The Rancher's Baby Proposal

If she were married, she would wear a ring. She would want people to see the symbol of her love, of her devotion—once it was a done deal. However, she hadn’t met the right cowboy yet...because no other cowboy could live up to Reagan Chase.

“Yes,” he said, “I need a babysitter for my baby. I’m not married,” he added flatly.

Relief flooded through her. Though curiosity about his past filled her, too, she knew she had to focus on the here and now. She nodded, not sure what to say.

“It’s a long story. One I’d rather not get into. But I have a one-month-old son. I’ve got someone to watch him during the day. You know Mrs. Browley?”

“Of course. She’s one of my mama’s best friends.”

“She was to my mom, too. They spent a lot of time together at the women’s club and planning events at the community center.”

“I remember,” she said softly. “Everyone misses her.”

“Yeah.” He stripped the covering from the straw he hadn’t used and concentrated on wrapping it around his fingers. “Anyway, I stopped by Mrs. B’s place to talk with her on my way here to Sugar’s. She said she’ll watch my son during the mornings and early afternoons. I’ll be back again from San Antonio two days from now, and I already made arrangements to drop him off directly there. Then I expect to be busy out at the ranch all day.” He took another long swallow of his tea.

As he tipped his head back to drink, she watched the muscles working in his throat. When he set the glass down, a rim of tea still wet his upper lip. He licked the moisture away. She shivered and glanced down at the tabletop.

“I’ll call you to confirm I’m back,” he said. “If you could pick him up at her house once you get off work in the afternoons, it would be a big help. I’m bound to be filthy from prowling around the ranch, and I’d lose a lot of good work time if I had to stop and shower up to come into town in the middle of the day.”

At the thought of him in the shower, she shivered again. Trying to blame her reactions on her iced drink, she tightened her hand around the tall glass.

“I’ll pay you whatever it is you make hourly at the store,” he told her.

I don’t want your money.

But how could she say that? He would find it highly suspicious, especially since she had said she could use the extra cash. And she couldn’t confess to him that minding his baby scared the heck out of her. Not meeting his eyes, she sipped her tea and then touched the paper napkin to her lips.

She thought of all the years she had crushed on Reagan. Everyone in school probably knew how she felt about him. He must have known it, too. He couldn’t have missed it...could he? Now the idea made her cringe. If he had noticed, she couldn’t risk saying something that would make him recall how much she had liked him...and maybe make him change his mind about asking for her help.

Worse, if she didn’t guard her reactions now, he would find out how much she still cared.

“You’d...want me to take the baby home with me until you pick him up?” That would work. Mama could help her with him.

“He’ll be fine with Mrs. B all day, I know that. But his routine will already be upset enough since he won’t be with his regular sitter. I’d rather you bring him out to the ranch and watch him there, if that’s not a problem for you.”

She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, as Jed Garland would say. She would go out to Reagan’s family home to spend afternoons and evenings with him...and a baby she had no idea how to handle.

Fear at her inexperience fought with her longing to be with Reagan.

His small smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. His expression looked hopeful...and just a bit desperate.

Longing left her light-headed. Reagan needed her.

This was the chance she had always wanted to get close to him.

Well, if she could play the role of The Girl Most Likely to Make You Laugh, she could also convince herself she would be an expert babysitter. “No worries,” she said firmly. “Watching the baby out at the ranch won’t be a problem at all.”

* * *

“BUT, TINA,” ALLY WAILED, “what was I thinking? I don’t know anything about babies!”

After her meeting with Reagan at SugarPie’s, she had come out to the Hitching Post to see Tina, as she had told Jed she would.

Her best friend reclined on the couch in her newly renovated attic apartment at her family’s hotel. She cuddled her sleeping newborn daughter close to her and laughed softly. “I know exactly what you were thinking. This is Reagan you’re talking about.”

Ally’s cheeks flamed. From the time she and Tina had become best friends, they had shared all their secrets, including her crush on Reagan.

“And, of course, you know something about babies,” Tina went on. “You held Emilia yesterday.”

“Held. For a few seconds. That’s a lot different from watching one for an entire afternoon and evening. Maybe for an entire week of afternoons and evenings.” If she were lucky. Or possibly unlucky.

She didn’t know what to hope for anymore. She ran her hands through her hair. Curls bounced in all directions, nearly blocking her vision. She swept them aside.

Tina laughed again. “That’s my Ally, always the drama queen.”

“You know it.” She flounced into the upholstered chair near the couch. Even with her best friend, she sometimes felt the need to pretend. One of these days, The Girl Most Likely to Make You Laugh might have to fess up.

“You’ve also been around from the day Robbie was born.” Robbie was Tina and her husband Cole’s five-year-old.

“Okay, so I’ve played toy horses with him, and racing cars and once—a long time ago—I rolled a ball to him when he was still too little to move out of the way. He couldn’t miss it,” she admitted to Tina. “But I never fed him. Or gave him a bottle. Or—” she shuddered “—changed his diapers.”

Shuddering aside, it wasn’t diapers that bothered her so much as her fear Reagan’s son would react to her the way other babies had. “Little kids and I just don’t get along. The minute they see me, they know they’re dealing with an amateur, and they all turn into howling, stiff-limbed little monsters.”

Why had she ever thought she could take care of Reagan’s baby?

“Ally, that’s just silly. Come here.” Tina sat upright on the couch.

Reluctantly, Ally crossed to take a seat beside her and let her place the newborn into her arms. The blanket-wrapped baby felt warmer and heavier than Ally had expected. Ally smiled down at her.

“See? Not so bad, is it?”

“You’ve got such a treasure here, mi amiga,” she told Tina in a murmur, afraid her voice might startle the child. Better to let her sleep. Her goddaughter had an angelic face with a tiny cupid’s-bow mouth, both of which Ally worried might be deceiving.

“Andi and I can teach you all you need to know.” Tina’s cousin had two small children of her own.

“Oh, right. An entire Baby 101 course, compressed into a couple of days?”

“Sure. You’re a quick study. Piece of cake.”

“Don’t mention cake,” she said with a moan. The baby moved her arm slightly, and Ally lowered her voice again. “I could eat an entire pan of your abuela’s sopaipilla cheesecake right this minute.”

Tina smiled. “I don’t think it’s on the menu tonight. But stay for supper. By the time we’re done, Emilia will need another feeding and a diaper change, and we’ll get you started on some hands-on experience.”

“This might be all the hands-on I can handle. But I suppose I can stay.” Truthfully, the deciding factor was more the thought of Tina’s grandmother’s cooking than it was the lessons.

“What I want to know,” she said thoughtfully, “is exactly where Reagan’s baby came from.”

“Uh...Ally? We covered the birds and the bees in about fifth grade.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not fair, chica. As I always tell you, you’re supposed to be the serious half of this friendship. I get all the funny lines.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t see anything funny about this situation.”

That made her look at Tina in alarm. Her friend always was the serious one. If she were worried, chances were good there was something to be concerned about. “What?”

“Well...” Tina shrugged. “You have a point. Forgetting about the birds and bees, the question still stands. Where did Reagan’s baby come from?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“You mean there has to be a wife somewhere? But he said he wasn’t married.” Her voice had risen, and Emilia shifted in her arms again. “Here. I think she’s waking up. You’d better take her before she opens her eyes, sees me and starts to yell.”

Tina shook her head at Ally but reached for her daughter. “Then maybe Reagan has an ex-wife. Or a girlfriend, either ex or current. Or he could be widowed.”

She gasped. “With a one-month-old baby?” They exchanged suddenly misty-eyed glances. “Oh, I hope not. It would be best if he had gotten a di—” She stopped.

“Divorce,” Tina supplied in a soft voice, “because then Reagan wouldn’t be attached to another woman.”

“Well...” She glanced down at her hands in her lap. Then, sighing, she looked at Tina again. “Yes,” she admitted finally. Feeling miserable, she yanked on one of her curls. How could she wish away a poor defenseless little baby’s mother?

Yet how could she not want a chance at winning the boy she had always loved?

* * *

WITH THE HITCHING POST’S guests all gone up to their rooms for the night, Jed Garland went along the hall of the first-floor family wing. He wandered into the hotel’s kitchen, where Paz, the hotel cook, stood at the counter making preparations for next morning’s breakfast. Tina, the granddaughter he and Paz had in common, sat at the big table with her new baby in her arms.

He settled in his chair across from the pair of them. “You’re starting that little one off with late hours, are you?”

She laughed. “She’s the one setting her own schedule, Abuelo. This baby likes to eat and sleep as she pleases. I just follow along to do her bidding.”

“Well, that’s the way it should be when they’re that young.” He kicked back and laced his fingers together on the tabletop. “I see Ally’s finally showing some maternal instincts.” The girl had come out to the hotel and stayed for supper, then spent the evening in the sitting room with his granddaughters and their kids.

“I don’t know about maternal instincts,” she said doubtfully. “Ally always claims she and babies don’t get along. And of course she won’t admit she remembers all the time she’s spent with Robbie, including when he was an infant. Anyhow, Andi and I need to give her a crash course in infant care. She’s going to be babysitting Reagan’s little boy.”

“So that’s why Reagan wanted to talk with her at Sugar’s.”

“You heard about that already?” She shook her head. “There’s no doubt about it, is there? News really does travel fast in Cowboy Creek.”

“I happened to be at the hardware store when Ally and Reagan ran into each other.”

“Oh, is that so?” She stared him down. He looked back at her, keeping his gaze level. “Funny. I thought Ally said Reagan invited her at the end of their conversation, after you had left.”

“He did. It so happens I had to pick up some supplies in the next aisle, and I overheard what they were saying.”

Both women laughed at that, as he had known they would.

“I’ll bet you did,” Tina said. “I’ll also bet Sugar called you right after they left the shop, didn’t she?”

Now it was his turn to laugh. His youngest granddaughter usually had the knack of seeing right through him. “You won’t let me get away with anything, will you? Yes, Sugar did call. So, Reagan has a child. And a wife?”

“Ally said he told her no on that.”

“Good.” He beamed.

Tina’s eyes narrowed. “Why? You’re scheming again, aren’t you?”

“Do you blame me?”

She shot a quick smile at her grandmother, then reached across the table and squeezed Jed’s laced fingers. “You wouldn’t be you, Abuelo, if you didn’t care so much about everyone. This is between you, me and Abuela only, but...Ally has always had a crush on Reagan.”

“Well, then, all the more reason for me to get up to some scheming, as you called it. Surely, you can’t object if I want to help her.”

Now she looked down and touched her baby’s cheek. “No, I can’t say I really object. Ally’s my best friend. I want her to be as happy as I am.”

“Good. First, we’ll have to find out exactly what Reagan’s status is. If he’s unattached...”

“Any free man is fair game?”

“Exactly right.”

“Ally would never speak to me again if she knew I was encouraging you to play matchmaker for her.”

“And that’s exactly right, too,” he said with a grin. “If she knew. But there’s no need for her or Reagan to find out.”

“And how will you manage that, Jed?” Paz asked. She dried her hands on a towel and took a seat at the table. The fine silver threads in her dark hair winked in the overhead light.

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet. But don’t you worry, I’m ready and willing to face the challenge. I’ll come up with something.”

“You won’t have much time,” Tina told him. “Ally said Reagan is leaving again as soon as he has the house cleared out and ready to go on the market.”

“Then I’ll have to work quickly, won’t I?” He smiled. “Fortunately, as you both know, I do my best work under pressure.”

* * *

ALLY TOOK A deep breath and climbed the porch to Mrs. Browley’s front door. It sure wasn’t the idea of seeing her mama’s friend that made her need the reassurance. Taking another deep breath, she rang the doorbell and filled her mind with positive thoughts.

Piece of cake. Sopaipilla cheesecake. I can do this.

A few moments later, the door opened and she was greeted with a friendly welcome and a big hug. The older woman who stood beaming at her wore her white hair pulled back into her usual bun and eyed Ally over a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

“Hi, Mrs. Browley. I’m here to pick up the special delivery package you’re holding for me.”

Mrs. Browley laughed. “Ally. Come in, dear. That little package of yours is waiting happily to make your acquaintance.”

That wouldn’t last long.

Slowly, she followed the woman down the hallway to the kitchen. She glanced at the padded diaper bag sitting on the small table. She looked at the baby carrier resting beside it. And finally, she stared at the baby inside the carrier.

He was tiny, not much bigger than Tina’s newborn. A few wispy curls lay against his scalp. “His hair’s so much lighter than Reagan’s,” she blurted.

“It is,” Mrs. Browley agreed. “That may darken as he gets older. Or he may take after his mother.”

She shot a glance at the older woman. Could Reagan have told Mrs. Browley the “long story” he didn’t want to share with her about why he wasn’t married? But the other woman just looked down at the baby.

Ally did, too. The baby stared up at her, his eyes only half open.

“Those eyes, though,” Mrs. Browley said, “are just like the blue of his daddy’s. Aren’t they, Sean?” The baby’s eyelids drifted closed, then fluttered open. She laughed softly. “He just finished eating, and now he’s fighting sleep. You should have a nice, quiet ride out to Reagan’s ranch.”

“I hope so.” And with one feeding out of the way, she might get a reprieve from having to give the baby his bottle today. Two afternoons’ worth of lessons with Tina and Andi had left her feeling a tiny bit more comfortable but nowhere near competent. And to her relief, at least neither Tina’s infant nor Andi’s little girl had protested when Ally held them. She had no guarantee of the same result with Reagan’s baby.

Mrs. Browley gave a heavy sigh.

Ally tensed. “Is there something wrong?”

The other woman shook her head sadly. “Just thinking about yesterday. I saw Jed Garland at Sugar’s, and we were discussing Reagan.”

“You were?” Ally eyed her from under her lashes. This didn’t sound promising. Everyone in town knew anytime Jed or Sugar involved a third party in one of their conversations, at least two of those three were up to something.

“We all knew both Reagan’s parents, of course,” Mrs. Browley said. “And we think that boy is going to have a hard time out at the ranch. Sandra was a wonderful wife and mother, and an excellent housekeeper, too. But she liked her crafts just as much as any of us in the women’s circle do. And she was a fabulous cook. Their place was filled with so many of her handmade decorations, and lots of material and yarn and cookbooks and all kinds of kitchen equipment.”

Ally tried not to grimace. At home, Mama often rolled her eyes and moaned that Ally would never learn to cook. She would reply she did know how—she did just fine with a box and a microwave, didn’t she? “Wouldn’t his father have gotten rid of some of those things, or given them away?”

“No. It was hard on Larry when Sandra got so sick. I know for a fact he couldn’t bring himself to touch any of her things once she passed on.” She rested her hand on Ally’s arm. “Having your help with the baby will give Reagan more time to focus on what needs to be done.”

And give her more time to waver between wanting to run from the ranch and longing to be with him.

“Well.” She looked at the baby, whose eyes were now fully closed. “I guess it’s time to get moving with Sleepy Beauty here.”

“Sleeping Beauty, I think you mean, dear. Although she was a girl, not a boy.” Mrs. Browley’s eyebrows dipped in a concerned frown.

“Don’t worry.” She laughed. “I do know the difference. You know I always joke when I’m feeling uptight.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that applied here. There’s nothing to be nervous about. This little angel won’t give you a bit of worry.”

Ally nodded. She only wished she could feel as confident.

Chapter Three

No wonder Reagan didn’t want to make the trip into town and back again twice in one day.

Ally had visited his family’s ranch once and knew it was small compared with most of the properties around Cowboy Creek. The narrow rectangular piece of land lay tucked between two larger spreads. But the ride had been longer than she remembered.

As she pulled the car up to the ranch house, she peeked into her rearview mirror at the car seat Reagan had left for her at Mrs. Browley’s house. Luckily, she had gotten instructions from Tina on the right way to install the seat in the car and then how to fasten the baby safely inside.

Another mirror suction-cupped to the back window reflected the infant’s image. In the frequent quick peeks she had taken on the drive to the ranch, she hadn’t seen him stir. Now, his eyes were open, blinking in the light, staring up at the mirror.

“Hey, baby,” she said softly. “So, you’re awake. Listen, the two of us are going to get along great. No tricks, no temper tantrums on your part. And only first-class care on mine. I promise you that. After all, I’ve been trained by the best. There’s nothing like learning your trade from a brand-new mama.”

She winced. As far as she knew, the baby didn’t have a mama. Had he ever heard the word before? How would he react at hearing it from her?

But he lay still in his seat, blinking lazily.

She took a deep breath and let it out again. Now or never. She would rather never, but that hadn’t been the agreement she had made with Reagan.

She went to the rear passenger door and knelt on the back seat to unhook the safety harness. “This is only your first time out here at the ranch, isn’t it?” Her hands shook just a tiny bit. So did her voice.

The baby looked up at her. He had slept through the entire ride, as if the bouncing of her car on the frequently uneven road had soothed him. Maybe the wobbly sound of her voice had the same effect. If that was the case, she would let her nerves take over and talk to him all day long.

She transferred him to his baby seat and strapped him in. “I’ve only been out to the ranch once before. My mama and the other ladies of the women’s circle sometimes have special Saturday meetings. And one Saturday a long time ago, when Mrs. Chase, your abuela—your grandma—had the meeting here, she invited all of the ladies to bring their kids along.”

After hoisting her purse and the diaper bag onto one shoulder, she picked up the baby in his carrier.

So far, so good. Keep talking.

“This was when I was in junior high school. You’ll find out all about school someday. Anyway, that Saturday, I got to see your daddy.” The memory made her voice suddenly rise. She looked at the baby in alarm, but he simply stared up at her. “He was grooming his horse outside the barn. And would you believe, I got hit with an attack of shyness. Me, Ally Martinez, The Girl Most Likely to Make You Laugh. Crazy, isn’t it? Well. I sat on the darned corral fence for almost an hour, never even saying hello, just watching him work.”

As she went up the steps to the house, she shot a fond glance toward the corral. Then she looked down at the baby. Sean seemed transfixed by her story. Maybe there wouldn’t be much to this babysitting, after all.

Reagan had told her the kitchen door at the back of the house would be open. She went inside and took the baby over to the table.

She hadn’t gotten her fill of Reagan that day long ago, but it was the first time she had ever been able to sit and stare at him unnoticed by anyone. Including him, unfortunately.

“Your daddy’s a couple of years older than I am,” she explained. “Well...probably closer to three, and I guess he thought I was just a little kid. He never did pay much attention to me.” Leaning closer to the baby, she whispered, “But let me tell you, things are going to change now. What do you think of that?”

The baby looked up and instantly gave her his answer. He stiffened his arms and legs, scrunched up his face and let out a screech.

“Hush,” she said hurriedly, rocking the seat slightly. The movement did no good and even seemed to upset the baby more. “Shh-h-h. Shh-h-h. Don’t cry, baby. Your daddy will hear you and fire me on the spot.”

“I already hear him.”

She jumped and let out a screech even louder than Sean’s.

Reagan’s voice had come from the other side of the kitchen. Reluctant to turn and face him, she stared down at the baby, whose face was getting redder by the minute. So was hers, judging by the heat flooding her cheeks. Reagan had heard the baby crying. But had he also heard anything she had said to the baby?

Suddenly, Reagan was standing beside her. He had sturdy hands with long fingers, and in seconds he had unfastened the straps around the baby. “When a kid’s this wrought-up,” he said, “rocking the seat’s not going to help. He needs out of here.” He lifted Sean and placed him against his shoulder.

She noted he cupped his hand around the back of the baby’s head just the way Tina had taught her.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Mrs. B fed him not long before you went to pick him up.”

She nodded. “That’s what she said. But he was fine in the car. He didn’t let out a peep the entire trip.”

“He’s making up for it now.” He patted the infant’s back. “He’s probably battling some gas from his formula.”

Again, she nodded. In the past, she had heard both Tina and Andi say something similar about one of their babies. Obviously, it was common with little ones. Why hadn’t she thought of that herself now?

She hadn’t been in the house two minutes yet, and already she had given Reagan reason to think she couldn’t handle the job he needed her to do.

* * *

SEAN SQUAWKED IN Reagan’s ear. “Shh-h-h,” he said, the way Ally had done. The baby quieted, but only a daddy with zero experience would expect that to last.

“Come on,” he said, “while we can hear ourselves talk, let me take you up and show you where to find all the baby’s things.” Leading the way, he left the kitchen and went to the stairs.

He was having trouble getting an image out of his mind, the sight of Ally leaning over the baby seat and whispering to his son. He had overheard the tail end of her one-sided conversation, and he was having trouble forgetting what she had said right before she had lowered her voice.