by Alexa Davis
He stopped at Onion Creek Park and got out of the truck without a word. He came around the passenger side and opened the door, then lifted Skipper out. My traitorous canine was all too happy to limp in joyful circles around my boss as he was led toward the rocky creek bed. I climbed out as carefully as I could one handed and shut the door behind me. Daniel sat on a large rock, while Skipper drank from the cool water and splashed water up onto the bank and us.
I reached out for Skipper’s lead, But Daniel moved it further from my grip and stared at me instead. He glanced down at the ground and then up at me again, while I stood immovable, arms crossed under my breasts.
“I had no idea that was going to happen. I deeply regret putting you in that position,” he apologized. “I know Sara is petulant and immature, but I didn’t think she’d go so far as to insult you to your face like that.”
“Who told her you and I were ‘shacking up?’” I asked, making quotations in the air with my fingers. “We’ve never even had sex, let alone lived together.” I paced the pebbly path in front of his perch. “I’m speechless,” I admitted. “I’ve stayed away from women like that all my life – on purpose. What you could possibly see in someone like that…” I broke off and shrugged my shoulders. “Well, she was right about one thing. If she is what gets your motor running, then I am definitely not your type.” I self-consciously rubbed the scar on my belly. “Even whole, I was never that perfect, that…plastic.”
I took the few steps needed to cross the distance between us. He handed me Skipper’s lead and moved over so I could sit on the large, flat rock next to him. I arched an eyebrow at him, but went ahead and sat down with a heavy sigh. We watched the water while I, and I assumed he, thought.
“I wasn’t asking you to be like her or anyone else,” Daniel finally stated. His voice was gruff and unhappy, and I realized in that moment that I was sad we’d ended before we could even begin. The same moment I realized I truly, deeply despised Miss Sara Abbott. I nodded my head in response to him, but I had run out of things to say. What could I do, ask for a do over?
“I do think it’s best if I get back to work,” I reminded him more gently. “Besides, I need to move out of your parents’ home before I wear out my welcome, if I haven’t already. The guys have been great this past week, helping me with things I couldn’t do one-handed, high-fiving me every time those two ex-employees come up in conversation…”
I leaned back to look into his eyes. “You know, growing up, I always worked with one man at a time, maybe two, much older, not interested in talking to me at all. Now all of the sudden, I’m around fifteen guys who all work and eat and quarter together, and what do I learn? It’s like working in a henhouse! These guys never run out of things to gossip about!” I exclaimed loudly enough that Skipper sprang to my side to investigate, thoroughly spraying me with dirty water from his paws.
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, I probably needed to keep that cast clean, huh.” Daniel grabbed Skipper and attempted to examine his paw.
“It’s okay, Daniel. That cast was made to handle a wet assault,” I assured him. “If not, he’d be in the cone-of-shame right now.” Daniel laughed and let his grin linger as we bundled my soggy puppy up to the backseat of the truck, where he could do less damage.
The air seemed to be cleared between us, and I hoped we could still salvage at least a good working relationship, if not friendship, from the debacle. We’d had a brush with something that I knew wasn’t in the cards for me anymore. Sara had done me a favor by giving me an out that didn’t involve being a disappointment for a good man like him. I tried to find more silver linings, but that stupid voice in my head was already reminding me that I was a lying sack of manure and that I really wanted to go back in time and never meet that woman. Ever.
Instead of driving straight back to the ranch, Daniel took a few minutes to text back and forth to someone. With a grunt of satisfaction, he finally put his phone away and started back through town. I tried to get his attention, but he waved me off and turned up the radio. There was no singing this time, but I didn’t get long to dwell on it before he parallel parked his Chevy in front of another design store. I tilted my head to one side and stared at him from under my eyebrows.
“Seriously? Please tell me you don’t have another girlfriend in there waiting to pounce,” I commanded him. He shook his head and sighed.
“No, this is my mother’s girlfriend. And she’s expecting us.” He lifted Skipper out of the truck. I turned and tried to climb down backwards from the cab on my own, like climbing down a ladder. So, it startled me when his big, rough hands circled my waist and lifted me down. My heart lurched and my skin immediately scorched where he touched me, but he released me as soon as my toes touched the pavement. So abruptly, in fact, that I almost lost my balance completely. It was only more proof that I’d ruined things between us with my temper.
The lady who greeted us when we walked in to La Maison was a lovely, middle-aged woman named Christie, who looked forty, but informed me that she was actually pushing fifty-five. The miracle of plastic surgery done right, she explained. I was completely confused as to why we were attempting another interior decorator, until Daniel revealed his little secret. He had petitioned his parents, and they’d agreed to let me have his brother’s old cabin instead of bunking with the guys.
It was safe to be there, he knew, but they felt a responsibility to me and to my parents to not put me in the way of danger from men, but also from gossip and implications of impropriety that could stain my reputation forever. Overcome with guilt about letting myself believe anything bad of Daniel just because of that tart made me sick to my stomach. I watched, miserable, as he and his mother’s friend discussed my likes, dislikes, favorite colors, and sense of style, as though I was the most interesting person in the world.
I picked out a bed, dresser, and armoire, a doggy-tail safe glider for the small veranda, pretty, pale drapes to frame the windows, even towels and bedding. When I felt I couldn’t look at another sample, Daniel and Christie walked away to discuss payment and delivery, while I sat with Skipper on a leather settee and rested. I was more emotionally drained than physically tired, and I cheered myself up by deciding to not only forgive Daniel for having terrible taste in women, but to make sure he knew there were no hard feelings from me on the way forward. He had to let me stay – I needed the ranch more than it needed me.
There was only so much one could glean from books without practical application, and Lago Colina had provided me with opportunities to see a lot of the technology I’d read about in action, from breech births to zoonotic diseases in cattle. I’d go days without seeing a single soul other than Pete, focused on birthing beautiful, four-legged miracles, then I’d spend a whole day checking fences with the rest of the crew and administering necessary vaccines to cattle with their help, under the supervision of the head cowhand, Gary. There wasn’t a day that went by that I wasn’t learning a better way to perform a task or a completely new aspect of farming, period.
I watched Daniel striding toward me and pushed away the fluttery feeling in my stomach. That shipped had sailed, but I wouldn’t avoid him anymore.
Daniel was the epitome of the iconic Texas rancher. He was strong, cunning, and knew everything I did about the care and development of his animals and how to best breed them. I may have known how to surgically treat an animal, but I’d bet money he could diagnose most ailments just as fast as I could, maybe even faster, just from having done it for so long.
“Are you ready?” he asked when he approached. I lifted an eyebrow in response and he laughed. “Okay, smart-ass, I’m ready to go, unless you’d like to look at anything else.”
I shook my head and held out my hand for him to assist me to my feet. He looked at me askance, but didn’t hesitate to help me up and placed my hand over the crook of his elbow. He took Skipper’s lead and led us out of the store to his truck.
“I’m sorry I blamed you for what happened earlier,” I said qu
ietly. “I should know better than to make assumptions about one person based on the words of another, believe me.” I patted his arm with my casted hand. “I hope that our work doesn’t suffer because I chose to react poorly to idle gossip. I despise your girlfriend, of course, but that’s neither here nor there,” I added, trying to make him smile. He helped Skipper into the truck and turned back to me.
“She’s never been my girlfriend,” he asserted. “Not for her lack of trying, but she’s not my type.” He winked at me and helped me climb up into the cab.
I waited until he couldn’t see me before I smiled. We may not have been destined to be, but for what it was worth, he didn’t hate me and that was enough for me now.
Chapter Eight
Daniel
I was furious with myself for being stupid enough to expect Sara to be an adult when I took Rachel to get furniture for her new quarters. The arrangement she and I had was mutually beneficial and had worked in the past, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think Rachel would let me near her if she thought I was pursuing other offers. I’d told Sara multiple times that we were done, but she just wouldn’t let up.
At first, she’d been great. We’d had fun together, and when I got her alone and out of sight of others, she had actually had a few moments of real humor and generosity that made her, well, human. But her pouting and possessiveness had gotten to be more than any man should have to handle, especially when they aren’t in a relationship. I’d called it off, before Rachel had even come to stay on the ranch.
When I’d gotten Rachel back to the ranch, she was back to her bubbly, sweet self. But, something had changed. I still felt an electric charge run through me when I touched her skin. I knew she felt something, too, but only because of the little frown that she schooled off her face when she saw me looking at her. She didn’t trust me anymore, and it was my own fault.
I was given hope by the fact that she didn’t avoid me, but it hurt to see her become more distant and professional whenever I showed up. She’d go from playfully teasing Pete or Gary, only to become very quiet and almost submissive when she noticed me. It was easier for me to stay away and let them work without me ruining the chemistry, but I had to admit I hated it.
The weeks had started to tick past at an ever increasing rate and I was quickly running out of time to make things right with Rachel. In desperation, I suggested a Fourth of July party to my mother, in the hopes of bringing Rachel in contact with people who would be great contacts later and wouldn’t leave a bad taste in her mouth just from meeting them.
I gave my mother my guest list, and she and her assistant went to work, putting together entertainment, a menu, and invitations. It wasn’t often that Lago Colina opened itself to outsiders, but when we did, everyone wanted to be there. I made certain that Rachel’s family was on the list and when my father confirmed that the celebration was a go, I took an invitation to hand-deliver to Rachel myself.
She wasn’t in the stables or the high pasture when I went in search for her, and none of the men had seen her since just after breakfast. Worried, I went straight to her cabin and pounded on the door. I had been hitting the door with my fist long enough and hard enough to have bruised the through to the muscle, and had just decided to break in through a window when she finally answered, wrapped in a bath sheet, her hair dripping on the stone tiles.
“What on earth is wrong with you?” she gasped. I was already rubbing my aching hand and more embarrassed than I had considered when I decided she was dying alone on the cabin floor. I could tell she’d been crying, the shower hadn’t removed the redness from her eyes.
“Can I come in?” I asked, not wanting to make a spectacle of us standing there, especially not with her naked in the doorway. She nodded and stepped aside. The door shut with a slam behind me, and when I turned around, she was racing for the bedroom. “Um, I’ll wait out here for you – unless you need some help,” I teased.
“No, no help necessary, thank you kindly!” she called out, her voice muffled like her head was inside a burlap sack. I resisted the urge to finally get my hands on her while she was possibly tangled up in a t-shirt and unable to stop me. It was harder than it should’ve been, since I was raised right, but knowing she was in there with little to no clothes on made me crazy.
Thankfully, it was only a few minutes before she came out, fully dressed. I could see I was right about her eyes being red, and her nose was pink, too. If she had been crying, she’d been crying hard. She offered me a seat on her new couch. I was pleased, when I finally thought to look around, at how the place looked. The new furnishings had only been delivered the day before, but she had everything in place and it looked like she’d been there forever.
I looked at her, sitting across the couch from me, totally in her element. Her wet hair was tied into a long, dark ponytail that made a wet pattern on her t-shirt when she moved. The scooped neckline was just low enough to make me grateful that other men weren’t looking at her right then. She flushed under my scrutiny and stared at the floor, where Skipper lay sleeping.
“So, what brings you over here today?” She sniffled and rubbed at her nose with a tissue. It was pretty clear she didn’t want me there, but I still would’ve wagered the runny nose wasn’t from allergies.
“I’ve got a party invite for you, actually.” I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the stiff envelope. “We decided to have a Fourth of July shindig, and I wanted to make sure you came. Your family got one sent to them; it would be odd if they showed and you didn’t.” I leaned forward and followed her gaze to the lazy retriever asleep on his new dog bed.
“I looked for you, and everyone was concerned that they hadn’t seen you. I was a little worried by the unanswered texts and calls and then, when you didn’t answer the door…” My voice trailed off. “Well, let’s just say my head wasn’t in the best place by that time.” Rachel sniffed again as I met her eyes.
“I’m really sorry I worried you. I got a phone call that messed with my head a little. Somebody I thought I was well rid of.” She hiccupped a little as she talked, her voice becoming more agitated as she continued. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t always sketchy about guys. Which means I have a dreaded ex. He’s been hearing ‘rumors’ around town that I got a cushy position because I’m sleeping with the boss.”
I growled low in my throat, and Skipper popped his curly head up in concern. Rachel soothed him until he laid back down and she continued. “He heard it from…wait for it, Cal Preston himself.” I gasped and smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand. “Oh, and apparently Jason, that’s my ex, is friends with one Miss Sara Abbott, too. He actually thinks she’s into him, you know, ‘cause of the sex ‘n stuff.’ His words, not mine.” She held her hands up in surrender.
“I can’t even begin…” I tried to apologize, but what part was my fault? “I don’t even know what to say at this point.”
“Say that Sara Abbott isn’t invited to your party, or Cal Preston, or Jason the sleaze, and let me take Kaiser out for a ride tomorrow, and we’ll call the whole thing water under the bridge.” I agreed and held out a hand.
“Is it all water under the bridge?” I asked carefully, reaching out my hand to her. “Because if it is, there are a couple of things I’d like to start over.” She smiled shyly at me and slid her little hand over mine. I closed my callused fingers over her softer ones and gave it a squeeze.
“Um, by starting over, I hope you mean from the very beginning because I’m going to need a little time,” she admitted, pulling her hand away from me again. “However, it would be really nice of you to give me a lift into town to get this cast off on Thursday, if you could. I think it would go miles toward proving you’re on the up and up.” She watched me out of the corner of her eye. I nodded and agreed to take her into town and scratched Skipper on the head.
“Let me know when you’re ready to go out for that ride,” I reminded her. “I’ll be ready. I’ve been wanting to put Peacemaker through his paces my
self, anyway.” I reached down and hugged her. “Don’t let small, stupid people get in your way, Rachel. I certainly don’t plan to.”
I tipped my hat and walked out without waiting for a response. I was so pissed I had to burn it off and spent the afternoon in the field with the men, effectively forcing Rachel to stay away if she was still avoiding me. I was tempted to find out exactly who Jason the sleazy ex-boyfriend was and hunt him down.
Then again, I reminded myself, if he was chasing Sara, he had himself a piece of tail that would very soon turn into a pretty, blonde sliver of hell.
Rachel never showed on the fence line, and the heat and hard work was like a calm in the storm. The guys laughed, bickered, and gossiped just as much as Rachel had told me the last time we’d been alone together. I dropped another post in the waiting hole. No matter what, I wasn’t giving up on her. I couldn’t imagine any man ever wanting to.
Rachel was at dinner, and from her smile, I must’ve made things at least a little better when I visited her. I left her alone and gave her the space she asked for. I had eight more weeks to convince her that I was the one she needed. I planned on using every one of them to my advantage.
A few days later, my mother wrangled Rachel and I to help with the party, and we got to go back into Austin, without Skipper, to pick up party decorations, rented chairs, and whatnot from Christie at La Maison. She helped us load up the truck with goodies and sent us on to her florist for the potted trees and the trellis my mother wanted for the garden. When our errands were done, I stopped at a park in the center of town and pulled out a picnic basket from the back of the cab.