Wander Canyon Courtship Read online

  “What...?” Hank gasped, coughing. Yvonne tried to pull in a breath to answer and found her lungs didn’t work. She tried to ascertain what had just happened, but all she could take in was a hissing, ticking sound and the smoke rising off the crunched front of her van. No. Oh, no. Please no. Absurdly, her brain reminded her she had only four payments to go on the vehicle.

  “Is anyone hurt?” It was the first words Chaz had spoken in half an hour. He was shaking his head, recovering from the whack of the driver’s-side airbag now hanging deflated from the center of the steering wheel.

  “I...don’t think so.” Yvonne gulped, finally able to breathe. Her shoulder felt pummeled by the seat belt, her cheeks stung from the slap of the airbag, but she hadn’t hit her head, and her arms and legs seemed to move freely.

  “Dad?” The raw panic in Chaz’s voice pricked Yvonne’s heart—such a different tone from what he’d used at the table. Anger hadn’t erased every bit of love and worry, just most of it, and hopefully only for now.

  “Auntie P.?” she said, twisting around to see Hank and her aunt righting themselves from where they’d tumbled over in the crash.

  “We’re okay back here,” Pauline said in a breathless gasp. Yvonne saw no blood or evidence of any injury.

  Chaz looked at her, his features sharp in the moonlight. “Are you okay?”

  “I think so,” she replied, even though she didn’t feel anything close to okay.

  “What was that in the road?” Hank asked.

  Yvonne looked up the embankment to see the silhouette of an animal struggling in the road. Based on the whining sounds, it was injured. Could tonight get any worse?

  “That sounds like a dog,” Pauline said, worry pitching her voice high.

  “Or a fox or a wolf,” Hank cautioned.

  Chaz took immediate control of the situation, holding out his hand. “Give me your phone to call 911. Your local number will be better to call from than mine.” Rather than be annoyed, Yvonne found herself grateful. One hour’s curmudgeon was another hour’s useful hero, it seemed.

  Yvonne undid her seat belt and began hunting on the car floor where her handbag had spilled its contents. She unlocked the cell phone and handed it to him.

  “Where are we?”

  It took a minute for her fog to lift enough to name the back road she’d chosen instead of the highway.

  He peered through the window, which thankfully hadn’t been broken in the impact. Yvonne said a prayer of thanks that they hadn’t been in Pauline’s small sedan or hit one of the many elk that populated the area. “Okay.” The animal’s cries pitched higher. “I’ll go look for a mile marker up there. Got a flashlight?”

  “Just the one on my cell phone,” she admitted.

  With a glare, Chaz pushed the groaning driver’s-side door open to reveal a wall of leaves. Without hesitation, he stepped out into the thick foliage and began clambering toward the road and whatever lay injured on it.

  Yvonne knew this road well, but the dark of the night and the lack of any other cars on the road made it seem like the middle of nowhere.

  “What did we hit?” Pauline asked.

  “That animal up there and the tree in front of us.” Yvonne’s door practically fell open from the sharp incline of the van’s resting angle. One headlight sputtered and failed as if to announce the vehicle’s demise. Totaled, her mind assessed, though she couldn’t even see all the damage. “Are you two hurt at all?”

  “No,” Pauline said. “A bump or bruise I’ll feel tomorrow maybe, but nothing more than that. Hank, honey?”

  “Fine. And praise God, glad to be so. That was close,” he answered. He began to undo the seat belts and maneuver himself and Pauline up to get out of the car.

  “Okay, then.” Yvonne stepped out of the car and climbed the short rise to where Chaz was crouched over the animal. She walked closer to see him talking to what looked like a German shepherd mix dog gasping in short, shallow pants.

  Chaz pulled his belt from his jeans and looked back at her over his shoulder. “Find me two branches. Long and straight as you can manage.”

  “Is he okay?” she asked, noting the dog’s unnaturally bent leg.

  “No. But I think we only broke his leg. Branches,” he repeated. “Fast.” He turned back to the animal, stroking its head as the dog looked about with wild eyes. His voice held a caretaker’s calm assurance. “Easy there, big fella. We’ll get you out of this mess.”

  Looking for branches in the middle of the night with only one contact lens seemed a rather daunting task, but Yvonne began to look around. “Chaz, be careful.”

  “Bit late for that.” Despite the cool of the evening, Chaz pulled off his shirt and then the T-shirt underneath. Somehow he managed to look even larger than his already considerable height. Muscular, lean and strong. The dog gave a desperate whine as he wrapped the T-shirt around the bleeding leg. “I know it hurts. Just hang in there.”

  She managed to find two decent-sized sticks in short order, delivering them to Chaz. He’d pulled his shirt back on but otherwise stayed focused on the animal, talking in low and steady tones. With the practiced hands of someone who tended to animals, he lined the sticks up on either side of the wrapped injured leg and secured it with his belt.

  “You watch yourself there. You never know what an injured animal will do,” Hank warned as he and Pauline came up from the van.

  “It’s a dog, Dad, not a bear. No collar, but it could be chipped.” With an eerie feeling, Yvonne noticed he had placed himself between the animal and her, Hank and Pauline.

  Chaz’s calm control set all of them at ease. The dog tried to get up, but Chaz gently held it still. Yvonne watched regret and compassion battle in Chaz’s eyes. The accident showed her a different side of this man, one that tugged at her in ways that made little sense. There was more to Chaz Walker than just Pauline’s sourpuss label.

  By the time the thin, high wail of a siren finally cut through the silence, Yvonne could honestly say she was grateful Chaz was nearby.

  Chapter Four

  Chaz let out a breath of relief as he listened to the emergency veterinarian’s report. “Broken leg, skin lesions, but nothing that can’t heal in time.”

  “Can you contact the owner?” Yvonne asked. She looked beyond tired, and Chaz supposed that for a woman who normally kept the early morning hours of a bakery, 11:30 p.m. felt like the middle of the night. He’d found it a kindness that she’d stayed with him, even though Dad and Pauline had already gone back with the tow truck that had taken what was left of Yvonne’s van back home. He was pretty sure it was totaled, and she seemed to agree, but neither of them spoke of it.

  “It’d be the first thing I’d do, if I knew who the owner was,” the vet replied. “This guy’s got no microchip, and if he had a collar it’s long gone. The best we can do is provide a description to the sheriff and keep him here.”

  Chaz took one look at the bank of crates in the room behind them and felt his stomach tighten. “I’ll cover the bills,” he offered, “but then what happens?” This dog’s desperate eyes had hooked into him back there on the roadside and hadn’t let go since. He’d run a ranch for years. He was no stranger to the injury and even the death of animals. He couldn’t explain why this was different but it was.

  The vet shrugged her shoulders. “Shelter, most likely.”

  That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. “And then what?”

  The vet gave a do you really want me to say it? look that made Chaz want to punch something.

  His response was instantaneous. “So he comes back with us.”

  That declaration woke Yvonne right up. “To the valley?”

  “Do you have a vet in town?” the doctor asked, her eyebrow raised.

  Yvonne pushed her hair back from her face. “Dan Mullins, but...”

  Chaz cut in, eyes steady on the vet. “Can the dog safely travel to...” The town’s name still felt silly on his tongue. “...Matrimony Valley?”

  The doctor’s gaze flicked to Yvonne as if they might be able to talk him out of this. Not a chance. Chaz had made up his mind. He’d wounded this dog. He wasn’t going to leave him to whimper in some cage. He wouldn’t let this dog be abandoned by whatever idiot had left him wandering a mountain roadside at night.

  “The leg’s cast. He’s in stable condition,” the vet replied. “It’s just painkillers, antibiotics, rest and regular meals from here. I can send the X-rays with you. Honestly, he’s likely to try walking in a few hours. If he can manage the cast, short walks outside for necessary business should be okay.”

  “Then he comes with us.”

  Yvonne rubbed her eyes. “Bruce Lohan’s coming with his truck to pick us up. I suppose there’s room...”

  “He’ll ride on my lap if he has to.” The practicalities of what he would do with the dog when he got back to the valley didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to have the final act of this terrible day be him abandoning a dog. Especially not one he’d injured.

  He’d never had a dog of his own because Wyatt’s dog, Rocker, was just plain mean to other dogs. He’d meant to get one of his own when Dad had given him the guesthouse on the ranch, but never got around to it.

  Before tonight, he’d thought of that guesthouse as a sign of independence, of Dad recognizing the need for his own space. Now it just felt like a demotion, as if he’d been put out of the big house where Dad and Wyatt lived. The way you put a dog out in a doghouse.

  The dog was going to be his, period.

  Yvonne had the good sense to recognize this was not open for discussion. “Okay, then,” she said cautio
usly as she pulled out her phone. “I’ll send a text to Bruce that he’s got another passenger.”

  “Good.”

  “But the inn.” Yvonne pursed her lips. “Hailey doesn’t have rooms that allow pets.”

  The idea that this dog might give him a way out of that fussy inn made him that much more indebted to the beast. The last thing he wanted right now was to be under the same roof with his stepfather. “So we do something else.”

  Yvonne’s face brightened. “Bruce and Kelly have a cabin they rent in the back of their property. You might be able to stay there.” She raised her phone and stepped from the exam room. “I’ll go check.”

  “Looks like you just got yourself a dog.” The vet clicked her pen and picked up a clipboard. “Name?”

  “Charles Walker.”

  She smiled. “We covered that already. I meant the dog’s name.”

  Chaz rubbed his eyes. He was weary on so many levels it felt like his soul ached. “I have to name the dog right now?”

  “Well, no, but...”

  Without warning, Chaz’s mind brought up the story of William Cecil, the son who’d returned to the Biltmore estate when it was in bad straits. The son who’d fought to turn the failing property into the massive enterprise he’d spent the afternoon wandering.

  It seemed as good a name as any. “Cecil.”

  After a questioning look, the vet filled in her chart. “Cecil it is. I’ll give you a week’s supply of medicine to control pain and infection. I’ll throw in a blanket to take him home in, too. I’ll send word to this Dr. Mullins in Matrimony Valley to see Cecil tomorrow for follow-up. We’ve done the rabies, but Mullins can get him brought up to date on his other shots. I’ll go get that blanket, and a meal or two’s worth of food to tide you over.” With that, the vet left the room.

  Cecil, somehow sensing the weight of the moment, looked up at Chaz with worried eyes. The frightened plea in those eyes sealed it. As of this moment, Chaz would have walked all the way back to the valley carrying the animal rather than leave him here.

  “Cecil okay for a name?” he asked, feeling foolish.

  Cecil licked his palm and settled his head against Chaz’s hand, closing his eyes in rest. It must have been sheer exhaustion that choked his throat at that moment, not any loyalty to this scruffy canine or the weight of obligation he felt looking at the freshly applied cast.

  It didn’t matter that it made no sense, and he had no idea what was going to happen after tomorrow morning. How the dog was going to get back to Wander Canyon didn’t matter. Whether or not Chaz even had a Wander Canyon Ranch to go back to after this whole wedding mess was a problem for another day. This was one thing he could set right in a whole heap of “not right” all around him today.

  Yvonne stepped back into the room, yawning. “Bruce will be here in twenty minutes, and you can stay in the cabin for the rest of your visit.”

  “Cecil and I appreciate it.”

  She gaped at him. “Cecil?”

  “Cecil,” he replied, simply nodding. Even if he had an explanation for how and why he’d just named the dog—which he didn’t—he couldn’t put it into words anyhow.

  She gave him an understanding smile. Her soft eyes told him Yvonne recognized why Cecil couldn’t go anywhere but home with him. “Hello, Cecil,” she said, touching the dog’s dark, velvety ear. Cecil gave a low moan that sounded far too much like a contented sigh.

  As for Chaz, the warmth in Yvonne’s voice settled into his chest before he could stop it.

  * * *

  Most mornings Yvonne loved the solitude of the bakery. There was a glorious optimism in creating delicious things before most of the world had even opened their eyes.

  Not today.

  With an out-of-commission van and a sleep-deprived brain, the ovens seemed more like taskmasters than partners this morning. Dawn came blaring through the windows, and there didn’t seem to be enough coffee in North Carolina, much less in her corner of Matrimony Valley.

  Not too long after the school bus rumbled down the street, Yvonne looked up from a tray of cinnamon rolls to see Kelly Lohan, Bruce’s wife and the town florist, coming through the doors.

  “I was sure I’d find Cathy Bolton behind the counter this morning. You can’t have gotten much sleep last night.”

  “She’s coming in later to hold down the fort when I go over to Ziggy’s.” Jerome Zigler of Ziggy’s Valley Garage had towed the van all the way back to Matrimony Valley last night, but gave no indication of a prognosis. Yvonne offered her friend an apologetic grimace. “Sorry to haul Bruce out in the middle of the night.”

  “It wasn’t the first time. And it was for you.” Bruce was now a helicopter pilot for a commercial firm, but he had been a Forest Service pilot when he’d first come to the valley. The tale of how Bruce and Kelly fell for each other during one of the valley’s most calamitous snowbound weddings was one that had warmed everyone’s heart.

  “Well,” Kelly continued, “you and Chaz Walker and now an adorable dog named...Cecil?”

  “Yeah, I’m still not quite sure how that happened. But I have to admit, it’s sweet and rather noble. Chaz Walker is certainly a load of surprises—good and bad.” Yvonne slid a tray of sugary spirals into the waiting oven. “You’re okay with putting them up?”

  “The cabin was empty. Better our cabin than asking Hailey to break policy, and you should have seen how Lulu and Carly went crazy over the dog this morning. I had to practically push them onto the school bus. Someone ought to warn poor Cecil he’ll be getting loads of little-girl care while he heals.”

  Kelly’s daughter, Lulu, had connected strongly with Bruce’s daughter, Carly, when they had visited for the wedding, and the two girls had contrived mightily to get their parents together so they could become sisters. Their new family was one of Yvonne’s favorite Matrimony Valley happy endings.

  Little girls smothering Cecil meant little girls around Chaz. She had to admit, it might be amusing to watch that man handle such a heavy dose of cuteness.

  Kelly leaned in, concern on her face. “So the van...?”

  Yvonne wanted to lay her head on the counter. “I don’t even want to think about the van.”

  “But everyone’s okay? No one was hurt—well, people, that is?”

  Yvonne wiped her hands on a nearby towel and came around the counter. “That depends on your definition of okay. No one but Cecil’s hurt more than bumps and bruises.” It still felt ridiculous to call the dog by that name and recognize that Chaz had taken it in. “I just kept looking over at him, sitting there in Bruce’s passenger seat with that dog piled on his lap, trying to figure out what had just happened.” It was such an impulsive thing to do, and that man struck her as a long way from impulsive. Still, the compassion she’d seen from him impressed her as much as it had surprised her. Especially given the hours just beforehand. “I guess it was the last straw for him.”

  Kelly pulled the coffeepot from the brewer and poured a cup for herself, then refilled Yvonne’s. “What do you mean?”

  Sitting down at the front window tables, Yvonne gave a quick recap of the dinner and Hank’s announcement.

  “That sounds like a terrible thing to do. Who’d pit one son against the other like that?”

  “That’s what I think,” Yvonne agreed. “And why on earth do it here, in front of me and Auntie P.? Hank is about to marry one of my favorite people in the whole world, and I’m worried. His actions are a huge red flag for me. I don’t know how to tell her how I feel, or if I even should.”

  “Have you tried talking to her?”

  “There wasn’t really a time last night.” Yvonne stifled another yawn. “But I plan to today. She told me something was coming, but she looked as uncomfortable as I felt when Hank announced it. The whole restaurant stared when Chaz blew up at his father. But really, can you blame the guy? I don’t think Pauline knows what to do about it. I sure don’t.”

  Kelly sipped her coffee. “Do you need me to drive you down into Asheville to a rental car company?”