that hair—
Dorelle leaned over her daughter, grinning. “Hey, there, Doc. I take it this handsome young man is your brother?”
“Sure am,” Josh said with a grin of his own as he walked over to open the driver’s-side door. Dorelle apparently muttered something to her daughter that earned her an eyeroll and a “Really, Mama?” before Mallory extended her hand and they all finished with the introductions. Then, on a little gasp, she lowered her sunglasses. “Ohmigosh,” she said to Zach, “is that your little boy?”
“One of ’em, yes. Liam.”
“Well, hey there, sweetie,” she said, her soft Texas twang curling right up inside Zach’s chest. Then those dove-colored eyes lifted to his. “My mother said they were cute, but...wow. She did not—” her gaze shifted to his face “—exaggerate.”
Now, Zach probably imagined it—because of that curling-inside-his-chest thing—but he could have sworn Mallory looked at him a trifle longer than necessary. Especially when her eyes seemed to jerk back to Josh. “Good to meet you both. Now if you’ll give me a minute...”
Contorting her upper body to reach behind her, she retrieved a small, collapsible wheelchair from the back, deftly popping it open as she set it on the ground in front of her. “As you can see, I have mobility issues. So I hope I’ll be able to get around in this?”
“Not a problem,” Josh said without missing a beat. “The owner’s wife was in a wheelchair for a while. The property’s more accessible than you might think—”
By this time Mallory had maneuvered herself out of the car and into the chair. The car door shut behind her, she tented her hand over her eyes as Dorelle walked up to the fence, her floaty, lightweight sweater billowing behind her in the slight breeze.
“Is that him?” Dorelle asked, pointing. “The one who looks like a sunbeam?
“Sure is,” Josh said.
“Ohmigosh, he’s absolutely gorgeous. Isn’t he, honey?”
But Zach was watching Mallory as she wheeled closer to the fence, her grace and determination colliding with what Zach realized was his own sudden awkwardness. As if he didn’t know what he was supposed to think or do or say so he wouldn’t put a foot in it.
Although why he should feel so unsettled, he had no idea. Wasn’t as if he’d never seen anyone in a wheelchair before, for heaven’s sake. But the image of the woman in front of him was such a stark contrast to the photo he’d just seen—
His phone to his ear, Josh signaled that he needed to return to the house. “You go on and get acquainted, I’ll be back in a bit—”
“Oh!” Dorelle signaled, then started after him, lickety-split. “You suppose I could use your restroom?”
“Sure thing, follow me...”
By this time Mallory was all the way up to the fence, leaning forward to clasp the middle slat. Waffles lifted his head, considering.
“Oh, my,” she said on a breath, her hair glistening in the sun. “He’s stunning, isn’t he?”
Still holding Liam, Zach took a couple of steps closer. “He is that.” As if he understood what was going on, Waffles moseyed closer to hang his head over the top rail, his ears twitching. “Come here, boy,” Mallory crooned, angling herself close enough to raise her hand, chuckling when the horse lowered his head further to snuffle her open palm before lifting it again toward the baby. Zach tilted Liam closer and the horse tried to nibble the little guy’s hair, making him giggle.
“He likes me,” Liam said, giggling as he rubbed his slobbery head. Mallory laughed, the warm, gentle sound nudging open barely healed wounds.
“I would say so,” she said, giggling herself when Waffles returned his attention to her. Fearlessly, she grabbed his bridle to tug him closer, touching her lips to the horse’s velvety muzzle. “You’re absolutely perfect, aren’t you?” she said, laughing again when the horse “nodded” his agreement.
“You clearly have a way with horses,” Zach said, hitching Liam higher on his hip.
“My daddy put me on my first one before I could walk,” she said, the irony trembling in the air between them. “I was in my first junior rodeo at ten. But only because Daddy wouldn’t let me compete until then.”
“What in?”
“Barrel racing, mostly.”
“Yeah?”
She grinned, which is when he caught the dimples. Or they caught him, he wasn’t sure. “Now you know my secret. Used to have the strongest thighs in Texas,” she said, patting the horse’s neck again before wheeling away from the fence. “And, yes—” she looked up at Zach, her face squinched in the sun “—the irony is not lost on me. It’s okay, I know what you’re thinking.”
Zach hesitated, then said, “What I’m thinking, is that I’m not sure if I should say ‘I’m sorry’ or not.”
“You can say whatever you like, I’ve pretty much heard it all. And trust me, ‘I’m sorry’ is the least of it.”
His nephew and his older son came into view again, along with Benny, their old golden retriever, who’d been recuperating on the veranda from the earlier hijinks. Liam wriggled to get down, then ran over to join them. The breeze got going again, rustling the drying leaves, tobacco-colored against the bright blue sky. Mallory looked up, a smile flitting across her lips before she shut her eyes. “Heaven,” she said simply.
His own mouth pulling up at the corners, Zach squatted by her chair, ruffling the dog’s neck when he trotted over, tongue lolling. “I think so. Although I suppose that makes me a rube.”
“Hey.” Opening her eyes, she smiled over at him. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t exactly sound like royalty. Even after nearly twenty years in Hollywood. Not to mention God knows how many speech coaches, many of whom I’m sure I drove to drink.” She looked out toward the other pasture again, her elbows resting on the arms of her chair. “One thing less I have to worry my pretty little head about, I suppose.” One corner of her mouth edged up. “Not that I ever did.”
“How’d you end up there?”
Benny nosed her hand, begging for attention. Mallory obliged. “You know, I honestly figured I’d live out my life right where I grew up. Probably marry a local boy, settle down on his ranch and pop out three or four babies who’d be born wearing cowboy boots. Except one day, there was this notice up at school about a production company needing extras for a movie being shot in the area. And some of us thought it’d be a hoot to go on over, see if we could make the cut. Earn a few bucks. Anything to break the tedium, you know?”
“Yeah, that happens around here a lot, too. Especially over the last few years. Movies shooting in the area, I mean.”
“You ever do it?”
“Me? Oh, hell, no. I hardly ever see films, let alone have any desire to be in them.”
“Which is why you had no idea who I was.”
Despite the teasing in her voice, Zach felt his face warm. “Before my brother clued me in? No. Sorry.”
“Are you kidding? It’s a relief, frankly. And if I’d known then what I do now...” A sigh pushed from her lips. “But I didn’t. And the bug bit. Hard. Even though being an extra is excruciatingly boring, suddenly the idea of becoming a ranch wife seemed even worse.” She paused, not looking at him. “Or perhaps it was more that the ranch boys suddenly made my eyes glaze over.”
“Ouch.”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t even eighteen, for pity’s sake. And woefully sheltered. Even so, all it should have been was a few days’ diversion. But due to a series of completely unforeseen events that started with that call for extras, I ended up