Lone Star Holiday Proposal

Raina reached across to still his little legs. “JJ, what’s the rule about kicking in the car?”

His little mouth firmed in a stubborn line. Pick your battles, Raina reminded herself, morphing into distraction mode instead. “Are you having ketchup with your chicken nuggets?”

“Yay! Ketchup!”

“Let’s go then,” she said with a smile as she put the car into gear.

It was a short drive into Royal but traffic was heavy. Raina was lucky to get a parking spot on the road about a block away from the diner. JJ skipped and jumped, holding her hand, as they walked along the pavement. Judging by his energy levels, she hoped he’d be okay to go back to day care tomorrow.

When they entered the Royal Diner, JJ hopscotched along the black-and-white checkerboard linoleum floor. They took a booth near the back and settled in on the red faux-leather seats.

“Be with you soon, hon,” a waitress said with a smile as she poured glasses of water and left them with the sheet menus that everyone knew by heart but still pretended to study anyway.

Raina’s appetite was gone, but she decided on a green salad with ranch dressing because she knew if she didn’t eat, she’d be running on empty by the time her craft class started in a couple of hours. Shoving all thoughts of her ex to the back of her mind, she focused instead on her son and the evening ahead.

All going well, JJ would eat his dinner and she’d take him home to shower before the sitter arrived. Once the sitter was there, she’d be able to head back to Priceless to open up for her first class. Bookings had initially been slow but they’d picked up in the past day or so, and she hoped the simple candle-making class would be well received and that word of mouth would bring more students. With more students would come more overhead but she’d done her homework. After the initial outlay was met, the classes would bring in more sorely needed income, as well.

A movement across the booth made her look up from the menu she was staring at but had stopped actually seeing several minutes earlier. JJ was waving at someone. Thinking it might be their waitress returning for their order, Raina looked up with a smile, only to feel it freeze on her face and the hairs at her nape prickle to attention as she recognized the man walking toward them. Nolan Dane. What was he doing here? Surely he was more likely to be dining out at the Texas Cattleman’s Club, or at the hotel in town?

It took only a few seconds to notice that he’d changed. His jeans were new and fit him perfectly, and the black Henley he wore under a worn leather jacket seemed to stretch across his chest as if it caressed him. Her cheeks flamed at the thought.

“Mommy! Man!” JJ said from his booster seat, and he waved again.

“Hey there,” Nolan said as he drew next to the table.

“I’m having nuggets ’n’ fries,” JJ informed him importantly. “You wanna eat with me?”

“Oh, no, JJ. I’m sure Mr. Dane has other plans,” Raina said quickly, feeling her blush deepen on her cheeks.

“Please, call me Nolan and, actually, no, I don’t. But I don’t want to intrude. I can eat at another table.”

Raina felt terrible. She’d all but told him he wasn’t welcome to sit with them. JJ’s face fell. How bad could it be? she asked herself.

“Oh, please sit down. Seriously, it’s okay. We haven’t ordered yet, anyway. Join us.”

“Well, if you’re sure.”

She nodded and gestured to the empty space next to JJ’s booster seat. Nolan slid into the booth and stretched his long legs out under the table. She shifted slightly as his leg brushed hers.

“Do you guys eat here often?” Nolan asked.

“No, this is a treat for JJ. Aside from the mess with your suit, he’s been a really good boy for me today, haven’t you, JJ?”

JJ nodded emphatically and reached for his water glass. Nolan helped him steady the large glass as he drank and then put it back on the table for him.

“You’re good at that,” Raina commented. “Do you have kids of your own?”

A bleak emptiness appeared in his eyes, its presence so brief she wondered if she’d imagined it, but it was enough to make her realize she’d been prying where she had no right to.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so rude. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Nolan brushed off her concern. “Maybe we should just put it down to self-preservation. I’ve seen how lethal he is with an ice cream cone.”

* * *

Nolan watched Raina from across the table and silently congratulated himself on managing to keep his past locked firmly where it belonged. The waitress came by and took their orders, distracting Raina from asking any further questions. She was less relaxed than she’d been when he’d left the store. Was it his presence at the table that did that to her, he wondered, or was it something else? The waitress returned promptly with JJ’s order, and while the little boy dug in, Nolan thought it time to ease conversation back to the Courtyard.

“So tell me a little more about the Courtyard,” he started.

“The idea for it really only took off a few months after the tornado. A lot of us lost our stores and several of Royal’s local artisans lost workshops and homes. The Courtyard gave us all a fresh start—gave us a new community to be proud of.” Her eyes grew worried and a frown marred the smoothness of her forehead. “There’s talk that some oil company is looking to buy the land. It worries me.”

“Why’s that? What difference would a new landlord make?” Nolan probed.

Raina looked away, her face thoughtful, before directing her blue gaze straight back at him. “The Courtyard actually became a symbol of hope for a lot of us. A chance to get our feet back firmly on the ground and get us back to normal in a world that got turned upside down in one awful day. You can’t put a price on that. We need stability now. We need to be able to know from one day to the next that after all our hard work, we aren’t simply going to be turned out.

“An oil company isn’t going to want to keep us as tenants, you can be sure of that. They’ll want the land for testing, although why they think there’s oil there, I don’t know. I haven’t lived in Royal all that long and even I know the land is barely suitable for grazing, although with the drought that’s questionable, too.”

She fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers in front of her. “No, the Winslows did the right thing turning the ranch buildings into the Courtyard. Mellie assures me they’re not selling. I only hope nothing happens to change her mind. None of us there can afford to have our businesses fold or see our rents increase. What with the cost of increased insurance premiums and setting up all over again, it wouldn’t take much to destroy us.”

A pang of guilt pulled at him. If he was successful in changing the Winslows’ minds, and Rafe got hold of the Courtyard, Nolan knew there were no guarantees that his boss would keep the tenants. And it was true. Raina had a point—while the greater Maverick County area had yielded some successful oil fields, none had been in this general area. Nolan shifted uncomfortably. For the first time he was seeing the personal face of his assignment: someone who’d be directly and negatively impacted by his boss’s plan. And he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

He took a sip of his water and decided a change of subject might be in order.

“So, the tornado. That must have been terrifying. People are pretty resilient here, though,” he commented.

Raina smiled and once again he was struck by how natural and effortless her beauty was.

“Sometimes I think Royal is the epitome of the ‘get down and get on with it’ ethic. Some people have moved on, which is completely understandable, but most have just licked their wounds and carried on. And of course there are also the lucky ones who are benefiting from the damage. Tradesmen have been at a premium in the district and we’ve seen an influx of out-of-towners coming in to fill demand. Bit by bit Royal has found its way back to a new normal. Is that what brings you here? The rebuild?”

Nolan was saved from immediately answering as their waitress dropped their meals in front of them with a smile. “Good to see you back, Nolan,” she said before racing off to her next customer.

Raina looked taken aback. “You’re local?”

“No, not anymore. I’m here to see family.”

“You grew up here, then?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve been living in California for several years. I’m only here for a visit.”

“Then I’m sure you would have heard all about the tornado from them.” Raina’s voice held a note of reserve that had been missing before.

“From their point of view, yeah. Dad’s in family law, and he said he’s seen an unfortunate upswing in business in the wake of the tornado. Families breaking up under the strain of trying to put their lives back together—more domestic abuse.”

Raina nodded. “Yeah, it’s sad. So often these events pull people closer together, but if they don’t they seem to have the complete opposite effect. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t have to factor that in. It’s just me and JJ, and my dad. Dad’s retired and usually travels around the country, but he came to stay in the trailer park just out of town so he could be on hand to help me reestablish Priceless and get me and JJ back on our feet again.”

Nolan couldn’t help it: a swell of relief that there was no partner in Raina’s life bloomed from deep inside. He pushed the sensation away. She was still out of bounds. She was the kind of woman who had long-term written all over her, while he was only planning to be here long enough to complete the land purchases to Rafiq’s satisfaction.

And then there was the kid. He certainly didn’t want to take on a package deal of mother and child, no matter how much his libido sizzled like a drop of water on a hot skillet whenever he was anywhere near Raina. He needed to keep his eye on the main goal. He was here to do business, not dally with the locals or become emotionally involved in the town he grew up in. He’d made his choice to walk away from Royal and all the pain it represented seven years ago. He had no plans to stick around. Even so, he perversely wanted to know more about the woman sitting opposite him.