by Diana Palmer
He smiled. Black Baldies. Beef cattle. “I’ll bet you named every one of them,” he said slyly.
She flushed. “Well, yes,” she confessed, noting Janey’s amusement. “I only did it a few times before I learned why the cattle trucks came and took them away. It was a hard lesson. Dad actually told me that they were going to other homes as pets.”
“Shame on him,” Torrance said quietly. “You do a child no favors by lying.”
“He loved me,” she said simply, and with a sad smile. “He and my mother sugarcoated everything when I was little. Mama said that the world wouldn’t cherish me, so they were going to, until I grew up.”
He frowned. “Do they still have the ranch?”
Her face tautened. “They died together in a plane crash, three years ago,” she said sadly. “I lost everything at once.”
“Damn.”
“They say air travel is safe, and I suppose it usually is,” she replied. “But I hate airplanes.”
“I love them,” he said. “I have two. I use one for herding cattle during roundup. The other is a twin-engine Cessna that I use for long flights.”
“Airplanes, on a ranch?” she asked, surprised.
He nodded as he finished the scrambled eggs and bacon the cook had brought in earlier. “This is a hell of a big ranch. I have oil interests as well. I do a lot of traveling, which is why you’re here.”
“Lindy offered to keep me,” Janey piped in. She made a face. “I said bad things and got my TV privileges taken away.”
“Lindy isn’t used to kids,” he said, glowering at his daughter. “But you’d better get used to her. She’s going to be around for a long time.”
Janey just sighed.
Torrance noted Karina’s curiosity. “Lindy is my fiancée,” he told her. “You’ll meet her, in time.”
She smiled. “Okay.”
He didn’t spot any disappointment that he was committed, which relaxed his face. He didn’t know this woman. He hoped she hadn’t wanted the job because he was wealthy and she saw him as a mark. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened.
“Lindy skated professionally,” he continued, missing Karina’s start of surprise. “She won a medal at district competition.”
“A bronze, and only because two of the contestants dropped out,” Janey muttered.
“Stop that,” Torrance muttered.
“Well, she keeps trying to tell me how to skate, and I don’t think what she says is right,” Janey argued. “I have all sorts of books on figure skating. Her jumps are wobbly because she kicks off wrong...”
“Nine, and you’re an expert,” her father laughed. “You listen to Lindy. She just wants you to be good on the ice.”
“Yes, sir,” Janey said, but with a mutinous look.
“You’ll be late. I hear an engine idling at the door. Billy Joe’s driving you this morning.”
“Oh, boy!” she exclaimed.
Torrance sighed. “She loves Billy Joe,” he explained. “He’s teaching her how to train dogs. As if learning to skate isn’t enough for her. And she’s found a YouTube channel that teaches Gaelic, so she’s fascinated with that as well.”
“Ciamar a tha sibh,” Janey babbled, grinning. It sounded like chimera a HAH shiv to Janey.
“And what’s that?” her long-suffering parent asked.
“Hello,” Janey said brightly.
“Go to school,” he groaned.
“Aww, Daddy, don’t you want me to be smart?” she asked plaintively.
He got up and kissed the top of her head. “Yes, I do. But not too smart. Not yet.”
“I’ll take a stupid pill before I leave,” the child said pertly.
He chuckled, turning to Karina. “See what you’ll have to put up with?” he asked.
Karina was laughing. “Janey, you’re an absolute joy,” she said softly, and watched the child’s blue eyes light up.
“He says I’m a pest.” Janey pointed at her father.
“A very nice pest,” he amended.
She grinned and went to her room to get her book bag.
A burly man with thick black hair under a wide-brimmed hat, wearing a heavy coat and denim jeans and boots, stuck his head in the door. “Hey, Big Mike,” he called. “Is she coming or not?”
“She’s on her way,” Torrance said.
The man looked at Karina and smiled. “Who are you?”
“She’s the new babysitter, and hands off,” he told the man. “We’re keeping this one.”
The man made a face. “Spoilsport.” His pale eyes twinkled. “Want to learn how to train dogs?” he asked.
Torrance glowered. “That only works on obsessed nine-year-old girls,” he pointed out.
“Can’t blame a man for trying,” the newcomer chuckled.
“Hey, Billy Joe!” Janey called. “Here I am. See you after school, Daddy!” she added as she and the man went out into the falling snow.
Karina looked at the rancher with open curiosity. “Big Mike?” she wondered.
“Nickname,” he said, getting up. “My first name is Micah, and I’m large. Hence the nickname they stuck me with. I’ll see you later.”
“What do you want me to do, while Janey’s at school?” she asked.
“Read a book. Learn French. Watch YouTube to see how you attract aliens and capture Bigfoot.”
“Oh.”
“We’re not rigid about schedules. Clocks have no place on a working ranch. Have a good day.”
“You, too,” she began, but he was already shouldering into his coat. He grabbed his hat and never looked back. All that, by the time she started the second word.
CHAPTER TWO
KARINA WAS SITTING on the leather sofa, reading a book on her iPhone, when the front door opened suddenly and a woman walked in. She had short blond hair and pale blue eyes, and she was dressed like someone on a Fortune 500 list.
“Where’s Micah?” she asked.
Karina just stared at her for a minute, stunned. “Oh! You mean Mr. Torrance. I’m sorry. I don’t know. I just started working here yesterday.”
“Who are you?” the woman demanded.
Karina hesitated, but if the woman felt comfortable just walking in the door without an invitation, she must belong here. “I’m Karina Carter,” she said. “Mr. Torrance hired me to take care of his daughter.”
“Oh. You’re the babysitter.”
Karina smiled. “Yes.”
“I’m Lindy Blair,” the woman replied.
“Mr. Torrance’s fiancée,” Karina nodded, realizing who she was. “I’m very glad to meet you.”
The other woman stared at her for a long moment, sizing her up. Then she seemed to relax, as if she didn’t find anything threatening about the new employee. “He’s supposed to fly me to LA later today. I have a business meeting.”
Karina didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded.
“Well, I’ll go look for him,” Lindy said. “He’ll be out with those smelly cattle in the barn, I expect.” She made a face. “All that money, and he helps pull calves. I don’t know what the world’s coming to...”
She walked out, still muttering.
So that was the fiancée, Karina thought. She seemed very intelligent, and apparently she was a businesswoman. It was what she’d expect of a rich man’s future wife. She was also very pretty, and had a nice figure. But Janey didn’t seem to like her. Perhaps she was less friendly with children than she’d been with Karina. It was pretty obvious that she wasn’t fond of other women. But at least she didn’t seem to think of Karina as a threat.
Fat chance, she thought to herself. Mr. Torrance was nice looking, but Karina knew nothing about men and she wasn’t here to fall in love with the boss. She just wanted to take care of Janey and figure out what she was going to do l
ater, when her foot healed.
* * *
THERE WAS AN injured calf in the barn. Karina had discovered the animals during her first week on the job. The livestock foreman, Danny something, had been welcoming when she asked if she could see what they kept in the barn besides the heavy equipment that was used to carry feed to the animals and check the pastures.
“We use that one to haul those big circular bales of hay you see.” He indicated them in the distance. “We truck them out to the cattle. We use that one—” he indicated an odd-looking short-bed truck “—to help herd them and to go out looking for strays.”
“I thought ranchers had cowboys who rode horses for that,” she said.
“We do, and they do. But we use a lot of different methods to keep up with the herds,” he chuckled. “It’s not the boss’s favorite thing, anyway. He’s an oil man before he’s a rancher. He inherited the ranch. He learned to love it, but it took time. He misses the city. You can tell. That’s where he lived before his father died and left him this place. He was going to sell it, but there was a delegation.”
“A delegation?”
“All the cowboys and the foremen and the vet and the farrier and even the townspeople came over in a group to beg him to keep the ranch in the family. See, the community grew up around the ranch. We all depend on it for our livelihood. Not many good jobs going in a place this remote, so the ranch keeps food on the table. Once he understood that, he backed off from the sale. He’s been here ever since. That was ten years ago. He’s somewhat settled.” He made a face. “Of course, he’s marrying that high-maintenance blonde. She’ll probably bankrupt him in a year. Her last husband ended up on a Caribbean island, working as a tour guide. She got everything in the divorce. Had a really good attorney,” he added on a chuckle.
“She seems very nice,” Karina faltered.
“From a distance, so does a cobra,” he returned. He grimaced. “Don’t mention that I said that, would you? It’s really hard to find work with winter coming on.”
She laughed. “I won’t sell you out. I’m in the same position. I’d have a problem finding something else, too.”
“Don’t mind the isolation?” he wondered as he walked her down the paved aisle past several small stalls.
“Not at all,” she lied. “It’s pretty here.”
She missed the bright lights, too, but hers were in competition skating rinks all over the world. She missed them terribly. Lights and applause and music, always music...!
“We’ve got a little steer over here,” he interrupted her thoughts. “His mama walked off and left him, so he’s a bottle calf. We’re keeping him inside and feeding him by hand until he’s ready to go out into the corral.”
“Oh, he’s so cute!” she exclaimed. He had a black-and-white coat and big eyes that stared at the newcomer. “Can I pet him?” she asked.
“Sure. He’s gotten pretty tame since he’s been here.”
She glanced at him with a mischievous smile. “What’s his name?”
He flushed a little and cleared his throat. “Clarence. Don’t tell the boss. He hates it when we name one of the beef cattle.”
“Beef. Oh.” She winced.
“We might start a delegation,” he began.
She laughed out loud.
* * *
SHE SETTLED INTO the hay next to the little guy and ran her hand over his head. He laid his head in her lap and ate up the attention.
Meanwhile, Micah Torrance had come home and missed his newest hire. His cook and handyman, Burt, had just come back from a buying trip for the kitchen and noticed the new employee headed out back. He chuckled and pointed the boss toward the barn. Danny was outside, headed to his truck.
“Have you seen the babysitter?” he asked Danny.
“Sure. She’s in there with Clarence.” He stopped and bit his lip at his employer’s amused expression.
“Clarence. For God’s sake, we’re not running a petting zoo here,” he said shortly.
“I know that, sir.”
“Clarence,” he scoffed.
He passed Danny, who rushed to his truck before the boss could take a second bite out of him, and went into the barn. His footsteps didn’t echo as he went down the bricked aisle. There, in the last stall, was Karina, sitting in the hay, talking to a beef steer. She was running her hands over his little head and telling him how sweet he was.
For some reason, the sight of her like that made him irritable.
“Do you work here?” he asked curtly.
She gasped, put the calf aside, and jumped up, brushing hay off her jeans. “Mr. Torrance! I’m so sorry! I just wanted to see what was in the barn...” She stopped, flushed.
His dark eyes went over her like searching hands. The jeans fit in all the right places. They were conservative, but they did nothing to hide the exquisite figure they contained. Neither did that green sweater, which emphasized the pert, firm little breasts under it. He got an uncomfortable reaction to them, which caused him to turn away.
“Janey’s just home from school,” he said shortly. “She wants to go to the skating rink.”
“Yes, sir!”
She followed him out of the barn, embarrassed that she’d forgotten the time. He was such an impatient man. She hoped she could get used to that. He reminded her of a skating coach she and Paul had signed on with four years ago, a man who was lauded as the best coach in skating, but he turned out to have a terminal bad attitude. He rode them mercilessly, made them both nervous and then chided them for mistakes they made because of it. They’d taken almost two years of his abuse because they were too nervous about replacing him. But they’d become acquainted with a Danish coach through another pairs skater. He seemed very nice and he didn’t yell. So she and Paul coaxed him into training them. In fact, he was the one who’d helped them win the Worlds with his choreography. She still recalled how difficult it was to tell their old coach they were leaving. He’d been vicious and even more abusive. It had been a difficult parting. But you didn’t go to a new coach until you’d informed the old one you were quitting him. There were firm rules about that sort of thing.
Still, the experience had left scars. Torrance reminded her of the man they’d fired. He was just as impatient, just as snarky. Yes, that was the word.
“Snarky,” she muttered under her breath as they trudged through the cold wind to the front porch.
He turned, glaring down at her from under the brim of his hat. “Snarky?”
She turned red. “I was...thinking to myself,” she blurted out.
He raised both eyebrows. “Snarky.” He made a huffing sound, turned, and walked to the front door. “Why aren’t you wearing a coat?” he asked.
She grimaced. “I don’t like coats,” she said. “I hardly ever feel the cold.”
She reminded him of a figure carved from ice. She was poised and graceful and full of surprises. But her elegance—yes, that was the word—seemed as natural as if she’d been born of royalty. And she was like an ice princess, cool and unyielding. Odd, that he’d consider her in that light. She could still blush. How old had she said she was? Twenty-three. Were there any innocent women that age in the world? Then he wondered why he was entertaining such thoughts. He had a fiancée who was all heat inside, although she presented a cool and businesslike image to the world. He shouldn’t be looking at other women in the first place.
His interest in her made him bad-tempered. “The ice rink is just outside town. They’re only open until 9:00 p.m. so make sure you’re headed back soon after that,” he instructed. “You have a cell phone, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is it charged?” he asked, turning, and his eyes shimmered.
It was as if he knew. She colored again. “I have a car charger for it.”
“Use it,” he snapped. “I hope you keep blankets and a shovel
and water in that highway-going coffin you call a car.”
She drew in a breath. “I’ll get some.”
“Have Billy Joe round some up for you,” he said. “If you ever get stuck when it snows—and don’t kid yourself, we get snow in early October—you call the ranch. Somebody will come and find you. Charge that phone.” He looked at his watch. It was a Rolex. Karina had seen enough of them to recognize it. “I have to pick up Lindy and get to the airport. We’ve got meetings in LA. Take good care of my daughter.”
“Always, sir.”
He made another gruff sound, deep in his chest, and walked into the house.
“Hi, Daddy!” Janey called. She hugged him. “You’re off again, I guess?” she asked with a wistful sigh.
“If I don’t work, we don’t eat,” he pointed out. “Not to mention having to keep Billy Joe well fed. Without him, Dietrich will fall into bad habits and eat us in our sleep.”
Janey laughed. “He never would. Would you, sweet boy?” she asked the big dog, who was almost always at her side.
“Be good for what’s-her-name,” he told the child and glanced at Karina to make sure she knew that he didn’t care enough to remember her name.
She got the message. She was office furniture. She just grinned. “Have a safe trip, sir.”
“You’re hoping I’ll trip over my big feet and go headfirst into the dirt,” he said with gleeful malice. “But I won’t. I’ll see you both when I get back. Probably next week sometime. Lindy wants to catch a show at that new nightclub in downtown LA.”
“Bye, Daddy.”
He smiled at her, glanced with studied disinterest at Karina, and went out the door.
“Are you ready to go?” Janey asked excitedly when her father had gone. “I can’t wait to get to the rink!”
“You said earlier that you didn’t have a coach yet?” Karina asked absently.
She sighed. “Not yet. But Lindy trains me sometimes,” she said. She didn’t look as if she enjoyed that at all.
Karina turned and smiled at her. “You need a coach in order to learn the basics. Has she run you through the preliminaries? Inside and outside edges, chassés, toe loops...?” She stopped because Janey was looking at her as if she were speaking Greek. “None of those?”