His Texas Bride

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do I have a choice?” he grumbled.

So much for hope.

Ellie’s heart dipped into her stomach, which tightened painfully. “We don’t have to talk right now,” she assured him, keeping her tone soft despite a rising sense of alarm, which was pealing like bells in her head. “Like Larry said, you can take as much time as you need. I’m sure you have a lot to work out in your own mind before you can even remotely consider a decision.”

Buck stared at her, his emerald green eyes wide, but said nothing.

Ellie clasped her hands in front of her. “Or maybe you’ve already made your decision.”

“Ellie,” Buck said slowly, “you know that what Larry told me changes everything.”

Ellie lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? In what way?”

She’d half expected him to toss her out on her ear and take the ranch over right away. He had the legal right to do just that. There were no formal rental agreements on the ranch. It wasn’t that kind of relationship.

Mama Esther had very much been a mother to her, especially these past few years.

“Ellie, I’m not going to take your home away from you,” Buck said as if he’d read her mind. “At least not right away, I won’t.”

“You must have had plans,” she responded. “For the money, I mean.”

“Plans,” Buck repeated. “Yeah. Right. Plans.” He paused and shifted, leaning heavily on the back of the chair. “I really don’t know what to do now.”

“It’s entirely your decision, Buck,” Ellie assured him, even if inwardly she felt like begging him to spare her ministry. “This is your ranch now.

“I know you said you would consider selling to me, but I’m in no position to buy.”

“To be honest, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’m not positive I want to sell,” he said frankly. “I can’t see myself moving back to Ferrell, but the divorce wiped out my savings. It’s something to think on.”

All the more reason Ellie could and would not ask for favors, which left Ellie with nothing except the possibility of Buck coming back into her life on a permanent basis. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

Not without him making some serious concessions to her, and she wouldn’t ask him for that.

She stared out the west window, where the sun was setting, and suddenly had an idea she thought might help both of them. Maybe, just maybe, she could save her ministry after all. It was worth a shot, anyway.

“Do you and Tyler have a place to stay while you’re in town?” she asked.

Buck shook his head. “Nope. Planned to stay at the ranch.” He laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Guess I should be looking for a hotel, huh?”

“Absolutely not,” she said emphatically. “You two are most welcome to stay here at McBride’s. It is, after all, your property, Buck.”

“I don’t want to impose,” he said gruffly, turning his gaze away from her.

“Don’t be silly. There are plenty of guest rooms here. I often have clients stay over for the week.”

Buck scoffed. “Like an overglorified bed-and-breakfast?” he guessed.

Ellie bristled and clasped her hands tighter. “Not at all like a bed-and-breakfast. Actually, that’s part of the reason I’m asking you to stay.”

“And what would that be?”

“So I can show you what I do here. I thought maybe if you saw firsthand all the good work I’m doing here, you might….” She stopped herself from completing the sentence.

“What am I going to see, Ellie?” Buck demanded, his voice now sounding irritated, if not downright angry. “That you sold out like the rest of the town? That you’re pulling in tourists who want to see what the country life is like for a day?”

“You have no idea what I do here,” she snapped back, more offended than she could say.

“So tell me,” he said, not sounding as if he was going to listen to her at all.

Not really.

“What makes you think this ranch is a tourist trap?” she demanded, suddenly defensive.

“The whole town is a tourist trap now, isn’t it?” he replied bitterly.

“That really bothers you, doesn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Enough for you to leave town twenty years ago and never look back.”

“Enough for me to leave,” he agreed, his voice not giving away a hint of emotion, other than perhaps irritation. “Even my own mother sold out.” He sighed. “Now tell me about this ranch. I’ve seen horses, chickens, goats, pigs, and I think I even saw a couple llamas out there in the field.”

“Alpacas,” she corrected.

“What I didn’t see was cattle, or a herd of horses. So what kind of a working ranch would that make this? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It will if you listen to me.”

“I’ll listen,” he replied testily. “I’m not going anywhere until I figure this out.”

Buck had always been impatient, Ellie remembered, wanting to fix the problem rather than think about it. Ellie had complemented him, balanced his practical logic with her naturally emotional responses.

But that was then. And this wasn’t going to be a quick-fix problem.

“It’s a therapeutic ranch, Buck,” she said, thinking that should explain a lot.

“Hmm. So it says on your sign.”

“You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

“Not a clue,” he admitted, the side of his lip curling up again. It half looked like a grimace, but Ellie knew Buck was trying, in his own way.

“I work with children who have had some kind of trauma in their young lives, and some who are physically or mentally disabled in some way. Many times the families board here, as well.”

“And you do what exactly with the children?” He arched an eyebrow, daring her without words to explain her work in a way that wouldn’t make him laugh.