Becoming a daddy to the daughter he never knew...

A Bent Creek Blessings romance

Tucker Wade’s life changes forever the moment Autumn Myers knocks at his door. Not only is Autumn the identical twin of his recently deceased wife, but she’s brought someone with her—the adorable five-year-old daughter Tucker didn’t know existed. Now this cowboy’s determined to prove himself as a daddy and keep his daughter...even if it means hurting the woman he’s falling for.

KAT BROOKES is an award-winning author and past Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award finalist. She is married to her childhood sweetheart and has been blessed with two beautiful daughters. She loves writing stories that can both make you smile and touch your heart. Kat is represented by Michelle Grajkowski with 3 Seas Literary Agency. Read more about Kat and her upcoming releases at katbrookes.com. Email her at katbrookes@comcast.net. Facebook: Kat Brookes.

Also By Kat Brookes

Bent Creek Blessings

The Cowboy’s Little Girl

Texas Sweethearts

Her Texas Hero

His Holiday Matchmaker

Their Second Chance Love

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

The Cowboy’s Little Girl

Kat Brookes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08438-3

THE COWBOY’S LITTLE GIRL

© 2018 Kimberly Duffy

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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It was the child’s eyes that caused his heart to lurch...

Those were his eyes. And that was undeniably the Wade family dimple that dipped into one side of Tucker’s daughter’s baby-soft cheeks.

His daughter. A barrage of emotions swept over Tucker as he stood looking down at her. He was a father. That revelation had his world tilting.

“Are you all right?” Autumn asked. “You look mighty pale.”

He gave a forced laugh. “I’m better than all right. I’m a daddy.”

“Tucker?” Autumn said, bringing him back to full awareness.

He blinked hard and then cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said. “This is a lot to take in.”

“Would you like to call someone?” she suggested. “One of your brothers perhaps?”

The only time he’d ever come close to passing out had been when he’d gotten bucked off Little Cyclone during the Pioneer Days Rodeo up in Lander several years back. However, the little bombshell Autumn Myers had dropped on him just moments before had nearly managed to do what Little Cyclone hadn’t been able to.

Bring this Montana-bred cowboy to his knees.

Nearly.

Dear Reader,

Life is filled with choices. Each and every one of those choices we make takes us down a different path. Tucker chose never to marry again after his first marriage failed, living a life he thought was fulfilling enough. It wasn’t until the Lord brought Autumn into his life with the daughter Tucker never knew existed that he found himself considering a new path, wanting something more than what he’d settled for. And in doing so, he found true happiness. I believe the Lord provides us with many opportunities to find our own happiness. We just have to be willing to go in a direction that we’d never considered, or, perhaps, were too afraid to.

I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing Tucker and Autumn’s journey. Be sure to look for Garrett’s and Jackson’s upcoming stories.

Kat

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.

—2 Corinthians 9:15

I’d like to dedicate this book to my wonderful agent, Michelle Grajkowski, with 3 Seas Literary Agency. She has been so incredibly supportive with my writing endeavors, always believing in me. She’s also a dear friend. I feel so blessed to have her in my life, both professionally and in friendship.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Ryan Sankey from Sankey Pro Rodeo, who offered me a wealth of information when I was researching this rodeo-cowboy series. She was always willing to answer any questions I might have without hesitation. Sankey Pro Rodeo has four Saddle Bronc of the Year PRCA awards, twelve PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year nominations, as well as many PRCA and Montana Circuit awards. They’ve been featured on ESPN, USA TODAY, Western Horseman and CMT. More information on Sankey Pro Rodeo can be found at www.sankeyprorodeo.com.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

A persistent knocking at the front door of his ranch house had Tucker Wade setting the half-eaten grilled cheese he’d made himself for dinner back onto the plate beside him. Dropping his booted feet from the rough pine coffee table to the wood-planked floor, he stood to answer the door.

His first thought was that it was his oldest brother, Garrett, stopping by to shoot the breeze after returning from tending to Wilbur Davies’s sick cow. Garrett, the town’s only vet, had gotten called away, leaving Tucker and his other brother Jackson—older by just one year—to see to it the horses were fed and settled in for the evening. But his brothers rarely knocked. And if they did it was a loud, firm rap on the door, not the tentative tapping that had him moving into the front entryway. Not to mention it was near dark and they all followed an early-to-bed-and-early-to-rise routine.

Very little surprised Tucker, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock of opening the door to find his long-lost wife looking up at him. A woman he’d come to accept he would never see again. Didn’t care to see again, truth be told. But there she stood, in the fiery red-orange light of the setting sun, looking every bit as pretty as he remembered and yet so very different.

The wispy blonde ponytail Summer had always worn had been replaced by a short, smooth haircut that hung longer in front than in the back. A formfitting navy skirt and matching jacket replaced her well-worn jeans and usual T-shirt. And... Tucker’s gaze dropped lower, a dark brown brow lifting. Heels? The Summer he’d known would never have worn high heels, no matter how good they looked on her. Even her cowgirl boots had low heels. But then again, he’d only thought he’d known the girl he’d exchanged vows with six years before.

All the hurt, anger and confusion he had worked so hard to suppress after Summer took off without a word threatened to surface once again. Thickly lashed ice-blue eyes—eyes that had once held only warmth, now stared back at him with something akin to...mistrust? Him. The man she’d run out on.

“Tucker Wade?” his long-lost wife asked as if she wasn’t quite sure it was him.

A frown tightened the line of his mouth. While he’d admittedly filled out a good bit in terms of muscle, no longer the lanky, bull-riding twenty-four-year-old she’d exchanged vows with at the Laramie County Courthouse, he was pretty certain she knew it was him. What sort of game was his wife playing now?

“I’m sorry to show up unannounced this way,” she continued. “And this late in the day. But I had to meet with clients before setting out for Bent Creek.”

There it was, that same Texas twang that had drawn him to his wife in the first place. “Why are you here?” he demanded.

Undaunted by the glower he was sending her way, she met his gaze head-on. “I thought it would be best if you heard what I have to say in person, instead of over the phone.”

“Now you want to talk?” he said, anger writhing though him. “Well, this might come as a surprise to you, but I no longer have any interest in anything you have to say.”

“I can’t blame you for feeling the way you do,” she said softly, “but if you’ll just give me a chance to explain...”

“What are you doing here, Summer?” he cut in gruffly, not bothering to suppress the ire he felt toward her. He didn’t want explanations. It was far too late for that. In fact, he wanted nothing at all from his wife.

“I’m not Summer.” She looked away for a second as her voice filled with emotion. Then, looking up at him with those same silver-blue eyes he’d worked so hard to forget, she said, “I’m her sister Autumn.”

What? Tucker blinked back his surprise. First, his wife shows up out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever of her impending arrival, and then she starts spouting nonsense? Who was Summer going to pretend to be next? A sister named Spring, or maybe Fall since it was mid-October? If his wife had a sister, he surely would have known about it.

Dear Lord, give me strength, he prayed.

“I know it’s been a few years since we’ve crossed paths,” Tucker grumbled in irritation, “but I’m pretty sure I haven’t forgotten what my own wife looks like. Even with all that fancy polishing you’ve done to change your appearance.” Which he begrudgingly had to admit looked really good on her.

She stiffened. “It’s not polish. This is who I am.”

He gave a derisive snort. “You forget who it is you’re talking to. This,” he said, waving a hand from her designer heels to her pretty little head, “is who you are until you decide the life you’re living right now isn’t really what you want. Then you’ll just up and leave whoever it is who’s fool enough to care about you at that time, without so much as a goodbye, and start a whole new life for yourself somewhere else.” The jagged edge of the memory of what she’d done to him leaving the way she had all those years ago still cut deep.

She shifted uneasily. “She said you could be stubborn, but if you’ll just hear me out...”

He had no idea why his wife had to be told by someone else, whoever “she” was, about his stubbornness. Especially when she used to tease him about it when they were dating. Or had she blocked everything about him and their marriage from her mind?

“I don’t want your explanations,” he said through tightly gritted teeth. It was five years too late for that. “Go back to wherever it is you came from, Summer. You don’t have a place in my life anymore.”

To his surprise, his clipped words brought a swell of tears to his wife’s eyes. Her emotional response had him shifting uncomfortably where he stood. Maybe he had spoken a little harsher than he ought to have, but she’d done far worse to him all those years ago.

“I’m not Summer,” she insisted once more. “And she won’t be starting her life over,” she added, her lower lip quivering slightly with that announcement. “At least not here on earth. My sister’s gone.”

Had his wife suffered a head injury of some sort? Was that why she was claiming to be someone else? “Sweetheart,” he said, trying not to let the flood of emotions he felt at seeing her again show in his voice, “you’re standing right here.”

“Summer never told you about me, did she?” she asked as if she’d somehow been wronged. Then she shook her head and cast her gaze out across the yard. “No,” she said sadly, “of course she didn’t.” Turning her attention back to him, she said, “I’m Autumn Myers. Summer’s twin.”

He raised a skeptical brow. “Her twin?”

She gave a slight nod. “Yes.”

Tucker’s gaze zeroed in on her slender perfectly arched brows, to where they disappeared just beneath the much shorter strands of hair that now framed his wife’s heart-shaped face. “You have a scar,” he heard himself saying.

“What?”

“The scar above your brow,” he prompted with impatience.

“No,” she said, “I don’t.” Reaching up, she pushed the hair away from her face.

“Other side,” he muttered with a deepening frown. What kind of fool did she take him for? He’d been there when she’d gotten stitched up after her fall during one of her barrel races.

Without another word, she showed him her other brow. Even in the fading light of day, there was no denying the smooth expanse of skin where the scar had been.

Tucker struggled to drag in even the slightest of breaths. This woman standing before him was not his long-lost wife, no matter how much she resembled her. “Summer’s dead?” he said, the words soft and gritty as he tried to process that something like that could even be true. She was so young. And while he had harbored a ton of resentment toward his wife after she’d walked away from the life they’d started together, to the point where he never ever wanted to see her again, this was not the way he’d wanted that to happen. Tucker’s heart squeezed.

“Yes,” Summer’s twin replied. Never had one word been so filled with emotion.

“What happened?” he rasped out, finally accepting the truth for what it was. The woman that he’d once fancied himself in love with was dead. May she rest in peace.

“Summer took her horse out for a ride near our home in Cheyenne,” she began, tears shimmering in her eyes.

“Summer was living in Cheyenne?” he muttered in disbelief. That was where his wife had chosen to put down roots? Not back home in Texas, in whatever town it was she had grown up in, but in Cheyenne. In the very place they had exchanged their wedding vows. How had they never crossed paths? Not that he’d stuck around very long once things ended.

“Yes,” she began, the words catching as she looked up at him. “And if I had known about you...” She paused, shaking her head. “I’m afraid my sister didn’t always think things out the way she ought to.”

That was the Summer he remembered. But then that was another thing that had drawn him to her back then. They’d met at a rodeo, him a tough-as-grit bareback rider and her, a highly competitive barrel racer. They’d been young and reckless, looking to grab life by the horns and then hold on for wherever the ride might take them.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. Knowing she’d lived so close just took me by surprise.”

She nodded in understanding. “Summer was on her way back to the house when a rattlesnake spooked her horse and she was thrown.” A sob caught in her throat with the last of her explanation.

“You don’t have to say anything more,” he told her, regretting the pain his question had caused her. While he no longer felt what he once had for his wife, Autumn Myers was still dealing with the grief brought about by the loss of her sister. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how he would feel if he lost one of his brothers.

“It’s all right,” she assured him as she swiped a hand over her tear-dampened cheek. “As her husband, you have a right to know. My sister ruptured her spleen when she fell. They did emergency surgery to repair it, and she managed to hold on for a couple of days, but then infection set in and her body began shutting down.”

Tucker closed his eyes, saying a quick prayer for the woman he’d married.

“That’s when Summer opened up about the secrets she’d been keeping. You being one of them,” she told him with a sorrowful frown. “I forgave her. I only pray the Lord did, as well.”

Tucker dragged a splayed hand back through his thick chestnut hair, trying to digest everything she was telling him. It was hard to believe that the high-spirited, headstrong girl he’d once loved was gone.

“I’m sorry,” he managed, the words coming out strained. He stood there, a part of him longing to close the door and shut reality out, pretend this moment had never happened.

“No,” she mumbled despondently as her gaze shifted to the car she’d driven up in, which was parked a short distance from his house, “I’m sorry. You deserved to know the whole truth a long time ago. I pray that someday you’ll be able to forgive my sister for the choices she made, as well.”

“The whole truth?”

“There is something my sister should have told you about before walking away from your marriage,” she answered.

“I’m not so sure it matters anymore,” he told her. He was over any feelings he once had for his wife. There was nothing Autumn Myers could say to him that would change anything.

“You still should have the right to decide if it does one way or another,” she said, her face a mask of determination.

It was clear she wasn’t about to let things go, not until he’d heard her out. Tucker nodded. “If it will take some of the burden off your heart, then I’m willing to hear you out. Would you like to come inside and talk? I could fix you a glass of ice water or lemonade.”

She nodded, her gaze drifting back toward her car once more. “But there’s something I need to do first.” With that, she turned and walked away.

Tucker stepped out onto the porch as he watched Autumn make her way to her car. It was clear her sister’s death still weighed heavily on her, driving all the way across the bottom of Wyoming from Cheyenne to Bent Creek just to inform him in person of Summer’s passing. Oddly enough, he found himself wishing he could say something that might set her mind at ease about what her sister had done. Something to let her know that it wasn’t her burden to bear.

Her sister’s passing. Nausea stirred in Tucker’s gut at the very thought of it. Time and distance from the situation had made him realize how hastily he and Summer had gone into their marriage. They’d been too young and far too impulsive to place the proper amount of thought into what they were doing as they stood before the judge at the Laramie County Courthouse that day. And, yes, he’d been hurt, and more than a little confused, when she’d taken off the way she had. Anger had followed. It had taken a fair amount of praying and suffering months of inner turmoil trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that he’d done wrong to send Summer running before he’d finally come to accept that she’d made the right decision in ending their hasty marriage. Whatever her reason may have been.

Not that it had ended completely. Legally, they were still husband and wife, something he’d made no attempt to rectify. One failed marriage was enough for him. As long as he and Summer were still legally wed, he could never make the same mistake again. Giving his heart away to a woman and risking the possibility of it being trampled all over again was something he was determined to avoid at all cost. Only now Summer is gone, he thought with a pang of sorrow. And that made him a widower.

His attention shifted back to Autumn Myers’s retreating form, noting with some confusion that instead of settling herself behind the wheel of her bright yellow Mustang GT she circled around to the rear passenger side. A soft, somewhat sad smile moved across her face as she reached out to open the back door.

He lost sight of her for a moment as she leaned into the back of the brightly colored sports car. A second later, she took a step back from the vehicle and motioned to someone in the back seat. A tiny head with a mass of long curls hopped out to join her.

With the little girl’s hand tucked securely in her own, a now unsmiling Autumn held his gaze as she walked back to the porch. She has a daughter, he thought to himself. One she must have brought along to meet her uncle by marriage.

The fading rays of the afternoon sun glinted off the mass of curls that hung over the child’s downturned face as they crossed the yard. Chestnut curls. An unsettling sensation moved through him. Why that was, he had no idea. He looked questioningly to Autumn as she guided her young daughter up onto the porch.

“Tucker Wade,” she said before looking down at the little girl who now had her tiny face pressed into her mother’s skirt, “this is my niece, Blue Belle Wade. That’s Bell with an e,” she clarified.

Tucker’s thoughts scrambled to process the words she’d just spoken. Her niece.

“Blue,” she continued, “this is—”

“My daddy?” the little girl mumbled as she dared an inquisitive peek up at him through the protective barricade of her reddish-brown curls that served to hide most of her face.

“Her what?” he gasped as her name filtered through his mind. Blue Belle. Summer’s favorite flower. The same ones he’d given her a bouquet of when he’d asked her to marry him.

“Yes, sweetie,” she answered, her tone tender. “This is your daddy.” Autumn’s gaze lifted to meet his. “Tucker Wade, meet your daughter.”

His daughter. How was that possible? But her hair was the same reddish-brown shade as his own.

“Blue,” Autumn said, gently nudging her niece, “say hello to your daddy.”

His daughter’s little face turned slightly as she peeked up at him. “Hello,” she said timidly, burying her face once again in the soft fabric of her aunt’s skirt.

Autumn ran a soothing hand down over her niece’s curls. “Sweetie, we came all this way to meet your daddy. I think he deserves a chance to see that pretty smile of yours.”

His little girl pulled away ever so slightly and tipped her chin upward. And then she smiled. The long spiraling strands of her hair fell away to reveal a heart-shaped face very similar to Summer’s and Autumn’s. But it was Blue’s wide green eyes and the lone dimple that appeared when she smiled that caused his heart to lurch. Those were his eyes. And that was undeniably the Wade family dimple that dipped into one side of his daughter’s baby-soft cheeks.

His daughter. A barrage of emotions swept over Tucker as he stood looking down at her. He was a father. That revelation had his world tilting. He struggled to steady himself as spots danced around in his vision.

“Tucker?” he heard Autumn say, concern lacing her voice. “Are you all right? You look mighty pale.”

He gave a forced laughed. “I’m better than all right. I’m a daddy.” Yet, even as he spoke his words of reassurance, darkness began to fringe his vision.

“How’s come he’s swaying like a tree in the wind?” he heard his daughter ask.

“Tucker?” Autumn said, the concern-filled utterance bringing him back to full awareness.

He blinked hard and then cleared his throat. “Sorry,” he said. “This is a lot to take in.”

“Would you like to call someone?” she suggested, looking as if she expected him to drop into a dead faint any minute. “One of your brothers perhaps?”

The only time he’d ever come close to passing out had been when he’d gotten bucked off Little Cyclone during the Pioneer Days Rodeo up in Lander several years back. Landing on your head in a rodeo was cause for a little head spinning, yet he hadn’t gone down. He was made of sturdier stock than that. However, the little bombshell Autumn Myers had dropped on him just moments before had nearly managed to do what Little Cyclone hadn’t been able to—bring this Montana-bred cowboy to his knees. Nearly.

Tucker shook his head. “No need.”

“You’re really tall,” Blue announced, craning her neck as she stood peering up at him.

He chuckled at Blue’s observation, thankful that some of her shyness seemed to be easing up around him. “Not as tall as my brothers. Your uncles,” he clarified. “They both top six foot. I’m only five foot eleven.

“I have uncles?” his daughter said excitedly.

It was hard not to let the injustice of what his wife had done, shutting him out of their child’s life, seep into his tone. Summer had denied his parents the chance to get to know their only grandchild, and his brothers the opportunity to spoil their niece. “Two of them,” he said with surprising calm, as the anger he’d once felt toward Summer after she’d walked out on their marriage returned to simmer just below the surface of his lighthearted demeanor.

“Do they live here, too?” asked Blue, looking around.

“No,” he said. “This is my place. Your uncles have homes of their own that they live in on the ranch.”

His daughter looked out over the land surrounding them. “I don’t see them.”

“That’s because they’re spread out across our family’s nine-thousand-plus-acre ranch.”

“What’s an acre?”

“It’s a measurement of land,” Autumn explained.

“Do we have acres?”

“We do,” she answered, glancing around. “But your daddy’s property is a whole lot bigger than ours back in Cheyenne. We only have forty acres there and far fewer trees.”

Blue swung her curious gaze back in his direction. “Do you have a swing set behind your house?”

“I’m afraid not,” he said. “Never had the need for one.”

She turned to her aunt. “Can I bring mine here if my daddy wants me to live with him?”

Autumn’s eyes shot up to lock with his, a frown pulling at her glossy pink lips. “My sister’s last request,” she explained. “One I’m struggling to honor.”

He hadn’t even given that any thought. Tucker knelt in front of his daughter and took her tiny hand in his. “Of course, I want you to come live with me. I would’ve brought you here to live with me sooner if I had known about you.” He looked to Autumn. “Thank you for bringing her home.”

“Home is yet to be decided,” she said stiffly. “I’m only here because my sister asked me to let you know about Blue. I’m not about to leave my niece in anyone else’s care, not even yours, until I know in my heart that you’re capable of doing right by her.”

And he wasn’t about to lose his daughter after only just finding her. “Understood,” he answered with a nod, appreciating the protective stance she’d taken when it came to Blue. “But you should understand, too, that I intend to do whatever it takes to have my daughter in my life.” Autumn Myers was about to learn that her niece’s daddy was a man of his word. One worthy of the daughter the good Lord had blessed him with.

* * *

Autumn drew the quilt atop Tucker’s guest bed up over her niece and then tucked it in snugly around her tiny form.

Blue gave a sleepy smile. “’Night, Aunt Autumn.”

“Sleep tight, sweetie,” she said, leaning in to kiss the top of Blue’s head. Then she walked over to the suitcase she’d packed Blue’s clothes in for their trip there. She’d chosen to bring a good week’s worth of outfits, not knowing if they would be staying but deciding it was best to be prepared just in case. It seemed tonight, at least, they would be staying.

When Tucker had invited them into his home, even going so far as to fix them grilled cheese sandwiches because Blue had told him they hadn’t eaten dinner yet, her niece had barely been able to keep her eyes open. Autumn had decided it best to call it a night and set up a time to meet with Tucker the following day. She’d had every intention of taking Blue to one of the nearby hotels she’d called before coming to Bent Creek to check on room availability, but Tucker had insisted they take one of his guest rooms.

When she’d politely refused Tucker’s offer, not wanting to impose, he’d told her that his house was Blue’s as well, and it was long past time she had a chance to stay there. He topped that statement off with a heartfelt please before adding that he intended to take himself out to the barn to sleep on the cot he’d set up a few weeks prior when he’d wanted to watch over one of his horses that had been under the weather at the time.

Not quite the actions of a selfish, responsibility-shirking cowboy, which she had believed him to be for the past five-plus years. He appeared to be quite the opposite. At least, when it came to first impressions. Tucker had accepted Blue into his life without a moment’s hesitation, seemed more than willing to prove himself and had even offered to sleep in the barn to give them some privacy. All of that and a soft spot for animals. Throw in that rugged cowboy look that both she and Summer had always been drawn to, something Autumn had learned was best to avoid. What was there not to like? Other than the fact that Tucker Wade’s very existence could mean a lifetime of heartache for her if Blue ended up being raised by her daddy.

Autumn busied herself with getting Blue’s clothes ready for the next day, hoping to take her mind off the handsome cowboy who had managed to steal at least a piece of her sister’s well-guarded heart.

“Does my daddy have horses?” Blue asked sleepily.

Her daddy. How odd those words sounded coming from her niece, Autumn thought, struggling not to frown. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“I am,” her niece replied. “Almost. Does he?”

“He does,” she answered. “In fact, your daddy has a ranch filled with them.” From what she’d learned, Tucker Wade and his brothers were stock contractors for rodeos, dealing specifically in the horses used for events like saddle bronc and bareback bronc riding. Apparently, Summer had been keeping tabs on her husband from afar, collecting news clippings, and even a detailed report from the private investigator her sister had hired the year before, unbeknownst to Autumn. They all showed a man who was hardworking, always willing to lend a hand to help those in need and a man of unbending faith. He’d retired from the rodeo circuit to run stock horses with his two brothers.

“But I didn’t see any.”

“Maybe because you were fast asleep when we pulled in. Besides, they were probably off running through the hills.”

“I don’t like horses.”

While Autumn had never been as at ease around horses as Summer had, she didn’t fear them like Blue did now. Her niece had always displayed the same passion for animals as her mother had. At least, until Summer’s accident. Blue would spend hours on end out in the barn with her momma while Summer tended to Alamo, the eight-year-old quarter horse her sister had purchased that past year.

Having a horse of her own again had given Summer back some of that spark that had been missing since she’d had to sell her beloved Cinnamon, the horse she’d ridden during her barrel-racing days, to help pay for the cost of formula and diapers for Blue. Her daughter’s needs had always come first with Summer. Unlike it had been with their own mother.

Autumn settled herself onto the edge of the mattress with a sad smile. “Your momma wouldn’t want you to blame Alamo or any other horses for what happened. Snakes are very scary creatures, even to big, strong horses. Alamo just wanted to get away from it.”

“I don’t like snakes, either,” Blue said with a yawn.

Autumn managed the semblance of a smile. “That makes two of us, sweetheart.”

“I miss Momma.”

Just shy of five years old, her niece should still have her mother in her life. The sadness in Blue’s eyes whenever she spoke about missing her momma never failed to make Autumn’s heart break.

“I know you do, sweetie,” Autumn replied past the lump that had risen in her throat, still trying to come to terms with the recent loss of her sister herself. Summer had been gone for nearly six months and it still didn’t seem real. Her twin, older than Autumn by mere minutes, had been called home to the Lord a week after being thrown from her horse.

“Are you gonna leave me, too?” her precious little Blue asked fearfully.

Autumn fought back an onslaught of tears. How was she supposed to answer that? Because if her sister’s last wishes were carried out, she would be leaving Blue in the care of a man who hadn’t even known his daughter existed.

“Not a chance,” she heard herself reply. If this life-changing drive to Bent Creek, Wyoming, two counties away from Cheyenne, and the only home her niece had ever known, turned out the way Autumn hoped it would, her niece would be coming home with her for good. Despite the fact that she had been struggling since Summer’s passing to place her complete faith in the Lord, Autumn sent up a silent prayer that she would be able to keep her promise to her sister if Tucker managed to prove himself worthy. In that case, she would make sure she stayed in her niece’s life. Still, she couldn’t even begin to imagine her life without Blue in it. Her niece was a living, breathing piece of Summer. All Autumn had left of her sister. And it was the love she had for her twin, as well as her not-quite-three-year-old niece—because that was all the older Blue was at the time—that had motivated Autumn to sell her real estate business in Braxton, Texas, where she and Summer had grown up, and move to Wyoming to be with them.

Blue turned onto her side, snuggling deeper under the blue-and-green-floral quilt. “Do you think my daddy liked our surprise?”

She had told Blue they were going to surprise her daddy with a visit and not to feel bad if he didn’t seem happy about it, that some people didn’t know how to handle surprises. Truth was she was preparing her niece in the kindest way she knew how for Tucker’s possible rejection. If that had happened, Blue wouldn’t feel the least bit unlovable. An emotion Autumn had experienced firsthand. But Tucker, though thoroughly shocked, had seemed to be overjoyed to learn that he had a daughter.

“How could he not when you’re the surprise?” Autumn said, reaching out to stroke her niece’s long curls.

With a sleepy smile, Blue closed her eyes and gave in to the exhaustion she’d been fighting.

Autumn closed her eyes as well, only not in sleep, but in one final prayer that night. Dear Lord, please have a care with my niece’s tender heart when Your will, whatever that may be, is done.

Chapter Two

Autumn, cup of freshly brewed coffee in hand, moved to stand at the edge of the porch, her gaze skimming over the vast land around her. She loved all the warm colors that came with the fall season. The brilliant golds and vibrant reds with bold splashes of burgundy. The same colorful palette that now dotted the towering trees that surrounded Tucker Wade’s ranch and filled the distant hills. Earthy shades of green and brown carpeted the ground below, making the colors in the trees above stand out even more.

Closing her eyes, she breathed in the cool, crisp air that filled the mornings at that time of year. Much to her surprise, a feeling of peacefulness settled over her as she stood in the faint chill of the early morning, listening to the faint sounds of nature stirring to life around her. It was a peacefulness she hadn’t known for a very long while.

The unexpected calm that filled her at that moment took Autumn by surprise. Especially when one considered her reason for being there. Maybe it was a sign from God that everything was going to be all right. She’d certainly prayed hard enough. And there was no doubt in her mind that Blue was better off with her than with a man whose entire life centered around horses, whether it was riding them or getting them rodeo ready. Tucker Wade would have a very hard time convincing her otherwise.

Then again, what if this was the Lord’s way of telling her that Bent Creek was the right place for her niece? That Blue would find contentment in this vast, horse-filled land hours from the only home she’d ever known.

No, Autumn thought in a panic, the right place for Blue is back in Cheyenne with the one person who loves her more than anyone else ever could. She had to believe that. Surely, the Lord knew that, as well. He’d seen the sacrifices Autumn had made for those she loved. For Blue.

That precious child filled her heart to overflowing. She didn’t need a husband or even children of her own to make her happy. Not as long as she had Blue.

Not as long as she had Blue.

No sooner had that thought gone through her mind than the feeling of serenity that had come over her only moments before began to slip. In its place, the very real fear of losing her cherished little Blue Belle. A fear she’d been struggling with ever since Summer let loose the secrets she’d been keeping for so long. Secrets Autumn found herself wishing her sister would have taken with her to the grave.

Guilt filled her instantly at even harboring such a thought. Blue deserved to know her daddy, just as Tucker Wade deserved to know his little girl. They had both been denied the opportunity for far too long. Autumn couldn’t let her own selfish needs and wants stop her from doing what was right. Doing what the Lord would want her to do.

“Morning.”

Autumn jumped, her eyes flying open at the deep, baritone sound. Hot coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup she held clutched in her hand, causing her to wince.

Tucker Wade was there in an instant, standing on the other side of the porch’s railing as he reached out to ease the cup from her stinging hand. “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said apologetically as he set the coffee cup onto the railing a safe distance away. Then he pulled a red-and-white-print handkerchief from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to her, asking worriedly, “You okay?”

She took the offered square of colorful cotton and dabbed at her hand. “I’m fine,” she said with a halfhearted smile.

His gaze dropped to the red spots on her hand, and his frown deepened. “You need to run that hand under some cold water.” Without waiting for a reply, he turned and made his way around to the side of the house, returning a moment later with a garden hose in hand. The water was coming out in a slow, gentle trickle. “Hold out that hand,” he said.

“I really don’t...” she began to protest, then seeing the determination on the cowboy’s face had her saving her breath. Holding her hand out over the railing, she watched as Tucker Wade ran the cool water over the reddened patches of skin the spilled coffee had left behind.

“Better?” he asked, glancing up at her with a warm smile.

But the smile wasn’t what drew and held her attention. It was his eyes. Slightly more brilliant than Blue’s, she decided. A vivid shade of bright green. Like the heart-shaped leaves found on lemon clover. And those thick lashes...

“Autumn?”

She snapped out of her thoughts, her cheeks warming at having been so distracted by this man. So what if Tucker Wade had striking eyes and a kind smile? A handsome face had nothing to do with the man’s ability to care for his daughter. She gave a quick nod. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Glad to help.” His smile widened into a teasing grin as he worked to shut off the hose’s nozzle. “Maybe I should have suggested you help yourself to the orange juice in the fridge instead.”

Her gaze touched briefly on the coffee cup atop the porch railing and then back to Tucker Wade. “I didn’t sleep very well last night, so waking up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee was a most welcomed thing.” Not only had Tucker insisted she and Blue spend the night there instead of driving into town, he’d set the timer on his coffee maker so it would be ready for her when she awoke.

“That makes two of us,” he admitted with a sigh.

“You should have slept in the house last night,” she said with a frown.

“It had nothing to do with that,” he assured her. “We cowboys are used to camping outdoors, so a cot in a barn isn’t so bad. I just had a lot on my mind.”

“Understandable.” She glanced toward the sun that was slowly rising up from the distant horizon and then back to him. “At least Blue slept well last night,” she said. “Not a single nightmare.”

“You expected her to have bad dreams here?”

“I didn’t know,” she said honestly. “They happen on occasion. Ever since her momma died.”

“Maybe the distraction of being in a new place will help to ease her nightmares.”

“I pray it does.” She glanced toward the rising sun and then back to Tucker. “So are you always up this early?”

“Earlier, usually,” he replied. “I’m a bit off my game today.”

She nodded in understanding. “The coffee’s still hot if you’d like a cup,” she offered. Despite his reassurances, she knew he couldn’t have been very comfortable doing so with the nights getting so cold, but she appreciated his willingness.

“Coffee sounds good,” he replied.

“Blue should be getting up soon. She’s an early riser, but I expect her to be up even earlier this morning, considering this is her first breakfast with her daddy.”

He glanced toward the front door, his expression one of nervous apprehension.

Autumn laughed softly. “It’s not as if you’re about to face a den of lions as Daniel once had to. Blue’s a very sweet, loving little girl.”

His gaze shifted back to her. “My little girl,” he said as if in awe of the words that he’d just spoken, his voice choked with emotion. “And I don’t have the slightest idea where to begin.”

That admission couldn’t be easy for a man like Tucker Wade. Cowboys were a proud lot. She should have been encouraged by his honesty, a sign that maybe he wasn’t mentally prepared to raise a child. But she found herself offering him a reassuring smile. “I’d start with a ‘good morning’ once she wakes up and then prepare to answer a lot of questions. Everything from ‘Are clouds made up of cotton balls?’ to ‘Why can’t chickens fly?’”

Tucker chuckled.

“Laugh now,” she warned playfully. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you once the questions begin. Your daughter can be very inquisitive.”

“Duly noted.”

“You cook?” she asked in surprise.

The corners of his mouth lifted, revealing a lone dimple. The same dimple her niece displayed with every smile. “A man’s gotta eat.” That said, he started off around the house, dragging the garden hose behind him. “Plain to see where Blue got her ‘inquisitiveness’ from,” he called back over a broad shoulder before disappearing from sight.

The moment Autumn realized she was still smiling, she forced her mouth into a tight line. She would not, could not, like Tucker Wade. He was the enemy. The one person who could take away the only family she had left. Not waiting for Tucker, she grabbed for her cup of coffee and marched determinedly back into the house.

* * *

Hearing the front door to his ranch house close, Tucker took a moment to calm his racing thoughts. There were times as he’d stood talking to Autumn that he found himself thinking of Summer. How could he not? Autumn was the spitting image of his wife, except for having shorter hair and more of a businesslike style of dress. And she was every bit as pretty. Not at all surprising, considering they were identical twins. Yet, Autumn seemed different. Where his wife had always lived her life being her true self, her sister seemed more reserved; guarded, almost. Not that the situation they found themselves in didn’t give her reason to be, but Tucker found himself wondering what she would be like with all those protective layers peeled away.

When Autumn had let down her guard for those brief moments that morning, allowing her more playful side to come out, she reminded him even more of her sister. But she wasn’t Summer, the woman who had run out on him, taking with her a very huge part of him—his daughter.

His daughter. A lump formed in Tucker’s throat, causing him to swallow hard. He was somebody’s daddy. Blue’s daddy. She was the most precious responsibility he’d ever been given. He knew nothing about raising children. She knew nothing about him. It felt as if he were going down a steep set of stairs in the dark with no handrail to hold on to. He didn’t want to fall. Didn’t want to fail. Not when God had chosen him to bestow this incredible blessing on.

Blue Belle Wade. Wait until his family found out about her. They’d be as shocked as he’d been. Even more so, seeing as how they had no idea he’d ever been married. So many things he would have done differently if given the chance. But there was no going back in life, only forward. And with that in mind, he intended to make it up to Blue for being absent from her life for so long, even if that absence hadn’t been his choice.

Taking a deep breath, Tucker headed inside, closing the front door quietly behind him as he made his way to the kitchen. The coffee mug Autumn had been using sat on the kitchen table, but she was nowhere in sight. Crossing the kitchen, he grabbed himself a mug and filled it with coffee. Then he busied himself with starting breakfast for his guests.

Tucker caught himself, mentally changing that to for his daughter and her aunt. His daughter was not a guest. She was family. His family. That thought had him whistling a happy tune as he moved about the kitchen.

“Care to tell us what’s going on with you today?”

Speaking of family. Tucker turned to find Jackson and Garrett standing just inside the kitchen entryway, worried frowns on their faces. They’d clearly come before finishing up that morning’s tasks.

“Everything okay with the horses?” he asked, worried that something might have happened with one. His brothers looked so serious.

“They’re fine,” Jackson replied. “It’s you we’re concerned about. You never call off when there’s work to be done.”

He’d spent a long, restless night, caught up in thoughts of his little girl. He’d also spent a good bit of time praying for the Lord to give him the strength to find it in himself to forgive Summer as Autumn had, because at that moment the depth of her betrayal was still too fresh to get past the simmering resentment he felt inside.

“Judging by the happy little tune you were whistling when we came in,” Garrett said, “I’m guessing you’re not under the weather.”

“No,” Tucker replied, feeling guilty for causing his brothers unnecessary worry. He hadn’t made mention of Blue when he’d called to let them know he wouldn’t be meeting up with them at the main barn that morning, because that was the kind of news he preferred to give them in person. “I’m not under the weather.”

His oldest brother’s frown deepened. “That being the case, care to let us in on what’s really going on with you, then?”

Where did he begin? Tucker sent a quick prayer heavenward for some guidance from the Lord in the best way to handle this situation. One that affected him as well as his family. “I—”

“You’re really tall,” a tiny voice stated, cutting into Tucker’s response.

His gaze shot between his brothers to see Blue standing there in the living room, looking up at Garrett and Jackson with youthful curiosity. She was wearing a long flannel nightgown covered in bright pink butterflies. Matching pink kitten heads peeked out from under the ruffled hem of her nightgown. A stuffed rag doll that looked as though it had gotten most of the stuffing loved right out of it drooped from her tiny hand.

His brothers’ eyes widened in unison at the unexpected interruption before they pivoted on booted heels to look down at Blue. For the first time since Tucker could remember, his big brothers were rendered utterly speechless.

“Come on into the kitchen, sweetheart,” he told his daughter, whose gaze was still fixed on her suddenly mute uncles.

Jackson and Garrett parted to let her through, their attention doing a slingshot in his direction as she passed by with a sleepy smile.

“Morning, Daddy,” she said in the sweetest little singsong voice he’d ever heard. Her words grabbed at his heart. He was somebody’s daddy, something he’d never expected to be after Summer had run out on their marriage. Not only had he been too hurt to think about trusting in love again, but also his still being legally wed to Summer had been keeping him from giving another relationship a chance.

Tucker returned his baby girl’s smile, an unfamiliar warmth seeping into his heart as he did so. Then he placed his hands on her tiny shoulders and slowly turned her to face his brothers. “Blue Belle Wade, these two hulking giants who don’t seem to be able to pick their jaws up from the kitchen floor are your uncles. That’s your uncle Jackson on the left and your uncle Garrett on the right.” He glanced down at his daughter, recalling she was only four. “Do you know what left and right are?”

She held out her hand, making and L shape with her fingers. “This is my left because left starts with L.”

“Very good,” he praised. He didn’t know enough about children to say for sure, but something told him Blue was an extremely bright child.

“Uncles?” Jackson muttered in confusion as he stared at Blue.

Tucker looked up at his brother with an answering nod.

Garrett attempted to process what he’d just heard. “Blue Belle Wade?” he repeated slowly, his gaze fixed on Blue with her bright smile and reddish-brown curls.

“My daughter,” Tucker said, still trying to come to grips with it all himself.

Garrett’s wide-eyed gaze snapped up to Tucker. “Your what?”

“His daughter,” Blue announced proudly, her tiny chin lifting.

“Daughter?” Jackson repeated, understandably confused by Blue’s announcement.

“Who’s hungry?” Tucker said with forced calm. He didn’t want his brothers’ raised voices to startle his daughter. “We can talk more about this while we eat. I’m making bacon and eggs.”

Blue’s gleeful expression fell. “But Aunt Autumn always makes me pancakes.”

“I’m making pancakes, too,” Tucker promptly amended, causing his brother’s gazes to swing sharply in his direction.

Jackson snorted. “Since when do you make pancakes?”

“He’s not,” another female voice chimed in. “I am.”

His brothers stepped aside as Autumn made her way past them into the kitchen to stand beside him and Blue.

This wasn’t how he’d envisioned this moment to go. He hadn’t even had a chance to prepare his brothers for the shock of finding out they were uncles. “I don’t have a pancake mix,” Tucker admitted guiltily.

“The best pancakes are made from scratch anyways,” Autumn said with a smile and then leaned over to speak to Blue. “Sweetie, I thought I told you to wait for me in the bathroom while I grabbed your hairbrush and ponytail holder from your suitcase and a change of clothes.”

“I was hungry.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t be wandering around by yourself.”

“I wasn’t by myself,” she said, looking up at Tucker who stood on her other side. “I was with my daddy.”

A slight frown tugged at Autumn’s lips as she straightened. “Yes, I suppose you were.”

Tucker looked over to find Garrett and Jackson staring at Autumn, mouths agape. And he understood why. They’d known Summer from the rodeo, had known their little brother had been sweet on her that rodeo season. And with Blue calling him daddy he could just imagine what they were thinking. Only they had it all wrong.

Clearing his throat, he said, “Jackson and Garrett, I’d like you to meet Autumn Myers, Summer’s twin sister.”

“Her twin?” Jackson said as if having trouble accepting that this wasn’t the Summer they had once known, standing there.

“Identical twin,” Autumn supplied with a sad smile.

Tucker wanted to explain why his wife wasn’t there and her sister was, but he didn’t want to mention Summer’s passing with his daughter standing there. Her mother’s loss had been traumatic enough for her as it was.

“My mommy’s in heaven,” Blue said sadly.

Tucker’s heart ached for his little girl. No child should ever have to speak those words.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Clearing the emotion from his throat, Tucker said, “Her aunt Autumn brought Blue here to meet her family.”

“And maybe I’ll get to live here if you want me,” Blue reminded him.

“As I said before, wanting you isn’t an issue,” he replied tenderly. “I do without a doubt. You belong here.”

“Tucker, please,” Autumn warned in a hushed voice beside him. “Don’t get her hopes up. It’s too soon.”

“You have a daughter,” Garrett said disbelievingly.

Tucker nodded. “I do.”

“All these years and you’ve never said anything?” Jackson grumbled, clearly hurt by what he thought had been Tucker’s decision to keep Blue’s existence from them.

“Why don’t Blue and I give you men a few moments of privacy while she gets dressed for the day?” Autumn said, taking her niece by the hand. “Just give me a holler when you’re ready for me to start on those pancakes.”

His brothers parted to let them through.

“Are my uncles mad at my daddy?” Tucker heard Blue ask as Autumn led her away. Any answer her aunt might have given was lost as the two scurried toward the entryway.

Garrett waited a moment and then turned to face him. “I can’t believe you kept this from us.”

Tucker hated the censure he saw in his brother’s eyes.

Jackson crossed the room to grab a couple of coffee cups from the cupboard. “I wouldn’t have expected this from you,” he muttered as he placed them onto the counter and then reached for the coffeepot. “Momma raised us better than that.”

This was going to be even harder than he’d imagined it would be, not that he’d had much time to think about how everything was going to play out. Just one sleepless night in the barn. He took a seat at the table and dragged a hand down over his face, feeling the stubble of his unshaven jaw. “I didn’t know about Blue,” he said, the admission stoking the flames of his resentment toward Summer for keeping his daughter from him. “Not until last evening when Autumn showed up on my doorstep to tell me about Summer’s...passing.” The word caught in his throat.

“I’m sorry,” Garrett said solemnly. “I know how much she meant to you at one time.”

Enough to marry, Tucker thought, his jaw tightening.

Jackson walked over and handed Garrett a steaming mug and then both men settled themselves into the empty chairs across the table from Tucker, disapproval etched into their tanned faces.

“I know what you’re both thinking,” Tucker grumbled. “And you’re wrong.”

“You just told us that Blue is your daughter,” their oldest brother said, pinning Tucker with his gaze.

“She is. Only I didn’t know Summer was carrying my child when she walked away from our marriage.”

Jackson nearly choked on the sip of coffee he’d just taken. “Marriage?”

“You both know I fell pretty hard for her when we met. By the time rodeo season came to an end, I couldn’t imagine leaving her. She felt the same.” At least, he’d thought she had. But if she had, she would have told him about the baby. Would have given him the chance to think about giving up the rodeo life, instead of making the decision herself to end something they had started together. “We both decided to put down roots in Cheyenne, the place where we’d first met. So I bought her a ring and got married at the courthouse.”

“You have something against church weddings?” Garrett asked with a disapproving frown.

“We wanted a quick, small, private wedding.”

“Can’t get more private than a courthouse wedding,” Jackson muttered angrily as he brought his coffee cup to his lips. “You might have at least included your immediate family in something as sacred as the exchanging of your wedding vows.”

Garrett’s downturned mouth pulled tighter. “And to think we all believed you had stayed behind when rodeo season ended to work a job until the next year’s circuit began anew.”

He had found filler work in Cheyenne to help pay the bills. That much was true.

“Did your rushed marriage have something to do with Summer having your baby?”

Tucker pinned his oldest brother with his gaze. “Blue came after the fact. I rushed into a hasty marriage with Summer because I was young and thought love was something it turned out not to be,” he replied, feeling the need to clarify things.

“We all knew you were always one to jump feetfirst into the fire,” Garrett said crossly, “but marriage, Tucker? Never mind the not including us when the nuptials took place, because you and I both know I would have done my best to talk you out of it with you being only twenty-four at the time. But why not tell us about your marriage afterward?”

“Summer and I agreed to take a little time to settle into marriage before telling our families. My family actually,” he amended, “as my wife led me to believe she had none. But things changed. My wife changed.” He went on to tell his brothers everything he knew, but there were still so many unanswered questions he might never get answers to now that she was gone.

Empathy replaced the hurt and anger he’d seen in Garrett’s eyes. His brother released a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. It certainly explains why you’ve avoided any real relationship since that summer. I put it off to your not wanting the distraction while competitively riding. Then after we started up our rodeo stock company I thought it had something to do with your delving hard into that. Never in a million years would I have guessed the truth having anything to do with you being married.”

Jackson sat back against the kitchen chair and shoved a splayed hand back through his thick hair. “I still can’t process the fact that my baby brother is a married man.”

“Widowed,” Tucker said flatly. Then, fighting back the emotion that had been roiling around in his gut all morning, he said, “And it was my forgiveness she should have been seeking at the end.”

“There’s no denying that Summer did you wrong,” Jackson acknowledged with a frown. “But she did right by asking the Lord for forgiveness. If you were there, then maybe—”

“But I wasn’t,” Tucker ground out, cutting his brother off. “I didn’t even know where there was. She left without so much as a goodbye and never made any attempt to contact me, or let me know where she was. At some point, she came back to Cheyenne, but I must have already moved back home.”

“It’s possible she tried to find you at some point, but you were already gone,” Garrett said hopefully.

“Summer knew I was born and raised in Bent Creek. She could have found me easy enough. But my wife chose to keep my little girl from me.” A myriad of emotions filled him at that moment, feelings he didn’t know how to deal with.

His brothers exchanged worried glances and then Garrett said, “It’s going to be okay.”

“How?” Tucker demanded. “I’ve missed so much. My daughter’s first smile. Her first steps. Her first birthday.” Shoving away from the table, he crossed the room to stand at the sink, staring out the bay window that looked out over the back pasture. “I’m her father,” he said, his voice breaking, “and I don’t even know when my daughter’s birthday is.”

Chairs scooted back from the kitchen table and then heavy-booted footsteps crossed the wood planks that made up the kitchen floor. A second later, he was bookended by his older brothers.

Garrett clasped a hand over his shoulder. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now, but I do know that the Lord has seen fit to bless our family with your little girl. And while we can’t change the past, and the time we’ve lost with her, we can set our sights on the time we’re going to have with Blue in the years to come.”

Jackson nodded. “Garrett’s right. What really matters is seeing to it that Blue is happy. We’ve got the rest of her life to celebrate her birthdays and holidays, and worship together.”

If only it were that simple. “I pray that’s how it goes,” he replied. “First, I have to prove myself capable of caring for Blue to her aunt. Autumn has custody of my daughter, and, while she’s here honoring her sister’s wishes, she’s made it perfectly clear she’s not going to simply turn her niece over to me.”

“Then you’ll prove yourself capable,” Jackson said determinedly. “All of us will.”

Garrett looked to them both. “Good plan, but care to tell me how we do that when none of us have the slightest idea of how to care for a child, let alone a little girl?”

“Looks like I’m going to have to call Mom sooner than I’d planned,” Tucker said with a sigh. “I’d hoped to wait a few days until I’d had a chance to come to terms with suddenly being somebody’s daddy.”

“Don’t,” Jackson said with a frown. “They’ve wanted to go on this trip for as long as I can remember. What’s a few more weeks?”

Tucker shook his head. “It can’t wait. I won’t lose Blue.” If it came down to it, he’d fight for her legally. But a legal battle wasn’t something he wanted to put his daughter through. So that left proving himself to Autumn.

“You won’t,” Jackson said with conviction. “We’ll figure something out.”

Garrett nodded in agreement.

Tucker glanced toward the doorway. “We’ll talk more later. Right now, my little girl is eagerly awaiting pancakes.”

“See there,” Garrett said with a grin, “you’re already stepping into daddy mode.”

Jackson slapped Tucker on the back. “All I can say is better you than me. I’m nowhere ready to settle down to that kind of responsibility yet. However, I am looking forward to being Blue’s favorite uncle.”

“You’re going to have to settle for second favorite,” Garrett told him as they made their way out of the kitchen. “I have access to kittens.”

“Using your job to win her over,” Jackson grumbled. “That’s low. Guess I’ll have to break out the friendship card and take Blue to Sandy’s Candy’s.” Sandy was a classmate of Jackson’s who made the best homemade fudge in the county. But she also had counters filled with assorted sweets, including an entire section of penny candies.

Tucker felt some of the worry that had been pressing down on him since awakening that morning lift away. He would make this work and be the father Blue deserved, because he wasn’t in this alone. He had his family there to support him, to help Blue settle into what would be her new life. And, most important, he had the Lord to turn to when things got tough.

Chapter Three

“Are my uncles coming for pancakes today?”

Tucker looked to Blue who was seated across the table from him next to her aunt Autumn. A large lace bow now held her curls in place as they trailed down her back in a neat ponytail. She’d changed out of her nightgown and into a fancy ruffled dress. “Not today, sweetheart.”

“Don’t they like pancakes?” she asked with a worried frown.

He could understand why she might think that. His brothers hadn’t stuck around the morning before after discovering they had a niece partially because they felt they needed to give Tucker some time alone with his “guests.” But he knew, having experienced the same shock of discovering Blue’s existence, that Garrett and Jackson probably needed a little time to process everything. “Your uncles have to check on the horses and see to a few fence repairs.”

“I don’t like horses,” Blue said with a frown, a sticky drop of pancake syrup clinging to her tiny chin.

Tucker’s smile sagged with his daughter’s announcement. How could a child conceived by two parents whose lives had once revolved solely around horses dislike them? More important, how was he supposed to see to it that his daughter was happy there at the ranch when she had an aversion to the very thing that put food on the table for his family? Her family.

Autumn picked up her napkin, dipped it into her water glass and then dabbed at the sticky syrup that had dribbled down Blue’s chin. “Sweetie, we talked about this on the way here. You can’t blame Alamo for what happened.”

“Alamo?” he asked as he watched the ease with which Summer’s sister cared for his daughter.

“Mommy’s horse,” Blue replied as she stabbed at another piece of syrup-laced pancake.

“The horse she was riding the day of the accident,” Autumn explained as she set the damp paper napkin down next to her plate. “She hadn’t owned Alamo all that long, so she had no way of knowing how he would react to being spooked. I have to imagine that most horses would be a little shaken up by a snake in their path.”

He nodded. “Some horses tend to be afraid of snakes. Some aren’t.” His horse wasn’t, but Hoss knew enough to give a snake a wide berth if they happened to cross paths. Same went with Little Joe, his more recently acquired saddle horse. “If only she’d been riding Cinnamon,” he muttered with a frown. “He’d never been prone to spooking.” One of the best quarter horses he’d come across in both manner and spirit.

“There have been far too many if onlys in our lives lately,” Autumn responded with a sigh, her gaze shifting to Blue. Then she looked back to Tucker, a hint of something that could only be described as condemnation in her eyes. “She had to sell Cinnamon after Blue was born.”

“Why?” he asked, unable to comprehend his wife ever parting with her beloved horse.

Autumn’s pretty mouth twisted in a sign of irritation and one slender brow lifted.

“Babies take money, Mr. Wade,” Autumn pointed out. “Medical bills, diapers, formula. Then there’s childcare, because as a single parent, Summer had no choice but to work to keep a roof over their heads. So, as you see, my sister had no choice but to sell her horse.”

Was she attempting to point blame in his direction for the difficulty Summer had gone through? Because it felt an awful lot like she was. “She had a choice,” he said with forced calmness. He might not know much about raising children, but he knew enough to keep adult issues between adults. “I’d be more than happy to discuss it with you further at a more appropriate time,” he said with a nod toward Blue, who seemed totally oblivious to the conversation going on around her. Her interest lay in swiping up every bit of the remaining syrup on her plate with her fingertip.

As if just realizing what she was doing, Autumn reached once more for her damp napkin. “Sweetie, it’s not polite to lick the syrup off your finger.” Taking his daughter’s hand in hers, she proceeded to wipe it clean.

Blue’s tiny mouth fell into a pout. “But I get to lick cotton candy off my fingers. And icing. And—”

“That’s different,” Autumn replied, a hint of frustration in her voice. She set the napkin down and stood, collecting both hers and Blue’s plates and forks. “You’re still sticky,” she told her as she turned and started for the sink. “Why don’t you run on into the bathroom and wash your hands with soap and water while I do up these dishes?”

“There’s no need for you to do that,” Tucker countered, his thoughts still dwelling on the fact that she blamed him for Summer’s having to struggle financially.

Blue shifted in her chair, her gaze trailing after her aunt. “Can we go pick flowers afterward?”

Autumn shook her head. “It’s October, sweetie. Not a very good time of year to be searching for flowers.”

It was good to see his daughter had a fondness for the outdoors. After having spent the previous day stuck inside thanks to a sudden drop in temperature that preceded a brief thunderstorm that rolled in, Tucker looked forward to showing her around the ranch. Not that he had minded getting to know his baby girl while playing dozens of games of Go Fish and Old Maid. Autumn had spent some of that time making work calls, and the rest observing the two of them. Until he proved himself, he had no choice but to accept that everything he did was going to be under Autumn’s close scrutiny.

“Actually,” Tucker said, “I happen to know where we can find some yellow rabbitbrush in bloom.”

Blue’s face lit up. “I like yellow!”

“Don’t you have to help your brothers with those repairs today?” Autumn asked.

He shook his head. “Jackson called this morning to tell me they were going to focus on the two worst sections of the fence line today and see to the rest tomorrow. Garrett has a few vet calls he needs to make today, which means I’m free to take Blue out to find those flowers after breakfast.”

Blue straightened in her chair, beaming excitedly. “Yay! Can we go now?”

* * *

Autumn smiled. “I’ll get you ready as soon as I finish cleaning up the kitchen.”

Tucker nodded. “I’ll give you a hand with these breakfast dishes. Then I’ll go grab a quick shower before we go look for those blooms. That is, if it’s all right with your aunt Autumn.”

Blue swung her gaze around. “Can my daddy get a shower before we go for a ride?”

“Yes.” Autumn wasted no time in responding, a grin parting her pink lips. “He may.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he muttered, a flash of heat spreading through his whiskered cheeks.

A snort of laughter passed through Autumn’s curved lips, drawing his attention in her direction. He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was when she wasn’t scowling at him with condemnation. Her humor-filled gaze met his. “For future reference, children take almost everything that is said quite literally.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

She looked to Blue. “What Tucker...that is, your daddy,” she promptly corrected, “meant to say was that he needs to make sure your going for a ride with him would be all right with me.”

“The invitation was for the both of you,” Tucker clarified.

“Oh,” Autumn said, as if surprised by his wanting to include her. “I thought—”

“You’ve thought a lot of things about me that I hope to have a chance to set to rights,” he said determinedly.

“Can we go?” Blue pleaded, her face alight with excitement. “Please, Aunt Autumn!”

Autumn looked to Tucker. “I’d hate to—”

“Don’t say impose,” he told her as he stood to carry his own dishes over to the sink. “I want to show the two of you around. Give Blue an idea of what it will be like to live here at the Triple W Rodeo Ranch.”

“If she lives here,” Autumn immediately countered as if he’d forgotten her telling him he had to prove himself before she’d turn care of Blue over to him. Care he rightfully should have been a part of from the beginning.

“Rest assured my daughter will be with me.” He’d lost too much precious time with Blue as it was thanks to Summer.

“Do yellow rabbits live in the flower bush?”

His gaze still locked with Autumn’s, he said in confusion, “Yellow rabbits?”

A semblance of a smile returned once more to her pretty face. “I did warn you to prepare yourself for this. And now you have a perfect example of a four-year-old’s never-ending and sometimes completely unexpected questions.” She turned to Blue. “Sweetie, there is no such thing as a yellow rabbit.”

“But I ate one at Easter.”

Tucker’s brow lifted.

“Real rabbits don’t have bright yellow fur,” Autumn went on to explain to his daughter. “Only candy bunnies do.” She turned to him, explaining further, “She’s referring to marshmallow Peeps.”

How did she get all of that out of his daughter’s question? Did the ability to decipher a child’s way of thinking just come naturally for some, or was it something one learned over time? He prayed it was the latter, because it clearly wasn’t instinctive for him. Autumn’s clarification had made things clearer on his end, however.

He turned to Blue, who was watching them from where she remained seated at the table. “They call it yellow rabbitbrush because the yellow flowers that grow on them are a favorite treat of jackrabbits.”

“Oh,” his daughter said with a sigh, sounding disappointed.

If he could have, he would have covered the bushes they were going to see in marshmallow bunnies. But those edible delights were somewhat scarce in October. However, he had something else up his sleeve that he was fairly sure his daughter would be just as excited over.

“We might even stop by your grandma and grandpa’s place to collect some eggs from the chickens in their henhouse on the way home.”

“I have a grandma and grandpa?” she squeaked excitedly.

“You sure do,” he said with a grin. “They’re not home right now because they’re on a trip but you’ll get to meet them very soon.”

“Do their chickens live in a house like yours?”

“A much smaller version,” he answered with a chuckle. “Now scoot and get those hands washed up, or you’re going to end up with chicken feathers sticking to your fingers.”

With a giggle, she hopped down and raced from the kitchen.

He looked to Autumn. “You might want to have her change into a pair of jeans.”

“Blue loves her dresses,” she said, slender brows drawing together in what appeared to be irritation at his request. “Most little girls do. And if you’re trying to make her into something she’s not—”

“We’re going on a hike,” he reminded her. “With plants and trees and rocky ground. Probably not the best conditions for that pretty little dress she’s wearing. But since you are her legal guardian, it’s your call.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh. “I thought you were trying to...” Her words trailed off as she searched for what Tucker assumed was a less accusatory explanation.

“Turn her into a cowgirl?” he supplied.

She lowered her gaze guiltily.

“Considering she’s mine and Summer’s,” he continued, “that’s bound to come naturally. But I won’t force my daughter to be someone she doesn’t want to be when she comes to live here.”

Her averted gaze snapped up to lock with his. “That transition, should it come at all, will be done in a slow, well-thought-out manner to assure Blue suffers no long-term emotional trauma from being uprooted from the only life she’s ever known.”

What about the emotional trauma that had been done to him? But this wasn’t about his issues. It was about what was best for his little girl. He understood Autumn’s reluctance to turn over custody of her niece after being such an integral part of his daughter’s life, but this was something he wasn’t backing down from. “I agree we need to make the transition for Blue as smooth as possible, but you need to start preparing yourself, as well. My daughter will be in my life and I’m not referring to brief holiday visits.”

“I could drag things out in court if it came down to it,” she replied.

“But you won’t.”

She shook her head, and with a resigned sigh said, “No. I wouldn’t put her through that. If you prove capable of taking care of my niece, I will put my trust in the Lord to watch over her when I’m not here to do so. However, my niece will be in my life,” she said, repeating his earlier words. “And I’m not referring to brief holiday visits.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said honestly, admiring her fire when it came to protecting Blue. “My daughter is your family, too. Is that what you’re worked up about? That possibility that I’ll cut you out of her life?”

She turned away.

“Autumn, I wasn’t the one who walked away from my marriage. Summer was.” He frowned. “I’ll be the first to admit that we were both too young to really know what we were getting into, but I would’ve done my best to make things work between us if she had only given me a chance. Baby and all.”

Her shoulders shuddered, and he knew by her silence that she was fighting back tears.

“Autumn...” he said, reaching out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. He understood her pain. She had already lost her sister. She feared losing Blue as well, something he would never do to her.

She held up a hand, but remained standing as she was. “I’m okay. A little worse for wear after a lot of sleepless nights, but I’ll pull it together.”

Her conviction was strong, and he imagined she would do just that. Autumn seemed to have an inner strength his wife had never quite mastered. Hers was carefully controlled. Her decisions well-thought-out, where her sister hadn’t always taken the time to consider the effect her words or her actions might have had on those around her.

He forced himself to let his hand fall away, but he remained where he was. “I can only imagine how hard this has been on you. Losing your sister that way. Suddenly having to take on the responsibility of raising her child. Not to mention the financial burden...”

She turned to face him. The thick tears looming in her light blue eyes made them appear as if they were liquid silver. “There wasn’t anything sudden about it. I gave up the real estate business I had built up back home in Lone Tree to come to Wyoming and help my sister with her little girl, both emotionally and financially, long before the Lord called Summer home. I found part-time work as a Realtor, planning my appointments around Summer’s waitressing job so one of us could be home with Blue at all times. Everything was perfect until...” A sob caught in her throat.

His heart ached for this woman who had dedicated so much of her life to caring for his daughter. “They were blessed to have you.”

“No,” she countered without hesitation. “I was blessed to have them. They filled an emptiness I had inside me that I never knew was there.” Her teary gaze drifted toward the empty doorway. “That little girl is everything to me. I love her with all my heart and I will do right by her.” Her teary gaze returned to him. “So, natural father or not, you’re gonna have to climb a very high mountain to reach the point where I feel she’d be better off with you than with myself and the life she already has in Cheyenne.”

She’d already made that point quite clear, but he wisely kept that thought to himself. She had a right to feel the way she did. He was a stranger. A man who she had believed for years had done her sister wrong. And while he was the one who had truly been ill-treated, he intended to put his all into winning Autumn over. She deserved that much, knowing now the selfless sacrifices she’d made in her own life to make Blue’s better.

“Whatever it takes,” he said softly, fighting the urge to brush away a stray tear from her cheek. At that moment, she looked weary and vulnerable. Not at all like the lioness protecting her cub that he’d seen her be.

“I should go check on Blue.”

“Make sure you both wear comfortable shoes,” he called out as she started from the kitchen. “We’ll be hiking up a trail that has bits of stone scattered about it to get to the flowers I promised to show Blue.”

“We will.” She paused in the doorway and cast a glance back over her shoulder. “Thank you for including me.” Before Tucker could reply, she was gone.

* * *

Autumn sat quietly, looking out the passenger-side window of Tucker’s truck as he drove them across his property. Not that she would have had a chance to say much with her niece chattering away from her car seat behind them. Tucker’s warm, husky laughter told her he didn’t mind Blue’s constant barrage of questions and comments one bit. In fact, and much to her dismay, he was doing and saying all the right things where his daughter was concerned, and Blue was eating her daddy’s attention right up.

“I didn’t think you had any nieces or nephews,” Autumn muttered with a glance his way. That was the only thing that could explain his comfort level around Blue. Yet, Summer hadn’t mentioned Blue having any cousins on Tucker’s side.

He shook his head. “I don’t. My brothers are as single as they come, with no plans to settle down anytime soon.”

She frowned at his reply. That meant Tucker was just a natural with children. She should have known that by how quickly her niece had taken to him.

“I take it one of my brothers caught your interest this morning.”

The question was so unexpected, Autumn found herself choking. “What?” She turned to find him attempting to smother a grin, that lone Wade dimple that Tucker and both of his brothers had inherited in the family gene pool etched deep into his tanned cheek.

He cast a quick glance in her direction. “You looked a little put out to hear that my brothers are committed bachelors,” he explained, his gaze shifting back to the road, or, in their case, the pasture ahead.

Confusion must have lit her features, because he added, “You frowned when I made mention of their firm commitment to bachelorhood.”

“What’s interest?” Blue piped up from the back seat of the extended cab.

Autumn cast a disapproving glare his way. Leave it to her niece to lose interest in the scenery outside just when Tucker had made his offhanded comment. “Children miss nothing,” she reminded him.

“I see that,” he said, that devastatingly handsome grin still intact.

She had no doubt that his smile was what had first drawn her sister to this man. Rugged good looks aside, it was that playful curve of his lips with that lone-dimpled grin, one that exuded both humor and confidence and put others at ease, which was nearly irresistible. Nearly. But Tucker Wade was the enemy. At least as far as she was concerned, he was. The man was stealing Blue’s affection away with his silly jokes and eagerness to go that extra mile to make his daughter happy.

“Will you look at that?” Tucker announced, pointing toward a sparsely wooded hillside a short distance ahead, one made up of a few scattered pines, dirt, rocks and splotches of dried-up grass.

“What?” Blue said excitedly, tipping sideways in an attempt to see out the front window of Tucker’s truck, her view mostly blocked by the passenger seat Autumn was in.

Glancing up at Blue in the rearview mirror, Tucker smiled. “The rabbitbrush is just over the top of that hillside.”

Autumn gasped, her head snapping around in his direction. “Are you telling me you intend to drive us up that mountain?”

Tucker chuckled. “It’s a hill, not a mountain. And a poor excuse of a hill at that.”

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