The Cowboy's Little Surprise. Barbara Daille White

she was dependable and reliable. As Jed often said, she was as steady as they made them—which meant her one slip had always been so much harder to explain.

      “Filling in around here is what I do,” she said lightly. Waitress, maid, ranch hand for some of the dude ranch activities—she’d done all those jobs and more. Running a family-owned business meant pitching in whenever you were shorthanded. “I’m just glad I never had to fill in for you. I’ll never be the cook you are, no matter how many lessons you give me.”

      “That’s not a bit true. You are an excellent cook. And someday you will be an excellent wife.”

      Tina flinched. Quickly, she covered her reaction by grabbing a few more napkins from the basket.

      Abuela couldn’t know how much those words had hurt.

      She loved both her grandparents and knew how much they loved her. Unlike her parents, they had always been there for her.

      For a while after learning her parents had abandoned her, she had felt lost and alone, except with Abuela and Jed and at her home here at the Hitching Post. The attic room upstairs became her sanctuary. The hotel she loved, with its hundred years of history, became her connection to the past. And her dreams of the future were filled with images of the family she had with Cole.

      * * *

      A SHORT WHILE LATER, hearing Jed’s footsteps approaching the kitchen, Tina managed a smile.

      He entered the room grinning. “We’ve got a couple more guests in for brunch. Cole and his sister’s boy.”

      His words startled her, but she fought to behave naturally.

      She unplugged the iron and went to return it to the shelf in the walk-in pantry. Over her shoulder, she said, “The dining room’s closed.”

      “Not for old friends, it isn’t. Go see what he wants to eat, will you?”

      Like it or not—and she didn’t—she had to face Cole.

      On her way out of the room, she picked up an order pad from the china cabinet near the kitchen door. She forced herself to walk down the hall and through the reception area.

      From the dining room, she heard Cole’s deep voice followed by her cousin’s husky laugh.

      At the doorway, she stopped. In the otherwise vacant room, Cole and Jane were seated at a table for four near a sunlit window, and Robbie and Scott knelt on chairs at a large table in one corner of the room.

      Delaying the inevitable, she focused on that corner table. To her dismay, the boys had already pushed aside the cutlery and lined up a row of plastic farm animals on the tabletop between them. She would have a hard time tearing Robbie away from his play.

      She could understand her son’s interest in Cole’s nephew. Other than an occasional guest at the hotel, Robbie was almost as cut off from companionship his own age here at the ranch as she had been as a child. The ranch manager had a couple of kids, but as far as Robbie was concerned, Pete’s five-year-old daughter was “too bossy” and his two-year-old son was “no fun.”

      Reluctantly, she tore her gaze away from the boys and looked at Cole.

      Jane spotted her standing in the doorway. “Tina,” she said brightly, “where have you been? You’ve got a hungry man waiting here.”

      “Have I?”

      “Yes. I hope you’re ready to take his order.”

      In answer, Tina held up the pad.

      “Then I’ll turn him over to you.” After smiling at Cole, Jane rose from the table. As usual, Tina’s older cousin wore black from head to toe and had shoulder-length dark hair. From the chair beside the one she’d been sitting in, she lifted one of the two cameras she had brought to the ranch with her. “Think I’ll go shoot some local color.”

      As she left the room, Tina plastered a professional smile on her face and went toward Cole’s table.

      In all the years since he had left Cowboy Creek, she had never let herself imagine him here at the ranch again. That would have been too poignant a reminder of the dream that would never come true.

      Now that he was sitting in front of her, he was a reminder of all she needed to protect. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, keeping her voice low.

      “Layne’s working this morning, so I thought I’d give her a break and bring Scott over for brunch. Since I was headed here, anyway.”

      She didn’t miss the unstated warning. He intended to make good on what he had told her the other night. He intended to see Robbie whether she wanted him to or not. She looked from the pot of coffee in front of him to his comfortably sprawled position at the table. Both told her he wouldn’t be in a rush to leave.

      He gestured to the empty chair across from his. “Join me?”

      “I’ve already eaten.” She clamped her hands around the order pad. She had work to do. A long list of reasons to stay away from him. A longer list of reasons to take Robbie out of this room. She had an even more pressing need to find out what Cole was up to. “Robbie is only a four-year-old,” she said, speaking softly but struggling to keep her tone even. “You can’t just walk in here out of nowhere and turn his life upside down.”

      “You really think that’s what I’ve come to do?” He waved as if to brush the question away. “No, don’t answer that. I think I already know.”