“Yeah. I’ll drop off the eggs on the back porch before I get on the bus.” Joey threw her arms around Cade’s neck and he pulled her in close, saying a silent prayer that everything would go smoothly at school. It usually did—most of the kids around here didn’t care if she didn’t like dresses, and he and Joey had reached an agreement about her brushing her hair on school days, so her blonde mane had been tamed. “I love you.”
“I love you, Dad.” Joey gave a little sigh and tossed herself out of his arms, heading back out into the predawn light.
“Does she do chores every day before school?”
“Yep.” He turned back to the toast and finished buttering it. “I tried to make her hold off until the weekend with the chores, but she’s a ranch girl.”
“I can see that.”
“Coffee?”
He could feel Becca perk up about that without looking. “Yes. Oh, god, yes.”
Cade threw a look over his shoulder. “Don’t get too excited. It’s just the regular stuff. Sugar’s in the cupboard above the maker.”
Becca poured them both a mug, and he fixed up another batch of toast and eggs for the two of them and fried up a plate of bacon. They both ate at the small kitchen table. Becca’s knee brushed his a couple of times. Cade kept his eyes on his food and not on her face, but she kept making little noises. It was like she’d never tasted anything better than buttered toast and eggs with bacon. “That good, huh?”
“It’s so good.”
He couldn’t help himself then—he met her eyes. “They don’t have food like this in New York?”
“I’ve been living on takeout. A hazard of my long workdays,” she said with a shrug. “I haven’t had a chance to really pay attention to what I’m eating in years. Thank you.” Her voice was so sincere by the time she spoke the last few words that he couldn’t stand it. He might as well be trying to breathe in a super-heated furnace.
“Well, let’s get going.” He pushed his chair back and took their plates to the sink, tipping them in. He’d deal with those when the real chores were done. Becca helped him pack up some lunches for the ranch hands—simple sandwiches in great quantities—and they went out into the breaking dawn.
Becca swallowed yawn after yawn. It was clear she wasn’t used to being up, but she was bright-eyed nonetheless. Then again, it was only the first day. She’d see.
He led her out to the truck parked by the barn. “First things first, we’re going to check the feed out in the pastures. Put some new out.” Cade hauled some new feed into the back of the truck, then hopped in next to her and took off.
“Feed in the pastures?”
“For the areas where the cattle don’t graze. That’s what we do first thing in the morning. Give everything a once-over. Make sure everybody’s fed.”
Becca nodded seriously, her hands tight around the thermos of coffee he’d prepared.
“Now, the boys worked on the stalls in the barn yesterday afternoon, but if they needed work, we’d clean ’em first thing. We need them in good shape if one of the cows is calving or if one of the horses is foaling. And we keep the injured horses and cows in there. It’s a little different setup from the stables, but that’s how we do it. And we’ll check the water tanks. Those are the first things we’re looking to do.”
“All right. Let’s do it.”
Becca rode along with a can-do set to her jaw. She couldn’t lift the hay by herself to tip it into the field, but she gave it a try. Wherever Cade went, there she was, standing so close he could smell the light flowery scent of her shampoo.
Finally, she straightened up from refilling the water tanks and brushed a stray lock of hair from one of her cheeks. Her skin was pink from doing the work. But Becca didn’t look beaten down or ready to quit. No. She looked pleased with herself. “That was pretty good, right?”
“Right.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Now it’s time to get to the real work.”
Becca blinked at him, one long slow blink, and then she was right back in it. “What’s the real work?”
“Hop in the truck. We’re going out to the near pasture.” When she was buckled in beside him, he went on. “We have to vaccinate the calves today. We’ll also be tagging them while they’re immobilized.” He could feel her watching him, and it made Cade feel like he was underneath an enormous spotlight. “Here. This is one of the tags we’ll be using.” They were simple polyurethane things, sturdy but flexible, and each one had a big, bold number printed on it.
“What’s the rationale behind using these basic tags instead of anything with RFID?” Becca’s question was light, casual, but the energy in the cab of the truck shifted and tensed. “I’m curious.”
His chest tightened as he prepared to defend his choices. “Always have. My father used those when they first came out, and I use them now. The system works for us.”
“How do you know where the cattle are, then? And when to move them to different pastures?”
Cade gestured into the back seat. “We tag them with different colors and herd the groups according to the tags.”
Becca cleared her throat.
He pulled the truck over next to the fence at the edge of the pasture where they kept the calves with their mothers. “Okay, just say it.”
“I don’t want to overstep.”
“You keep saying that, but it doesn’t help me understand why you want to come in here, guns blazing, and change everything.” He caught a glimpse of her gaze, her dark eyes amused. Amused. And one eyebrow arched. “Fine. You don’t have guns blazing. But I don’t see why you want to change this. This of all things.”
“For the data,” she said softly. “This will help you—me—us make better decisions about the cattle. Don’t you…you know, consider those one of your most important assets?”
“Among other things,” he hedged, the same tags that had been fine for so many years feeling useless in his hands. “But the system’s been that way for a long time. Hasn’t been a problem before.”
“But look.” They faced the pasture together, and from here he had a view of the ranch’s green rolling hills, alive under the fresh morning sunlight. It was still early in the day, thanks to Cade getting up an hour early and Becca actually being prepared for this. As prepared as she could be. Becca took the elastic from her hair and re-did her ponytail. “Look. If we also set up a GIS—that’s a graphical information system—”
“I know what a GIS is,” he grumbled. It was one of those things that cost too much in terms of time and money to be worth it for his ranch. They’d been doing fine without it.
“—if we set up the GIS,” Becca barreled on, her voice rising with excitement — “we can combine that with data from the RFID tags. Basically, we’ll overlay the information about the cattle with the information about the conditions of the pastures. We’ll know whether a given area is undergrazed or overgrazed, if there’s enough water, and in the end—in the end—” Becca took a big, deep breath. “In the end it’ll save a ton of time and money when it comes to buying and selling the stock, and breeding, and everything else.”
Cade felt like he’d been turned into a human gong, and that gong had been rung with great force. Was he ever going to stop vibrating? He honestly didn’t know. “How do you know all that?”
“Processing data is what I do for a living. These are things that would give me more data to process.” She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “I can’t tell you how exciting it is to actually see the things the numbers would translate to.” Becca looked out over the ranch, the light catching her face in a way that made it seem like she was one with the sun. “It’s so much better than staring at numbers in a spreadsheet all day.” Her laugh rang out over the cattle, all the mothers and babies together in the pasture. “There will still be spreadsheets, I’m sure, but here it is, right in front of me.”
“That’s all well and good.” He felt pulled in two different directions, equal forces on either side of his body. On eith
er side of his heart. “But sometimes the best decisions come from experience and gut instinct.”
“Sure,” Becca said. “Sure. But why can’t there be both?”
Another truck, slightly more beat-up than Cade’s and a cherry red, bumped down the two-track and came to a stop. Danny jumped out first. The other men piled out behind him. “I got your text,” shouted Danny. “What are y’all doing out here so early?” He laughed and slapped one of the other guys on the shoulder—a guy who wore a blue sweatshirt and carried a square case with him. “I thought you said—”
“I didn’t think she’d be so quick at getting ready,” Cade blurted, and kept his eyes off Becca’s.
“You’re something else,” Becca said, and then she turned back to the ranch hands and addressed the one she hadn’t met last night. “Are you the vet? I have some questions about the ear tags.”
4
Becca was a gym person.
She’d gone to the gym every night after work, or showed up early to workout. It was in her office building and she got a free membership, so it was convenient—and she used the hell out of it. She ran on the treadmill. She lifted weights.
But her body had never felt anything like this.
Back at the farmhouse, she eased herself into an armchair in the living room, groaning all the way. Every muscle was on fire. Her butt had to be ripped by now from all the squatting and lifting and moving. Her wrists ached from more than that. She held her hands out in front of her and rotated them. So much for a break from the keyboard. Her wrists were going to feel it just as much as before.
“What are you doing?”
Joey’s voice from the hallway startled her, and she dropped her hands to her lap. “Stretching,” Becca said. “What are you doing?”
A sparkle flashed across Joey’s eyes. “You’re sore, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Becca admitted. No point in denying it. It would be a miracle if she could get out of this chair.
Joey dropped into the sofa across from her and put her chin in her hands. “Want to know a secret?”
Becca lifted her head from the back of the armchair. “Always. What is it?”
“There’s a hot spring up by the woods. You saw that spear of woods coming down at the center of our property? Right there. I’ll take you, if you want.”
Becca looked Joey straight in the eye. “Nothing has ever sounded better. Now come here and help me up.” It took both of them to haul her sore body out of the chair, and Joey giggled the entire time. “Now what? We go get our bathing suits?”
Joey gave her a skeptical look. “Do you think you can get into your bathing suit?”
That made Becca laugh. “No. Let’s go without it.” The two of them walked along the pasture boundary in the evening light. Becca’s legs loosened up with every step. “Okay, Joey, I admit it—I’m feeling better already.”
The girl gave her a proud grin. “I thought you would. The hot spring is so hot. You’re going to like it.”
“Like a hot tub?”
“Better than a hot tub.” Joey wrinkled her nose. “All the hot tubs I’ve seen have been in hotels.”
“You don’t like to stay in hotels?”
Joey cocked her head to the side. “I like staying at hotels,” she said carefully. “But I like staying at our house even more. This is my favorite place in the world.”
“I can see why.” The evening sunlight stretching over the hills took Becca’s breath away. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the hot spring flowing into a pool that was almost perfectly round, hidden in the forest. Becca paced around it while Joey stood close by, watching her carefully. “This is pretty magical,” Becca said. “You’re so lucky to have this.”
Joey bit her lip. “I’m a little glad you’re here.”
Becca’s heart lifted and leaped. “Yeah? I’m glad to be here, too.”
“Dad won’t let me come here on my own,” Joey said frankly. “I have to be with an adult. Now there’s one more of you.” She stripped off her jeans and waded into the pool, skinny legs splashing.
Now that they were up here, Becca wished she’d worn her bathing suit. But Joey had been right—there was no way she could wriggle into it with her muscles the way they were. So Becca abandoned her jeans and outer shirt and stepped down into the hot spring.
Oh. Oh. Becca had never felt anything this good in her entire life. The heat from the pool was an immediate balm to her muscles and she let out another groan.
Joey snickered. “You have to stop making those weird noises.”
“I can’t help it,” Becca groaned. “The water feels so good. And it’s all thanks to you that I’m here. My old bones need it.”
“Yeah, you’re really old,” Joey said.
“Don’t make me splash you.”
“What are you two doing this far from home?” The shadow fell across her at the same time as Cade’s voice settled over her skin. It didn’t matter how hot the water was. She still got goose bumps. “Glad you brought somebody with you, Joey.”
“You said I couldn’t come here alone.” Joey’s voice was defiant, but still managed to be playful. “So I brought Becca.”
“And you didn’t think to invite me?”
Becca could see by the shadow in the water that Cade was moving. Cloth fell to the ground behind her and she steeled herself against letting any kind of expression slip.
“Get in, Dad!” Joey shouted, and flicked some droplets of water at him.
“I’m coming,” he said. And then he climbed into the pool next to her.
He was… shirtless. The very fact of his abs, an eight-pack if she’d ever seen one, wiped away all thought of regular conversation from Becca’s mind. Every muscle on Cade’s body stood out like it had been sculpted there. He leaned his arms back against the bank of the pond and considered her. “So, how was your first day on the ranch? Have you booked your flight back to New York?”
Becca scoffed. “Hardly. You don’t even know how happy I am to be here.”
“She’s really sore,” Joey offered. “She could barely get out of her chair.”
Becca shot her a look. “I’m still happy to be here.”
“Why?” For the first time all day, Cade’s voice was open and curious. Was it the heat of the water, or something else? “What does a city girl like you want with a ranch like this?”
The rush of memories from her camp days was powerful enough to put a grin on her face and spread a warmth across her chest. “When I was a kid, I went to camp a couple of ranches over. Benton Ranch.”
“No kidding.”
“It’s just over the ridgeline,” Joey said. “I told her that. I told her how close we were.”
“And you’re right.” Cade reached over and smoothed Joey’s hair back from her face. “You can see it from our property. It’s right in view.”
“I know,” admitted Becca. “As soon as I saw this place had gone on the market, I researched everything I could about it. The fact that you can see the Benton Ranch from here is why I’m so interested.”
“Oh, is that right?” A grin flickered onto Cade’s face. If she hadn’t been sitting, her knees would have gone out from under her. “So it’s not just about the data? Seems you made the decision to come here with your gut!”
Becca’s cheeks heated. He probably wouldn’t be able to see, since she was already sitting in hot water, but she turned her face casually away to hide it. No way—she did not make gut decisions. She analyzed data, and gathered evidence, and used that to guide her. Always. “What was it like, growing up here?”
Cade’s green eyes caught the sunlight, and the curve at the corner of his lips set her on fire all over again. “It was a good life.” He looked away from her, toward the trees. “My brothers and I were happy.” Then he let out a big sigh, and Joey splashed to the other end of the hot spring and back. “They moved away about a year ago.”
“And your parents?” she asked softly. The smile had disappeared from
Cade’s face, every trace of it gone. She could almost feel his sadness weighing down her own chest. “They’re gone, too?”
“Yeah. Two years ago. One after the other. Heart attack took my dad, and cancer took my mom. It was almost like they weren’t meant to live without each other, but—” He looked Becca in the eye. “I’d rather have one of ’em here, if I’m honest.”
“I know how you feel.” She could feel an invisible bond forming between them, tugging at their two hearts. “My parents—” The hurt, choking feeling that sometimes attacked her, gripped her throat. “Mine too,” she finished.
“Are you guys okay?” Joey watched them suspiciously from across the hot spring. “You look like you’re gonna cry.” She screwed up her face. “Don’t do that. I hate crying.”
“I won’t,” promised Becca. She cleared her throat and focused on Cade. “How many brothers do you have?”
“Two,” he said. “They headed out of town not long after our parents passed, so it’s been a bit of a lonesome undertaking.”
“Lonesome.” Becca laughed. “You’re always surrounded by people here. Those ranch hands love to linger after dinner.”
He laughed with her. “They do.”
“Hey,” Joey said. “Those are my friends.”
“I know it,” Cade answered affectionately. “They’re mine, too. We’re just having a bit of fun.”
It made her want to giggle out loud, hearing those words from his mouth. We’re just having a bit of fun. Was it possible that Cade could loosen up a bit while she was here? Could they, for instance, spend time at a hot spring together without things getting awkward or crossing any lines? He seemed to see that she was genuinely interested in the ranch. At least for now.
In the pleasant lull, Cade looked up at the sky. “Better get going.” Without any other discussion, he climbed out of the pool. Becca couldn’t take her eyes off him. The water made his boxer briefs stick to his skin, and— Holy. Crap. There was nothing like a perfect man climbing out of water to get a lady hot and bothered. But his daughter was right there. Becca looked somewhere else—anywhere else—and settled on one of the trees.
The Rancher’s City Girl: Wells Brothers Book One Page 3