Home on the Ranch: Honorable Texas Cowboy Read online

  Brock and Cassie looked at Jose expectantly. They’d been at the rodeo, too. They knew what was coming.

  Kate wished she’d thought of what to say and had the guts to say it when the announcer at the rodeo the night before had thundered Jose’s proposal across the crowd. But she’d been so stunned and there were so many people looking at her that she’d stayed quiet when Jose slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into an embrace. It wasn’t a yes, but that didn’t seem to matter.

  She would need to get herself out of it, but after what had happened with Diego, the best she could hope for was to do so without hurting too many people. And then she’d find a new job and move on once again.

  Kate could feel tears stinging her eyes and kept her gaze on her food. Now was not the time to get upset. She was an optimist, she reminded herself. She’d get out of this...somehow.

  Meanwhile, Ma was looking at everyone with growing suspicion as they all silently stared at Jose, waiting for him to say something. “What has got into y’all?” the older woman asked, her voice stern, demanding a response.

  Jose, the only one still eating, glanced around at all the eyes on him. “Oh,” he said, shrugging in a way that made it clear he was enjoying all the attention. “It’s probably because I got engaged last night.”

  There was a short pause of silence before Ma and Pop were pulling Kate and Jose into congratulatory hugs. “We are so happy for you both,” Ma told them, looking at her son. Ma was so quiet she seemed almost on the verge of tears. Kate was worried the old woman was going to start crying from happiness, and that only made Kate feel worse.

  For the first time, Kate really wished Ma wasn’t quite so sweet and loving. She wanted to tell them the truth, but couldn’t bring herself to do it there, in front of the whole family. As much as she hated herself for it, she stayed silent once again.

  “Yep,” Jose said, breaking the quiet that had filled the room. “I’m settling down. We’ll plan the best shindig any of you have seen. Which means I’m going to need an advance on my paychecks, Diego.”

  At the sound of Diego’s name, Kate flushed and looked at him. His face was as pale as hers was red. He didn’t say anything, just coughed and nodded before looking down at his uneaten meal. He picked up his fork but didn’t start eating.

  Kate suddenly felt very confined in the small room, so she decided to extricate herself from the situation. “I’ve got to take care of the horses now,” she mumbled as she rushed for the door, glad for an excuse to leave.

  With that, she ducked out the back door and made her way into the already hot July morning, pulling on her cowboy hat as protection from the harsh sun. Kate took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The wide expanse of land and sky surrounding her always brought a feeling of peace, and she let it soak into her along with the sunshine.

  She loved the country. After growing up surrounded by city and clouds and rain, Texas had captured her heart in a way she’d never expected. Kate walked quickly toward the barn, eager to see the horses in her care, more so than normal. She wanted to hide from the family and work herself to the bone to try to rid herself of the guilt she felt at not telling the McNeals the truth.

  The barn was dim, but warm from the heat of the morning and the bodies of the animals housed there. Kate grabbed a small handful of oats from a barrel near the door and made her way directly to the fourth stall on the left, the same place she started every morning. “How are you today, Darling?” she asked the chestnut foal who was snuggled up to her mama.

  The baby had only been born a few weeks ago, and the sweet little thing was Kate’s favorite. Luckily, her mother didn’t seem to mind Kate’s attentions, so Kate spent time with her every chance she had.

  Darling trotted to Kate on her spindly legs and immediately pressed her face into Kate’s hand, searching for the treat she knew she’d find there. As the foal gobbled up the oats, Kate stroked her head, admiring how much she’d grown in such a short amount of time.

  Once the food was gone, Darling turned back to her mother, who watched patiently. Kate gave her a pat on the nose. “You should be very proud, Lucy,” she told the dam.

  Lucy shook her mane imperiously, as if to show that she was obviously proud of her amazing baby. Kate breathed a sigh of relief and went on to her work, picking up a pitchfork and moving toward the hay bales.

  She would muck out the stalls later; for now, just a quick meal and brushing for her charges, then a bit of freedom out in the pasture would be enough to keep them happy.

  After just a minute, however, she was distracted from her task by loud talking outside the barn and stopped what she was doing. She turned just in time to see the barn door open and Jose and Diego walk in. Jose was talking, and she caught the end of what he was saying.

  “...can’t expect me to help if you won’t,” he said to his brother.

  Diego looked annoyed and embarrassed, and Kate immediately put the pieces together. Diego had told Jose that he needed to come help her with the horses. Jose, being Jose, refused to go to work while his twin brother relaxed inside.

  “I don’t know why you’d want to stay in the house, anyway,” Jose continued. “You always jump at the chance to work with the horses.”

  Kate had a pretty good idea why Diego would have preferred to stay in the house, if the flush across his neck was any indication. Kate’s heart jumped at the memory of the kiss before she squashed it down.

  She had work to do, and that kiss meant nothing but trouble for her. So she needed to straighten up and do what needed to get done.

  “If you two are here to help, the horses need water and a good brush-down,” she called over her shoulder, not looking at either twin.

  In moments, Diego had attached a hose to a spigot and was walking down the right side of the barn, topping off the horses’ water. Kate kept her eyes on the hay, but she could feel Diego’s presence as he moved along the length of the barn, even though they were working on separate sides. Jose, however, was off somewhere in the distance, doing only God knew what as noisily as possible.

  Soon, Diego was making his way up her aisle, and she could actually feel him getting closer. Kate shook her head slightly and forced her attention back on the task at hand.

  “Where are the damn brushes?” Jose called out after a couple of minutes.

  “The shelf on the right,” Kate and Diego shouted back simultaneously.

  Kate, startled, looked over at Diego, who was looking at her in surprise, too. After a second they both smiled. “You spend a fair amount of time out here when you’re home, huh?” she asked him.

  There was no harm in being friendly, was there? She still hoped to be on good terms with everyone in the family, and that included Diego, didn’t it?

  A small part of her brain insisted that she was being a fool and only getting herself in deeper, but she ignored it.

  Diego shrugged. “I like helping with the animals,” he said, not looking at her. He cleared his throat, as if hoping it would clear the awkwardness between them. “It looks like you spend a lot of time out here, too. I haven’t seen the stalls so clean in years.”

  Kate felt a rush of pride. She had put countless hours into the care of these horses, and she knew she’d done a good job of it. “Thanks,” she said, trying to keep her gaze focused on the hay in front of her instead of his deep mocha eyes. “Your pop works harder than he should. I don’t know how he managed out here without full-time help before I got here. There’s always more to be done. In fact, don’t refill the buckets in the last three stalls on this side,” she told him, gesturing down the line of stalls. “They’re due for a cleaning today.”

  “On the Fourth of July?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.

  Kate shrugged. “Horses don’t understand holidays.”

  * * *

  Diego tried to keep his eyes off Kate, but he couldn’t help but glan
ce at her every few seconds. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was genuinely great at her job. A quick glance around the barn was enough to make him sure of that. And the way she carried herself, with confidence in her abilities, and the sparkle of love in her eyes as she looked at the animals—it was enough to knock out any cowboy.

  Diego glanced back at Jose, who was halfheartedly brushing a black gelding a few stalls away. He hoped Jose had enough sense to see what a catch she was, but he knew his brother well enough to suspect otherwise.

  As if to confirm his thoughts, Jose stopped what he was doing and set down the brush he had so recently picked up. “I’m going to see what snacks Ma has. You two coming in?”

  Kate shook her head and Jose shrugged and walked off. Diego knew he should follow his brother.

  “You can go with Jose,” Kate told him. “I can finish this up.”

  Of course she could. It was her job, after all. And Diego knew that spending time alone with Kate wasn’t exactly a smart idea. He should go inside.

  Diego picked up the brush Jose had abandoned. “I’ll do this row if you do the other side,” he said, starting up where his brother had left off.

  “You really don’t have to,” she said.

  He completely agreed. “It’s a holiday. You deserve a little break as much as anyone” was what he said out loud. “Unless you’d prefer it if I left,” he added.

  Maybe she would say yes, she would rather do it alone, and then he could run off and hide without any feelings of guilt.

  He waited for her answer, which seemed a long time coming. “Thank you for the help,” she said at last. “I appreciate it.”

  He nodded and turned back to the horse next to him, brush in hand.

  The two of them worked quickly, and soon they were walking pairs of horses out to graze in the largest paddock. The silence stretched between them, but Diego wasn’t sure what to say. Now that they were alone, without a twin brother in sight and nothing to do but walk together, Diego had no idea what to say or do, so he just walked on and wished the paddock was closer to the barn.

  “Thanks for your help,” Kate said, her voice soft and kind.

  Diego nodded but didn’t take his eyes from the land stretching in front of him. “Like you said, horses don’t understand holidays.”

  She chuckled and nodded in agreement as they sent the animals through the gate and out to roam. They headed back to the barn in silence.

  She was engaged. To his brother. Diego didn’t know how many times he would need to tell himself that before it stuck and squashed the feelings rising in him. Part of him wanted to jump onto the nearest horse and ride somewhere far, far away. Perhaps California would be far enough away to get his mind off Kate, but he doubted it. He might need to take a page out of Amy’s book and fly to Thailand.

  He heard the back door of the house slam shut and looked up to find his pregnant sister walking toward them. Speaking of Amy... She had a large drink in each hand, and he veered away from the barn to meet her. He could see Kate doing the same out of the corner of his eye.

  When they reached her, Amy handed each of them a lemonade. “Ma sent me out with these. She said, quote, ‘Make sure those two aren’t getting so overheated that they keel over from heatstroke and ruin my party,’ end quote. Also, she wants you to come inside to hear your jobs for the day.”

  Diego wiped beads of perspiration from his face and drank gratefully. The heat was intense out in the sun. He looked at his sister, who was resting her hands on her bulging stomach. “If she’s so intent on today being perfect, why is she giving you chores? I would imagine you going into labor would probably put a damper on things.”

  Amy shrugged. “Actually, I think she’s so anxious to meet the granddaughter that she’d happily send me off to have a baby while she celebrated here with the rest of the town. She might even be willing to miss fireworks if this baby finally makes her debut.”

  Kate laughed and started chatting with Amy like they were old friends as they all walked toward the house. Diego watched the women, amazed at how close they seemed. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t been home much that he hadn’t watched this relationship develop. Or maybe Kate just fit in with everyone as easily as Jose did. Diego had never been one to fit in right away, and he’d always admired the trait in his brother.

  In fact, it was probably one of the things that had brought Jose and Kate together. An evening at a bar, laughing, feeling completely at ease—of course they’d found each other. Meanwhile he’d be the guy alone near the end of the bar drinking a beer while working on paperwork for their damn business.

  Diego was glad he hadn’t eaten much at breakfast, because his stomach had started turning over at the image.

  They entered the living room, where almost everyone was gathered, waiting for Ma to arrive and give them each tasks for the day. Jose sauntered over to them.

  “Are you both staying for the whole long weekend, Jose-n-Diego?” Amy asked, running their names into a single word, like she had always done as a child.

  Jose nodded. What had seemed like a much-needed break now sounded completely exhausting to Diego. Three full days watching Jose and Kate being all engaged to each other wasn’t exactly appealing.

  He made a snap decision. “Actually, I’m only staying today. I’ve got a ton of work to do back at the office,” he said, feeling both relieved and pained as he said it.

  It wasn’t a lie. Sure, it could wait, but he did have piles of paperwork sitting there waiting for him, and the sooner he got to it, the better for the business. He ignored the fact that he would actually love to break up said business and cut their losses as soon as possible, not put more time and effort into it.

  “What’s that you said?” Ma asked sharply from the doorway, making it clear she’d heard well and good what Diego had said and that she didn’t like it one bit.

  He looked at her apologetically. “I’ll try to come back for a few days in a couple weeks, once things settle down a bit,” he said.

  Maybe by then he would be able to accept that Kate was going to marry Jose and they would get to live his happily-ever-after. But he doubted it.

  Ma didn’t say anything, but Diego could tell by her expression that she wasn’t pleased. He was sure that if she could have her way, all of her children would move back home, spouses and children and all.

  “Nearly the entire town will be coming out to celebrate the Fourth with us. Y’all got a couple hours to do whatever else you like, but by noon I expect tables and chairs to be ready,” Ma said, pointing to her children. “I’ll set out an early lunch around ten, so you can snack on a little something before you get to work.”

  Jose stood straight and saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!” he shouted.

  Ma nodded at him before starting to give out jobs.

  “Pop, you’ll set up the barbecue, won’t you?” she said, though it was clear she wasn’t actually asking, and she didn’t wait for any response. “Kate, I want you to get any work you need to do finished up this morning so you can have a good time this afternoon. If I had my way, you’d take the entire day off, but—”

  “Horses don’t understand holidays,” Kate and Diego said at the same time.

  Ma nodded, everyone else chuckled and Kate and Diego smiled at one another. Diego felt his heart flip. He didn’t know if he wanted to run away from her or pull her into a kiss. Or, more accurately, he absolutely wanted to pull her into a kiss, and that fact made running away oh, so appealing.

  Chapter 3

  After Ma gave a small speech about the importance of everyone pulling their weight—except for Amy, who was told to not pull any weight under any circumstances—Kate headed toward the door, ready to get back to the peace and quiet of the barn and her tasks.

  “What needs to be done, Kate?” Pop asked, grabbing his battered cowboy hat off the peg and settling it on his head.

>   Kate shook her head. “With all the help I’ve gotten today, there’s nothing much for you to do.”

  He tilted his head. “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely sure. You need to take the day off and enjoy being with your family, Pop,” Kate told him.

  “It’s your family now, too,” he replied, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “With or without a ring.”

  Don’t I wish, she thought, but only said, “Play with the boys, relax, have a fun time.”

  He tipped his hat at her in acquiescence and she strode out the door before he could come up with some reason to work more than he should, just as he did most days.

  Pop was a wonderful man, but he had a tendency to overwork himself. She felt like she was constantly forcing him to take breaks for his own good. It hurt her heart to think how much he must have been pushing himself before she got there. He still insisted on completing all the paperwork and accounting himself and attending every single class at the school, but at least he’d passed off most of the heavy barn work to her.

  Which she didn’t mind in the least, she thought as she looked around the large, quiet barn. Kate started to list her tasks in her mind. First she’d clean the water barrels, then muck stalls and tidy things up. Oh, and she would put the rest of the horses out to pasture for the day. That task was interrupted when Amy had brought them drinks earlier. The water barrels were really a two-person job and would take much longer than usual if she did them alone, she noted. All that and a good long shower should take her right up to when the guests arrived, which suited her perfectly.

  It would certainly be best for everyone involved if she and Diego didn’t have any more chances to have cute moments together like they’d had in the living room a few minutes before. The part of her that wanted more of those made it very clear to the rest that it was something to be avoided.

  Kate walked over to the first of the water tubs and examined it, trying to decide the best way to complete this chore on her own. Before she could begin, however, she heard a bunch of talking and looked over toward the open barn door to see a large contingent of McNeals headed straight toward her.