Haley snuggled down into her covers and her hair splayed out across the pillow. “G’night, Daddy.”
He could hear the chirp of crickets and croak of bullfrogs outside her window. He wondered why his ex-wife Paula had hated those sounds so much. To him, the comforting chatter seemed to embrace the ranch house. But it had never seemed serene when his wife had lived here, not with her complaining about the heat in the summer, the cold in the winter and the isolation year round.
Relieved that the nights were now peaceful and calming here on his ranch alone with his daughter, he whispered into the gray darkness, “G’night, sweetheart.”
Before he could close the door all the way, he heard her soft voice ask, “Will they really?”
He paused, confused. “Will who what, darlin’?”
“Live happily ever after?”
In the dim light, Haley stared at him with those big, solemn brown eyes. His throat closed as if a fist had cut off his airway. Haley’s constant barrage of questions always made him nervous. He never knew if he was answering the right way or about to scar his daughter for life. He knew firsthand that storybook endings didn’t happen. But should he shatter that fairy tale for his daughter now? Or let her learn it the hard way, like everyone else?
“I guess so. That’s what the book said.” He leaned against the doorframe and felt a throbbing pain resonate in his chest. It was hard being a parent. More so, a single father. He didn’t have anyone to consult with or confide in. But then he’d never had that with his ex-wife, either. “Now go to sleep, Haley.”
“But, Daddy…”
He drew a shaky breath, not sure he wanted the answer to his next question. “What is it, baby?”
“How come we don’t have a happy ever after?” Her squeaky voice could have punctured a hole right through his heart.
His hand folded around the doorknob and squeezed until he could draw a full breath into his tight lungs. Slowly, he pushed the door open wider and reentered her room. The thick, pink carpet softened the clomping sound of his boot heels. His heart pulsed with self-doubts and recriminations. He carefully sat on the edge of his daughter’s bed and tried to find the words to answer her woeful question. “Aren’t you happy here with me, sweetheart?”
“Yes, but—” She stopped herself and shut her brown eyes.
He couldn’t miss the quiver in her chin.
A cold clamp locked around his spine. Hadn’t he tried to give her everything a little girl needed—cute clothes, nourishing food on the table, a happy home and all the attention a five year old could stand?
“But what?” he prodded, needing to know her answer even if he knew it might rip him to shreds.
“We don’t have a mommy.”
No they didn’t. His ex-wife had lived as long as she could in the dust bowl of west Texas. She’d left, emotionally ripping out his heart and unbalancing their family. He’d tried to be both mother and father to Haley. Eventually, he’d admitted his deficiencies and hired a succession of nannies. None of them had stayed. They’d each found a lonesome cowboy, gotten hitched and moved on, leaving Haley and Cole once more on their own.
Maybe a little girl needed more than he could offer. Maybe Haley needed a mother more than she needed him. That drove a dull-edged blade through his heart.
His gaze shifted past the pink-curtained window to the darkness beyond. His great-great-grandfather had built the Double Heart Ranch with blood and sweat. But not alone. His mail-order bride had stood by him through tornadoes and dust storms, droughts and epidemics. They’d built a life together and made their own “happily ever after.”
Why couldn’t he do the same? He’d tried love, but Paula had hated the ranch. Worse, she’d hated motherhood even more. Maybe he could advertise for a wife, find one without the usual dating frenzy and marry for convenience. This time, for a lifetime…for his daughter’s sake. But could he trust a woman not to abandon them again?
Chapter One
“Having trouble with a Dear Jane letter?” Elise Mc-Connell asked the studious cowboy sitting at one of her tables. She balanced a tray of food between one hand and her shoulder, and tried not to inhale the greasy odor of bacon.
The cowboy glanced up. His startling blue eyes narrowed into tiny slits of wariness that pierced right through her defenses. Deep crevices outlined his firm mouth, reminding her of the caverns in the nearby Palo Duro Canyon, hard and intriguing. He had dark brown hair that some barber had cut almost too short, leaving only a trace of a wave. He’d scattered several wadded up pieces of paper across the table and had scratched through his latest attempt with a stubby pencil.
Figuring he wasn’t going to answer her, she placed his order of scrambled eggs, waffles and bacon in front of him and tried not to notice his wide shoulders and stern, uncompromising jaw. She’d made one mistake with a cowboy. She wouldn’t make another.
Wishing she’d kept her big mouth shut, she asked, “More coffee?”
He nodded and pushed his mug toward the edge of the red-and-white-checked tablecloth. “Are you new here in Desert Springs?”
His deep rumbling voice made her abdomen tighten. Must be the pungent smell of grease, she assured herself. She hadn’t had time to eat breakfast before she’d reported for work at a quarter to six and she was beginning to feel weak-kneed.
“Yes.” She set the empty tray across a nearby table and reached for the carafe behind the cowboy’s booth. Refilling his mug, she added, “I’ve been here almost a month. It’s a nice town. Quiet.”
She didn’t tell him that she’d been dumped here, without transportation or money. It wasn’t important. She was used to fending for herself. After leaving the orphanage at seventeen, she’d traveled from town to town, working odd jobs, attending a few college courses that interested her, but mostly looking for a place to call home. She’d thought she’d found a family with a cowboy. But she’d been wrong.
She’d actually started to like this little west Texas town and was considering taking up permanent residence. Besides, she didn’t have any other place to go.
A hint of a smile curled the corner of the cowboy’s mouth, denting his firm cheek with what she imagined must be a dimple if she ever witnessed a full-fledged smile. “It’s quiet all right. The streets roll up at nine o’clock.”
She gave a soft laugh. “That’s okay with me. I’m usually soaking my feet by then anyway.” Or asleep by nine these days. Being signaled by another patron of Chuck’s Diner, she said, “Enjoy your breakfast. If you need anything else, let me know. I’m Elise.”
Immediately she put the sexy cowboy and his worried frown out of her mind. She had enough troubles of her own. She’d do well to remember to keep her nose out of others’ business.
Cole watched the talkative waitress walk toward another table and pour a cup of coffee for one of his neighbors. He couldn’t help but notice the saucy swing in her step, the enticing sway of her apron ties along the narrow part of her lower back. A long auburn ponytail bounced between her shoulder blades. She wouldn’t
