“Asher, are you off this weekend?” Braden turned his focus to Asher, but it was me who sucked in a sharp breath because Braden reached under the table and lightly touched my hand.
“Barring any emergencies.”
“Then this weekend we will plan on building it.” Really? Just because I had this tinge of jealousy, didn’t mean that I’d forgiven him. Hell, he hadn’t even apologized yet.
“Sometime this afternoon, I’ve got to run into the station and file a report about the fire and then I can come back. I can help with whatever you all need. I’m off for the next two days.” Braden slid his hand up my leg and I smacked it away. He chuckled but placed it back on my thigh and ate one handed.
After lunch when Paris started clearing the dishes, I figured that it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Braden. “Hey, Paris, I need to talk with you, and Holland. We need to discuss some things pertaining to ranch business.”
Braden turned to me and positioned his legs on either side of my chair.
“Okay, I get the hint, I’ll run to the station, but I’ll be back. London, you have no idea how sorry I am. I’ve wanted to come by so many times but had no clue what to say.”
“Obviously, you still don’t.” I could feel the heat rising on my cheeks. “What are you most sorry for, Braden? Sorry for sleeping with me or sorry for leaving in the middle of the night?”
“Please—”
“No, please listen to me. You had your one chance, and you blew it. You don’t get another. We can be friends, but we will never be anything more.”
“I don’t believe that, I saw how you responded to me in your office. You feel something for me.”
“Well, yeah, I feel something when I see a dead squirrel on the side of the road as well. Doesn’t mean I’m going to go out with it. It just means that squirrel was an idiot and didn’t get out of the way fast enough.” I squeezed my hands together to emphasize my point.
“Fine, you think that, and I’ll accept being your friend.” Braden had just given me what I had wanted, but I hadn’t realized that it would feel like such a smack in the face. “For now anyway, just so you know, I fully intend to change your mind.”
“No, you won’t. I’m headstrong.” I stood, which was a mistake because he stood with me, putting us chest to chest.
“Good, it will make the challenge that much more fun and victory that much sweeter.” Braden leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Listen, you and I...well, we are different. I’m not the kind of girl you usually date.”
“What kind of woman do you think I usually date?” Braden’s face looked stern as he stepped back and moved his hands to rest on his hips.
“You know the kind. Umm, the ones who aren’t...well, the ones that are like you.”
“Like me, how?”
“Don’t make me say it.”
“Contrary to what you believe, I’m not a man whore. That night, I freaked out—not because of what we shared but because of...because I was worried that you were going to wake up and totally regret everything. The alcohol would have worn off, your dad’s funeral was over, and those emotions were going to hit you. I should have been the one to control myself around you, but damn it, you’re just so fucking irresistible and the last thing that I wanted was to be the thing that you regretted.”
With those words, Braden turned and strode out the door, leaving me speechless.
What was I doing? This was Braden fucking McManus. I was going to get hurt.
* * *
Paris, Holland, and I sat at the table and made a plan. After the alkaline test, Asher believed that the sod was fine. He and Paris had set up our portable irrigation system to help dilute any residue that might have remained on the open pasture. They’d also arranged for Jack, our other farm hand, to move it to a different area every two hours.
Holland had kept the horses fed and stabled all day, so there was no worry about them ingesting something they shouldn’t.
“We need to talk about Ryan,” I said.
“Ryan?” Holland raised one brow. “What’s crawled up his ass? He’s gotten worse since Dad died. I mean he’s always been a dick, but now, I’m ready to buy him a cape and call him Super Dick.”
“Honestly, I’ve no fucking clue. Today he told me how much we’d miss him if he wasn’t here and that our neighbor offered him a job like that would scare me.”
“I’m willing to find out whether we’d miss him or not, aren’t you?” Holland asked.
“I am, but I figured that we could stop relying on him so much and start asking Wally and Jack to do more around here. Maybe Ryan will get the hint that we don’t need him. I’m just not ready to terminate him. You know that he’d file something against us.”
“So? Let him. We are good people, we don’t mistreat our animals, and we don’t use caustic pesticides.” Paris’s cheeks were red with fury.
“That isn’t the point. The point is that we’d be under a microscope and our buyers and Holland’s clients might wonder what’s going on. It could do just as much damage even if we’re innocent.”
“Aghhh.” Holland hit the table.
“Let me finish. Ryan was only one part. The other is our neighbor. He’s willing to let our cattle graze on his adjoining pasture, provided we take care of all the rotation and seeding.”
“That sounds fair, the cattle really should have more than our one pasture area to graze.” Paris looked to Holland to get her take on the situation, but I held up my hand to stop them.
“He’s willing to do it for eighteen dollars per acre per month.”
“What? That’s bullshit!” Holland exclaimed. “Who the hell does he think he is? Does he realize that people don’t act like that around here? We help neighbors out. What does he need all that land for anyway?”
“It doesn’t matter what he needs it for, it’s his. He can do whatever he wants with it. Anyway, I’m going to check around and see if we can’t just bring some Fescue and Bluegrass in while the other pasture regrows. I’ll compare costs and see which is best. The cost will kill us, but losing the cattle will hurt more.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “We are up to one hundred and two heads, and for that number of cattle, we’d need about two hundred acres to feed them for the year, but I’m guessing that it will only be six months max. So we need to decide if we are going to try to make our large pasture work and bring in hay, sell some cattle, or bite the bullet and talk to the neighbor.”
“We’ll make our pasture work. We have to do it,” Holland demanded.
“I don’t know. Technically, we need two acres per steer, and you’re telling me that we are going to try to do one acre per steer?” Paris questioned. “I think you need to run the numbers, figure out how much hay we are going to need to bring in because I’m assuming that all the pasture land will be trampled and not really consumed.”
I nodded. She was right. I had a lot of thinking to do. The cattle were my forte and I needed to make sure that everything ran correctly and humanely.
6
Braden
I searched the database for any information on Ryan Cardenas. I didn’t find anything out of the norm from a typical hotheaded teenager. Male, Caucasian, age thirty-two. He’d had a few altercations as a teenager but nothing too serious. Looked like his mother passed away when he was seventeen, which was when he’d started working at the ranch. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something about the guy I didn’t like that went above and beyond the typical jerk.
I was still trying to figure out the why of it as I climbed into my truck and pulled out of the sheriff’s station. After a minute, I grabbed my phone and dialed my mom. It was our typical routine whenever I was in my car.
“Sounds like you’re in your car, where are you heading?”
“Last night there was a fire, and it burned close to a hundred acres. I’m heading over to the farm to see if I can help.”
&n
bsp; My mom let out a long sigh. “You are a sweet boy, why haven’t you given any girl the chance to find this out? I’m not getting any younger, I’d like to be able to play with my grandchildren.”
“Okay, okay. I know, you tell me this all the time. Do you remember London Kelly?” My mom had worked in the Geneva Elementary School office for years although that wasn’t the grade school I’d gone to. London and I hadn’t met until middle school.
“Oh, I remember her and her sisters, that little one was a spitfire.”
“Well, it was their farm that burned.”
“I’m so sorry. Didn’t I just read an obituary for their father?”
“Yes, he died a month ago.”
“I’m glad you’re helping. If they need anything, let us know. Your dad can drive out there and help.”
“Thanks, Mom, love you.”
“Love you too.”
I disconnected and turned at the sign that said Kelly Ranch and Iron Horse Stables. The truck wasn’t parked out front, so I headed to the stables.
Though when I parked and walked inside the stables, it was Ryan and not London that greeted me.
“What brings you here so soon, Deputy?”
“I’m here to speak to your boss.” I fought to hold back my silent high five. Some people were so easy to rile, and Ryan was one of them.
“She and her sisters are out riding the perimeter. I’ll tell her you stopped by. Do you have a card or something that I can give her?”
“Nah, I’ll wait, this isn’t official business. Don’t let me keep you, go back doing whatever London and the girls have you working on for them.”
“I’m not working on anything for them. I’m doing what it takes to keep our ranch going. It is a working ranch and requires nonstop care, more than what the girls even know.”
“Your ranch? Maybe I’m confused, but I thought that Samuel left it to his daughters.”
“Yeah, well...London and I have been together since she was fifteen, so it’s almost like it’s mine. I feel like it’s home.” Ryan pulled his shoulders back so that he stood a little taller.
“Hmmm, interesting.”
“So, as I was saying, why don’t you just leave me your card, and I’ll give London the message.”
“And as I mentioned earlier, I’ll wait and keep you company. You can tell me all about you and London and how this ranch is part yours.” I watched as the scowl on the man’s face deepened, and it was that look that fueled me to keep adding gasoline to the fire already inside him.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you have no chance with London.”
Interesting that he picked that as his response. Normally, I wasn’t one to poke at people, but I wanted at this guy, he made it so easy.
“Well, I won’t keep you from doing your work. I’m going to go find London.”
Heading back outside, I was met by beauty...that was the best way to describe her. London was astride her horse and was galloping toward us with her sisters flanking her.
London pulled her horse to a halt, and I stepped up to give her a hand. I think that she took it to appease me because she clearly didn’t need help handling her horse.
“So you did come back.” London’s smile was hesitant, as if she was amazed that I’d returned.
“I told you that I would. I said that I was coming to help. You aren’t going to scare me off so easily, London.”
“Really? You came to help?” London looked surprised. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. I’m free labor. Well, I may bum dinner off you.”
“I think we can manage that.”
I followed her as she led her horse into the stable.
“Let me get Mim brushed, and then we can get working.”
I was listening to what London was saying as she went through the chores on her list.
“I need to call around about getting on a regular delivery for hay as well as soy and grain for the cattle until we can get the pasture regrown. Also sometime over the next day or so, I need to make sure that the old pole barn is cleared out so that we have a place to store all of it. Jack has the overseer hooked to the tractor and is spreading out a layer of seed.”
“Hey—” I leaned back to see who had bumped me and was met by a long face with dark soulful eyes. The beautiful horse decided that it was the perfect time to head-butt me. Reading the name on his stall, I trailed my hand down his muzzle. “Well, hello, Jafar.”
“I was wondering where I’d lost you.” I looked over my shoulder to see London peeking out of a stall several down the row. “I see that you met Jafar. He’s a sweetie, isn’t he?”
“Yeah.” I continued petting him and taking in the horses around me, Shere Khan, Gaston, Maleficent, Ursula, Hopper, Balthazar, there were several more, but I couldn’t read them all from where I was standing. “What’s up with the Disney villain names?”
“My first horse was named Grimhilde, the evil queen in Snow White. That was her name when my dad bought her for me. After that, we just gave every horse a villain name. Sounds weird, I know.”
“A little, but I’m getting used to your weird side.” I winked at her, and I’d be damned if London Kelly didn’t blush.
“I’m finished with Mim. You ready?” London stood next to me.
“Bye, Jafar. You keep these other ladies in line, you hear me? If they’re anything like this one”—I elbowed London—“then I’m sure you have your hands, hooves, whatever full.”
The Kelly girls worked hard. Even though I’d only been there a few hours, I was exhausted and had no idea how they’d managed to keep it up all day. I gave London a peck on her cheek, promised to meet her early the next morning, and then left for home.
* * *
The next morning, London and I started out early, and setting up the irrigation was not easy work. Even though the sun only was just cresting the horizon on this late September day, it was already hot as hell, and we were sweating.
By the time we had the water wheels stationed, the hoses hooked, and the timers programed, it was time to move to another three acres. Every forty-five minutes, we repeated this.
I dropped off the water wheel and then drove the four wheeler out of the sprinkle zone where London and I had designated our meeting spot.
“You ready for lunch?” London asked as she looked toward the sun.
“I’m starved. Want to go after this round?”
“Nah, we can leave ’em since they are on a timer. The machines will automatically turn off, and then we can move them after lunch.”
I counted in my head; if each water wheel did three acres and this was the sixth time running, hmm. “Not bad, we already have thirty-six acres taken care of.”
London let out a chuckle. “Not bad at all, Jack got thirty acres done yesterday, so we only have about twenty-four more to go before we start all over.”
I groaned, as I felt every muscle in my body ache. She, however, didn’t look fazed at all.
Lunch in the Kelly house was loud and full. Paris definitely embraced her role as the family cook.
“All of this for lunch?”
“Paris spoils us.” The affection in London’s voice was evident as she wiped off her hands. “Where’s Holland?”
“No clue, she’s been out most of the morning,” Paris said as she handed me a platter to take to the table.
“What’s for lunch?” Asher asked as he walked through the door without knocking.
“Asher Kinkaide, can you at least say hello and not just think about your stomach?” Paris chided. London said Paris and Asher were just friends, but they acted more like an old married couple.
“Hello, y’all. Now, what’s for lunch?” He moved into the kitchen and washed his hands before he tousled Paris’s hair.
I had just slid into a chair when Marcus strode in and made his way to the table. “Hey, Braden, nice seeing you.”
“You too. You always here for lunch?” I looked back and forth between him a
nd his brother.
“Are you kidding me? If you had a neighbor who cooked like Paris, you’d always be here too.”
But our discussion halted when Holland stormed in, slamming the door behind her so hard that the photos that hung on wall rattled.
“Mr. Brooks is a dick!” Holland’s face was tomato-red, and she looked as if she was going to burst into flames any moment.
“What did he do?” London didn’t get up, obviously used to her sister’s tantrums.
“I was out riding the perimeter, and he rode through and just stared at me, all judge like. I know that he was just making sure we weren’t using his land. Then when he saw me galloping on Shere Khan, he had the audacity to holler about the way I was riding him. That man has some balls to try to tell me how to ride.”
Since no one else was going to ask, I did. “What exactly did he say?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to listen. I flipped him off and then Khan and I hightailed it back over here. What’s worse is that the lessons area borders his front pasture, and he’s always out there freaking watching me!”
“All right, Holland, just let it go.” London poured some tea in Holland’s glass as Paris slid food onto her plate. Holland’s outrage and temper outbreaks were clearly a common occurrence in this house since no one seemed phased in the slightest.
“How’s the watering going? When I’m done with my two o’clock class I can help you.” Holland was clearly already over her anger.
“Thanks but there are only two wheels anyway so we’ve got it. Besides, after lunch I need to return a few calls from the help wanted ads that I have up on the farmer sites for ranch hands.”
“Wouldn’t that be better to do later, when people were home?” I was showing my complete ignorance of the way a ranch works, and I knew it.
“Nah, most of these men get up before the crack of dawn. Some start their days as early as three if they need to get milk or eggs to a farmer’s market. So since I don’t know their schedules, you don’t ever call a farmhouse after six in the evening, that’s just proper etiquette.” London shrugged her shoulders, letting me know that was just the way of the world, well, her world.
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