What she liked most about Sean could be best seen in the little things he did, Eloise decided as she clutched the top rung of the gate in the Grangers’ main horse barn. She couldn’t tear herself away from the sight of him kneeling inside the birthing stall with the vet, the mare straining in the throes of her contractions. This was a deeper side of Sean than she’d seen before, mighty and yet calm, sure of himself in a humble but amazing way.
“You’re doing good, Sunny.” Sean stroked the horse’s neck like the accomplished horseman he was, his tone soothing and musical. “What a good girl you are.”
She’d seen foalings before but each one was special. She loved watching Sean be part of it. She was fascinated by the unfaltering comfort he gave the mare. His capable manner gave the horse confidence.
“I’ve got two hooves,” Nate announced in a steady, assured voice. He gently uncurled a leg and held the two tiny hooves in his palms.
“You’re doing great, Sunny,” Sean encouraged. “Your baby is almost here.”
Good decision to come along, she thought. She wouldn’t trade this for anything.
The man belonged in this environment, with the sun slanting over him and the soft straw beneath his boots. She remembered the way he’d helped her into the truck back in town, his care as he found the seatbelt for her and closed her door. He lived with confidence and thoughtfulness. Everything he did, he did well, big tasks or small ones, important or insignificant. His good heart shone through.
Very, very hard not to admire that.
“Is she here?” A little girl’s voice echoed down the breezeway, followed by an older sister’s scolding Shhh!
“Hush, Julianna. You are supposed to be quiet or you’ll scare Sunny.” Footsteps tapped closer. “She’s having a baby, you know.”
“I know, Jenny. Frank said I get to name her.”
“He said we get to name her.”
Both of the Stone girls tromped into sight with identical dark brown hair and beautiful button faces. Julianna’s pigtails bounced with her gait, while Jenny’s dark locks were sleek and freshly tended to. She slipped her comb into her pocket. “Hi, Eloise,” they said in unison.
“Come see.” She inched aside to make room for the girls. With one final thrash, a tiny brown bundle tumbled into the straw at Nate’s knees.
“Wow.” Julianna curled her fingers around the gate rung. “Look at the baby.”
“It’s so cute.” Jenny stared, unblinking.
The baby studied them all with a startled look. Fuzzy ears stood straight up as the newborn took in its new surroundings. Inside the stall the mother rested, catching her breath.
“We’ve got a little filly,” Sean announced as he gave the mare one last neck pat and strolled up to the gate. “Do you girls have a name picked out?”
“Tomasina,” Julianna announced.
“Angelina,” Jenny argued.
“I guess you two have some negotiating to do.” He climbed between the rungs, broad-backed and with every muscle rippling. At his six-foot-plus height, he towered over her, a giant of a man in her estimation.
Such a good man.
“Are you glad you stayed?” he asked, smiling because he already knew the answer. Somehow, he knew. Although several feet separated them, the distance shrunk.
“Very.” Danger, her instincts shouted at her, but did she listen?
No. It was impossible to see anything else but Sean.
“What’s going on here?” a man’s baritone boomed cheerfully. Frank Granger, hand in hand with Cady, ambled into sight.
“We’ve got ourselves a new filly,” Sean answered, staying close, his hand gently closing around the curve of her shoulder to keep her from sidling away.
Panic popped like little bubbles in her midsection. At least, she thought it was panic. Maybe it was better not to analyze her feelings too much.
“So I see.” Frank Granger with Cady at his side stopped to peer in over the bars. “Good job, Sunny girl. That’s a fine baby you’ve got.”
The mare lifted her head, her dark eyes finding Frank. She nickered low in her throat in answer and rolled off her side onto her folded legs.
“The baby is so pretty,” Julianna chimed in. “Can we pet her?”
“Not yet, Julianna,” Jenny answered.
“Maybe in a bit,” Frank said.
Eloise tried to focus on the animals inside the stall, but the pressure of Sean’s hand on her shoulder riveted her attention to him. She could hear the faint regular rhythm of his breathing. She couldn’t help noticing the dark blue specks in his irises and the five-o’clock shadow beginning to darken his iron jaw.
“Look! She’s getting up!” Julianna clung to the gate, fascinated as the mare climbed to her feet and gave the top of her baby’s head a lick.
The filly blinked, still busy taking in her new surroundings. Nothing could be more adorable than her perfect dishpan face, long lashes and big chocolate fudge eyes. Her mane was short and coarse, sticking up like broom bristles. A white star crested her forehead.
“I’ve never seen anything so precious,” Cady cooed.
“We get a lot of that around here. Every single foal is precious.” Frank looked content with the life he had built here, but it was a different kind of contentment that lit him up when he looked at Cady.
True love. It was easy to see, and no one deserved it more.
“Oh, we missed it!” Addy interrupted, tromping in, followed by her sisters.
“Only by a few minutes.” Sean didn’t remove his hand and he didn’t step away, but held her in place—not that she was complaining—as Cheyenne and Autumn ambled into sight, trailed by the rest of the Granger family. Justin appeared, walking hand in hand with his wife, Rori. Tucker came last with six-year-old Owen riding on his shoulders and Sierra by his side.
“Good job, Sunny.” Autumn ducked between the rails. The mare nickered in greeting and proudly licked her filly’s face as if to show off the baby. “She’s a beauty, just like you.”
“Aren’t you glad you came?” Sean whispered so only she could hear.
“Maybe,” she hedged but inside she thought, definitely. Tingles skidded down her spine, which probably came from standing so still for so long. That combined with the excitement of the newly born foal, well, that was probably the explanation. Those tingles had nothing to do with Sean.
“I get to do this for a living.” He looked pretty happy with that.
“You are blessed. Not everyone can say the same.” A wisp of sleek gold slipped from beneath her hat to fall in her eyes. He brushed it away, letting his fingertips linger on the silken skin of her forehead.
Another little tingle, but surely it could not be from the sweetness of his touch.
“I consider myself a pretty fortunate man,” he went on. “As long as Uncle Frank decides to keep me on. This is a temporary position.”
“Yes, we all know.” Frank chuckled easily and winked. “Temporarily is about all I can put up with you, boy.”
“So everyone tells me.” He shook his head, his dimples dazzling.
Those handsome dimples would make any female in the state of Wyoming notice, so it wasn’t anything to worry about. No reason to read anything into her reaction.
That was probably the hazard of having a drop-dead gorgeous guy for a friend.
“Why do you think I’m here? My parents wanted to get me out of the house.” That made everyone chuckle in agreement, although beneath the banter there was a loving acceptance of Sean that was hard to miss.
“Answer a question that is puzzling me,” Cheyenne asked, turning to her. Friends that they were, it was easy to recognize the sparkle of amusement in Cheyenne’s blue eyes. “Why are you putting up with our cousin? Surely there is some better guy to hang out with.”
“You know it.” Eloise felt more lighthearted than she had in years as the wind gusted down the breezeway and the filly splayed out her thin, impossibly long legs. “I keep him around mostly because of his horse trailer.”
“That explains it.” Frank Granger roared. “We have all been wondering what a fine gal like you is doing with the likes of that boy.”
“I’m the disappointment of the family,” Sean explained with a shoulder shrug, as if it didn’t trouble him one bit. “It’s always a topic at all the family get-togethers.”
“Better you than me,” Addy quipped, hanging off the rail beside the little girls.
“I have a horse trailer,” Cheyenne chimed in. “Now you don’t have to hang with Sean.”
“True, but I come with mine lickety-split whenever she calls.” Sean winked. “I’m no dummy.”
Everyone’s laughter rang merrily in the barn, and he didn’t mind that they were all laughing with him. He caught the look in his uncle’s gaze, the one that said, “Told you so.”
Uncle Frank was wrong. Everyone was. Even if his feelings were starting to change, it didn’t matter. He had supreme self-control. He was in charge of his feelings. No problem.
“Eloise, why don’t you stay for supper?” Uncle Frank asked in that sly, knowing tone. “We’ve got plenty, and you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted Mrs. G.’s potato salad.”
“I don’t see how I can say no to that,” she said. “Only someone particularly daft turns down the chance for some really great potato salad.”
“My sentiments, exactly,” Sean added, fighting a brightness taking root in his heart he did not wish to claim.
At least the tingles in her spine had stopped and Eloise took comfort in that. She swiped the dishcloth across the kitchen table, brushing up crumbs from a tasty and fun supper. That was the Granger way, she’d learned long ago. Good food, better conversation and the family’s lively interaction had been more entertaining than the rodeo. Even cleanup was fun.
“Mrs. G. works too hard,” Cheyenne said from the sink where she was dealing with the hand washables. “We should do something for her.”
“Dad pays her. A lot,” Addy spoke up, standing next to her sister and drying dishes. “I caught a glimpse of the check he writes her every week. Wow.”
“She earns it.” Rori set the last of the leftovers into the refrigerator with orderly care. “Don’t think it’s easy taking care of all of you. I’ve done it, so I’m speaking from experience.”
“We are a tough bunch.” Autumn sidled up to Rori at the refrigerator and snagged a bag of carrots from the produce drawer. “I think we should do something for Mrs. G., too. Maybe a day at Cady’s spa.”
“Ooh, that’s a great idea.” Addy gleamed with enthusiasm. “We should all go.”
“You just want to be pampered,” Cheyenne argued with a laugh. “We’re talking about Mrs. G. here, not you.”
“I know, but I was just saying.” Addy grinned sweetly and popped a plastic colander, newly dried, onto the counter. Sierra swept it up and put it away.
“I agree with you,” Sierra put in her two cents’ worth. “I could use a little pampering, too. Why limit it to Mrs. G.?”
Amused, Eloise scoured away gravy drippings and cherry pie filling that had landed on the vinyl cloth during the meal. The TV in the next room blasted a Mariners game, the noise only to be outdone by the outcry of the men seated around the room, bummed at an umpire’s call.
No one else in the kitchen reacted to whatever was going on in the living room, but if she leaned slightly to her right she could see a sliver into the living room where Sean sat, leaning forward on the sectional, elbows on his knees, groaning along with his cousins and uncle. His dark hair stood on end, tousled as if he’d run his fingers through it in frustration.
“Yes. Doesn’t Mrs. G. live all alone?” Cady said as she swiped a cloth over the countertops. “She might like a girls’ day out instead of going to the spa all by herself. It’s always fun hanging out with you Granger girls.”
“We are keepers,” Addy piped up cheerfully.
“We are, but not you, little sister,” Cheyenne teased.
“Hey! You splashed me.”
“Then you owe me a splash.”
“Don’t think I won’t forget,” Addy warned, glittering with humor. “Sometime in the near future when you least expect it. Splash!”
“Ooh, I’m scared.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes and drained the sink. “Eloise, are you okay?”
Vaguely she heard her name as if from a great distance but she was too busy watching Sean rock back against the cushions looking unhappy. His team must not be doing well. He was terribly handsome, even when bummed. The strong blade of his nose and the chiseled cut of his jaw could have been carved out of marble. No man had ever captivated her the way he did.
“Eloise?”
A touch brushed against her shoulder and she startled, gazing up into Cheyenne’s concerned blue eyes. How long had she been staring at Sean? Heat crept across her face. “Sorry. I guess I was staring off into space.”
And at a really amazing guy, but she kept that part to herself.
“I do that all the time,” Addy commented across the kitchen as she hung up the dish towel on the oven handle.
“Sure, you do.” Cheyenne’s gentle teasing held a note of caring. “But Eloise has more common sense than you.”
“Hey!” Addy countered good-naturedly.
“Is your injury bothering you?” Cheyenne asked with a good friend’s concern and a doctor’s skilled eye. “You have been on your leg all day.”
“I’m fine.” Her weak leg was a little prickly from so much activity but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. Her neurologist had said she would always face limitations, and she was deeply grateful to God that those limitations weren’t what they once were. At least for now. “I’m just overwhelmed by you all. It’s been a while since I’ve hung out with the Grangers.”
“We are a rowdy bunch,” Cheyenne agreed. “Not me, but others are.”
“I am, definitely,” Autumn chimed in with a bag of carrots in hand. “Anyone want to come with me to the barns?”
“Me!” Addy called out. “I want to see how the new baby is doing.”
“Me, too,” Cady said above the sudden jingle of a cell phone in the adjacent mudroom. “Oh, I think that’s mine.”
“Look at Dad,” Cheyenne whispered as Cady slipped from the room. “He doesn’t want us to know, but he’s keeping an eye on Cady. He’s always aware of her.”
“They seem really serious.” Eloise managed to find the words, but she couldn’t take her attention away from Sean. Distantly, she realized the dishcloth was missing from her hand.
“Dad is completely head over heels when it comes to Cady.” Cheyenne balled up the cloth and tossed it. It sailed across the island to land in the sink.
“Two points.” Addy headed to the living room, gripped the sides of the archway and leaned in, pitching her voice to be heard above the roar of the game. “I know it’s exciting in here and everything, but we’re heading out. Anyone want to come?”
“It’s batter up,” one of the brothers said.
“Yeah, bases loaded.” Little Owen’s sweet voice made everyone smile. “Tucker and me gotta see what’s gonna happen next. Then can we go to the barn?”
“Then we can go, buddy.” The love for his soon-to-be stepson was impossible to miss.
More conversations rose up, but Eloise heard nothing other than silence as Sean rose from his seat. The distance between them zoomed like a camera in a movie, focusing in until there was no one in the house, no one in the room but him and his slow, incredible smile. Dimples framed the corners of his mouth like a dream, stealing her breath. She leaned on her cane, a little dizzy, a little overwhelmed. Her pulse tripped over itself as she grabbed the edge of the table for balance. Strange how he affected her equilibrium, and it worsened as he paced closer. His bright blue gaze latched onto hers with uncomfortable intensity.
Why was the tingling back? Shivers snapped like bubbles in her spinal column. She gulped, realizing she was alone to face Sean’s approach. Cheyenne had moved away and headed toward the back door with her sisters.
“You look like you’re having a good time.” He ambled up. “Although it can be overwhelming. This branch of the Granger family is just plain crazy.”
“In the best possible way.” She didn’t remember deciding to join him. She fell in stride beside him. The sunshine slanting through the wide picture windows brightened inexplicably. “This reminds me of all the times I stayed over with Cheyenne for supper and sleep-overs when we were kids.”
“Good times?”
“The best. I come from a big family too, so I’m used to all the action.”
“Life would be dull without it. That’s the problem with being a lone wolf.” He held the screen door for her.
“You are a lone wolf?”
“Don’t act so surprised. I thought my solitary wolf thing showed.”
“Not even close.”
“Really? I was sure I radiated aloofness.” Those dimples ought to be illegal in every corner of Wyoming. “I’ll have to try harder.”
“Much harder.” Her cane tapped on the porch boards.
At the rail, Cady smiled as they passed, phone to her ear.
“Yes, Adam. The girls are doing fine. No, Jenny was a gem today. As happy as could be. You’re still coming to pick the girls up on Friday?”
“Daddy! Daddy!” Julianna dashed up the steps with a clatter, hand held out for the phone. Jenny jogged behind her at a slower pace, but judging by her look she was eager to talk to her father, too.
Such nice little girls. Eloise couldn’t help feeling a little wishful. She’d always planned on having kids one day, always wanted to be a mom. She leaned on her pink walking stick on the way down the steps. No man was going to marry her now, so motherhood wasn’t going to happen. It was another loss she had to learn to live with.
“I don’t know how anyone is going to tear Julianna away from the horse she rescued.” Sean matched his pace to hers as they crossed the lawn. “The Stone family should just move out here.”
“I agree. She and Dusty are bonded. It’s been adorable to see how they need each other.” She glanced over her shoulder to watch the girls trade the phone back and forth, the din of their merry chatter as sweet as lark song on the breeze.
“Their father might not be as interested in moving here.”
“Why not? He’s a surgeon. We could use one of those in these parts. There are a few specialists over in Sunshine, but mostly we have to go to Jackson, Boise or Salt Lake City. When Owen had his heart surgery, Sierra took him to Denver.”
“I remember. I had just landed the job with the inn at the time.” She wondered how difficult it had to be for Adam Stone to be separated from his children. His daughters clearly loved him, chattering merrily away, eager for the chance to tell their dad everything they had been up to.
A cow’s moo cut through her thoughts.
“We’re coming, Buttercup. No one has forgotten you.” Sean chuckled. “Buttercup is my sweetie. Isn’t that right, girl?”
The cow lowed, pleased with her status as Sean’s beloved. She wore a necklace of buttercups. A single daisy was stuck jauntily on the fluffy tuft of hair between her ears. Clearly Julianna and Jenny had been spending time with her before their father’s call. Buttercup’s big puppy-dog eyes beamed as she placed her nose in Sean’s outstretched hands and sighed with emotion at seeing him again.
“You have a way with the ladies,” Eloise quipped. “Too bad it’s only with the bovine variety.”
“It’s my lot in life.” He winked, unaware of the image he made with the sun’s low rays painting him in a golden glow. “That’s why I’m a lone wolf. It didn’t always used to be by choice.”
Buttercup batted her long curly eyelashes at him and lipped at the collar of his T-shirt. She drew the fabric into her mouth, holding on tight to him, adoringly.
Yeah, Eloise thought, she knew just how Buttercup felt.