Winning the Rancher's Heart Read online

  Leaning toward Jeri, Ryder softly muttered, “Newlyweds.”

  The sound, so close to Jeri’s ear, sent shivers through her. Frowning, she leaned forward and focused on her plate. That wasn’t the thrill of attraction, she told herself; that was revulsion. Whatever it was, it sank her mood into the doldrums.

  Wyatt quickly finished his meal and got up to carry his plate to the sink. Kathryn rinsed it and placed it in the dishwasher while Wyatt headed toward the door.

  “Where are you off to now?” Tina asked, following him.

  “I’m going to rearrange the storage room,” he told her. “Since Jake moved out, it’s been a jumble in there.”

  “He says he left some things behind,” Kathryn remarked. “If you’ll set aside anything of his, we’ll get it out of your way.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Wyatt told her, taking his coat from a peg on the wall.

  Ryder gulped down a big bite and pushed back his chair. “I’ll help you.”

  “No, no. You’ve barely had time to warm up. Finish eating, then go lift your precious weights or see if Jake needs help. Better yet, see to that foot.”

  As Wyatt pulled his gloves and muffler from his coat, what sounded like a herd of cattle rumbled down the stairs. A heartbeat later, two small boys and two dogs ran into the room. The dogs, one a pup, went straight to the food and water bowls next to the stove and parked there hopefully, tails wagging.

  The older boy, a strawberry blond whose shirtsleeves were too short, went to Tina, declaring, “We’re hungry, Mom. Can we have a snack?”

  “You just had lunch.”

  “Actually, that was nearly three hours ago,” Kathryn said, catching the smaller boy, who threw his arms around her.

  Tina sighed. “Oh, all right. Dinner will be late, anyway.”

  The dogs gave up their vigil at the food bowls and moved to the door as Wyatt, who had finished outfitting himself for the cold, reached for the knob.

  “Let the dogs go with you, dear,” Tina said, “and don’t stay out there too long.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” he told her. “Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  He allowed the dogs to follow him through the door, pulling it closed behind them.

  “KKay, I want stauburries,” the smaller boy announced.

  Kathryn smoothed her hand over his dark head. “We don’t have any strawberries.” She pronounced the word carefully. “How about sliced apples and peanut butter for a snack?”

  “Yay!”

  He ran to Ryder, who drew the boy up to straddle his knee. “Unca Ryder, we got apples an’ peanut budder. Want some?”

  “No, thanks.” Ryder hugged the boy. “I’m having another helping of this potpie, though.” Ryder reached around the child to serve himself.

  “What’s this about your foot?” Tina asked, waddling back to the table.

  Before he could answer, the boy on Ryder’s knee pointed a finger at Jeri. “Who dat?”

  “That’s Miss Jeri,” Ryder answered. “She’s our guest.” He waved a hand between the two boys, saying to Jeri, “These are my nephews, Tyler and Frankie.”

  Jeri made herself smile at the boys, but she felt off-balance. Ryder Smith wasn’t supposed to be a helpful brother and doting uncle. He wasn’t supposed to make her shiver or want to join in the conversation. He shouldn’t be long-suffering and patient. She shouldn’t appreciate his handling of the horses or find him the most attractive of the Smith brothers. He was a fiend, a villain.

  Kathryn brought over two small plates filled with sliced apples, crackers and globs of peanut butter. Frankie slid off Ryder’s knee and right onto his foot. Ryder grimaced.

  “Ryder Dodd Smith,” Tina said, folding her arms above the swell of her belly. “What did you do to your foot?”

  He shrugged sheepishly. “Something fell on it.”

  Jeri tried not to wince as guilt swept through her. She told herself that he deserved a couple of smashed toes, but she couldn’t quite believe it somehow. Especially when he protected her by leaving her culpability out of it.

  Tina rolled her eyes. “Get that boot off.” She turned toward the back of the house, saying, “Kathryn, we’re going to need some hot water and then ice packs. I’ll get the Epsom salts.”

  Sighing, Ryder sent an apologetic glance at Jeri and started eating again. Kathryn went to heat water.

  Feeling as slimy as a slug, Jeri beat a hasty retreat, mumbling that she needed to make a phone call. If she didn’t speak to her mother soon, she was going to lose her nerve. These Smiths were too...normal...too likable, especially Ryder.

  As she climbed the stairs, she heard something hitting the roof of the house. Too sharp to be rain and too light to be hail, the sound grew louder as she reached the landing and made her way down the hall to her room. Pushing aside the ruffled curtain, she looked out at the crystalline ice beginning to coat the bare limbs of the trees in the side yard. Within moments, the lawn was sparkling white and the outside of the window had begun to glaze over.

  Jeri felt trapped in a prison of her own making.

  No. She shook her head. Ryder Smith had made this prison for her family when he killed her little brother. And he had to pay for that. God was going to make him pay for that. She had to believe God would make him pay.

  For her own sake, as well as her mother’s, she must make sure of it.

  Pulling her small phone from the pocket of her jeans, she found her mom’s phone number and made the call.

  * * *

  “It’s getting nasty out there,” Kathryn remarked, closing the door behind the dogs, both of which shook themselves off before plopping down on the rug in front of the cookstove.

  “Hope this doesn’t last too long,” Ryder commented, pulling on his sock.

  Soaking his foot had made his toes throb like a big brass drum, but the ice packs had helped calm the throb. And the over-the-counter analgesic Tina had given him, coupled with the way Kathryn had taped two of the toes together, was taking the edge off what remained.

  “Kathryn,” Tina said, “maybe you, Jake and Frankie should spend the night here.”

  Kathryn nodded. As Ryder gingerly pushed his injured foot down into his boot, Tina made a sound that pretty well described how it felt to shove broken toes into a cowboy boot. When he looked over at her, though, he saw that she was grasping her belly, her face screwed up in pain.

  “Tina!” Kathryn yelped, rushing to her side.

  At the same time, Tyler cried, “Mom!”

  Gasping harshly, Tina reached out and steadied herself by grabbing Kathryn’s shoulder. She seemed to catch her breath and straightened, only to cry out and double over again. Making a gargling sound, she started to sink. Ryder jumped up and caught her, sweeping her into his arms as she groaned.

  “Call the doctor!” he barked, carrying Tina toward the bedroom she shared with Wyatt. Thankfully, the bedroom was on the ground floor and just down the hall from the kitchen. Behind him, Tyler and Frankie slid off their chairs. “Stay where you are, boys!” he ordered.

  “The n-number’s on my phone,” Tina managed, clutching his neck with one arm and digging for her phone with the other hand.

  Kathryn caught up with them and took the phone as Ryder lowered Tina onto the big bed. Tina curled onto her side, gasping again. Before Ryder could straighten, she grabbed him by the shirtsleeve.

  “Get Wyatt.”

  “Right away.”

  He hurried for the door while Kathryn made the phone call. Tina moaned again; it was a strangled, frightened sound. Looking back in concern, Ryder strode into the hall—and straight into Jeri Bogman.

  “Oh!”

  He quickly stepped around her, his hands steadying her by the shoulders. “I’ve got to find Wyatt.”

  “Something wrong?”

 
He glanced back into the bedroom before quickly ushering her away from the door, toward the kitchen. “Tina could be in labor,” he said in a low, tense voice.

  “Oh, no. Can I do anything?”

  “Keep an eye on the boys,” he said, leaving her at the kitchen table as he rushed for his coat. As he yanked open the door, he heard Jeri urging the boys to return to the table. Ryder hurried outside, throwing on his coat and praying silently as he went.

  Thankfully, the new carport covered the steps, so they were dry and clear. The ground, however, was already slick with ice, which continued to fall in angry, wet splatters. Nevertheless, he ran, his injured foot screaming with every step. Slipping and flailing his arms to maintain balance, he got to the barn and went in through the small door, calling for his brother.

  “Wyatt! Wyatt!” He heard the distant bang of a plank door.

  “Ryder?”

  He got as far as the middle section of the barn before Wyatt appeared out of the gloom.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Tina’s in pain. Kathryn’s calling the doctor.”

  Wyatt took off at a dead run.

  “Watch the ice!” Ryder yelled, going after him.

  Ryder caught up with Wyatt as he grabbed the edge of the barn’s door to keep his feet from going out from under him. He mentally reminded himself to come out later, when the onslaught had stopped, and sprinkle rock salt on the ground around the house and barn. For now, Ryder focused on following Wyatt across the yard as quickly as he could possibly manage in the horrible conditions. He didn’t want to think about trying to drive Tina to the hospital in Ardmore. As he followed his brother to the house, he resumed his fervent prayers.

  Please, God. Please don’t let them lose their babies. I’ve given Wyatt enough heartache already. Please don’t let them lose their babies.

  The next hour passed at a crawl, with Wyatt and Tina closed in the bedroom and Kathryn going in and out. The boys caught the gloomy atmosphere. Their snacks abandoned, they looked around with wide, worried eyes. Finally, Jeri interceded.

  “Say, why don’t you guys show me your room? Bet we can find something to do there.”

  “My room,” Tyler clarified.

  “I got a room!” Frankie insisted. “I got two.” He held up two fingers in case Jeri didn’t understand, adding, “With puppies.”

  “You just nap in the room here,” Tyler argued. “You live in your room in town.”

  Jeri lifted her eyebrows at Ryder as she urged the boys toward the stairs. “Let’s go upstairs anyway.”

  Ryder thought that she was good with kids, but the greater part of his mind was centered on Tina and Wyatt. Minutes crept by. At last Ryder heard a vehicle pull into the carport. Rushing to the door, he recognized the truck and the couple getting out of it. Wes Billings was a local rancher, and his wife, Alice Shorter Billings, was the local doctor. Ryder closed his eyes and whispered a prayer of gratitude as the pair hurried toward the steps.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Ryder told them.

  “Tina’s OB called me,” Alice said. “I came as soon as I could.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  He stepped back to let them enter then led the way to the bedroom. After tapping on the door, he opened it.

  “Wes and Dr. Alice are here.”

  Wyatt rose from the chair beside the bed and came to greet them. Wes carried her medical bag into the room, smiled at Wyatt and Tina, left the bag on the chair Wyatt had just vacated, and backed out again, pulling the door closed behind him. Suddenly, Jeri was at Ryder’s elbow.

  “We heard a vehicle arrive. Frankie says it’s the doctor.”

  “My wife,” Wes supplied. “She’s in with Tina now.”

  Ryder quickly made introductions. “Uh, our guest, Jeri Bogman. And Wes Billings.”

  Wes shook Jeri’s hand then lifted an eyebrow at Ryder.

  “I’m the official house-call barista,” he said. “How about a cup of coffee?”

  “It’s already made,” Ryder muttered, fighting the impulse to stand by the bedroom door and listen in case he was needed.

  Wes’s next words pulled him away.

  “Coffee and prayer,” Wes said. “Being married to a doctor, I’ve learned to specialize in both.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Jeri said, lifting a hand to Ryder’s shoulder.

  That small hand comforted him in a way he couldn’t describe. Coffee and prayer with Jeri beside him sounded good.

  In fact, they sounded essential.

  He turned, giving her the best smile he could muster, and led the way back into the kitchen.

  Chapter Four

  Sitting silently beside Jeri at the kitchen table as Wes voiced a prayer, Ryder found himself thinking about reaching for Jeri’s hand. He told himself that the impulse came from his family’s habit of holding hands while giving thanks for the food at mealtimes, but the truth was that focusing fully on the prayer required a good deal of effort. Jake’s arrival was a welcome distraction. Kathryn, who had just refilled coffee cups, abandoned the carafe on the kitchen counter and went to greet him.

  “Have any trouble getting here?”

  He shook his head, hanging his coat on a wall peg. “It’s just a couple hundred yards. Besides, I put snow chains on the truck.”

  Dr. Alice came into the room. Placing her medical kit on the end of the kitchen table, she plopped down in the chair next to her husband and let out a long sigh. Across from her, Ryder noticed a sprinkling of silver in her sleek blond hair, which she wore in a neat chignon at the nape of her neck. Somehow, though, both she and Wes looked younger than they had before they’d married only months earlier. Watching Wes pat her hand, Ryder felt a stab of envy. He couldn’t help feeling that everyone around him was paired up except him. He struggled to turn off the thought, reminding himself that he had too many strikes against him to hope for romance.

  Mentally, he ticked off the reasons he shouldn’t expect to find himself part of a couple. He had no real occupation, lived mainly on the largesse of his brothers, and he’d killed a man. What woman would find that attractive? None. Obviously.

  Jake’s voice broke into his thoughts. “How is Tina?”

  The doctor answered. “Well, the medication has stopped her contractions for now. She’s resting comfortably.”

  “It was Braxton-Hicks, then?” Kathryn asked hopefully. “I’ve heard it’s quite common.”

  Dr. Alice shook her head. “In my experience, Braxton-Hicks contractions are much milder than what Tina described—and they come later in the pregnancy. But then, with twins, who can say? I’ve ordered her to stay in bed until she can see her ob-gyn.”

  Kathryn looked to Jake, who immediately responded.

  “I could drive her and Wyatt over to Ardmore. I’ve not had much experience with snow chains, but if we take it slow...”

  Dr. Alice nodded. “If her contractions start up again, she’ll need to get straight to the emergency room at the hospital in Ardmore. Otherwise, she’ll be fine until she sees her ob-gyn on Thursday.”

  “We’ll stay over tonight,” Kathryn said. “Just in case.” She smiled at Jake. “I’ve already made up the beds.”

  Holding his wife’s gaze, Jake nodded. “Sure thing, honey.”

  Ryder marveled that even after nearly three months of marriage, Kathryn could still blush when Jake called her “honey” in front of others.

  “I—I’d better start dinner,” she said, sounding a little breathless.

  “I’ll help you,” Ryder volunteered.

  “Me, too,” Jeri added.

  Nodding, Kathryn addressed Wes and Alice. “Won’t you stay and join us?”

  Wes shook his head and pushed back his chair. “Best not. If we get any more precipitation, we’d be here for the duration.” He grinned at Jake. “We native
Oklahomans don’t travel on snow chains. Never even thought of it.”

  Jake chuckled. “Being from Houston, I ordered a few sets just to be on the safe side.”

  “That was probably a good impulse,” Wes mused, “even if you don’t use them more than a day or two a year.”

  “I have them,” Jeri said. “There are some big rodeos in really snowy places, but they’re a pain to hook up on my own, so I don’t use them much.”

  “Interesting,” Wes said. He looked to Alice. “Given how often she gets called out, I might ought to invest in a set.”

  “I’ll remind you of that the next time we get called out in the ice,” Alice said dryly, “and there’s not a set on the place.”

  Wes chuckled. “How well she knows me. We’d better scoot, Dr. Wife.”

  Alice smiled as she rose. “Call if you need me,” she said to the room at large as she made her way around the table.

  Wes retrieved the medical bag from the end of the table just as Wyatt came into the kitchen. “You folks leaving?”

  “We are,” Wes confirmed.

  Hurrying to them, Wyatt hugged Alice and clapped Wes on the back. “Thank you so much for coming out in this.”

  “That’s the life of a small-town doctor,” Wes told him. “And her husband.” He slid an arm across Alice’s shoulders, and they moved toward the door together.

  While Wyatt saw them into their coats and out the door, the boys came downstairs and went straight to Kathryn.

  “Aunt KKay, we’re hungry again,” Tyler whined.

  “I’m starting dinner now,” she told them, “but you can have some graham crackers, if you like. Just a few.”

  Tyler ran to the pantry, but Frankie went to Jake and crawled up in his lap. “Aunt Tina sleepin’,” he reported in a small voice.

  Ryder caught the note of concern, and he wasn’t the only one.