Claiming Her Cowboy

by Tina Radcliffe

  “Is that an issue for your web guy?”

  “It will be, if you promise front and center to all our vendors. And by the way, meet the web guy.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  Lucy crossed her arms, and he waited for what was coming. The dark eyes sparked with thunder and lightning. A storm was about to hit.

  “Look, Jack, while I’m very grateful, and actually stunned that you got Fred to budge, I have to ask, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “There is no nefarious plan brewing, Lucy.”

  She eyed him with doubt.

  “You weren’t here and I was. I’m good at negotiation. I can be very persuasive.”

  “I’ll remember that.” She began to clean up the table.

  Jack reached out to stop her. When their hands collided, she drew back. “You shouldn’t be cleaning up,” he said. “Don’t you have an assistant?”

  “Assistant what?”

  “You know, a secretary, clerk, personal admin. Someone who can prepare a conference room for meetings, and then go out for doughnuts.”

  Lucy stepped around him and closed the doughnut box.

  “Who got the doughnuts?” she asked.

  “Emma.”

  Jack picked up the trash can and brought it to the table. “Lucy, you’re running an organization. It’s efficient to have an assistant. Perhaps one with basic web skills.”

  “We’re family here, Jack. Travis or my sister are happy to help me when I need assistance.”

  “Would that be your sister with the sign on her door that says Children’s Therapist and Child Care Director? The one with the two babies in her office, who also runs some company called RangePro?”

  “Assistants cost money.” She stopped and stared at him. “You’re the one causing the cash flow issues.”

  “That’s not exactly correct. My job is to be sure Big Heart Ranch is utilizing the funds from the Brisbane Foundation in a fiduciary manner.”

  She offered a dramatic sigh. “Life was much simpler when your only agenda item was to prove I’m a lowlife crook, preying on the elderly.”

  “That might have been somewhat true last Monday, but six hours in a saddle and seventy-two hours on the trail have persuaded me that the bigger problem here is the allocation of resources.”

  “Speak for yourself, Jack. You may have a problem, but we do not. This is my business and I have been running the ranch for five years without your fiduciary duty.”

  “All the same. Brisbane Foundation sent me here. You and my aunt decided it would be six weeks. So I plan to share my thoughts with you until my time here is complete.”

  “Great,” Lucy muttered. “Just terrific!”

  He stepped back and looked at Lucy. Really looked at her. Besides the bruised chin from the ball game, she had dark circles under her eyes and the sparkle was missing from her gaze.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

  “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

  “Maybe because you look a little rough, and as I heard often enough on the trail, you act like you have a burr under your saddle. Have you considered taking the day off?”

  “Thanks. I appreciate the ego boost, but I can’t stay home and leave everything to Emma again.”

  “If you had an admin, you could.”

  “Way to hammer home your point, counselor,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.” Lucy swept from the room and started down the hall.

  He followed. “You said I could shadow you.”

  “Today might not be the best day.”

  “Fair enough. How about later in the week?”

  “Sure. I’ll let you know this evening. Okay?”

  “That works, but may I have my phone and watch back in the meantime?”

  She stopped and turned, her face becoming red. “Didn’t I return them?”

  “No.”

  “You went the entire weekend without your phone and watch?” Lucy sighed. “I’m really sorry.” A frown crossed her face. “Let me check my saddle bag. It’s in my office.”

  “It was actually sort of liberating to go off the grid. I hear you do it often.”

  “Not often, but on occasion. I have a lot of things crowding my mind here at the ranch. Sometimes God and I need to be alone.”

  Jack stepped closer. Close enough to see the weariness that rode on her shoulders. “You do too much.”

  “Excuse me?” Attitude and annoyance began a slow stampede across her face.

  “You’ve got to start delegating, or you’re going to burn out. Trust me. I know.”

  “At the risk of sounding harsh, Jack, I might be able to delegate if the Brisbane Foundation funding comes through. Right now I’m on a tightrope, trying to pull a Plan B out of my hat while balancing the funds we do have.”

  “Lucy, with or without budget approval, you aren’t going to change your management style unless you’re pushed. Consider this me pushing.”

  “What exactly is my management style?”

  He hesitated, rubbing his chin. “You do lean toward micromanagement.”

  Her eyes rounded, and Jack checked for smoke coming out of her ears. He waited for the backlash.

  Instead of responding, she started walking again.

  “Lucy?”

  “Let me get you your electronics, Mr. Harris.”

  Uh-oh. They were back to Mr. Harris.

  Jack followed her down the hall to an office that would have terrified a lesser man. His gaze took in the haphazard stacks of paperwork and books. He was fairly certain that there was a desk somewhere under the various piles. An ivy plant in a colorful porcelain Western boot sat on the window ledge begging for water.

  “Did you file a police report?” he asked.

  “What?” Lucy sputtered.

  “Someone ransacked your office.”

  “Funny, Harris.”

  “This is a pretty small office for the ranch director,” he observed.

  “I don’t need much room to micromanage,” she returned.

  They faced off across her desk. All five feet two inches of Lucy Maxwell stared him down. What was it about this particular woman that made him want to protect her and kiss her at the same time? She was as stubborn as he was, and therein was the irony. He’d rather argue with Lucy than spend time with anyone else.

  “So I’ll see you tonight?” he murmured.

  Lucy blinked. “What?”

  “Tonight. Ice cream. It’s a date?”

  Pink tinged her cheeks. “Ice cream, yes. Date? Hardly.”

  “Maybe you and I should go to dinner sometime,” he suggested.

  Her mouth opened but nothing came out. Flustered again.

  Jack turned with a smile, realizing he should leave while he was ahead. For once. “See you at six, Lucy.”

  * * *

  “For the record, Lucy, I think Jack is adorbs,” Emma said as she sorted the stack of mail in her hands.

  Lucy nearly choked on her coffee. Clearing a place among the paperwork, she cautiously set the mug down on her desk before pinning her sister with a pointed gaze. “Adorbs? What are you? Sixteen?”

  “No, but I hang out with adolescents all day.” Emma sighed. “I need to get out more. You and Travis and Tripp are the only grown-ups I ever see, and Tripp doesn’t talk.”

  “You’ve been a single mom too long. It wouldn’t hurt for you to get a sitter on occasion and have a mental health day. Have lunch with friends. Go to a movie.”

  “You’re giving me social life advice? You haven’t gone to lunch with a friend in years and a date, well, not since...you know,” Emma said as she placed the stack of mail on Lucy’s desk.

  “I’m going out...” She glanced at her watch. “In fifteen minutes, as it so happens.”r />
  “With three five-year-old escorts. Not exactly my idea of a hot date.”

  “Who would I go on a hot date with?”

  Emma raised a hand. “Hello. Are you paying attention? Jack, of course. Minus the triplets.” She looked Lucy up and down. “Is that what you’re wearing?”

  Lucy glanced down at her sundress and boots. “What’s wrong with this?”

  “There’s a new dress shop in Timber. You could get some serious clothes. After all, this is Jack Harris we’re talking about. The man is the whole package. Tall, dark and handsome. If you made an effort, he might ask you out. Alone, I mean.”

  Lucy’s thoughts tumbled to the man who only hours before had stood at her desk, leaving her speechless when he’d made the very same suggestion. “Jack?” she repeated.

  “Yes. Jack.” She started checking off on her fingers. “He’s smart. Doesn’t live with his parents. Is gainfully employed and doesn’t play video games all day.”

  “While that is all true, Jack and I have nothing in common.”

  “You’re wrong, Lucy. You and Jack are so much alike it’s almost scary.”

  Lucy paused. She quickly shook her head, discarding the possible truth of her sister’s words.

  “Everything he said tells me that the man genuinely respects you and cares about you.”

  “You and Jack discussed me?” Her voice raised an octave.

  “It wasn’t like that. We were discussing the ranch.”

  Lucy blew a raspberry. “The ranch. Yes. The truth is Jack Harris only cares about taking control of the ranch.”

  “That’s not true. He’s an attorney. The man has more options than Italian loafers. Why would he want our ranch?”

  “I haven’t figured that part out yet, but I will.” She fingered the stacks of paper on her desk. “Did you give me my messages?”

  Emma reached in her back pocket and handed over a neat wad of pink memo notes.

  “That’s a lot of memos. I was only gone three days.”

  “The budget hasn’t been approved. Checks are delayed. Contracts haven’t been signed. Everyone wants to know what’s going on.”

  “You know what’s going on. Jack Harris.”

  “Yes. I know, and I get it, but you haven’t told anyone else but me and Travis. Maybe you should.”

  Lucy flipped through the papers one by one. “We ran out of supplies for VBS? Order them. Overnight, if necessary. You don’t need my approval for that.”

  “With the state of the budget, I’ve been afraid to do anything. And Travis is no help. I mention finances and he suddenly has chores to do. In a pasture, without cell service.”

  Micromanager. Jack’s words slapped her in the face.

  Emma and Travis did whatever she told them to. They waited for her to lead them. Maybe it was time to delegate more than ordering doughnuts and answering her phone.

  Jack might be right. Her stomach churned at the thought.

  “I’m sorry, Em,” she murmured. “Thank you for handling things while I was gone.”

  “Not a problem.” Emma picked dead leaves from the pathetic ivy in Lucy’s window. “What did you do to this plant?”

  “Nothing. I bought it because the lady said you can’t kill ivy.”

  “And yet, you seem to have proven that theory wrong.”

  Lucy grabbed a bottle of water from her tote and moved to the window. “Did he mention the lodge?” she asked.

  “Jack?”

  “Who else?”

  “He might have.”

  “I rest my case.”

  “At least give his idea a chance,” Emma said. “You’re dismissing him on principle.”

  “That’s not true.” Lucy frowned as she carefully released a stream of water into the plant pot.

  “Stop,” Emma said, grabbing her wrist. “That plant needs a drink of water. Don’t drown the sucker.”

  Lucy plunked the bottle on the windowsill and turned to Emma, hands on hips. “Admit it. I’m a terrible director, aren’t I?”

  “Whoa, where did that come from? You’re a business school graduate. You’re a Godly woman, inside and out. And you love these kids.”

  “Too much. Maybe this ranch needs someone with a calculator heart like Jack’s instead of...” She swept her hand around the room. “An unorganized mess.”

  “Where is this coming from?”

  “Jack, that’s where.”

  “Give yourself a break, would you? You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. Maybe you need a vacation.”

  Lucy stared out the window at the ranch she loved, her gaze taking in the little chapel across the way, surrounded by redbuds and a huge magnolia. “Or maybe it’s time I stopped fooling myself.”

  The administration building’s front glass doors closed with a bang, and both sisters swung around in time to see Jack in the doorway.

  Lucy glanced at the clock, almost expecting to hear the tolling of the executioner’s bell as the clock struck six.

  “Oh, look, here’s Mr. Adorbs now,” Emma whispered.

  Lucy elbowed her. “Stop that.”

  He glanced at both sisters. “Everything okay? Did I dress appropriately?”

  “You’re fine,” Lucy said, taking in his tan chinos and open-neck blue cotton shirt. The man’s annoyance factor failed to distract from his good looks.

  “Better than fine, Jack,” Emma gushed, taking the words Lucy would never dare utter right out of her mouth.

  “Thank you. How about you, Lucy? How are you feeling?”

  “Okay. That’s it.” Her glance slowly swept over Jack and Emma. “No one is to ask another question about my health, mental or otherwise. Got it?”

  Emma nodded.

  “I guess that means you’re feeling fine,” Jack said.

  “You guessed right. Now you and I have an appointment with triplets. We promised, and you know my thoughts on that. The girls and Dub will be waiting for us at the meeting hall.” She turned on her boot heel and headed outside, with Jack a step behind.

  “Have fun, you two,” Emma called out. “Stay out as late as you like.”

  “Remind me to fire her when we get back,” Lucy said.

  “Can you fire your own sister?”

  “I can try.”

  Jack laughed. “You’re fortunate to have Emma.”

  Lucy grumbled in response as they walked along the sidewalk.

  “I’ve got my car parked behind your admin building,” he said.

  “Are you still renting a car?” she asked. “Isn’t that sort of expensive?”

  “Cost of doing business.”

  “Nice for you. We’ll take my car. I know where the place is. I’ll drive.” She glanced over at him, taking in the expression on his face. “You have a problem with me driving?”

  “Not at all, I’m just a little concerned about your vehicle. Old Yeller.”

  “Old Yeller?”

  “Yeah, that mustard-colored car of yours. It’s like a Labrador retriever who’s overdue for doggie retirement.”

  “Jack, don’t spare my feelings. Tell me how you really feel.”

  “You’re the ranch director. You deserve a respectable vehicle.”

  “I don’t spend ranch funds on my personal needs.”

  “Lucy, a decent car is part of doing business. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity. You shouldn’t drive potential donors around the ranch in that old jalopy. You’re the director. That requires you play the part.”

  “My car isn’t that old.”

  “Not old? It appears quite, uh, vintage to me.”

  “Vintage. Not even close. If you want to talk vintage, let me tell you about my father’s truck. He had a wonderful red hump-backed Chevy pickup. He’d take us for ice cream once a week in that truck. Thinking about
that Chevy reminds me how much I miss him, and miss those times as a family.”

  “I’m sorry, Lucy.”

  “It’s all right. Good memories last forever, you know.”

  “Do they?” He raised a brow. “So what happened to the pickup?”

  “Who knows? A lot of things disappeared after my parents died. Until my cousin finally showed up, it was assumed we didn’t have any living relatives.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  Lucy nodded.

  “How old is it? Your car?” he asked.

  “The Honda? Eighteen years.”

  “Eighteen! Good grief. That car is over one hundred and twenty in dog years.”

  Lucy stopped and stared at him. She burst out laughing at the absurdity of his comment. Moisture blurred her vision as she kept laughing. Finally, she cleared her throat and held out a hand. “Okay. You win. You can drive.”

  “My car?”

  “Yes. Only because I’m afraid I’ll spontaneously start laughing if we take mine, and that might be hazardous on the road.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled.

  “You won’t be smiling when there are kids’ fingerprints and other unidentifiable residue all over your pristine vehicle.”

  “Residue?”

  “Uh-huh. Kids pick up anything and everything. Then they shove it in their pockets or in their noses. It always winds up on your windows, or smashed on the floor mats.”

  He stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly ajar with horror.

  When they reached the chow hall, Jack held open the glass door. A pleasant-looking middle-aged woman waited for them just inside.

  “Lorna, you remember Jack Harris from the trail ride?” Lucy asked.

  “Oh, yes. The catcher who couldn’t decide which team he was on.”

  Jack grimaced.

  “Where are the kids?” Lucy asked.

  “The girls are using the restroom one last time.”

  “How’ve they been?” Lucy asked.

  “Good. The girls are so envious of Dub’s snakeskin and blue ribbon. They can’t wait to meet his buddy.”

  Lucy looked past Lorna to a table where Dub sat, swinging his legs back and forth and fiddling with the buttons of his shirt.

  Lorna followed her gaze. “That boy is so excited.”