by KB Winters
It was a good point, one I might have seen for myself if I wasn’t still so shaken up by that guy, Farnsworth. “I don’t know.”
“Where will you go if you don’t stay here?”
“Anywhere.” There were still parts of the country I hadn’t seen yet. “Maybe the Pacific Northwest.”
“Too much rain and gray skies,” she said dismissively. “Here is pretty good and I’ve been all over. This place just feels like home.”
“That might have something to do with the fiancé I heard you have.”
She laughed like a young girl. “True, but still, Opey is great. The guys are great, and Martha is an excellent cook.”
Sounded like my old house. That thought pulled a wistful smile from me, making me wish I didn’t miss my family so much. Wishing I could live up to Daddy’s high expectations while also being happy. “You have a good life here.”
“You don’t want to stay? Fine. Stay and tell me about the tension between you and Holden. I’ll feed you, so you’re nice and nourished for your long drive to…anywhere.”
“I don’t know, Peaches. I don’t want to intrude.” This was Holden’s space, and I was an uninvited visitor.
“You’re not. Female companionship is hard to come by around here.”
“My mama’s been saying that since before I even knew what she meant. Ranch life is like that if you don’t make friends with other ranch wives or women in town.”
“This isn’t your typical ranch, though.”
“None of them are,” I told her. “Several of my daddy’s friends won their ranches in poker games. Or their granddaddies, sometimes great-granddaddies did too. There are land disputes that go back centuries and even a few Romeo & Juliet cases.”
“No shit?”
“Ranching is more salacious than it seems,” I told her, happy to be talking about something other than me and where I would lay my head tonight.
“Who knew?” Peaches laughed, a full-throated sound, filled with life and joy. “So, about you and Holden.” Mischief sparkled in her eyes as she dropped her chin into her hand and waited.
I told her all about my unrequited crush on Holden, my bitchy rejection, and how much the man hated me today for those sins. “I deserve every bit of it,” I told her honestly.
“People change. Lord knows everyone here has seen or done enough to make them see life a little differently.” I wondered what she’d done or seen that had changed her outlook. “That’s a story for if we become friends,” Peaches said, somehow reading my mind. “You’d have to stay for that to happen.”
“Real subtle, Peaches.”
“The only thing subtle about me is my computer skills.” She mimicked typing really fast, and I laughed. “Think about staying. Seriously.”
“You don’t give up.” She filled the table with food while we talked. It was nice, spending the afternoon with another woman without competition over men or money or status. Or any of the other trivial shit women find to hate about each other. This was relaxing.
And by the time I had to pop the button on my jeans, I was thinking about staying at Hardtail Ranch forever.
At that thought, the back door smacked open and a man with a dark buzz cut and deep blue eyes that nearly matched Holden’s walked in. He was tall and wide, imposing as all hell. “Babe, you in here?”
“Yep. Getting’ fat on Martha’s biscuits. Want some?”
He grinned when his gaze found her. “Of you or the biscuits?”
“Both,” she purred and wrapped her arms around him, accepting his kiss. “But there’s someone I want you to meet first.”
Uh oh. I stood and took one step back. Then another. And another. “Thanks for lunch and the uh, the dress Peaches.”
“Hold it right there,” she called out. For some damn reason, my feet stopped. “Aspen here is trying to get away from trouble from some guy named Farnsworth. He’s looking for her ex. And she grew up on a ranch.”
At those last words, his face lit up, and he finally looked at me. “A real ranch?”
“Ever heard of Wrangled Heart?”
“The beef?”
I nodded proudly. “That’s my family’s ranch, where I grew up.”
I saw it, the moment he registered my connection to Holden. “Small world.”
“It happens. Anyway, thanks again.”
“Wait, do you need a place to stay?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nah, I’ll find a place as soon as I decide where to go.” Having money made leaving in a hurry easy. And that’s what I would use it for.
“Stay. Impart some of your ranch wisdom and lay low for a while.”
That sounded good. Too good. Get lost in ranch work for a few weeks and forget about the past few years of my life. What could it hurt?
The answer came immediately. Holden.
“That sounds nice. If Holden is all right with it.” This place would be no better, no safer than Ken’s condo if Holden made my stay here miserable.
“He will be,” she said immediately and with a certainty that just didn’t feel possible.
I wasn’t sure but then again, when in the hell had I ever been sure about anything? This would either be another giant mistake or a much smaller, insignificant mistake.
Chapter Fourteen
Holden
Back with my horses was where I belonged. The moment I walked into the stable, the smell of hay and horses and leather hit my nose. My shoulders relaxed, and little by little, as the morning wore on, I felt I was back to normal.
Unlike people, horses were simple. If I rubbed their necks and they liked it, they’d push me to keep doing it. If they were scared, they weren’t shy about showing it. I preferred it that way, and I would trade favors with the other guys, if necessary, to get out of going back to The Barn Door. I appreciated the extra money in my pocket, but I could do without the drama.
And the people.
Shit. Spoke too soon.
Heavy-booted feet took slow, sure steps toward me, and I was pretty sure I knew who it was.
“We got a visitor,” Gunnar said in his usual grumpy as hell tone.
I looked up at him, looking rougher than usual in a pair of black jeans and his shirt inside out.
“Another vet? I hear if you punch all the squares you get a VA discount.” It was a lame joke, but I was sure the visitor wasn’t on the ranch to see me, which meant I didn’t understand what it had to do with me.
“Holden.” There was something that struck me as odd about his tone, and when I looked up, sure enough, Gunnar’s expression was bleak.
“What?” I stood so we were face-to-face so that he had to look me in the eye when he said whatever it was he came here to say. “Spit it out, Gunnar.”
A look of surprise flashed across his face at my tone. For the most part, I was the easygoing guy of the bunch. Not much bothered me and my feathers didn’t ruffle easily, or so the guys always said.
“Right. It’s that woman, Aspen, the one you took care of the other night.”
My shoulders stiffened at the mention of her name. “What about her? Why is she here?” But I knew. I already fucking knew. “No, Gunnar. Absolutely fucking not. No goddamn way, man.”
It was one thing to invade the club a few nights while I happened to be there. But the ranch? This was my domain. My space. My home, goddammit.
“I wasn’t asking.” Arms folded so he looked even more like a fucking refrigerator, Gunnar wanted me to know who was boss.
Yeah, I fuckin’ knew. “Dammit, man.” This shit was no better than taking orders, and my feet began to move, to pace the length of the stables. Passing each horse and drawing their attention, I knew better than to let my emotions control me in front of the sensitive creatures. After a few more circuits, I stopped. Abruptly. And turned my gaze to the man in charge.
“Then I don’t see why you bothered coming out here to let me know.” I’d see her or I wouldn’t.
He glared, unhappy with having to expla
in himself to me again, but this wasn’t a goddamn monarchy. “Are you gonna question every goddamn thing I say?”
I shrugged. “I already told you once, Gunnar. I’m not putting my life on the line without explanation ever again.” The first time was enough.
“Fine,” he growled and reluctantly shared the details of Aspen’s story, if it was even true. “He used the name Farnsworth, which didn’t seem to mean anything to Aspen, but it did to Peaches.” He paused and let the words sink in as if I could forget the trouble that showed up with her.
“She’s pretty sure her trouble has cropped up again, and somehow Aspen’s ex is connected to it.”
His clear blue gaze was sober. Determined.
His mind was made up. Shit.
“Of course he is,” I growled. “Still don’t see what any of it has to do with me. She’ll be here, and if I run into her, I’ll do my best to be civil.” That was all I could promise. All I was willing to promise.
Gunnar let out a resigned sigh, and I held my breath, waiting. “She’s gonna help out on the ranch. Said she’s good with horses, cattle, and crops. I figured you could use the help.”
I had to snort at his words. “Good with? Her daddy has a spread in Vance nearly as big as all of Texas with a bank account to match, if that counts. But hey, you’re in charge around here, right? You want her to help, then she helps.”
I shrugged and turned back to Chaos, who was searching for the carrot I’d promised him earlier. I didn’t need to see Gunnar when I could feel the hole he stared into the back of my head.
“What the fuck is your problem? All you do is give me shit lately.”
“Nothing.” It didn’t matter what I thought, and like I said once before, I signed up for this shit. “She’s gonna work with me. Fine. Anything else?”
His eyes were icy and angry, but I was beyond giving a shit. “Yeah, she’s staying in the bunkhouse, and she’s gonna need a horse while she’s here. Think you can handle that?”
“Sure.”
“Good. Her safety is now your responsibility.” Message delivered, Gunnar turned and stomped his way out of the stables, and I leaned against the stable wall and blew out a breath.
Keeping Aspen Holt safe. Just fucking kill me now.
***
Being angry all the time tired me out. After a day filled with anger and frustration, I was fucking exhausted. Aspen hadn’t shown her face by the end of the day, and I was damn happy about that. Still, the fact she was even on the ranch left me on edge. It was inevitable I’d see her, and there wasn’t a fuckin’ thing I could do to change it. No matter how much I tried to forget about it, to shove it out of my mind, it rattled around in my thoughts. Like a damn song I couldn’t get out of my head.
That’s why I sat out on the little porch that wrapped halfway around the cabin. I stared at the sky as the sun slowly sank behind the horizon, taking the last of the light with her. Usually, the beauty of this land was enough to calm me, but not this time, and it wasn’t just the woman. It was the kind of trouble that was bound to follow.
As the last streaks of sun faded from the sky, a pair of long, denim-clad legs ate up the distance between us. A six-pack of beer in one hand and a flashlight in the other, she made a damn pretty sight. That fact alone made me want to be a dick to her, but I couldn’t do anything about her presence on the ranch, yet, so I decided to play nice.
“You lost?”
She froze on the bottom step, and her big blue eyes connected with mine as a smile touched her lips. “Nope. I brought a six-pack for us to share. Figured by the time the last bottle was empty maybe we could start over?”
It was an olive branch, and I was too damn tired to fight with her. “Sure. Come on up and take a seat.”
“Thanks.”
Her shoulders relaxed as she climbed the stairs and dropped down in the handmade rocking chair on the other side of the small barrel table. I’d set my first beer there. Maybe it was my second. Aspen positioned the six-pack on the table between us and pulled out a brown bottle, cracked it open, and took a long, fortifying pull.
“Thank you for trying to accept this.” Her words sounded sincere, then again, women were excellent manipulators, and Aspen was better than most.
“I have accepted it, Aspen.” Not that I was given much of a choice in the matter, but that wasn’t her fault. No, that particular act of dumbassery was all mine. Work with her during the day and keep her safe at night. Fucking Gunnar. That’s what I thought about the whole damn situation.
“I’m fine with it.”
She laughed, but the sound wasn’t light and feminine as I expected. Her words came out sharp and bitter and lacked all traces of amusement.
“You’re not fine with it, and I get it.”
She sighed as she stood with her beer in one hand and the flashlight in the other. “I’ll do my best to stay out of your way,” she said, sounding resigned to our arrangement. “Just leave a list of chores for me to do, and I’ll take care of them.”
“Playing the martyr now, Aspen?”
“No.” I didn’t think it was possible for her shoulders to fall lower, but somehow they did. “I don’t want to make your life harder, Holden, and I know you don’t have a reason to believe that, but it’s true.”
I did believe her, dammit, and that was part of the problem. I didn’t want to believe Aspen, and I didn’t want to like her. But I couldn’t avoid her and keep her safe.
“Why did you come to Hardtail Ranch?”
At first, I thought maybe she wouldn’t answer as she let her feet drop down one step and then the next until she stood in the dirt below and turned to face me.
“I came here to drop off the clothes your friend Peaches was nice enough to let me borrow. She fed me and got me talking, and somehow I ended up telling her things I shouldn’t have.” It looked like she regretted sharing her secret, which was something. “Contrary to the one bitchy thing I did to you all those years ago, I’m not here to disturb your peace, Holden.”
Yeah, but she still managed to disturb it, but good. “Never thought you were. Just wondering how you got yourself mixed up with a guy like Ken. On the surface, he’s exactly your type.”
She let out a bitter laugh and dropped her butt down on the bottom step, as far from me as she could get, taking another long pull from her bottle. “It just took me a little longer than it should have for me to get below the surface.”
That was an understatement. “How long?”
Her shoulders rose and fell, and she blew out a long, slow breath. “Way before the other day, if that’s what you’re asking. I knew after a while that something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t be sure what. You know how the horse and cattle businesses are, lots of shady characters.”
Her golden hair, pulled into a low ponytail falling down her back, curled like a cat’s tail as she shook her head in disgust. “I should have left sooner, but where would I go?”
“Back home, Aspen. Y’all aren’t broke, are you?”
“No,” she said and let out another bitter laugh that was so at odds with the woman on the surface. Even now she exuded elegance and sophistication in a simple outfit of jeans, a blue and white checked shirt, and worn cowboy boots. “That’s the part I’m most humiliated about. I didn’t stay with him because I needed him or because I loved him. I stayed because where else was I gonna go?”
“What’s wrong with Vance?”
“And hear Daddy tell me ‘I told you so’ in about a million different ways every day for the rest of my life? No, thanks.” She finished her beer and reached to slide it into the empty slot before looking up at me. “Don’t worry, Holden, I’ll get out of your hair as soon as possible.”
Ah, hell. “Don’t you worry about my hair, Aspen. It can take whatever you can dish out.” When her gaze found mine, I let her see that I was amused by the situation, if also frustrated as hell by it.
“Really?” She got up as if to leave.
I gave a sharp nod
and plucked two more beers from the pack, opening them both and handing her one. “Really. Take a load off and have a beer.”
She grabbed the beer and held it up with a shaky smile. “To starting over.”
What the hell? I lifted my bottle and tapped it to hers. “To starting over.”
Chapter Fifteen
Aspen
My first day on the ranch started off the way I like it. With a big cup of black coffee and a piece of strudel Martha insisted I take with me when I left the big house about twenty minutes ago.
I quickly drained the coffee, but the hum in my blood remained, or maybe it was Holden showing me around the barn, looking mighty fine in a pair of faded and well-worn jeans that hugged the muscles of his thighs magnificently and cupped his ass fantastically. I tried to focus on his lecture, but his black shirt made him look like every bad boy cowboy fantasy I’d ever had as a teenage girl on a ranch full of cowboys. I couldn’t take my eyes off his broad shoulders and wide chest that tapered down to a narrow waist.
Hot damn, but he made a fine specimen.
“And this beauty right here is Misfit,” he said.
And he looked even hotter the way he smiled at the golden-brown mare who nuzzled his neck. “We just call her Lady because she’s such a flirt.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“She is.” He said the words, but I heard the affection in his voice. “And she loves sugar cubes, but in a pinch, a carrot will do. Won’t it, girl?” He was so sweet with her, gentle too. Proving that it was just me who brought out the asshole in Holden.
But he hadn’t been an asshole last night. He’d accepted my peace offering and even let me sit and chat on my first night at the ranch. So I took a deep breath and stepped in close, letting Lady get familiar with me.
“Hey Lady, I’m Aspen. You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you?” I cooed and rubbed her nose, offering up the sugar cubes Holden had placed in my free hand. “Take it easy on me, girl. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the saddle.”
“I remember when not a day passed that I wouldn’t take my own horse, Goldie, out to roam the property. But that was a long time ago.”
