Jared (Coyote Ridge) (Volume 2)

by Nicole Edwards

  “Not far. ’Bout half an hour from here, I’d say. In Embers Ridge. You know the place?”

  “Yeah,” he lied. He didn’t know the place, but he figured a map would tell him. “You know why Travis picked it?” Jared hadn’t wrapped his head around that part yet.

  “You’ll see when you call them.”

  Jared did not like the sound of that. “Should I be worried?”

  “Nope. Just make sure you’re clear on how many days you want.”

  “Days?” He flopped back into his chair and closed his eyes. “I thought this was a family reunion. An afternoon barbecue or some shit.”

  Another giggle sounded from Cheyenne. “I wish it were that simple. This is a dude ranch, Jared. My guess is Travis is lookin’ for a solid week.”

  Dude ranch? Week?

  The fuck?

  He sighed again, this time in resignation. He wasn’t going to get out of this, so he might as well step right in the shit and get moving.

  “All right, I’m gonna call this Hope Lambert and see what she says. I’ll let you know.”

  “Have fun!”

  Right. Fun.

  Because that was exactly what this wasn’t going to be.

  “YEP. I’LL CATCH up with you in a bit. Gonna grab a bite first,” Hope Lambert said into the phone a second before she ended the call and shoved the device into her back pocket.

  The sun wasn’t even up and she was already two hours into her day. A colicky calf was her reason for being up earlier than usual, but Hope wasn’t complaining. Luckily, their staff was on their toes, their full attention on all the animals.

  However, that hadn’t been the highlight of her morning. That’d come when Budweiser located a rattlesnake out near the barn. Hope didn’t do snakes, so she’d pulled Grant right out of his warm bed for that one. She hadn’t stuck around to see how it went, other than to find out that Budweiser hadn’t gotten too close.

  So much shit, not enough time.

  As much as she had enjoyed the heat of the summer for the last several of months, Hope was happy that they were on the cusp of fall, which meant the long days and warm evenings would soon be behind her again. Two weeks into September and things were finally slowing down a little. And by a little, she meant significantly more so than in the extremely busy summer months. The days were growing shorter, the sun not quite so hot, the wind a little cooler, yet the work was still endless.

  But with fall came preparations for winter, which was the time when there would be more attention put on the animals than on the many tourists who embarked on Dead Heat Ranch in their attempt to learn a thing or two about ranching, horses, cattle, and spending time with nature. Not to mention being entertained. And that meant, despite the days getting shorter, there would still be a lot of things to cram into a twenty-four-hour period.

  Not that she hadn’t been busy enough, even when the skyrocketing temperatures made certain tasks damn near impossible. But with fewer visitors, they had significantly more time to spend on the ranch. Truth be told, that was just the way she liked it.

  It wasn’t that Hope didn’t like people or weddings or family get-togethers, she just… Okay, so yeah, that was exactly it. Hope simply didn’t like people, and she wasn’t a big fan of so many at one time, either. Strange characteristic for one of the owners of the largest dude ranch in the state of Texas, but there it was. Give her a horse and a few hours, Hope would gladly spend it by herself, alone with her favorite companion and her thoughts.

  Fortunately, that was something she would no longer have to put off in order to accommodate the influx of tourists who had selected Dead Heat Ranch as their vacation destination for the endless summer months. With the reservations few and far between now, Hope looked forward to the chance to sit down with her sisters and understand how profitable—if she was lucky—the summer season had been for them.

  Oh, and she couldn’t forget the wedding. They were a little more than five weeks out from Grace’s wedding—in which she would officially tie the knot with not one but two cowboys. Okay, maybe not officially. Grace couldn’t actually marry two people, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it from the ceremony. In what they hoped would be a beautiful fall wedding, there would be an exchange of rings and some sort of legally binding contract, but no one was actually getting hitched as far as the eyes of Texas were concerned. Still, the showdown required a ton of work and twice as much time.

  “Hey, honey, where’re you headed?”

  Hope looked up to see her father standing on the porch of the main house, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand, his booted foot resting on the bottom railing, his hat tipped low, shielding his eyes from the rising sun.

  “Breakfast,” she told him, smiling as she took a brief detour so she could tell him good morning.

  Offering a quick hug and a kiss, she patted his scruffy cheek. “Lose your razor?”

  Jerry Lambert peered over at her with a sheepish grin. “Maybe.” He took a sip of his coffee, watching her over the rim of his cup. “Mind if I join you?”

  For the last two years, her father had spent every waking moment with his girlfriend, Jan, and they’d finally moved in together nearly a year ago. The woman’s presence at the ranch put a smile on Jerry’s face, so Hope couldn’t help but like her. In fact, Hope considered Jan family at this point. The two of them had seemed to be quite cozy, leaving Hope to wonder whether or not Jerry and the sweet little elementary school teacher would be taking their relationship to the next level—whatever that was—sometime soon.

  “Where’s Jan?”

  “She’s gettin’ ready to go to school. She’s been back for a month already, but you’d think it was the first day. The woman loves her job.”

  Hope noticed the cheeky grin that lit up her father’s weathered face. She wanted to ask him when they were going to give in and get married, but she knew not to question him. Ever since Hope’s mother died when Hope was sixteen, the man had refrained from relationships with women. He’d spent the last eighteen years focused solely on his girls and his ranch—in that order.

  Hope was glad he’d finally found someone who made him happy. However, not all of her sisters felt the same way she did. As it was, her sister Mercy was still having a hard time getting used to the fact that their father was in a serious relationship. No amount of talking seemed to be helping, which was why Hope had left her sister to her own devices long ago. The girl was as hardheaded as they came.

  “I’d love company,” Hope told her father when she pulled back and turned toward the door. “What’s on the menu? Do you know?”

  “I heard it was French toast,” he answered, standing to his full height and falling into step with her. “Jennifer’s gonna spoil us if she’s not careful. No more of that veggie crap if we’re lucky.”

  Jennifer Brathow and her redheaded little boy, Joey, had made quite the impact on the ranch when she’d come in and taken over as head chef several years back. During the holidays last year, she’d surprised them all with some heartier southern food rather than her normal organic, healthy meals. The welcome change had made the wranglers quite happy. A little begging had gone a long way, and Jennifer had continued to give them what they asked for through the colder months. Personally, Hope preferred the down-home meals because it helped her keep on the weight. Being that she worked long days, sometimes far into the evening, eating was the last thing on her mind, and when things got hectic—which was most of the time—she tended to lose weight without meaning to.

  Hope stepped back out of the way so that her father could open the screen door for her, but before she could head inside, her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her back pocket and glanced at the screen.

  “I’ll be in in a minute,” she told her father, then turned and headed down the wraparound porch, to the side of the house.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m l
ookin’ for Hope Lambert,” the deep, gravelly voice said.

  “This is she.”

  There was a brief pause, then a definite sigh before the rumbling voice was back. “All right, well, I’m gonna get right to it. I don’t know the first thing about what I’m supposed to ask you, but I’ve been tasked with puttin’ together a family reunion, and the only thing I know for sure is that your ranch has been chosen as the location. Cheyenne Montgomery gave me your number. Said I should talk directly to you. So, what do you need from me?”

  Hope smiled at the uncertainty in the guy’s deep baritone, not to mention his incessant rambling. “Well, you could start by tellin’ me your name.”

  A raspy chuckle sounded, and for the first time in a long while, Hope’s curiosity was piqued. “Sorry. Name’s Jared …Walker.”

  Nope, not piqued. Her curiosity was on red alert.

  “Ah, I’ve been expectin’ one of the infamous Walkers to call me.” Her cousin Cheyenne had given her the heads-up months ago, but since she hadn’t heard from anyone, Hope figured they’d found another place to hold their reunion.

  “Not sure whether I’m infamous or not, but I’m callin’,” Jared said, sounding somewhat less confused but still slightly bewildered.

  “And I can help,” she assured him. “But there’s a lot of things we need to cover. I was just about to grab some breakfast, and I’ve got some chores to take care of. I’ll be glad to call you in a few hours if that works for you. If not, I can probably chase down one of my sisters, and they can help you through the process.”

  There was another pause, as though Jared was thinking. She didn’t know the first thing about this guy, but she got the impression from the rushed tone of his voice that he didn’t particularly care to sit around and wait.

  “I … uh… Yeah. Okay. Call me in a coupla hours when you have a chance. You’re not that far from me. If I need to, I can always run out there and we can discuss face-to-face.”

  Face-to-face? Hope didn’t think that was necessary. Not because she wasn’t used to doing business face-to-face, but after hearing Cheyenne’s colorful description of the Walkers, Hope wasn’t sure she’d survive five minutes in this guy’s presence. Plus, she had far too much to get done today. If she had to take the time to hold this man’s hand—figuratively speaking—she would never get her chores accomplished.

  “We can start on the phone to save you the trip. But once we get the basics, it probably wouldn’t hurt for you to stop by and check things out.” By then, one of her sisters would be taking care of the details.

  “You’re the boss,” Jared rumbled, a smile in his voice. “I’ll wait for your call.”

  After hanging up the phone and tucking it back into her pocket, Hope went inside the main house, suddenly realizing she had a smile on her face.

  And she didn’t have the faintest clue why that was.

  Chapter Two

  WHILE HE WAITED for Hope Lambert to call him back, Jared spent a good hour and a half dealing with paperwork he hadn’t had time for. Although most people he knew complained about the mundane task, Jared didn’t mind it. Especially since it spoke to his sense of accomplishment. No one could deny that he was bordering on obsessive when it came to clearing out clutter. And paperwork definitely qualified as clutter. Even when it was paperless and came in the form of his email inbox.

  Not only had he tackled the review of two bids they’d put in last week, he also responded to his mother’s email, letting her know that Derrick was doing great, and they were definitely hoping to come home for Christmas this year, too. Yes, it was September and his mother was already planning holiday dinners.

  “Hey, boss man,” Reese Tavoularis hollered when he stepped into the small building they used for the Walker Demo office. It was basically a metal trailer that’d been set on a slab of concrete, tied down to ensure it didn’t blow away in the strong winds known to blow through the area most of the year. The air conditioner was in the window of the single room, which held office furniture on one end and a small kitchenette—minus everything except for the sink and refrigerator—on the other end, near the entry door.

  Redneck-chic, Jared called it.

  Because the place had once been inhabited by Travis, Kaleb, and Sawyer—before they’d packed up and moved over to the Alluring Indulgence Resort—there were still three metal desks that filled the space, only one of which contained anything on its surface.

  However, for the past couple of weeks, Jared had been attempting to change that. “You ready to plant your happy ass at that desk yet?”

  Jared was hoping to train Reese as his permanent backup. While Jared’s cousin, Jaxson, was known to fill in when he could, Jared wanted someone who could easily slip into the role whenever Jared needed him to.

  Reese grinned over his shoulder before reaching for the coffee carafe and pouring a generous amount into a Styrofoam cup. “Man, I don’t think you can handle my ass sittin’ at a desk all day. I’d go fucking insane.”

  Jared had thought the same thing when he’d taken the job, but he’d learned that it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. Probably didn’t hurt that he still spent most of his day out of the office, but still.

  “One of these days, you’re gonna have to give in,” Jared told the other man.

  Jared had hired Reese on a while back, after the younger man returned to Coyote Ridge from his eight-year stint in the air force. Reese had grown up here, which Jared considered a plus for bringing him on. Since Jared was technically an outsider—although the Walker name made him a friendly face—it helped to have someone who knew the ins and outs of the small town. Even if Reese had been gone for nearly a decade, the town had welcomed him home with open arms.

  “Not if I can help it,” Reese joked, moving around to take a seat at one of the empty desks.

  Jared leaned back in his chair and stared at the other man. “You fit nicely in that chair.”

  Reese chuckled. “It’s a good thing you Walker boys aren’t short.”

  True, they weren’t. Nor was Reese, coming in at six five, only an inch taller than Jared.

  “What’cha got for me today, boss man?” Reese inquired, sipping slowly at his coffee as he stared at Jared over the rim of the cup.

  Jared pulled up the schedule on his computer. “Brendon and Braydon are takin’ care of a couple of new jobs, but I’ve got a pitch that needs to be done. You wanna handle that?”

  “Damn skippy,” Reese said with a huge grin. The guy loved the sales aspect of the job, which worked well for Jared considering he hated that shit. Put him in an office or in charge of a dozen guys on a jobsite and he didn’t have a problem. Make him sell something and …well, let’s just say he could if push came to shove, but he preferred to steer clear.

  Jared hit the print button, and the machine beside him whirred to life, spitting out two sheets of paper. After grabbing them, he held them out to Reese.

  “I’ll check back in with you later,” Reese said, snatching the papers and sauntering out the door.

  And that was how most of his mornings went. Jared would sit at his desk, taking care of the paperwork, while the others would prance through the building, grabbing up their assigned jobs for the day before heading right back out. They had it working like a well-oiled machine.

  Speaking of well-oiled machine… Jared grabbed his Stetson, planted it on his head, and pulled his keys and phone from his desk drawer. He needed to make a quick pit stop to check on Ethan and Beau.

  Less than five minutes later, he was climbing out of his truck and heading into the huge, metal mechanic shop, where he found the two men arguing about an engine they were working on. It wasn’t at all surprising to find the couple having a heated discussion. Considering they were married and working together, Jared figured it was a wonder they both weren’t walking with a limp. That much time spent with one person was more than should
be allowed.

  Jared knew that to be true. As much as he loved Derrick, if the kid didn’t go to day care while Jared worked, Jared probably would’ve gone insane at this point. A little father-son separation wasn’t a bad thing. Didn’t hurt that Derrick loved day care. He imagined that, a year from now, Derrick was going to be over the moon to start kindergarten.

  But who was Jared to interfere when Ethan and Beau made things so easy for him? Those two ran the shop better than Jared handled the other part of the business, and rarely did they need him for anything. That in itself was a plus. Since his experience beneath the hood was limited to changing a radiator hose, which he’d done years and years ago, it was probably best that Jared left the work to the experts.

  Clearing his throat, he waited until they turned to look at him, then he offered a smile. “Who’s winnin’?”

  Ethan frowned. Beau grinned.

  Yep, just as he’d guessed. Then again, Ethan was the dark-haired brooding one, while Beau was the blond giant with the quick smile. They seemed to fit each other well.

  “Y’all good?”

  “Never better,” Ethan grumbled. “What’s up?”

  “Nothin’. Just stoppin’ in.”

  “Coffee?” Beau offered, wiping his hands on a rag and moving toward Jared.

  “Sure.” He would never turn down coffee. He figured that had a lot to do with being a single dad and finding there weren’t nearly enough hours in the day to include sleep. Caffeine was his vice.

  “So, really,” Ethan said, turning to face Jared after setting a wrench on one of the many toolboxes lining the wall, “what brings you by?”

  It was true, Jared didn’t have to check on Ethan or Beau, but from time to time, he made a point to stop by anyway. They handled the maintenance and repair on all of the heavy equipment and vehicles for Walker Demolition. Considering the sheer volume of equipment Walker Demo owned, not to mention the wear and tear the twins put on the shop trucks, they didn’t have a lot of down time. Jared didn’t need to micromanage, but he still liked to make sure they knew he was there if they needed him.