The Cowboy and the Princess

by Myrna Mackenzie

  They made another incision and eased out the calf. Owen checked it over and gently laid it aside. Then he turned back to its mother. Based on the men’s brief, guttural exchanges, Delfyne caught the merest hint of what was happening. Antibiotics were involved. She heard the word antiseptic. Stitches were made. Finally, Ennis took the apparently healthy calf away and then came back for the woozy, tipsy but on-her-feet mother, promising to keep watch over both of them. He glanced at Delfyne, a question in his eyes, but he said nothing.

  Len was obviously less cautious about asking questions. After washing up and changing his coveralls for a clean shirt, he came over and held out his hand, flashing her a devilish smile that she was sure he reserved for women he was interested in. “Well, hello there, pretty mystery lady. You must be one of the visitors we were told about. I’m Len Mayall. And you’re…”

  “None of your business, Len.” Owen’s words were quiet but firm as he came up behind them. He had shed his shirt and put on a new one but he hadn’t had time to button it yet. Delfyne tried not to notice what a fine, muscular chest he had, but her fingertips tingled. And he had said—

  Delfyne frowned sternly and gave Owen a pained look. “I’m Delfyne,” she said.

  Which clearly wasn’t what Len had wanted to know, by the questioning look he gave Owen. Now she got it. He wanted to know what her relationship to his boss was.

  “Yes, I’m a visitor,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be staying for quite a while.”

  Len’s eyebrows rose. “I see.”

  Owen moved closer to the man who had been wielding a scalpel moments before. He had deferred to Len then, but now he towered over him. There was no question who was the boss.

  “No, you don’t see. Delfyne is—”

  Uh-oh, Owen was going to say “a princess,” wasn’t he? Or something of that nature. Because he wanted to make it clear to Len that he was not romantically linked to Delfyne.

  Delfyne couldn’t let him say that. “Owen was kind enough to take me in when I needed a place to stay,” she said, rushing in. Which still didn’t seem to do the trick. Len’s eyes opened even wider.

  He looked at Delfyne’s expensive clothes. “Pardon me, Delfyne, but if you’re from around these parts, I’ll swallow my scalpel. You’re just too darn beautiful for me to have forgotten you. So where in the universe did Owen find you? And are there any more like you? You say he…took you in?” His tone was incredulous.

  Delfyne blinked. Yes, she supposed that did make it sound as if she’d been plucked from the streets. Owen’s brows drew together in a scowl.

  “Len,” he said, his voice low and gravelly and cool. “You’re a fine veterinary student and a good hand, and you know that I would be hard-pressed without you, but right now you’re skating on ice so thin I can hear it cracking beneath your feet. Delfyne is a friend, a new one, and I’d prefer that you not act as if your mother never taught you any manners by asking her a lot of nosy questions.” Owen paused, his hands on his hips, his scowl deepening. “The truth is that Delfyne wanted to see some of the world, and she’s never been to Montana. She and her friends Theron and Nicholas will be visiting for a few months. As to where their home is, that’s none of your business. I don’t like having my guests interrogated. I also don’t like them to be talked about…by anyone. I hope I’m clear on that.”

  Len held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Got it, Owen. You’re right. I was out of line, ma’am,” he said, backing away but not looking all that sorry. “I’ll just get my sorry rear out of here before I get fired. Morgan and a couple of the boys will disinfect everything here, boss,” he said. “You see to your guest.”

  But as she and Owen walked away, she could swear she heard something very low that sounded like “A few months?”

  She glanced back over her shoulder and saw that Len was grinning. “By the way, nice meeting you, Delfyne. Your secret, whatever it is, is safe with me, but I have to tell you, you’re the prettiest guest this ranch has had in…oh, just about forever.”

  When she turned back around, Owen was striding away, his white shirttail flapping around his hips. She ran to catch up with him. When she drew even with him, she could see that his mouth was drawn into a thin line. His jaw looked granite-hard.

  “I came in at a bad time, didn’t I?” she asked. “And I embarrassed you with your friend.”

  He turned that ice-blue stare on her. “Len is a pain in the—he’s a pain, sometimes. But he’s a good vet, or he will be when he finishes his training. He knows he’d have to do something pretty heinous for me to fire him, and he likes mouthing off. He especially likes women,” he pointed out.

  “I could tell.”

  Owen chuckled. “I’m sure you could. I’d like to see Len’s eyes roll back in his head if he found out he was trying to flirt with a princess. That would shut him up.”

  “Don’t be so sure. Sometimes knowing a woman is forbidden brings out the worst in men.”

  Owen studied her carefully. “I don’t intend for you to see the worst side of any man around here. I owe Andreus a great deal. Letting his little sister be harassed isn’t in the cards while you’re here. I’ll keep Len away.”

  She frowned. “You don’t have to. Len seems harmless.”

  Owen’s frown intensified. “If he thinks he can get you into bed, he’ll use all the charm he has to do it. Women tend to fall for Len. Sometimes I think that’s why he’s taking so long to finish his training. Not being licensed yet leaves him with more time for his love life. None of those middle-of-the-night calls that full-fledged veterinarians get.”

  “You think I’d be susceptible to someone so obvious?”

  “I think I don’t know you at all, so I can’t answer that. I do know that friend or not, Len’s just the kind of man Andreus would want me to protect you from.”

  She raised her chin.

  To her consternation he smiled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Your identity may be a secret, but your manner is purely royal.”

  “I’ll have to work on that, then. My manner…these clothes…Len knew I didn’t fit in, and I don’t. I want to become part of the woodwork, to be a part of my surroundings.”

  “Sort of an experiment,” he suggested.

  “No. A life experience. I want to immerse myself.”

  “Well, you certainly got a good start with what happened back there with that cow and her calf.”

  “It was…interesting.”

  He laughed out loud then. “Did they teach you diplomacy before you learned how to walk? You nearly fainted. And…I understand your desire to have some fun and live a little before you get on with your life, but Andreus must have taken leave of his senses. This is no place for someone like you.”

  And even though he was right in some ways—this ranch was not the place she would have chosen to spend this summer—Delfyne couldn’t help but bristle a bit.

  “I didn’t faint. I’m not just fluff.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “You implied it.” She couldn’t keep the slight edge and the hint of hurt from her tone, and to her surprise he reached out and gently grasped her chin.

  “I guess I did, and I’m sorry about that. Len would tell you that I’m more of a pain than he is, and I guess I’m the one who should be told off for having bad manners instead of him, because no, you didn’t faint.”

  His hand was warm against her skin, his touch was doing terrible, wonderful things to her senses. As if he suddenly realized his effect on her, he released her. “Timing is important when life hangs in the balance. The fact that you sent me back to work enabled us to get the job done, for which I’m grateful, but that doesn’t change things. It doesn’t mean that I think this is a good place for you. And yes, I can be silent about who you are, but I can’t ignore it.

  “This is a ranch, Delfyne. It’s a big ranch and a prosperous one, but even the biggest ranches revolve around cattle. Animals. Heavy, dangerous mac
hinery. There’s a lot of dirty work, some blood, a ton of sweat and a fair amount of muck. Most of my men are regulars, but sometimes for the short term there are rough, transient workers about, and there are plenty of things a woman like you wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed to. I can’t like that. What were you doing out there, anyway?”

  She hesitated. Her first instinct was to say that she had spent two days alone and wanted company. But that sounded a whole lot like, “I’m bored,” the whining of a pampered princess.

  “I need to do something,” she said instead.

  “In the calving shed?” Was he smiling? Was he laughing at her? Somehow the thought didn’t offend her. It cheered her up.

  She laughed. “Oh, is that what you call that place? I had no idea. Will the cow and her baby be all right?”

  She expected him to say yes automatically, the way people did. “Probably,” he said instead. “Len is careful but there’s always the danger of infection. One of the men will check in on the two of them round the clock tonight.”

  It occurred to her that in his line of work he probably saw a lot of sickness and more. “Did you ever…I don’t know…keep one of them? Name it?”

  He stopped and faced her, his shirt still hanging open, his bare chest gleaming in the sun. For a second she felt faint again and she fought not to sway. “This is a ranch, Delfyne. It’s not smart to get attached. I don’t get attached. I know the rules and I always live by them.”

  She was pretty sure that he was talking about more than cows. She also knew that he was being smarter than she was, but she was going to be here for several months. This situation—living alone with nothing to do—was unacceptable.

  “I need to do more than lounge around reading,” she said. “You may think that’s what—” she glanced to the side “—princesses do,” she whispered. “But I’m not that useless.”

  “All right.” He placed his hands on those lean hips. “What kinds of things are you used to doing?”

  She thought about that, about the charities and the school and library openings, the things she was good at and would continue to be good at for the rest of her life. But…

  Delfyne shook her head. She didn’t want to tell him what she did, because she was sure that he would consider it to be inconsequential. The hilarity of that—that a princess should be concerned that a commoner might not think well of her—didn’t escape her, but it didn’t change the truth, either.

  She wanted Owen Michaels to respect her. She hated the fact that he considered her a bit of a pest, an obligation, his friend’s annoying little sister who had been foisted on him. She knew now that he would never send her elsewhere. His sense of duty to her brother was too great. But neither would he be happy until he had carried out his duty and sent her back to her family. He wanted her gone…preferably yesterday.

  Anger rose up within her. Wanting a man to like her had gotten her into major unforgettable, never-get-past-it trouble before. She wouldn’t play that role again, and she wouldn’t ever allow a man to make her cower and cringe and beg again.

  So, she stepped closer to him. She dared to do what she wouldn’t have done a few minutes earlier. She placed her hand on his bare chest.

  It had been meant to be an imperious gesture, a way of showing that she was beyond being affected by him and a way of emphasizing what she was about to say. Instead, instant heat pulsed through her body and it was all she could do to keep herself from leaning toward him. She could feel his heartbeat beneath her fingertips, strong and solid and powerful. There was something very masculine about it, and something much too personal about what she was doing. But if she pulled away too quickly, he would know that he had unnerved her.

  “I just want you to know that I’m not going to play the part of the prima donna, lounging around drinking champagne, eating chocolates and giving air kisses to everyone.” She fought to keep the angry edge to her words, to hold on to what she hoped would pass as imperiousness that could not be denied.

  “Air kisses?” His hand covered hers, and now her own heart was thundering.

  “You know,” she said, losing the battle, her voice coming out soft and strangled. “Where you bring your face close and pretend to kiss someone but you really don’t?”

  Now he smiled. “I know what an air kiss is. I just…Do you really think that I believe you do all those things? You don’t, do you?”

  Slowly, she shook her head. “Hardly ever.”

  “So you’re going to continue not to do those things you don’t do, anyway. Delfyne, I have absolutely no experience with princesses, so tell me…what are you going to do? What do you want to do?”

  “Everything,” she said. And for some reason she couldn’t explain, she looked at his lips. Longing washed over her, and she knew darn well that it was completely wrong. The one thing she knew she wasn’t going to do was develop a crush on Owen Michaels. Or on any man, for that matter. But especially not this one. He would hurt her. She knew that…so clearly.

  It was that thought and only that thought that enabled her to step back and away from him.

  “Just so you know,” she told him. “I want to do everything.”

  For several seconds he said nothing, but his eyes said it all. He was not a happy man.

  “Define everything,” he finally said.

  But she had had enough. Besides, she didn’t have a clue about the specifics of what she had meant.

  “I’ll make it up as I go along,” she said.

  “Don’t make me regret saying yes to Andreus’s request,” he said.

  Which was the perfect thing to break the tension. Delfyne laughed and headed for the house. “Too late. I know that you’ve regretted it from the start, haven’t you?”

  He didn’t answer, and for some reason that fact was still bothering her hours later.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ALL RIGHT, Owen thought the next day while he was freeing a cow that had gotten stuck in a broken bit of fence. Delfyne had been here only a few days and already she was playing havoc with his world and also—he didn’t even want to think about this—his senses.

  It had been a mistake to touch her. Her skin had been soft, softer than any woman’s skin he could remember. And her lips had been so close that he’d wanted to swoop in and taste. He’d wanted his hands on more than just her chin.

  “Get a grip, Michaels,” he ordered himself. He was fantasizing about kissing a princess, one who was going to marry a prince. Besides the fact that finding himself with some sort of fatal attraction was really on his list of things never to do, a man would have to be some sort of idiot to put his hands on a forbidden woman.

  “That frown on your face can’t mean anything good. Do you need help with that cow?”

  Owen looked around to see Ennis approaching in an old open-top Jeep. The man stared at the cow, who was bawling loudly but standing still.

  Owen was glad that he wasn’t a man to redden up with embarrassment. “No, my mind was just wandering,” he admitted as he freed the patient animal. “I do need you to mend this fence, though.”

  “Done.”

  “I thought you were changing the oil in the truck.”

  “I was. Lydia sent me to get you.”

  “Lydia?” She’d worked for him for years and had never sent for him unless there was an emergency. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know, but I gather it has something to do with your gorgeous, exotic visitor.”

  Owen’s head swiveled around and he looked at Ennis, who had worked for him for five years and been the most circumspect of men. “Gorgeous, exotic visitor?”

  Ennis held up his hands. “I’m just saying…”

  “Yeah, well, you better not let Alice hear you ‘just saying…’”

  Grinning, Ennis went to the Jeep and got his tools. “Alice was the one who told me Delfyne was gorgeous and exotic.”

  “Really? What else did your wife say?”

  Ennis gave him a look. “She said that if any wom
an could jolt you out of your ‘idiotic ways with women’ Delfyne could.”

  Owen scowled. “What idiotic ways?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Ennis mused, squatting to get closer to the fence. “Maybe the ones where you bed them but never wed them.”

  “Is that right? Well, Ennis, you know how much I adore your wife, but she’s dead wrong on this one. Delfyne is getting married when she goes home.”

  “Hmm, Alice isn’t going to like that. She was hoping for the chance to go to a wedding. Your wedding.”

  Owen smiled. “Send her my condolences, but it’s not happening. She’ll have to find some other wedding to attend. You’re sure you don’t know what Lydia wants?”

  “She just said that she had some important questions to ask you. And she said that you needed to give her a raise if she was going to have to worry about Delfyne hurting herself or setting the house on fire. Maybe you’d better hurry.”

  Ennis chuckled as Owen swore, hopped on his ATV and started to take off.

  “Oh, Alice says she wants you to come to dinner on Saturday, and she wants you to bring Delfyne, too.”

  “Tell her thank you, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”

  “She’ll be disappointed.”

  Owen stopped and looked at Ennis, his employee and friend. “I’m sorry.”

  He was, too, he thought as he sped away on the ATV. Alice was a sweetheart and she was good for Ennis. She was good to everyone, and she tried to fix people’s troubles, including his. She’d started inviting him to dinner not long after Faye had gone, but…Ennis and Alice had two kids, sweet little munchkins. The very sight of them seared his soul and hurt his heart. How could you tell a man and his wife that the children that gave light to their lives ripped your world apart even as you thanked God for putting them on the earth? He begged off on dinner as much as he could, especially since Alice tended to invite women she thought might fill what she perceived as a hole in Owen’s life. Now, if he went with Delfyne, after what Ennis had said…

  “I’m really sorry, Alice, hon,” he said out loud to the wind. “It isn’t happening.” What was happening, he saw as he hopped from the vehicle and strode into the house, was that something had exploded in his kitchen.