by J. Darling
The married one, she presumed, because he was sitting next to Jules holding her hand, sat up and said, “Now that the crops are in the ground, I’m sure Kris could help you out, show you around. What do you say, Kris?”
Set up, she thought, she could see it plain as day.
Tall, silent next to her, took a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah, I suppose I could.”
So this was pancake loving Kris. She laughed inside, playing it cool are ya big guy. He had a deep voice and he did clean up nice, she could say that much. “Don’t go putting yourself out, I’ve managed to find my way around a rock and a hard place before, no problem.” She took another bite of her food.
“I said I’d do it,” he answered curtly, as he briefly made eye contact then glanced away annoyed.
Oh man, he had nice brown eyes with full lashes, and she was taking none of his guff. She shook her head. “No you didn’t, you said you supposed you could.” His nostrils flared a little and she laughed inside. She’d been around men all her life, she had his number in an instant, the Mr. I’m in charge, we’ll do things my way little woman or forget it kind.
The tension crackled in the air around them and his gaze swung around to her. “I’d love to show you around,” he exaggerated, between tight lips as his eyes penetrated her.
She couldn’t just let his sarcasm go, now could she? Dani, why are you doing this, she wondered. You’re calling his attention, you do not want his attention, remember? “You sure about that?” she asked with a spark in her eye. His jaw tightened, with the provocation. He was smoldering, and she wondered what he’d do next.
Looking directly into her eyes, he took the challenge, paused for a bit, then nodded slowly without saying a word.
“Great!” she said with enthusiasm, making a point of looking away, “I’ll take you up on that. Know anyone who wants to pick up a few bucks for a few hours of work each day, just till I get the ranch in working order?” she asked, briefly ignoring him. Taking a bite of ham, she looked at the snickering faces around the table with a smile, then back to him. He sat watching her mouth as she chewed.
He nodded slightly. “I’ve got some time available each day.”
Oh boy, here we go, she thought, he’d left that wide open. First, the in control standoffishness, then the irritated don’t argue with me, followed by quaint cynicism, and now the veiled intrigue. She needed to make this clear. Swallowing her ham, she responded, “For work…right…time each day for work?” She’d caught him. “You ever ridden a horse?”
Staring at her, he didn’t answer right away, being clearly fixed and trying to figure this out. Eventually he shook his head.
“That’s all right,” she said, with a wave of her fork, trying to lighten things up a bit, before dropping the big one. “I won’t hold it against you. Can you handle taking orders from a woman?”
His mouth twitched and he held back a smile. “Yeah, I think I can manage.”
Mmhmm, right. “Name your price?”
“What if I said I was just being neighborly, help free of charge?”
Hold up hoss, we got us a wolf in sheep’s clothing here. “Then I’d say the deals off.”
He nodded. “Of course. Well then, I’ll take whatever you decide is fair.”
She laughed to herself. What a gallant, going passive-aggressive and still trying to gain control over this. Well, she was having none of that. “Alrighty then, we’ll give it a shot. If either one of us is unhappy for any reason, the deals off, no questions asked, no hard feelings. Agreed?” she asked with a smile, as she held out her off hand as she had some toast in her right.
Pausing for a moment, he stared at her hard, and she knew he’d gotten the message and didn’t like it one bit. She was in charge and would throw him out on his ass if he tried anything funny.
“Agreed.”
Reaching over, he took her hand, shaking it, swallowing it up in that big, warm, grizzly bear sized paw of his, and she felt that knot in her stomach turn to a dull ache. This was a colossal mistake, she knew it, the man had a hickey on his neck for heaven’s sake. Well, looking on the bright side of things, that could very well mean he was taken, which would be perfect because she was so not interested in the effort.
“Today then?” she asked optimistically, as she tried tugging her hand out of his grip.
Glancing at her plate and smiling, happy to be back in control, he nodded. “Finish up and we’ll get started.”
Tugging on her hand a little harder, he wouldn’t let go. “Ah, little tough to do, big guy, when you won’t let go of my eating hand.”
His eyes took on a humorous glint, pleased that she’d noticed. “You’re a southpaw are you?”
“No, I’m right minded.”
There were snickers from around the table and he laughed, the rumble reaching all the way to her core.
Letting go of her hand, but not before he gave it a gentle squeeze, he tried again to gain the upper hand between them. “Eat up, sugar, then we’ll go.”
She bristled and sparks flew. “Call me that again, and you’ll go from being a bull to a steer in under a minute.”
“Whoohoo!” the flirty one howled. “Go get him Dani. Ding, ding, round two.”
“Shut up, Nik,” Kris barked, as the two of them went head to head. His eyes narrowed and his lips went tight. “Prickly little thing aren’t you?”
“As a porcupine, and I’ve been called a lot of things, but little isn’t one of them.”
“That’s because it’s relative,” he answered, using it as an excuse to look her all over before continuing, “and when next to me, you’re definitely little.”
Oh boy, bad, way bad, she groaned inside. This had bad idea written all over it.
*****
Walking up to the barn, Kris held the door open for Dani. Well, she allowed me to do that, he thought to himself as she passed him. She was a feisty one, and it was becoming crystal clear that she was going to require special handling. She was a tough cookie, he had to give her credit for that, and she’d out maneuvered him every step of the way. He sure the hell had a special knack for being taken with the high maintenance ones, that was for damn sure.
Leading her into the office, he pointed to a map on the wall. “That’s the Village of Luck. Our property is outlined in red, and the ranch and its boundaries are here. Luck is relatively flat, with the exception of the northern area we live in, where as you know, we have some rolling hills. Big Butternut Lake is right here in town—he pointed—and Little Butternut is west of town. Bone Lake is over here to the east. Streets run north and south, avenues east and west.
Stepping in close, she studied the map, and he studied her. She had super dark brown hair pulled back and wrapped tightly into a knot, held in place by what looked like a big oval barrette but with a stick instead of a clip. Her skin was smooth and tanned from time in the sun, and she had a small scar on her left cheek bone under her eye in the shape of a U. It almost looked like a horseshoe. She licked her lips again, and he noticed her bottom lip was fuller than the top. She was tall. Damn near six feet he’d bet. No matter, he still had several inches on her.
“Quit staring at me,” she said, with a raspy voice as she looked at the map.
Naturally, he didn’t listen. “Why?”
“Because it’s rude.”
So what, he didn’t care if it was rude, he felt compelled. “When did it become rude for a man to look at a woman?”
“When he looked so much she had to tell him to stop.”
He laughed. The more she pushed him away, the more inclined he was to have her, go figure. “How tall are you?”
Turning and looking at him, she said, “I need hay. You have any to spare or know someone who does?”
Looking down at her, he smiled seductively and tested the waters. “I’ve got what you want.”
She damn near fell to the floor in hysterics. Laughing and laughing, trying to gain control, she soon wiped her eyes and answered, “No,
you don’t, but I’ll still take some hay. Nice try, big guy, I’ll give you that.”
Oh, he liked her. Mmhmm. He loved the sound of her husky laugh, and that she had a sense of humor amongst her gruff demeanor was mighty appealing. She had his motor running, and every time he revved his engine, she put him right back to idle. “You want to look at the map some more, or you ready to go for a drive? I’ll show you around.”
“I’m done, tell me about your farm if you don’t mind.”
Heading for the door, he held it open for her. “My family settled here in the mid-eighteen hundreds. We have several hundreds of acres, around nine hundred dairy cows, and we own and operate a small creamery on the property where we make specialty cheeses and butters. What milk we don’t use there is sold to a larger dairy cooperative in the area.”
Moving towards his pickup, he continued, “My dad and the three of us boys run the operation for the most part, with the exception of the creamery, that is mostly Jake and Jules deal. We help them here and there, but mostly only during the holidays when it’s busy. We have a bedding recovery unit on the property, as well as an anaerobic digester wherein we collect the methane gas in partnership with a larger utility company. We grow our own feed and are currently participating in some seed studies with the University of Wisconsin. Am I allowed to open the pickup door for you?”
“You do and you’ll be eating dirt.”
He sighed, any other woman would’ve been flattered. As incredibly complicated as this woman was, he felt surprisingly comfortable talking to her. She was straight forward and direct, a no bullshit kind of gal, and as a result he knew where he stood with her at all times. How refreshing for a guy like him, one who didn’t appreciate the games women played. “Figured as much. How can I treat you like a lady when you won’t let me?”
Getting in the truck, she put on her seatbelt. “How about you skip the lady bit and just treat me with respect.”
Oookaaay, what the hell did that mean? “And I wouldn’t be if I treated you like a lady?”
“We got us a buckshot bingo! You’re pretty sharp for a guy. Where we going first?”
He smiled. Guess he was all over the place, but at least he was able to keep up. “Going into Luck. I disagree, I’d be respectful if I treated you like a lady.”
She shook her head as she looked out the windshield, more interested in the surroundings than him. “You a lady?”
“No.”
“Then how would you know? Do you purposely open car doors for your guy friends?”
“No.”
“Do you respect them?”
“Yes.”
“Then respect really has nothing to do with treating a female like a lady. The two are separate behaviors that may, or may not, be combined. Therefore, it can be said that you can treat me like a lady and have absolutely no respect for me at all. Plus, given the condition of your neck wound there, and the fact that you’ve made at least one, if not two, indirect passes towards me within a few hours of meeting me, I’d say my later argument holds true.”
Damn it. Pulling into town, he went down Main Street and pointed out the various businesses, then drove around showing her the different landmarks. Stopping at the local feed and seed cooperative, they headed in and he introduced her to the manager. She took information on setting up an account for later and they were back in the truck. He tried pulling the conversation back to where it’d been. “So, no more neck wounds. This was the last one.” She threw her head back and laughed. He should have been embarrassed but he wasn’t.
“How convenient. Sounds like scuttlebutt to me. Where we going now?”
She thought he was bluffing, “St. Croix. I’m serious.”
“Aha. Keep dreaming. I need fencing supplies.”
He liked this and he liked her. “Let’s go out to dinner sometime.”
“Absolutely not! Uh-ah, no way,” she answered firmly, as she slowly and purposefully shook her head back and forth, punctuating each syllable and word.
Don’t give up. Undeterred, he continued. “Why not? I meet my guy friends for dinner from time to time.”
Unimpressed, she shrugged her shoulders. “That’s nice, you should give them a call, go hangout.”
He laughed. And here was the one woman who wouldn’t care one lick if he went out with the guys and had a good time. This should get her. “If not dinner, then how about we meet for drinks some evening?”
Snapping her head around, she looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Hell no! Were you like, kicked in the head or something when you were little?”
She was pretty damn funny. Grinning, loving that sexy voice of hers and wanting to hear her talk, he ignored her question and asked, “Why not?”
She went back to looking at the road. “Because.”
“Because why?”
“Because I said no, that’s why.”
“You’re making this hard.”
“Mmhmm, exactly.”
*****
Sitting at the breakfast table the next morning, Nik started in. “I think she could take you in a fight.”
Kris shook his head, perplexed by the woman called Dani. “Yeah, you think?”
Nik nodded. “Yep, and I believe it when she says she can change you from a bull to a steer in under minute. One crack of that whip and your nuts are toast. She’s a handful, you may want to wear a cup, you know, protect the family jewels.”
There were chuckles all around.
“You gave up pretty damn quick,” Kris said snarling, narrowing his eyes on Nik.
“Hell yeah, it’ll be more fun watching you go down. You’re hooked, and damn near whipped already. You need a nut cup and a bib. Linnie give him one of the baby’s bibs.”
“Excuse me?” He was not whipped, he would never be whipped. They all ignored him.
“It’d be too small,” Linnie answered, laughing at his expense. “We could use a burping cloth though, that would work.”
“A bib? I don’t need no bib,” he responded firmly, annoyed with their ribbing.
“Ahh, yeah, you do,” Nik answered, nodding his head while exaggerating his words. “You’re slobbering like a baby and it’s embarrassing. Next you’ll be holding her purse while she shops the mall.”
More chuckles.
“Shut up, you’re an ass.”
“An ass with nuts, thank you very much.”
He ignored them. Taking his egg in one big bite, he chewed and swallowed as he sat thinking of things, the topic of her lingering in the air. “She’s a tough cookie. She won’t allow me to treat her like a lady, she won’t answer any personal questions, and she refused to go out to dinner or meet for drinks. And it’s abundantly clear, she’s the boss and means business, no messing around. It’s her way or no way, and I see no way out. My hands are tied, so I ain’t worried about holding her purse or going shopping as I’m going nowhere fast.”
“You’ve met your match,” Jake said, high fiving Nik. “I’m going to love watching this.”
“Yeah me too,” Nik added with a glimmer in his eye, happy to poke the rattlesnake. “You’ve always been domineering, but she’s the one with the whip. It’ll be entertaining watching her knock you on your ass.”
Pausing, he glared at his two smiling brothers. “You two are starting to piss me off with the less than flattering characterizations.”
“Awww, poor baby. Dad get your hanky, Kris’s feelings are hurt.”
“You need to find out where her interests lie, go from there,” Jules interrupted, stopping the fight that was sure to follow.
Looking at her perturbed, Kris replied with the obvious, “A little tough to do when she won’t answer personal questions.” Reaching for the rhubarb jam, he spread some on his toast.
Jake shook his head at his apparent ignorance. “Don’t ask, doofus, look around her. See what she’s involved in and take an interest, you’re bound to find common ground somewhere.”
Kris sat back in his chair and looked a
round the table in frustration. “Gosh, I thought flowers or candy maybe, tell her she looked pretty, or something else as equally nauseating.”
Everyone started shaking their heads, even his dad, and that was saying something.
“Umm, Kris, from the way things went yesterday, I don’t think she’d appreciate that,” Jules answered. “Plus it seems too soon. You’re going to have to take it real slow, it’s going to take some finesse, I think.”
“I don’t do slow,” he grumped, “and what the hell is finesse when it comes to a woman?”
Jules answered with a kind smile. “Use of skill and tact in dealing with a delicate situation.”
Nik laughed with glee, then said smugly. “Basically, your weakest area.”
The twerp was going to get it when the girls weren’t around.
“I’m with Jules,” Linnie added. “Think about it. I don’t think the tough girl thing’s an act, she was pretty quick and savvy with the responses yesterday, and as such, why would that be? I think she’s had to be tough, or risk being taken advantage of and maybe still was.”
Okay, so the thought of that helped to put the brakes on things. He couldn’t help but remember the scar on her cheek.
“Besides,” Nik spoke up, “you don’t tell a good looking woman they’re pretty, they hear that come on all the time. And in her case, I guarantee you she’d hate being valued for her looks. But if you decide to go for it, let me know first, I want to be there to see her take you down, maybe get some pictures.”
Why did he have to have brothers? “Very funny. Okay then, since you’re so smart, what do you say to a beautiful woman?”
Grabbing a hunk of meat, Nik answered, “Easy, you tell them how smart you find them, or how talented they are, and talk about the details like you mean it. She’s so smart, she’d see a con artist a mile away.”
“How would you know?”
Nik knocked on his head with his knuckles. “Learned the hard way on that one.”
Taking a drink of his coffee, Kris tried making things out like it was no big deal. “Yeah, I don’t know, I’m thinking it’s probably not worth the hassle.”