Winning the Rancher's Heart Read online

  After that, Jeri had nothing left but prayer and tears. She basically divided her free time between the two.

  Valentine’s Day was tough, so tough she pretended to receive phone calls from Ryder to keep Lacy from knowing how badly she’d blown it with him. They met in New Mexico, and when Lacy remarked how sad Jeri seemed to be, she blamed it on missing Ryder, which was entirely true. Thankfully, Lacy and Ox were in contact only sporadically and apparently he’d said nothing about the situation with Ryder, which made Jeri wonder if Ox even knew.

  On a dreary Wednesday evening in Idaho, Jeri pulled over on impulse just outside of Boise to attend prayer meeting at a local church with a sign out front proclaiming that all were welcome. Afterward, she found herself tearfully pouring out her heart to the pastor and his wife, explaining her brother’s death and her mother’s angry refusal to accept the truth of the situation. They’d promised to pray for everyone concerned. The following Sunday, at the Cowboy Church service on the rodeo grounds, Jeri requested prayer again. She didn’t go into detail, but a group of cowboys and cowgirls surrounded her to pray, and then a funny thing began to happen.

  Happy memories of her brother began to infiltrate her thoughts. She began to pray that her mother might receive them also and come to peace with his death enough to appreciate what they’d shared of his life. She prayed, too, for the rest of the Smith family, even Tina’s unborn babies. Images of Ryder waiting for her when she pulled into the Loco Man compound after driving all day to get there began to replace those last haunting images of his disappointment in her. She saw herself opening the trailer door again to find him standing there with Ox and felt the chuckle in his chest as he’d held her close while she bawled about burning all those grilled cheese sandwiches. She relived his every kiss with deep gratitude and abiding joy. And she came to a conclusion.

  He’d loved her. He had loved her as no one else ever had or ever could, and she had only herself to blame for killing that love. Still, it had been hers for a while, a sweet, sweet while.

  She journeyed on, all the way to the west coast. Then, out of the blue, she received a text from Ryder on the last Friday of February.

  Come home.

  Not “Come and get your horses,” or even “Come back to the ranch.” All he wrote was Come home.

  With tears dripping from her eyes and hope building in her chest, she replied, Leaving CA Sun Mar 1.

  She heard nothing more from him, but she had her best race to date on Leap Day, February 29, and on Sunday she walked away with the grand prize money. She left that night for Oklahoma, timing her arrival so that she pulled into the compound at Loco Man Ranch midafternoon on Tuesday, March 3. No one waited for her, but just arriving was like balm to her soul. She pulled the rig to a stop in front of the barn and walked to the house without her hat or jacket, inhaling the clean, crisp air and the silence. Bracing herself for an awkward greeting, she climbed the steps to the back stoop and tapped on the door.

  After several minutes, she tapped again. Minutes after that, she opened the door and stuck her head inside, voicing a timid, “Hello?”

  All she heard in reply was a muffled cry and an anxious voice saying, “Dr. Alice is in Ringling, and the ambulance is twenty minutes out.”

  That sounded like Kathryn, trying to keep her voice low, but Jeri caught the edge of panic. Ryder appeared at the end of the hallway, shoving his hands through his hair and twisting them about in consternation. He didn’t see Jeri, not even when she walked through the door and closed it behind her.

  “We’ll have to put her in the truck and meet them on the way,” he decided.

  Kathryn joined him then. “What if she delivers before you reach them?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, but her water broke, so we have to do something. Now.”

  “Call Stark Burns,” Jeri blurted.

  They both jerked around to gape at her.

  “He can help. He’s made hundreds of deliveries.”

  Still, they just stared at her.

  “He’s better than nothing!”

  Ryder plucked his phone out of his pocket and made the call, repeating Stark’s instructions for Kathryn and Jeri to hear. “Towels. Gloves. Antiseptic. Suture thread? No, he’s got that.”

  “I’ve got sterile gloves and antiseptic in my first aid kit,” Jeri said, yanking open the door again and bolting for the truck.

  She heard Tina scream before she got back to the house. It was too late for Stark or anyone else to be of help. It was up to her now. Running for the bedroom, she bawled, “Gimme a clean shirt! Now!”

  Someone dropped a white, long-sleeved shirt in front of her face as she fell to her knees beside the bed, issuing orders.

  “Turn her! The footboard’s in the way.”

  While Jeri stuffed her arms into the sleeves of the shirt and someone tugged it up onto her shoulders, backward so that it opened behind her, Wyatt appeared on the other side of the bed. Leaning one knee on the mattress, he grasped Tina under both arms and hauled her around so that she lay sideways on the wide bed. Jeri threw back the twisted top sheet, appalled at the mess, but Kathryn stepped forward and quickly helped her remove the necessary clothing and slid a clean towel into place. Tina screamed again. Jeri barely had time to rip open the package and pull on the gloves before the first baby appeared. He slid into her hands, tiny and silent.

  “Boy!” Kathryn reported triumphantly. “Lots of black hair.”

  He wasn’t moving at all, so Jeri did the only thing she could think of—what she’d always done for newly born puppies, kittens, foals and other animals. She grabbed a towel from the folded stack that had appeared on the foot of the bed and began rubbing vigorously. Within moments the baby spit up pinkish fluid and started to wail, waving his tiny hands and arms angrily. Wyatt laughed, tears coursing down his face.

  “Is he all right?” Tina queried tremulously.

  “He’s perfect,” Jeri said, laying him carefully on the pillow that Kathryn moved next to Tina. “Small but perfect.”

  She didn’t know what to do next. She’d watched many a litter being delivered, but human beings were in a category by themselves, and there was another waiting to make an entrance. Should she cut the cord now or wait? Before she had a chance to decide how to proceed, Stark showed up, breathless and with a medical kit in tow.

  “Thank God,” Jeri exclaimed, but he didn’t make it around the foot of the bed before Tina stopped him.

  “No! I don’t want him doing this. Or any of the men. It’s embarrassing enough as it is!”

  Jeri looked up at Stark beseechingly. He had frozen in place, but now he carefully set the kit on the corner of the bed. He opened it, laying out several sterile packets before lifting his hands and backing away.

  “I—I’m not sure exactly how to—”

  That was all she got out before Tina pressed the soles of her feet into the mattress, growled deep in her throat like a mother bear and yelled in pain. Jeri had to help the second little guy, who came into the world howling before he was even fully born, but Stark talked her through it, and all that followed, from a safe distance. She was trembling and Tina was sobbing with relief and delight by the time Jeri laid the second twin, swaddled in towels, in his mother’s arms. The ambulance siren was clearly audible even before then.

  Looking up at her, Wyatt nodded. “Thank God you’re here.”

  Jeri could do no more than nod back. She stripped off the gloves, turning them wrong side out, and pulled away the shirt, which she doubted anyone would want to rescue. Dropping the lot where she stood, she wobbled toward the door. Stark clapped her on the shoulder as she passed into the hallway.

  “Good work.”

  And then there was Ryder, his dark gaze searching hers. She burst into tears, partly from anxiety, partly from relief, partly from the sheer joy of seeing him again. To her everlasting del
ight, he smiled, and then he pulled her into his arms. She collapsed against his chest, sobbing.

  Without even a thought, her words came pouring out. “I love you. I love you. Please, please, if you never believe anything else, believe that.”

  He curled a finger beneath her chin and turned her face up. “I love you, too.”

  Dumbstruck, she could do nothing more than gape at him for a long moment. Then he cupped a big hand around the curve of her jaw as if she was the most precious thing in the world. She launched herself upward, bringing her lips to his.

  Jake gently nudged them aside a few moments later, making way for the EMTs and the gurney they had wheeled through the kitchen. Jeri and Ryder stood wrapped in each other’s arms while the gurney disappeared into the bedroom then reappeared some minutes later, bearing a very composed Tina and the smaller of the twins. Wyatt followed with the other baby in his arms. Tina reached out a hand toward Jeri, and the gurney paused.

  “Thank you. And welcome back.”

  Jeri nodded and started to cry again. The gurney moved on. Wyatt appeared. He pulled back the towel to show Ryder his nephew. Ryder kept Jeri close as he peered at the newborn.

  “Wow. I mean... Wow.”

  Grinning, Wyatt carried the infant out to the waiting ambulance. Jake and Kathryn followed them with coats, gloves and hats. Ryder and Jeri stayed where they were, holding each other, until Jake and Kathryn returned.

  “The EMTs say everyone should be fine,” Jake announced. “The babies are small, but they’re breathing on their own. We’re going to follow Wyatt and the ambulance to the hospital. Would you mind trading trucks with me and bringing the boys? That way I won’t have to move car seats.”

  Ryder looked at Jeri.

  “I need to unload my horses.”

  “We’ll take care of the boys here,” Ryder decided, tossing Jake his keys. “But take my truck anyway, just in case. Let us know what the doctors say.”

  Jake dropped his own keys on the table beside the door, snapped a little salute and started to follow Kathryn out the door once more, but then he paused and looked back.

  “Welcome home, Jeri.”

  “Thank you,” she choked out.

  “There’s one thing about us Smith men,” Jake added. “We attract the most remarkable women.” With that, he stepped out and pulled the door closed behind him.

  “That’s the truth,” Ryder muttered.

  Jeri immediately began apologizing. “Ryder, I’m so sorry for not telling you the whole truth immediately.”

  “I know. I understand why you didn’t, and I’m willing to forgive you and move past it all. But I have a few conditions, so you’d better listen.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “This all happened way too fast, but I’m not putting up with any long-drawn-out engagement. I intend to go with you the next time you leave here. Do you understand me?”

  Elated, Jeri nodded. “I’ll marry you tomorrow if you want. There’s just one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My mother hates you. I’ve tried to reason with her, but she just won’t or can’t hear me.”

  Sighing, Ryder pulled Jeri against his chest again. “Poor woman. We’ll have to pray on that. But it’s not her I’m worried about. You’re all I want. All I need. So, if you can’t truly forgive me for what happened to Bryan, tell me now.”

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” Jeri exclaimed, pulling back far enough to look up at him. “I can’t even think of it like that. In some ways, it’s almost as if...as if Bryan’s brought us together.”

  “That’s a beautiful way to think about it,” Ryder murmured, staring past her. Suddenly, he smiled and said, “I sure wish he was here.”

  “Me, too.”

  Locking his arms around her, Ryder twitched an eyebrow. “There’s something else you should know. I’ve got a quarter section of my own now, and I’m getting ready to build a house on it.”

  “A house!”

  He nodded. “A hundred and sixty acres doesn’t sound like much, but Abe says there’s a forty-acre parcel right on our fence line that we ought to be able to pick up cheap.”

  We.

  That word sounded like her every dream come true. With room to grow.

  “I love you, Ryder Smith,” she whispered. “From now on, wherever you are, that’s my home.”

  “Sounds perfect to me.”

  Suddenly, a picture of her brother flashed before her mind’s eye. The very last time she’d seen him, he’d been laughing at her concerns. His car sat packed behind him, and he’d been about to head out for Houston, excited and full of life.

  “I love you, bro. I mean, sis. Why’d Mom give you a guy’s name, anyway? Never mind. You just go and do your thing and don’t worry about me. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  Then she closed her eyes and silently thanked God, Who had obviously been at work this whole time to bring her and Ryder together. In so doing, He had even given meaning to her brother’s death.

  She had come for revenge.

  And would stay for love.

  * * *

  If you loved this story,

  check out the other books from

  Arlene James’s miniseries

  Three Brothers Ranch

  The Rancher’s Answered Prayer

  Rancher to the Rescue

  Or pick up these other stories of ranch life

  from the author’s previous miniseries

  The Prodigal Ranch

  The Rancher’s Homecoming

  Her Single Dad Hero

  Her Cowboy Boss

  Available now from Love Inspired!

  Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Texan’s Secret Daughter by Jolene Navarro.

  Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

  Dear Reader,

  God can bless us even through tragedy.

  When I first experienced the tragic death of a young person, just being told that God could and would bless those who suffered that loss infuriated me. More than forty years later, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the same God Who allows tragedy can and will bless His children in and through that same tragedy. Sometimes we’re too broken to realize we’ve been blessed. Sometimes we’re too angry. Sometimes we haven’t forgiven, and sometimes that includes not forgiving ourselves. That’s exactly the predicament Ryder and Jeri are in at the beginning of this story.

  I’m so happy to be able to give Ryder and Jeri the blessings of forgiveness, peace and love, but I realize that many others touched by tragedy, like Jeri’s mother, are unable to receive the blessings granted to them. My prayers are with them—and with you, my readers.

  God bless. Always,

  Arlene James

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired story.

  You believe hearts can heal. Love Inspired stories show that faith, forgiveness and hope have the power to lift spirits and change lives—always.

  Enjoy six new stories from Love Inspired every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!

  Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.

  Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice

  OR

  EXCLUSIVE GI
FTS from your favorite authors or series.

  Click here to join for FREE

  Or visit us online to register at

  www.HarlequinMyRewards.com

  Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.

  The Texan’s Secret Daughter

  by Jolene Navarro

  Chapter One

  No. That couldn’t be him.

  Jazmine Daniels stood in the doorway of the food bank. The bags loaded with canned goods cut into her fingers, but she couldn’t move. She understood now why deer froze in the middle of the road.

  Walk in, turn around, run, hide.

  The options tumbled over each other in her brain, confusing her body and making it impossible to pick one.

  Elijah De La Rosa. It had been over six years since she’d seen her husband. Ex-husband.

  His hair was a little longer and there was more red tangled in the dark strands, as though he’d spent a lot of time outdoors. He looked older, his skin weathered in a good way. A small groan formed in the back of her throat. How was it possible that he was even better looking now than the day she had first seen him? Not fair.

  He laughed at something one of his companions said, and she forced herself to look away. Her mother and daughter would be following her any minute. She needed to leave before that happened.

  Her eyes scanned the large open room for a fast escape. Colorful carved starfish hung on the walls while windows flooded the dining area with friendly sunlight. About twenty-five people gathered around the long tables, eating the lunch that the local mission provided to the homeless and needy.

  Homeless? Her stomach plunged. He couldn’t be homeless, but why else would he be here? The drinking must’ve gotten worse after she left. Had his family refused to help him or had he refused to accept their help?

  His pride had always been bigger than his common sense. Not that she had blamed him. Her heart had wanted to fix all his hurts, but she hadn’t been enough.

  She shook her head and bit hard against the remorse. No. Her actions kept her and her daughter safe. That had to stay at the forefront of her brain.