Rubies and Boots
Danni Lee Nicholls
Copyright © 2019 by Danni Lee Nicholls
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
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Rubies and Boots
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
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Rubies and Boots
Country Brides & Cowboy Boots
She doesn’t want to like him, and he’s doing his best to love her.
Ruby Johannsen loves her hometown of Sunrise Creek, Montana. She’s especially fond of her sweet little neighborhood that hugs the shores of the local lake. But change is coming. Newcomers are discovering Sunrise Creek’s rugged beauty. They’re tearing down the cozy cottages along the lakefront to build their own version of the Montanan lodge, threatening everything meaningful to Ruby.
Jonah Stiles has always wanted to be a rancher. When his best friend, Curtis Markham invites him to spend the summer working with him on his family’s ranch in Sunrise Creek, Jonah jumps at the chance. It doesn’t take him long to discover this sweet corner of Montana is everything he’s dreamed of, and he’s determined to own a piece of it.
When Ruby meets Jonah, she’s attracted to his friendly manner and good looks. In spite of Jonah’s status as an outsider, the two begin to create an uneasy friendship. But newcomers aren’t the only problem facing Sunrise Creek. When danger shows up on Ruby’s front porch, the repercussions will be swift and frightening, exposing Ruby’s deepest betrayal and the reason she guards her heart with the same vigilance as her hometown. In her effort to overcome both a painful past and a dangerous here and now, she’ll have to be willing to trust Jonah and believe his word is as good as his promise.
One
Ruby gazed out the window of the Jumpin’ Bean Java before placing her chin in her palm and sighing. It was a gorgeous June day in Sunrise Creek, Montana, and the morning rush of tourists had fortified themselves with her coffee and other breakfast treats, leaving her display case half empty. The visitors were now exploring the surrounding lakes and mountains, and Ruby wished she could skip out on work and join them in the great outdoors. This morning, she’d have to settle for the sweet morning breeze and the little patch of sky she could see from her window.
Owning her own business left her little time for the things she enjoyed. Occasionally, her older sister, Emmie, or younger sister, Lexie, would stand in for her so she could get some time away, but she didn’t like to rely on her sisters. The little coffee shack was her responsibility, not theirs.
Turning from the window, Ruby picked up her dishrag and wiped down the counter before opening the back door to allow a cross breeze to filter through the small room. The gentle wind caressed her skin as she considered hiring someone to work part time. Quickly, she dismissed the thought. Ruby worked the business herself in order to squirrel away both the profit and the tips. She wasn’t sure where all her money would go, but it offered her security. Being single in Sunrise Creek required a financial safety net. There weren’t a lot of available young men in the vicinity.
Ruby recalled her best friend, Willow, and how she’d met her fiancé, Mick. He had literally run into town on the toe of a frozen winter and stayed. Now, nine months later, they were engaged. Ruby couldn’t expect that same luck to extend to her, and that suited her fine. She liked living at home with her parents and two sisters in the cozy lakefront cottage where she’d been raised, and the family connections meant more to her than her independence.
Most of Ruby’s high school friends had yearned for freedom and had blown out of town within ten minutes of graduation; their Ford Explorers had been filled to the brim with everything from their childhood rooms as they’d marched forward into an uncertain future filled with promise. During that week after graduation, Ruby hugged more people goodbye than ever before, with each departure becoming harder than the last.
Letting out a long sigh, Ruby went back to the window and took in the sweet breath of air and generous sun, but the brightness of the June day dimmed with the realization that today was the anniversary of her final high school farewell. Standing in Cooper’s driveway, with the shade of the huge evergreen hanging over them as the morning dawned, Ruby had cried like a baby as Cooper held her in his arms and promised to come back to Sunrise Creek once he got out of school. He would buy her a big house on a huge swath of land, and they would get married and live like royalty.
A sardonic laugh escaped Ruby. That was just like Cooper—thinking he’d become a millionaire within the space of a few years and live the dreams they’d built together out of the clouds that chased each other in the Montanan sky. The joke had been on her.
Right after he’d left, she and Cooper talked every day and texted continually. Then, their correspondence dropped off to just a few times a week. Ruby had tried to soothe herself. Cooper was busy, working on some master plan that was for the both of them. But by Christmas, Cooper wasn’t returning her texts or her phone calls. Finally, on the first day of the New Year, he sent her a cryptic message, telling her it was time for both of them to move on. He had thrown her out like an old habit that needed replacing at the beginning of a new year.
Tears rose to Ruby’s eyes, and she hurriedly brushed them away. She’d never told anyone about Cooper’s betrayal, choosing instead to lie to her parents by telling them the decision to break up was mutual. She couldn’t imagine sharing the dark shame of his abandonment with them. They loved Cooper and had as much faith in him as she did. Only Emmie knew the whole truth, but that didn’t expel Ruby’s shame. It still dogged her, pressing against her heart and weighing it down with the lock and key that kept it guarded.
Ruby glanced out the open back door of the coffee shack. Bert, the town mechanic and gossip, was clanking around his shop. The noise disturbed an otherwise peaceful morning.
Ruby bit her lip. It was through Bert that she’d learned Cooper had come home for a summer visit two years ago. He’d had money then. His dream had come true while he left hers in the dust. He’d bought a huge swath of land outside of town, but it lay fallow; the house was a tumbled-down mess from neglect and the Montanan winters.
Ruby sympathized with the
house and had driven out there a couple of times. Even in the summer, the wind had a mournful sound as it rustled through unused stalls, a broken-down front porch, and empty fields. There her sad anger could be cried or screamed out until she was exhausted.
Cooper had also bought a lakeside cottage several houses down from Ruby’s. He tore apart the small quaint home and built a mansion that shouldered out other smaller cottages along the lake shore. Somewhere along the line, Cooper stopped being a local and became a newcomer, and other newcomers followed, with a new home currently being built two doors down. Its skeletal frame pierced the summer sky, transforming Ruby’s sweet cottage neighborhood into a modern marvel of mansions. According to Bert, Cooper called his place Retiro de Verano, which was Spanish for “summer retreat.” Ruby called it Pretension.
When Cooper had driven up to the Jumpin’ Bean for two iced coffees, the passenger’s seat of his Land Rover was taken by a leggy blonde with puffy lips. The ring on his left hand told Ruby everything she needed to know, and his behavior confirmed it. Cooper acted as if he’d never known Ruby, had never kissed her mouth or sat in the grass behind her home, watching the night sky reflecting in the lake while talking about their hopes for the future. She brushed his fingers with hers as she handed him his drinks and watched as he flinched away. He handed her a twenty-dollar bill and told her to keep the change before rushing off, her words of protest still stuck behind her throat.
Ruby had left the twenty on the counter for ten minutes before tearing it into tiny pieces. She would not take his dirty payoff. The injury of him was so tender and deep that Ruby closed the Jumpin’ Bean and huddled in the corner, doubled over in hyperventilating pain as she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the tears would disappear.
It was Bert who’d knocked on her window, pretending to want another cup of coffee. His presence pulled her out of her misery, and with shaking hands, she poured him a cup of black joe.
“I know the two of you were dating, but I never liked the kid,” Bert had said. “He was always too big for his britches.”
Cooper hadn’t returned since that fateful day. His new lakeside house was almost as empty as the ranchlands. Ruby refused to offer any sympathy. She hated the colossal modern structure so close to her own home. It was one more assault. At least the mansion was farther down the lane from hers, and she didn’t have to pass the empty monstrosity to get to her sweet little cottage.
Ruby’s heart constricted at the memory, and she pushed the recollection away. Cooper’s defection was all the reminder she needed that she had no use for people who had more money than brains. And she had no use for men.
Turning away from the window, Ruby took several calming breaths before she knelt in front of the small refrigerator to check her supply of milk and flavored syrups. Forcing Cooper, his wife, and his houses from her mind, she tallied up her needs and began planning her next trip to Missoula for supplies. If she thought about other things, this anniversary would pass, leaving the sharpness behind to form a dull, pulsing ache every time she thought of him.
As she stood from her position in front of the fridge, the rumble of a diesel pickup caught Ruby’s attention. The sound grew as the truck slowed near the shack. Ruby knew everyone in town and could tell who was pulling up to her window by the sound of their vehicle. She could even spot tourists by the quiet hum of their rental cars. The thunder of this particular diesel engine was familiar, but she wasn’t able to place the owner until the driver appeared at her window.
Delight lit up in Ruby. “Curtis!”
“Hey, Ruby.” He turned off the diesel and grinned at her.
Ruby smiled brightly at the return of her childhood friend. Even though Curtis Markham was Willow’s ex-fiancé, Ruby still appreciated his friendship, and she counted on him still being single. Not for herself, but for older sister, Emmie. Ever since Willow and Curtis had broken up, Ruby encouraged Emmie to stay in touch with him in hopes they would become a couple. Her sister didn’t need much encouragement.
“Your Uncle Bert told me you were coming home. Are you finished with school now?” Looking past Curtis, she noticed a passenger seated in jeans and a T-shirt. His face was obscured from view, but his hands were broad and strong.
“Yes sirree. I finally graduated with my master’s in agricultural economics, and Jonah and I just arrived in town from Texas. You’re our first stop.” Curtis jerked his thumb toward his passenger. “Jonah Stiles, meet Ruby Johannsen. The best barista in the west.”
Ruby bent down a little to say hello to the visitor and was immediately struck by his curly dark brown hair and midnight-blue eyes. His cheekbones were high, and his nose was a perfect shape. His jaw sported a five-o’clock shadow, even though it was late morning. She tried to cover a gasp as her breath stuttered to a stop. Pulling herself together, she smiled again. “Welcome to Sunrise Creek.”
Jonah returned her smile, revealing a generous mouth with white, even teeth. “Thanks. I’m happy to be here.”
Curtis laughed. “Jonah thinks he’s some kind of coffee aficionado, so we have a little bet going. I told him you’d produce the best of whatever he wanted.”
Ruby’s warm feelings toward Curtis and Jonah cooled. Every summer, tourists lined up and would judge her coffee against their favorite coffeehouse brew from home. She was well-practiced in this game, and it irritated her that she had to play it with Curtis and his friend. She hated these silly comparisons. Or maybe she was bored with them. Almost every tourist who was interested in analyzing her drinks would take their time sipping while making comments about the pros and cons of what she produced and what they drank at home, all while expecting her to smile and nod.
Ruby tore her gaze from Jonah and looked at Curtis. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll have a sixteen-ounce black-and-white,” Curtis said.
Ruby flashed her eyes toward Jonah. “And you?”
“I’ll have a bone-dry cappuccino.”
Ruby blinked in surprise. She bit her tongue and counted to five.
Jonah’s smile widened. “We’ve got a five-buck bet, so it’d better be the best one I’ve ever had or Curtis is going to lose some serious money.” Jonah’s eyes laughed with merriment, as if he meant to bring Ruby in on their little game.
She pursed her lips as crisp annoyance grew. Like most baristas, she hated making bone-dry cappuccinos. Her tone was cool, and it matched her eyes. “I’ll make you the best one I know how, Mr. Stiles, and you and Curtis will have to settle the bet between yourselves.”
She watched Curtis’s smile evaporate and Jonah blink in confusion before she slammed the window shut and began her work. She desperately wanted to roll her eyes in contempt and distaste. Instead, she clamped her teeth together and began working on the cappuccino. It was a laborious and wasteful drink, taking one full quart of milk to make the foam for one sixteen-ounce drink.
Proud of her work, she poured the last bit of foam to create her signature flower on top of the drink and opened the window. “One bone-dry cappuccino.” She turned back inside and hurried through Curtis’s black-and-white before handing over his cup. “That’ll be nine-fifty,” she said, purposely keeping her eyes on Curtis. She wasn’t going to ask Mr. Coffee Expert what he thought of his bone-dry cappuccino, because she honestly didn’t care for his opinion. If he was like most of her customers, her coffee would never be as good as what he got at home, and she didn’t want to hear the reasons why his favorite barista was the best.
Curtis fished around for his wallet. Jonah quickly produced a twenty. Leaning over the console, he handed the bill to Ruby. “Keep the change.” He flashed her a brilliant smile.
Ruby offered her best expression of customer servitude. Another man who had more money than brains. She wasn’t about to thaw her opinion of him over a ten-fifty tip. She knew his type. He was like all newcomers. They showed up here every summer with their lake homes or gentleman ranches full of expensive furnishings and their pockets full of cash, expecting the loc
als to gather like penniless children every time they flashed their money. She was surprised that Curtis would befriend someone in that price bracket.
Turning to Curtis, she pasted another smile on her face, even though her eyes held no warmth. “Welcome home,” she offered brightly. Before he could answer, she shut the window and turned away.
Two
Jonah took a sip of the bone-dry cappuccino, and a slow smile crept onto his face. Oh, yeah. That was good. Maybe not as good as his favorite coffee house in Texas. No place held the distinction of beating the LDU coffeehouse in his hometown of University Park.
He turned to Curtis. “What do you say we split the difference on the bet?”
Curtis took a sip of his black-and-white. “Nope. This is the best black-and-white in the west. You owe me five bucks.”
Holding his cup high, Jonah said, “This is good, but it’s not the best I’ve tasted.” He shrugged. “Although it is better than anything we drank while in school. I’ll give you that.” He took another sip of his cappuccino. There was just the right amount of soft, textured foam, and the bitterness of the coffee slid down his throat with ease. His thoughts meandered to the young woman who’d made his drink. She was beautiful with glossy auburn hair pinned up in a nonchalant ponytail. Her cheeks held a tint of rose, but he didn’t like the coolness that filtered into her snappy black eyes. Most women gazed at him with open invitations and admiration. If it wasn’t his looks that commanded their attention, it was his money, and he passed it around like glitter. Ruby didn’t seem to be affected by either. What did she call him? Mr. Stiles. That made Jonah laugh. Mr. Stiles was his oil-rich father.
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