“I can cut it for you,” Bethany said as she pulled out a chair beside him. The thought crossed his mind that if Bethany weren’t so young, she might actually be a great choice as the wife he had to choose and stay married to for the next year.
He’d kind of put the thought of choosing a wife out of his mind as he applied himself to learning from Clay about the ranch and also trying to keep up with the information from his business in Manhattan.
It was hard to think about choosing any other woman when Nell stood across the room. Funny because he was very familiar and comfortable with Bethany’s type. Bethany might be a little younger than the women he knew, and she might live in North Dakota, but she wasn’t naive, and she’d know the score.
Nell was not the type of girl he’d ever meet in Manhattan. Maybe that’s why he was drawn to her.
It didn’t exactly explain why he’d given her the shoes. Though tempted to ask if they fit, for some reason, he didn’t want to bring them up in front of Bethany.
Nell turned around with the pie in her hand. Her eyes slammed into him. Her mouth opened. He figured it was safe to say she hadn’t realized until that point that he was with Preacher, whom she had called Clay. He hadn’t missed that. Obviously they knew and were comfortable with each other.
Nell’s face relaxed into a smile. Smiling seemed to be as easy for her as affected boredom was for the women he hung out with.
That wasn’t a fair thought. Maybe he harbored a little resentment against females since he’d been so brutally used and dumped by his ex.
“Hi, Ryder.”
Three heads snapped to her with their mouths open.
“Nell.” Odd the way her name curled off his tongue.
“How do you know him?” the sultry one, Bethany, asked.
Nell turned innocent eyes to Bethany. “He changed my tire.”
Ryder noticed the stepfather’s eyes narrowing, like he was wondering whether Nell was telling the truth or not, which made Ryder wonder whether Nell was a habitual liar or the stepfather was a jerk.
He leaned toward the second. Just because there didn’t seem to be any guile in Nell’s eyes.
“If you have a few minutes, Mr. Eastler, I’d like to talk to you.” Clay hooked a thumb in his pocket.
“Sure. Let’s do it over pie.” He threw a glance at Nell. “Do we have ice cream?” Even the tone of his voice changed when he spoke with her.
“Yes, sir.” Nell opened the freezer and pulled out a container of vanilla ice cream, while everyone else seated themselves at the table.
Growing up, Ryder’s family had servants to wait on them, so it didn’t make him uncomfortable that Nell set the ice cream down, got a scoop for it. But when she started setting the plates around and everyone in her family acted like she was just supposed to do everything, he got up.
“I can help.” He put his hand on the plates.
Nell glanced up at him, startled.
“Mine’s dirty. Give me another one.” Bethany’s sultry tones cut between them.
“If you don’t like it, you can wash it, or get another one yourself.” Nell’s tone was pleasant and there was no impatience on her face.
Bethany looked startled, like she wasn’t quite sure what to do.
The stepfather’s eyes darkened, and Ryder wondered if there was something else in play. He hoped him getting up wasn’t going to get Nell in trouble, but he wasn’t going to sit around while she waited on everyone hand and foot.
Nell started coffee, so Ryder cut and dished out the pie. Nell scooped out ice cream. She was the only one standing after he took his seat.
Yeah, he was used to being waited on. But not by someone who was part of the family and not a paid employee.
No one else seemed to think it was odd, though, so he listened with half an ear as Preacher talked about the weather and Tom complained about the oil fields and the dangers of the job and how he’d only had a week off after working for five straight weeks.
“Makes things tight, you know?” he said, referring to the fact that he needed to take time off while working because he didn’t get enough downtime.
“Well, that’s kind of what I’m here about.” Clay cut another piece off his pie. “This is really good, Nell.”
Annoyance stirred in Ryder’s chest.
Why did he mind Clay complimenting Nell? It was an innocent compliment. One he should have made. Maybe that was where his irritation came from.
“I agree. It’s the best pie I’ve ever eaten. Thanks.” He noticed her cheeks pinkened.
She gave a little smile. “Thanks.”
He was thinking about those pink cheeks and that smile and almost missed Clay’s next words. “We need Nell at Sweet Water for the next few weeks. We’ll pay her well, and the money she brings in should help supplement what you’ve lost over the winter in downtime.”
“I need her to feed the stock.” Tom spoke around the pie in his mouth.
“I thought you might say that.” Clay’s face crinkled as his mouth turned up. “We’ve arranged for Nell to be able to bring Vinton. Ryder’s sister is coming, and her son is about Vinton’s age. And, of course, there’s Gina. She gets along great with both boys. They’ll be playmates for each other.”
Ryder almost laughed right out loud. Preacher hadn’t even touched on the issue that Tom had raised, yet Tom nodded thoughtfully, as though his question had been answered satisfactorily.
“That might work.” Tom shoved more pie and ice cream into his mouth.
Preacher slanted a look at Bethany before he spoke again. “Also, I believe there is a young man who lives not far from here, who would be willing to come and help feed your cattle. Reggie Baker comes from a good family. I think Bethany may know him.”
Bethany hadn’t been looking too keen on Nell leaving, and if Ryder had to guess, it was because she was going to have to take on some of her work while Nell was gone. But at the mention of Reggie, Bethany seemed to get on board.
“I do know him, Daddy. And I’m sure he’d be willing to come and help us. Maybe I can offer to do something in exchange.” Ryder figured he might know what “something” meant to Bethany.
“I think his mother doesn’t get out much and would love for someone to sit with her. Maybe you could work that out with him.” Preacher didn’t even blink at Bethany’s narrowed eyes.
“I’ll talk to him,” she said in a low tone.
“Well, I guess that settles it.” Tom shoved the last of his pie in his mouth. “Other than I want her pay direct deposited into my account. I’ll give her what she earns, minus her room and board.”
“If she’s living at Sweet Water, there won’t be any room and board.” Something in Ryder rebelled at the idea of Nell not getting her full pay. He couldn’t stay quiet and didn’t feel bad about it, even when Preacher gave him a quelling glance.
For the first time, Tom’s eyes flashed, and he seemed less than affable. “I still have to keep a room open for her. And after all the care I’ve given her for free here over the years, she still owes me.”
“Of course.” Preacher lifted a brow at Ryder, who kept his mouth shut. “Mrs. Stryker will see that you get the necessary paperwork.”
“Nell can fill it out.” Tom didn’t look at her but just waved a hand in her general direction, over where she had stood to bring the second pie to the table.
“Would anyone like more?” she asked, the natural smile turning her face up, like she didn’t give a hoot whether she got paid or not. Something was definitely off here. Nell was treated like a servant—an unpaid one, from the sounds of things. And no one seemed to care. Then her wages were going to be placed in Tom’s account? For a teenager, maybe. But for an adult woman? That was simply crazy. He couldn’t believe Preacher wasn’t standing up about that.
They stayed for another half an hour, having more pie and ice cream as the kids also came in, before rising and shaking Tom’s hand.
“We’ll want Nell from Sunday evening to Thurs
day evening. She may come home for Friday through Sunday.” Preacher shoved his hat down over his head. “The Sweet Water ball is Saturday, May 1st. I’ll want her all day that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
“Can I keep visiting even after we’re done?” Vinton, who’d not wasted any time talking when he could be eating, finally spoke.
“It’s up to your dad and Nell,” Ryder spoke confidently. Preacher would be gone to Texas by then. “Nell has a job at Sweet Water for as long as she wants it.”
Nell’s head whipped to him, like he’d said prairie grass glowed purple and orange in the dark. Her hands stilled, holding the bowls she’d gathered up from the table.
Every time he’d seen her, her face seemed to naturally curve into a smile. He couldn’t read the expression on it now.
“It would be good money all summer, until school starts again.” Preacher hooked a thumb in his pocket.
“I forgot about school,” Tom murmured, like he was trying to figure out how that changed things.
“Roxie will come with a tutor. Clay has already taken Gina out of school. We’ll have all three kids schooled together.” This was something Ryder felt confident about. He’d tried to talk Roxie into sending Spencer to a good private school, but she had refused. He’d helped to find the tutor.
Nell’s brows were furrowed again, like she wanted to argue. She also seemed to be thinking. It occurred to him that maybe she didn’t realize he owned Sweet Water Ranch. Or would own it, when he got married and received his inheritance.
Her eyes flipped to Preacher who looked confident and relaxed. Again, that irritation clacked around in his chest that she would take her cue from Preacher.
Why not? They knew each other, while Ryder was a perfect stranger. It made sense, but he definitely didn’t like it.
“If this all works for you, maybe Nell and Vinton could pack a few things and ride back with us. I assume she needs a ride?” Preacher asked, still standing.
“Yeah. I never thought of that. I’m taking the truck, and that old car might be good to make it to town for groceries, but nothing any farther. It’s on its last legs.” Tom scratched his hand over his head and pushed away from the table.
Ryder kind of thought maybe that was being generous to the old heap of metal parked in front of the house, but he didn’t know much about cars. At least, not cars like that, anyway.
Vinton had run out of the room as soon as Preacher had mentioned packing. Nell continued to clear the table and run water to wash dishes.
Her deference toward Preacher wasn’t the only thing that had irritated him today. The absolute lack of her sisters doing anything, and her stepdad allowing it, made his skin feel itchy.
He set his jaw and hooked his hat over the back of the chair he’d just vacated. He moved around the end of the table, feeling Bethany’s eyes and simpering smile on him. He ignored her.
“Go pack. I’ll get this.”
His words startled Nell more than they startled him, since she jumped and put a hand to her chest. Her eyes were big and deep, ocean green when she turned them on him. Whatever she saw on his face precluded any protests she might have been going to make.
She turned. He caught the dish towel that was slung over her shoulder in his fingers. Not that he’d ever held a dish towel in his life before.
Her eyes widened even more and looked at him again.
He didn’t want to look as incompetent as he felt, so he smirked. “Better hurry so we can be back at Sweet Water before dark.” He almost said home, but the ranch didn’t feel like home to him. Not really. It felt comfortable. And he liked it there, but it wasn’t where he belonged.
She hurried away, and Ryder considered the counter and sink full of dirty dishes. There were still some things on the table, too.
Back when he was a teen, he might have helped with the dishes a few times over the summers.
Rustling and boots on the floor made him look up. Yeah, Preacher was coming to his rescue. That seemed to be Preacher’s main purpose in life—saving lost souls.
Ryder could handle a complicated presentation on the effects of a one percent increase on tariffs on items containing more than seventy percent plastic and no metal and a detailed discussion on how that would affect the bottom line of Sweet Water Solutions. He could do it in his sleep in front of some of the most prestigious businessmen and women in the world, but he was definitely a lost soul in the kitchen.
“Wash the dishes,” Preacher said under his breath.
Chapter 6
Nell helped Vinton lay four shirts out on his bed. When she’d come up, he’d had his entire underwear drawer stuffed into his bookbag along with three pillows, every pair of pants he owned, and his not-very-large Lego collection.
They’d never gone anywhere, so she supposed he’d never learned to pack.
“You’ll need your toothbrush. You can put it in here.” She pointed to the smaller zipper pocket on the front of his bookbag.
Briefly she debated about taking their own soap and shampoo.
She decided she’d pack it in her bag. “Since we’re only going to be gone until Thursday, you need a shirt, pants, socks, and sweatshirt for each day, plus one extra.”
It took a little while before he figured out how many of each item that was.
Maybe they’d be able to use a washer and dryer while they were there, but she wasn’t going to plan on it this time. She had to assume that when they were offering the help housing, they were talking about the old cabins that used to be filled with cowhands. They still were filled with cowhands in the fall during round up, probably.
Her stomach fluttered. Preacher was as steady as the sun that came up on time every morning. Ryder...he made her nervous and anxious, and she had a tendency to forget everything she knew—even the need to breathe—when he turned his dark eyes on her.
But for some odd reason, it was because of Ryder that she hadn’t protested at all. She wanted to be near him. Of course, she wanted the job, too, but she never would have agreed to share a private tutor for Vinton. That had to be expensive, and although Vinton would probably love it, she wouldn’t have put anyone out like that. Except...it seemed to be what she needed to do in order to go.
She’d wanted to ask how he could just offer the use of the tutor. Even Clay didn’t seem to have that kind of authority. Who was Ryder? His last name was Peterson, not Edwards, but she supposed that didn’t mean anything.
As they’d talked, she found that her desire to be where Ryder was usurped even the good manners she thought she had. Manners that wouldn’t let her allow people to put themselves out by sharing their private tutor and making a two-hour drive twice a week to pick her and her little brother up.
She only had four pair of jeans, including the pair she wore, so she changed into the one jean skirt she owned, that she wore on Sunday mornings, and took the rest of her clothes out of the cubbyhole in the eave where she kept her things with the soft, thin foam pad she slept on. It lay on a piece of plyboard, and she had to be careful that she didn’t step between the trusses, or her foot would go through the downstairs ceiling.
It was private, and she kind of liked it, although she maybe wished there was a window. She’d like to lie in bed and watch the moon rise over the prairie.
At least she had a nice, heavy quilt that her mother’s mother had made, and it kept her warm and cozy even on the coldest North Dakota nights.
When Bethany and Brittney had moved in, they had shared a room and Nell had her own. But then Vinton came along. For a while the baby stayed in the room with Nell, since the house only had three bedrooms.
When she’d been eighteen, just after she’d graduated and her mother was finishing her first round of cancer treatments, she and Tom had had their first big argument.
Probably at Beth’s request, since she couldn’t imagine Tom caring, Tom had cornered her in the barn while she was feeding and told her Vinton was getting a room of his own, and Nell was moving under the eaves
of the girls’ room. Nell had flatly refused.
That was the first time he’d told her if she didn’t like it, she could leave. She was a little younger then, a little more hotheaded, and had strongly considered it. But Vinton hadn’t even been in school yet, and her mother was so worn down with her treatments she could barely feed herself.
Nell had shut her mouth and moved to the eaves. It probably was better than sharing a room with Beth and Brit anyway. At least it was peaceful.
She stopped at the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush, along with toothpaste. She didn’t have a backpack, but everything fit nicely into her duffle. A good thing, since she’d be putting anything that didn’t into plastic bags. She didn’t really want to walk down the stairs carrying her clothes in a garbage bag.
Vinton bounced over to the bathroom. “I’m ready,” he practically shouted, swinging his bag in a big arc. “It’s never been this full before. Not even with all my books in it.”
“Be careful you don’t hit anyone.” She ruffled his hair, which he wasn’t too old to hate yet. “Let’s go.”
Vinton went charging down the stairs. She looked around. There hadn’t been too many times in her life when she’d left her home and planned to be gone overnight. In fact, last week when she’d watched Rem and Elaine’s children had been the first time she’d stayed away overnight.
She wasn’t going to dwell on it. This ranch had been in her mother’s family for a lot of decades. It felt like a part of her. She wouldn’t leave it willingly. But she could walk away for a bit.
Brittney smiled as Ryder opened the door for them to walk out. Bethany set her chin and narrowed her eyes. Whether that was because she was going to have to pick up some extra work now that Nell wasn’t there or because Ryder was leaving, Nell wasn’t sure. Tom had disappeared.
Nell noticed that the dishes were done and the table and counters cleared and wiped. Maybe Ryder really did know how to use a dishrag, although she’d bet anything Preacher had helped him.
“I have lettuce and onions along with spinach in the cold frames along the southern side of the house,” Nell said to her stepsisters.
Cowboys Don't Believe in Fairy Tales Page 5