Love Inspired Historical October 2013 Bundle: A Family for Christmas\The Secret Princess\Taming the Texas Rancher\An Unlikely Union (57 page)

Chapter Sixteen

D
aniel stood by the stream’s edge, letting Tornado drink his fill. What had Hannah thought of the nursery? He’d hoped it would be a room she’d enjoy. He thought they could have the babies close when they were little, and then eventually move them to the bedrooms upstairs. Once the last child was up there in his or her own room, Hannah could convert the nursery into a sewing room or sitting room.

Ducks floated on the stream, creating a sense of peace within him. He couldn’t help but wonder, what would it be like to have children with Hannah?

He’d enjoyed the two kisses they’d shared and felt as if they would be compatible once they were married. She was smart, beautiful and had a quick sense of humor. To his way of thinking, any children that might come from their union would be much like her. He’d built the house with four spare bedrooms and had thought they could have three children and an extra room for a guest.

Daniel picked up a piece of driftwood and drew circles in the sand at the water’s edge. In his mind’s eye he envisioned little ones playing along this bank. Their children would have black hair and blue eyes or brown hair and green eyes. If he was lucky, he’d have a little girl who looked just like Hannah. He smiled at the thought.

When he was building the house, he’d thought about children a lot. They’d seemed unreal and no threat to his plan to not fall in love. But now, with Hannah in the house, looking down on the bassinet, he’d grasped just how real a family would be.

How would he guard his heart from loving them too deeply? Daniel honestly didn’t think he could, and that scared him. If he couldn’t guard his heart, then there was always the chance it could be broken. With small children on a ranch there was always the danger of one of them getting hurt, or worse, dying.

Was that part of the reason he hadn’t left Hannah in town and sent off for a new bride? As long as she refused to marry him, his heart was safe from both her and any future children they might have.

He felt as if a thunderstorm was building in his brain. If he didn’t marry before Levi and have the first grandchild, then his brother would get the ranch. Daniel knew he wanted it himself. But to have the ranch, would he take a chance on love, and on losing another loved one to the hazards of ranch life?

Thankfully, it seemed as if Levi had given up on sending off for a mail-order bride. Daniel had bought six months with Hannah, but after that, what was he going to do?

He closed his eyes, and immediately the night of his sister’s death came racing back. He and Levi had returned during a thunderstorm and found her small, trampled body in the barn. Remembering took his breath away.

Gracie Joy had only wanted to comfort her pony, of that he was certain, but instead the little Shetland had pushed her down and run over her in his fear. The doctor said she’d died instantly, but he wasn’t so sure.

“Daniel?” He opened his eyes to find Hannah staring at him. “The house is very nice.”

He tried to smile, but the action felt stiff upon his face. “I’m glad you like it.” And he was glad. But now that she was here, and it all seemed so real, Daniel was beginning to think he should have bought a house in town. At least there the children would be safe from ranching dangers.

“Do you think we can go back now?” she asked, eyeing Tornado doubtfully. It was clear she didn’t want to get on the horse again.

Daniel picked up the reins and walked toward her. She backed away. He stopped and asked, “Want to talk about it?”

“You’ll think I’m... Well, I don’t know what you’ll think, but I feel foolish.” She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

He reached out and grasped one of her hands, which felt cold in his. Daniel gently pulled her to him. “I know Tornado scares you, but you didn’t seem to mind riding on him this afternoon.”

She didn’t drop his hand, but moved to the right, placing Daniel between herself and the big stallion. “I don’t mind riding Tornado.”

Daniel began walking. “Then what are you afraid of?”

“Promise not to laugh?” she asked, twisting her free hand in her skirt.

“I’ll do my best.”

Hannah pulled her shoulders back, raised her chin and said, “I’m afraid he might step on my foot.”

She’d never told him how she’d acquired the limp, but Daniel thought he knew now. “You’ve been stepped on before?” he asked.

“Yes, when I was a kid. A stallion tromped on me.” Hannah continued to stare straight ahead.

“I’d like to know what happened. Can you talk about it?” Daniel asked. Again his thoughts went to the possibility that someday his child could be hurt by a horse or bull, or bitten by a snake. The dangers of ranch life were endless.

Hannah nodded. “I was ten years old and my father and I were gathering the cattle out of the back pasture. I’d climbed off my horse and was trying to pull a calf out of the mud when Pa rode up. I’d gotten the calf out and had just turned to get back on my own horse when something spooked Blaze. He stepped sideways and my ankle ended up under his hoof.”

She looked off into the distance, but not before Daniel saw the tears welling in her eyes.

“Pa said I screamed and passed out. When I woke up, the doctor was there, and I heard him tell my father and stepmother I’d probably never walk on that foot again.” She took a deep breath. “But he was wrong.” Determination laced her words. “I wasn’t about to let a little limp keep me from working beside my pa on our ranch.” A tear escaped and ran down her cheek.

Daniel stopped walking and turned her to face him. He wiped the tear away with his thumb. He looked deeply into her eyes and could see the hurt little girl there. “What happened next?” Something told him the worst was yet to come.

Her voice cracked as she said, “Pa didn’t want me anymore. As soon as I could walk, he sent me away to school.” Tears streamed down her face and her bottom lip began to tremble. The broken words tumbled from her lips. “He didn’t love me anymore, Daniel. He wanted to get rid of me. I’d always thought he loved me, but he didn’t.” She sobbed, “He’d only used me as a ranch hand.”

Daniel gathered her into his arms, then rubbed her back and held her tight. No wonder Hannah was asking for unconditional love. If she truly believed her own father didn’t love her, how could she trust someone else to?

As she sobbed, he decided to see if he could find her parents and reunite Hannah with her family. Daniel couldn’t help but think that maybe her father had sent her away out of fear of her getting hurt even more.

Wasn’t that what he might have done? Now that he could see the pain it was causing Hannah, Daniel knew he could never send a child away. Which still left him wondering what he was going to do about the ranch and about marrying Hannah.

* * *

After several minutes in Daniel’s arms, Hannah calmed down. Her tears slowly dried and she was left feeling foolish once more. She’d never cried about her father’s rejection. Why did she have to choose now to do so?

She eased away slowly. “I’m sorry, Daniel.” Hannah turned from him and wiped at her damp face with the dirty sleeve of her dress. She really was a mess today.

“There is nothing to be sorry for, Hannah. Your parents hurt you.”

She wanted to tell him it wasn’t her parents, just her father. Her mother had died six years earlier and her father had remarried. When she’d left home, Hannah had had a four-year-old brother and a two-year-old sister. Caught up in remembering them, she almost forgot about Daniel until he tugged on her hand.

He waited for her to face him, and then continued, “We all have things in our past that have hurt us. Thank you for sharing yours. I promise if we ever have children, I will not send them away.”

Hannah didn’t trust herself to speak. His kindness was bringing up the flood of tears again and she refused to let it burst a second time in front of him. She ducked her head and nodded.

“Are you ready to go home now?”

Home.
She looked at the house behind them and wished it was home. Wished she and Daniel didn’t still have things to work through before they could make it their home. “Yes, please.” The words came out soft and tearful, something Hannah decided she couldn’t control at this moment.

He turned her toward the big stallion. “Will you trust me?”

She knew they’d come a long way on the animal and would need to return on him, as well. Hannah swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. She’d just poured her heart out to Daniel, told him what she’d never told another. Did she trust him? She raised her head and looked him in the eyes. “Yes, I trust you.”

Daniel smiled in approval. He scooped her up into his arms and walked the rest of the way to the stallion. He placed her in the saddle and then swung up behind her.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

When his arms snaked around her, Hannah relaxed. “No. Thanks.”

As the horse set off, rocking them with a smooth canter, her thoughts returned to Daniel’s kind words. He’d said,
We all have things in our past that have hurt us.
This troubled Hannah. What or who had hurt Daniel? He’d shown her that he was a kind, caring man. She didn’t like the idea of him being hurt.

She tilted her head and looked up at him. His jawline was sprinkled with day-old stubble. He seemed more relaxed than she’d ever seen him as his eyes scanned the land about them. What was he thinking? Did he regret having sent for her, now that he’d seen her broken and crying?

“It’s peaceful out here, isn’t it?” he asked.

She wondered if he’d sensed her looking at him. Hannah allowed her gaze to follow his. Cows bawled softly in a pasture in the distance. Crows called to each other overhead, and the sweet scent of honeysuckle filled the warm afternoon breeze. “It is.”

“Hannah, I wish I could keep it this peaceful, but I know that trouble is always near. If you are going to stay here, you should learn to be more aware of your surroundings.” He tightened his grip on the reins.

She wanted to get angry with him for telling her that she’d been neglectful, but she knew he was right. Until he’d mentioned the peacefulness of their surroundings, she’d been unaware. “I will.”

His arms closed around her in a brief hug. “Good. I told you earlier someone is on Westland land that shouldn’t be. I’d like to tell you the whole story.”

“All right,” Hannah answered. She saw a rabbit jump out of a bush and rush to another.

“They started with simply cutting fences, then moved on to running our stock off our land and now they have taken to slaughtering stock and completely destroying fences, so that it takes a couple of days to get them back up.” Daniel shifted his weight.

Hannah wondered who would have done such a thing. “Do you have any idea who it might be?”

“Not at this point,” he answered. His breath ruffled the top of her hair.

A shiver crawled up Hannah’s spine. She tried to ignore the sensation. “Could it be a disgruntled neighbor?”

“I don’t believe so. Most of the men will be at Sunday service. I plan on asking if any of them are having the same problems.” He brought his left hand down and rested it on his leg.

Hannah nodded. “That’s a good plan.”

His voice hardened as he said, “Hannah, please stay at the schoolhouse. I don’t want you wandering the ranch by yourself.”

So now he felt he could boss her around. She straightened her spine. “I’ve promised I’ll help Opal in the mornings, so I won’t be staying at the schoolhouse, Daniel. I’ll be walking over to the ranch house every morning.” Hannah cut her eyes upward and looked at his jaw. Yep, as she’d suspected, it had tightened and no longer looked relaxed.

“Someone who doesn’t belong here has been killing cattle is on this land. I can’t look after you all the time, Hannah.” He stressed her name.

She shifted away from him. “I didn’t ask you to, Daniel.” She’d put emphasis on his name just as he had hers. “I told you I can take care of myself.”

He ignored her declaration of independence. “What time will you be going over to the ranch house?”

“Before breakfast.” Hannah realized as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she didn’t know what time Opal served the first meal of the day.

Daniel laid his chin on top of her head. “You do realize breakfast is at five, don’t you?”

Hannah prayed her voice sounded confident when she answered, “I grew up on a farm, Daniel.” She said it as if that should be obvious, but the truth was she’d been young and hadn’t really thought about time when she lived there.

“Good. Then I’ll see you around four. I believe this is where you get off.” He slipped from Tornado’s back and turned to lift her down.

Hannah looked at the schoolhouse, and then slid into Daniel’s waiting arms. She felt like a little girl again as he swung her away from the horse.

When her feet touched the ground she said, “Daniel, you don’t have to come for me in the morning. I can make my way to the house alone.”

He remounted Tornado and gathered the reins. “I’m sure you can, but I don’t want you stumbling around in the dark. See you tomorrow.” With that, he sent the horse into a gallop and rode away.

Hannah grinned. Maybe, just maybe, Daniel Westland was starting to care about her. She wouldn’t label it love just yet.