Saving the Soldier (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 2)

by Vartanoff, Irene

  He walked down the hall toward the ranch office.

  Addie exchanged a glance with Miss Betty. “Big change in his attitude toward Paula from six months ago, isn’t it?”

  The old lady smiled. “Yep. Back then he was afraid of you, Paula. Thought you were after him, wantin’ to hogtie him into marriage.”

  Paula felt heat rise in her cheeks. She shrugged. “I was just teasing.”

  Addie finished taking off her boots, and stepped into some flats. “Did you get settled into the guest room?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Take her up, will you?” Miss Betty asked. “I’m keepin’ an eye on my cookin’.”

  “Okay. You can tell me how Tess is doing,” Addie said. “It’s hard to be sure with phone calls. She always says she’s fine.”

  Paula briefly exchanged a glance with Miss Betty, who looked concerned. Paula shook her head slightly. She wouldn’t say anything to alarm Addie.

  ***

  JD didn’t leave his old bedroom until the girls had passed by and gone into the guest room. Then he made his careful way down the stairs, silently cursing at how odd it felt to use the fake leg. He could walk, but it felt strange. He should have practiced a lot more in the hospital, but there he’d had no reason to walk. And what the hell had happened to his crutches?

  He went down the hall to the ranch office. Baron was hanging up the phone.

  “What the hell was that about me not being able to pull my weight around here?” he demanded of his older brother.

  “Get in line.” Baron rubbed his face. “Plenty other people on this ranch think I don’t say the right thing.”

  He glared at JD. “You haven’t been here in four years and the first thing you do is try to give me hell? I called it like I saw it. You’re shaky on that wooden leg or whatever it is.”

  JD found he had no comeback. His brother was right, damn him. “I don’t want to be here. Paula drugged me and flew us in while I was unconscious. I’m leaving as soon as I can.”

  “Which won’t be for days,” Baron replied. “Make the best of it. Lose the attitude.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’re the boss here. I got abducted by a woman.”

  Baron looked puzzled. “You got a problem with a strong woman? Thought the Army had women soldiers now.”

  “We do, but not in combat positions. They drive trucks and such. If the trucks get shot at, then the women shoot back. Most of my deployment was endless patrolling. No women except the locals. They’re all hidden behind black robes and terrified of men. Should be, too. Women have it tough there, from what I saw.”

  JD talked on about what he’d seen in Iraq. Baron nodded here and there and asked a few questions. JD told him some stories about how the guys entertained themselves in that desert country. Finally, he wound down.

  “So it wasn’t all bad there,” Baron said.

  “Not until the end, not entirely. But the end is always bad. You lose buddies.” He raised his right hand, “You lose body parts.”

  Baron winced.

  “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” JD admitted. “I’m used to the missing fingers by now. It’s hard to write, but who writes much longhand, anyway? My eye came back pretty good. If I wore glasses or even a contact lens, I could see fairly well with it.”

  “Then what’s the problem? Why can’t you take over here?”

  “Dad wants you the run the ranch.”

  Baron threw down the pen he’d been toying with. “I never wanted to. That’s why I became a geologist.”

  “He thinks you’ll settle down and stay.”

  “I was waiting for him to come back. Now I won’t wait any longer. He’ll never come back. Mom won’t let him.”

  JD rubbed his head. “Yeah, you’re right. She wants to retire to Mobile, near Aunt Ida. His heart thing will make her even more determined.”

  Baron sent him a dark look. “That leaves you or Tess. Last time I saw her, she’d sworn she’d stop drinking. Has she?”

  “Nope. Why even mention her? She’s just a kid. Anyway, Dad wouldn’t allow her to run the place. You know how he is about women running things.”

  “He should have sired more sons, then,” Baron said. He picked up his pen again and stood. Going over to the map pinned on the wall behind the desk, he pointed with the pen. “Look here. We could maybe split the ranch into a couple of chunks if you want to hold onto a piece. I’d only want this one.” He indicated a part on the west side. “It’s next to the land I bought that has the geological formations that might include dinosaur bones. Plenty of water fossils in the river, too.”

  JD shook his head. “I don’t have a favorite bit.”

  “Maybe it’s time to sell up. Take the money and enjoy life.”

  “No.”

  Baron threw his pen on his desk.

  JD looked out the window. “It’s coming down like crazy. Damn.”

  “That’s another reason I want off the ranch. If it isn’t snow, it’s the wind. I like to time my geology gigs to be in warm places during winter months.”

  “If you do, what will Addie do?”

  “Come with me.”

  “She’ll be like an Army wife, stuck in whatever billet you get. Won’t even have the support of the other wives that military spouses get.”

  “We’ll figure it out. There are horses all over the world. Anyway, I have plans for that piece of land right next door. I’m building a house on it right now. Some part of the year, we could be living there, and she’d have her horses to train.”

  “When she’s not training you.” JD jeered.

  Baron said, “I’m okay with that. I made a lot of mistakes with her. Did things I don’t want to remember. Learned my lesson. I hope you don’t go that same way, but it sounds as if you’ve imbibed some of Dad’s stupid chauvinistic crap about women. Won’t fly. Not with a woman up to you.”

  “I used to be able to get any woman I wanted.”

  “Those were girls. It was sex. I’m talking about a real relationship with a grown woman. Ever had one?” Baron asked, sarcasm in his voice.

  “Can’t say that I have. Wouldn’t tell you, anyway,” JD said.

  Baron nodded in acknowledgment. “No, why should you?”

  JD wandered off, checking the snow from several windows. It looked to be over four inches in less than an hour. Unbelievable. In Cheyenne, they hardly had any rain, and they had no snow last year. Not that he spent much time looking out the hospital windows. People did that when they wanted to get out. When they had lives the weather impacted. He didn’t.

  Paula walked down the stairs. Nice hip action. Her full breasts didn’t bounce. They moved gently. She wore a blue plaid long-sleeved western shirt and jeans, but on her they looked like a costume for a play. He’d already noticed the same outfit on Addie looked like work gear.

  “Bet you didn’t expect to be stuck here,” he said. He softened his words with a grin.

  “Anytime I’m on the ranch, I’m stuck,” she said with a half-smile.

  “That’s right, you don’t like the isolation, I hear. You’re a city girl.”

  Her expression became remote. “I see no particular virtue in being so far away from all other human beings. I adapted to Cheyenne, which was a big change after San Francisco and yet not that much.”

  He rubbed his head. “After the constant noise of the hospital, it’s okay. Anyway, it makes your time with other people more intimate.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “How do you mean?”

  He moved in closer, crowding her. He put a finger on the top of her blouse, where one button was covering her breasts. Her eyes went wide. Her breath slowed. “We have to entertain ourselves. Find something to do.” He leaned in and lightly touched his lips to hers. “Like this, for instance,” he said.

  She didn’t resist. She still stared at him like a rabbit eyeing a predatory beast. He put his right hand on her chin and tilted it at a better angle. The skin of her cheek was soft as a peach.
Her lips were softer. He leaned in for another taste, this time delving deeper.

  She made a sighing sound. He gathered her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly, plunging into her soft mouth, pressing her full breasts against his chest. One hand trailed down her soft backside, pulling her lower body against him.

  The kissing continued, until he felt a bump on his leg. He looked down. The dog had butted him.

  He started laughing. “Somebody’s a critic.” He drew back, still holding the womanly armful that was Paula, enjoying her softness against him.

  She looked…blindsided.

  He released her. “We’ll do more of this later,” he said, with his signature cheeky grin. “Hold my place.”

  He whistled as he walked away. Phantom went with him.

  ***

  Paula stared after JD as he sauntered away. Oh, my. She’d finally been treated to his patented technique, the cocky male self-confidence that had made all the teenage girls sigh for him. The calculated charm that made them do whatever he wanted.

  She must arm herself against JD’s seductiveness. He’d have her and then walk away, just for sport. To pay her back for abducting him. To show her who was boss. Whatever.

  But if it would be the only time she could have him, the idea was tempting. Too tempting. Better to yearn for him from afar than to be tantalized by repeated tastes, maybe even an entire meal, and then deprived of him for the rest of her life when he went on to some more biddable girl.

  ***

  JD found Baron still in his office, looking at rocks on his computer. “What else needs doing before we’re snowed in? What’s the situation on the cattle?” JD asked. “How many are at risk of starving if they can’t get to fodder?”

  “Several thousand,” Baron replied, with a shrug, not looking up. “Two thousand. Maybe three.”

  “That’s a huge difference. Don’t you know how many?”

  His older brother shook his head.

  JD felt himself frowning. “Why don’t you?”

  Baron finally dragged his eyes away from the rock formations on the screen. “Because I don’t give a damn. Leave it alone.” He stood and made to walk away.

  “Wait a minute.” JD caught hold of Baron’s arm, but found his balance was rocky. He let go. “A thousand head, even valued low at only a thousand dollars each, is a million dollars in investment and two hundred thousand in profit. Worth paying attention to.”

  Baron’s cold expression didn’t change. “Maybe you care. I don’t. I won’t even pretend anymore. I’d fed up. I’m done. Doesn’t anyone in this family hear me?” he asked, his voice getting harsher and louder.

  “I’m hearing you now.”

  “The man who wants to buy this ranch is prepared to buy all the livestock as well as the land. He’s a billionaire. It’s a fantastic deal. We’re unlikely to get a better offer. I say we take it. You can co-sign the sale papers if you want, so we can present a united front when Dad kicks up a fuss.”

  JD shook his head. “Dad likes being a big shot landowner. He doesn’t want to let that kind of prestige go. He’d fight it. He was tickled when the governor himself called him for advice on the next water bill.”

  “He’s fooling himself. He’s an absentee owner now. I’m not his personal sharecropper. He won’t do anything to change the situation, so I have. Don’t try to stand in my way.” Baron cast a dark look at JD before finally walking down the hall toward the kitchen.

  Miss Betty had outdone herself and served an enormous variety of hot and cold dishes in the formal dining room. Fried chicken vied with beef pot roast and sliced ham, with side dishes of mashed and scalloped potatoes, rice, creamed corn, green beans and bacon, candied sweet potatoes, and tiny peas. Plus she’d made corn meal muffins, biscuits, and gravy. No one was in the mood to talk. The wind outside kept increasing. The large window showed snow blowing sideways.

  Miss Betty seemed happy to have so many mouths to feed. “’Twas the only room with a table big enough. A shame your mama can’t be here to see you. We just need Tess to complete it.”

  The wind howled outside. From the large dining window the storm’s dramatic progress continued. A few minutes into the meal, the electricity dimmed and then went off.

  “Ten seconds,” Baron said in a calm voice.

  They waited silently. The house was eerily quiet without power. The storm sounded more intense. The lights did not go back on.

  “I thought you checked on the generator?” JD said.

  “I did. Something must be wrong.” Baron looked chagrinned.

  JD stood carefully. His fake foot was okay if he didn’t push himself. There. Now he felt balanced. “Let’s go check it out.”

  Baron gave him a sharp look before saying, “Guess we’d better.”

  Miss Betty said, “I’ll save the pies for later, then.”

  They donned coats, scarves, hats, and gloves. Baron looked at JD’s fake foot encased in a black leather running shoe. “You’ll slip and slide.”

  “Nothing I can do about it. I’ll manage.”

  Shaking his head, Baron led the way out through the hall by his office, out to the breezeway. Snow and bitter cold assailed them. A rope had been strung along the breezeway and they both held onto it as the wind gusts threatened to blow them back. A few steps seemed like a marathon. JD found it hard to catch his breath. He was out of shape, for sure. He grasped each pole as he reached it, holding on tightly until he could safely get closer to the next. His shoes were useless. The snow was dry powder and slippery.

  He finally made it to the outbuilding where the generator resided, a fancy version of a shed, actually a three-car garage they never kept cars in, which instead held tools and such. Baron was waiting for him. Once JD got to the door, Baron threw it open and they surged through into the building.

  “Keep the door open,” JD instructed, “in case of a gas leak.”

  “I don’t smell anything.”

  They used the flashlights on their phones to see, until Baron picked up a battery-operated lantern and shone it on the machine.

  JD ran his eyes over the generator, which ran off a dedicated line to a buried gas tank outside. Weather like this reminded him why their dad had chosen to have the tank buried. Trouble was, if the problem was a broken gas line, they’d need a backhoe to dig it up and examine the line. He checked the fuel gauge, then the filter, and then a couple more items.

  He flipped a switch, and the motor started up. Within seconds, a couple of standby lights went on in the room.

  “I think that was it.”

  “What did you do?” Baron asked, sounding frustrated.

  “Some of these systems have a manual on/off switch. Sounds counterintuitive, but they do. Probably for the off season. It must have been accidentally switched to the off position.” He didn’t say he’d used generators on deployment, or that it was a simple check that Baron must have missed.

  Baron had a vexed expression on his face. “How the hell did I do that?”

  “Why not call the house and find out if the power’s on now?”

  Baron tapped in a number and had a brief conversation. He clicked off. “Addie says the lights are back on.”

  “Mission accomplished.” JD straightened and looked at the tools neatly hanging on one of the walls. He found a push broom. “Why don’t you get a shovel? I’m going to use this to try pushing the snow off the breezeway. Might have to imitate a curler with it.”

  Baron selected a snow shovel, and the two set off back along the flagstones. It was slower going than before. JD quickly realized his broom wasn’t helping much, but it was a crutch, sort of. Finally, they made it back to the house.

  Inside, stamping off the snow automatically, JD almost fell over. He grabbed the door handle and kept upright, but barely.

  Baron noticed. “Why are you having so much trouble? I thought artificial limbs could do miracles today. I watched Amy Purdy on television on Dancing with the Stars last year and she moved like lightning. S
he was amazing.”

  “She the snowboarder missing both legs?”

  “Turned para Olympics champion.”

  “I’ve seen her,” JD said shortly. In PT, they’d insisted on showing videos of various para Olympic athletes. It was supposed to inspire them to get over their lost limbs. Or maybe convert them to opt for the soldering technique. He wasn’t knocking anyone’s achievements, but he wasn’t interested in becoming an Olympic athlete or a TV dancer.

  One good thing about being away from the hospital was that no one presumed to tell him what to do. Except Miss Betty, who could always order him around. She was a sweetie.

  Once they’d dried off, they strode back to the main part of the house. They found Miss Betty in the kitchen, with the overhead lights off. A few under counter lights cast a soft glow on the room. She was drinking coffee and watching one of her sitcoms. “You boys want any more food, it’s all in the fridge,” she said. “Dessert’s over there. Got pecan pie, apple cobbler, and brownies, too.” She indicated the counter.

  “I’m stuffed, darlin’,” JD said. “Can’t eat a bite more of your delicious food.”

  Miss Betty preened a little. “Later, then. You all can make yourselves snacks.” Seeing Baron prowling, she added, “If you’re wondering where the girls are, they’re in the exercise room.”

  “Exercise room?” JD asked.

  Baron answered. “We set it up in the basement for Addie. She likes to use the treadmill after a long day of gentling horses. Says it relaxes the tension.”

  “Who needs exercise on a ranch?”

  “She does,” Baron said briefly, as if he were offended.

  “Hey, sorry to yank your chain.”

  “I want Addie to be happy,” his brother replied, still looking angry.

  “That he does, Jesse Dwayne,” the housekeeper said.

  Baron left the kitchen. The sound of his steps indicated he had headed down to the basement.

  A few minutes later, JD followed, curious to see what had changed. The basement had been a dark, uninviting place only used for storage and games of hide and seek when he was a kid. Now it was brightly lit and the walls were painted. The floor had a rug. A television had been installed in front of two treadmills put side by side. Addie was using one treadmill and Baron was leaning on the armrest, talking to her. Addie smiled at him.