by Cassie Cole
Sweet baby Jesus, he was beautiful.
“It’s a bad day alright,” he said, removing his hat to run a hand through his curly black hair. “Thought we’d found the right ranch this time…”
I peeled my eyes away and focused on unloading my cart for the cashier. “What happened?”
“The soft version? The man we worked for is an asshole.” He grimaced. “The truth? We told a lie of omission and it bit us in the ass.”
“They always do,” I said.
“I’ll see ya tomorrow, Becky,” he said to the cashier, who beamed and sputtered something unintelligible. He nodded to me and turned to leave.
My industry required me to do mental math quickly. Sizing up a situation to look for opportunities. Hiring the old workers meant more money up front, but they were already experienced in our specific ranch. New guys would be tougher to get up to speed, but they didn’t have three months of back pay baggage.
But in the end, the fact that this guy was gorgeous was probably what made up my mind.
“Hey, wait! I’ve got a ranch I abruptly inherited. The other workers quit suddenly, leaving me screwed. It needs a lot of work.”
He frowned with thought. Jesus, even his frown was attractive. A sexy smolder. “What kind of work does it need?”
“Well, I was hoping you could help me figure that out. I’m kind of in over my head.”
He looked at me—really looked at me this time, sizing me up. Nothing sexual, at least not that I could tell. He was just examining my clothes. Figuring out what I was all about. If it were true and not some weird feed store joke.
“We work on weekly contracts,” he said carefully, “but we’ve been hoping to find something more permanent. Bouncing around contracts is a shitty life.”
I bobbed my head. “We can do a week trial to start, but there’s definitely opportunity for long-term work.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. There was a long-term opportunity at my ranch. It would just be with whoever bought the ranch after me. Hey, if this guy could tell lies of omission, then so could I.
He seemed eager, then hesitated. “Don’t you want to know why we lost our old job?”
“I heard part of your argument,” I admitted. “Something to do with your brother not being able to ride a horse?”
He tucked his thumbs behind his belt. “It’s a long story. But yeah, the gist of it is that he can’t ride. So only two of us would be able to work the cattle when they need driving, or any other task that requires a horse. How many cattle do you have?”
I totally blanked. I had no idea how many heads of cattle my dad owned, and worse, I didn’t know enough about ranches to make even a vaguely accurate lie.
Instead, I deflected by saying, “It’s not a deal breaker. In fact, I have a lot of other house renovations I need help with. Is he handy with carpentry?”
“Yes ma’am. He can do just about anything.”
Ma’am. He actually called me ma’am. I didn’t know whether to feel flattered or old. “How about you come by the ranch tomorrow, take a look around, see what needs doing, and tell me if you can do the job.”
His grin revealed perfect white teeth. “I figure we can do that! What do you pay?”
Shit. That was another area I had zero expertise in. How much would three cowboys cost for a week? At the bank, our Information Technology contractors ran us about $5,000 per week. But I didn’t know if that was even in the ballpark, high or low.
“Make me an offer,” I said.
He shrugged one shoulder. “We were making $300 a week per person on a weekly basis. That seems fair to start. And if you think we’re suitable for long-term work, we can renegotiate then.”
“Sounds like a deal to me.” His handshake was firm and warm.
“I’m Landon Hughes,” he said. “My younger brothers are Daniel and Chase.”
“Cindy Jameson.”
“Jameson… Jameson Ranch? Out by route 41?”
“That’s the one.”
“Good. I mean, great! This is perfect. We’ll see you tomorrow.” He took my hand in both of his and shook it one more time. “And thanks again for the opportunity.”
“Don’t thank me until you see how run down my ranch is! You might think unemployment is a better choice.”
He laughed at my joke and disappeared into the night.
I stared after him while the cashier finished scanning my items. It felt good to have a plan. Three ranch hands should be enough to get the property into good enough shape to sell. By then the probate court would be done with all the paperwork, and I could bring in an estate seller to auction off the cattle, equipment, and then the land itself. Maybe all of it sold together as a package. It all seemed so simple.
Boy, was I wrong.
5
Landon
I hopped in my car and drove back in a daze. Had that really just happened? A random person overheard me getting fired, and rather than laugh at me they offered me a job?
Not to mention she was cute. Cindy Jameson. With her dress pants and fancy blouse she was as out of place as a horse at a hog tie, but that only made the offer more believable. Most ranch owners were crusty old men. If she’d been wearing jeans and a tube top I would have laughed at her.
I parked the truck next to our camper and hopped out. Daniel had a fire going and was restlessly stirring the logs.
“Chase around?” I asked. I wanted to give them the good news together.
“Bar, probably,” Daniel grumbled without looking up. “You don’t need to say nothin’. I saw Anderson’s truck go screamin’ by five minutes ago like he was drivin’ straight to hell.” By the light of the campfire I could see the hurt on his face. “I’m sorry. I know it’s my fault…”
“It was my fault for not telling him,” I insisted. “But…”
“I’m tryin’ to do better, I swear.”
“Daniel!” I interrupted. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I’ve got news.”
I told him about the argument with Mr. Anderson, and the unexpected proposition from Cindy. He listened quietly, drinking the words like they were water for his parched throat.
“Did you tell her about my… how I can’t…” He trailed off, unable to say the words. I put a reassuring hand on his arm.
“It’s not a problem. She’ll put you to other chores. Apparently she has a whole ranch to fix up.”
“But did ya tell her? Does she know?”
I softened my voice. “She overheard it from Anderson in the store. She didn’t say anything else about it, beyond asking if you were handy around the house.”
His eyes brightened. “I’m handy as all hell!”
“That’s what I told her. We start tomorrow on a one week trial contract.”
“Just a week,” he said. “Did ya mention long term, possibly…”
“I told her we were interested in long-term work, but I didn’t tell her anything beyond that.”
“Why not?”
I grabbed two beers out of the cooler and tossed one to Daniel. “She doesn’t need to know what we’re after just yet. If I told her, she might not have hired us at all. Let’s scope the place out, get a feel for how much the ranch is worth, then make our move when we’re ready.”
He held my gaze a long moment, eyes twinkling in the fire. “Think it’ll work?”
I clinked my beer can to his. “We’ll find out.”
6
Cindy
I have to admit: I slept like a goddamn baby.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved city life. Austin wasn’t huge by most city standards, but my downtown condo on 6th Street still suffered a constant drone of car horns and street noise. Not to mention noisy neighbors above, below, and on either side of my condo.
Here, everything was peaceful. It was damn near silent by comparison, like the entire world had been muted. I don’t remember much from last night: I came home, cooked a frozen pizza in the oven, and then crashed on the couch with Heidi.
&nb
sp; I rolled over and opened my crusty eyes, finding myself face to face with an empty bottle of the cheap Newman’s Best whiskey my dad always kept around the house. An empty tumbler sat next to it on the coffee table.
Alright, maybe that had something to do with my sleep.
I got up and stretched. My phone said it was 7:45, and was down to just 15% battery. I still had no signal, which was probably what was draining the juice. Putting it into airplane mode would probably be a good idea.
I wandered into the kitchen while the gears of my brain started turning. No signal meant no email on my phone. No internet whatsoever. I thought about that for a few moments. It was a concept I wasn’t exactly used to. When was the last time I was off the grid? The last time I was here, I guessed.
I found a coffee mug in the third cabinet I checked, then filled it with steaming hot coffee from the freshly brewed pot waiting on the counter.
What I needed to do was call my boss on the land line. Tell him what was up, let him know I wasn’t deliberately ignoring my phone. The panic of not checking my email for 12 hours began to make my heart race. I quenched it with a sip from my mug. Ahh, coffee made everything better. Especially when you didn’t have to sit around while it brewed.
Wait. Coffee? I looked down at my mug, then at the coffee machine on the counter. Had I gotten so drunk that I pre-programmed the coffee maker to be ready when I woke up?
Something clattered in the master bedroom.
I froze the way a scared animal freezes, ears perked and listening.
I was suddenly very aware of how vulnerable I was. In the middle of nowhere without an easy way to call for help. If word had gotten out that my dad had died, the ranch would be a good target for someone wanting to snoop around and steal stuff.
The noise could have been Heidi. I hadn’t seen her since waking. That was a calm, reasonable explanation. But when I opened my mouth to call her no noise came out. Right now, silence felt like safety. The moment I ruined it I would be announcing my presence.
I tip-toed around the kitchen and down the hall to the master bedroom. Every third step drew a creak from the old and broken floorboards, which made me pause and listen again before continuing. I reached the open doorway. I stepped inside.
The man was just inside the door to the left. He was bent over something by the bed, showing me a muscular man-butt in blue jeans. The sight triggered my fight or flight instinct, and failing to choose one of those, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
He jerked his head, slamming it against the underside of the bed frame. He groaned and turned toward me. I prepared to hurl my scalding coffee at his face, but he didn’t make any move; he merely held his head and winced at me.
He was shirtless, with a body covered in muscle lines and veins that bulged against the skin like they were trying to break free. He had a prominent nose, and eyes like sapphires that held a peacefulness in them which calmed my heart a few beats. He wore plain jeans with brown riding chaps over them, tasseled on the ends. He scratched his mop of dirty blond hair.
The man was familiar, but I couldn’t place how.
“I…” I muttered, still holding my coffee mug like a hand grenade. “Umm… who…”
“Good morning to you too,” he said in a chipper voice. “Didn’t think I’d hurt myself this morning. At least, not until we got started on the fence. Always prick my fingers on the barbed wire. Doesn’t matter how careful I am. Still come back with blood on my fingertips.”
He spoke in a rush, hardly pausing to breathe. And then he rolled one shoulder, which triggered my memory.
“You were naked!”
“Naked?”
“Yesterday!”
“I was naked a few times yesterday. Took a couple showers. Changed clothes twice.” An easy grin spread on his face. “I can be naked today too, if you’d like. I’m halfway there.”
Footsteps stomped down the hall toward us. Landon Hughes skidded to a halt like a cartoon character, eyes wide with worry.
“What happened?”
“Don’t look at me.” Shirtless guy held up two wide palms. “I was playing with the dog when she started screaming.”
Heidi came scrambling out from under the bed, tail wagging like it was all a game. Everyone was waiting for me to say something.
“Don’t look at me like I’m the jerk for screaming. You came into my house without permission!”
They glanced at each other, which told me I was wrong. Landon looked apologetic, then said, “We, uhh, rang the doorbell a few times but nobody answered. Your car was out front, and the door was unlocked, so we poked our heads inside to make sure you were okay.”
“I was sleeping!”
“You mumbled and waved us on,” shirtless guys said, crossing his arms over his chest. “So. We came inside and started working.”
Landon gestured with a tattooed forearm. “Cindy, meet Chase, my youngest brother.”
“You were naked!”
“He’s naked a lot,” Landon said. “You’re gunna have to be more specific.”
I tried not to scream. It was too early for this. “I was driving into town yesterday and saw a nude man riding a horse. That was you.”
“Ohh,” Chase, said. “Yep. Sure was.”
“He lost a bet,” Landon explained.
Chase leaned in conspiratorially, close enough that I could smell his spicy deodorant. “If you couldn’t tell from my tan, I’ve lost a lot of bets.”
Landon put a steadying hand on my back. “I’m sorry we frightened you. Let’s talk in the kitchen.”
As we left the bedroom, Heidi shoved her head against my leg and panted happily. “Some guard dog you are,” I muttered.
“You know, I do remember a car passing me yesterday,” Chase said. “Slowed down real careful. Like they were getting their money’s worth.”
I stiffened. “I was slowing down because a damn horse was in the middle of the road.”
“Sure, but then we left the road. You still drove by nice and slow.”
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt now?” I asked to change the subject.
“Why aren’t you wearing pants?”
I flinched as I looked down at myself: I had on panties and a thin night shirt. Thank goodness they were a nice pair of panties instead of a ragged old pair with holes.
I refilled my coffee from the pot even though I’d only taken a few sips. “I intend to fix that after I finish my coffee. Also, I’m not showing up for my first day of a new job.”
“Chase will put on a shirt,” Landon said. “Look. I’m sorry about all this. When you waved us in we thought we had the go-ahead to start working. We’ve made some progress.”
“When I said I’d see you tomorrow, I meant at a reasonable time. Like 9:00.”
Landon snorted like I’d made a joke. “A rancher’s day starts early, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me ma’am,” I said, gesturing with the mug. “It makes me feel old. I’m gunna put on some clothes and then we can get started.”
“Yes ma… err, Cindy.”
I went to find my suitcase, keenly aware of their eyes on my ass and not sure how I felt about it.
7
Cindy
Chase was waiting in the living room when I came out of the bathroom. His chest was covered in a flannel button-down like his brother, burnt orange with red cross-stripes. “That’s better,” I said.
“You’re looking more alive yourself.”
Landon poked his head in by the front door. “You wanna take a look at the exterior, first?”
It was a surprisingly cool morning for Texas, with no humidity and a breeze that was refreshing rather than warm. A faded red pickup truck was parked next to my SUV. Landon stopped when we were 50 feet from the house, turned around, and pointed.
“We haven’t done a thorough inspection, but here’s the damage as far as we can tell. First, the roof is missing about a hundred shingles. Probably came off in the derecho storm that rolled through las
t week. There’s a chance of rain tomorrow, so those’ll need to be prioritized above anything else.”
He gave me a weird look. “What?”
“Listen.” He removed his black cowboy hat, revealing the short-cropped curls that were as dark as pitch. They had a perfect messy quality to them. “We’re sorry about your father.”
“Yeah,” Chase quickly said. “Real sorry.”
“Oh,” I said.
“We stopped in Greenville for gas this morning and chatted with Jessie. That’s when she told us. If we’d known that’s why you were looking for help…”
“What,” I asked, “you wouldn’t have accepted?”
“Well I wouldn’t have charged you so much. On account of your loss and all. How about we knock the price down to $200 per person…”
Chase made a choking sound behind me. I struggled not to laugh.
“$300 is more than fair,” I said. “No need to change it for guilt’s sake. Just make sure you do a good job.”
“It’s the only kind we know how to do,” Landon said with an emphatic nod. “Now, along those lines, we could use some clarification. You were right: this place needs a lot of work. And we’ve only looked at the house; we haven’t even ridden the boundary line to look for fence breaks, or checked on the herd itself.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. But what’s your intention? I only ask on account of how much needs doing. Should we focus on the critical issues first, and circle back around to the little stuff? Are you hoping to take over here, or do you just want to get it in good enough shape to sell off?”
I don’t know why, but his question rubbed me the wrong way. Like he could tell I had no sentimental attachment to the ranch and just wanted to grab what cash from it I could before running. Sure, it was true, but I didn’t like having it rubbed in my face.
“I don’t know what I intend,” I lied. “I’d like to get it back to perfect condition, but that depends on if that’s even possible. How about you point out everything that needs doing, and then I’ll decide what I want you to do?”