Cowboy For Hire

by Isabelle Drake

  As she stepped away, she heard Hank’s eager offer to help get the animals settled. Lang wouldn’t have been able to get rid of the man if he tried to chase him off with a pitchfork.

  The two of them would be busy for a while. If she worked fast, she could get the visit over with and have her dad and Susie back on their way to Phoenix before dinner.

  She frowned.

  Kicking them out that quickly would be rude. She’d have to invite them to stay through dinner. Eating a meal with her dad and her stepmom sounded like about as much fun as mucking out stalls. No, mucking out stalls would be more fun. She wouldn’t have to explain herself to the animals.

  The light feminine sound of her stepmother’s voice greeted Victoria even before she reached the house. She found her dad and Susie snuggled up on the swing, smiling and looking as though they had all the time in the world to visit. And get in her way.

  Victoria took a deep breath, willing herself to relax but ended up blowing it out in frustration. She wouldn’t be at ease until the taillights of that bright red sports car glowed as they headed away from the ranch.

  As soon as he spotted her, her father rushed over to squeeze her into one of his famous bear hugs. “Sweetheart, I’ve missed you.”

  She returned the embrace with a sincere one of her own. “I missed you too, Daddy.” Then she peeked around her father’s thick shoulder, “Hi Susie, it’s good to see you.”

  Her stepmother flashed her long, coral nails. “It’s good to see you too, sweetie. We’ve been having a nice time chatting with Mr. Cartwright.”

  Her father eased back, studying her with his deep brown eyes. “You look well enough but from what Hank tells us, you’ve been working day and night to get this place up to code. And you still have a long list of things that need repair.”

  “I told you there was a lot to get done,” she replied, trying to keep the defensiveness out of her voice.

  “Well, I know. I’d assumed you meant things like selecting wallpaper and light fixtures. I had no idea you’d be mending fences and hauling trash.”

  “It’s not bad. I’ve been having fun.”

  Susie shook her head. “Really, Victoria you should let your father send one of his crews out to do the heavy work.”

  “I’m doing fine,” she said as gently but firmly, as possible. “I’ve already got a group of guests scheduled and I’ll be ready on time.”

  Her father stuffed his big hands into his pockets, his head swiveling as he scanned the yard. “This place isn’t near ready for folks.”

  No kidding.

  “I know, that’s why I’ve been—”

  “Working yourself to the bone?” her father cut in, his frown emphasizing his disapproval.

  Before Victoria could redirect the conversation, Susie asked, “Have they seen any pictures? How did you convince them to come?”

  Victoria’s sigh slipped out but she managed to not roll her eyes. “I put an ad on one of those internet lists, offering a special rate. A travel agency in California got in touch with me and set everything up.”

  “An internet ad? I never would’ve thought that would work.” Her father’s mouth twisted, then he shrugged. “Okay then, you going to show us around?”

  Victoria breathed an inward sigh of relief. At least they hadn’t been snooping around on their own. If she guided the tour, she could skip the real problem areas.

  “You go on ahead, Sam.” Susie patted her hair and leaned into the floral cushions on the swing. “I’ll stay here and put my feet up.”

  Her father moved to plant a soft kiss on his wife’s cheek. “All right, darling. I’ll see you when we get back.”

  Even though Victoria wasn’t too crazy about her stepmother, she appreciated the real affection the two of them shared. They had that special kind of devotion some couples envied and permanently single people didn’t believe in.

  Her father loved Susie and that was all the reason Victoria needed to care for the woman as well. As for really liking her, that was a different story. The two of them would never be on the same page. Or maybe even in the same book.

  Her father climbed down the steps. “Okay honey, I’m all yours. Let’s go have a look around.”

  Victoria accepted her father’s arm. They’d obviously already seen the house, so it made sense to start outside. Showing off her newly damaged barn would mean disaster, so she steered him toward the bunkhouses.

  “Mr. Cartwright said you went to get some horses at an auction. Why didn’t you call me? I could’ve called the breeder or at least gone with you to the auction.”

  “I did all right Daddy. Wait until you see the ones I brought back.”

  “You went alone?”

  The shock in her father’s voice was no surprise. Mr. Moore didn’t think a woman should go anywhere alone. Why would they want to, when they could easily have a man with them?

  She’d had a man with her, just not one she wanted to talk about with her father. She avoided mentioning Lang by saying, “I brought home four, the rest are being delivered.”

  “You talked the seller into delivering them for you? All the way out here? How’d you do that?”

  Victoria turned away from her father’s inquiring gaze.

  He chuckled. “Never mind sweetie, you don’t have to tell your father your tricks. I’m sure you used the Moore charm.”

  Was this the same man who gave every one of her dates the third degree? Why was it suddenly okay for her to charm some guy into doing anything, let alone come to her ranch? If she weren’t so stressed out, Victoria would’ve asked him to explain himself.

  When they arrived at the guest houses, her father pointed to the new door on Cactus Cabin. “I see you’ve got Hank is doing a fine job with the repairs.”

  Victoria sighed. “Hank and I have a deal. He takes care of the ranch stuff, like the barn and the tractor and I take care of the guest stuff, like these cabins.”

  Her father patted her shoulder. “Who took care of the door then?”

  She groaned. Telling him the truth was probably going mean trouble but she wanted him to know she wasn’t the unskilled idiot he accused her of being when she told him about her plans for The Circle Cat in the first place. “I hung the door.”

  In spite of her annoyance, Victoria took pleasure in seeing his jaw drop.

  “I’ve watched you and your men do it dozens of times. Really, it’s not that tricky.”

  Her father crossed his beefy arms across his thick chest and fixed her with a stern stare. “We talked about this before you left and you gave me your word that you wouldn’t put yourself in danger.”

  “Hanging a door is not dangerous!” Victoria pulled her shoulders down and concentrated on sounding like a grown-up woman instead of an angry teenager. She appreciated his concern but she didn’t like having to defend herself. “Really, I was careful.”

  Her dad shook his head, frowning. “You could’ve gotten hurt. It’s not right for a little thing like you to do that kind of work. What if you’d gotten injured?”

  “I’m fine. Besides, I’m not here alone.”

  “I know dear but Mr. Cartwright is an old man. What if you got in some real trouble? You need a strong, young, skilled hand here.”

  The image of Lang loading the horses popped into her mind. Strong. Young. He was all that—and more.

  “If you’re going to insist on doing these things, maybe I better talk to Susie about staying on for a few days. At least that way I can help you. And make sure everything is under control.”

  All the muscles Victoria had forced to relax tensed. She did not want her father taking over. There was only one way to stop him from staying. “Hank isn’t the only one here.”

  “He’s not?”

  “There’s another man.” That much wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t said he worked for her.

  Her father’s eyebrows shot up. “Where is he? I want to meet him.”

  She gestured in the direction of the corral. “He’s unl
oading the horses with Hank.”

  “Excellent. I’ll get to check him out and see the horses at the same time.”

  Her father offered her his arm again. “Take me to them.”

  Victoria scrambled for a way to get Lang aside before her father had a chance to interrogate him. All Lang had to do was nod when her father asked if he was working there. That way her dad and Susie would head back home and the whole crisis of having her father stick around would be solved.

  “Don’t you want to check on Susie?”

  “No,” he shook he head and took Victoria’s arm. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  Her father started toward the smashed side of the barn, so she hurried after him to steer him around the way they’d come. One disaster at a time.

  As Victoria led her father to the corral, Susie came skittering up waving her arms. She stumbled in her high-heeled sandals but charged ahead across the small stones. With her carefully styled hair wind-blown and her eyes glowing against her flushed skin, it was obvious something was wrong. “Sammy! Something terrible’s happened.”

  Mr. Moore dropped Victoria’s arm, dashing over to his wife. “What is it honey? You okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him with a girlish grin before her well-preserved face curved down. “It’s my baby. I went out to move her out of that awful, dusty, driveway but she wouldn’t start.” Susie’s green eyes filled with anguish.

  Her father wrapped his arm around Susie and murmured something in her ear, then turned back to Victoria. “I’ll be back as soon as I figure out what’s wrong with the car.”

  Thankful for Susie’s “baby” for the first time in her life, Victoria jogged around to the back of the trailer to find Lang.

  He stood with one foot propped on the bottom fence rail and his tan arms folded across the top one. With the sun shining across his back he looked vital and alive.

  Strong.

  Capable.

  Devastatingly sexy.

  It was so right, seeing him standing there. As if he was a part of the ranch, as if he belonged at The Circle Cat.

  An odd, unwelcome sense of disappointment settled through Victoria. Here she had an excellent chance to have everything she’d been working toward—and some carefree fun—and all she could do was stand around pining for what could never be.

  What was wrong with her?

  She needed to embrace that live-for-the-moment attitude.

  How else was she going to have some carefree fun?

  She’d made a deal with herself to live life on her own terms, to redefine herself and that was what she was determined to do.

  So what if Lang made stupid assumptions about her. She’d prove him wrong. But first she had to get rid of her overprotective, bossy dad.

  She called out to Lang and he turned. Time stalled as Victoria stared into his dark eyes, shivering in spite of the heat.

  For a split second, an invitation lingered in his gaze, then it vanished and he shifted toward the animals. “They’re settled.”

  Sasabe stamped her hooves in the far corner as she flicked her long, flaxen tail. The three other horses stood nearby, also eating from a small patch of grass, their coats glimmering in the sun.

  There wasn’t any reason for Lang to help her with the problem of her father but he was her only hope, so she had to work fast. She scurried over to him, glancing over her shoulder to be sure they were alone.

  “Something on your mind, Victoria?”

  Was she that obvious?

  So what if she was, she didn’t have any choice. “I have a favor to ask.”

  “Are we friends that you can ask me a favor?”

  She’d gotten to know him well enough to recognize how the serious set of his mouth contrasted with his glimmering gaze when he was joking.

  Using the same you-know-you-like-me expression she’d used on him the day before, she said, “Will you tell my father you’re working here?”

  The teasing flicker in his eyes evaporated. “I am working here, aren’t I?”

  She scanned his face, looking for a clue to tell her how to get what she wanted but ended up distracted by his dark afternoon stubble and glossy thick lashes. She pulled herself together by reminding herself her independence was at stake. “Yes, you’re working here,” she began cautiously. “If you could just not mention that it’s temporary. Please.”

  He pushed his hat back, his expression unchanging. “Keeping secrets from daddy?”

  Admitting that was unpleasant but appeared necessary. “He’s worried about me being here by myself.”

  “You’re not alone. Hank is here.”

  She wiggled closer, trying to distract him but seemed to only be distracting herself. “My dad is a little overprotective and he’s worried that something might happen to me.”

  A crease appeared between Lang’s eyebrows. “I seem to be missing something.”

  Victoria moved closer still and skimmed her fingertips across the collar of Lang’s shirt. “My dad thinks I need a different kind of man around.”

  Lang’s gaze flickered to her fingers, his voice dropping lower when he asked, “What kind of man does your dad think you need?”

  Satisfaction warmed her when his throat jerked as he swallowed. She’d seen that reaction in him before and knew she’d brought it on. “To use his words,” she trailed her fingers over the hard, tight plane of his chest, smiling inwardly when his muscles twitched. Following the buttons of his shirt, only stopping when her fingers hit the top of his silver belt buckle, she continued, “I need someone young…and strong.” She tugged gently on the buckle, then added, “Skilled.”

  When she looked back up, the intensity of his desire-darkened gaze took her breath away and for a long second she lingered, her hand so near the rivets on his jeans that she could have had them undone in seconds.

  He glanced over her shoulder, then back to her. “You trying to sweet-talk me, Miss Moore?”

  She pulled in a shaky breath, the action made her stomach quiver and her center fill with heat. “Is it working?”

  Lang covered Victoria’s cheek with his palm. The silky smooth skin beneath his fingers warmed to his touch. She tucked her head into his hand, gazing up at him with eyes as clear as a cold morning.

  For once her needs played right into his hand. Guilt sliced through him as she beamed at him with fresh innocence but he countered that inconvenient emotion with the notion that he’d been right all along. She was just like Lori Anne—using her feminine wiles to get what she wanted. Keeping his mind on that made not thinking about her unspoken promises a whole lot easier. Unspoken, not-going-to-happen promises. “I don’t want to lie to your father.”

  “I don’t want to lie to him either. Just tell him you’re working here,” she pleaded, her fingers still holding onto his belt. “He’ll assume it’s permanent.”

  He lowered his hand, settled it at her waist, feeling the trim muscles of her waistline. If she knew what he was thinking, she’d be using that tender mouth to chew him out instead of tempting him with one of her sweet smiles. He almost grinned at the thought. He was pleasantly accustomed to her verbal jabs.

  Her brow furrowed. “My dad said something about staying around, that’s why I told him you were working here.”

  “Staying around?”

  She looked away. “To keep an eye on me.”

  He hated the worry on her face. One long, uninterrupted kiss would scatter her troubles and he was the man to do it.

  That and a lot more.

  Lang roped in his racing libido and struggled for clear thoughts. Exposing her lie might get Victoria into trouble with Daddy Moore and be an easy way to get what he wanted.

  No doubt the man had the power to force her to pack up and head home but getting dragged back to Phoenix kicking and screaming wouldn’t be what was best for her in the long run. Forcing her hand wouldn’t teach her the lesson she desperately needed to learn.

  Lang couldn’t stand the thought of her pretty h
ead haunted by clouds of regret and disappointment. No, when she left the ranch, she’d go knowing that her future lay close to her family and friends. She’d be happy and content living where she belonged—back in Phoenix. With what Lang had in mind, that job was as good as done.

  Chapter Nine

  “Sorry about you havin’ to put us up on such short notice, sweetheart. I checked Susie’s car over before we left home but I suppose I wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been.” Victoria’s father leaned back in the chair, wiping a few crumbs of toast off his cheek.

  “No problem, Dad. You had no way of knowing the starter was about to go bad. I’m just glad I had enough food for breakfast.”

  “When those chicks start laying, you won’t have to worry about that.” Susie stood up and took her husband’s plate, stacking it on top of her own. “How soon will that be?”

  After sixty long minutes of faking her way through answers to things like, “Where is the pump for the well?” and “Do you know how to shut the water off in case of an emergency?”, Victoria was thankful for a question she knew the answer to. “About five months.”

  Susie piled the silverware over the plates. “After I saw Mr. Cartwright walk past the porch this morning, I followed him out to the barn. We changed the water, gave them some more feed. They’re the cutest little things, all peeping and running around.” She turned to her husband. “Have you been out to see them yet?”

  “Nope. I was too busy with the horses—what a beautiful herd. I’ll take a look at the chicks when I go out to see how Lang’s doing with the barn repairs.”

  Victoria stiffened to hold off the wild rush of longing that always accompanied her thoughts of Lang. “You don’t have to worry about Lang, Daddy. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “I’ve noticed that but since we’re going to be here until that new starter gets delivered, I intend to make myself useful.”

  Susie reached across the table to pick up Victoria’s plate. “That goes for me too. And I’m going to start by taking care of these dishes.”

  “That’s sweet but you really don’t need to, there’s just—”