The Cowboy's Autumn Fall (Grass Valley Cowboys Book 4)

by Shanna Hatfield

  Not hearing any voices, he looked around and followed footprints along a dusty path between sage brush, scraggly juniper, and clumps of dry grass.

  He walked over the rise of a small hill and saw two figures working in the distance. Brice advanced toward the one wearing an ugly canvas hat. He recognized it well from the photo he spent a month studying of Bailey online. He was going to have to charm her into giving him a real photo one of these days.

  Walking softly behind her, Brice watched her carefully digging away at a large rock. Beside Bailey was a length of canvas holding a variety of interesting tools like picks, chisels, brushes and something that looked like a miniature pickax.

  “What’s that?” he finally asked, unable to keep his curiosity from getting the best of him.

  Bailey gasped and dropped the tool in her hand. Standing, she spun around and glared at Brice.

  “What do you think you are doing?” she demanded, angry sparks shooting from her eyes.

  “I just…” Brice started to say, taking a step back as Bailey advanced on him, fury evident in every move she made.

  “You just what?” Bailey asked, poking him in the chest with a dusty finger. “Thought you’d show up and convince me to run off with you for the afternoon? Maybe give you time to charm the fossils right out of the rock? Do you have any idea how wrong it is for you to be here? Are you trying to get me fired?”

  Reeling from her anger and rejection, Brice took a few more steps back only to have Bailey grab his arm and pull him forward.

  “Be careful where you walk,” she said, looking behind him. “You could unknowingly damage something very important.”

  Acknowledging for the first time that Bailey’s work was more than her playing in the dirt with old bugs and plants, Brice realized he should have called and asked if he could visit.

  “I’m sorry, Bailey, I didn’t think…” Brice tried to apologize but Bailey cut him off.

  “That is part of the problem, Mr. Morgan. You never think. You just do and fail to consider the consequences. I’ll walk you back to your truck.”

  “That won’t be necessary, Bailey,” a male voice said, causing both Bailey and Brice to turn their heads toward the speaker.

  “Hi, I’m Anthony, the operational manager of the paleontology center here at the fossil beds,” a smaller man in his mid-forties said, holding out his hand to Brice. “You must be a friend of Bailey’s.”

  “I’d like to think so,” Brice said with a grin. He liked this Anthony, who seemed friendly and approachable. “My name’s Brice. Brice Morgan.”

  “Nice to meet you, Brice. Did you come to see what Bailey is working on?”

  “Actually, I did,” Brice said, following Anthony to where Bailey had been digging.

  “We’re working on extracting some plant fossils in this area,” Anthony said, sweeping his hand around the barren landscape, interrupted only by the occasional juniper and craggy rock formations. “We generally don’t allow anyone out at the site, but based on Bailey’s work ethics, I think it’s safe for you to observe her this afternoon. Just follow her direction and you should be fine.”

  Anthony started over to where he was working but turned around and smiled at Bailey. “Make sure you leave a little early today, Bailey. You’ve been putting in way too many hours as it is.”

  Brice hid his grin when Bailey let out such a long and deep sigh, he was certain it must have started at her toes.

  “If I’m going to be hindered by your presence the rest of the day, you may as well provide some measure of assistance,” she said, resigned to suffering through Brice’s company for the next several hours. There was a part of her so pleased to see him she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss his inviting lips repeatedly. But that would go against her dislike of public displays of affection as well as the part of her that was furious with him for just strolling into a dig site like he belonged there. He had no idea what she did or how careful he needed to be. “If you are truly going to plague me the rest of the afternoon, you will do exactly as I tell you. This is completely unacceptable and I don’t expect you to repeat this unfortunate blunder. Understood?”

  “Yes, sugar,” Brice said, trying to look properly scolded. It was hard to do when his lips kept tipping up into a smile and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’ll be a very good boy and do exactly what you say and then you’ll give me a reward for my stellar behavior.”

  “I didn’t say anything about a reward, and stop calling me sugar,” Bailey said, narrowing her gaze and rolling her lips together, annoyed not so much with Brice as her own traitorous heart, which was pounding outrageously at his nearness. Every time he called her sugar, it caused wild, hot flames to burst to life in her stomach.

  “Have it your way, sugar. I know you didn’t say anything about a reward, but I did. You can’t expect me to act properly without some incentive,” Brice said, leaning close to her ear, his minty breath tingling along her neck. “I’ve got a great reward in mind. Want to take me up on it?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Bailey said, forcing the shiver that was working up from her toes back down into submission. She found it difficult to turn her thoughts to her work and not Brice when he wasn’t around. With him leaning over her shoulder, smelling so good, it was going to make the task of staying focused impossible. Having the handsome charmer just inches away from her was taking her beyond distracted right into disturbed.

  “I’m never ridiculous,” Brice said, placing a kiss on her cheek, just to further ruffle her feathers. He wasn’t surprised by her scathing glare or the way she straightened her spine and rolled back her shoulders. “Don’t you have work to do instead of staring daggers at me?”

  “Yes, you insufferable man,” Bailey said, bending down and picking up a small brush, handing it to Brice.

  She went back to what she was doing and explained the work to Brice. He was given the task of brushing away debris as she worked and he soon wondered how Bailey could do this day in and day out. He was tired of bending, his back was killing him and he wanted nothing more than to get up and stretch his legs. After her warning of stepping somewhere he shouldn’t, he stayed put.

  “Don’t you need to get up and move to keep your circulation going?” Brice finally asked, an hour into the task.

  “I take a break every two hours and stretch. Keep brushing,” Bailey said, returning her focus to her work. Brice, who couldn’t sit still any better than her three Thompson cousins, was about to explode from inactivity. Bailey took pity on him after another thirty minutes and told Anthony she was taking a water break. He gave her a wave of agreement as she walked with Brice back to her Jeep.

  “Bailey, I’m really sorry,” Brice said, as she pulled two water bottles out of a cooler in her Jeep and gave him one. He played with the cap before looking Bailey in the eye. “I didn’t realize how detailed and involved your work is. I apologize for thinking I could troop out here for a visit and surprise you. My intentions were good, even if it doesn’t seem that way.”

  Bailey nodded her head and continued drinking her water. “Most people don’t understand what we do or the importance of our work.”

  “I promise to never take you or your work for granted again,” Brice said, holding up his hand as he made the vow, looking very serious. And very handsome.

  Bailey grinned despite her attempts at keeping her pleasure contained.

  “Apology accepted,” she said, trying to ignore how attractive she found Brice, even in his carpenter jeans, steel-toed work boots and T-shirt. A bit of sawdust clung to the front of his pants and she leaned over to brush it off without thinking. Her hand connected with his hard, muscled thigh and nearly made her knees collapse beneath her.

  “What are you doing?” Brice asked, his eyes darkening as he caught her hand and held it to his chest. Bailey could feel his heart galloping, keeping time to her own.

  “Sawdust,” she managed to say while her gaze was lost in the look Brice was giving h
er.

  Scrambling for any safe topic of discussion, Bailey took a step back and looked around. “Have you been out to the Clarno Unit of the fossil beds before?”

  “Not to actually see it. Travis and I blew through there one night back in high school when we were trying to outrun the deputy after we… never mind,” Brice said, looking slightly chagrined.

  “I don’t want to know,” Bailey said, hiding her smile. She knew Travis was the family’s rebel child. It made sense that his best friend would also be a troublemaker. “How about I tell you why this particular area is important?”

  “Cool,” Brice said, leaning against the side of the Jeep, drinking his water. “I’m all ears.”

  “Not quite,” Bailey said under her breath as she tried to ignore the way the T-shirt molded to every muscle in Brice’s arms and chest when he leaned with his elbows braced on the hood of the Jeep, one boot propped on a tire. “The Clarno Unit is home to the cliffs of the Palisades, formed about forty-four million years ago by a series of volcanic mudflows. They preserved a wide range of fossils in an environment quite different from that of today. When the mud flows occurred, volcanoes towered over a landscape covered by a tropical-like forest that received around one hundred inches of rain a year. Can you imagine that, looking around the landscape today?”

  “Not really,” Brice said, scrubbing the toe of his boot in the powdered dirt that only seemed to be found in very dry, arid areas. “It’s a little hard to picture.”

  “Well, think of a tropical place with leafy green trees and lush plants, beautiful vegetation, lots of water and interesting animals.”

  “What kind of animals?” Brice asked, liking animals much more than plants.

  “There were crocodilians, the ancestors of today’s crocodile, meat-eating creodonts who roamed the jungles and huge animals that looked kind of like a rhino. There were also tiny little four-toed horses,” Bailey said, obviously passionate about her subject matter.

  Brice smiled as he watched her eyes light from within and her hands flutter excitedly as she talked about ancient jungles and prehistoric animals. Her work was, without a doubt, the most important thing to her. That knowledge made Brice’s heart hurt a little. He wondered if he could ever compete with her career for first place and win. Not one to easily give up, Brice was determined to give it a try.

  “So when all these horrible meat-eating beasties were roaming around, where were the humans?” Brice asked.

  “We’ve found no record of their existence here at that time,” Bailey said, walking back toward the area where she was working. Brice followed carefully along behind. He didn’t realize khaki cargo pants could look so good on anyone, but Bailey certainly filled them out well especially with her long legs. She wore a pale peach tank with a white shirt unbuttoned over the top and that hideous canvas hat.

  Pulling a bottle from her pants pocket, she squirted out sun screen and slathered it on her hands, arms and neck. She held it out for him and he shook his head, a little off kilter from watching her work the lotion into her skin, particularly when she tipped back her head and smoothed it onto her creamy throat. He wanted to grab the lotion bottle from her and rub it down the column of her neck and along that expanse of chest exposed above the edge of her tank top.

  “Well, when did humans enter the picture?” Brice finally asked, kneeling by Bailey as she returned to her work.

  “An archaeologist right here in Oregon discovered evidence a few years ago that suggested humans were here in North America as early as fourteen thousand years ago.”

  “Really? They found a body? Where?” Brice asked, trying to remember if he’d heard anything about an ancient corpse turning up somewhere in the state.

  “It was in a cave outside of Paisley,” Bailey said, intently working with a pick. “That’s a bit to the south of here isn’t it?”

  “More than a bit, sugar,” Brice said, “You’d be looking at a good day trip to go there and back again.”

  “Oh,” Bailey said, filing that information for later use. She might drive down there some weekend just for fun.

  “So they found the body in a cave in Paisley?”

  “Not a body,” Bailey said, carefully digging rock from around the fossil she was extracting.

  “If they didn’t find a body, how do they know a human was there?” Brice asked, his mind trying to figure out how the existence of something could be recorded if there was no physical evidence to prove it had actually been there.

  “There was other evidence.”

  “What kind of evidence?” Brice asked, trying to study Bailey’s face, which was impossible with that horrible hat on her head.

  “They excavated some coprolite containing human DNA which provided the radio carbon dating taking the human presence back to that time frame,” Bailey said, bending over the fossil and gently picking around it.

  “Say it in English, sugar. I don’t know what coprolite means.”

  “Fossilized feces,” Bailey said as she carefully continued her work, although her cheeks were turning a light shade of pink.

  “They found petrified poo and used that to decide it was an ancient cavedweller?” Brice asked, trying not to laugh. For some reason the conversation he was having with Bailey struck him as quite funny.

  “When you say it like that it completely detracts from the fact it was a significant scientific discovery that helps us better learn about our North American ancestry.

  “I’m sorry, Bailey,” Brice said, no longer able to contain his laughter as he sat back and chuckled. “It is kind of funny.”

  “Not at all,” Bailey said, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. Only Brice would call one of the most vital discoveries of human evidence in the West by something so undignified.

  “Then why are you trying so hard not to laugh?” Brice teased, pushing her chin up with his finger, putting her face just inches from his. Her Caribbean blue eyes danced with warmth and amusement and Brice fell into them without any thought to what would happen.

  “Brice,” Bailey whispered, leaning toward him before remembering where she was and what they were doing. Looking down, she resumed her efforts with the fossil.

  “What’s with that hat?” Brice asked, gently tapping her head trying to distract himself from his desire to kiss her.

  “My hat?” Bailey asked, glancing up at the brim of the canvas hat. “What about my hat?”

  “No offense, but it’s about the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Brice said, with a teasing grin.

  “None taken,” Bailey said, as she worked intently. “I am fully aware that it is lacking in fashionable qualities, however, it serves me well.”

  “What’s so special about it?”

  “I’ll have you know this hat has built-in UPF protection, the headband is moisture wicking, it floats in water, has an odorless insect shield that repels flies, ants, ticks and mosquitoes, and is completely machine washable so I can clean it whenever I want,” Bailey said, casting Brice a smug smile.

  “Oh,” Brice said, acceding the ugly hat did have some redeeming qualities. “You seem pretty concerned about sun screen.”

  “Anyone with a lick of sense ought to be,” Bailey said, giving Brice a look that told him he should have taken advantage of the sunscreen when she offered it.

  “And why is that, sugar?” Brice liked listening to her voice and knew as long as he kept asking questions, she’d keep talking.

  “Because you’ll end up with wrinkled skin that looks like dried out leather not to mention the very high possibility of skin cancer,” Bailey said emphatically, stopping her work to glance pointedly at Brice. “You don’t want skin cancer, believe me. My grandfather died from it.”

  “I’m sorry, Bailey,” Brice said, with sincere sympathy. “Were you close to him?”

  “Yes, I was. Poppy died when I was only nine, but I have some wonderful memories of time spent with him and my grandmother. He was my father’s dad.”

 
; “What did he do for a living?” Brice asked as he carefully brushed away more debris at Bailey’s prompting.

  “He worked for the forest service and was outside year-round. Poppy had that job for more than thirty years.”

  “What about your grandmother?” Brice asked, wondering if Bailey had been close to her as well.

  “She lives in Denver, not far from our house,” Bailey said, a soft smile riding her lips. “Grammy likes her independence, rather like Nana.”

  “Have you seen Nana much since you’ve been back?”

  “A few times. She and Aunt Denni are coming to the ranch this weekend to work on wedding plans.”

  “That seems to be all anyone talks about these days are wedding plans. First it was Trey and Cady, although their plans only took a week, then Trent and Lindsay, now Trav and Tess. I’m convinced someone poured a love potion into the well at the Triple T,” Brice said, watching as Bailey carefully extracted the fossil they’d spent all afternoon digging out.

  “Perhaps,” Bailey said, focused completely on the fossil. She held it up to the catch the sunlight and Brice could see the imprint of a lacy leaf against the rock.

  “That is so cool,” Brice said, leaning close to better study the design.

  “Yes, it is,” Bailey said, excited to have another fossil to study. She called to Anthony who examined the specimen, placed the fossil in a labeled bag, and encouraged Bailey to take the rest of the day off.

  Picking up her tools and cleaning her work area, Bailey walked back to her Jeep and stowed the tools in a box before climbing behind the wheel. Brice stood looking at her expectantly.

  “So, do you have plans for the rest of the day,” Brice asked, feeling like he was fourteen again, trying to work up the courage to ask Cindy Bartlett to the harvest dance.

  “No,” Bailey answered honestly. She hadn’t planned to have the extra time off but liked the idea of spending it with Brice.