Cowboy to the Rescue. Trish Milburn

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СКАЧАТЬ afraid,” Merline said. “Can’t have that kind of competition.”

      Brooke’s heart sank. After all her work, she would leave this ranch as broke as she’d arrived here. More days or weeks living off of her savings.

      Simon squeezed her hand and leaned closer. “She’s just kidding.”

      Brooke turned her attention to Merline for confirmation.

      Merline grinned with mischief. “I am kidding. How can I not hire you? You’ve already got at least one of my sons proposing marriage.”

      Everyone laughed, including Brooke. She used the moment to pull her hand free of Simon’s. He seemed like a nice guy, funny, handsome, but she wasn’t going down that road again anytime soon. Maybe ever.

      “Thank you,” she said to Merline.

      “You might not be thanking me after a few more days with this bunch.”

      But as she looked around the table, at the smiling and teasing and obvious love, she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. If she couldn’t have that kind of life herself, she could at least bask in the reflected glow of people who did.

      When her gaze met Ryan’s again, he offered a momentary smile before returning his attention to the food on his plate. Maybe she was crazy, but she had the oddest feeling he’d been staring at her as she was focused in other directions. Her skin warmed at the thought that, as soon as she lowered her gaze, he might do so again.

      And part of her really liked the idea that he might want to.

       Chapter Two

      It took more effort than he was used to expending, but Ryan did his best not to pay undue attention to Brooke. Or to the way his mother kept watching him, as if she knew he was attracted to the new cook. Just last week, Simon and he had lamented their mother’s increased interest in matchmaking for her two unattached sons on the heels of Nathan’s marriage to Grace.

      “She thinks she’s one of Cupid’s minions,” Simon had said as they sat on the corral fence after dinner one night.

      “Yeah. She’s been bitten by the grandma bug.”

      “And I don’t think Nathan and Grace having another baby on the way is going to be enough to satisfy her. We better keep on our toes and prepare to run fast.”

      They’d laughed at the time, but now he wondered if Simon had changed his mind. Granted, his oldest brother was the family flirt, but he sure seemed to be trying extra hard this time. That whole impromptu marriage proposal had been a bit over the top, even for Simon.

      Ryan tried to ignore the fact that it annoyed him.

      Fact was, he should encourage Simon. Brooke seemed nice, could cook like a taste bud’s dream come true, and was pretty. No, she was more than pretty. But he was afraid to put a name to how he thought she looked. He didn’t want to risk wanting something he couldn’t have. Shouldn’t have.

      And the last thing any woman needed in her life was him.

      “Ryan, why don’t you help Brooke with the dishes?” his mom said as they all began scooting away from the table.

      “Oh, I’ll do it,” Grace said.

      “Nonsense. You worked hard all day.”

      Ryan thought about how he’d worked nearly nonstop since daybreak, but he didn’t point out that fact, didn’t even meet his mom’s eyes. Objecting would just draw more attention to the situation and give his mom fuel for her matchmaking fire.

      “Sure.” He stood and started collecting dishes.

      When Brooke joined him in the kitchen, she started loading the dishwasher as he scraped what little was left on the plates into the trash.

      “You don’t have to do this,” she said. “Go on and be with your family.”

      “I’d rather do this. I think Mom has a Scrabble tournament planned.”

      “I heard that,” Merline called out from the dining room. “Don’t think either one of you is getting out of it.”

      He caught the surprise on Brooke’s face that was coated with a layer of fatigue. With a lowered voice, he said, “Don’t feel you have to stay.”

      “No, it’s okay. It’s good to get to know everyone I’ll be interacting with.”

      Working together, they finished the cleaning by the time his mom got the Scrabble board set up.

      “How are we doing teams this time?” Simon asked as he stepped over Nathan’s outstretched legs and took a seat in the living area.

      “Guys versus girls,” Grace said.

      “Oh, no,” Nathan said. “You all killed us last time.”

      Grace smiled wide. “That’s why I like that team structure.”

      “How do you think we should divide?” his mom asked, looking at Brooke.

      “Uh … names in a hat?”

      “Well, we got plenty of hats,” his dad said, grabbing his from the rack by the front door. He tossed it bottom up on the coffee table made from a slab of a huge tree trunk polished to a high shine.

      Ryan wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be on Brooke’s team or not. On the one hand, he had to get used to her and over the initial attraction. He didn’t want to deal with the awkward feelings every time he saw her. On the other, what if being around her just increased the attraction? That was a complication he didn’t need in his otherwise simple life.

      He shook his head, telling himself just to focus on getting through family night. He could do that—he certainly had enough practice.

      They ended up on the same team, and in the shifting of positions he found himself sitting next to Brooke on the couch.

      She smelled like roses.

      He took a slow, deep breath so no one would notice. Of all the flowers, she had to smell like roses. He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the day when he’d been sleeping on the side of the road outside Baghdad. The air had been choked with dust, heat and sweat, not fit for man or any other living creature to breathe. Out of nowhere, he’d wanted nothing more than to smell roses. It hadn’t made sense. The Hill Country was filled with wildflowers, and his family didn’t grow roses. But the desire to smell them had taken over and dogged him for days. He’d begun to think the heat had finally used his skull for an oven and baked his brain.

      When he’d been shipped back to San Antonio to mend, he’d asked one of the nurses at Brooke Army Medical Center to get him a vase of roses. She hadn’t even blinked at his request, making him wonder what other types of odd things broken soldiers asked for after they’d been to hell and back. The scent of those roses had helped him more than the therapy sessions during those early days, convincing him each day that he was truly back home in Texas.

      “Yoo-hoo, Earth to Ryan,” Simon said.

      Ryan СКАЧАТЬ