The Rancher's Surprise Daughter

His shoulders inched lower, his relief evident that Ruby would only need the less invasive procedure that would involve a catheter from her leg into her heart. Already, even with knowing as little as he did about Ruby and possibly not even believing he was her father, he felt for her. Didn’t want her to go through the same trauma he had as a child.

That spoke volumes about him.

“Did you tell Emma who the two of you were?”

“No. I think she thought I was a potential guest or that I was applying for a job.” Cate had been purposely evasive.

His audible sigh filled the small space. “That’s good. At least for now. Does...Ruby know about me?”

“Lately she’s been asking questions, and I’ve started answering them. She knows you exist, but she doesn’t know we’re here to see you.”

Eyes a mixture of fading green and brown leaves seared into her skin. She half expected to see smoke rise and smell scalded flesh. “In case I didn’t see her? If she’s my daughter, I would never walk away from her. I think you know that, Cate.”

Ouch. That truth stung, as did the if. Though she couldn’t blame him. Even with Ruby having the same heart defect as he did, why should he believe her? She hadn’t exactly proved herself trustworthy over the past four-plus years.

“Do you want to take some time? We can come back. Talk in a few days.” If someone had walked into her life and told her news of this magnitude, Cate would be in a puddle on the floor. But not Luc. How was he so calm? Why wasn’t he raging at her?

“I’m not sure time is going to change my shock. I want to meet her.”

She’d come here for this, but still, her stomach churned. “Are you sure you don’t need some time to process?”

He didn’t bother to answer. Just raised an eyebrow.

“Okay.” If only saying the word out loud would make it true. Cate could tell herself she was okay a million times, but she was afraid the feeling would never follow. “Then let’s go.”

Luc’s boots echoed down the hallway like a death knell on Cate’s conscience. Panicked prayers flitted through her mind as she attempted to keep up with his pace. Cate had been praying for Luc and Ruby since she’d figured out this meeting needed to take place, and she could only hope she hadn’t ruined either of their lives with her selfishness. Somehow she wanted healing. For all of them.

But today she simply prayed for survival. Good thing she believed in a gracious God. One who forgave her when she didn’t deserve His mercy. Because that was the kind of God a girl like her needed.

* * *

Luc should probably take some time to process like Cate had suggested, but since nothing made sense right now, he figured, why wait? If he let Cate and Ruby leave, he might never see them again. Cate already seemed so jittery and nervous that he feared losing them both forever. Not that he had them. He wasn’t naive. Cate could just as easily disappear from his life again, taking any chance of his knowing Ruby with her. And if she was his daughter, Luc wanted that opportunity.

If she was his daughter.Mind-boggling. How had his life gone from mundane to unrecognizable in a matter of minutes?

They headed down the lodge steps just as Emma exited the barn, a girl who must be Ruby next to her. The distance allowed Luc to study her. Short little thing—course, she’d only be three years and eight months if Cate was telling the truth. Ruby wore bright pink shorts and a multicolored T-shirt, her animated motions and whatever she said causing Emma to laugh.

After spotting Cate, she ran in their direction, his sister following behind.

Intuitively, Luc had known Ruby would be beautiful—how could she come from Cate and not be?—but the sight of her almost brought him to his knees. Her silky caramel hair was a shade or two lighter than her mother’s. Closer to his. He had the niggling sensation that if he rummaged for an old photograph, Ruby would look strikingly similar to his twin sister, Mackenzie, at this same age.

Ruby flung her arms around Cate’s legs, and Emma stopped in front of them. “Your girl is a spoonful of honey. We had a good time. Thanks for letting us hang.” His sister pulled her hair back and held it at the nape of her neck as a gust of wind wrapped around them.

“Come see me again?” She directed the question to Ruby, who answered with an emphatic nod. After a thank-you from Cate, Emma was off, light brown locks once again twisting in the high-powered breeze as she headed back to the barn. His little sister ran the Kids’ Club at the ranch. She was a kid-wrangling, child-whispering rock star.

“Mommy, can we get a horse-y?”

Cate’s laugh was strangled. “Our apartment doesn’t allow dogs, let alone horses, sweets.”

Ruby looked up, noticing him. “Hi.” Big brown eyes—just like Cate’s—held his.

A rush of emotion clogged his throat, but Luc managed a response. “Hi.”

“I’m Ruby. What’s your name? Do you live here? Do you have a horse-y?”

Her questions ignited a grin. “Luc.” He glanced at Cate, and she shook her head in response to his unspoken question. Ruby must not know his name to be able to create the link to him being her father. Probably a good thing at this point. “And yes, I live here and I have a horse.” Or should he say “horse-y”?

He sank to bended knee in front of the girl, partly to be closer to her height, partly because his legs were about to give out.

The blood in his veins thrummed a rhythm that whispered mine. As though it knew without a test or proof that Ruby was his daughter.

Why he believed Cate, Luc didn’t know. Course, the heart defect seemed a blatant link. When he’d been a child, they hadn’t considered it genetic, but in the years since, they’d proved it often was.

Still, he should be careful until he knew for sure.

Yet even with that logical thought backing him up, everything in his body hurt. He wanted so badly to reach out, to hug her, to somehow know everything about her in one instant. He fisted hands at his sides. The idea that Ruby was his, that he’d missed so much time if Cate was telling the truth, made every muscle tense.

“Any chance you want to ride one of the horses?” Everything was better on a horse. Plus, it would give him a chance to get to know Ruby a little.

Her chocolate eyes lit up with excitement, head bobbing fast and furious. She definitely had a sense of adventure. Must drive Cate crazy. The thought warmed him.

“Luc—”

“She’ll be fine.” He stood, earning crossed arms and a scowl from Cate. Her thin, dark eyebrows joined together in obvious agitation, somehow only managing to highlight her beauty. Luc had never had a problem being attracted to Cate. It was in the mature, getting-along department that they’d struggled.

Luc waited an extra beat to see if Cate added any additional protest. He didn’t want to be careless with Ruby, but most often her condition had very few symptoms and just needed to be fixed.

When silence reigned and Cate’s shoulders drooped as if relinquishing control, Luc put a check in the victory column. Missing almost four years of Ruby’s life definitely gave him an upper hand at the moment.

The three of them headed for the corral, and Luc directed them to Buster, one of the smaller palomino quarter horses with a calm temperament, who was already saddled and ready to go. He hoisted Ruby up and made sure she felt comfortable. Told her where to hold on. Her face shone with wonder and excitement as she commented about how the color of the horse reminded her of caramel popcorn.

“I’m going to walk with you and lead Buster the whole time, and anytime you want to stop or get down, you just tell me.”

“I can’t do it by myself?”

Adventurous little thing. “Not until you’ve had more experience. We’d have to get you started on a pony—”

Cate’s wide eyes cut him off, communicating all kinds of warning signals and flares. Luc tempered his amusement. He’d probably been getting ahead of himself a bit.

“We’ll be back in ten minutes,” he said to Cate, lips quirking at her squeak of indignation and the fact that she was, most definitely, not invited.

She’d had Ruby to herself for three-plus years. Luc deserved some time with her away from Cate’s hawk-like attention.

Chapter Two (#u02a4c5f0-945a-5a2b-9376-5c00f5dd13be)

Six agonizing days later Luc paced back and forth near the fireplace in the small living room of his cabin. His friend Gage Frasier perched on the arm of the chair flanking the couch, grilling Luc like the lawyer he was with questions that didn’t have satisfying answers.

“Any news on the paternity test?”