Mary Brady - Winning Over the Rancher

“I’ll find a warmer coat for you and we’ll mostly stay in the truck.”

“Do you think Holly and Amy might be willing to advise me on wardrobe shopping?”

“I think Holly and Amy would do anything you asked them to do.”

She blinked at him as if she were having a hard time believing what he said.

“KayLee, this is the St. Adelbert Valley. The Doyle women probably already have a place in mind for you to live, a trip to Kalispell for supplies planned and a crib to lend you. Believe it or not, you have already won the esteem of our sheriff. Most of the people here in this valley will need no more than that to welcome you and offer you whatever help they can give you.”

She studied her fingers for a long moment and then shifted her scrutiny to him. “I knew I wasn’t in California anymore.”

“This will sound like some sort of a threat, and it could be. With the exception of a few ornery ones, the people here will believe in you quickly and be loyal.”

“Accept me first, and I get to decide whether or not I break their hearts? Warning taken. I’ll be careful with them.”

He nodded. “I’ll get you a coat.”

Baylor escaped the office and headed down the hallway toward the mudroom, which was located at the side entrance to the house.

Was that tears he had seen in her eyes? Give him a couple cows having difficult calvings and a runaway mule. Those things he could handle.

He searched the closet for a coat that was big enough to fit around KayLee, but the first two he considered would have swallowed her up.

Now that he had made the decision to hire her, even if it was temporary, he’d do what he could himself to help her. The two of them could finalize the plans, scout out materials and hire laborers. There were locals chomping at the bit to have gainful employment. Calving was nearly at an end, branding and spring clean up would soon be under control, and there would more idle hands around.

The job in Denver was a chance of a lifetime, a stepping-off point to launch him in the world outside the small valley where he’d spent most of his life. If K. L. Morgan could get this job done, she could set him free. He held up a green kid’s jacket. He was getting closer.

If she couldn’t get the job done, she could end up tying him to this valley until the next chance of a lifetime came up. Yep, two once-in-a-lifetime chances. As if that were going to happen.

The lead he had on Crystal hadn’t panned out yesterday, but that didn’t mean the next one wouldn’t. She was in Denver—that much he knew.

“How about this one?” Holly reached around him and pulled out a work jacket. “I wore it when I was pregnant with Katie about this time two years ago.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t even want to guess how she knew what he was searching for in the closet. Made him crazy when he tried to figure things like that out about Holly and Amy.

“So, is she in or out?” his dad asked from the doorway of the mudroom.

“She gets a chance to try, and she wants a look around.”

“Yippee!” Holly clapped her hands together once and sped away, no doubt off to tell the others.

“You don’t seem thrilled,” his dad said when Holly was out of earshot.

Baylor shrugged. “I’ll keep thrilled corralled up until we see how things go.”

“Fair ’nough.”

KAYLEE SLUMPED IN THE CHAIR. She should feel excited about this job, ecstatic even. All she felt right now was scared. She’d just promised to make a future for these people. This was more personal than any of the California projects had been. The good feelings must be on their way later.

She’d had things all mapped out in her mind even before she got here. She’d come to the valley, do the job, have a safe and snug place to raise her child for the first year or so, then move on and build her company…probably back in California.

Things had gotten complicated right off the bat, starting with the warm and fuzzy feelings she already had growing inside her regarding the people who lived in and around the town of St. Adelbert. The people at the Easy Breezy Inn had given her a room at ten o’clock in the morning without charging extra, so she could freshen up for her interview with the Doyle family. The gas station attendant at the self-service station had insisted on pumping her gas and washing her bug-spattered windshield and headlamps. That guy—Barry, he called himself—had worked really hard on those dried bugs.

Everyone here was eerily nice.

That gave her pause. Were they too nice? What if they were part of a cult or aliens from outer space?

Whoa! She stopped herself from thinking wild movie-making fantasies.

Worse, however, what if the time came for her to leave, and she still had no place to go, no prospective home? She could do it to her pregnant self, but could she force the itinerant life on a child?

And what if she didn’t want to leave the valley at all?

It had been easy letting go of California. When her husband died, her life there had simply evaporated.

She should have made better choices. One of their so-called friends had even accused her of being responsible for Chad’s death.

What if it had been her fault Chad was unhappy and, who knows, that he’d had a boating accident? She couldn’t really fault that friend too much. Some days she blamed herself.

“I’ll be everything you need.” She stroked her belly and let herself feel the joy and peace her child brought to mind.

Baylor appeared holding a practical, warm-looking jacket. She hoped he hadn’t overheard her. He already had enough doubts.

The heavy work jacket he held suspended on the tip of one finger summed everything up. The jacket was nothing she would have ever given a second look at when she lived in California.

Her life was never going to be the same.

When Baylor smiled at her, even though it was a reluctant smile, she found herself wanting to leap up and run into his arms…but she was so not flinging herself into anyone’s arms. It wasn’t going to happen, wasn’t even a good idea. She and Chad had flung themselves at each other and look where that got her.

“Hey.” She pointed at the jacket and put on a cheery face. “That seems as if it will do the trick.”

He held the jacket for her and she slipped inside its warmth. “Hmmm. This feels nice.”

“’Bout the time you get used to the cold, the weather will change and you’ll be wishing to have it back.” He gave her a serious if-you-stick-around-long-enough look.

She’d get used to the weather, or at least, he’d never know about it if she didn’t. All he was going to see from now on was the upbeat side of her, the confident side of her she had used in her sales pitch. She hugged the jacket around her and spun in a slow circle, trying to affect comedy. “Ah, if they could see me now.”

Another reluctant smile. He was so trying to be nice to her. “You mean the people in California wouldn’t appreciate your…ah…style?” he asked.

“Style?”

“Because, for the backside of Montana you look purty trendy.”

Yep, she thought, repeating the affirmative she’d already heard more than once in this state. Baylor Doyle was going to give her a chance, a harsh but fair one. Now, if she could live up to his and everyone else’s expectations… She shook off doubt and melancholy before they got a foothold. Upbeat. Stay upbeat.

“Très chic and ready to work.” And she felt better than she’d felt in a long time about anything except her baby, who at that moment seemed to leap to block a soccer goal or something equally emphatic. “Whoa!”

“Are you all right?” Baylor took a step toward her.

She held up one hand up and rubbed her lower ribs with the other. “Nothing to worry about. Sometimes the little one gives me a poke and it takes me by surprise, but I’m great. Better than great. Lead the way.”