Love Without End: A Kings Meadow Romance Read online

  She declined with a shake of her head.

  “Thanks.” Chet handed the wine list back to the maître d’. “Nothing for us.”

  When they were alone again, Kimberly asked, “Have you come here before?”

  “No. Susan told me about it when she heard we were going to the concert.”

  Kimberly offered a hesitant smile. “I thought maybe you brought all your first dates here. It’s very nice.”

  “There’s only been one other first date since I got divorced.” He shrugged. “It didn’t go anywhere. I wasn’t ready and neither was she. But she and her husband have become good friends.”

  “Her husband?”

  “Allison and her ex remarried. I was glad to see it happen.”

  Kimberly’s gaze wandered from Chet, taking in the room and other diners. When she looked at him again, she said, “How do you know you’re ready now? To start a relationship, I mean.”

  “Not sure how to answer that. Emotionally, I’m ready to move on. But I was comfortable being a husband, and I’m not so sure of myself as a date. Do they even call it that today? Dating. I think I’ve forgotten how a guy’s supposed to get to know a girl. What’s the best way to impress her?”

  HE WANTS TO IMPRESS ME? KIMBERLY FELT A PLEASANT warmth in her chest. How flattering.

  “Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. Maybe that will help.” He cleared his throat. “How long were you and your husband married?”

  “Fifteen years. You?”

  “Marsha and I were married for twenty-one years.”

  Kimberly took a sip from her water glass. “Did Marsha grow up in Kings Meadow too?”

  Chet shook his head. “She was from Boise. We met at a rodeo and dated each other for a few years before we married. You and Ellis?”

  “We met while I was in college and married right after I graduated.”

  “Mind me asking how he died? Was it an accident?”

  Kimberly stiffened. Talking about Ellis made her uncomfortable—because thinking about him often made her angry, and her anger made her feel guilty. She hadn’t shared the brutal truth of that anger with anyone. Not even Janet. “No, it wasn’t an accident,” she said at last. “He had a heart attack. There wasn’t any warning. Just suddenly he was gone. He was only forty.”

  “Forty?” He shook his head again. “That’s mighty young.”

  She lifted the water glass a second time and took a few more sips. “I believe it was the stress that killed him. Our finances had been unraveling for a long time, but he kept it a secret from me. Maybe if he’d shared the burden of all of—” She broke off suddenly, her throat tight.

  “I’m sorry, Kimberly.” Chet’s words were as gentle as a caress.

  She gave him a shaky smile. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  “Okay. What about this? You aren’t crazy about horses like your daughter.” He put his forearms on the edge of the table and leaned toward her. “So, what are you crazy about? What’s your passion, Kimberly Welch?”

  “My passion?” Her gaze dropped to her hands, now folded in her lap.

  She hadn’t a clue how to answer. She’d been in survival mode for such a long while. And before that . . . before Ellis died? When she looked back, many of her activities seemed shallow and self-absorbed. Buying new clothes and jewelry. Visiting the spa regularly. Redecorating their home . . . again . . . and then again. Lavishly entertaining Ellis’s business associates. Sending Tara to the best private school possible.

  She drew a deep breath and looked at Chet again. “If I ever had something I was truly passionate about, I’ve forgotten it.” She forced a smile. “Tell me yours.”

  “That’s easy.” He grinned. “I love the horses, of course. Always have. Love the ranch. Love living in Kings Meadow, knowing where my roots are. Above anything else, I love God and my family. That’s what I’m most passionate about.” He gave a slight shrug. “Doesn’t sound very exciting to some, I suppose, but it’s a great life.”

  He was wrong. There was something about the tone of his voice, about the look in his eyes, that made what he said sound most appealing. Simple. Homespun. Down to earth. It was exciting, only in a different way. Wasn’t that odd?

  “Penny for your thoughts,” he said, his voice low.

  “Hasn’t the value for a thought gone up to at least a nickel?”

  He chuckled, a sound so pleasant it caused her insides to twirl.

  As if to rescue Kimberly from that feeling, the waitress arrived at their table to take their order. Neither of them had even glanced at the menu. Kimberly found the first thing that sounded good and pointed it out to the waitress. Chet ordered the same.

  As soon as their server walked away, Kimberly turned the conversation to Tara and Wind Dancer, and Chet followed her lead.

  JUDGING BY THE SMILE ON KIMBERLY’S LIPS WHEN the lights went up in the arena, she’d enjoyed the concert every bit as much as Chet had. Returning her smile, he took hold of her elbow and eased her out of their row and into the flow of people headed for the exits.

  Night had arrived while they were inside the windowless arena. The air was cool enough for Kimberly to need the sweater she’d carried with her all evening. They stepped to one side of the departing throng and stopped. Chet took the red sweater from her hand and held it up so she could slip her arms into the sleeves. As he stood behind her, the breeze carried the now familiar citrus scent of her shampoo, teasing his nostrils.

  Sam was right. Chet liked Kimberly. A lot. Far more than he’d been willing to admit up to now. Far more than he’d thought possible, given his past, given their differences. To be honest with himself, he could be falling in love with her. Which didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. Unless, of course, he could convince her to stay in Idaho, in Kings Meadow, for good.

  On the drive home, they talked about their favorite songs from the concert. Kimberly didn’t know a lot about country music—that was obvious—but she’d become a fan of Josh Turner tonight. That pleased Chet.

  After all, if she could change her taste in music, maybe he could change her mind about staying in Kings Meadow too.

  Twenty-five

  KIMBERLY AWAKENED SLOWLY THE NEXT MORNING. A dream tried to pull her back into sleep. A pleasant dream, though it hastened into foggy corners of her mind with the arrival of full consciousness. Stretching, she opened her eyes. Daylight seeped between slats in the blinds. She rolled onto her side and looked at the clock. It was already after eight. Despite the hour, she was in no hurry to get out of bed.

  She closed her eyes again, remembering the previous evening. It had been close to midnight by the time Chet walked her to the door. They’d stood, facing each other, for the briefest of moments. Then Chet had leaned down and kissed her lightly on the mouth. Little more than a brush of lips against lips, but it had sent an unexpected jolt through Kimberly. The memory of it made her feel the same jolt all over again.

  A groan escaped her. A cowboy. Really? Really? A horse-riding, horse-training, horse-loving cowboy whose family roots were over a century deep in this mountain community. Chet Leonard was wrong for her for those and so many other reasons.

  A soft rap sounded on her door, then her daughter’s voice. “Mom?”

  Kimberly rolled onto her back again. “I’m awake, honey. Come on in.”

  Tara entered the room, carrying a large mug of steaming coffee.

  “Bless you.” Kimberly pushed herself upright and leaned against the pillows and headboard, her arms outstretched to take the mug from her daughter.

  Still in her pj’s, Tara joined her mother on the bed, sitting cross-legged near the footboard. “How was it?”

  “How was what?”

  “Mom, you know what I mean.” Tara rolled her eyes. “How was last night?”

  Kimberly smiled, sipped her coffee, then answered. “If you’d stayed up, I could have told you when I got home. Are you sure you’re interested?”

  Tara reached out and lightly s
lapped her mother’s shin beneath the covers.

  “I had a very nice time, thank you very much. We both did. The concert was terrific.”

  “So did he kiss you?”

  Kimberly cocked an eyebrow. “Not sure that is something you need to know, Miss Snoopy.”

  “Which means he did kiss you.” Tara grinned, a look full of self-satisfaction. “I knew he would.”

  “Didn’t you hear me, young lady? I don’t want to have this conversation with my daughter.”

  “Oh, come on, Mom. I’m not some dumb kid. And you’re not so old you don’t like getting kissed by a handsome guy like Mr. Leonard.”

  “Not so old? Well, thanks for that.” And yes, Chet is definitely a handsome guy.

  “Pete kissed me on my birthday.”

  “What?” Kimberly nearly spilled her coffee as she straightened. She set the mug on the nightstand.

  Tara nodded.

  “But you never said a thing last week.”

  “When you were sixteen, did you tell your mom everything?”

  Kimberly opened her mouth to reply, then pressed her lips together.

  Tara grinned again. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  Kimberly grabbed a pillow and threw it. Tara dropped sideways onto the bed, laughing. Feeling young and silly—and happy—Kimberly pounced forward, wrestling with her daughter.

  “CHET LEONARD, YOU HAVEN’T HEARD A WORD I’VE said.”

  Lost in a fog of pleasant thoughts—which was nice, for a change—Chet tried to blink his way back to full attention. “Sorry, Anna. Do you mind starting over? My thoughts were wandering.”

  “Oh, my dear boy.” She smiled, understanding in her eyes. “I can see that. I’ll bet I even know where your thoughts have gone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what.”

  He shook his head, trying to deny the truth—that he’d been thinking about Kimberly and their evening together.

  Anna laughed softly. “Have it your way. I said I want you to give some serious thought to this notion of glamping. I’ve looked at the Internet, and I believe Tara’s idea has real merit. I have a little nest egg put away that I could contribute to getting things off the ground. It isn’t a lot, but it could get us started on the right foot.”

  “I couldn’t risk your savings, Anna.”

  “Why not? You’ve given me a home and family. Who else do I have to spend my money on if not you and your boys?”

  Chet rose from the table and went to pour himself another cup of coffee. He should be outside, helping Sam and Pete with the morning chores, but he couldn’t seem to get himself into gear.

  Anna intruded before his thoughts could wander too far a second time. “If I can get some sort of business plan drawn up, will you look it over and see if it doesn’t convince you to try? If we act quickly, we could be open for business by mid-July.”

  “Nana Anna, you’re the limit.” He leaned down and kissed the crown of the old woman’s head. “I promise to look it over.” He set his mug back on the counter, coffee untouched. “But right now I need to get to work. We can talk more at lunch.”

  A short while later, as he strode across the barnyard, he whistled a tune he’d heard the previous night. Which immediately made him think of Kimberly again. During the concert, he’d found himself looking at her instead of at the performers on the stage, her face bathed in the soft glow of colored lights. If not for the stage lighting, they would have been in complete darkness, lending a sense of intimacy to the evening. He’d had to stop himself more than once from putting his arm around her shoulders.

  And, of course, there’d been that goodnight kiss at the door. He didn’t know how he’d even dared to do it. Brief as it had been, the kiss had sealed something in his heart. He tried to deny it, still wanting to protect himself from hurt, but the attempt was pointless. He was a goner.

  It surprised him, the depth of his feelings. He’d expected falling in love at forty-seven to feel different from falling in love in his twenties. Apparently he’d been wrong about that. The real difference now was that he had two teenage sons whose mother had abandoned them. She had a teenage daughter who had lost her father and home and everything familiar. He owned a ranch with cash flow issues. She had come to Kings Meadow out of desperation rather than out of choice. He was an Idaho cowboy, through and through. She was a city girl.

  Lots of good reasons for him not to feel the way he felt.

  Good reasons that didn’t seem to matter at all.

  Anna

  1948

  IT WAS A BLISTERING HOT DAY IN AUGUST WHEN Anna McKenna felt God reach into her heart and take away the pain of losing Miles, felt Him remove the regret for the life they would never share and the longing for the children they would never create. And into the place where the pain, regret, and longing had resided, God planted a new peace, a new understanding that she belonged to Him. She could trust Him with her future, in the valleys as well as on the mountaintops. He had been faithful thus far. He would be faithful from then on.

  She rested her forearms atop a fence post and stared across the pasture. Princess, a two-year-old filly—Shiloh’s Star’s first offspring—grazed on the short grass that blanketed the paddock. Beyond her was Lucky, a yearling colt who favored his dam, and a five-year-old mare they called Snowball, Abe’s purchase last spring. In the neighboring paddock, Golden Girl stood quietly while her four-month-old foal nursed.

  Looking at the horses, Anna smiled. Four years ago, she’d been an orphan with nothing but the memory of her father’s dream and the need to escape a cruel relative while holding onto her prized horse. But since then, she’d been made a member of the Leonard family, and Shiloh’s Star had already sired three foals out of Golden Girl. This wasn’t a notable Quarter Horse ranch yet—the sale of cattle still provided the main income for the Leonards—but it was a good start. Abe had caught Anna’s vision. One day, horses would be everywhere on this land. She believed it with her whole heart.

  “That is enough for now,” she whispered.

  Twenty-six

  CHET LOOKED UP FROM THE PAPERS ON HIS DESK TO meet Anna’s anxious gaze. “Did you put this together?” He tapped the last page of the business plan with his index finger. “It’s impressive.”

  “No.” Her face broke into a smile. “Kimberly did most of it, with a little assistance from Janet and Tara.”

  “How’d she manage to gather all of this information so fast?”

  Anna chuckled. “I told her it was urgent.” Her head tipped to one side. “I may have led Kimberly to believe it was critical to the survival of the ranch that we get this new enterprise off the ground.”

  Chet felt his eyes widen. “You didn’t?”

  “Well . . . maybe. If I did, it wasn’t on purpose.”

  Not good. He didn’t want Kimberly believing he had major money problems. Her deceased husband had left her in a financial mess. The last thing she would want was to become serious about a guy who might do the same to her. And there was no denying he wanted her to become serious about him. Which was why he’d waited to ask her out on a second date. He wanted it to be perfect when the time came.

  “Chet, have you asked Kimberly out again?”

  He blinked. “Are you a mind reader?”

  “Old age has some advantages. It can make a body more perceptive.”

  “No, I haven’t asked her out again. Not yet. To tell you the truth, I don’t know where to take her. It isn’t like Kings Meadow has an abundance of choices.”

  “Take her up to McCall for a nice dinner. Or rent a movie and bring her here for dinner. The boys and I could make ourselves scarce.”

  Chet raked the fingers of both hands through his hair as he leaned back in his chair. “Are you playing matchmaker?”

  “Do you need one?”

  He pondered the question. “I think I can manage on my own.”

  “Good! Glad to hear it.” She waggled her finger at the papers on his desk.
“Now what about this. If you hire Kimberly, like Tara suggested, she’d have reason to spend a lot more time at the ranch.”

  He grinned. Of all the reasons he might want to try this glamping thing, spending more time with Kimberly was the best reason he’d heard yet. He’d like more time to woo and win the lovely widow. More time for her to fall in love. Not just in love with him—which he didn’t think would be enough on its own—but also with Kings Meadow and the Leonard Quarter Horse Ranch.

  That might take a miracle, Lord. Do You have one in mind?

  His grin faded. “Do you think she’d want to take on another job? She’s already working for the mayor.”

  “You leave Ollie Abbott to me.” There was a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. “I’m sure the mayor can adjust Kimberly’s hours to accommodate what will be needed out here.”

  “I can’t offer her much in the way of compensation. Not at first.”

  “You leave that to me too.”

  “Anna . . .” He drew out her name in a warning tone.

  She rose from her chair and folded her arms in front of her chest. “I mean to be an active partner in the Leonard ranch glamping enterprise. That means I will shoulder some of the cost as well as reap some of the reward. No arguments. Right now, I’m appointing myself the partner in charge of hiring personnel.”

  Chet was helpless before the whirlwind that was Anna McKenna. He knew it, and he was certain she knew it too.

  Anna turned toward his office door. “I’m going into town. No point letting grass grow under my feet.”

  “As if that could happen,” he called after her as laughter rose in his chest.

  KIMBERLY LOOKED AT THE WALL CLOCK ON THE opposite side of the mayor’s office. Two o’clock. The day was dragging by. In her first two weeks of employment with the city, she’d kept busy learning the ropes. But once she’d managed to get everything organized the way she liked it, it became obvious there wasn’t enough work to keep her occupied for thirty-six hours a week. Especially not with Bonnie Clark answering the phones and doing research Tuesdays through Thursdays.