Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch (7 page)

“Miss Lili, I
can’t let you—”

She, too,
ignored him. And so Daniel stood there, bemused, as the two ladies paraded back
and forth from house to wagon, carting in groceries and he didn’t know what
else.

“That’s all,”
Lili said, as she came in again. “You can close the door now. We’ve let out
enough of the cool air.” When Daniel followed her into the kitchen, he found
Rosa unpacking pots and pans.

“We weren’t sure
whether you had kitchen supplies,” she told him. “And I gather, looking at your
boxes, that you don’t.”

“Um…no.” Daniel
ran a hand through his hair. “I haven’t cooked much, over the years.”

“That’s quite
all right. We have plenty to spare.”

“And dishware?”
Lili lifted a stack of plates out of a box. “Do you have your own?”

He shook his
head. “You really shouldn’t have—”

Lili waved away
his objections. “We didn’t expect a bachelor to have much in the way of
provisions. So we brought some basics. And some frozen meals, to get you
started. Those are already in the freezer.”

The freezer,
Daniel saw when he opened the door, was filled with neatly labeled packages. “Your
lasagna,” he said weakly. “That was really good.” He’d been eating peanut
butter sandwiches since that one great lunch at Willa’s house.

“And, of course,
you’re welcome to any meal at our house,” Lili said. “Even breakfast, if you
want to drive down that early. You don’t have to call—just arrive and we’ll
feed you.”

“Thanks.” Daniel
could just imagine Willa’s face if he showed up for breakfast, or any other
meal, unannounced and uninvited by her.

“Now, we’ll get the
sheets on your bed.” Rosa headed for the bedroom. “And some towels in the
bath.”

“Ladies…” Daniel
trailed after them. “I can make the bed. You really don’t have to do all this
work.”

Again, his
protests fell on deaf ears. The sisters set up his bed and bath to their
satisfaction, all the way down to unwrapping the bars of soap for sink and
shower. When they started eyeing the boxes, however, Daniel took charge.

“No,” he said
firmly, “you aren’t going to unpack for me. I couldn’t live with myself if I let
you work so hard. You’ve already done too much.”

“Nonsense.” Lili
allowed him to escort her back to the living room. “You’ve saved Toby twice,
now—we couldn’t possibly do too much.”

“Then we’ll call
it even.” Daniel surveyed them both. “But it’s getting late and you’ll want to
be back home before dark.”

He was able to
help them into the wagon one-handed, and then stepped back. “Thank you for
everything. You’re welcome to visit anytime—come empty-handed, though!”

They laughed and
beeped the horn. Daniel watched them out of sight down the road before going
back into his house.

His
well-provisioned
house, now that the Mercado sisters had been there. Between the luxury of
choosing whether to enjoy beef stew or meat loaf for dinner, the prospect of a
good night’s sleep on cool, smooth sheets and a swig from one of the beers Rosa
had stowed in his refrigerator, Daniel felt as if he’d finally come home.

He raised his
bottle in a toast. “To the New Moon Ranch,” he said aloud. “Willa, my dear,
you’ll just have to learn to like losing!”

T
OBY WANTED HIS MOM
NEARBY
while the
doctors examined him, but Robbie and Susannah were told to remain in the
waiting room.

“I hope he’s not
really hurt.” Susannah hunched her shoulders and hugged her arms around her
waist.

Robbie propped
his elbows on his knees and stared at his hands. “Yeah, well, he deserves it,
pulling a stunt like that.”

“What stunt?”

“You are so
gullible.” He threw his sister an impatient look. “He made Patches rear, then
deliberately fell off.”

“Oh.” She was quiet
for a few seconds. “Why would he do that?”

“’Cause he’s all
excited about Major Daniel Trent from the U.S. Army. He wanted that Trent dude
to come to the rescue.” He used a sissy voice to make the title sound as silly
as possible.

“He’s a nice
man, Robbie. I like his smile.”

“You would.”

She punched him
in the shoulder. “I’m not stupid.”

“Sure you are,”
he said, just to make her mad. Then he grinned, so she’d know he didn’t mean
it.

After she stuck
out her tongue at him, Susannah said, “Why do you think Toby’s so interested in
Major Trent?”

“Duh? Because
it’s like Dad coming back again?”

She didn’t say
anything. When he looked around, she’d bowed her head over her arms, and he saw
a tear splash on her wrist. After a minute, though, she sniffed and
straightened up. “So you think Toby wants Major Trent to take Daddy’s place?”

Robbie shrugged
one shoulder.

“Marry Mom, and
everything?”

“Don’t make me
gag. Mom doesn’t need another husband. She’s got us to take care of her.”

“She’s pretty
lonely. So maybe—” Susannah stared at him, her eyebrows wrinkled. “Would that
make him our dad?”

“Nope.”

“And would he
run the ranch? Would he…would he own it, once he married Mom?”

“I—I don’t think
so.” Robbie could still hear in his head what his dad had said, kneeling in
front of him just before he got on the plane.
“I’m counting on you, son.
Take care of your mom. And take care of the Blue Moon.”

Susannah tugged
on his sleeve. “Robbie, are you sure?”

Robbie realized
he’d closed his eyes. He opened them wide and saw his mom and Toby emerge from
the examination area across the room. “The Blue Moon belongs to the Mercados,
Suze.” He made his voice strong, so she’d believe him. “Always has, always
will.”

He’d make sure
of that, somehow. For his dad’s sake.

N
IGHT HAD F
ALLE
N BY THE TIME
Willa pulled her truck into the
driveway at the house. She cut the engine, climbed out and went to help Toby
off the high seat.

“I don’t need
help,” he complained, but then leaned heavily on her hand as he came to the
ground.

“I know you
don’t. But humor me—moms like to help when their kids have cracked ribs.”

“Okay.” He
pulled free soon enough and walked into the house under his own steam, but with
a tired slump to his shoulders.

“He doesn’t feel
good.” Susannah came up on Willa’s right. “Maybe they should have put him in
the hospital.”

“He’s just
begging for sympathy,” Robbie countered. “You watch—he’ll want extra dessert
because he’s hurt.”

“I think he’s
sore,” Willa told them. “But maybe he’s learned a lesson.” They both looked at
her in question and she shrugged. “My guess is he tried to fall off…and
succeeded better than he expected.”

Susannah held
out her hands in a helpless gesture. “But why?”

“I told you. ’Cause
he wanted to stay with his new hero,” Robbie said with disgust. “He’s all hung
up over the Trent guy.”

“That’s Major
Trent to you.” Willa gave him a severe look. “Be respectful. He’s an officer in
the Army and was wounded in the service of this country.”

Her son hunched
his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah. Why should he have come back, when…” Abruptly,
without finishing the thought, he turned on his heel and headed away from the
kitchen door, around the corner of the house.

“Dinner’s going
to be ready,” Willa called after him. “Don’t stay out long.” She sighed when he
didn’t answer.

Susannah put a
hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get him.” She took off after her twin at an easy
jog.

Alone in the
twilight, Willa seized the opportunity to sit down on the courtyard wall and
catch her breath. The day had been hectic even before Robbie had come riding up
to report Toby’s accident. Two cowboys had quit on her this morning, demanding
back pay that stretched her cash flow to its limit. Her foreman, Jorge Ramirez,
had reported that at least fifty head of cattle were missing, thanks no doubt
to the rustlers working out of the desert. She’d called the sheriff,
again,
but there wasn’t much he could do after the fact and he didn’t have the
manpower to police her fence line every night.

Added to those
concerns, worry and tension over Toby had taken their toll as she and the kids
made the long trip into the hospital and waited for a doctor’s verdict. On the
way back, which seemed even longer, she’d wrestled with thoughts about Daniel
Trent.

She couldn’t
believe it, but in the midst of her anxiety this morning, she had again noticed
the man’s sheer physical appeal. His black T-shirt had revealed the contoured
muscles of his arms and chest, while slim-fitting, well-worn jeans had
showcased his long legs. Even knowing how the skin under his clothes had been
ravaged, she’d found herself stirred all over again by the shape and
proportions of his body.

And then there
was his smile, his concerned blue gaze, the reassurance in his rich voice. So
tempting, that ice-cream sundae voice. She remembered how he’d said her name as
he’d touched her skin, as he’d moved inside of her…

“Willa?” Rosa
spoke from the open door to the kitchen. “What in the world are you doing out
here in the dark? Dinner is ready.”

“Coming.” She
could only hope the night air would cool the heat in her face generated by
memories of Daniel Trent.

After dinner,
she went to her office to work on the ranch accounts. All too often, however,
her concentration faltered, until she threw her pencil across the room in
disgust.

Somehow, she had
to keep Daniel out of her thoughts. He represented her biggest
mistakes—breaking up the Blue Moon and allowing herself to be swept off her
feet by a stranger’s sexy grin.

The first
mistake would be corrected in three months. Maybe less, when Daniel realized
that he simply couldn’t cope with the physical demands of ranching. She’d get
that land parcel back, and she’d be sure to keep tight hold of it for the rest
of her life. Of course she could use the money from the sale—who couldn’t use
almost a million dollars? But the earnest money he’d already paid would help
satisfy the most pressing of her current debts.

As a means of
encouraging herself, Willa took out a red marker and crossed off the past five
days on her big desk pad calendar. Then she turned to the page for December and
put a circle around the box for the twenty-first, adding two dots for eyes and
an arc for the mouth. A smiling face now looked up at her, marking the day
Daniel Trent would be gone.

Her second
mistake couldn’t be so easily edited. If it were simply a case of forgetting
the night she’d spent with a stranger, she’d have dealt with the guilt and
moved on. But the ease with which she’d succumbed to her desire for Daniel
reminded Willa of her backseat tryst sixteen years ago with a boy who’d treated
her like dirt afterward.

I’ll keep my
distance,
she
promised herself as she turned back to her bookkeeping.
And I’ll make sure
he keeps his.

Eighty-three
days. I can last that long. Eighty-three days to December 21…and counting.

Daniel had just
started on his first cup of Monday morning coffee when the doorbell rang. He
was wearing the sweatpants and T-shirt he’d slept in, but this surely couldn’t
be Lili and Rosa Mercado. Not so early.

Still, he looked
through the window before opening the door. The man standing on his front stoop
was on the short side, bowlegged and deeply tanned, with lines in his face from
age and the sun. His dusty boots, frayed, faded jeans, and red, long-sleeved
shirt with a blue bandana at the throat epitomized the word
cowboy.

“You gonna open
the door?” he called. “I can smell the coffee out here.”

Grinning, Daniel
did as requested. “Good morning.”

The man tipped
his standard-issue white cowboy hat. “’Morning. I’m Nate Hernandez. Heard you
need a ranch foreman.”

“Where did you
hear that?” Daniel hadn’t yet figured out the best way to go about advertising
for help.

“Rosa Mercado
mentioned it at church yesterday. Sure could use a cup of coffee.”

Of course.
With a fatalistic shrug, Daniel
stepped back. “Come on in. Help yourself.”

“Thanks.” Nate
went straight to the kitchen, found the correct cupboard and pulled out a mug. Only
after a couple long draws on the coffee did he look at Daniel again. “I got
plenty of references. I worked for the Mercados and other ranchers in the area.
Ain’t nothing much needs doing on a ranch I ain’t done or cain’t do.”

“Where are you
working now?”

“I been retired
for a few years.”

“So why do you
want to work for me?”