“Nope.” With the hay stacked close to the feedlot, it would make taking care of the cattle simple.
“I know you’re a rodeo friend of Tate’s but do you know much about farming or ranching?”
“Yes, ma’am, I do.” Cort offered Kaley a warm smile. “I grew up on a farm not far from here. Tate and I used to run wild in these parts until I was thirteen and my parents bought a place near Boise. My dad raises cattle, crops, and a few horses. When I wasn’t on the road with the rodeo, I helped him on the farm.”
Thankful Cort knew what he was doing, it sounded like he had years and years of experience on her. She didn’t know a thing about rural life until she met Dean her senior year of high school. “What did you do in the rodeo?”
“Wrestled steers.” Cort tried to block out the painful memories dredged up by talking about the rodeo. The memories themselves weren’t painful. It was the fact he could no longer participate that caused his chest to ache and his jaw to clench.
Kaley thought his chosen profession explained his broad shoulders, muscled physique, and towering height. A man had to be tall and strong to wrestle a steer to the ground on the fly.
After showing Cort around the rest of the property and taking him through all the outbuildings, it was time for lunch. As they walked to the house, Jacob chased the dog around the yard and smiled as they rolled through the grass. Buford licked his face and tugged on his gloves with his teeth.
Cort grinned as he watched the boy and dog. “That’s quite a pair,” he commented as Jacob wrapped his arms around Buford and hugged him.
“For sure,” Kaley said, going up the back steps. “If you give me a few minutes, I’ll have lunch on the table.”
“May I help you?” Cort asked, stuffing his gloves in his back pocket as he took a step toward the house.
“No, I’ve got it. If you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on Jacob, it will just take a moment to make some sandwiches. We can eat out here, since it’s such a nice day.”
Although she had a spacious kitchen, Kaley had no doubt it would feel cramped and confined with Cort in it beside her. Particularly when she had a hard time keeping her eyes off him.
Chapter Four
Cort rolled to his side, attempting to find a comfortable position. It proved impossible in the too short, too small bed in the bunkroom attached to the barn where Kaley told him he could sleep.
Flustered when he arrived at the Hanging P to find Casey Peters was K.C. Peters, an unbelievably attractive widow, he didn’t pay any mind to his sleeping quarters. He tossed his bags inside the room and went on with the day.
As they ate lunch together, she outlined his duties and expectations. Within a couple of hours, he’d finished her to-do list for the remainder of the day and set about repairing her lawn mower. He sharpened the blade, cleaned the fuel line, and put gas in the tank before pushing it over to her yard and giving the starter cable a yank.
Jacob grinned from his spot on the porch when the lawnmower rattled and coughed as it spluttered to life. It took a while to mow the lawn, since the grass had grown so tall, but Cort felt pleased with all he accomplished before dinner was ready. He raked the grass into a pile, found a wheelbarrow and loaded it, dumping the clippings out behind the barn.
After washing up for dinner in the barn’s bathroom, he tapped on the back door of the house. Mrs. Peters gave him a cautious smile and thanked him for mowing the lawn when he stepped inside the roomy kitchen. She’d seemed surprised at how quickly he’d finished her assigned tasks.
Curious about the kind of help she’d hired during the summer months, he could tell they weren’t self-motivated. Then again, she’d mentioned the two college boys home for the summer were the sons of some acquaintances. The young men most likely didn’t enjoy spending their limited months of freedom performing grunt labor on a run-down farm.
The evening passed quickly as he cleaned the barn. When he finished, he took a shower and readied for bed. His sleeping accommodations gave him the choice of twin beds.
He hadn’t slept in a twin bed since he was ten.
With his feet hanging off the end and his shoulders touching both edges of the narrow mattress, he realized why. He couldn’t sleep on the small, uncomfortable bed while he worked at the ranch. Even one night seemed impossible to manage.
A sigh worked its way out of his chest. He got up and turned on the light, hoping to shove the beds together and sleep with his head in one corner and his feet in the other. That plan might have been successful, but he quickly discovered both beds fastened to the floor with an immovable built-in desk between them.
Frustrated and tired, he ran a hand over his head while he considered driving into town and getting a drink.
Immediately squelching that thought, he shoved his feet into slippers and walked to the barn door. The gathering darkness held a certain stillness and peace. He took a deep breath, then another of the cleansing air.
A light shone from the house so he decided to ask Mrs. Peters if she had any suggestions for alternate sleeping arrangements.
Maybe she’d let him sleep on the couch. Anything had to be better than the tiny mutant beds in the barn. If that wasn’t feasible, he planned to drive back to Tate and Kenzie’s and sleep there.
Cort turned off the light in the bunkroom, closed the barn door behind him, and walked to the kitchen door. Buford rested in a dog bed nearby and raised his head as he strode up the steps.
“Hey, boy. Sorry to disturb your beauty rest.” Cort stopped to pet the dog on the head before knocking quietly on the door.
Kaley soon answered, still wearing the large work shirt and jeans she’d had on earlier. She’d removed her boots and wisps of hair escaped her braid, falling in tantalizing tendrils around her face and along her neck.
“Is there a problem?” she asked through the screen, not opening it to him.
“Actually, there is.” The woman appeared entirely too appealing for him to handle in his current fatigued state. “I… um… well, I can’t…”
She narrowed her gaze and offered him a suspicious glare.
“The bed’s too small and I can’t sleep on it. Is there anywhere else I can sleep?” Convinced he sounded like a babbling dolt, heat crept up his neck.
“Oh, I never thought about that.” Her facial expression changed from wary to apologetic. The screen door creaked open and she motioned him inside. “I’m sorry, Cort. I should have realized those beds would be too small for you. The kids who stayed this summer weren’t nearly your size or height.”
“No worries. I… um… just need somewhere I can stretch out my leg. Do you have a couch or a floor somewhere I can crash?”
“Of course.”
Room and board made up a large part of the paltry wages she offered. A man who worked as hard as Cort deserved a comfortable place to rest at night.
“You can sleep in the guest room.” Kaley didn’t like the idea of having him in her house, but she had nowhere else to put him. Other than what Tate mentioned in the brief phone conversation she’d had with him the previous day, she didn’t know a thing about Cort McGraw.
She assumed Tate wouldn’t send over someone who was a serial killer or would plot evil against her and Jacob. Instinctively, she sensed Cort meant them no harm.
Shock ran through her while her pulse accelerated to discover him standing on the other side of the screen door wearing nothing but a pair of slippers and running shorts.
In the porch light, his impressive muscles looked larger and harder than she imagined. Kaley lambasted herself for her wayward thoughts, recalling how many times she’d thought of those muscles throughout the day. She brought her focus back to the tired man looking at her expectantly.
“This way.” Abruptly turning around, she walked out of the kitchen without saying another word.
He followed her through the living room to a short hallway that led to a large bedroom. Kaley flicked on the overhead light, illuminating the spacious room. Cort took in
the comfortable-looking king-sized bed flanked by two nightstands. One bore a lamp with a digital clock while the other held a matching lamp and a stack of books. An overstuffed recliner and a small table sat beneath a large window near a desk. A massive dresser with a mirror occupied the wall across the room.
Kaley waited until he entered the room before walking to an open door and turning on a light. “There’s a private bath here,” she said, then pointed to another door. “And there’s the closet. The door over there is an outside entrance.”
“I don’t want to take this room. You obviously use it for company.” Cort studied the welcoming room, taking in all the details from the green and white quilt on the bed to the masculine chair by the window.
“You might as well put it to good use.” She gathered the throw pillows from the bed and tossed them on the recliner. “We rarely have company, and if we do, we’ve got another guest room on the other side of the house. My father-in-law built this room after Dean and I married. It was his domain.”
Cort wasn’t sure he liked the idea of sleeping in Ed Peters’ former room, but it held significantly more appeal than the bunkroom with the tiny beds. “I’ve slept in a lot of uncomfortable places over the years. I’d be happy to sleep on the couch. I don’t want to be any bother.”
“No, I insist you stay here.” Kaley attempted to avert her gaze from his bare chest in the glaring bedroom light, but her eyes seemed glued to the man’s tan, well-developed muscles. She thought she might hyperventilate or worse, reach out and touch one if she didn’t immediately remove herself from his presence. “Room and board is a big part of your pay, and you deserve to be able to get a good night’s sleep. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Cort watched Kaley beat a hasty retreat down the hall and through the living room. The spacious bedroom would be a considerable step up from the room in the barn.
His slippers dropped beside the bed as he folded back the quilt and blanket. He slid between cool sheets that carried the scent of sunshine and something softly floral.
Visions of his employer’s smile filled his thoughts before he drifted off to sleep.
Kaley lingered in bed a few moments before starting another busy day. She stretched her arms above her head and pointed her toes, taking a cleansing breath. The windows she left open last night carried fresh morning air inside her room. The barest hint of fresh-cut grass wafted on the breeze, making her smile.
She had no idea how Cort had managed to accomplish so much during his first day on the job. If that’s how he worked every day, she had no doubt he’d have the place whipped into shape in no time.
Memories of the way he looked the previous evening, wearing running shorts and little else, made her cheeks flush with heat and her insides quiver. The pictures in her head received a shove aside as she sprang from the bed and hurried to ready herself for the day.
Fingers flew as she braided her hair and secured an elastic band around the end. She glanced up when her bedroom door opened and Jacob ran inside, catapulting himself onto her bed, bouncing up and down. She hid her delight at seeing him animated so early in the day, offering him a look of motherly disapproval.
“Buddy, you know the rules about running in without knocking and about jumping on the bed. What’s up with you this morning?”
Jacob grinned and pointed to the hall.
Curious if it had something to do with her new hired hand, Kaley picked up her dirty clothes before stepping into the hall. Jacob ran toward the kitchen, looking back over his shoulder to make sure she followed.
Air redolent with the rich fragrance of coffee hit her with a welcoming aroma as she walked into the room. Although Cort wasn’t there, coffee brewed in the pot and a plate sitting on the counter held a sliced green apple with grapes, fashioned to look like a frog.
Jacob pointed to the fruit then the table, smiling at her with bright, excited eyes.
“Sure, buddy, you can eat it.” Astounded by Cort’s thoughtfulness, Kaley wondered how he remained single.
Men that looked like him generally had their choice of women.
Men that looked like him, made the morning coffee, and created fruit carvings for little boys should be required to register as some sort of supernatural anomaly, extremely dangerous to the hearts of single, sappy women.
She’d never known any man to get up early and make coffee, much less spend time arranging food into a special surprise for Jacob.
If Cort planned to impress her, he’d succeeded.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and took an appreciative sip before removing eggs, ham, and cheese from the refrigerator and making an omelet. She slid it out of the pan onto a plate as Cort tapped at the door and stepped inside the kitchen.
“Mornin’.” Politely tipping his head at her, he placed his hat and gloves on the bench by the door then went to the sink and washed his hands.
He dried them on a dishtowel, turning as Jacob plowed into his legs and wrapped little arms around his knees. Cort thought every bit of effort he put into making the fruity frog was well worth the time it took as he gazed at the boy’s smiling face. He’d watched Kenzie do stuff like that for Gideon several times and knew he could create the frog without too much trouble.
“Did you find your treat this morning?” Cort asked, gently brushing back Jacob’s bangs. When he did, he noticed a long, jagged scar on the boy’s forehead. Although it wasn’t new, the scar left evidence that Jacob had suffered an injury.
“Did you like it?”
Jacob nodded his head and grabbed Cort’s hand, pulling him over to the table where he could see only one bite of apple and a few grapes remained.
“Glad you enjoyed it.” Cort ruffled Jacob’s dark hair then looked at Kaley. “I hope it was okay to do that, Mrs. Peters.”
“Certainly.” Kaley nodded at Cort as she set the plate with the omelet on the table and poured him a cup of coffee, motioning him to sit. Quickly buttering toast, she set it on a plate at the table then started making another omelet.
Cort waited for her to join him before he began eating. Kaley insisted on switching plates with him because his omelet was cold.
“You need to eat while the food’s hot, Mr. McGraw.”
He tried to take back his cold breakfast, but she tugged on the plate until he released it. She put the omelet back in the hot pan to reheat it a moment before rejoining Cort and Jacob at the table. “It was wonderful to wake up to the smell of coffee, but you aren’t obligated to do that every day.”
“I didn’t mind. I was up anyway.” Cort watched as his boss nervously pushed food around on her plate. He wondered if he’d done something to upset her, then decided not to worry about it.
After he finished his breakfast, he asked if she would make him a sack lunch. “If I ride all the fence line, it’s going to take me the better part of the day. I don’t want to have to stop to come back for lunch.”
“I could bring some out to you later,” she offered, but felt relief when Cort shook his head.
While he and Jacob cleared the few dishes from the table, she made him a sandwich, filled a resealable bag with chips, and washed off an apple. Removing the lid from the cookie jar, she pulled out a few and added them to his lunch offerings. Bottles of water from the refrigerator, along with his lunch, went into a soft-sided, insulated cooler he could take with him.
She held it out to him after he picked up his gloves and hat. The smile he gave her in return made her knees wobbly and unsteady, forcing her to lean against the counter for support.
Jacob gazed up at him in admiration. Much to her dismay, she shared the same sense of awe.
“Have a good day, partner.” Cort patted Jacob on the back as he opened the kitchen door. He took a step forward then stopped, fastening his silvery gaze on her. “Thanks for breakfast and lunch. I left my cell number on the counter if you need to call me for anything.”
Kaley let out the breath she unknowingly he
ld as the screen door smacked closed behind him.
“Why don’t you get dressed, Jacob? We’ve got plenty of work waiting for us.” She smiled at her son as he raced off in the direction of his bedroom. While she put the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher then scrubbed the skillet she used to make omelets, her mind continued to wander to her new hired hand.
Until meeting him yesterday, no man had ever thrown her senses into such a tailspin. Not even Dean.
At least Cort walked into the kitchen fully dressed that morning. The way his cotton shirt slid across his broad shoulders was nearly as distracting as seeing him bare-chested.
Unwilling to let her thoughts travel any farther in a wayward direction, she switched her focus to the day ahead.
As she wiped off the table and counter, she mulled over the fact that she should have asked for references and background information on Cort before agreeing to hire him. However, she trusted Tate and therefore trusted Cort. At least to some extent.
The person she didn’t trust was herself if Cort continued to walk around her house half-naked at night.
Jacob skipped into the room and took a seat at the table while she set out his school supplies. Because of his inability to speak, it was easier to teach him at home. He had a few friends he played with on occasion, but for the most part, he stayed on the ranch with her.
Although her son didn’t speak, Kaley admired his intelligence. It was clear he knew the letters of the alphabet and could easily count to twenty. Recently, he began putting letters together and recognizing words. Once he mastered reading and writing, a new world of communication would open for the silent boy.
They worked together for two hours before she declared it time for a break. She put a load of clothes into the washing machine, and gave Jacob a snack before they went outside to work in the barn. Opening the door, surprise brought her up short as she realized Cort had already cleaned it, including mucking out the stalls. She let Jacob pet the horses as she silently sent up a word of gratitude for her new hand.
Wrestlin' Christmas: (Sweet Western Holiday Romance) (Rodeo Romance Book 2) Page 5