The Texas Rancher's New Family. Allie Pleiter

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      Cooper pulled open a door on a hallway credenza and slipped the basket in. “I’ll hide ’em for now. Later, Sophie and I will dig in on the sly.” He tapped the door shut with his cowboy boot. “No point baiting Glenno’s curiosity.”

      Tess heard the click-click-clop of Sophie’s boot and crutches long before the girl popped up from around a corner down the hall. “Are you coming yet? Glenno thinks he got it on the first try.”

      Tess threw a sideways glance to her “host.”

      “I doubt Lolly will be happy to hear that.”

      The resulting grin did belong on a charming television star. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

      * * *

      By the time Cooper led his short-order hairstylist to the kitchen, Sophie was seated on one of four stools in front of a kitchen island, her crutches dispatched to a nearby corner. She spun on the stool’s swivel seat, her leg swinging in anticipation.

      “I’ve got a niece not too far from your age at Blue Thorn, you know,” said Tess. “You’d like Audie.”

      A friend? Cooper pondered the possibility. His travel schedule hadn’t afforded Sophie many chances to make friends—one of many things he was set to change—and one just across the road would be a blessing. All Sophie really needed was one soul her age who would see past the crutches to the treasure that was his darling daughter.

      “Miss Tess,” Sophie said in an amusingly formal tone, “this is Glenno. He’s kinda everything.”

      “G’day to you.” Cooper watched Glenno chuckle at the “job description” as he extended a hand in greeting. “From the Buckton place, eh?”

      Cooper had heard bits and pieces of the past tension between the former owner of this property and the Buckton family. Sophie neither knew nor cared about such neighbor relations. She simply grabbed the plate from one end of the counter and pulled it toward the middle open stool. “Taste ’em.”

      Tess’s glance bounced among Copper, Sophie and Glenno before she sat. “They look like Lolly’s,” she offered, tilting a smile toward Sophie’s eager eyes. Actually, Glenno’s eyes looked just as eager.

      “But do they taste like Lolly’s?” he encouraged, sitting beside Tess so that she was between him and Sophie. “That’d be the million-dollar question.”

      With all three sets of eyes fixed on her, Tess picked up the square and had a bite. It seemed like ten minutes went by, even though Cooper was pretty sure it had only been seconds, before she smiled.

      “Mr. Glenno, I think you lived up to your reputation.”

      Glenno beamed. Sophie giggled happily. The tension Cooper had felt tighten his chest all day in how he was going to give Sophie the best day he could unwound a bit at the culinary victory.

      “These are ninety-nine percent Lolly’s. And I couldn’t rightly say that the lacking one percent isn’t just pure loyalty to Lolly.” She took another bite as Sophie leaned in to watch.

      Cooper made a big show of absconding with one of the blondies from the plate and began eating.

      “Hey!” Sophie cried out. “No fair. I can test again, too, can’t I?”

      As if he could deny Sophie anything on her birthday. Cooper slid the plate toward her while Glenno gave a grunt of victory and picked up the last confection. For a moment everyone ate in blissful silence. Cooper sent a prayer of thanks heavenward for the tiny, spontaneous party.

      “You can’t tell her you’ve done this,” Tess said eventually. “I love Lolly too much to let her know you’ve figured out her recipe.”

      “I promise you,” Cooper said, not bothering to hide his grin, “she’ll never know.”

      “I’d never undercut the woman who made these,” Glenno said. “I’m not out to get anyone. I just like the challenge.”

      “I just like the results,” Cooper said as he licked his fingers.

      “I just like the eating,” Sophie said, sending them all into laughter. “Glenno, you’re the best. You should do Miss Tess’s brownies next.”

      Tess shot Cooper a look. Cooper shot his daughter a look. “Sophie, hon, I promised Miss Tess we wouldn’t let Glenno swipe her grandma’s recipe.”

      “Brownies?” Glenno looked intrigued and put out at the same time.

      “I saw Dad hide ’em in the hall cabinet.” Sophie pronounced. “Want me to go get ’em?”

      She began to slide off the stool until Cooper popped up and snatched the crutches out of her reach. “We’d better have another little chat about the virtues of discretion.”

      “Dis-what?”

      “Not telling secrets that aren’t yours to tell,” Cooper explained. “What do I always say?”

      “Everybody doesn’t need to know everything.” Sophie turned back around and plunked her elbows on the counter. “But you love Uncle Hunter and you say he likes everybody to know everything.”

      Proving my point exactly. Sophie was a little sponge, picking up on everything he said whether he liked it or not. “I do love Uncle Hunter. But I don’t always agree with him. Brothers are like that.”

      “How would I know?” Sophie had been on a rant lately about not having siblings. He hated how lonely her childhood had been. He had good reasons to keep her from the Pine Method fans and fans from her, but that made for more seclusion than Grace would have ever wanted for their daughter.

      Grace, God rest her soul. He seemed to miss his late wife more than ever these days. Back when it had been the three of them, their family unit had felt perfect and complete. But now he was constantly aware of just how thoroughly he’d let Grace carry the burdens of parenting—and how inadequate he was to handle it without her, even with Glenno’s help. There just weren’t enough hours in a day to be the Pine Method professional the world expected him to be and the father Sophie needed him to be at the same time.

      And it wasn’t like there was other family to turn to. Hunter had no interest in domesticity and with Grace’s parents halfway around the world and his own folks gone, family was in short supply. Cooper didn’t really feel connected anywhere.

      And that was going to change. He pulled Sophie into a hug, ruffling the curls that were so much like her mother’s. “You don’t know, that’s why I’m telling ya.” It was one of the reasons he was trying to get off the Pine Brothers’ tour so he could make a go of settling down somewhere good for her. It had been different when she was very small and Grace was around, but hopping from tour to tour with Glenno and him was proving no way to grow up.

      “Do you have brothers, Miss Tess?”

      “Two of them. And a sister, too.” She’d caught on to Sophie’s pout, for she added, “They’re not as much fun as you think some of the time.”

      “Miss Tess here’s a twin.”

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