by Kate Pearce
“Jeez,” Kaiden muttered to himself. “Wow, you’re so noble, and this has nothing to do with the fact that you want her like crazy, and you always have.”
She’d be going back to San Francisco in a week or so, and if she was her usual efficient self she wouldn’t need to come home much again—because her dad would be well taken care of, and fully capable of getting on with his life in his newly adapted house. Did he want another fleeting physical relationship that never went anywhere? He’d done that before and, even if Julia wanted that, he wasn’t sure he could give it to her.
Kaiden glanced back toward the house. He’d successfully talked his body back under his control without the need for a cold shower, so he might as well go back and make sure that his father had at least attempted to make things right with Ben.
When he entered the house, Julia was sitting talking to Lizzie and Daisy while the men cleared up. Adam glanced over as he came in and beckoned Kaiden to join him. Ben and Silver were standing with his dad and everyone was smiling.
“I’m not sure what you said to Dad, but thanks.” Adam clapped him on the back. “He came in a different man.”
“I told him he was being an ass.” Kaiden shrugged. “You know, the usual.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.” Adam lowered his voice. “You’re the only one of us apart from Daisy he ever really listens to.”
“Lucky old me.” Kaiden took the dishcloth out of his brother’s hand. “How about you go and talk to Lizzie? You did all the cooking. I’ll take it from here.”
“You sure? Don’t you want to get it on with Julia?”
“Don’t even go there, Bro.” Kaiden shuddered. “She’s way out of my league. She always has been.”
“Lizzie thinks Julia likes you.”
“Yeah?” Kaiden perked up and Adam grinned at him.
“See? You do like her.” His brother punched him gently on the arm. “Go for it, my man.”
“Yeah, right.” Kaiden cracked the dishcloth like a whip toward Adam’s Wranglers. “Get out of here.”
He went back to the sink where Danny was patiently washing and rinsing the huge pile of dishes. Kaiden took one look at him and held up his hand.
“Don’t you start.”
“Start what?”
“You know—that I’m panting after Julia Garcia.”
“Are you?” Danny frowned. “Can’t say I’ve noticed—except the way you keep tripping over your tongue because it’s hanging so far out of your mouth every time you look at her.”
“Sometimes this family just doesn’t know when to stop,” Kaiden grumbled as he picked up a dish and dried it vigorously.
“Says the biggest joker of them all.” Danny grinned. “How does it feel to be on the other end of it for a change, Bro?”
“Just you wait until you meet a woman you like,” Kaiden said. “I’ll remind you of this moment.”
His brother’s smile dimmed. “Don’t worry about me. I’m never going to put myself through that again.”
Kaiden nudged him with his elbow. “You will, Danny. You’re way too sweet to give up on love just yet.”
Chapter Seven
Sunday morning started early because Juan wanted to go to church, and Julia offered to drive him. There wasn’t a Catholic church in Morgantown, but the current pastor tried his best to appeal to all denominations, and Juan seemed to enjoy the sermons. Julia couldn’t say she was a regular churchgoer, but she was finding it surprisingly soothing to participate in the service surrounded by people she’d known all her life.
She was also surprised to see that Kaiden and Danny had accompanied their father, who was uncharacteristically quiet and well behaved. After the service, she wheeled her father out into the spring sunshine, and waited as he spoke to the pastor about the Catholic priest who would be coming through Morgantown that afternoon to offer communion and confession to the faithful.
“Good morning, honey.” She didn’t have to turn around to know that Kaiden Miller had come up behind her. “Nice to see you getting your prayer on.”
She finally looked up at him. He wore a blue shirt that brought out the color in his eyes, and carried a white straw Stetson that he immediately slapped on his head.
“I’m surprised you didn’t burn to a frazzle at the door,” she retorted.
His wide, appreciative smile made her want to smile back at him. He leaned closer and murmured, “I figured that if they let my old man in, they wouldn’t have a problem with me.”
“Maybe your father is an undercover saint.” Even Julia couldn’t stop herself from smiling at that one.
“Saint Jeff. Patron saint of the perpetually angry?” Kaiden offered. “I kind of like it.” He hesitated and looked down at her. “I was wondering if I might come over and see you today?”
“For what reason?”
He held up his hands. “Definitely not what you’re thinking. I noticed you still have a chicken run at the back of the house. I thought I’d come over, patch it up, and fill it with some of our spare chickens.”
She held his gaze. “Really?”
“Yeah, Juan said he missed having fresh eggs in the morning.”
“He never mentioned it to me.”
Kaiden shrugged. “Probably didn’t want to bother you when you’ve got so much on your plate right now.”
Julia glanced suspiciously back at her father, who was now talking to Jeff Miller.
“If you’re sure you can spare the time.”
“I’m sure.” He stepped back and touched the brim of his hat. “I’ll see you around two, then.”
“With the chickens,” Julia said sternly.
“Got it.” He nodded. “Lots of clucking and definitely no—”
She cut across him. “Kaiden Miller! You just got out of church!”
He turned away laughing, and she returned to her father, aware that her cheeks were heated, and hoped that no one had overheard a word she’d shared with her rogue of a neighbor.
After they got back to the ranch, Juan decided to take a nap before lunch, and Julia went out to the barn to work up a sweat cleaning the old saddles and bridles. On her way, she took a look at the chicken house, which was in surprisingly good shape considering. If Kaiden could fix the fence and the hole in the roof of the wooden structure, she didn’t see why the chickens wouldn’t thrive in there again. Just to make sure, she swept out all the debris from the nesting boxes and perches, and replaced the ground soil.
Even though the sun was shining, it wasn’t that warm, and Julia was glad of it. Midsummer in Morgan Valley, the temperatures could reach over a hundred degrees, and in the winter they usually had snow. Spring was always short, late, quite beautiful, and definitely Julia’s favorite time of year.
As she filled a bucket with water and found the saddle soap, she considered what it would be like to live back at the ranch full-time. She knew she had the ability to run it just as well as Miguel could—maybe even better, but would she want that? And, more importantly, would her father ever trust her enough to let her take control?
After her mother had decided to go back to her home country to practice medicine, Juan’s faith in women had diminished considerably. Until this week, he’d refused to allow Julia any access to the financial records of the ranch, or any say in how the place was run. It was as if he’d been worried that she’d use the information against him, which wasn’t fair at all. She might have her mother’s brains, but her loyalty was to the ranch and her remaining family.
It wasn’t even that her father was unkind to her—he obviously loved her dearly, but he’d decided she didn’t need to bother her head with such things, which wasn’t helpful at all. She dropped the bridle in the bucket, picked up the brush, and started working on the straps. She could run the ranch and make it profitable, she was sure of it. All she needed was a good and reliable ranch manager who would respect her father.
Three hours later, she heaved the last saddle back onto its stand and looked aroun
d the tack room. Order and cleanliness had been restored and that made her happy. A good hot shower would easily remedy the fact that she now stank like old leather and was soaked to the skin. She was glad she’d borrowed an old pair of Miguel’s denim overalls and hadn’t ruined her only pair of jeans.
She emerged into the sunlight, groaning as she straightened her back, and walked toward the ranch house. It was weird not having dogs around the place. Her father had always had at least four working dogs as well as the occasional household pet. She shaded her eyes as she noticed a car parked up that definitely didn’t belong to her or Kaiden.
Had the priest arrived early? She glanced down at her filthy clothing. She hoped not. Her father would have a fit if she received a man of God looking like this. She braced herself to apologize as the car door opened, and then went still.
“Julie? Is that you?”
Her apologetic smile froze in place as Blaine Purvis stared at her in horror.
“Blaine? What the heck are you doing here?”
* * *
Kaiden was whistling as he drew up outside the Garcia house. His dad had been more than amenable to his rebuilding the chicken house, and had even helped load the lumber into the back of Kaiden’s truck before sending him off with a hearty slap on the back. Sometimes, catching his dad in his mellow mood right after church worked out well.
Kaiden checked out the fancy silver Lexus parked up alongside Juan’s truck and wondered who on earth it belonged to. He’d sent Juan a couple of contractor names to consider bidding for the conversion, but neither of them were wealthy enough to own such a nice car. He surreptitiously peered inside and saw what looked like rental paperwork stuffed into the center console.
When no one answered his knock on the front door, he decided to walk around to the kitchen entrance, which came in through a mudroom. The door wasn’t locked, but he used his manners and knocked again before entering. The smell of coffee and the sound of voices wafted toward him.
“Hey, Julia, I’ve brought the chickens,” Kaiden called out as he came through the door. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t realize you had a visitor.”
The man sitting opposite Julia at the kitchen table wore a fancy suit, had spiked, gelled, blond hair, and the discontented expression of a baby stuck in a wet diaper.
Julia turned to greet him, her expression unreadable.
“Hey, Kaiden.” She nodded at the man sitting opposite her. “This is Blaine from work. He decided to just turn up here and surprise me.”
Blaine gave Kaiden the once-over and obviously dismissed him as unimportant. “Hi, now, as to what I was saying, Julie.”
Julia rose from her seat. “Excuse me, Blaine. I really need to speak to Kaiden. Help yourself to more coffee if you want some.”
“But—”
Julia maneuvered Kaiden out of the kitchen and into the yard. It occurred to him that he’d never seen her look so coldly furious before.
“He just turned up?” Kaiden asked.
“Yes.” She kicked a rock so hard it ricocheted against the side of the house. “Demanding that I go through the damn presentation with him.”
“Can you say no?”
“He says that seeing as he’s here now, and his flight doesn’t leave until six, I might as well capitulate and help him or he’ll give me the worst employee evaluation report ever seen.”
“Surely he can’t do that?”
“Oh, he can.” She made a face. “And I don’t have the ability to tell him to stuff his job just yet because I need the money to get Dad set up.”
Kaiden grimaced. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Julia. This sucks.”
She straightened up. “If you want to go, that’s fine. I’m sure you can sort the chickens out another day.”
He gave her a pitying look. “I’m staying. I’m not the kind of guy to run out on a friend. Is there anything I can do to help while you deal with that asshole?”
The relief on her face was brief but unmistakable, reminding him that she’d rarely had anyone to lean on her entire life, and had made the best of it.
“If you could keep an eye out for my dad, and maybe let the priest in if he turns up?”
“I can do that.” Kaiden nodded. “Have you eaten yet?”
She picked at her filthy clothes. “Nope. I haven’t even had a chance to take a shower. Blaine showed up just as I was coming back from cleaning out the tack room.”
He’d never seen her so out of sorts. Kaiden grabbed her hand. “Come with me.”
“What are you doing?” Julia asked as he towed her back through the kitchen door and faced the idiot at the table.
“Hey, Blaine, Julia’s going to take a shower while I make some lunch for her and her father. Do you want anything?” Kaiden gave Julia a gentle shove in the direction of the door.
“He’s right, Blaine. I can’t concentrate when I’m damp and smell like a barn.” Julia smiled sweetly at him and then looked back at Kaiden. “I won’t be long.”
“But—”
Blaine started to speak, but caught Kaiden’s eye and subsided into his seat.
“Would you like some lunch?” Kaiden channeled his best Jeff Miller voice. “We’ve got ham, potatoes, and fried tomatoes on the menu.”
“I don’t, I mean, I prefer to eat plant-based meals.”
“So eat the potato and tomato.” Kaiden took out a large cast-iron skillet. “Or have nothing. It’s entirely up to you.”
He busied himself gathering the ingredients and ignored Blaine, who remained in his seat hunched over his phone reminding Kaiden of Wes, but far less likeable.
“Where did you fly in from, Blaine?” Kaiden asked as he sliced the thick ham.
“San Francisco.”
“The big city, eh?”
“Yes, have you ever been there?”
“Once or twice. Not really my thing.”
“You prefer riding the range, singing around the campfire, and all that stuff?”
“Yeah, especially the beans and the farting.” Ignoring Blaine’s condescending tone took some doing, but Kaiden just about managed it. “Much healthier way to live.”
“Right, along with all that fat you’re cooking up.”
Kaiden turned to face Blaine and patted his flat stomach. “No fat on me, dude.” He ran his eye over the other man.
“You, on the other hand, look like you could do with losing a few pounds.”
Blaine flushed red. “I work out. I just have a very busy and important job, which means I don’t get a lot of leisure time.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense.” Kaiden turned back to the pan, which was heating up nicely. “I’ll go and check up on Mr. Garcia.”
He walked out, whistling, and checked that Juan was up from his nap and ready for his lunch. When he returned to the kitchen, Blaine was still hunched over his phone.
“I need to set the table.” Kaiden said. “Unless you want to help?”
“I don’t know where anything is.” Blaine cast a dismissive glance around the kitchen. “I still can’t believe Julie actually grew up here.”
“I’ll set the table.” Julia came back in. Her wet hair was tied back in a severe bun and she wore all black, which from his intimate knowledge of women Kaiden knew was a bad sign. “Did you call Dad, Kaiden?”
“Yes, he’s coming.”
Kaiden turned back to the skillet and carefully placed the cooked potatoes in on one side and the ham on the other. The sizzling sound of the fat hitting the hot surface made his stomach growl. He flipped the ham, left the potatoes to brown up on the skin side, and put the halved tomatoes in. With the high heat radiating from the pan the meal wouldn’t take long to cook.
Julia set four plates on the table and the silverware while Blaine just sat there like a sack of potatoes. If he took a wild guess, Kaiden imagined the guy had never done a thing to help anyone in his life. No wonder Julia didn’t like him. Kaiden wasn’t a fan, either. Juan wheeled himself through the door in his wheelchair and Julia smiled
at him.
“Dad, this is Blaine Purvis. He works with me at MZB.”
Juan held out his hand and Blaine shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, son. I’m sorry you had to come all this way to meet with my daughter.”
“It’s no bother, Mr. Garcia.”
At least Blaine was being polite to Julia’s father. If he hadn’t been, Kaiden might have been wielding the skillet a bit too close to his head.
“Lunch is ready.” He carried the heavy pan over to the table and set it in the center. “Why don’t you go first, Juan?”
“No, that should be our guest.” Juan smiled at Blaine, who was licking his lips at the sight of the ham.
“Nah, he only wants the potatoes and tomatoes.” Kaiden leaned over and started dumping the ham on three plates. “He can wait until everyone else has got theirs.”
* * *
Julia watched as Kaiden somehow managed to reduce Blaine to a mere inconvenience and wanted to hug him. Blaine had put her in an impossible situation. For a moment when he’d stared at her like she was trash, she’d thought of just quitting right there and to hell with the consequences. Kaiden’s unexpected support was strengthening her resolve. She’d deal with Blaine in as short a time as possible and send him on his way. As soon as she got back to San Francisco, she would start looking for a new job.
Kaiden carried on a conversation with her and her father about the restoration of the chicken coop, the plumber who was coming to start on the bathroom renovations on Monday, and anything else that politely excluded Blaine from voicing his opinion. Of course he still did, but somehow he always ended up looking stupid, which was highly gratifying. Not that he realized he looked stupid, because he was far too conceited to notice.
It did help having someone pointing out how awful Blaine was, and she was grateful to Kaiden for making her take a step back and really look at her boss again. She’d gotten so tied up and tense dealing with his petty demands on a daily basis that she’d begun to think she was overreacting. But no, he really was that awful, and he didn’t deserve the promotion that should have been hers.
At the end of the meal, Julia turned to Kaiden. “Thank you for cooking.”