The image of a half-naked Shane on a bed immediately sprang into Rachel’s mind. She frowned. What was wrong with her?
Stop that right now, she ordered herself. She didn’t even like the man. She didn’t want to like the man. Hadn’t she just yesterday shed one bad example of the male species?
Rachel shuddered. For two years, ever since Jason had broken her heart by leaving her for “a womanly woman,” the woman he’d been waiting for all his life, as he put it, she’d sworn off associations with men entirely. Now she seemed to be making up for lost time, hooking up with one untrustworthy male after another. The thought that she might be turning into her mother, going gooey and giddy over any man who wandered near her, made Rachel feel suddenly sick.
She grabbed another cup and forced herself not to attack it. She needed to keep her mind on the work she’d been lucky enough to find, even if it was work she wasn’t really qualified to do. She’d already nearly burned Ruby’s boarding house down by trying to help her cook. That couldn’t happen with Shane. Nothing bad could happen with Shane or he would fire her rear end.
Don’t let that happen, she ordered herself. Be professional. Just professional.
“So, he’s good with numbers?” Rachel said. “Kind of an accountant type?” That sounded safe. Good.
Ruby laughed. “If you’re thinking you can take the edge off of a man like Shane by slapping a label on him, good luck with that. He’ll still be just as much of a heartbreaker. Besides, he’s got those smoldering eyes.”
He did. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Her comment was followed immediately by the sound of a car door slamming, and Rachel nearly dropped a cup. In less than a minute those smoldering eyes were staring at her and Ruby. He hadn’t knocked, but then, this was an inn.
“Ready?” Shane asked in that deep voice of his.
No. But that was the wrong answer. “Yes, just as soon as I finish up here. I owe Ruby big-time.”
“That’s okay. You run along,” Ruby said.
At the same time Shane said, “All right. I’ll wait.”
“Thank you,” Rachel said in her best prim employee voice.
“Well, then, did you eat already, Shane?” Ruby asked.
“I did.”
“Could you eat again? If you had to make your own breakfast, you probably ate something disgusting.”
A brief but wide smile flitted across Shane’s face, revealing those devastating dimples before it disappeared. Rachel tried not to stare, sure that Ruby was watching her to see her reaction. No man should be allowed to look that good.
“I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
“If your memory hasn’t failed you, you’ll know that there’s always something on the stove here. Sit down and eat.”
Shane moved toward the table. “Thank you.”
Uh-oh, Rachel thought. Shane was a big eater and Ruby was a really good cook. What would he think when he had to eat Rachel’s cooking? How soon would he fire her? She hoped she could at least make a few dollars before that happened. Maybe enough to get her a few miles closer to her destination.
Behind her, she could hear the clatter of dishes and the sound of a chair scraping against the floor as Shane sat down behind her. Rachel rubbed the dishes dry. When she was finished, she turned around to find Shane already waiting for her. This time when he asked if she was ready she couldn’t put off the inevitable.
Rachel Everly wasn’t thrilled about this job. That much was clear to Shane as they got in his truck and drove toward the ranch. He’d never seen anyone take so much time drying a dish.
Not that he blamed her. If he’d been caught flat broke and forced to earn his way home he wouldn’t be thrilled, either. Plus, Ruby was a colorful storyteller. There was no telling what she had told Rachel. There were plenty of stories circulating about him, and he didn’t exactly shine in any of them. Some of them dealt with things he didn’t want to think about. Most, if not all of them, were true.
Not that Rachel’s enthusiasm for the task mattered. It was just a job that needed to be done, and the sooner they waded in, the sooner both of them could be free of the ranch, Moraine and each other. They might as well hit the ground running.
“You might want to pay attention to which direction we’re headed,” he said after a few minutes. “Some of these country roads aren’t marked all that well, and it’s easy to get turned around. You’ll need to know how to get back to Ruby’s.”
He felt rather than saw her turn to him. “Is it close enough to get there on foot?”
“Only if you’re a horse and you have a lot of time.” Shane might not want to get to know this woman, but the fact that she had a habit of saying things that forced him to hold back his smile wasn’t a good thing. He’d meant it when he’d said he didn’t want there to be anything personal about this situation. He was here to cut the final cords that bound him to this place, and when he left he never wanted to look back again. So, there was no way he’d allow himself to do anything he might regret. Not this time.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“You need to know the area, because there may be times when I’ll be out on the far reaches of the ranch and won’t be able to drive you back to Ruby’s when it’s time for you to go home. Or you might need to pick up supplies. At any rate, there are a lot of vehicles at the ranch. Hopefully, we’ll find one that’ll run and you can borrow it. Do you drive stick?”
There was a slight hesitation. “I do now.”
“That’ll do. I’ll show you the basics.”
He felt rather than saw her nod. “And you’ll be very specific about what my job entails, won’t you?”
“It pretty much just entails basic cleanup work and a few photos.”
“And cooking, Mr. Merritt.” She was clutching the handle of the door.
He frowned. “Shane. Just Shane. I’m not sure what Ruby told you, but I know she’s a good storyteller and a romantic. Just so you know, you’ve got nothing to fear from me. I really meant it when I said that there would be nothing personal involved in this job.”
Now he had her attention. She sat up straighter. “I never thought otherwise.”
“You’re practically ripping the handle off the door.”
Immediately she released it as if it were on fire. “Sorry. I guess it’s just being in unfamiliar territory. I’m a city girl and I’ve never been on a ranch.”
“I see.” But, remembering her rather magnificent tirade in the street yesterday and her long walk down the empty road, she didn’t strike him as the type who was afraid of grass, fences and trees. Still, given the fact that she was stuck in Moraine and broke, she had other reasons to want to hold on tight to something, he supposed. Not that it was any of his concern.
“And in case it wasn’t clear yesterday,” she said, interrupting his thoughts, “you don’t have to worry about me, either. I’ll be totally professional. I’m not the type who has romantic notions. I’m not pining for a cowboy. I don’t date people I work with. For the foreseeable future, I’m not dating anyone. If I’m slightly tense, it has nothing to do with anything Ruby may have said. I’m just getting my bearings.”
“Point taken. I apologize for thinking that Ruby might have told you something that made you apprehensive.”
She turned toward him then, her dark hair brushing across her cheek. He had a feeling she wanted to tell him that she wasn’t afraid of anything.
“Excuse me, but Ruby said… Have you really been in jail?” she asked, surprising him.
As if a door had been opened, old bad memories rushed in. “Yes.” No point in denying it, but he knew his tone said back off.
“Sorry. That was pretty rude of me, but I needed to know,” she said. “I have a bad habit of being slightly impulsive and too direct. Probing is the way one person put it.”
Great. He’d wanted an uncomplicated quick fix and he’d ended up with a woman who was going to pry into parts of his life that were open to no one, incl
uding himself.
“I’ll work on curbing that. Just tell me if I get out of line,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I will.” That was a promise.
For some reason, despite his grating tone, she seemed to relax a bit, studying the landscape. They passed the timbered entrance gates to the Bella Bryce Ranch. A few miles down the road were the modest iron gates of the Regal R. Shane could sense Rachel’s curiosity, though she kept silent. But when he turned in at Oak Valley, with its huge timbers with carved oak leaves climbing up and curling around the letters, she turned to him. “This looks big. It’s all yours?”
Somehow that made it sound too personal. “Yes, I’m the sole owner of Oak Valley Ranch.” Which was all wrong. He’d never wanted it, it should never have been his, and there were plenty of people who would agree with him on that.
“And yet you’re selling it?”
Her voice was incredulous. He tried not to frown, but it was difficult. He didn’t want to have to explain the whys and wherefores, what his life had been like growing up here, what had happened later and why he could never stay.
“I guess,” she said, “if you lived in a place all your life, this would seem like no big deal?” Clearly she was trying to deal with his frown. “And even though this is your home—”
“It’s not my home.” His voice came out a bit too harsh.
His comment was met by silence. Idiot. Why had he cut her off and said something that made this seem even more personal? She was just here to do a job. He wasn’t going to expose her to his history.
“I lived here most of my life, ever since I was three, but I’ve been gone for ten years and these days I run a business that keeps me on the move. I live in a lot of different places.” He hoped that explanation was enough to satisfy her.
“That works for you? Living in so many different places?”
Yes. Hell, yes. “It suits me perfectly. I was made to be on the move.”
“Not me,” she said, shaking her head, her long dark curls sliding against her shoulders. “Not at all. The one thing I want is my very own home in my favorite place. Maine. Same place all the time.”
He chanced a closer look at her and found that she had turned toward him. Those pretty brown eyes were intense, more than he would have expected given her casual lead-in questions. What must have happened to her to cause that kind of raw longing for a roots-buried-deep home of her own?
His curiosity must have been written on his face, because an enticing trace of pink painted her cheeks and dipped deep into the collar of her white shirt. Immediately a smoky trail of heat slipped through his body.
That wasn’t good. He was her boss. She was his employee. He needed to start acting more like an employer and help her get her bearings.
“You said you were a city girl. So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
“About ranching?”
“About whatever you need to know.”
“You might be sorry you said that.”
He had no doubt she was right. He’d seen Rachel in action, stranding herself in Moraine when a man had wronged her. She’d been magnificent, but perhaps a bit impulsive. He’d already been treated to one or two of her more impulsive questions. And he had fences. High fences with padlocks.
“There’s a good chance I might not answer every question in the way you’d like,” he warned.
She nodded. “That’s okay. You’re my boss. You’re allowed to tell me to slow down, to stop. You can tell me no.”
There was that dreaded heat again. Shane wanted to groan. No wasn’t the word he thought of when he looked at her. Certainly not slow down.
It occurred to him that he probably hadn’t been dating enough of late if he was having these kinds of erotic thoughts about a woman who made him cringe with half of what came out of her mouth. It also occurred to him that he was going to have to watch himself. She was in his care now. That made him responsible for her well-being, and having the wrong kinds of thoughts about her wasn’t allowed. The good thing was that their relationship wouldn’t last long.
He only hoped she was going to get the house in order quickly, had some skills with that camera, and knew her way around a stove.
Rachel wished she could relax a bit. Discovering that she and her boss had different goals had been freeing, but she was still far too aware of him. Maybe it had something to do with the emptiness of the land they were traversing. She and Shane appeared to be the only two people within miles.
The thing was, she’d meant it when she’d told him that she wasn’t a romantic. She’d been very young when she’d first learned that relationships weren’t made to last forever and that a promise given wasn’t necessarily a promise kept. Her grown up relationships had only served as more proof.
But, darn it, there was just something about Shane that made a woman want to…to look at him. Closely. It was disconcerting. She had never been a very physical kind of woman. Lust had not been a part of her life. The fact that she was even having these kinds of thoughts was totally alarming.
So don’t look. Get to work, she ordered herself. Do something to create some distance.
“So, Mr. Merritt, you have three weeks. What needs to be done during that time?” she asked casually, just as if she hadn’t been thinking about what Shane looked like underneath his shirt.
He raised a brow. “Shane,” he said, correcting her once again.”
She nodded. “Got it. Shane.” So much for distance.
“The ranch has been vacant for a while,” he said. “Things have deteriorated. The hay didn’t get cut, so that has to be done and then reseeded. At a minimum, fences have to be mended, buildings have to be repaired, irrigation systems checked out, weeds controlled. As I mentioned earlier, the house needs cleaning. The place has to look inviting if I’m going to be able to sell it quickly, and it has to be sold. Once it’s in marketable condition, I’ll ask you to take a few photos. We’ll list it anywhere we can and end with an open house, followed by an auction if we haven’t had any offers before then. Basically, we’re getting the ranch show ready, not necessarily ranch-ready.”
“The hay is for show?”
“Hay in the field will be more attractive. It’s one less thing the new owners will have to worry about when winter comes and they need to feed their animals.”
Rachel nodded. Once the two of them stopped talking, that sense of being alone with Shane in a world separated from everything else hit her again. “It’s so quiet here other than the birds,” she said. “You don’t seem to have any animals. No cows or sheep or…whatever else a ranch has. I don’t know. Llamas? Bison? Doesn’t a ranch have to have animals? Aren’t they what make a ranch…a ranch?”
He almost smiled that devastating smile, but—thank goodness—he put it away before she’d even gotten a good look. “Yes, most ranches have animals, but this one is for sale, and no one’s been here since…it’s been a while.” She didn’t miss that slight stumble, or the momentary pain that had flared in his eyes.
“When I inherited the ranch, I wasn’t prepared to deal with the situation, so I just let things sit for the most part. Except you can’t just let cattle sit unattended. I hired someone to sell them off.”
“All of them?”
“All the cattle, yes. As for the horses…”
“Of course. You had horses, too.”
“I still have them.” He looked a bit sheepish at that. “I wanted to personally handle that bit, so I had them stabled in the next county.”
“Is it nicer in the next county? Better grass or something? I mean…I know I don’t know anything about ranching, but…why there when there were all those ranches we passed?”
He shrugged. “You were right. Better grass.”
She could tell he was lying and that he didn’t care if she knew it. He obviously had a reason and she, as his employee, wasn’t entitled to it. Rachel zipped her lips. She had probably been talking too much, asking too many questions. It was a b
ad habit she’d developed early in life, the result of having to get to know large groups of people quickly.
Still, as they came over a rise and she saw a building in the distance, she couldn’t help asking, “Is that it? The house…or…? I don’t know much about ranches. Aren’t there sometimes multiple buildings?”
“There are other buildings, but none of this size. Yes, that’s the house.” There didn’t seem to be an ounce of pride in his voice.
Rachel understood why as they drew closer. She felt she should say something, but she wasn’t quite sure what to say without sounding critical. “It’s…it’s an impressive building,” she tried, which was no lie. In fact, it must have been very impressive at one time. A long, sprawling white building that looked as if it had been added onto multiple times, it dominated the land and looked out onto the mountains. But the paint was barely there, the chimneys were crumbling and there were porch boards that had worn through. A lone shutter clung to the side of one window, dangling at a crooked angle.
Shane stopped the truck, and he and Rachel got out. They walked up to the house and he opened the door, reaching around her. His arm brushed her sleeve, ever so slightly, and it was all she could do not to suck in a deep breath. Just that one little touch had called up such a giant reaction in her. How ridiculous. How unlike her. How unnerving.
Get your act together, Rachel, she ordered.
“My apologies.” Had the darn man read her thoughts?
“No big deal,” she said, as if his nearness didn’t even affect her. “Could you…? If this is going to be my work space, I’d like to see the rest of the house, please.”
“Prepare yourself,” was his response. And when she stepped over the threshold, Rachel understood why. They took a quick tour, their steps ringing off the wood in the cavernous emptiness of most of the house. Dust and cobwebs lay over everything Shane hadn’t already touched. There were no curtains at the windows, and one of the panes was broken. In the rooms that were furnished, Rachel noted that the furniture had probably been old when Shane was a boy. The kitchen appliances might have appeared in old horror movies, and all of the light fixtures looked questionable. Despite the condition of the house, or maybe because of it, Shane was moving quickly and they had soon covered all but one of the rooms. “I just want to fix it enough to sell it,” he said.
To Wed a Rancher Page 3