Hill Country Redemption Read online

  If she did this, she’d have to hire Rance. Otherwise, she’d only look stupid. Or still hung up on him. Maybe she could get the arrangements in place, then go back to Dallas and oversee the rodeo from afar. Whatever it took to avoid Rance.

  The knocker sounded again.

  “Next.” Carson grinned as he opened the door.

  Rance stood on the stoop. His gaze pinged back and forth between them, landed on Carson and narrowed. “You?”

  “Me what?”

  Surely Rance didn’t think she was involved with Carson. Why would he care? “Carson was here going over numbers for a possible arena building.”

  “I was just leaving.”

  “Thanks again, Carson.” He exited, but she didn’t step aside to let Rance in, willing Jayda to take her sweet time finishing her broccoli. “Can I help you?”

  “I brought my numbers, too.”

  “It’ll have to wait. I don’t do business at my home. We’ll have to set up a time to meet.”

  “Hmm, let’s see what’s wrong with this picture. Your office is at your house, and you met with Carson about business.”

  “Fine.” She backed away and then ushered him through the formal living room. “But not here. Let’s go to Dad’s office.”

  In the doorway facing her father’s massive desk, she stopped. The room still smelled of his Old Spice cologne. She’d spent half her childhood in the wood-paneled room but had never sat in his cushy executive chair. Just the sight of it put a knot in her throat.

  “How about the table?” Rance set his file on the long conference table.

  “Yes.” Did he understand her hesitation, feel for her grief?

  “I was sorry to hear about your dad.”

  Sympathy from him would surely undo her. She cleared her throat. “Thanks. What have you got?”

  He opened the folder. The spreadsheet listed all his stock, along with his fee. “Do you know which size you’re going with yet?”

  “The biggest.” She rattled off the specs Carson had given her.

  “Good choice.” He pulled a loose sheet and handed it to her. “This is what you’ll need. The fees listed beside each of my bulls, broncs and steers is what I get every time they leave the chute. They’re priced according to bloodlines, and I’ll handle all the transport. I took the liberty of contacting an acquaintance who builds arenas. He said he’d work with Carson and have your rodeo up and running a month after the building is finished.”

  Surprisingly thorough. “Did you think to ask him about updating the outdoor arena until the building is functional?”

  “If he breaks ground next week, the weather holds, and inspectors don’t give him trouble, he said three weeks. A month at the most.”

  “Wow.” Fast enough to turn the ranch around.

  “His estimates are in the file, too. It’s a great idea, Larae. There aren’t any indoor rodeos in this area except in San Antonio. And none them are year-round. I hope you’ll get past the thinking stage.”

  “It’s a lot to take on.”

  “How long are you here for?”

  “It was supposed to only be a week.” But that was before her new manager decided to handle marketing, too, leaving Larae jobless and bent on selling the ranch, even at a loss.

  “You could hire someone to oversee things when you go back.”

  If she went back. “I’ve thought about that, too.” She closed the file. But right now she needed to get rid of him. Not even Jayda had ever made broccoli last this long. “Thank you for putting this together. I’ll get back with you if I decide to move forward.”

  He stayed seated. His jaw ticked as if he had more to say. She stood to give him the hint. He reluctantly followed her lead.

  “All right then—” he turned and opened the door “—just let me know.”

  “Mommy, I ate all of my broccoli. Can I have my chocolate milk now?” Jayda stopped when she saw Rance. “Oh. Hi.” Never shy.

  At the moment, Larae wished she was.

  “Broccoli for breakfast?” Rance grimaced. “I’m Rance. An old friend of your mom’s.”

  Larae’s heart did somersaults against her ribs. He’d gotten a glimpse of Jayda yesterday and obviously learned she was Larae’s daughter. But then, anybody would know that by looking at her. Just as long as he didn’t figure out anything else, everything would be fine.

  “It was in an omelet. I’m Jayda.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Jayda.”

  “You can have your milk, and a cookie, too.” Just go. Rance had said only a few days ago that it was a good thing he didn’t have kids, and who knew how long he’d stick with this stock contracting thing? Hopefully long enough to get her rodeo going. Then he could run off for the rodeo circuit again, none the wiser. Footloose and fancy-free just the way he liked it.

  “Everybody thinks I’m five or six—”

  “Jayda, go have your cookies now. You can have three.”

  “Three.” Jayda grinned. “You never let me have three.”

  Rance chuckled.

  “Just this once. Since you ate all your broccoli.”

  “But I’m not finished. I wanted to tell Rance I’m really seven.”

  “Jayda.” Her daughter’s name ripped from her throat.

  It was too late.

  Rance’s grin slipped away. His eyes widened, then narrowed as he inspected Jayda.

  “What, Mommy?”

  “I’ve warned you about talking to strangers, haven’t I?” It was the only thing she could come up with.

  “I thought that only counted when you weren’t around.”

  “You’re right. I forgot.” At the moment she was forgetting how to breathe.

  “You’re seven?” The wonder in Rance’s tone put a hitch in her throat.

  “Uh-huh. I’m just small for my age. Mommy said she was the same way until she hit a growth spurt when she was twelve.”

  “Larae—” Rance’s gaze snagged on hers as he ground her name out between his teeth. “We need to talk.”

  Chapter Four

  In and out. Rance concentrated on breathing. Jayda’s rounded eyes flitted back and forth between him and Larae. How could she have kept this from him?

  “Go have your cookies now, Jayda. I’ll be done here in just a minute.”

  “Okay, Mommy.” Jayda glanced back at him one more time.

  He’d obviously scared her, practically growling at Larae. He forced a smile.

  Jayda slipped from the room.

  “I—” Larae said.

  “She’s mine.”

  Larae closed her eyes. “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because by the time, I found out—” her hand went to her middle “—you were dating Veronica Belmont.”

  Only to convince her they were finished. For her sake. While he’d been doing what he thought was right, to keep her relationship with her father intact, she’d been pregnant with his child.

  His blood boiled. “Did your dad know?”

  “Yes.”

  But she’d fled to Dallas. “Did he kick you out?”

  “Of course not. He was very supportive.”

  If only she knew. The old coot. “He sent you to Dallas to keep me in the dark.”

  “You’d proven you weren’t ready for fatherhood.”

  “You had no right to make that call.”

  “We’d broken up. You’d moved on. I wasn’t about to obligate you. To risk you coming back to me.” She jabbed her thumb toward her chest. “Because of duty. It was my decision to go to college in Dallas and stay to pursue my career.”

  “To hide. From me.”

  “And from wagging tongues.” She hugged herself. “I did what I thought was best. For my daughter.”

  “Our daughter.�
� He sank into a chair as all his anger drained away. What good did it do to be mad at a dead man? “I loved you, Larae. I’d have dropped everything for you. Quit the rodeo and married you.” In spite of her dad.

  “If you loved me so much—” her words dripped sarcasm “—then why did you break up with me?”

  He wouldn’t explain. He couldn’t skew her memories of her dad, not with her still grieving his loss. “I didn’t think I was good enough for you.”

  She scoffed. “Well, you were good enough for Veronica Belmont. And Prudence Hancock. And who knows who else. Face it, Rance. You were a playboy working your way through all the rich girls in school.”

  Only to convince Larae he didn’t love her. To save her relationship with her father—the man who’d stood by and watched, effectively ripping away Rance’s chance to be a father.

  “That’s not who I am.”

  “If you say so. But the fact remains, while you’ve been doing whatever you’ve been doing for the last eight years, I’ve been making adult decisions and taking care of my daughter. And she’s waiting for me in the kitchen, so you can go now. We didn’t need you then, and we don’t need you now. Please just go.” She moved to the door, obviously expecting him to do her bidding.

  “No.”

  “Please, Rance.” Her voice was softer now. Pleading. Her posture changed and she melted into herself. “You don’t owe us anything. We’ll move back to Dallas. I’ll get the rodeo going from there, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  “I can’t ignore this. She’s my responsibility.”

  “She doesn’t have to be. I’m fine financially. And I don’t have to keep the ranch. I can unload it and not spend the funds I have on the rodeo.”

  “That’s not what I mean, Larae. I intend to support her financially. But it’s more than that. I have a daughter. And whether you think she needs me or not, I can’t just pretend she doesn’t exist. She’s part of me.”

  Her eyes watered up. “The best part.”

  “I’m glad—” his throat closed up “—to know you still think there’s good in me.”

  “I loved you. Once.” She blinked the moisture away.

  “We can work this out. I need to be in her life.”

  “Fine.” She swallowed hard. “But you can’t just waltz into her life, get her used to you, and then traipse off after some woman. Or rodeo. And leave Jayda behind and heartbroken.”

  “I won’t.” He spewed out a sigh. “I was mad the other day when I popped off about not being here long, but I didn’t mean it. I’m here. For the long run.”

  “What about the rodeo? You’ve been a bronc rider for as long as I can remember.”

  “I’m not as young as I was.” He rubbed his injured shoulder. “It started hurting more than it used to. And I missed home. So I moved to Fort Worth three years ago when I got an opportunity to get into stock contracting. I’m done with competing. I started my own business so I could come back to Medina.”

  “I just wish...”

  “What do you wish?” That they’d never broken up? That they’d gotten married, raised their daughter together?

  “That I could trust you. To stay. To fully commit to Jayda.”

  “You can. That guy in high school, the one who dumped you, the one who went on and dated all those other girls—that wasn’t me. I’m a Christian now. I even attend church.”

  “I’ve seen how churches work, and Christians are still all too human.” She rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Regardless of who you are, we seem to bring out the worst in each other.”

  “Then let’s change that.” He stood and gently touched her chin until she looked up at him again. “You can trust me now. If you move back to Dallas, I’ll move there, too. I want to be Jayda’s father. I need to be her father. For the rest of her life.”

  She took in a deep breath and nodded. “Just give me some time to break it to her.”

  Wait? Even though he wanted to rush into the kitchen, gather Jayda in his arms, tell her he was her father and start making up for the time they’d lost? Patience had never been his best trait.

  “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “Maybe a little more time than that?”

  “How much time could it possibly take to say, ‘This is your father’?”

  “I’d like to ease into it slowly, then take time to let it sink in before you blast into her life.”

  “Please don’t put it off, Larae. You know I don’t do waiting well.” His feet felt leaden as he walked to the door. Everything in him wanted to bolt for the kitchen. He put one foot in front of the other till he reached the front door and stepped outside. Though everything had changed in an instant, he’d go back to his empty, lonely house. And wait.

  If only he’d committed to Christ back in high school, maybe he would have made better decisions. Maybe he could have witnessed to her and they wouldn’t have had a child out of wedlock. Maybe he could have eventually won her dad over, proved himself as a stock contractor. Had Jayda after they were married. Done things right.

  Things could have gone so differently. Regrets piled high. But Jayda wasn’t one of them. She was the blessing that came out of their mistakes, and he couldn’t wait to be her dad. Maybe he could find out what Larae had against Christians and witness to her. If they could get on the same page spiritually, everything would be easier.

  He dug his phone out of his pocket, scrolled to his father’s number and stopped. Despite the circumstances, his parents would be thrilled to learn they were grandparents. But they’d want to see Jayda right away. And they might hold Larae’s silence against her. He couldn’t tell them. Not yet.

  Things didn’t need to get any more complicated than they already were. After he and Larae found their footing with each other—once Jayda knew who he was and things smoothed out a bit—then he’d tell his parents. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

  His old feelings for Larae had to remain buried deep. No one knew he had big-money family ties. If he let himself fall for her again, some people would think he was a gold digger, just as her father had. He had to make a success of his new business before he could even think about anything more than coparenting with her.

  * * *

  Mental and physical exhaustion threatened to overtake Larae. She’d barely slept last night. After all these years of holding her secret tight, Rance knew the truth. Her future was uncharted territory. Everything would change. She’d have to share Jayda.

  Perched on the porch swing, her gaze went to the arena, where Jayda was riding Beans. She hadn’t broached the subject of Rance with Jayda yet, and she had to figure out a way. He wouldn’t be patient forever.

  How would she break the news to her little girl? Sweetie, I’ve been keeping your father away from you all these years because I thought he was a jerk. But now, maybe he’s not. Or maybe he is and he’s just pretending he isn’t.

  At the moment, she needed to focus on the rodeo. The list of phone numbers blurred before her eyes. She should be calling friends and former colleagues to find potential rodeo staff—bullfighters, chute bosses, announcers. The list went on. She couldn’t build a rodeo if she couldn’t staff it. So much to do and so much on her mind. She couldn’t seem to function.

  “There you are.”

  She jumped at the sound of Rance’s voice. He rounded the side of the house, took the steps in one long lope and settled beside her on the swing as if she’d invited him.

  “Whatcha doing?” He glanced at the phone numbers in her file.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to wait. I haven’t told her anything yet.”

  “Yeah, about that... That doesn’t mean I have to stay away, does it? What’s wrong with me being around, letting her get used to me, then telling her who I am? Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.” Jayda’s giggle caught his attention, and h
e looked toward the arena. His jaw went slack. “But I don’t think I can stay away.” He stood.

  “Wait.” She grabbed his arm. Muscles flexed under her fingertips, and electricity sparked between them. Her hand slipped away. “I guess I’ll have to put up with you since you’re obviously not going to do what I say. But I’m not comfortable with you being around her without me. Yet. I’m afraid you’ll let something slip. And I can’t drop everything and hang out with y’all today. I have calls to make.”

  “Can I help with the calls?”

  “Maybe.” She gestured to her list. “I called Carson and told him to get started on the indoor building and contacted the arena company you recommended to spruce the outdoor site into shape. But now I need to call all my rodeo contacts. I’m trying to find staff and hoping my contacts can make recommendations.”

  “So you’re staying? Going ahead with the rodeo idea?”

  She let out a sigh. Might as well come clean. “My job in Dallas got downsized and my lease on our condo is up in May, so I can’t really think of anything we have to go back for. Jayda loves it here. The rodeo idea is growing on me. And you’re here.” Her voice cracked. “If you’re going to be a part of her life, I figure we should stay put.” At least for now.

  “I know this is hard. But I won’t let you down. Not this time.” He reached over and closed her file. “I have a better idea on how to find rodeo staff, though.”

  “How?”

  “You’re a marketing guru. Make flyers announcing your rodeo with a list of employment opportunities. Put tabs with your number on the bottom for interested parties to call for details. You can put the info on the radio in the community announcements also.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Your brain’s on overload.”

  “But if I call my rodeo contacts, I can get references.”

  “This way you’ll find out who’s available and interested. You can still use your contacts to vet any calls you get from flyers. And I know lots of rodeo workers, so I can help you hire the best.”

  “Maybe it would speed up the process.”