It hadn't when the idea came to me, not until Mav made his offer. But now, the only person I saw who fit the bill was the one person who shouldn’t. Maverick Wilde.
A knock on my front door pulled me from my reading material, and I quickly gathered everything up and set it back on my kitchen counter, where I'd placed it along with all of my mail.
“Just a minute,” I called out, wondering who was here. I had to meet Mav at the Silver Spur in just under an hour, and I was excited to deliver the good news about Turbo in person. I didn't have time for a visitor.
I opened the door to find Maverick himself standing on my stoop. Hell, he looked good. He always did. Tonight he was dressed in a tight black T-shirt and well-fitted Wranglers. He’d changed out of his work boots and into a pair of supple leather boots that, while they didn't look new, were reserved for nights on the town. Not for long days ranching.
He took his cream-colored cowboy hat off and held it to his chest.
“Evening, Clara.”
The slight curl of his dark brown hair made my belly flutter. It was just this side of too long, and tempting enough that I had to ball my hands into fists to keep from running my hands through it.
“What are you doing here? We were meeting at the Spur.”
He leaned one muscular arm on the doorframe. “Yes.” He smirked at me. “I thought maybe I'd pick you up this time. Seeing as how we've got some important things to discuss.”
“I guess we could do that. I'm not quite ready, though. You want to come in?”
He nodded and walked inside, setting his hat down on the small side table next to the front door where I kept my keys and a few odds and ends.
“How's Luke?” I asked. “I’ve been waiting for an update.”
His face darkened. “He's in bad shape. Leg’s broke. They did surgery. Had to put a rod in it, and I guess he cracked a couple ribs going down too. He'll be out of commission for quite a while.”
“Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I thought it was pretty bad. Just from my initial assessment.”
“It's a good thing I've got twelve more weeks here. I'll be picking up his slack.”
“And then what?”
“Well, then I'm leaving. Heading back to Texas, and I don't know that I'll come back.”
“You always come back. What changed?”
“Isn't that obvious?”
“No.”
“It's been one thing after the other ever since I started coming to Sunrise. Dad dying. Everything with Killian. I just think maybe I need to go back to where I came from. I'm throwing a wrench into everything.”
“I don't think that's true.”
“It is, though. At least it is for me. I can run the ranch in Texas without getting in anyone's way. I can handle the Cyclones easy enough too.”
“I guess so. But I think you're underestimating how much you'd be missed by everybody.”
“Maybe. They didn't miss me before I came back. And they can come see me in Texas if they need to. If I hadn't been so reckless, so damn distracted, I would have stopped the race from happening in the first place. I knew it was too wet. It was my responsibility to—”
“Stop. You can't blame yourself for what happened. It was an accident.”
“Are you kidding? I should know better.”
“So should Luke, but he didn't think about it. And now he's got a broken leg.”
“Yeah, and his horse is . . .” His voice was thick with emotion, and it was then I realized the man thought Turbo was seriously injured.
“Turbo is fine.”
“What?”
“He's fine. He has a bad sprain. No break.”
He let out a little disbelieving laugh. “I thought . . . I thought for sure there wasn't going to be anything you could do, even though he was walking. Not with the way he favored that leg after he got up. I’ve lost horses to breaks even though they were walking on them.”
“I was worried too, until I got him in for his x-ray. He's got arthritis and inflammation in his joints. But overall, he's healthy as well, a horse.”
The relieved chuckle Mav released lifted something from my chest. “So if you're going to make the decision to leave, don't do it because of what happened yesterday.”
“I’m not. I don't really have a place here. I've been coming and going so much, it’s hard for me to figure out where I belong.”
“And you'd rather not stay here and see if this is where you belong?”
“My brothers have each other. The operation runs smooth without me. My granddad, he needs me to see things through and make sure everything's running. Sure, Wilde Horse Ranch bought him out, but that was only so he didn't have to worry. And I made a promise that I’d keep things going.”
“Is he doing okay?”
“Yeah, he's all right. He's getting up in years, though. Sitting in the saddle hurts. His sons don't want anything to do with the ranch. And Lord knows my mama hasn't been back since the year after she brought me down there.”
“You're all he has. That's what it sounds like to me.”
“Maybe so.”
“Well, I guess that makes my decision a little easier, then.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I don't have to worry about you falling madly in love with me and deciding you want to be a daddy to my kid. I guess I can take you up on your offer.”
“Yeah?”
A little quiver started in my belly that felt more like a warning than excitement at the way his face lit up, pride and anticipation shining in his eyes.
“Thank you for letting me be the one to help you with this.”
“Thank you for wanting to, I guess. You’re right. You do have some really good genes going for you.”
His cheeks went just a little pink. “You like that I'm tall? And have this chiseled jaw?”
“I like . . . I just like you.” Why was I so flustered?
“Do you think you want to make a donation?”
His eyes went wide. “Right here? Right now?”
“No, not right now. But soon, maybe sometime this coming week?”
“Is it already . . . you know . . . time?”
“Pretty close.”
“Well, yeah, whatever you need.”
“Okay. We’ll call down to the clinic and let them know you'll be coming in, then we can get things going.”
“What are you telling people?”
“I thought maybe I would just keep it on the down low. I don't really want the church ladies in my business.”
He snorted. “And when you end up pregnant and there's no daddy around, what are you gonna tell them?”
“Oh, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Things are different than they were in their day. A woman getting pregnant out of wedlock isn't the end of the world. In fact, there are lots of couples that never even marry. And then there are single parents who go after what they want. I mean, nowadays, even single moms and dads are adopting.”
“All right, so we don't tell anyone what's happening. And then no one has to know. Unless you want them to.”