When she looked up at Colt, his compassion-filled eyes were a sight she would never forget. “You’ve lived through something impossible for anyone else to comprehend. No platitudes could make up for the year you lost in there.”
“That’s true, but it’s okay. It’s over. You’ve offered me the job I wanted.” It thrilled her to think that with the money she’d be receiving, she’d be able to pay Colt back for saving her life right now.
“Time will tell about that,” he murmured.
She cleared her throat. “A minute ago you told me you used the word temporary in order for both sides to be ensured of a good fit, but I already know you’re a good fit for me. That’s because you were willing to be kind to me even after you knew I’d been in prison. There’s a universe of difference between exoneration and a release for doing time.”
Without his hat on, she thought he suddenly looked paler beneath the luxuriant wavy hair he wore medium-cropped. She couldn’t decide if it was brown or black. Obviously it was a shade in between. “Are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she murmured.
“Not even to be allowed to bury your own brother… You should never have spent one second in that prison,” he whispered in a fierce tone without acknowledging her observation.
“But I’m free now, enjoying this delicious breakfast because of you!” she cried softly, still having to pinch herself. He represented a huge blessing in her life. Knowing she might have a niece or nephew out there filled her with the desire to work so hard for him, he would never complain.
In the process she’d try to find Janice and get a good look at the baby. She’d know if it was Todd’s. If it turned out to be his, then she hoped she could arrange for visits and keep their family connection alive. But there were still a lot of what-ifs….
Colt studied her as if trying to see into her soul. Geena could read his mind. She sensed that the guilty thoughts he’d entertained at the beginning, causing him to tell her the job had been filled, were going to weigh on him. She didn’t want that for him.
“Stop running over yourself,” she teased, warming to the side of him that had a strong social conscience. “When I showed up at your stable, you didn’t tell me there was no room at the inn. That’ll win you a lot of points in the next life. It’s won them with me.” The last came out in her husky voice.
CHAPTER THREE
“THAT’S gratifying to hear.” Emotion seemed to have deepened the green flecks in Colt’s eyes. “If you’re through eating, we’ll drive over to the bank and set up an account for you. Which reminds me we haven’t discussed your salary yet. What were you making at
FossilMania?”
“Fifteen hundred a month.”
“Did you have savings from that job?”
“A little. When Todd closed out my bank account for me, I told him to give it to the attorney he was going to hire, but he never got the chance.” For all Geena knew, Janice had gone off with it, too.
Colt’s lips thinned before he put some bills on the table for their meal. “For starting pay, how does twenty-five hundred a month sound? That includes room and board, two days a week off, a truck for your use and medical benefits.”
She was staggered. “I think you know how that sounds.” For one thing, she could start paying back her student loan. Any extra she could save would help her to make inquiries about Janice. “In fact, I doubt anyone else you hired would be offered as much.”
“Being the housekeeper on the Floral Valley Ranch covers a lot of territory. Mary made considerably more than that. In time you will, too, depending on how you like the work.” Geena was certain she’d like the work, but she’d be working there only three months. That was their bargain. “Let’s go.”
They left Tilly’s to walk to the bank located in the next block. By the time business had concluded, he’d arranged for an account to be opened in her name. The bank officer handed her a bank card and an envelope with a hundred dollars cash.
Colt took her elbow and ushered her out the doors. On the sidewalk he paused. “I’ve advanced you your first month’s pay. You need a wardrobe and all the extras that go with it. You ought to be able to find what you want in the stores along here, so I’ll leave you to get your shopping done. Bradford’s is on the corner over there. I’ll meet you out in front in say, two hours. If you need more time, we’ll take it.”
“I won’t need two hours. You’re too generous, Colt.”
“When you’ve been with us a month, you’ll realize you earned every penny of it and will be asking for a raise.”
Some people had difficulty accepting gratitude. He seemed to fit in that category. “What am I supposed to wear during my work day?”
His eyes swept over her, but she couldn’t read their expression. “Not a uniform. That’s for sure.”
“Thank you for that,” she half laughed, putting a hand to her throat. His lips twitched in reaction. When he did that, her heart jumped.
“Put on whatever is comfortable.”
She knew she looked pathetic in the hand-me-down clothes provided at the prison. Day before yesterday she’d been ecstatic to exchange the prison uniform for them. But today the knowledge that she could walk into a shop and pick out some new outfits made her so thrilled, she was close to being sick with excitement.
“I’ve never had the experience of buying a whole new wardrobe at once. You may regret you gave me this get-out-of-jail-free card. I might go hog wild.”
He shoved his hat back on his dark head. “Frankly, ma’am, I hope you do.”
With that remark, she knew she looked awful and didn’t feel half as guilty while she spent the next couple of hours choosing clothes to wear, starting from the skin out. She went a little crazy on cosmetics and makeup. In the last store she tried on designer jeans and a white, form fitting Western shirt with pearl snaps and extended tails.
She loved the spread collar, not to mention the brown embroidery on the sleeves and yoke. The guy waiting on her brought out cowboy boots and a white cowboy hat to match. She’d never worn Western clothes like this in her life.
Geena put everything on and stood in front of the full-length mirror. Though she needed to gain ten pounds, the gleam in the clerk’s eyes when he told her she looked fantastic made her feel better about herself and settled one matter for her. She would wear the whole outfit back home.
Yesterday she’d learned that the head of the Floral Valley Ranch was held in the highest regard in this part of Wyoming. If she was going to work for him, she needed to present herself in the best light.
Before she left the fitting room, she tossed her old clothes in the wastebasket. They’d been used by enough other women that she didn’t feel guilty about discarding them. No doubt her new boss would be happy to know she’d gotten rid of them. To her relief the clerk, who’d been chatting her up, offered to help her out of the store with her all her bags.
She’d bought a lot of things, yet she knew he didn’t normally offer to carry a client’s purchases to the car for them. It had been a long time since she’d been around men. The attention from this nice-looking guy was fun and flattering. “Thanks for your help, Steve.” It said Steve Wright on his name tag. “I really like my new clothes.”
“On you, so do I. If you’re going to be in town later, we could have dinner after I close up. How about it?”
“Afraid not” sounded a voice behind them with an underlying hint of steel. “She’ll be at work.”
Geena swung around to look at Colt. In the background she could see his truck double-parked. The piercing yellow-green of his eyes sent a tiny shiver down her spine. Was the transformation too much? She turned to the clerk. “Steve? This is my employer, Mr. Brannigan.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.”
While Colt nodded, Geena smiled at the clerk. “The next time I
’m in town, I’ll come by.”
“Good. I’ll be watching for you.”
“Let me relieve you.” Colt took care of all the bags before putting them in the back of the truck.
When the clerk went inside the store, Colt walked to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door for her. The boots made her a little taller, putting her on a better footing with him. Before she climbed in, she eyed him beneath the brim of her hat.
“You’re probably upset about the purchase of this outfit. Tell me now if I’ve done something wrong. The only reason I decided to buy it was because you said I needed to learn how to horseback-ride. I want to look the part and fit in.”
“What you buy is your business,” he muttered.
“But there is a problem.”
“There could be” came his cryptic answer. His gaze roved over her features visible beneath her cowboy hat. “It’s not your fault,” he added, as if it cost him to admit it.
Oh. Now she got it.
“You mean that I’m a woman?” It was absurd for Colt to think she was a femme fatale. She climbed in the truck so he could close the door. When he came around and got behind the wheel she turned to him. “He was just being a guy.”
“I noticed.”
“Look, Colt. I realize you employ a small army of men on your ranch. Sometimes a woman can cause trouble without meaning to. Todd told me stories about the problems with a few women who came out to see the men while they were laying pipe.” That’s where he’d met Janice. “But you have my promise that while I work for you, I’ll keep everything professional. If there’s a problem with any of them, I’ll come to you immediately.”
“I can’t ask for more than that.” There were invisible layers to this issue, but he wasn’t willing to explain. They could be professional or personal. Maybe both. When she got to know him better, she’d find out.
He turned on the engine and joined the mainstream of traffic. “Before we head out of town, I’ll take you over to the supermarket where we do our grocery shopping and introduce you to Bart, the manager. You’ll be cooking for those of us in the ranch house. But he’s worked with Mary and knows how to fill the lists for the food prepared by the cooks feeding the stockmen out on the range. The cooks come to the house to pick up from you once a week.”
She averted her eyes. “You’re right. There’s a lot to learn. Who actually lives at the ranch house besides you and Hank?”
“Our mother and her caregiver, Ina. Then there’s my brother Travis and his wife Lindsey. They live in the house close by, but eat their meals with us. She’s pregnant and close to her delivery date. After the baby’s here, they’ll probably stay at the ranch house for a week, maybe more. Mary had been looking forward to taking care of the baby.”
That meant Geena would be helping with its care. The idea excited her, but Colt had sounded far away just then. She had an idea that when they’d lost Mary, they’d lost a great deal more than a housekeeper. For Geena to think she could just step in and fill Mary’s shoes was ludicrous, but she’d do her best not to disappoint him.
“Is Hank serious about the girl he brought home?”
“No. They’ve been friends since high school.”
Geena smiled. “I don’t think there is such a thing between a man and woman.”
“No?”
“I saw the way she looked at him.” Mandy was crazy about Hank. “But thanks for the information so I don’t say something wrong. Tell me about my schedule.”
“You work Monday through Friday. Your weekends are your own. Breakfast at seven, dinner at seven and lunch for our mother and Ina at one o’clock. The rest of us fix our own lunches if we come in. Most of the time we’re out on the range and eat with the hands.
“When extended family and guests come for visits, they stay in the ranch house if there’s room, or occupy a couple of the cabins nearby and join us for meals.
Lindsey’s mother will probably come and live at the house for some of the time. Occasionally business people fly in and stay over.”
“I see.”
“Mid morning Mary came to the post office in town to pick up the mail and left it on the desk in the den. Before we leave Sundance, I’ll drive you over there to show you and give you a key to the box.”
“I’ll remember that.” She glanced at him. “Tell me about your mother.”
He grimaced. “She has full-fledged Alzheimer’s and isn’t going to get better.”
“Oh no—how old is she?”
“Sixty.”
“So young? I’m sorry, Colt. My grandmother’s best friend had it toward the end.” It was an awful disease. “Is Ina good to her?”
“Yes, but she needs help. Lately mother has been more restless and jumps up to walk around without warning. She needs more watching. After we leave the supermarket, I’m going to drop by the nursing service and see if I can’t speed things up to get another caregiver to help spell off Ina.”
Geena stirred in the seat. She was about to say she’d be glad to help out, but since she didn’t know the full scope of her own responsibilities yet, she thought the better of it. As head of the family, Colt Brannigan had a lot of emotional worries to juggle along with running a big ranch. She was amazed at his capacity.
Bart turned out to be friendly to her and as respectful of Colt as the men she’d met at the Cattlemen’s Store the other day. He went out of his way to assure her there would be help to load the truck when she came for large orders. All she had to do was pull around back to the docking area.
After kitchen duty for three hundred and fifty women in the prison, feeding six people twice a day didn’t sound too daunting. Her biggest concern was to plan enjoyable, hearty meals for the men who were out in the saddle all day.
After they got back in the truck, Colt swung his head toward her. “Make that your second conquest of the day. It’s a good thing he’s happily married with four children.”
How come you’re not, Colt? Geena was dying to ask him that question, but he would have to tell her when he was good and ready. If he was ever ready.
“After being behind bars for a year with an all-female population, you have no idea how good it feels to be appreciated instead of being hated for being a woman. Right now I’m so thankful to be free and so thankful for my new job I can’t even begin to tell you.”
His gaze held hers for a moment. “I’m not unhappy about heading back to the ranch with a new housekeeper in tow. For the last month we’ve had to subsist on Hank’s cooking. It hasn’t been pretty.”
She laughed before he started the engine and drove them to the medical center. Geena couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like laughing. Between her imprisonment and Todd’s death, she’d thought there could be no state of happiness for her ever again. But sitting here in the cab waiting for Colt, she realized she’d been given a second chance to find it. All of it would be due to the striking, hard-muscled rancher entering the building and turning female heads left and right.
* * *
Gutted by the knowledge that Geena had been wrongfully imprisoned under the worst of circumstances, Colt could hardly concentrate on the nursing supervisor’s words. To think she’d lived thirteen months behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit! With the assurance that an aide would be available in another two weeks, he walked back outside and got in the truck. His cab had never smelled so fragrant.
Last night Colt had noticed the interest in Hank’s eyes when he’d glimpsed Geena in the kitchen. The trouble was, that was before Colt had seen Geena turned out like this. In that outfit, she knocked every beautiful rodeo queen right out of the arena. He had no doubt Hank would fall all over himself trying to work his considerable charm on her. But Hank had enough problems. Colt didn’t want him getting involved with Geena. Time would tell how well she fended him off.
The fact that she’d read Colt’s mind after introducing him to the salesclerk a little while ago meant she understood some of his concerns. By her teens, men would have started coming on to her in droves. The way she’d handled the spiky-haired guy who’d called him sir, proved she knew how to deal with male attention.
Her assurance that the job was all that mattered to her right now gave him another reason to feel justified in hiring her, but unfortunately that promise wouldn’t prevent his ranch hands from proving they were going to be the first to break through her defenses. And if one of them did, she planned to be gone by fall, so it didn’t matter.
Naturally Geena’s personal life in her free time was her own business. On that score Colt had no right to an opinion one way or the other. He glanced at her. “After we run by the post office, are there any more stops we need to make before leaving Sundance?”
An amused smile appeared on her face that already looked more relieved of tension. “Have you glanced out your rear window to see all the bags stashed back there?”
He chuckled. “I was thinking more along the lines of a rest stop or another meal.”
“I think you’re the one who’s hungry again. How about we pull in to the Hungry Horse drive-in before going back to the ranch?” She could read his thoughts all right. “Do you know in prison I would dream about consuming a fresh limeade? I used to pay extra for half a dozen cherries to go with it. The combination of the two flavors can’t be beaten. Crazy, huh?”
“Not crazy at all.” He equated a fresh limeade with summer. Since his mother’s illness, his father’s death and Mary’s passing, he’d forgotten what summer felt like. Geena’s thoughts were attuned to his at unexpected moments.
What she didn’t know was that he agreed with her about friendship between a man and a woman. It needed to exist alongside passion in a tight marriage, but outside of it, he didn’t buy it any more than Geena did. His brother used Mandy, whose feelings for him were far from platonic.
The Rancher's Housekeeper Page 4