Texas Ranger Dad (9 page)

But she'd lied to him.

He stopped at his truck and slammed his palms to the hood, staring up at the sky. She hadn't lied—she simply hadn't told him he had a son. In her mind she felt her actions were justified since he'd walked away from her…abandoned her. There was no doubt in his mind that if Rose realized he'd been thinking about kissing her, she wouldn't be happy.

And could he blame her?

B
rady hadn't been kidding when he said Mule Hollow on a weekend was busy. On Friday evening Zane arrived early to The Barn Theater where he was supposed to “keep the peace.” Brady had chuckled as he said the words.

Zane was impressed with the ancient barn that Ross Denton and his wife, Sugar, had converted into an old-fashioned theater. It was a fairly rustic setup, but unique. And from what he'd been told there seemed to be a fair amount of interest from folks who drove in from surrounding areas for the Friday night show or one of the two shows offered on Saturday.

Arriving early, he stood over to the side as everyone went about their jobs setting up. He was there basically to direct parking, so he just tried to stay out of the way until he was needed.

“Zane,” Applegate and Stanley called from the loft section where they helped with the sound and lights.

“How's it going, fellas?” He couldn't help smiling. The two hawk-eyed men looked every bit as alert and on the lookout up there as they did sitting at the
window seat at Sam's. Nothing was going on here that they didn't see.

“You look like you had a rough night,” Applegate hollered.

They didn't miss anything. “You might have a little hearing trouble, but there's nothing wrong with your eyes.”

Applegate chortled. “Ain't nothin' wrong with my mind, either. How about yours?”

“Yeah,” Stanley asked. “You got thangs figured out yet? Got that hole in your head fixed?”

Several people heard the exchange—they'd have been deaf not to, and they cast curious glances his way.

Not caring to tell the world his troubles, he decided it was time to step outside. App and Stanley's cackles followed him.

They'd been right and they knew it. He'd faced the hard facts last night. Everything she'd done had been in reaction to what he'd done. His fault and his responsibility to fix.

No sooner had he walked out into the sunshine than Norma Sue, Esther Mae and Adela drove up. Norma Sue pulled her big four-door truck to a halt in front of the theater and shoved her door wide open. “Hey, cowboys, can y'all give us a hand? We're delivering fresh chocolates to the concession stand.”

She hopped from the truck as Esther Mae stepped from the backseat and Adela from the front.

“Zane, you take this one, will you?”

“Sure.” He grabbed a large cooler from the back of the truck and Ross, the theater owner, came over and grabbed the one he was told to get. Adela held open the door of the small food trailer parked a few feet
from the entrance of the theater and they deposited their loads, then went back for more.

Two loads down and one to go, Ross left to change into his stage clothes, leaving Zane alone with the
matchmakers.
He'd run into them a few times at Sam's and they made him a little uncomfortable. Always asking him if he'd seen Rose. Just like Max the night before hadn't hidden his agenda too far from the surface, these ladies practically carried banners about him and Rose.

“So, how does it feel to be a dad?” Norma Sue asked as she carried a small cooler beside him. Adela and Esther Mae were inside the trailer getting everything set up for business.

“It's great.” Awesome. Unbelievable.

“Bit of a shock, wasn't it?”

“Just a bit. But we're making up for lost time.”

She plopped her cooler down on the ground beside the door and hollered inside. “Here's the last of it, girls.” Then turned to him, hands on hips. “So, you over being angry and frustrated about what she did?”

Here it came. First the checker players, then the matchmakers. He was quickly coming to realize that Mule Hollow folks were a plainspoken lot.

His first inclination was to tell her it wasn't any of her business, but he didn't. “I'm working on it.”

“Good. Smart man. So do you miss bein'a Ranger?”

He tipped his hat back, glad to transfer to another subject. “Yes'm, I do. But I'm adjusting.”

“Mule Hollow's a lot quieter than what you're used to, I'm sure.”

He nodded.

“I saw some of you men on television last year escorting a witness to a trial. Y'all were loaded down with guns and the man had a black mask over his head
to hide his identity. It was something to see. Did you do that kind of thing often?”

His hip sent out a sympathetic twinge. “A few times.”

Obviously having been listening in on the conversation Esther Mae stuck her head through the open window of the concession stand. “Is that how they got Rose into the courthouse when she testified?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Oh, I can only imagine how terrifying that had to be.”

“It's not for the faint of heart.”

“And our Rose certainly isn't that,” Norma Sue added. And as if their words had summoned her, Rose drove over the cattle guard and headed straight for them.

Max was the first out. “Sorry we're a little late. The car had a flat!”

Rose looked flustered. “Max helped me fix it, though. So he's my hero.” She popped the trunk and Zane went to help her. What was it with this county and flats?

“You did good, son,” he said. “I'll check out your car before you leave here.”

Rose looked up at him. “You don't need to do that.”

“I do and I will,” he said. “I'll also make sure the flat tire is fixed so you'll have a decent spare.”

“No, thank you,” she said stubbornly.

“Aren't you going to be making deliveries with your jelly all across the county next weekend?” That's what Max had told him.

“Yes, but I'm capable of keeping my car in good repair. And teaching Max.”

“The flat came from a nail,” Max said, jogging to
stand beside them. “I set the tire beside the porch so you can come out and get me and we can take it to Prudy's Garage and get it fixed.”

“I'll do that. And while we're at it we can go over a few other things about car maintenance.”

“Sure thing, Dad. Hey, I gotta run, I'm supposed to get the programs from the office and some other stuff before the people start arriving.”

“Look,” Rose snapped the minute Max was out of earshot. “I can take care of my own car. I don't need you taking charge. I can deal with you wanting to get to know Max, but that's it. Do I make myself clear?”

She pushed her hair back from her face and glared up at him, her cobalt eyes flashing in the sunshine. “Perfectly clear,” he said. “I was just trying to help.”

“Well, don't.”

Puzzled, Zane watched her wrestle a large box of jelly into her arms. His first inclination was to take it from her, but given her current mood she might haul off and clobber him for it. “You look tired,” he said instead. Maybe that was it. He'd taken up so much of her time the night before she'd been up extra late working and now she was paying for it…and taking it out on him.

“Gee, thanks,” she snapped, and marched past him.

Zane nudged his hat off his forehead and watched her cross the grass toward the concession trailer before he grabbed the other box of jelly and followed her.

“Hi, girls,” she said, sliding her box onto the wide counter that spread down the length of the concession trailer. “Better late than never.” She gave him a scathing glance as he walked up beside her and set his box in front of Adela.

She
smiled at him and plucked a jar from his box. “Oh, this does look wonderful. The color is perfect.”

The light caught the color and it glistened translucent and ruby red. Zane didn't know much about jelly except that he liked it on toast and this looked delicious.

“Oh, and look,” Esther Mae cooed, peering into the box. “The jar skirts are
so
cute. I love the tiny cactus print.”

“Thanks,” Rose said. “I think they're cute, too.”

Zane was officially in woman territory. “I'm assuming jar skirts are the material on the lid,” he said.

Esther giggled. “Well, sure. Don't this look like Norma Sue in a skirt? Short and round.”

“Watch it, now,” Norma Sue barked, stuffing her fists on her hefty hips. “Looks more like you if you ask me.”

Zane grinned. “I get the idea. Only women would put skirts on jars.” All the ladies laughed except Rose. They were standing close enough for him to smell her sweet scent and yet it felt like they were oceans apart.

Despite every reason not to, he wanted to pull her into his arms. She looked up at him and took his breath away. He took a hard step back. He tore his gaze away from her and found Norma Sue grinning at him. Esther Mae and Adela were smiling, too.

Rose began unloading jelly from the box. Each jar made a resounding thunk as she slapped it onto the counter. Her skin had a tinge of pink.

“So tell us, Rose,” Esther Mae said. Excitement over what he knew they'd all seen in his eyes rang in her voice. “Was it thrilling when Zane was protecting you, or were you terrified? I'd have been terrified.”

“Not me,” Norma Sue said. “Look at this man.” She scanned him with an approving look. “A strapping
strong man willing to give his life to protect me—nope, I would have surrendered to his care and not worried at all.”

Zane fought off the old guilt her words yanked into the moment.

Adela was watching him carefully. He looked away only to meet Rose's gaze. She knew exactly how incorrect that assessment of his abilities had been when it came to her safety.

“I wasn't scared,” she said without hesitation, her eyes holding his. “Zane…is very good at his job.”

Her words, forced as they sounded, were like a dunk in ice water. “I've got to get to work,” he said, holding back his denial. He tipped his hat and headed toward the open field. She'd lied to the ladies. He knew it and she knew it and it twisted his gut knowing that she'd told those ladies an untruth to protect his reputation. She'd almost been shot because he'd not done his job. But the only way to tell that was to call her a liar and he wasn't going there…at least not in public.

 

Rose had worked most of the night after Zane left her house. It was either that or waste the night tossing and turning. Having Zane in her house, sitting beside her on the couch looking at photos was hard enough on her. Realizing that Max was trying to push them together had been torment.

There was absolutely no way Zane had missed the way Max had orchestrated their positions on the couch. Nor could he have missed the hopeful looks their son had given them several times through the evening.

Arriving here and finding Zane—looking far too
handsome for anyone's good—was the last thing she needed. Yes, she was irritable. Who wouldn't be?

She'd bit her lip and pulled in her emotions as she watched Zane storm across the pasture. He had a limp. The realization caused an unwanted pain in her heart. The same thing happened when Max got a scrape or a bump. It wasn't the limp, but how he got it.

Instantly her mind flew and she wondered if it was from throwing himself in front of someone, protecting them with his own life. Because she knew without doubt that he'd done it more than a few times during his career. That he would do it without hesitation when it came to protecting whomever he was assigned to.

She remembered his expression moments after her assassination attempt. They were in the garden outside the safe house. He had forbidden her to go out there, said it wasn't safe. But she'd been inside that house for too long and on that day she'd slipped outside just for a moment. When he came out to get her he'd been angry, but she'd kissed him, teasing him for being a worrywart. He was looking at her, smiling when the bullets started.

Rapid fire. They sounded more like taps hitting the window behind her and she didn't realize what she was hearing. But Zane did, throwing her down on the ground beneath him, covering her then rolling her behind a table that he'd flipped on its side somehow. She still couldn't fathom everything that happened in those mere seconds before he practically hauled her inside the house.

Afterward he was barking orders over the phone, and within moments he had her crouching in the floor-board of the SUV as he expertly raced them out of the neighborhood.

He hadn't talked to her the entire time they were on the road. But she could see in his eyes that he was tortured over the whole thing. He was gone the next morning. Until he'd shown up here she hadn't seen him or heard from him again.

Somehow, because of her anger, all these years she'd forgotten how heroic he'd been. How troubled he'd been over what he'd surely viewed as failure on his part.

Forgotten that he would have died for her that day.

She'd forgotten it all the next morning when he'd walked away. All she could think in that moment besides the fact that she was terrified and abandoned was that she'd caused him too much trouble disobeying his orders and he was now done with her.