Page 23 of Snowed in with the Rancher

Vince's left eyebrow went up in a gesture that indicated that this was a story he wanted to hear.

“We, uh…were on a cruise together a few years back.”

“A cruise, huh? I think I remember when you took that. Your dad bought the ticket for you, didn't he?”

Tate buckled a second set of straps and stroked the frightened doe's shoulder.

“Yeah. So I met Olivia there, and we got to know each other a bit. They have all sorts of events and activities on those things.”

Vince chuckled. “So I've heard.”

Tate's jaw set as he realized he was going to have to explain further. “She got called back to shore suddenly one day, and I never saw her again.”

“Until yesterday,” Vince added.

“Right.”

They both began to dig in the snow around the doe, working to free her from the heavy, wet barrier.

“Where's her husband?” Vince asked.

“She's single.” Tate tried to sound disinterested. The glance Vince shot him said he wasn't managing to be all that convincing. “She just got hired for a job in town,” he continued. “With that nonprofit, Dreams for Disabilities.”

“The place on Main?”

Tate carefully untangled a branch from around the doe's left rear leg.

“Yep. She must be some kind of hot shot. She'll be the new executive director.”

Vince shook his head. “Well, I'll be. Pretty, smart,andsingle. Even an old codger like me knows that's the trifecta.” He grinned at Tate.

Tate's brow drew down into a scowl. Vince didn't even know the girls were Tate's, and he was already trying to be a matchmaker. Everyone over the age of fifty in Greenwood would do the same thing. Being a single man in Greenwood was a little like being a fox in the English countryside. And he'dtried—tried to find a real connection with someone. But the only time it had ever happened was with Olivia.

“Trifecta or not, she's my houseguest for a couple of days, that's all. Roads ought to be cleared by tomorrow afternoon, and then she can get on with her plans.”

Vince shook his head slowly. “You oughta ask her out. New in town, she'd probably appreciate having someone show her around.”

Tate sighed as he buckled the last strap around the deer and began wrapping her two front legs together. If her legs were free during the ride up the side of the hill, she might catch them on something and break one of those slender bones.

“I'm not date material, Vince. I figured that out years ago. I'm happier on my own.” Or more comfortable on his own, at least. And wasn't that nearly the same thing?

Vince had begun working on the deer's back legs. “Pssh,” he scoffed. “I'm sure you tell yourself that, but that doesn't make it true.” He finished wrapping his pair of deer legs and stood. “I know you've had your share of sorrow, son. More than your share, really. And I know you haven't had the easiest time finding your people out there—people who make you happy just being near them. But those peopledoexist. Up until yesterday, I'd have said that if you stayed holed up in your cabin, you were never going to find them. But now you've got a lovely girl who smiles at you like you're just what she wants to see, and she's right there in your cabin with you. Seems like the hand of fate to me. Would it really be so terrible to see what could happen? Maybe take a chance atactuallybeing happy, for a change? I think you might end up liking it more than you expect.”

ELEVEN

Both twins gasped in awe as the winch gave one last shudder and Tate and Vince helped the deer over the edge of the hill and onto the trail next to the ATV.

“Mommy,” Melissa said quietly. “Is it hurt?”

“I don't think so, hon. It's probably scared and ready to run back to its home, but it doesn't look like it's hurting.”

Tate and Vince began taking the harness off the deer as it lay panting in the snow. She noticed the calm way Tate talked to the animal, the sure rhythm of his hands as he smoothed them over her fur, feeling the bones in her legs and then her ribs.

His dark hair was uncovered—he'd lost his stocking cap at some point in the rescue, and his parka was unzipped, the exertion having probably warmed him up. She remembered what that chest had looked like bare, all smooth skin and sinewy muscle. And as a shock of hair fell over one eye as he worked, she remembered that same hair doing that same thing as he'd loomed over her in bed, his body sliding against hers, the two of them sharing one rhythm.

Suddenly, the deer struggled to its feet, and Vince and Tate jumped back, putting themselves between the rest of them and the deer. The pretty doe trotted a few feet away, then turned and looked at them all for a moment. She bowed her head once, then leaped into the air and bounded away, disappearing into the trees ahead at a curve in the trail.

The girls shrieked in delight and jumped up and down, clapping.

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