Frustration surged to the forefront. “All this to turn around and come home in a few days,” he muttered to nobody but himself.
Although Mitch Broader would have been his first choice, Stoney dialed his number last. He hadn’t heard from Mitch since he’d gone back East for his father’s funeral and heard he’d only recently come back to town. He dialed him up on the chance he’d be home.
Mitch had been working at Black Rock as a full time ranch hand for the better part of eight years. He’d grown up in the city and moved out to Wyoming at seventeen when his parents divorced. He’d dodged the gangs that plagued most inner city communities and embraced the simple life once he’d found the serenity of Wyoming’s wide open land. He loved ranching as much as any man with country blood running through his veins. Like many ranch hands Stoney knew, Mitch had talked about one day having a spread of his own.
Stoney owed a tremendous debt to Mitch, one that could never be repaid. It was Mitch who’d been there for his father and pulled him from the barn fire. The beam that fell on Wally could have cost him his life. And Mitch had been there to save him.
Stoney should have been there. It still ate at him that he was out riding rodeo when the barn went up in flames and it seemed all their hopes and dreams had gone up with it. And it killed him that he was going to leave the ranch again.
“Hey, buddy, you made it back,” Stoney said when he recognized Mitch’s voice.
“I almost didn’t. I just got back a few days ago,” Mitch said. “Still have my suitcase full of dirty laundry. What’s up?”
“I need a favor.” Stoney outlined the course of events leading up to Melanie’s offer. And although Mitch’s take on it was one of pure amusement, a kind of “you lucky dog” attitude, he’d agreed to fill in at the ranch, seven days a week, for the next month. Stoney should have felt relieved he was leaving the ranch in good hands, but the feeling of not being there still gnawed at him.
Half an hour later, Stoney found Melanie on the porch, drinking iced tea with his mother and fanning herself from the heat with a folded road map. Adele was beaming with the sheer pleasure of having some female company at the house. It had been a long time since he’d seen her smile that way. If Melanie Summers was responsible for giving her that smile, then he was at least grateful for that.
He cleared his throat and the two women looked up.
Adele rose from the Adirondack chair she’d been sitting in and brushed her hands on the front of her apron. “I’ll let you two get down to your business. Can I get you anything, hon?” she asked Stoney.
He shook his head.
When the screen door closed behind Adele, Stoney turned his attention to Melanie. “You’re in luck. Day after tomorrow we can get started. You can stay here in my sister’s old room until we leave, if you’d like. That is, if you haven't already made other arrangements in town.”
Melanie shook her head, tossing her brown curls back and forth on her rounded shoulders. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Ma will be happy to have some female company for a while. Even if it’s only a day or two.” He pointed to the leather suitcases lined up neatly in a row on the porch. “Let’s see if we can consolidate some of this...stuff.”
Melanie threw him a questioning stare.
“You weren’t planning on taking all this gear.” He said the words as a statement, hoping she understood the meaning.
And she did, he noticed, as a slight blush crept up her cheeks, bringing with it a delicate side that he hadn’t seen until now. “I suppose I won’t be needing all of it,” she said sheepishly.
His insides suddenly felt warm. “Good. Progress. First off, you’re going to need a decent pair of hiking boots.”
He watched her dip her gaze to survey the riding boots she had on. They looked brand spanking new as if she’d gotten them at some flashy store in New York City. The leather was soft and the sole was flat. “What’s wrong with these? I usually use these for riding.”
Figures. Poodle jumps. “We’ll be riding, but they’re no good. Look at the sole. You need something with a good sole for gripping rocks. And you have to be prepared. What if your horse goes lame while we’re up there? You’ll have to walk him easy alongside of you. He won’t be able to take the weight of you on his back. You won’t last an hour hiking in those.”
Awareness sparked in her cinnamon eyes. He wondered just how many men had been unknowingly put under a spell just by gazing into the those eyes. Never mind, he told himself. It was no time to be thinking with any part of his body but the head that held his hat.
“I saw some trail boots at the store.”
He nodded and waved a hand to the rest of the luggage. “As for the rest of this, everything is going to have to stay here unless it is absolutely essential.”
“It is. All of it.”
A grin tugged at his lips and he couldn’t help but tease her. “You do realize a hair dryer isn’t going be much good, seeing there’ll be no electricity.”
She scowled at him, her jaw set. “I suppose one or two bags can stay here.”
“See if you can get it down to one bag. We’ll be needing the room for enough supplies to last us a month.”
She was standing now, balling her fists at her side. “I’m not going to wear the same clothes for a month and smell like-”
“Me?” His lips were twisted into a wry grin.
“You said it.”
Damn, but she was pretty when she was all riled up. He resisted the urge to goad her more. “We’ll be camping near a stream or a pond most nights. You can rinse out any unmentionables then and hang them to dry overnight.”
Her cheeks flamed again, as if the thought of her lacy underwear--yes, she was the kind of woman who’d wear lace--hanging on a line in Stoney’s full view was too much. Actually, the thought of seeing a woman as pretty and fine as Melanie Summers out of her underwear was darned appealing. Heat coiled inside him and he blinked hard to rid himself of his thoughts. Had it really been so long since he’d had himself a woman?
She looked as if she were thinking, maybe assessing all the items packed neatly in her designer luggage. “I need two bags.”
“One.”
“Look, I’m compromising here. I won’t take more than what is absolutely necessary, but I do need the two.”
He propped his fists on his hips and heaved an impatient sigh. “I was raised that it was impolite for a man to go searching through a woman’s delicates, but if I have to-”
“I’ll get it down to two small bags!”
My, oh, my what a fire Melanie Summers had bursting through her, Stoney thought with amusement. A ray of sunshine one minute and a wild fire out of control the next. One month alone with nothing but the wide open range and a citified beauty to keep out of a heap of trouble. This ought to be as wild as an eight-second ride.
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Also available in LOVE ME SOME COWBOY.
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