“You’re a harsh woman, Colleen. And getting snootier every day. Why is that guy staying here, anyway? We all know how you feel about men on your place, and he’s sure not a ranch hand.”
“No, Harve, and neither am I. I’m the owner and I call the shots, including who I invite here.” Her point was clear. Dillon had been invited. They hadn’t.
“Maybe you’re trying to keep us away because you wouldn’t mind getting engaged again, this time to a rich man who could spend his money on the Applegate and turn it into a moneymaker. If you keep him to yourself, no other woman can snatch him up the way it happened with Dave.”
Intense silence met that comment, followed by some throat clearing and someone swearing beneath their breath. At that point, Dillon decided it was time to make an appearance. He slipped between the last of the trees, coming out just to the east of the entrance to the Applegate. His eyebrows rose. There were at least half a dozen cars jammed up at the entrance, all blocked by Colleen’s pickup truck. She was standing in the bed, her blond curls fluttering in the breeze, and looking glorious in her obvious anger. Good. Because if someone had hurt her and brought her to tears, he’d just have to hit them and he wasn’t in nearly good enough physical condition yet to dodge quickly if it came to that.
“I’m going to try to forget that you said that, Rob,” Colleen said, but her voice seemed strained.
Dillon moved forward. He stared directly at Colleen, who looked startled, then started to the edge of the wagon bed. He shook his head.
“Hello, Colleen. I don’t mean to interrupt this meeting, but I was out taking a walk and it’s sure a nice day, isn’t it? You’ve got some great scenery here, too. I’m really glad I got out of Chicago to see it.”
He turned to the men. “Hi, everyone. I’m Dillon Farraday.”
There was some throat clearing, some shuffling. Some calling out of names. Harve Enson, Bill Winters, Rob Enson. More.
Dillon nodded. “I’m glad to make your acquaintance, but I couldn’t help overhearing part of the conversation as I was walking through the orchard, and I think some things may need clearing up. For the record, Colleen has been the perfect hostess to me, and I’ve been a total pain of a guest,” he said, using the hated word. “I dropped in on her out of the blue, and she’s been caring for my baby for three months, which has to have cost her some work hours. In spite of that, she’s made me feel welcome. So, while I really want to be a model visitor to your fine state and not make any unnecessary waves, I have to tell you that I would really take exception to anyone who criticized Colleen or embarrassed her or gave her any grief for taking Toby and me in. I’d definitely have to do something about that,” Dillon said.
By now, everyone was looking at him. A small buzz of voices began in the crowd, and Colleen uttered something Dillon couldn’t make out, but sounded like a muffled curse. She crossed her arms.
Dillon would have liked to have climbed up to stand in the back of the truck with her, but he didn’t trust his leg to enable him to do that without him falling and looking like a fool. Right now, a commanding presence was called for.
“Well, now, Dillon, we all know better than to insult Colleen. She can ride a horse or shoot a gun better than any of us can,” one older man said. “And when she was younger, she could beat up the boys if they messed with her. Rob here didn’t mean anything by his comment. He was just irritated and not thinking straight. Nobody set out to insult Colleen, and they wouldn’t. She’s one of us.”
“And I’m not,” Dillon said with a smile.
The man looked startled. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant…I meant that we all like Colleen. She’s almost like one of the men.”
Dillon frowned. Colleen was definitely nothing like a man, but since she didn’t look happy to see him, and he had a distinct feeling that he’d already undermined some of her power simply by showing up here, he wasn’t going to point out the fact that she was very obviously and achingly female. Or at least he wasn’t going to point that out yet. That time might still come along.
“But I’m glad you showed up, Dillon, because we wanted to meet you. Colleen, it looks like we win, after all,” one of the men said.
Now Dillon was sure that he’d made a tactical error by showing up. He didn’t care about the darn car or even about becoming a tourist attraction, but he did care about Colleen’s pride.
“I didn’t bring the car you wanted to see,” he pointed out.
“But you’ll let us see it, won’t you? Most of us don’t have the money to be allowed near enough to even test drive a car that costs well over a hundred grand. And based on your reaction to Rob’s comment, I can see that you’re a good guy,” the man who appeared to be Harve said.
“I’m glad you think so. And I will bring the car into town…eventually. Right now Colleen and I have too much to do. No offense, but I need her right now worse than you need to see my car.”
Some grumbling ensued. Dillon heard some man muttering that he had been talked into driving all the way out here for nothing and now had to drive all the way back home with no gossip to tell his wife. She wasn’t going to be happy with him.
“What do you need Colleen for?” someone suddenly asked.
Dillon looked the man right in the eye. He could have simply laid the facts out in black and white. He wasn’t the least bit ashamed that he had asked Colleen to tutor him in how to be a good dad, but the fact that all these men seemed to feel that it was their right to treat her as if she had no privacy…
“That’s between me and Colleen,” he said. “But I’ll tell you this much. She’s teaching me to be a better man. She deserves to be treated with respect. You need to back off from bothering her about me.”
Colleen opened her mouth. She didn’t look happy, but then she shook her head and shut her mouth.
“We need to go,” she told him. She jumped down from the bed of the truck and climbed in.
Giving the men a nod, Dillon opened the passenger door and, using mostly his arms, leveraged himself smoothly into the vehicle.
Behind him, he could hear quiet conversation as the men returned to their trucks and cars. “Do you think they’re dating?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No. Bill, the man was married to Lisa. Colleen’s great, but she’s a…I don’t know what the term is nowadays, but she’s a tomboy.”
“He wasn’t looking at her like she was a tomboy.”
“Uh…”
Dillon couldn’t catch the rest. Doors slammed, cars took off. He glanced to his left and saw that Colleen’s color was high.
Interesting.
She headed off toward the house. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“What?”
“Defended me. Come down to help me. Threatened to take action if someone insulted me.”
“I didn’t like their tone.”
“I didn’t, either, but they’re mostly harmless. Most of this bunch is retired and they’re bored. You’re different and new and exciting. Something to see. Something to talk about.”
“That doesn’t excuse them trampling on your pride.”
“I would have handled it. I’m used to handling it. I can hold my own.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t, but you came down here to protect me. I’m not letting you take risks for my sake, not when I’m perfectly capable of and used to taking my own risks.”
Colleen stopped the truck.
“I know that, but…Dillon, I have to be in charge on the ranch. You’re only here for a short while but I’m here forever. I’m responsible for lives—of people, of animals, of this whole operation. I’m responsible for everything that happens here. I can’t be seen as weak and dependent on a man to step in and help me when things get tough.”
Her tone, the memory of a few snippets of conversation, her comments about her stepfather, Rob’s comments about her wanting to get engaged again, Millie’s concerns about how people treated Colleen…
“Tell me…this hasn’t always been a choice, has it? You’ve had to become strong, to establish yourself as unbending?”
Colleen stared at him through eyes that reflected old wounds, but her jaw was tight. “I’ve agreed to help you, I’m glad to be able to help you, but I’m not one of your employees or your soldiers. You can’t simply command me to give up my secrets.”
Because she was right, because his request might have been out of line and too personal and also because she looked petrified at the thought of telling him anything personal, guilt slipped through Dillon.
“You’re totally right about that,” he said.
“I have to stay in control. This ranch, everything that happens on it, it’s personal to me. I just…my father…he loved this ranch. He died when I was young, and my mother was fragile and weak and ended up marrying a man who seemed strong but was merely mean and lazy. He and his son belittled me constantly, and she said nothing. He didn’t let me do much other than work, except for the rodeo. That he allowed only because he felt it made him look good when I won.
“But I had one retreat. This ranch. My stepfather wasn’t that interested in it other than letting it support him, and he was slowly leaching it of all its operating cash. Some of the older ranch hands who were still around taught me everything they knew, and this ranch became my sanctuary. Years later, when my mother and stepfather and stepbrother died in a plane crash and the ranch became wholly mine, a man asked me to marry him, but when I found out that it was the ranch he wanted, not me, I broke things off. Almost immediately, he married another woman who gave him what he wanted. So, this is my world. I control it and everything that happens here. It’s where I fit, and it’s the other women’s home, too. If I fail with it, they lose their home.
“So, I can’t fail and I can’t quit. Succeeding, however, means I have to be in charge of things. The buck stops here. Always.”
“Meaning that having a man step in to protect you takes something away from you.”
“Well, it was nice,” she admitted. “I’m certainly not used to a man stepping up to defend me or threatening to protect my honor and reputation.”
“Ouch. I sound like a domineering jerk.”
“Maybe, more like a warrior.”
“Colleen, I really am grateful to you for all you’re doing for me and Toby, and…”
She looked over at him when he paused.
“There’s something else I have to tell you. I don’t really want to because I hate to worry you,” he said. “I know how you feel about Toby.”
Instantly, she sat up higher. “Is he sick? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “He’s fine. At least he was when I left. But Lisa…I think that Lisa is going to be a problem, one I’m going to have to address, like it or not. Considering the fact that she left him here, and she’s already called you, you might get sucked in. I’ll try to keep that from happening.”
“Didn’t I just tell you that you couldn’t protect me? You know I’ll help. Whatever I can do, I’ll help you.”
He reached out and traced his fingertips down the soft skin of her jaw. “And you said that I was a warrior. You just jump right in without any thought to your own welfare, don’t you?”
She shrugged. “It’s a bad habit, one that’s gotten me in trouble from time to time.”
“Maybe, but it’s also incredibly appealing.” He shouldn’t be touching her. Ever. She was married to her ranch for better or worse. He had a life and a business in Chicago, and this…this flood of sensation she called up in him owed nothing to logic. Because logic told him that neither of them wanted a forever kind of relationship. It also told him that she would be hurt by anything less.
That left no outlet, no way forward, no way for him to touch her without guilt. Besides, he was not going to be another one of those men she’d known who hadn’t cared about her feelings.
But suddenly she reached out and grasped the collar of his shirt in both hands. “You shouldn’t say things like that,” she whispered. Then she pulled him close for a quick, hard, mind-numbing kiss. A fantastic kiss that left his lips burning, his head spinning and his body craving more. Much more.
“We both wanted to do that, didn’t we?” she asked when she pulled back just as fast as she’d started. There was uncertainty and a trace of vulnerability in her voice.
“Oh, yes, we did. Still do,” he said with a grin.
She let her breath out. “Well, that’s about all I can stand for today. I need to concentrate on work.”
“You’re the boss,” he said as she put the truck in gear and headed back to the house. “You’re in charge.”
Which was good, because Dillon was beginning to think that he wasn’t in charge of himself at all where Colleen was concerned.
CHAPTER SIX
COLLEEN felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience. Dillon made her too aware of herself in ways that she wasn’t used to. That kiss…had she really kissed him? Just like that?
She had. The darn man just made her crazy with his insistence on treating her as if she was some kind of precious porcelain when everyone knew she was a tough woman. But that kiss. She’d been tempted beyond all belief to touch him, and when she had, the heat and emotions and desire that had slammed through her had been overwhelming. Too much. She hadn’t known what to do about them. And she still didn’t.
Well, no, that wasn’t true. What she needed to do was ignore them. Sooner or later Dillon would leave.
In the meantime, she’d try to get back to doing what she did best. Taking care of business and people. As she’d told him, she’d already spent large portions of her life taking charge of others. Her stepfather had been a total jerk, but he’d been right about one or two things. Colleen had been awkward. She’d never been a girly girl.
But she was a fighter, one with a purpose. This ranch was her kingdom. And right now, something other than the too potent energy swirling between her and Dillon was disturbing her kingdom. And she was going to do something about it.
It was late. The bunkhouse had already gone dark, but she could still hear Dillon moving around. Going to the door leading out to the porch, she knocked.
He answered the door wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. She couldn’t help noting the strength in his biceps, but she didn’t want to notice that. It wasn’t why she’d sought him out. “We should talk about Lisa,” she said.
“Name the place.”
Not here. He’d already pulled out his bed. They could sit in the kitchen, but the night was warm. The kitchen felt hot and sticky. He’d almost finished with the front porch today, but the swing still hadn’t been hung.
“The picnic table in the yard will do. It’s close enough that the monitor will pick up Toby if he wakes, but far enough from everyone else that no one will hear us. And it’s out in the open.”
He smiled at that.
She felt her face growing warm. “You’re safe,” she said, tipping her chin up. “I don’t intend to jump you again.”
“Did you think I was worried that you might?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
She thought…no, she wasn’t thinking straight at all right now.
“Let’s go outside,” she said.
He led the way. The stars had come out and stretched across the sky in a navy-and-white-spangled blanket that twinkled and glowed. Dillon held out his hand to help Colleen up onto the table and, without thought, she took it. His big fingers closed around hers, his warmth flowed into her. She breathed in deeply, trying to control her reaction, to slow the sparks that were zipping through her.
Concentrate, she told herself.
“Tell me about Lisa,” she said. “I know her, but we weren’t close. Mostly I remember Lisa as the star of Bright Creek, the girl every other girl seemed to want to be when we were growing up.”
“Even you?”
“Not the way other girls did. I wouldn’t have liked having that much attention turned on me. I was always
awkward, as if my body was a bad fit. I still feel that way lots of times, except when I’m on a horse. But what I wanted doesn’t matter. What does Lisa want? And how is that going to affect you and Toby?”
“I hope it won’t affect us much at all. I’m hoping that we can just go on with our lives, but those aren’t the vibes I’m getting from Lisa. And what I’m hearing about her doesn’t bode well for Toby and me.” He shook his head.
“Tell me,” she said.
“I gave her a very generous settlement, more than what was required legally, but my sources tell me that she’s running through it quickly and living beyond her means. Not an easy feat, but she appears to be doing it. The baby…she never expressed a desire for a baby. She left him with you with no way of reaching her but suddenly, as soon as I showed up here and met him, as soon as I fell for that cute little guy, she called me when she had never called before.”
“You think Toby is a bargaining chip for more money?”
“I hope I’m wrong about that. And it’s not that I’m worried about the money so much. It’s how far she’ll take this.”
Colleen knew just what he meant. “When we were in school once, Esme Hawkins got a dress that was the prettiest I had ever seen. Esme had never had so much attention before in her life, I don’t think. But when we were out playing at recess, Esme tripped over Lisa’s foot and got her dress all dirty. It looked like an accident, Lisa didn’t try to hide the fact that it had been her foot that had gotten in the way, and she apologized profusely. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it at all, except the very next week Lisa came in wearing an equally pretty new dress. As if she had to prove a point and reclaim her title. Maybe it was a coincidence, but there were lots of those coincidences over the years. Nothing serious, just Lisa having to always be the one and only. Lisa flirting with the male teachers, complimenting the female teachers who were the toughest graders on their hair and nails and clothes. There was something about her that made even adults want to win her favor. But she is, as you’ve heard, the best in Bright Creek, so maybe I simply have a vivid imagination. I shouldn’t be speculating when I have no proof.”
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