The Rancher's Christmas Promise

Didn’t mean Ryder hadn’t wondered, though.

But doing a DNA test at this point wouldn’t change anything where he was concerned. It would prove Layla was his by blood. Or it wouldn’t.

Either way, he believed she was his wife’s child.

Which made Layla his responsibility. Period.

The questions about Daisy, though? Every time he looked at Layla, they bubbled up inside him.

For now, though, he focused on Greer.

It was no particular hardship.

The Templeton triplets scored pretty high in the looks department. He could tell Greer apart from her twins because she always looked a little more sophisticated. Maddie—the social worker who’d been Layla’s foster mother—had long hair reaching halfway down her back. Ali—the cop who’d shown up on his doorstep—had blond streaks. And he’d never seen her dressed in anything besides her police uniform.

Greer, though?

Her dark hair barely reached her shoulders and not a single strand was ever out of place. She was a lawyer and dressed the part in skinny skirts with expensive-looking jackets and high heels that looked more big-city than Wyoming dirt. She’d been the one who’d ushered him through all the legalities with the baby. And she was the only one of her sisters who hadn’t been openly crying when they’d brought Layla and all of her stuff out to his ranch to turn her over to his care. But there’d been no denying the emotion in her eyes. She just hadn’t allowed herself the relief of tears.

For some reason, that had seemed worse.

Ryder had been uncomfortable as hell with so much female emotion. Greer’s most of all.

He’d rather have to deal with the general animosity Daisy’s brother clearly felt for him. That, at least, was straightforward and simple. Grant’s sister was dead. Whether he’d voiced it outright or not, he blamed Ryder.

Since Ryder was already shouldering the blame, it didn’t make any difference to him.

Now Greer was shading her eyes with one hand and holding her hair off her neck with the other. Instead of asking about Layla first thing, though, she stopped near the front bumper of her car. “It overheated. I saw steam coming out from the hood and pulled off as soon as I could.”

He joined her in front of the car. He knew the basics when it came to engines—enough to keep the machinery on his ranch running without too much outside help—but he was a lot more comfortable with the anatomy of horses and cows. “How long have you been sitting out here?”

“Too long.” She plucked the front of her blouse away from her throat and glanced at the watch circling her narrow wrist. “I thought someone would stop sooner than this. Ali’ll think I’m deliberately late.”

The only heat from the engine came from the sun glaring down on it. He checked a few of the hoses and looked underneath for signs of leaking coolant, but the ground beneath the car was dry. “Why’s that?”

“We’re throwing a surprise baby shower for Maddie today. I’m supposed to help set up.”

“Didn’t know she was pregnant.” He straightened. It was impossible to miss the sharpness in Greer’s brown eyes.

“Why would you, when you’ve been avoiding all of us since March?”

“Some law that says I needed to do otherwise?” He hadn’t been avoiding them entirely. Just...mostly.

It had been easy, considering he had a ranch to run.

She pursed her bow-shaped lips. “You know my family has a vested interest in Layla. At the very least, you could try accepting an invitation or two when they’re extended.”

“Maybe I’m too busy to accept invitations.” He waited a beat. “I am a single father, you know.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, her eye actually twitched.

She’d always struck him as the one most tightly wound.

It was too bad that he also couldn’t look at her without wondering just what it would take to unwind her.

He closed the hood of her car with a firm hand. “You want to try starting her up? See what happens with the temperature gauge?”

He thought she might argue—if only for the sake of it—but she opened the passenger door. Then he had to choke back a laugh when she climbed across and into the driver’s seat, where she started the engine. Her focus was clearly on her dashboard and he could tell the gauge was rising just by the frown on her face.

She shut off the engine again and looked through the windshield. “Needle went straight to the red.” She climbed back out the passenger side.

“Something wrong with the driver’s-side door?”

She was looking down at herself as she got out, tweaking that white skirt hugging her slender hips until it hung smooth and straight. “No, but I don’t want it getting hit by a passing vehicle if I open it.”

He eyed the distance between the edge of the road and where she’d pulled off on the shoulder. “Real cautious of you.”

“I’m a lawyer. I’m always cautious.”

“Overly so, I’d say.” Not that he hadn’t enjoyed the show. She was a little skinny for his taste, but he couldn’t deny she was a looker. He pulled off his cowboy hat long enough to swipe his arm across his forehead. “I can drive you into town, or I can send a tow out for you.” He didn’t have time to do both, because he had to be back at the ranch before the nanny left or his housekeeper, Mrs. Pyle, would have kittens. “What’s your choice?”

* * *

Greer swallowed her frustration. Considering Ryder Wilson’s standoffishness since they’d met, she was a little surprised that he’d stopped to assist at all.

As soon as she’d realized who was driving the enormous pickup truck pulling up behind her car, she’d been torn between anticipation and the desire to cry what next?

It was entirely annoying that the brawny, blue-eyed rancher was the first man to make her hormones sit up and take notice in too long a while.

Annoying and impossible to act on, considering the strange nature of their acquaintance.

All she wanted to do was ask Ryder how Layla was doing. But Maddie had been insistent that none of them intrude on him too soon.

They’d all been wrapped around Layla’s tiny little finger and none more than Maddie, who’d been caring for her nearly the whole while before Ali discovered Ryder’s existence. Yet it was Maddie who’d urged them to give Ryder time. To adjust. To adapt. They knew Ryder was taking decent care of the baby he’d claimed, because Maddie’s boss, Raymond Marx, checked up on him for a while at first, so he could report back to the courts. Give Ryder time, Maddie insisted, and eventually he would see the benefit of letting them past his walls.

Didn’t mean that it had been easy.

Didn’t mean it was easy now, not dashing over to the truck to see Layla.

She didn’t know if it was that prospect that made her feel so shaky inside, or if it was because of Layla’s brown-haired daddy. She wasn’t sure she even liked Ryder all that much.

Yes, he’d been legally named Layla’s father and yes, he’d taken responsibility for her. But there was an edge to him that had rubbed Greer wrong from the very first time they met. She just hadn’t been able to pinpoint why.

“If you don’t mind driving me into town,” she managed, “I’d be grateful.”

The brim of his hat dipped briefly. “Probably should lock her up.” He started for his big truck parked behind the car.

She watched him walk away. He was wearing blue jeans and a checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Except for when he’d briefly swiped an arm over his forehead, he appeared unaffected by the sweltering day.

“Probably should lock her up,” she parroted childishly under her breath. As if she didn’t have the sense to know that without being told.

She retrieved her purse and briefcase from the back seat, looping the long straps over her shoulder, then warily lifted the trunk lid higher. The shower cake that she’d nestled carefully between two boxes full of work from the office amazingly didn’t look too much the worse for wear. It was a delightful amalgam of block and ball shapes, frosted in white, yellow and blue. How Tabby Clay had balanced them all together like that was a mystery to Greer.

She was just glad to see that the creation hadn’t melted into a puddle of goo while she’d waited on the side of the road.

She carefully lifted the white board with the heavy cake on top out of the trunk and gingerly carried it toward Ryder’s truck. Her heart was beating so hard, she could hear it inside her head. The last time she’d seen Layla had been at Shop-World in Weaver, when she’d taken a client shopping for an affordable set of clothes to wear for trial, and Ryder had been in the next checkout line over, buying diapers, coffee and whiskey.

Layla had been asleep in the cart. Greer had noticed that her blond curls had gotten a reddish cast, but the stuffed pony she’d clutched was the same one Greer had given her for Valentine’s Day.

It had been all she could do not to pluck the baby out of the cart and cuddle her close. Instead, after a stilted exchange with Ryder, she’d hustled her client through the checkout so fast that he’d wondered out loud if she’d slid through without paying for something. No. That’s what you like to do, she’d told him as she’d rushed him out the door.

But now, when she got close enough to Ryder’s truck to see inside, her feet dragged to a halt.

There was no car seat.

Definitely no Layla.

The disappointment that swamped her was so searing, it put the hot afternoon sun to shame. Her eyes stung and she blinked hard, quickening her pace once more only to feel her heel slide on the loose gravel. The heavy cake started tipping one way and she leveled the board, even as her shoulder banged against the side of his truck.

She froze, holding her breath as she held the cake board aloft.

“What the hell are you doing over here?”

She was hot. Sweaty. And brokenhearted that she wasn’t getting a chance to see sweet Layla.

“What do you care?” she snapped back. She was still holding the cake straight out from her body, and the weight of it was considerable. “Just open the door, would you please? If I don’t deliver this thing in one piece, Ali’s going to skin me alive.”

He gave her a wide berth as he reached around her to open the door of the truck. “Let me take it.” His hands covered hers where she held the board, and she jerked as if he’d prodded her with a live wire.

Her face went hot. “I don’t need your help.”

He let go and held his hands up in the air. “Whatever.” He backed away.

Nobody liked to feel self-conscious. Not even her.

She turned away from him to set the cake board inside the truck, but it was too big to fit on the floor, which meant she’d have to hold it on her lap.

Greer heaved out a breath and looked at Ryder. He wordlessly took the cake long enough for her to dump her briefcase and purse on the floor, and climb up on the high seat.

“All settled now?” His voice was mild.

For some reason, it annoyed her more than if he’d made some snarky comment.

Unfortunately, that’s when she realized that she’d left her trunk open and the car unlocked.

She slid off the seat again, mentally cursing ranchers and their too-big trucks as she jumped out onto the ground. Ignoring the amused glint in his dark blue eyes, she strode past him, grinding her teeth when her heel again slid on the loose gravel.

She’d have landed on her butt if not for the quick hand he shot out to steady her.

She shrugged off his touch as if she’d been burned but managed a grudging “thank you.” It figured that he could manage to hold on to the heavy cake and still keep her from landing on her butt.

She finally made it to her car without further mishap and secured it. The passenger door of his truck was still open and waiting for her when she returned.

She climbed inside and fastened the safety belt. Then he settled the enormous, heavy cake on her lap, taking an inordinate amount of time before sliding his big, warm hands away.

As soon as he did, she yanked the door closed.

The cool air flowed from the air-conditioning vents.

It was the only bright spot, and gave a suitable reason for the shivers that skipped down her spine.

She wrapped her hands firmly around the edge of the cake board to hold it in place while Ryder circled the front of the truck and got in behind the wheel.

His blue eyes skated over and she shivered again. Despite the heat. Despite the perspiration soaking her blouse.

Annoyance swelled inside her.

“I hope you have someone decent watching Layla.”

His expression turned chilly. “I’ve got plenty of things I needed to be doing besides stopping to help you out. You really want to go there?”

She pressed her lips together. If Maddie ever found out she’d been rude to Ryder, her sister would never forgive her.

“Just drive,” she said ungraciously.

He lifted an eyebrow slightly.

God. She really hated feeling self-conscious.

“Please,” she added.

He waited a beat. “Better.” Then he put the truck in gear.

Chapter Two

“I knew you’d be late.”

Greer ignored Ali’s greeting as she entered the stately old mansion that Maddie shared with her husband, Lincoln Swift. She kicked the heavy front door closed, blocking out the sound of Ryder’s departing truck. Passing the round table in the foyer loaded down with fancifully wrapped gifts and the grand wooden staircase, she headed into the dining room with the cake.

The sight of a cheerfully decorated sheet cake already sitting in the middle of the table shredded her last nerve.

She stared over her shoulder at Ali. Her sister looked uncommonly pretty in a bright yellow sundress. More damningly, Ali was as cool and fresh as the daisy she’d stuck in her messy ponytail. “You have a backup cake?”

“Of course I have a backup cake.” Ali waved her hands, and the big diamond rock that Grant had put on her ring finger a few months earlier glinted in the sunlight shining through the mullioned windows. “Because I knew you would be late! You’re always late, because you’re always working for that slave driver over at the dark side.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have been late, if I hadn’t broken down on the way back from Weaver! Now would you move that stupid cake so I can put this one down where it belongs?”

“Girls!” Their mother, Meredith, dashed into the dining room, accompanied by the usual tinkle of tiny bells on the ankle bracelet she wore. “This is supposed to be a party.” She tsked. “You’re thirty years old and you still sound as if you’re bickering ten-year-olds.” She whisked the offending backup cake off the table. “Ali, put this in the kitchen.”

Ali took the sheet cake from their mother and crossed her eyes at Greer behind their mother’s back while Greer set Tabby’s masterpiece in its place.

“It’s just beautiful,” Meredith exclaimed, clasping her hands together. Despite her chastisement, her eyes were sparkling. “Maddie’s going to love it.” As she turned away, the dark hair she’d passed on to her daughters danced in corkscrew curls nearly to the small of her back. “It’s just too bad that Tabby wasn’t able to come to the party.”

“If Gracie weren’t running a fever, she’d have brought the cake herself.” Greer glanced around. “Obviously Ali didn’t have a problem decorating without me. It looks like the baby-shower fairy threw up in here.” The raindrop theme was in full force. Silver and white balloons hovered above the table in a cluster of “clouds” from which shimmering crystal raindrops hung down, drifting slightly in the cool room. It was sweet and subtly chic and just like Maddie. Altogether perfect, really.

As usual, Ali hadn’t really needed Greer at all.

Meredith squeezed her arm as if she’d read her mind. “Stop sweating the details, Greer. You had a hand in the planning of this, whether you were here to help pull it together this afternoon or not. Now—” she eyed Greer more closely “—what’s this about your car breaking down?”

It was a timely reminder that she probably looked as bedraggled as she felt. A glance at her watch told her the guests would be arriving in a matter of minutes. Linc was supposed to be delivering Maddie—hopefully still in the dark about the surprise—shortly after that.

“The car overheated. I left it locked up on the side of the road.”

“How’d you get here?”

She felt reluctant to say, knowing the mention of Ryder would only remind them all of how much they missed Layla. “Someone stopped and gave me a ride to town. I’ll arrange a tow after the shower.” She dashed her hand down the front of her outfit and headed for the stairs. “I need to put on something less wrinkled and sweaty. Hopefully there’s more than just maternity clothes in Maddie’s closet.” She hadn’t made it halfway up the staircase before the doorbell rang and she could hear Ali greeting the new arrivals.

She darted up the rest of the stairs.

Even after more than half a year, it was hard to get used to the fact that Maddie lived in this grand old house with Linc. The place had belonged to his and Jax’s grandmother Ernestine. When the triplets were children, Meredith had cleaned house for Ernestine. Greer and her sisters had often accompanied her. Now, Jax no longer shared the house with Linc. Maddie did.

She entered the big walk-in closet, mentally sending an apology to her brother-in-law for the intrusion. She knew that Maddie wouldn’t mind. Not surprisingly, most of the clothes hanging on the rods were designed for a woman who looked about a hundred months pregnant.

She could hear the doorbell chime again downstairs and quickly flipped through the hangers, finally pulling out a colorful dress she remembered Maddie wearing for Easter, when she’d had just a small baby bump. The dress had a stretchy waist that was a little loose on Greer, but it would do.

She changed and flipped her hair up into a clip. If there’d been blond streaks in her hair, she’d look just like Ali. Tousled and carefree.

But Greer hadn’t felt carefree in what was starting to feel like forever.

She stared at her reflection and plucked at the loose waist of the dress. Maddie was pregnant. Now Ali and Grant were married. Considering how the two couldn’t keep their hands off each other, it was only a matter of time before they were starting a family, too.

But Greer?

The last date she’d had that had gotten even remotely physical was more than two years ago, so if she wanted a baby, she was going to need either a serious miracle or big-time artificial intervention. As it was, the little birth control implant she had in her arm was pretty much pointless.

From downstairs, she heard a peal of laughter. Turning away from her reflection, she headed down to join them. She might not feel carefree, but she was thrilled about Maddie’s coming baby. So she would put on a party face for that reason alone.

And she would try to forget that Ali had gotten a damn backup cake.

* * *

Ryder stared at Doreen Pyle. “What do you mean, you’re quitting?”

“Just that, Ryder.” Mrs. Pyle continued scooping mushy green food into Layla’s mouth, even though the little girl kept twisting her head away. “When you hired me, it was to be your housekeeper. Not your nanny.”

“That’s because I had a nanny.” His voice was tight. “Look, I’m sorry that Tina took a hike this afternoon with no warning.” At least the others who’d come before her had given him some notice. “I’ll start looking again first thing tomorrow.”

“It won’t matter, Ryder. Nobody wants to live all the way out here.” She finally gave up on the green mush and glanced at him. The look in her lined eyes was more sympathetic than her tone had been. “You need to give up the idea of a live-in nanny, Ryder. Or else give up the idea of a housekeeper. You can’t afford both.”

He could, if he were willing to dip into his savings. But he wasn’t willing. Any more than he was willing to take Adelaide’s money. She’d made her way on her own, and he was doing the same. On his own. But if he were going to continue growing this small ranch, he couldn’t be carting a growing baby around everywhere while he worked. “I’ll give you another raise.” He’d already given her one. “Stay on and take care of Layla. You’re good with her. I’ll hire someone to help with the housekeeping.”

“I don’t want to live out here, either.” She pushed off her chair, wincing a little as she straightened. “The only difference between me and Tina is that I won’t take off while your back is turned.” She grabbed a cloth and started wiping up Layla’s face. The baby squirmed, trying to avoid the cloth just like she’d tried to avoid the green muck. But Mrs. Pyle prevailed and then tossed the cloth aside. “You don’t need a nanny around the clock, anyway. You’re here at night.” She lifted the baby out of the high chair. “You can take care of her yourself. Then just get some help during the day. Preferably someone who doesn’t have to drive farther than from Braden, or once the winter comes, you’re going to have problems all over again.” She plopped Layla into his arms and hustled to the sink where she wet another cloth. “But it won’t be me. I have my own family I need to look out for, too. My grandson—” She broke off, grimacing. She squeezed out the moisture and waved the rag at him. “I won’t apologize for not wanting to be tied down to a baby all over again. Not at my age.” She sounded defensive.

“I don’t need an apology, Mrs. Pyle. I need someone to take care of Layla!”

The baby lightly slapped his face with her hands and laughed.

Mrs. Pyle’s expression softened. She chucked Layla lightly under the chin. “Maybe instead of looking for a nanny, you should start looking for a mama for this little girl.”

Ryder grimaced.

“There are plenty of other fish in the sea. All you need to do is cast your line. You’re a good-looking cuss when you clean yourself up. Someone’ll come biting before you know it.”

“I don’t think so.” One foray into so-called wedded bliss was one disaster enough.

The look in Doreen’s eyes got even more sympathetic. “I know what it’s like to lose a spouse, hon. Single parents might be all the rage these days, but I’m here to tell you it’s easier when two people are committed to their family. You’re still young. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life alone. I’m sure your poor wife wouldn’t have wanted that, either. She’d surely want this little mite to have a proper mama. Someone who won’t toss aside caring for Layla on some flighty whim the way Tina just did.”

He managed a tight smile. His “poor wife” had been exactly that. A poor wife. But not in the way Doreen Pyle meant. Abandoning Layla had been a helluva way to show off her maternal nature. Tina’s quitting out of the blue was a lot more forgivable. “Would you at least stay until I find someone new?” He had to finish getting the hay in before the weather turned. And then he and his closest neighbor to the east were helping each other through roundup. Then he’d be sorting and shipping and—

“I’ll stay another week,” she said, interrupting the litany of tasks running through his mind. “But that’s it, Ryder.”

Layla grinned up at him with her six teeth and smacked his face again with her hand.

He looked back at his housekeeper. “A week.”

“That’s all the time I can give you, Ryder. I’m sorry.”

A week was better than nothing.

And it was damn sure more than Tina had given him.

“I don’t suppose you could stay and watch Layla for another few hours or so?” As his housekeeper began shaking her head no, he grabbed the refrigerator door and stuck his head inside, so he could pretend he didn’t see. “Got a friend—” big overstatement there “—who needs help towing her car back to town. Broke down up near Devil’s Crossing.” He grabbed the bottle of ketchup that Layla latched onto and stuck it back on the refrigerator shelf. She immediately reached for something else and he quickly shut the door and gave Mrs. Pyle a hopeful look. The same one he’d mastered by the time he was ten and living with Adelaide.