Love Inspired September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: Her Montana Twins\Small-Town Billionaire\Stranded with the Rancher (5 page)

“Or you could turn on that Harcourt charm?” Hannah said with a teasing grin.

Brody pointed a finger at her. “Don't you start.”

Hannah's grin widened, but she resisted the urge to make another quip.

He looked as if he wanted to say something more, then his gaze ticked over to David's picture and he dropped his hat on his head, turned and walked away.

Hannah released a careful sigh as she watched him go with a feeling of regret. For a moment, just a brief moment, she'd felt like a woman. Not a mother of two children and the widow of a hero.

She looked back at David's picture and made a face. “You put me in a real bind when you proposed just before you shipped out.” But no sooner did she speak the words than she felt the usual guilt that seemed woven through her memories of David.

Yes, she had loved David, but in the weeks leading up to their wedding there were times that she wished she could slow everything down. Step back. Take a breath.

But she had agreed to everything David had wanted because she loved him and he was a soldier going to fight for his country. She had agreed to the bare-bones civil ceremony with only Julie and his friend as attendants. Had agreed to the simple honeymoon in Bozeman at a bed-and-breakfast.

And then in a matter of heartbeats it was over. David had shipped out and she was left wondering if the wedding had happened at all.

Hannah sloughed off those pointless thoughts. Regardless of how it came about, she had married David and now was his widow raising his twins. This was her reality. She just had to go with what life brought her.

* * *

Brody drummed his fingers on the table of the booth at the back of the café. He wished, for the fifth time since he'd come here, that he hadn't agreed to this meeting with Hannah and Lilibeth. First off, the whole idea that Lilibeth Shoemaker had anything to do with the time capsule theft was crazy. Sure she was upset, but she didn't seem that vindictive. Second, meeting with Hannah was also not a good idea. He was having such conflicting thoughts about the girl. On the one hand, he was attracted to her. On the other, he thought of the complications that were a part of her life. Widow of a hero. Mother of twins.

The door of the café opened again and Hannah stepped inside. Her plain white T-shirt was enhanced by a cluster of silver dangly necklaces, fitted blue jeans and large black purse that gave her a simple but classy look.

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as Hannah walked toward him. She gave him a careful smile and then slipped into the seat across from him.

“Lilibeth not here yet?”

“Not yet.”

Hannah set her purse to one side and pulled out a file folder and set it on the table. “I managed to glean a few things from the minutes I thought might interest Lilibeth.”

“We're not breaking some privacy act with this?” Brody asked.

Hannah shook her head, a hank of dark hair falling across her cheek. She tucked it back, looking at the folder she was flipping through. “No. In fact, Mayor Shaw read through the minutes himself to find what I might need. He thought I was too busy to do it myself.”

“He's taking quite a personal interest in your involvement,” Brody said. An edge of anger entered his voice when he thought of Mayor Shaw. The man's use of Brody's nickname the other day and his apparent protectiveness toward Hannah still irked him. As if Brody had no right to show any interest in the man's secretary.

“He knows I have a lot going on,” Hannah said, sounding defensive. “He's been busy, so I really appreciated his taking time to help us with this.”

“Of course he's busy,” Brody said, hoping to assure her. He
was
being oversensitive and he knew it. “There's been a lot going on with the centennial and there'll be even more happening over the next few months.”

“I just hope we can get this time capsule thing solved. I know it will take a huge load off his mind,” Hannah said, folding her hands. She released a light sigh, tapping her thumbs together as she glanced at her watch, looking everywhere but at him. She clearly wanted to be somewhere else.

“Have you seen Lilibeth?” Hannah asked finally. “She wasn't working at the ice-cream parlor today.”

“I came here right from the ranch.”

Mert came with menus and set them on the table, then poured coffee for both of them. She raised one eyebrow, winked at Brody, then left. He stifled a sigh, guessing Mert's knowing look was a result of her promise to find him a wife the last time he'd been here.

But her wink and look made him suddenly overly aware of Hannah. And, even more disconcerting, suddenly tongue-tied. Brody liked to pride himself on being able to chat up women, but something about Hannah sucked all the smart out of him.

Hannah cleared her throat and looked as if she was about to break the awkward silence, when he heard the sound of someone clearing his throat.

Brody fought down a beat of frustration as he glanced over at Ethan Johnson standing beside them. He wore his usual blue jeans and a sweatshirt that was ragged at the cuffs. He certainly didn't look like a pastor.

“Hannah. Brody.” Pastor Ethan's deep brown eyes flicked from one to the other as if assessing the situation. “Nice to see you two here.”

“Oh, we're not together,” Hannah said, cutting off anything Pastor Ethan might have to say with a quick wave of her hand, her comment and action extinguishing the faint spark of encouragement Brody had felt. “Brody and I are here only on time capsule business.”

“Time capsule business,” Ethan said, his smile growing. “Sounds official.” He then reached into his back pocket. “I stopped at town hall but read your note that you would be here. I'm donating a basket to the auction. A food basket.”

He set a completed application in front of Hannah.

“Really?” The surprised word came out before Brody could stop it.

“Don't sound so shocked,” Ethan said, grinning at Brody. “Baking and cooking are manly occupations.”

“I didn't say they weren't,” Brody spluttered. “Just seems...interesting. Not something I would have associated with you.”

“Actually, it was a dare from Cord Shaw,” Ethan said. “We were talking about the basket auction and I asked him if he was going to bid on someone special's basket. He kind of sneered about it. Said there was no one special for him and he wasn't bidding on any basket unless it was to see if the person bidding was serious. So I told him if I donated a basket he had to bid. He laughed, agreed but said I wouldn't do it. So here I am. Proving him wrong.” Ethan stood back and folded his arms over his chest, smiling down at Hannah.

“That's very generous of you.”

“Maybe you could bid on it,” Ethan suggested to Hannah.

Was that a twinkle in his eye? Brody wondered. And was Hannah actually toying with her hair? As if she was flirting with him?

Jealousy twinged through Brody. Ethan, a pastor, would be exactly the kind of person Hannah should be with. Good-looking. A good man and well respected in the community he'd joined only a few months ago.

Someone who could probably hold a candle to David's memory.

Brody clenched his hands under the table, wishing that didn't bother him as much as it did.

“Trouble is, I can't,” Hannah said as Brody focused his attention on his coffee. “I'm organizing it, so I would know who made which basket and it is supposed to be a secret.”

“Too bad,” Ethan said, looking from Brody to Hannah, his faint smirk showing Brody that he didn't believe Hannah's quick protestations that she and Brody were not here together. “But I won't bother you anymore and shall leave you two alone.”

And before either Hannah or Brody could correct his assumption, he turned and walked away, stopping at a table farther on to chat with Chauncey Hardman and Rosemary Middleton, who sat at their table with their tea and knitting.

Brody watched as Ethan smiled and chatted, charm personified. A good man.

Like David.

The kind of man Brody wasn't.

Chapter Four

H
annah shot a quick glance at her watch, then at the menus still sitting on their table. Everywhere but at the tall handsome man across from her.

He made her fidgety and she found herself far too aware of him.

“Lilibeth better show up quick or I'll have to grab something and run,” she said finally, breaking the awkward silence that fell after Pastor Ethan left.

While she and Brody had been sitting here, she had seen four people come to the door of the town hall, read her note and walk on. If she went back to the office without eating now, chances were she wouldn't have an opportunity until the office was closed.

“Why don't we just order now,” Brody said, picking up the menu. “Maybe Lilibeth will come soon.”

“Mayor Shaw did say I could take a longer break than normal because I'm on town business,” she said, feeling as if she had to justify her time here. “And I didn't have time to eat breakfast.”

“Busy morning?” Brody asked.

“Chrissy has been a little bear. She's teething and doesn't want to settle down. I think she cried for an hour last night. I'm not sure what to do for her.” Hannah stopped the flow of meaningless chatter. A single guy like Brody wouldn't be the least bit interested in the trials and tribulations of a single mother. She cleared her throat, picked up the menu and frowned at it, as if trying to decide what she wanted. She knew she should go with healthy but right now what she craved more than anything was a burger.

Finally Mert showed up, looking from Hannah to Brody. “You two lovebirds ready?”

Hannah was about to correct her when Brody spoke up.

“I'll have a quesadilla with sour cream and guacamole on the side and salad instead of fries,” Brody said, folding his arms over his chest, staring at Mert as if he wanted to tell her something.

“Salad. How very healthy of you,” Hannah said, glancing over at him.

He shifted his attention from Mert to her. “Cowboys got to keep up their strength.”

“So what do you think you'll have, sweetie?” Mert asked as she refilled their coffee cups.

“I think I'll have a cheeseburger,” she said.

“Not a very balanced meal,” Brody said in a teasing tone. “Where are your vegetables?”

“You're right,” she said, looking up at Mert. “Can you put onion rings with that?”

“Sure thing,” she said, making a note on her pad.

“And how is that balanced?” Brody asked.

“Onions are a vegetable,” Hannah said with fake innocence.

Brody's resulting laugh created a surprising uptick in her heart rate. And when he looked over at her, his grin still creasing his face, making a fan of wrinkles that framed his dark eyes, her breath seemed to leave her, as well.

She tore her gaze away, wishing Lilibeth would come to remind Hannah of the futility of becoming interested in someone like Brody Harcourt.

“You sure you don't want a salad?” Mert asked, sounding motherly. “You don't want to end up like poor Wes Middleton. Heart surgery ain't no picnic, though we're sure hoping he gets better soon. That wife of his does like to chitchat. Never seen the likes of it. Takes me longer to get groceries now that she's working there than it did when Wes was still around.” Mert shook her head as she stuck her pencil behind her ear, tucked their menus under her arm and walked back to the counter to put their order in to Vincente.

“Interesting to hear the pot talking about the kettle,” Hannah said with a wry expression after Mert was gone.

“Mert probably doesn't get much of a chance to speak her mind around Rosemary.”

Her laugh gleaned her another grin from Brody. Their eyes met and once again Hannah felt her attention drifting toward him and away from the everyday cares that clung to her as his smile settled into her heart. Then he looked away, turning his attention to the folder on the table beside her, and she caught herself. A quick shake of her head brought her back to reality.

“What did you manage to find in the minutes that Lilibeth might be interested in?” Brody asked.

“Not a lot. Some behind-the-scenes information on the judging process and what they were looking for.” Hannah tucked her hair behind her ear and flipped through the folder. “Since the queen was crowned at the rodeo, the judges were hoping to find someone with—” Hannah made little quote marks with her fingers “‘—high aptitude in equine prowess,' as the minutes put it.”

“Equine prowess. Wow. Someone was really putting their thesaurus to work.”

“Lilibeth seemed to lack in the equine prowess department, so I'm hoping that will help her understand why she didn't win.”

“And then what?” Brody asked.

“What do you mean?”

“So after we tell her the reason she wasn't crowned Miss Jasper Gulch, how do we segue into finding out what she knows about the time capsule?”

“Segue? Someone else has been using his thesaurus,” Hannah joked, surprised at how effortlessly he put her at ease. How being around him brought out a sense of humor that David didn't always appreciate.

“I may wear a cowboy hat and put out fires, but I do know my way around the English language,” he returned, his own smile deepening. “I've always liked reading.”

“Ms. Hardman at the library must have loved you.”

“She tolerated me because I read. But we all know she's not too crazy about cowboys ever since her mother ran off with one,” Brody said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Long time to hold a grudge,” Hannah agreed, her silly heart doing a tiny flip at the way he held her eyes.

“Speaking of grudges,” Brody said, leaning closer to her, lowering his voice, creating a sense of intimacy that gave her a tiny shiver. “Do you really think Lilibeth stole that time capsule?”

Hannah cupped her mug of coffee, running her finger down the side, slowly shaking her head as she tried to imagine someone as slight as Lilibeth handling something the size and weight of the time capsule. “I can't think of why she would want to do it. Nor can I imagine her doing all that hard work,” she said.

“Unless she had an accomplice so she could save her manicure,” Brody said with another grin.

“Lilibeth may come across as shallow,” she said, feeling a need to defend the young girl, “but I believe she has a good heart. At any rate, her stealing the time capsule doesn't seem plausible. She couldn't have had a reason to do it. I just wonder who could have done it and why?”

“Lilibeth is our only lead, if we want to believe she's the L.S in the note Cord got. We haven't found anyone else in town with the initials L.S. And if she doesn't show up today, we might have to reschedule.”

“I don't know if I'll have time to meet her again. I've got a lot going on right now.”

Brody folded his arms on the table, still leaning forward. “I imagine your twins keep you busy, as well.”

Hannah's smile tightened, his words a reminder of her responsibilities. “They do keep me busy. But I love them to bits.”

“I'm sure. It must be nice for your parents to have you and the kids close.”

“They love it, but I think it's wearing on my mother. Because of the centennial celebrations, I've been working longer hours and my mother's been taking care of the kids for me. She's doesn't have as much energy as she used to and the twins can be a real handful.”

“I can't imagine taking care of two kids the same age. And all by yourself.”

“It has its challenges,” she said quietly, wishing, for a fleeting moment, that he hadn't brought up the twins. For a few fleeting moments she had felt like a woman, not a weary, widowed mother of two children.

She took a sip of water then set the cup down. “And what about you? You seem to have your own challenges to deal with. Firefighting? Ranching? That must keep you busy, as well.”

“At times.”

“So what made you take up firefighting?”

“The challenge, I guess. I wanted to do something more than just ranch, plus it was a way of helping out.”

“And the adventure.”

Brody shrugged. “Partly. I like the feeling that I'm contributing to the community. Giving back, so to speak.”

“By saving Alfie Hart's dog?” She couldn't help bringing up the conversation she had overheard the last time she'd sat in this café. The thought of him willing to run into a burning building made her realize how risky Brody's job was. “Would you have gone in?”

“I had a mask and all my gear on. The fire wasn't critical yet. The structure was still sound.” He sounded so casual about it. As if going into a burning building was no big deal. “Besides, I'm the one with the most training, so I'm often first man in on a fire.”

“Sounds dangerous.” She grew serious as she looked down at her glass and sighed lightly, thinking of David so willing to join the army. So willing to jump into the fray, just as Brody seemed to be. David said it was to serve his country, but whenever he talked about his training and about possibly going overseas, she caught a gleam in his eye she had never seen in all the times they were dating. He talked about adventure as much as he talked about serving. If he hadn't enlisted—

She stopped her thoughts there. She couldn't indulge in might-have-beens. It was this practicality that got her through David's death and the discovery that she would have to raise twins on her own. “You men seem drawn to that kind of thing,” she said, unable to keep the rueful tone out of her voice.

“It's a job that needs to be done. But that's the reality.” He angled his head as if to study her better. “But enough about me. What about you? What made you decide to work at the town hall? You've been there since high school, haven't you?”

She nodded. “I started when I was a sophomore. I liked office work, and when the job came up I took it. When David and I graduated, I started working full-time. I only worked part-time after the twins were born, but since the centennial business started, I've been full-time again.”

“Did you ever want to do anything different? Go somewhere else?”

She tested that thought a moment, wondering if he would understand her answer. “I've thought of traveling many times. David and I talked about seeing New York City. Paris. Athens. But he's gone and I've got the kids now, so I won't be going anywhere for a while.”

“You could travel once they get older,” Brody said. “It's not completely out of the question.”

“Where would you go if you could travel?”

Brody's smile softened. “I always wanted to buy an old camper, drop it on my truck and visit every state on the mainland.”

“That would be fun. Where would you go first?”

“Idaho. It's the closest. Then Washington State. Then Oregon. After that, it gets tricky. But I had a plan.” Brody pulled a pen out of his pocket and grabbed a napkin and soon was showing Hannah the route he would take that would get him through all the states with the shortest distance traveled.

Hannah was intrigued by his plan and had to laugh at some of the detours he wanted to make.

“Hannah. There you are,” a voice called out across the café.

Hannah's heart faltered as she looked away from Brody's intricate mapping in time to see her mother-in-law, Allison Douglas, walking toward her. She wore a blue-and-white-striped shirt, blue pants and a white sweater with the sleeves tied over her shoulders and an oversize leather handbag slung over her shoulder. Her hair was perfect. Her makeup perfect. She wore a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. Every time Hannah saw her she had to fight the urge to look down at her own clothes and make sure they were free of stains and unwrinkled. Which they never were.

“I thought you might be here when I saw the sign on the door of the town office.” Allison laid her hand on Hannah's arm, her eyes holding their perpetual look of sympathy each time she saw Hannah. She eased out a melancholy sigh, then turned to Brody, and for some reason her smile stiffened.

“Brody Harcourt,” she said, acknowledging him with a tight nod of her perfectly colored and cut blond hair, her voice suddenly chilled.

“Do you want to join us, Mrs. Douglas?” Hannah asked.

Allison looked at Brody a moment longer, then turned back to her, her smile shifting so quickly Hannah thought she had imagined the momentary chill. “No. I can see you are busy with this man,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand toward Brody. “I'm sorry I'm interrupting.”

And Hannah suddenly understood the reason for her mother-in-law's frosty attitude toward Brody. She thought they were on a date. She wanted to correct that assumption, but before she could say anything, Allison was speaking again.

“But while I'm here, I may as well give you this.” She unzipped her bag. “I was doing some fall cleaning when I found something I thought you might be interested in. I forgot to give it to you the last time you came to visit with the twins.” She pulled out a large envelope that had Hannah's name written on it in a flowing script. Her smile grew sorrowful as she set it on the table and patted it gently. “These are some letters that you sent David while he was in training. He brought them back home before you got married.” Her voice wavered a moment and once again Hannah was overcome with sympathy for her mother-in-law.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, touching the envelope. “I appreciate that.”

“I know David treasured every letter he received from you,” Mrs. Douglas whispered, her voice choked. “But it didn't seem right for me to keep them.” She patted Hannah on the shoulder and looked from her to the envelope as if she expected Hannah would jump on them. “I knew how special they would be for you. You and David had a one-of-a-kind relationship.”

“Thank you for them,” Hannah said, folding her hands on the table. She sensed that Mrs. Douglas wanted her to open them right away, but Hannah wasn't ready to face that.