A Family for the Rugged Rancher

Overall, the house was a throwback to what felt like a happier, simpler time. “All it needs is some love and polish, Mr. Evans. You have a beautiful home.”

The tour finished, Luke cleared his throat, his feet shifting from side to side. “I really need to get back to fixing the baler. This weather isn’t going to hold and I have help coming tomorrow. The job is yours, Ms. Northcott.”

She grinned at him, ready to tackle the dust and cobwebs and bring the house back to its former glory “You’ve got a deal.”

“Shouldn’t we talk salary?”

A shadow dimmed her excitement, but only for a moment. “I thought that was all taken care of through the agency. Unless you’ve made a change regarding…” She paused, glancing down at Sam.

“One boy won’t eat much. The wage stands, if it’s acceptable to you.”

“Agreed.”

“You’ll be okay to get settled then?”

“Oh, we’ll be fine. Does it matter which rooms we take?”

“One of the two smaller ones at the end of the hall would probably be best for your son,” he replied. “My sister Liz’s pink room probably wouldn’t suit him. The other is still a bit girly, but at least it’s not pink. You can take the one on the other side.” The master bedroom, the one that had been his parents.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take the pink room? The other is…” she paused. She remembered the look on his face when he’d opened the door, but had no idea how to ask why it hurt him so much. “The other is so big,” she said.

Luke tried not to think of Emily in his parents’ room, covered with the ivory chenille spread that had been on the bed as long as he could remember. He had never been able to bring himself to change rooms, instead staying in the one he’d had since childhood. Nor did he want Sam there. But Emily…somehow she fit. She’d be caring and respectful.

“The room has been empty a long time. You may as well use it. The other is so small. It’s just a room, Emily. No reason why you shouldn’t sleep in it.”

But it wasn’t “just a room”, and as he looked down into her dark gaze, he got the idea she understood even without the details.

“Mr. Evans, I don’t know how to thank you. This means a lot to me…to us.”

Her eyes were so earnest, and he wondered what was behind them. Clearly she was a single mom and things had to be bad if she accepted a short-term position like his and was so obviously happy about it. She hadn’t even attempted to negotiate salary.

“What brought you here? I mean…you’re obviously a single mother.” No husband to be found and insistent on the Ms. instead of Mrs. No wedding ring either, but he saw the slight indentation on her finger where one had lived. “Recently divorced?”

The pleasant smile he’d enjoyed suddenly disappeared from her mouth. “Does it matter if I’m divorced?”

He stepped back. “Not at all. I was just curious.”

“You don’t strike me as the curious type.”

He hoped he didn’t blush. She had him dead to rights and she knew it. He had always been the stay-out-of-others’-business-and-they’ll-stay-out-of-yours type.

“Pardon me,” he replied coolly.

But her lack of answers only served to make him wonder more what had truly brought her here. What circumstances had led Emily Northcott and her son to his doorstep?

“Yes,” she relented, “I’m divorced. Sam’s father is living in British Columbia. I’m just trying to make a living and raise my son, Mr. Evans.”

She was a mom. She had baggage, if the white line around her finger and the set of her lips were any indication. It all screamed off limits to him. He should just nod and be on his way. Instead he found himself holding out his hand, scrubbed clean of the earlier grease, with only a telltale smidge remaining in his cuticles.

“Luke. Call me Luke.”

The air in the room seemed to hold for a fraction of a second as she slid her hand out of her pocket and towards his. Then he folded the slim fingers within his, the connection hitting him square in the gut. Two dots of color appeared on Emily’s cheeks, and it looked as though she bit the inside of her lip.

Not just him then. As if things weren’t complicated enough.

“Luke,” she echoed softly, and a warning curled through him at the sound of her voice. He had to keep his distance. This was probably a huge mistake. But where would they go if he denied her the job? What were they running from? He wanted to know everything but knew that asking would only mean getting closer. And getting close—to anyone—was not an option. Not for him.

He was already in over his head. The fields and barns were the place for him, and he would let Emily Northcott sort out her own family. She could just get on with doing her job.