The Maverick's Holiday Surprise

Oh, he’d been adrift. He’d been adrift in between jobs, and he’d been adrift when he’d just enjoyed the scenery. But Bella seemed to think adrift was a bad thing. He didn’t.

They gazed at each other for what seemed like minutes, even though it was only seconds. He found himself wanting to slide his fingers through her hair. He found himself wanting to step even closer. There was a sparkle in her eyes when she looked at him that made him believe that maybe she was attracted to him, too. But he was sort of her boss, and she already thought he was judging everything she did. How stupid would it be to get involved with her? Yet he set the rules here, didn’t he? If he and Bella ever did really connect...

He suddenly cleared his throat. “I’d better open the door before anyone gets second thoughts about what’s going on in here. I wouldn’t want there to be any gossip about your reputation.”

A shadow passed over her face, a definite shadow. Maybe he’d learned a little personal information about her, but not nearly enough. Just what was that shadow from?

But she wasn’t going to confide in him any more than she already had. He could see that. She was already stepping away from his desk toward the door.

“Bella?”

She stopped.

“Are we okay?”

“We’re fine,” she said, raising up her chin a bit.

Fine. That was a wishy-washy word that didn’t nearly begin to describe what he felt when he was in the same room with Bella Stockton. But he just nodded because he could see that’s what she wanted him to do. He wasn’t going to push anything...not yet.

Chapter Two

On Saturday afternoon, Bella was thankful for the baby chain that was helping her brother at Short Hills Ranch. This afternoon, Lindsay Dalton, one of the volunteers in Jamie’s baby chain, had stopped by. She was taking over care of baby Jared while Jamie and Bella handled the others. By the stone fireplace in the family room, Bella was holding Henry and sitting in an old pine rocker she’d found at a flea market. His little eyes were almost shutting. Jamie had taken Katie upstairs to the nursery to try to calm her down. She was teething and couldn’t be easily consoled today.

Lindsay sat on the sofa cooing softly to Jared. “If Henry starts crying again, he will, too,” she whispered.

Lindsay was a pretty brunette and Bella could easily see why Walker, Hudson’s brother, had fallen for her. Her own friendship with Lindsay had been strained by the lawsuit against Just Us Kids since Lindsay had been the lawyer suing Walker. But now Lindsay and Walker were engaged, and Walker was going to work mostly from Rust Creek Falls and travel when necessary. Lindsay and Bella were finding common ground again by helping Jamie.

“How goes everything at Just Us Kids?” Lindsay asked her, truly interested.

Bella continued to rock back and forth, watching Henry’s fists curl. Holding a baby absolutely melted her heart, yet it made it hurt at the same time.

“Everything’s going well,” she told Lindsay. “At least it seems to be. We had a mother tell us that if she saw one baby with the sniffles, she’d pull her child and enroll him at Country Kids.” Country Kids was their rival for clients.

“Sniffles and kids just go together,” Lindsay said with a shake of her head. “Especially this time of year.”

“One sniffle now and Hudson asks the parent to keep their child home. That’s the way it has to be. I know that’s a hardship on the parents, but we can’t have another outbreak.”

“I’m glad we can talk about this,” Lindsay said. “I hated being on opposite sides of the fence.”

Bella nodded. She’d missed Lindsay’s friendship, too. “How are you and Walker?” she asked.

Lindsay’s face broke into a wide smile. “We’re wonderful. He’s wonderful.”

Then Lindsay asked, “How are you and Hudson getting along?”

“Fine,” Bella responded airily. There must have been something in her voice, because Lindsay asked, “How fine?”

Bella felt her cheeks flush.

Lindsay said gently, “You know, don’t you, that Hudson has a reputation for being a love-’em-and-leave-’em cowboy.”

“His reputation doesn’t matter,” Bella said. “He’s my boss. That’s it.”

Still she remembered the way they’d sat together eating those sticky ribs, the way they’d stood close and she’d felt heat from Hudson and her own heat in return.

“You don’t resent him overseeing you anymore?”

“I’m still not sure how I feel about that,” Bella admitted. “But I’m not as resentful as I was at the beginning. I understand that both Hudson and Walker have to safeguard the business. I just didn’t want someone judging every move I make.”

“Is Hudson doing that?”

“Actually, no, he isn’t. His managerial style is hands-off, unless he has to step in.”

She thought about how Hudson had stepped in after a parent had dressed her down. She also thought about Walker’s brief visits to the day care center and his sometimes condescending attitude to Hudson because he was the older brother.

“I wish Walker would tell Hudson he’s doing a good job. After all, Hudson handled the PR for the whole problem and managed to keep most of our staff and our clients. But I get the idea that Walker doesn’t understand what a huge achievement that is.”

Lindsay rubbed her finger along Jared’s chin, studying his baby face as if maybe she was contemplating having a child of her own someday.

“I hear what you’re saying,” Lindsay assured Bella. “But you know, brothers will be brothers. I get the feeling that Walker and Hudson’s relationship is complicated, so I think it’s better if I stay out of it.”

Bella admired Lindsay’s honesty. “You’re probably right. I wouldn’t want anyone interfering in my relationship with Jamie.”

After the babies fell asleep, Bella and Lindsay took them upstairs to their cribs in the nursery. Since Katie was still fussing, Jamie carried her to his bedroom so her restlessness and cries wouldn’t wake the other two.

Downstairs once more, Bella and Lindsay cleaned up the living room and den. There were always baby things scattered everywhere, from bottles to diapers to receiving blankets to toys. After Lindsay left, Bella went to find Jamie, still in the recliner in his bedroom, rocking Katie. In a pink onesie with a teddy bear embroidered on the front, she looked like a little angel. He was looking down at her as if she were one.

“She’s almost asleep,” he told Bella. “But she’s still restless. I want to make sure she’s really into a deep nap before I put her down with the others.”

“I can take her,” Bella offered. “Why don’t you go riding? You need a break.” He’d been up half the night with Katie.

“I want to make sure this is merely teething and not something else. She doesn’t feel hot, but I want to be certain she’s not running a temperature.”

Bella could hear the fatigue in Jamie’s voice, and he looked exhausted. He hadn’t shaved today, and beard stubble lined his chin. His blond hair fell over his brow as if he’d run his hand through it many times. But as he looked down at his daughter, his blue eyes were filled with love.

Jamie was often overwhelmed; she could see it on his face and hear it in his voice. Yet he never gave up on the ranch, and he never stopped putting the babies first. He always gave them every ounce of love and caring in his heart, even if that meant he didn’t have much of a life anymore.

She’d never regret quitting college and moving back in here with him. She loved helping him take care of the triplets. She loved being around the babies. But it was also painful. She so wanted to be a mother, but she knew she might never be able to have kids. Just how fair or right was that?

“What are you thinking about?” Jamie asked her. As a close sibling, he always could read her moods.

Her past played through her mind like a mocking newsreel. She could never forget about it, even though she tried. So she answered him truthfully.

“I’m thinking about how wild I was as a teenager.”

“You were dealing with our parents’ deaths.”

“So were you, but you didn’t jump off the deep end.”

“Our grandparents didn’t want us. I pretended I didn’t care. I put my energy into sports. But you—” He shook his head. “You were younger. You needed Grandma’s arms around you. You needed them to want you. They didn’t. That’s why we were separated from the others.”

Bella sighed. Their sisters Dana and Liza had been younger, more adoptable, and had been sent to a group home for that purpose. Their brothers Luke, Daniel and Bailey had been over eighteen and had been turned out on their own.

“Don’t you ever wonder where they all are?” Bella asked.

“Sure I do. But the fact remains that you and I haven’t left Rust Creek Falls. Our siblings could find us if they wanted to. They obviously don’t want to. Case closed.”

Bella understood Jamie’s attitude. After all, they’d been rejected by their grandparents. They didn’t need sibling rejection on top of that.

“Sometimes I don’t understand how you help me like you do,” Jamie said, looking troubled.

“I’m your sister.”

“Yes, but...”

She knew what he was getting at. They rarely talked about it, but today seemed like a day for stepping back into the past.

“I think she’s finally asleep,” he said, rising from the recliner and carrying Katie into the nursery. There he settled her into the crib and looked down on her with so much love Bella wanted to cry.

Then he turned back to her. “When you got pregnant, I didn’t know what to do to help you. After you lost your baby and possibly the chance ever to have another one, I didn’t know what to do then either. I don’t know how Grandma and Gramps kept everything that happened to you a secret, but they did. Grandma died so soon after you lost your baby, and Gramps blamed you. And me. But keeping the secret about your miscarriage wasn’t good for any of us...especially you. You couldn’t talk about what happened. You couldn’t express your grief.”

“Jamie,” she warned weakly, not wanting to delve into any of those feelings.

“I feel like you’re still grieving sometimes when you look at the triplets,” he explained.

“You’re wrong about that. I love being around Katie and Henry and Jared. They fill my life with happy times.”

“I know sharing the triplets with you isn’t the same as your having your own kids, but I want you to know I appreciate everything you do to help me and to take care of them. And even if you love being around them because they’re your niece and nephews, don’t you mind being around the babies and kids at the day care center? Isn’t it just downright hard?”

“Actually, it’s not,” she assured him. “I think the day care center has been my saving grace. Your triplets and the kids there...they fill me with joy. I don’t have time to be sad.”

Jamie suddenly gave her a huge hug, and she leaned into him, grateful to have her brother. In that moment, she thought about having more, too—about having a man to love, a relationship, a life outside the day care center and Jamie’s triplets. She thought about Hudson. She’d been attracted to him from the first moment she’d seen him. But she’d also realized what kind of man he was. He had a reputation, and she knew he wouldn’t stay no matter what kind of electricity was flowing between them now. She shouldn’t get involved...couldn’t get involved. Besides, she had nothing to give somebody like Hudson. He had experienced the world.

And she was just a small-town girl who couldn’t have kids.

* * *

Late Monday morning Hudson sat in his office much too aware of Bella at her desk in the reception area beyond. She really was an expert at handling the children. This morning he’d noticed the way she put her hand on a child’s shoulder, or gave him a hug. Her smile when she was with the kids was absolutely radiant. Yes, it was safe to say there was a lot about the woman that intrigued him.

As if his thoughts had beckoned her, she stood and approached his office. He invited her inside.

“I set up a meeting for you with the holiday pageant director, Eileen Bennet, next Wednesday afternoon,” she told him.

Every year the local elementary school put on a Christmas pageant, and this year they wanted the day care babies to get involved. “The pageant isn’t that far off. I hope she doesn’t have anything too complicated in mind.”

“If she knows babies, she won’t,” Bella said with a smile. She filled him in on what she knew, then turned to go. She’d almost reached the door of his office when he asked, “What did you do before you managed the day care center?”

He’d heard the gossip that she’d quit college to help her brother, but he didn’t know that for a fact.

“I was in college—my second year.”

He must have looked puzzled because she added, “I worked after I graduated from high school to save money for college.”

“What did you do?”

“Mostly I waitressed. Lots of long shifts so I could sock the tips away. Four years of that, and I applied for and received a grant from a women’s foundation. I enrolled at Montana State University.”

“What was your major?”

“Business administration. I eventually wanted to focus on public affairs and learn strategies for helping small towns survive. Maybe that’s a pipe dream, but if someone doesn’t inject life into a place like Rust Creek Falls, it could become a ghost town. That was especially true after the flood.”

“So your college courses gave you managerial skills that come into play here.”

“I guess you could say that. I don’t know when I’ll be able to complete my degree. Working here will help me save the money to do it. But I plan to stick around Rust Creek Falls as long as Jamie needs me.”

Bella’s eyes sparkled with her dedication to her brother, as well as with the dreams that she still envisioned. More than anything, Hudson wanted to stand up and go over to her. He longed to brush her bangs across her forehead. Even more than that, he ached to tip her chin up, to bend his head, to put his lips on hers.

And that’s why he stayed sitting. Yeah, he longed to kiss her, but they were in their workplace. Besides that, he wasn’t looking for a long-term commitment, and Bella was the type of woman who deserved one.

This time when she moved to leave his office, he let her.

For the rest of the morning, Hudson felt unsettled. Finally he pushed away from his computer, stood and stretched. Truth be told, he wasn’t used to sitting at a desk for most of the day. If he had to choose a job he liked best, it would be one training horses, cutting calves or walking through a field or pasture checking fence. He liked being a cowboy. Even now he rode whenever he could at the Lazy B, but it wasn’t the same thing as being on a horse most of the day.

Leaving his office, he spotted Bella. Instead of at her desk, she was on a ladder at the bulletin board in the reception area. Instinctively, he crossed to her, fearful she was going to fall off.

As he stood a few feet from her, he could see that she was putting up photos of the babies who came to Just Us Kids. There had been an explosion of pregnancies after a wedding reception that most of the town had taken part in two summers ago. Rumor had it that old man Homer Gilmore had put something potent in the punch. The result: nine months later, nurseries had been full of babies. Many of those babies were enrolled at Just Us Kids.

He moved a little closer to study the photos, and Bella took notice of him.

“These pictures are good. Who took them?”

“I did,” Bella said proudly.

She was still on the ladder, and he stood close to her, his shoulder at her waist. “You just didn’t snap quick photos. These are well thought out, artistic even. Look at the eyes on this little guy. They absolutely sparkle.” He pointed to another one. “And this expression is priceless. You have a real artist’s eye and good timing. Kids move and change minute to minute, and you’ve caught some of their best expressions.”

She glanced down at him, and their gazes met. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Clearing his throat, he said offhandedly, “You’d probably enjoy looking at the paintings at my ranch house.”

Bella seemed to almost lose her balance. She toddled, and he put his arm around her to support her. They stood frozen, staring at each other, her face above his but not so far away. Why had she lost her balance? Had she thought he wanted her to come back to his ranch house for other reasons?

Maybe he did.

“You have to careful,” he mumbled.

She nodded slowly. “Yes, I do.” Then she pushed away from him and made her way down the ladder.

Once she was on the ground, he asked, “Do you have other photos you’ve taken? Not of babies?”

“I do. I carry my camera with me almost everywhere I go.”

“Get it,” he said impulsively. “I’d like to see them.”

“Now?”

“You’re due for a lunch break and so am I, right?”

Bella didn’t know what to think of Hudson’s suggestion. Did he really want to see her photos? Why? And just what had he meant by that comment about going to his ranch? Did he really want her to see the paintings? Or did he have something else in mind?

Did she?

She felt her cheeks beginning to flush. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. For years now she hadn’t dated. She’d kept to herself. She’d been determined not to get into any more trouble, not to do something foolish or reckless. But in a way, her heart had been frozen during those years. She’d rebelled as a teenager, and that had gotten her into so much trouble. No, she hadn’t loved the father of her baby. Yes, she’d been looking for love, and somehow she’d mistakenly thought that sex could give her love. But she knew better than that now. She knew better about a lot of things.

But having Hudson’s arm around her when she’d almost fallen, catching the scent of his aftershave, looking into his blue eyes, foolish and reckless and impulsive had all seemed like good ideas.

No, no, no, she told herself firmly. Hudson Jones is nothing but trouble for you.

Knowing all that, she still said, “My camera’s in my bag. I’ll get it.”

Going around her desk, she opened the bottom drawer. Inside her hobo bag she found her point-and-shoot camera. It wasn’t anything special, but it worked for her.

Taking the small white camera to Hudson, she turned it on. Then she hit the button that brought up the display and the photo review. “My SD card is almost full,” she admitted, handing him the camera so he could look for himself. She pointed to an arrow button. “Just press that to go backward or forward.”

He was silent for a long time as he seemed to spend forever on each photo. When she glanced over his arm, she saw he was studying the sequence she’d taken on Short Hills Ranch. She’d shot the fall foliage with horses in the background. She’d captured Jamie astride a horse as well as a bay with a star on its forehead looking straight at the camera. There was a shot inside the stable, too, where a yellow light cast a horse in a golden glow.

As Hudson shuffled through one photo after another, she watched his expression. He had an expressive face, not stoic like her grandfather’s. She saw his eyes widen with surprise when he glimpsed at a photo he especially liked. She spied his mouth turn up at the corners as he went through a sequence of the triplets more than once. There was Katie with cereal all over her face... Henry with his thumb in his mouth... Jared crawling toward a favorite toy. She’d also caught Jamie standing in a window at dusk, his profile in shadow.

Hudson suddenly lowered the camera. “Do you know how good these are?”

She analyzed every crease on his face, the openness in his eyes. Was he feeding her a line?

But his next words told her he wasn’t. “I can see you don’t know how good you are. Did you ever think about hiring out your services?”

“It’s just a hobby.”

“It’s a hobby that could take you someplace. What if I tell you I know someone who might like to hire you to take photos?”

“Of what?” she asked suspiciously. After all, she’d learned to be suspicious of men and their motives.

“Do you know Brooks Smith?”

The name sounded familiar, and all at once she placed it. “He’s a veterinarian. I’ve never met him. His dad usually comes out to Short Hills when we need a vet.”

“Brooks and his dad have separate practices but cover for each other. His dad is cutting back his hours. Anyway, Brooks and his wife, Jazzy, run a horse rescue ranch out at the edge of town. The ranch is a passion with them, and they’re going to have pamphlets printed about the facility. Jazzy mentioned she just hasn’t had time to put it all together. Do you think you’d be interested in taking photos of the horses on the ranch?”

She was so busy now that she didn’t know what to say. Between work and the triplets, she sometimes didn’t have time to breathe. But the idea of taking photographs and making extra money was downright inviting.

“When would I have to do this?”

“Pretty soon, I guess. They mentioned handing out the pamphlets at their holiday open house.”

“I don’t have much spare time,” she admitted.

“I know you don’t, but this would probably only take a few hours.”

“You don’t know if Brooks and his wife would really want me.”

“I can set up a meeting.”

“Let me think about it. If Jamie has enough help, it would be a possibility.”

Hudson motioned to the photos of the babies on the bulletin board. Then he pointed to her camera. “You have a gift, Bella. You see with your camera what most folks can’t see with their eyes. You really should share that.”

She thought about that, then asked, “Why? I mean, everyone sees what they want to see for the most part.”

“But what if you can broaden someone’s outlook? What if you could give them a positive spin instead of a negative one? What if you can make a difference?”

“We’re talking about shooting a few photos.” She couldn’t keep the amusement from her voice because she thought maybe he was joking.

“No, not just a few shots. Each of your photos is a study of your subject that you’ve captured for eternity. That’s not something to treat lightly.”

She never expected something so deep to come out of Hudson. That just proved she didn’t know him very well. And he certainly didn’t know her.

“I’ll check with Brooks and Jazzy,” he said. “You think about it. I’m going to take a walk and get some lunch. Would you like some fresh air, too? You’re welcome to join me.”

She could hear the sound of children’s laughter coming from one of the rooms. When she looked up at Hudson, she saw interest in his eyes. The children were safety. Hudson was danger.

As she had for the past few years, she chose safety. “I’d better stay here in case anybody needs me.”

“You like to feel needed, don’t you?”

“I do. It gives my life purpose.”

He shrugged. “I’ve never had that kind of purpose. I’m not exactly sure what it feels like.”

“Walker needed you here. Isn’t that why you took over supervising Just Us Kids?”

“I never looked at it that way,” he conceded. “I guess you’re right.” He motioned to the bulletin board. “It looks good. It will capture people’s attention. Soon we’ll have to decorate for the holidays.”

“It’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”

“Not so far off,” he reminded her as he moved toward the door. He opened it and looked back over his shoulder at her. “I won’t be long. If anything comes up, you have my cell number.”

She nodded. She did have his cell number. But she doubted she’d ever use it.

Chapter Three

As she approached Jamie’s front porch, Bella couldn’t stop thinking about Hudson and the way he’d studied her photos. He’d really seemed interested. She’d never thought of taking pictures for actual payment. That would be a breeze if it panned out because she loved photos and she loved horses, so she knew they’d be good. She hoped Hudson would really follow through with his offer.