Cowboy For Hire

by Victoria James

  He ran a hand over his jaw, drawing her attention again to his perfectly sculpted features. “Okay. If I were hired, I would have to make arrangements. I know the Donnelly ranch is in good hands and they’ll be fine without me, but I don’t want to leave them in a bind. I would like to ask them how soon I could leave.”

  She nodded, trying not to look as desperate as she felt. Calling his references was definitely a must, but other than that, he had a dream résumé for this position.

  They continued talking for the next half hour, and she found herself drawn to his voice, the way he spoke. He had a way of making his confidence known, and he handled himself as someone of authority, which was perfect for this position, but he also didn’t patronize her. She stood slowly, wiping her palms on the front of her jeans before she shook his hand again. “Thanks for coming out. I will make my decision by tomorrow.”

  He gave her a nod before turning and walking to the door. Somehow he managed to make the small office seem even smaller, like his presence sucked out all her oxygen. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Turner.”

  “Sarah.”

  “Right.” He pulled open the door and stepped outside. She held the door, ready to close it, when he turned back around, his cowboy hat shadowing his eyes slightly. “I forgot to mention, if you need any help with that escort service, I’d be glad to oblige.”

  Fire stormed through her body, but before she had a chance to sputter out a response, he gave her an utterly charming half smile, perfectly timed with a small tip of his hat, before turning around and walking away.

  Sarah slowly shut the door, torn between laughing and dying of humiliation.

  All the weirdness of the afternoon aside, this was the first step in taking over the ranch. The next step was going to be in Cade Walker’s very capable hands.

  Chapter Two

  “I still don’t get why you’re leaving. I hope like hell it’s not because of me,” Tyler Donnelly said as Cade placed his folded clothes—mostly comprised of jeans and shirts—into his suitcase.

  Cade glanced up at his best friend, who was leaning against the doorjamb of Cade’s bedroom as he packed. Their other friend, Dean Stanton, was sitting on the chair in the corner of the room with a scotch in his hand.

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Cade said before he continued his packing. It wasn’t exactly because of Tyler per se, but maybe in a roundabout way, his friend was part of the reason.

  The three of them went way back. They were the first friends he’d made in Wishing River, partners in crime all through high school, and they’d come along at a point in his life when he’d basically given up the idea that there were any decent people in the world—or that he was even worthy of decent people.

  Tyler’s family had taken him in and had shown him a new way—one of hard, grueling work—that filled him with pride at the end of the day. That had been a new beginning for Cade. He wasn’t one for emotional, sappy exchanges of feelings, but if he were ever in a life-and-death position, he’d probably tell them they were like brothers to him.

  “Seriously,” he said when Tyler continued to stare at him like he was ready to call bullshit when he saw it.

  “There’s more than enough work for the two of us to share here. I know I said some harsh stuff when I came back, and I regret all of it, but you’re family, and family stays together.”

  Cade shoved his hands in his back pockets and looked across the room at his friend. Last year had been rough. He’d thought they’d never be close to Tyler again, but the three of them had managed to work out their problems. “Just because you’re married now doesn’t mean you get to say sappy crap like that. While it may be appreciated, it’s not necessary to vocalize.”

  Dean snickered and put his feet up on the corner of Cade’s bed. Cade shoved them off. “Yeah, please spare us,” Dean agreed.

  He could tell Tyler wasn’t buying it. Sure, when Tyler had come back after eight years of being gone and not reaching out to any of them, things had been rough. He and Dean hadn’t welcomed him home, and they had all said things they regretted. Cade just couldn’t get past the way Tyler had just…taken off, without warning, without explanation. Logically, he knew his own issues with abandonment had played into his anger toward his best friend, but he hadn’t been feeling particularly logical when Tyler came back around.

  When the truth behind Tyler’s taking off came out, forgiveness had come fast. The three of them had picked up like no time had gone, but now his best friend had a wife. And wasn’t that just something?

  “Yeah, well, Lainey does have that effect on people. Look at my dad and me. A year ago, I never would have guessed I’d be working alongside him again.”

  “Martin’s looking like a new man,” Dean said.

  Tyler’s father had suffered a debilitating stroke, which had prompted Tyler to come and run the ranch and try to make amends. The first few weeks after the stroke, Martin hadn’t been able to speak or move. Thankfully, the man was stubborn and had pulled through with Dean’s help.

  “When’s Lainey coming home?” Cade asked, hoping to keep the conversation clear of him leaving for a while.

  Tyler got a stupid grin on his face. “Two weeks. I was actually going to talk to you guys about planning a party.”

  Dean shot Cade a look. “I’m not a party planner.”

  Tyler held up his hands. “Relax. Betty at the diner and Mrs. Busby had no confidence in any of us anyway, so they volunteered to help.”

  Cade let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Just tell us what time and when and we’ll be there.”

  “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. I thought I wouldn’t be able to survive a year and now here we are, ready to get our life together going.”

  After they’d gotten married, Lainey had started an art program abroad. They’d seen each other only once during Christmas, when Tyler had flown to Italy to be with her.

  “Hell, I’m counting down the days till Lainey gets back so we don’t have to listen to you whine anymore,” Dean said.

  Tyler snorted. “Listen, kid, when you get older and you get married, you’ll understand what I’ve been going through.”

  Cade smiled to himself as he zipped up his full suitcase. Truth was, he did kind of feel nostalgic about leaving this place. He wasn’t one to dwell on the shit that had happened in his life, just like he wasn’t one to dwell on sentimentality, so this was new for him. Even though it wasn’t his, this was the first place that had ever felt like a home to him, the first place that he got an inkling of what having a home even meant.

  Lately, though, Cade had started feeling…restless. Like this wasn’t enough anymore. They were all moving on with their lives. Dean had his career as a doctor and was still running his family ranch; Tyler and Lainey were just starting out and had all their own things to sort through.

  So yeah, Cade had started feeling like he needed to find his own way, build his own life…maybe even one day settle down. He didn’t fear love or marriage or settling down the way Tyler had. There had even been a time he’d been interested in Lainey, before she and Tyler had gotten serious. He realized now it was what Lainey represented—she’d come from a family almost as messed-up as his, and yet she’d managed to hold on to her ideals and make something of herself. But there had been no denying the connection she’d had with Tyler, and when Cade had seen it, he’d backed off right away. And hell if she hadn’t made his friend a better man. He was genuinely happy for the both of them.

  “So when are you starting?” Dean asked, ignoring Tyler’s obnoxious comment.

  “Monday. I’ll go over there tomorrow to get settled in the house.”

  “Perfect. So we can take you out for a couple of drinks at River’s tonight,” Tyler said.

  Some things didn’t change. The three of them going into River’s had been a Saturday-night tradition for years. The local saloo
n was classic Wishing River, dating back to the eighteen hundreds and owned by the Rivers family since the beginning. Live music, good food, and better drinks made it the best place to spend your hard-earned money.

  Cade nodded. “Definitely.”

  “So what’s the name of the new gig?” Dean asked.

  “Joshua Ranch,” he said as he zipped up the suitcase.

  Dean and Tyler shared a look. “Why is that name familiar?” Tyler asked.

  Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m trying to place it. It’ll come to me.”

  Both his friends were born and raised in Wishing River, and they knew everything about everyone. Since Cade had come here alone as a teenager, he’d never really cared about the local gossip circle.

  Tyler frowned. “Hmm. Who was the foreman before you?”

  “I don’t know, but apparently he quit without notice, leaving them scrambling.”

  “I swear I know that family. What’s the last name?”

  “Turner.”

  “Shit,” Dean said under his breath. “I remember who they are.”

  Cade’s shoulders stiffened. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “They’re on the border of Cedar Crossing, so they weren’t as well-known in Wishing River, but hell, I remember…the couple had a son as well.”

  Tyler made a noise and grimaced. “I remember.”

  “The boy was maybe ten or so,” Dean said. “He went out into the river, being your typical stupid kid at that age, and thought he’d go for a swim. The water levels were high and the rapids were strong. He got pulled under. There was a search party. His little sister was with him and they thought she’d drowned, too. Apparently they found her miles downstream, holding on to her brother. He was dead.”

  A chill rode through Cade, and his throat was clogged with emotion. What a brutal story. The image of Sarah played across his mind, and sympathy for her flooded him. He cleared his throat. “That’s horrible,” he managed to choke out in the silence of the room.

  Tyler nodded. “Yeah. The community banded together, trying to reach out to the family, but they withdrew. From everything. If I recall correctly, I think they even pulled the daughter out of school.”

  Even though Wishing River was a small town, the big ranches out here were literally thousands of acres, so unless you needed to deal with your neighbors for something, it was conceivable that you didn’t really get to know everyone, especially if they kept to themselves. “I think the father died five years ago and her mother last year. So she’s on her own.”

  “Well, you’re the man who can help her.”

  “Said no one ever.” Dean laughed.

  Cade flipped him the finger and pulled his suitcase to the door. He was glad for the information; it would make him more aware of the dynamic over at the ranch. “Well, I guess we’ll see how it goes.”

  “Good luck,” Dean said.

  He would need it. Starting over wasn’t new to him, and there was a time it would have been scary, but he’d learned to get along with people, to anticipate their needs and moods. It was a skill he’d picked up as a kid when he was in self-preservation mode, but it had served him well as an adult, too. There were so many different personalities on a ranch, and he could tell from just a few hours which of the ranch hands were going to be trouble and which would be lifelong friends. Joshua Ranch and what Sarah wanted him to do was an entirely different kind of trouble, but he hoped that he’d be able to take over effectively while giving her what she needed.

  He took in the family room one last time, and that odd pang hit him in the chest again. This was it. He was pretty much packed up, since most of this belonged to the cabin. It was the first real home he’d had. The first home that had felt like his. Even though the furniture and everything came with it, it had been the closest to owning something he’d ever gotten. That was all because of Ty’s family.

  “Have you had a tour of the place?”

  “Briefly. But I’ll be working with Sarah. She needs me to show her the ropes because she plans on running it as well.” She’d made it very clear that part of his job was to teach her, and he’d do his job, but he wasn’t a fan of working closely with anyone, and part of the reason he loved this job was the solitude. It was also kind of unsettling to think that he was essentially teaching her how to replace him. He’d tried to shrug that part off because she had never hinted that his job was only temporary, just that she’d be sharing responsibilities. Either way, he’d make sure he was too valuable to be let go.

  Tyler raised an eyebrow, and Cade knew a dumb-ass comment was imminent. “How’s that going to go?”

  He shrugged. Sharing responsibility hadn’t been his strong suit in the past. “I have no idea, but you and I managed this year.”

  “Not at first.” Tyler chuckled. “What’s she like?”

  Beautiful. Cade wanted to kick himself for that being the first thought that popped into his head. If she’d been a man, he wouldn’t have even noticed what he looked like, but it was pretty hard not to notice Sarah. Or think about her. She was curvy yet petite, and beautiful with her honey-colored hair pulled back in a ponytail, her full mouth and pale skin, and those striking green eyes. The woman would have stood out in a crowd—hell, she’d have stood out at River’s on its busiest night—but he was pretty sure he’d never seen her there.

  When she’d first opened the door, Cade thought she looked ready to kill someone. It had taken everything in him not to smile and say something to put her more at ease right out the gate—professionalism and first impressions and all that—but he was betting she’d had quite the morning with that other ad running in the local paper.

  He’d had a laugh over his morning coffee with that one. He just bet she’d had her share of applicants for that position, especially when word got out about who was doing the hiring. A beautiful woman like her would be no hardship to escort around town, no pay required.

  He smiled to himself. Sarah might’ve been way younger than he expected, but she carried herself with an air of sophistication and confidence. The woman would kowtow to no one, and he respected the hell out of that. He’d have his work cut out for him until they found their rhythm, but he was looking forward to showing her the ropes.

  When she spoke about her family, though, she seemed quite guarded. Now that he knew what she’d gone through, he wanted to offer his support, let her know he’d be in her corner if she needed it, but that wasn’t his place. He’d be the ranch manager, nothing more.

  Fortunately, he had no problem compartmentalizing. Nothing had ever come between him and a job. He’d learned long ago that the most important thing was to earn a living and never be dependent on anyone else because people couldn’t really be trusted—except the guys in this room and Ty’s dad. Before them, he’d had to find his own way in the world, without a family to fall back on for support. That would stayed rooted in his belief system forever. He’d always had to prove himself, to prove that he could work hard, that he could be a valuable asset, and when he did, he’d get a roof over his head and a hot meal. If he couldn’t be of use, then there was no point in his being around.

  He turned his attention back to his friends. “She’s nice. Young. Determined to get to know how to run her family ranch. Gotta respect that.”

  “For sure. Well, I hope it works out for you, and you always have a place here if things don’t go the way you want them to.”

  Cade held his gaze for a moment. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” He did. He would never forget what Tyler and his family did for him. Even though he worked hard for it, they had shown him the way. The way to earn a living, to be proud, to live by rules, and to have goals. If it weren’t for the Donnelly family, he didn’t know where he’d be.

  “I want to get an early start tomorrow, so if we’re going to River’s, we have to hurry up.”

  “Don’t worry,
we’ll make sure you don’t make a bad impression on your first day.”

  Good, because tomorrow was the first day of his new life.

  Chapter Three

  Cade sat down in his newly unpacked foreman’s house and took it all in. He placed his feet on the dark-wood coffee table, linked his fingers behind his head, leaned back, and breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction. So this was his new home. Not that he was one to become overly attached to a place—he’d learned early on in life that a home was just a roof over your head and nothing more—but this was a place he could get used to.

  He glanced out the large picture window in the family room with its view of the mountains in the distance and couldn’t deny that it was probably the nicest home he’d ever had. Sure, the place he’d had at Tyler’s ranch was nice, but it had been more like a bachelor pad, and an extension of his friend’s family home. Not…his. Just another reminder that he’d always been at the mercy of someone else’s pity.

  Sure, it hadn’t been like that with Tyler’s family because they had treated him better than his own biological family, but he knew that in the beginning, they had felt sorry for him. Especially Tyler’s mother, he thought with a slight smile. She had been the real deal. The first time he’d seen what a real mother was like, she’d taken him in like a wounded animal, mothering and doting and making him envy the love his friend had grown up with. But he’d never had time to dwell on his lot in life—work and earning his keep had been priority one.

  He took a deep breath, pride seeping its way into his body, shutting out all those old voices of how worthless he was. This wasn’t the home of a worthless man. This was the home of a hard-working man. He just needed to prove that he was a worthwhile investment for the Joshua Ranch. He could and would outwork anyone.

  This was a true family home with three bedrooms and a large-enough kitchen that there was a place to put a table. The furnishings were modest but clean and neutral. The front porch was welcoming, and in the future, he might even put a pot of some kind of flowers out there.