Page 32 of Snowed in with the Rancher

“You know what we have here?” he said, grabbing each girl by a hand. “A backyard full of fresh new snow. You want to build a snowman?”

They both agreed, as he'd expected, and after he'd shoved them out the door into the fenced-in backyard, he turned to Norene.

“It's uninhabitable,” he said bluntly.

“Once they get it all dried out, it might be okay,” Olivia interjected.

Tate raised an eyebrow at her, and she started to say more but then shut her mouth.

“No,” Jake said. “Tate's right. This place won't be livable for a while. Forget unpleasant, I'd say it's unsafe—especially for kids.”

To his relief, Olivia finally looked concerned.

“Well, you've already paid first and last, and I'm not giving that back,” Norene announced. “We'll just have the lease start when you move in, but you're still bound for the twelve months. No getting out of the contract you signed.”

Tate was about to tear a strip off Norene when Olivia turned to him. “We can stay with you while they fix it, right?”

He blinked at her, not sure what to say for a moment. Stay at his place? Not for a day or two, but possibly…weeks? He wanted to spend time with them—had been counting on it—but he'd thought it would be more gradual, paced out. Give them a chance to get used to each other. This…this was not gradual. This was warp speed, and he wasn't at all ready for it.

But with all eyes fixed on him, what could a man do? He plastered on a smile and said, “Yes. Of course.”

* * *

Olivia stood in the middle of Tate's living room, Lobster at her side, and watched as the girls went upstairs, dragging their small, colorful backpacks behind them. Tate was outside chopping wood. She wasn't sure why, having seen the substantial stack of it on the porch as well as one inside, next to the fireplace, but he'd seemed certain that more was needed, and she could hear the repeated thwack of the ax outside the back door.

Listening to the sound of the girls playing upstairs, Olivia let out a long sigh before turning in a full circle taking in the space around her. Although she'd last been here only twenty-four hours ago, it seemed like months.

Lobster shoved his head under her hand, and she scratched him absentmindedly. Tate had been quiet after he'd discovered she couldn't live in the house she'd rented. She couldn't help wondering if he didn't want them to stay with him. And after the night they'd shared, and then the sweetness of their morning together, with the girls literally embracing him as their father, she thought they'd taken a major step forward. They hadn't nailed down exactly what was going on between them, but she'd believed they were on the same page in wanting to see where this would go. Had she been completely off base?

A horn honking outside broke her out of her thoughts, and she moved to the front window to see a big pickup truck similar to Tate's stopping in front of the cabin. She watched as an older man wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, and a down parka stepped out of the driver's side while a woman with auburn hair pulled back into a bun and wearing a parka that matched the man's got out of the passenger side.

As Tate appeared from around the back of the house, the woman ran forward and grabbed him, giving him a big hug and kissing both his cheeks before releasing him. The man, more reserved in his manner, shook Tate's hand and cuffed him on the shoulder.

These would be Tate's parents. Olivia took a deep breath and readied herself. She'd had a hell of an introduction to Montana, and it seemed like it was only going to get crazier.

* * *

“This is my dad, Thomas,” Tate said as he took off his own parka and hung it in the closet by the front door before taking both visitors' coats over his arm. “And my stepmother, Lucy.”

Olivia gave them her best smile and stuck out her hand to shake, but Lucy instead pulled her into a big hug. “None of that formal stuff around us now,” the latter said, beaming. “We're family.”

“It's nice to meet you both,” Olivia said as Tate hung up his parents' coats.

“Well, I have to say that you were a surprise, but we couldn't be happier to meet you as well,” Thomas said kindly.

“Do you want coffee, Dad?” Tate asked. “Decaf, I mean.” He looked at Lucy quickly for approval.

“I'd love some,” Thomas said. “But put some cream in it. Decaf's just not any good black.”

Tate took Lucy and Olivia's coffee orders and moved off to the kitchen.

As she sat with Thomas and Lucy in the living room, Olivia listened with one ear to the activity upstairs. She could tell that the twins were engrossed in whatever they were doing, but that had already lasted ten minutes or more and wouldn't be likely to last much longer.

Turning to the visitors, she said, “It was so kind of you to stop by, and I know you're probably anxious to meet the girls.”

Lucy's eyes welled up, and she nodded as Thomas patted her hand.

“If you think they're ready,” Thomas answered.

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