Suzannah Davis - The Rancher And The Redhead

In a town where the pace of life was slow and casual, Roni didn’t have much call for the slinky, sexy dresses she’d worn when she’d been continually on Jackson Dial’s arm. But just because her working attire was jeans and T-shirts, and her going-out attire was clean jeans and a T-shirt, didn’t mean she’d lost her love of feminine frills altogether. In a small, churchgoing town like Flat Fork, however, it was better to keep one’s scandalous predilections private.

“Hello, boys. Yes, here you go.” Stepping out of the Jeep, Roni passed out gum to Kevin, Kelly and Karl amid a profusion of thanks. “Where’s your mother?”

“In the backyard,” Kelly replied. “She says to come on back.”

Roni grinned and ruffled the third grader’s fair bangs. “Thanks.”

“You gonna come watch me play tee-ball Saturday?” four-year-old Karl demanded.

“I’m sure going to try, partner.” Roni walked through the carport into the spacious backyard littered with an assortment of balls, bats and toy trucks. Krystal, a petite blonde with a short wedge haircut, hailed her from a lounge chair on the brick patio.

“You’re just in time for something cool,” she said, pouring a tall glass of ice tea from a plastic pitcher on a nearby snack table. “It’s the lull before the suppertime, homework and ‘oh-Mom-do-I-have-to-go-to-bed-now’ storm.”

“Sounds good.” Roni flung herself down in a matching chair, smiling. Though she might complain about it, Krystal’s day-to-day family life was bursting with energy and her home full of love—something that Roni thought any woman would envy.

“I can’t stay but a minute,” she said. “I’m already much later than I thought I’d be, and Sam’s just about helpless when Jessie gets into her evening snit.”

Krystal handed the glass to Roni. “Seems to me he’d better learn to handle it if he means to keep her.”

“Oh, he does! You should just see how he melts when she bats her baby blues at him. It’s the cutest thing you ever saw.”

“Who?” Krystal smirked. “Jessie or Sam?”

Roni laughed and sipped her tea. “Well, both of them, I guess. She’s got a temper to match those red curls, but she’s a sweetheart. I swear she’s already calling Sam ‘Da-Da.’ He’s just wild to find a housekeeper so she can have some sort of routine, but so far, no luck at all.”

“None of the ladies I suggested were interested?” Krystal asked incredulously.

Roni shook her head. “Well, some of them were interested, but Sam’s so hard to please.” She explained who had been interviewed and the various reasons they’d been found unsuitable. “You don’t know of anyone else, do you?”

Frowning, Krystal hesitated. “I’ll have to think about it. In the meantime, I suppose Sam could enroll Jessie in Pharis Fitzgerald’s Mother Goose Day Care.”

“What? Drag that baby out of her bed at the crack of dawn every morning and leave her with a bunch of strangers until dusk? Out of the question!” Roni blushed at her own vehemence. “I mean, I’m sure Sam wants to keep her at home. She’s been through so many changes, you see, and she gets upset easily—”

“Sounds to me as though you don’t want to find someone to hire.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Roni brushed her curls out of her hot face. “I simply want Sam to find the best person for the job.”

“So you can get on with your highly exciting life, right?” Krystal nodded sagely. “You can’t fool me, Roni Daniels. You’re having a whale of a time mothering that baby.”

Roni laughed, unable to deny the accusation. “Can I help it if I’m a pushover for redheaded cherubs?”

“Got it that bad, huh? So tell me, how’s it really going? Everyone in this town is mighty interested in what’s happening with that baby...and you.”

“Me?” Roni blinked. “Why me?”

Krystal gave her friend a disgusted look. “You must be the only female in this town immune to Sam Preston’s sex appeal. Do I have to draw you a picture? You, plus Sam, plus one adorable orphan, emotions running high, close proximity—”

“Sheesh, Krystal, not you, too!” Roni took a long pull of her ice tea. “I’m just being a good neighbor.”

“And you never noticed that Sam Preston is one handsome hunk of raw masculinity?”

Roni fought back a mental flash of Sam clad only in a towel, and said loftily, “I admire Sam for a lot of reasons. He’s my best friend, after all.”

“Let me tell you, there are plenty of single ladies in this town who’d give their right arms to be in your shoes—especially Nadine Scott.”

Roni grimaced. Nadine was the new hospital administrator who’d gone out with Sam a couple of times. “Well, she can stop holding her breath. There’s nothing happening between her and Sam.”

“How do you know?”

“He told me. Said she’s too aggressive and wears too much makeup. I happen to agree.”

Krystal laughed and crossed her ankles on the lounger. “So that’s what you two talk about every Friday night. You dissect each other’s dates.”

“Not always. Well, sometimes,” Roni admitted grudgingly. “Sam warned me Tully Carson was a card-carrying chauvinist. Boy, was he right.”

“The way the two of you rip each other’s suitors to shreds, it’s a wonder you have any social life at all. And Sam’s going to need one now more than ever.”

“What do you mean?”

“While everyone applauds his good intentions regarding little Jessie, that baby’s going to need a mother. But the way things are, no eligible single gal can get to Sam because she has to go through you.”

Totally taken aback, Roni could only stare. “I—I never thought of that.”

“You have to admit that Sam’s one of the few genuinely nice men left around here.”

“Of course he is.”

“Not like Jackson.”

Roni’s lips twisted. “Certainly not like Jackson Dial.”

Krystal searched her friend’s expression. “You’re really over him, aren’t you?”

“After two years, the hurt fades. I could kick myself for sticking it out so long, hoping—” She shook her head.

“He’s got a new movie out, I see.”

“Yes, I know. Apache Tears. I actually did some of the preliminary sketches for the art direction. For free, of course. That’s Jackson’s style.” Shaking off the feeling of failure that remembering their relationship always evoked, she set down her glass and rose. “I’ve got to run. Call me if you think of anyone else who might want the housekeeper’s position, okay?”

Minutes later Roni sped down the two-lane blacktop toward the Lazy Diamond, chewing her lip in worry. Could Krystal be right? Had she been doing Sam a disservice by monopolizing his time, to the detriment of any other relationship he might develop? Sam was such a decent man, he deserved a woman who would adore him, someone unlike Shelly, who’d appreciate his strong ties to the land and the little community he called home.

Forcing herself to look at the situation with brutal honesty, Roni had to admit that she’d grown to depend on Sam’s steadfastness, his lazy humor, the easy, accepting friendship. Since her return, he’d been her sounding board and her shield against loneliness. Now the realization that in her need she’d been depriving him of the chance to find someone special filled her with guilty remorse.

Krystal was absolutely on target. Sam needed a wife and a mother for Jessie, but he was unlikely to find one with Roni in the picture. If she really loved Sam as a friend, then the most generous thing she could do would be to step back so that nature could take its course—even if Sam ended up with someone like Nadine Scott. The image made her lips twist in distaste.