by Cindy Stark
“Don’t worry. I’ve been around men all my life and can spot a charmer when I meet one.” Though there was no reason she couldn’t enjoy his company while he was there, not to mention being hugged and kissed by a handsome man was never a hardship. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Elle, if this actually works out.”
“It’s going to work, Rachel. Caleb is nothing if he’s not a professional. He takes his jobs seriously.”
“Morning.” The deep voice coming from behind her startled Rachel and she turned.
“Gotta go,” she said before Elle could complete her sentence. She clicked the off button without waiting for a response.
“Just talking to Elle, but I’m going to burn breakfast if I don’t pay attention to it.” She set her phone aside and flipped the sausage patties sizzling in the fry pan.
Caleb made his way to her side and leaned over her shoulder. “Smells amazing. I’m starting to think maybe I got the better end of this deal.”
“Of course you did,” she teased. “You have the privilege of living here with me.”
“Which I take no other man has done?”
His hair was still wet from the shower, and though he was dressed, her senses jumped to attention as though he wasn’t. “Man?”
“I’m curious to know if you’ve lived here with another man.”
“My uncle. My cousin off and on for the past few months. Ranch hands are always around.”
He smiled and leaned against the counter, looking completely at home in her spacious country kitchen. “That’s not what I meant. What I’m asking is have you ever been married?”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she was grateful to have the cover of cooking to hide her reaction. “Oh, uh, no. Never been married.”
Rachel turned down the heat for the stove and donned mitts to pull the breakfast casserole from the oven. “What happened to end your marriage, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Long story.” He glanced around the room. “Plates? Silverware?”
“The cupboard next to the sink and the drawer by the fridge. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so personal.” She had to remember this was a business arrangement, and she didn’t need to grill him as though he was a potential date.
“No problem.” He pulled two plates from the cupboard.
“There will be three of us this morning.”
“Three?” He lifted a brow, and his sexy expression sent tingles to her toes. “Am I meeting the family already?”
“No. The only family I had in the area was my uncle. I don’t claim my cousin, and my mom and sister live in Cheyenne.” She transferred the sausage to a dish lined with paper towels. “We—I mean I usually have breakfast with my ranch foreman, and we discuss the issues for the day and toss in future plans from time to time. He’s a single guy, and I always feel bad that he mostly exists on frozen dinners.”
She placed the dish on the knotty pine table, noting Caleb seemed uncertain about the man who would join them. “Don’t worry. You’ll like him.” She pulled juice from the fridge and set the pot of fresh coffee on a trivet on the table.
“Does he know I’m here?” Caleb’s constant gaze unnerved her.
She focused on setting the table. “Not yet.”
“Have you told him of your plans?” Caleb moved closer until he forced her to acknowledge him.
She tilted her chin upward to fully meet his gaze. “Only three people know. Me, you and Elle.”
He looked nice, freshly shaved and showered, but she might prefer the rasp of stubble he’d had the previous evening. It gave him a mysterious, sexy air that she liked.
“We’ll need to act like an engaged couple when he joins us for breakfast then.”
Why did hearing him say those words send shivers through her? She’d never given much thought to what her fiancé might be like, but she decided she’d like him to be a version of Caleb. Tall, kind, sexy as hell. A man she could rely on. “Yes, we need to keep up pretenses every time we’re around anyone.”
The kitchen door opened, cutting off any further discussion.
“Morning,” Bill said as he removed his cowboy hat and hung it on a hook by the back door like he did every morning. He buzz-cut his blond hair regularly to keep from having a noticeable hat ring, but Rachel always thought he’d look better with it longer. Next, Bill removed his thick denim jacket and then halted movement when he caught sight of Caleb. His gaze flew to Rachel in question.
“Morning, Bill.” As awkward as it was, she intertwined her fingers with Caleb and tugged him forward. “I’d like you to meet my fiancé, Caleb Dawson.”
Bill’s eyes couldn’t have grown wider. “Excuse me? When the hell did this happen?”
Caleb stuck out a hand for Bill to shake. Her foreman responded with a deadly look.
She dropped Caleb’s hand and linked her arm through Bill’s, leading him to the table. “I know it’s very sudden and unexpected. I’ve been dating Caleb for a while now, and we decided it was time to bring our relationship into the open since Franklin has forced my hand.”
“Dating?” He tossed an unfriendly, suspicious look in Caleb’s direction as though he was the only one who spied the fox in the hen house. “When the hell have you dated? You’re home every damn night.”
She placed a hand on her hip. She didn’t answer to her foreman. “I’m sorry, but when do you know where I am every minute of every day?”
He snorted. “Always.”
Which pretty much the truth. “Fine. I’ll admit that we’ve mostly gotten to know each other over the internet.”
“Oh, Jesus.” He rolled his eyes, pissing her off further.
“Stop,” she pleaded. His reaction was worse than she’d expected.
Instead of complying, he sucked in a deep breath, expanding his chest and turned to Caleb. “What the hell is it you hope to gain by taking advantage of my Rachel?” No one in the room would mistake his question for anything but a threat.
Which was stupid on his part. Bill might be in good shape, but Caleb had several inches of height in his favor, and the muscles in his arms paled in comparison to what she’d envisioned beneath Caleb’s sleeves.
Before she could intervene, Caleb stepped forward and reclaimed Rachel’s hand. “Look, I don’t expect you to trust me right away. Hell, I wouldn’t if a stranger showed up on my doorstep wanting to marry someone I cared about. It’s going to take time before you come to realize how much I love her. I know you’re important to her, and I hope at some point we can become friends.”
Bill stared him down for several long, tense moments. “Fuck that.” He sent Rachel a disgusted look and headed toward the back door.
Oh hell. She hadn’t meant to upset Bill like this. She probably should have warned him in advance, but everything had happened so fast, and she hadn’t completely made up her mind until after Caleb had knocked on her door. “Aren’t you going to stay for breakfast?”
He shot a disappointed glance at her. “I’ve lost my appetite. As for you...” He jabbed his pointer finger in Caleb’s direction. “I’m going to be watching you like a goddamn hawk.”
With that, he left and slammed the door behind him.
Uncomfortable silence filled the space he’d vacated. His hand felt foreign still holding hers. After a few seconds, she swallowed her guilt and slipped from his grasp. “I guess we should eat.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Can’t let all this good cooking go to waste.”
They walked to the table together, and Caleb slid out a chair for her.
“Thank you,” she said quietly as she sat. She was the worst person ever. Bill had always been like a brother to her, and though she didn’t owe him any kind of explanation, she didn’t want to be inconsiderate of his feelings, either. “I’m sorry to put you in this position. I’ve handled this completely wrong.”
Caleb sat and reached across the table, placing his hand over hers. “Don’t worry about me. My feelings weren’t hurt. If we were truly eng
aged, then maybe.”
She gave a soft snort of disdain. “I know. But I made you a target, and I apologize for that.”
“I’m not afraid of what he might do, if that’s what you’re worried about. I can handle my own.”
She cut a square piece of casserole and placed it on his plate. “I didn’t mean to suggest that you couldn’t. I just wouldn’t want to put you in that position.”
Caleb lifted his fork. “A question for you. Why didn’t you pick Bill to marry you?”
“Marry Bill?” Her unamused chuckle littered the air. “I told you he’s like a brother to me. Marrying him would be practically incestuous. Besides, he’s too old for me.”
“Not from his point of view.” He shoveled a forkful into his mouth, and then groaned in pleasure. “You’re a damn good cook, Rachel.”
She frowned, ignoring his compliment, and focused on his unsettling remark. “Bill’s point of view is the same as mine. He’s been like an older brother since I can remember.”
He shrugged. “If you say so. It’s not my call to make. But I can tell you this, a man doesn’t look at his sister the way Bill looked at you, and a brother might not like the guy his sister is dating, but he’s not going to fly off the handle like that unless I abused you in some respect. That was jealousy through and through.”
“No. You’re wrong.” She sipped her coffee while she pondered his comment. “He was mad that I didn’t tell him earlier that I was interested in someone, which of course I couldn’t because I didn’t know you then. That’s all. I’ll talk to him after breakfast, patch things up, and you’ll see I’m right.”
Bill did not like her that way.
Chapter Six
Rachel’s boots crunched the frosted yellow grass as she trekked the space between her house and the big red barn. She dreaded facing Bill again, but she had to talk to him and smooth things over. The distance between them would eat at her until she did.
Weak sunshine crested the misty mountains, casting a rosy glow over the barren trees. The morning still carried the kiss of winter, but she relished the crisp, cold, refreshing air.
Mornings like these reminded her of why she could never be happy anywhere other than Blackwater.
She inhaled a deep breath and pulled open the barn door, prepared to do as much damage control as she could.
The familiar musty smell greeted her like an old friend as she passed by the horse stalls. A few acknowledged her with a whinny, and she stopped by Gemini’s for a moment to say her usual hello followed by a quick rub on his buckskin muzzle.
“I’m headed out to the north field this morning to make sure the wolves haven’t bothered the herd again.” Bill’s voice echoed from the shadows down the walkway.
“Sounds good.” She headed in that direction and found him in the last stall checking the horse’s front leg. The horse shifted nervously. Bill finished his assessment and stepped back. “It’s all right, girl. You’re healing just fine.”
Bill glanced at her, his expression anything but happy. “I was going to invite you along for the ride, but it looks like you have better things to do.” The bitter tone clinging to his words broke her heart.
The fact that he’d taken this so hard wounded her. She couldn’t count the number of times he’d been there for her. Most recently when she’d received news that a semi had mowed down her uncle’s truck on I-80. The driver had carelessly fallen asleep and stolen someone precious to her.
“Bill, I’m so sorry if my news has upset you.”
He lifted his broad shoulders and let them drop as though he didn’t have a care in the world, but his pained gaze said otherwise. “Doesn’t matter one way or the other to me. Don’t know why you think it would.”
She put her hand on his sleeve and waited for him to meet her gaze. “You matter to me. You’re the only family I have left around here. I should have said something much sooner. I got caught up in things and wasn’t thinking. Then Uncle Walt died, and it seemed there never was a good time. I hope you’ll forgive me.” She hated lying to him about her relationship with Caleb, but she needed him to know she was sorry.
“Did Walt know?” His dark eyes burrowed deep into her soul.
“No.” She couldn’t lie about that.
He snorted. “You love him enough to marry him, but you’ve never said a word to any of us. Sounds pretty shifty to me.” His gaze unnerved her.
“I suppose it does.”
“Do you love him?”
His question caught her off guard and threatened to topple her haphazardly constructed lie. She should have done a much better job creating the deception before Caleb ever arrived. “Of course I do. I wouldn’t marry him otherwise.”
She swallowed the huge lump of disquiet that threatened to choke her. Caleb may very well have been right. Why had she not noticed Bill’s interest before? But it was right there as plain as the mustache on his face.
Bill studied her for a moment, his breath crystalizing in the cold air as he exhaled. “If this is about Franklin, about needing to be married to keep the ranch, I’ll marry you.”
Guilt twisted uncomfortably inside her. She quickly reassessed their past. Bill had always been around, but… “That’s awfully sweet of you, Bill. I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice your future for me and the ranch, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“But I would, Rachel.” Earnest emotion flickered in his eyes. “I’d do it for you.”
Oh, God. “I know you would, and I thank you for that. You’re a true gentleman. But I have a fiancé, so you can save yourself for the woman you’ll truly love.” She laughed softly, hoping to diffuse the situation.
He turned from her and fussed with the lock on the horse stall. “I’d do anything to make sure that jackass cousin of yours didn’t inherit the place. He’d run it to the ground before the leaves turned again, and we’d all be out of jobs.”
“I agree, but don’t worry. I’ll never let that happen.” Pretending his interest was all about the ranch was his way of saving face, and she’d let him have it.
“You’re a good man, Bill.” She patted his forearm. “If the offer is still open on the ride this morning, I wouldn’t mind going with you.”
“I suppose,” he grumbled, and she allowed herself a small smile.
“Do you think we could run into town, too? I need to stop by the bank.” She’d been distracted by so many things lately and had forgotten to deposit checks for the past two weeks.
“What’s your boyfriend going to do while we’re gone?” The sarcastic tone of his voice grated her nerves the slightest, but she reined in her reaction before speaking.
“He wanted time to get to know the area.”
“You think he should be going alone?” He looked at her as though she might be crazy.
“This isn’t his first time on a ranch, Bill. He knows what he’s doing.”
He turned and walked away from her. “We’ll see about that.”
“Yes, we will.” She hurried to catch up. His doubt in her judgement bothered her greatly. “Not to mention he’s a grown man. He’s not going to get lost or hurt. I told him I’d be busy this morning, but he could saddle a horse or take my ATV.”
Bill turned to her, his eyebrows rising further up his forehead, increasing her ire that he questioned her judgement.
“If I’m going to marry the man, he should probably learn his way around here, don’t you think?”
He gave her a disgusted look before he stalked away from her. She rolled her eyes as she shook her head.
Men.
She caught sight of Caleb watching out the window when she climbed into the passenger seat of Bill’s truck. Bill shut her door before he walked to the driver’s side. When she glanced toward the house again, Caleb had disappeared from view.
Bill started his truck and cranked up the heater. “Good thing the engine is still warm. I’ll be glad when the last of the snow is gone, and we have warmer days.”
Rach
el smiled, appreciating the familiarity of their conversation. She couldn’t count the number of times they’d both piled into the vehicle to check fences on the north side of the property or to chase down a lost calf in the south end of the valley. Bill always commented on the weather. She chuckled. “It’s always too warm or too cold for you. Is there a time of year that you love?”
“Late April,” she said at the same time as he did, suddenly remembering he always like the spring blossoms.
He grinned. “You know me too well.”
She’d always thought so, too, but now she wondered.
She studied him as he turned his sturdy pickup around and drove toward the dirt roads that ran a maze through her property. Bill had always been something of a regular guy to her, but she tried to view him in a new light today, as a possible partner. Medium height, super short hair, strong hands with their share of scars. His brown felt hat had seen better days. In fact, she couldn’t remember him ever wearing a different one. He wouldn’t be the same man without it sitting on his head.
After her closer inspection, she concluded there was nothing ugly or particularly handsome about him. Just an average, dependable guy, which wasn’t a bad thing.
Just someone she’d never considered before.
At the northern most part of their land, he turned his truck toward the top of the ridge. A few moments later, the entirety of her property spread out below them like a carpet of browns and greens still topped with snow in some parts.
She grabbed a pair of binoculars from the glovebox and exited the truck. At the edge of the ridge, she stopped and took a moment to appreciate the grandeur of the area. Rugged, uninhabitable mountains jutted up behind them, providing the wilderness the wolves loved to roam but also protecting her ranch from bad storms. She wished for a moment that she’d come with Caleb instead of Bill so she could share with him the beauty she loved so much.