The Cowboy's Family Christmas. Carolyne Aarsen

Leanne sneezed on the dust raised by the herd walking over the fields that were once green. She shivered as the worst of the drama was over.

      Reuben was still working the one side of the herd as the animals headed back to the corrals. She knew they would face another challenge when they came to the gate, but hopefully the bale of hay she’d put inside the pen to lure them in the first place would draw them back again. The pasture they were riding on now was brown and chewed down so there was nothing to entice them here, though a few cows slowed to check it out.

      As they got closer to the yard, she saw the gate was still open. George was on the other side of the fence, holding it with a rope to make sure it didn’t swing shut. He also knew what to do.

      Then, finally, the first cows went through the gate.

      “Push them harder,” Reuben called out, whistling at the cows. “We need to get them moving fast enough so the front ones get pushed farther into the corrals and don’t decide to turn around when they reach the end.”

      Leanne clucked to her horse, urging the cows on, and then, finally, they were all back in the corrals and the large metal gate clanged shut behind them.

      Her hands were shaking as she unclenched the reins and pulled in a long, steadying breath. They had come so close to a complete disaster.

      If Reuben hadn’t been there right when Devin quit...

      She shut that thought off. She didn’t know why Reuben had returned, but he had, and right now she was relieved to have the cows safely back in the pen. It had taken her and Devin and Chad two days to round them up the first time. She knew if the cows had gotten out to the far pasture, it would have taken them a lot longer to convince them to come back.

      “Good job, Leanne,” George said as she sat, her breath shaky, her pulse still pounding.

      She acknowledged his rare compliment with a duck of her head, then grabbed her horse’s reins and turned back toward the herd.

      “What are you doing?” Reuben called out.

      “Getting these cows processed.” Time was wasting. George would be furious as it was, no sense making him angrier.

      “No. You need to get your bearings. Your horse needs to rest a moment. Shift its mindset.”

      Leanne fought down frustration that she hadn’t thought of that. Though her horse was breathing heavily, she knew the run hadn’t worn it out. But it had put it in a racing frame of mind, as Reuben had said. She needed to settle it down.

      So she nodded her acknowledgment of what he said, pulled in another breath and exerted a gentle but steady pressure on the reins to hold her horse in. He seemed to understand what she wanted and stopped its prancing and shifting, settling down and lowering its head.

      Reuben brought his horse alongside hers, talking to it in a low voice, settling it down, as well.

      Up until now Leanne’s focus had been on the cows, on staying atop her horse, on keeping things under control.

      But now that the crisis had been averted, she was far too aware of Reuben beside her, petting his horse, rewarding it, looking as if he hadn’t just faced down fifty cow and calf pairs racing for the back of the beyond.

      “So what’s next?” he asked, shoving his cowboy hat back up his head with the knuckle of his forefinger, giving her a quizzical look.

      She fought down a whirl of confusion, letting her old anger with him surface. How could he act so casual? As if they hadn’t shared so much? Been through so much?

      “What are you doing here?” she blurted out.

      He looked taken aback, but then his features hardened, reflecting her own churning emotions.

      “I came to say goodbye.”

      “You’re leaving?” She shouldn’t be surprised. It was what he did best. “What about the arena?”

      “I told Cord he needed to find someone else to do the assessment.” His horse did a turn away, restless now, but Reuben got it turned to face the cows. In the process he ended up even closer to Leanne and her horse.

      “Why are you here?” George called out, joining them.

      “So nice to be made welcome,” Reuben muttered, his jaw clenched. He turned to his father. “Like I was saying to Leanne, I just stopped in to say goodbye and came into the middle of this mess.”

      “Sure. Yeah.” George turned away from him and back to Leanne. “Chad is still here. Guess we should get going.” He walked away from them, heading back to the head gate.

      Leanne nodded, trying hard not to look at her watch. She had told Shauntelle to drop Austin off at suppertime. If it were only her and Chad and George, sorting these cows would take longer.

      “You can’t do this alone.”

      Reuben’s tone rubbed her completely wrong. So full of authority. But his words were, unfortunately, correct.

      “Done it before,” she snapped. “Can do it again.”

      “Not without Devin.”

      She didn’t need to be reminded of that particular betrayal. Though she didn’t blame the kid, it was still lousy timing on Devin’s part that he quit right now. This was only the first batch of cows they needed to work through. In the coming week they needed to get the rest of the cows down off the upper pastures, process and wean them. On top of that, she had committed to taking minutes at a meeting of the Rodeo Group. She had too much to do and not enough help to do it now that Devin was gone.

      But she wasn’t going to admit that to Reuben.

      She turned to him, fighting a confusing mix of anger and loss as she held his dark brown eyes. Eyes she had once found herself lost in.

      Focus. He’s not the man you thought he was.

      “So I guess this is goodbye,” she said, turning away from him, determined not to let him see how he affected her. “I need to get to work.”

      “Not on your own.”

      “What do you propose I do? Run to the hired-hand store?” She couldn’t keep the snappy tone out of her voice.

      She’d heard nothing for the past three years from this man. A man she had given her heart to and so much more.

      And now he swoops back into her life and tells her what she should and shouldn’t do on a ranch he walked away from? A ranch he never showed any interest in?

      “I could help out until you’re done,” he said.

      All she could do was stare at him. Reuben? Working alongside her on the ranch?

      She shook her head. “No. That’s not happening. We’ll manage on our own.”

      “You won’t and you know it,” he returned. It wasn’t too hard to hear the annoyance in his voice.

      Well, she didn’t care. He had no right to be frustrated with her.

      Leanne closed her eyes, trying to bring her focus back to what needed to be done and how she could swing it.

      She couldn’t have him around. She didn’t want to live in the past with its pain and resentment. She wanted to move on.

      Then she heard the jangle of his horse’s bit and when she opened her eyes again he was already moving his horse into the herd, calling out to George.

      “How many do you want at a time?”

      “Send me ten pairs,” George was saying. “But don’t get too fussed if cows and calves get separated.”

      A chill shot through her as she heard George give Reuben directions.

      “I don’t think we need his help,” she called out to George, anger blending with fear.

      “Too late,” Reuben tossed