by Em Petrova
“Forget I said that. My brain’s not firing right after that meal Aunt Maggie fed me. I haven’t eaten a dinner like that in a long time and I feel as stuffed as I do at Thanksgiving.”
“Why don’t you lie in the grass and take a nap then?” She stopped the truck and got out. He watched her for a second as she waved to the others that this was the site. The way she moved, how she put him in his place, well… those only intrigued him more. Call him a sucker for punishment, but he liked a sassy-mouthed woman, and Lilah was that and so much more.
He threw himself into building the maze but every chance he got, he looked around for the little strawberry blonde. Maybe it was being around all these couples that had him thinking about asking her to take a ride with him after they were done here.
His brothers would say he was an idiot—hadn’t he had enough abuse from Katie? But he was smart enough to have learned not to stand behind the horse when you’ve already been kicked once. Probably best not to ask her tonight—she was sure to turn him down.
Still, after the maze was created and the adults went through it with their children to test it out, Easton couldn’t stop himself from approaching Lilah. She stood looking over the fields as if studying the very roll of the land.
“Maze looks great. Want to give it a try?” he asked.
“No, but thank you. I have to get home. I have to be in the next county bright and early tomorrow.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “A coworker and I are going to start a controlled burn where the undergrowth’s gotten carried away in this heat.”
“You’re actually setting fire to a ranch?”
She smiled, and it was directed at him. Which stole his breath for a second. “Yes, we’re well-prepared and it should go fine.”
“Lilah, are you seeing anyone?”
Her lips popped open. “Uh, no. Why do you care? Look, I’ve got to get on the road. You can catch a ride back with your family.” With that, she rushed to her truck and reached inside the window to open the door, leaving him wondering how the men in his family all seemed to have the gift of finessing a woman and that gene hadn’t been implanted in him.
Her truck kicked up the dust on the road as she sped away, seemingly as fast and as far away from him as possible.
He let out a sigh and took off his hat to run his fingers through his hair. Maybe he hadn’t learned from his mistakes with the last woman, after all.
Chapter Three
Rule of the ranch was the newest man on it got shit duty, but Easton didn’t even care. He love the hard work, the burn of his muscles as he shoveled out stalls. The Daltons’ new horse stock was some of the top in the state, and that meant they kept a careful watch over their animals. Making sure they had clean living conditions and fresh water at all times was high on the list of important chores, and Easton was happy to help.
Besides, his brain was busy working overtime. How had he screwed up that repair for the oil rig so completely? It was true his mind hadn’t been on the task after what had gone down between him and Katie and then him and Skeeter. That was no excuse, though. He couldn’t lose focus again.
Now the conversation with Lilah worked its way into his day. He’d woken with thoughts of her. Had scarfed down the customary first breakfast of two granola bars while replaying her words in his head. And here he stood, deep in horse-shit and other muck, with Lilah’s voice ringing in his ears.
Maybe he just had to get her out of his system quick. All he needed was to learn she had a boyfriend or just hated him too much to ever consider looking his way again for him to stop this madness.
A scrape of a boot on the wooden floor had him looking up to see Ford coming his way. The oldest brother of the pack was a welcome sight.
Easton grinned. “Come to help your little bro with the shit task?”
“No. Was coming to see to the horses.” He grinned back.
“Grab yourself a shovel, bro,” Easton said.
Ford did with a huff of a laugh and then went into the adjacent stall. “Thanks for all your help with the maze. Susannah couldn’t be happier.”
“No problem. I’m glad to be here.”
“Why are you here?” Ford didn’t pause in his rhythm of scoop-and-dump.
“Just got a break is all.”
Ford leaned on his shovel and looked over the high wooden wall of the stall. “This is me you’re talkin’ to. You know we always pick up on each other’s lies in this family.”
Easton swallowed and decided it was time to own up to it—all of it.
“Got into some trouble on the rig. Cost the outfit a lot of money and it could have been a hell of a lot more, so they gave me a month off.”
Ford let out a whistle. “That’s hard, man. I’m sorry. Did you actually screw up that bad?”
He nodded. “My own fault. My head wasn’t on the job. It was on—”
“That damn bartender,” Ford finished for him.
He grunted. “Wish I could say it wasn’t her, but it was.”
“Still dreaming of her? What is it about her? She looks like every other woman to me.”
For some reason, Ford’s words shot an image of Lilah into his mind. How those strawberry highlights shone in the last of the day’s sun as she directed everyone to the new spot to spare the poor newts from a horrible extinction.
Easton met his big brother’s gaze, almost a mirror image to his own. The story unfolded, from Katie asking him to take her home that night and ending with Easton sitting in the county jail till morning.
Ford closed his eyes and opened them slowly. “Holy hell, Easton.”
“Yeah, I ain’t proud of it.”
“Do our parents know?”
“More’n likely. It would be in the paper. I left straight for the rig and didn’t see them, though. And when you called looking for Justus, I came directly here.”
“Avoidance tactic.”
“Yeah, I’ve made plenty of mistakes this past year. One was waiting for a woman who didn’t and never would feel the same about me. You and Justus were right. Hell, even Kezziah knew and she’s still in high school.” Their youngest sister Keziah was outspoken, know-it-all and spoiled rotten. They all loved her despite it all, though.
Ford snorted. “So you’ve learned your lesson.”
“I have,” Easton said solemnly. Or had he? He’d gone from thinking nonstop about Katie to now focusing on Lilah.
They worked in silence for a while, and the Texas heat engulfed them, leaving them sweating and panting. They moved through the barn together, and Easton appreciated the companionable pause in talk. Ford always did get him like nobody else did.
“It’s good to be in Paradise Valley,” he said at last.
“I’m glad to see your ugly face. Be gladder to see it across from me at the breakfast table. I’m starved.”
“Do you go home for breakfast?”
“Nah, Aunt Maggie insists we all eat together. We all pitch in with the food costs because there are so many of us, it would overwhelm them. But she and the other ladies seem to enjoy putting meat on our bones.”
“Uncle Ted’s getting a little paunch on the front, isn’t he?”
Ford chuckled. “He’s earned all that time in his recliner chair.”
“For sure.” Easton moved to another stall. “So what do you know about Lilah?”
From the corner of his eye, he caught Ford looking at him. “She’s friends with Susannah.”
Easton chuckled. “I figured that out for myself, thanks. I mean, anything else?”
“Oh shit.” Ford thumped the point of his shovel down to punctuate his cuss.
“What?” Easton turned to stare at him.
“I’ve seen this look on you before. With that bartender.”
“Don’t bring her up,” Easton warned.
“Okay, I won’t. Don’t you remember Lilah from those summers here as kids? You took that bet to kiss a liz—”
“Don’t say it,” he broke ac
ross Ford’s words. “I was horrible to her.”
Ford laughed. “She still loves the things, so you didn’t seem to scar her too much.”
“Yeah, I apologized nonetheless.”
“I can’t imagine Lilah holding a grudge. She’s far too sweet. She helps Susannah whenever she can, and that’s pretty often lately when she needs more hands with one of her clients.”
Easton cocked a brow. “I thought Lilah works for the state, managing land.”
His brother nodded. “Sounds like you already know all about her.”
“We talked a bit. She’s been working on the ranch here, monitoring the regrowth after the fire?”
“That’s right.”
“I’d like to make it up to her. You know, the awful nickname thing and toying with her to win those cupcakes. I thought I might take her out. As an apology.”
“Thought you already apologized.”
“I did.” Easton was pretty sure Ford wasn’t snowed over and knew exactly what he was up to. “But this is only right.”
“Not sure if she’ll accept your offer, but you can try.”
Easton’s chest tightened. “She has a boyfriend?” Part of him hoped she did just so he could purge her from his mind.
“Not that I’m aware of. Susannah would know for sure. I know Lilah spends a lot of time in the neighboring county workin’ with some other guys there. She could be seeing someone.”
Easton let out a low breath that felt like a growl.
“Make sure you’re asking Lilah out for the right reasons.” Ford stopped working, sweat rolling out from under his hat brim and down his cheek.
“What other reasons would I have?” Easton felt a rising annoyance.
Ford met his gaze. “You were hung up on the bartender for a long time. Make sure you’re not just rebounding, putting those feelings into another woman.”
Damn, his brother had hit on the exact thing Easton had been worrying about since hearing Lilah scream. And now he felt horrible.
“I wouldn’t do that. I won’t ask her out.”
“Your call, bro.” Ford looked around. “And we’ve come to the end of our work for the morning. How ‘bout that breakfast now?”
Easton leaned his shovel in the corner and followed his brother out of the barn. The weight of his thoughts had shifted, but his worries weren’t lessened one bit. In fact, he wondered how he could feel worse but he did.
* * * * *
A little shiver sat deep in the pit of Lilah’s stomach as she pulled into the Daltons’ ranch. She’d never experienced anything quite like it in all the weeks since the fire she’d been coming here. And she knew exactly why.
Easton Dalton.
The man might not even still be here—they hadn’t discussed the length of his stay. But she couldn’t help but worry about seeing him again.
Or worry about why she’d taken extra pains with her hair and changed her top twice before even driving over.
Ugh, she really was that stupid little girl again, Lizard Lilah. Puckering up for a Dalton boy’s kiss and believing he really could like her.
She was here with a job to do. She’d see it done and get out—and she would not look around for Easton while here.
Reaching the site of the fire, she parked her truck and took her notepad and pen off the passenger seat along with a tape measure. She’d been recording how quickly the growth was returning and the types of grasses that were springing up after the scorching took place.
In the heat of the day, she looked at the beautiful land and let out a happy sigh. She loved her work more than anything.
She was busy measuring and recording when she heard hoofbeats. In the distance a few riders came into sight, and she found herself automatically studying their forms. But all the Daltons sported the same build—broad shoulders and muscled arms with thighs that strained just right at the fabric of their jeans.
She shook herself and ducked her head again, ignoring the riders pushing a small herd toward another pasture. It wasn’t her affair—she was here to check the land.
Except the hoofbeats grew louder, and she glanced up again to see one of the riders coming straight for her.
Please let it be Hank. Or Cash. Anybody but Easton.
She tensed, the numbers she’d been about to write down forgotten. As soon as the man came into sight, she nearly dropped the pen anyway.
White teeth flashed in Easton’s tanned face as he approached. Each roll of his body in the saddle had another small fire burning inside her until she had to bring a hand to her throat to wipe away a drop of perspiration.
“I recognized your truck,” he said in greeting. “I didn’t realize you were here today.”
“Uh, yeah, hi. I’m just recording some numbers. I’ll be out of your hair soon.” She threw him a dim-witted smile and waved with the tape measure in hand.
“You’re not in my hair. Mind if I watch you?”
Oh lawdy, the things this man was still doing to her insides. Why couldn’t she just shake him? The kiss from twelve-year-old Easton hadn’t been all that fantastic.
And just what was he intending to watch? He’d already done plenty of staring while building the maze.
“Um, sure.” She set her pad of paper down and stuck her pen in her back pocket before stretching the tape measure along the ground.
He watched her for a second. When the end of her tape measure skidded across the ground, he lurched off his mount and made a grab for the end.
“Thanks.” She avoided looking at him as he held it in place. “Can you just move it a few inches that way? See where that lighter patch starts?”
He moved, and damn if she didn’t notice the pull of those Levis on his thighs. Freakin’ Daltons. At least the others were unavailable and she didn’t bother noticing things like hair that was too long and square jaws or hats tipped perfectly low over their smoldering gazes. How one family had been so blessed with such rugged men was proof there was a God.
She nodded when he stopped at the spot she’d pointed out.
“This?”
“Yes.” She walked several yards away, unrolling the tape along the ground. She crouched to read the number and had to say it to herself four times in order to get it to stick in her head. She hurried back to her notepad and wrote it down, aware of what a close call it was not to have written Easton Dalton and a few hearts around the letters.
Ugh. Lilah, you need to get a grip on yourself. He didn’t like you then and he doesn’t like you now.
“What are you writing down?”
His deep voice broke into her thoughts. “I’m checking the rate of growth on the land.”
“And this is important?”
She stared at him. “Well, yeah. In Texas and plenty of other states, we use fire to control overgrowth. But a rancher needs to know how soon he can expect his pasture to be usable again.”
He peered at the ground. “Seems like about four months to me.”
“Yes, but look how short it still is. A herd would wipe out these grasses in two days, tops. The weather’s a factor. Lack of rain, or not enough, will keep the land dry and barren for longer. Part of my job’s to compare growing seasons and burn areas. It even varies from county to county.”
“I heard you travel to other counties.” Easton’s lips twisted into a scowl that had her looking at him closer. What would bother him about her traveling?
“That’s right. I go all over the place.” She talked for another minute about the last places she’d been but soon became distracted by a splotch of bright purple on his white T-shirt.
When she broke off, he said, “You’ve got it all together, and here I’m just a dumb cowpoke.”
She laughed. “You aren’t dumb but you sure look it.”
“What?” Confusion crossed his handsome features.
She pointed at his shirt. “You’ve got a bit of…” She stepped up and swiped it off his shirt, bringing the sugary sweetness to her mouth. “Just as I thought—fro
sting.” She looked up into his eyes. “Winning bets again, Easton?”
As he gaped at her, his gaze intensified. “Cash’s girl Emma made me sample cookies for maze night.”
Their stares lingered. Then he reached out and brushed his callused fingers over her hair. “You sure turned out pretty, Lilah.”
She jerked back, the moment fading in a blink. “And you’re still just as insulting.”
She rounded up her supplies and strode for her truck. This guy was still the unfeeling jerk he’d been years ago, and she was finished entertaining his deep looks or trying to decipher what he actually wanted from her.
Easton Dalton was bad news for her, plain and simple.
* * * * *
Easton had to close his jaw on the shock he felt at Lilah’s reaction to his words. He rushed after her and caught her elbow before she could open the door of her truck. “Lilah, wait. What’d I do? Is it the frosting? I can change my shirt. Or go and ask Emma for some to put on my face.”
She seemed to be waging an internal war, the ice present in her eyes and her lips trying to tip up into a smile. Finally, she giggled. “I’d pay good money to see you covered in frosting.” Then a dark blush hit her pale complexion.
She reached into her open truck window and popped the door latch.
“You haven’t gotten that fixed yet.”
“It’s only been two days.” She tried to climb in by he held her elbow captive. The delicate bones in his fingers felt like a wild bird’s, but he knew she was far from delicate. Her mouth alone could do some serious damage.
Swinging back to him, she said, “Please let me go. Why are you doing this?”
He was so smitten by her beautiful, clear eyes that he had to focus on her question twice before he got out an answer. “Maybe I like being around you.”
She yanked her arm free. “You ass. You think you can pay me attention when it suits you, but I’m not ten anymore. Or thirteen or even sixteen.”
He looked her over, nice and slow. “Definitely not.”
She let out a warning sigh that sounded like a momma cat’s growl.
“Lilah, I always liked you.”
She let out a gusty laugh. “Sure—you liked taking bets about kissing me. But don’t worry, you helped me build a stronger character.”