Her Soldier Of Fortune

Was EJ’s father dead or had he deserted Bianca? Nate thought about his newly discovered extended family of Fortunes. He and his brothers had grown up simply, unlike Gerald and Charlotte Robinson’s children. But they’d had a mother who loved them and the ranching couple who’d taken Deborah in, pregnant and alone, when she’d had nowhere else to turn. Did his mom ever feel as weary and desperate as Bianca looked right now? His heart clenched at the thought.

“Ham or turkey?” he shouted suddenly, then forced a calming breath when Bianca whirled to him, her brown eyes wide.

“Excuse me?”

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he told her. “I’m going to make sandwiches. Would you like ham or turkey?”

“You really don’t—”

“I’ll choose if you don’t.”

Her delicate brows furrowed as she stared at him. “Turkey,” she said finally, and with that one word Nate felt like he’d won some sort of battle. He liked winning.

“Great. Lunch will be ready in ten minutes.” He paused on his way to the kitchen. “Unless you need help unloading your bags from the car.”

“No,” she said, almost too quickly. “We don’t have much. Just a weekend bag. We’re not staying that long. I don’t want to impose. It won’t—”

“You can stay as long as you like,” he told her. “Eddie was family, Busy Bee. That makes you family, too. If you want to tell me what’s going on, I’ll listen. If not, I won’t intrude. But know that you have a place here.”

He saw the sharp rise of her chest as his words seemed to hit their mark. “Thank you,” she whispered, and then hurried out of the room.

* * *

“It’s quiet here.”

EJ flipped onto his side to face Bianca on the double bed in Grayson’s room later that night.

“We’re in the country,” she said, gently pushing back the lock of hair that had flopped into his eyes. It was dark in the room, other than the faint glow from the night-light she’d plugged into the wall near the door. She’d told Nate that she and EJ could share a bedroom, but he’d insisted EJ could take Grayson’s room and she could use his mom’s since they’d be on the rodeo circuit until spring.

Her son loved claiming the space as his own, and Bianca wondered if she might actually get a decent night’s sleep without the noise from the freeway across the street from their run-down apartment building in San Antonio. “There are country sounds here.”

“Like the horses and cows,” EJ said in wonder, inching closer until his leg pressed against hers and she could smell his toothpaste-scented breath. She’d be sad when her boy got old enough that he didn’t want to snuggle any longer.

“Don’t forget the chickens,” she told him.

“The rooster is my favorite.”

She dropped a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. “The rooster might even wake up earlier than you, buddy.”

“No one wakes up earlier than me, Mommy.”

Bianca sighed. “Think of this as vacation. You can sleep late.”

He yawned, then smiled. “I don’t like to sleep late.”

“I know, bud.”

“I like it here,” he said sleepily.

“Me, too,” she whispered, almost afraid to say the words out loud for fear she’d jinx her new bit of luck. She rolled her shoulders against the mattress, amazed at how light she felt. Strange that the weight she’d been carrying for so long it felt a part of her had already started to lift.

She needed to find a way to earn her keep on the ranch, but not having the pressure of a dead-end job and the stress of worrying about childcare for EJ was a gift. She’d been running on all cylinders for so long with no time to catch her breath or figure out a plan for making a better life. Nate Fortune, with his matter-of-fact demeanor and quiet intensity, seemed to have no issue with giving her space. True to his word, he hadn’t pushed her for details about her circumstances. Not during the simple but satisfying lunch he’d made or on the brief tour of the house he’d led them on after they ate.

He seemed to be almost more comfortable with EJ than he was with her, patiently answering EJ’s litany of questions while barely making eye contact with her.

She had a healthy dose of curiosity where the former navy SEAL was concerned.

Why did he leave the service and return to Paseo in the first place? She knew he’d been with Eddie on the mission that had killed her brother. Could he give her any more information about how and why her brother had died?

She’d practically memorized the reports and brief news stories she’d found online, but nothing in the official paperwork told her what she wanted to know. Did Eddie suffer? Was it quick? How had things gone so wrong for the brother who’d always seemed invincible?

She hadn’t asked any of those questions. If she wasn’t willing to share the specifics of her life, could she really expect Nate to open up his past for inspection? But he must have read something in her eyes because in the middle of the tour, his shoulders had stiffened and he’d made some excuse about needing to get back to work and all but bolted out of the house.

Other than a distant trail of dust on the horizon, she hadn’t seen him again. He hadn’t returned to the house at dinnertime, and she’d eventually heated EJ a meal of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. She’d placed the leftover macaroni in a bowl on the counter in case Nate wanted dinner when he came in. It was a meager offering, and she planned to drive into town for groceries the following morning. The least she could do while she was here was to cook Nate a few decent meals.

She’d learned to cook as a teenager so Eddie would have home-cooked meals when he was on leave, and sitting around the small table listening to her brother tell tales of his adventures in the navy were still some of her happiest memories.

EJ made a tiny whimpering sound and shifted away from her on the bed. She listened to his steady breathing for a few more minutes, then climbed out of the bed and crossed the hall to Deborah’s room, which Nate had offered her without reservation. She heard a noise from downstairs, alerting her that Nate had returned to the house. It was past nine and she wondered what he’d been doing to keep him away for so long. The thought that he might have a girlfriend in town both intrigued and frustrated her. She laughed inwardly as she realized EJ came by his curiosity honestly.

The urge to see Nate again was almost overwhelming, but Bianca walked into her room and closed the door, leaning against it as if that would keep her inside. She was lucky Nate had agreed to let her stay so easily, and didn’t want him to regret the decision because she couldn’t help but make a pest of herself.

His mother’s room was simple, with one chest of drawers and a faded quilt covering the bed. Bianca appreciated the framed photos scattered around the room, all featuring the triplets at various ages. Bianca’s photos of EJ and his preschool artwork that she’d framed were among her prized possessions, all of them currently stuffed in the trunk of her car.

She dressed for bed, leaving the window cracked slightly so the night breeze cooled the air. She’d mostly kept her apartment windows shut, even in the blistering heat of a Texas summer, both for security reasons and to limit the outside noise. But the ranch was quiet and peaceful, and she took a deep breath as she slipped between the sheets.

Bianca had gotten used to being tired, but that didn’t mean sleep came easily to her. She expected to toss and turn as she normally did into the wee hours, but the next thing she knew she was blinking awake as pale gray light began to creep through the curtains that covered the window.

“It’s morning, Mommy.”

EJ’s face was only inches from hers, and she turned her head to glance at the clock on the nightstand.

“It’s six o’clock,” she said with a groan and then sat up, yawning widely. “I let you stay up a whole hour past your bedtime last night so you’d sleep later this morning.”

“Didn’t work,” EJ reported with a wide grin. “I haven’t even heard the rooster yet. I beat him.”

“You sure did,” she agreed. She’d slept through the night without waking but somehow felt more exhausted than she had in ages. She struggled to sit up against the pillow, letting the sheet and quilt slip down to her waist. “But it’s too early, sweetie. I bet Mr. Nate isn’t even—”

“Good morning,” a deep voice called from the doorway. “I’m impressed that you two keep ranch hours.”

Maybe it was her fuzzy brain, but Bianca felt her mouth drop open as she took in Nate Fortune leaning against the doorjamb, sipping from an oversize mug. He looked even more handsome than he had yesterday, wearing a red-checked flannel shirt and faded jeans molded to his lean hips and muscled thighs. Bianca must have been more desperate than she’d even realized because she was jealous of a pair of pants. His hair was damp at the ends and curled over his collar like he was a couple of weeks past needing a haircut.

“I beat the rooster,” EJ repeated, grinning widely.

“Nice work,” Nate said with an answering smile.

Bianca stifled a yawn. “This is an unholy hour for people to be awake and chipper.”

“Mommy’s grumpy in the morning,” EJ announced helpfully.

She made a face. “It’s practically still the middle of the night.”

Nate chuckled, the sound reverberating through her. “At least you’re not turning green and busting out of your clothes.”

At the mention of clothes, Bianca glanced down to the thin tank top she wore for sleeping. The words You Can’t Make Everyone Happy. You’re Not Pizza. were printed across the front, and she’d taken off her bra before she went to bed last night. She looked up again and Nate’s gaze slammed into hers. She automatically crossed her arms over her chest, but at the way his brown eyes sparked, it was obvious he’d already noticed her lack of a bra. Goose bumps rose on her skin in response to the intensity of his stare. Maybe Nate’s thoughts where she was concerned weren’t so brotherly, after all.

Bianca’s heart hammered a frantic beat in her chest. She definitely didn’t need coffee to wake her up when Nate looked at her like that.

“Come on, Mommy,” EJ urged, tugging at the covers. “You should get out of bed.”

She pulled him into her lap, keeping the covers tucked around her. She’d put on a pair of short boxers and wasn’t quite ready to expose her legs for Nate’s inspection. When was the last time she’d shaved them, anyway?

Nate cleared his throat. “Hey, EJ, maybe we can let your mom catch up on sleep this morning while you help me with chores in the barn. What do you think?”

The boy squirmed out of her grasp, his bare feet hitting the carpet with a soft thud. “Can I go, Mommy?”

“Sure,” she mumbled, swallowing to wet her throat when the word came out on a croak. “You need to get dressed, brush your teeth and eat breakfast first.”

“We’ll handle that,” Nate told her as EJ ran past him, heading across the hall. “You go back to sleep. You obviously need it.”

Ouch. Bianca raised a hand to her cheek. She could feel her face flooding with color as she let out a half laugh, half sigh. “I guess it’s been rougher recently than I realized. Plus the drive from San Antonio took a lot out of me. I’m not normally this much of a mess.”

“You’re not a mess.” Nate took one step toward the bed then stopped, his fingers gripping the mug so tight his knuckles turned white. He stared at her for several long moments, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “You’re beautiful, Bianca. But it’s obvious you’ve been taking on too much. If Eddie were alive, he would have never let that happen. You’re here now...with me. I only want to help.”

Her toes curled as relief and gratitude whirled through her like a tornado. She hated what her life had come to in the past few months but was so happy to have this chance at a literal do-over. She could make things right for herself and EJ because Nate was in her corner.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m going to make this up to you someday. I promise.”

“You don’t have to do anything. I owe Eddie more than you can ever know. Helping you is the least I can do.” His voice was tight with tension as he spoke, as if there were more he wanted to say. Then EJ ran back in wearing his favorite dump truck T-shirt, a pair of baggy jeans and his light-up sneakers.

“I’m ready for breakfast,” he said, tugging on Nate’s free hand. “I got dressed by myself. My sneakers have Velcro so Mommy doesn’t have to tie them.”

“Clever,” Nate murmured, smiling at her son.

“Do you always wear cowboy boots?” EJ asked, pointing to the toe of Nate’s leather boot.

“Almost always.”

EJ turned his attention to Bianca. “Mommy, can I get a pair of boots?”

She wondered how much youth-sized cowboy boots would run. “We’ll see.”

“Get some rest,” Nate told her, ruffling EJ’s hair as he turned for the door, then quickly added, “Not because you look like you need it. Because you deserve it.”

She flashed a smile. “Good save, cowboy.”

He nodded then led EJ from the room. Bianca readjusted the pillow, then laid back and stared up at the ceiling. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to fall asleep again, but within seconds her eyes drifted shut. Maybe just a few minutes more, she told herself. Just a few.

Chapter Three

“Like this, Mr. Nate?”

“Exactly. Hold the nail steady with one hand and the hammer with the other. Careful of your fingers.”

Later that morning, Nate stood next to EJ at the workbench on the far side of the barn, watching as the little boy hammered together two boards to be used as a ramp for the chicken coop. It was a mundane chore Nate had been putting off for weeks, but it was the perfect job for an eager four-year-old.

Nate never would have guessed how much he’d enjoy having a kid shadow him all morning as he fed and watered the livestock and then drove out to check the perimeter fences. EJ’s enthusiastic stream of questions and excitement over every new task made the time fly by. EJ wanted to be involved in every piece of the action, reminding Nate of himself and his brothers when they were kids.

Earl and Cynthia Thompson, who’d owned the ranch, had been like grandparents to the triplets. Had his mother been as exhausted as Bianca seemed?

Probably.

He and his brothers were more than a handful.

Earl had been a quiet man with a surly countenance that hid a gentle heart. From the time Nate could remember, the craggy rancher had worked the Fortune boys, teaching them to manage the land and livestock and giving them a purpose when they might have turned wild with a less steady hand guiding them.

Nate wanted to do that for EJ, the way Eddie would have if he’d survived that last mission. As guilt exploded in Nate’s chest, he had to force himself not to step away from the boy. What right did he have to insert himself into this child’s life and try to offer direction?

When push had come to shove, he hadn’t been able to save his best friend. His brothers and mother had done fine for decades on their own while he was traveling the world with the navy. And shortly after he’d come home, all hell had broken loose with the discovery that Gerald Robinson was their father. Not that Nate could blame himself for that bombshell, but he hated that he hadn’t been able to protect his mom from revisiting that old heartbreak.

At the end of the day, he couldn’t trust himself to offer support to anyone. Bianca and EJ were far too precious to risk.

But they’d sought him out, and Nate had to believe that meant something. He needed to mean something to Eddie’s sister and her boy. He placed a hand on EJ’s arm to steady him and gave a few quiet instructions about how to position the next nail. The pink tip of EJ’s tongue poked out from the corner of his mouth, a sure sign the boy was deep in concentration.

“I thought I might find you two out here.”

At the sound of his mother’s voice, EJ stopped hammering and jumped off the stool Nate had pushed to the front of the workbench.

“Mommy,” he shouted, running toward her and launching himself against her legs. “I petted a cow and scooped horse poop and fed the chickens and now I’m fixing part of the coop. That’s what you call the chicken’s house—a coop. There are fifteen but only one rooster on account of he doesn’t like to share his girlfriends.”

“Whoa,” Bianca said with a laugh, lifting EJ into her arms. “Slow down, buddy. Take a breath. It sounds like you had a busy morning.”

“I got boots, too,” EJ said, kicking out his feet. “They used to be Mr. Nate’s.”

Her grin faltered as she looked to Nate. Damn, she was beautiful. She wore a simple white T-shirt and a pair of snug jeans with a tiny rip above one knee. That small strip of skin was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen because it held the promise of so much more.

Nate had never been one for flash and dazzle in his women, so Bianca’s natural beauty hit him hard. Her hair was pulled back into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, exposing the graceful line of her throat. More than anything, he wanted to know if her skin was as soft as it looked.

He was so damn close to making a fool of himself and embarrassing them both.

“Or one of my brother’s pairs.” He shrugged, feeling suddenly self-conscious that he’d dug through the shed out back to track down the bins of clothes and shoes his mom had kept from his childhood. “It’s hard to know, but my mom saved anything we didn’t wear out and Earl insisted on good boots, even when we were young. We all had the same style.”

“Thank you for sharing them with EJ,” she said after a moment.

“He needed a decent pair of shoes for the ranch.” The words came out more gruffly than he meant them because he didn’t want her to think that after one day he was trying to step in as the boy’s father or something. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Mommy, I got so many things to show you.” EJ wriggled to the ground and skipped in a circle around Bianca. “You want to see the poop I scooped or the fence I helped Mr. Nate fix?” He waved his hands in a windmill motion as he moved, a bundle of boy energy even after working for hours. Temperatures in January usually hovered in the low fifties, but today the thermostat had climbed nearly ten degrees above normal. Nothing appeared to dim EJ’s enthusiasm.

“Right now,” Bianca said gently, pulling a cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans, “I need to talk to Mr. Nate. Why don’t you check out your favorite YouTube channel for a few minutes?”

Nate frowned as EJ took the phone and hit a button, the blue light from the screen illuminating his small face. “It’s not working, Mommy,” EJ said almost immediately, handing the phone back to Bianca.

“No service,” Bianca muttered. “I guess it’s because we’re so far out of town. Do you have a Wi-Fi password?” She glanced from the phone to Nate.

“Nope,” he said, massaging a hand over the back of his neck.

“Maybe the signal is bad in the barn,” she told her son. “If you take it to the house’s front porch—”

“You still won’t have any luck.” Nate stepped forward. “Cell service out here is spotty, and the ranch doesn’t have Wi-Fi.”

Bianca and EJ stared at him with mutual horror in their dark gazes.

“You can get internet in town at the library,” he added quickly. “Normally it’s open on Wednesdays.”

EJ’s mouth dropped open.

“Once a week?” Bianca asked, her tone incredulous.

“I haven’t been there for a few months. It might have different hours now.”

“I want to watch a show,” EJ complained.

“We have a satellite dish,” Nate said. “My mom likes to watch the Rodeo Live channel when she’s not on the road with Grayson.”

“Do you have Elmer the Elephant?” the boy asked.

“I’m not sure about that,” Nate admitted. He’d heard of a puppet named Elmo but never an elephant called Elmer. “What channel is Elmer on?”

“YouTube,” Bianca and EJ answered at the same time, then Bianca crouched down at EJ’s side.

“It’s okay, buddy. We’ll figure out something to watch when you need a break. Besides, there’s so much to keep you busy on the ranch, you’ll hardly have time to miss Elmer.”

“I miss him already, Mommy.”

Nate watched Bianca’s shoulders deflate as she sighed.

“EJ, would you put extra hay in each of the horse stalls while your mom and I talk?”

For all the boy’s earlier enthusiasm, EJ looked like he wanted to refuse. Nate understood the sentiment. As much fun as a ranch could be for a boy, there was always the moment when a kid realized work was work. It was a lesson Nate and his brothers had learned early on, and it had served each of them as they grew to be men. He wanted to make sure he instilled the same work ethic in Bianca’s son. He knew Eddie would have done the same thing.

“Remember how we talked about chores,” he said gently.

EJ scrunched up his face and nodded. “Taking care of the animals is most important.”

“Right,” Nate agreed.

EJ looked up at Bianca. “I’ll be back after I finish my chore, Mommy.”

“I’ll be here, sweetie.”

Nate gave EJ a few more instructions about how much hay to give each horse, then watched as the boy made his way to the first stall.

“I can’t believe how well he listens to you,” Bianca murmured. “No access to Elmer would have ended in a full-blown temper tantrum with me.”

“Sometimes a boy just needs a man in his life.”

He was thinking of how much Eddie would have loved being a part of EJ’s world but cringed as Bianca sucked in what looked to be a strained breath.

“You probably think it’s terrible that I rely on an animated elephant to help me parent my kid. I do limit his screen time, but sometimes—”

Nate shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. That isn’t what I meant. I’m not judging you, Bianca. A single mom raised me, and I know how much trouble we gave her. I don’t know how she handled the three of us most days. It’s clear you do a wonderful job with EJ, but it kills me that Eddie is missing this.”

“Me, too,” she said softly. “Sometimes I still can’t believe he’s gone. And EJ reminds me of him in so many ways.”

“He’s a great kid.”

“Thanks. He clearly loves being with you. My feelings of inadequacy aside,” she said with a small laugh, “it’s good for him to spend time with a man who can be a role model. But I don’t want you to feel like he’s a burden.”

“That would never happen.” He couldn’t put into words how much he enjoyed the young boy.

“He’s also a handful and his energy is nonstop. Sometimes it gets to be too much for people.”

“People like his father?” Nate asked, unable to tamp down his curiosity. EJ talked a mile a minute but all he would say about his dad was that he’d liked when EJ was quiet. Nate couldn’t imagine EJ not talking a mile a minute other than when he was sleeping.

“My ex-husband isn’t involved in our lives anymore. I’ve gone back to my maiden name, and I’m working to have EJ’s legally changed to Shaw.” She bit down on her bottom lip. “Brett walked away two years ago and never looked back.”

“He’s an idiot,” Nate offered automatically.

One side of her mouth kicked up. “You sound like Eddie. He never liked Brett, even when we were first dating. He said he wasn’t good enough for me.”

“Obviously that’s true.” Nate took a step closer but stopped himself before he reached for her. Bianca didn’t belong to him, and he had no claim on her. But one morning with EJ and he already felt a connection to the boy. A connection he also wanted to explore with the beautiful woman in front of him. “Any man who would walk away from you needs to have his—” He paused, feeling the unfamiliar sensation of color rising to his face. His mother had certainly raised him better than to swear in front of a lady, yet the thought of Bianca being hurt by her ex made his blood boil. “He needs a swift kick in the pants.”

“Agreed,” she said with a bright smile. A smile that made him weak in the knees. He wanted to give her a reason to smile like that every day. “I’m better off without him, but it still makes me sad for EJ. I do my best, but it’s hard with only the two of us. There are so many things we’ve had to sacrifice.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and turned to gaze out of the barn, as if she couldn’t bear to make eye contact with Nate any longer. “Sometimes I wish I could give him more.”