Loe raamatut: «The Cowboy's Baby Blessing»

Chapter One

Rachel Perez was looking for a man, not a monkey.

And she was most definitely not looking for a date, unlike many of the other single ladies scattered across the lawn at the First Annual Bachelors and Baskets Auction in Serendipity, Texas. What better way to nab themselves a bachelor for romantic reasons than a bachelor auction?

But that was so not Rachel.

No, not even close.

Rachel was in the market for a guy who was handy at fixing things—and she needed him, like, yesterday. She needed someone to tear down the well-used play set in her backyard and replace it with something new and to government specifications. The recertification status of the day care she ran out of her home depended on picking the right man for the job.

That was why she was glad that her town had chosen this particular type of “bachelor” auction to raise funds to build a senior center for the town—an auction that wasn’t actually about getting dates with bachelors at all.

The Bachelors and Baskets Auction had started out with the idea of hosting only true bachelors, but because the auction was for such an important cause, married men had jumped on the bandwagon, as well. Every man had his own unique skill set to offer to the crowd.

Making the auction a full-town event had also opened the bidding to a wider range of individuals. Single and married women alike were encouraged to bid on the men of their choice to help them with whatever projects needed doing around their homes and ranches.

Rachel suspected there would be a lot of husbands washing dishes and folding many loads of laundry before this day was done.

And determined not to be outdone by the men, the ladies in Serendipity had soon added their own contributions to the auction—loaded picnic baskets as a prize for the fellows they won. Virtually everyone in town was involved at some level. That was just the way the folks in Serendipity were—generous to a fault and ready with any excuse to get together and have a celebration. And willing to buckle down and put in good work, too, when it was needed. Surely there’d be someone perfect for the job of fixing up her outdoor play area for the kids in her care.

She intended to be picky about her choice. Someone older with lots of experience.

Even so, she had to admit she was amused by former army corporal Seth Howell’s grand entrance. He might be too young and flighty to fulfill her requirements, but he was admittedly fun to watch.

At a full run, Seth banked his feet off one tree trunk before swinging from the branches of another. He hurdled over a bench and backflipped onto the platform where the auction was being held.

Jo Spencer, the redheaded owner of Cup O’ Jo’s Café, second mother to most of the town, as well as self-appointed auctioneer of this event, cackled with delight at his antics. She put a hammer in his grasp so he could continue to entertain the audience by displaying his abilities and showmanship.

He swung it around in circles and jabbed it a couple of times like a rapier, then posed like a well-built statue of a carpenter, showing off the sinews of his muscular biceps. Seth was shorter and leaner than some of the other cowboys Rachel had seen auctioned off so far—like the gigantic McKenna brothers, who towered over most of the crowd, but Seth was clearly in prime shape.

“Now, you can see for yourself, folks, what a unique specimen we have right here,” Jo began. “He is ready and willing to help you with whatever odd jobs you’ve got planned for him, and you can be certain he will be adding his own brand of fun to the mix.

“Doesn’t that sound lovely? Now, don’t be deceived by his incredible physical prowess. Seth is not just a good-looking hunk of a man—he has a brain, to boot. You may not know this, but Seth is the fellow who single-handedly designed and built the new playground in the park. The man has skillzzz.”

“Jo’s right.” Lizzie Emerson, Rachel’s best friend, elbowed her in the ribs and grinned like she’d just pulled off a major prank. “That guy is cute and talented. And he couldn’t be more perfect. He made the play set at the park. You need a play set built. He can do that—and so much more. Maybe one of your odd jobs could be for him to take you out for dinner.”

Rachel locked gazes with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Zooey, and rolled her eyes. “For someone else, maybe, but I’m not looking for a date. You know perfectly well that all I’m looking for is a handyman to help bring my day care up to snuff before the next inspection. I don’t have time for a romantic relationship even if I wanted one. Which I don’t,” she added when Lizzie’s eyes glowed with mischief. “Even if I was looking for a date, I wouldn’t try to find him at a bachelor auction. No—he’s not the one for me.”

Which was too bad, really. With what she now knew of Seth’s background, she might have considered bidding on him, even if she had to put up with an occasional goofy antic. She’d seen the amazing wood-and-pipe structures he’d built for the kids in the park. She could easily imagine a similar structure gracing her backyard and replacing the well-worn swing set and climbing tower she now possessed.

But thanks to Lizzie and Zooey, bidding on Seth was out of the question, with the pressure she’d be under to make her work with him some kind of romantic rendezvous. The new playground in the park was nice, but under the circumstances, it was not enough to tempt her to make an offer on him.

Too much trouble, with a capital T.

“Which one of you pretty ladies is going to open the bidding on this handsome fellow?” Jo called, looking out into the audience. “Grab those pocketbooks and bid as generously as you can. Our senior center is just awaitin’ to be built with the money we raise here today, and Seth’s worth every dime you spend, don’t you think?”

Zooey laughed and snatched the three crisp one-hundred-dollar bills Rachel had tucked in her hand, waving one of them in the air so Jo would see.

“One hundred dollars!”

“What do you think you are doing?” Rachel snapped, enunciating every word as she frantically reached for her daughter’s wrist.

Zooey danced away, laughing in delight.

Lizzie offered a complicit grin. “We are buying you a bachelor. Which you desperately need, by the way. You need a man in your life, at least as much as you need a handyman. We know it, and so do you, if you’re being honest with yourself.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, you two. Didn’t you listen to what I just said?” She was relieved when elsewhere on the lawn someone bumped the bid up to $125.

“Seth is the best of both worlds,” Zooey pointed out. “You aren’t going to find a better handyman out there when it comes to building playhouses.”

Her statement might be valid, but Rachel wasn’t about to concede. Not since the whole both worlds thing came into play with them. Dealing with a pair of matchmakers could lead only to embarrassment, for her and for Seth. She needed to nip this in the bud, right now. She scurried to make a mental list of reasons Seth wouldn’t work out for her.

She wasn’t coming up with much.

“I don’t want—” she started to say, but her daughter interrupted her.

“Seth will be good for you, and he’s the exact right fit for repairing your play equipment at the day care. No more arguments.”

At the moment Rachel couldn’t think of any, other than that Zooey’s idea of the perfect candidate and hers were as different as night from day. As with so many things lately, this was just going to have to be another topic on which they couldn’t seem to see eye to eye.

“One fifty for Seth!” Zooey shouted, squealing in delight when Jo pointed to her and acknowledged her bid.

“Zooey Maria Josephina Perez. Stop bidding and give me back my money this instant.”

“I always know I’m in trouble when my mom uses my full name,” she told Lizzie. “I think that’s how she decided what my name would be when I was born.”

“Zooey Maria Josephina Perez, get out of that tree before you fall and break your neck!” Zooey quipped.

Rachel sighed inwardly. If only it were that simple. Raising a teenager was much more difficult than having a good name to scold them with. For the scolding to work, the teenager first needed to be willing to listen to what the mother had to say.

Zooey’s words were meant as a joke, but Rachel’s heart tightened just a little. She loved seeing Zooey happy and carefree as she was acting today, focused on something that she genuinely seemed to believe would make her mother happy, but lately that had been the exception to the rule. It wasn’t even funny to jest about Zooey getting into trouble—not when it was happening in fact, and all too often lately. And though they’d always been close, nothing Rachel said to her daughter seemed to get through to her at all anymore.

“It’s for a good cause,” Lizzie reminded Rachel, redirecting her attention to the stage.

“Yes, of course it is. To raise funds to build the senior center. I’m aware of that, as is everyone else who has come out today.”

“No,” Lizzie replied tartly. “The senior center is important, of course, but I was referring to finding you a single guy who is as good for your social life as he is for your day care. It could happen.”

Rachel opened her mouth to protest once again, but Lizzie held up her hands to stop her.

“You heard Jo. Seth built the new playground in the park. You’re looking for a man to spiff up your playhouse and swing set. Face it, girl. Seth Howell is exactly the man you need for the job. That he’s nice on the eyes is purely going to be a side benefit.”

Maybe he was the best man for the playhouse job, and he was rather handsome, but Rachel wasn’t going to dig herself any deeper by admitting she privately agreed with her friend.

The guy was good-looking. If he was hoping to get a date out of this, he deserved to have that chance—but not with her. She would not embarrass Seth by being the high bidder when clearly there were any number of pretty young ladies spread out over the green seeking his undivided attention in far more interesting ways than anything she could offer.

She was confident he wouldn’t want to be stuck with a woman who had long since exited the dating scene and who had nothing more on her mind than getting her play equipment recertification-ready.

The bidding war on Seth, who had passed the hammer back to Jo and was currently amusing the crowd by walking on his hands, was inching up in twenty-five-dollar increments. Her daughter had, thankfully, stopped participating in the back-and-forth volley, letting the younger women who really wanted social time with Seth fight it out between them. Rachel had brought her hard-earned cash with the intent to bid on one of Serendipity’s best handymen or weekend do-it-yourselfers, most of whom were old or married or both, and she was fine with that. Better than fine—even if none of them had been the one who’d built the playground in the park. She definitely didn’t care that none of them could hold a candle to Seth’s youthful good looks, even an upside-down Seth whose blood was rushing to his face.

When the bidding finally passed the $300 mark, the knots in Rachel’s shoulders relaxed. He was officially out of her budget now, so there’d be no more nonsense about Seth Howell. She would wait and bid on another man who would be willing and able help her spiff up her day care without putting crazy romantic ideas into her daughter’s and best friend’s heads.

Now that she was legitimately out of the running for Seth, she was beginning to enjoy watching the excitement the young, eager women were currently bringing to the auction. It was kind of cute, actually, seeing the hope and excitement in their expressions as they bid.

Eventually, the bidding stalled at $375. A happy seventy-five dollars more than Rachel could afford, thankfully.

“Going once,” Jo announced. She bobbed her head so her red curls bounced and hovered her gavel over the makeshift podium. “Going twice.”

Jo paused, her gaze spanning the green. She had just raised her gavel for the crack of a sale when Zooey spoke up.

“Four hundred,” she announced brightly.

“Wait, what?” Rachel said aloud.

Zooey knew perfectly well how hard Rachel had had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for the $300 she’d collected to bid, and even then only because the need for a senior center was so great and because she could justify the remodeling work as a business expense.

And now she was going to be out another hundred? She didn’t want to be stingy when the money was going to such a good cause, but she was on a tight budget.

Her home day care kept a roof over her and Zooey’s heads and food on the table, but there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room for extras—like bidding on a goofy young man doing flips and handstands just because he was cute.

“Sold, to—” Jo paused as Zooey pointed both hands toward Rachel “—Rachel Perez.”

Even with everyone’s eyes on her, Rachel balked for a moment and then caught her daughter’s elbow. “That hundred dollars is going to come out of your allowance.”

Thankfully, Rachel had enough spare cash in her wallet to cover the difference, but that wasn’t the point. Her daughter had taken her decision right out of her hands.

“I know it will,” Zooey agreed cheerfully. She reached into the pocket of her blue jeans and withdrew a wad of five crumpled twenty-dollar bills. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered. I’ve been saving up. You don’t even need to worry about paying me back. Now take the money and go up there and rope yourself a Cowboy Charming.”

Rachel momentarily considered withdrawing the bid, but she didn’t want to humiliate herself—or Seth—in a public venue.

How would it look if she backed out now? Would everyone think she was too flighty to know her own mind? Or that she didn’t think Seth was good enough?

At least he had the skillzzz, as Jo had phrased it, to repair the playground equipment for the day care, which, at the end of the day, was all that really mattered.

She could deal. She would deal.

She huffed and snatched the money from her daughter’s grasp, then threaded her way through the crowd to the staging area. She was well aware of what she would be required to do as the winning bidder and her face flushed with heat as she handed off the cash in exchange for a lariat.

Lovely. Now all she had to do to get this over and done with was make a public spectacle of herself, thanks to her incorrigible daughter and her best friend. She supposed she would have ended up on the platform being required to throw a lasso to “rope” the man she’d won either way, but she doubted that with all the silly antics Seth had demonstrated, he would make this easy for her.

Not to mention the fact that she’d never thrown a rope before. Despite that she lived square in the middle of the country, she’d never even visited a ranch or ridden a horse, much less roped a cow.

How was she supposed to lasso a guy who couldn’t stand still for more than one second at a time?

Yeah, that was so not going to happen.

Seth’s bright blue eyes met hers, full of impetuousness and humor. It took her aback for a moment. She’d forgotten what it felt like to be that lighthearted and carefree.

Maybe she’d never been.

“You’ve got this,” Seth assured her, gesturing for her to throw the rope. Despite his grandstanding before, he was ignoring the audience now to smile supportively at her—a purely kind gesture that left her feeling a bit flustered.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Seth’s smile turned into a toothy grin. “Why don’t you toss that thing and we’ll see?”

Good grief. It was probably better for her to throw the rope and be done with it. She had no idea what she was supposed to do when she missed, because up until this point in the auction, all the men had been successfully roped, one way or another. Sometimes the cowboys had to be artful in getting that rope around them, but so far every single one of them had managed.

Rachel was bound to disappoint everyone with her pathetic attempt at lassoing Seth. Hopefully, the crowd would just let her retreat gracefully off the stage with her “prize” when she failed.

Releasing her breath on a sigh, she aimed the loop like a Frisbee and threw her lariat in Seth’s general direction.

As she knew it would, it didn’t even come close to flying over his head.

More like waist high.

How humiliating.

But before she could so much as blink, Seth dived forward, over and into the lariat, rather than under it. She gasped in surprise as he tucked his body and somersaulted to his feet, the lariat successfully tightened around his waist.

He offered his hand and gestured toward the platform stairs with another cheeky grin.

“Ready for lunch?”

Rachel couldn’t find her voice, so she merely nodded as the crowd applauded them both.

Great. Her first thought of Seth being half man, half monkey was apparently not that far off the mark.

He might be well able to come to her rescue where repairing the playhouse was concerned, but she had major doubts about how easy he would be to work with. He seemed like a nice enough man, but he didn’t appear to take anything too seriously.

Would he go off swinging through the trees when he was supposed to be building playground equipment?

She glanced over to Zooey and Lizzie, expecting to see smug looks on their faces, but they’d already lost interest in her and now stood with their heads together, no doubt debating the pros and cons of the next bachelor on the docket. Lizzie hadn’t put in her bid yet—and she was looking for a bachelor, someone she could eventually call her sweetheart.

Rachel considered rejoining them and then discarded the idea. Her impish daughter and equally mischievous best friend were bound to embarrass her—and worse, Seth—and she’d just as soon wait as long as possible before that eventuality.

Besides, Seth was probably hungry from all that backflipping and handstanding he’d done. At least if she had Seth to herself, she would be able to find out when and how she could avail him of his talents—those of the non-branch-swinging variety.

She led him across the community green to where she’d left her picnic basket under the cool shade of an old oak tree. She’d had the toddlers in her day care decorate the basket as part of arts-and-crafts time. It was now threaded with multicolored ribbons and randomly dotted with finger paint. Rachel was proud of the creation, and especially of her kids.

“Your basket looks awesome,” Seth complimented.

She turned and met his gaze, half expecting to find mockery in his eyes, but he was totally earnest, insofar as she could tell. His smile looked sincere.

“Thank you. My day-care kids made it for me.”

“I can tell it was created with love,” he said, sinking down onto the checked wool blanket she’d spread on the ground before him.

She smiled, pleased by his thoughtfulness. He was clearly a nice guy. Maybe this experience wouldn’t be a total disaster after all. She smiled appreciatively and laid out the classic country picnic fare of fried chicken, macaroni salad and baked beans, with chocolate cupcakes for dessert.

Seth opened the water she offered him and downed the entire bottle without taking a breath. Wordlessly, she handed him a second bottle.

“Thirsty much?” she asked when he took another long drink.

He grinned. “Just rehydrating. Wait until you see my appetite.”

She gestured to the food. “It’s all yours.”

Although technically, it wasn’t. She couldn’t forget that Zooey would be around before long with her own healthy appetite. Rachel had packed some of Zooey’s favorites.

In preparation, Rachel fixed her daughter a plate and set it aside, then filled a plate for herself.

“Eating for two?” he teased.

For the briefest moment Seth’s words took on an ugly context, one she’d long ago fought and overcome. She wasn’t reed thin like Lizzie and even Zooey, and she accepted now that she never would be.

As a child, she’d been bullied. Worse than that, even, when she’d become a teenager.

But the glimmer in Seth’s eyes wasn’t cruel. He was joshing her about the two plates she’d fixed. She wasn’t going to make it a sore point just because at one time in her life she’d had low self-esteem because of her weight.

She laughed and casually leaned back on her palms, crossing her feet at the ankles.

“This extra one is for my daughter, Zooey. She’s still following the auction, helping my best friend, Lizzie, pick out the perfect handsome bachelor for a date, but I imagine she’ll be around as soon as she gets hungry.”

“Was that your daughter I saw bidding on your behalf?”

Rachel nodded and shifted her gaze away from him, suddenly uncomfortable and embarrassed that he’d noticed that she hadn’t been doing her own bidding. She also worried that he might have misconstrued her words.

If Lizzie was looking for a handsome bachelor to date, it stood to reason that Rachel had been looking for the same exact thing. And that Seth might think that bachelor was him.

Oh dear.

“Yes, that’s Zooey,” she cut in quickly, before he had too much time to think about what she’d said previously. “She’s sixteen. To be perfectly honest with you, she had an entirely different idea than me on what I was looking for. She took over my bidding completely without my consent.” Suddenly realizing how insulting that might sound, she scrambled to backpedal. “I didn’t—That is—I wouldn’t—”

When she stammered to a halt and heat rushed to her face, he finished her sentence for her.

“You wouldn’t have chosen to bid on me.”

* * *

No big deal, he told himself, but knowing that Rachel hadn’t really wanted to win him still pricked at his pride.

Rachel met his gaze, her deep brown eyes thoughtful and expressive.

“No. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have. That is, originally, I would have considered you, especially regarding the particular tasks I have in mind for you to do for me.” She took a great gulp of air. “But then Lizzie and my daughter got it in their minds to—”

She stammered to a halt. Inhaled another ragged breath. Exhaled on a deep sigh. Seth wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he honestly had no clue what he could offer. Frankly, it was strange to him to see her this flustered. He knew her only in passing, but she’d always given off this air of calm competence that he admired, seeming sure of herself in every situation.

Well, apparently not this one.

“I’m afraid all I will be able to offer you is some general fix-it work on the play yard of my in-home day care,” she said at last.

He took a sip of cold water and gestured with his hand. “As opposed to...?”

Her cheeks, which were already flushed a pretty pink, now turned bright red, and she broke her gaze away from his.

“Okay,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m just going to say it.”

She paused dramatically. “As opposed to a date. I feel like I cheated you out of something special. You know, something more, er, romantic. You would have been better off with one of the beautiful younger ladies who were bidding on you for your—” her voice tightened and she squinted as she choked out the last part of her sentence “—good looks.”

He sat up straighter as his wilted ego reinflated faster than a balloon on a helium pump.

“No worries on that front,” he assured her with a grin. “I’m glad you won the bid on me. Relieved, even. You just saved me from what could have been an awkward situation. I assure you I’m not looking for a girlfriend, not even a casual one. That wouldn’t be fair to her. I’m only home for a few weeks before I’m heading off to college.”

“That’s exciting. I never made it to college. Have you picked a school yet?”

“Texas State University. I’m a little nervous about it,” he admitted. “I’ve never been a great student, and it’s not like I’m right out of high school, so I’ll probably stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It’s not like you’re over-the-hill, and many adults these days are choosing to go back to school after they’ve been out in the real world for a while.”

A brief cloud of sadness crossed over his heart. “That, I’ve done. Seen the real world, I mean, in the army. I’m looking forward to putting my full focus on my academics.”

And keep his mind off everything he’d experienced while on tour. He was haunted by questions and guilt that wouldn’t leave him alone. He was hoping he’d be so busy studying that he wouldn’t have time for reflection on just how cruel he’d seen the “real world” be.

It couldn’t get much more real than watching his best friend, Luke, being gunned down right in front of him, hit by a sniper who barely missed Seth, but that wasn’t something he wanted to share with a woman he’d barely met.

He didn’t even like to think about it, much less talk about it.

“I’m so sorry. I know you were in the army. I didn’t mean to remind you of hard times.”

He shrugged. “Life is what it is. I’ve learned that I have to accept it and move forward. The key is to watch my attitude. I’ve chosen to remain positive.”

“That’s a wonderful outlook, and one I try to follow myself, although I’m not always successful at it. Sometimes it’s easier to see the glass as half-empty.”

Her gaze dropped and she blew out a breath. He waited for her to finish her thought, but she remained quiet. He knew what she wanted to say but couldn’t.

Easier, but not better.

“I’m majoring in athletic training,” he said to fill the silence.

“Based on your demonstration before, I’d say that ought to be right up your alley.” She snapped back to the present and smiled at him, although he could see it was forced. “What do you plan to do when you graduate? Coach high school sports?”