A Rancher to Love
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Trish Milburn
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Chapter One
Frustration and anxiety twisted Leah Murphy’s middle as she sat outside the sheriff’s department office. Which, of course, was completely irrational considering she was here to see her cousin Conner, one of the local deputies. But some part of her brain, the section that governed fight or flight, had her flashing back to the night when her apartment had been filled with uniformed officers.
No, she didn’t want to think about that here. She’d come to Blue Falls to leave the memories behind, but they seemed determined to stay adhered to her every thought like a supremely unwelcome guest. Like one of those people who didn’t understand the concept of personal space and insisted on invading it.
Leah gripped the steering wheel of her little crossover SUV and forced herself to take several deep...slow...breaths.
Her parents were concerned she was running from her problems and fears instead of confronting them, but she needed this. Needed the peace and calm and safety she’d always associated with Blue Falls. She looked out the windshield at the town’s quintessential American Main Street in the distance and allowed herself to believe that violence never visited here. She knew that wasn’t true. Every place, no matter the size and location, experienced violence of some type. But at least for now, she needed to believe the lie.
With another fortifying breath, she turned off the engine. Immediately, the Texas heat started to bake her like a potato in an oven with four wheels, prompting her to get out of the vehicle.
The door to the sheriff’s department office opened, and Leah couldn’t prevent a sharp intake of breath when a tall man stepped out. When would she stop being so jumpy? Then recognition hit the moment the man smiled at her, and she found herself smiling back at Sheriff Simon Teague.
“Hey, Leah. Conner said you were stopping by for a visit. I wanted to tell you that I got Keri one of your necklaces for her birthday and I earned major ‘Good Husband’ points. So thanks for that.”
Leah chuckled a little, which felt foreign, like a language she’d once known but had largely forgotten because she hadn’t used it in so long. She chose to look at it as a positive step, however small.
“Maybe that should be part of my business logo, ‘Keeping Husbands Out of the Doghouse.’”
“Sales would skyrocket.” Simon flashed another easy smile, making Leah think that Keri Teague was a lucky woman.
Leah wondered if she’d ever feel safe enough again to find her own happily-ever-after.
“Have a good visit.” Simon tapped the brim of his tan hat and headed for his department SUV.
Beginning to feel as though her fair skin was blistering under the brutal late July sun, she walked inside. The blast of cold from the air-conditioning hit her as equal parts shocking and welcome. Even before her eyes adjusted to being out of the bright sunlight, she heard a voice she’d known her entire life.
“Hey, cuz,” Conner said as he walked up to her and pulled her in to one of his bear hugs. After the initial, involuntary stiffening at being touched, she slowly relaxed and had to fight tears at how good it felt to see him, to be wrapped in the familiar embrace. Though they’d never lived in the same place, they’d always been close, having been born only a month apart. Though it had always been annoying how he crowed about being older than her. Brat.
“So what brings you out from the big city?” Conner released her and stepped back.
Leah glanced around the office and saw one other deputy she didn’t recognize—probably the replacement for Pete Kayne, who was a state trooper now and on his way to eventually becoming a Texas Ranger.
“Can we talk in private?”
The way Conner’s eyes widened a fraction told her the question surprised him, but then he nodded and motioned for her to follow him to the room they used for everything from lunch to interrogations.
Conner closed the door once they were in the room. She sank onto one of the chairs, the familiar exhaustion that came from lack of sleep weighing on her.
Conner sat in the chair at the end of the table next to her. “What’s up?”
Leah swallowed. “I was wondering if I could stay with you for a little while.”
Conner’s brows moved toward each other. “Wouldn’t you rather stay in Mom and Dad’s guest room?”
“No, I... I don’t really feel up to a lot of questions right now. And even though I asked Mom not to say anything, I wouldn’t doubt she’s talked to Aunt Charlotte.”
“About what?”
Leah picked at the cuticle on her thumb. “My apartment was broken into a couple of weeks ago, and... I was attacked.”
“Attacked?” Conner sat more rigid in his seat and asked the single-word question in a tone that said he was afraid of the answer.
She clasped her hands together. “Just some bumps and bruises, but... I can’t sleep there. I had to leave.”
“God, Leah, did they catch the guy?”
She nodded. “I managed to get my hand on his neck and pushed his head back against the coffee table. It gave me time to get away.” Barely. She swallowed against the lump in her throat threatening to cut off her breath. “The police arrived then.”
Brought by the call of a neighbor who’d heard crashing and her initial screams before her attacker had thrown her down on the couch and started tugging at her clothes. Chills scurried across her skin, and she rubbed against them to try to ward off the feeling of Jason Garton’s breath much too close, the rough way he’d pulled at her shorts, the primal fear for her life. The horror of the idea that she might be raped. And killed.
She couldn’t speak the details, not even to Conner. Not even to her mother. The only person she’d told was the female officer who’d escorted her into Leah’s kitchen and gently asked for an account of what had happened.
“Are you okay?” The concern in Conner’s voice was almost her undoing. Typically they were more likely to joke with each other, so to hear something so different, so sincere, caused that damn lump in her throat to balloon in size.
“I will be.” She hoped. Some days she literally jumped at her own shadow, then felt like a fool for doing so.
“I’d let you stay at my apartment, but I’m actually staying with Mom and Dad for a few days. My apartment flooded, and they’re having to replace the flooring and some of the drywall.”
Leah’s heart sank. She loved her aunt and uncle, but she wouldn’t find the peace and quiet she needed at their house. They would mean well—just like her parents did—but the idea of them constantly checking on her, always just being there, was more than she could handle right now.
“We can see if Skyler has any openings at the Wildflower Inn. How long are you going to be here?”
Tension knotted in her stomach as she realized she was going to have to tell him her plans sooner than she expected. That this was more than a visit. Though her parents thought she was acting too hastily, something inside her knew her decision to leave Houston and take up residence in Blue Falls was the right one. Even with Jason Garton behind bars, she still suffered from panic attacks each time she stepped into her apartment. Her rational brain knew the likelihood of yet another intruder lying in wait was miniscule, but that message didn’t get through to the place fear resided, ready to pounce at the least provocation.
Here she hoped she could feel safe and be far enough away from the noise and bustle of Houston that she could finally start thinking like a rational human being again. That she could reclaim the happy, creative, fun-loving person she’d always been.
“I’m not going back to Houston.” Just saying the words made it more real, and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or scared that she was losing her mind. Maybe the right answer was both.
Conner stared at her for a moment, and she feared a barrage of questions or that he would caution her against acting too rashly. Instead, he simply nodded.
“What are you looking for?”
The relief that washed over her made tears threaten. “I want peace and quiet, some solitude without being too alone.” She shook her head at her inability to properly vocalize the feeling of what she needed. “That probably doesn’t make sense.”
A jolt of her anxiety returned. In her mind, she really hadn’t examined options beyond staying with Conner. With him she thought she might feel safe. She feared being alone again, even in a different town. What if she felt just as scared in Blue Falls as she did Houston? What if the fear never went away?
Not wanting to hop that train of thought, Leah pushed the fears aside. She knew they’d reassert themselves later, but for now she wanted to enjoy a reprieve.
“It does make sense,” Conner said. “And I think I know the perfect place.”
* * *
TYLER LOWE WATCHED his five-year-old niece sitting on the opposite side of his kitchen table nibbling on her grilled cheese sandwich, quiet as the proverbial church mouse.
“Maddie, is the sandwich okay?” He wasn’t a fancy chef, but he thought he made a mean grilled cheese.
Maddie nodded but didn’t speak. She’d been like this for the past month, ever since her mother had dropped her on his doorstep almost without taking time to stop the beat-up car she was driving. His fists tightened as the familiar anger at his younger sister rushed to the surface again. Kendra had always been flighty, a handful for their parents, but she’d graduated to unfit mother when she’d started drinking and taking drugs. It was a sad state of affairs when a single rancher and farrier with no experience raising children was preferable to a child’s own mother.
Even so, each day he felt more like an abject failure. What had his niece endured that had turned her from a happy, energetic toddler to the quiet child who almost seemed scared of him? Once upon a time, she’d crawl up on his lap and pat his face with her chubby little fingers. But she likely didn’t remember that. Now she was no longer energetic or chubby, and he was just a guy her mother had left her with, someone she didn’t know anymore.
And he had no idea how to reach her.
He reverted back to silence, too, thinking how he needed to take her shopping for new clothes soon. Not surprising that Kendra had left the child behind with only one small bag of clothes and the stuffed puppy that was never far from Maddie’s side. Since her arrival, he’d bought her a few things. But with school right around the corner, she needed not only clothes and shoes but also school supplies. And when had school supply lists become as long as his arm, and for a kindergartner? Evidently she had to have everything from crayons to safety scissors to boxes of tissues.
A little more than a month ago, he’d have never thought he’d be enrolling a child in kindergarten for the fall. He was about as equipped to be a parent as a bull was to fly jumbo jets. And he was discovering that raising a kid was expensive, even if you just provided the basics. No wonder his sister had left her only child in his care. Yes, it was an unkind thought, but abandoning Maddie had been the last straw.
“Honey, why don’t you wrap up the other half of your sandwich and bring it with you?”
Maddie met his gaze, a tentative question in her pretty green eyes.
“I’ve got to go to another ranch to work on a horse’s feet.” And of course there was no way he was leaving a five-year-old home alone. He didn’t think a babysitter was a good idea either, at least not yet. His gut told him that being left with yet another person she didn’t know wasn’t the best thing for Maddie right now. He might not know what was, but that wasn’t it.
Maddie slipped out of her chair and wrapped her sandwich in a napkin. She held it in one hand and her puppy in the other. She didn’t even question that she had to go with him, which some instinct told him wasn’t normal. Weren’t kids her age normally full of questions, curiosity on steroids?
God, he hoped he figured out how to communicate with her soon. It was like living with a child who’d very nearly taken a vow of silence.
Maddie kept her sandwich wrapped as he drove toward town, but she did seem to be interested in the countryside. She sat up straight in the booster seat he’d gotten her.
He pointed across a field. “The couple who live in that house raise little horses. They’re only about as tall as you. Maybe we can go and see them sometime. Would you like that?”
Maddie hesitated for a minute but then nodded.
Okay, that was a tiny positive step. He wanted to ask her why she didn’t speak any more than she did, but he hoped waiting and being kind to her would lead to her speaking on her own. Maybe starting school next month would help. She’d be around other kids her age, at her level. He just crossed his fingers that the experience didn’t freak her out too much, the way it had Kendra when she’d started school. The school had called his mom because Kendra wouldn’t stop crying. It had taken what seemed like forever to his eight-year-old mind for his sister to stop bawling like a baby at school.
As they continued into town and then down Main Street, Maddie seemed to soak up all the sights. The people on the sidewalks, the displays in the windows, everything. There was a curious little girl in there if he could just figure out a way to get her to come out.
He spotted the small ice-cream stand that sat near the lake. Every kid liked ice cream, right?
“Hey, would you like an ice-cream cone?”
Maddie looked at him and he could tell from the bright look in her eyes that she wanted to say yes.
“I think I’ll have one, too. I like peach flavor. What do you like?”
“Strawberry.” Her response was almost a whisper, but at least it was something.
“Strawberry, good choice.”
They waited in line behind a small group of women who, judging by the bags they held, were in town for a day of shopping. When it was his and Maddie’s turn, he placed the order.
“This must be your niece.”
He turned at the sound and saw Verona Charles with her own niece, Elissa Kayne. “Yes, this is Maddie.”
Verona smiled as she leaned down to eye level with Maddie. “Well, aren’t you just the prettiest little thing.”
Maddie remained quiet, and he sensed that part of her wanted to take a step away from the other woman. Too many new people coming into her life too quickly.
“It’s nice to meet you, Maddie,” Elissa said, speaking to her in a normal adult tone, not that cutesy kid voice most people used.
“You, too.” Two whole words. Progress.
Tyler met Elissa’s gaze, and he saw the questions there. But she was kind enough not to pry. No doubt the whole county had heard how Kendra had abandoned her daughter. He really hoped that knowledge didn’t trickle down to any of the kids who would be Maddie’s classmates because kids could be cruel to each other. And even though he didn’t know the specifics, he knew in his gut that Maddie had been through enough.
When their ice cream was handed through the window, he grabbed them and extended Maddie’s to her. She immediately took an enthusiastic lick, making him smile.
“She’s got the right idea,” Verona said. “Give me a double scoop of strawberry.”
As Verona started to turn toward him, he said, “We better be off. Work calls.”
The thing about living in a small town and everyone knowing your business was that you knew theirs, as well. And the mission in life for Verona Charles was to make sure she paired up every single person within a twenty-mile radius of Blue Falls. No, thank you. If he ever got married, it would be to a woman of his choosing with no outside prompting. But right now marriage was the furthest thing from his mind, although the thought had flitted through his noggin more than once that maybe having a wife would make Maddie’s transition easier.
But he wasn’t even dating anyone, so he’d have to figure this out on his own.
As he drove toward the ranch where he’d be working this afternoon, he let his thoughts wander over ways to up his income. He got along fine by himself plying his trade as a farrier and running a small herd of cattle. But things had changed the moment Maddie had become his responsibility. He supposed he could advertise his farrier services farther out from Blue Falls, but he figured most people with horses in the area already knew about him.
Maybe he’d get lucky and someone would rent the bunkhouse. The rental notice he’d put up on the community bulletin board at the Primrose Café had been up less than twenty-four hours, but he kept hoping it would bear fruit.
The bunkhouse had sat unused other than for some storage for years, so it made sense to try to make it generate some income. It wasn’t fancy, but it was sturdy and had a good roof.
Sure, he’d have to deal with someone else coming and going from the ranch, but it seemed the most expedient way of getting what he needed for his niece now and for however long she was with him. Kendra hadn’t said when she’d be back for her daughter, and Tyler wasn’t sure his sister would even remember she had a child. He knew one thing for sure. No way was Maddie going with her mother unless he was convinced Kendra had gotten her act together and was clean.
He glanced over at Maddie as she licked her ice cream. He might feel like a clueless wonder regarding how to interact with her, but there was no denying he’d do whatever he had to in order to protect her and give her what she needed, two things he feared his sister hadn’t done in a long time.
Just as he parked next to the barn where he’d be working the next couple of hours, his phone rang. When he answered, Conner Murphy was on the other end of the call.
“I saw where your bunkhouse is for rent,” Conner said. “Is it still available?”
“It is. You looking to move out of town?”
“No, it’s for my cousin Leah.”
Now that he had an actual bite on the bunkhouse, Tyler experienced a moment of doubt about having someone else on his land. But he glanced over at Maddie and thought about how much easier it would be to provide for her with extra income. He had the feeling she had wanted for a lot in her young life, and he didn’t want that to continue while she was under his roof.
After he and Conner discussed a few particulars, they set a time for Leah Murphy to come see the bunkhouse.
Tyler knew nothing about Conner’s cousin, but because of Maddie he felt better about possibly having a woman living next door than a man. He just hoped he was making the right decision about having anyone there at all. Though Maddie would likely have little or no interaction with his tenant, it was still another change. And the way he saw things, he and Maddie had both had enough changes for a good long while.
