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“No, there’s no one for me,” Beau said. “And, Mom, don’t even try and bring up the fact that you want me to get married.” He looked at me. “Sorry, family drama. My mom’s been on at this church where she’s trying to hook up me and my brothers with every single woman going.” He shook his head. “Next thing you’re telling me is that you were just at the grocery store and you met my mom and she might have invited you over to marry one of her sons or something.” He started laughing, but I just gave him an awkward smile. Oh, shit. Beau really didn’t seem like he was going to be up for the arranged marriage. Ranger cleared his throat and Beau’s eyes narrowed and he looked back at his parents. “You didn’t just meet Lucy at the grocery store, right, Mom?”
“Of course not. I’ve been home all day. You know that, Beau.”
“Okay. I’m just checking because you know what I told you, don’t be going messing’ in my—” He stopped himself. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice at my mama in front of you. She can just frustrate me sometimes, but it’s very nice to meet you, Lucy Kensington. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and wash up.” He looked at his mom and his dad. “I’ll be down for dinner. Okay?”
“Okay.” As soon as Beau left the room, Ranger turned on his wife.
“I told you this was not going to be a good idea, Amelia. Now we got poor Lucy here and—”
“He’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. You saw the way he was looking at her. He was definitely attracted.”
While Beau had given me a pleasant smile, I hadn’t actually felt any real attraction from him. He’d just been friendly, and not even a flirtatious friendly like Wyatt. I mean, I know I’m an attractive woman and most men find me pretty good looking, but not every man, and it seemed like maybe Wyatt was more interested in me than Beau. And if Wyatt already had a girl, then what was I doing here? I bit my lower lip, thinking about the possibility that Beau was not going to be interested in me, and I might have to leave Horseshoe Ranch sooner than I’d thought.
“Don’t worry, dear.” Ranger looked over at me and I guess he could sense that I was nervous. “Even if it doesn’t work out with Beau, you’re more than welcome to stay here for a little bit.” He looked over at his wife. “Now you don’t be pushing anything, Amelia. They either get on or they don’t get on.”
“Well, honey, we have to push things a little bit because you know all boys and you know Beau, in particular. If he is not pushed, he ain’t never going to find anyone.”
“That is not up to us to—” Ranger started then he stopped. “Well, I’m going outside for a ride, okay? You and Lucy can have a chat. I don’t think I need to be part of it.” He walked over to me and gave me a hug. “It’s nice having you here, Lucy. And no matter what happens, if you need someone to talk to, you can always come to me. My wife’s driving you crazy, you come to me. And if you want to leave at any time because you don’t feel comfortable in this crazy situation, you let me know. We’ve got a couple of cabins here on the ranch, I’ll put you in a cabin, I’ll take you to a hotel, or we’ll get you a flight back to New York City.”
“Ranger!” Amelia frowned at him. “What are you trying to say? Do you think I wouldn’t do those things for this nice young girl, as well?”
“I’m sure you would, my love, but I know how badly you want to see one of your boys get married, and I know how badly you want Beau and this young lady to—”
Amelia cut him off with a shake of her head. “Well, you go on now, Ranger. You go and ride. I’m going to treat Miss Lucy to some stories about the family. I’ll see you at dinner.” Ranger left the room.
I sat there wondering what to say. Amelia strode over and stood next to me. “Now, Lucy, I’m going to speak to you as a mama bear right now because I know you just lost your mama,” she put a gentle hand on my shoulder, “And I’m very sorry about that.
“Thank you, ma’am,” I said with a small smile. “It’s definitely been hard.”
“Now. I know the situation is crazy, and if I was your mama, I would have told you don’t go to Montana. You don’t know those people and they could be crazy, but you’re here, and I’m glad you’re here because I think we’re going to get on like a house on fire. And yes, I would love for you and my son Beau to make a match. But if it doesn’t work out, do not worry about it. I’m not going to push it. I know my husband Ranger thinks I’m going to push it, but I’m not going to push it. There’s no match, there’s no match. And anytime you want to go back to New York City, you just tell me and I’ll put you on the first flight, first-class, you hear?
“But I’m so glad you’re here. And I just hope that I can teach you how to ride and I can show you Montana, my beautiful big sky state. And I hope you’ll fall in love with it here, as well as falling in love with my son.” She smiled warmly. “I know you’d be needing a mama, and I know I’m not an actual substitute for your mama. No one can ever replace our mamas, but maybe I’ll be like your step-mama, or your big sister, or whatever you need. You ever need anything, you come to me, dear. You can talk to me about anything. Even my son, Beau. I promise you that. I am here for you.”
She paused. “I know that your life probably feels like it’s going in all sorts of directions right now. I know that you most probably feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, and this whole situation has probably got your head spinning, but don’t mind me and Ranger. We love each other. And don’t mind my sons. They don’t know what they want, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: no man knows what he wants. Even my dear Ranger didn’t know what he wanted.” She laughed. “So just believe you me, if it’s meant to be between you and Beau, I think it will be. I just had this good feeling that first time that you emailed me, I had this feeling that you were going to be in my family. I don’t know why, I just knew it. So, Lucy …”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Now that I’ve gone talking, is there anything that you want to ask about?
“No, I don’t think so.”
“So, how’s about I go and I’ll show you to your room, and then we’ll have one of the boys go and get your suitcases and bring them up. Does that sound good?”
“Yeah, that sounds really nice. Thank you.”
“And then I’m sure you must have some friends or family that’d be waiting to hear from you. I’ll give you a bit of time and space so you can call them, okay?”
“Thank you, Amelia. I really appreciate it.”
“Oh, don’t be thanking me, dear. You don’t know what a breath of fresh air it is to have a pretty young thing like you here. I’ve been wanting some female company in this house for over 30 years and now I finally have it.” She nodded and smiled to herself. “Believe you me, I think this is going to be the start of something absolutely wonderful.”
“Well, I sure hope so,” I said. “Thanks, Amelia.”
“Don’t be thanking me, dear. I’ll be thanking you.”
Chapter Seven
The cerulean sky filled the expansive horizon. The Montana Rockies and Bitterroot River provided a majestic backdrop to an environment I’d never seen before. As I stood on the back porch of the house studying at the map Amelia had given me, I wondered how big the ranch was. This was the first time since my mother had died that I’d felt truly at peace. A bald eagle soared overhead, and several elk and bison made their way through the valley to the left of the property.
