The Lonesome Rancher

by Patricia Thayer

  “This is important.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that? But this ranch is my responsibility, too. Right now there are other pressing matters I need to look into.” He paused. Maybe he should show her what life was like out here. “Unless you want to help.”

  She looked up at him with those big green eyes. “At what?”

  He had trouble turning away, but knew he’d better. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. “I have a foal to deliver.”

  “You’re kidding. You want my help.”

  “You are a nurse, aren’t you?” He walked at a fast pace but she managed to keep up as he hurried down the road to the barn. “Polly is having some trouble. No vet around to help, so you’re all I got.”

  Before Jade could say any more, he nudged her inside the large structure. The place smelled of horses and fresh straw, but everything was neat and orderly, the way he liked things. They continued down a wide center aisle, past several stalls until they reached the large birthing pen in the corner.

  His mare was already down in fresh straw, and her breathing was labored. “Hey, Bud. Has there been any change?”

  The foreman shook his head. “She hasn’t made any progress.”

  Jade looked at the large rust-colored animal. Okay, she was out of her element with this, but she found she couldn’t just stand there, either. She stepped through the gate and went to the horse’s head, knelt down and began to stroke her neck. “Hey, there, girl. It’s not going too well, is it?” She glanced at Sloan. “Well, it’ll be over soon.”

  He felt a strange connection with her. As if they could handle this together.

  He quickly turned toward his foreman. “Bud, this is Mother’s nurse, Jade Hamilton. Jade, Bud.”

  “Ma’am,” he said in greeting.

  “Hello, Bud.”

  The horse raised its head and whinnied as if to say, “What about me?”

  Rolling up his sleeves, Sloan washed up and poured disinfectant on his hands and arms. He looked at Jade, finding she was helping. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I need her to stay calm.”

  Jade nodded.

  He knelt down by the horse’s tail and began talking softly to the horse. After another contraction eased, he reached inside the animal and soon said, “Got it. I have a front leg.” He worked hard over the next few minutes to help progress things. Sweat beaded on his face. “Yeah, there’s the other.”

  Jade kept talking to Polly.

  “Get behind me, Bud, and help.”

  The foreman wasn’t as big as Sloan, but he wrapped his muscular arms around Sloan’s middle, dug his boots into the floor and together they pulled. Their work began to pay off when the hooves appeared. “Come on, Polly, help us here,” Sloan groaned. There was another contraction and more of the legs showed, then a muzzle.

  “Well, looky here,” Bud said.

  “Come on, sweetheart.” Jade got into the act. “Let’s show ’em what you can do.”

  With another hard tug from Sloan, the foal was out. He released the legs and let both mama and baby rest. “It’s a filly.”

  A cheer went up in the gallery as some of the ranch hands began to gather around. “Great job, boss.”

  “Great job, Polly,” Jade added as she continued to stroke the exhausted animal.

  Sloan’s gaze caught hers. “I guess this wasn’t in your job description, huh?”

  She smiled. “I guess not, but I’d call it an added bonus. I’ve seen my share of babies being born, but nothing like this. Thank you.”

  He seemed surprised by her words. “You’re welcome.”

  Jade climbed to her feet and brushed off her slacks, not caring she’d probably ruined her best pair.

  Sloan was washing off when he handed Jade a towel. “You want to do the honors?” He nodded to the filly.

  They turned toward the foal as she was starting to stand. Jade began to wipe the animal down. Then Sloan pulled her back as the mare decided to stand up.

  “Be careful,” he warned. “Polly is gentle but she’s also a new mama.” They moved toward the other side of the pen, and finished the job on the foal, then nudged her toward her mother’s tit to feed.

  “Good job, Miss Jade,” Bud said, coming up to her. “I think Polly liked having another female around.”

  “Thank you,” she acknowledged to the older man who looked as if he’d spent years in the sun.

  “Hey, what about me?” Sloan said. “I had something to do with the birthing.”

  “And you had my help, kid. Remember I had all the muscle behind you.” He smiled brightly, showing off the lines around his eyes.

  “And I was holding on to a slippery foal.”

  Jade could easily see the closeness of the two men. It was obvious how much they cared about each other. She hadn’t experienced many friendships outside her mother, and Jim Hamilton had been gone from her life shortly after Jade’s arrival.

  Renee had health issues by the time Jade reached high school. She hadn’t had the time for friends with her mother’s advancing MS.

  Even when Jade began her career, she’d still spent more time with her mother than friends, except Carrie Bradley. Even Carrie had caused some jealousy with her mother.

  She suddenly heard her name. “What?”

  Sloan was watching her. “I said, you came through. Thank you.” He glanced over her messy attire. “If Marta can’t work her miracle, then I owe you a blouse and pants.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “It would be wise to wear jeans during your time here,” he told her.

  “Why, will there be more deliveries?”

  Sloan didn’t want to like this woman. As far as he was concerned, she was an intruder. “Maybe if you’re good at your job you’ll be able to get my mother back on a horse.”

  Horseback riding! “I didn’t know that was in my job description, either.”

  Sloan frowned. “You don’t ride?”

  She straightened. “Maybe once or twice as a kid. I was raised in the city.”

  “You were raised in Texas.”

  Bud chimed in. “A few lessons and I bet you’ll be a natural.”

  “I don’t have time for lessons. My time here is to be spent with Mrs. Merrick.”

  The foreman pushed his hat back off his forehead, showing off his salt and pepper hair. “I’d say once you get to know Miss Louisa you’ll realize how hard she is to keep up with. She was a very active woman. Her stroke slowed her down some, but with your help, we’re hopin’ she’ll be back to normal real soon.”

  “I’ll be working on that. I’ll know more after I talk with her doctor.” Jade tried not to think about how her deception could affect Louisa. She wanted to blame everything on Clay Merrick, but she knew that she could have gone to Washington to talk to the man, but she’d chickened out.

  Instead when she found this job and put in an application, she’d been totally surprised Louisa called her back. After a short talk, she asked her to come to the ranch for an interview.

  “My mother’s a very determined woman,” Sloan said. “But she’s not ready to be cut loose on her own yet. So you can’t let her ride roughshod over you, either.”

  “I’m not a pushover, Mr. Merrick. I know how to handle my patients.”

  “Mr. Merrick,” Bud repeated and began to laugh. “There hasn’t been anyone here called Mr. Merrick since Sam, your grandfather.” Bud pushed Sloan’s hat playfully. “It’s just Senator and Sloan.”

  Sloan shook his head. “We’re pretty informal around here.”

  “So it’s first names and wear jeans,” Jade said.

  “And boots,” Bud added. “You don’t want to walk around a barn and horses without boots on.”

  This time she laughed, no matter how much she didn’t want to.

  “We’ve lived here twenty-six years last May,” Louisa said as they sat at the supper table that evening. The meal was in the garden room off the kitchen, another space with lots of windows. A la
rge glass-top table and comfortable chairs was the central feature. Clay pots were filled with live plants that lined the open windows, inviting in the pleasant fall weather.

  “Back then, Samuel and Alice Merrick were still alive and this was the area’s largest cattle ranch. And this house resembled a mausoleum. It was very formal and cold.” Louisa smiled at her son. “Then Clay brought us here to live.”

  Jade forced a smile, not wanting to think about her father adopting another man’s child, when he’d abandoned his own daughter. But had he even known about Kathryn’s pregnancy?

  She shook away any negative thoughts. She was here now, in this house, and so close to finding out who she was. And she had no idea what would happen next.

  Her first day had been an interesting one. Once Louisa had woken from her nap, they’d gone into the exercise room that had every piece of equipment imaginable. Jade had to work hard to get Louisa focused on the routine she was supposed to do daily. The woman was in very good shape for her age of fifty-eight, even after a stroke, but exercise would help tremendously for her recovery.

  And it helped Jade’s conscience that Louisa wouldn’t be helpless when she left. She did not doubt that when her true identity was discovered, she wouldn’t be welcomed any longer.

  She closed her eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was Clay Merrick who should have answered the door—and been the one to interview her. She’d had a plan to confront him. To question him about her mother and why he left. Now, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

  Louisa spoke up. “Since you’ve helped bring a foal into the world, you’ll probably be bored tomorrow.” She turned to her son. “Unless you have something else in mind for Jade.”

  Jade felt heat rush to her face. “Louisa, I’m here for you,” she insisted. “It’s whatever you want me to help you with.”

  “I’m flexible with my schedule. And I’m happy you were there for Polly,” Louisa said. “That chestnut is a favorite of mine.” With a sigh, she went on. “It seems like yesterday that she was a foal. Where does the time go?”

  “Mother, Polly’s only three years old,” Sloan reminded her. “And if you hadn’t been asleep, I would have had you there, too. Next time, I’ll make sure of it.”

  Louisa smiled. Jade doubted much happened around here without this woman knowing about it.

  Had she known about her husband’s past? Had he ever told her about Kathryn Lowery? Did he still have affairs with younger women?

  “Jade…”

  She jumped, realizing someone had called her name.

  “Excuse me. Did you say something?”

  “Are you feeling all right?” Louisa asked and nodded toward the plate of enchiladas. “Is the food okay?”

  “Oh, yes, it’s delicious.” She glanced at Marta as she came into the dining room. “I guess I’m a little tired.”

  Louisa frowned. “That’s right, you came all the way from Dallas, and here we put you right to work. We could have waited a day or two.”

  Jade smiled. “No, really, I’m fine. Please, don’t worry about me. I came here for a job, so I planned on starting right away.”

  Sloan watched Jade Hamilton. Even exhausted, the woman was beautiful. She looked more like a model than a nurse. It still puzzled him to why she was here. A rural ranch outside of Kerry Springs wasn’t exactly an exciting place to live.

  “I hope you don’t regret being so far away from everyone and everything familiar,” he said. “A small town has a lot of disadvantages.”

  “And it has a lot of advantages, too,” she told him. “Such as no five o’clock traffic, which means no crazy drivers.”

  “We also have no nightlife.”

  “Drinking in bars can be overrated,” she argued.

  “What about fine dining?”

  Jade smiled. “I heard that Rory’s Bar and Grill has great barbecue.”

  Sloan nodded. “The best.”

  Louisa jumped in. “Son, you’ll have to take Jade in to give her a sample.”

  Great, he’d walked into that one. “Ms. Hamilton needs to focus on you.”

  Those beautiful eyes widened. He suddenly wondered what else he could get her to react to. Whoa, he needed to take a step back. This was an employee, his mother’s nurse.

  He stood. “I should check on the filly.”

  “Why don’t you take Jade along?” his mother suggested. “I mean, she did help deliver her.”

  Jade shook her head. “No. I need to stay with you.”

  Louisa shrugged. “I’m going to watch television with Marta. If I need to go upstairs, there’s the elevator.” She waved her arm. “Now, go. You’re dying to see that foal again.”

  Jade relented.

  Sloan shot his mother a disapproving look, but it didn’t seem to faze her. He waited for Jade to head out the door first, turned back and spoke in Spanish. “Basta, Madre.”

  She smiled up at him. “Enough what, dear?”

  He ignored her innocent look as he met up with Jade. The evening was cool and he handed her a jacket from the hook near the back door.

  “Here, you better put this on,” he said as he held it out for her. When she slipped her arms in, he caught a whiff of her perfume, a fresh citrus scent.

  “The first thing to know about my mother is that she likes getting her way.”

  She glanced at him as they headed toward the barn. “What woman doesn’t?”

  “But Louisa is relentless when she sets her mind to something. Just don’t let her get away with anything.”

  “You forget it was your mother who wanted me here. She’s the one who wants to recover.”

  He opened the door to the barn and paused as he found himself leaning closer to her. In less than twenty-four hours, she’d managed to draw him in, made him want and need. Damn, if she wasn’t the most tempting woman. He quickly roped in his desire and managed to speak. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  He motioned for her to walk in ahead of him. Mistake. He tried not to stare at her shapely backside, but lost the fight and enjoyed the view as they made their way down the aisle toward the last pen. It was quiet and that was how he liked things. Polly spotted him and blew out a long breath in greeting. “How are you doing, girl?”

  The chestnut made her way to the gate and let Sloan rub her muzzle. “You had quite a day, Mama.” He glanced down at the filly. “Well, hello to you, too, little one.”

  He lowered his hand, but it was Jade who got the attention. The filly with the white star on her forehead came toward her. “I guess you females stick together.”

  Jade knelt down and coaxed the filly with her hand. “It’s my voice. It’s softer. Oh, she’s so cute.”

  That wasn’t the only soft thing about Jade. He glanced away from the soft skin of her cheeks, only to catch the generous curve of her backside. He released a frustrated breath. He needed to get out more and get away from a certain pretty nurse, or he might be in some big trouble.

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE next morning, Sloan was out of the house and on his way to the barn before dawn. Over the next two hours he worked alongside the other hands to feed livestock and set up the work schedule for the day before he finally came in for breakfast.

  Five years ago after college, he’d moved out of the main house. He’d built his own place just up the road about a quarter of a mile. The one thing he did was come by occasionally and share breakfast with his mother. After her stroke and his father’s return to Washington, he’d stayed over, temporarily, when his sister was out of town.

  Now there was Nurse Jade on the premises so he could go back to his place. In truth, Jade Hamilton was a distraction. He couldn’t even walk past her bedroom door this morning without pausing, hoping to see her again. Still, he told himself he needed to wait a little longer to see how things worked out. He’d stay here a few more nights.

  A pretty woman arriving in Kerry Springs sent up several warning signals for him. Although the feelings had gone cold,
the bad memories were still raw. The difference this time from the last, he planned to keep his distance.

  He wasn’t the only one who’d been intrigued by the nurse. He’d seen how the ranch hands had watched her yesterday in the barn. It was not what he needed right now with the fall roundup coming soon. All ranch hands needed to focus on their jobs.

  That included him. This was the future of River’s End. His chance to prove to Clay that he could make the ranch thrive. His way.

  He headed up the porch steps to the back door. After scraping his boots, he walked in and hung his hat on the hook. He found Marta at the stove and greeted her, but before he could ask about his mother, he heard voices coming from the garden room. As he entered, he saw something he hadn’t seen in a while.

  A happy Louisa Merrick. Then his attention went to her companion.

  Jade looked fresh and pretty this morning. Her hair was pulled back from her face, exposing her creamy skin, pert nose and delicate jaw. Then she smiled and it caused his heart rate to accelerate.

  “This is crazy,” he mumbled and walked in.

  His mother saw him first. “Sloan, I was wondering where you were.”

  “I was working. Remember, there’s a ranch to run.”

  His mother frowned. “Someone is grumpy this morning. I told you, son, you need more leisure time. You can’t let this place consume you.”

  He glanced at Jade. At least he could be cordial. “Mornin’, Jade.”

  “Good morning, Sloan,” she answered in a soft voice.

  He dished up eggs and hash browns onto his plate. “Maybe I’ll feel better once I have some breakfast.”

  “You always were grouchy when you were hungry.”

  He swallowed a big bite. “Well, that should be fixed soon.” He wanted to change the subject. “What are your plans today?”

  Louisa looked proud of herself. “We’ve already been working. Jade talked with my therapist when she came by earlier, so she can help me with my daily exercises.” Louisa glanced at Jade. “And since I’ve been such a good patient, after breakfast we’re going into town. I have a hair appointment in an hour.”

  He nearly choked on his food. Hadn’t the family been trying for weeks to get her into town? “A hair appointment?”