Maggie had not been this nervous since the first time she had gone to look at a potential place to live for herself. Darren was giving her directions, and she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the house suggested by the landlord Darren had contacted was only about eight blocks from the school.

“This is a really great neighborhood,” Maggie murmured as they drove down a tree-lined street. “The houses are older, but they still look pretty well kept.”

“Apparently, this house used to belong to the landlord’s mother, so there aren’t a lot of rentals in the area.” If the way Darren was sitting on the edge of his seat was anything to go by, he was as nervous as Maggie was about this whole thing. Darren gestured to a small A-frame brick-front home about halfway down the street. “This is it. Number five seven five.”

“Not bad.” Maggie parked her car in the driveway beside a truck that could have given Darren’s vehicle a run for its money. “Is this your landlord?”

“I guess so.” Darren opened the passenger door of her little car and got out. “I’ve never met him. He’s apparently a very good friend of my brother’s secretary.”

“Laredo’s secretary?” Maggie stumbled out of her car and tried not to focus on how odd that was. People got referrals about rental houses from all sorts of sources. Right?

“Don’t ask,” Darren told her wryly. “It was a really weird morning. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Maggie could almost leave it at that. There was one detail bothering her. “What about Bella? Is someone picking her up?”

“My mother.” Darren was waving to a lanky man in chambray work pants and shirt. “I told Laredo to send Bella with her for a few days until he got his shit together.”

Maggie was pleasantly surprised by Darren’s quickness of mind. “Great idea.”

“Are you Darren Hernandez?” The landlord pulled off a pair of work gloves and slapped them against his thigh. “I’m Jason Alder. This here is my place.”

“I’m Darren.” Darren held out his hand and firmly took Jason Alder’s. “Nice to meet you.”

Maggie was suddenly struck by just how proud she was to be standing at this man’s side. She remembered going places with her fiancé. The man had never been much of a prize in the attitude department. There were plenty of times that Maggie had felt as though she needed to apologize for his bad behavior. But at the time she had been worried there were no other options out there for her. After her parents had passed away within six months of each other and she’d been so overwhelmed dealing with their estate issues, she had realized that it was better to be without someone altogether than to feel as though you were with someone you were ashamed of. It just wasn’t worth the emotional angst.

“This is my close friend Maggie Brown,” Darren told Jason Alder as he stepped aside and presented Maggie as though he were announcing a queen’s arrival.

Maggie’s cheeks flushed. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mr. Alder.”

The man was beaming. “And you, ma’am. Shall we go inside? There’s not really much to look at out here. My mother kept some plants and things, but I took them out once she passed. It’s been my experience that renters don’t much care to do outside work.”

“I don’t mind a little,” Darren mused. “It’s always less than it was at the ranch.”

“Yeah,” Alder said good-humoredly. “I bet this tiny half-acre lot will require significantly less than those hundreds of thousands of acres of land and animals.”

“That’s for sure.” Darren moved toward the side of the house and peered over the side gate. “But it is nice to think that my son will be able to play outside.” Darren’s expression was priceless. He looked as excited as a kid. “I could even get a swing set or something.”

Maggie touched his arm. She felt such a welling up of love and warmth for him right now it was impossible not to make physical contact. She needed to feel him next to her. She threaded her fingers through his and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. “I bet Jaeger will love anything you put out here for him. Even if it’s just a ball.”

“That’s right.” Alder bobbed his head as he opened the front door and let them inside. “Gloria did say you had a kid.”

“He’s five.” Darren’s tone was so eager that Maggie’s heart went out to him. How could anyone ever think he wouldn’t be a good father? Was his family completely daft?

“Well, this house has the two bedrooms, so you should both have plenty of room.” Alder led the way into the front room.

It was a quaint little place. It very much looked like grandma’s house. There was a fireplace on the left side of the room, and Maggie could see the kitchen to the right. There was one more hallway straight back and three doors. Presumably they were talking about a bathroom and two bedrooms.

“The other thing that’s great about this house,” Alder continued as he walked through the front room. “There’s a little half bath off the master bedroom. I put a shower in there when my mother was getting older. There’s no tub, but there’s a commode and a shower and sink. It’s handy as hell when you have two or three people living in the house.”

“That’s great!” Darren said eagerly. He was busy pulling open doors and exclaiming over closets and storage space. He checked out the aging but still fully functioning appliances and laughed about the tiny fridge. “That’s going to have to change,” Darren commented to Alder about the fridge. “We’re guys living here, you know.”

“That’s all right.” Alder chuckled. “I would suggest putting this one in that detached garage in the backyard so you can store some extra drinks.”

“Now that is a good idea.” Darren was laughing and joking with Alder about having a beer fridge.

As Maggie wandered through this small but cozy space, she could not help but contrast this little two-bedroom house with Laredo’s monster house. Were the two brothers really that different? Or was there something else going on here? It was no stretch to say that the Hernandez family came from money. But Maggie did not know them well enough to know if they had always lived that way. In her experience, ranchers were sometimes quite different when it came to luxury. It was about the animals and feeding the animals and having enough money on hand at any given time for a natural disaster to occur. Ranching was not an easy life. It didn’t breed soft people. It made them hard.

“Well, what do you think?”

Maggie turned to smile at Darren. “I think it’s perfect, although you’re going to have a hard time getting your boy a pony and keeping it in the backyard.”

“A pony.” Darren looked absolutely shell-shocked. “I hadn’t even thought about it, but you’re right. I’ll need a pony. And maybe some little boots and one of those tiny silver buckles.”

“Ma’am?” Alder’s laugh was infectious. The man was going to be a wonderful landlord. “Does it sound to you as though this boy is accessorizing his son in his head?”

“It sure does!” Maggie teased. “He’ll have him bull riding on the rodeo circuit in no time.”

“Bull riding?” Darren scoffed. “Baby, at five my boy is going to be mutton busting!”

Maggie didn’t have any trouble at all picturing Darren standing on the edge of an arena while his son tried like hell to ride some sheep while they bucked and twisted. Mutton busting was indeed where a lot of youngsters started when they were kiddos. How incredible was it that Darren was now getting to think about actually sharing his ranching heritage with his son?

“I’ll take it,” Darren told Alder. “I know we discussed the deposit and such on the phone. I’d like to move in as soon as possible, but I don’t have much in the way of stuff to really fill the place up.” Darren pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. “I’ve got your cash though. I don’t want to lose out on this opportunity.”

Alder took the money. “I’ve got some papers for you to sign. If you’ll just step out to my truck, we can get the lease executed right away.”

“I’m going to step outside, sweetheart.” Darren pressed a kiss to her cheek and followed Alder out of the little house.

Maggie wandered through the rooms and thought about how much it cost to furnish a house. She had no idea what Darren’s financial situation was. It wasn’t really any of her business. They were a couple. But not like that. Yet here he was about to try and set up a household for himself and a young boy. The two of them were practically strangers. They needed a place where they could be comfortable. It needed to be welcoming and, well—homey. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Darren was capable of creating that. But he’d never tried to establish a residence with an eye toward pleasing family services and making a home for a child.

Swallowing back her dislike for Laredo Hernandez, Maggie pulled out her phone and sent him a text. It was only two lines. It felt like a million. There was no immediate response. She hadn’t really expected one. In fact, Maggie wasn’t sure what she was expecting. She just felt as though a man like Darren who had such a large immediate family should be able to count on them for something.

“Hey!” Darren came bouncing back into the house. His expression made it seem as though he were on cloud nine. She had never seen any one man so appreciative of a tiny little house like this one. But, then, Darren was one in a million. “Are you ready to go? I have keys. I have a lease. I have to call and start the utilities or something. I could use some help with that. I’ll admit that I have never actually had a place of my own. I’ve always just lived in dorms or places that were arranged for me by a contract negotiator or something.”

“I’ll help you out,” she promised. “It’s really not that complicated. I’m pretty sure once you get started you won’t even need my help.” Maggie held out her hand. “Now I have to find the perfect housewarming gift. That takes some thought, you know.”

“You are the perfect housewarming gift.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. He kissed her lips and nuzzled her neck and made her feel as though she could fly. “I can’t thank you enough for all of your help. You’ve made this possible for me. In fact, you’ve changed my whole life, Maggie. You believe in me. I don’t think anyone ever has.”

His words made Maggie feel both exhilarated and also a little bit strange since she’d just contacted his family on his behalf. What if that made him angry? She opened her mouth to tell him what she’d done, but he was already halfway out the door dragging her behind him. His excitement was infectious. How could she spoil that? Not now. She would tell him later.

“I need kitchen stuff.” He was muttering to himself. “Weird. I’ve never needed that before. Plastic silverware and some paper plates would work. Right?”

Oh, yeah, Maggie had been right to call in reinforcements. This was going to take some doing. She lifted Darren’s hand to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “I think it might be time to graduate from paper plates, Darren.”

“To plastic? I could do that. There’s a dishwasher. That will help a lot!” Darren was still talking a mile a minute, and Maggie let him go. She loved his sheer exuberance. This was a man who would never do anything halfway. Of that she was absolutely certain.