Gravel Road

by Walls, Stephie

  He eyed me with suspicion and returned my handshake. “You related to Jack?”

  It shouldn’t have felt like a slap to the face. I hadn’t ever seen this guy. He didn’t know who I was. Somewhere in my mind, I had assumed Daddy or Sarah or maybe even Austin would have at least mentioned Jack had two daughters, not just one. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.

  “His daughter.” The recognition I hoped for never crossed his face. “And you are?”

  “Tommy Campbell. Second in command.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his well-fitted jeans. “Sorry to say I didn’t realize Sarah had a sibling.”

  There wasn’t a response to that statement that wouldn’t make us both uncomfortable, so I chose to bypass it. “So you work closely with Daddy?” I needed to keep this lighthearted and try my best to find a few allies in this pack if I were going to survive.

  His mouth contorted into an expression of confusion, and his brows followed. “Uh, not really. I work alongside Austin for the most part.”

  “Oh.” I wiped away the bewilderment written all over my face. “When you said second in command, I assumed you meant to Jack.”

  A stall slammed behind me. I was certain my body had responded visibly even if Tommy hadn’t reacted or acknowledged it. “Nah, he’s pretty much handed Austin the reins.”

  My eyes went wide, and my surprise nearly choked me. “Austin…Burin?”

  “One and only, sweetheart.” His voice made me cringe, but I didn’t acknowledge him.

  Instead, I smiled brightly at Tommy. “It was nice to meet you.”

  Tommy tipped his hat. I wasn’t sure if it was to me or the man who approached from behind, and I didn’t look.

  “What are you doing here, Randi?” Austin didn’t have the decency to extend me the same courtesy.

  At the gruff tone, Tommy raised his brows, thinned his lips, and silently excused himself.

  My shoulders slumped; Austin couldn’t make things any more difficult if he tried. “Sarah asked me to help out. Get reacquainted with the ranch.” I used air quotes to ensure he understood that was verbatim.

  He put his hands on my biceps and used them to direct me toward the driveway. “Not on my watch.” Then he gently gave me a little push. When I stopped, he was right behind me and slapped me on the ass. “Go on. Get going.” There was no room for argument in the way he had dismissed me.

  If that wouldn’t have been mortifying enough without an audience, a handful of men watched in silence. It seemed Austin’s goal was to humiliate me and guarantee I stayed out of his way. And his crew didn’t bother hiding their amusement. In less than five minutes, he’d destroyed any confidence I had in being here—not that it had been much to begin with. I had a split second to make a decision: stand my ground or walk away with my tail between my legs.

  As much as I wanted out of Mason Belle, I refused to be the butt of jokes amongst these men, least of all Austin. My back remained to the man who tried to make my life hell, so I plastered the brightest Randi Adams smile I could across my lips and lifted my hand to my hip. I didn’t miss the air leaving Austin’s lungs when I spun around because it hit me in the face. He was close enough that I could smell the coffee on his breath and see the humor dying in his eyes when he realized he was about to be challenged. He hadn’t expected it, and catching him off guard was priceless.

  “Daddy wants me to help out. I’ve done it for years. You can either include me or answer to Jack. Up to you.”

  My heart skipped a beat, then raced, then tripped over another, and again sprinted. I tried to take in all the nuances that made up Austin. The way his eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the almost imperceptible flair of his nostrils, and the whiskey-and-honey blend of browns swirling in his irises. God, he was beautiful. He was also on edge. He didn’t know whether to strike or retreat. I struggled just as much. The pull of everything that was him was nearly impossible to resist. I forced my feet to stay level. My fingers clutched at my sides to prevent me from throwing my arms around his neck. And my lips held that forced smile to keep from planting themselves on his.

  “Fine.” He grunted, and his gaze dashed beyond my shoulder before returning to me. I noticed he didn’t step back. He also didn’t grin or touch me. “You want to help?”

  I nodded. There wasn’t a single fiber of Austin’s being that believed that. He knew how much I hated working outside. As kids, we always joked about how I’d been born into the wrong family.

  He tipped his head to one of the guys behind me, somehow silently communicating a command. I flinched as he stretched his arm out and something whizzed past me. Seconds later, another flyby took place, and he caught it with his empty hand. Austin dipped his sight to mine, and a shit-eating grin lifted the corners of his full lips. “Here ya go.”

  I took the gloves he forced on me and then grabbed the shovel. “What’s this for?”

  Austin stepped back and pointed toward a wheelbarrow that had seen better days. “The twenty stalls that need to be cleaned.”

  My jaw dropped. He couldn’t seriously expect me to shovel manure.

  “Problem, sweetheart?”

  I praised God the men behind me hadn’t seen my shock. If I wanted to be taken seriously, I had to do the same crap jobs they all did. And I was certain none of them complained when tasks were assigned. “Not at all,” I said through clenched teeth, “baby.”

  Two of us could play this game. He might have the upper hand now, but I aimed to reclaim it. Austin Burin had forgotten who he was dealing with.

  He slapped me on the ass one more time before he walked past me to the other guys. They all chuckled at my expense; giving them satisfaction by turning around to acknowledge it wouldn’t help my cause. Instead, I tossed the gloves and shovel into the wheelbarrow and moved to the nearest stall on the left.

  I tried to eavesdrop. Nothing would please me more than to melt into the tone of his voice and let it lull me to a safe, happy place the way it had so many times in my youth. He didn’t give me the chance.

  In no time, he had everyone out of the barn and off doing whatever it was he’d told them. What little I was able to hear, I clung to. It didn’t surprise me that Austin was authoritative or that the other guys appeared to respect and like him. He’d always had the natural ability to command a group. And he’d never done it as a dictator. People simply flocked to him and his charisma.

  It didn’t take long to remind me of why I’d hated doing this stuff most of my life. The flies drove me insane, and even in the early morning hours, the heat was oppressive. The stench of the wildfire’s destruction produced a headache less than thirty minutes after I walked out the kitchen door. The only decent part of the tasks were the animals. They’d always been the bright spot in the chores around here. Daddy had always been fond of paint horses. He swore they were the best for working cattle. Personally, I’d never cared what breed they were. I loved them all. But I didn’t know the names of any of the ones I’d seen. Daddy hadn’t had them when I was here last, which seemed odd. Everything was different in a town so small that nothing ever actually changed.

  Voices lured my attention, and I peered out from the stall to find Austin with another worker at the front of the barn. His tone was low, so I couldn’t hear him; I wasn’t interested in his conversation, though. Since I’d been home, I hadn’t so much as ventured into the barn before this morning. Seeing all these new faces made me wonder about the old ones. It was stupid; they were just horses. Still, they’d been friends growing up, and I was curious which ones were still with us. Austin couldn’t hang out forever. At some point, he’d have to leave to do whatever he was now responsible for. I had yet to figure out why he was here to begin with, and finding out my daddy entrusted him with the foreman position had me scratching my head.

  Every time I believed I had an opening to check out the stalls I hadn’t yet reached, someone else came plodding through the barn. I was slow and thorough. If I were a paid hand, I wouldn’t have survived a d
ay, and Austin likely would have fired me before lunch. Any of the other guys could have had all the stalls cleaned in a lot less time. I didn’t care. Sarah had asked me to get reacquainted with the ranch, and in my mind, part of that included the horses. They were critical to everything done here. They needed their own type of attention. Attention I doubted they’d received since I’d left. None of them showed any signs of neglect by any means. I just knew that guys who worked on a ranch didn’t invest the love that a kid who lived on it did.

  I finished the seventh stall and closed the heavy, wood door, making sure the latch secured before I stepped away. My shoulders burned from the workout, and my biceps were already like jelly. It didn’t matter how much it hurt, there was no way I’d wave a white flag for Austin to see. I was free labor, so anything they got out of me enabled the person who usually did it to use their skills somewhere else on the ranch.

  “Hey, boy.” I made a mental note to find out the names of the horses. Calling them boy and girl simply wouldn’t suffice. I greeted the beast in front of me and waited for him to give me the okay to enter his stall.

  “This job would be a lot easier if you turned the horses out.” Tommy came strolling through the open doors of the barn. “You got any idea what you’re doin’ in here?”

  I stared at him without answering. I couldn’t hear any condemnation coming from him. Nevertheless, I didn’t trust anyone, especially not friends of Austin. “I’ve spent my fair share of time with horses.” Not that it showed. “I didn’t know why they were stabled. The last thing I needed to do was set them out and have Austin crawl my butt for it.” It sounded like a good excuse, even though it was total hogwash. It simply hadn’t occurred to me when I’d been handed a shovel.

  Tommy eyed me like he planned to contradict my rationale, and I waited for it to come. Instead, I got more of the one person I didn’t have any desire to see.

  “Tommy, saddling horses doesn’t include making small talk with the help.” Austin’s growl rumbled through the barn and bounced off the walls. If he weren’t careful, he’d spook the horses.

  The two men glanced at me. My attention darted between them both. I’d be more than happy to get a couple of horses ready for them. “Need my help?” The sneer in my top lip must have tipped Austin off to what I had in mind.

  Austin scoffed at the same time Tommy winked. Unfortunately for Tommy, Austin caught the flirtatious gesture, and what had sounded like a growl before was merely a whimper in comparison to the vibrations that rumbled from his chest now.

  Interesting.

  None of these guys had a clue who I was in relation to my dad or Austin. Yet even with Austin’s casual dismissal, the possessive streak was a mile wide. He’d likely say he was protecting his crew, not me, but I’d seen that gleam in his eyes more than once. His fist clenched at his side, and his lip curled when his nostrils flared.

  I couldn’t help myself. Austin Burin hadn’t changed one bit, not where I was concerned—except for the chip the size of Texas on his shoulder. Even when his pupils surged, and his irises darkened into something akin to espresso, I hadn’t stopped giggling. It only served to tick him off further. Tommy wasn’t sure what to do. The dopey look on his face indicated how clueless he was.

  “That’s enough, Randi.” Austin turned to Tommy. “Get the horses ready…on your own.”

  I cleared my throat and stilled my giggles. “It’s Miranda.” Might as well make him see red if I aimed to antagonize him.

  He shook his head. “Pretend to be whatever you want in New York or when your boyfriend is nearby, but sweetheart, around here, you’ll always be Randi.” There wasn’t a single bit of playfulness in his expression or his tone.

  “Can’t you make the best of this?”

  His gaze dove to his feet, and his hands landed on his hips. His fingers moved to settle, and each twitch made his pecs jump. Even with a shirt on, it was easy to see just how much he’d matured in recent years. His biceps tried to tear the seam on his T-shirt, and I could only speculate about what else desperately craved to be set free.

  His chest heaved, and I prayed he wouldn’t explode with people around. I knew better than to push his buttons. Whatever his reason was for being here, the workers clearly respected him, and I threatened that every time I crossed him or questioned him in front of them. In the end, I’d get on a plane and go back to my life, and he’d be left cleaning up another mess I had made.

  “For once, how about doing what you’re told? You should be able to clean stalls blindfolded. It’s virtually impossible for you to start trouble or get into any in here.”

  I sucked my lips between my teeth and rubbed them together to keep from saying the things that hovered on the tip of my tongue.

  “Brock, Huck, and Corey are on their way in to help with the horses. Please keep your head down and mouth shut until they’re all gone.”

  In all fairness, I hadn’t said anything to anyone that should have put him on edge like this. I’d actually said very little in retrospect.

  “You’re the worst kind of distraction.” Austin didn’t have to tell me what that meant. He’d said it a thousand times before. The only difference now was his hands weren’t on me, and his voice was a million miles away.

  I let most of what he didn’t say go in one ear and out the other and, instead, focused on the word that stuck out like a sore thumb. “Brock?”

  Austin shook his head and dropped his chin.

  “Brock Pierson?” My exuberance shocked us both. It wasn’t until I’d heard his name that I realized how much I’d missed some of the people in this town—besides the obvious ones.

  “Let him be, Randi.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and lifted my brows. “Maybe we should let him decide.”

  “It’s your death wish that’ll be granted, not mine. Suit yourself.”

  I hadn’t left on the best terms, but there was no reason Brock would want me dead. He’d always loved me like a sister—well, maybe that wasn’t such a great comparison, seeing as how I’d treated my own sibling. The point was that we were tight. “Why would he want to kill me?”

  He laughed and finally dropped his hands from his hips. “Oh, it won’t be him that isn’t thrilled to see you. However, his wife might prefer to gouge your eyes out.”

  My jaw dropped. It was overly dramatic, and it got the point across. “Brock’s married? To who?” Shrieking was another way to illustrate my surprise.

  “Charity.”

  “Phillips?”

  “The one and only.”

  I closed my mouth and stared at the man who’d once been my everything. I hadn’t had any misconceptions that life stood still after I left Mason Belle. I guess I assumed that if my best friends got married that someone would have mentioned it or sent an invitation to the wedding.

  Another one of the ranch hands that I hadn’t been introduced to grabbed Austin’s attention, leaving me to stare into space. If Brock and Charity had gotten married, I couldn’t imagine what else had changed. And instead of wanting to find out, instead of wanting to throw myself into small-town life, I wanted to run—fast.

  When Austin turned, the hits kept coming. We hadn’t been talking that long. I scrunched my nose. At least I hadn’t thought so. However, it had been long enough for Tommy to come waltzing back from the tail end of the barn—the end I’d been trying to work my way toward—with reins in each hand and two horses following behind.

  To his left was a quarter horse I hadn’t met. To his right was the most beautiful palomino I’d ever seen. Tommy wasn’t aware of my connection to that horse. Austin was. When Tommy handed Austin the reins, Austin didn’t just look at me. He stared holes through me. My eyes filled with tears when Austin slid his foot into the stirrup and hoisted himself into the saddle on my horse.

  “Nugget,” I whispered. I hadn’t thought it was loud enough for anyone else to hear, yet I’d managed to catch Tommy’s attention.

  I wasn’t sure which bothered
him more, the tears dangling from my jaw or the fact that I obviously had an affinity and an acquaintance with the animal he’d given over to his boss. “You know him?”

  I reached out to touch his blond coat. “He’s my horse,” I croaked my admission.

  My fingers barely grazed Nugget’s neck when Austin commanded the horse to move. “Was.”

  7

  Miranda

  Past

  The high of winning homecoming was wild throughout the town. There wasn’t much that went on here, outside of cows and farms, so winning at football drew a crowd. Truth be told, losing attracted the same crowd; they were just in better moods following a victory. And there were two people the town coveted after a win—or maybe only one. Since we came as a package, I’d always believe it was two.

  The quarterback and the captain of the cheerleading squad.

  Austin and I were like royalty, and a win only served to cement that notion. It wasn’t a secret to anyone who had ever stepped foot in Mason Belle, Texas. There were lots of unknowns in life; however, Austin Burin and Randi Adams weren’t one of them. It was a given, like pancakes and syrup or gravy and biscuits, that the two of us would end up together. And the town’s people salivated when we were together. It was a high I wished every kid my age could experience. Then again, it probably wouldn’t be all that fantastic if it were ordinary.

  It had taken nearly an hour for the football team to get back to the locker room after the fans stormed the field. I’d jumped into the girls’ shower to rinse away the scum brought on by extreme heat and exercise. Cheering was queen to the king of football, and I loved my place on the throne, but I didn’t enjoy the after effects. Once I’d put on some shorts and a tank top, I waited for Austin on the benches outside the school. Whoever said women took forever to get ready had never spent any time with football players in Texas.