by Jodi Thomas
They’d settled into a few habits that he didn’t mind at all. Neither made any pretense of not watching when the other dressed or undressed. She even rushed into his closet wearing only her underthings to lecture him about maybe burning the clothes he’d brought with him to the ranch. They finally agreed on his packing them in the old suitcase he’d brought and promising to try wearing only the clothes that she bought him. In truth, he’d gotten used to the luxury of well-fitting clothes.
Cord thought of telling her she should never argue with him wearing only a bra and panties, but then she might take his advice and he’d hate that. He fell asleep each night planning what he’d do tomorrow and wishing that he could touch her.
When he woke Monday, she was already in the shower in her bathroom. It seemed strange for a room to have two complete bathrooms, but he’d figured out two days ago that the whole place had been designed by idiots. Half the windows didn’t open. Most of the rooms had no use, and if the huge fireplace in the living room was ever lit it would warm all the ranch and half of western Oklahoma.
She came out of the bathroom with a thin robe plastered around her damp body. “I’ll be ready in ten for the breakfast with the boys, but I can predict they won’t be happy to see us. As far as I know, a Britain has never eaten with them.”
“I’m not a Britain.”
She frowned as if she wished she’d thought to add that into the contract. “They just won’t like it.” She lifted her arms to pull off the towel covering her hair. Her short robe moved up a few inches.
“Not my problem,” he managed to mumble before stepping into his bathroom, all of his body now fully awake.
After a quick shower, Cord pulled another one of his new shirts from the rack and decided to try a pair of jeans that she’d picked out for him. He wanted to look like he knew what he was doing this morning when he faced the men for the first time. The jeans fit snugger than he usually wore, with a boot cut on the cuffs that was just right.
When he walked past the mirror to grab his hat, Cord noticed his reflection. A rancher, not a farmer, looked back. In this case, he hoped clothes made the man if he was to have any chance at pulling this charade off.
Nevada was waiting for him at the door. To his surprise, she wore a business suit. Her beautiful blond hair, which he’d gotten used to watching sway over the weekend, was now tied atop her head in a little knot that he hated. Everything about her was all business.
“I’ll drive you over and introduce you to the men, then I have to get to the office.” Nevada straightened her jacket. “I have a board meeting at nine and I need to go over a few things at the office first with my staff.”
“You work all day?” Somehow he thought she mostly shopped and had lunch.
“Eight to five, sometimes later.” She shrugged. “Between husbands I managed to get a business degree with a minor in law. Never finished in law, but it comes in handy in dealing with contracts and leases.”
He didn’t miss the sadness in her blue eyes when she added, “I love being here with my horses, but I understand oil.” She handed him a small cell phone. “If you need me, just hold down two and I’ll answer. I’m the only one who has your number, so unless you give it to someone else, it’ll be me calling if the phone rings.”
“Fair enough.”
The smile on her now-painted lips didn’t reach her eyes. “You ready to go face the world as husband and wife? When we step out of this door we’ve got to make them believe it, and with my record with men it won’t be easy. Remember, no one is to know of our agreement. As far as anyone knows, including the staff and ranch hands, we married for love and you’re here to stay.”
He thought about yelling, No way can we pull this off, but something in her stare stopped him. She was silently pleading, begging him to go along with her plan, and he couldn’t let her down. He had no idea why it was so important to her, but he’d keep his word. A bargain was a bargain. Until now he’d thought running the ranch was the most important part of the bargain, but now he realized that to her, their playing the happily married couple might be.
Taking her hand, he walked her to her car and they drove to a long bunkhouse a few hundred yards away from the main house. The ranch headquarters was built like a small town with the big house in the center. Trails, two tracks wide, joined most of the buildings like wagon spokes, and he noticed a few four-wheelers around that were probably used to haul goods from one building to another.
Beyond the bunkhouse was a small gravel lot that had been empty when they’d ridden by yesterday but now held several cars and trucks. Nevada had already explained that all but a few cowhands drove into work every morning. The rest went home on weekends but stayed over during the week. Her housekeeper and the bunkhouse cook had a small cabin on the property but spent their weekends at a lake cabin over near Twisted Creek.
Three men stood on the porch watching as Cord and Nevada walked up to the bunkhouse that looked big enough to be a small hotel. One tipped his hat slightly; the other two just stared. None spoke.
Cord tensed, realizing they might not know him, but they had no respect for Nevada. He knew without hearing that these men had talked about her, probably even joked about her behind her back. One of the silent men looked at her with hunger in his eyes as if she were not the boss but a streetwalker passing by.
Cord opened the door for her and waited until she stepped in. When he followed he took in the room slowly.
A dozen more ranch hands were in a great room with a long table that could easily seat thirty on one side of the room and comfortable leather chairs on the other. A middle-aged man with an apron stepped from the kitchen and smiled at Nevada. His was the only smile in the room.
“Morning, Little Miss,” the cook said.
“Morning, Galem. I’d like you to meet my new husband.” She brushed Cord’s arm, showing the first affection she’d ever shown. Her sudden caress made him jerk slightly. “Honey.” She leaned into him slightly. “This is the bunkhouse cook and a friend. He’s been with the ranch for twenty-three years.”
Galem wiped his hand on his apron and offered it to Cord. “Nice to meet you, Mr. McDowell. I heard you were coming. My youngest daughter works at the courthouse and said Nevada married Friday.”
Galem might be thin and balding, but his smile was warm and a kind of friendly Cord had rarely seen. Open. Trusting. Accepting.
Cord managed a nod as he sized up all that Galem hadn’t said. He hadn’t mentioned that she’d married for the fourth time, even though he must have known. He also hadn’t told the others, for several in the room coughed. And last, he hadn’t lied about hearing about the wedding.
“Galem, if you’ll call the others, I’d like to hold a meeting over coffee this morning.” Cord moved into his planned speech. “It will only take a few minutes and then the men can ask any questions while we eat. I’ll be here for breakfast every morning at dawn, and any man who is tired of working for the Boxed B won’t need to join us. Any man coming in after breakfast has missed a day’s work.”
Galem smiled. He didn’t need to call anyone; the men scattered in every direction. Some ran to get the others; some took their seats at the table. Change was on the wind and they all knew it.
“You like it black, Mr. McDowell?” Galem guessed.
“I do, and call me Cord. We’ve got a long day and no time for extra words.”
Galem nodded once at Cord, but Cord didn’t miss the wink he gave Nevada. To his surprise he felt a bit jealous, especially when she winked back.
She’d just flirted with the cook more than she’d flirted with him all weekend.
Putting his arm around his wife, Cord turned her toward the door. “I can handle it from here, Nevada. You probably need to get on to the office.”
She agreed, and by the speed of her walk, he guessed she wasn’t comfortable among the men filling the room. Not one man said a word to her, and she called none by name.
As soon as they were out of an
yone’s hearing, she whispered, “Galem likes you. Can you believe it? He likes you. I can tell.”
“Stop winking at the cook,” Cord ordered, but she wasn’t listening.
“He never liked any of the others. Wouldn’t even speak to my first husband. Spilled boiling coffee on the second, and the third was afraid to go out to the bunkhouse when my brother told him that number two had his privates so scalded he was in constant pain for a week. You’d think Bryce would have known better than to believe my brother; they’d roomed together in college.”
“You care about what the cook thinks, Nevada?” Cord’s brain was still focusing on the wink.
“Of course. When I was little and he started working here, he was my guardian angel. More than once he stopped my brothers from picking on me. A few years ago he married Ora Mae, and she took over managing the house. He adopted her three daughters, but you’d never know they weren’t his blood from the way he brags about them. I’ve always thought Galem and Ora Mae made a cute couple. You’d think they were in their twenties and not their forties.”
Cord relaxed as he opened her car door.
She stood next to him. “I think we fooled even Galem. He seemed to really believe we were a couple. He won’t inform on any ranch hand, but he won’t lie for them either. If he thinks we’re real, so will the others.”
“Then this should help seal the deal,” Cord said as he put his hands on Nevada’s waist and pulled her to him.
Before he could change his mind, he kissed her full on the mouth. She hesitated, trying to pull away for only a few seconds before she seemed to understand. To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
He lifted her off the ground as he straightened, letting her body mold along his. The taste of her, the feel of her, the hint of apricots from her shampoo almost buckled his knees.
When she pulled away, she touched his jaw. “That should do it. Thank you for thinking of it.”
“You’re welcome,” he whispered against her cheek.
He lowered her back to the ground and she added, as cold and formal as if the kiss hadn’t just happened, “Don’t wait up for me. I may not be home until late.”
Cord watched her drive away, thinking about how kissing her for real had felt so much better than he’d thought it would. He figured he’d shock her if she knew that when he dreamed of loving, he dreamed of her. He’d even hung the clipping of her riding in a parade on his cell wall once. She’d fascinated him with what his life might have been like if they’d gone on that date ten years ago.
The clipping had lasted only a few months before his cellmate tore it down and told him to stay in the real world for a change. The picture and the dreams had lasted about as long as this marriage probably would, but while it lasted he could feel like, for once, he didn’t need to dream.
He walked back to the bunkhouse knowing everyone inside was staring at him.
When he took the seat at the head of the table, Galem came from the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee. Cord watched as the cook set the cup down carefully in front of him.
“Thanks,” Cord said to the cook as the last of the cowhands took their places.
While Galem served coffee, Cord started, “I’ve studied the books. No one here has had a raise in two years. That ends today. Next, we work with the sun, not on the clock, and every man stops at six unless I’ve asked for overtime. We’ll run a five-man crew on weekends from now on, and any who want to work then will draw time and a half. When it’s cold we’ll start later, and we’ll end earlier when the weather turns bad, but you’ll still draw the same pay. Fair enough?”
No one said a word. A few looked shocked, but most looked like they were calculating next month’s paycheck. Cord knew that raising wages on a failing ranch was risky, but these men would bring the place back to life.
“I want to talk to each one of you and see what you like doing best, but understand, until we get this ranch in working order, we all do what needs to be done. If you can’t do a job, let me know when it’s assigned, not when you fail.”
“I count twenty men. We’ll need forty, so if you know someone who’s honest and wants work, bring him to breakfast tomorrow. If I hire him, he needs to be ready to work. If not, he’ll have had a meal for his trouble.”
As he talked, Galem put food on the table. By the time they began eating, four men had walked out and the others were asking questions and making suggestions. Most, he figured, were hands who had been around for at least a few years and were happy to have someone finally ask for their opinion on the running of the ranch. By nine, Cord was in the saddle and working. Everything had to be ready to get crops in the ground and cattle in the pastures as fast as possible.
About two the phone in his pocket sounded. Cord walked away from the corral so he could hear Nevada. It seemed like days since he’d seen her, not hours.
“How are things going?” she asked. “This is the first break I’ve had.”
“Fine,” he answered, surprised at how fast the morning had gone. “Four men quit. I fired three others.” The man who’d glared at her had been one Cord let go. “We’re trying to get ready to move what cattle you have left to the north pasture. I’m planning to buy at least a hundred new head tomorrow. The auction is in the morning, and Tannon Parker says he can have any cattle I buy delivered before dark. I’ve got a crew mending fences now.”
“Not the ranch, Cord, how are you doing?”
“I’m good.” He thought about saying that he was great. Inside he felt like he was walking in boots that didn’t quite fit, but he was giving being boss his best try. One of the men he’d fired had cussed him out, calling him nothing but a con. Normally he would have gotten mad, but Cord knew it was coming. He’d planned what he’d say and how he’d walk away. He had a ranch to run and didn’t have time to talk about the past.
“I hired three brothers who rodeo on weekends. They may cut out on me early on Fridays, but they know cattle. Galem calls them the presidents since they’re named Johnson, Jefferson, and Jackson.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding as if she were only half interested. He could hear papers shuffling in the background.
All he could think to say to her now was, “Did you eat lunch?”
“I rarely eat lunch at work. I live on coffee.”
He growled like a bear, and she laughed.
“Everyone cooperating?” She changed the subject.
“Everyone except Ora Mae. I went in about an hour ago to grab something for lunch and she ran me out with the broom. Said if I wanted a noon meal she’d serve me on the porch. I told her I didn’t have time to sit down, so she threw a couple of apples at me and told me she’d have supper ready at six after I cleaned up. Now I know why you got that room off the back of the kitchen. Your housekeeper won’t let anyone in who smells like a cow or is dripping dirt.”
“She likes you too.” Nevada laughed through the phone. “If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have tossed apples.”
“I don’t think so. I’m thinking lunch around this place may be hazardous to my health.”
“Of course she does. She threw skillets at my last husband. When he told her he only wanted green for lunch, she mowed the yard and served it up.”
“I like her better now.” In truth, he liked that Nevada was talking to him about her past. “I’ll give Ora Mae another chance, but it’ll be from a distance.” He hung up and walked back to the corral. As soon as he got more men hired, he’d move a few to his land and get a crop in the ground. The cowhands had been cold at first, but as the day aged and they saw that he had a plan, they chipped in to help. Some of them even took up a challenge to keep up with him and work as hard as he did.
When he walked past the bunkhouse a little before six, a lanky stranger stepped off the porch. His legs were slightly bowed and he wore his hat low. Cord decided he could have stepped out of the past, a cowboy from a hundred years ago just getting in from a trail drive. The sound of hi
s spurs clinking reached Cord, and he stopped and waited to see if the man was flesh and blood.
“I’m Zeb Darnell.” The stranger offered his hand, rough with calluses and scars. “Galem called me and said I might want to work for the new boss on the Boxed B. Said you had plans and might could use a cowhand.”
Cord nodded and shook hands. “I told men applying to come to breakfast.”
“I know, but I’ve worked here before. I’m a good hand, but I was no foreman. Nevada’s last husband fired me ’cause I couldn’t read the notes he kept leaving me when I took over the job.”
Cord waited, giving the man rope.
“I understand you’re buying cattle tomorrow. That’s why I came tonight. I’ve been working at the stockyard, but I’d like to hire on here. I think I could be some help at the auction tomorrow. If you’re interested in me working, I’d need to quit there and be started here before the show opens. I know cattle, Mr. McDowell, and I can help you with the buy.”
Cord realized he’d learned a great deal about reading men in prison. If Zeb was lying, he was far better at it than any man Cord had come across. Also, he wasn’t the type to brag. If he said he knew cattle, he probably did. “I’ll see you at the stockyards tomorrow. You’re hired.”
“I’ll go there early to quit.” Zeb smiled. “I’ll have the stock checked before you get there.”
“Fair enough. You’re working for the Boxed B now, and I’d like to pick up a hundred head tomorrow. You think we can manage that?”
Zeb tipped his hat. “Yes, sir. Thanks, Mr. McDowell, you won’t be sorry.”
“Call me Cord, and I’m the one who needs to thank you for coming out tonight. Once we’re finished with the buy, we’ll eat lunch and wait for the trucks. I’d like you riding back in the trucks with the cattle. You’ll know where to tell the drivers to unload if you worked here before.”
“I was planning on riding back. I brought my horse here tonight just in case I got the job.” He touched his hat. “See you tomorrow.”
