The Rancher's Blessed Event

“You did that yesterday,” Emily reminded her.

“And it didn’t hurt me one little bit Now tell me if you need me to bring you anything and I’ll be over in an hour or so.”

Emily dropped a piece of bacon onto a plate lined with paper towels. “No,” she said quickly. “Don’t do that. I’ll be fine.”

“But honey, I want to help you.”

“I know,” she said, then decided she should explain. “Cooper came home last night.”

The line went quiet as Rose digested her daughter’s abrupt news. “Is he there now?”

Emily glanced over her shoulder to make sure the man hadn’t slipped into the kitchen without her knowing. “Yes.”

“How long does he plan to stay?”

“He hasn’t said and I haven’t asked.”

Rose went silent for another long spell. “How does he seem to be taking Kenneth’s death?”

“I think he’s still in a bit of shock about it.” And Emily was still in a shock over seeing Cooper again.

“Well, I know the two of them were close at one time. But frankly, I’m surprised the news brought Cooper home. He’s never bothered before. And what can he do now?”

“I’ve been thinking the very things you just said.”

“So you don’t really know his intentions?” Rose asked.

“Not yet.”

Rose groaned. “Oh Lord, Emily, I wished the man had stayed gone. Harlan isn’t going to like this one little bit. He hasn’t forgotten how Cooper hurt you. And if he’s come back with plans to take over his half of the ranch—well, all I can say is I see trouble.”

His half of the ranch. Like a cold north wind, the words rushed through Emily. It was true that Cooper and Kenneth had shared ownership of the ranch since their father had died fifteen years ago. But Cooper had never seen fit to take any interest in the place. Neither with money nor his presence. She couldn’t see that changing just because Kenneth was no longer here.

“You’re borrowing trouble, Mom. Cooper doesn’t have any intentions toward the Diamond D. Why would he? He’s a big rodeo star now. He has all the money he needs. And anybody with one good eye can see this place is falling down around my ears. No. You can rest assured Cooper couldn’t be bothered.”

“I hope you’re right, darling. You have enough on your mind without something like that. You haven’t told him anything, have you?”

Emily switched off the burner beneath the skillet and took a peep in the oven at the baking biscuits. “What do you mean? About the accident?”

“No. About you.”

Emily quickly glanced over her shoulder again. A few minutes before her mother had called, she’d heard Cooper head down the hall to the bathroom. Any second now she expected him to walk into the kitchen.

“I have no intentions of telling him anything about my condition. It’s none of his business. And I’d appreciate it if you’d tell Daddy and the rest of the family not to say anything if they happen to run into Cooper.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want him to know?”

She bit down on her lip as several reasons came to mind. “He...doesn’t need to know, that’s all. Now I’ve got to finish breakfast. I’ll call you later, Mom.”

“All right, honey, if that’s the way you feel. You know your daddy and I are here if you need us.”

Knowing she had her parents’ support was one of the things that had kept her going. “And I love you for it. We’ll talk later.”

She placed the phone out of the way then gathered a couple of pot holders and pulled the pan of hot bread from the oven.

“Something smells good. Is it biscuits?”

Emily glanced around just as Cooper walked into the room. Even though she knew he’d slept across the hall from her last night, it was still a shock to the senses to see him this morning.

He hadn’t shaved but she could see he must have taken a quick shower because his dark hair was wet and slicked back from his face. A red plaid shirt hung half buttoned on the outside of his jeans. His feet were bare except for a pair of white socks.

“Yes, it’s biscuits. And you shouldn’t be walking around without your boots. The floor is gritty. You’ll ruin your socks.”

He gave her a twisted smile. “I’ve been known to get grit in my boots before.”

No doubt, she thought. He’d made his living in thousands of dusty rodeo arenas. It shouldn’t matter to her if he ruined ten pair of socks on her dirty floors. And it shouldn’t feel so good to look at him, either. But it did.

Carrying the pan of biscuits over to the table, she motioned for him to take a seat at one of the empty plates. “How do you want your eggs? Scrambled or fried?”

“Fried, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

She went to the stove, broke four eggs into a skillet of warm grease, then carried a coffeepot back to the table and filled his cup.

“Are you always up and going this early?” he asked.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Normally I’m up and about much earlier. But I’ve tried to get a little more rest these past few days.” Not that laying in bed an hour and a half more did any good, she thought. She still felt drained and groggy, but she was determined to get better, to be able to smile and laugh again.

“You look tired.”

As she tended the cooking eggs, her free hand unconsciously fluttered to her bare cheek. With no makeup and her hair pulled back in a messy French braid she knew she must look awful. Her work jeans and old blue sweater didn’t help matters, either. But for the past couple of years, she’d ceased to think of her appearance as important. How irritating for Cooper to notice and point out such a thing to her.

“Ten years can do a lot to a person’s looks.”

He picked up the steaming cup of coffee and savored the smell as he brought it to his lips. After a careful sip, he said, “I didn’t say you looked older. I said you looked tired.”

The eggs done, she carried the skillet over to the table, ladled three onto his plate and one on her own.

As she took a seat opposite him, her eyes briefly met his and she wondered, if like her, he was remembering back to the breakfasts they shared ten years ago.

Emily hoped not. She hoped that once he’d left the Diamond D, he’d totally forgotten the unabashed way she’d loved him, the nights she’d spent cradled in his strong arms. Just thinking of the pleasure he’d given her sent a shaft of guilty heat rushing through her.

“I’m really okay,” she told him.

Emily didn’t look okay. She looked like hell, but Cooper kept the opinion to himself. He could see her nerves were raw and he hadn’t come here to the Diamond D to cause her more pain. In all honesty, Cooper wasn’t exactly sure why he’d come back.

The funeral had already taken place. He couldn’t help his brother now and he didn’t necessarily want to assert himself into Emily’s life just because she was his sister-in-law and newly widowed. Nor did he figure she would appreciate him sticking his nose into any unfinished legal business she might have to deal with over the accident. So had he really come here just to see her one more time? He didn’t want to answer that.

Shaking tabasco over his eggs, he asked, “How is everyone else around here? Do your parents still live on the Flying H?”

Relieved that he wasn’t going to bring up Kenneth’s accident right off, she relaxed a little. “Yes. My brother Ethan has graduated college and is living back home now.”

His brows lifted and for the first time since she’d found him in the barn last night there was a genuine smile on his face. “Little Ethan is out of college? Why, he was just a little ornery horned toad that last time I saw him.”

A vague tilt to her lips, she passed him a biscuit then took one for herself. “Well, he’s all grown up now.”

“What about your aunts?”

“Justine and Chloe are fine. So are their children. Uncle Roy is still the sheriff. He thought about retiring last year, but the people in this county love him too much to let him go. And my cousin Charlie loves being a Texas Ranger. Uncle Wyatt is still in the oil business and of course Daddy will always be a rancher.”

And what about you, he wanted to ask her. Had she been happy as Kenneth’s wife? Really happy? Cooper knew he had no right to put those questions to her. But for the past ten years he’d thought of little else.

“What about your other cousins? Are they still living around here?”

“The twins are all grown up now. Anna is touring as a concert pianist and Adam is working in the gas business with his dad. Their younger sister, Ivy, is at NMU studying to be a doctor. And you remember Charlie’s younger sister, Caroline. She lives in Santa Fe and works as a jewelry designer. None of them have married yet. I guess they’ve all been too busy building their careers.”

Wishing he could think about anything but her, he turned his attention to the food on his plate. It tasted good and he was hungry. But the eggs and bacon did little to fill up the empty hole in him.

“Emily,” he began after a few minutes of silence. “Last night...about Kenneth...if I sounded—”

When it appeared he couldn’t find the words to go on, Emily did it for him. “Out of line?”

He didn’t necessarily think his question had been out of line. Still, he did feel a little badly about being so rough on her. But hell, she’d met him with the barrel of a .30.30 pointed straight at his gut. The greeting hadn’t exactly put him in a warm mood.

“I don’t think wanting to know how my brother died was asking too much. Even if you didn’t want to talk about it.”

She reached for her coffee, but suddenly the smell of it sickened her. She put the cup down and reached for the orange juice she’d poured earlier.

“You think I’m to blame because Kenneth is dead,” she said flatly. “You think I should have stopped him somehow.”

He grimaced. “I didn’t—”

“You said it. You know you did. So don’t be bashful. Tell me what you’re really thinking now. God knows I can take it.”

That weariness was back in her voice and Cooper realized he hated it. More than anything he wanted to see the warm, vibrant Emily he used to know.

“Okay. I know that if there was one person on this earth who could have prevented Kenneth from getting on that horse, it was you.”

The smile she gave him was so utterly sad he could hardly bear to look at her. “At one time, that might have been true. But not now.”

“Why was Kenneth drinking?”

She couldn’t finish the food on her plate. In fact, she was going to be lucky if she didn’t lose what little she’d managed to get down.

“Why does anyone drink?” she countered. “He was unhappy with me, the ranch, life in general.”

Cooper didn’t want to believe what she was saying. Kenneth had never been a down person. It had always taken so little to make him happy. He couldn’t imagine his brother changing so drastically.

Seeing the doubt and confusion on his face, Emily said, “I wasn’t having an affair, if that’s what you’re thinking. And as far as I know, Kenneth wasn’t cheating on me. He was—well, he’d changed the last few years. I don’t know what he wanted and apparently whatever it was, I couldn’t give it to him.” She lifted her eyes to his. “So maybe you are right. Maybe I did cause his death.”

“Oh hell, Emily. That’s not what I needed to hear you say.”

Her brows inched slowly upward. “Then what do you want to hear from me?”

Suddenly he couldn’t face her. Too many bittersweet memories of the times he and Emily had spent together were pouring in over the pain he was already feeling for Kenneth.

With a little groan he got up from the table and walked over to a door that led out to the backyard. Through the windowpanes, he could see a part of the barn and the adjoining corrals. It was a pitiful sight. Much worse than he’d suspected it to be last night. Boards were rotting, fences were sagging, sheets of tin were loose and flopping in the cold wind. It was a far cry from the ranch he remembered as his home.

“I guess I just wanted to hear that my brother was happy. But it seems as though you can’t even give me that much.”

She looked down at her plate and blinked. It was the closest she’d come to crying since she’d first set eyes on him last night. Cooper had once been everything to her. When she thought of the word happy, she always thought of him.

“Your world might be a beautiful place, Cooper. But here on the Diamond D things have been... tough.”

Folding his arms across his chest, he turned to face her. “Then why are you here?”

The sight of him standing there so strong and handsome and alive infuriated her. He’d turned his back on her, broke her heart and virtually shunned his brother. He had no right to show his face here again, much less interrogate her!

Shoving her chair back from the table she marched over to within inches of him. “Because it’s my home, Cooper. But that’s something you wouldn’t understand. You don’t want a home. And from the looks of you, I doubt you’ll ever have one!”

A sneer twisted his lean face. “If this is what you call a home, I’m damn glad I don’t!”

Suddenly everything Emily had been through since she’d first met Cooper Dunn came whirling through her like an angry tornado. All she could see was him leaving and never coming back.

It was the stinging pain in her hand that finally jolted Emily back to reality. Instantly, anger and horror swept across her face. She’d slapped him!

Rubbing the wounded spot on his jaw, Cooper eyed her flushed cheeks. “So there is life in you after all.”

Oh God, he didn’t know. He couldn’t know!

Pressing her hand over her mouth, she ran to the bathroom and prayed he wouldn’t hear her retching.

Chapter Two

On the edge of a windswept break, Cooper reined the gray to a halt and gazed out at the snowy mesa floor. Many times in the past he’d ridden to this very spot where the sagebrush grew belly high to a horse and a lone pinon pine stood sentinel over the ranch below.

However, this morning Cooper felt no joy as he looked down at the home that had been in the Dunn Family for more than a hundred years. The Diamond D was not the same. Not physically nor spiritually and the knowledge saddened him greatly.

He hadn’t expected it to touch him like this. Hell, it had been years since he’d been on the place. He’d figured once he’d seen it again, the old ranch wouldn’t mean that much to him. After all, it had always been Kenneth’s baby. Their father had seen to that. William Dunn had never hidden the fact that of his two sons he considered Kenneth to be the better rancher. It was one of the main reasons Cooper had worked so hard to succeed at bronc riding. He’d never felt as if he really had a place of importance here on the ranch. Yet in spite of all that, it cut something deep inside him to see the home place like this. So shabby. So empty.

Pushing his coat collar up against the falling snow, Cooper nudged the gray down the bluff and back toward the house. Smoke was spiraling up from the old rock chimney, signaling him that Emily had just stoked up the fire.

Unconsciously his fingertips touched the spot on his jaw she’d slapped. The memory of her anger this morning put a wry smile on his lips. Emily was still Emily after all, and he wondered how she was going to react when he told her what he planned to do.

Almost a half hour later, Cooper found her in the living room in front of the fireplace. The rocking chair she sat in was an old oak one that had belonged to his mother. The back was high and the arms and legs carved. Though he’d never known his mother, others had told him the chair had been a favorite of Laura Dunn’s and it comforted Cooper somehow to see Emily in it now.

“The snow is getting heavier,” he said as he grew near her and the warm fire.

She glanced up from the blue jeans she was patching to see him shedding a heavy sheepskin coat. Snow still clung to his shoulders and the brim of his hat His nose and cheeks were reddened by the cold wind. She wondered why he’d bothered to go out on such a nasty morning.

“It’s only the end of October,” she replied. “I hope this isn’t a forewarning to what the rest of the winter is going to be like.”

Taking a seat in a stuffed armchair a few feet away from her, his eyes wandered over the room. Other than being run-down, it really hadn’t changed much in appearance, either. The ceiling was low and traversed with dark oak beams, the walls white plaster, the floor Spanish tile. The house was typical hacienda style and in its early years had once been regarded as a showcase. Now it needed money and a complete refurbishment. As did everything else he looked at on the place.

His eyes coming to rest on her face, he said, “I didn’t see much hay stacked away in the barn. Is that all you have?”

She nodded. “That’s it. Kenneth didn’t want to bother planting an alfalfa crop.”

His features twisted with confusion. “What the hell did he plan to feed this winter?”

Emily grimaced and placed her mending on the floor beside the rocker. “When our alfalfa ran out, he’d planned on buying more hay from Daddy. It would be cheaper that way. Especially with Daddy giving us a generous cut.”

“That doesn’t sound like Kenneth.”

Her expression both wry and sad, she glanced over at him. “No. Not the Kenneth you used to know.”

“For as long as I can remember the Diamond D raised its own alfalfa. It was one of the reasons why the ranch did so well.”

She looked back at the fire while thinking how ironic to hear Cooper repeating all the old arguments she’d given Kenneth. “I know. But the tractor has been giving us lots of problems. Kenneth figured by the time we fixed it, then counted the cost of fertilizer, labor and baling, we’d be better off not raising a crop of hay.”

Scooting to the edge of the chair, Cooper leaned toward her. “I’m going to tell you flat out, Emily. This place looks like hell. What’s been going on?”

Emily had figured that once daylight came, and Cooper had the chance to look around the place, he was going to be appalled. The ranch looked nothing like the one he’d known before he left for the rodeo circuit.

Rising from the rocker, she stood with her back to the warmth of the fire. “You’ve been here a few hours and you want to hear in one short explanation what’s happened to the ranch,” she said dryly.

Cooper’s gray eyes drifted up and down the length of her. She was a tall woman and from the looks of her, age hadn’t added any extra pounds to her slender frame. If anything, she appeared thinner. But it was difficult for Cooper to really tell much about her shape beneath the baggy jeans and sweater she was wearing.

“Do you not want to tell me? Or do you just not know? Which one is it?” he asked.

He sounded outraged and Emily stared at him in disbelief. “In the ten years you’ve been gone, you’ve never wondered or worried about the ranch’s condition. Don’t you think your display of concern is a little late in coming?”

Her sarcasm made Cooper want to go to her and shake her. But her fragile appearance stopped him. He got the feeling if he touched her, she just might break.

“Ever since Dad died, the Diamond D has been in Kenneth’s hands. That’s the way he wanted it,” he said quietly. “My brother would have never let it get in this condition without a reason.”

Lifting her eyes to the ceiling, Emily let out a long sigh. “A reason? Why not several reasons?”

“Okay. So there was more than one. Tell me.”

Her mind said she didn’t owe this man any explanations. He’d forfeited everything when he’d walked away. Yet when she looked at him, her heart interfered with her thinking. Kenneth had been his brother and this had been his home. It couldn’t be easy for him to find them both gone.

“Cooper, the ranch’s decline happened over years. Little by little Kenneth seemed to lose interest. And then all sorts of problems kept popping up, like broken-down vehicles, sick cows, bad weather. The list goes on. But I guess the plummeting price in the cattle market is what finally broke the place.”

His brows shot up. “The ranch is broke?”

She supposed that was hard for a man like him to imagine. Through the gossip grapevine and what little bit of sports news she caught on TV, she knew Cooper Dunn had made plenty of money these past ten years riding broncs in the PRCA. He was a champion, a celebrity figure in the world of rodeo. His finances had done nothing but grow.

“Let me put it this way. The ranch isn’t making money.”

“How many cattle are you running now?” he asked.

“A hundred and fifty head.”

The amount was so paltry she might as well as said none. He looked at her and the disgust on his face brought a flush of anger to her cheeks.

“I know it sounds and looks bad,” she told him, “but when you have a bad streak of luck—”

“You get up and fight back,” he interrupted hotly. “You don’t lose interest and you sure as hell don’t start drinking!”

“I didn’t do either of those things,” she retorted. “Nor do I plan to.”

But Kenneth had. She couldn’t have made it any plainer to him. But the ranch was still here. Barely. Cooper couldn’t let it die, too.

Rising from the chair, he went to stand beside her. She looked up at him as his shoulder came close to nudging hers and as Cooper searched her azure blue eyes he realized he’d forgotten nothing about this woman. Her honey pale skin, the length of her pert little nose, the curve of her full lips. Lips that he’d kissed whenever the urge had struck him. And the urge had struck him often. To his dismay, it still was.

“I was planning on leaving this evening. Along with the bronc riding, I’ve started competing in the team roping and I’m drawn in a rodeo in Arizona two days from now. But I’m not going.”

Aghast, she whispered, “Not going?”

Glancing away from her, he shook his head. Emily’s already jumpy stomach took a nosedive. “Why? I’m sure there’s several more rodeos for you to make between now and the National Finals in December.”

“Eight at least. But they’ll manage to go on without me.”

Maybe, Emily thought. But she wasn’t at all sure she could survive with him here. All she had to do was look at him and she remembered everything about him. The taste of his skin, the flash of his smile, the sweet bliss of his body next to hers. Oh God, it wasn’t right for her to think of such things with Kenneth barely gone. But she couldn’t stop herself. She’d never been able to stop herself.

Turning her gaze to the fire, she asked, “Why would you possibly want to stay? There’s nothing for you here.”

At one time Cooper had thought there was plenty for him here because she was here. He’d hoped and planned to eventually come back a rich man, a man worthy to be Emily’s husband. But she hadn’t waited. She’d married Kenneth instead. Even now, after all these years, the knowledge stabbed him deep and hard.

“Unless things have changed more than I know, I’m still part owner of this place,” Cooper stated coolly. “I have a right to see that my own property is taken care of. Or were you planning on selling it and moving into Ruidoso or somewhere else in this area?”

His question put a blank look on her face. “Sell?” she echoed. “I’d never do that. Besides, as you said, you’re half owner. I couldn’t sell without your consent.”

It really didn’t make any sort of sense, but it was a great relief to Cooper to hear her say she had no notions to sell the Diamond D. Selling would probably be the smart thing to do. She was a woman alone, without the funds to get the place going again. With what money they could get out of the property, she would have enough to start a new home somewhere and he could go on back to his rodeo life and not have the burden of the ranch on his mind.

But the Diamond D had always belonged to a Dunn. His father had been born here and he’d died here. So had his grandfather. The Dunn men had carved this ranch right out of Apache land. Back then, water had been as precious as gold and the Lincoln county range war had turned the desert plains into a bloody battlefield. It was even rumored that during those days of the 1870s, Cooper’s great-grandfather Dunn had rode with the great rancher, John Tunstall, and rubbed shoulders with Billy the Kid.