by S A Monk
Hawk stared at her pensively. “And I remember envying you— for having Tom as your father.”
“You never knew your real dad?”
“No. He took off right after I was born, I guess. My mother ran away from the res in her teens. All she ever told me about my dad was that he was white, that he was a rodeo cowboy, and that they had actually been married for six months.”
Jenny didn’t know what to say. It was a sad story, and it hurt to think of how lonely Hawk must have been after losing his mother, then having no family claim him. Tom had never told her all of Hawk’s history. Now that she’d heard it, she was glad her father had been there for him.
“So you think Caldwell’s causing all this trouble because he hated you as a kid?”
“Partially. But all the problems we’ve had around the place have happened since Tom and I made it clear we wouldn’t sell Caldwell the land he wants. Brad is Chairman of the Board at the bank that is holding the mortgage and loans on the ranch. If we default, the place goes into foreclosure, his bank’s foreclosure. Who do you think would pick the place up in a heartbeat, then? Brad’s got a hell of a motive, and I don’t have any other enemies that I know of, nor did Tom. I don’t believe in coincidence, either.”
“What are some of the damages you’ve had around here?”
Hawk began stomping the dirt in around the posts. “Broken fence lines, like this,” he indicated with a sweep of his gloved hand. “Hay bales broken and spilled. Irrigation lines cut, leaving water pouring out, wasted. Damaged equipment, like the baler and the loader and the tractor. One day they were working fine. The next, they were shot. Lost cattle.”
“Lost cattle?” She followed him to the next damaged post.
“Most of the stock has been brought in from the summer graze to pasture around the old line cabin until we bring them down. The head count is off.”
She handed him the post hole digger, and he began vigorously digging the second hole. “What does off mean?”
“It means cattle we had or should have had, but can’t find now, mostly calves, probably those born over the summer.” With a muttered curse, he set the new post into the hole, then began to fill dirt in around it.
“Don’t you lose some to wild animals up here?”
“Some, but not fifty head.”
“Fifty head?” Jenny was stunned. “My god!”
“Yeah, but God doesn’t have anything to do with this. Neither does Mother Nature.” With an angry yank, Hawk made sure the post was in the ground securely. “We‘re still rounding cattle up. Some of those missing might still turn up.”
But Jenny could hear the doubt in his voice. “And if they don’t, that’s a lot of money to lose.” She was beginning to think she’d better have a look at the ranch’s books.
“Tell me about it. After replacing the baler, fixing the tractor, and buying new irrigation lines, plus a bunch of other smaller problems, fifty head will put us in big trouble if we can’t find them.”
“I want to help.”
“No, it’s too dangerous for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Let me handle it. Just hand me the wire stretcher and the hammer.”
Hawk seemed to think she meant with stringing the very sharp barbed wire. “I mean that I want to help with money,” she corrected him as she handed him what he wanted. Unfortunately, she got too close to the wire and ripped her shirt. She didn’t realize she’d also torn the skin underneath— until blood started to soak her sleeve.
Hawk saw immediately what she had done and swore vehemently. “Shit! Didn’t I just tell you.... Lord, look at your arm!” He pulled a clean handkerchief from his back pocket, ripped her shirt away from the rapidly bleeding wound and proceeded to very efficiently bind it.
Jenny looked at the blood soaking through the make-shift bandage, slightly bemused. “It doesn’t hurt.” She could tell by looking at him, though, that he was really angry at her. “It was just an accident. I was only trying to help.”
Pressing down on the wound, he finally got the bleeding to stop. “When was your last tetanus shot?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know— when I was a kid.”
“Shit!” He repeated the four letter curse yet again as he picked up his tools. “Let’s get into town and get you to the emergency room. You need a tetanus shot, probably a couple of stitches.”
“It can wait. The fence is almost done. Finish it, first,” she tried to convince him. “You stopped the bleeding.” She looked down at her arm. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“It will,” he insisted adamantly. “I’m not going to take any chance on that getting infected.” With his tools in one hand, he grabbed her by the elbow with the other. “I’ll finish the damn fence another time—maybe after I go beat the hell out of Brad Caldwell,” he muttered, marching her off to the truck.
When they got to the passenger side, Jenny turned to look at him over her shoulder as he opened the door for her. “I’m sorry. I thought I was beginning to be a help. Guess not.”
Beside her, he put a hold on his agitation and ran a gentle finger down her cheek. It left behind a streak of blood that he tenderly wiped off with his shirt sleeve. “I just don’t want you getting hurt while you’re helping me out,” he told her quietly, apologetically.
Cupping her cheek in his large hand, he stared down at her silently for a long moment. Somewhere in that bit of time, Jenny could have sworn he considered kissing her. His eyes settled on her mouth fleetingly, then lifted to look beyond her as he shook his head. A moment later, her helped her up into the cab of the truck and closed the door.
While she waited for him to join her, she wondered what a kiss from this wickedly attractive man would have been like. For a long surprising moment, desire kindled within her, surprising her with its emergence and strength.
CHAPTER 7
As injuries go, it was not significant, a few stitches and a tetanus shot, but Hawk made Jenny take Sunday off. Since she was achy and stiff from using muscles she wasn’t accustomed to working, she didn’t argue. An afternoon nap was a luxury. She left Hawk doing his laundry, and thought that she should have asked him to do hers. Visions of tiny scraps of lingerie falling from big long-fingered hands teased her dreams.
Bits of silk and lace underwear were falling through the air, landing on her as she lay on her bed looking up at him. A wickedly playful smile slanted across his lips. Then he was bending over her to place a kiss on her mouth. She smiled back and reached for him to bring him down on top of her. His lips were pressed to her, his tongue plunging….
The sensual dream lingered in vivid detail long after she awoke. At dinner that evening, she was embarrassingly unsettled, barely able to keep from blushing every time Hawk said something to her or looked her way. That he was bemused by her behavior embarrassed her even further.
∞∞∞
“How is your arm this morning?” Hawk asked the next day after breakfast.
“It’s a minor annoyance,” Jenny responded, grabbing her hat and gloves at the back door of the kitchen.
“Doc said it looked pretty clean. He doesn’t think any infection will set it as long as you take care of it.”
“He also said it won’t leave a scar most likely.”
Hawk nodded. “Thought you might like a tour of the new barn before we head out today.”
“Dad sent me pictures of it after it was built,” she told him as they walked toward the big red structure at the far end of the yard. “He was very proud of it. He said you built most of it.”
The new barn had a pitched red metal roof that provided for a hay loft at the top. At one side, it had a long low overhang, supported by six big pine posts. It opened to a white fenced paddock for the horses that were kept in the stalls inside. The entire barn was trimmed neatly in white, with a big open window in the loft and two smaller ones on either side of the huge sliding red door. The Bar F/Bar L brand logo was portrayed above the central door in large white painted wooden letters. Th
ough it was six years old, it looked brand new and freshly painted. It was obviously a prized addition to the ranch.
Beneath the low brim of a dark brown felt cowboy hat, Hawk flashed her a quick grin. “We worked on it together.”
He drew open the sliding door and stepped aside to let her enter before him. Inside, the barn was quiet, cool, and peaceful. The high ceiling was heavily beamed with stripped pine. A hayloft nestled under half of the pitched roof and was partially full of hay bales. Soft morning sunlight filtered through the shuttered windows marching along each wall. The light cast wavering patterns on the pine planked floor, and dust particles from the hay hung in the still air, although the interior was really very clean for a barn. Apparently the stalls had already been mucked out because there wasn’t a strong odor of manure. The long wide aisle down the center of the barn was swept clean, as well, and everything was neatly placed where it should have been.
Stalls for horses, pens for other animals, and two calving stalls ran along both walls, under the high windows, though only four horses occupied the dozen and a half stalls at the moment—two in front and two in back. The barn was deep and wide with workrooms at the far end. It was more than obvious that there was a great deal of pride and appreciation in the structure.
Hawk carried carrots for all of the horses, and stopped to feed the first two their treat.
Jenny watched him affectionately greet and stroke the first two like they were old friends. When he was finished, he put a hand at her back and guided her toward the back of the barn, where there was a tack room, a small office, and a veterinary room. The rooms were well-stocked, clean, and efficiently organized. Wood and leather mixed with the scent of horses and hay.
After a quick tour of that area, they backtracked to the last two animal stalls. Two horses stood opposite one another on either side of the aisle. One was a big dark red gelding, and the other a smaller chocolate brown mare. Hawk stepped up to the biggest quarter horse.
“This is Red Phantom.” Pulling a carrot out of his back pocket, he fed it to the horse who greeted him eagerly.
Jenny could tell this was Hawk’s horse. .“You must spoil him. He was expecting that carrot.” She stepped up onto the slats of the stall, let the horse sniff her, then stroked his velvety nose, giving him a gentle rub between his wide set eyes as she murmured a greeting to him.
“Red and I have been together a long time. We used to rodeo together. He’s one hell of a fine cutting horse,” Hawk said, watching her and his horse bond. “Now, we’re just a couple of stiff-jointed old bums, aren’t we, boy?”
“Oh, I don’t believe that,” she argued with a dimpled smile. “Neither one of you look old to me.” Rubbing the horse’s long velvety neck, she murmured, “You’re such a handsome guy.” Over her shoulder, she glanced back down at Hawk. “I have a horse at home. His name is Dark Shadow.” Turning her attention back to the horse, she addressed him again. “He’s a beautiful gelding just like you. Only he’s black, and I’ll bet he’d love it here.” Swiveling at the waist, she turned to Hawk again. “I board him and ride him in the San Gabriel Mountains, above Los Angeles. He’s mountain trail trained, so I imagine he would do well here.”
Hawk put his hands around her belted waist and lifted her down when she started to descend. Startled, one boot slipped off the bottom rail, and she fell backwards, right into his arms. He turned her to face him as her feet touched the floor, but he didn’t release her. His incredibly blue, blue eyes darkened as he stared down at her, mesmerizing her with their penetrating intensity, their sudden unmistakable desire. In his loose embrace, her heart was racing and her breathing felt suspended in her lungs. Heat radiated between them like a furnace.
He leaned closer to her, his breath mingling warmly with hers. Automatically, her lips parted. His were so well-shaped, so very inviting. She anticipated what he’d taste like; how his lips would cover hers; how his tongue would slip between hers to tangle with her own. A sweet rush of desire coursed through her. It was so vividly intense, she closed her eyes. Her stomach fluttered. Her legs went suddenly weak and boneless.
Her arms rose, and her hands twined together around his neck. She arched her back into him. Their hips met in a breathless moment of contact, then their lips— just barely.
“Hey, boss, you got a phone call at the house.”
Jenny gasped at the sound of Eli’s voice behind her, while Hawk lifted his head to look over her head at the old cowboy framed in the open doorway of the barn. Slowly, Hawk’s arms fell from her waist, while hers uncoiled from around his neck. In unison, they stepped back from one another.
“Who is it?” Hawk called out, his voice betraying his impatience. “Can’t it wait?”
“Could, as far as I’m concerned.” Eli gave him an assessing, disgruntled look. “It’s Cindy Caldwell. You don’t want to talk to her, you tell Miss High and Mighty, yourself.”
“Saddle Red Phantom and Aspen for us, will you, Eli?” Hawk cast Jenny a quick apologetic look. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Eli grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and came deeper into the bar.
“I’ll help you,” Jenny offered, wondering what Cindy Caldwell wanted, but determined not to ask.
“This is Aspen. She’s a friendly little mare,” the old cowboy told her after Hawk left. He opened the stall gate and led the mare out. “She’s a sweetheart, aren’t you Aspen?” he crooned. “Very gentle and smooth. She’ll take good care of you, honey.”
Jenny walked into the tack room and chose a saddle for herself, then grabbed the rest of the tack for the animal. “And I suppose she’s slow and safe, too,” she laughed as she lifted the saddle onto the mare. “Will she put me to sleep riding her?”
“Naw,” Eli reassured her, slipping the bridle over Aspen’s head. “She just minds her manners better than some of the horses around here. Trust me, you two will get along fine.”
“Better than me and that old relic of a truck Hawk made me drive, I’ll bet.”
Eli’s laughter was deep and raspy. “Yeah, that thing’s a bear.”
“Thanks for warning me ahead of time.”
Once Aspen was completely saddled, Jenny stood petting and stroking her, while Eli took Hawk’s bigger horse out and began saddling him. As she watched, she tried valiantly to regain her composure. There was no doubt that had Eli not interrupted them, she and John Red Hawk Larson would be ensnared in each other’s arms right now. The fact that she had truly wanted that kiss was undeniable evidence that she was growing more and more attracted to him. Damn, how smart was that?
They met Hawk outside in the yard twenty minutes later. The house, the new barn, and the old one, which now housed all the large and heavy equipment used on the ranch, stood against the magnificent backdrop of two of the three collegiate peaks that formed the mountain range on their side of the valley. Large corrals for the horses connected the two barns, and at the very end of the dirt yard, stood the bunkhouse, where Eli, Hank, and Steve lived. A large, pole-supported carport stood near the house, providing a protective covering for the three family vehicles parked there, which included Jenny’s fancy red ‘Vette, while another smaller open pole shed protected the horse trailers. The immense pole shed for the baled and harvested hay sat near the bunkhouse, at the back of the yard.
It was a big yard, and the only grass was a wide swath planted immediately around the house. A hip-high white picket fence kept the animals off of it. It was a picturesque setting, but there had been several changes made over the years, making it all look much more prosperous than it had when she had lived here as a girl. All the changes were definite improvements, and her dad had obviously benefitted from his partnership with Hawk. It also appeared they had had a few good years of raising cattle.
If she stayed permanently, she might have to insist on a garage for her precious sports car, though. In the winter, when the snow blew in off the mountains and settled deep on the ground, there wouldn’t be a great dea
l of protection for her expensive vehicle.
As she stared at the truck and two cars parked under the pitched metal roof of the carport, she wondered what she was going to do with her dad’s ten-year-old SUV. It didn’t need to be sold, but ownership should be transferred and it needed to be driven once in the while.
Jenny stood beside her horse and scanned her old home appreciatively. It was a picturesque setting. With the mountains and heavily treed foothills as a backdrop, it was really beyond picturesque. It held a precious place in her heart and in her soul. In all the years she’d been gone, nothing had ever replaced it for her.
She had missed it so. Even with her father gone, she was beginning to understand it still held a special place in her heart. She loved her work, but she’d never felt at peace in Southern California, or anywhere else, for that matter. She owned a home, but it wasn’t home to her. Were the dreams she’d held in her heart for so long still possible to reclaim? Could she build new dreams? Could she change her life to return here after all?
Shaded beneath the low brim of her new hat, her eyes landed on the tall lean cowboy coming toward her. He was wearing work chaps today, and they accentuated his long legs and lean hips. His broad shoulders were encased in a pale blue cambric shirt, and he had his dark cowboy hat pulled low onto his forehead, making it impossible to see his startling blue eyes. But his mouth was visible. Even though it was set in a straight line, clenched like his square jaw, it was still inviting, eliciting tempting memories of his near kiss. The man was just entirely too good looking, and yet it was comforting to be with him. Other emotions were emerging, though, but they were so new and fragile, she wasn’t ready to analyze them yet. All she really knew at the moment was that leaving was the last thing on her mind these days.
“Ready to head out?” Hawk questioned needlessly since she was obviously ready.
She gave him a thumb up. When she put her foot in the stirrup, Hawk was there to put his hands on her waist and lift her effortlessly into the saddle. Ever solicitous, he checked the straps and cinches on her saddle before he took his own horse from Eli.