The Rancher's Bride

Maybe they would, she thought. But what would it be like once the rain eventually came, the debt was finally paid and the two of them went back to simply being neighbors again? She’d probably never see him after that.

The thought should have comforted her, even given her something to look forward to. But strangely enough she felt bothered by the idea. Although she couldn’t understand why. Harlan wasn’t her type. No man was her type. She’d do well to remember that.

By the time the three of them left Rose’s cattle safely secured on fresh pasture, it was noon. Harlan suggested they eat lunch before starting the task of moving his cattle onto Bar M land.

Down by the river, Rose found a smooth spot beneath a poplar and pulled out the lunch she’d packed in her saddlebags.

As she spread the containers of food on the ground in front of her, Harlan walked up behind her. “You know, you never cease to amaze me.”

The sound of his voice jerked her head up and around. She’d thought he was still tending the horses, not looming over her shoulder. The sight of him standing so close set her heart pounding heavily.

“Why do you say that?” she asked, trying her best to sound casual.

A faint smile tugged at his mouth as he looked down at her dusty face. She wasn’t comfortable in his company. He’d known that the moment he’d walked up to her yesterday evening and she’d introduced herself. Her voice had been cool, yet her glances had been shy. Now the more Harlan was around her, the more he wondered why she wasn’t married. She must still be in her early twenties, and when she looked at him with her clear gray eyes, he got the impression that she was far more innocent than her years.

“I never expected you to have your lunch with you.”

Frowning, she turned her attention to the sandwich in her hand. “I take food out with me every day. I never know when I’ll be too far away from the ranch house to make it back for lunch. Besides, it’s always wise to at least carry a thermos of water or some sort of drink with you in this country.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said. He sank to the ground a few feet away from her and leaned his back against a half-dead cottonwood. “Most women wouldn’t be so prepared. Hell, most women would be lost out here like this. But you seem right at home in the saddle, herding cows.”

She bit into a ham sandwich and told herself not to look at him. She didn’t like it when her senses went haywire. And that’s what the sight of him did to her, she realized. It crippled her brain. “I was born on this ranch, Harlan. I am home, here.”

He drew up one knee and rested his forearm across it. As he watched Emily splash in the river with Amos, he thought about the home he’d left in east Texas, the wife he’d buried there and the home he’d tried to build here.

The Flying H had most everything they needed. A fairly nice house and several barns. Cattle and horses to work the place, cats and dogs for pets, two vehicles to get where they needed to go and a regular pew at church on Sunday.

It was a seemingly normal household. Yet the place had never felt exactly like home to Harlan. And now he knew why. It was missing a woman. Others had pointed the problem out to him before, but he’d blindly refused to see it. He hadn’t wanted to see anything except the memories of his wife. The way it had been with her and the way he’d wished it could have been now.

But Rose had opened his eyes. How or why, Harlan couldn’t figure. Nor did he know what, if anything, he was going to do about it.

“You like ranching, or would you prefer to be teaching in a classroom?” Harlan asked as he pulled a sandwich from his own saddlebag.

“I like being needed,” she answered, then glanced over to his face. His expression told her he didn’t quite understand.

She gestured with her hand to the land around them. “Before Daddy passed away, he had men to take care of all this. There was no need for me to ride fence, spread feed and hay, doctor sick cows, or search for newborn calves. But that’s all changed.”

The cellophane out of the way, he bit into the sandwich. After he’d swallowed, he asked, “You didn’t feel needed when you were teaching?”

She thought about his question. “Oh, yes. I did. But there’re always other teachers to take your place. There’s no one who can take my place here on the ranch,” she told him, then with a little mocking laugh added, “at least, no one who’d work for my salary.”

Emily waded out of the shallow river and joined them in the dappled shade of the trees. Amos followed and before Rose could shoo him away, he shook, spraying water over the three of them.

“I guess he thought we all needed a shower,” Harlan said with wry humor.

Rose wiped at the drops sliding down her chin, then pointed sternly at the dog. “Amos, get over there in the shade and behave or you won’t get the sandwich I brought for you.”

Amos whined in protest, but did exactly what his mistress told him. Emily was more than impressed by the dog’s behavior.

“Gosh, none of our dogs are that obedient. If you tell them to do something, they just ignore you.”

Harlan chuckled. “Sorta like you do me.”

Emily groaned. “Oh Daddy, you’re going to have Rose thinking I’m spoiled. And you know I’m not.”

“Rose can probably figure that out for herself,” Harlan told his daughter. “She used to be a schoolteacher.”

Emily dug into her father’s saddlebag for a sandwich. “Why aren’t you a teacher now? You don’t like kids or something?”

Brushing the crumbs from her fingers, Rose reached for her thermos of lemonade. “I like kids and teaching. But I need to work at home now.”

“A few months ago, Rose’s father died of a heart attack,” Harlan gently explained to Emily. “That’s why she and her sisters are…having a rough time of it right now.”

An achy lump suddenly collected in Rose’s throat. He sounded as if he cared, and that touched her in a way she hadn’t expected it to. Yet she knew she couldn’t afford to get any soft notions about Harlan. Where men were concerned, she always had to be on guard, always be cautious.

Emily looked at Rose with such a sorrowful expression that Rose wanted to take the girl in her arms and hug her tightly.

“Gosh, that’s awful. I know, ‘cause my mother died when I was little. Do you have a mother?”

Rose shook her head and tried to smile. The last thing she wanted to do was appear maudlin or bitter in front of this girl. Emily needed to know that her young life wasn’t ruined because she’d lost her mother. “No. My mother died last year after a long illness.”