After several hours in the saddle, no one could find any more cattle and it was getting dark. “Did anybody get a count?” The sheriff was waiting to see how many cattle were stole. He had already determined the tracks definitely belonged to an eighteen-wheeler. He had every county checking cattle trailers between the ranch and the state line. “I say we got about 40 missing boss.” The foreman said. “Damn, alright we’re gone bed down here tonight. Somebody give me a hand fixing this fence. James and Jeremy you’re on first watch, Samuel you’re on the second watch with Clinton. I’ll take the last watch with Heath and Hilary.” He wanted to be sure that Heath was watching the cattle and not Hilary.
Hilary was the first to volunteer to help fix the fence followed by Clinton. She was proving her skills more and more by the minute and she had only been here a day. It had surprised him at how hard she worked. Most of the women he knew thought this to be too tough. “Alright time to bed down men. Get some sleep; we got a long drive in the morning.” J.W. said quietly, walking to get his bedroll and saddle. He used the saddle to rest his head on, since he couldn’t bring a pillow with him. Someone had taken to building a fire and they all gathered around it to stay warm. Hilary dug through her pack and pulled out some jerky to eat. Then she gave some to her heeler, and they lie down beside one another.
He couldn’t help but watch her. She was so interesting to him. She was also beautiful and he didn’t like that. Beautiful women were always a problem. He needed to be worrying over who was stealing his cattle instead of worrying over this woman but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Morning watch came quickly. Too quickly, and it left J.W. in a foul mood. He was awake for most of the night thinking about the woman sleeping in his camp. He was supposed to be taking the last watch with them to make sure Heath’s mind was on watching the cattle but he couldn’t seem to keep his own mind on the cattle.
“You know you can get some more sleep. Heath and I can handle it. You look like you didn’t get much sleep last night.” Hilary said noticing that his eyes looked sunken with dark shadows. He kept rubbing his eyes to try to keep them open. “I said I’ll help keep watch and I will. I don’t need no woman telling me how to run my ranch.” He snapped. Hilary’s face turned hard with anger. She was trying to be nice and there was no reason for him to bite her head off. He watched as she set her jaw and her nostrils flared. She stared hard at him then away toward the cattle. She stood up, grabbed some coffee and a pot from her pack, and set to making coffee over the fire. She was good and pissed with good reason. He shouldn’t have snapped at her like he did but she was right. He was tired and he should’ve gone back to bed but the thought of her being alone with Heath had bothered him.
She sat down by the fire and Bubba sat down with her placing his head in her lap. J.W. walked toward her and the heeler let out a low warning growl. Evidently, he sensed his owner’s feelings and was not too pleased. J.W. would have to be more cautious around the dog when the woman was mad. He may have just saved J.W.s life but he was not opposed to biting him, when it came to Hilary. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. You’re right I do need some more sleep but it’s too late now. We have cattle to start moving within the next couple hours, and going back to bed now will only make it harder for me to get up.” Hilary stared up at him out of the corner of her eyes. She looked straight through him, it was the kind of look a mother would give a lesser man chills. He could see her grinding her teeth as her jaw flexed. He sensed that she was still mad and decided it best to leave her alone.
He turned to walk away, and heard her say; “I don’t get paid to herd your cattle, I’m paid to train horses. I came along as a favor to you. I’m not one of your hired hands that you can boss around. I can leave anytime I decide to leave. I just thought we should get that straight.” She never took her eyes off the fire in front of her. He was staring at her, eyebrows raised and his hands on his hips. She took another swallow of coffee and then tossed the rest on the fire. “You’re welcome to the coffee. I only have the one cup. She set it down beside her, stood up and went to saddle up.
A yelp rang out and the herd started moving. The cowboys were all in their places on each side of the herd. When a stray would break away from the herd the cowboy would ride after it, and turn it back into the herd. Sometimes Bubba was there instead and the cowboy didn’t have to move from his place amongst the herd. Hilary broke off from the herd signaling to the man behind her to squeeze in. She was after a steer that broke away from the herd. She chased it down a hill through some briars and into a thicket. When she heard the horrifying sound of a rattler, the horse she was riding reared up and dumped her off. She hit a pine tree with the back of her head and the lights went out.
She awoke and grabbed for her head. The pain shooting through her head was bad, she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the pain, but the rattling sound behind her brought her up straight. The rattler was ready to strike. She reached for her gun but it was nowhere to be found. The rattler struck out and a shot rang out, blowing the head off the snake in front of her. She turned to see who her rescuer was and found J.W. atop his horse with his pistol drawn. The sun glared behind him and the sun hitting her eyes brought back the pain in her head. She shut her eyes and grabbed her head, just before everything went black again.
She awoke for the second time to a concerned bunch of men staring over her. They had obviously made camp. Someone had taken the time to wrap her head, and place her on her bedroll. Her faithful companion lay at her side with his head cocked sideways and his ears perked up at her. She reached out, pat his head, and smiled at him. “Wow, lady you been out for hours. We were beginning to get concerned.” It was Heaths youthful voice behind her. She turned around. “Hours, you’re kidding me.”
“How are you feeling?” J.W. asked. “Fine; Thanks for killing the rattler for me. I would have shot at it myself except I lost my gun.” “I found the gun not far from where you were it must have fallen out of the holster when you came off of the horse.” She tried to stand up but was having problems getting her limbs to work right. “You took a pretty good lick to that head. I’d take it easy if I were you.” Samuel said. “Thanks but I’m fine. I need to get up and move around.” “Sam you and the boys go check on the cattle and somebody find her something to eat.” J.W. waited until all of the men were out of earshot to start again. “You really don’t need to move, around too much. We’re gone camp here the rest of the day and start back out in the morning. Let me take a look at that cut.” He unwrapped the bandage around her head. It’s pretty, deep. It’s gonna need stitches. I didn’t want the boys to see how bad it was. I wrapped it before I brought you into camp. Can you follow my fingers? Good, now how many am I holding up?” She squenched her eyes trying to see through the blurriness and clear her head, “three I think.” “Wrong I’m holding up two. You probably have a concussion. I don’t want you on the back of a horse by yourself. I think you should ride with me the rest of the way. I don’t want you passing out again.” “I’m fine, I can ride.” She said with a little bit of attitude. She didn’t like to be told, what to do. “You’re not riding alone and that’s final.” He snapped at her and Bubba growled. “Shut up dog!” J.W. barked out the order at the dog by her side.
Hilary knew when to, just give up. Right now was one of those moments. She was hurting too badly to waist her energy on arguing with a man that didn’t lose easily. “Fine; I’ll ride with you! How did you find me?” She asked. “Bubba started barking like crazy in the direction you had gone, then, when your horse come running back to the herd without you, we knew something had happened. I followed the dog right to you. He’s been by your side the whole time. At first, he didn’t want to let me near you. But, he gave in when he realized I was there to help.”
“Bubba’s very territorial. It’s the breed they’re all like that. However, they make the best damn cattle dogs around. And once you make friends with one they’re your friend for life and they’ve always got your back.” She grabbed her hea
d and lay back. “You need to see a doctor as soon as possible. We’re going to leave the herd with the rest of the men. I have to get you back to the house. As soon as you eat we’ll go.” He said.
Heath walked over to where they were with a plate of stew and something to drink. “Thanks.” She said taking the plate from him. He squatted down beside them and stared at her smiling a big brilliant smile, as if he was completely oblivious to his boss and everyone else but her. She looked up from her food at the boy with a concerned look on her face and rolled her eyes back down to her plate and kind of shrugged it away. J.W. was also watching the boy. “Heath, go find something to do.” “Yes sir. Can I get you anything else Ma’am?” “She’s fine Heath. She don’t need anything else.” Heath strolled off back toward the horses. “Thanks, he was kind of starting to weird me out a little bit.” J.W. laughed. “Yeah, I could tell. He seems to have a little crush on you.” “Oh Lord, please don’t say that. I ain’t got time for some boy to start following me around like a puppy.” She said with a half-cocked grin on her face. They laughed together this time.
Chapter Four
J.W. picked Hilary up and placed her on his horse, and then mounted behind her. “Samuel, get these cattle moving first thing in the morning. I’m taking Hilary on to the house so we can see about getting her to a doctor.” There was only a couple hours of daylight left and he wanted to get as much ground covered as he could before it got dark.
Hilary leaned back against him and relaxed. Her head was pounding and she didn’t have the energy to hold herself up. She realized he had been right about her not being in the saddle alone. She was having problems keeping her eyes open as it was. J.W.s big broad chest was a perfect resting spot. He was strong enough to keep her from falling and had no problem wrapping his arms around her to rein the horse.
She was asleep in his arms in no time. He would have to wake her soon. But, for now, he would let her rest. Her hat was hanging around her neck it had been in the way when she leaned back to get comfortable so she had allowed it to fall off her head in front of her. Her hair smelled like strawberries and J.W. found that he was aroused, which angered him and yet at the same time his concern for her softened him and he couldn’t help but kiss the top of her head. She was perfect. Everything he’d ever thought a woman should be and everything he could never find in any other woman. She was strong willed, intelligent, and hardworking. She could show up any man on the back of a horse. She was mostly quiet, but not afraid to speak her mind when the moment arose. Why couldn’t he have met her before? She had to have some kind of flaw, but so far, he couldn’t seem to find one. She was too good to be true.
When they rode up to the house, J.W. woke her. “We’re here.” He said. He dismounted and pulled her into his arms and carried her up the front porch steps. He kicked the door with his boot because he couldn’t open the door with her in his hands. The door opened suddenly and Josey stood there with a big grin on her face. “Daddy, guess who’s…. What happened to Hilary? Is she alright? Is she dead?” The questions just kept coming and coming. “Hilary came off a horse and hit her head I need you to get the first aid kit so I can put some fresh bandages on it. I’ve got to take her to the doctor.” He carried her into the living room and laid her down on the couch. The door to the kitchen opened and Bubba let out a low growl. There stood his ex wife dressed to a tee in her short black dress and high heels. She looked like she was heading out to a fancy party instead of standing in the living room of a ranch house in the middle of nowhere.
“What the hell are you doing here?” J.W. demanded. “I came to see my daughter, and ask for your forgiveness.” She said. “Forgiveness, you want me to forgive you for walking out on your daughter. You haven’t seen her in three years.” J.W. shut his mouth when he saw Josey heading back into the room with the first aid kit. He took the bandage from Hilary’s head. She was looking at him a little strange. She wasn’t comfortable being in the room with these two while they were arguing. But the entrance of their daughter had stopped them from saying more. She was glad for that. J.W. cleaned the wound and rewrapped it. “Can you stand up now? We need to get you to the doctor.” He helped her up and looked at his ex wife. “If you’re still here when I get back we’ll finish this conversation.” He walked Hilary to the door and out to his truck. She opened the passenger door and he helped her climb in. She wasn’t acting normal. That concerned him. He was almost positive now that she had a concussion.
The entire drive to the hospital he was grabbing the wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He was angry. Why did his bitch of an ex-wife have to show up now? She was going to ruin his daughter’s life. Just when she found a new role model to look up to that bitch had to show back up. He’d be damned if he let her worm her way back into their lives. She was no good. She had always been concerned with her own problems and never cared about him or their daughter. She ran off to be famous. Lord knows she didn’t have a lick of talent.
They pulled into the emergency room parking lot and J.W. got out and walked around to help Hilary out of the truck, but when her legs hit the ground, they crumbled underneath her. He caught her and picked her up in his arms. “I can walk.” She said. “I’ll just carry you inside.” J.W. told her. When he got to the entrance, an aid brought him a wheelchair to put her in. He signed her in at the counter and then wheeled her over to the waiting area. “Do you want some coffee?” he asked her. “Yeah, that’d be great, cream and sugar too.” He walked to the coffee vending machine to get the coffee. They usually had the worst coffee but he needed some caffeine pretty, bad right now. He had to sort out everything. He brought her coffee and sat down beside her. “Why did she leave? I know it’s none of my business but you look like you need to talk it out.” She said. He looked over at her then looked down pulled his hat off his head and rubbed his hand back and forth over his head. Then he blew out air and turned to her again. “Well she wanted to be famous. She was never too concerned with anyone but herself anyways. She hardly changed a diaper when Josey was little. She insisted she should have a nanny. It was beneath her to change a diaper. She used to say. “I’m from old money. I was bred to host parties and be a lady not change diapers and work on this God forsaken ranch.” I’m a better man, better off without her.”
“She swore she would never come back. She wanted nothing to do with us. She’s up to no good, I just know it. I don’t want to see her hurt my little girl again. I don’t think she can take it a second time. She needs someone strong, intelligent and hardworking to look up to. She needs a good role model, not some floozy who blows wherever the wind blows her. She needs someone more like you.” Hilary’s eyes met his with a question. “Why would you say that? You don’t even know me.” “I’ve seen you outwork, outsmart and outride my men for three days now. She’s going to own this ranch one day. She needs to be strong enough and smart enough to hang on to it. She can’t do that if she follows in her mother’s footsteps.”
J.W. sighed. “What would you think about training my horses’ full time? I have some future cutters and barrel horses that will need training. You can stay on at the ranch, and teach my little girl some of the things I can’t teach her. She needs to have a female to look up to. And well so far you fit the bill.” He couldn’t believe he had just asked her to stay. Had he really done it for the reasons he gave or was there something deep down inside of him yearning for her that wanted it? She tried to think about what he was saying. “I haven’t even been here long enough to train the two I’m already being paid to train. What if after a month you can’t stand the sight of me?” she said laughing. “I tell you what give me a month with the two I’m training and then if you decide you still want me to stay on at the ranch I will.” She smiled. J.W. nodded his head “that’ll work.”
“Hilary Shaw?” the nurse called her name and looked around the room for an answer to the name. J.W. got up and wheeled her through the door, following the nurse down the hall to a room that was colder than t
he waiting room had been. “The doctor will be just a minute. Do you need help getting up on the table?” The nurse asked. “No, I’m fine thanks.” Hilary said. J.W. waited until the nurse left the room and then helped her out of the chair and onto the table. They waited in the room for what seemed like forever. The door swung open and the doctor strolled through it. “I hear we have a nasty little head injury here. Yep I’d say that’s pretty nasty.” He said as he unwrapped the bandage from around her head. “That’s gone take a pretty good amount of stitches. It’s deep. Can you follow the finger that I’m holding up?” He said shining a light in her eyes. “Hmm, I’m gone run a CT scan on you just to make sure everything’s ok. Can you lay down for me while I get the nurse back in here to help me?” He stepped outside the door and called the nurse in. She came in with all the tools he would need to stitch her up, and they went to work making small talk as they worked.
“So what happened to get you this nasty little bump?” the doctor asked, and J.W. answered for her. “She came off of a horse and hit a tree.” “A horse you say? I used to have me a couple of horses. I never had the time to ride so I had to sell them. Were you trail riding?” He asked. “No, we were rounding up cattle.” Hilary answered him this time. “Well, well, well, do you and your husband own a large spread around here?” “She’s not my wife.” “He’s not my husband.” They said at the same time. The doctor laughed as the two of them tried to answer at the same time. “She’s my trainer.” J.W. said smiling a half cocked grin. “Trainer you say, how long you been training horses?” the doctor asked one question after another. “I’ve been training horses since I was a kid. My daddy taught me everything he could teach me and the rest I had to learn on my own. The doctor kept on talking. She didn’t realize he was trying to take her mind off what he was doing until he said, “Finished.”
The Rancher Meets His Match Page 3