means, he thought bitterly.

She must have guessed what he was thinking because she clarified, “In this storm it would take forever to get him to the hospital. It’s terrifying when he can’t breathe.”

“Fair enough.” He dropped what he was doing and got out the vacuum cleaner. Where a child’s health was concerned, he didn’t take chances.

In the living room, he started to pick up all of the children’s toys, but she interrupted him.

“Can we do something else first?”

He stilled, wary again. “What?”

“Follow me.”

Going into Lily’s room, she picked up an empty laundry basket.

“Children,” she hollered like a drill sergeant, startling him. The woman had a healthy set of lungs. “We need you in the living room.”

They ran after her. In front of the fireplace, she plopped the basket onto the floor.

“You see all of these toys, books and clothes?”

They nodded.

“They all—every single last one—are going into this basket. Who do you think is going to pick them up?”

Colt emitted a long-suffering sigh. Michael watched Samantha bite her cheek so she wouldn’t laugh. Her kids knew her well.

“Us?” Colt asked.

“Yep,” she affirmed. “But there will be a reward.”

She turned to Michael.

“Do you have any cookies?”

He nodded. “A box of Oreos.”

Samantha clapped her hands. “Good! When you’re finished picking up everything, Michael will carry the basket to the back room and you’ll each get a couple of cookies.”

The kids jumped to the task.

Michael turned to her with one brow raised. “Bribery?”

“Works every time.” She grinned and returned to the kitchen.

All right. Again, fair. She’d gotten the kids to clean the room to allow him to vacuum for her boy.

Michael carried the full basket to the playroom, returned with another basket that they also filled, and gave the children their cookies.

He went back to the living room to vacuum.

While he did that, another new scent emanated from the kitchen. It smelled like biscuits baking in the oven. His stomach grumbled.

Samantha made a couple of dozen biscuits that came out as light and airy as any Michael had ever tasted, including Vy’s at the Summertime Diner in town, and that was really saying something.

For dinner, she insisted that they have a second vegetable with the meat loaf along with potatoes. She heated frozen corn in the microwave. She also added some to her bean-and-barley soup.

Michael called the children to the table.

“This is a huge table,” she said, running her hand along the oak grain.

“It’s a farm kitchen. Used to be the ranch hands ate in here with us.”

“Ranch hands? Where are they?”

“Slow time of year. Any who wanted to were allowed to go home for a month of holidays. The rest opted to ride out the storm in town. Violet at the Summertime Diner will find a way to cook meals even without power. They’ll be a lot tastier than mine.” His laugh sounded rusty.

Lily and Mick took their usual spots at the table. Michael directed Jason and Colt to the other seats on either side of the table and offered Samantha the one at the other end.

“You have your choice of food.” He outlined the menu for the kids.

“Can I have a little bit of everything?” Jason asked. “I want meat loaf, but I really like Mom’s soups.”

“In this house, you can have whatever you want and as much of it as you can shovel into your faces.”

The younger children giggled. Jason took him seriously.

It turned out Samantha’s children ate a lot.

She seemed embarrassed by it. Maybe because of his less-than-gracious welcome when they arrived? He didn’t like that their appetites bothered her, but at least she didn’t stop them from eating.

After dinner, they got out his air mattresses and inflated them. Jason manned the electric pump while Michael carted in wood and lined the walls beside the fireplace.

He sent Samantha to the linen closet for sheets and plenty of blankets. She made up the two double air mattresses into beds and added extra blankets to Michael’s quilt on the sofa just in case.