Falling for the Rancher

by Tanya Michaels

  The phone rang so many times that she’d almost given up hope anyone would answer when she heard Vicki’s voice.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s Sierra. I’m back—just crossed the town line. I thought I’d see if your brother was already in the middle of making dinner.”

  “Ha! He’s barricaded himself in the study. He is in a serious mood. I think it stresses him out to be left alone with me.”

  “Were you being difficult?”

  “He hasn’t spoken to me enough to give me the chance.”

  “Then it’s probably something else. Worries about hay or straw or grass seed or something.” He’d once launched into a discussion of grass at dinner that had lasted a full half hour. Sierra had managed not to fall asleep, but only because she’d entertained herself by mentally replaying her favorite episode of an old sitcom.

  “He could be grumpy because he misses you.”

  Sierra wanted to believe that, but she refused to cling to false hope. “You mean because he misses my cooking? I doubt my being gone had much impact. I was only away overnight.”

  “Then maybe he missed you last night. Tell me the truth—are you sleeping with my brother?”

  She gripped the steering wheel, too startled to answer. Her natural impulse was to be candid, but that wasn’t what Jarrett wanted. Honesty warred with loyalty. Meanwhile, the pause had stretched on so long, she feared it had become an answer all on its own.

  She heard Vicki’s intake of breath as she filled in the gap for herself.

  Hell with it. If Sierra was going to get in trouble, she would do it by owning her actions, not letting a cowardly silence speak for her. “Yes. I am.”

  “I knew it. The two of you have been lying to me, and I knew it!” Judging from the pain in her voice, she’d been secretly hoping she was wrong.

  Panic blossomed inside her. Oh, crap. She’d made the wrong choice, hadn’t she? She’d betrayed Jarrett’s wishes and, in the process, upset his sister. “Vicki, we—”

  But the line was already dead.

  * * *

  JARRETT STARED AT the computer screen, but the jumble of numbers on the spreadsheet made no more sense to him now than they had the past twenty times he’d looked. He might as well be trying to read ancient hieroglyphics. The last thing he could remember clearly reading was Sierra’s text yesterday saying that she’d been offered the job.

  All was as it should be. She was an educated woman from a wealthy family. She should be building a successful career, not shacking up in some three-room bunkhouse with a cowboy whose reputation was a local joke. He thought of his mom, who tolerated life on the Twisted R for the sake of her family but didn’t love the ranch, not the way Jarrett and his father did. Even if Sierra didn’t have this opportunity in Fort Worth, how long could she have tolerated it here before realizing it wasn’t where she belonged? If you were a better man, you’d be happy for her. But—

  Something smashed against the office door, and he jumped in his chair. What the hell? He walked over to the door and opened it cautiously. One of his dad’s Larry McMurtry novels lay on the floor. Vicki sat in her wheelchair a few feet away, her face red.

  “Was that your version of knocking?” he asked, smoothing out the book’s pages. When he realized how hard she was breathing, worry clutched at him. “Are you all right? Should I call a doctor, or—”

  “I don’t know which I hate more, that you slept with her or that you thought I was too stupid to notice! I’m crippled, not brain-dead.”

  The attack left him reeling. She’d found out about Sierra. His careful attempts to keep their relationship a secret had failed. “How do you know?”

  “Because she told me! She had the balls to admit it, unlike you. What was it you said—that you didn’t even see her as a woman? You are a liar, Jarrett. You still treat me like a dumb kid, like I don’t have eyes in my head. You are so—”

  “I know you’re not a dumb kid. I’ve always wished I were as smart as you.”

  “Don’t try to flatter or charm me! I’m not some rodeo groupie. In fact, don’t speak to me at all.” She turned for her room.

  “Vic, we should talk about this.”

  “Yes, we should have. But you opted for lies and secrecy and patronizing your kid sister. So you’ll just have to deal with the consequences.”

  * * *

  ANY FAR-FETCHED HOPES that Vicki was indulging in the silent treatment and hadn’t confronted her brother were dashed when Jarrett came storming out of the house the second Sierra parked her car.

  His face was cold with fury, hardly recognizable. “How dare you! You went behind my back and—”

  “I didn’t set out to tell her.” She sagged against the front of her car for support. “She asked me point-blank.”

  Should she remind him that, if he’d fostered a different kind of relationship with his sister, Vicki might have asked him instead? Never mind. Why poke the bear?

  He rocked back on his heels, his scathing expression making it clear her explanation hadn’t pacified him a bit. “How convenient. You’ve wanted to tell her from the very first night, and she handed you your chance. I wonder how many hints you had to drop to get that to happen.”

  “Are you insane?” Forget placating his temper. Now she was ticked. She marched up to him. The man might be built like a redwood, but she wasn’t about to cower. “She caught me completely off guard, which is actually a little weird since I already warned you she was onto us. Just like I warned you that I don’t keep secrets well! And I don’t passive-aggressively ‘hint.’ I say what the hell I’m thinking. Maybe you could learn a lesson from me.”

  “About ignoring people’s wishes?” he countered. “About crushing someone’s feelings? You should have seen...” Some of the rage drained from him, leaving sadness in its wake. “It wasn’t worth hurting her like that over some fling.”

  Some fling. The words landed like a blow. She pressed a hand to her stomach as if applying pressure could relieve the pain. Ridiculous. The agonizing throb she felt wasn’t in her abdomen. It was in her heart. “That’s all this was—a fling?”

  “You’re leaving next week, Sierra. What else could it be?” He said it so matter-of-factly that she wanted to cry.

  Not in front of him. “You’re absolutely right. About us, anyway. You’re wrong about my leaving next week, though. I’ll be gone on Thursday, as soon as I’ve taken Vicki to her PT appointment with Manuel. Maybe once I’m out of the house, you and Vicki can...” As much as she wanted to be a mature person, she couldn’t choke back tears long enough to wish him and his sister well. Instead, she simply fled into the house and up the stairs.

  Jarrett didn’t follow. She’d known he wouldn’t. And she supposed that gave her all the answer she’d ever needed about whether he was the right person and whether he’d fight to make a relationship work.

  Then again, why should he? In his eyes, they’d never had a relationship.

  * * *

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE you’re leaving,” Kate sniffed.

  Despite everything, that made Sierra laugh. “Seriously? Because I’ve been telling you since the day we met that I wasn’t sticking around.”

  “I think I’m too depressed to even order dessert.”

  Sierra had said her goodbyes to the Rosses this morning. Since Vicki was only speaking in monosyllables and Jarrett wouldn’t look at her, it hadn’t taken long. But she’d promised to meet Kate at the Smoky Pig on her way out of town for one last lunch.

  “Maybe you could ask for a dessert to go,” Sierra suggested, “and eat it later, when you’re feeling more chipper.”

  Kate gave her a hollow, sad-eyed look that suggested her soul would never know joy again.

  “That might be overdoing it a little,” Sierra said. “Come on. You have friends
here! Lots of them. And you’re going to marry the gorgeous town sheriff and mother his adorable twins, who worship you. My sympathy for you is limited.”

  “Oh, all right.” Kate flipped open the dessert menu, even though she probably had it memorized. “But it still sucks that you’re leaving.”

  “Try to be happy for me.” Someone has to be. “I’m on to bigger and better things.”

  Some people would say that there was nothing better than love. Sierra was less than impressed with it. She’d finally fallen in love with someone—and promptly had her heart broken. No wonder Vicki wanted to walk up to Aaron and kick him in the shin. Sierra had to admit that the idea of kicking a certain cowboy was tempting. But what would be the point? No matter where she kicked him, she couldn’t hurt Jarrett as much as he’d hurt her.

  * * *

  WITH SIERRA GONE, the house was eerily silent all of Thursday night and into the next day. His parents wouldn’t get in until Saturday, and as he cooked dinner Friday night, Jarrett wondered if Vicki planned to speak to him at all before then. What was she planning to tell them about her seething hatred for her brother?

  Maybe they wouldn’t even notice. After all, it wasn’t much of a change from Vicki’s attitude toward him before they’d left. In that moment, he realized how much progress had been made over the past couple of weeks. Siding with Vicki in their no-liver ban, teaming up with her to convince Sierra to give horseback riding another shot, laughing as Vicki won all his money in a board game. With Sierra in the house, he and his sister had begun to bond again.

  And you destroyed that bond by sleeping with her therapist.

  Well, she was allowed to be mad at him, but she wasn’t allowed to starve herself. He turned off the stove and went to her room, knocking on the door. As expected, there was no answer, so he knocked more forcefully.

  “Vicki, you have to eat. I’m not going away until you come out of there.” He had all night and no place to be. He could out-stubborn her if necessary.

  Huh. Maybe Sierra had rubbed off on him. He recalled the day he’d hired her, how he’d meekly honored Vicki’s wishes not to be disturbed, but Sierra had insisted otherwise.

  She’d been right that day. Had she been right when she’d goaded him to tell Vicki about their affair? The last thing my nineteen-year-old sister wants to hear about is my sex life. But what he felt for Sierra went far beyond sex.

  He knocked again. “I’m gearing up to sing ‘a hundred bottles of sarsaparilla on the wall.’” She wasn’t old enough for beer. “I’ll make it a thousand if I have to.”

  “If I eat,” she asked from the other side of the door, “will you leave me in peace?”

  “Yes.” Maybe.

  Dinner was grim, and the chicken was rubbery, but he counted it as a victory that she had joined him at the kitchen table.

  “No offense,” she said, wincing at a bite of overcooked broccoli, “but your cooking sucks. I miss Sierra.”

  Just hearing her name was wrenching. He pushed his own plate away. “I’m sorry she’s gone.”

  Vicki stared at him, her gaze penetrating. “Are you? I heard you yelling at her the other night.”

  “Only because she upset you.” Even as he said that, he knew where the blame belonged. “All right, I know I’m the one who really upset you. I promised I wouldn’t get involved with her, but I did.”

  “And you lied about it.” Vicki’s wounded tone suddenly made him question what she was more upset about—his involvement with Sierra or that he’d kept it secret?

  Oh, Lord. Had Sierra been right all along? “I didn’t want you to know,” he admitted. “You and Aaron had just broken up. I figured the last thing you needed was to be trapped in the house with a happy couple, and—”

  “Happy couple?” Her eyes widened. “Is that what you were? Or was she just another playmate?”

  He flinched but supposed there were worse terms she could have used. “You know Sierra. She was never ‘just’ anything.”

  “Then what the hell, dude? Why did you let her go out with Will Trent? Why did you let her leave us?”

  “I’m confused.” He rubbed his temples. “You want me and Sierra together?”

  “If the two of you make each other happy...” She spread her arms wide and gave him a duh look.

  He sat back in his chair, too moved to respond. It said a lot about Vicki’s strength of character that she wanted his happiness after he’d been such a crappy brother. “Frankly, I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me.” The admission came out low and gravelly, and he hoped she heard it because he wasn’t sure he could say it again.

  She sighed heavily. “After my accident, you hated yourself enough for both of us. I didn’t start out mad at you, specifically. There was just so much anger. I was ticked that I couldn’t go back to school, that I had to lie in a hospital bed for weeks, that I couldn’t—” Her voice caught, and her eyes shimmered with tears. “But it wasn’t all anger. I was scared, too. Even though every doctor said I’d be able to walk again, it’s hard to believe that when you can’t even sit up.”

  The familiar guilt stabbed at him again, but this wasn’t about him. This was about his sister. He squeezed his hand. “Vicki, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. If I could have done anything to spare you that pain...”

  “Well.” She swallowed hard. “At least now I know how tough I am. I’ve survived the worst of it.”

  “You’re a badass.”

  “I’m a Ross. Now the question is, how much of a badass are you? Are you man enough to admit when you’re wrong? Sierra’s forgiven me plenty of times for being a butthead. If you talk to her—”

  “It’s almost better that she left angry. It made saying goodbye easier.”

  “But why does it have to be goodbye? You care about her.”

  “Enough to want what’s best for her. I don’t think I’m it.” When Vicki opened her mouth to argue, he added, “And Cupid’s Bow was never what she wanted for the long term. She joked about it all the time when she first got here, how uncivilized we were and how the movie theater only shows films from before 2010.”

  “Yeah, but maybe her feelings changed. Maybe ‘the town’ came to mean a lot to her.” She stared at him pointedly to make sure he knew she wasn’t talking about Cupid’s Bow. “But you’ll never know unless you ask.”

  * * *

  SIERRA SAT ACROSS the desk from the director of the Sports Medicine Rehabilitation Program, trying to be a full participant in the conversation. After all, they were trying to decide where she’d fit best at the clinic, so she had a vested interest in the outcome.

  “You haven’t done much work specifically in sports medicine,” the director observed. “What interests you about the program?”

  “Your work with high school athletes. I recently worked very closely with a nineteen-year-old, and it got me to thinking about adolescents. Teenagers, neither adults nor typical pediatric patients, are uniquely challenging. But also uniquely rewarding.” Less tactfully, they were pains in the ass—which was right in her wheelhouse.

  Suddenly, she heard Kate Sullivan’s teasing voice in her head. I know I’m being a pain, but meddling is the Cupid’s Bow way. The citizens of Cupid’s Bow were opinionated and nosy and interfered in each other’s lives. Sierra fit right in.

  The thought gave her a pang, and she felt irrational annoyance at Daniel Baron for leading her to Cupid’s Bow in the first place. Before his email, she’d never even heard of the speck on the map. From the start, Cupid’s Bow had been a temporary gig. It had been a way station for her, not a home.

  Then why do I feel so homesick?

  * * *

  A MONTH AGO, Jarrett had stood in this room waiting for his mother, afraid of what bad news she might bring. Now both his parents were cuddled together on the other side of the desk
—Gavin in his leather chair, Anne perched on the arm of the chair as they went over facts and figures from the past few weeks.

  “You two certainly look cozy,” he couldn’t help teasing. He was thrilled for them. He hadn’t seen either of them this relaxed in a long time.

  “Yes, well, Tahoe did us a world of good,” Anne said.

  “I’ve promised your mother we’ll go back for two weeks out of every year,” Gavin said. “Provided you don’t mind being in charge while I’m gone.”

  “And I promised to quit bellyaching about everything around here.” She looked around the room with a fond smile. “There are a lot of good memories in this house. I just need the break from time to time—and to know that your father loves me as much as he loves the ranch.”

  “More,” Gavin said, suddenly serious. “So much more. Son, a word of advice from your old man? If you ever fall in love, make sure she knows it. Make sure you appreciate her and let her know every damn day how lucky you are.”

  The words resonated with him. He’d thought so often about what Sierra deserved in life...but didn’t she deserve to know his feelings?

  Maybe she didn’t return them. Maybe she didn’t belong in Cupid’s Bow. Nonetheless, she was a strong advocate of the truth. And the truth was: he loved her. He wanted to tell her that face-to-face. As soon as possible.

  His heart thudded wildly, like a stampede in his chest. “If you guys will excuse me, I have somewhere important I need to be.” Fort Worth. He bolted from his chair, calling over his shoulder, “I may be gone a few days.”

  Not wanting to get their hopes up, he didn’t add that, if luck was with him, they’d be meeting their future daughter-in-law soon.

  * * *

  JARRETT DRUMMED HIS fingers on the side of his truck as he watched the number of gallons climb on the gas pump and impatiently waited for the tank to fill. He was so antsy to hit the road that he hadn’t even bothered packing—he had a wallet, his phone and the spare toothbrush he kept in the glove compartment of his truck. I’ll buy anything else I need.