Depending on the Cowboy


 
 
 
 “What were we doing in the summer when we were sixteen?”
 His eyes seemed to drink her in, and Sienna blushed, uncertain where the conversation was headed.
 “Getting pizza, riding horses, hopping on four-wheelers, going to the rodeo and any other local attraction that pulled into town.” She had fond memories of those days. They’d been the most carefree ones she’d ever experienced.
 “Then we should make sure Connor and Lily have the same thing.”
 There he went again, using the word we.
 “I appreciate what you’re saying, Blaine, but I’ve imposed too much already.” She didn’t want him to think she was ungrateful, but Connor and Lily were her responsibility, not his. “We don’t have to do anything. I thought it was important for you to know what’s going on. That’s it.”
 She couldn’t have asked for a better response from Blaine, but it was dangerous accepting his help. Sixteen was a lifetime ago, and reliving it with Blaine, Lily and Connor might make her want more. She’d been blessed to enjoy it once. Happiness like that didn’t come around twice.
 
 
 Jill Kemerer writes novels with love, humor and faith. Besides spoiling her mini dachshund and keeping up with her busy kids, Jill reads stacks of books, lives for her morning coffee and gushes over fluffy animals. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two children. Jill loves connecting with readers, so please visit her website, jillkemerer.com, or contact her at PO Box 2802, Whitehouse, OH 43571.
 Books by Jill Kemerer
 Love Inspired
 Wyoming Ranchers
 The Prodigal’s Holiday Hope 
 A Cowboy to Rely On
 Guarding His Secret
 The Mistletoe Favor
 Depending on the Cowboy
 Wyoming Sweethearts
 Her Cowboy Till Christmas
 The Cowboy’s Secret
 The Cowboy’s Christmas Blessings
 Hers for the Summer
 Wyoming Cowboys
 The Rancher’s Mistletoe Bride
 Reunited with the Bull Rider
 Wyoming Christmas Quadruplets
 His Wyoming Baby Blessing
 Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com for more titles.
 
 
 DEPENDING ON THE COWBOY
 Jill Kemerer
 
 
 
 Remember ye not the former things,neither consider the things of old. Behold,I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a wayin the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
 —Isaiah 43:18–19
 
 
 To my good friend Kristina Knight, whom I can always count on to ooh and aah over texts of puppies and baby goats. Love you, Kristi!
 
 
 Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Epilogue
 Dear Reader
 Excerpt from Bound by a Secret by Jolene Navarro
 
 
 Chapter One
 Women made him nervous. Pregnant women? Well, they terrified him.
 Blaine Mayer gave the kitchen counter one last swipe, then straightened the pillows on the couch in the three-bedroom log cabin down the lane from his ranch house. The former foreman’s home had been collecting dust for over a year. And that wouldn’t do for when Sienna arrived.
 Sienna Norden—Sienna Powell now. Blaine had good memories of being her lab partner in high school biology and hanging out with her and their friends on the weekends until she moved to Casper, Wyoming, right before junior year. She’d been one of the only women he’d ever considered easy to talk to, aside from his sisters, and they didn’t count.
 It had been jarring last fall when his sister Erica, now married and living in Casper, had announced she’d run in to Sienna. Since then, the two women had become good friends. When Mom had informed him a week ago that Sienna—pregnant and recently divorced—was bringing her niece and nephew to Mayer Canyon Ranch for the next two months, Blaine hadn’t put up a fight.
 It wasn’t like he had a say in it, anyhow. Erica, too, was having a baby, and Blaine knew better than to argue with her. It would only cause tears or a battle. No thank you. Honestly, he didn’t mind Sienna and her crew staying here for most of the summer. It had been lonelier than he’d expected when he’d moved to his half of the sprawling family ranch in Sunrise Bend, Wyoming, last year.
 He gave the place a quick once-over. Yep, the cabin was ready. All morning he and his mother had disinfected and deodorized it. Mom had brought over new bedspreads for the guest rooms, and she’d made sure there were plenty of fluffy towels. To say she was tickled pink to be getting Sienna as a part-time helper for the candle shop and two teens to spoil for all of June and July would be the understatement of the century.
 Blaine just hoped having them a mere hop, skip and jump away wouldn’t affect his plans for the ranch. He’d been riding out every afternoon to what he and Jet, his big brother and owner of the other half of the ranch, jokingly referred to as the dead pasture on Grandpa’s land—Blaine’s land now.
 Blaine was convinced it could be a good source of additional hay. Last fall, he’d killed the weeds. This spring, he’d reseeded the entire pasture with drought-resistant wheatgrass.
 It had been expensive. And risky.
 With the dry conditions this year, he might have been better off keeping the pasture free for the cattle to graze. Now that it had been reseeded, it couldn’t be grazed for two entire growing seasons. Jet, naturally, thought he was making a mistake and had told him so on more than one occasion. Maybe his brother was right.
 What if the cattle ran out of grazing land this winter? What if the pasture didn’t produce the hay he anticipated?
 How would he feed his herd?
 His phone rang, and he reluctantly took the call, stepping onto the front porch and closing the door behind him. “Blaine speaking.”
 “Oh, good.” A woman with a no-nonsense voice sighed.