Once Upon a Time in Tarrula / To Wed a Rancher: Once Upon a Time in Tarrula / To Wed a Rancher

‘How bad is the damage up there? I should get up and look myself, Troy.’ She would rather focus on immediate concerns than think about only being a friend to him.

Just as Stacie looked up and Troy glanced down, a dribble of water splashed onto her forehead and did its best to drown her left eye before tracking down the side of her nose.

‘Oh!’ She shook her head, blinking rapidly. Troy was descending the ladder, using the strength in the rest of his body to compensate for the limits of his shattered knee. It was an awkward descent, and halfway down his leg buckled.

‘Careful.’ Stacie gasped the warning and lunged forward.

‘I’m fine.’ He growled the words.

And he was fine. His reflexes were lightning-fast, and, though he still wore his dinner clothes, the shoes had a decent grip on them. He’d already caught himself, compensated. His strong arms flexed as he regained movement and completed his descent.

Oh, Troy.

How could he truly do all the work at his orchards when he had this degree of difficulty with ladders and the like?

Of course he can, Stacie. He’d get it done if that happened to him a hundred times a day, and she knew it didn’t. She’d watched him often enough. Too often!

Stacie brushed the water out of her eye. ‘I’m a bit concerned about fixing this loose sheeting. It’s not a good time to be out on the roof.’ They’d have to be creative to work out how to deal with the problem and not put themselves at risk. If they could do that, Stacie could creatively resist wanting to kiss him—and resist feeling as though all her earlier self-talk to that effect had fallen on her own deaf ears!

Now she wanted to offer a comforting hug to him as well. As if he’d welcome that right now! ‘The combination of wind—’

‘And rain are risky.’ Troy’s hands came to rest loosely on his hips. He, too, seemed to be pushing the earlier incident aside.

His frustration hadn’t been directed towards her; Stacie understood that. But he had every right to feel it. She had underestimated what he must have been through emotionally thanks to his injury: the loss of his fiancée and career, as well as having to move forward and reinvent himself.

Troy went on. ‘We’ll have to do the work from inside the roof cavity.’

‘Yes, that’s what I thought.’ She embraced the change of focus. She just couldn’t help a sense of fellow feeling towards him at the same time. ‘I’m not sure how to make that work.’

As possible solutions came to her, a wave of anticipation washed through Stacie. She’d chosen a house that needed doing up for a reason and, though a leak thanks to high winds and rain hadn’t been anticipated, she wanted to fix the problem.

‘Usually I’d go to my DIY books, Troy, and maybe research on the Internet if I couldn’t find what I needed in the books. I have a sheet of tarpaulin, but I don’t think it would be enough to fix that on from the inside. If it kept raining, the weight of the water would push through it.’

‘We can fix the sheet of tin itself from inside the roof cavity without getting out on the roof—if you’re happy for me to help you? I understand you might prefer to take care of everything here by yourself.’

‘But sometimes an extra set of hands is just what’s needed.’ Stacie wouldn’t mind his help at all. She rather thought she would enjoy it, even if that fact was a bit of a worry!

Even so, she said, ‘I’d appreciate the help.’