The Rancher and the Event Planner - By Cheryl Gorman Page 0,61
stool and running to him.
He picked her up and she gave his neck a squeeze and looked at him with laughing, green eyes. “You’re home early. JC’s here.”
Rafe nodded at Jennifer with what he hoped was a neutral expression. A jumbled confusion roiled inside him like a dust storm. What was she doing here?
Even dressed in a t-shirt, cutoffs and sneakers, she radiated pure beauty and kindness. Her face was scrubbed free of makeup.
“Hi, Rafe,” she said. “I was invited tonight to celebrate the town winning the contest.”
“Yeah, we’re grilling steaks with all the fixings,” Linc said. “And I’m making twice-baked potatoes. And a special cake. How ‘bout a beer and a stroll down to the barn before dinner?”
Rafe still held Molly in his arms, and he looked down at her, then back at Linc. “Thanks, but I came home early to spend time with my best girl.”
Molly giggled. “Oh, Daddy.”
But first he needed to put distance between him and Jennifer. “What do you say we take a drive down to the pond and feed the ducks?”
“JC can come too,” Molly said. She turned to JC. “The ducks are so funny.”
Jennifer glanced his way for a moment, then turned her attention to Molly. “Well, I’d like to help get dinner ready.”
Molly’s face fell. “Oh, please come, JC. Please.” Her voice ended on a slightly high note.
“Go have fun,” Linc said. “I can handle this.”
Damn it, he had no choice but to let her come along. “Yeah, you don’t want to miss the ducks.”
* * *
On the way to the pond, Molly chattered non-stop, which turned out to be a blessing. It had been obvious that Rafe was surprised she was there when he got home and would rather she left, but she had been unable to turn down both the dinner invitation, and Molly’s plea to visit the ducks.
When they arrived at the pond, the sun lounged on the horizon and cast brilliant red, pink and orange color into the distant clouds. Molly grabbed the bag of bread crumbs and climbed out of the truck at record speed. Dixie ran by her side, sniffing the new ground, tail wagging. Molly stopped at the edge of the pond and called, “Hi ducks, I’m back. I brought you some food.”
The ducks, paddling about on the opposite side of the pond, swam swiftly over, quacking with duck joy. Dixie barked and wagged her tail at the sight of the ducks swimming toward them.
The air redolent with the scent of grass, dust and water, wove with the slight scent of fish and cat tails spearing upward at the edge of the pond. Cows grazed in the distance and every now and then JC inhaled a whiff of manure.
“Come on, JC. Feed the ducks.”
JC tossed bread crumbs, with Molly while Rafe leaned against the front bumper of his truck. Unable to tolerate his gaze boring into her back a moment longer, she handed the bag of crumbs to Molly and said, “Here, you finish up. I’ll be right over there with your dad.”
When she reached his side, she said, “I know you don’t want me here, but I had no choice. I couldn’t say no to Molly.”
“I never said I didn’t want you here.”
“You didn’t have to. It was written all over your face.”
“I never meant to make you unwelcome. I’m just trying to protect you that’s all.”
“Protect me? From what?”
“From me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her heart beat like a wild thing, along with her pulse. She desperately wanted to turn, declare her feelings, her hopes, her dreams, but she couldn’t. The man obviously didn’t return even an inkling of her feelings, she was sure of it not because he didn’t want to but because he was too damn scared.
A breeze fluttered a lock of his hair and the scent of man, sweat and soap drifted past her nose, and she couldn’t help but inhale. “I think you’re more scared of hurting yourself. You know, for a big, tough cowboy you’re a coward.” She looked toward Molly and Dixie by the pond, the ducks nibbling bread crumbs in a greedy frenzy of flapping wings and quacks.
He straightened and faced her. “Excuse me?”
“That’s right. You wear your fear like a hair shirt. You don’t have the guts to try again. You don’t believe in giving yourself a second chance. You screw up once and that’s it. What was it you said about after you get thrown off a horse you get right back on?