Stranded with the Rancher

“Why, Daniel Davis Gallagher, you brought home a guest.” His mother’s words registered her stunned surprise. She set the laundry basket on the floor and straightened her sweatshirt.

“I’ve brought guests home before,” Dan returned.

“Have you?” his mother replied.

“Do dogs count?” he asked.

Elsie laughed.

“Mom, this is Dr. Elizabeth Rogers. Beth, this is my mother, Elsie Gallagher, and this...is Pumpkin.”

“Daddy!”

“I mean Amy.” He grinned at his daughter.

“Rogers?” Elsie said. “Like Dr. Ben and Dr. Sara?”

Beth nodded. “Ben is my cousin.”

“You’re pretty,” Amy gushed. She pulled down her faux glasses for a better inspection as she inched toward Beth ever so slowly.

“Thank you,” Beth said. “I like your glasses.”

Amy smiled and tucked her face shyly into her shoulder.

Dan observed the interaction with interest.

“So how did you two meet?” his mother asked, her gaze moving from Dan to Beth, a knowing grin on her face.

He blinked and stepped back.

Oh, no.

No.

Surely his mother wasn’t going to go down that road. “Docs Rogers’s house. I offered to take Beth to Gunbarrel, but the storm derailed us.” He looked at his mom. “When did you say Joe was getting back?”

His mother chuckled, reading his mind as usual. “You’re out of luck, Danny boy.”

Maybe bringing Beth to the house wasn’t such a good idea, after all. His mother was a matchmaker. And she was good. Really good. She’d orchestrated his sisters’ romances straight to the altar.

Dan held his own when Joe was around. Joe was the oldest and he protected his little brother. He shook his head. The odds were distinctly not in his favor.

Beth stood in the hallway, biting her lip in concentration as she attempted to sort out the dynamics. Good luck with that. He chuckled. The Gallagher house was always a little eccentric and the hormone-charged atmosphere changed as quickly as the Colorado weather.

He observed Beth for a moment. Any other lifetime and he’d be tripping over himself to get to know someone like her. Smart, beautiful and brave. Obviously not without some issues of her own, but seemingly capable of handling them with humor and grace. Yet, for today at least, the bottom line remained the same. Elizabeth Rogers was a woman passing through Paradise. A city girl to boot.

Like Amy’s momma.

He and his mother were going to have to have a little chat, because he sure wasn’t going to step into the same cow patty twice in one lifetime.

Chapter Three (#ulink_596dc76d-00b5-5616-9bea-3eb4e6039687)

Beth was alert the moment Dan’s large hand gently touched her elbow. That worried her. She didn’t like that she looked forward to the touch of a man she’d only just met.

“Careful. That floor is slick,” he murmured.

She nodded, looking down at her stocking feet as she padded across the polished wood to the kitchen.

The closer they got, the stronger the enticing aromas grew. Yeasty warm bread and some sort of stew.

They entered the room and it was everything Beth would have imagined a farm kitchen should be. A humongous oval table with a cheery cotton tablecloth dominated the space. It was a table where a big family could gather and share meals, laughter and love.

The stove was modern, a stainless steel professional grade, and the double-door, brushed stainless steel refrigerator looked new. A braided rug in tones of burgundy and green covered the floor beneath the table and drew the colors of the room together.

Elsie pulled out a chair. “Have a seat, dear. You must be starving. It’s been a long time since breakfast.”

“GG, I want to sit next to Dr. Beth,” Amy said.

“GG?” Beth asked.

“Oh, that’s what Amy calls me. Grandma Gallagher is a mouthful, so she came up with that as soon as she learned the alphabet.”

“GG and Pumpkin,” Dan said.

Amy shot her father a tolerant glance.

“I’m saving this seat for you, Amy,” Elsie said. She turned to Beth. “Coffee or tea? Or maybe hot cocoa?”

“Coffee would be lovely. Black. What can I do to help?”

“Sit, sit,” Elsie said. “Everything is ready. You, too, Dan.”

When he grabbed a chair at the other end of the table, his mother stopped him. “I’m sitting there. Do you mind? You can sit next to your guest.”

The corners of Dan’s mouth pulled upward slightly.

“Amy, you want to set the table?” Elsie asked as she slid steaming mugs of coffee in front of Beth and Dan.

“Sure, GG.”

Elsie handed Amy burgundy quilted place mats and cloth napkins, along with silverware. Then she placed matching pottery plates and bowls in a stack on the table.

Amy concentrated on setting the table, a determined set to her little mouth.

“Nice job, Pumpkin,” Dan said when she was done. He looked at Beth and winked. “Our Amy is the best table setter in the valley.”

His daughter beamed at his praise. Dan was obviously a devoted father.