by Jen Peters
Cherished by the Rancher
Jen Peters
Blue Lily Books
Copyright © 2021 by Jen Peters
Blue Lily Books, Blue Lily Publishers
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-1-949876-50-5 (print)
Cover design by GermanCreative at fiverr.com
To my mother, who had me on a horse before I could walk
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Epilogue
While You Wait…
The Jen Peters Collection:
About the Author
1
“Thank you, Mr. Black. You won’t regret it,” Maddy Johnston said, relieved to have a job again. A cattle ranch was not where she’d expected to end up, not as a die-hard city gal, but it would be a perfect refuge for now.
The old cowboy smiled. “I’m sure I won’t. You’ve got the experience to clean up the mess our last accountant left, and Black Rock Ranch could use a new face. A younger, prettier one, too!”
Maddy blushed.
“Now, let me practice that name you want us to use. Rich-o-leen-ee,” Mr. Black pronounced carefully.
“O,” she corrected. “Ricciolin-o, close enough.”
“How’d you come to pick that one?”
Maddy smiled. “My grandmother. Nonna is very special to me, but not many people know her maiden name.”
“Ricciolino, Ricciolino,” he said, grinning proudly. “I can do that. And if it will keep you safe, it will be worth any tongue-tangling I might do. You sure I can’t tell the boys?”
She gave a sharp shake of her head. “Somebody might let something slip. I just can’t chance it.”
“All right then, Missy. Let’s get you settled.”
Outside, he whistled to a couple of cowboys near a complicated set of fences. “My sons,” he said.
The two men approached, both muscled and tanned and wearing cowboy hats that seemed part of them. The blond met her with a wide grin and cheerful eyes. The dark-haired one...that perfectly chiseled jaw and intent expression told Maddy he was more reserved.
“Adam, Caleb, this is Maddy Ricciolino. She’s going to be our new accountant.”
“Nice to meet you,” the dark-haired one said. “Adam Black.” He tipped his worn hat to her.
The blond stretched out a work-roughened hand. “Hi, I’m Caleb. Welcome to the ranch.”
“Thanks,” Maddy said. “I’ll learn as fast as I can.”
“I guess you’ll meet my daughter and my other son later,” Mr. Black said. “One’s at school and the other is probably elbow deep in tractor grease.” He chuckled. “Let’s introduce you to your cabin now, and you can move in whenever you’re ready.”
Maddy nodded to Caleb and Adam and followed their father down another driveway, away from the house and barns and admin building. Not quite half a mile later, the lane curved and opened up.
“Some of our ranch hands live here,” Mr. Black said, sweeping his arm out to a cluster of compact houses. “That one on the far right should do you and your daughter just fine.”
Maddy was speechless. She’d been grateful that housing was included with the job, but she’d expected a cabin—the old, run-down type. These were snug homes with front porches and a common grassy area in the center of the horseshoe drive. “Wow,” was all she could say.
She repeated the word when Mr. Black showed her the inside. A living area, eat-in kitchen, a bath between two bedrooms, and a door to the back where the view went on forever. Pasture, cattle, mountains…it was like paradise.
She ran her hand down a doorway, along a countertop, and closed her eyes. She felt the hominess here, but safety as well. This cabin, this ranch, would be a refuge for her and Mia.
She blinked back tears. “I can’t say thank you enough. This is…incredible.”
“Aw, just our normal stuff,” Mr. Black said. “People need a good home to do good work. Even cowboys. Now, you go get your little girl, and I’ll see you in the office on Monday.”
Two days back in Denver to gather what Maddy could fit in her Toyota and for six-year-old Mia to play with cousins one more time. Two days to say her goodbyes and convince her mother that she couldn’t give out her address.
Two days to bake with Nonna and soak up her wisdom. To watch her twin nephews wrestle, to do make-up with her niece. To have a last, tearful heart-to-heart with her sister.
“Don’t cry, Mama,” Mia said as they drove their packed little car away.
Maddy swiped the tears away. “You got it. No more tears. We won’t get to come back for a long time, but we’re going to have a great adventure. Right?”
“Right! And we can see everyone next week.”
Oh, to have a child’s view of time. It would be much more than a week before they could return.
Now, exhausted from the whirlwind days, Maddy had slept through the Sunday church service Mr. Black had told her about. She yawned and stretched and, for once, decided the Lord wouldn’t mind.
Maddy listened to Mia’s cartoon coming in faintly from the living room, then pulled clothes on and went out. “Hey, kidaroo. I see you’ve had breakfast.” Mia was surrounded by spilled cheerios, grape stems, and a paperback copy of Dinosaurs Before Dark.
“Yup! And I didn’t put my bowl on the coffee table to make a ring, see?”
No, instead it was balanced precariously on a stack of towels Maddy hadn’t found a spot for yet. She sighed. “I do see. Now, I’ll help you clean up, and then we’ll get dressed and go for a walk around the ranch. Maybe we can find a nice cowboy to show us around.”
In just a moment, they stood on the front porch of their new home, inhaling the warm air. A soft mountain breeze stirred Maddy’s curls, and she wondered how she ever managed to breathe in Denver. All air should be required to smell this fresh.
The other small cabins were quiet, all the ranch hands out working already. Ranch hands. She almost snorted. Who would have imagined Maddy Johnston, who lived
for shopping and cooking and close family, would ever end up on a ranch in the back of Colorado’s beyond?
Grand Junction, only a tenth the size of Denver, was more than an hour away. The closest thing to civilization was tiny Beaver Falls, still twenty-minutes down a winding, hilly road. She’d go through shopping withdrawal, but it would be worth it—it had to be.
They walked toward the ranch homestead, Mia skipping and singing a nonsense song. Caleb Black welcomed them with a jovial, “Howdy there!”
They walked out to the group of confusing fences, and he explained how the chute system worked, sending the cattle in different directions depending on what was wanted.
“What’s that,” Mia asked, pointing to a sort of wide hole in one area.
Caleb tipped his hat back. “Oh, we fill that every week and throw all the cowboys in there for a bath,” he said. “Anyone new to the ranch has to do it, too.”
Mia squealed. “Noooo!” Then she looked at him more closely. “You do not,” she exclaimed, hands on her hips. “Mama and I take showers in our cabin.”
Maddy grinned as Caleb crouched down to Mia’s height. “You don’t say.” He sniffed. “Well, you smell right pretty, so I guess I believe you.”
Mia sniffed back. “You don’t smell very pretty. I think we should fill it and throw you in.”
Caleb roared with laughter and stood up. “Got me there, little one. Want to come see the horses?” He reached his arms out for her.
Mia backed up quickly and clung to Maddy’s leg. Maddy couldn’t help stiffening herself.
Puzzled, Caleb asked, “Can she have a piggyback ride?”
Of course. Not every man reached out with anger in his hands. Maddy knelt next to Mia. “Would you like that, sweetheart? It’s okay.”
Mia looked at her with big eyes, but nodded.
“Hold my shoulders tight,” Caleb said, swinging her up. “I can take it, as long as you don’t strangle me. Then I’d collapse, and you’d land in a tumble.”
Mia giggled, a sound Maddy hadn’t expected to hear around a strange man, and tightened her grip. “Giddy-up,” she said.
Caleb neighed, Mia giggled again, and Maddy relaxed as she watched them trot through the big barn.
She’d been holding a lot of tension in. The worry of staying out of her ex-husband’s way, the trauma of leaving their home, the uncertainty of what to do and how far to run—it had all taken its toll. Now, safe in this hidden valley with its protective mountains, Maddy began to let go.
“This is my home turf,” Caleb said when they reached a set of horse barns and a large outdoor arena. “Dad, Adam and Micah run the ranch, and probably Seth too, whenever he leaves the Army, but the horses are mine to manage.”
He took them around one barn to a field in back. Maddy counted twelve mares with foals frolicking around them.
“Baby horses, Mama!” Mia cried, wiggling down from Caleb’s back. “Can I pet one?”
Caleb shrugged. “Maybe tonight when we bring them in.”
“Do you have baby cows, too?” Mia pointed to a pasture with large cattle.
“Mia, too many questions is not polite,” Maddy reminded her.
“She’s all right,” Caleb said, leading them back past the barn. “But no, those are the bulls. The daddies. They spend a few months with the mommies and then come live over here for the rest of the year.”
Maddy bent to Mia’s level. “Remember the TV shows with bulls? They’re mean and cranky, and you need to stay away from them.” She thought of the horses in the pasture and the stallions. “Actually, don’t bother any of the animals. Okay?”
“Oh. Okay.” Mia looked at the livestock warily.
“And that’s about it,” Caleb said. “You obviously know the admin building and the cabins for the ranch hands—”
“Are we ranch hands, Mama?”
Before Maddy could speak, Caleb laughed. “Do you have two hands, Mia?” he said. “Are you on a ranch?”
Mia nodded.
“Then you’re a ranch hand!”
Maddy grinned. Caleb reminded her so much of her brother Alex—knowledgeable without acting superior, gently teasing, and getting along well with children. She suddenly missed her family terribly. How long would it be before she could see them again?
It happened in the few seconds she’d been thinking about Alex.
She looked over to Mia. The child was no longer at the fence watching the colts. Where was she? Maddy spun, her breath catching, searching frantically for her daughter.
Then she glimpsed Mia’s bright pink jacket, clear out in the bull pasture.
“Mia!” she screamed. “No!”
Adam let Mister amble through the winter-dried grass at his own pace. He’d ridden farther than he’d expected, but he had truly needed the break. The peace of the mountains and the soaring of the eagles filled him with a sense of grandeur and God, and helped him get a handle on his workload.
Bringing Black Rock Ranch into the twenty-first century was more than enough for any one person, and now he kept finding things that his father had left undone. It added unexpected tasks to his own chores, and his frustration level became unbearable if he didn’t get away once in a while.
A good gallop on his horse and extra time in God’s backyard had done him a world of good today. Only reluctantly did he turn Mister back to the ranch and the work that awaited him, even on Sunday.
They crossed the river at the lowest spot Adam could find—the spring flow was strong with snow melt. Mister nosed the water and threw up a splash before he drank. Adam watched the current rush twigs downstream, some of them getting caught in eddies near the rocks. He hoped the level would continue high long enough to irrigate this summer.
He nudged Mister on through the home pastures, thinking about the tasks awaiting him this week. He had renewed the BLM lease back in February, but he wanted to talk to the Watkins Ranch about leasing some acreage from them. They weren’t running cattle anymore, so he figured it was a good possibility. The yearling heifers were growing well and should be ready for breeding next month. He needed to arrange a day or two for the vet to do the bull evaluations, make final decisions on solar wells, arrangements for water-witching and well-drilling and—
There was a kid in one of the bull pastures! Adam kicked Mister into a gallop.
Thirty bulls and one small child were a recipe for disaster. Knocked down, shoved against the fence, trampled… Where had the kid come from? And where were its totally irresponsible parents?
Adam leaned low, urging Mister faster. They jumped a small creek and then were racing past the horse barns. By the time he pulled Mister to a sliding stop and leapt off, the girl was out of the pasture and being scolded by her mother.
While Caleb just stood there.
“What the devil is going on?” Adam shouted at his too-easy-going brother. “Do you realize what could have happened?”
From the corner of his eye, he saw the little girl’s lower lip quiver. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she whispered, keeping her eyes buried in her mother’s pant leg.
Adam’s heart half-stopped at the girl’s reaction, but his panic at the danger still rode high. He whipped his eyes to Maddy. The new accountant was unaccustomed to ranch life, but still... “You let her go in—”
She backed up two steps, her shoulders hunched and one arm tight around her daughter. “I know!” she squeaked. “We told her not to go near the animals, but—”
Great. Now he was frightening women. Still charged with energy, Adam flipped his attention back to his brother. “And what were you doing, Caleb? Got your head in the clouds again?”
“It was a mistake, Adam, okay? The bulls stayed on the other side of the pasture and nobody’s hurt. Just calm down for a minute.”
“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” Adam realized his voice was rising. He stopped to take a breath.
“It won’t happen again,” Maddy said, eyes now bright with defiance. “Mia and I won
’t be coming anywhere near here again.” She kept an arm around the girl’s shoulders.
He stared at her. “You need to make sure of it—kids are almost as unpredictable as bulls.” He paused. “I didn’t even know you had a child.”
Caleb huffed. “You might be good at managing this ranch, brother, but you’re lousy with people. Don’t you think they’re scared enough already? And I’ll bet you don’t even know Maddy’s last name, let alone why she was willing to take a job out here.”
“I know enough,” Adam spat, temper rising again. “And I do know her last name—it’s Richoletta.”
That was enough of that—he had better things to do than argue with his brother. He stalked toward the stables, Mister trailing after him.
“Riccio-lino,” Caleb called after him.
Adam spent longer than necessary grooming Mister before turning him out.
He hadn’t lost control like that in a long time. Then again, he hadn’t been faced with a child in danger before. Never dreamed he would be. The adrenaline had pounded through him, and even now he shoved away images of what could have happened.
The long strokes with the brush were soothing and the work, along with a few snuffles from the gelding, helped slow Adam’s rushing pulse.
But Caleb had been right—no one had gotten hurt. He shouldn’t have been so caustic with his brother or Maddy, should have controlled himself more. He remembered the fear still in her eyes, even with her daughter back in her arms. And the girl’s crumpled little face when he’d started shouting. He’d never meant to scare her. And when Maddy’s own fear had settled, her brown eyes had flashed fire at his tirade.