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“Not a chance, missy. Not after what Russell did to you—”
“He didn’t do anything to me. Which we’ve been over a million times. It just didn’t work out. These things happen.” Her mother made an if-that’s-what-you-want-to-tell-yourself face. “It was for the best, Mama,” she said gently. “You’ve got to let this go. I have.” Mostly.
Tears welled in her mother’s eyes. “You really think this is for the best for Lannie?”
“For God’s sake don’t let him hear you call him that. And would you rather he live in a house where nobody was happy? Really?” Her appetite gone, Mallory wheeled over to dump the apple core in the under-counter garbage can. “Also, there’s a new Mrs. Eames, as you may recall. So, onward and all that.”
Mama’s eyes brightened. “So does that mean—”
“No,” Mallory said, knowing exactly what her mother meant.
“What am I ever going to do with you?” Mama said with a dramatic sigh, only to come over and plant a kiss on top of Mallory’s head before collecting her dog and sashaying out of the room, leaving a trail of Giorgio in her wake.
Mallory smiled, only to release a sigh of her own. Because that was the question of the century, wasn’t it? Not so much what Mama was going to do with her, as what she was going to do with herself. Since frankly she wasn’t all that keen about spending the rest of her life without male companionship. Without love and affection and, okay, sex. True, things didn’t work the same way they had, but they still worked. She definitely still...yearned, as Mama might say. But she wasn’t so much of a fool as to think all she had to do was join an online dating service and—bam!—she’d be swarmed by seventy billion takers.
And not only because her legs were basically useless. There was also that whole who-she-used-to-be-before thing to take into account.
But to admit that she yearned—or dreamed, or wished, or whatever you wanted to call it—would a) make her sound as though she felt sorry for herself, which, no, and b) give her mother ammunition. Which, hell no.
Still. What was the harm in indulging a few tingles? A curiosity about the supposedly gorgeous man attached to the sexy-as-sin voice? A man with a sense of humor? And kids? Boys, no less? What was the worst that could happen? She’d get to spend an hour outside, on a beautiful fall day, with a decent guy. And she might even end up with a horse for her son out of the deal. Could be worse, right?
Heh. Maybe she didn’t want to know the answer to that.
Chapter Two (#ulink_a54e0537-d2a5-5ca0-9562-f841875f36da)
A faint whiff of fireplace smoke tainted the cool, still air, mixing pleasantly with the smell of horse and dirt—the scents of his childhood, Zach thought. His life. What home smelled like.
“I can’t believe you don’t know who Mallory Keyes is,” his brother Josh said as they stood in front of the fenced pasture where several of the horses grazed while they still could. In a few weeks the grass would be frozen, gone, and the horses would be on hay. Waffles was one of them, the early afternoon sun glinting off his pale gold coat. Yes, like syrup glistening over waffles. Behind them kids—and one ancient golden retriever—cavorted, as Josh’s four-year-old boy, Austin, gave Zach’s two a run for their money.
These days most of the fences were strung wire, of course. But this one, closest to the house, was still old-fashioned post-and-rail. A pain to keep in working order, but Granville Blake, whose family had owned this ranch in its various permutations for generations, wouldn’t have it any other way. His nod to tradition, Zach supposed. Now, his forearms propped on the chewed-up top rail, Zach looked over at his smirking younger brother, Josh’s choppy brown hair barely visible underneath his tan cowboy hat.
“So sue me. You know I don’t keep up with that stuff.”
“Except for a while there you couldn’t go online for five minutes without seeing something about her.”
“You couldn’t, maybe.”
“I’m serious. She was quite the hot ticket in Hollywood a few years ago. Well, more than a few years ago, I guess now.” Josh paused. “You remember those Transmutant movies, when we were kids? When I was a kid, anyway, I guess you were a teenager by then. But I know you saw the first one, because the whole family went one Christmas. Anyway, she was The Girl. You know, the redhead with the big—”
“Josh.” Zach’s gaze darted behind them. “Kids.”
“But you know who I’m talking about, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Sure you do. Here...” He dug his smartphone out of his denim jacket’s pocket, clicked a few buttons, then turned the screen toward Zach. His eyes twinkled. “Nobody forgets a...face like that.”
Truth. Now Zach remembered, although he didn’t think he’d ever known her name. Even when she hadn’t been wearing her superchick costume, she was majestic, with all that red hair and legs that did not quit—
“Ring any bells?” Josh said, and Zach snorted. Chuckling, Josh slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Anyway, I think she went on to do more serious stuff afterwards. Maybe married a director or something? Even got nominated for an Oscar, I think. Not sure if she won, though. Mom would know. But she was hurt in a skiing accident a few years back. Right up there, in fact,” Josh said, nodding toward the ski resort, tucked up into the mountains about twenty miles outside of town. “As in, career-ending hurt.”
Zach frowned. “How do you know all this?”
Facing the boys, his brother shoved a hand in his denim jacket’s pocket. “The question is, how come you don’t? Seeing as we do share a mother. And anyway, it was big news here. Her accident, I mean—”
Liam took a tumble. Much wailing followed. Zach held out his arms as the three-year-old lurched toward him, bawling. “Now that you mention it,” he said, hauling up the little guy, “it does sound familiar. But I guess I didn’t pay attention to who it was. I was a little busy, getting the practice up and running, being a new father...”
Softly shushing his youngest’s cries, Zach let the sentence fade away, unable to voice the rest of it: that he’d been so tangled up in love with his wife, his life, that the rest of the world basically didn’t exist. Nor had he cared that it hadn’t. Between those two little houses—his home and the clinic—he’d had everything he needed. And wanted. Getting caught up in pop culture was for people who had nothing better to do.
Except then Heidi was gone, and Zach was doing well simply to hold it together for his sons, his clients. By the time the boys were in bed he’d fall into his own in a dead sleep...until someone woke up, anyway. Extracurricular interests? Let alone activities? As if.
Josh’s mouth twitched. “We really need to fix you up.”
“You really don’t. And you sound like Mom. Which is not a point in your favor.”
“Whatever. There’s this new waitress over at Chico’s—”
“All yours, buddy.”
His brother chuckled again. As well he should, considering he was every bit as much a target for the town’s matchmakers as Zach. “So anyway. Yeah. This Mallory Keyes was a big deal at one time. Real shame, what happened to her. Funny that she’d decide to buy a place here. So close to where her accident happened, I mean. But people sometimes do weird things. How old you say her boy was?”
“Eleven.”
“Then Waffles really should be perfect for him. Although I hope to heck they change the poor thing’s name. Waffles? Honestly. Oh, that must be her... I guess Gus buzzed her in.”
They turned in time to see the dusty-clouded approach of a high-end SUV, steel-blue with tinted windows. As Jeremy and Austin scampered off toward the house, Josh waved the car over; a few seconds later, it pulled up alongside the pasture and the window rolled down...and Zach nearly lost his breath. Especially when Mallory removed her sunglasses. And smiled. Now he remembered her, although his image was of a much younger version. A much less finished version. Mallory Keyes had what their mother would call good bones, all sharp angles softened by a full mouth, deep-set gray eyes and that hair. Holy hell, that hair—
Dorelle leaned over her daughter, grinning. “Hey, there, Doc. I take it this handsome young man is your brother?”
“Sure am,” Josh said with a grin of his own as he walked over to open the driver’s-side door. Dorelle apparently muttered something to her daughter that earned her an eyeroll and a “Really, Mama?” before Mallory extended her hand and they all finished with the introductions. Then, on a little gasp, she lowered her sunglasses. “Ohmigosh,” she said to Zach, “is that your little boy?”
“One of ’em, yes. Liam.”
“Well, hey there, sweetie,” she said, her soft Texas twang curling right up inside Zach’s chest. Then those dove-colored eyes lifted to his. “My mother said they were cute, but...wow. She did not—” her gaze shifted to his face “—exaggerate.”
Now, Zach probably imagined it—because of that curling-inside-his-chest thing—but he could have sworn Mallory looked at him a trifle longer than necessary. Especially when her eyes seemed to jerk back to Josh. “Good to meet you both. Now if you’ll give me a minute...”
Contorting her upper body to reach behind her, she retrieved a small, collapsible wheelchair from the back, deftly popping it open as she set it on the ground in front of her. “As you can see, I have mobility issues. So I hope I’ll be able to get around in this?”
“Not a problem,” Josh said without missing a beat. “The owner’s wife was in a wheelchair for a while. The property’s more accessible than you might think—”
By this time Mallory had maneuvered herself out of the car and into the chair. The car door shut behind her, she tented her hand over her eyes as Dorelle walked up to the fence, her floaty, lightweight sweater billowing behind her in the slight breeze.
“Is that him?” Dorelle asked, pointing. “The one who looks like a sunbeam?
“Sure is,” Josh said.
“Ohmigosh, he’s absolutely gorgeous. Isn’t he, honey?”
But Zach was watching Mallory as she wheeled closer to the fence, her grace and determination colliding with what Zach realized was his own sudden awkwardness. As if he didn’t know what he was supposed to think or do or say so he wouldn’t put a foot in it.
Although why he should feel so unsettled, he had no idea. Wasn’t as if he’d never seen anyone in a wheelchair before, for heaven’s sake. But the image of the woman in front of him was such a stark contrast to the photo he’d just seen—
His phone to his ear, Josh signaled that he needed to return to the house. “You go on and get acquainted, I’ll be back in a bit—”
“Oh!” Dorelle signaled, then started after him, lickety-split. “You suppose I could use your restroom?”
“Sure thing, follow me...”
By this time Mallory was all the way up to the fence, leaning forward to clasp the middle slat. Waffles lifted his head, considering.
“Oh, my,” she said on a breath, her hair glistening in the sun. “He’s stunning, isn’t he?”
Still holding Liam, Zach took a couple of steps closer. “He is that.” As if he understood what was going on, Waffles moseyed closer to hang his head over the top rail, his ears twitching. “Come here, boy,” Mallory crooned, angling herself close enough to raise her hand, chuckling when the horse lowered his head further to snuffle her open palm before lifting it again toward the baby. Zach tilted Liam closer and the horse tried to nibble the little guy’s hair, making him giggle.
“He likes me,” Liam said, giggling as he rubbed his slobbery head. Mallory laughed, the warm, gentle sound nudging open barely healed wounds.
“I would say so,” she said, giggling herself when Waffles returned his attention to her. Fearlessly, she grabbed his bridle to tug him closer, touching her lips to the horse’s velvety muzzle. “You’re absolutely perfect, aren’t you?” she said, laughing again when the horse “nodded” his agreement.
“You clearly have a way with horses,” Zach said, hitching Liam higher on his hip.
“My daddy put me on my first one before I could walk,” she said, the irony trembling in the air between them. “I was in my first junior rodeo at ten. But only because Daddy wouldn’t let me compete until then.”
“What in?”
“Barrel racing, mostly.”
“Yeah?”
She grinned, which is when he caught the dimples. Or they caught him, he wasn’t sure. “Now you know my secret. Used to have the strongest thighs in Texas,” she said, patting the horse’s neck again before wheeling away from the fence. “And, yes—” she looked up at Zach, her face squinched in the sun “—the irony is not lost on me. It’s okay, I know what you’re thinking.”
Zach hesitated, then said, “What I’m thinking, is that I’m not sure if I should say ‘I’m sorry’ or not.”
“You can say whatever you like, I’ve pretty much heard it all. And trust me, ‘I’m sorry’ is the least of it.”
His nephew and his older son came into view again, along with Benny, their old golden retriever, who’d been recuperating on the veranda from the earlier hijinks. Liam wriggled to get down, then ran over to join them. The breeze got going again, rustling the drying leaves, tobacco-colored against the bright blue sky. Mallory looked up, a smile flitting across her lips before she shut her eyes. “Heaven,” she said simply.
His own mouth pulling up at the corners, Zach squatted by her chair, ruffling the dog’s neck when he trotted over, tongue lolling. “I think so. Although I suppose that makes me a rube.”
“Hey.” Opening her eyes, she smiled over at him. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t exactly sound like royalty. Even after nearly twenty years in Hollywood. Not to mention God knows how many speech coaches, many of whom I’m sure I drove to drink.” She looked out toward the other pasture again, her elbows resting on the arms of her chair. “One thing less I have to worry my pretty little head about, I suppose.” One corner of her mouth edged up. “Not that I ever did.”
“How’d you end up there?”
Benny nosed her hand, begging for attention. Mallory obliged. “You know, I honestly figured I’d live out my life right where I grew up. Probably marry a local boy, settle down on his ranch and pop out three or four babies who’d be born wearing cowboy boots. Except one day, there was this notice up at school about a production company needing extras for a movie being shot in the area. And some of us thought it’d be a hoot to go on over, see if we could make the cut. Earn a few bucks. Anything to break the tedium, you know?”
“Yeah, that happens around here a lot, too. Especially over the last few years. Movies shooting in the area, I mean.”
“You ever do it?”
“Me? Oh, hell, no. I hardly ever see films, let alone have any desire to be in them.”
“Which is why you had no idea who I was.”
Despite the teasing in her voice, Zach felt his face warm. “Before my brother clued me in? No. Sorry.”
“Are you kidding? It’s a relief, frankly. And if I’d known then what I do now...” A sigh pushed from her lips. “But I didn’t. And the bug bit. Hard. Even though being an extra is excruciatingly boring, suddenly the idea of becoming a ranch wife seemed even worse.” She paused, not looking at him. “Or perhaps it was more that the ranch boys suddenly made my eyes glaze over.”
“Ouch.”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t even eighteen, for pity’s sake. And woefully sheltered. Even so, all it should have been was a few days’ diversion. But due to a series of completely unforeseen events that started with that call for extras, I ended up with a one-in-a-million career.” A funny smile tilted her lips as she watched the boys once more chasing each other around the field. “And a son I love more than life itself. What is it they say, about life being that thing that happens while you’re busy making other plans?”
“Tell me about it,” Zach said, and her eyes lifted to his, then scooted away again.
“Mama told me about your wife. I’m so sorry.”
One side of Zach’s mouth lifted. “Thanks. But you don’t even know us.”
“But I do know what it feels to have your life dumped on its butt,” she said quietly, then snorted. “Literally, in my case.” She nodded toward the boys. “How’re they doing?”
Zach regarded her for a moment, wondering how she’d so effortlessly sucked him into a conversation he wasn’t inclined to have with people he’d known all his life, let alone with someone he’d only just met. Wondering even harder why he’d let her. And yet...
“Liam—the little one—was too young when it happened to remember his mother. Jeremy was five, though. It was rough going there for a while.”
“I can imagine.” The dog laid his head on Mallory’s knee, begging for attention. Smiling, she obliged. “After my accident, all I wanted was to make sure Landon knew everything was going to be okay. That we’d get back to normal again, even if it was a new normal.” She paused. “Whether I ever did or not.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
Grinning, she tilted her face to Zach. “Only a few weeks until he comes out to visit. I can hardly wait.”
As obviously close to her son as she was, Zach was curious why he wasn’t with her. The thought of not being with his boys made his blood run cold. But her reasons for leaving her son behind had nothing to do with him, did they?
Footsteps and chatter made him turn to see his brother and Dorelle returning. “I got a quick tour of the house,” she said, smiling. “Met the owner, too. Between us we came to an agreement about the horse. He’s yours, baby.”
Mallory frowned. “What are you talking about? I thought we agreed—”
“We agreed it’d be nice to get Landon a horse. I don’t recall any mention of who was supposed to buy him. And anyway, it’s his birthday coming up. You can get him another video game this time.”
“And I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me what you paid.”
“You got that right. And, yes, I made them promise to take the horse back if he doesn’t live up to our expectations.”
Josh rolled his eyes. “Like that wouldn’t’ve been part of the deal, anyway.”
Mallory looked to Zach. “You see what I have to put up with?” Except then she lifted her arms and her mother bent over to get her daughter’s hug, even as Zach heard her whisper, “You’re a pain in the butt, you know that? And what would I do without you?”
“Starve, most likely,” Dorelle said, straightening up.
“It’s true,” Mallory said, looking from Josh to Zach, her eyes sparkling. “I hate to cook. Always have. Heck, I’d live on Cheese Whiz and crackers if I could. Love that stuff. Especially squirted right in my mouth. Because I’m all about efficiency.”
