The Rancher's Blessed Event

“It looks as though you’re never hungry, but you’re going to eat just the same,” he snapped back at her.

Indignant, Emily watched him rummage through the shelves of the refrigerator. One by one he set out a plate of fried chicken, a bowl of potato salad, a container of baked beans and a saucer of sliced tomatoes.

At the cabinets he searched until he found two plates and forks, salt and pepper and a roll of paper towels. After pouring her a mugful of coffee, he refilled his own.

“Eat,” he said as he took a seat to her left.

She glared at him. “I told you not to be giving me orders.”

“I haven’t paid any bills so the deal isn’t on yet”

As far as Emily was concerned, the deal would never be on. But she filled her plate just the same and made an earnest attempt to eat.

Her aunt Justine was a registered nurse and she’d been stressing over and over to Emily just how important it was for her baby to get the proper nourishment in the early stages of development Even if she didn’t have much of an appetite, she would eat for her baby’s sake. The child was the one ray of light she could look forward to, the very purpose of her being. She wouldn’t let Cooper or anything jeopardize her pregnancy.

“I want to talk to you,” she told him and when he looked at her with raised brows, she added, “Seriously.”

“I’m already getting the urge to call you Your Honor. Just how much more serious do you want to get?”

A little smile slowly crossed her face. In spite of everything that had happened it was nice to see he hadn’t lost his wit. It had been one of her favorite things about him. He’d always been able to make her laugh.

When she’d first met Cooper, he’d been sidelined from his bronc riding with a broken leg and had come home to the Diamond D to heal. He’d needed a nurse to help him with physical therapy and eventually, through a mutual friend, he’d learned Justine had worked as a therapist and didn’t live all that far away.

When her aunt had driven out to the Diamond D to meet Cooper, she’d invited Emily to accompany her. From the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, she’d been awestruck. Not because he’d already started to make a name for himself in the world of rodeo. Athletes had never really impressed Emily all that much, even when they pitted their strength against a twelve-hundred-pound horse. But for some unexplainable reason, she’d felt an instant connection to Cooper, a pull like an electric force from which she couldn’t break away.

That had been more than ten years ago. Now he was back sitting only a few inches away and here she was once again feeling that same pull toward him. She had to stop it, she firmly told herself. She couldn’t let herself feel drawn to this man. He was a user. A heartbreaker. She didn’t need him.

“I want you to rethink this idea you have about staying here on the Diamond D,” she told him. “You only have a couple more months to go before the season ends and then you’ll have a bit of time off after the National Finals in Las Vegas. At this late date, it doesn’t make sense for you to sideline your career. You can always come back later and check on the ranch.”

He shot her a skeptical look. “And what’s going to happen during November and December? You can’t keep this place going by yourself.”

She lifted her chin proudly. “Most of it, I can. And Daddy is already checking on a man to help me with the heavier work. If you feel you just have to do something, you can contribute to his wages. Otherwise, you’re going to lose a lot of money and possibly even your position in the PRCA standings.”

Any other time Cooper would have agreed with her, even appreciated the common sense she was using toward both their predicaments. But oddly enough, the money he might win in the next couple of months, or his number one position in the money earned column, didn’t really mean what it once had to Cooper. He could live without the glory, the stardom and the big paychecks.

“I’m not all that worried about the next two months of rodeos. I’m more concerned about getting things done around here. There’s hardly enough hay for the horses, let alone the cattle. Fences are falling down. The roof on the barn is sagging in and God only knows what else needs to be repaired. You said it had taken years for the ranch to get in this run-down condition, well, it looks as though it’s going to take quite a long time to fix it.”

Emily knew he was right. And she should probably be glad he wanted to make things better. But she couldn’t live in the same house with him. She wasn’t strong enough to forgive or forget what he’d done to her. Even worse, she wasn’t at all sure she had the strength or courage to resist him.

“You’re right. It will. But wouldn’t it make more sense for you to simply hire the work done?”

He shrugged while his eyes made a shrewd assessment of her face. “Actually, the idea of doing some good ol’ outdoor manual labor appeals to me.”

“Sure,” she said with dry disbelief. “This from a man who earns his living in eight-second intervals.”

Even though she was being calm enough and sensible enough, Cooper could see that Emily didn’t want him here. She either hated him, he concluded, or she was actually worried about what others might think of them living in the same house together.

“You’ve made it obvious you don’t want me here, Emily. And I’ll tell you something else. I’m not all that sure I want to be here.” His gray eyes pinned hers. “You and I aren’t exactly two people who should be thrown together as partners. But like it or not, we are.”

She put down her fork and crumpled her dirty napkin. “I can live with us both owning the ranch. As long as you’re a silent partner.”

He very nearly laughed and for a split second Emily wished that ten years had never passed and she was back in that time when she’d loved and laughed and hoped along with him.

“I never was good at keeping my mouth shut,” he said, while shoveling the last of the potato salad from his plate. “But I’ll consider your suggestion. Maybe we can work something out so you won’t have to put up with me and I won’t have to miss the last of the rodeo season.”

Dear God, she silently prayed, maybe he was finally listening to her. Cooper had to understand the two of them weren’t meant to be working partners or partners of any sort. He needed to leave here before the past came crashing in on both of them.

Chapter Three

Minutes later at the hay barn, Cooper ordered Emily to stand to one side while he loaded the back of an old work truck with several bales of alfalfa and three hundred pounds of caked feed.

As she watched him lift the heavy bales of hay, she knew it was a job she shouldn’t be doing. Especially with her history of miscarriage. But she wasn’t about to let Cooper know any part of what had happened to her after he’d left the ranch. Today she would accept his help and be grateful for it and hopefully by tomorrow she could persuade him to leave the Diamond D in her care. Maybe he’d stay away for another ten years.

If anything, the snowfall had grown heavier. As the old truck jostled over a rutted track toward the feeding ground, the wipers struggled to scrape away the fat flakes of ice sticking to the windshield.

Any other time, Emily would have enjoyed seeing the sage and pinon decorated in white, but today she hardly noticed the falling snow. Cooper had distracted her to say the least.

“Are you cold?”

His question caused her to glance across the seat at him. “I’m okay.”

He twisted the knob on the heater to a warmer setting. “Are you sure this heater even works? The air blowing from the defrost vents feels like it’s coming off the north pole.”

“What do you expect in this weather?”

He expected his brother would have a decent work truck with a heater. In bad weather it wasn’t safe for a person to get this far away from the ranch without a source of heat.

“Everything on this damn place is about to fall apart!” he muttered.

Including her, Emily thought, as she huddled inside her old wool work coat and jammed her gloved hands between her legs.

“You’ve just gotten soft,” she told him.

He snorted. “I admit I’ve been gone from this place for a long time, but since then I damn well haven’t gone soft or lazy. Unlike somebody else around here.”

Emily whipped around on the seat to face him. “If you’re implying I have, then just keep your mouth shut! You don’t know what I’ve been doing since you’ve been gone!”

His eyes bored into her. “Well, if you and Kenneth did all that much work, I sure as hell would like to see it. So far there’s not a building, a shed or a fence on this property that looks as though it’s had any attention in years!”

She didn’t know why he’d suddenly gotten so angry. Just because the heater was lukewarm didn’t warrant this sort of outburst from him.

“I told you Kenneth lost interest.”

“What was he doing with his time?”

The dry look she shot him said, you ought to know. “He spent his time with the horses. Sorta like someone else who used to live here.”

The sheepish expression stealing over his face told Emily she hadn’t given him the answer he was expecting.