The Sheriff's Mail-Order Bride (The Watson Brothers #2)(10)

After a couple of hundred feet, the trees stopped and grazing land took over. Paddocks with horses roaming happily flanked either side of the road. “Look, Fisher, horses.” Her baby gurgled happily and waved his hands in the air toward the animals.

She followed the truck over a heavy wooden bridge spanning a small quick-flowing river and wondered if it was the same one she had noticed meandering at the back of her new home. They passed a ranch with a small cabin set back from the road where horses roamed in the paddocks and a battered barn leaned drunkenly, showing the way the wind blew.

Pretty soon they started to climb up towards snow-capped mountains which were breathtaking in their glory. Thick pine forests surrounded the great rise of hills and it wasn’t until they crested a rise that she saw the ranch that sat high above the town.

A large log house with a bell set into the middle of the roof commanded magnificent views over the valley below. She recognized the porch from the photo Rory sent her. This was the house she thought she was going to make her home. What a letdown that had been. Rory pulled up at a hitching rail and indicated she should do the same. When she turned off the car, he opened the back door, reached into the backseat, and undid the baby harness that held her son in.

“Let me show you folks around.” Fisher wriggled in his arms and Rory turned to Gina. “Is it alright if I put him down?”

“Sure. He needs to stretch his little legs.” Gina watched as he crouched down and set her baby’s feet on the ground. He held his arms out in case he stumbled, ready to catch him. Fisher squealed and tottered off as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him. He headed away from the house toward a huge wooden building and Gina followed with Rory beside her.

“This here’s the barn as you can see. Chance keeps the horses in here at night and there’s a few stalls where Callie keeps any calves that need mothering for whatever reason. You’ll meet them both later.”

Gina looked around at the beautiful property. Everything was in its place and so very pretty. Cows with calves at foot lazed in the long grass, chewing contentedly. Chickens scratched in the dirt around the barn and Fisher made a bee line for a hen with chickens peeping at her side. They scattered as he toddled closer and he fell to his bottom with a wail, looking for someone to help sort out his problems.

“You come from a large family then?”

“Big enough I guess. There’s Chance and then me, Evan is a doctor and works in Seattle, and then there’s Tyson who lives down the road. He’s the baby of the family. Our father, Jock, lives in town.”

Rory scooped Fisher up and hugged him. “Hey, let’s go and see the horse. Would you like that?” He placed him up on his shoulders and jiggled the baby up and down until he squealed with delight.

“He’s loving that.” Gina smiled as her baby bounced along on Rory’s shoulders to the barn door. He pulled it open and flicked on the overhead lights. Inside, Gina could see a stall holding a calf, and more chickens scratching in the shavings-covered floor. She’d never owned poultry of her own and the thought of collecting eggs with Fisher was a very warm feeling. This would be bliss compared to what we’ve come from. I’ll grovel all I have to so that he doesn’t send us away.

A snort from the end stable startled her. Rory walked over talking to her son, telling him about the horses. “This is Sultan. Good boy, Sultan. Say hello.”

“Is it safe to take him so close?” Gina hurried over to stand behind Rory out of reach of the horse.

“I’d never take him this close if it wasn’t. Don’t worry, Gina. I’ll take very good care of him, I promise.” He leaned forward, bending slightly at the waist so the little boy could touch the animal.

Fisher giggled and held out his hands, touching the coarse hair on Sultan’s forelock.

Gina watched as man and child bonded over the huge animal and prayed she’d done the right thing not telling him about Fisher before they got here. Her little deception could cost them both the home they so desperately needed.





Chapter Four





Was this what parenthood would have been like if Cindy and our child had lived? The squeals of delight coming from the little bundle of energy on his shoulders left him with a warmth threading its way through his body like none he’d ever felt before. When he first recognized Gina from her photograph standing in front of the ranch with a child on her hip, he’d been gutted and ready to send her on her way for deceiving him. It was a risk to offer marriage to someone he’d never met, he knew that. The longer he was in this little one’s presence, the harder that was getting. Would I have fallen for her if we’d met on a date first and I knew she had a child? Chances are he wouldn’t have even kept the date. It would have been too hard, as he’d tried to explain to his brother Chance.

“I can’t put myself out there like that. I just can’t.”

“Why not? It’s not like you’re offering them anything on the first date. Go get a feel for what you want out of life.” Chance had thrown a bale of hay to the cows off the back of the truck as Rory cut the twine holding it together. Callie was at the wheel and not privy to the conversation.

Rory looked out over the paddock and sighed, not sure how to make his brother understand. “Why did you do it, advertise for a wife like you did?”