A Nanny for the Rancher's Twins, page 1
“I built my house, you know. I could help you.
“I mean, if you’d reconsider and watch Tori and Zoe for me.”
No way was Laney going to watch a pair of three-year-olds, even if they were adorable. “You’ve got to have other childcare options than me.”
Ethan shook his head. “You’re kind of my last hope.”
“But we barely know each other.”
“Yesterday you engaged with them like a pro. I think you’d do a fine job watching my girls. I was thinking you could nanny them until eleven. My mother will watch them later in the afternoons, so I can help you most days with the renovations, say from three to six? I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.” He moved to the porch and held open the door for her.
He needed help, she needed help. It was a simple exchange of services. Taking care of his sweet girls would not put her independence in peril.
Maybe she should consider his idea. “Okay, let’s give this a try.”
Heidi Main writes sweet inspirational romance novels set in small towns. Though she lives in central North Carolina’s suburbs, she dreams of acreage and horseback riding, which is why her novels include wide-open ranches and horses. Before starting her writing career, Heidi worked with computers and taught Jazzercise. A perfect Saturday is lounging on the deck with her husband and watching the many birds in their backyard. Learn more about her books at www.heidimain.com.
Books by Heidi Main
Love Inspired
A Nanny for the Rancher’s Twins
Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com.
A NANNY FOR THE RANCHER’S TWINS
Heidi Main
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
—Proverbs 3:5–6
To God be the glory.
Acknowledgments
Rich—thank you for always being there,
for supporting this wild dream of mine
and encouraging me every step along the way.
I love you.
Ashlyn—thank you for being
my biggest cheerleader. Elephant shoes.
Authors Mindy, Tina, Sami, Megan
and Shellie—thank you for pushing me to
make this story, and my writing, better.
To my agent, Tamela, and my editor, Melissa—
thank you for making my dream of
writing books come true.
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
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Excerpt from Snowbound Amish Christmas by Jo Ann Brown
Chapter One
Laney Taylor stepped out of her sedan and breathed in the earthy Texas air. She’d never imagined she might one day live in Serenity, her childhood happy place.
Shielding her eyes from the hot sun, she admired the massive cattle-dotted pastures of the Triple C Ranch, those carefree summers of her adolescence rushing back to her. Julys spent at her aunt and uncle’s nearby ranch, and here at the Triple C running around with the McCaw kids, were the high point of her year. An opportunity to feel part of a real family. To feel valued, loved and cherished.
Horses neighed in the background as she rolled her shoulders, pushing away the tension of the tedious six-hour drive. A drive she hoped to never make again. If things went according to plan, Serenity was now her home. She could hardly wait to settle in at the property she’d inherited from her aunt and uncle and begin the remodel that would mark Willow Creek Ranch’s transformation from cattle ranch to rustic wedding venue.
As she walked to the McCaws’ house, Laney’s white statement sneakers crunched over the gravel parking lot. No doubt everyone at Uncle Arthur and Aunt Alice’s memorial service, including Cora McCaw, thought her rude for running out the moment it ended. At twenty-eight, Laney should be able to hold her emotions together, but her grief during the service had overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t bear the thought of facing anyone. So, she got in her car and fled back to San Antonio like a scared child without so much as thanking anyone for coming.
Shaking off her embarrassment, she headed up the steps to the porch, where five vacant rocking chairs swayed back and forth, as though each in tune with a separate melody.
The screen door creaked open and Cora appeared, wearing weathered jeans, a faded blue Western shirt and cowboy boots, her usual attire. “Laney? Laney Taylor? You’re a sight for sore eyes.” The door smacked shut behind her as she stepped outside.
Laney hurried into the older woman’s arms and relished the warm embrace. She smelled of sugar cookies and soap. “Mrs. McCaw.” This sweet woman had always provided patience and a listening ear when Laney craved guidance during her July stays. And she’d shown Laney what a true woman of God acted like.
“You’re old enough to call me Cora.” The heavyset woman pulled back and gazed at Laney with warm brown eyes. “I am heartbroken about Alice and Arthur. Such a tragedy.”
“Thanks.” The horrific head-on collision had killed Laney’s aunt and uncle instantly. Though that knowledge didn’t help as she grieved them. “I don’t want to keep you, but I need to apologize for not speaking with you at the memorial service.” She spoke around the lump forming in her throat.
“Oh, honey.” She squeezed Laney’s hands. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Cora looped her fingers through Laney’s arm. “After that long drive, you must be tired. I just made a fresh pitcher of lemonade.”
A few minutes later, they settled into the welcoming rockers, and Laney sipped the sweet, icy drink.
“I hear you’re going to convert Alice and Arthur’s ranch into a wedding venue.” Cora set her rocking chair in motion. Laney did the same.
“Shabby-chic. Rustic. You know, what all the brides are looking for these days.” Laney grinned, excitement swirling in her chest. “The beautiful old barn will hold the intimate receptions. We’ll gut the interior to allow space for heavy farm tables. String twinkle lights all over for ambience.” She could see it all, and more. Laney would call the shots and be in charge of her future and her life. Ever since her unstable childhood, she’d yearned for control. Now she’d have it in spades.
Laney hesitated. “Do you think Aunt Alice and Uncle Arthur would approve?”
“Oh, sweetie.” Cora patted her hand. “I know they would. Alice had mentioned your plans to me before they passed.”
Tears threatened, but she tamped them down. “At the memorial service, it hit me that I won’t get to speak with my aunt and uncle again. Ever. That’s why I ran out.” She’d always assumed she’d have longer with them. Longer to work on her career. Longer to implement her dreams. Except that day she’d realized God’s truth: He doesn’t promise tomorrow.
“It was an emotional day for all of us, sweetie. No one took it personally. Certainly not me.”
A warm breeze lifted the hairs around her face, and she pushed them back. With Aunt Alice gone, the success of her new business had become even more important because she wanted her aunt to be proud of her.
Cora glanced at her watch.
Laney stopped rocking. She’d taken up enough of the older woman’s time. “I don’t want to keep you.”
“I’m just concerned about Wade,” Cora said. “A bull kicked him last week.”
She straightened. “Oh, no. Is he okay?” Cora and Wade were like peanut butter and jelly. She never thought of one without the other. “Can I help in any way?”
“You are a darling to ask, but he’ll be fine.” She patted Laney’s hand. “He has a concussion but he’s on the road to recovery. A friend is inside with him right now, giving me a respite.” She placed her dripping glass on the table. “Just give me a moment to check on him.”
As Cora scurried inside, a new house beyond a swath of trees caught Laney’s attention. An established weeping willow tree shaded the small, unassuming one-story home, and a warm white picket fence surrounded the property.
A contented sigh slipped past her lips. She’d always longed to live in a house like that. Similar to the one her childhood best friend had lived in. Had it been the inviting home or the family who lived there? She wasn’t sure. But to Laney, a white picket fence equated a happy family.
Cora returned and sank into the rocker, visibly relieved. “He’s napping.” She nodded. “I got your email about a handyman and no one comes to mind, but I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you, Cora.” To save money, her contractor would do the big jobs, and she planned to tackle the agreed-upon homeowner list. Except, since she wasn’t handy at all, she was searching for just the right person to assist her. Guess she’d have to keep looking.
Laney heard squealing from the barn, and she turned. A muscular man
“That’s our oldest, Ethan. You probably remember him from camp. He led the riding lessons.”
Laney’s breath caught. That was Ethan? The boy who had never let her help with anything? He’d probably thought his kid sister’s friend an annoyance to shake off. But Laney had truly wanted to learn. She’d fantasized about being a cowgirl one day. Then she’d grown up.
In her teen years, Ethan had been friendly in the riding ring, but elsewhere at the camp, he was always aloof. She wondered if anything had changed since they last saw each other.
He sported a blue-and-green-checked shirt, coupled with worn jeans, scuffed-up cowboy boots and the expected straw Stetson atop his head. Even from far away, his spicy cologne wafted over, intriguing her when she needed to remain solely focused.
The girls, who appeared to be identical twins, started an awkward clap. “Memaw, Memaw,” they called, squirming from their strapped seats.
As he neared the porch, he offered a tired half smile. That was right—Aunt Alice had mentioned his wife had deserted him soon after the girls were born. She gave him a nod of encouragement. Being a single father must be exhausting.
He locked the stroller in place and unbuckled the girls. They were the most adorable children she’d ever seen. Not that she was into kids.
“What are my grandbabies up to today?” Cora opened her arms, and the girls rushed into them.
“We got eggs, Memaw,” the one in pink stated. “They’re in the fwidgewatow now.”
“Girls, this is a friend of mine, Miss Laney.” Cora looked down at the twins. “This is Zoe—” she pointed to the one in pink “—and this is Tori. They just turned three.”
“And their daddy, Ethan.” As she gazed up at her son, Cora’s face shone with love and respect.
He palmed off his dusty hat. “Sorry for your loss, Laney. Alice and Arthur were good folk.” His burnt-almond eyes radiated warmth and sympathy.
Her vision started to blur as she shifted her focus to the toddlers.
White-blond ringlets framed the twins’ tanned faces, the opposite of Ethan’s dark brown hair. They must have inherited their mother’s coloring.
Just then, a golden retriever raced onto the porch, its whole body wiggling as it stood in front of Ethan. “What’s up, boy? Wanna play with the girls?” He scratched the dog’s head, then hung his Stetson on a nail above the window.
Zoe and Tori scrambled off Cora’s lap. “Bandit!” they shouted at the same time.
“Be gentle, girls,” Ethan reminded them with tenderness.
While Bandit licked Tori’s face, his exuberant writhing bumped Zoe, and she fell to the porch floor. Her face scrunched up, and she wailed. The dog danced around Tori.
Ethan rushed over to the girls. “Bandit, down.” He swooped a crying Zoe into his arms as Bandit dropped to the ground, head between his paws. “It’s okay, honey.”
Laney thought she might swoon. A muscular, brawny man comforting his young child would do that to any woman, right? No! That was how her mother rolled, not Laney. She glanced away.
“Ethan, Laney plans to turn Arthur’s place into a wedding venue.”
He regarded Laney. “Arthur mentioned he willed you the land. We’ve been leasing most of it the last ten years for cattle grazing. I assume you’ll continue to honor his contract?” His dark eyes sparkled, but no longer with warmth.
“I had no idea.” She rubbed her forehead at the disturbing news. A land lease meant income. Money she could use for the renovation and her business as it grew, but sharing the land was not part of her plan.
“Yup. We have a signed contract and everything.” His jaw twitched.
Her heart caught in her throat.
She’d given up her San Antonio life to start fresh in Serenity. Failure was not an option.
Willow Creek Ranch was huge. Surely there was a way to negotiate some sort of compromise. “Maybe we can work something out?”
Her goal was to get her venue up and running. Though it would be awful if her business became a nightmare for the McCaws. Because these people—Cora especially—were the closest thing to a family she had left.
* * *
Maybe we can work something out?
Ethan McCaw’s stomach dropped. Laney made it seem like she might not honor her uncle’s lease. Like her plans for the property didn’t include the McCaws.
He remembered Laney as his little sister’s annoying friend who always wanted to help around the ranch. If only she’d be a little more helpful now.
Ethan shifted Zoe to his other arm. As she startled, then snuggled tight, he breathed in the baby smell mixed with active toddler.
“To be perfectly honest, we’d hoped to buy you out.” When Arthur mentioned he was willing the ranch to Laney, Ethan assumed she wouldn’t want the hassle of owning land hours away from her home in San Antonio. He looked to his mother for support, but her eyes were pressed closed. Most likely praying.
“Willow Creek Ranch is not for sale,” Laney said, her voice full of indecision.
“We depend on that lease.” If only he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt, but he had to fight for his family. He paced across the wide porch as Zoe’s sagging body radiated heat against his already warm arms. Somewhere along the way, she’d fallen fast asleep. “We’ve been leasing a good portion of Arthur’s plot for a decade.”
“Why?” With her eyebrows scrunched together, her prior disagreeable attitude seemed to blow away in the afternoon breeze.
“There’s a high demand for 100 percent grass-fed cattle. When we switched to a daily pasture rotation, we needed more acreage.” He leaned against the porch post. “Since Arthur had all but retired, we began leasing the southeast portion of his land. The solution worked well for both of us.”
When Arthur offered to subdivide, they should have jumped at the chance to buy the property outright, but things hadn’t sounded urgent. Writing Arthur a check every month seemed less painful than taking out a hefty mortgage. Now he wished they’d grasped the opportunity when it had presented itself.
Tori sat beside Bandit and petted his front paws. His tongue lolled to the side as he leaned his head against the cool brick house.
“Ethan saved our family business with his newfangled suggestion. You know, that whole farm-to-table food everyone wants nowadays.” His mother reached out and caressed Zoe’s leg, dangling from his arms. “Admit it, kiddo—you rescued us. Our sales were dwindling until you came up with your genius idea.”
He felt his cheeks heat from his mother’s praise. “Sure, Mom.”
The alarm on his mother’s phone trilled, and she stood. “I have to give Dad his medication. Be right back.” She scurried through the screen door.
“Do you use all the land?” Laney shifted to face him, her brows raised in question, like she genuinely cared.
He wasn’t sure he remembered those mesmerizing aquamarine eyes from his childhood. They drew him in, awakening memories of her infectious laugh during bonfires, her careful and serious attitude around the horses, and her sweet gentleness with the younger campers. Maybe she hadn’t always been a pest.
He cleared his throat. “We move the cattle daily, and we have a variety of grasses growing on Arthur’s land.” He rubbed his chin. “We put time and money into readying those pastures.” Which meant if they found another plot elsewhere, they’d have to till and plant seed and also build more fencing. More time, more money and lots of inconvenience. A wedding place couldn’t require much acreage, right?
His arm started to ache. Though Zoe wasn’t big for her age, right now she felt like a cinder block.
“So, you’re running the Triple C with your father?”
Tori stood and toddled to the steps.
“Stay up here, pumpkin.” A glance at his watch startled him. Where had the time gone? He had to return to the barn, and if he wanted to accomplish anything this afternoon, the girls required a nap. Except he needed someone to watch the girls.
“Yes,” he answered. “My mom handles everything with the youth camp. Dad and I manage the ranch.”
