style="font-size:15px;"> “Like someone in law enforcement, and I’ve had my fill of people like that.” Dane took the platter from Penny gratefully. “Very pretty. How many am I allowed?” he asked Penny.
“Only two if you don’t want to spoil your supper.” Penny was nearly five years old now and wise to the house rules.
“Two?” he asked, looking at Penny with his best uncle smile. “But I don’t think I’m going to be getting any supper.”
“That’s because you didn’t play your cards right with your housekeeper.” Gabriel took the platter, moved two cookies to Dane’s plate, three to his own, and handed the tray back to Penny. “Please put temptation out of Uncle Dane’s way, honey.”
She smiled at Gabriel and took the plate back to the kitchen. Her little brother, Perrin, followed, anxious for his own treat.
“How come you get three?” Dane asked. “Not that I’m trying to be ungrateful or anything, but I am older than you.”
“Because I’m in good with the women of my house.” Gabriel grinned. “I get extra sweets.”
“Great.” Dane bit the head off the sugary reindeer and closed his eyes. “She sings, Gabriel, all the time.”
“Bro, she’s only lived there since this morning.”
“But it’s nonstop. She sings to the children. The children sing back, in those little nonsense voices, and then Suzy praises them, so proud of their efforts. The noise level is pretty constant.”
Laura laughed again. He considered the lightly falling snow outside, and the gray skies—both signs the temperature would be dropping. “I can’t stay long. There’s wood to bring in for all four fireplaces, among other manly chores I’ve been assigned.”
Gabriel raised his brows. “Expecting a deep freeze?”
Dane sighed. “It’s just not peaceful and quiet there like I imagined it would be. Like you have here. I thought I’d be out at Pop’s alone, at least until you or Pete or Jack showed up.”
“I got my million dollars,” Gabriel confessed. “I won’t be coming, bro. You’re on your own at the Morgan ranch with your trio of singing females.”
Dane stared at him. “When did that happen?”
“Dad gave me my money before he went back to France.”
“Because you sold out,” Dane whispered, with a careful glance at Laura. “Wedding bells coaxed Pop to give in on the part about you having to live at the ranch for one year to get your money?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Nope. He just felt that I’d proven myself.”
“Proven yourself?” Dane glanced around the small, clean home. “You’re living in pretty tall cotton, Gabriel. Can’t see that your life is all that hard.”
Gabriel shook his head. “You don’t get it.”
Dane didn’t think it was fair that Gabriel had been let off the hook. “Sucking up to Pop shouldn’t be part of the deal.”
“Why?” Gabriel looked at him. “All Dad wants is family harmony.”
“And grandchildren!” Dane tried to sound horrified and maybe even accusative—Gabriel had definitely sold out, the weasel—but looking at Laura’s gently rounded stomach made it a bit hard to be completely indignant.
The fact was, Gabriel had done what Dane, Pete and Jack didn’t want to do. Jack would never make up with Pop, not after Pop kicked him out for luring his too-young brothers to the rodeo all those years ago. Dane and Pete still harbored enough bad feelings to fill a valley. Still, he couldn’t fault Gabriel. “Never mind,” Dane said, morosely finishing off his cookies. “The baby always has it the easiest.”
He brushed off the crumbs and stood to leave. Laura handed him a lace napkin full of cookies to take with him. He headed to the door, glanced around at Gabriel and his family and the life he’d chosen. Then he tipped his hat to Laura, kissed both the children, thanked them for sharing their delicious cookies, and braced himself for the cold outside.
It was nothing, he knew, like the cold he was going to get at the ranch. He only had three hundred sixty-four more days to go. It wasn’t a lifetime, something he’d already felt he’d lived.
He’d retired from the Texas Rangers following years of service. After enlisting in the military—just to get away from Pop—Dane had gotten his college degree, then moved on. He went into the police academy, becoming a top recruit. With his competitive nature, he’d pushed himself hard enough to make it into the Rangers.
And then, at twenty-eight, he’d burned out. He’d seen the worst in people while on the job, but always felt he had his friends to fall back on, no matter what. The final straw was his best friend talking him out of his life savings. Dane realized he wasn’t as much of a tough guy as he thought he was, and began to doubt his ability to see the good in people.
Suzy seemed good, but she sure had dug her way into an old man’s life with ease. Pop was supposed to be a tough guy, too.
Maybe Morgans were just easy marks for a sad story. He’d find out in the next year of hell with the rulemaking Miss Winterstone.
He got into his truck, carefully placing the cookies on the seat next to his so they wouldn’t break. On the other hand, there was something to be said for sucking up, he decided. Yet, he wasn’t sure he could survive three hundred sixty-four more days in a house with a woman he’d kissed, since he frequently found himself wondering about kissing her again.
He’d always been a bit of a rebel, something that irked Pop no end. The practically neon sign the little mother was wearing that said No Trespassing made him definitely want to jump the fence.
But knowing Pop would be rewarded for his manipulative ways, Dane vowed to give up trespassing, at least where Suzy was concerned. He’d refused to even look at the babies this morning—he knew that if he wasn’t careful, he could get sucked into a life just like Gabriel’s.
It was all about the children, and Dane understood the game.
SUZY PUT HER TWO TODDLERS down for a nap, then lay beside them, rubbing their backs as they snuggled into the bed comforter. She’d chosen the large back bedroom for herself and the children. It was big enough for them to sleep in the same room with her. That way, if she needed to get up in the night to check on them, she wouldn’t risk running into Mr. Loves-the-Dark Ranger. She didn’t trust him, not one bit. He’d probably jump out and grab her again just for the pleasure of hearing her yelp. And he’d made it obvious this morning that he didn’t want her there—he hadn’t spoken a word to her. Not even a polite good morning. So she’d sung to keep the frosty awkwardness in check.
“Fine by me,” she told the girls. “It’s better when he’s not around being pigheaded.”
The babies slept on without heeding her comment. She’d named the eighteen-month-old girls Nicole and Sandra after her mother. For the hundredth time, she thought about calling her mother, then decided it wouldn’t be a good idea. Her mother, who lived in Fort Wylie, had told Suzy in no uncertain terms that being pregnant and unmarried was a disgrace.
