Falling For The Rancher. Roxanne Rustand

groaned and ran a palm down her face at the titter of laughter in the audience.

      “Now for the last opportunity of the night, we have...” The auctioneer droned on.

      A sudden gasp spread through the crowd, and every head turned toward the back entrance.

      Dr. Maxwell stood in the open doorway—windblown, disheveled and breathing hard, as if he’d run all the way from the clinic. His incredulous gaze shifted from the auctioneer to Darcy. “What on earth is going on here? I never—”

      With Emma still in her arms, Darcy hurried to his side, looped an arm through his, and hauled him back outside. “Everything is fine, folks,” she called over her shoulder. “He’s just surprised to find he’s worth that much. I sure am.”

      As she shut the door behind them, the auctioneer’s delighted voice followed her outside. “Back to the highlight of the evening, folks. We have Edgar Larson, your last chance to bid. He’s a fine carpenter who tops our auction every single year...”

      She cringed inwardly. What in the world had she done?

       Chapter Three

      Her face pale, Darcy put her daughter down, leaned against the exterior wall of the church and closed her eyes. She looked as if she were on the verge of collapsing.

      Her little girl gave Logan a wary look and hid behind her mom’s legs, as if she thought he was the big bad wolf.

      He moved a step closer in case Darcy crumpled to the ground. “Are you all right?”

      “I can’t believe I just did that,” she moaned. She shot a sidelong glance at him. “I didn’t plan to go that high, but then Gladys...”

      “And I can’t believe someone put my name on an auction block—and for what, I have no idea,” Logan bit out. “I don’t even know those people.”

      “Those people are members of this church, some of whom generously offered handyman skills, babysitting or hours of yard work to be sold at the annual handyman auction. The others are the generous folks in town who often pay far more than a deal is worth, because every dollar helps the youth group attend an annual faith rally in the Twin Cities,” she retorted wearily. “If you’d answered my text messages on your cell, it wouldn’t be at all confusing.”

      “I don’t check my phone while driving.”

      “Not even at a gas station?” Now she sounded exasperated. “Or when you stop to eat?”

      “I drove for several hours without good reception, and there were no messages.”

      “Then you need to switch cell companies.”

      The loud clang of metal against metal rang out from down the street. He glanced toward the sound. “That would be one of the horses in my trailer. I stopped at the clinic before going home and found a brief note on my desk that said, ‘Auction at the church—be there at eight tonight,’ so I came straight over here. Why am I involved in this?”

      Her shoulders slumped. “My friend Beth is the committee chair, and she was desperate to have a few more names on the list. She also...um...thought it might give you some good PR in the community.”

      Beth, of course. He’d worked for days sorting and packing possessions to bring back to Wisconsin, hauling things to Goodwill and wrapping up the details of his old life in Montana.

      Now, after fifteen hours in his truck, plus three long stops to unload the horses for a break from travel, all he wanted right now was to get them into the barn and collapse on his sofa. The coming week was going to be even more hectic...but now what had Beth gotten him into?

      “So she just went ahead and added my name?”

      “No. I told her I would ask you, but apparently her assistant added you at the last minute before running off the programs.” Darcy shot a dark glance at him. “I suppose she figured that you—like all the others who volunteered—would be more than happy to help out the kids.”

      “And what does this involve, exactly?”

      “The winning bidder gets twenty hours of your time—but it can be just a few hours here and there. Carpentry, home repairs, lawn care...whatever.”

      “So if I simply decline, you can save your money and I can save my time. Easy enough—”

      A young woman with a long curly blond ponytail burst out of the building, headed straight for Darcy and pulled her into a brief hug. “I’m so sorry, honey. I was helping in the nursery, but heard about what happened in there—that you bid on someone no one else wanted. That was the kindest thing ever. I know how much you wanted Edgar instead.”

      No one else wanted? Logan didn’t want to be in this situation at all, but hearing he didn’t compare to some guy named Edgar didn’t sit right, either. “Who’s Edgar?”

      Darcy ignored him. “Please—tell me Ed went for some impossible amount so I couldn’t have won his bid anyway.”

      The woman bit her lower lip. “Two seventy-five.”

      Darcy’s face fell. “Nooo.”

      “But remember, you’ll never know how much higher the winner would have gone to beat you—it could have ended far, far above your budget.”

      Darcy scooped Emma up into her arms. “I’ll keep that thought when I go back to trying to hire someone.”

      “Who knows? Maybe your guy has some great skills, too.” The woman’s speculative gaze swept over Logan. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Hannah Dorchester, one of the physician’s assistants in town. And you are...”

      “Logan Maxwell.”

      “So you’re the one Darcy just bailed out, in front of all those people?”

      Bewildered, he looked between the two of them. She’d bailed him out? “This was all a mistake. I’ll go inside and straighten this out right away.”

      “Please don’t make a scene.” Hannah sidestepped to block the door. “The kids are all excited and celebrating. Anyway, it’s all over now, so there’s no rush. Go home. Think about it. Do you have any idea what Darcy just did for you?”

      Darcy rested a hand on Hannah’s forearm. “It’s okay. He never agreed to this in the first place.”

      “I need to get back inside to help Beth wrap things up for the night.” Hannah glanced at her watch, then tilted her head and gave Logan a brilliant smile. “Can I stop by the clinic for a few minutes first thing tomorrow? You can give me your decision then.”

      He gave a noncommittal nod, though he already knew what his answer would be.

      Once she’d gone back into the building, he turned to Darcy, but at the sound of a horse delivering a another solid kick to the horse trailer, he reached for the keys he’d shoved in the back pocket of his jeans. “I’m being paged, so I’d better get those horses home.”

      She smiled at that. “Of course.”

      He would be free of this crazy situation tomorrow, no doubt about that. But all the way back to his new home, he couldn’t escape the vision of Darcy’s expression.

      She’d been clearly embarrassed, but he’d also caught a hint of desperation and bitter disappointment. So what was going on with her, for this auction to matter so much?

      And who in the world was Edgar?

      * * *

      Hefting another bale of fragrant alfalfa that the farmer had just tossed down from the hay wagon, Logan looked over his shoulder at the approach of an unfamiliar car.

      A moment later, the woman he’d met after the auction last night stepped out of the vehicle and approached