The Maverick's Midnight Proposal. Brenda Harlen

insurance.”

      Luke was stunned. Even at twenty-one, he’d had a pretty good picture of the tight financial situation at Sunshine Farm. He’d heard his parents talking about it in hushed and worried tones when they thought their children were asleep. He’d recognized the strain in his father’s voice, seen it in the lines that furrowed his mother’s brow. He’d listened to them argue about the purchase of secondhand equipment that they couldn’t afford but desperately needed to keep the ranch operating, and he knew that they’d had to remortgage the property. He hadn’t known they’d also arranged for insurance on that mortgage.

      He and Bailey and Danny had left because they hadn’t believed that there was any other option. For the past twelve years, they’d worked for other people when they could have been working at Sunshine Farm. Or maybe it was naive to think that they might have been able to keep the ranch going—a difficult enough task when Rob Stockton had been around to oversee the operation. More likely, Luke and his brothers would have run the ranch into the ground and been forced to sell anyway.

      “We just discovered that the property had been transferred into all of our names, pursuant to the terms of Mom and Dad’s will, a few months ago when Zach Dalton approached Jamie to see if we were interested in selling,” Bella explained.

      “Are you going to sell?” he asked.

      “That’s a decision we have to make together,” she said. “All of us.”

      “I guess that explains why you’re so eager for a family reunion,” he noted.

      “We only found out about the property a few months ago,” she said again. “We’ve been looking for you a lot longer than that.” She smiled again. “And now you’re finally here.”

      “Are you sure Hudson doesn’t mind me crashing here? Because I can call Melba Strickland to—”

      “No,” Bella interjected firmly. “Hudson doesn’t mind, and no, you’re not staying at Strickland’s Boarding House when you’ve got family here.”

      He turned his hand over and linked his fingers with hers. “I missed you,” he confessed, his voice quiet. “All of you.”

      “Then why didn’t you ever come home?”

      He could understand her confusion. She had no way of knowing that his leaving had been prompted not just by grief over the loss of their parents but by guilt—because he was responsible for their being out on the road that night. In addition to all the other factors, that truth was what had compelled him to leave Rust Creek Falls—a futile effort to escape the daily reminders of the mistakes he’d made.

      He owed Bella the truth. After all this time, she deserved to know the real reason he went away. But she seemed so happy to see him, and it felt so good to be welcome. The happy light in her eyes warmed the deepest, darkest places in his soul, and Luke didn’t want to dim that light.

      Not yet.

      “You know what? It doesn’t matter,” she decided when he remained silent. “It only matters that you’re here now. And—fingers crossed—Bailey and Liza will soon be, too.”

      “I don’t know if this helps at all, but the last time I saw Bailey, he was heading to New Mexico with his fiancée,” Luke said.

      “Then Hudson’s PI will be heading to New Mexico next,” she decided.

      “What’s in New Mexico?” her husband asked, walking in with a couple of flat boxes in hand.

      “Not what but who,” Bella said, lifting her face for his kiss. “And, fingers crossed, the who is Bailey.”

      “New Mexico is a pretty big state,” Hudson noted, glancing at Luke. “Any chance you can help narrow down the search?”

      Luke shook his head. “Sorry. At the time, I was so baffled by his decision that I didn’t ask many questions.”

      “No worries,” Hudson said. “If he’s still there, Bradford will find him.”

      He set the boxes on the table.

      Luke sniffed. “Is that...pizza?”

      “And wings,” Bella told him.

      “There’s a pizza and wings place in Rust Creek Falls?”

      “Wings To Go recently expanded their menu to include pizza.” She pushed away from the table and moved to the cupboard to retrieve plates.

      “And Daisy’s Donut Shop is more than doughnuts now, too,” he noted.

      “You’ve been to Daisy’s?” She grabbed a handful of napkins and set them on top of the plates.

      “Twice,” he admitted. “For coffee on my way to the day care this morning, then for lunch afterward.”

      “Did you have dessert?”

      He shook his head. “The huge roast beef sandwich and mountain of fries filled me up.”

      “You should have had dessert,” Bella said, setting the plates and napkins on the table.

      “The woman behind the counter did say that the coconut cream pie was popular,” he told her.

      “All of the pies, cakes, cookies and pastries are popular,” his sister said. “Especially if Eva did the baking.”

      “Eva?” he echoed, surprised. “The waitress?”

      “She sometimes serves customers,” Bella confirmed. “But she does most of the baking at Daisy’s. I don’t know if she has any formal training, but no one who’s tasted any of her creations would question her qualifications as a baker.”

      “Now I’m sorry I skipped the pie.”

      “But you got to meet Eva,” she noted.

      “I guess I did,” he agreed.

      “She’s very pretty, don’t you think?”

      “I think you need to work on your subtlety,” Hudson said to his wife, opening the lid of the pizza box.

      “I wasn’t trying to be subtle. I was trying to ensure Luke appreciates everything that Rust Creek Falls has to offer.”

      “I’m not looking for any kind of romantic entanglements while I’m in town,” Luke said firmly.

      Hudson grinned. “That’s what I thought, too, when I first came to Rust Creek Falls.”