A Mule Hollow Match Read online

  Join us once again in Mule Hollow as our bachelor cowboy becomes an instant dad!

  Confirmed bachelor Trace Crawford’s life is turned upside down when he becomes guardian to his young niece. The knowledge that a tiny girl is about to become his responsibility blasts him from happy-go-lucky to terrified. The Mule Hollow matchmakers think teacher Paisley Norton is the perfect candidate to help. But Paisley can’t forgive Trace for breaking her cousin’s heart—even though she’s secretly always had a crush on the rugged cowboy. Paisley’s got a soft heart for children, so she’ll agree to become a nanny…but when Trace asks, will she also agree to become his wife?

  Originally published in 2009.

  Praise for Debra Clopton

  “A great story that reminds us about waiting for God’s timing and accepting what He offers us.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Her Baby Dreams

  “Debra Clopton writes a terrific story with a great mix of humor and tenderness.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Dream a Little Dream

  “Debra Clopton pens a warm, affectionate story about Mule Hollow. More than just the characters in this story will continue to call this place home—Clopton’s readers will find themselves doing the same.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on No Place Like Home

  DEBRA CLOPTON

  was a 2004 Golden Heart finalist in the inspirational category, a 2006 Inspirational Readers Choice Award winner, a 2007 Golden Quill award winner and a finalist for the 2007 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award. She praises the Lord each time someone votes for one of her books, and takes it as an affirmation that she is exactly where God wants her to be.

  Debra is a hopeless romantic and loves to create stories with lively heroines and the strong heroes who fall in love with them. But most importantly she loves showing her characters living their faith, seeking God’s will in their lives one day at a time. Her goal is to give her readers an entertaining story that will make them smile, hopefully laugh and always feel God’s goodness as they read her books. She has found the perfect home for her stories writing for the Love Inspired line and still has to pinch herself just to see if she really is awake and living her dream.

  When she isn’t writing she enjoys taking road trips, reading and spending time with her two sons, Chase and Kris. She loves hearing from readers and can be reached through her Web site, www.debraclopton.com, or P.O. Box 1125, Madisonville, Texas 77864.

  A MULE HOLLOW MATCH

  Debra Clopton

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  CHAPTER ONE

  For a small gal she was a real firecracker. By the flash of those emerald eyes she looked ready to explode. And all because of him.

  Watching her approach from her car, Trace Crawford swiped his Stetson from his head and prepared for the worst. It was no secret that he was the last person Paisley Norton would expect or want to find standing on her porch—his sentiments exactly.

  He planted his boots and, as if to mock him, his spurs jingled cheerily—ha! Nothin’ about the next few minutes promised to be cheerful.

  There had been a time when he’d believed he had a pretty good head on his shoulders. Not anymore, and all of Mule Hollow was pretty much in agreement with that assumption. Applegate Thornton and Stanley Orr, the two old guys who hung out at Sam’s Diner, letting everyone know their opinion about all things good, bad and just plum stupid, certainly did. They’d voted Trace’s lapse in judgment as the “humdinger of all things plum stupid,” to quote Applegate verbatim. And Trace was in total agreement.

  He wished like nothing he’d ever wished before that he could take back having asked Paisley’s cousin to marry him.

  Sure, he’d been in a panic, but still, what had he been thinking?

  You were thinking about your two-year-old niece. And how you didn’t and still don’t have any clue how to take care of her.

  True. But still…how had he messed things up so bad?

  “What are you doing here?” Paisley snapped, stepping onto her porch and edging past him.

  Not wanting to give her the opportunity to slam her front door in his face, he scooted in front of her, trying to block her path. “I need your help,” he said, causing her eyes to blaze with contempt. Her chin lifted.

  “No!” The air vibrated with her anger. He started to speak but she pushed him in the chest and backed him up to the porch steps.

  “It’s not bad enough,” she gritted out through perfect white teeth, “that I have to see you on the streets in town. Now you’re trespassing on my property!” She yanked her arm up and pointed toward the road. “Get off. Go away. Or I’ll call Brady.”

  Brady was the sheriff of Mule Hollow and a good friend. But in this instance Trace knew Brady would do his job and send him packing. And if this had been about himself alone, Trace would have stepped off that porch and been gone right then and there—he wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

  But this wasn’t about him.

  This was about his baby niece, and had been from the moment he’d first learned of her existence two months ago. Because she needed help he couldn’t give her, and because he was all she had in the world, he’d proposed to this spitfire’s cousin almost immediately…and that ill-fated proposal had caused all of this.

  But there was no turning back now and she was going to listen to him. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said firmly, knowing his eyes were flashing some steel of their own.

  She glowered as her long-lashed eyes narrowed to slits.

  “Look,” he snapped, reining in his frustration, fighting to remain level headed and losing. Couldn’t she see reason? Couldn’t she at least listen instead of acting like Rambo in a skirt? “Zoey has gone through more than any little girl should have to go through. I don’t care if you hate my guts—I need your help—”

  “If you came to ask me to marry you, I’m going to punch you!”

  “Marry you? Whoa, lady.” His gaze slid down her battle-ready stance and he blurted out the first thing that came into his head: “That’s the last thing I’d ever do.”

  The words were more of a reflex than anything. After all, popping that question had started all this trouble! He had no plans to make that mistake again. Especially with Paisley. It was safe to say she’d rather see him dragged across a patch of prickly pear cactus.

  He was caught off guard when she paled, two bright spots of pink on her prominent cheekbones her only color.

  “Th…then why are you here?” she asked, the green in her eyes swirling with a surprising vulnerability.

  Had he embarrassed her? He had the impulse to back up and attempt to clarify his words, but he’d lost all confidence in his ability not to flub things further, so he plunged forward. Laying everything out in the open was the best option. “I came to offer you a job for the summer.”

  “A job,” she scoffed. “Me work for you? Ha!”

  No surprise there. He’d had the same reaction when the ladies in town had suggested Paisley was actually the perfect person for the job—how? But there were no other options. Even if Mule Hollow had an abundance of teenage babysitters, which it didn’t, a teen wouldn’t do in this instance. And for reasons he hadn’t figured out, all the older ladies were unavailable. “Circumstances have left me without options.” So here I stand, not because I want to be, but because I must be.

  Suffocating weight settled over hi
m, as if he had the whole world on his shoulders—and it was true. He had a little girl’s world sitting squarely across both shoulders. “The social worker on my niece’s case is coming out to make her final field visit and then finally I get custody of Zoey. I’m down to the wire here. I need to show I have someone reliable to care for her. I need someone to teach me what to do, because I have no clue.”

  Paisley’s expression clearly said she would work for him the day pigs flew.

  “Look,” he said, rubbing the cramping muscles in his neck, “I get why you’re staring at me like that. But the ladies said you needed a job and, well, you are a schoolteacher. When you aren’t talking to me, you do seem like you can be a fairly nice person.”

  “Well, you’re a charmer! A regular Don Juan.”

  No, he was an idiot! “I didn’t mean it that way.” He scrambled for the right words. “I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

  “Well,” she snapped, her glare steamy, “at least you finally said something we both agree on. You most definitely are sorry.”

  Trace nodded. “I deserved that.” She was right, after all. He’d literally run her cousin out of town with his poorly thought-out proposal. “I get that you don’t think much of me, but this is an innocent little girl we’re talking about. And, the older ladies said that I’ve caused you to be in a financial bind since I am responsible for Rene leaving town.”

  Way to go, idiot. “I mean,” he tried again, “they pointed out that you being a schoolteacher and having the summer off—well, you’d be the perfect person to help me and Zoey.”

  If his grandfather heard him right now, groveling, as he would have called it, the crusty old man would roll over in his grave. A man did not admit his shortcomings, especially to a woman. But all Trace could think of was Zoey and what a lousy guardian he would be. He had to get someone in his corner who knew about little girls—really knew about them. “I need someone to help care for her and teach me how at the same time.”

  His insides curled up thinking about the mess his widowed grandfather had made raising him and his sister alone. Trace knew he wouldn’t do any better by Stephanie’s daughter if he didn’t get help with his newfound parenthood.

  He still had a hard time realizing that his sister was dead. Or that she’d never bothered to tell him he was an uncle. He’d stopped trying to understand Stephanie a long time ago and had thought she’d hurt him as much as she possibly could. But the fact that she’d given birth and not contacted him…it cut deeper than anything she’d ever done. Anything his parents had ever done, either.

  If Social Services hadn’t found him he’d have never known about Zoey. And he’d have never had the chance to help her. What were you thinking, Steph?

  Had his mixed up sister hated him so much that she’d rather her little girl believe she had no relatives at all?

  His heart hurt at the thought. He’d regret for the rest of his life that he hadn’t done more for Steph, but for Zoey things were going to be different. God had given him a second chance and he planned to do everything in his power to give that little girl a fair shot at life. Even if it meant begging the stubborn woman in front of him for her help. Taking a deep breath, he prayed silently for God to step into the equation and give him a hand. “Paisley, will you please help Zoey?”

  * * *

  For two months, two months, Paisley had been a big ball of anger and all because of this cowboy. This cowboy had ruined her and Rene’s lifelong dream of settling down in a small town and raising their families together. He’d driven her cousin out of town—killing that dream with his callous insensitivity!

  “This is preposterous,” she said in disbelief, ignoring the desperation in his smoke-colored eyes. “I can’t work for you.”

  Those smoky eyes mixed with his sand-colored curls and that chiseled jaw put the man in serious contention with good-looking country star Dirks Bentley. The combination of those boyish good looks and those unforgettable eyes had gotten them into this mess from the start. One look at him when she and Rene had walked into Sam’s Diner and Rene had believed she’d fallen madly in love at first sight—it had taken several weeks before Trace even seemed to notice Rene. And then when he did start dating Rene, Paisley could tell there was no hope for the relationship. The man had been leading Rene on, but there was no convincing Rene of that…just remembering made Paisley’s temperature rise.

  “Please.”

  “No. No way, actually,” she said. “You can’t bring a child who needs to feel safe into a situation where two people dislike each other. What could you be thinking?”

  “I know what you’re saying, but I tried to find someone else and couldn’t. Everyone already has commitments, while you have almost three months free until your teaching job starts. Zoey needs you.”

  Paisley had become a schoolteacher because she’d always had a heart for kids. And kids who’d been given a raw deal in life really cried out to her. Not that this gave the maddening man any excuse for hurting her cousin. Poor Rene had thought when he’d suddenly asked her to marry him that he’d fallen in love with her, too! It had been devastating for her to realize he was only looking for a mother for Zoey. Rene had felt bad for the little girl, but she’d been devastated by the knowledge that Trace wasn’t in love with her and she’d left town…and poof, just like that, no more side-by-side houses or family backyard barbeques or playtime for their future kids. Nope he’d killed that. But worst of all…he’d hurt Rene.

  “Please,” he said. “I’m really sorry for hurting Rene. She didn’t deserve the pain I caused her. But, my little niece doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her, either. Does she?”

  Paisley had so many reasons to stay as far away from Trace as she could get—and then he touched her arm suddenly and every nerve ending in her body went on red alert. She yanked away from him, as if she’d just gotten tangled in an electric fence. To her horror her heartbeat sped up under his soulful gaze.

  “No, she doesn’t.” It was true, despite her roiling emotions.

  “I’ll pay you a good wage,” he added quickly. “I won’t be around all that much—you know what it’s like during the summer. Keeping a ranch the size of Clint Matlock’s going is sometimes daylight to dark. But I’m going to try and not work so late every day. I’ve already talked with him and the foreman about needing to be home some.”

  She blinked as his words sank through the fog forming in her brain. What was she thinking? The man was basically asking her to work cowboy hours. But she did need the money, and there was the poor child, innocently doomed to his care…and that was the reason for her racing heart.

  He’d latched onto his hat rim with both hands and his knuckles were white…seeing him suffer gave Paisley a moment of great satisfaction. She couldn’t help pushing the issue. “You led Rene on,” she snapped. “Do you know for a brief moment she thought you’d actually fallen head over heels in love with her—which is all she ever wanted.”

  No. No way could she work for this guy. Family loyalty mattered.

  “I freaked out—I’m sorry. What more can I say? Have you never messed up?”

  Frustration and desperation edged his voice, and Paisley didn’t feel the satisfaction she’d hoped for, but she didn’t like him any less, either.

  “Look, Rene is a great woman. The best,” he continued in earnest. “She is. I respect her immensely and that’s why I asked her to marry me—for Zoey’s benefit. If that makes me a jerk, then I am. I fully admit it.” He paused, holding her gaze. “But this jerk could really use some help, and if I have to grovel I will.”

  Shame infused Paisley. This macho, self-centered cowboy admitting for the sake of a little girl that he would grovel made her animosity toward him seem misdirected—selfish. It wasn’t a good feeling.

  Could she willingly ignore a child’s need simply because of her own need for vindication?

  She tried to harden her heart…but he’d hit her Achilles’ heel. How could she ignore the child’s needs? He
r stomach rolled at the thought.

  And then there was the fact that despite having her heart broken Rene was completely happy now…so did any of this matter to anyone but Paisley?

  “I’ll do it,” she said, before she could change her mind. “For Zoey. Not for you in any way, shape or form. Is that understood?”

  A smile exploded across Trace’s handsome face and to her horror, before she’d even finished speaking, the crazy man grabbed her up in his strong arms and spun her around!

  “Rene always said you were the best!” he whooped as they spun. “Thank you! Thank you! I promise you won’t regret this.”

  Dizzy, angry and totally flustered she struggled against him. “Wh…whoa!” she sputtered, pushing against his broad shoulders, glaring down into his sparkling eyes, feeling his arms wrapped around her waist. “Put me down!”

  At her command he dropped her like a rock. Feeling like she’d just fallen off the merry-go-round she stumbled away from him—most assuredly not merry! When he reached to steady her she held up a shaky hand of warning. “Stay,” she snapped. She was so infuriated her pulse was pounding, her every nerve ending was sizzling with distaste.

  “Rules,” she gasped, breathlessly, glaring at him and the grin plastered across his face. “The ground rules are: Don’t touch me. You got that, buster?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Big mistake. Big mistake. Big mistake.

  The voice inside her head was getting on her nerves the next morning as Paisley parked her car in front of Sam’s Diner—of course her nerves were shot, so it didn’t take much. But, as she stepped onto the weathered planks of the sidewalk, the droning tone was as relentless as the midsummer sun that beamed down on her. She glanced down the street at the town she’d started to call home, needing the happy feeling she always got when she looked at the welcoming place.