by Francis Ray
She started to reach for the radio on her belt until she remembered Duncan’s words: I don’t have time to babysit. She had told him she could take care of herself.
Even knowing there was no one in sight, she glanced around. “Looks like you’re it.”
Placing the radio on the passenger seat, she opened the door and stepped out into the muddy creek.
Chapter 6
Duncan drove the truck into the shed and closed the door. He enjoyed riding horseback, but there were times, like today when he helped deliver salt licks to the herd, that a horse wouldn’t do. A horse couldn’t carry the number of steel fence posts and barbed wire needed to repair a break. Ranching was changing and Duncan wasn’t sure if it was all for the better.
Too many of the men and women he knew had sold or died, leaving their ranches to uninterested relatives or kids or, worse, at the mercy of estate taxes and speculators like those Crane worked for. That wouldn’t happen to the Double D.
Duncan had no children, but he did have one wonderful nephew, Joshua, who would almost certainly follow his father into NASCAR racing. However, Duncan hoped that there would be other nephews and nieces. He was going to give it his best shot to ensure that one of them would grow to love the land as much as he did.
For him there would be no children.
He rounded the corner of the larger equipment shed and stopped, his brow furrowed. Raven’s Jeep wasn’t in front of the house. She’d called in—late as usual—almost three hours ago. It was past seven. She should have been at the ranch.
He increased his strides. The one day when he hadn’t gone to the cave to check on her, and look what had happened. Snatching open the door, he hurried inside. “Rooster. Rooster.”
The older man met him in the great room. “Yes, boss.”
“Where is she?”
Rooster shook his head. “I don’t know. She called about an hour ago to say she’d be late.”
“You didn’t ask her why?” Duncan asked.
Rooster’s neck stuck out, illustrating the reason for his nickname. “I did.”
“Well?” Duncan asked.
“Said she had something to take care of.”
“It will be dark in an hour,” Duncan said.
“She’s all right, ain’t she, boss?” Rooster asked, his eyes and voice worried.
“Yes,” Duncan answered, wanting to calm the man’s fears. He’d deal with his own later. “She’s just trying to annoy me.” Duncan turned toward the back door.
“You gonna go look for her?” Rooster asked, hard on Duncan’s heels.
“Yes,” Duncan bit out, heading for the ATV. It would get him to the cave faster than on horseback.
A group of his men, laughing and talking, came out of the barn. Duncan opened his mouth to tell them to stay close by in case he needed them—then he heard the sound of the Jeep’s engine. He whirled around.
“She’s back, boss,” Rooster yelled unnecessarily.
Duncan’s eyes widened. The Jeep was covered almost totally in mud. Raven braked sharply and climbed out.
The only reason he knew it was her was by the shape of her body. She didn’t stop until she reached the water faucet on the side of the house. Unrolling the hose, she closed her eyes and pointed the spray of water into her face.
“What happed to her, boss?” Ramon asked from beside him.
“How would I know?” Duncan snapped, but he intended to find out. He passed Rooster on the way to her.
“She looks like she took a mud bath,” Billy said. “Her Jeep, too.”
“I know a mad woman when I see one,” Rooster said. “Walk easy, boss.”
Duncan dismissed Rooster’s warning. Raven was the one who had better walk easy after scaring him half to death.
“Where have—” He jumped back, barely being missed by a spray of water.
Raven moved the water to her arms. Water ran in muddy rivulets down her legs to her bare feet.
“What—”
“I’d advise you to leave me alone, Duncan,” she hissed.
“Tried to warn you,” Rooster said.
Duncan ignored Rooster and studied Raven. She didn’t appear hurt, just mad, as Rooster had pointed out. Duncan took a wide berth around her and looked into the Jeep. The driver’s seat, gearshift, and pedals were just as muddy. Mud coated the tires, beneath the fenders.
He came back to her. “Why didn’t you call if you got stuck?”
“Leave me alone, Duncan.” Bending from the waist, she sprayed water into her hair.
He stepped forward. “Let me—” Water hit him in the chest. His stare promised retribution.
“I don’t need your help.” Her clenched fist tightened on the water hose. “You don’t have to babysit me and I can take care of myself.” Dismissing him with a look, she sprayed water on her shirt, trying to get the thick layer of mud off.
It wasn’t happening anytime soon. All she was doing was making a mud puddle on the front lawn and creating a strangely erotic scene.
He looked over his shoulder. Several of his ranch hands stood in rapt fascination, watching as the mud washed away bit by bit, leaving her clothes plastered to her body. “Don’t you have work to do?” he asked.
The men scattered. He turned, gritted his teeth. He could actually see Raven’s nipples. He might get the water hose from her, but not without a struggle. He started for the house. Rooster followed. “You’re gonna leave her?”
“I’m going for some towels and she doesn’t need an audience.” Grabbing the towels out of the half bath off the kitchen, he went back outside. She was still at it and finally making a dent in the mud clinging to her.
He waited another five minutes and silently held out a towel. He knew the spurt of water that hit him in the face wasn’t an accident. He continued to hold out the towel.
“I don’t like you at the moment,” she said, glaring at him.
“Take the towel, Raven.”
A tear tolled down her cheek. His gut clenched. He closed the distance between them. “Are you hurt?”
“Mad as hell. It took over an hour to get Buddy unstuck.” She snatched the towel from his hand, held it in front of his face with her clenched fist. “Do you know how many times I put brush and sticks in front of the back tires, hoping to get enough traction to pull free, only to hear the tires spin uselessly? Do you?”
“Ra—”
“Twenty-three times, that’s how many, but I did it.” She clutched the towel in her hand. “I proved I don’t need you, Duncan McBride. I wonder if you can say the same thing about me.” Tossing the water hose aside, she turned off the water, then went to sit on the porch steps. She dried her legs and feet, then stood and went up the steps. The door slammed shut behind her.
Duncan looked at the closed door, then picked up the water hose and turned it back on to wash her Jeep. She was wrong. He didn’t need her. Lust wasn’t need.
Raven washed her hair five times and then soaked in the tub for an hour before she felt human. During it all, she had time to think and calm down.
She’d blamed Duncan for what had happened. If he hadn’t kept throwing in her face that he didn’t have time to babysit her and didn’t have a spare man to watch over her, she would have called for help.
However, as she put on a fresh pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, she had to admit her own stubborn pride was the root of her problem. She’d wanted to prove she didn’t need him. All she’d proven was that she could be as stubborn as her grandmother, who didn’t forgive or forget, to Raven’s grandfather’s everlasting regret. Grandma Eagle had an irritating habit of bringing up the past instead of letting it go and moving on.
Raven had sworn she didn’t want to be that way. As her mother always said, holding grudges made you and everyone around you unhappy.
Dressed, Raven started back downstairs. She still had to clean up the Jeep and buy new tires. She winced thinking of the expense. She probably should have asked Blade to outfit the Jeep, but he’d
done enough. She’d thought they would last.
Opening the door, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Duncan, Rooster, Ramon, and Billy were washing her Jeep. Duncan looked up. “You feeling better?”
Regret and embarrassment hit her. She’d been horrible to him. Yet, despite her outburst, he was seeing to her welfare. Again. “Yes, I’m sor—”
“Why don’t you go eat and call it an early night,” he interrupted. “We’ll take care of this.”
She was tired. “Thank you. Rooster, Ramon, Billy, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” they chorused.
Raven closed the front door and went to the kitchen. Perhaps today would be the turning point in her and Duncan’s relationship. If so, the Jeep getting stuck might have been worth it.
After they cleaned up the Jeep, Duncan personally checked under the hood, filled the gas tank, and replaced her worn tires with new ones. He kept a supply of tires on the ranch for all the vehicles. The rocky terrain demanded it, since it chewed up tires. He wanted the ranch as self-sufficient as possible.
Ensuring the Jeep was in good shape didn’t help keep the angry words she had tossed at him from returning again and again. I proved I don’t need you, Duncan McBride. I wonder if you can say the same thing about me.
At the time, he’d been so sure she was wrong. He didn’t need her. He enjoyed the meals she cooked, but he’d made it before she showed up and he’d be all right once she left.
Or would he?
In Belle’s stall, he stroked the mare’s huge belly. She carried her first foal. Black Jack, the sire, shifted restlessly a few stalls over. “She’s all right, boy.”
Duncan took care of his own. He didn’t know any other way.
But he hadn’t taken care of Raven. He had been so set on remaining detached that she had been in trouble and wouldn’t call for help. Twenty-three times she’d knelt in the mud to get the Jeep unstuck. Twenty-two times she’d failed.
He wasn’t sure he would have had the fortitude to keep going. He would have walked back to the ranch—where he knew help waited. Raven hadn’t been sure of that. His fault.
“Duncan,” came a quiet whisper.
His head came up. He peered over the stall’s door. Raven slowly walked down the aisle, stopping to peer over the doors. “Here.”
A tentative smile on her face, she slowly walked to him. “Rooster said you’d be here.”
Duncan came out of the stall. “Are you all right?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over her.
This time the smile was more natural. “Yes. A bath and a nap can do wonders.”
“I’m sorry, Raven. Don’t ever hesitate again to let any of us know you need help.” His gaze held hers. “I hope you believe me.”
“Seeing you and the others wash Buddy went a long way to convince me.” She leaned back against the stall door. “I wasn’t looking forward to getting muddy again. The Jeep probably hasn’t been this clean since my father purchased it secondhand for me when I was a sophomore in college.”
Duncan recalled the imprints of her nipples in the blouse and shifted restlessly. “What happened?”
She blew out a disgusted breath and straightened to peer over the stall door. “I wanted to scout the territory around the cave. I was excited to see water in Bitter Creek—until I get stuck in it.”
“And decided to get yourself unstuck,” he said, disgust in his voice.
“My own stubborn fault.” She reached out a hand and rubbed the blazed face of the mare. “Believe me, the next time, I’m calling for help.”
“Hopefully, with the new tires, that won’t happen.”
“What?” She spun to him.
“You needed new tires,” he told her. “Ruth placed you in my care. I faltered once; I don’t plan to do so again.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll pay you back.”
“You already have by cooking supper.”
She pushed away from the stall door. “Thank you. I better get back to the house.”
“Good night.”
She took a few steps and paused. “Are you coming?”
“Foals are born at night. I want to watch over Belle a while longer.” And try to clear you from my head.
“All right, Duncan. Good night.”
“Good night, Raven.”
Raven whistled as she drove Buddy into town. She’d been on the Double D two weeks. After the creek incident, she and Duncan had declared a truce.
He still checked on her and the perimeter around the cave. She cooked dinner and occasionally breakfast. She didn’t always see him in the evenings. She often thought of going to the barn in the evenings to see if he was there, but something always stopped her.
Stopping in front of Harold’s, the main grocery store in Elks Ridge, she climbed out of the Jeep. It was as if both she and Duncan were aware that their relationship was at a crossroads. It could stay on a business level or deepen into an intensely personal one. She wasn’t sure which she wanted.
Entering the store, she grabbed a basket and began to move down the aisles. The small store was nothing like the supermarkets in Santa Fe, yet somehow she felt more at home shopping here. People nodded and spoke, and she returned the greeting.
Pulling out her list, she went in search of baking products, her mind wandering back to Duncan. She could tell by the way he looked at her that he wasn’t any more sure of which way he wanted things to go than she was.
A couple of times this week he’d looked at her as if he wanted her gone. But, she mused as she paused in front of the sugar, there were those magical, unguarded moments when she’d caught him unaware. His gaze was hot enough to incinerate, the desire frank and compelling.
Wrinkling her nose, she picked up a ten-pound bag of sugar. He wanted her, but he wasn’t about to act on it. Which might be for the best. When she finished authenticating the find, she was going back to Santa Fe, to write her paper, send it off for publication, and move one step closer to realizing her dream of tenure.
She moved to the flour. She’d promised Rooster fudge and Ramon and Billy another chocolate cake. She smiled, remembering their jubilance. If only Duncan were so easily pleased.
“Hello, Raven. Today must be my lucky day.”
Raven glanced up to see Crane. This time she looked beyond the expensive suit, the charming smile on his handsome face. She watched his gaze dart over her body, pausing briefly on her breasts. Rooster and Duncan were right. Crane was all surface. She’d met his kind before—slick, charming, and self-serving. “Hello, Mr. Crane.”
“Please call me Lester,” he said, showing beautifully capped teeth that probably cost more than her Jeep when it was new.
She smiled, the smile she’d perfected though her years as a student and then in academia when faced with unpleasant people. It took more effort than the people were worth to tell them to take a hike off a cliff, plus it solved nothing.
Since she planned on never seeing him again, she could be pleasant for a few moments. “I was just finishing some grocery shopping.”
“A beautiful woman like you shouldn’t have to worry about cooking,” he said with a broad smile. “Have dinner with me tonight. There isn’t much to offer here, but we could go to Billings. I know the perfect place.”
“That’s very nice of you, but I already have dinner plans.”
His smile slipped the tiniest bit. “With McBride.”
“Possibly. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to get this done.” She stepped around the man and saw Duncan. The condemnation in his dark gaze seared her. But it was a thousand times worse for Crane. If looks could kill, he would need an undertaker.
Continuing to the cashier, Duncan checked out, then left with the bag clutched in a tight fist.
“I didn’t know I was stepping on anyone’s toes,” Crane said, a snide grin on his face.
“Please don’t worry about it,” she said, waiting a few seconds before adding, “You aren’t.”
Her comment
effectively wiped the smile from his face. “Good-bye, Mr. Crane.” Walking away, she went to the cashier. Finished, Raven picked up her groceries and went outside.
Once at her Jeep, she placed the bag on the floor in front of the passenger’s seat, then went around to the driver’s side. Instead of getting inside, she glanced around, searching for and finding Duncan’s truck parked a few spaces down from hers. There was no sign of him.
She dragged her hand though her unbound hair in frustration. It wasn’t her fault he’d jumped to conclusions. She didn’t delude herself into thinking Duncan might be jealous. He just intensely disliked the man.
She should just go, but she remained. Besides the anger, there had been something else, something indefinable, in Duncan’s eyes. If she didn’t know better, she’d say it was hurt. “You’re losing it, Raven, my girl.”
On the other side of the busy street, Duncan emerged from the post office. He’d taken no more than two steps before he stopped sifting through the handful of mail. His head came up. His gaze locked with hers. For a split second, she thought she glimpsed a softening of his features, and then his gaze went beyond her. His face turned rock hard.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Crane. The man was really beginning to irritate her. She turned to open her front door. Crane, grinning as if he’d won the lottery, beat her to it.
“Allow me.” Opening the door, he stepped back only enough to let her pass. As she did so, he dropped an ecru business card into her open handbag. “My private cell phone number, in case you change your mind.”
“I won’t. Thank you for the door,” she said, sliding into the Jeep.
When she stopped at the signal light, she looked in her rearview mirror. A big black truck was behind her.
Duncan.
She wasn’t surprised to see him. He probably couldn’t wait to lecture her again. Seemed the unspoken truce was over.
Why she just didn’t tell him she wasn’t interested in Crane she wasn’t sure. Aware that she was probably in for another lecture, she drove slowly all the way to the ranch house. Although it was Saturday, she knew Duncan probably had things to do. Yet he remained a car length behind her.