With perfect timing, the elevator doors opened at that moment onto the fortieth floor. Janie stepped out and turned back to watch Jesse exit.
“Thanks for everything.” She held out a hand, thinking maybe they could part with a friendly handshake. Maybe she could touch him one more time.
But Jesse kept his hands hidden. “You’re welcome. The pleasure was all mine.” His blue eyes met hers for a second, then slid away. “See you around sometime, Janie. Take care.”
Just like that, he turned on his heel and walked down the hall toward the Cody suite, leaving her standing with her hand stuck out in the air. Untouched.
“Bye, Jesse,” she whispered. “It’s been good loving you.”
Chapter Seven
Jesse seldom favored lost causes. His dad had drummed the facts of life into his head since he was old enough to walk—ranching required a man to be practical, to analyze profits versus losses and be sure he came out on the high end of a deal. During the past eight years under Jesse’s supervision, the Cody family cattle operation had made money every quarter. He prided himself on being dependable that way.
Yet here he stood in the aisle of the Markton Feed and Grain Store, staring blindly at a shelf of horse wormers he didn’t need and waiting for the chance to make a complete fool of himself by asking for a favor when he already knew the answer would be “no.”
Not just “no,” he figured, but “no chance in hell.” Janie did have a forthright way of speaking her mind.
He wouldn’t blame her for turning him down. Things between them certainly hadn’t ended on a good note last weekend. What possible reason would she have for wanting to help him out? Why had he even bothered to come?
Avoiding the answer to that question, Jesse headed for the exit—just as the quick tap of boot heels on concrete announced Janie’s approach.
“Well, if it isn’t Jesse Cody.” Hearing her light voice set up a wave of…something…inside of him. “What brings you into town at 10:00 a.m. on a workday?”
He swallowed hard, then took off his hat as he turned to face his fate. “Hey, Janie.” He started to follow up with the usual, “How’s it going?” but the words rearranged themselves without his will. “You’re looking pretty this morning.”
And she was, with her hair woven into a shiny black braid falling over her shoulder, showing off her slender throat and cute, pointed chin. The red shirt tucked into faded jeans displayed the sexy curves of her waist and hips.
Her dark brown eyes glinted at him, though she didn’t actually smile. “Don’t look so surprised,” she told him. “Everybody has a good hair day now and then. Even me.”
He frowned and shook his head. “That’s not what I meant to say.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Oh…so I’m not looking pretty after all?”
“No, I—” His brain had melted to mush. Holding up a hand, Jesse took a second to rebuild it. “You look fine. You always do. But I came in to ask…that is, I wanted to see if—” How could someone who barely came up to his shoulder be so intimidating?
Janie leaned her shoulder against the end of the shelf, as if preparing to wait all day. “If…?”
He cleared his throat. Maybe he should start with the facts. “When I got home Monday afternoon, I realized Sundae, my gelding, was lame. Dr. Bill confirmed he’s got a bowed tendon.” He nodded when Janie winced. “Yeah. Doc says it’ll be a long recovery.” Jesse took a deep breath and began the hard part. “Elly suggested maybe you could help.”
He’d rushed the words, but Janie obviously understood him, because she straightened up and let her hands drop to her sides. “Me? What could I do?”
Jesse attempted to backtrack. “Well, Sundae will need hand-walking a couple of times a day.” Janie opened her mouth and he went on before she could speak. “I know—I could get one of the hands to take care of it.”
“I seem to recall you do have a couple of guys working for you out there on that big old ranch of yours.”
“Sure.” He ran a hand over his hair. “But they’re not always careful. One of them put Rowdy into the same field with Sundae, which is how we ended up in this predicament to begin with. Rowdy chases Sundae every time they’re within striking distance.”
“I guess that guy is looking for a new job this week?”
Jesse shrugged. “Anyway—”
But she put up a hand to stop him. “Anyway, I am not one of your employees, Jesse Cody. And you could walk the horse yourself.”
He huffed a breath. “I could. At 5:00 a.m., in the dark, before I head out on a full day’s roundup, maybe. And then again when I get back, in the dark, at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.”
“Too bad for you.” She shook her head. “Wish I could help you out, but between home and school and work—not to mention the time I put in at Dr. Bill’s—I’ve got all I can handle. I can’t afford to hire somebody to take care of my life just so I can walk your horse.” With a quick turn, she headed away from him, toward the back of the store.
“Janie—” He grabbed her wrist before she got too far out of reach. He had to convince her, for Sundae’s sake. “Elly says you’re a healer.”
She pivoted slowly back to face him. “What are you talking about? What did she tell you?”
“That you’re good with animals. Dr. Bill depends on you for his emergency backup.”
Pulling her arm free of his hold, she waved away his evasion. “That’s not what you said a second ago.”
Jesse moved closer and lowered his voice. “Elly told me you have a—a gift. Animals get better, faster, when you touch and talk to them, work with them.”
Janie looked down at the floor. “Your sister has a big mouth.”
“Is it true? You never mentioned it.” Staring down at her, he noticed again the straight line where her black bangs fell forward from the rest of her shiny hair. The weave of her braid caught his attention, and then the vulnerable nape of her neck—smooth skin with a small, kissable mole slightly off-center to the right. He knew exactly how her hair would smell, if he leaned close, if he kissed her…
Man, was he a mess.
He jerked his mind onto the right track. “Could you heal Sundae?”
“I’m not a vet. Yet.”
Jesse heard the longing in her voice. “Elly says you’re better than a vet.”
Janie snorted and shook her head. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Look.” Jesse set one hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin up with the other so he could see her eyes. “I don’t have to explain to you the partnership that develops over the years between horse and rider. I’m sure you know exactly how much I depend on Sundae, and how much I care about him.”
He squeezed his own eyes shut for a second, then fixed his gaze on hers again. “Right now Sundae is standing in a stall, miserable and bored. Dr. Bill isn’t sure he’ll ever be fit to work again, and that makes me miserable. I’ve got a hundred other horses I can ride, but none I trust like Sundae. So I’ll do, and try, anything to get him back to work. Can you help me?”
She took a step backward, escaping his hold with something very close to a shudder. “I’ll have to think about it,” she said, tucking her fingers into the front pockets of her jeans. “As soon as I decide, I’ll give you a call.”
With his mouth half-open to try more persuasion, Jesse decided to ease the pressure. She hadn’t outright refused again—that was better than he’d hoped for. Like a frisky filly, if he pushed too hard, she might get riled up and say no, for good.
So he snapped his jaw shut and swallowed the protest. “Thanks, Janie. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
Then, before he could ruin Sundae’s chances, he shoved his hat onto his head and marched toward the door. He’d made his case, which was what he’d come here to do.
He could only hope Janie’s kind heart would meet him halfway.
JANIE STOOD WHERE SHE WAS, staring, as Jesse’s long strides took him to the store exit. She didn’t draw a breat
h until the door thudded shut behind him.
Then she filled her lungs to capacity and blew the air out again in a big rush. Along with oxygen she caught the scent of his aftershave—the same scent he’d worn to the concert in Vegas, the same one he’d been using since he first picked up a razor. Once, when she was six teen, she’d bought a bottle for herself and sprinkled it on her pillow to pretend he’d laid his head there. She’d had some sweetly sexy dreams before wash day came around again.
Those dreams were nothing compared to the reality she’d known, the heat and heaven of kissing Jesse Cody.
But this time, she intended to stop dreaming. After all these years, she was determined to let him go.
Janie whipped around and headed for the store’s office, where Ruth Pearsoll sat sorting receipts. “I hate him,” she told the older woman, dropping into the chair beside the desk.
“Who’s that, honey?” Ruth didn’t look up from her slips of paper. She and her husband, Leslie, owned the Markton Feed and Grain Store, where Ruth managed the office.
“Jesse Cody.”
She’d confided some of the events in Vegas to Ruth, so the older woman understood part of the problem, at least. “What has he done now?” A kind and gentle woman, Ruth had been Janie’s refuge since she started working at the feed store during high school.
“He wants me to rehabilitate his hurt horse.”
“Ah. Did you agree?”
“I told him I’d think about it. And call him.”
“Then you can call him back and refuse.” The older woman continued with her filing. “If you want to be done with him, then be done. Just say no.”
Janie heard the words, but she couldn’t seem to incorporate the concept into her brain. “I might be able to help the horse. I’ve got a special rub, made with bee poison, that’s good for torn tendons.”
“I know, honey, but you have to think about yourself. You told me you and Jesse just don’t match up.”
“Well, it’s not so much the two of us as all the stuff going on with our families.”
“Mmm.” Ruth opened a drawer in the desk and began rifling through it.
“There’s the situation with Mark, you know. What’s going to happen to Jesse if Mark steps in as the oldest Cody son?”
“Yes, that is a problem.”
“And while his mother was very nice while we were in Vegas, you know she won’t like having her son date Abby Hansen’s daughter.”
“Possibly. Although she’s always been glad to have you as Elly’s friend.”
“That’s not the same, is it?”
Ruth looked up from the drawer, with a faraway expression on her face. “I suppose not. My Troy never got real serious about a girl, but I can imagine that finding out her mother had seduced my Leslie might color my reaction.” Ruth and Leslie had lost their son Troy in a rodeo accident.
Janie nodded. “And it’s not like I’m ever going to be on the same social level with the Codys. I’ve always been Elly’s connection to the poor side of town.”
Ruth clicked her tongue. “I’m not sure that matters to anyone but you, Janie.”
“Oh, it would matter to his parents, I’m sure.” She propped her chin on her hand and sat thinking…sulking, in fact.
“So tell Jesse you can’t help the horse and move on.”
“Right. That’s what I should do.” Beyond the office doorway, the bell on the store door jangled, signaling a customer. Before Janie could take a breath, the sound repeated. She got to her feet with a groan. “Business is picking up. I’d better get to work.”
Ruth crossed the room to give her a one-armed hug. “When you go out to the Cottonwood Ranch, be sure to make him pay you for your time. That’ll be one way to keep yourself on an equal footing, and at a distance. Don’t worry, the Codys can afford it.”
Janie stared at Ruth with her mouth open. “But I didn’t—”
Her friend smiled. “I knew from the first you’d be going. You could never resist helping an injured horse. Just be careful and don’t get hurt, yourself.”
Just how she was supposed to follow that advice, given that she’d probably be seeing Jesse nearly every day, Janie couldn’t begin to imagine.
AFTER TWO HOURS driving a truck and trailer and five hours on horseback herding cattle, Jesse and his crew returned to the barns to end their workday. The horses had to be unsaddled, brushed down and fed before the men could get to their own dinners. Jesse still had paperwork to do.
First, though, he walked through the stallion barn to visit Sundae. The only light came from the red exit signs above the doors at either end of the long aisle. From the shadowed stalls came the crunch of hay being chewed or the rustle of bedding as horses shifted position. A nicker greeted Jesse now and then as he approached some of his favorites and he always stopped to stroke a cheek, a nose or a glossy neck.
Sundae had been put into a stall next to the door, so he could at least see outside through the big windows. With the clink of his spurs to announce him, Jesse expected to see his horse’s brown head with its white blaze poked over the top of the stall door in welcome. From the aisle, however, Sundae’s stall looked empty.
Jesse stepped up to the door. “Sundae? You okay, boy?”
The pinto stood against the far wall, head hanging to his knees.
With shaking hands, Jesse fumbled the door latch open. “Hey, bud, what’s wro—”
A pale face appeared near the horse’s head. “Jesse, it’s me. Janie.”
“What the hell are you doing down there?” Worry added an edge to his voice.
“What you asked me to,” she shot back at him, in the same tone. Somehow, the shadows at the back of the stall resolved into his horse and a woman standing beside him, stroking his withers. “I called, but Doris said you’d gone on a roundup and wouldn’t be back until late. So I thought I’d come on over and get started anyway.”
Jesse propped his hands on his hips. He still couldn’t get his heart rate down, though not necessarily because of worry over the horse. “In the dark?”
“I don’t need the light.”
“Well, I do.” Backing up, he flipped on the overhead lamp for the stall. “What is it you’re doing, exactly?”
She hesitated for a long moment, mouth open as if to say something. With a shake of her head, though, Janie simply turned back to the horse.
“I’m rubbing his legs.” As her hand traveled across Sundae’s shoulder, down his foreleg and over his knee, she gradually knelt in the shavings on the floor. Using both hands, one after the other, she caressed Sundae’s injured leg. “It’s an old racing technique. The grooms would spend a big part of their day rubbing their horse’s legs, trying to decrease inflammation.”
Picking up a bottle on the floor nearby, Janie squirted liquid into both her palms before continuing her massage. “This is a menthol-alcohol blend. Good for reducing swelling.”
“And you think that will help heal the ligament?” He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but simple massage seemed too easy.
“Can’t hurt.” She didn’t look up. “I’m going to be here for at least another half hour. You can stay if you want to, but this is as exciting as it gets.”
That sounded to him like a suggestion to leave. “I’ve got some paperwork to finish in my office. Over in the cow barn,” he clarified, since she’d probably never noticed where he worked.
“I know where your office is, Jesse.” She flashed him a tolerant glance. “Elly and I used to run all over this place. I probably know about rooms you’ve never noticed.”
“Doubtful.” He couldn’t repress a grin. “But that was a long time ago. I haven’t seen you around the ranch for…I don’t know, maybe years.”
“Most definitely years.” She squirted alcohol on her hands again. “Elly and I meet for lunch or dinner now, like the adults we’re supposed to be. Weekends, sometimes.” Her smile faded. “We used to, anyway. William takes up most of her time these days.”
�
�We miss her around here, too. I guess that’s what romance does, though—breaks up families.”
“And makes new ones.”
His mind immediately went to his dad, and he spoke without thinking. “Unless there’s already a spouse in the picture.”
Janie’s hands went still. In the next instant, she jumped to her feet, gathered the bottle and a knapsack nearby and stomped into the aisle.
“I knew my first instinct was the right one,” she said hotly. “I should have listened to my gut and stayed home.”
Jesse latched the stall door behind him, then lengthened his strides until he caught up with her. “I didn’t intend to insult you, Janie. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“Don’t apologize. I’d rather hear what you’re thinking.” She pushed through the exterior door leading to the walkway between the horse and cattle barns, letting the panel swing back into his face. “And now I have, I know where I don’t belong.”
Dodging the door, Jesse lunged forward and got his hand around her elbow, then dug in his heels and brought them both to a stop.
“Don’t go,” he pleaded through gritted teeth. “Please.”
Her bones felt small and light against his palm.
“Give me one good reason.” She didn’t look back at him.
Only one reason stood a chance in hell of working. “Sundae needs all the help he can get.”
“So he can go back to carrying you around?”
“Yeah.” He grinned, though she wasn’t looking. “But I’m not as hard on my horses as I am on my employees.”
“Lucky horses.” She drew in a deep breath and blew it out again. “You know you’re paying me to do this? Thirty dollars an hour?”
“Whatever you want. Just take care of Sundae.”
“Okay.” She turned her head, finally, to look down at his hand around her arm. “Excuse me.”
He released her and stepped back, ignoring a surge of reluctance. “Were you finished?”
“No, as a matter of fact, I’d just started. I wanted to do all four legs. When one leg is injured, especially a front leg, the other three take on extra strain.”
Jesse: Merry Christmas, Cowboy Page 9