She laughed, in spite of herself. “Why are you watching him?”
“Because he’s watching you.” After a moment, he added, “Wes and I talked about it. He said he thinks the same thing. He’s keeping an eye on things.”
“He always keeps an eye on everything. Wes is a great ranch manager.”
“I know he is. You don’t have to sell me on him. I’ve already talked to him about staying on if I get the ranch.”
“Did he agree?” Rosemary asked anxiously. She hoped he would. She knew Wes and Sara Beth would be happy staying there with Jason. He would be a good ranch owner.
The admission surprised her. But it was true, she realized. In just these two days Jason had exhibited some of the most important qualities for an owner, including his willingness to perform any task he’d asked of his men.
Still, Rosie wondered how he’d own the Wyoming ranch when his business was in Denver. She asked him.
“I was wondering when you’d be getting around to asking me that,” he said. He reined his horse out of a gallop to answer her. “I intend to live here full-time.”
“So you’ll be closing your architectural firm, then?” From the looks of the plush offices, she figured it was successful.
“No, I’m not retiring yet,” he said with a laugh. “Actually, it’s a long story. You see I’m an architect by trade. But during the summers to earn money for college, I worked for a builder. After I got my degree, I designed some apartment buildings. I had to finance the first one myself. I intended to sell it once it was built, but I ended up keeping it. And I’ve gone on from there. I now have six apartment buildings in Denver that I own, plus I design other things, like malls and office complexes.”
“Do you own them, too?”
“Only some of them.”
So Mr. Barton was even richer than she’d thought. Would he ever be satisfied with the simple life of a rancher? Out here there wasn’t much call for a tuxedo and shiny shoes. Surely he’d figured that out. Deciding she had to ask, if only to protect Wes and Sara Beth, she said, “Are you sure you’re going to fit in out here?”
Jason grinned. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to leave Denver. I can do all my work from the ranch. I’ll fax my designs to my clients. I’ll have to go to the city to check on the progress of the construction and, occasionally, on my apartment buildings, but other than that, I’ll be a rancher.”
Somehow she could picture him in that role all too easily. “If you’re into architecture, why do you ride like you were born to it?”
“I was raised on a small ranch outside of Denver. We had a couple of horses and I started riding as a little boy.”
“Why not go back there?”
“Because the city has overtaken the property. My parents sold it ten years ago for a nice sum and moved to Arizona.”
“Quite a change. Seems—”
Just then Wes called out their names. She looked up ahead for Wes, but she didn’t see him.
“Where is he?”
Jason pointed up on one of the slopes above them. “Up there. Looks like he’s found more cattle.” Jason picked up his speed and Rosemary followed.
When they got close to Wes, they pulled up and looked at him for guidance. He’d found almost another twenty head of cattle, but they were spread out on rocky terrain. For a moment, the only sound was the wind blowing through the aspen trees.
Wes directed them with hand signals, in order not to startle the cattle. Gradually the three of them managed to pull the cattle into a compact group and moved them down the slopes into the small valley that fed into the larger one where the camp was located.
When they reached the camp, they discovered the herd had tripled in their absence. With the cattle they had found, they were already close to seventy head of cattle. Rosemary was greatly cheered to already have that number on the first day.
Wes, however, after talking with Cookie, discovered the trio that included Ted still had not shown up.
“You two grab some lunch. I’m going to go check on that group. I’m hoping they’re not in trouble.”
“Wes, you need some lunch, too,” Rosemary protested.
“Then see what Cookie has that I can take with me.”
Rosemary hastily made a quick sandwich and handed it to him. “Give me your canteen and I’ll fill it quickly.”
After she handed it back to him, she opened her mouth, but he spoke first. “I know, be careful. I promise.”
Jason stared after him. “I think I should go with him. Ted is my responsibility.”
“Yes, we could do without Ted, but Wes will take care of everything,” Rosemary said.
“We don’t know that he’s caused any difficulties today,” Jason said stubbornly.
“How much do you want to bet?” Rosemary returned, anger in her voice.
“You need to eat some lunch and take a break, so you’ll be ready to go out again when Wes gets back.” He turned to Cookie. “Shall we fix sandwiches?”
“Naw, I’ve got a casserole ready to eat. Just serve yourselves. It’s over there by the fire.”
Jason got two plates and filled them both, handing one to Rosemary who was still staring in the direction Wes had gone.
“Thank you.” She looked down. “Oh, you made the green enchilada recipe, Cookie! It’s one of my favorites.”
“I know,” Cookie said with a grin.
“I don’t think I’ve had this before,” Jason said, studying it. “Is it hot?”
“No, it’s not. The green peppers in it aren’t jalapeños.”
They ate their lunch, but Wes still hadn’t come back.
“What do we do now?” Rosemary said almost to herself.
“You stay here. I’m going to look for all of them.” Jason moved toward his horse.
“No! I’m going with you. It’s a mistake for anyone to go on their own. Anything could happen.”
She swung into the saddle and gathered her reins. Jason was staring at her and she said, “Well? Aren’t you ready?”
“I really think you should stay here.”
“No, I’m not going to. You can stay if you want.” Then she urged her horse toward the direction Wes had taken. Jason immediately reached her side and rode with her.
“Are you always this hardheaded?” he asked.
“Always,” she drawled and kept up the pace, her eyes scanning the countryside, looking for any sign of her ranch manager or the three men who were supposed to be in this area.
After almost forty-five minutes, they pulled up. “Could we have missed them?” Rosemary asked.
“No.” Jason pointed to some movement a distance away. They weren’t sure if it was the riders or some animals. But they got closer and were able to see some riders.
“How many can you see?” Rosemary asked anxiously.
“Only three, but I think that’s Wes’s black gelding on the right.”
Rosemary prayed Jason was right. She wanted to speed up, but the terrain was too rough.
“What could’ve gone wrong?” Jason asked.
“A million different things. Wait! I think one of them is leading a fourth horse. Oh, no!”
Jason moved forward in front of Rosemary. “You should wait here until I find out what’s up.”
“No, I’m coming with you. I’m not going to get hysterical!” Unless Wes was hurt. That would undo her. Especially now after her father’s death.
As they grew closer, Rosemary was sure that was Wes on his black gelding. Jason managed to pick out Ted, and Rosemary thought the other man was Rafe, an older cowboy. But where was Jesse, the third cowboy in the group?
Finally they got close enough to discover Jesse was on a hand-made stretcher tied between Wes and Rafe. Ted was the one leading the extra horse.
Jason reached over and caught Rosemary’s reins. “Let’s wait for them here.”
“Why?”
“There’s not much room up there. We’ll do better to stay here and not crowd them. Carrying that
stretcher between two horses isn’t easy.”
“I feel so bad for Jesse,” Rosemary said softly.
“We all do. I’d guess Wes is already figuring out what to do to help him.”
“Cookie is our medic. He used to work as an EMT in Cheyenne. But he wanted to cook.”
Jason grinned. “That’s a strange combination of talents.”
“It comes in handy,” Rosemary replied, “especially at times like this.”
“Maybe the best thing would be to go back and alert Cookie. You could do that while I wait for them.”
“Why should I go and not you?” She was getting tired of Jason treating her as if she was a porcelain doll.
Jason gave her a sideways smile. “Because I’m stronger if they need someone to spell them.”
“I think the horses are doing all the work!”
“I think they’re putting a lot of muscle in it.”
The man never gave up, she had to admit. She surrendered. “Okay, okay, I’ll go warn Cookie.” She cast Jesse another glance. “Do you think he’s broken his leg?”
“Just go tell Cookie they’re bringing in someone on a stretcher.”
“All right.”
“You won’t lose your way back to the camp, will you?”
She heard the teasing in his voice and gave him a mock glare. Then she pulled Maggie’s head around and started back to camp to alert Cookie of his change in jobs.
“How is he?” Jason asked Wes as he rode alongside the manager.
“I think he has a concussion. He hit his head and passed out for a few minutes, according to Rafe.”
“Concussions are dangerous.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s why we tied him between the two horses. If we’d dragged him behind on the stretcher, he might not’ve made it back to camp.”
“How did it happen?” Jason asked, his voice even lower.
“We’ll talk later,” Wes whispered.
Jason frowned and looked back at Ted, riding behind them, showing no concern at all. He pulled back on the reins to wait until Ted came up beside him.
“What happened?”
“How would I know? I’m no damned baby-sitter.”
Jason frowned. He’d really made a mistake with Ted. That bothered him. Had his excitement about getting the ranch made him less perceptive than he usually was about people? He didn’t know, but he intended to get rid of Ted as soon as they got back to town. He couldn’t fire him here. It would be too awkward.
He rode silently behind the men with the rough stretcher, wondering how good Cookie was at handling head wounds.
When they reached the camp, Cookie was there, waiting for them, with Rosemary at his side. “How is he?” Cookie asked.
Wes swung down from his horse. “He hasn’t said much, and it hasn’t come out right. I think we’re going to need to get him to a hospital pretty damn quick.”
Cookie was looking at Jesse’s eyes. “Yeah, you’re right. But I don’t know how to get him there without doing more damage. Even if I drove him there, I’d bounce him all over the place.”
“How about a helicopter?” Jason suggested.
Everyone turned to stare at him. “Wouldn’t that cost a lot?” Wes asked.
“I’m willing to pay for it. Will my cell phone work out here?”
“Yes, I think so. We’re just north of Rock Springs,” Rosemary said.
“Okay, I’ll call my secretary and see what she can arrange.” Jason pulled his cell phone out of his saddlebag and moved away from the others to make his call. When he’d made the arrangements, he turned to Wes. “It’ll be here in an hour. I think we should move the cattle ahead so they won’t scatter when the copter lands.”
“Good thinking. We’ll leave Jesse here with Cookie and Rosemary. That okay with you, Rosie?”
“Yes, I’ll stay here with Jesse,” Rosemary promised, holding the man’s hand.
Jason frowned. Did all the cowboys have a crush on Rosemary?
He pulled Wes aside. “Maybe you should warn Rosie about not making promises to Jesse that she thinks will help him get well.”
Wes frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, she’s holding Jesse’s hand, and she might—I mean, I just think you should warn her.”
Wes grinned. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Wes moved to Rosie’s side and drew her apart. Jason didn’t know exactly what Wes said, but Rosie flashed him an angry look.
Before he could get close enough to talk to her, Wes ordered everyone to mount up so they could move the herd forward about half a mile.
“What did you say to Rosie?” Jason asked as soon as he rode up beside Wes.
“I told her you were concerned about her promising anything to Jesse to help him get well. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yeah, but she looked angrily at me, like I’d done something wrong.”
“She thought you were being…Let’s see, I think the word she used was ridiculous.”
“Well, thanks, Wes, that’ll help a lot,” Jason said in disgust.
“I know,” Wes said with a grin.
“Hey, is someone going to fly to the hospital with Jesse? I hadn’t thought about that.”
“No. I’m going to call Sara Beth and have her meet them at the hospital. I need to keep all the able riders here so we can get this roundup done.”
“Sara Beth won’t mind?”
“Naw, she’s used to helping out.”
“You two make a good team,” Jason said with a smile.
“Yeah. I miss her.” After a moment of silence when Wes was clearly thinking of his wife, he looked at Jason. “What about you? You got a special lady back in Denver?”
Jason reared back in surprise. “Me? Hell, no! Denver ladies aren’t interested in living on a ranch. They want to be where they think the action is. I’m tired of that kind of life.”
“You mean parties and things like that?” Wes asked.
“Yeah. A lot of people go from one party to another and don’t do anything productive with their lives. And there are women who lock onto a man who can provide their needs so they can be on the party circuit.”
“You sound like it’s something you’ve experienced personally,” Wes said.
“Yeah. I was married to one of those women. I don’t ever want to be caught in that trap again.”
“I was afraid Rosie wouldn’t want to leave Cheyenne and come back to the ranch, but she didn’t hesitate. Her dad had talked her into going to Cheyenne because he didn’t want her to know that he was too tired to do what had to be done. But if he’d let her come home, she would’ve stopped the slide.”
“That’s a shame. Is that why he sold the ranch without talking to her?”
“I think he was ashamed that he’d let things go so badly and because he was so tired, which the doc said was caused by his heart disease. I also think he didn’t believe he was going to live much longer. I’ve heard sometimes people who are ill know when death is coming.”
“Yeah. He seemed like a nice man, but I could tell something was wrong. But you and Sara Beth are willing to stay if I get the ranch, right?”
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind if Rosie comes to visit from time to time.”
“No, I wouldn’t mind that.” Jason pulled his hat lower, hoping Wes wouldn’t be able to read the emotion in his eyes.
“I hear the ‘copter!” one of the lead cowboys yelled, pointing into the sky.
Both Wes and Jason paused and watched the copter fly over.
“It should reach the SUV in about five minutes,” Wes muttered.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed, his mind on the woman waiting for the helicopter.
“You know what I think?” Wes asked.
Shaken from his thoughts of Rosemary, Jason turned to look at Wes. “No, I don’t. What do you think?”
“I think Nick’s not the only one who has Rosie on the brain.”
CHAPTER FOUR
THE rest of the day,
after Jesse’s dramatic departure, consisted of rounding up cattle. Jason avoided Wes, and Rosemary avoided him. Which was difficult since they were supposed to be a team.
Ted also seemed to be into avoidance. Every time Jason got close to him, he scattered in a different direction. Finally Jason decided he had to talk to Wes. He wanted to know what had happened up on that trail.
“Wes, hold up a minute. I need to ask you what happened to Jesse up there. He’s not a new rider, so how did he fall?”
“I asked Rafe, but he couldn’t tell me for sure, Jason. He said he’d been in the lead when he heard a yell. He turned around to see Jesse on the ground. The strange thing was, Ted was almost beside him when they’d been riding single-file.”
Jason wanted to jump to the conclusion that Ted had shoved Jesse off his horse, but he couldn’t really believe that even Ted would do something that blatant. “I’ll ask Ted about it,” he promised.
“Yeah, that’d be a good idea.”
When they rode in for dinner was the first time Jason had to talk to his once-future ranch manager. “Ted?”
“Yeah, Jason?” the man answered as he unsaddled his horse.
“What happened up there with Jesse?”
“I told you I’m not a damned baby-sitter. I wasn’t watching him. For some reason, he fell off his horse. Maybe he fell asleep. We’re not getting all that much sleep up here.”
Jason frowned. His suggestion sounded reasonable. He couldn’t outright accuse Ted of shoving Jesse from the saddle. He put his horse in the rope corral and carried his saddle near the SUV so he could bed down beside Wes and Rosemary as he had the past two nights.
Then, as he usually did, he located Rosemary. He liked to know where she was. For her safety, of course.
When she got in line for dinner, he fell in behind her. “I sure am hungry tonight.”
She glared at him over her shoulder but said nothing.
“We’ve got a pretty good-size herd already. I’m surprised.”
“Because you thought I was lying to you in Denver?” she asked.
“Well, not lying, exactly, but I thought you might’ve expanded your hopes a little.”
Her jaw tightened and she completely turned her back to him. That was all right. He planned on sitting next to her while they ate.
Harlequin Romance Bundle: Crowns and Cowboys Page 4