“I got sidetracked,” he replied evenly.
The kiss. That had diverted him. Nice way to circle the topic back.
“Why did he leave in such a huff?”
“Because I told him I was going to buy my ranch back, no matter what.”
Quinn looked at him, eyes wide. “You’re kidding.”
“No ma’am. I wouldn’t kid about that. He’s nearly destroyed it. It made me sick. I want to rescue it, and those animals of his, from complete ruin.”
“I can’t imagine your offer thrilled him. If nothing else, the man has pride.”
“No, he wasn’t thrilled. I don’t think he liked the words I used to describe my feelings. I get the impression money will motivate him in the end. With a man like that, cash always seems to win out.”
Quinn hoped he was right. What Ted had done to the Lynch’s place could only be described as criminal. There were ranchers around these parts who would be happy to string a man up for destroying property, treating animals in a way that bordered cruelty. But how would Craig run two spreads?
“Good for you. I wouldn’t be too sad to see the last of him. Although I worry about his wife and son.”
Craig nodded and continued to stare at her. “It was a good thing you did for her.”
Quinn shrugged. “Every woman deserves a little pampering.”
Too much intensity blazed in his blue gaze. She looked away toward Shelby and Marisol. Marisol stroked the mare’s neck but listened to what Shelby had to say.
“Are we not going to talk about what happened yesterday?”
Damn. Quinn stared at her booted toe, scuffing it in the dirt. “What’s to talk about?” He’d apologized for scaring her. She glanced at him and noted his furrowed brows. “Listen, I don’t know what was going through my head. I’m sorry to make you uncomfortable.”
Craig’s troubled frown turned into a frustrated grimace.
“You don’t have to apologize, Quinn. I kissed you, not the other way around. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
Quinn sighed. She’d all but invited the kiss. On the dance floor, in his arms she couldn’t keep her senses in any kind of order. The kiss came as naturally as a breeze off the prairie, sweet and pure with the possibility of turning into something a lot more dangerous.
Now she knew what kissing Craig felt like. It didn’t have to happen again, as much as she wanted more.
She didn’t know what was worse. Not knowing, or knowing what she’d miss if he never kissed her again.
With a forced smile, she looked at him, straightening. “Yeah, okay. It’s not like it’s going to happen again, right? If I’m here working with your daughter, well, it might be for the best.”
Craig’s mouth opened as if to reply, but he didn’t say anything. His blue gaze regarded her. Trouble lurked in those eyes, she could see it as plain as day, mirroring her own, but she refused to back down.
He closed his mouth and nodded. “Guess you’re right.”
Quinn hated putting a wall up between them but it had to be done if she wanted to hold onto the self-control she had left. She hoped he’d prove stronger than she.
Shelby, Marisol and Sunny joined them at the rail and Quinn took the opportunity to put some distance between herself and Craig, offering to help lug the tack to the barn while the Lynches concluded their business with Shelby. While in the tack room she heard Shelby’s truck pull away. Now was good a time to make her break and head for home. She had a busy day, and getting away from Craig would be a good thing.
Without talking to Craig directly, Quinn said goodbye, mounted Piper and headed to her ranch.
***
Quinn tucked her heartache away. She had scheduled a barrel racing lesson with a housewife from Des Moines and a fifth grade teacher from Vermont. Then she had a yearling who needed her attention. That was the meat and potatoes of her life. She didn’t need her head in the clouds to distract her from her duties.
Toward the end of the lesson, Quinn realized they had an audience of one. Robby leaned against the fence, his hat tipped back on his head, eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. Posing, Quinn thought with irritation. He was the most self-aware, self-assured man she’d ever known.
Too bad he wasn’t his brother. No, she took that back because if Craig shared his brother’s pompous qualities she wouldn’t be interested. One of the reasons she liked Craig was precisely because he and Robby were worlds apart in personality.
She ignored him until she finished with the women. When they’d taken their horses back to the barn she sauntered to Robby.
“Woman, you look drop dead gorgeous today.” He flashed a lazy, thousand watt smile.
“Thanks. That’s what you hung around to tell me?” Quinn climbed through the fence and joined him on the other side.
“Isn’t that reason enough?” His voice was smooth as silk.
“Nope.”
“Q, when are you going to cut me a break?”
Quinn headed toward the barn, hoping he wouldn’t follow, but knowing that of course he would. “Never?” she threw over her shoulder.
“You are blistering cold.” Instead of stalking away, he walked next to her, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
The man just didn’t get the hint. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to chase away the annoyance gathering in her brain. “What else did you want?”
“I hear the ladies from California checked out.”
“Yup.”
“I heard that Charlene talked about you.”
Quinn sighed. “Fantastic.”
“She told me she knew some people in the entertainment industry. I was just thinking maybe she said something to you.”
So, was this was the heart of the matter? Robby flashing his true colors. “And you wonder why I’m so cold? I barely said three words to her while she was here.”
“Nothing about going out there?”
Quinn swung around to face him. “Oh my God, Robby, why would she do that?” Of course she didn’t want to mention the strange, brief conversation over breakfast the day before.
Robby took hold of Quinn’s arm. “Come on, Quinn. The way she was talking, well you’d think she’d discovered herself a starlet in you.”
Quinn didn’t know whether to be relieved or outraged. Robby’s interested in her extended only as far as the possibility that some Hollywood type would be interested in her.
“Why would she think that? I’m not one bit interested in acting and I sure don’t have the talent for it. She should have been talking to you.”
Robby scowled but didn’t reply. She felt kind of bad for him. His dream had been a leading role in a big Hollywood movie. She really shouldn’t joke around about it.
“Damn.” Robby scuffed the toe of his boot against the dirt and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Thought she could be my ticket back.”
Quinn paused and glared at him. “That’s it? I can’t believe you’re pretending to be interested in me to get information on her.”
Robby threw up his hands in defense. “Whoa, you think that’s what’s going on here? The two have nothing to do with each other. Q, that’s the truth.”
Quinn groaned. She didn’t want to leave him with the impression she’d been hurt, or hoping he was interested in her for more than a ticket back to Hollywood. Damn. She didn’t feel like explaining it to him.
“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You can count on it. Quinn, really, it’s not about Charlene talking to you.”
Quinn strode across the ranch yard and to her room. No one bothered stopping her, not that she would’ve stopped anyway.
***
As planned, Quinn pulled up to the Shady H at ten o’ clock the next morning. In consideration for her feelings, Craig stayed in the barn, out of sight while Marisol greeted her. He listened as Quinn began the lesson with the most basic of rituals, grooming the horse. She was thorough and Craig was confident Marisol
would receive the training she needed under Quinn’s tutelage.
He really wanted to watch her at work but instead he left the two in peace. He refused to let time go by with his plans for Emerald Ranch. He intended to show Ted he meant business. Ever since his visit to Emerald, he couldn’t get the image of that dustbowl out of his brain. It remained there, twisting like a knife. Growing up, he had such pride in his family’s spread and seeing what Ted did with it devastated him. He’d never be able to live with himself if he didn’t do something about it.
His own career had been very lucrative over the years he and Elise spent traveling. His freelance travel articles had landed in every major newspaper and magazine around the world. His series of travel books, Jewels in the Rough, were best sellers. He had a talent for showcasing the most exotic, remote areas, bringing out the beauty of even the roughest location. He didn’t write about typical vacation spots. He wrote about travel destinations for the adventurous. There’d even been talk about a television show, but that was before Elise had been diagnosed with cancer. Someone had to be with Marisol and he had been the one take over the majority of the parenting while Elise was on assignment.
Even without the addition of Elise’s own wealth, which was safely put away for Marisol, he was more than comfortable. What good was money if he couldn’t put it toward something that took up such a huge part of his life? With Ted’s phone number in hand, he called the ranch.
Dina Penney answered the phone. She sounded hesitant when he asked to speak to her husband. “I’ll go find him,” she said and he heard her put the phone down.
In the background, he heard the door open and slap shut again. After what seemed like ten minutes, she returned.
“Sorry to keep you. He was at the barn, getting Scotty going on some project, but he’ll be right up.”
She’d no more than got the sentence out when Craig heard the door burst open again.
“Gimme that thing,” Ted muttered and Craig pictured the man yanking the phone from his wife’s hand. “I thought we was finished with this business,” Ted said coldly.
Craig shook his head. Well, he hadn’t expected pleasantries. “I don’t know why you thought that. I made it pretty plain I’d be in touch.”
“And I don’t know why you think I’d sell this ranch to you. Just because you’re some famous writer and was married to a famous TV lady?”
“Because Emerald was my home and it makes me sick to see what you’ve done with it. And because you have no business breeding horses.” Craig refused to apologize for or dilute his words. Sugar coated offers weren’t going to work on this guy. Just the cold, hard truth.
“We do fine here.”
“With half-starved cattle? What do you think they’ll bring you at auction? Not enough to see you through the winter. And I’ve heard around town that no one would come near those horses unless they just wanted to rescue them from their miserable life. Come on, Ted, be honest with yourself, and with your wife. How long can you hang on before the bank comes looking for its mortgage payment?”
He gave Ted a price, a good and fair price, if not a little low, considering the condition of the place and the stock, including the broodmares and the foals.
“No, that’s barely enough to cover…and besides, what the hell would I do? I’m a rancher, more than you been.”
Craig didn’t bother to contradict him, though there was nothing similar about the two of them. If Ted put a good two hours a day out on the land Craig would be shocked. From what Craig had heard, Ted’s son, Scott, pulled his and his father’s weight and that would never be enough.
“Get a place in town. Everyone says you’re good with engines. Open a garage. There’s enough farm equipment in these parts to give you a steady flow of customers.” He repeated his offer.
“Not enough.”
Craig upped his offer by another ten thousand, knowing it would be worth it.
“It’s my final offer. You know the bank won’t be quite so fair. You’ll be left with nothing but a lot of trouble and no home. Is that what you want for Dina and Scott? Think about it.”
Without waiting for a reply, Craig hung the phone up.
Craig looked out the window at his daughter and Quinn. The sight calmed him. He wondered how long before Ted gave in. A day, maybe two? In the end though, Craig was confident he’d call and accept the offer.
If not, if the man’s pride proved more stubborn than he thought, Craig could always buy the place at auction.
He hoped Ted would choose the most sensible path.
Chapter 7
“Dad, some guy named Mr. Penney called. He said go ahead and start the paperwork. What’s that mean?” Marisol glanced up from the tomato she was slicing for their salad.
Craig grinned. Penney had given in a lot faster than he’d expected. “It means I’m buying back Grandpa and Grandma’s ranch, Emerald Ranch. It’s actually right on the other side of us.”
Marisol paused and stared at him, her brow furrowed. “Another ranch? How are you going to run two ranches?”
“Not sure yet. I could fix it up and lease it out. Or maybe hire someone to manage it. Right now there are horses there. Could keep it as a horse farm, since we have cattle here. But I haven’t worked out the details yet.”
“You should hire Quinn to run it.”
Great. He’d managed to keep Quinn at bay for the better part of the day. Now she’d been pulled front and center once more.
“Why’s that?”
“Because she wants her own ranch so she can raise and train horses. She's doing that at Long Knife Creek and working for her brother. She told me how expensive it would be to build a house and a barn. Maybe if she had one already built it would be easier for her. She could take care of your horses and hers too”
He’d never considered Quinn, but maybe.
How in the world would that work? With her next door while he was dealing with these new and rather potent feelings for her? The idea made his blood rush in a rather uncomfortable way. He cleared his throat, hoping Marisol didn’t notice his sudden mood change.
“I’ll think about it. But first a shower, then burgers on the grill.”
He didn’t rush out the next day to make the offer to Quinn. In fact, he barely spoke with her the next several times she worked with Marisol. He wanted to get Emerald in his possession and take stock of what Ted left behind before he’d approach her.
He also needed to find a housekeeper. Though Marisol was capable of handling the dishes and helping with laundry, she wanted to spend more time outdoors, helping where she could with the horses. Her interest in the ranch had grown by leaps and bounds and he wasn’t going to hold her back.
At least there was no shortage of suggestions pouring in from the citizens of Falstad.
“Well, there’s Mrs. Strockmeyer,” Arnie Potts, the owner of Potts Grocery, offered.
Craig had brought Marisol out to breakfast at his mother’s diner in town. They ran into a number of familiar faces, residents who’d been around for as long as he could remember. The diner had historically been the local hangout for generations, long before Colleen Lynch took it over. As a kid, he used to sit at the counter, sucking down chocolate milkshakes and eating cheeseburgers. Not much had changed. The smell of coffee and bacon permeated the air in a familiar and comforting way and nearly every stool at the counter was filled.
Mrs. Strockmeyer, the lunch lady back when Craig had been a school kid. Apple cheeked and always smiling, she treated all the students as if they were her grandchildren. He was surprised she was still around.
“She’s got as much energy as ever,” Arnie continued. “Sharp as a tack. She retired about five years ago but worked over at Jake Red Crow’s place helping take care of the kids until the youngest left home.”
Craig thanked Arnie for the lead and dug into his breakfast.
After they ate, they headed the street to Billingsworth Feed.
“Hey, there’s Quinn.”
The rush that had become all too familiar at the sight of Quinn, hit Craig like a sack of bricks. Keeping his libido in control was getting damned near impossible, but all he needed to cool his ardor was recall the wide-eyed shock on her face after he kissed her.
Marisol pulled away from his side and dashed to the young woman.
Quinn gave her a big, genuine smile and put her arm around Marisol’s shoulder.
Craig hung back, not wanting to intrude. It gave him the chance to study Quinn as he hadn’t allowed himself to for the last several days. Problem was, he didn’t know where to look first, so he started at the top.
She wore her dark chestnut hair pulled away from her face, secured in a neat braid. Though tan, she had a healthy, fresh look, not weathered, as one would expect from someone who lived under the sun. A dash of freckles fell across her nose, a nose that wasn’t perfect by far. Broken and never fixed, it didn’t take away from her beauty. In fact, it added character to what would have been an otherwise perfect face. High, arched brows, slightly darker than her hair, blue eyes exotic, almond shaped and large.
Then there was her mouth.
Damn. He wanted to kiss her again, feel her smooth, pliant lips under his one more time. A million more times.
Frustrated, he shoved the desire away, but that didn’t mean it would stay away. He had a feeling the battle had only begun.
She wore a pale pink blouse, unbuttoned to display a teal tank top underneath, accentuating full and firm breasts.
Damn, why don’t you just drool over her?
He didn’t want his gaze to wander lower, didn’t think his nerves could handle it.
God, she hovered so close to youthfulness, but the woman in her glowed. Despite the sudden rush of guilt at the urge to sweep his best friend’s kid sister into his arms and kiss her in a way she couldn’t so easily brush off, she was no kid. He had no reason to feel guilty. She was an adult now.
Gawking at her like a hormonal teenager wouldn’t get him anywhere. Jacob would most likely beat him to a pulp just for thinking these thoughts.
At that point, he realized both Quinn and Marisol watched him.
Sweet and Wild Page 7