Lonestar Sanctuary (9 page)

Allie pressed her lips together. Yo didn't understand. She hadn't
gone through the losses Allie had suffered. She turned to glance out
the window. "I've got a job, Yo. Doing bookwork and housekeeping."

"Bookwork? Your specialty." Yolanda's chuckle lightened her poke
at Allie's problem.

"Ironic, isn't it?"

"So why marry this dude?You've got a job, a place to stay."

"I thought about that. But it's a room in a ranch, not a home of our
own. That won't look good to a judge. It won't appear we're any better off than when we were living in a travel trailer." She heard footsteps outside the door. "Listen, I have to go. I'll call in a few days. Pray
for me,Yo, that I'll know what to do."

"You got it, girlfriend. Love you."

"Love you too." Allie clicked off the phone and put it down as
Elijah stepped back into the office.

"Do you have any questions before I go outside?"

"No, I was on the phone. I'll start work now."

He tipped his head to one side and listened. "We have visitors."

Allie heard it then too, the distant growl of an engine.

"Set that aside for now. You shall find out what the ranch is all
about. The group I mentioned is coming. We go meet them, si?" He
held out his hand for her.

She put her fingers on his forearm and rose, allowing him to escort
her to the door. The rough-and-ready rodeo riders she knew never
acted so courtly. She could get used to this treatment.

There was something about Elijah that comforted her. What
would her life have been like if she'd had a relationship with him growing up? She'd always wanted grandparents. Rattling around the
rodeo all her life, she never experienced the stability of deep family
roots. Her parents loved her, but they were often busy.

The ranch was a world apart, a place where she longed to scrape
away the hard surface soil and peer underneath to the reality. She was
certain she would discover something beautiful. She longed to ask
Elijah a million questions. Like did she have any other living relatives?
An aunt or uncle?

Elijah opened the front door for her and followed her to the porch.

A van appeared on the road between the rocky outcroppings on
each side. Dust billowed from its tires, and its engine revved up for the
final approach to the house. The vehicle stopped, and the back door
opened. Several teenagers emerged, blinking in the bright sunlight.

Allie counted four two boys and two girls. A man exited the front
of the van and corralled the teens. She could hear him directing the kids
to get their luggage. The group moved en masse toward the porch.

"Hello, are you the lady of the house?" the man asked, his dark eyes
sizing her up.

"I'm the housekeeper," she said. "Allie Siders."

In his forties, the man's eyes peered through metal-rimmed
glasses. His black hair lay in a sleek cap on his head, and he wore a gray
suit and black shoes that were already picking up traces of red dust.

He shook her hand. "Emilio Valdez. You must be Elijah," he said,
glancing at the old man.

"Si. You are new."

Emilio nodded. "Yeah, they sent me since this bunch is a little hard
to handle. I'll ride shotgun over them and do schoolwork with them
as well. Where do you want them?"

"Take the boys to the bunkhouse, out behind the barn. The girls have rooms inside the house on the second floor. If you'll show the
boys to their bunks, Allie will take the girls inside."

"Gracias." Emilio turned to the huddled teens who were trying to
look bored. "You heard the boss man. Boys, come with me."

"Why do the Betties get to stay in the house?" The boy who
objected looked like he'd seen one too many tattoo parlors. Skulls and
crossbones covered both arms, and he had rings in his ears, eyebrows,
and lower lip.

The bright red hair matched his eyebrows, so Allie decided it must
be natural.

The other boy shoved him. "To save them from dudes like you."
Thin to the point of emaciation, the second boy picked up his backpack and turned to go.

"Are you going to introduce us?"Allie asked.

Emilio took a tighter grip on his briefcase. "Tattoo boy is Devin."
He pointed to the skinny boy. "Leon. The girls are Latoya and Fern."
He nodded toward Allie. "Go with the lady, girls. We'll be back as
soon as we get things stowed, and you can see the ranch."

"Peachy," Devin said in a mocking voice. His untied shoelaces
dragged in the red dirt as he slumped after Emilio and Leon.

Elijah went down the steps. "I will check on Cupcake. You can
handle this, Allie."

Allie forced a smile. She wasn't used to being around teenagers
much. "You both share a room beside mine." The girls followed her
into the house.

Were these kids part of the foster care system? She'd heard Elijah
had great success with troubled kids and had headed here without
knowing more than that.

"Wow," Latoya breathed. "Cool digs."

Shapely with perfect dark skin, Latoya held her head high and surveyed her new domain. Allie could see she'd have her hands full with
the young woman. Fern kept her head down, and only the pink of her
scalp showed in the part between two yellow braids.

Why were they here? Drugs? Prostitution? For the first time, Allie
realized she might have brought Betsy into contact with characters
who might not be the best influences. She'd assumed the kids would
all be younger, with problems similar to Betsy's. When she thought
about it, though, she realized internal scars were the most profound.

She showed the girls their room and pointed to the dresser. "You
can put your things away there."

The girls began to unload their backpacks. Latoya brought out a
delicious color of hot-pink nail polish.

"Ooh, that's pretty." Allie picked it up. "Sparkles." She glanced at
her bare nails. It had been all she could do not to bite them with no
polish on them.

"Try it." Latoya put her hand over her mouth and exhaled. "Girl,
I've got the dragon. My teeth feel like slime. Where's the bathroom?"

"At the end of the hall."Allie picked up the bottle of polish when
Latoya went out. Why not? She sat on the edge of the bed and uncapped it, then slicked a thin coat over her nails. Holding out her left
hand, she showed Fern. "What do you think?"

Fern barely glanced at her hand, but her head bobbed. "Pretty."

Latoya came back in with gloss on her lips. She pooched her lip out
at Allie. "Minty fresh." She peeked at Allie's nails. "That's so you, girl."

"It's fresh," Allie said. "I like it "

"It's yours." Latoya leaned over and pressed the bottle into Allie's
hands.

"Oh no, I can't take it." Was the girl trying to bribe her? Allie stared hard at Latoya, but the teenager just smiled back. "I'll borrow
it sometime." She put the bottle back on the dresser. "Let's go find the
guys." They all trooped back downstairs. She was careful with her wet
nails when she peeked out the back door to check on Betsy. Her
daughter lay in a hammock on the back porch with three kittens
snuggled around her. They were all sleeping.

She and the girls tiptoed past the little girl into the backyard and
headed toward the barn. Rick's familiar battered cowboy hat moved
into her line of vision. He stood by the paddock with one boot on the
bottom rail and his hands gripping the top. Funny how the same pose
she'd seen Charlie take looked so much better on Rick.

Emilio and the boys clustered around the paddock with him.

"Who's that?" Latoya asked, her voice vibrating with awe.

"Rick Bailey, the foreman."

"He's gorgeous. Puts me in mind of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger
with all those muscles." Latoya's hips took on an exaggerated sway as
she made a beeline to join the guys.

Allie grinned, imagining the way Rick would put the girl in her
place. Latoya didn't realize she was up against Prince Charmless, as
Allie had dubbed him in her mind.

About to become her rescuer Prince Charming.

The thought shocked her.

"Want to see the horses?" she asked Fern. Her eyes still downcast,
the girl nodded. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Allie asked.

"A brother," Fern said, her words so soft Allie had to strain to
hear them.

It was going to take time to get through the wall Fern had built
around her. Maybe the horses would be a good start. "Come with me,"
Allie said.

Cupcake's winter coat was a little rough and ragged, but she was
still a beautiful mare. With little Frost following at her heels, she
pranced around the paddock with her tail out and her head up.

Fern peeked at the horses, a smile starting across her pinched face.
"A colt," she breathed.

"He's only two days old," Allie said. They had reached the rest of
the group, and she saw Rick stiffen at the sound of her voice.

What a way to start a marriage.

Her assumptions had altered. His offer was a way out. Maybe the
only way.

She focused on the needy teenager beside her. "Cupcake is a good
mother. See how she keeps her body between us and her colt?"

Fern nodded. "She's beautiful."

The boys were hanging on the fence, watching the mare gallop
past. "Hey, check out the rides," Devin said. "I wanna try."

"Nope, can't ride Cupcake," Rick said. "And Frost is way too young.
He'll need to be at least two or three. But there are other horses you
can ride." He glanced at Allie. "Would you help me saddle up enough
horses for all of them?"

She went past him into the barn. The tack room door to her right
stood ajar, and she pushed it open to glance around. The scent of the
new stacks of hay in the corner made her sneeze.

She felt rather than saw Rick enter the room. His presence
made her feel claustrophobic, which made no sense. She was used
to being around overwhelmingly masculine men. But then, she'd
never thought about marrying one of them. Grabbing a saddle, she
turned to push past him and found his broad shoulders blocking the
doorway.

"Stand aside, please," she said. He didn't move, and the way he stared made her cheeks grow hot. "I thought you wanted to saddle the
horses."

"Have you thought about what I said? Jon's parents will find you
soon.

"I know, I know," she muttered. "Let's not talk about it now." She
moved to go around him, but he still blocked the doorway. "What?"

"Be careful with Elijah. Don't hurt him."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just back off, okay? Don't be so helpless and appealing. His family is all gone now. The daughter ran off when she was seventeen and
abandoned a granddaughter she never saw again. Now Elijah doesn't
even have her."

Allie opened her mouth, then closed it again. Could he be talking
about her mother? She never left behind a grandchild. She set the
saddle down a minute. "I thought the daughter left when she was
pregnant. Did he have more than one?"

He gave her a curious look but didn't ask where she'd heard the
story. "Just the one girl. Selena. She left when she was about eight
months pregnant, but Elijah tracked down the baby and brought her
here to live."

Her mother had abandoned Allie's sister?

Allie wanted to sit down. Her mother had told her the baby died.

Rick didn't seem to notice her shock. "He poured all his love into
his granddaughter, but she died when she was twenty-five. She looked
a lot like you, and I think that's why he's taken to you so much. But
you're not his Maria."

Allie scrambled to recover her senses. "I saw her picture today."

"So you understand the resemblance. You could twist him around
your finger, but if you try, I'll break it off."

She managed a smile, trying not to show her shock. "I'm attached
to my fingers, so don't worry. I'm not here to get anything out of
Elijah."

"No, just out of me, You made a decision yet?"

Was that dismay in his voice? She studied his features but couldn't
penetrate his impassive expression. "It would save Betsy."

"It's the only way to be sure." Resignation settled over his mouth.

"I want to get one thing clear right up front. You are not Betsy's
father." Her voice trembled just a little. "I will have the say over what's
best for her."

His blue eyes narrowed. "Nope. Won't work, lady. This is a partnership. I'm doing this for Jon and for Betsy, not for you. She'll never
talk with the way you're smothering her."

Allie gasped and took a step back. Her knees trembled, and she
curled her fingers into her palms so she wouldn't hit him. "A mother
protects her child."

"A mother's job is to teach her child to stand on her own."

"She's only five!"

"Old enough to be tying her own shoes, to make her bed. I saw
you making it for her this morning while she colored on the floor. You
have to teach her some responsibility."

Allie didn't trust herself to speak. Luckily, he took a saddle and
went back outside. Maybe all men didn't get how important it was to
protect children from the bumps of life. Jon thought she coddled
Betsy too. She whisked a tear from her lashes. Rick wasn't a father and
didn't understand.

She wasn't going to let him bully her or Betsy. Talk about a throwback to pioneer days! Here she was about to enter into a marriage of
convenience. And really, it would have been impossible if he actually wanted to marry her. If he touched her ... She suppressed a shudder.
He didn't attract her that way at all.

This way they could both keep their distance.

She picked up the saddle and bridle and went out to the corral.
Rick was on his cell phone, and she almost expected him to snarl like
the cougar over whatever he'd been told. He snapped his phone shut
and beckoned to her. Dropping the saddle over the fence post, she
joined him at the gate.

"We need to rescue a horse, and I may need help catching it.
Charlie is gone, and the other two hands need to stay here and take
care of these kids.You'll have to do."