The Rancher Meets His Match

by Kate Pearce

  “You need to unscrew the ends of the rail before you can slide the rings off. Hold on to the drapes, will you?”

  He produced some kind of tool from the pocket of his shirt and set to work, his wide shoulder pressed against hers. Julia found she couldn’t look away from the deft motions of his hands, and the faint whistling he seemed unaware of that still emanated from his mouth.

  He leaned across her to reach the other end of the rail, and she eased backward, suddenly aware that her tight skirt had crept up to her ass, and that getting back down wasn’t going to be as easy as getting up.

  “Okay, you should be able to get the drapes off now.” Kaiden released the tarnished brass rail and set it down on the countertop.

  “Thank you.” Even as Julia waited for him to descend, she knew she’d have to ask for his help, and was already dreading it. She waved vaguely at her skirt. “Could you . . . ?”

  “Help you down?” He grinned at her, accentuating the fine lines around his mouth and gray eyes. “Sure. You might want to consider investing in a pair of jeans if you’re going to stick around here for a while.”

  He placed his hands on her waist and lifted her down in one fluid motion, waited until she was stable, and immediately backed off.

  “I have jeans.” Julia made herself look him in the eye.

  “Awesome.” He gestured at the drapes. “Why did you suddenly decide they needed to come down?”

  “Because they were obscuring the view.”

  “It certainly is a good one.” Kaiden looked past her, his expression thoughtful. “You might need to clean the glass, too.”

  “I know that.”

  “Then, I’ll leave you to it.” He checked his cell phone and frowned. “I won’t be able to get out here again until the weekend. Danny’s on a course so I’m doing his ranch work as well as mine.”

  “That’s fine.” Julia nodded. “I’ve got a lot going on myself.”

  “You taking on the ranch work?”

  “Hardly. I still have a job in San Francisco.”

  “You’re a lawyer, right?”

  “I am.”

  He hesitated. “If you need any help with anything—”

  “I’ll ask Dad,” Julia said firmly.

  “Okay, then.” Kaiden held out his cell. “Can I have your number? I’d rather talk to you than bother Juan.”

  “Really?” Inwardly Julia winced as she relapsed into high school mode. What was it about Kaiden Miller that made her behave like a sarcastic teenager?

  He rubbed his hand over his stubbled chin, probably to conceal a smile. “I can’t believe I’m asking, either, but I guess we both want what’s best for Juan.”

  She took his phone and punched in her number with one sharp fingertip. “We do.”

  “Thanks.” He picked up his hat. “I’ll call to let you know when I’d like to come up here again.”

  “Sure, it’s not as if I’m planning on going anywhere.”

  Kaiden turned back to look at her. “Do you have transportation?”

  “Dad’s truck is still working, so yes. Are there any actual shops in Morgantown these days?”

  “Plenty. You should come and check it out sometime.” His smile was a thing of beauty. “I’m just going to say good-bye to your dad, then I’ll see myself out.”

  “Fine.”

  He winked at her and strolled away. She heard her father’s laugh and Kaiden’s low-voiced murmur in reply, and then he was gone. His truck fired as he backed up and bumped down the pitted drive. She had the absurd idea of chasing after him and asking him what the hell she was supposed to do with her dad, with the ranch, with everything.

  When had Kaiden Miller become the kind of guy people could depend on? He’d always been the outsider, the one too busy cracking jokes at everyone else’s expense to ever be taken seriously. Or was she so desperate that the slightest hint of kindness had reduced her to rubble?

  Her cell rang and she automatically picked up.

  “Hey, Julie! Didn’t you get my texts? I need to ask you some questions about the Mitan file.”

  She gripped the phone tightly as the coffee in her gut turned to acid.

  “Blaine, I don’t have access to any of the files right now. You’re supposed to check in with Miley, not me, okay?”

  “Miley’s useless.” Julia closed her eyes as her new boss’s voice rose to its usual petulant whine. “She just tells me to sort it out myself.”

  “You are the lead negotiator on this now, Blaine,” Julia pointed out, her gaze straying to the newly revealed window like it would save her soul. “You’re supposed to be the one making the decisions.”

  “And, as your superior, I’m telling you to sort this shit out.”

  Julia breathed out slowly through her nose and imagined galloping her horse through the water meadows that led down to Morgan Creek.

  “Julie? Are you still there?” Blaine was in full panicked meltdown mode now.

  “Sorry, can’t hear you too well.” Julia held the phone away from her ear. “Signal’s not great out here. I’ll call you back.”

  “Don’t you dare—”

  She ended the call and spent a juvenile moment giving her own phone the finger before slipping it into her pocket.

  Blaine Purvis wanted to be the big boss man? Then he could earn his paycheck for once. She was going to sit down with her father and find out exactly what was going on with the once thriving Garcia Ranch her great-grandfather had founded, and try to come up with a way to save it for the next generation.

  Chapter Three

  “So you just need to proceed carefully, shave off a little at a time, and . . .” Kaiden stopped speaking to stare at his companion. “Wes, are you even listening to me?”

  “Sure!” His young apprentice jumped, shoved his phone in the pocket of his jeans, and looked Kaiden right in the eye. “Shave it all off, got it.”

  Kaiden held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

  “What?” Wes squealed like a motherless calf. “You can’t do that to me! Isn’t it against the law or something?”

  “You are supposed to be learning a trade, right? That’s what you signed on for.” Kaiden pointed up at the beams. “We’re in an old building that needs a lot of love and tender care. We cannot afford to make stupid mistakes and bring it down around our ears.”

  “I get that.” Wes nodded vigorously. “But what’s it got to do with you taking my phone? It’s my life.”

  “If you don’t listen to my instructions because you’re too busy looking at your phone neither of us might live much longer.” Kaiden held Wes’s gaze. “So, what’s it going to be? You hand over your phone and work through till lunchtime when I’ll give it back to you, or you go and tell Beth you’ve been fired?”

  “Wow, that’s harsh.” Wes shook his head like he was disappointed in Kaiden. “You know she’ll kill me if I blow this?”

  “Not my problem.” After four weeks of working with Wes, Kaiden had just about had it. “If you’re not interested in doing the job, I’ll find someone who is.”

  With a huge sigh, Wes handed over his phone.

  “Thanks.” Kaiden stowed it safely in his tool belt. “Now, let’s get to this.”

  “Do you want me to get some coffee?”

  “You’ve only been here for half an hour. You can’t possibly need coffee.” Kaiden walked over to his workbench trailed by Wes.

  “I was thinking more for you. You look a bit stressed.”

  Kaiden reminded himself that Wes was only eighteen, and that after the upheavals of his childhood he deserved a chance. He concentrated on sorting through the tools and finding the right place on the structural plan.

  “You see how this beam is anchored up here on the right?” He pointed it out on the plan and then at the actual beam itself. “We need to make sure that the joint is still secure so that it can hold up some of the weight of the roof.”

  “Okay.” Wes squinted up at the roof. “So what do you want
me to do? You know I don’t do heights, right?”

  “You’ll be two foot off the ground, max,” Kaiden reassured him as he handed over a screwdriver and sandpaper. “Get up there, examine the joint, test gently to see if there is any unstable or soft wood using the tip of the screwdriver, and tell me immediately if there is.”

  “Got it.” Wes walked toward the post. He climbed awkwardly up onto the second step of the ladder, pretended to fall and waved his arms around like an idiot before he noticed Kaiden’s measured stare and got to work. “It looks fine.”

  “Great, use the sandpaper to clean up the joint, and then you can do exactly the same thing to the other nineteen posts. Put a red tag on anything suspicious so I can check it out.”

  “All of them?”

  “Yeah.” Kaiden concentrated on the plans, reluctant to let Wes see he was fighting a smile at his apprentice’s fake outrage. “That should take you through to lunchtime.”

  “When you’ll give me my phone back?”

  “If you do a good job.” Kaiden used the calculator on his cell to check his math. “Every post has to be structurally sound, okay? It’s important.”

  Wes muttered something under his breath and moved his ladder to the next post. Somewhere, someone was probably enjoying the spectacle of Kaiden having to be the tough, no-fun guy rather than the one making everyone laugh. Like most teenagers, Wes was a strange mixture of overconfidence and immaturity that Kaiden remembered all too well. Sometimes, he really wanted to laugh alongside his apprentice before he remembered he was supposed to be the boss.

  While he had his phone out, he checked his messages, but there was nothing urgent. He scrolled through his contacts until he found Julia’s, and paused before using his thumb to type.

  * * *

  Just checking in that you gave me the right number.

  He waited a second, but she didn’t reply, and why would she? She’d made it very clear that she didn’t need his help even if her father did. The real question was, why did it bother him? Why was he determined to make a connection with a woman who had never given him a moment of her time without making it feel like she was doing him a favor?

  “Because you want everyone to like you,” Kaiden muttered to himself. “You’re a people pleaser.”

  His cell buzzed and he picked it up.

  Seems like I did.

  Encouraged by the smiley face, Kaiden kept typing.

  What are you up to this fine morning?

  I’m bringing Dad into town to see his doctor at 12.

  Cool, I might see you around.

  Kaiden grimaced. There he went again asking for her attention. She didn’t reply, and he made himself put his phone away.

  “How come you get to text, and I don’t?” Wes called out.

  “Because I’m the boss.” Kaiden contemplated the climb up the ladder and made sure he had all the right tools with him before he ascended on high. “Now, stop yakking and get on with it.”

  * * *

  Julia spent way too much time trying to work out how to collapse her dad’s wheelchair so that she could put it in the back of his truck for their trip down to Morgantown. She had to wonder how he’d been managing by himself. A fresh pang of guilt ran through her as she finally shut the truck door. She’d taken his reassurances that everything was okay at face value, and used them as an excuse to work even harder, and not come back.

  And where had that got her? A stomach full of acid, a full-time headache, and a new boss who hated her guts. Her cell rang, and she reluctantly answered it.

  “Hi! Julia! It’s Melanie.”

  Julia walked back inside the ranch house and paused in the kitchen, shutting the door so her dad couldn’t hear the conversation.

  “Hi!” she said brightly.

  “Blaine said you hung up on him yesterday.”

  “The cell service here is very patchy.” Julia made sure the coffeepot was safely away from the range.

  “Look, I know you wanted that promotion, Julia, dear, but you do realize we all have to work as a team now?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then why wouldn’t you help Blaine?”

  “Because I don’t have access to the files he needs, Miley does,” Julia said simply. “I explained that to him. Did he suggest something else?”

  The senior partner went quiet for so long that Julia really began to believe the connection was lost. She was just about to give up when Melanie spoke again.

  “I’ve patched Blaine into the call, Julia.”

  “Great!” Julia rolled her eyes and made gagging gestures. “Hi, Blaine.”

  “I didn’t say you had the files, Julie. I just asked you where you’d put them when you’d left in such a hurry.”

  “That’s a perfectly reasonable question, Julia,” Melanie said.

  But not the one he actually asked me. Julia wished she had the nerve to say that, but as things were, she needed her paycheck more than ever right now.

  “Miley has copies of every single file and project I was working on.”

  “But she doesn’t have your experience.” Blaine sighed. “All I’m asking for is a little help, Julie, while I get settled into my new job. As Melanie said, we all need to be team players for the greater glory of the firm.”

  Melanie’s indulgent laugh set Julia’s teeth on edge. “See, my dear? Blaine’s got the right attitude. You’re usually so conscientious, I can’t imagine why you’re not willing to help a fellow lawyer out.”

  “I can’t help him from here. I don’t have access to the files, and I’m currently trying to take care of my father who is sick,” Julia said evenly.

  “As to that, when do you think you’ll be back?” Melanie asked. “You’re missing a lot of billable hours.”

  Julia pressed her lips tightly together and fought a sudden urge to cry.

  “I only just got here. There is a lot to sort out and set up before I can leave.”

  “Can’t somebody else do it?”

  “No.” Julia gripped the phone so hard it was in danger of popping out of her hand like a cork. “It’s my responsibility and my choice.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, but I have to go now. My father is due at the doctor’s for an appointment he can’t miss.”

  “I’ll call you later, then, Julie.” Blaine had to have the last word. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

  She hated him. It was that simple. The thought of having to go into the office for the rest of her life while he schmoozed his way up the corporate ladder made her feel physically sick. Her gaze settled on the ancient stove. But the ranch needed her and it wasn’t going to be cheap to adapt it to fit her father’s condition.

  From what he’d told her last night, the place wasn’t even really operating as a ranch right now. He had a few cattle and horses in the barn and two retired cowhands who had stayed on to help when Juan hadn’t been able to get out of the house. She knew Miguel also sent money home, but it wasn’t enough to affect the gradual decline of the once thriving business.

  Maybe it was time to let it go....

  “Julia? Are you in there?”

  She fixed on a smile and went to open the kitchen door.

  “I’m right here, Dad. Do you want me to drive, or would you rather do it?”

  “You drive.” He tossed her the keys. “I taught you, so I know you’re good.”

  “You haven’t seen me in the city,” Julia teased him. “I’m a demon on wheels.”

  She helped him to the truck, which she had parked as close to the back door as possible. “Your doctor’s in town, yes?”

  “In the building opposite Baker’s gas station, and next door to the new pizza place.”

  “There’s pizza?” Julia hoisted him up into the truck.

  “Good pizza and gelato.” Juan settled himself in the seat. “If you behave yourself, I might treat you to lunch.”

  * * *

  Kaiden wouldn’t say he’d deliberately suggested he and Wes should get a s
lice or two of pizza for lunch, but here they were, sitting outside despite the slight breeze while Kaiden kept a close eye on Dr. Tio’s. He’d checked the parking lot behind the building and spotted Juan’s old truck in one of the disabled spaces. Wes was staring at his cell like he’d never seen it before, his eyes fixed on the screen as he typed with a speed Kaiden could only dream about.

  A flash of movement made him look up to see the door into the clinic opening. He shot to his feet and walked over to take hold of it as Julia backed out with Juan in his wheelchair.

  “Hey!” Juan looked genuinely pleased to see him.

  “How’s it going?” Kaiden smiled at them both. “Didn’t want the door hitting you in the a—I mean rear.”

  “Thanks.” Julia turned the chair around to face the front. Today she was wearing jeans, boots, and a peach-colored fleece that complemented her warm skin tones. She looked tired, as if all the cares of the world were on her shoulders. “Do I smell pizza?”

  “You sure do.” Kaiden pointed toward Wes, who seemed oblivious to the fact that Kaiden had moved away. “Do you want to come and sit with us, or, do you want to go inside?”

  Even as Julia hesitated, Juan answered him. “We’ll sit outside. It’s good to feel the fresh air on my skin.”

  “I bet.” Kaiden took over the wheelchair and maneuvered Juan toward the circular table so that his back was to the wind. “Wes, say hi to Mr. Garcia.”

  Wes didn’t react and Kaiden leaned over and gently poked him on the arm. “Wes!”

  “Don’t take my phone!” Wes cradled his cell to his chest and cringed backward like some pitiful orphan child. “It’s lunchtime!” He suddenly noticed Julia and sat up straight. “Well, hi!”

  Kaiden fought not to roll his eyes. “Julia, this is Wes Demoto.”

  Wes put out his hand and took Julia’s. “Wes Baker, actually.” He brought her gloved fingers to his lips. “A pleasure indeed, my lady.”

  Julia met Kaiden’s gaze over Wes’s head, her lips twitching with startled amusement.

  Kaiden sighed. “Wes is my young apprentice.”

  “I hate the way you keep calling me that, it’s so lame.” Wes made a face. “Like Star Wars is so over.”