his mom there’d been many women in his life, he hadn’t exaggerated, which was why he was so surprised that this particular female had so captured his attention. It appeared that she and her daughter were taking his flight, but that didn’t mean Jackson was their final destination. The mother and daughter he was supposed to meet were flying in from Sacramento, California—could they have been rerouted to Salt Lake City, as well?
In the middle of his reverie, he heard the announcement that his flight was ready for boarding. The woman and her daughter had already gone ahead to join the lineup. He was the last one to board the midsize passenger plane. Since his flight had been diverted, he was the last to be given a seat assignment and had to sit at the rear of the plane.
Before he reached his seat, he spotted the mother who’d caught his eye sitting on the left a couple of rows ahead. She was helping her daughter with the seat belt. He noted there was no wedding ring on her left hand. She could still be married, he surmised, or then again Frank—the man she’d been talking to on the phone earlier—could be a boyfriend. Buck was forced to keep moving down the aisle and he still didn’t get a look at her face, because her hair had fallen forward.
The flight was a short one, but bumpy toward the end. After the plane landed, three-fourths of the passengers got off, but he saw no sign of the woman and her daughter. Oddly disappointed, he made his way over to the baggage claim to retrieve his duffel bag and call the ranch.
“Buck!”
He wheeled around to see Willy carrying a sign for the Teton Valley Dude Ranch. “Hey, Willy.”
The twenty-six-year-old pushed his cowboy hat back on his head. “I didn’t know you’d be on this flight. You didn’t by any chance see a woman and little girl on board, did you? The Forresters didn’t come in on the last flight. I was supposed to pick them up in front, but they weren’t outside, so I figured they’d be in here getting their luggage. Some of the bags still haven’t been claimed.”
So the woman and her daughter were the Forresters!
After overhearing part of her phone conversation with “Frank,” he’d pretty much ruled her out as possibly being the widow of Daniel Forrester.
The marine’s heroism had been lauded after he’d taken a grenade to save members of his platoon from certain death. He’d been buried only nine months ago. Not that his wife couldn’t have found herself in another relationship this fast. The woman was a raving beauty.
Come to think of it, Melanie and Buck’s brother had gotten close much faster than that while he’d been away at school. But Melanie hadn’t lost a husband in the war. Somehow, Buck would have expected a grieving widow to take a little longer to recover. The woman had already removed her wedding ring. Still, it was none of his business.
“I sat next to a mother and daughter in the airport lounge in Salt Lake, but I had no idea they were the family we’re hosting. Unfortunately, I was the last one off the plane.” He frowned, wondering if the turbulence had made one of them ill. They were his responsibility, after all. “Maybe they’re in the restroom. Stay here.”
He started across the terminal lounge to look around when he saw them come out of an alcove and head for the luggage carousel. The little girl clung to her mother’s hand. Buck closed in on them.
“Mrs. Forrester?”
She swung halfway around, giving him the frontal view he’d been trying to glimpse earlier. Midnight-blue eyes connected with his. He thought she looked surprised to see him. She probably hadn’t expected the man with the cough at the Salt Lake airport to be the one greeting her.
She was maybe thirty. A generously curved mouth and high cheekbones were set in an oval face. Her classic features appealed to him as much as the rest of her. She was a very attractive woman. He thought of Carson and the way he’d felt when he’d first laid eyes on Tracy.
Damn.
He looked down at her daughter, who showed all the promise of growing up to be a beauty herself. “I’m Buck Summerhayes, one of the partners at the dude ranch. Welcome to Teton Valley.” He shook her hand.
“Thank you, Mr. Summerhayes. We’re very happy to be here.” Although her tone sounded cordial enough, she seemed a bit subdued. Maybe the flight had made her ill.
“Let me introduce Willy Felder. He’s one of our staff and will be taking us back to the ranch.”
“My name’s Alex. How do you do?” She shook hands with him.
“If you’ll tell Willy which of those bags are yours, he’ll take them out to the van.”
“They’re the red ones.”
“Red’s my favorite color,” the little girl piped up.
Buck smiled. “So I can see.” He squatted in front of her. She was wearing jeans and a red top with a princess on the front. “It’s nice to meet you, Jennifer. I’m glad you’re coming to the ranch. I forget—are you six or seven?”
“Seven.”
“Jenny had a birthday last week,” her mother explained.
“Well, congratulations, Jenny!” he said. “The owner of the dude ranch, Carson Lundgren, has a son named Johnny who’s going to turn seven next Thursday. You’ll meet him at breakfast in the morning. He’ll want to show you his pony, Goldie.”
“I’ve never seen a real pony.”
“We’ve got four of them.”
“Can I have a ride on one?”
He smiled. “You can pick your favorite and start riding first thing in the morning. Do you know you have the prettiest green eyes?”
“So do you.” Her comment took him by surprise. She seemed so grown up for a seven-year-old. “My daddy’s were green, too.”
“That explains their color.” A lump lodged in his throat. This was Daniel Forrester’s little girl, who would have to live without him for the rest of her life. “Your daddy was a very brave man. We invited you to the ranch as our way of honoring him.”
Her features sobered, but she didn’t tear up. “Were you in the war?”
“Yes.”
“How come you’re not there now?”
“That’s a good question. It’s because I got sick while I was in Afghanistan and had to come home. So did my friends Carson and Ross who run the ranch. They have coughs, too.”
“I heard you coughing at the airport.”
“I saw you sleeping, and I’m sorry if I woke you up. I cough a lot, but just remember you can’t catch it from me.”
“Why not?” She was curious like Johnny, a trait he found endearing.
“Because it’s not a cough from a cold. It’s from breathing the bad air in the war.”
She looked up at her mother with an anxious expression. “Do you think Daddy got that cough, too?”
“I
