Page 22 of Cowboy's Christmas Wife

Laura agreed, and they separated for a few minutes. She went to get the baby’s things packed up, and Daryl looked in the fridge to grab out anything that would be good for their lunch. Georgina finished wrapping the dough, then she helped him by going to get the small picnic basket that had been their mother’s. “I’m proud of you, Daryl,” she said as she handed him the basket. She stopped him when he tried to take it. “Play it safe here, okay?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, playing dumb even though he had a sinking feeling that he knew.

“You’re falling in love with her,” Georgina said softly, so that Laura wouldn’t hear them, “and I’m worried about you. That’s all.”

“Georgina, Laura is fantastic—”

“Oh, I know!” He hushed his sister, who dropped her voice with an apologetic wince. “Look, I adore Laura and that baby. If you end up together, for real, I’ll be so happy for you.”

“But?” he prompted.

Georgina sighed. “But I don’t think she’s in a place to start a serious relationship right now,” she said, and then she rolled her eyes. “Though I say that when you’re already married to her.” She put a hand over her mouth, shaking her head. “What a mess, Daryl. What an absolute mess.”

“What’s a mess?” Laura asked as she came back into the kitchen. She had Lily on one shoulder and her diaper bag slung over the other.

Georgina’s face went from concerned to grinning in a second. It was unsettling. “The kitchen.” She lied so easily that it made Daryl nauseated. He quickly threw their lunch into the basket and opened the fridge and grabbed out some water. “I’m pretty sure we got flour on the ceiling.”

Laura laughed. “I can take a broom to it when we get back.”

His sister shooed them again. “I’ve got it,” she repeated. “Go have fun and celebrate.”

“Thank you,” Daryl said.Keep your nose out of my business, he added in his head. He grabbed their lunch basket and steered Laura out towards the door. When they stepped out onto the porch, she blinked at the sunshine. “This will probably be the last weekend that it’s warm enough for a picnic,” he said. “It’s lucky I got the news today.”

He opened the truck door for her, and she put Lily into the car seat. “I think it’s amazing,” she said. “What an opportunity.”

“It’s all because of you,” he murmured.

They climbed into the truck, and she gave him a disbelieving look. “What on earth did I do?”

“They didn’t know I existed,” he explained, “until you put together my website and the social media pages. You cannot imagine the number of hits I’ve gotten in the past few weeks.”

“Oh,” Laura said. “That wasn’t—” She cleared her throat. “I mean, that was just good sense. You’re the one who does all of the beautiful work.”

Daryl reached over and took her hand. “You made it so people could see it,” he said. “Thank you so much.”

Laura didn’t respond, only smiled, but she didn’t take her hand from his while they bumped along over the gently rolling hills. He drove them a few miles from the house to the place where a creek cut through the Rivers’ ranch. It was his favorite spot: he’d always told Kyle that he’d build a little cabin out here someday and leave the main house to him. Kyle thought he was kidding—they all loved that house—but Daryl wouldn’t mind leaving it to his younger brother if it meant he could wake up every morning to a view like this.

He parked, and they climbed out. He spread out a blanket that he had in the back of his truck, and they settled beside the creek with their lunch. “It’s beautiful out here,” she said.

“Best part of the property,” Daryl said with a nod.

Laura looked around. “You know what would have been wonderful?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“If the main house had been built here. I know it would have been a longer drive to the road, but this place is just too perfect, you know?” She threw a grape into her mouth.

“I’ve always wanted to build a cabin out here,” Daryl said. “Let Kyle have the main house.”

Laura thought about it for a moment. “That would be nice for a weekend or in the summer or something, but I couldn’t imagine you leaving the main house.”

He shrugged. “Georgina left when she married Scott.”Though she does still spend an inordinate amount of time here, he considered. “But I do see your point—it would be weird to leave the house.” The main house of the River Ranch was the main hub of their family. It was their home base. “That house holds every one of my best memories,” he said.

“Oh yeah? Even better than kissing Becky Stuart in my treehouse?”

Daryl laughed. “Yeah, better than that for sure.” He looked at the winding creek, at the bunches of wildflowers that dotted the grass. “This place inspires all of my leatherworking products, you know? I drew my first piece right here, and I made it at the kitchen table.” Laura bounced Lily gently, and he saw her little eyes begin to droop. Before long, her head plopped onto Laura’s shoulder. “You want to lay her down?”

Laura nodded, and they laid her out on the corner of the blanket. She made a little snuffling noise in her sleep, but otherwise, the baby didn’t stir. “I’m going to help Kyle with the ranch’s paperwork,” she told Daryl. “He was trying to create an automatic reorder system, and it was a bit of a mess.”

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