by Natalie Dean
Laying down in the bed, his eyes searched the darkness above him. He was happy. He felt fulfilled working the ranch, growing their stock, thriving despite the difficulties he faced. He had good friends—even if they were mostly ranch hands and worked for him—and he went to church most Sundays. That spelled out a good life.
So why did he feel empty in the particular moment?
An image of corn-silk hair and sky-blue eyes floated in his mind’s eye, and he squeezed his eyes shut as if he could erase the memory, but it was useless. If anything, the image of Adeline was even stronger in his mind. The pink tint on her cheeks mimicked how she’d flushed at his presence.
Her boldness, infused with a little fury, had reminded him of his mother. It was a foolish thought, he’d barely spent enough time with her to know much about her at all, but there it was.
He huffed out a sigh and turned onto his side. Forcing his eyes closed again, he demanded sleep take him, but it remained elusive.
He didn’t want to be married. He didn’t need more distractions. He needed to make sure the ranch succeeded. The ranch needed him. All of him.
Then why was your father married to your mother? Why does anyone get married? Why can’t you get Adeline out of your mind?
The questions plagued him, but he wouldn’t consider their answers. Life was simpler this way—he and his ranch and his men. No complicated woman-emotions, no soft things in the house, no cleaning up for dinner, no kisses—
His eyes flew open, his breathing labored at the thought of those rosy pink lips on his.
Nope. He was not going there.
Turning over onto his other side, he began reciting his list of chores for the next day. Placing them in a logical order and considering what he would tell his men to do. When images of the beautiful, petite blond loomed larger, he added another task he’d try to accomplish.
He’d admit to himself that she was pretty and there was something about her, but he’d not go further than that. Work would be his salvation, his sanity. His ranch would be his mistress, and he’d devote all attention to her.
Chapter 5
Adeline checked her hair in the mirror one last time before making her way out to where the horse waited for her, tied to the hitching post out front as Chance had said. She patted her pocket for the check to pay Mr. Swinney with and the mounted the horse.
Perhaps it had been foolish of her to care so much about her hair, the wind picking up along with the pace of her horse, but she had needed something to distract herself until it was time to go. Leave the house too early, and she’d be at the ranch at an unseemly hour.
The route toward the Swinney Ranch was easy enough from the Redburn house. Chance had drawn her a hasty map in case she got lost, but she had a keen sense of direction and, after Chance had explained to her how to get there, she felt confident of the route.
Chance had also told her how to get to town after she left the ranch. She would go there and treat herself to a nice cup of tea with Penny, should she be available. Perhaps Adeline would have good news to tell her friend.
The closer she got to the Swinney Ranch, the less confident she felt about the result of all of this being good news. In her mind, she replayed their encounter the day before, but she worried that she’d read too much into the man’s actions or perhaps seen what she wanted to see. There was also the reality that she was alone and going to a strange man’s ranch. While Chance had assured her things would be fine, even going so far as to point out a few homesteads along the way in case she needed assistance of any kind, Adeline began to feel uneasy.
They were merely nerves, though. She’d felt a similar way when she’d gone to the Richmond Tribune to inquire about a columnist position. Then again, almost any meeting could go more smoothly than that had.
Maneuvering her horse around a large hole in the road, she thought back on how the lead editor had laughed at her. He’d continued to laugh his way through turning her down, but she’d held her ground. In fact, she’d had to come back three times after in order to ensure her position as the practical advice columnist. And even then, she’d had to agree to write under a masculine pen name.
Either way, it had been her persistence that had won over—or perhaps exhausted—the man’s good graces.
Could she do the same with Harley? She blushed, thinking of him by his first name. Then she chided herself for wanting to wear the poor man down. Wasn’t it better to have a man choose you rather than you convince him to choose you? Still, what if he didn’t know what was best for himself and only thought he knew?
Up ahead, nestled between two large groves of trees, sat what she could only assume was the Swinney homestead. It was large, larger than she’d expected for a bachelor. Past it and down a ways was what she guessed to be a bunkhouse. Then, opposite the main house sat a large barn. It towered above both other buildings, and she could see the front door sitting wide open.
Her stomach twisted into knots and she swallowed several times, wiping her palms on her dress in an effort to quell their dampness. She was here to deliver a check. Yes, that was her business here. She had every right. She was running this errand for Mr. Redburn.
While she continued the self-talk, she found that her thoughts mainly centered on seeing Harley Swinney again and what his reaction to her would be.
When her horse entered the main yard, a mangy dog ran off the porch and started barking at her. He looked more harmless than frightening, but she wouldn’t take a chance on that being true. Remaining on her horse, she directed it toward the house and waited.
The dog continued to bark, and she began to feel self-conscious. Surely someone would hear the dog and come out. Wouldn’t they?
Five minutes later, and even the dog was tired of waiting.
Slowly at first, then gaining courage when the mangy mutt didn’t move from the spot he’d reclaimed on the porch, Adeline climbed off her horse and straightened her shirtwaist. She tossed the reins a few times around the hitching post and walked up to the door. Three solid knocks and another handful of moments waiting showed her that she would not find anyone in the big house. Spinning on her heel, she set off for the barn.
It was a ranch, after all, she mused. Wouldn’t the barn be a logical place for a rancher to be? That or out tending to his cattle. The thought made Adeline pause. It was still early, but was it early enough to catch Mr. Swinney before he set off for whatever chores he had planned for that day?
Renewing her determination, she jutted her chin upward and made a beeline for the open barn door. As she approached, she heard humming coming from inside. Slowing, she peered around the open door.
There, with a brush in one hand, stood Harley Swinney. He hummed to the horse he was brushing and, eventually, he murmured the lyrics soft and low. It wasn’t a song she recognized, but she could tell he had a handsome voice.
Caught between wanting to talk to him and wanting to observe this gentle side of the man before her, she froze in place. She didn’t want to startle him, but could she go out and come back with more noise this time? Or would he know he’d been observed?
Just then, the horse tossed its head and, to avoid the snorting creature, Harley stepped back just enough that she came into view. Before he could get the wrong impression, she stepped fully into the barn.
“Good morning, Mr. Swinney.”
Confusion was quickly followed by irritation. “What can I do for you, Miss Miller? As you can tell, I’m busy.” He turned back to the horse.
Yes, very busy brushing a horse. She nearly smirked at her thoughts but managed to keep her facial features impassive.
“Yes, I’m sure you are. I came about some unfinished business from yesterday.”
Letting out an overly dramatic sigh, at least Adeline thought so, Harley stepped back from the horse and tossed the brush into a bucket with a loud clanging sound.
“Look, Miss Miller,” he said, striding toward her. His eyes bored into hers, and for a moment, as he neared, she
felt their heat sear her through. “I appreciate you coming out here but—”
“Boss,” a voice interrupted from the other side of the barn. “We’ve got that heifer you were talking about and—oh, sorry. Didn’t know you had company.”
Harley looked annoyed. “Not company. She was just leaving.”
Adeline felt her indignation rise. “I was not—”
“Be right there. Go ahead and check for infection but I’ll double-check to make sure.”
“Sure thing, boss.” The man lumbered back the way he’d come, and the full force of Harley’s gray eyes landed on her like clouds crowding out the sun.
“I know you probably feel jilted by me. I get it—you came all the way out here and were promised some poor cow-poke. The thing is, that’s not me. I’m perfectly fine here on the ranch doing my job. Don’t need the distraction of a woman around. You hear me? I’m sorry for your plight, but I can assure it was not me who gave Viola my name and whoever did, they weren’t acting on my behalf.”
Adeline couldn’t stop the smirk that quirked her lips.
“What?” he said, noticing it.
“It’s just that you’re trying so hard to convince me you don’t need a woman that I almost think you’re trying to talk yourself out of it.”
He looked back at her, stunned.
“But, as flattering as it is for you to continue to tell me your lack of need for a woman such as I, I am not here about that.”
“You’re…not?”
“No.” She allowed her smirk to become a full-fledged smile. “I’m here to deliver your pay for the beef you brought yesterday. In the,” she paused, willing herself not to blush, “confusion of yesterday, you weren’t paid, and Mr. Redburn wanted to see that you were.”
“And you deliver payments for Chance?”
She offered a light shrug, handing him the check. No need to alert him to her real intentions. “I do what I can to help him, as do the other ladies. He’s been stuck with a household of women, and we do best with tasks.”
Harley laughed. “I’m sure you do. Got some light housekeeping to do when you get back? Dusting perhaps?”
He was making fun of her! “I keep the garden, but I can also cook, clean, and mend. Though, if we’re being completely honest here, my best talent is something you’d never appreciate.”
His eyebrows rose. “What? Butter churning?”
She wanted to throw out the fact that she’d written for a major news outlet in Virginia, but that would have only been a half-truth, and he didn’t deserve to know her heart’s true passion.
“Are you always this rude to your female guests?” she countered.
He laughed. “I don’t have many of those. And not rude, just humor.”
“Mmm,” she mused.
Her head tilted to the side, and she sized up the man before her. He still had the scruff from the day before, with a day’s addition, and wore the same dirty shirt and pants. She wanted to cringe, but something in his look softened when their eyes met, and she forgot about the dirt and grime and even the ill-timed humor.
The man before her, while adamant about not wanting a wife, was perhaps not as convinced about that truth as he made it out to be. She could see the way he took in her hair, her dress, her lips. It made her heart beat faster, and it gave her hope.
While Mr. Swinney might be playing hard to get, she wouldn’t give up so easily.
This woman before him really was a force to be reckoned with. He’d tried humor to mask the reality that she threw him off, but it had fallen flat, and now he was stuck. His eyes were glued to hers, and he felt himself slipping below the surface, liable to drown.
“I, uh, have cattle to tend to.”
“I’m sure you do. Perhaps I could have a tour of your ranch sometime.”
A tour? What was she saying? She was coming back? “I, uh…” He didn’t know how to respond to that.
“I enjoy the outdoors and have always been fascinated by the process of things. Perhaps finding out just how a cattle ranch works could be helpful.”
“Helpful?” he scoffed.
“Yes. I mean, since you aren’t interested, there is the possibility that I could marry another rancher. It would be helpful to know what I’d be marrying into.”
For some reason, her words made his gut twist into knots. Another rancher? She wanted him to show her around so that she’d have knowledge for the next guy she’d marry? What was this about?
“I’m pretty busy.”
“I’m sure you are,” she agreed, her words laced with sweetness. “I’d promise not to be in the way though. Silent as a church mouse.”
The sly smile on her rosy lips made him feel like he was the mouse and she the cat.
“Just consider it,” she said with a practiced shrug. “I’m sure I’ll see you at church on Sunday.”
“Yes,” he said, then felt as if he’d agreed to something he hadn’t intended.
“And thank you again, Mr. Swinney,” she said with a brilliant smile that stole his breath. “For your forthrightness and integrity. I hope you are happy with your life as it is.”
And with that, she swirled around, the scent of rosewater wafting toward him in her wake. His gaze followed her form as she strode out the door, and he couldn’t help but take a step toward her to watch her further.
Harley swallowed, the lump in his throat constricting. That’s when he saw Earl walk up to her from the far side of the house. His smile was wide, and he even offered a small, ridiculously formal bow that apparently made Adeline laugh because she lifted her hand to cover her mouth.
As they talked, Harley felt his hands fisting and heat surging through him. There was no reason for his reaction but the fact that it was happening made him even angrier. He forced himself to turn away and stomp to the back of the barn and out to the corral where Johnny and Beau were working with a few cattle from the herd.
Ignoring the look that Johnny gave him, the one that begged him to tell them about the woman, he snapped at them to tell him what they’d found.
He was almost able to lose himself in work for the next fifteen minutes, but when Earl finally came striding up to them, a confident smile on his face, Harley was not in a good mood.
“You think you can just take breaks whenever you want?” he snapped.
“Uh,” Earl looked to the other men who promptly looked away.
“You going to do work, or you going to chat up a pretty girl?” Now he’d gone and done it! The men’s heads snapped up, and he almost made a face at his words. “I hired you to be a ranch hand; you got that?”
“Yes, sir,” Earl said, the smile slipping from his face. “Sorry.”
“Get to work. I’ll be back.” Harley tossed down the rope he’d been holding and started back toward the barn. He had to cool down and regain his level head if he was going to make it through the afternoon.
Where had those angry words come from? It was very unlike him to snap at his men. Sure, there had been times when he’d been stern with them, but it was always in pressure situations or when someone had messed up. This was neither of those things. Then again, Earl was working for him, and he had taken an inordinately long break. Perhaps Harley hadn’t been too hard on him after all.
Harley took a swig from the ladle in the water bucket and then poured some over his hands. He then rubbed his face with the water and cringed when it came away with a muddy brown. He needed a bath. And a shave.
He thought of the fresh, clean scent of Adeline. Her perfect porcelain skin. Her tidy skirt and shirtwaist. Those rosy lips—
Grinding his teeth, he suppressed the urge to throw the ladle across the barn and instead angrily shoved his hat back on his head. She was getting into his mind again. He’d told her—yet again—he wasn’t interested in marriage. Her words about him trying to convince himself came back into his mind. That was a foolish notion.
He didn’t need a wife. He didn’t need a woman around at all.
Nodding
to himself as if to confirm he truly believed what he’d said, Harley spun on his heel and headed back for the corral. Thoughts of Adeline would only distract him, and he had work to do.
Chapter 6
Adeline kicked her feet back and forth in the cool water of the bubbling brook just down the path from the little white chapel on the hill. The service that morning had been about extending grace even when it wasn’t deserved, and she’d found herself casting sideways glances toward Harley on the other side of the church.
Miraculously, he was shaven and cleaned up, though his dusty hat had seen better days. She’d caught his glance just once, quickly averting her gaze from his, and hoped that others thought her flushed cheeks were due to the stuffiness of the small church.
When the service was over, she’d gone straight for the shaded path that led down to the stream. Thankfully, the church wasn’t too far from the Redburn house, so she could walk back at any time.
She’d needed the space though. The time to get her mind off of Harley Swinney and her interest in him, as well as the notion that he was decidedly not interested in her, or any woman for that matter. It should comfort her, knowing that he wasn’t opposed to her but to all of her kind, but it didn’t. It made her more determined than ever to find his weak points and dig in a little closer.
She flushed again, her brazen ambition taking her by surprise. Why was she so focused on this? Just a few months before and she wouldn’t have been bothered by the thought of a man—no matter how handsome he was, nor how stubborn.
She had been focused on her writing and enjoying life, albeit a single one, for the time being. Meeting for shopping trips with friends, visiting her sisters, and enjoying tea with her mother at various local shops.
Yes, she was twenty-two and getting ‘on in years’ as some had put it, but she wasn’t unhappy. She didn’t feel unfulfilled. In fact, she’d felt content.
Then she’d met Harley, and those feelings flew out the proverbial window.