A Second Chance at Crimson Ranch (19 page)

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Chapter One

C
andy McCall didn't want to sell her house. It was her dream home, her Southern California sanctuary, and she was going to miss it when she was gone.

Of course it hadn't sold yet. She hadn't even gotten any offers. That might change today, though. A potential buyer was on his way. And of all things, she'd discovered that it was someone from her past. Her very first boyfriend, in fact. A man named Tanner Quinn. She hadn't seen him since they were teenagers or kept track of his whereabouts, but they had a mutual friend who'd referred him to her.

She'd spoken to him briefly on the phone and learned that he owned a place called T.Q.'s Riding Academy and Stables. Oh, and that if he was interested in her house, it would be a cash sale.

She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer. A cash sale was just what she needed to get out of this mess. She was in such a dire financial situation she couldn't even afford to use a Realtor.

But how strange was this going to be, showing her house to Tanner? She was actually nervous about seeing him.

Just as she opened her eyes, the doorbell rang.

She rushed to answer the summons, then gazed at the man on her porch.
Heaven almighty.
That six-foot-three frame. Those slate-gray eyes. He would be around her age, thirty-four or so now, and although he'd grown up and filled out, she would know him anywhere.

With his short black hair slicked away from his handsomely chiseled face, he made quite the dashing figure. He wore a classic ensemble of English riding gear. Clearly, he'd just come from work. Or a polo match. Or something where wicked boots were required.

Neither of them spoke. They just kept staring at each other, with awkward smiles, trying to get used to this hasty reunion.

He finally said, “Well, hello, Candy Sorensen.”

“Hello, yourself. But for the record, I'm Candy McCall now,” she reminded him.

“Oh, that's right. Your married name.”

“Yes.” She paused and uncomfortably added, “But as I mentioned on the phone, I'm divorced now.” The dissolution of her marriage was a painful topic, but she couldn't very well behave as if she was still a doe-eyed wife. Changing the subject, she gestured to the doorway. “Do you want to come in?”

She stepped back to allow him entrance, and he crossed the threshold, looking like the horseman that he was. She wasn't surprised that he made his living in the equestrian industry. He'd always worked around horses, except that he'd been more of the cowboy type when he was younger.

Then again, she didn't doubt he would be just as comfortable in Wrangler jeans and a Stetson as he was in a button-down shirt and breeches, or that he still rode Western-style.

Trying to keep a professional air, she took a deep breath, preparing to treat him like the potential buyer he was. But he wasn't glancing around her living room or paying attention to the house he'd come to see.

Instead, he swept his gaze over her. “You sure as hell look good. But you always did.”

“Yes, picture-perfect me.” There went her professionalism. She made a doll-like motion, mocking herself. Candy was a long, lean, leggy brunette who'd spent her youth parading around in beauty pageants and hating every second of it.

He broke into a smile. “You still can't take a compliment after all this time? Some things never change.”

She hoped he was wrong about that. She didn't want to think of herself as the same people-pleaser she'd been back then. She'd never had to please him, though. He'd accepted her for who she was. She'd always liked that about him.

He moved toward the fireplace, the mottled stones enhancing the color of his eyes. “Are you selling your house because of the divorce?”

“No.” She kept her response vague, not wanting to get into the money issue. “It doesn't have anything to do with that.”

“I've never been married.” He frowned a little. “But I prefer being a bachelor.”

Was he thinking about his parents' troubled marriage and how it had disintegrated after his infant sister had died? Or was his frown something altogether different?

She certainly remembered the devastation from the past. Candy had been there that morning, playing video games with Tanner, when his frantic mother had found the lifeless baby in her crib.

“How's your family?” she asked, needing to know about them, needing to hear that they were fine.

“Kade is a horse trainer, but he's on the road a lot, doing clinics and whatnot, so I don't see him all that much. But we call each other when we can.”

The older brother. She'd only met him once, when he'd come home for the baby's funeral. Otherwise he'd been away at college, studying equine science. Apparently he was still away, in some form or another.

“We don't talk to our dad anymore,” Tanner said. “Too much water under that bridge. Mom was always there, of course, with her nurturing ways. But then she died last year.”

A stream of sadness swept over her. So much for everyone being fine. “I'm so sorry. She was such a nice lady. I always liked her.”

“She liked you, too. She used to marvel at how much Meagan adored you.”

Meagan was his other little sister, a spitfire of a child who'd needed mounds of attention. “Remember how she was always pestering me to curl her hair? And paint her nails? And put makeup on her?”

“Of course I remember. She wanted to be just like you. She was pissed at me after you and I broke up. She kept asking me when I was going to bring you back. But then Buffy became her idol, and she let me off the hook.”

Candy feigned offense, especially since he was smiling once again. “I was replaced by a vampire slayer?”

“Afraid so. But Meagan was only eight. She didn't know any better. Now, if I'd dropped you like a hot potato for Buffy and her Scooby gang, it would have been another story.”

She swatted his arm, and he laughed. But just as quickly, they both went serious again. He hadn't dropped her, not in the way he'd just suggested. Their breakup had been more of a moody drift. After the baby died and his parents started going through their messy divorce, Tanner began to retreat into himself, becoming more and more detached. Finally, it reached a point where he couldn't handle having a girlfriend anymore.

Candy, on the other hand, had longed to have another boyfriend, which, eventually, led to Vince, the handsome heartbreaker she'd married.

“After you and I broke up, my mom said that I was being a jerk,” Tanner said.

Her pulse jumped. “What?”

“She didn't like how I ended it with you. She was critical of my behavior because of my dad. But I wasn't like him. I was just a kid, trying to cope with it all.”

“I remember how difficult it was for you.” She also recalled the big blasting hurt of being rejected by him, even if it hadn't been as callous as the way Vince had kicked her to the curb. Before the past got the better of her, she changed the subject. “Speaking of kids, you never said what Meagan does for a living. Does she work with horses, too?”

“No. She isn't a horsewoman. And she's not a kid anymore, either,” he added. “She's twenty-five now, and her situation is complicated.”

She waited for him to expound, but he didn't. Whatever was going on with Meagan, he obviously didn't want to talk about it.

A moment later, he asked, “How's your family?”

She answered the question, loaded as it was. “My grandparents are gone, so it's just me and my mom now.” She didn't have a dad. He'd died when she was three, and her mom rarely spoke of him, even when Candy prodded her for information.

“Did you ever become a model?” Tanner asked. “The way you were supposed to?”

She tugged unglamorously at the hem of her top. “Yes, I followed the career path Mom chose for me. But I wasn't as successful as she would've liked.” She quit tugging and smoothed the fabric. “I'm a yoga instructor now. I teach doga, too. Yoga for dogs,” she clarified.

“Really? Oh, that's cute. I'd like to see that sometime.”

As if on cue, her faithful companion, a yellow Lab, moseyed in through the back door. Candy made the introduction. “That's Yogi. She's my best student.”

“Hey, there,” Tanner said, prompting the dog to come forward and greet him.

He knelt to pet her, running his fingers through her luxurious fur. Yogi all but melted from his touch, pressing closer to his hand. Candy considered correcting her, but the poor thing wasn't doing anything wrong. Besides, she knew the feeling, remembering how Tanner used to touch her, too.

Lightly, magically, but without taking it too far.

Good girl that she was, Candy had been saving herself for marriage—a choice that had backfired when she'd met Vince. She'd let her ex pressure her into being with him, long before there was even a hint of marriage.

So what did that say about the decision she'd made? That she should have just gone ahead and made Tanner her first?

As he righted his posture, bringing his big, broad body back to its full height, she warned herself not to think along those lines.

She steered the conversation back to business. “Do you want to walk around by yourself? Or do you want me to give you a tour?”

“I'd rather have you show me the place.”

“Would it be all right if we start with the backyard?” Candy needed a big old gulp of fresh air. “Then I can show you the guesthouse and we can come back here and finish the tour.”

“Sure. That's fine. We can start wherever you want.”

She led the way, and they ventured outside, stood on the patio and studied her yard, where an English-style garden, rife with flowers, trees and vine-covered trellises, made for a colorful presentation.

She said, “I have a gardener who mows the lawn and rakes the leaves, but I tend to the rest of it myself. I love working in the flowerbeds.”

“I don't know anything about flowers. But it looks like a nice garden.” He stepped onto the lawn. “Eric told me that you hosted his wedding.”

She fell into step beside him. Eric was the friend they had in common. But their association with him wasn't from their teenage days. It was much more recent. “Eric and Dana got married here. It was a beautiful ceremony.”

“I haven't met Dana yet.”

“She's amazing. She's my dearest friend. I'm their son's godmother. He's a toddler now. And so darned cute. Eric has an older daughter, too. She's in college, studying at UCLA.”

“I remember her when she was younger.”

“Really?” Surprised, she asked, “So just how long have you known Eric?” Clearly, much longer than she had.

“About eight or nine years, I think, but we lost touch after his first wife died. Then we ran into each a few weeks ago and started getting caught up again.”

“I guess that explains why you and I haven't crossed paths before now.” And why Tanner hadn't been at the wedding. “I've only known Eric since he and Dana got together.”

“Mostly I hung out with him on the powwow circuit.”

Candy nodded. Tanner was part Cheyenne, and Eric was half Cherokee. “Did you know his first wife?”

“Yes. He grieved something awful when she passed.” Tanner stood beside a lemon tree, the bright yellow fruit in full bloom. Silent, he studied the branches, then turned to look at her. “I've been thinking about Ella a lot lately.”

She inhaled the citrusy scent, trying to take comfort in it. Ella was his sister who'd died. “I'm sorry that her loss still affects you.”

“You have no idea. The complication I mentioned earlier involves a baby. Meagan is pregnant.”

Jarred by his words, she sucked in her breath. Candy had been pregnant once upon a time, but she'd miscarried, losing the child she'd so desperately wanted.

She quietly asked, “Is she having a difficult time carrying the baby?” Was Meagan in danger of losing her little one?

“No. She seems to be doing okay in that regard. But she got into some trouble with the law and is serving time. She worked at an accounting firm and embezzled from some of their clients.”

“Oh, my goodness.” The spunky eight-year-old who used to follow Candy around like a rosy-cheeked puppy had morphed into a criminal? “When is her baby due?”

“In about eight weeks. She discovered that she was pregnant soon after she was incarcerated.”

“And when will she be released?”

“Not for at least two years. Besides time served, she has to pay restitution to her victims. She has a long road ahead of her, but she promised that she would get her act together. Not only with her rehabilitation, but with being a good mother to her child when she gets out.”

“Who's going to take care of the baby between now and then?”

“I am.”

“You?” He looked like the last man on earth who would want a baby. He'd even said it with a horrible tone of dread. “What's going on, Tanner? Really, seriously, why would you agree to take her child?”

“Because she begged me to. And because there's no one else available to do it.”

“What about the baby's father or his family?”

“The dad doesn't want anything to do with the kid and neither does his family. They're all a bunch of screwups. If I don't become its legal guardian, the baby will go into foster care.”

“Then it sounds like you're doing the right thing.”

“I'm trying. But all I keep thinking about is what happened to Ella.”

Feeling far too emotional, Candy glanced at the lemons that had fallen on the ground and noticed that some of them were starting to brown. Ella had died from SIDS. “That's the last thing you should be thinking about.”

“I know. But I can't help it.”

She considered reaching out to skim his hand, to comfort him, but she refrained. The last time his life had been falling apart, she'd wrapped him in all kinds of solace, but in the end, it hadn't stopped him from pulling away. To return to that place, to feel it again, wasn't something she was willing to do.