Fortune's Second-Chance Cowboy

Roger’s face registered surprise. “Me?” he cried, obviously stunned that she would think that. “No, I actually own the spread that Peter’s Place sits on. The Galloping G Ranch,” he told her proudly. “My house is down aways. I just came by when Graham and Sasha called, saying that they needed someone to watch Sydney here for a while. They forgot to tell me that I needed to bring my earplugs,” he added with a laugh. “You don’t mind my asking, how many kids have you got?”

“None,” she replied, sincerely hoping that the pang she felt making that admission wasn’t evident on her face.

She and Donnie had really wanted to start a family, but they had held off because Donnie was going overseas. He’d said that he wanted to be around while she was carrying his baby. Besides, he had told her, they had time. They had their whole lives in front of them.

Until they didn’t, she thought sadly. She really wished he had gotten her pregnant before he left. At least she would have had a part of him to help her ease the pain of loss.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something to upset you?” Roger asked, clearly concerned.

Chloe shook her head. “No, I was just thinking of something.”

“Oh, well, good. I wouldn’t have wanted to upset you, especially since you’ve been such a help with Sydney here and all.” He glanced at his watch, then looked up at her almost sheepishly. “Um, listen, I really need to make a phone call. Since Sydney here seems to really like you, would you mind holding her a bit longer while I make my call? Shouldn’t be too long,” he added.

The man was already edging his way toward the back of the house as he spoke. It was obvious that he was hoping she’d agree.

Chloe really wanted to hand the baby back to this man, but she couldn’t very well turn down his request. Besides, she had promised Graham to wait until whoever he hadn’t been able to reach on the phone turned up for his interview, so what was one more thing added to that?

“Sure, I can watch her,” she told Roger.

The heavyset man beamed at her. “Thanks,” he cried. “You’re going to love working here. They’re both really great people,” Roger told her, giving her a quick fatherly pat on the shoulder just before he turned on his heel and quickly disappeared, leaving the same way he had entered.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, Sydney. I’m Chloe, by the way,” she told the baby, who was staring up at her with enormous blue eyes, looking as if she was hanging on every word. “Your dad’s half sister,” she explained. “What’s that?” Chloe pretended to lean in toward the baby to hear the “question” that Sydney had “asked.”

“You didn’t know he had a half sibling? Well, he does. Several of them from what I hear,” she added with a laugh.

“Your grandfather really took that ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ passage in the Bible to heart, I guess. I’ve got a feeling that there’s going to be lots of us popping up around here from now on. I hope when you start talking, Sydney, you’re going to be good with names,” she told the baby.

And then she smiled down at the sweet, innocent face that seemed to be listening to every word she said.

“You don’t have a clue what I’m saying, do you?” Chloe asked and then laughed. “Know what? Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it’ll all sort itself out by the time you’re old enough to know what’s going on. Until then—”

Chloe stopped talking abruptly when she heard someone knocking on the door.

Knowing it wouldn’t be Graham and his wife, she figured it was the other candidate. The one who’s after my job. She set her shoulders to do battle. “Let’s go see if we can scare him off or talk him out of it, okay?”

Sydney made a little noise, and then the next moment Chloe saw that there were bubbles being formed around the infant’s rosebud lips.

Chloe laughed, delighted. She shifted the baby, holding Sydney a little closer to her as she rose and began to head for the door.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chloe told the baby.

Sydney responded by making even more bubbles.

Chloe opened the door, but whatever greeting she had come up with to offer the person on the other side temporarily vanished.

This was not the type of person she had expected to see when she opened the door. Given the position that she assumed they were both competing for, Chloe had unconsciously thought that he’d be a rather scholarly-looking man. The kind who seemed to fade into the woodwork without anyone taking notice of him.

Instead, what she found herself looking at was a cowboy, most definitely an adrenaline-stirring cowboy. The kind whom women were given to fantasizing about whenever the word cowboy came up.

The man standing before her had to be about six foot three with shoulders wide enough to give him trouble getting through narrow doorways. He had somewhat unruly, dirty-blond hair and eyes so blue they looked as if they’d been cut right out of the sky. He was wearing tight jeans, a long-sleeved denim shirt, boots and a Stetson—set at what could only be described as a sexy angle. In summation, he looked picture-perfect.

If she had to guess, she would have said that the cowboy was somewhere in his late twenties.

What she didn’t have to guess at was that the man was utterly gorgeous.

The second the thought occurred to her, it hit her with the force of a thunderbolt.

Gorgeous?

She hadn’t even so much as noticed another man since Donnie had died, much less labeled that man as “gorgeous.” What was happening here? she upbraided herself. Had she just lost her mind?

Chapter Two (#ulink_c2931e7f-945f-5f49-9d91-539d0f6821d6)

Chance Howell realized that he wasn’t just looking at the petite blonde holding the baby, he was actually staring at her. That couldn’t be viewed as exactly getting off to a good start with who he assumed was the potential boss’s wife. He’d gathered some background on Graham Fortune Robinson and knew the man had two kids, one of whom was an infant. Hence the logical leap.

“Um, excuse me,” he began, feeling rather tongue-tied as he took off his hat and held it in his hands. “I’m Chance Howell. I’ve got an appointment with Graham.”

“He’s not here right now,” the woman told him. “He was called away because of an emergency, but he wanted me to tell you that he’ll be back soon.”

“You must be Sasha. His wife,” Chance added when the woman who was looking at him with large cornflower-blue eyes gave no indication that he had guessed her name correctly.

“What? Oh, no, no, I’m not. I’m Graham’s half sister.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, ‘Graham’s half sister,’” Chance acknowledged, putting his hand out to her.

The woman shifted the baby to her other side so that she could shake hands with him.

“Chloe,” she told him. “My name is Chloe. Chloe Elliott. And I guess we’ll be interviewing for the same job once Graham gets back.”

Chance could only stare at her. What was she, five-one, five-two? Did she say they were going to be competing for the same job? She didn’t look like a rancher, and she certainly didn’t look like any former military person he’d ever met. The ad he was answering was for a rancher, and it had said that preference would be given to any veterans who applied.

But then, what did he know? The world had been doing a lot of changing in these last few years. Black was white and white was black, and he’d heard that with proper drilling, tiny little ladies like her could mop the floor with guys like him.

That might even turn out to be an interesting experience, Chance caught himself thinking. The one thing he was certain of was that he was glad that the petite blonde wasn’t married to the man who he hoped would be hiring him.

He glanced down at her hand, which she had tucked around the baby. It was still clearly visible for his purposes.

There was no wedding ring.

Maybe things were looking up, Chance mused. He could use a little good luck right about now.

“What branch of the service were you in?” he asked her, curious.

Chloe looked at him quizzically. “Service?” she repeated.

“Yeah, you know, navy, army, marines, air force. Service,” he repeated. Had she been in some sort of secret branch? he wondered. Was that why she looked so reluctant to say anything?

“I wasn’t in any branch,” Chloe told him, looking bewildered. “What makes you think I was in the service?”