A Rancher To Love

“I can get you what information we have so far,” Gina said.

“Thank you.” In theory, Leah liked the idea a lot. But just thinking about strangers showing up at her doorstep had her stomach clenching and her skin prickling with chills. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t truly her home to do with as she liked. She doubted Tyler wanted strangers coming and going all the time, especially when he had a child’s safety to consider.

“So what brought you to Blue Falls?” Gina asked.

Leah forced a small smile. “Just ready for a change. And I’ve always liked it here.”

“Leah is Conner Murphy’s cousin.”

If she hadn’t been looking at Gina, Leah would have missed the slight widening of her eyes. In a blink, the reaction was gone. What was that about? Hmm, perhaps she needed to ask her cousin about the pretty Miss Tolbert.

“Sorry to run, but I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes.” Gina gave a little wave and headed off toward the front of the store.

“I should finish up, too,” Leah said. “Based on this conversation, I’ve evidently got lots of work to do.”

India gave her a quick hug. “Don’t forget what I said about the arts and crafts trail. It could really introduce your work to a lot of new people if it’s as successful as we hope it’ll be.”

“I’ll think about it.” She couldn’t promise more than that.

“When you get settled, give me a call or drop by the shop. We’ll have lunch.”

“Sounds good.” And it did, but Leah suddenly felt exhausted by the conversation. The need to retreat to her new home swamped her, but she did her best to shove those feelings away and continue her shopping.

When she’d finally finished and stowed everything in the back of her car, she sank into the driver’s seat feeling as if she’d just run a marathon. How could one event in her life change her so much? Rob her of her energy, her true personality?

She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles whitened. Damn Jason Garton. She wanted nothing more than to move beyond what had happened, but it looked like it was going to take more than a move to bring that to fruition.

Her phone buzzed, startling her. When she saw it was Tyler, a frisson of warmth zipped along her skin. She ran her hand back across the top of her head. How could she be so nervous around Tyler while also attracted? It was as if her old self and the one that had emerged after Jason Garton had invaded her life were dueling for primacy.

She tapped her phone’s screen and read the simple response to her earlier text.

No problem.

Only two simple words, and yet she imagined hearing them in that low-timbre voice. Maybe she should take her reaction as a good sign that she was on the road back to her normal self, nothing more.

But as she drove toward the ranch, she couldn’t stop hearing his voice in her head and even imagining him saying something other than the words necessary to answer her questions as his tenant. Something romantic. Something she suspected she wasn’t really ready to hear, from anyone.

Chapter Four (#ulink_3c1dad36-9a7d-502d-a984-3f8750551e9f)

Tyler slid his credit card through the reader on the gas pump then selected the appropriate grade. As he started filling the truck with gas, Greg Bozeman walked out of one of the auto service bays, wiping his hands on a blue shop towel.

“Hey, how’s it going?” Greg asked as he approached.

“Can’t complain.”

“That have anything to do with your new roomie?”

“Huh?”

“Topic of the day around town is that Leah Murphy moved in out at your place.”

Tyler sighed. “I rented the bunkhouse to her.”

“As I recall, that’s pretty close to your house.”

Tyler lifted an eyebrow. “When did you become an old gossip?”

Greg’s grin was full of mischief, not at all unusual for him. “Service stations are just as much a hotbed of gossip as the barbershop or the front corner of the Primrose in the mornings.”

Tyler snorted. Leave it to the biggest flirt in town to know almost to the moment when a new woman moved to the county. “Don’t you have a car or twelve to fix?”

“I can multitask.”

Tyler shook his head as he pulled the gas nozzle from the truck’s tank and replaced it back in the pump. “As far as I know, she’s free, if that’s what you’re after.”

“Not the road for me. She already turned me down. Can you believe that?”

Tyler braced his hand atop the gas pump. “Wait, you’ve already asked her out and she’s only lived here a day?”

“Nah, it was a few months ago, when she was here visiting Conner and his family. I pulled out my best stuff, too.”

A bark of laughter escaped Tyler. “And she turned you down. That’s got to be a first. I don’t know the woman well, but at least now I know she has taste.”

“Cold, man. Cold.”

Tyler laughed again as he rounded his truck. When he caught sight of Maddie coloring yet another page in the book she’d gotten at the café, he reined in his laughter.

“You must really like that coloring book.”

Maddie hesitated in the strokes with the red crayon she was using before finally nodding. He went back over what he’d said, wondering how her five-year-old brain had interpreted it. Because he’d sensed concern as she’d paused in her coloring.

“That’s good,” he finally said, hoping to ease whatever was on her mind. “We can get you some more soon, if you’d like.”

When he thought he caught a hint of a smile trying to tug at her lips, his heart lightened. He’d buy her a hundred coloring books if it would make her really smile and maybe let down her guard. Because even though she was only five, that’s what was happening. For some reason, there were walls erected around his niece.

As he pulled out onto the road, she closed the coloring book and watched everything they passed the way she did every time they went anywhere. She was like a tourist in a foreign country for the first time, soaking up all the unfamiliar sights. He searched for some way to engage her in conversation but came up frustratingly empty. Instead, he let his mind wander back over the events of the day until they landed on the brief conversation with Greg, specifically the fact that Greg had asked Leah out.

He tried to imagine Leah with Greg, and he couldn’t picture it. Leah seemed like a quiet person, reserved, perhaps a touch shy. Which was surprising considering her cousin was not that way. But he guessed if siblings could be like night and day, it shouldn’t be a surprise if cousins were.

As he drove back toward the ranch, he wondered about his new tenant, if the situation would work out. He’d probably already made mistakes, such as not even asking what she did for a living and where she intended to work, if perhaps she already had a job before moving to Blue Falls. But really, as long as she paid her rent, didn’t host wild parties and wasn’t doing anything illegal, he shouldn’t care. He admitted to himself he was more curious than anything.

When he pulled up beside the house a few minutes later, he saw no sign of her other than the fact her car was parked next to the bunkhouse. He supposed she was still getting settled. As he got out of his truck and Maddie released herself from her seat and headed for the house with her coloring book and crayons, he resisted the urge to go check on Leah, to see if she needed anything. He reminded himself that distance was a good thing. His number one concern was his niece, followed by his work, which meant he didn’t have a lot of free time for chatting up his new neighbor.

No matter how pretty she was.

* * *

LEAH OPENED A box of beads and ran her fingers across the familiar and colorful glass, hoping a flash of inspiration would shoot up her arm to her brain. She went from box to box, knowing she had to work no matter if she felt inspired or not, but it would certainly be easier. She needed something, anything to spur her creativity.