Chapter 5

Allena sighed. Could she leave them? Yes. She had to. Otherwise, she’d stay forever. Or until the day Justin remarried and she was replaced in the children’s lives. For a while, Allena had imagined his old girlfriend was a prime candidate. And truthfully, she hadn’t liked Rachel. What Justin saw in her, besides the obvious great legs and pretty face, Allena had no idea. She remembered Jayne De Nero, on the few occasions they’d met, as warm and friendly, with a deep love for her family and friends. Rachel seemed like the polar opposite. Totally career-driven and never at all interested in being involved in Justin’s family.

Not that Allena believed there was anything wrong with someone pursuing the career they loved—but she’d never been one to think that a job and career were everything. She’d spent three years at college, then got a job in the city working as an admin for a member of the city council, but the hours had been long and relentless. At twenty-six, after five years in the same role, she realised she needed to make some changes in her life.

She went back to college to study education, getting her teaching degree while she worked part-time in childcare. Three years later, Jayne De Nero was killed, and six months after that, Allena began working for Justin.

She hadn’t planned on having a career as a nanny, but when her friend, whose family were Justin’s clients, mentioned that he had been unsuccessfully trying to find a nanny since his wife’s death, something tripped inside her. She applied, thinking that their complicated family connection might muddy the waters, but Justin didn’t appear bothered by the fact that her sister had recently divorced his best friend and cousin.

Allena sighed, got to her feet, and headed for the bedroom. She stripped off the sheets and piled them onto the floor, grabbing the clean linens she’d placed on the dresser the day before. She made the bed, plumping out the cushions and straightening the pale mauve duvet. It was a nice room. And a comfy bed. Pity she’d never had anyone in it, she thought wryly, other than Cassie and Jayden, when they jumped on her some mornings. They never intruded, though. Justin was a stickler for doing the right thing. He gave her space and insisted the kids do the same. But there were times when she couldn’t resist the kids’ pleas to curl up beside her as she read them a book or told them a story.

Justin, of course, rarely entered her space. The rooms were hers—he’d made that clear to her on day one. Not that he’d ever said as much, but she knew he was a stickler about appropriate behaviour.

He’d fixed a faucet, repaired a sticking window, and occasionally wrestled a giant arachnid from the bathroom—but that was it. Bobby, she knew, didn’t do spiders. He could run into a burning building, but a spider left him in a panic. It made her smile. And although it probably wasn’t true, the idea made him rather adorable.

He genuinely seemed to like her. He’d been engaged once, a few years ago, but it hadn’t lasted, and since then he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend. She should have been jumping out of her skin over the idea of him.

She should have walked past the mirror and took a long look at herself, patting her hips and thinking about the extra pounds she’d added to her frame in the past couple of months. She’d always been curvy, especially on top.

When she was in high school and college, her assets garnered her way more attention than she was prepared for, or wanted, since she was something of an introvert. She’d spent most of her time on campus hiding her body behind baggy sweaters and ill-fitting clothes, avoiding the attention of horny college freshmen, who all seemed to be drawn to skinny blonde sorority girls anyway. Even now, old habits die hard—she tended to dress for comfort over high fashion.

Looking down at her worn jeans, long shirt, and stretched-out sweater, she sighed. She really did need a makeover. Once she left, maybe she’d spend some of her savings on a new look. Maybe a new haircut or some more stylish clothes. And a vacation. Somewhere warm, where she could relax, read, and decompress. Somewhere far away from Justin De Nero and his adorable children.

Allena sighed and quickly changed into her riding jeans, a checked shirt, a sheepskin-lined jacket, and cowboy boots. She grabbed her Stetson and returned to the stables. Rudy was still there, watching over the kittens, but Justin and the kids were gone.

“I’m taking Stanton out for a while,” she said, taking a headstall and lead from the peg near the tack room door. “Just for an hour or so.” The old man nodded, mentioned something about the weather looking ominous, and said he’d get the gear while Allena headed to the pasture behind the stables. Star, her thirteen-year-old buckskin gelding, raised his head the moment he caught her whistle on the wind and whinnied as he loped to the gate. The tall gelding had been part of her life for two years; after a successful career as a cutting horse, Mitch had saved him from the slaughterhouse. His previous owner discarded him after an injury that was fixable but costly.

Allena’s connection to Mitch was unavoidable since he was Justin’s cousin and closest friend, but since he and Tess were divorced, her step-sister was never mentioned when their paths crossed. Allena had always wanted her own horse, and after a year of riding one of Justin’s reliable mounts, she decided to make Star her own. He was a sweet-natured animal, a little lazy but trustworthy and patient.

His warm muzzle touched her face, and she slipped on the headstall easily. She then brought him through the gate and led him into the stable. She had him brushed down and tacked up quickly, and then sprang onto the saddle, heeding Rudy’s warning about the grey sky and how a thunderstorm was predicted.

She took the trail she usually takes, around the back meadow and towards the creek that borders the ranch and the place next door. The ranch sat on close to two hundred acres, smaller than some places in the area, but the land was good for grazing. Justin wasn’t interested in raising cattle, so he allowed Mitch to run some of his Angus herd on the place.

About a hundred feet from the creek was an old split-log cabin. It was the original homestead, built generations ago by Justin’s great-grandparents. Rudy kept the place neat and tidy, and she’d been in the cabin many times, mostly to show Jayden and Cassie the old photographs on the mantel and tell stories about their ancestors.

Allena sighed, dismounting and tethering Star to the hitching rail outside the cabin. The creek beckoned, and she headed for it, noticing a couple of birds swooping along the water. She loved hanging by the water’s edge. She’d picnicked with the kids at the creek countless times. Jayden was a competent rider and had his own pony, while Star always knew when she rode double with Cassie, as though he was well aware there was precious cargo on board. The kids loved the creek and the cabin, and Allena knew it would be one of the things she would miss about being on the ranch. Just one, but there were so many more.

Thunder rumbled overhead, and she looked to the sky, noticing the dark, curdling clouds. Rain spotted her shirt, and she tilted her hat downward as she turned and headed for the cabin. Star was moving about, clearly agitated as the rain increased and another clap of thunder roared.

Allena flinched, "Oh, God." Reaching into her side pocket for her cell to call Rudy and say she’d be staying at the cabin until the rain cleared, and then realised she’d left it in the tack bucket back at the stables. The rain increased, followed by several large rounds of thunder and lightning. Star whinnied, and she heard another horse unexpectedly respond in the distance. There were no horses loose on this part of the ranch. She looked towards the trail and spotted a rider coming toward her, astride King, his tall, dappled-grey gelding.