A Cowboy to Keep

by Karen Rock

  She smiled. “You’re difficult, so that should work.”

  A low chuckle emerged and she found herself leaning toward him until she caught herself. “Do you think Milly has a chance? We’ll hear from Mr. Graham later today, I hope, but there’s no guarantee he’s going to take her.”

  “She’s got a ways to go,” he said, looking at her, his dark eyes warm. He lifted his arm, and for a second she thought he was going to touch her face, but he just ran his fingers through his short, wavy hair. “I’ll keep working with her. See how it goes.”

  Dani backed up as he ducked between the slats and joined her. This close, the scent of him curled beneath her nose: horses and leather, clean male skin with a tinge of sweat. “That’s really nice of you.”

  He shrugged and settled his hat back on. “She deserves another chance.”

  The powerful simplicity of his words rang inside her and made her think of her own past. The mistakes she’d made. If he knew about them, would he think she deserved a second chance?

  She shouldn’t be worked up about what he thought of her, but she was. She liked him. Maybe she had from the moment she’d stared at him down the length of her rifle and he hadn’t flinched.

  But given his thirst for justice, he’d never let himself have feelings for her if he knew what she’d done.

  Who she was: a fugitive from justice.

  And there was no way she’d let him find out...

  Though the more time he spent snooping on the property, asking questions, investigating employee backgrounds, the greater the chance he’d uncover her past. The incorrect name on her Oklahoma arrest warrant meant a search using her real name shouldn’t bring it up. The only other thing linking her to the bank heist was a police composite sketch and her ex, and he was safely locked up...

  So no need to worry, exactly...

  But she did.

  She did.

  “She used to be our best roper,” Dani said after a moment. “We hold a rodeo twice a month and she always put on a show.”

  Bella and Beau appeared, capering and sneezing with excitement, as she and Jack wandered back to the main road. He slanted his gaze at her and ruffled Beau’s ears. “My siblings and I used to do a bit of roping.”

  “Are you any good? Bella. Stop.” But the shepherd only leaped at her knees harder.

  A smiled meandered its way around his broad face and landed in his eyes. He pulled an apple from his pocket and winged it toward a pond, where it dropped with a splash. Joyous barks erupted and the dogs plunged out of view. “Depends on who you ask.”

  What was it about that confident, no-need-to-boast side of him that appealed to every last one of her feminine sensibilities? “If you’re still here at the end of the week, you could ride Cher in the rodeo. Let me form my own opinion.”

  He stopped and turned. “I’d like to ride Milly.”

  He was staring at her, she could feel it, waiting for a response. How much she wanted this for Milly, a horse that, in some ways, reminded her of herself: promise derailed. “I’d like to see that.”

  A shuttle van filled with guests bounced by. It kicked up pebbles as it headed to the main house for check-in. Jack’s arm swept around her shoulder and he scooted her to the side of the road. “I’ll do my best.”

  She ducked her head, moved away slightly and switched subjects. “Where did you sleep last night? The wranglers said you weren’t at staff quarters.”

  “I mentioned I wouldn’t be bunking there.”

  “And I mentioned you needed to blend in.”

  “Not my strong point.”

  They resumed their trek. A pair of ducks, followed by their offspring, waddled in front of them, quacking to each other, until they swerved down the bank and disappeared into the swaying reeds lining a large pond. “So where did you rest?”

  “Over there.” He nodded at a rise topped with trees that would have given him a good view of the entire property. He took another apple from his pocket and tossed it with one hand, caught it with the other.

  “Outside? Why?”

  “Surveillance.”

  “You mean of Sam, Smiley and Tanya?”

  He shrugged. “They’re on my list. Either Sam or Tanya could be helping Smiley hide. Either one could lead me straight to him.”

  She yanked to a stop and gaped at him. “Who else? Or should I ask who don’t you suspect?”

  “That would be the quicker one to answer.”

  “So you believe everyone’s guilty until they prove themselves innocent?”

  He smoothed her bangs out of her eyes and peered down at her. “Guess I’m never disappointed that way.”

  “It’s not all black-and-white,” she insisted, thinking of her own situation, trying not to focus on the devastating effect the brush of his fingers against her temple was having on her.

  “It is in my world.”

  “That’s a pretty narrow place to live. And dark.”

  He stared at the mountains for a long moment. “Yes,” he said quietly. “Yes, it is.”

  And something in his tone made her switch topics and resume walking. The apple arced overhead again.

  “So are you going to sleep in the staff quarters? The other wranglers are already talking about it.”

  He caught the fruit and sent it up again. “Wouldn’t want my snoring to keep anybody up.”

  “And just when I thought you couldn’t be more unattractive,” she joked, knowing how impossible that would be...

  He stopped tossing the apple. Hurt flashed across his face, then disappeared so fast she might have imagined it...but deep down, she knew she hadn’t.

  “If that’s all, I’ll be heading up to breakfast.” He refused to meet her eyes and a muscle moved in his jaw.

  “Jack.” She laid a hand on his tense bicep. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” Ugh. She needed to slap herself upside the head. How could he know how attractive she found him? That comment had been nothing but a joke. “It’s just that I don’t...”

  She trailed off as he stopped and studied her, his level gaze rattling her as she tried again. “It’s not that I don’t find you...”

  His lips quirked and a light appeared in his eyes.

  “I mean I think you’re very...”

  A full smile creating deep indents in both cheeks bloomed. Her words tumbled to a halt and she glared at him. Suspicious.

  “Are you laughing at me?”

  He placed a hand over his heart, trapping hers with it, so that her palm rested against his chest. “Only on the inside,” he said solemnly.

  She yanked her hand away. “You’re awful. You know that?”

  “Might have heard that once or twice. Never to my face, though.” He rubbed his jaw like she’d just clocked him.

  “Maybe it’s time you did.” She whirled, fuming, and laughing...on the inside...she had to admit.

  His deep chuckle floated after her as she stomped up the road to Tanya’s. The excited voices of arriving guests rose and fell in the distance: kids shouting, adults calling. Trilling. Vibrating. Breaking the long silence that’d hung over the dude ranch these past eight months.

  And suddenly she felt as if she was awakening, too, more alive than she’d felt in years.

  Her new stable manager position. It’d be easy to believe that it’d had this effect on her, but deep down she knew something—or someone—else was responsible.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “HOWDY, JACK!” NAN waved at him from a table beside the windows lining one of the walls in the ranch’s private dining room for staffers. The thick, greasy scent of a breakfast buffet wafted in the room and a line of domed warming trays, overflowing with food, steamed at the far end. Staff sat shoulder to shoulder, chattering and laughing, at rectangular tables
. Neither Sam nor Tanya were in sight. “Come join me.”

  He ambled over, doing his best to ignore the forks pausing in midair as he passed, the wide eyes. Some of the wranglers he’d met yesterday gave him curt nods. “Good morning, Nan. You’re looking lovely.”

  She swatted the air and shook her head. “Don’t waste your flattery on me.” She shot him a though-the-lashes look. “Though it is appreciated.”

  He chuckled. Charmed, despite his unease at being around so many people. He’d hoped to grab something quick and head out to tack his horses. “Looks like a fine day.”

  “Good weather to kick off the season.” Nan’s white topknot bobbed as she nodded, smiling. “Diane put on quite the spread for the employees on their first day. You should grab some corn bread.” She held up a golden square and the buttery smell made his stomach grumble.

  “Now that I can’t refuse.” Suddenly the idea of sticking around gained merit.

  Nan was a gold mine of information about the history of the dude ranch and its employees. He could probably learn more from listening to her than he could spending days pouring over employee records, a task high on his to-do list, and he needed help. He hadn’t picked up anyone’s trail as he’d finished searching the upper quadrant of the grid he’d made of the property. Something inside him screwed tighter, tighter at every minute that passed without him finding his quarry. “Can I get you anything?”

  “Aren’t you sweet. I’m really quite full, but since you’re on your way, maybe just a little something.” Her lashes fluttered. “Three pieces of bacon, a couple of sausage links and a scoop of hash browns.”

  “Is that all? Can’t let all that food go to waste, now,” he couldn’t help but add, keeping his face neutral. It’d been a long time since he’d talked for the fun of it; he’d forgotten how good it felt.

  “Well...make that two scoops of hash browns!” She made a shooing motion and he joined the buffet line, beating back an impolite grin, and grabbed two plates.

  A young woman, wearing the largest Stetson he’d ever seen, scooted ahead and turned. Her heavily made-up face reminded him of the ceramic dolls his mother collected, and her enormous blue eyes shone up at him, sincere and avid. No shrinking violet here. “You’re our new wrangler, right?”

  “Jackson Cade.”

  “Jori Lynn Daniels.” She held out a pair of tongs, laughed, then thrust her hand out, instead. He shook it. “I’m a wrangler, too, but in the off season I’m a student at CU Boulder. Planning on being an architect.”

  She placed a few bacon strips on her plate and shuffled down the line. “Always knew that was what I wanted to be ever since we built this tree house that fell down on account of a tornado and broke my Barbie Jeep. I never did get another one, though I cried and cried. Maybe that’s why I plan on owning a pink car someday. I’ll sell Mary Kay if I have to. Hey, you ever build a tree house before?”

  He felt a bit motion sick as she switched topics, and she rushed on without waiting for an answer. “They’re the best places in the world to be alone and just think. The silence. I just love it.” She chattered on without the least bit of irony.

  After scooping up scrambled eggs, she handed him the serving spoon. “Yep. Peace and quiet—it can’t be beat.” She nudged a tall fellow ahead of her with a mess of hair that looked like it’d gotten into a fight with a brush and won. “Isn’t that right, Blake?”

  He turned and rolled his eyes at her. “Wouldn’t know with you around.”

  “Hey,” she protested, pouting. “Blake, this is Jack, our new wrangler.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Blake flashed a peace sign, then his huge smile froze as his eyes lifted from Jori Lynn and settled on Jack’s face, sticking there for a long minute before the girl cleared her throat.

  “Same,” Jack answered, ladling potatoes next to his bacon and eggs as well as onto the plate he was making for Nan. He turned away to hide his cheek, sparing the kid.

  “Blake was at Oklahoma State, but he dropped out like an idiot because some dumb girl broke up with him. Why do men always go for the ones who don’t really want them?” She drew out the question and something seemed to pass between the youngsters, a charged silence. The young man muttered something under his breath and left the line.

  “Well. Any who...” She speared a couple of sausage patties and handed over the fork. When he reached for the pan, his shirtsleeve rode up and he heard her gasp. “Hey! Nice ink.” She lowered her voice and poured batter into a waffle maker. “Though we’re not supposed to show them around here. The Mays are really conservative and Dani is...”

  “Right here,” came the spunky voice that immediately made his pulse pick up. “You were saying?”

  Dani’s freckled nose scrunched and for an insane moment, he wanted to dab a bit of the whipped cream sitting beside the waffle maker on its tip.

  Jori Lynn waved at the steam rising off the waffle maker when she lifted its lid. “Oooh. It just got hot all up in here.”

  “I bet,” drawled Dani, and she shot the cheeky wrangler an indulgent look as she hustled away. “Looks like you’re already making friends.”

  “Getting my ear talked off, more like.” He felt himself staring into those hazel eyes that seemed to shift and change colors every time he looked at them. One minute they were green with some brown, the next a yellow-green, then olive, then green again with bronze-gold.

  “That’s what makes Jori Lynn one of our best wranglers. You need to talk to people. As in more than one syllable at a time. Cough-cough.” Dani slid a sausage patty atop a mountain of eggs, the only feasible spot given that every inch of her plate was already full with the most outrageous combinations. Jelly on top of bacon...?

  “Right.” He waited for his waffle to finish and caught her sprinkling something over her cream cheese bagel.

  “Are those Froot Loops?”

  “Yeah. You want some?” She grinned, unapologetic, that brash, in-your-face attitude of hers making the tension in his shoulders uncoil, his gut warm.

  “What do you recommend I put them on?” The timer dinged and he retrieved his breakfast.

  “They’d make a good waffle topping,” she proclaimed in that first-testament tone of hers that made him smile.

  He placed the waffle on his plate, poured syrup over it and sprinkled fruit loops on top. Warm, sweet steam puffed around him. “Never considered the combination.”

  “Stick with me, kid, and you’ll learn lots.” She twirled an imaginary moustache, the goofy gesture endearing, her shining eyes taking his breath away.

  “About Froot Loops?” he repeated, skeptical, trying to keep her here, glad they’d be riding together later.

  “You can never know enough about your basic breakfast cereals.” She shot him a sassy grin and strode away, cutlery in hand, napkins left behind.

  “Hey, uh, you done with the cereal?”

  “Oh,” he started, realized he’d been staring at Dani and moved off the line. “It’s yours.”

  He watched Nan flag down Dani and the strawberry blonde slid into a seat opposite the woman. A moment later, he joined them, sitting close enough that the sides of their legs touched, knees bumping. Dani was saying something about not being able to find Tanya, and Nan looking concerned.

  When she glanced over at him, the line between her brows lessened. “Oh, thank you, darlin’.” Nan took the plate he slid her and tucked into the hash browns.

  “Is that unusual?” He handed Dani the napkins he’d grabbed. “Shouldn’t Tanya be here, cooking?”

  Dani spread the paper on her lap, her movements jerky. “Sometimes she takes a break when the food comes out but I didn’t see her up at her house and she’s not in the kitchen.”

  “Never known that girl to miss a day of work.” Nan fidgeted with her beaded necklace. “According to Diane, Tanya’s
under the weather. Sure hope she’s okay.”

  “I hope so, too.” Dani stared down at her plate. “I’ll check in on her when I get back from my tour this afternoon.”

  Nan chewed off the end of a bacon slice, considering, then pointed the lower half at him. “So tell me a little about yourself, Jack. You look like a man of mystery and I love solving them. Always thought I would have made a good sleuth. No one ever notices the little old lady reading in the corner.”

  She chortled to herself and Dani laughed. He was taken by the soft roundness of her face, at the way she smiled when she liked something, with her lips just turned up at the corners, at the way she smelled, like the Christmas cookies he used to snatch as a boy, warm off the pan.

  Looks were the least interesting thing about her, though. She worked hard at her job, evidenced by the customized itinerary sheet she’d passed him, one of the many he spotted other wranglers stuffing into pockets or reading as they ate breakfast. Guest preferences took top priority, but she also considered her staff and even the horses, if the specific lineup she’d given him, matching mount to rider and putting them in order, was evidence. Despite what must be a hectic first day of the season, she’d also taken time to check in on her friend and sit with Nan.

  He liked Dani Crawford, a woman who could go from goofy to deadly in the blink of an eye.

  Yes. He liked her a lot.

  But nothing could come of those feelings, he firmly reminded himself, crushing down the happiness she gave him. What right did he have to one moment of it with Jesse gone?

  “Not much to tell.” He was always uncomfortable at recounting his life, wondering how to begin a story without a happy ending.

  “Oh, Jack’s being modest.” Dani slapped him on the arm. “He’s a juggler. You should see him with apples, though I’d like to see what he could do with bigger fruits... Pineapples? Watermelons? Pomegranates?” She tapped her chin.

  Nan lowered her glass of orange juice. “You mean professionally?”

  “I think it’s more of a hobby.” Dani ignored the dirty look he shot her, shrugged, and bit into a peach. She was so pretty with her hair pulled up in a high ponytail that swung in a curl at her shoulder blades. “And he’s also a roper. He’s working with Milly and planning to ride her in the show this week if Mr. Graham doesn’t take her.”