by Raeann Blake
She didn’t know how long it was before he appeared in her doorway again…long enough for her suspicions about the Yates bill to be verified. Not enough to tell him yet, but enough to make her need to dig deeper.
“Stop and eat,” he said lowly.
Hailey nodded and glanced at the computer screen to make sure that the password screen was up then rose. “There aren’t any more bills that are late, but a few that we need to pay by Friday to keep them from being that way,” she said as she followed him out the door then walked beside him to the kitchen.
“Okay. We’ll go over those first thing in the morning. You said you had a question about one of the bills. It was the Yates bill wasn’t it?”
Hailey nodded and chose her words carefully. “It is. That’s what I’m working on now. I need to do a little more work before I’m ready to go over it with you. Can we do that in the morning?”
“Sure,” he said as they walked through the door to find Gail already seated at the bar.
They both stopped talking and Isobell set a glass of tea in front of both of them.
“Gail, what would you like?” Isobell said coolly.
“Water’s fine. Hamburger steak? You know I don’t eat meat, Isobell. Perhaps you could fix…”
“You’ll eat what she’s cooked or you can make it yourself. There’s salad there. You can eat that. I don’t pay her to cook special meals for you,” Clay snapped then immediately turned back to Hailey. When the first question came out of his mouth her eyebrows jumped a little in surprise. Instead of him glaring at her for talking, he was starting it himself.
“So Soldier really didn’t act up with you anymore? What he did in the yard, that was it?”
Hailey nodded and smiled at him as she started spooning food onto her plate. “That was it. Laine says he’s in love.”
Clay grunted and shook his head. “Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t gonna let you ride him, but Shack said I should leave you alone. Guess he was right.”
“Laine talked about Shack. I haven’t met him yet. He’s been here a long time?”
Clay waited until he had chewed the bite in his mouth but nodded as he swallowed. “Longer than me. He was here when I was born. You’ll like him. You can’t help but like the old man.”
“I look forward to meeting him. Isobell, this is so good. I swear my appetite has doubled since I’ve been here.”
Isobell laughed and said, “Well you couldn’t tell it by me. You’re as bad as Clay about not eating. I noticed you don’t stop for lunch either.”
“Truthfully, I wouldn’t stop for supper either most of the time if I wasn’t reminded to. Don’t get me wrong. That’s how those sandwiches usually happen about midnight. That’s when my stomach usually reminds me all on its own.”
“That’s not good for you. You should have three square…”
“Isobell. Would you please not get on that soap box again?” Clay grumbled lowly.
Isobell smiled at Hailey. “Meals a day,” she finished quickly then laughed and turned back to the sink when Clay shot her a hard stare then looked back down at his plate.
Hailey glanced at Gail a couple of times and saw her looking back and forth between her and Clay without eating. She knew she shouldn’t but she did anyway.
She motioned slightly to the plate of salad in front of her and said, “Is there something wrong with your salad, Mrs. Cardell?”
Gail turned a steady gaze back to her and stayed silent for several seconds. “No. There’s nothing wrong with my salad.”
“I’ve never understood how anybody can exist without meat. Of course I grew up on a cattle ranch so I’ve always had it, but still…I never quite understood it.”
“I find it purifies the body,” she said then cut her eyes to Clay when he snorted but didn’t say anything.
“Really? I’ve found coffee does the trick for me.” That was it. She knew she’d just stepped over the line. Knew it before the words were out of her mouth and still she couldn’t keep herself from reminding the woman that her husband had brought her a cup of coffee. She saw the eyes turn immediately colder as she shifted them back to her.
“I’m sure there are a lot of things that ‘do the trick for you’,” Gail said evenly.
Okay. She might have deserved that. That didn’t mean she was going to take it lying down. “Well now that you mention, yes there are. Quite a few. But coffee’s a good place to start,” she said as she met her gaze openly.
“Evidently. How long did you say you’ve been here?”
“Couple of days,” Hailey said then finally put another bite in her mouth.
“Settled in quickly, didn’t you?” Gail said then did the same.
Hailey shrugged her shoulders and waited until she swallowed then took a sip of tea. “I guess I did. These folks have a way of making you feel right at home.”
Clay finally cleared his throat and looked directly at Hailey. “You should probably eat more and talk less or you’ll be in here fixing one of those sandwiches later.”
“And you should talk. You haven’t eaten a full meal since I’ve been here. You’re gonna finish that this time, right?” Hailey said as she turned her own gaze back to his and saw that slight narrowing of his eyes again before he spoke.
“Yes, ma’am. I certainly am,” he said quietly.
“Good. Clay, is Soldier trained for cutting?”
“Cutting?” Gail asked.
Hailey turned back to her with a frown. “A cutting horse, Mrs. Cardell. Exactly how long did you live on this ranch?”
“I hardly think it’s your place to…”
“I don’t know, Hailey. He’s supposed to be, but honestly none of us have ever been able to work with him long enough to find out if he’s really any good or not,” Clay cut in.
“Can I try him? I mean, just in the corrals. Just to see how he does?”
Clay was silent for several seconds and he leaned back in the chair without speaking as he leveled a gaze at her.
“Clay…never mind. We can talk about it later. Please finish a meal this time,” she said softly.
He waited a few seconds then looked back down at his plate and cut off a piece of meat then lifted it to his mouth. Just before he put it in, the low voice finally answered her. “I’ll think about it.”
Hailey nodded without saying anything else. They ate the rest of the meal in silence. Hailey knew that Gail was seething but she didn’t say anything else to her. It wasn’t like her to goad somebody the way she had her earlier. She’d taken an instant dislike to her the minute she walked in the door dressed in an expensive designer suit. And that had grown quickly when she announced who she was. That had been pretty much like a blow to the stomach. She wasn’t sure exactly why, but that was the way it felt. But after the things she had learned, that dislike had turned into something much, much stronger.
She cut her eyes back to Clay. Granted she thought they had been settling into some kind of spot where he would at least tolerate her, but she had to wonder how much of what had gone on tonight as they sat there together was for show in front of Gail and how much was real. She couldn’t be sure.
“What’s on your mind?” Clay snapped.
She opened her mouth then clamped it back shut again and shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I drifted off but I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking about. Due dates and balances, I guess. After we go over those bills tomorrow, I’m going to start putting in details for the bills that have been paid for the last year.”
Clay stopped chewing and looked up at her. “Why would you do that?”
“For the trending reports, forecasting. All of those things I was telling you about. You can’t get an idea of where your money’s going with just the totals except to say who it’s going to, not what it’s for. It will take me a while to get them all entered, but we need to do that. And while we’re on the subject, after I start getting those in, I’ll keep a check on the disk space left on the server.
My bet is that we’re gonna need a bigger hard-drive, but I’ll let you know. And we really should talk about using an off-site backup service. There are any number of places that can do that for you at a pretty reasonable…”
She trailed off when he lifted a steady gaze to hers. “Never mind, Hailey. I’m sure you’ll get around to telling me sooner or later,” Clay said lowly.
Hailey smiled slightly. How had he known that she was rattling off everything she could think of to distract him from his original question? “Yes, sir.”
He watched her quietly for a few seconds then took the last bite on his plate then rose as he chewed it and carried it to the counter.
“Isobell, that was delicious. I think I probably don’t pay you enough. Hailey, check and see what we pay Isobell. I think she needs a raise,” he said then leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. He didn’t look back to see the true surprise that crossed her face as she looked up at him, instead pouring a cup of coffee in silence then walking through the door.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Isobell said softly then turned back to the sink again after she looked at Hailey’s wide smile then Gail’s frown.
“He has changed,” Gail said quietly.
“He’s right, Isobell. That was definitely superb. Can I help you clean up?” Hailey asked as she carried her own plate to the counter without even looking at Gail.
“Absolutely not. How will I earn that raise if you help me do my work? Besides you’ve got your own work to do. Get some coffee and I’ll start a fresh pot,” she said shooing her away.
“Coffee. The magic word,” she said without even glancing at Gail to acknowledge that the statement was directed at her. She figured the woman already knew it.
She was almost to the door when Gail spoke. “When did he change, Isobell?”
“Oh, the last couple of days,” Isobell said innocently without turning around. Hailey bit her lip and kept walking, not giving any indication that she heard the remark at all.
She waited until she was settled behind her desk before she let the thought really take root in her mind. If she thought he had changed, would she want him back? Maybe that’s what she was doing there. Maybe she already wanted him back. Who wouldn’t?
She shook her head and started back to work. She knew that she had gotten more coffee at some point, but when she looked up again, she finally noticed that the rest of the house was dark. She glanced at her watch and shook her head. She should stop. She knew what she needed to know now and had enough to tell him what her suspicions were. She rose and rolled her shoulders then stretched with her hands pulled way up in the air. Yes, she knew all about the advice to get up, move around, don’t sit in one place to long. Tell that to her brain.
She started for the door that led to her bedroom then changed her mind and walked back to the one that led into the living room. She flipped the light off as she went then crossed to the bar and poured a glass of whiskey before she walked straight to the back door then off the porch, walking slowly across the yard.
Clay shook his head when he saw her. Another night that he couldn’t sleep and he’d come out on the balcony for a cigarette. He watched her walk for a few minutes, the moonlight glistening against her hair. He almost let out just the slightest groan when she ran her fingers through it then stopped to take a drink before she started walking again.
“Hey,” he called softly.
Hailey spun and looked around her then finally looked up. “Damn, Clay. You scared the life out of me.”
“Sorry. Couldn’t sleep or were you still working?” he asked.
“I was still working. I didn’t know you smoked. I’ll fix you a drink for a cigarette,” she said as she walked back in the direction of the house.
Clay looked at the fire on his cigarette then back to her. “Okay,” he said softly then walked along the balcony and down the steps at the end. He had just reached the ground when she came back out of the house with a second glass in her hand.
“Thanks. Here,” he said as he took the glass and handed her the cigarette package. He waited for her to shake one out then held the lighter up and lit it for her.
“Oh. That’s good,” she said as she took a deep drag then blew it back out.
“I didn’t know you smoked, either.”
“I don’t usually. Off and on. Mainly just when I’m around other people who do.”
“Huh. I usually don’t unless she’s here,” Clay said then took a swallow of the drink before he turned around and sank down on the top step of the porch. Hailey took in a deep breath. She wondered if she would ever get tired of seeing him in nothing but a pair of jeans. She somehow doubted it. She sat down beside him and took another drag before she said anything.
“You couldn’t sleep again?”
“No. Funny. I never have any problem sleeping. Growing up the way you did, you know that a cowhand catches sleep any time he can. Day or night. Bed, ground, back of a horse. Doesn’t matter. And usually I can, but not the last two nights.”
“Well…you have had to deal with a lot over the last few days.”
Clay shrugged his shoulders and looked away from her. “I guess,” he said lowly. “I thought maybe a ride today would solve that. I’m not used to not being able to get out there anytime I want. And it did feel great, but it obviously didn’t help.”
“Are you going with them when they move the herd?”
He nodded as he took another drag and blew it back out. “Yeah. I’m going.”
“Good. Laine said you’ll be in camp two nights. I bet you can sleep there.”
“Maybe. You can try him. But I don’t want you leavin’ the yard with him unless somebody’s with you. At least not until we’re sure he’s not gonna act up with you,” he said lowly without looking at her.
“Thank you,” she said then waited until she’d taken another drink before she spoke again.
“Clay, can I ask you something else?”
Clay blew out a long breath. He’d known it was coming. He turned his head slowly and met her eyes evenly. At first he was just caught by the beauty of the moonlight shining on her face, how close she was, but he finally made himself speak.
“Not tonight, Hailey. Ask me tomorrow. Just not tonight,” he said hoarsely.
“Okay,” she said immediately. The husky voice had sent that slow burning in her middle coursing through every vein in her body, igniting nerves all along the way.
He didn’t know what difference it made. But somehow he couldn’t face telling her that he’d already decided that she could go with them if she wanted to. The thought of being out there on the trail with her along was unsettling and calming at the same time. Everything about her seemed to be a mass of contradictions and the way she made him feel was no different.
“It’s beautiful here,” Hailey finally said quietly.
“What’s New Mexico like?” Clay asked.
“It’s pretty. Hot in the summer. Cold in the winter. Little snow. Just about as much rain. You know, I always heard Montana called Big Sky country. And I’d look around me there and see nothing but sky as far as the eye could see. And I couldn’t understand how Montana’s sky could be any bigger than the sky there. But it is. Or at least it seems to be. And the stars just seem to be so much closer here. Why is that?” she said as she pulled her head down from gazing at the stars and turned to him to find him watching her.
“I don’t know. I just know there’s no other place I wanna be than…right here,” he finished softly. She waited silently as he held her eyes for just a few more seconds before he quickly turned his head and took a last drag off the cigarette and another drink before he started to rise.
“Here. Let me put that out. I’ve got boots on,” she said as she reached up and took the cigarette out of his hand. She felt the tremor run through him as quickly as it did her when her arm brushed against his as she reached for it.
“Thanks. I should try to go to sleep. Goodnight,” he said and rose as she crushed the
cigarette out against the heel of her boot.
“Goodnight, Clay,” she said and saw his steps falter just slightly but he kept walking, carrying the glass with him up the stairs. She knew he’d heard the same huskiness in her own voice. He had to know why. It really was the first time they had touched. They hadn’t even shaken hands when she came in for the interview. Anything that had passed between them was usually laid on the desk by one and picked up by the other. Okay, she had on a shirt and he didn’t so there was material between them, but it sure hadn’t felt like it. She lifted her hand and rubbed softly along the side of her arm where it had touched him.