Rancher of Her Own (9781460384848)

by Daille, Barbara White

  “She never did like keeping early hours.”

  Looking away, she said, “If I see Marina before noon, I’ll call Sharon myself. I’m sorry about all this.”

  “Not as sorry as I am.” He turned and left the room.

  His boots rang out in the hallway again, the sound now twice as loud and quick as before.

  Sighing, she set her camera on the desk in one corner of the room.

  She couldn’t have said how long she had stood staring unseeingly thorough the window before Tina found her there.

  Her cousin came into the room and closed the door behind her. She took a seat in the desk chair and went right to the point with a question Jane didn’t want to answer. “Did you see Pete?”

  Tina’s directness showed how unhappy she was with the situation, too.

  “Yes,” she said reluctantly. “He was here...I don’t know how long ago.”

  Tina frowned. “It couldn’t have been more than five minutes. I was in my office when he went past the reception desk without even a wave, and I’d barely gotten my spreadsheet open when he stormed through the lobby and out the door again. Did he talk to Marina?”

  “I don’t think so. He was here with me for a few minutes.”

  “Then he couldn’t have had the time.” Tina sighed. “Jane, I hate to say this, but I don’t think inviting Marina here was such a good decision, after all. I wish I hadn’t encouraged you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said dully. “I thought it was such a great idea, I would have gone ahead with it regardless.”

  “I’m so sorry Pete and the kids are having to deal with this.”

  “Not as sorry as I am.” Her eyes prickled as she realized she had repeated Pete’s final words to her.

  “I could invite Rachel over to play with Robbie today. You know she’s here half the time anyway. And then she might get to see more of Marina.”

  “None of us will get to see much of Marina if she spends all her time in town.” She shook her head. “Let me take care of it. I’m going to have to say something to her myself.”

  “Do you think you ought to get any more involved?”

  “I can’t get any more wrapped up in this than I am already,” she admitted.

  Tina’s dark brown eyes met hers in silent and sympathetic understanding.

  * * *

  JANE COULDN’T HAVE any luck at all talking to Marina when the woman had nine-tenths of her focus on her cell phone.

  Not long after Tina left, Marina had shown up in the suite, apologizing profusely and claiming to be ready to get to work. But during the half hour they had been together, the phone had rung or beeped almost continually.

  Jane hadn’t been able to take even a handful of shots yet.

  “Sorry,” Marina said, disconnecting the current phone call and evidently switching to text or email, as her thumbs began flying over the keypad. “What were you saying?”

  “I was wondering about your schedule and—”

  “That’s exactly what I’m trying to firm up. My agent’s handling a new contract for me—highly confidential. I can’t tell you a thing about the assignment, sorry—and we’re at a critical stage in the negotiations. I’m expecting something to break any minute.” Her keying done, she looked up again.

  “When I mentioned schedule, I meant for the time you’ll be here in Cowboy Creek.”

  “I can’t stay long,” she said in alarm. “I did tell you that in the email?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “It’s been a great visit already. I’ve been out of touch with my fans here, and it’s so good to reconnect.”

  “With your fans.”

  “Yes.”

  “What about your family?”

  “I don’t have family here anymore.” At Jane’s startled expression, she added, “Oh, of course, you mean the kids. I’ve seen Rachel and Eric. I’ll touch base with them again, too. But—” Her phone beeped. “My agent. Hold that thought.”

  Jane bit back her response.

  She thought of all the minutes she had logged on her cell phone. Had she ever come across as that rude and self-centered? No wonder Pete had concerns about Rachel craving attention.

  She thought of yesterday morning, when he had found her on the front porch and she’d sat scrolling through her email. To her shame, she recalled she had done that deliberately to avoid having to look up at him.

  Now she would give anything to be able to meet his eyes without seeing the anger that had filled them when he’d stood in this room a short while ago.

  No. At this point, she would give anything just to turn back the clock to last week.

  “I’ve got to go,” Marina said abruptly.

  “Fine. It’s almost noon anyhow. Why don’t we get together again after lunch?”

  “No, I mean I have to go, as in leave. My agent came through for me, and I need to be back in New York tonight.”

  “And our photo shoot?”

  “I’m sorry. This contract is a very big deal for me...”

  And your little website isn’t. She could almost hear the words.

  “I was happy to do you the favor when I was between commitments,” Marina continued. “But now I’m not free. Look, you’re a professional, too, Jane. You know what it’s like. I’ve really got to run.”

  And she did, literally, without giving Jane the chance to say another word.

  * * *

  “SHE’S WHAT?”

  “Gone.”

  “What do you mean, gone?”

  Jane took a deep breath. She had known Pete would be upset.

  All afternoon, she had watched the barn from the back porch, waiting to catch him as soon as he returned, hoping she could be the one to break the news about Marina. She owed him that.

  Obviously, she had been the first to get to him. But Pete wasn’t upset or even angry. He was livid.

  “She had to go back to New York for an assignment,” she explained. “She left for the airport around noon.”

  He slammed his fist down so hard on the corral rail, she expected to see a dent in the wood.

  “She talk to Rachel and Eric before she left?” he asked.

  “No,” she said quietly. “She needed to be out of here in fifteen minutes. She was like a madwoman, trying to pack and text and make phone calls, all at once. It wouldn’t have been a good time to bring the kids over here.”

  “‘A good time’?” He laughed shortly. “The only time that’s good with Marina is the one Marina chooses. I told you that. And again, she breezes in and out and leaves my kids traumatized.”

  “I’m sorry, Pete. I don’t know how many times I can say that. I blame myself—”

  “Then we’re even,” he snapped. “I blame you, too.”

  She blinked back a sudden rush of tears. She had no idea whether they stemmed from grief or anger or both. “All right, I can understand that. But please, can’t we get past the fact I brought her here? We both need to think about the kids. I’ll explain to Rachel—”

  “No, you won’t.” He began to pace along the length of the corral fence. “You won’t say a thing to her. In fact, you’ll stay away from her altogether. Let me do my own damage control.”

  She nodded. “Of course. Tomorrow, then, I’ll talk to her after you’ve—”

  “No.” Frowning, he stopped in his tracks. “I just said, stay away from her. Today. Tomorrow. Next week.”

  She swallowed hard. “But...I’ll be leaving soon, too.”

  “Exactly. To head back to your career, the way Marina flies back to hers.”

  “Pete—”

  He flung up his hand to cut her off. “Just stay away. From all of us.”

  Without another word, he turned on his heel,
then stalked into the barn.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Two days after Marina left Cowboy Creek, Jane packed her bags for her own departure.

  When she and her family had all finished breakfast, Jed called her into his den, where he made his unhappiness at her decision very clear.

  “No need to go rushing off, is there? With everyone else leaving after the wedding, things have quieted down a mite too much for me.”

  She forced a laugh. “You’ve still got lots of people around here to keep you company. And Tina says she has reservations on the books for the rest of the summer. That will keep you busy.”

  “She’ll be busier still with all the guests around, too. It’s a big job for her, trying to juggle the contractors and the renovations, along with her regular bookkeeping. She could use some help.”

  “Andi’s planning to come back soon.”

  “Yes, so she said, and the more the merrier, I say. We can use all the hands we can get around here. We’ve still got a ways to go before we’ll be ready to get the wedding business up and running.”

  “And Tina’s right on schedule with her timetable.”

  “You always were a darned argumentative child.” He gave an unconvincingly irritated scowl, followed immediately by a sigh. “Well, what about your part in all this? It doesn’t matter where you are if you’re putting together the website on the computer. You said that yourself.”

  “I did.”

  “Then here would work just as well as anywhere else.”

  “But it wouldn’t. I can’t stay, Grandpa. I’ve already got other work lined up.”

  Like Marina, she had an enticing new assignment awaiting her, one that would take her from New York to Geneva, with a few stops for interviews and photos in between. If only that could be far enough from Garland Ranch to make her forget what she was leaving behind.

  In the past two days, her path hadn’t crossed with Pete’s again.

  Cole said Pete had spent those days out on the ranch on horseback, communicating with the other men mostly by cell phone. And that he had headed home earlier in the evening than usual.

  As Rachel hadn’t been near the Hitching Post, they all had to assume he was keeping her close to home, too.

  Tina had followed through on her plan, calling Sharon about having Rachel come to play with Robbie. She hadn’t gotten anywhere with that.

  If anyone would know what was going on with Pete and his kids, it would be Jed. But for the past couple of days, he had been quiet, almost brooding. She suspected Pete’s situation upset him even more than it did everyone else on the ranch.

  They all cared about Pete and his family, yet no one knew how to help.

  A hundred times, Jane considered and then rejected the idea of simply walking over to his house and knocking on the door. But as much as she wanted to see Rachel and Eric...and Pete...she wouldn’t go against his wishes. Wishes he had turned into an order harsher than any her dad had ever given her.

  She rose and walked around behind Jed’s desk to give him a hug. “Thanks for wanting to have me around, Grandpa,” she said softly. “I really wish I could tell you I’ll stay.” The sudden tightness in her chest underscored the truth of that.

  “I haven’t given up on you yet,” he said.

  She shook her head, but kept silent. She couldn’t tell him the true reason it was time to go home.

  * * *

  AFTER A QUIET family lunch, only Jane and Tina remained in the dining room. Upstairs, her bag sat packed, ready for her trip to the airport. Ready to go home.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Tina said. “So are Robbie and Cole and Abuela. I don’t think I need to mention how sorry Grandpa is to see you go.”

  “Are you trying to make me feel better, coz?”

  “I’m hoping to get you to change your mind.”

  Jane fiddled with the cutlery on her empty plate. “I told you before, I can’t.”

  “Can’t or don’t want to?” Tina sighed. “You’re sure there’s nothing you can say to Pete, nothing you can do? Or any way I can help you?”

  She shook her head. “No, but thanks. I appreciate the offer. Listening to me vent for a while was help enough.”

  They sat quietly for another moment.

  The sound of running footsteps in the hallway suddenly made her throat tighten. How funny—she knew it wasn’t Robbie’s sneakers hitting the floor, but Rachel’s. She hadn’t seen the little girl for a couple of days now, and she had missed Rachel’s enthusiastic chatter almost as much as she’d missed Pete.

  Wide-eyed, Rachel skidded to a stop in the doorway. “Jane! Paz told me you’re leaving!” She ran to Jane and threw her arms around her waist.

  As Jane hugged her, Tina stood and slipped from the room.

  Rachel leaned back in her arms and looked up. “Are you leaving, Jane? Is that really, really true?”

  She wouldn’t lie to Pete’s daughter. She would not make empty promises. But, unable to answer, all she could do was nod.

  Rachel’s shoulders slumped, and her eyes misted. A plump tear ran down her flushed cheek. She gulped once. Then nodded. “That’s okay, Jane,” she said quietly. “Everybody leaves me.”

  Jane bit her lip to hold back a sob.

  She held Rachel to her, tucking the little girl’s head beneath her chin, protecting her from seeing the tears filling her own eyes.

  * * *

  “PETE.”

  Startled, he looked up from his paperwork.

  Jed had managed to enter the barn and come all the way to the office doorway without him noticing. Just one more indication of how his focus had been shot to pieces since he’d taken his frustration out on Jane.

  In the couple of days since that afternoon with her outside the corral, he hadn’t encountered her again. He hadn’t seen the boss. He hadn’t spoken much to anyone, except his kids and Sharon.

  “Hey, Jed.” He stood and gestured to the paperwork spread on the desk. “I’ve been gathering info on the new irrigation system. Have a seat, if you want to take a look.”

  “Some other time.”

  Jed settled on the wooden stool near the office wall and, as far as Pete could tell, stared at nothing. Above Jed’s white eyebrows, frown lines Pete had never seen before scored the old man’s forehead. Plainly, Jed was worried. He also seemed to be having as much trouble concentrating as he himself had lately.

  “Something up, boss?”

  “Jane’s gone.”

  Pete froze, both at the memory of her telling him exactly that about Marina and at the feeling he’d just been kicked somewhere near his heart.

  Hell, after the way he’d blown up, what had he expected? That Jane would sit around hoping he would calm down? Her hair would turn white as Jed’s before that would happen.

  Even if he could get over what she’d done, he still would have the same reasons he’d always had for keeping his distance from her. One long, sweet night and a short but steamy meeting in a honeymoon cabin couldn’t change that.

  “Well...” He forced a casual shrug. “The day of the wedding, she said she had to get back to tackle a full schedule.”

  A schedule that would keep her busy for the next three years.

  Maybe by then his anger would have subsided. But he doubted it. Her interference had affected his family more than she could ever know, and he would be dealing with the aftermath well into his future.

  “I tried my darnedest to get her to stay, and she wouldn’t,” Jed said. “Stubborn girl. Always was, always will be. Sometimes a man’s own family—and friends—can’t see what’s good for them. Not even when they’ve got someone standing right there to show them the way.”

  Obviously, the boss wanted to help his ranch manager and his granddaughter find their way.
>
  That night at the Cantina, Cole had definitely gotten it right about Jed’s matchmaking plans. But Pete had gotten it right, too. The boss was doomed to disappointment.

  “I get what you’re saying, Jed. Believe me, I do. And you can try to show people all you want. But you know as well as I do, sometimes family and friends need to figure things out for themselves.”

  He’d figured Jane out, all right, and didn’t like his conclusions. Just like Marina, she would never choose family over career. And just like Marina, she wasn’t to be trusted with his kids...or his heart.

  * * *

  OUTSIDE HER APARTMENT BUILDING, Jane hailed a cab and climbed into it with half her usual amount of energy.

  Her driver made eye contact in the rearview mirror. Judging by the name on his operator’s license, he was of Russian and Irish descent. His radio played scratchy reggae music. He had pinned a Republican campaign button to one visor, and to the other he had plastered a sticker reading “Go Democrat or Go Home.”

  She loved New York.

  “Where we going today, lady?” His accent was pure South Bronx.

  “LaGuardia,” she said, then sat back for the ride to the airport.

  He pulled the taxi into traffic. Apparently oblivious to the car horns protesting behind them, he said, “So, what’s next on the itinerary once you take off outta there?”

  “Oslo.”

  “That up in Canada?”

  “No, it’s in Norway.”

  “Good deal. Get you away from this muck for a while.”

  He meant the weather. July in the city was hot and sticky, and for days now, the air had hazed with a blend of humidity and smog.

  She loved Manhattan at any time of the year, and normally, the summer weather didn’t affect her. But many things that normally didn’t bother her seemed to upset her lately.

  The humidity. The press of the crowds on the sidewalks. The stale air forced through sidewalk gratings by the rushing subway trains below. The rising price of her daily morning cup of tea from the Korean deli on her street corner.

  “You headed off on a nice, long vacation?” the driver asked.

  The thought of a break sounded tempting. Even her recent assignments, so enticing when she had first accepted them, had turned out to be as stale as the subway air. “No, it’s a business trip, just till the end of the week.”