by Vivian Wood
For a moment, emotion choked her, and she had to look away. She didn’t want all this—the ranch, her family, and the friends that were like family—to end. Maybe things weren’t so bad. Maybe selling the ranch would turn out to be an option, rather than the best option. Rose wouldn’t know until her father decided it was time to talk. One lesson she had learned as a child was not to rush him. Patience was a virtue, albeit her least favorite one.
“Well, it’s getting late. How about we pack it in ladies and head inside for a nice meal?”
Rose nodded and tried to keep the emotion off her face. Her father didn’t like to have big exciting conversations while digesting or before bed, so she’d have to wait another day to find out what was going on at the ranch.
She let her mind wander to Rex, thinking it a suitable distraction. Now, there was a man, the kind that could work outside all day and come home and please his woman. God, if they made them like that in Boston, she wouldn’t be so lonely. If only she knew whether he was trustworthy or not. She couldn’t get a read on the mercurial man.
Rose, on the other hand, was more of a flat line. It was just that tight squeeze in her chest, tighter than her mother’s embrace, darker than the black velvet night.
* * *
Annie was holding that woman’s hand. Rex saw them and hurried to his room. He was covered in sweat and crap and hay from mucking out the stalls. The hot water felt nice, but when his mind wandered to Rose’s abundant curves, he had to switch the temperature to cold.
Tomorrow was what was known as Rose’s Big Tour. They had picked out where they were going to build the guest cabins, and even put together one so she could see what they would look like when they were finished. Peggy and Lily had decorated it in a style they described as: What rich people think country looks like. Instead of the serviceable pieces of furniture they bought for the ranch, they got second-hand items that showed wear-and-tear, and whenever possible, had turned tin cans and feed bags into lampshades and pillows.
Rex had looked around, mute with horror. Had they really painted the walls orange? Was that a skull?
“What do you think?” Peggy had asked him, Lily at her side.
“It’s awful,” he’d said, unable to lie.
To his shock the women were delighted. “Then it’s perfect!” Lily said.
Rex just shook his head. “So, if I told you that, with the exception of the quilt on the bed, and the couch and chairs and the TV, this whole place should be burned, you’d take that as a compliment?”
The women laughed at him and patted his arm. Lily wiped a tear from her eye. “Rex, I think you might get along well with my daughter.”
Lily had made the comment a few times before, and Rex had replied by stomping out of the room. He’d stomped out of the room when she’d said it then. He knew the more he reacted the more he’d be teased, but he couldn’t help himself. As if she could sense his mounting tension, she’d stopped needling him the closer Rose’s arrival date came.
And now she was here, and he was standing under a stream of cold water still inexplicably half-hard. He couldn’t go to dinner like this, so he took care of himself as quick as he could, feeling like an awkward teenager, and put on a clean polo shirt and some khaki pants for dinner. He thought of dressing for business as part of keeping his business skills sharp. After all, if everything went according to plan, he’d be out marketing, drumming up business for the Crown of Thorns Ranch and Resort.
Everyone was seated around the long table on benches. The table was only half-full, ranching not being as profitable as it once was. He pictured the table bustling with riding teachers, maids, and a few masseuses.
Rex wanted this to work. He wanted this to be his home and Annie’s home too. She was tucked between two ranch hands, listening to them talk about their day while one cut a pork chop for her and the other pulled the hot skin off a drumstick—her favorite.
“Cornbread?”
Rex jumped at the sweet voice next to his ear and nodded.
He was used to Martha and Lily buzzing around during mealtime, but Rose was something new, smiling and loading people’s plates up with food. He grabbed a pork chop from the platter set in the middle of the table. He still needed something to do with his hands, so he started pouring everyone water.
For the resort, they were going to build a nicer dining hall for the guests, but the concept would be the same. Vacationers would get to play at rancher if they wanted, or if they preferred, they’d be able to order up a spa treatment, direct to their door. It was a good idea. Lily had thought of it, watching some ridiculous reality show on Bravo. A pampered ranch experience for the bored rich people in Dallas. When Rex saw an ad looking for someone to help develop a ranch resort, he knew the job was perfect for him and for Annie. It was still perfect, except for the fact that he was having mixed feelings about the Rose.
Though, they were really feelings about Nancy, still alive after all these years.
Tad said grace, and Rex got through dinner without making too much of a fool of himself. Rose paid him no mind, joking with her friends and jumping up to fetch things from the kitchen, sparing Lily or Martha from doing it. Everyone would protest for her to sit down and Rose would smile and say, “Now, I don’t get back that often, so it’s a treat for me to wait on you.” Then she was out the door with the milk pitcher.
Nothing like Nancy at all.
That little thought nested in the back of his brain and stayed there, nibbling away all night. He dreamed he and Annie and Nancy were all on a paddleboat at a park, only Nancy had brown hair and she kept smiling at them.
Rex woke up, feeling happy and content, and for the first time in a long time, reached for a body that wasn’t there. “Christ.” His sunny mood stormed over, and the weather agreed with him. It was a lousy overcast day.
“Annie, I’d like you to stay here when we go out with Miss Rose to see the cabin.”
She pulled a face at him, but he would make sure to tell Lily she was around. Someone would keep track of her. Lily and Tad had promised to provide “daycare” after all. Tad qualified that with, “As long as you don’t expect it to always happen in the house and for her to come back clean. All our hands come from good families, so she’ll be well looked after. And Lily’s getting impatient for a grandchild, so she’ll be able to pretend.”
Rex said the only word he could, “Perfect.”
He expected Tad up early the next day, ready to go, but instead he was on the back porch with his pipe, a cup of coffee, and the paper—normally a Sunday routine.
Rex shifted from foot to foot, wanting to get this over with. “Ah… When’re we starting?”
“After Rose gets back from Lulu’s.” Tad shuffled to the next page.
“The hairdresser’s? She went to the hairdresser?”
Tad didn’t bother to look up from his paper, but he did arch one eyebrow. “I thought you said you were married, boy. Now I’m starting to wonder.” He shook the paper. “First you get all skittish when my girl arrives, then you interrupt my morning paper with a sour look on your puss, and now you seem unacquainted with women and haircuts.”
Rex could feel the heat on his cheeks as his face turned tomato red. He was going to stutter out a reply, but Tad shot him a look over the paper and he shut his mouth.
“I’m sure there’s work to be done.” Tad went back to his paper.
Not one to linger after he’d been dismissed, Rex made himself useful in the kitchen. Lily and Martha were always happy to have a man around. Rex, in turn, pretended to hate their matronly doting, while loving every minute of it. Lily and Martha would then tease him about secretly being a mama’s boy, which really wasn’t a secret in his hometown.
“Ta-dah!”
Rex turned, and there was Rose, her long dark hair cut short. It fell around her face in soft feminine curls. Without the heavy framing of her hair, her breasts looked huge, her waist the perfect size to wrap his arms around, and her hips something he’
d like to rub up against. He took a deep breath and tugged at his belt. Easy there, cowboy. Remember what they taught you at college—don’t piss in the company ink, or something like that.
At that moment, he was forced to admit to himself, Rose got to him on a visceral level. He hadn’t been with a woman since Nancy left him, and he felt the obscene desire to kiss Rose. Not a nice sweet kiss, but one where he pushed her against the wall and tasted the inside of her mouth. He wanted to feel her softness moving underneath him.
She put on that awful pink cowboy hat and broke the spell.
“Apple’s all saddled up for you.” Josh tossed her a pair of pink gloves and she scowled.
“How much did you jack asses spend on this stuff?” she asked.
Lily snorted. Rex recalled seeing a pair of pink boots and a horse blanket as well. Rose groaned at her mare—the dark brown saddle set atop the baby pink blanket.
“That was an honest mistake, Rose. We didn’t know it was going to be that color,” said a hand leaning against the gate. “It was supposed to be hot pink.”
They had all gathered to watch Rose grumble.
“We got you these to say we’re sorry,” another said. He handed her a box.
“These are going to be the ugliest boots I’ve ever seen, right?”
“Not if you’ve ever been in a high-end boutique. I’ve never seen such ugly shoes in my life before, and they all cost an arm and a leg,” Rex said.
Everyone laughed, even Rose, who was looking at him closely. She complained about the boots but still put them on. She looked like a girlie girl, up on her horse with the pink hat and gloves and boots.
“We gotta order her a different blanket,” a hand commented.
“Mm…hm…” they all agreed.
Tad cleared his throat and the men dispersed at a leisurely pace.
“Now, I’m sure you’re dying to know why your mom and I asked you for all that money.” Tad got onto his waiting horse, Honey, and Rex hopped onto his mount, a somewhat ill-tempered stallion named Nero.
“Yes, yes I have,” Rose said.
Rex fell back to watch the interaction between father and daughter.
“Well, as you know, we’re not making as much money as we used to.” Tad talked slowly, but he had Honey going at a brisk walk. By the time he got around to telling Rose what the plan was, they’d be at the model cabin.
Rex watched the pair and thought about how this is what he wanted one day for him and his daughter. The patience, the understanding, the love they had for each other. He liked the thought of Annie seeing what a pair of loving parents and their child looked like. With a jolt, he realized he’d been comparing his daughter to a woman he wasn’t sure he could trust.
A funny thought struck him. He had two things in common with Rose, a love of ranching and a broken heart. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. He could learn to trust her.
They got to the little cabin just as Tad was saying, “And so, your mother had the idea to turn this place into a resort. We did some research, and the numbers looked good and we’re in a good location. All we needed was some money and a man with experience in this type of thing.” Tad gestured to Rex and he nodded.
“It looks like it came out of a Western,” she said.
“We got the lumber for the siding secondhand. It gives it a nice weathered look. We saved money where we could while keeping in mind that we’re aiming for a high-end market.” Rex felt more comfortable now, talking about business. He launched into his spiel about starting small so as to make it more exclusive, but going big when it came to the services they offered. He was rattling off numbers when he reached up to help her down from her saddle.
It hit him: A soft floral scent, warm skin under worn flannel. A woman, in his arms. A big curvy woman with soft brown eyes looking straight into his.
“Ah…” he trailed off. His gaze slid to her lips, a shade of pink he actually liked.
“You were saying why you think two hundred thousand should get us started,” she said, moving away from him.
He stared at her while she hitched her horse to the wooden post outside.
“Where are we getting the rest of the money? I could have brought it with me,” she said.
Rex cleared his throat and his mind. Thank God Rose was too distracted by business to notice him flaking out.
“Me. I’m investing the other half of the money.” And he wasn’t losing his head over some hot-shot art whatever that moved up to Boston to work at some fancy museum. He tried to put some force into the conviction, but a part of him knew, even before he’d met her, when she’d just been a two-dimensional picture on the wall, he’d been thinking about her. And thinking about a woman was step one in falling for her.
He walked to the cabin, drew a keycard from his wallet, and stood aside so she could see, just like a fancy hotel, the rustic-looking cabin had an electric lock. It was a sample on loan from the company, but still, the little things mattered. “Your family retains full ownership of the property. The business is divided fifty, McGovern and Rex. We already formed the LLC.”
Rose walked into the cabin and stopped. He was probably becoming inured to the awful decor, but every time Rex saw it, he disliked it a little less. There was a kitchenette to the side, complete with a little stove and oven. Rex thought they’d offer in-cabin cooking classes for the women while their men worked on the ranch. Or vice-versa, he didn’t really care. The bed was portioned off by a set of plain canvas screens, and there was a couch and two oversized chairs arranged around a flat-screen TV.
The horse skull Lily hung on the pale terra-cotta wall tied the room together with a Zen-like simplicity. The cholla stump set on the coffee table and the succulent garden growing in a hypertufa planter were two other details that caught his eye. Simple, but elegant, a combination that always implied expensive.
“Not including the appliances, we got this place furnished and decorated for about ten thousand, and most of that went to the bed and chairs. Lily and Peggy put everything together. But you know how smart those two are.” Rex turned to Rose, expecting a complement, or a shrewd question, but not tears. Her face was red, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
The same black dread slapped him, just as it had when Nancy had been screaming and carrying-on.
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t handle her crying. A foul stinking beast had seized him on the inside and twisted—because that’s what Nancy’s betrayal had felt like.
He opened his mouth to speak, but low in his throat, he could feel the start of something else, something he couldn’t let out.
Rex Waits, for the first time in his life, did not calmly walk away from something too big for him to handle. He did not stomp off in a temper. No, Rex Waits ran. He ran quickly.
Nero whickered at him and laid his ears back, but didn’t protest to being unhitched and mounted.
After that, Rex pointed him away, and gave the contrary creature free rein.
* * *
Rose didn’t know whether to kick her father for being so goddamn mysterious or kiss his cheek because the Crown of Thorns Ranch was saved!
The tears had come naturally, a sweet flood of joy. The numbers Rex recited sounded good and the cabin looked good. She hadn’t missed him hamming up the keycard, but from what he’d been saying, he’d be the one pitching the ranch to people, so a little razzle-dazzle was a good thing. It didn’t hurt that the man was easy on the eyes.
In fact, Rose had been staring at his ass. Her gaze had only flicked to the keycard for a moment before it went back to him. She had completely given up on not staring at the man, deciding to get her fill of him while she was here. There would be no sweaty dusty eye-candy in Boston. Best enjoy it while she can.
She had expected him to politely look away from her tears. Maybe hand her a rumpled handkerchief, but to flee, like a sparrow from a hawk…. That was truly unexpected.
She and her father looked at each other, listening to the fading beat of the
horse’s hooves. They both burst out laughing.
“Did I miss something?” her father asked.
“God, Dad, I don’t know. Did I miss something?”
They sat down on the couch and Rose relaxed. They talked business while Rose fluffed up her hair. Whenever she had Lulu cut it off, she couldn’t stop touching it.
“Is he reliable?” she finally asked. It had been a point she’d been wavering on ever since she’d got there. Annabelle Lee was a gem, but her father ran hot and cold. Then, finally, just plain ran.
“He has been so far. As far as I can guess, his ex-wife beat on his heart pretty good and ever since then he’s just been focused on his girl.”
Rose nodded. “But, he’s going to have to deal with women, in a professional manner. I don’t feel very confident that he can.”
Her dad sighed, his gaze fixed on the floor. “You want me to fire him, Rose? He and that little girl have made this place their home.”
She fiddled with her new bangs. No, it wasn’t just the disapproving tone in her father’s voice that made it seem wrong to her. “Not fire. Reassess his role. Why does he have to be an investor anyways? And fifty-fifty too?”
“That part’s a done deal, at least the partnership. You can pay for the whole thing, but he’d still be a partner.”
Rose scowled and looked around the room. Now she wanted to hate it, but couldn’t. It was too good. Hell, give her some glossy brochures, and she could probably book the place.
“He only has money for half,” she said.
“Ah-huh. He’s putting most of his savings into this. He believes in this, Rose.”
She nodded and stood up. “Fine, I’ll invest. Get me the paperwork and I’ll fax it to Jill to look over. But—”
She fixed her father with a stubborn look he knew well from her childhood. He sat up straighter, knowing that she wouldn’t yield on this point.
“I want you to talk to Rex about reconsidering what his role here will be. He stays, that’s fine, I won’t press that point. I’m not impressed with how he’s handled himself, and you know I’m not wrong.”