Her Texas Cowboy. Jill Lynn

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      So much for Hunter’s idea of quietly disappearing. He wouldn’t leave the church or the kids abandoned like that. Building the float had been the highlight of a few of his summers, too. It was tradition, and he remembered how much he’d looked forward to it.

      Hunter sought Rachel’s eyes, wishing he could read her like he used to be able to. Back when they’d been inseparable. When she hadn’t looked at him as if her dog had just died and he was to blame. What was she thinking? “Didn’t you say you were here waiting on a job?” How would she have time for something like this? How long would she actually be home?

      “I am.” She toyed with a gold R pendant that hung on a slim chain around her neck, her fingers a stark white. “The school is doing more interviews and then waiting for a decision from the board. It might take a month or two.”

      “We’ll take you as long as we can have you,” Greg chimed in.

      That made one of them. Been there. Done that.

      Greg’s hand momentarily rested on Rachel’s arm after his comment, and Hunter fought annoyance at the man and at himself for caring. What Rachel did or didn’t do wasn’t any of his business and hadn’t been for a long time. But Greg was young—maybe just a few years older than Hunter—and not blind. Rachel was beautiful. Tall, with straight, light blond hair that landed inches past her shoulders and mesmerizing green eyes. He’d always been partial to the subtle smattering of freckles on her face that he knew she despised.

      Her beauty hadn’t been the reason Hunter had once wanted to hold on to her, but it had been a perk to look at her pretty face every day and see her smiling at him as though he made the stars shine at night. Only he hadn’t been enough to keep her here.

      A quick glance at the ring finger on her left hand told him she wasn’t engaged or married. He assumed he would have heard if she was. Lucy Redmond—Olivia’s sister—used to feed him tidbits of information about Rachel. But even Lucy’s optimism couldn’t overpower the messy past between Hunter and Rachel or the fact that they wanted completely opposite things.

      Rachel had always had one foot out the door of this town, and his life was here. Hunter should have known to leave well enough alone when they were younger and not pursue a relationship with her, but she’d been hard to resist.

      Greg had continued talking, and Hunter forced himself to concentrate on the conversation. “The search for a youth pastor probably won’t wrap up until the end of July. But with you two handling the float, we only have the lock-in to cover, which I’m heading up, and then we’ll hopefully have a new youth pastor starting in August or September.”

      The man looked pleased as punch. Hunter didn’t know what to feel. For so many years, he and Rachel had avoided each other. They’d never dealt with what had happened between them. It had just been easier to sweep their past under the rug. He blamed her for so much, and he was just as sure she held him responsible for what went wrong.

      And now he sounded like his father—stuck. Unable to move on.

      If there was one thing Hunter wanted more than a quiet, content life of ranching, it was to not turn into his dad. He would do just about anything to avoid following in his old man’s footsteps.

      The three of them talked for another minute about when the float building was scheduled to start—this Wednesday. And what time—seven o’clock. Then Greg split off to catch up with someone else.

      “I—” Rachel looked as though she’d witnessed a terrible car accident, a bit of green dusting her face. “I should go find my nephews and Cash and Liv. They’re probably waiting for me.”

      She didn’t leave him any time to respond before she headed for the front doors of the church. Should he follow her? Make sure she was okay?

      Nah. She wouldn’t welcome his intrusion.

      Hunter watched her burst out into the sunlight, angst churning in his gut. The memories with Rachel flooded back, fast and furious. Before their relationship had gone so wrong, it had been good.

      But what had stood between them six years ago still stretched between them now. That and a lot of hurt.

      Hunter refused to turn into his father and grow resentful, holding on to the past. Which, if Rachel and Hunter were going to be working together with the youth, meant one thing. The two of them were just going to have to learn to be friends again.

      Whether she wanted to be or not.

       Chapter Two

      Ouch. Rachel jolted awake when her elbow met the wooden side of her nephew’s fire truck bedframe. She rubbed the spot and stared up at the ceiling.

      The house Rachel had grown up in—where her brother, his wife and their two boys now lived—only had three bedrooms upstairs and a small office downstairs. Her four-year-old nephew, Grayson, occupied one bedroom, and Ryder, who was just a year old, had a slightly smaller one. Cash and Olivia were in the master. There was no guest room, which meant that, with her added into the mix, Gray was sleeping on Ryder’s floor so she could have his room. He currently considered the situation “very cool” and liked “camping” every night, but that wouldn’t last forever. Certainly not for the month or two she’d be home. And while she didn’t mind sleeping in a twin bed the shape of a fire truck, she was willing to live somewhere else and give Cash, Olivia and the boys their own space back. Except that, with her limited amount of time in town plus the fact that she should be saving money, she wasn’t sure how to solve the space dilemma.

      “Auntie Rach, watch out, the stampede is coming!” Grayson tore into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed with her, causing air to rush from her lungs.

      “Grayson Warren Maddox, I told you not to wake her.” Olivia paused in the doorway to Rachel’s temporary room. She blew a wayward hair from her forehead, looking a little frazzled for eight o’clock in the morning.

      Rachel’s sister-in-law had aged well in the years since she’d met and married Cash. She wore khaki shorts and a navy blue T-shirt, her long mocha hair pulled into a ponytail. Even without makeup, she was striking. But more than her outside beauty, she was tender and compassionate with enough snark to make her likeable. The sister Rachel had never had. When Rachel had been in high school, Olivia had been her volleyball coach. She’d made a huge impact on Rachel and mentored her at a time when she’d been missing her parents and floundering.

      “Sorry, Rach. Gray needs to get dressed and I had planned to sneak in and grab a few things without waking you. But it seems our boy had a different idea.”

      Rachel captured Grayson and tugged him close, holding him in a tight grip that made him squirm and giggle. “It’s okay. I was up and hungry, and I love to eat little boys for breakfast.”

      He squealed and tried to get away while she smacked a kiss to his chocolate hair that still carried the sweet, fruity smell of kiddo shampoo from last night’s bath.

      “Auntie Rachel, will you take me riding?” When those hazel eyes peered up at her, Rachel didn’t stand a chance of saying no. Not that she wanted to. Part of her plan for the summer was to help Liv with the kids. If she was home waiting on a job, she could at least lend a hand. She’d already finished all of the requirements needed by the State of Texas in order to be ready for the new opportunity. Which meant СКАЧАТЬ