The Texan's Happily-Ever-After

Shep had crouched down in front of Roy. His voice wasn’t stern now, as he said, “It’s still early. Not even lunchtime.”

“But she said she’d be here this morning.”

Raina had gotten tied up at the hospital and intended to phone on her way to the ranch, but her cell phone had lost its charge.

“Hey, everybody,” she called, cheerily now, letting them know she was there. “Am I too late for chores?”

“Dr. Gibson!” Roy cheered, brushing away his tears. “You came.” He turned to his brother. “I told you so. I told you she’d keep her promise.”

Shep slowly rose from his crouched position. Without any accusation, he said, “The boys were a little worried you’d forgotten.”

Opening the corral gate, she stepped inside the working area for the horses. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got tied up at the hospital.” She lifted her duffel bag. “I brought old clothes and riding boots.”

“You can change at the house or in the tack room,” Shep informed her.

“The tack room is fine.”

“She’s a girl,” Joey said with disgust. “She thinks about clothes and getting them dirty.”

Raina could see Shep was trying hard to suppress a laugh. He knocked his Stetson higher on his head with his forefinger. “Listen, Joey, part of a woman’s job is to think about clothes. You ought to do it once in a while.”

As Joey crinkled his nose, Raina laughed and headed for the tack room. A few minutes later, she returned in her old jeans and short-sleeved blouse, her dad’s navy paisley kerchief tied around her neck. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“We saved mucking out the stalls,” Roy told her.

“I’m thrilled about that,” she responded with a straight face.

He took a good look at her and smiled. “You’re teasin’.”

She ruffled his hair. “Yes, I am. I guess no one really likes mucking out stalls, but it has to be done.”

“You’re really going to do it?” Joey asked.

“I did it before, when I was about your age. My uncle had a ranch and a couple of horses.”

“In Sagebrush?” Shep asked.

“Yep. On the east side of town. When hard times set in and he had to sell it, a developer bought it. There’s a whole bunch of houses there now, where his ranch used to be.”

Her gaze met Shep’s and one of those trembles danced through her body again. It was like a preliminary tremor to an earthquake. She told herself she was being foolish. She was just off balance, being out of her comfort zone, being with Shep and his boys again.

“We’ll get the shovels,” Joey told Raina as he and Roy headed into the barn.

After they were out of earshot, Shep asked her, “Did you have second thoughts?” His blue eyes demanded a straight answer, not a polite excuse.

“I did. But I’d made a promise.”

“Should I ask why you had second thoughts, or leave it alone?”

“You’re direct, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “I try to be. Life is complicated enough, without beating around the proverbial bush.”

When she hesitated before answering, he settled his hand on her arm. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.”

She’d worn a short-sleeve blouse because of the early September heat. Shep’s long, calloused fingers were warm and sensual on her skin. When she looked up at him, she felt tongue-tied. It was an odd experience, because she usually wasn’t at a loss for words.

Finally, she admitted, “There are a lot of reasons why I had second thoughts.” The awareness between her and Shep wasn’t one-sided. She knew that now. She could feel his interest, and she wanted to run from it.

He released her arm and held up one finger. “The first reason is me.” He held up a second finger. “The second reason is me.” He held up a third finger. “And the third reason is probably me.”

“No ego there,” she muttered.

He laughed. “It has nothing to do with ego. I just figure— Hell, Raina. I know about your husband. I also know for the past six months you did everything you could not to make eye contact with me.”

“Manuel was my patient.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Well, you didn’t show any interest, either.”

“No, I didn’t. I pretended there wasn’t any, just like you did.”

“I wasn’t pretending,” she protested. “I wasn’t interested. I’m not interested. I loved my husband, and when I lost him—” She stopped. “I can’t ever explain what it was like—waiting and not knowing, waiting and hoping, waiting and waiting and waiting. And finally accepting, and having to deal with grief deeper than I’ve ever known.” She shook her head, struggling to maintain her composure. “I never want to feel anything remotely like it ever again.”

“I can understand that.”

She saw empathy in Shep’s eyes. Real empathy. He’d lost his parents, and she didn’t know who else he might have lost along the way. Maybe he knew, too, that nothing was forever…nothing lasted.

“I came because I made a promise,” she repeated.

A smile crept across Shep’s lips. “Then Roy was right to trust you.”

The way Shep said it, she had the feeling he didn’t trust many people. Because of the way he’d grown up?

“Roy and Joey don’t fight often. For a couple of years, all they had was each other.”

“For a couple of years?”

“When their parents were killed in an accident, they were put into the system. But being biracial, and being brothers, the system had trouble placing them. So they stayed in foster care.”

“Maybe the fact that they’re fighting means they don’t have to depend on each other quite so much, since they have you.”

“I’d like to believe that’s true, but they still hold back with me. Especially Joey. He likes to keep things to himself, and sometimes that causes him trouble.”

“Do you keep things to yourself?”

“Oh, terrific. My boys had to ask a smart lady to come to the ranch for a trail ride.”