The Rancher and the Rich Girl

by Heather MacAllister

  “I’ll bet those are homemade.” Jessica tore off a chunk before plugging in her laptop.

  “Had to bake ’em in my oven back at the trailer. Can’t depend on this one.”

  “We definitely have to do something about that. Have a seat.”

  She paged through the catalog until she found the kitchen appliances and showed Lita. “See a stove here you like?”

  “What’s all this?” Lita asked suspiciously.

  “My company does construction and remodeling. This is the catalog I show clients. It needs updating, which is what I plan to work on while I’m staying here, but in the meantime, if you find a stove you like, I can order it, or the model that’s currently available.”

  “You mean buy a new one?”

  Jessica nodded.

  Lita looked at the pictures. “What does Matthew say?”

  “I don’t see why he’d mind. I’m paying for it.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  Jessica didn’t know how much to say. She supposed their arrangements were no secret. She explained about the auction and touched on the financial arrangements she’d made with Matt without being specific.

  Lita seemed satisfied with her explanation. Looking at the catalog, she almost reverently touched the picture of a range with a fancy grill to the side.

  “Good choice. We’ve got one with a grill at home and love it.” Jessica checked the dimensions. “Let’s measure.”

  As Lita watched, her usually dour expression almost childlike, Jessica measured the space available for the new stove. As she suspected, there would be plenty of room left over.

  Enough for a dishwasher.

  And as long as she was ordering... “How old is the refrigerator?” she asked as she mentally rearranged the cabinets to accommodate both stove and dishwasher.

  “Been here as long as I have.” Lita shrugged. “I been cooking in this kitchen since Matthew was coming in summers back when he lived at that boys’ home.”

  Jessica measured the space for the refrigerator. “What was he like back then?” she asked casually before walking back to the table and writing down the dimensions.

  “Quiet. Serious little thing.” Lita settled back with her coffee. “He coulda been my boy.” She was silent, gazing into her mug. “I had a boy once.”

  Jessica looked up from the computer.

  “Might still have one if’n I’d sent him to that place where Matthew was.”

  “What happened?” Jessica asked quietly, dreading the answer.

  “My man beat us. I took it because I didn’t have no money of my own. Then he killed our boy and I took off. Joined Krinkov’s carny ’cause I knew he’d never find me there. And he didn’t.”

  “I’m sorry, Lita.” And because the words didn’t seem enough, Jessica reached out and touched the work-roughened hand.

  “I’m okay now. Katya, she give me this.” From inside her faded housedress, Lita pulled out a heavy chain with a gold coin hanging from it. “Now, I always got somethin’ what’s mine. Ain’t no man never gonna beat me again.”

  Jessica hesitated. “Was...Matt...?”

  Lita shook her head once. “Leastwise, not regular. His momma just took off.” After her confession, stories about a young Matt poured out of the normally laconic Lita.

  Jessica got the impression of a boy, and now a man, who was caring, rock-solid and dependable. It was an appealing portrait, and she was glad to know her instincts hadn’t let her down.

  After they picked out new appliances, Jessica showed a fascinated Lita the Internet.

  It was ten o’clock in the morning and she was still drinking coffee in her robe when Matt and Sam came into the kitchen.

  “Mom, are you sick?” Sam asked when he saw her.

  Jessica ran her hands through her hair. She had a feeling it didn’t help. “No, I was talking with Lita and lost track of the time,” she answered, feeling self-conscious.

  She was trying very hard not to be aware of Matt, who had given her an assessing look as he went to the sink, but it had been a very long time since a man had seen her in a robe. She was more covered up than when she wore shorts, but there was something intimate about a robe.

  This one was a soft, thin velour, which she liked to wear because Sam said it made her soft when he hugged her. The older he got, the less frequent his hugs were, so she wore the robe to encourage them.

  She knew this robe screamed “Mother’s Day gift” and was not the sort of garment that made a man think seductive thoughts. Still...

  The logical part of her said she shouldn’t be encouraging seductive thoughts, which irritated the feminine part. Jessica drowned them both with another swallow of coffee.

  Matt poured two glasses of water and gave Sam one.

  Jessica didn’t know whether to draw attention to herself by leaving the kitchen or to stay put.

  Lita was copying down a recipe for venison they’d found on the Internet and wasn’t being a helpful distraction.

  Sam, his face streaked with dust, gulped his water so fast that some dribbled down his chin. Holding out his glass for a refill, he said excitedly, “We’ve been doing chores! Matt’s going to teach me to ride Black Star now!”

  Jessica’s eyes sought Matt’s and found him watching her over the rim of his glass as he drank. “I thought you’d like to watch, if you’re not too busy,” he said.

  That was thoughtful of him. “Yes. I’ll get dressed and meet you outside.”

  “The store in Lampasas probably don’t got raspberry vinegar,” Lita said out of nowhere.

  Matt blinked.

  “Recipes,” Jessica explained. “We can order the vinegar,” she told Lita, and typed in the address of an online grocer. “I order unusual ingredients from these people when I don’t feel like driving all the way into Casper. Look over their stuff and click on what you want, then I’ll add it to my account.”

  Standing, she tightened the sash of her robe and walked as fast as she could without seeming to run away.

  Yes, she was blushing all right, she confirmed when she looked into the mirror in her bedroom. She hadn’t intended to be quite so casual around Matt, and now she was torn between trying to look really great and hurrying to see her son ride a horse.

  Seeing her son took precedence. Jessica threw on some shorts and a sleeveless top and shoved her feet into sandals. Combing her hair, she pulled it back into a low ponytail. For vanity’s sake, she put in tiny gold earrings, then walked back to the kitchen.

  Lita had racked up a sizable grocery bill while Jessica had been gone, but she honestly didn’t mind. The woman hadn’t had much enjoyable happen in her life, and if a few exotic groceries gave her pleasure, then Jessica was glad to order them. She even sprang for two-day shipping.

  “You tellin’ me these things will come in the mail?” Lita asked.

  Jessica nodded.

  She stood. “I’d best thaw the venison.”

  Jessica started for the kitchen door, but at the last minute, she took her laptop. Sam was at a funny age. He didn’t want her too far away, but he didn’t want her treating him like a baby. Staring at him while he rode a horse might make him feel awkward, but if she appeared to be working, he might relax.

  Matt had roped off a section of the damaged paddock and was showing Sam something about the saddle on Black Star.

  That was a big horse, Jessica thought, and headed for the pecan tree. Her wallet was still up there, she noticed. It would only take a good strong wind to blow it down, but since she’d been here, the hot breeze had been gentle.

  Sam was trying to mount the horse when Caesar’s stupid chattering distracted Jessica.

  “Oh, go away.”

  The monkey climbed a couple of branches and watched her.

 
“I don’t care what Matt says, I’m not encouraging your money-grubbing ways.”

  The monkey screeched a loud, prolonged protest. It stopped Jessica in her tracks, and even drew Matt’s attention. He and Sam waved at her. She waved back and watched Matt boost Sam into the saddle. He held the saddle horn and Matt started walking his horse in a circle.

  Jessica moved into the shade, which prompted another outburst from the monkey. “Oh, come on. I’m going to sit here. If you don’t like it, you can go somewhere else.”

  Caesar squeaked and ran back and forth on the branch.

  “Why don’t you go get my wallet and throw it to me?” Jessica asked him, then sat.

  Caesar screamed.

  Jessica flinched. The monkey was getting to her. “Be quiet! I’m trying to work.”

  He kept up a series of squawks and sounds that grew more and more agitated.

  If she’d remembered to bring any change with her, Jessica would have relented and offered him a coin just to get rid of him. Leaning back against the trunk of the old tree, she watched Sam circle the paddock. Then she watched him do it again. And again.

  After a few more rounds she opened her laptop, feeling a little guilty that boredom had overwhelmed her maternal pride in watching her son.

  Updating the Fremont catalog was a tedious chore that she usually spread out over a couple of weeks in August so it could be back from the printers in September. It would be fun to get it all done by July this year.

  It was pleasant working outdoors. She stopped every so often to watch Sam and Matt. Matt seemed to have an unending patience. But after fifteen minutes of circling, even from this distance, Jessica could see that Sam wasn’t taking to riding a horse.

  His whole body was stiff and she hadn’t heard him laugh since he got up on Black Star. She waved to him once, but he was obviously too insecure on his perch to take one of his hands from the saddle horn and wave back.

  She turned back to her laptop, enjoying the summer warmth and the earthy scents carried on the slight breeze. Yes, it was nice working outside.

  The monkey, however, was not nice. The monkey was horrid and distracting, but Jessica considered this a test of wills. If she gave in now, the creature would torment her during the rest of her stay.

  As the sun rose higher, the shade moved and Jessica shifted a little farther around the tree.

  Caesar became hysterical, climbing down the trunk until he was only a couple of feet above her head and screeching at her.

  Jessica moved back a little and he turned and ran to the lowest branch.

  Matt was jogging around the paddock now, but Sam sat as stiffly as ever.

  Jessica had been watching for several minutes when out of the corner of her eye she saw it—an orange-and-black movement through the grass at the base of the paddock fence.

  Sheba. Sheba, the old tiger, the supposedly tame tiger, was stalking her prey, and judging by her eyes, her prey was Jessica.

  She felt the ancestral fight or flee reflex take over as her heart began pounding and she broke out into the cold sweat of fear. Caesar’s chattering faded into the background.

  Instinct told her that she couldn’t outrun the tiger. She wanted to scream, but at the same time, she knew it would draw Matt to her, leaving Sam alone and unprotected.

  And did she want her scream lingering in her son’s memory?

  Without taking her eyes from the tiger, she pressed the Enter key and left a big white space in the catalog copy she was editing. “i loveyousam,” she typed, forcing her fingers to move.

  Whatever happened, she wasn’t going to scream. The monkey was screaming enough for both of them.

  Sheba had slowed her deadly advance and now crouched low.

  Caesar, the bloodthirsty thing, had quieted.

  Jessica fixed her gaze on the paddock. She wanted her last sight to be of her son.

  “Mom!”

  Matt had tied the reins to the fence and was running toward her, leaving Sam alone on Black Star.

  “No!” she screamed. “Stay with Sam!”

  Matt vaulted over the fence.

  Sheba pounced.

  Jessica saw a blur of orange and black as the old tiger landed just a couple of feet away from her.

  Wildly screeching, Caesar leaped from one branch to the next.

  Sheba growled and shook her head back and forth, a snake clamped in her powerful jaws.

  Jessica’s brain recognized what was going on long before her body did. Sheba, her foot pinning part of the snake to the ground, stopped moving. The snake quivered and the tiger snapped the head twice more, then released it.

  Matt came pounding to a halt.

  Nothing moved.

  With a yawning growl, Sheba sank back on her haunches and licked her paw.

  Caesar made a subdued sound and crept as close as he could to the snake’s body without actually leaving the tree trunk. He looked at Jessica and squeaked.

  “Yeah, I know you told me so,” she said, hearing her voice shake.

  “You okay?” Matt asked, breathing heavily.

  “Technically, yes.”

  He nudged the snake’s copper-and-black body with the toe of his boot. “Hey, Sheba. You got yourself a copperhead. Must have been looking for water.” The tiger rolled over and Matt squatted down to scratch her tummy.

  Now that Matt was there, Caesar left the tree, calmly walked over to Sheba and started grooming the tiger’s head.

  Sheba closed her eyes and accepted this as her due.

  This was all very touching to Jessica, but she had to ask. “Copperheads are poisonous, aren’t they?”

  Matt nodded and straightened. “If you’re going to get bitten, that’s the one you want biting you. It would hurt, but you’d recover.”

  “I’d recover.” Her voice sounded very far away.

  A hand appeared in her field of vision. She grasped it and tried to stand, but her legs shook.

  “Take it easy.” Matt slipped his arm around her shoulders.

  “I’ve had a scare. I’m not hurt. I’m fine.”

  He subjected her to one of his intense looks. “Are you?”

  She drew a deep breath, intending to reassure him. Her gaze locked with his. “I’m not fine!” she blubbered.

  “Come here.”

  His arms closed around her and Jessica pressed her face against his chest. “I was so scared!”

  “Shh.”

  He rubbed slow circles on her back and Jessica allowed herself to be comforted. It felt so good to be in a man’s arms.

  In this man’s arms, she realized.

  “I thought Sheba was after me.”

  “I figured as much.” He paused. “For a minute I figured as much, too.”

  Jessica jerked her head back. “But you said she was tame!”

  “As tame as a tiger gets, but I heard Caesar carrying on and saw her stalking, and you were the only thing I could see in her path.” He smiled down at her.

  Jessica felt the rest of her fear melt away as first awareness, then a growing desire became her dominant emotion. She was pressed against Matt’s lean body and liked the way it felt. She liked the strong arms, the wide chest. She liked hearing the reassuring thump of his heart.

  With his dark hair and dark eyes, Matt was a good-looking man. That, she’d already noticed. Add to it the fact that he was great with her son and inherently honest, and Jessica shouldn’t have been surprised at her response.

  The only surprise was what took her so long.

  The only question was what she was going to do about it.

  Reluctantly she pushed herself away. “I can’t believe an amoral monkey and a tiger with bad breath saved my life,” she said, her voice still shaky, but now probably from bei
ng in Matt’s arms.

  “You’re giving them too much credit.”

  “Maybe and maybe not.” She looked down at the tiger. “Your next steak is on me, Sheba.”

  “Mom!”

  Sam’s voice sounded close. Stepping from behind Matt, she saw her son trying to climb the fence. He’d obviously dismounted from Black Star all by himself.

  A little leftover spurt of adrenaline entered her already overloaded system. She was amazed there was any left. “Sam, what are you doing!”

  She’d started to run to him when one of those strong arms she’d admired so much stopped her. “Hey!” she cried.

  “Don’t be in such a hurry,” Matt said.

  “But he needs help.”

  “Not yet.”

  She watched Sam tug at his shirt, which was apparently caught on the wire. “He could have been hurt getting off the horse,” she said to Matt as they started walking toward the fence.

  “He was going to have to learn to get himself off the horse sometime.”

  “But he should have had more experience before he tried.”

  “Well, he didn’t. Now he’s learned how by himself. No harm done.”

  “But there could have been.” Matt needed to understand this so he wouldn’t leave Sam alone in the future.

  He glanced down at her as he considered his next words. “Your Sam is a smart boy, but he hasn’t had much experience thinking things out for himself.”

  Matt didn’t look quite as attractive as he had a few minutes ago. “What are you saying?”

  “He looks to one of us for permission to do anything.”

  “He’s a well-behaved boy.” Not counting running away when Matt had first met him.

  “That he is, but behaving well isn’t going to help him learn to survive.”

  “Maybe not here, but in the social circles in which he moves, behavior is extremely important.” She sounded just like Rachel.

  “I thought self-confidence was, too.”

  “He’s only nine. He’ll learn self-confidence.”

  “Not if you keep babying him.”

  “What?”

  “Just back off a little—”

  “Back off?”

  Matt nodded. “Let Sam make some decisions for himself. Like right now, he’s stuck on that fence. If we go over there before he gets himself down, then he won’t have the experience of figuring out what he can do and what he can’t.”