Lone Star Daddy

At the age of eighteen, Reena had come to work on the Chaparral as a maid, but after a few years her culinary skills had pushed her to the position of cook. Now widowed and with a grown daughter living away, Reena spent her days on the ranch and her nights taking care of her ninety-year-old mother.

“It wasn’t that heavy, Reena. I think both thermoses are practically empty,” Alexa said as she began placing dirty glasses and mugs in the sink.

“So Frankie is already gone?”

Alexa bit back a sigh. She’d come home, eager to help with stacks of bookkeeping for the Chaparral while her mother was away. She’d not envisioned having to deal with a man like Jonas Redman in the house.

You can always tell him no thanks, Alexa. You can flatly refuse to allow him in the house.

Yes, she could refuse, Alexa thought glumly. But that would only throw more worry onto Quint. And she already felt guilty enough about the heavy load her brother carried. Besides, now that she thought about it, she’d overreacted to the whole thing. Jonas Redman wasn’t going to intrude on her life. Even if he was one of the sexiest men she’d ever laid eyes on, his interests obviously didn’t include a very pregnant single woman. And she’d be incredibly conceited to think otherwise.

“Yes. I waved her off a few minutes ago.”

“She’s very excited,” Reena said. “And happy. That’s so good to see. Earlier this winter I was afraid she was going to die.”

“So was I, Reena. But once she realized she had something to live for, she agreed to the heart operation, which she desperately needed. Thank God.”

Reena climbed down from the step chair and put her watering can to one side. “Well, you having this baby has also done wonders for her.” She slanted a concerned eye at Alexa. “Are you feeling okay? Your face is flushed.”

No doubt, Alexa thought wryly. Jonas Redman had stirred her blood. Although she wasn’t sure why. He’d simply been following orders. And he’d not given her one sly look, one suggestive word. Yet she’d found herself having thoughts about him that were disturbing. She’d never reacted to any other man like that before she was pregnant.

“I’m fine. It’s just a little warm out this afternoon.”

Alexa began to fill the sink with warm water, but Reena quickly elbowed her away.

“Go. Rest. Do something. I’ll tend to these.”

Knowing better than to argue with the woman, Alexa left the kitchen and climbed the stairs. Earlier this morning, before she’d left her bedroom, she’d opened the heavy wooden door that led onto the balcony, and now a cool breeze wafted through the large room and rustled the bed skirt on the dark oak four-poster.

These days she tired easily, and oftentimes her body begged for a nap. But this afternoon she was too wired to think about sleep and ignoring the bed, she walked out onto the balcony.

The ranch house sat in a valley that ran for several miles between pine-covered mountains. To the right she could see the Rio Bonito meandering through banks lined with willows and aspens. To the left, a massive ranch yard with barns, sheds, outbuildings and cattle pens spread across many acres.

In all her life and all her travels, Alexa had never seen a prettier place than the Chaparral. And from her father she’d inherited a deep love of the land. Yet at the moment she took no solace in the majestic landscape sweeping southwest toward Alto. No, her thoughts were on Jonas Redman and the fact that she was now going to have to go over to the ranch yard and tell him that she’d changed her mind about having him for a housemate.

Across from the house, at the end of a long line of horse stables, Jonas stood in his office with a cell phone jammed to his ear while Captain Leo Weaver with the Texas Rangers tossed questions at him.

“How much longer do you think this is going to take, Jonas?”

Frowning, Jonas peered out the dusty window as he watched a couple of cowboys attempt to repair a wooden feed trough with hammer and nails. “Right now it’s impossible to say, Captain. I’ve seen nothing moving on this property or the surrounding property. But these ranches around here are hardly small. I actually need another man here—an extra set of eyes and ears. As it stands, it’s going to take me days more riding to search out the backside of this ranch.”

Normally the Rangers didn’t go out of their jurisdiction, which was the state of Texas. But this was a bistate crime, and New Mexico had invited them and asked for their help. As a result, Jonas had been chosen for the job.

“What about using a four-wheeler? That ought to speed things up.”

“Most places are far too rough for an ATV. Horse or mule is the safest means of searching. That’s why another man would sure help.”

“Right now I don’t have a spare man to put on the case. Besides, two Rangers would be easier to spot than one. Another new hand coming onto the ranch—especially one that isn’t from the area—would make everyone suspicious. You’re gonna have to go this one alone, Jonas.”

Jonas bit back the frustration he was feeling. Leo was right; two new outsiders coming to work on the Chaparral at the same time could throw up red flags. His captain expected him to deal with the matter on his own, and Jonas would. It would just take him a lot longer. And he wanted to be gone from this place. He wanted to go home to Texas. And he damned sure didn’t want to babysit a pregnant woman.

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“The Cattlemen’s Association and the state livestock regulators are on me about this, Jonas. They’re worried about diseases being shipped in and spreading through healthy herds. We’re talking millions of dollars at stake. Not to mention the criminal aspect of it. Mexico does not want to give up its corner on the Corriente cattle market and Texas does not want Mexican cattle shipped illegally across its borders. Presently, all the information points to rustlers routing their stock through southern New Mexico. Particularly from your point through Portales and Clovis. And all of the areas—Texas, Mexico and New Mexico are working on it. But we think you are in the right area to uncover something. Have you picked up on anything at all?”

“Not much. Right now I’m just trying to look like a ranch manager and get a sense of the personal routines of the hands.”

“You think one of them is in on it?”

Jonas suddenly straightened his shoulder away from the window when he spotted Alexa Cantrell walking slowly across the dusty ground toward his office. She’d changed from the slacks and blouse she’d been wearing earlier into a blue-and-white flowered dress with a peasant neckline. The wind caused the hem to dance around her shapely calves and mold against her mounded stomach. He’d never realized a woman could be pregnant and sexy at the same time. Until now.

“Hard to say, Captain. Some people are more difficult to read than others. And some don’t talk about anything. I’m hoping something will break soon.”

“Let me know the minute it does.”

As Alexa neared the door of the office, Jonas lowered his voice. “Will do. Someone’s coming—I’d better get off.”

He snapped the phone together and dropped it into his shirt pocket just as the woman stepped through the door. She stared at the empty desk chair, then jerked her head sideways as she realized he was standing a few steps away from her.

“Oh. There you are.”

Jonas stepped away from the window to greet her. “This is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you again today.”

Folding her hands in front of her, she turned to face him. There was a humble look to her face, which he’d not detected earlier, and he could only wonder what had brought about the change. But then, he knew from experience that it didn’t take much to swing a woman’s mood.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

Nothing that she could know about, he thought grimly. Only Quint knew he was a Texas Ranger, and only Quint knew his reason for being on the ranch. Perhaps things might reach a point in the future where he would be forced to reveal himself to Alexa. But for the present, the less she knew, the safer they would all be. Nothing he did should bring danger to the family. He’d continue to ensure that.

“No. I just stepped into the office to see about ordering a shipment of vaccines for the cattle. Quint says the herd in the west pasture is due to be worked.”

She held her palms up in a helpless gesture. “I wish I could tell you more of the ranch’s schedule. But I’ve not been living here for the past five years. In fact, my family wasn’t expecting me to move back. I surprised them.”

“Yes. Your brother mentioned last week that you suddenly decided to move back from Santa Fe,” Jonas informed her as he strode over to an old schoolteacher’s desk made of metal and Formica. Propping one hip on the corner, he gestured for her to take the chair in front of him. “Please sit. Hopefully the seat’s not too dusty.”

She eased gracefully onto the wooden chair, then carefully smoothed her dress over her knees. Without bothering to look at him, she said in a quiet voice, “Well, I’m sure you must have guessed why I’m here.”

Looking at her jolted him. Something about her reminded him of just how long he’d lived alone, of how long it had been since he’d imagined having children of his own.

Tucking away all emotion, he said, “Actually, I haven’t. Do you have a question for me? A problem?”

“No problem. Unless—” she lifted her face and looked at him “—you’ve changed your mind about staying in the house with me.”

Her voice was stiff and halting, telling Jonas it must have cost her to come to him like this. He almost felt sorry for her. But just almost. He couldn’t warm up to people with superior attitudes, and that included beautiful women.

“Why would I change my mind? When I’m given an order, I’m not in a position to change my mind.” He tried to smile, but his lips felt uncomfortable as they stretched against his teeth. Smiling was foreign to Jonas, and when he did smile it was usually for effect, not a reflexive action. “Look, Ms. Cantrell, I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours. Maybe you just don’t like cowhands like me. Maybe they’re just a bit beneath your style to have one sleeping in the same house with you. I don’t know—I’ve only met you. But you can rest assured that I consider you a job and nothing more. Now, if you want me to stay in the house, fine. If you don’t, that’s fine, too.”

She didn’t blink as he talked, but he did notice that her eyes darkened and her lips folded together.

“You don’t have to be insulting about it,” she said.

He shrugged. “You didn’t have to be, either. But you were.”

Her head dropped, and she absently plucked at the soft fabric covering her belly. “Yes, I suppose I was a bit rude,” she admitted lowly. “And I’m sorry for that. And I…want to say—my attitude had nothing to do with you personally. I’ve not been myself here lately. For obvious reasons.”

Jonas quietly studied her bent head as all sorts of questions drifted through his mind. The father. Her health. Her plans.

“When is your baby due?”

She lifted her head and looked at him with faint surprise. As though she’d not expected him to consider her personal plight.

“Six weeks from tomorrow.”

“Are you doing okay?”

A wry grimace twisted her lips. “You mean, as an unwed mother?”

He slanted an impatient look at her. “That’s not what I meant. I’m asking about your health.”

Pink color swept across her cheeks. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m being so—defensive.”

She thrust a hand through her black hair, then pushed to her feet. Jonas watched curiously as she began to meander around the stark, dusty room while he waited for her to say more.

“My life has been uprooted, and now that my mother and brother are gone, I feel…sort of lost, I suppose. I can’t ever remember a time I was on the ranch without any family around. You mentioned that I might ask a male friend or relative to stay with me. Well, I don’t have any male friends—not around here. And the only relative is my grandfather Abe, and you’d have to place several sticks of dynamite beneath him to get him to leave his home for any reason.”

His gaze took in the proud angle of her head. “From what you say, you’ve been living away from your family for several years now. You should be used to not having them around.”

Pausing at one of the narrow windows, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “You don’t miss anything, do you?”

It was his job not to miss anything, he thought. But she couldn’t know that. “I’m an outsider, Ms. Cantrell. It’s easy for me to look at things logically.”

She sighed and turned her gaze back to the windowpane. “You’re right. I have lived for five years without seeing my family on a daily basis. But that was in Santa Fe. This is here and now. I’m not used to being on the ranch alone,” she reasoned. “I need time to reacquaint myself with everything.”

This time the smile on his face came easier. “Have you stopped to think that your brother already understood you might feel that way? Maybe that’s why he didn’t want you to be alone in that huge house while he and your mother are away.”

She reached up and passed a hand across her forehead, and Jonas thought he could see a tremble to her fingers. Clearly the woman wasn’t as independent as she’d first wanted him to believe, and the idea that she was willing to admit that she needed someone was all it took to soften him.

Smiling gently, she turned to face him. “Yes, I suppose he did.”

She strode over to where he sat propped on the edge of the desk and extended her hand. “Shall we start over? I’m Alexa Cantrell. Please call me Alexa.”

He enfolded her soft little hand in his and felt his heart thump in a way that practically startled him. “All right, Alexa,” he said huskily. “I’m Jonas Redman. Call me Jonas.”

Dimples bracketed her mouth as her smile deepened. “Thank you, Jonas. I’d be very grateful if you’d stay in the ranch house while my family is away.”

“No, problem, ma’am. No trouble at all.”

Yeah. Right. Who was he trying to kid? The woman was going to be trouble and then some.

Chapter Two

Is Mr. Redman going to be taking his meals here?”

Alexa, who was sitting at an L-shaped bar at one end of the kitchen cabinets, looked up at the cook. Reena’s question had caught her off guard. Jonas’s meals were not something that had yet crossed her mind. Since she’d left the man’s office a few minutes ago, the most she’d tried to do was convince herself that their paths would rarely cross. “I don’t know, Reena. I suppose I’ll have to ask him. But don’t worry about it. If he does decide to take his meals here instead of in the bunkhouse, then he’ll just have to eat what Sassy and I eat.”

Reena nodded. “I’ll make plenty to go around.”

The cook’s remark only reminded Alexa all over again that she was going to have to deal with Jonas Redman being in the house. True, Sassy stayed in a room off the kitchen, but she slipped in and out at all hours of the night. Sassy was young, and so her free time was, more often than not, taken up with social activities. And evenings were exactly when Jonas would be showing up at the ranch house.

Alexa wasn’t sure if she was excited or annoyed by the prospect. Something about the man left her uneasy. Just a few words from him had made her stop and take a second look at herself, and that in itself was scary. A wandering cowboy from Texas shouldn’t have that much power over her. In fact, he shouldn’t be having any effect on her at all.

With that thought, Alexa quickly rose from the bar stool. “I’d better check to see if Sassy has one of the guest rooms ready,” she told Reena, then quickly exited the kitchen.

Upstairs, she met the young red-haired maid in the hallway. A ball of sheets was wadded in her arms.

“Need something, Alexa?”

Alexa smiled. “I was just wondering if you’ve finished preparing a room for Jonas?”

Nodding, Sassy dropped the sheets and motioned for Alexa to follow her. “I’ve tidied up the room next to yours,” she said as they walked toward the end of the hallway. “I hope that’s okay. Since you didn’t say, I thought you’d probably be wanting him near.” She looked at Alexa. “I mean, in your condition you might need help in the middle of the night. If your water broke or something, you wouldn’t want to have to go traipsing across the house to find him.”

Everything Sassy was saying made sense. Yet the idea of Jonas in such close proximity was definitely going to be a challenge to Alexa’s senses.

“I suppose you’re right,” Alexa reluctantly agreed.

The two women stepped into the room, and while Sassy gave another smoothing hand to the bedclothes, Alexa glanced around her. The room wasn’t as large as hers, but with its rustic cedar furnishings, Native American artwork and woven rugs, it was fitting for a man like Jonas. As for Barry, he wouldn’t have fit in anywhere on the Chaparral. He’d been a city boy through and through. Tailored suits, briefcases and wing-tipped oxfords were his everyday staples. Sometimes she wondered if she’d gotten involved with the man just because he had been so opposite from her home life, so opposite from Mitch.

For a moment, memories of the young cowboy assaulted her, freezing her footsteps and the images in her mind. Mitch had been her first love, and his reckless, carefree attitude toward life had been infectious to a teenage Alexa. She’d thought the world was theirs until one night, after too much beer and partying, he’d wrecked the truck they’d been riding in on a mountain highway east of Ruidoso. The crash had killed Mitch instantly and put Alexa in the hospital for over two weeks. The incident had drastically changed her life, and ever since she’d shied away from anything wearing boots and a sexy grin. Instead of the outdoor girl she’d always been, she’d turned bookish and serious and set her mind on a degree in political science. By age twenty she’d gotten a position on the mayor’s staff in Ruidoso, and two years later she’d gone to work in the state capital building. And there she’d believed she’d put cowboys and the Chaparral out of her mind.

Now here she was back home, doing something she’d never planned to do again. Thinking about a cowboy.

“Alexa—is something wrong?”

Alexa was so absorbed in her thoughts that it took Sassy’s voice a moment or two to finally register with her. When it did, she looked across the room at the maid. “Did you say something?” she asked blankly.

“Is something wrong?” Sassy repeated. “You looked sorta sad.”

Alexa did her best to smile. “Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking about something that happened a long time ago.”

The maid didn’t look too convinced but, thankfully, changed the subject.

“Oh. Well, I was asking if I should open the balcony door,” she said. “Some fresh air might make the room smell nice.”

“Go ahead,” Alexa told her. “Jonas can close it later.”

“And what about flowers? I wasn’t sure about putting fresh flowers in the room.”

Alexa walked over to the nightstand and wiped a finger over the polished wood. Everything was spotless. “No. I don’t think Jonas will expect flowers. He’s probably not used to such things.”

Sassy didn’t respond, and Alexa glanced up to see a disapproving look on her face.

“Just because he’s a cowboy doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate flowers,” Sassy muttered after a moment.

Alexa opened her mouth to assure the young woman she didn’t mean anything insulting with her remark. Everyone was treated equally at the Chaparral. But Sassy would hardly believe that now. Dear God, it seemed like everything she said today came out sounding wrong.

“I’d better go get the sheets in the wash,” Sassy said and quickly started toward the door.

Alexa called out to her. “Wait a minute, Sassy. Please.”

Alexa’s heart softened as she watched the young woman walk back to the center of the room. Sassy had been orphaned at age seventeen, when her parents had perished in a house fire. After that, Alexa’s parents had taken her in and given her a job here on the Chaparral. She’d become like family, and Alexa wanted her to understand that.

“You need something else, Alexa?” Sassy asked.

With a regretful smile, Alexa walked over and hugged the younger woman’s shoulders. “Yes, I need to apologize. For sounding like a—well, like a queen wasp.”

Sassy laughed. “Oh, Alexa, that’s a terrible thing to say about yourself. I understand you’ve been under a strain. Moving back home like this…it’s gotta be—well, something you’ll have to get used to all over again.”

Alexa sighed with relief. At least Sassy understood. “Truthfully, Sassy, it’s turning out to be much harder than I ever expected. But I’ll survive. I just wanted to say that bit about Jonas and the flowers—I honestly didn’t want you putting flowers in his room, because I didn’t want him to think I was going out of my way to make things extra pleasant for him.”

Sassy’s brows pulled together in confusion. “Why? He has to be a nice man or Quint wouldn’t have hired him.”

The young woman’s simple reasoning made Alexa feel even smaller. “I’m sure he is. It’s just that—well, it’s kind of awkward for me—having him here in the house. I’ve only just met him and he’s—”

“Darn good-looking,” Sassy finished for her. “And single.”

Alexa’s brows lifted. “How did you know that about him?”

Sassy’s smile was conspiring. “The ranch has a gossip grapevine, Alexa. I hear things from the bunkhouse cook.”

“Gus? He’s getting too old to gossip!”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Sassy joked, then looked at Alexa with empathy. “And don’t go worrying about the new manager. Your mother will be back soon and everything will get back to normal.”

Long after dark, Alexa was lounging on the back patio, soaking up the cool breeze and thinking about Sassy’s comment. Would things in her life ever get back to normal? she wondered.

In spite of her blowup with Barry, she was excited about the coming baby. Already she loved it with all her heart. In fact, for the past few months, thoughts of her coming child were the only thing that had kept her focused and going. Yet she wondered if she’d ever have the courage to trust another man or, for that matter, to resume her job in Santa Fe.

When she’d left, she’d done so on a leave of absence, with the option to return to Senator Hutchins’s office whenever she was ready. Which had been an overly generous offer on the senator’s part. Alexa appreciated the fact that her job would be there for her if she decided to return. But she wasn’t sure that life in politics was right for her anymore. Barry would still be hanging around the capital, and though he’d been out of her life for months now, she’d not been able to avoid running into him casually.

The whole situation was awkward. But then, she should have never been attracted to Barry in the first place, she thought with self-disgust. She should have been able to see beneath his polished appearance and glib way with words. Once she’d started dating him, her instincts should have picked up on the fact that he was out for himself and no one else. Damn it, he’d been a lobbyist. What more could she expect?

But he’d helped get great environmental laws passed for the state and the good of the people. She’d believed he was a sincere, dedicated man. And she’d been drawn to him because of their shared interests and goals.

With Barry she’d approached their relationship with logic and common sense rather than passion, and she’d felt proud of herself for not swooning and falling into a pit of sexual heat, as she had with Mitch. They had dated and then moved in with each other about a year later. She’d thought they’d shared goals and ideals.

Eventually, when she’d learned she was pregnant, she’d been happy, envisioning the three of them as a perfect family. But only a few days later she’d learned quite by accident—through a stack of paperwork he’d left lying about in their apartment—that he’d been involved in some unscrupulous dealings. And to make matters worse, when she’d confronted him, he’d clearly felt no shame over his behavior.