Cherished by the Rancher: A Christian Cowboy Romance (Black Rock Ranch Book 1)

by Jen Peters

  Adam made his way out to the cabins, admiring the sparsely tidy area. The only cabin with flowers was Maddy’s, but that was to be expected with a bunch of rough-and-tumble working men. He frowned as he came up Ty’s steps, though. Empty beer cans dotted the porch and doorway, along with a discarded pizza box.

  He pounded on the front door. “Ty, you in there?”

  He waited, then pounded again. Eventually he heard movement.

  Ty opened the door, smelly and bleary-eyed, wearing a filthy t-shirt and jeans that would probably stand up by themselves. “Wha?”

  “You’re a sorry sight, Ty Hawkins. And you’re fired.”

  Ty gave his head a shake. “What’s that?”

  “I said you’re fired. You have until nightfall to be out of here.”

  Ty straightened and took a step forward. “You can’t do that. I ain’t been drinkin’ on the job.”

  Adam narrowed his eyes. “You’re drunk as a skunk right now, and you didn’t show up for work. Again.”

  Ty stepped out onto the porch, his breath sour in Adam’s face. “I’m a good hand. Do ever’thing you tell me. And you’re not the big boss.”

  Adam braced against the stench. No way was he going to back off the porch and leave Ty the high ground. “Dad agrees you’re more trouble than you’re worth, I just get to be the one to tell you. So clear out by the end of the day—Maddy will cut your check with two weeks severance.”

  He smiled inwardly at the coming pleasure of not only seeing Maddy again, but seeing the last of Ty Hawkins. Unfortunately, that meant he didn’t see Ty move.

  Ty’s fist whipped out faster than Adam could have expected. His jaw took the hit, blowing anything else out of his mind. He stepped back quickly, caught himself, and shook his head to clear it. “Now you’re adding assault to the list, stupid.”

  The other man lurched forward, shoving Adam off the side of the porch and throwing his fist again.

  Adam deflected it and gave Ty a gut-punch back. He didn’t want to fight, but if he had to, he had to. And Ty wasn’t giving up.

  34

  Drat—Maddy wouldn’t have minded another kiss or two, but an hour after Adam left to talk to his father, he still wasn’t back. There was always later, though. She smiled at the thought.

  She closed up the computer and went down to meet Mia’s bus, enjoying the warm May sun. Mia chattered on their way back, excited about their family history project at school. “Was Nonna really born in Italy, Mama? Did she sail on a boat to get to America? Is she an only child like me?”

  Maddy answered happily: no, she was born in America, but her parents were born in Italy. Yes, they came on a boat. And Nonna had three brothers and four sisters. All passed away now, leaving Nonna the only one alive, but Maddy didn’t see a reason to bring that up.

  They rounded the curve to the cabins, and Maddy pulled Mia to a stop.

  At the bottom of Ty’s cabin steps, he and Adam were fighting. Full-out. Adam hauled back and hit Ty on the jaw. Ty staggered and came back with a fake jab and then a blow to Adam’s belly. Adam stepped back to breathe, then took a stance just as Ty reached him. Ty swung and missed, and Adam punched his jaw and slammed him to the ground.

  This was no friendly wrestle; they were out for blood. They’d found it already, too—Adam’s nose was pouring and Ty had a bloody mouth.

  Mia hid behind her leg, whimpering. Maddy’s frozen body began to shake. The look on Adam’s face was too familiar, too full of fury. Her breath quickened, her pulse raced, and she fought to keep the memories down.

  She lifted Mia into her arms, but had nowhere to take her—their cabin was just past Ty’s.

  Adam had Ty pinned to the ground. He lowered his face and growled something that made Ty struggle to rise. They tumbled over and around, got to their feet, and the fight started again.

  Mia’s whimpers continued. “Shh, baby, shh,” Maddy whispered as she looked frantically for escape. She certainly couldn’t stop the fight, but she could take Mia back to the admin building and get help. She stroked her daughter’s hair and walked quickly away.

  “They’re really mad at each other, aren’t they?” Mia asked once they reached the main driveway. “Like Daddy got mad at you? Are they going to hit you, too?”

  “No, sweetheart, they’re not.” She wouldn’t give anyone the chance, either.

  The equipment shed was empty, but she found Samuel in the admin building. She kept her composure long enough to say, “A-Adam and Ty are fighting at his cabin. C-can someone go break it up?”

  She didn’t wait for Samuel to answer, just raced for her office before she broke down in front of him. Mia calmed down with the unexpected treat of playing a Lego game on her mother’s computer; Maddy, not so easily.

  She turned to the wall, wrapped her arms around her body, and squeezed for some sense of security. She’d thought she was past the fear, that someone else’s fight shouldn’t bother her. Maybe it was just that it was Adam fighting. Why did men always try to get their way with their fists? And in front of a six-year-old, no less!

  Anger coursed through her, a welcome relief from the fear. Men, power, temper, fists…she’d had enough of it with Brock. More than she ever should have put up with, and she wondered once again why it took women like her so long to leave.

  But when she had escaped, Brock had never stopped. He’d confronted her, stalked her, hit her again. They’d been alone every time, but that blow to her face had given her enough evidence for an arrest, not just a restraining order. Unfortunately, he’d gotten a good lawyer and a light sentence, and he was out in a few months.

  Which was why she was out here in the first place, where she’d finally begun to feel safe. Like she was surrounded by family she could trust. Like the men around her were decent and honorable, to the point where she was falling in love with one of them.

  But now? Now she’d just witnessed Adam pummeling one of his employees, his face full of contempt. She was an expert on that expression even at a distance.

  She’d known from the first time she met Adam that he had a temper. He certainly hadn’t held back when he’d come roaring up on his horse and yelled at them for letting Mia get into the bull pasture.

  She’d told herself that Adam had only been scared at the possibility of serious injury. That although he liked to be in charge, he kept good control of himself. That she could feel safe around him.

  That might still be true, but the last twenty minutes had left her shaking. Nerves? Anger? Regret?

  All of them.

  It was obvious that she couldn’t be around Adam. That she’d never feel safe enough.

  She sat in a side chair, trying to calm her quivers. Long, slow, deep breaths. She tried to imagine her Nonna’s arms around her.

  Finally, her heart rate slowed and she could focus on something else. “How are you doing over there, kiddo?”

  “Okay. Look, Mama, my car beat the Lego guy’s!”

  “I see.” But Maddy’s heart wasn’t in the conversation. Instead, it was tearing in half with grief. Adam wasn’t the man she thought he was. And as much as she’d come to love the ranch, could she handle being in close contact with a man like him? A man she was in love with but couldn’t trust to be around?

  Adam tromped up the steps to the admin building, his bandana still clamped to his nose. He was going to have a black eye, too, but the ice for that could wait a minute. “Maddy, are you still here? Can you cut a final paycheck for Ty Hawkins?” he began while he was still down the hall. “I just fired him.”

  But it was Mia sitting at the computer. Maddy was standing in the center of the room, arms crossed and glaring at him.

  “What? He about broke my nose.” Adam shifted the bandana to a clean area.

  “I’m not surprised. You were really going after him.”

  Adam clenched his sore jaw. “You saw that?” If she saw it, she should know he didn’t start it.

  “Of course I saw it.” She ground the words out. “I
was bringing Mia home from the bus. She saw it too—not what a six-year-old with an abusive father needs to witness. I thought you were better than that, Adam. You’re his boss.”

  “He was drunk. And he started it.” Adam’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t show up for work, and when I went to see what was going on, he came after me. And I’ve got the black eye to prove it.”

  “I know what a black eye looks like,” she said, eyeing his. “I know what it feels like, too. And I know there’s always another way.”

  “Not always, not when—” Frustration surged, and he broke off. After all the time they’d spent together, for Maddy to know who he really was, she was judging him on this? After all he did to keep the ranch going, to put his own comfort aside for the sake of everyone else, this was the thanks he got?

  He was tired, he was sore, he had way too many worries about way too many people. “Look, I can’t deal with this now. I’ve got too much else on my plate. Just cut his check and whatever HR paperwork there is, and we’ll talk later.”

  Maddy stiffened. “You’ve always got too much else on your plate. You’re proud to be the one in charge, and this is what you get.”

  “Maddy, I told you, I just went out to fire him, not get in a fight.”

  But she shook her head. “I can’t be with a man who solves problems with his fists. My head might understand, but inside myself, I can’t.”

  Had Adam heard her right—she couldn’t be with him? She was throwing away what they had because someone else picked a fight with him? He took a deep breath. “Remember what you said yesterday? ‘Sometimes you have to do what you don’t like.’” Every part of him hurt, and all he asked for was a little understanding.

  But Maddy just looked at him with those big eyes. “I can’t change the way I react inside. You don’t know what it’s like.”

  “So tell me.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t put it into words any more than I already have.”

  Adam’s head throbbed, making it hard to think. “I can’t do this now. I can’t deal with more complications, not with everything else.”

  “You’re hiding behind the ranch again.” Maddy’s worried eyes turned to a glare.

  That was enough. “The ranch, yes,” Adam snapped. “My dad even more. And we haven’t heard from Seth in three weeks. So if you can’t understand that sometimes a guy has to fight back, it’s no skin off my nose. Maybe I can concentrate on the bigger problems.”

  Maddy’s lips thinned and her glare got more pointed. “Nice to know I’m only a little problem. I guess that settles it. Consider this my two-week’s notice. I’ll post an opening online for a new accountant.”

  Adam kept his stiff stance. “You do that. I’ll stay out of your way tomorrow.”

  35

  This shouldn’t be so hard. Maddy stared at the online job site and tried to make the words flow, but they didn’t want to come together. And why should they, when she couldn’t concentrate on them for more than a quarter of a second?

  Instead, her memory filled with Adam’s last words and the look on his face, and her heart broke once again. She loved him so much, had had such hopes for them. She’d let herself dream of living on the ranch with him, snuggling with him on the big sofa in the family room, riding up and seeing the eagles with him.

  And now it was gone.

  Maddy forced back a sob and shoved Adam out of her mind, but still couldn’t concentrate on describing her job duties. She set her thoughts on leaving—where she could go and what kind of job she could land on short notice.

  Where had to be decided first, and she’d be safer if she moved away from Colorado completely. Utah? New Mexico? California?

  California sounded good—it was her fictitious home, after all. She could lose herself in its huge population, and it would be different enough that maybe Adam wouldn’t intrude on her thoughts so much. She didn’t know how long it would take to get over him, but get over him she must.

  California. She and Mia could be packed and on their way in a day or two and leave the whole problem of Brock behind. They could actually visit the beach for themselves. Maybe she could find someone as nice as Samuel to work for.

  A job search was only a click away, but Maddy set it as a reward for getting the accounting position posted. Listlessly, she turned back to the description she’d started.

  Half an hour of wrestling with words and clicking boxes, her job was posted as open. They’d find someone else to keep the books, and Adam could teach him or her to do things exactly the way he wanted, to put up with him just the way he was.

  Something Maddy hadn’t been able to do.

  If only he hadn’t tried to justify his fighting yesterday. If only he didn’t have to control everything. If only she’d had a happy-go-lucky last five years. If only she could stop taking things personally.

  If only, if only.

  But Maddy couldn’t change who she was, or who Adam was. There would come a time when he’d use his fists again. A time when she would feel fear course through her once more.

  She couldn’t depend on him to make her feel safe, no matter how much she loved him.

  Which left her trying to figure out how to move on. From both the job and her handsome boss.

  That handsome boss was staying outside on the ranch as much as he could and sticking to his own office when he came in. Maddy spent the next few days focused on writing explanatory notes and labeling file boxes to prepare for her replacement. She spent several weary hours each day looking for jobs in California, but nothing was popping out at her. Sure, she could stock shelves or be a cashier, but neither would pay their living expenses. She’d do it temporarily if she had to, but Brock couldn’t be that close.

  Maybe California wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  At the cabin, she played kickball outside with Mia and decorated cookies with her inside. Her time with her daughter should have been precious, but it, too, was tinged with sadness.

  A knock on the door a few days later was accompanied by Lacey’s voice. “Maddy? Are you home?”

  Maddy let her in. “Where else would I be? Want a cookie?”

  Lacey shook her head, but didn’t take her eyes off Maddy. “Did you and Adam have a fight? Nobody’s talking, but he’s sure stomping around the house.”

  Maddy’s throat thickened and no words came out. She shrugged and turned back to the kitchen.

  “Look, Lacey, it’s a calf!” Mia said, holding up a vaguely shaped cookie with squiggles of icing.

  “I see. You look like you’re having fun.”

  “Yup! You should do some.”

  Maddy watched sideways as the teenager pulled her hair into a quick ponytail and pushed her sleeves up. The two girls decorated a few more cookies, laughing at their efforts, while her own soul felt frozen.

  She’d thought she might become a part of this wonderful family. She’d thought she’d found a home in this valley against the rugged mountains. She’d thought she’d found a place to be safe, to let her soul breathe free again.

  Evidently not.

  How long would it take before the trauma of being beaten would subside completely? Would she spend the rest of her years alone?

  She stared out the window at the alfalfa growing, at the mares and foals in the pasture beyond. She’d grown used to country life. She wondered where she would land, what type of place Mia grow up in.

  A warm hand rested on her shoulder. “Maddy?” Lacey pulled her away, drew her over to the couch, thrust a mug of tea into her hand.

  Maggie took a sip of the mint infusion. “You’re mothering again.”

  “You need it,” Lacey answered, sitting next to her. “Is it that bad between you two?”

  “Worse.” Maddy kept her heartache from coming out in a moan, but she knew it showed in her voice.

  “But he loves you!”

  “And I love him. But just because two people love each other doesn’t mean they’ll be good together.”

 
Lacey looked confused. “But if you both say you’re sorry…”

  But Maggie knew it was naïve to think that love conquered all. Love could soften a person, but it couldn’t change who you were down deep inside. She and Brock had loved each other too, at the beginning. It hadn’t changed him.

  “There’s nothing to apologize for,” was all she said.

  Adam worked outdoors as much as possible through the week. They processed the last six hundred calves, without Maddy this time. Adam spent a couple days doing tractor work and fencing, and then they’d take this herd up to the summer range to join the others. There was plenty to do to keep his distance from her.

  The distance didn’t help, though.

  He was aware of every step she took outside, arriving for work, getting Mia from the bus, walking back to the cabin. Her nervous smile when she’d helped with the first round of calves filled his mind with each vaccination he gave. Her worried face intruded into his thoughts as he stretched and tightened wire. The memory of her laughter and kisses drowned out the tractor’s engine.

  When thoughts of Maddy did manage to subside, worries about Seth and Dad broke in. They had spent an hour Tuesday waiting for Seth to call, but still nothing. All Captain Carter would say was that he was out on patrol. Which could mean anything from escorting a convoy and braving IEDs and mined roads to taking down a nest of insurgents.

  Adam supposed there were other things Seth could be doing, but those two were what stayed in his mind. Both of which put Seth in imminent danger, and there was nothing Adam could do about it.

  And then there was Dad.

  Samuel Black refused to take any down-time to heal, but the brothers managed to keep him to light tasks. He accompanied Adam to check the livestock, and he helped Caleb with the morning and evening feeds. Dinners were another matter.

  Sunday night was one of those times. Dad came sweeping in with a platter of grilled burgers and all three brothers stampeded to the table.