Her Man on Three Rivers Ranch
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Stella Bagwell
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HarlequinChapter One
Blake Hollister was fuming when he walked out the front entrance of Yavapai Bank and Trust. So much so that he didn’t see the woman on the sidewalk until he’d barreled directly into her, the force of the collision causing her to stagger backward.
With lightning-quick reflexes, he grabbed a steadying hold on her upper arm to prevent her from falling to the ground.
“Oh, pardon me, ma’am. I—”
“Blake? Blake Hollister, is that you?”
His hand continuing to grip her upper arm, he stepped back to survey the young woman he’d very nearly knocked off her feet. Shiny black hair, ocean-gray eyes and a soft wide mouth tilted in a tentative smile. Did he know this beautiful lady? She definitely seemed to recognize him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his face growing warm with embarrassment. It wasn’t like he was acquainted with a long list of women. Particularly one with a tall, curvy figure and a face like a sweet dream. If he’d met this one before, he damn well should’ve remembered the occasion. “Should I know you?”
The smile on her pink lips deepened. “It’s probably been too long for you to recall,” she told him. “I used to visit Three Rivers Ranch with my mom. She did sewing projects for your mother, Maureen.”
As he continued to take in her lovely image, recognition struck him. Could this be the raggedy little teenage girl who used to sit on the floor of the front porch and play with the dogs while their mothers discussed items to be sewn or mended?
“Don’t tell me you’re little Katherine Anderson! I can’t believe it!”
Her gray eyes sparkled, making her smile even warmer. “That was many years ago. And I wasn’t sure you even knew my name back then. My name is O’Dell now.”
Katherine Anderson had been several years younger than Blake and traveled in a totally different social circle than he and his family. And although he’d not paid any extra attention to her, he had noticed her from time to time. Mostly because she’d always looked unusually somber for someone so young.
“I remember,” he told her. “And your mother is Paulette, right?”
Appreciation flashed in her gray eyes. “That’s right.”
Recognizing his hand was still clamped around her arm, Blake dropped his hold and forced himself to put a respectable step between the two of them. “Sorry for not recognizing you right off,” he said with a rueful smile. “But you look...all grown-up.”
She laughed softly. “Believe me, you not recognizing me is a compliment. I’d hate to think I still look like my teenage years.”
He smiled at her. “I, uh, I apologize for plowing into you like that. The bank had a little mix-up on some of my accounts and the steam coming out of my ears must have blinded me.”
“No problem. It was nice running into you again. Even if it was literally,” she added impishly.
“Nice, yes.”
“Well, I’ll let you be on your way.” She extended her hand to him. “Perhaps we’ll run into each other again in another twelve years.”
Blake took her offered hand and was instantly surprised at the trusting way her fingers molded around his. Her grip was strong and warm, a reflection of the woman she’d become.
“Uh, are you busy right now?” The question blurted past his mouth before he’d realized the words were anywhere near his tongue. “If you’d like, we could walk down the street to Conchita’s and have a cup of coffee.”
Her eyebrows arched and then she glanced over both shoulders as though to make sure he was actually inviting her, rather than someone who may have been standing behind her.
“I’m running a few errands this morning,” she explained. “But a few minutes for coffee shouldn’t hurt.”
A ridiculous little thrill rushed through him. “Great, I have a few minutes, too.”
Liar, liar. You don’t have a minute to spare. Not with all kinds of work waiting on you back at Three Rivers. What the hell has come over you, Blake? She said her name was O’Dell now. That means she’s married. Or doesn’t that matter to you?
It didn’t matter if she was married, Blake mentally argued. Buying an old acquaintance a cup of coffee was hardly an indecent gesture.
He reached for her arm. “Let’s walk on this side of the street until we reach the end of the block.”
She nodded in agreement. “I was about to suggest the same thing. It’s only the first week of April, but it feels like July. And this side of the street offers a bit of shade from the blistering sun.”
As they walked along the quiet street of Wickenburg, Arizona, Blake was acutely aware of the soft, sweet scent of her perfume, the way the sun put fiery sparks in her shoulder-length black hair and the graceful sway of her hips.
“So are you here in town for long?” he asked as they paused at the street corner to check for traffic.
“I live here now,” she told him. “I moved back almost three years ago.”
Blake hoped the red he could feel on his face wasn’t that noticeable. “Oh. Mom mentioned something about you moving away. That was several years ago. I wasn’t aware you’d returned. I...don’t get away from the ranch all that much. There’s always so much to do.”
“I can understand that,” she replied. “I remember Three Rivers always being a very busy place.”
Busy? That was a mild way to describe his family business, Blake thought. As the general manager of Three Rivers Ranch, he barely had time to draw a good breath. If not for the mix-up at the bank requiring his personal attention this morning, he wouldn’t have been in town at all, much less taking time to have coffee with a woman. But that wasn’t the sort of information he needed to share with Katherine O’Dell.
They crossed the street, then traveled another half block until they reached Conchita’s coffee shop. The small pink stucco building was shaded by two large mesquite trees and offered customers outdoor seating. As they walked over a group of stepping stones that served as a sidewalk, Blake gestured to one of the tiny round tables situated on the stone patio.
“Go ahead and take a seat, I’ll get the coffee. What would you like?”
“Thank you, Blake. Make mine plain coffee with one sugar.”
He seated her at one of the wrought-iron tables and entered the coffee shop through a wooden screen door. As usual, Emily-Ann Smith was behind the counter. In one corner of the small room, a radio was playing an old standard, while a table fan stirred the scents of fresh-baked pastries displayed in neat rows inside a large glass case.
The instant Emily-Ann spotted Blake, a wide smile came over her face. “Well, Blake Hollister! Should I be worried the roof is going to crash in? It’s been ages since you’ve been in for coffee.”
The quirky young woman with long auburn hair was a childhood friend of Blake’s youngest sister, Camille. “Hello, Emily-Ann. How are things going for you?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Boring without Camille around. Is she ever going to come back home?”
“Hard to say. I think she likes living down on Red Bluff.”
“Living. Hmm. You might call it that. Hiding is the way I’d put it,” she muttered, then shook her head. “Sorry, Blake. I shouldn’t have said that. What would you like this morning? I’ve sold at least fifty lattes since I opened at six. Want to try one?”
“No, thanks. Just two plain coffees.” He placed the correct amount of bills on the counter plus a tidy tip. “One with cream. The other with one sugar.”
“Two coffees? You must be needing extra caffeine today,” she said as she turned to make his order. “Guess running a ranch like Three Rivers takes a lot of energy.”
Energy? No, it took working every waking moment, along with his very heart and soul, to make sure the one-hundred-and-seventy-year-old ranch not only remained solvent, but also kept improving. It was a task that had consumed his life for the past five years and the main reason he was still single at the age of thirty-eight.
“I have a guest with me,” he explained. “She’s waiting out at one of the tables.”
Emily-Ann peered past his shoulder to the small square of window overlooking the coffee shop’s patio.
“Oh! That’s Katherine!” She quickly made a shooing gesture toward the door. “You go on outside and I’ll bring the coffees to your table. Anything else? The brownies are still warm.”
Blake pulled more bills from his wallet. “Okay, Emily-Ann. You’re a good saleslady. Two brownies. If Katherine doesn’t want it, I’ll take it home to my niece.”
“Coming right up,” she cheerfully replied.
He left the building and joined Katherine at the tiny table. “The coffee is coming right out,” he informed her. “Along with a couple of brownies. So I hope you’re hungry.”
A wide smile spread her lips and Blake was struck all over again by the warmth of her expression.
“Does anyone have to be hungry to eat a brownie?” she asked, then glanced toward the small building. “I wasn’t aware that Emily-Ann served customers outside. She must consider you very special.”
He let out a short laugh. “Not really. I’ve known her since she was just a little kid. She and my youngest sister, Camille, went through twelve grades of school together. They’re still good friends.”
“I see. I remember Camille. She was a year or so younger than me, I think. And you had another sister, too. Vivian, right?”
She apparently remembered far more about his family than he did about hers. But that wasn’t unusual. The Hollisters had lived in Yavapai County for over a century and a half. The folks who didn’t know them personally were at least familiar with the name.
“That’s right.”
“So how are your sisters? And the rest of your family?” she asked.
She was wearing a white skirt that hugged her hips and legs, with a pale blue sleeveless blouse. Every now and then the desert breeze caused the thin fabric to flutter against the thrust of her breasts, giving him a vague glimpse of some sort of lacy garment beneath. Blake couldn’t remember the last time he’d noticed a woman’s clothing or the way she smelled. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d wanted to take a few minutes out of his day to talk to one. Yet being here with Katherine was causing everything inside him to buzz with excitement.
“They’re fine. All the family is fine,” he said, then, forcing himself, added, “Except for Dad. He died five years ago.”
A somber expression stole over her face. “Yes, my father mentioned to me that Joel Hollister had died. Something about a horse accident, is that right?”
Blake nodded stiffly. “Yes. There was a horse involved, but we’re not sure how it happened.”
At that moment Emily-Ann emerged from the coffee shop carrying their orders. She smiled coyly at Katherine as she placed the coffees and brownies on the table.
“Hi, Katherine. You’re keeping some bad company this morning, aren’t you?” she teased, her gaze rolling to Blake.
“Blake was kind enough to invite me for coffee,” she told Emily-Ann. “We’ve not seen each other in years.”
Emily-Ann chuckled. “That’s not surprising. Blake treats us townsfolk like we have the plague. He only comes around in a blue moon. You two enjoy your coffee.”
With a swirl of her long skirt, Emily-Ann turned and walked back into the building. Across the table, Katherine cast him an awkward smile. “She likes to tease.”
“It wouldn’t be Emily-Ann if she wasn’t joking about something,” he said. “Which is easier than talking about herself, I suppose. She’s not had an easy life.”
Tilting her head, she gently stirred her coffee. “Most of us haven’t.”
The wistful note in her voice caused question after question to swirl through Blake’s thoughts. The most important one being whether she was married or attached to a special man.
He took a cautious sip from his coffee. “So what brought you back to Wickenburg?” he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“My father. He suffered a stroke and wasn’t mobile enough to care for himself. My brother, Aaron, wouldn’t offer to help and Mom didn’t really care what happened to Dad. You see, she divorced him when I was eighteen—right after I’d graduated high school. That’s when she moved me and Aaron to San Diego. She’s still living there near her sister.”
So Katherine had been positioned between bitter parents, he thought ruefully. Although Blake and his siblings had lost their father, they’d been spared that kind of misery. “So you decided to shoulder the responsibility of helping your father,” he mused aloud. “How is he doing now?”
She shook her head and Blake was certain he saw a mist of tears in her gray eyes.
“He passed away a year ago, last spring.” She let out a heavy breath. “After I’d dealt with his funeral, I kept thinking there was nothing here in Wickenburg for me and then I decided I was wrong. My son likes it here. He’s made lots of friends in school and I’ve made new friends, too. Along with getting reacquainted with old ones. Plus, I have a job I like. So I decided not to uproot again.”
She had a son! Blake’s gaze instantly slipped to her left hand, but there was no sign of a wedding ring. Yet he wasn’t ready to make the deduction that she was single. She could’ve simply left the piece of jewelry off today.
“I’m sorry about your father,” he said. “I hadn’t heard.”
She shrugged. “At least he’s not suffering now.”
He took a bite of the brownie as more questions darted through his mind. “Tell me about your son.”
Her smile held the same sort of pride he saw on his mother’s face when she spoke of her children.
“Nick is my only child. He’s ten years old and at the moment he can’t decide whether he wants to be an air force pilot or a point guard for the Phoenix Suns. Next week, he might want to be a neurosurgeon. At least he loves school. So that’s one worry I don’t have.”
Envy slashed through Blake. At one point in his life, he’d hoped and planned to have a wife and several children of his own. But the closest he’d ever gotten was a broken engagement. Now, after three years of trying to forget the humiliation of being dumped before the wedding, Blake had pretty much convinced himself that marriage and a family weren’t meant for him.
“What about your husband? What does he do for a living?”
Her gaze turned out toward the street. “Cliff died seven years ago in a single-car accident. After that, it’s just been me and Nick on our own.”
Blake was stunned. This warm, beautiful woman had been a widow for seven long years? Raising a son on her own? It didn’t seem possible.
“I don’t know what to say, Katherine. Except that I wish things had gone better for you.”
She shrugged and Blake’s gaze was once again drawn to the shiny black waves brushing the top of her shoulders. He figured if he was ever close enough to bury his face in her hair, it would smell like flowers and sunshine. And her skin would feel just as smooth as it looked.
“I wish so, too,” she murmured, then cast him a lopsided smile. “But that’s enough about me. What about you? I imagine you’ve been married for ages and have at least three kids.”
His gaze fell to the brown liquid swirling in his cup. “You imagined wrong. I had a fiancée once but never had a wife. No kids, either. I guess you could say I’m married to Three Rivers Ranch.”
At least that was what Lenore had told Blake when she’d slipped off her engagement ring and handed it back to him. Even though the memory of that humiliating scene was still as fresh as the day it had happened three years ago, he wasn’t about to share it with this woman. Katherine hardly needed to know he’d been unable to hold on to his intended bride.
* * *
Blake Hollister was single! Katherine was dumbfounded. He’d seemed like the type of guy who would mature into a family man like his father, Joel. Or perhaps that was just the way Katherine had wanted to see him.
When she’d been a senior in high school, Blake had been twenty-six. Katherine had thought he was the best-looking man on earth. Tall and muscular with thick sable-brown hair and handsomely carved features. Just getting a glimpse of him had set her eighteen-year-old heart aflutter. And if by chance he did happen to pass close enough to say hello to her, she’d felt like she’d been transported to heaven.
All those years ago, she’d had a major crush on the eldest Hollister son. Yet even at that tender age, Katherine had realized dreaming about Blake in a romantic way had been as futile as wishing for snow in the middle of July. It wasn’t going to happen in this part of Arizona. Not then. And not now.
“I’m surprised, Blake,” she admitted. “Of all of your brothers, I thought you’d be the first one with a bunch of kids and a sweet wife at your side.”
His rich brown eyes focused on something beyond her left shoulder and Katherine could see her comment had left him uncomfortable. Which only made her want to ask him all kinds of personal questions. Ones that she had no business asking.
“I thought the same thing. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Actually, my brother Joe is the only one of us Hollister boys who’s taken the matrimonial plunge. He and his wife, Tessa, are expecting their first child in a few months.”
“Congratulations to them. I hope everything works out well.” She pinched off a morsel of the brownie and popped it into her mouth.
“I do, too,” he said. “They’re madly in love and Mom is excited about becoming a grandmother again.”
“Again?”
Nodding, his gaze returned to her. “Vivian has an eleven-year-old daughter, Hannah.”
“Oh, do Vivian and her family live around here? I’ve not seen her around town.”
“Viv’s been divorced for several years now. She and Hannah live on the ranch with us. Actually, she never moved away. I think her ex thought living on Three Rivers would be easier than making a home elsewhere. Guess it just wasn’t easy enough for him.”
“I’m sorry to hear things didn’t work out for your sister.” She sipped her coffee and tried to ignore the way Blake’s eyes were roaming her face, as though he was trying to decide if there was still a part of that poor Anderson girl in her, or if she’d changed completely since she’d been away.
When he’d invited her to have coffee, she’d accepted, thinking it would be nice to catch up with news about him and his family. But now that she was sitting across this tiny table from him, she realized she’d made a huge mistake. He was making her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling, remember things she’d tried so hard to forget.
“Vivian didn’t need a man like him in her life,” he said bluntly.
Like she hadn’t needed a man like Cliff in her life, Katherine thought dolefully. At least, not the man he’d turned into during the latter half of their marriage.
Shoving that dark thought away, she said, “Actually, I’m surprised Vivian hasn’t married again. I remember her being so warm and beautiful.”
“She’s gun-shy, I think.”
Katherine knew the feeling. “Since I moved back to Wickenburg, I’ve not run into any of your family around town. But I do hear snippets of gossip from time to time.”
His grunt was full of humor. “Mostly about Holt, I imagine. He still likes to break wild horses and party afterward.”
She broke off another piece of the brownie and popped it into her mouth. Not because she was hungry, but because it tasted good and something about Blake was making her so restless she needed to do something with her hands. She only wished she could make her eyes find a different object to stare at. Just looking at his rugged face reminded her that she was a woman. One who hadn’t been touched by a man in a long, long time.
“I think most of the single ladies in town think of him as a man on the prowl. I mostly remember him playing football in high school. And your brother Chandler played baseball. They were both good athletes.”
“I’m sure you’ve seen Chandler’s animal hospital on the edge of town. He’s pretty much tied to his practice and seeing after the animal health on Three Rivers. As for Holt, he manages the horse division. Even though I joke about him being a rounder, he has more knowledge in his little finger about horseflesh than I’ll ever know in a lifetime.” He paused, a slow grin spreading across his face. “I’ve said enough about my family. What about your brother, Aaron? What is he doing now?”
“He went into law enforcement. He works as a deputy for Inyo County in California.”
“The Death Valley area. He must be tough. Is he married?”
Katherine tried not to grimace. “No. He doesn’t think he’s cut out to be a family man. And frankly, I think he’s right. He has a cynical attitude about...well, love and family. I don’t think any woman could put up with him for long.”
“Ouch. Sounds like the two of you aren’t exactly close.”
“Oh, we talk occasionally. And we care about each other. At least, I care about him. But we have different ideas about things, that’s all. I tried to get him to come to Wickenburg before Dad died, but he never would. That hurt. A lot.”
He studied her closely. “And your mother? She doesn’t want to come back?”
Katherine shook her head. “She likes the Southern California climate and being close to her sister. And she says there are too many bad memories for her here.”
Before she realized Blake’s intention, he suddenly reached across the table and covered her hand with his. The physical contact practically took her breath away, but the jolt of his touch couldn’t compare to his next words.
“I’m glad you don’t feel that way, Katherine. It’s nice to have you back home.”
Home. Was she really home? Since Cliff’s death, and more recently her father’s, Katherine had begun to wonder if she would ever know the true feeling of home again.
A hard lump suddenly lodged in her throat and she tried to swallow it away before she spoke. “Thank you, Blake. When I came back—to help Dad—I wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing. To say the least, our relationship had been strained. But now...well, long before he died, we made peace with each other. And that’s the most important thing. Don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.”
Lifting her gaze to his, she gave him a grateful smile. “Coming from you, Blake, that means a lot.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he continued to study her face as his thumb slowly stroked the back of her hand. The touch ignited a spark somewhere deep inside her and shot a wave of uncomfortable heat straight to her cheeks. Inside her head, a voice was commanding her to ease her hand away from his and run down the street as fast as her high heels would carry her. Yet she couldn’t seem to make herself move, or even speak.
“Katherine, I—”
The sound of his low voice snapped her paralysis and she managed to ease her hand from his hold and reach for her purse.
Before he could stop her, she rose to her feet. “Thank you for the coffee, Blake, but I really must be running. I have to be back at work by ten.”
He glanced at his watch, then got to his feet. “When we get back to my truck, I’ll drive you.”
“No need for that. My car is parked in the parking lot at Yavapai Bank and Trust. I was about to go in to do some banking business when we crashed into each other,” she explained.
“Okay,” he told her. “I’ll clear the table and then we’ll walk back.”
After tossing their coffee cups and scraps of uneaten brownies into a nearby trash bin, he reached for her arm and guided her back onto the quiet sidewalk.
“So where do you work, Katherine?”
Although the touch of his hand on her arm was featherlight, it was enough to send electrical shocks up and down her arm. No matter what man was at her side, the odd reaction would have been troubling. But this was Blake Hollister. The eldest son of the prominent ranching dynasty. The man who made sure Three Rivers Ranch remained a cattle kingdom in Southern Arizona. The only thing he could ever be to Katherine was a friendly acquaintance.
“I’m a secretary to the superintendent at St. Francis Academy. A private school over on South Saguaro.”
“You said earlier that you liked your job. Have you been there long?”
Had he always been this tall and dark? This strong and broad-shouldered? Everything about him seemed magnified ten times over since she’d last seen him. But then a man could change greatly in a matter of a few years, she thought. Her late husband was proof of that.
She answered, “Almost three years. I went to work there shortly after I returned to Wickenburg. Juggling my job and caring for my dad wasn’t easy, but I managed.”
“School will be out soon,” he remarked. “Will you have to work during the summer?”
“Only for half of each workday. I’m looking forward to having the extra time to do things with Nick. He wants to go camping.”
“Most little boys do. My brothers and I used to put up a tent out behind the cattle barn and pretend we were miles away on some lonesome mesa. That way we had to worry and watch for coyotes and mountain lions. Sometimes that was hard to do, though, when a pen of weanling calves was bawling right next to us.”
Katherine chuckled. “No doubt it was still an adventure for you. I’m not sure Nick is ready to sleep out in the backyard on his own, though.”
His smile knowing, he glanced at her. “I have an idea it’s more like his mother isn’t ready for Nick to sleep outdoors.”
She sighed. “I confess. I have sheltered him somewhat,” she admitted. “It would be different if he had siblings. But that never happened.”
Katherine had no idea why she’d added that last bit of information. Blake wasn’t interested in her past family life. He was simply carrying on a polite conversation. He didn’t care that all of her hopes and dreams for a big family had vanished as Cliff had turned away from her and buried himself in his job.
“Well, at least you have one child,” he said. “That’s more than I have.”
She started to ask him if he still hoped to have a family someday, but a quick glance ahead told her they’d reached the bank building. Which was probably a good thing. She didn’t need to know about Blake’s wants or wishes. It was none of her business whether he had a special woman in his life now, or even if he was looking to find one. Money in the bank and a closet full of fine clothes didn’t change the fact that her maiden name was Anderson.
“Here we are,” she said in an overly bright voice. “Thanks again for the coffee, Blake. And please tell your family hello for me. Especially your gracious mother.”
He released his hold on her arm, but instead of stepping away, he reached for her hand and lifted it to the middle of his chest. “I’d really like it, Katherine, if you’d come out and have dinner with me at Three Rivers.”
Was he serious? Her gaze roamed his face as she tried to figure out the motive behind his invitation. Was he simply being polite? She couldn’t think of any other reason.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose on your family.”
He frowned. “Don’t be silly. They’d all be glad to see you. But if you’d rather, we could go somewhere else for dinner.”
Totally bemused now, she looked around her, then back at him. “Are you asking me for a date, Blake?”
Her question caused his square jaw to turn a shade darker. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. Why? Is there anything wrong in that?”
Only that she was the daughter of one of the town’s worst drunks. It didn’t matter that Avery Anderson was dead and gone now. That didn’t change the fact of Katherine’s upbringing.
Stuttering, she tried to give him a reasonable answer. “Uh, well, it’s just that I—Dating is something I don’t do. I mean, not very often.”
“Then you need to let me change that.”
Her heart was suddenly tripping over itself. Blake Hollister wanted to take her on a date! If such a thing had happened twelve years ago, she would’ve fallen over in a dead faint. And she was darned close to it now.
“I don’t—”
“I know,” he interrupted. “You’ve already said you don’t date very often. Well, I don’t, either. So that puts us on equal footing.”
If possible, her heart leaped into an even faster gait. “I suppose I could think about it,” she hedged. “And you could give me a call.”
“Great!” He dropped her hand and pulled a smartphone from his pocket. “Give me your number. Or are you in the book?”
“No landline.” She gave him the number. “That’s my cell. And I can’t answer during working hours.”
“Don’t worry,” he said with a grin. “I’ll call at a respectable time. And soon.”
Completely flustered now, she tugged the strap of her handbag higher onto her shoulder. “I really have to run, Blake. Goodbye.”
Stepping around him, she practically ran into the bank building. But as soon as she reached the lobby, she paused and looked through the darkened plateglass wall overlooking the street.
Blake’s tall, commanding figure was sauntering toward a black pickup truck covered with gray dust. As she watched him climb into the vehicle, then back it into the street, she decided she didn’t have anything to worry about. Blake would never call her. In fact, before the day was over, she’d bet he would delete her number from his phone and forget all about her.
And that was the way she wanted it, she thought as she continued through the lobby and straight to the nearest teller. She wasn’t about to let Blake Hollister, or any man, start filling her head or her heart with romantic dreams.
No. She had more important things to do. Like raising her son. And trying to forget that she was responsible for her husband’s death.
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