Where the Heart Leads (2 page)

“Got your deliveries,” Burton called out from the front seat. He was the number one wrangler at the Rocking M ranch, which she owned and loved.

“We couldn’t stop ourselves,” Kellan explained, hopping from the wagon seat the instant the horses stopped. “You can’t keep us cowboys from lending a hand. You’re good to us, Aumaleigh.”

“You’re the best cowboys around.” She went out to meet them.

“We can’t deny it.” Kellan joined the other cowboys climbing out of the wagon box. Shep, John, Pax and Tiernan all got busy opening the tailgate and uncovering the new furniture.

Gratitude filled her right up. It was hard to believe she was standing in her own front yard, on the land she’d bought in the shadow of her adorable new home. She was surrounded by loved ones and friends, starting a new chapter in her life.

“What are you doing outside?” Kellan hauled the end of an overstuffed chair from the wagon bed. “You aren’t thinking of trying to help move any of this stuff, are you?”

“What if I am?”

“Then I’m going to chase you back into that house, young lady.” Burton hopped to the ground, his eyes flashing with humor. “I’m not going to take any guff about this.”

“Really? I’m the boss around here. You do what I say.”

“You’re not the boss of everything.” Kellan winked on his way by, hefting the heavy chair as if it was as light as could be. “I mean it, Aumaleigh, back in the house.”

“Yeah, let us do this for you.” Burton tossed a rolled up area rug over his shoulder. “If you don’t, we might hogtie you and do it anyway.”

“Yeah, we’re cowboys on a mission,” Shep added, carting a crate toward the door. “You know us.”

“We don’t stop until our job is done, come heck or high water.” Tiernan grabbed another crate and followed the other cowboys in.

“C’mon, Aumaleigh.” Pax wrapped his arms around the matching, overstuffed ottoman. “You need to tell those knuckleheads where to put everything. You can’t leave them to their own devices.”

“You’re wise, Pax.” A gust of wind blew over her, and she shivered. The sun was edging downward toward the craggy peaks of the Rockies. The afternoon was nearing an end. “I’m coming, and don’t worry, I won’t touch a thing.”

“Okay, but I’m trusting you. The boys will never let me live it down if you start carrying this heavy stuff.” Pax clomped up the stairs and crossed the porch. The girls inside called out to him, and he answered, stepping into the house.

She didn’t know what made her stay in the cool air alone in the yard. Maybe it was simply nice to catch a breath of fresh air, or to stop moving after a day of constant demands. Moving day was fun, but it was also a lot of work. Or maybe it just gave her a warm-in-the-heart feeling watching her nieces through the lamp-lit window talking and laughing and fussing over the last curtain.

They were so amusing, the five of them. Iris, the oldest, shook her head, apparently deciding the curtain ties were all wrong. Her strawberry blond hair, sweet oval face and gentle beauty made her stunning as she nudged fun-loving Magnolia out of the way to retie the sash.

Magnolia pushed a lock of gold hair out of her eyes and slipped an arm around Rose. The two sisters leaned into each other as sensible Daisy moved in to apparently give her opinion on the best way to tie back a curtain.

Adorable. Her heart filled up with love. The rattle of an approaching vehicle echoed through the yard. Probably Adam on his return trip from delivering the furniture. But it wasn’t his big draft horses that rounded the corner.

She didn’t recognize the matched, jet-black team as they moved through the shadows of the cottonwoods. With their finely carved faces and heads held high, they moved like poetry down the country road. The instant they pranced into the light, the sun glossed their coats and they shone with rare beauty.

She breathed out a sigh of admiration, even as her chest constricted. There was something that troubled her, that reached in and grabbed deep.

The driver in the buckboard remained in the shadows—nothing but a vague impression—and yet she couldn’t fight the feeling that she knew him. How strange was that?

Then her breath caught, because the buckboard and driver emerged into the sunlight.

She blinked, sure it was a hallucination. But no, she wasn’t that lucky. There he was, there, real flesh and blood and not make believe, tipping his wide-brimmed hat to her.

Gabriel.
Gabriel Daniels. Her knees buckled and she grabbed the side of the cowboys’ wagon for support. Maybe if she was lucky, her old flame would keep going, just drive on by and leave her be.
What was Gabriel doing here in Bluebell?

And worse, why was he pulling his horses to a stop?

“‘Afternoon.” The familiar notes of his voice washed over her, stirring up dreams best left buried. “How are you, Aumaleigh?”

“F-fine.” Which was a complete and total lie, a fabrication she would cling to with her last breath. The sun slipped behind a cloud. It felt like the whole world went to shadows. “How are you?”

“Passable.” His gray gaze met hers without a wince of guilt. “You must be as happy as I am about tomorrow’s wedding.”

“Overjoyed.” Of course. He must be in town for the wedding. She rolled her eyes. “My lovely niece didn’t mention you would be attending.”

“It was the least I could do, since I was invited.” He sat there with his wide shoulders and mature handsomeness and just the right amount of amazing.

It was infuriating! The very least he could do was to stay away. He’d smashed her young heart to smithereens, which obviously was a fact he’d conveniently forgotten over the decades. She squinted at him. “What are you doing?”

“Getting out of my buckboard so I can lend a hand. You appear to be moving in.”

“I don’t want your help.” There, she’d said it. Perhaps she sounded rude, but she didn’t care. Seeing him, talking to him—it hurt. “Get in your buckboard and head back the way you came. You took a wrong turn at the fork in the road. Josslyn’s place is to the left.”

“Is that right?” Ignoring her orders, he ambled over in his self-assured way, more handsome than a man in middle age had the right to be. He brushed by her, and his nearness rippled through her like rings in a pond, radiating straight to her soul.

There was a time when he’d been her other half. Her perfect match. The man she would have given her life for.

Now she really wanted him gone. “Same old Gabriel Daniels. Nothing has changed in all these years.”

“I’m still stubborn as a mule.” He grabbed a drop-leaf table from one of the wagons. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Don’t even try to compliment me. I don’t want your help, Gabriel. I don’t need it.” She grabbed the leg of the table to keep him from lifting it off the wagon bed. “This isn’t the way I want things between us, but you won’t stop.”

“Aumaleigh.” His voice dipped low, warm when it should have been cold. “I’m just trying to be friendly.”

“I can’t be friendly.” She nearly choked on the words. “I don’t think I can even try.”

“You’ll have to, for the kids’ sake. Seth and Rose come first. We’re here for them.”

“Yes, that’s true. I suppose a temporary truce is in order.”

“I didn’t know we were at war.” He released his hold on the table. Some measure of tenderness settled in his chest. It had been buried there all this time. “Don’t make us enemies, Aumaleigh.”

“I’m not the one who did that.” Time had changed her, carving lines into her heart-shaped face. Those lines added character to her, like sunlight on a rose. She hiked up her chin. “Let’s just agree to keep to opposite sides of the church, and we’ll be fine.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes.” Sorrow darkened her bluebonnet-blue eyes.

The sight of her sorrow still got to him. It cut like a knife. He had to look away. He had to clear his throat. “All right. If that’s what you want.”

“The past is behind us.” She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself of that. “Let’s keep it there.”

“Okay.” Hard to argue with that, not without showing his hand. He could bluff with the best of them, so he backed away from the wagon as if he wasn’t disappointed, as if his heart wasn’t bruised. “As you wish. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and something about her stance told him she wasn’t as tough as she pretended to be.

That’s how it always had been between them. He’d been able to see into her, to know her heart. What would she think if she knew why he’d sold his ranch and uprooted his life?

Maybe she’d laugh at him.

Or she’d think he needed to be locked up.

Either way, he didn’t want to find out. A man had his pride, so he tipped his hat to her. “Have a good evening, Aumaleigh.”

“You too, Gabriel.” Lamplight from the parlor windows glowed over her, as soft as a touch. The gentle light added luster to her molasses-dark hair and polished her alabaster complexion.

She was beautiful. Time had not robbed her of it. Decades could not diminish it. Somehow she looked lovelier than ever. It didn’t seem fair that she could still affect him like this, even after she’d decimated his heart.

The best thing to do was to walk away. Her dislike of him blew cold like the wind. He climbed back into his buckboard. Leaving was the only thing he could do.

He gathered the reins and gave them a snap. The horses responded, leaping into a fast walk. The rigging jingled, the wheels rattled and rain began to fall, but he knew without turning around she was watching him go.

He’d come a long way and given up a lot. But at least he knew where he stood.

And what he was up against.

“Was that Seth’s uncle?” Iris poked her head out of the open door. Her periwinkle blue eyes pinched with concern. “It was, wasn’t it? We waited too long to tell you.”

“You knew?” Aumaleigh rocked back in her heels. Her gaze zipped back to the road where Gabriel had disappeared. A strange sense of disappointment battered her. “I would have appreciated a warning.”

“I know. It wasn’t fair for you to suddenly be confronted with him, and face-to-face.” Iris breezed down the steps, oblivious to the rain. Behind her, a string of cowboys trailed out the door, talking to themselves, making a beeline for the closest wagon.

Over the scuffling sounds of them moving her furniture, Iris came over and took Aumaleigh’s hand.

“Oh, you’re so cold.” Caring crinkles dug into Iris’s forehead. “Come on, let me get you some tea and talk you into forgiving us.”

“Forgive you? No need for that. I already know why you didn’t tell me.” She patted Iris’s hand and they made their way toward the house together. “What were you going to say? And when? There would never be a good time to talk about Gabriel. He’s here, he’s coming to the wedding. It’s great he’s here for Seth.”

“Okay, that’s great. Personally, when my ex-fiancée came to town, all the old hurt rushed back.” Iris stepped to the side as a pair of cowboys hauled a dining room table up the steps and into the house. “I felt like I’d been run over by a delivery wagon. A really heavily-loaded and speeding one.”

“I was hit by that wagon too, but fortunately the shock wasn’t lasting. I’m tough. I’m over it.” A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “What about you? Are you and Milo talking about a wedding date yet?”

“Shh, I’m not supposed to say anything. Not until Rose and Seth are married.
Then
we’ll announce it.”

“Oh, so there is a date.” Aumaleigh followed her niece up the porch steps.

“Say anything to my nosy sisters in there and I will deny everything.” Iris waggled her brows as she crossed the threshold and cast a scolding look at the rest of the McPhees. “Aren’t you done with those curtains yet?”

“We were, but I’m still fussing.” Daisy gave one of the panels a final tug. The curtains framed the view of rain, vibrant green hillside and the misted glory of the nearby mountains. “There. Now they’re perfect.”

Boots scuffled in the door. Burton cleared his throat behind her. “Where do you want this, Aumaleigh?”

“Let’s see. The sofa should go here.” She gestured toward the middle of the room. Great. She intended to let the task of arranging furniture distract her from her feelings.

Gabriel was not worth her time. She shouldn’t waste another thought on him. He’d been the one to leave her standing in the night, waiting in the meadow near the road for him. She’d stayed there until the morning star rose. She’d headed home with tears on her face and grief in her soul.

There had never been a word, a note or an attempt at an explanation. He’d simply stayed away, making his feelings clear. He hadn’t wanted her.

Decades had passed, but it surprised her how much it still hurt. That was proof of how deeply she’d loved him once.

Not anymore.

“Aumaleigh?” Daisy’s gentle voice broke into her thoughts. “I hate to say it, but school will be out soon.”

“Definitely go pick up your sweet Hailie.” Aumaleigh gently squeezed her niece’s hand. “Thank you for helping out today.”

“Where else would I be?” Daisy brushed a kiss to Aumaleigh’s cheek. “You send word if you need anything. Maybe you should come over for supper. I don’t see how you’ll get everything unpacked in time to try and cook.”