The Rancher's Secret Crush, page 1
“Ryan. I can walk.”
“You shouldn’t. Not barefoot,” Ryan insisted. “Not around here.” He half gestured to the field and ranch yard beyond.
“I’ve been barefoot for a while now.” Elsie wiggled her mud-coated toes. But that only stirred those butterflies more. “And I’m fine.”
“You’re lucky.” Ryan frowned, tightened his hold on her and headed to his truck. “You have no idea what’s out here. Barbed wire. Nails. Thorns. I can keep going.”
“I got it.” Elsie felt him tense. And then she gave in. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she settled in closer. Just for a moment. Just to calm him. And herself. After all, she’d never been swept off her feet. Not in any sense. Right now, it was heady and thrilling. A little bit irresistible. And this seemed as close as she was ever going to get.
Best to take it all in.
Dear Reader,
I confess that I’ve been known to fall down more than one research rabbit hole during the course of writing a book. It has in fact happened with each book I’ve written, despite my best intentions and repeated warnings to myself not to get too sidelined by horse videos or the latest wedding dress styles.
In The Rancher’s Secret Crush, reserved city girl Elsie Parks takes after my own heart with her penchant for reading and learning before she jumps into anything. When Elsie ends up on a working farm, it’s not the steep learning curve that unsettles Elsie. It’s professional bronc rider Ryan Sloan, with his passion for adventure and his soft spot for Elsie, who has her researching ways to guard her heart. Now if these two opposites can realize that their hearts are meant for each other, they just might discover a love they never expected.
It’s springtime in Three Springs, Texas, where the bees are buzzing, the tractors are tuned up and there’s always room on the porch swing. So, grab a tall glass of iced tea and come on over. We’ll leave the porch lights on.
Cari Lynn
The Rancher’s Secret Crush
Cari Lynn Webb
Cari Lynn Webb lives in South Carolina with her husband, daughters and assorted four-legged family members. She’s been blessed to see the power of true love in her grandparents’ seventy-year marriage and her parents’ marriage of over fifty years. She knows love isn’t always sweet and perfect—it can be challenging, complicated and risky. But she believes happily-ever-afters are worth fighting for. She loves to connect with readers.
Books by Cari Lynn Webb
Harlequin Heartwarming
Three Springs, Texas
Falling for the Cowboy Doc
Her Cowboy Wedding Date
Trusting the Rancher with Christmas
The Texas SEAL’s Surprise
His Christmas Cowgirl
Return of the Blackwell Brothers
The Rancher’s Rescue
The Blackwell Sisters
Montana Wedding
The Blackwells of Eagle Springs
Her Favorite Wyoming Sheriff
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To the readers who believe opposites attract isn’t only for science.
Special thanks to my fellow writers for their friendship and encouragement. To my husband for explaining those tractor videos to me and my daughters for offering plot solutions on demand. I’m grateful for your enthusiasm and continued support.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM HER TEMPORARY COWBOY BY TANYA AGLER
CHAPTER ONE
LEAVE IT INSIDE the gate.
Those had been Elsie Parks’s exact but haphazard words not twenty minutes ago to Trey Ramsey of Ramsey and Sons Auto & Heavy Machinery Repair. Elsie had been moderating a dispute between her two young nieces over crayon ownership and checking the visitor policy at Belleridge Regional Hospital. That was where Elsie’s brother—and her nieces’ dad—was currently a patient.
Not that any of those details mattered if Elsie couldn’t even get out of the driveway. She put the car in Park, told the girls to stay buckled and stepped out to confront the massive green tractor standing in their way.
The very one that Trey Ramsey had repaired. And the same one the very nice mechanic had left just inside the gate like Elsie had instructed. Completely blocking the driveway. Elsie squeezed her forehead. Behind her, car doors opened, and footsteps scrambled across the gravel drive. Soon enough, her two nieces bracketed her on either side.
Gemma smashed her polka-dot bucket hat lower on her blond head and bumped her skinny elbow into Elsie’s side. “You gotta drive it, Auntie.”
Elsie gaped at the giant tractor. One tire was wider than her six-year-old niece was tall.
“She can’t,” Autumn countered. At eight years old, Autumn was already proving to be analytical and serious-minded, same as her father had always been. Autumn pointed toward the tractor. “It’s headed for the ditch. If auntie doesn’t turn it just right, she’ll end up in the ditch too.”
The ditch was the least of Elsie’s issues. The main one being Elsie had never operated a tractor, let alone sat in one. She wasn’t even sure how to climb aboard to get inside the enclosed cab. Elsie turned and surveyed her surroundings.
Her nieces moved with her. Gemma rolled up onto her tiptoes and whispered loudly, “What are we looking for?”
“Another way out of here.” Elsie tracked the thick three-rail wood fence that framed the acres upon acres of Doyle Farm. Her aunt and uncle had started with twenty acres and expanded during their thirty-year marriage. The property was now well over a hundred acres.
“There isn’t another exit,” Autumn declared, her words tinged with pride. “Dad says it’s like a castle here. One way in. One way out.”
“Can we have a tea party when we get home? It’s what all princesses who live in castles do.” Gemma jumped and clasped her hands together. “Pretty please. We can invite Cowboy Prince since Dad can’t come.”
The sun beat down on Elsie’s head, making her wish she’d grabbed a hat like Gemma. She could already feel her skin tightening and her face heating. Even though it was spring in the Panhandle and that Texas heat hadn’t even been dialed up quite yet. Still, spring or summer, she’d never tanned gracefully. Simply turned a fascinating shade of beet red before peeling and returning to pale. Remember to take care of your porcelain skin, Elsie. You must always protect your assets.
Elsie touched her cheek. Sunscreen certainly wasn’t going to help her now. Besides, she’d grown up and learned to rely on things like hard work, wise decisions and determination. She said, “Gemma, let’s table the tea party until after we visit your dad, okay?”
Gemma opened her mouth to argue.
Autumn leaned around Elsie and added, “We have to see Dad, Gem. ’Cause he’s lonely and bored in the hospital without us.”
“Don’t forget you promised your dad you’d bring him pictures for his wall.” Elsie touched Gemma’s thin shoulder and added more cheer to her words. “Maybe you could go draw another one inside the car while I move the tractor.”
“Can’t we watch?” Autumn yanked on the waist of her shorts, tugging the baggy denim higher on her hips. “I could help guide you.”
“I want you both to wait inside the car. Where it’s safe.” Elsie cringed. But it was too late to take back her words.
“You can’t move the tractor, Auntie. You can’t.” Gemma knocked her hat off, latched her arms around Elsie’s waist and clung tight. “It’s not safe.”
Unfortunately, two days ago, Gemma’s dad had told both his daughters that it was perfectly safe for him to be up on one of the greenhouse roofs on the farm. It had been mere minutes after his bold declaration that one of the older rafters gave way and Elsie’s brother fell through the roof to the cement floor below. Miraculously, Bryce had only suffered several badly bruised ribs and multiple fractures in his ankle. Now Bryce was in room 414 at Belleridge Regional Hospital, preparing for an early morning surgery on his ankle. As for Bryce’s six-year-old daughter, well, Gemma now fully distrusted all claims about safety.
Elsie lifted Gemma up into her arms and hugged her. Her nieces had been through so much. First their parents’ divorce that was finalized just before last Christmas. Then their sudden move at the start of the new year from the only home they’d known in the suburbs of Philadelphia to a farm in the Texas Panhandle. Now their dad’s accident. More than anything the girls needed stability and reassurance. Elsie walked closer to the silent tractor. Autumn tr
“The tractor is safe.” Bold statement. Up close the tractor loomed into even more intimidating. What could her brother possibly need with a tractor that massive? He’d never even owned a riding lawn mower before. What was she supposed to do with it? Elsie worked a confidence she wasn’t entirely feeling into her words. “See, it’s turned off right now. It can’t hurt anyone.”
“We should leave it off.” Gemma rested her head on Elsie’s shoulder.
“We could,” Elsie started. “But then we wouldn’t get to see your dad today.”
“Then he’ll be really sad.” Gemma wiped her hand under her nose. Her voice descended into pitiful. “I miss my dad.”
“I know you do.” Elsie squeezed the little girl harder and reached for her own resolve. So what if she didn’t know anything about tractors. She had to do something. She hugged Gemma once more. “I promise I’m going to get you to the hospital this afternoon so you can give your dad the biggest hug ever.”
Gemma nodded and swirled Elsie’s ponytail around her fingers. “The tractor won’t hurt you, right?”
Elsie shook her head then lowered her niece to the gravel. “Now head on over to the car. I put your backpack of coloring supplies on the front seat.”
Gemma picked up her hat and raced to the bright blue Jeep Bryce had purchased for what he’d dubbed his career pivot from financial advisor to full-time farmer.
Autumn lingered beside Elsie. Her hands on her hips, she studied the tractor then tipped her head toward Elsie. “Maybe you should call like Dad did.”
“What do you mean?” Elsie studied the tractor and searched for a way inside. Her brother had hit the height gene jackpot in their family. What would’ve been a simple extended step up was more like a big leap for Elsie. She rolled onto the balls of her feet. The soles of her cute sandals had little flex and even less bounce. Perhaps a running start then.
“Dad made a phone call, and a cowboy came over. Then the cowboy drove the tractor for Dad.” Autumn tucked her brunette chin-length hair behind her ear and nodded sagely at Elsie. “You should call a cowboy too.”
Elsie rocked back and forth. Run. Jump. Grab. Nothing to it. Surely, she could reach the door handle on the tractor cab. It was just one jump. Ouch. Elsie winced and brushed away the sharp pebbles that slipped between her sandals and bare toes. “I don’t know a cowboy to call.”
“All the cowboys live next door,” Autumn added. “One of ’em has a beard whiter than Santa.” The little girl paused and patted her stomach. “But his belly is too flat so he can’t be the real Santa. We get to call him Cowboy Santa, even though his real name is Sam.”
Sam Sloan and his family had property that bordered her aunt’s farm. The two families had been neighbors for decades according to her aunt. Elsie’s brother always hung out with the Sloan brothers during their summer trips to their aunt and uncle’s farm. As the younger sister and only girl for miles around, Elsie had often stayed with her aunt. She’d always preferred reading on the back porch and helping her aunt in the greenhouses. Until the summer after Elsie’s freshman year in high school. When she’d encountered one Sloan brother alone at the Sloan family pond.
Elsie tightened her ponytail and pushed her memories aside. “Well, we don’t have Santa or Santa’s helpers right now. It’s just us and a tractor.”
“But Auntie.” Autumn tapped Elsie’s arm. “What about Cowboy Prince?”
“We don’t need a cowboy rescue.” Especially not from some cowboy prince Elsie didn’t know. All she had to do was jump. Grab the handle. Climb inside. On three. Elsie inhaled a deep breath and fixed her gaze on the tractor. Target set, she shook her arms out at her sides and crouched lower. “Watch. I’ll show you. We got this.”
One. Two. Three.
Elsie sprinted to the tractor and leaped. Miraculously her fingers wrapped around the door handle. She gripped tight and managed to find a place to prop her feet. Adrenaline propelled her upward. Autumn clapped and cheered her on. Swinging the door wide, Elsie climbed inside, albeit awkwardly. Scraping elbows and knees on her way in. She’d have more than one bruise from this exercise. No matter. She’d made it.
But her victory celebration was immediately cut short. The inside of the tractor looked more technologically advanced than a space shuttle cockpit. And at least as complicated. Elsie dropped onto the captain’s chair. Sweat beaded along the back of her neck. The heat wasn’t too stifling inside the enclosed cab. Yet the air was stale. Defeated? Not yet. All she needed was an instruction manual. Good thing she excelled at online searching.
Propping the door open with her foot, she called out, “Autumn. Look for a name on the tractor.”
“But Auntie,” Autumn hollered. “You can...”
Elsie’s foot slipped the same time she jostled her phone from her back pocket. The door slammed shut on Autumn’s words. And her cell phone landed with a thunk up under the console. Elsie scrambled to locate her phone. And the cab door swung open behind her.
“Well, if it isn’t Elsie won’t-dance-with-me-ever Marie Parks.”
Elsie stilled. No one had called her that in forever. Not since that one particular summer. When only one person—with a very similar deep Texas drawl—had ever dared.
Slowly twisting around, she took in the full-fledged cowboy propped in the open doorway. His chestnut-colored cowboy hat rode low on his forehead, shadowing his bearded face. Dust and pollen stuck to his plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and his jeans as if he’d been walking through a dry field. Oh, but she knew him. Her heart raced. Her mouth felt as dry as the dust caked on his worn boots. “Ryan Sloan.”
His grin lifted into both cheeks. His teeth flashed white. “You remember me.”
Ryan was hard to forget. Even though he’d only ever been nothing more than her one-time crush. When she’d been young and foolish enough to accept his dares at his family pond one summer evening. She’d been excited and giddy and thrilled to have his undivided attention. Until his girlfriend had arrived. Then Elsie had discovered firsthand why it was called a crush. The pain had been oddly difficult to dismiss. And Elsie had decided cowboys weren’t worth the trouble of a real heartache. Her voice cracked. “Ryan. What are you doing here?”
He nudged the brim of his hat higher on his forehead. Revealing a pair of all too dreamy, but deceptively shrewd, hazel eyes. “Sundancer and I were just passing by.”
Elsie glanced out the window. Saw a stunning palomino grazing not far from Autumn. Not surprising. Ryan had always been a cowboy first. And his partner his trusted horse.
“I tried to tell you, Auntie.” Autumn’s enthusiastic shout reached Elsie clearly and concisely. “Cowboy Prince is here. Now he can rescue you.” Autumn skipped over to Sundancer, tore a fistful of grass from the ground and carefully fed it to the horse.
Except Elsie rescued herself these days. No prince, cowboy or otherwise, required. Still, she couldn’t quite clear the surprise from her words. “You’re the cowboy prince I’ve been hearing about.”
“One and the same.” The corner of his mouth hitched into his beard. “We can talk about all that later.”
Talking later. With Ryan. That sounded appealing. Or would have if Elsie’s crush on Ryan hadn’t expired well over a decade ago. If she had returned to Three Springs for more than her family. If she wanted to get entangled in some sort of cowboy situation. With him. More sweat dampened the back of her neck. Despite it not being midsummer and the temperature not even close to sweltering.
Ryan eyed her. “Well, are you going to tell me?”
“What?” That you’ve strolled through my thoughts over the years. Slow and unrushed. Like the spark of a good memory. The kind worth revisiting again and again. Elsie rolled her lips together and willed the flush she felt out of her cheeks.
“Tell me what exactly you are doing in here,” Ryan said.
“In case it isn’t obvious, I have a bit of a tractor situation.” And definitely not a cowboy one. Elsie waved her hand around and tried to stir the suddenly stifling air. “Now, all I need is an instruction manual to get out of it.”
