But now he had a bad feeling about the direction of Jed’s conversation.
“Almost done, girl,” he murmured to Starlight. He kept his focus on her sore foreleg as he applied the ointment the vet had dropped off that morning.
“Won’t be long,” Jed went on, “before we’ll have the place on the map.”
The boss had gotten all fired up about increasing business for the hotel. Pete couldn’t find any fault with the plan. Although managing a spread the size of Jed’s already provided him with more than full-time employment, he wouldn’t balk at the extra work. He’d always just added the dude-ranch activities onto his list of responsibilities.
“Andi will fly in with her kids by the end of the week. But Jane—” third mention “—decided to come a couple of days ahead. She’ll be taking pictures at the wedding rehearsal, you know.”
He nodded, his focus still on Starlight. “Yeah, Cole said.” Cole had told him that news and a lot more about all of the boss’s granddaughters.
Since his divorce, happy matrimony was the last thing he wanted to think about. But Jed and Cole both made sure to keep him up-to-date on all the wedding plans. He couldn’t blame either of the men. After all, he had agreed to be one of the ushers, which meant attending that danged rehearsal. And the wedding, of course.
“Starlight’s leg is looking good,” he told Jed.
Finished with the mare’s treatment, he went to the sink in one corner. The sound of running water kept Jed quiet for a moment, giving Pete a chance to think.
The boss had also kept him up-to-date on the renovations going on over at the hotel. That made even more sense, as increased business there meant more dudes for his cowhands to work with and entertain on the ranch. For anything connected with the hotel guests, he and Jed always coordinated with Tina.
“Jane,” Jed went on, “wants to take some photos around the hotel. The rooms downstairs, some of the guest rooms that are already finished...for the new website.”
“Sounds good.” He grabbed the towel from beside the sink.
“I want you to give her a hand.”
He froze with the towel halfway up one wet forearm. Water ran down the other arm and off his elbow. Drip...drip...drip... Like water torture. Like the sound of Jed’s request echoing in his brain.
The boss’s blue eyes looked guileless enough. But then, he couldn’t know how much his manager wanted to avoid this granddaughter, for a whole list of reasons.
He’d had enough of the teenage Jane mouthing off to him during his early days working as a stable hand on the ranch. As a dyed-in-the-wool cowboy, he had no interest in being around a city slicker. And those stories Cole had told him recently only reinforced his determination to avoid her. Her drive for success and single-minded focus on her career gave her too much in common with his fashion-model ex-wife.
Pete finished drying off and hung up the towel again. “What does she need with a cowboy, if she’s only taking a bunch of pictures?”
“She’ll be setting things up, moving furniture around. I want someone to do the heavy lifting.”
“I can spare one of the stable hands for that. They’re fine about doing whatever jobs they’re given, even ones not in their job description.” He forced a laugh. “Since moving furniture’s not in mine, either, I’m sure you don’t want your foreman—”
“I do want my foreman on this job.”
“Speaking of jobs, I’d better get going.” And get the heck out of here before I say something I shouldn’t. “There’s a lot of territory to cover this morning.” He crossed the barn to take a set of reins from their hook. “It’s June, Jed. I don’t need to tell you how busy that makes us around here.”
“And I’ll tell you this, flat-out straight the way I always do. I want someone I can trust to be alone with my granddaughter.”
Eyebrows raised, Pete turned back. From the stories Cole had told him about Jane, a New Yorker who traveled all over the world for her job, he couldn’t think of any woman more able to handle herself. Which meant...
“I’m not saying anything against the boys,” Jed continued as if he’d read his manager’s mind. “I trust every one of ’em. But there’s no one I have more faith in than you.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence, boss.” He swallowed hard. “But—”
“And as I recall,” Jed interrupted heavily, “when it comes to job descriptions, the two of us don’t much stick to formalities between us, do we?”
“No, we don’t,” he agreed, knowing those words had just sealed his fate.
He owed the boss for providing everything he needed to take care of his kids.
And now, all too plainly, the man had called in his debt.
Chapter Two
As a shadow fell across the open doorway of the barn, Pete took one look, lowered the pitchfork he was holding and set it against the wall outside the stall. Frowning, he stared at the woman who stepped into his domain.
Technically, he didn’t own anything on the ranch. Still, even the thought of this particular granddaughter of Jed’s coming near the barn left him feeling possessive. Old habits might die hard, but old memories never left you.
He’d heard from Cole that Jane had arrived at the Hitching Post the night before.
Feet planted wide, he rested his hands on his hips. “Can I help you?” He hoped not. In fact, since his conversation with Jed a couple of days ago, he’d kept his fingers crossed that the boss would change his mind about having him babysit Jane.
From a strap around her neck hung a camera that probably cost more than he spent in a year on clothing for him and the kids. Without answering, she raised the camera and aimed it at him, making him feel like a bug under a microscope. Before he could react, she had fired off a couple of shots.
He raised a brow. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you can stop doing it right now.”
“Just testing the lighting in case I want a few promo shots.”
“You reckon newlyweds will care about the inside of a barn?”
“Atmosphere,” she said shortly, turning to click off a series of photos down the length of the stalls.
Silently, he watched her. Over the years he’d avoided coming in contact with her, his long-distance eyesight must have begun to fail. He hadn’t realized she looked this good close-up. Tall and slim, she had pale, perfect skin he wouldn’t dare touch with his workman’s hands and straight black hair that glistened in the light, tempting him to run his fingers through it.
Every time he’d seen her, she was dressed head to foot in black, and now was no exception. He didn’t get why anyone would feel an attraction for the color, a stark reminder to him of funerals and the day they’d laid his mama to rest. But he managed to look beyond Jane’s taste in clothes long enough to check her out.
Today she wore a pair of jeans topped by a loose T-shirt. The only color on her—if you could call it that—came from the cold strands of the silver necklace dangling almost to her waist. She looked as out of place in here as he’d have looked at an opera house.
When she focused on the final stall in the row, old Daffodil stuck her head through the open door. Swaybacked, bowlegged and cantankerous when she chose to go that route, the mare lived out her days in comfort thanks to Jed, with Pete’s assistance.
Jane gave a throaty chuckle that yanked his attention back to her. The sound seemed to echo in the cavernous barn...and to rattle something deep inside him.
“C’mon, girl. Let’s see the profile.”
“That’ll be the day when you can get her to pay attention,” he said with a grin, trying to shake off his reaction to her.
“I pity the animals you work with, if that’s your attitude toward them.”
His grin slid away. “And what are you, a horse whisperer?”
“Besides, it’s not my attitude.” He wondered why he was bothering to explain. “Daffodil’s as high-spirited as they come, but danged stubborn, too.” The words made a picture in his mind of a teenager giving him back talk. “Does that description remind you of anyone?”
She looked his way again. Even with her back to the sunlight in the doorway, he saw her eyes gleam.
She remembered that summer vacation she’d spent here on the ranch, all right—he’d bet the jar of Buffalo nickels he was saving for his son on that.
“You think you’re going to win old Daffodil over to your side, huh?” he said.
“Yes. With the right incentive.”
As she passed him on her way to the stall, the scents of vanilla and spice drifted toward him, light but noticeable enough to set off a craving for something sweet, and surprising enough to make him blink. She’d never seemed the sweet, vanilla type.
She held out a hand. “What do you say, Daff? Want to be a cover girl?”
At the question, Pete’s shoulders went rigid.
The old mare dipped her head, as if giving Jane a royal nod and permission to do what she liked.
Dang, the woman has a way with a horse, after all.
Then he noticed she held her palm upward. “That’s cheating.”
“All’s fair in love and getting the perfect shot.” Once Daffodil took the sugar cube from her hand, Jane stepped back and began clicking again.
“I doubt any newlyweds will want souvenir photos of an old, past-her-prime mare.”
“These are for me.”
He couldn’t keep his eyebrows from shooting up in surprise. He couldn’t keep from needling her, either, and blamed it on those bygone days when a teenager seven years his junior had made his life a misery. “Gonna put them up on the wall in your New York high-rise?”
“Who’s gonna stop me?”
He narrowed his eyes. Then he noted the rueful twist of her lips. She was baiting him. The idea gave him a rush of pleasure he wasn’t sure how to handle.
“So, you do recall all those times you gave me grief.”
“I might have a faded memory or two,” she admitted.
When she moved toward the door, he remained where he stood, watching her silhouette against the bright sunlight.
She turned. “Way back then,” she said, “I was just a kid asserting my rights.”
You’re sure not a kid anymore. He brushed the thought away. “You were being a pain in my butt.”
She grimaced. “That too, maybe. But you can’t tell me you didn’t deserve some of it, considering your new job had swelled your head to about the size of this barn door.”
She rested her back against the frame. Her stance highlighted unsuspected curves beneath that loose, dark shirt, which instantly made his jeans tight below his belt.
Yeah, he’d called it right about her not being a kid.
He hoped she planned to go away soon—not just from the barn but, once the wedding was over, from the ranch and from Cowboy Creek. He couldn’t blame that thought on memories of the past, his desire to get back to work or even the sight of her gazing regally down her nose at him the way Daffodil had looked at her.
No, he wanted her long gone because she’d turned out to be one fine-looking woman. Because she was making him want things he had no time in his life for now. And because she was still too many years younger than he was and would always be the boss’s granddaughter.
Yeah—think of the boss. “That was my first full-time job,” he told her. “I was trying to make an impression.”
“Oh, you did that, all right. I’m glad you didn’t say ‘a good impression,’ because you didn’t come close to one. I don’t like men—people—who think they can order others around. And you definitely had a case of that back then.”
“I was in charge of the horses—”
“Under my grandpa’s direction.”
“—and watching out for them was part of my job.”
“He’s given you another job now, too, so he tells me.”
“Yeah. Playing nursemaid.”
“Thanks, old man,” she shot back, “but I don’t need that kind of help. An assistant is more like it. What’s the matter? Is the job beneath you?” She shrugged. “If you don’t like the idea, I won’t have a problem getting someone else.”
He’d bet she wouldn’t. As long as she managed to keep that smart yet sexy mouth of hers shut, any of his boys would be happy to assist her. He wouldn’t, but turning down Jed’s order wasn’t an option. “I didn’t say anything against the idea. I’ve got no problem with moving furniture around.”
“Good. Then I’ll meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning at nine.”
To his satisfaction, she didn’t seem to be any happier about the assignment than he did.
* * *
IN THE HOTEL dining room the next morning, Jane joined in on the conversation about the upcoming wedding. The bride and groom made the most happy and genuinely loving couple she’d seen in a while.
She relaxed over a plateful of Paz’s breakfast treats. Or at least, she tried to relax. That hadn’t been an item on her agenda in a while. Working seven days a week kept her mind busy and her body active. Lately, having to sit still made her uneasy and all the more eager to be on the move.
Her meeting in the barn with Pete Brannigan had left her uneasy, too.
The cowboy didn’t scare her. With those amazing hazel-green eyes and all those bulging muscles, he was too darned hot for any woman in her right mind to be frightened away. Still, there was something about him that pushed all her buttons. That had made her jump to a knee-jerk reaction every time he’d opened his mouth. That made her snap to attention...
Of course.
Years ago, she had seen how much he acted like her father, an Army general. Yesterday, Pete’s take-charge attitude at their first meeting in years had strongly reinforced those memories, proving he hadn’t changed a bit. But she would do her job—even if that meant working with the insufferable man.
“Don’t forget, Jane—”
Startled, she returned her attention to Tina.
“—we’ve got to go up to Santa Fe to pick up our gowns. We might as well wait till Andi gets here, and then we can have our final fittings together.”
Jane laughed. “In that case, I’d better stay away from Paz’s apple tarts, or I won’t get the zipper closed on my dress.” She pushed the dessert platter a few inches away from her.
“Ally and I are the ones who should worry about that,” Tina said, referring to her best friend and maid of honor. “You and Andi are so slim.”
“You don’t need to worry a bit,” Cole said to his bride.
They smiled at each other as Cole casually draped his arm across Tina’s shoulders.
A beautiful pre-wedding portrait.
But you’re not on the job right this minute.
Despite the fierce reminder, she wished she hadn’t left her camera on the far side of the dining room.
As if she’d heard the thought, Tina said, “I’m glad you’ll be taking pictures at the rehearsal dinner. But the day of the wedding, you won’t forget you’re a member of the bridal party, will you?”
“Yeah,” Cole said. “We’ve got a photographer lined up, so you’ll have the day off.”
“I don’t know,” she said, only half joking. “Sometimes it feels like those cameras are extensions of my hands. I don’t go anywhere without them.”
“Speaking of going somewhere...” He kissed Tina and rose from his seat. “I’d better hit the road, or I won’t be back before lunch with the supply order.”
“Say hi to Ally when you see her,” Tina said. Her maid of honor worked at the hardware store in town.
&n
bsp; Once Cole had left, Tina turned back to Jane. “Maybe we need to take those cameras away from you, so you’ll behave yourself at the wedding,” she teased.
“We can put them in my toy box,” said Robbie.
Jane smiled at her cousin’s four-year-old. “Your toy box?”
He nodded. “In my bedroom. Mama takes my toys away and puts them in the toy box.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, searching for something to add. Her work might require she spend her life around people, including children, but she reserved in-depth interviews only for adults. Either way, she didn’t encourage her subjects to interact with her. She wanted to capture them in natural poses and real-life situations. Often all too real.
“Mama takes the toys when I don’t listen,” Robbie explained.
“Oh. Maybe I should not listen, once in a while, too, and then I won’t work so much.”
As if.
She looked up to find her grandfather eyeing her from the head of the long table. Suddenly, she realized some of her uncertainty came from her current “assignment.”
“You and Pete going to get started this morning?” he asked.
“We are,” she confirmed. “But not for a little while. I’m not rushing through Paz’s great breakfast.”
After the photo shoots she had just completed, with three European trips in the space of a month, she shouldn’t plan to rush through anything this week. She deserved a break. Just not one that involved sitting still.
She loved her grandfather and felt more than happy to help with the hotel revamp. Taking a few photos here and setting up the ranch’s new website would be a piece of cake compared to the Sarajevo shoot and other assignments she’d worked on.
She didn’t mind spending a few extra days at the ranch, either, to get some of Grandpa’s photos out of the way—even if the job came with the drawback of having Pete around.
He’d been right yesterday about the way she had acted years ago, about being a pain whenever she went near him.
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