The Rancher Who Took Her In. Teresa Southwick

want it.”

      He looked at the dress then met her gaze. “Do you have anything else to wear?”

      “No.”

      “You’ll need stuff. I can give you an advance—”

      “That’s okay. I can handle it.”

      “Okay.” He wasn’t going to argue. “Michelle can tell you where the discount store is and give you directions to the ranch. Like she said, it’s about ten miles outside of town. When you’ve got what you need, meet me there.”

      “Thank you, Mr. Dixon.”

      “It’s Cabot.” He looked at his watch and shook his head. If he didn’t leave now he’d be late picking Tyler up from school. “I have to go.”

      “Okay.” She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Cabot. I promise you won’t regret this decision.”

      Time would tell. He shook her hand and the electricity that shot up his arm made him regret not letting Michelle handle the interview solo. But the diner owner was pretty close to dead on about one thing. He was a sucker for hard-luck cases. At least he wasn’t a romantic sucker anymore.

      When a wife walked out on her husband and infant son, it tended to crush the romance out of a man.

      * * *

      A few hours later, as Kate Scott was driving to the ranch, she figured a rush of adrenaline was the only explanation for the fact that she hadn’t passed out and run off the road into a ditch. She’d never been this tired in her life. As an athlete she was trained to eat well, get enough sleep and take care of her body. In the past twenty-four hours she’d done none of the above. Candy bars and coffee were nothing more than survival snacks. That was what happened when you drove from Southern California to Montana in nineteen hours.

      But the adrenaline rush in the diner had been unexpected. It had a lot to do with Cabot Dixon, she thought as she drove Angelica, her brother’s ancient truck, through his gates and beneath a sign that announced Dixon Ranch and Summer Camp.

      Serenity was the first thing she noticed. It was all about rolling green meadows crisscrossed by a white picket fence. Majestic mountains stood like sentinels in the distance. As the truck continued slowly up the long drive, she passed a huge house. It looked a lot like a really big wooden cabin with dormers and a double-door front entry. The kind of place Architectural Digest would have on the cover for an article about mountain homes for the wealthy.

      Following the instructions Michelle Crawford had given her, Kate drove past a real working barn, then a smaller barnlike building with a large patio and scattered picnic tables. That must be where camp meals were served. Beyond that were six spacious cabins. Michelle had told her the first five housed campers and senior counselors, and the last one, a much smaller cabin, would be where she’d stay for the summer. If she got the cook’s approval for the assistant-counselor position.

      She parked by cabin number six and turned off the truck’s ignition before blowing out a long breath. What a relief to just be still. It felt weird. Not good; not bad. Just...strange. She couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t had a million things going on at once. Training, practice, competition and product endorsements made for twenty-hour workdays. Now she had...nothing.

      Sliding out of the truck, she noticed a little boy running toward her. Oh, to have that much energy, she thought.

      The dark-haired, dark-eyed kid skidded to a stop in front of her. He looked about seven or eight. “Hi. I’m Tyler, but most people call me Ty. Not my teacher, though. She believes in calling kids by their given name.”

      “I’m Kate Scott. Nice to meet you, Ty.” His features and the intensity stamped on them were familiar. “I bet your last name is Dixon.”

      “It is.” His long-lashed eyes grew bigger, as if she’d read his mind. “How’d you know?”

      “You look like your dad.”

      “That’s what folks say.”

      And when he grew up, he’d probably be just as drop-dead gorgeous as his father. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Cabot Dixon was one fine-looking man, which had probably sparked the unexpected blast of adrenaline at the diner. She hadn’t been too tired to notice that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

      She’d felt only a little shame about the spurt of gladness following the observation. Shame because mere hours ago she’d been on the verge of getting married and now she was scoping out commitment symbols, or lack thereof, on the handsome rancher. It felt wrong to ask this little boy about his mother, so she didn’t.

      She looked around and saw the lake just past a grassy area beyond the cabins. “This is a nice place you’ve got here, Ty.”

      “It’s not mine. It’s my dad’s.” His expression was solemn, as if he’d been taught to tell only the absolute truth. “He told me to come down and let you know he and Caroline will be here in a few minutes.” The boy thought for a moment, as if trying to remember something, and then his expression changed. “Oh, yeah. And I’m s’posed to welcome you to the ranch.”

      “Thanks. That’s very sweet of you. I’m here for the camp-counselor job—to do whatever I’m told to do, which could be dishes. And I’m fine with that.”

      Ty nodded sympathetically. “I have to do that all the time.”

      “Even grown-ups have to follow orders.”

      “Not my dad.” She heard pride in his voice. “He gives ’em.”

      “I guess you can do that when you’re the boss,” she agreed. “I appreciate the welcome. Thanks.”

      Thin shoulders lifted in a shrug. “My dad would say that’s just the way it is here in Blackwater Lake.”

      For a second Kate felt as if she’d ridden a twister to the land of Oz. This was a place where folks made a person feel welcome because it was just a small town’s way. That was unbelievably refreshing.

      “Well, a stranger like me thinks it’s pretty cool to get a friendly welcome.”

      “Where are you from?” He looked up, and a ray of sunshine slicing through the tree leaves made him squint one eye closed.

      “I’ve been all over.”

      That was vague but still the truth. She trained wherever there were facilities for skeet shooting. Then there were competitions all over the country, all over the world, not to mention the Olympics. Winning had opened the door to lucrative product-endorsement deals, and fitting in those location shoots with everything else was stressful and challenging.

      Ted, her too-good-looking-for-his-own-good manager and weasel-dog ex-fiancé, had pushed hard to get it all in and now she knew why. Marrying her would have punched his meal ticket for life. The sleazy jerk had been using her. She’d been stupid to accept his proposal and move forward with wedding plans, but at least her instinctive judgment about the man had been right on target. She’d never once been swept off her feet when she kissed him.

      “My dad said you’re pretty.” The kid was staring at her, obviously trying to decide for himself if it was true.

      “He did?”

      Ty nodded uncertainly. “Caroline asked if you were as pretty as Michelle said. That’s Mrs. Crawford. She owns the Grizzly Bear Diner.”

      “I met her.” And obviously word about the weirdo in the wedding dress was spreading. “Your dad said I’m pretty?”

      He thought about that. “He just said ‘yes’ when Caroline asked if you were as pretty as Mrs. Crawford said.”

      That was something, anyway. Kate would have figured if he thought anything at all, it was mostly questioning her sanity for asking for a job while dressed for her own wedding.

      “That was very nice of your dad. Thank