A Refuge for the Rancher (Brush Creek Brides Book 6)

by Liz Isaacson

  “Wait a minute. We’re going into water?” She began fanning herself like she’d faint at any moment.

  “The snow’s barely started to melt. It’s more of a trickle.” He hoped. He hadn’t actually been out to the stream yet, but it didn’t get very full before June. “You’ll see.”

  He whistled to Bullseye, who did join them, and set out, passing the homestead on his right and leaving behind Cabin Row on his left. They followed a dirt road for a few minutes and then he veered Gwyneth down a foot trail that wound like a ribbon through the wild grasses. The fields on either side of them had been recently ploughed in preparation for planting, and the dirt there would be loose and unforgiving.

  A slight breeze tried to lift his cowboy hat from his head, and Grant pressed it further onto his head. He sighed in pure contentment. There was nothing he loved more than this land. He could feel God out here, and when he needed answers to problems, he never had to look farther than his own backyard.

  “It’s quiet out here,” Shannon said, her voice shushed.

  “It’s great, isn’t it?”

  “Gives me a lot of room to think.”

  “That’s what I like about it.”

  They didn’t speak again until they came to the stream. Bullseye waded right in and the water was shallow enough that he didn’t have to swim. Grant watched the bulldog with a measure of admiration and affection. The animal turned back when he reached the other side, his tongue lolling out of his smiling mouth, and Grant grinned at him before turning back to the horses.

  “All right, Crossfire. Your turn,” Grant said. “Nice and easy, bud. Come with Gwenny.”

  Shannon scoffed, and Grant grinned at her. Crossfire balked, and Grant tugged until the horse finally obeyed and sloshed into the water. “See? Easy.”

  “Oh!” Shannon yelped, and Grant swung around to look at her.

  “What?”

  “That water is cold.”

  “It’s snow-melt runoff,” he said. “So yeah. It’s cold.” He chuckled. “Did I not mention that?”

  “You did not mention that.” She gave him a disgruntled look, but all it did was get Grant’s blood moving faster. He brought Crossfire even with Gwyneth and reached across the space between him and Shannon to hold her hand.

  “The trailhead’s another ten minutes or so, but you’re not really wearing appropriate hiking shoes. Want to just relax here?”

  She glanced around. “Where?”

  “Here.” He squeezed her hand and swung off his horse. “There are some trees down there, and we can let the horses graze in the pasture right behind that.” He pointed about a hundred yards down the stream.

  He led the horses—Crossfire still carrying Shannon—to the pasture and helped her down. She slipped and ended up grabbing onto his shoulders to steady herself. Grant was A-okay with that, and grinned down at her.

  A beautiful blush stained her cheeks as she stepped back—and met the horse, who still hadn’t moved.

  “Go on, Crossfire.” The horse plodded away, joining Gwyneth in the pasture, and Grant took Shannon to a grassy spot under one of the aspen trees that had the most leaves. Bullseye slurped from the stream and then laid down in the shade several feet away.

  “Ah,” Grant sighed as he sat and leaned against the tree trunk. “This is nice.”

  She cuddled into his side, and he took a breath of her floral and sweet scent and closed his eyes, tipping his hat forward as he rested his head on the bark. “It is.”

  “So is Gwyneth going to be a problem?”

  “I told her what’s what.” Shannon’s breath drifted across his forearm, and Grant played with her hair, thrilled at the connection he felt with her, the easiness of being with her, the peace pulling through him.

  “So what do you do in the summer?” he asked.

  “Principals still work,” she said. “I’ll be at the school all of June, obviously, because we do summer school. I take time off in July, and I’m back by the beginning of August.”

  “So you get July off. What do you do then?”

  “My sister and I usually go on a cruise.” She stiffened in his arms, and he heard the cooler note in her voice when she said, “Or we used to.”

  “Used to?”

  “She’s…upset with me right now.”

  Grant sensed a much bigger story behind those simple words, and he gave Shannon several seconds of silence to start the tale. She didn’t.

  As the ease between them evaporated, Grant grasped for it, wanted to bring it back. He didn’t want Shannon to feel any amount of pain or heartache. “So you’re not perfect,” he said.

  “What?” She pushed away from him enough to look into his face. If he just leaned down, just a little, he felt sure she’d stretch up to meet his mouth.

  He swallowed and said, “For the first few weeks there, I couldn’t find any flaws.”

  She blinked and there were no barriers between them. “That’s why my sister is mad at me.”

  “Oh?”

  “She thinks I’m jealous. See, she was engaged, and…then things fell apart, and she blamed me.”

  “You?”

  Shannon sighed and resignation crossed her expression. “Her fiancé hit on me at my mom’s house last Labor Day. I told Hannah, and she didn’t believe me. Her fiancé left town and never came back, but somehow the end of the relationship is still my fault.”

  She leaned back into him, and Grant’s heart beat, and beat, and beat. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “So she thinks I’m a little devious, a lot jealous, and really arrogant.”

  Grant rubbed small circles on her upper arm. “I can’t even imagine you as any of those things. You are really strong. Intimidating.”

  Shannon bolted upright. “Intimidating?”

  He realized he’d said the wrong thing. Totally wrong. But the word was out, and he couldn’t suck it back in. “Just a little.”

  “In what way?” Her gaze sharpened.

  “In that way,” he said, gesturing toward her as he swallowed. “You’re drop-dead gorgeous, for one. That’s intimidating to a man like me. You’re powerful, successful, educated, organized. It’s a little unnerving.” Why hadn’t he stopped talking yet?

  “Was. Was unnerving,” he tried to correct himself. He pressed his lips together, determined not to speak again.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “A man like you? What kind of man are you?”

  He shrugged, fully committed to remaining silent. He didn’t think he could fit anymore foot inside anyway.

  She glared at him. After a few seconds, everything in her relaxed. “You’re right.”

  “I’m not right,” he said robotically. “I’m rarely right. Just ask Landon.”

  “I work really hard to put all the pieces of myself in place.”

  “And I appreciate it.”

  She nudged him with her shoulder, and he chuckled. “I’d like you without those pieces in place,” he said. “And I’m really glad you’re scared of horses, and wearing the totally wrong shoes for a ranch, and that your sister is mad at you.”

  She giggled. “Stop it.”

  “No, really. It makes you more human.” He kept his smile in place and dipped his head toward hers. “And I think you could probably trust a man who kissed you after the second date.”

  She jolted away from him like a bolt of electricity had passed through her.

  Grant gazed at her, a tiny smile on his lips and a galloping heart in his chest. “What do you think?”

  Chapter Seven

  What did Shannon think? At the moment, she could barely put a coherent thought together. She managed to say, “I think you should’ve kissed me last night.”

  “Should’ve?”

  “I wanted you to.”

  “I wanted to as well.” In one swift motion, he tightened his arm around her, drew her closer, and swiped his hat completely off his head. Only a moment later, he paused, his mouth only a millimeter from hers.

 
He touched his lips to hers for only a breath, barely long enough for her to feel anything. He growled and finally kissed her properly.

  Shannon pressed into him, eagerly experiencing him in a whole new way. Maybe it had been a while since she’d kissed a man, but this kiss made her feel like the earth was spinning really fast. Either that, or super slow.

  No matter what, she didn’t think she’d ever been kissed so completely in all her life.

  He broke their connection before she was ready, a chuckle lingering in the space between them. She wanted to kiss him again, so she did.

  When she broke their contact this time, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I need to know a few more of your flaws.”

  “Yeah? Why’s that?”

  He slid his hand up her arm to the back of her neck. “Because it’s incredibly unfair that you’re so good at everything you do.”

  “You kinda liked that, didn’t you?”

  He kissed her again, and it was all the testimony she needed that he liked her. They stayed under the tree for a while longer, and then Grant said they had to get the horses back. Really, Shannon thought he was worried about his dog, who lay prostrate on the ground under the neighboring tree. His chest rose and fell in a fast pant, and as Shannon dusted off her jeans, she nodded to the white bulldog.

  “Is he going to make it back?”

  Grant looked at his dog. “Bullseye.”

  The dog didn’t lift his head. He did slightly use his neck to gaze at Grant with the biggest puppy dog eyes Shannon had ever seen. She went over to the dog and stroked him. “You okay, bud?”

  He licked her hand and she giggled. “You’re a sweetheart, aren’t you?”

  “He’s a good little dog.” Grant bent down and rubbed the dog’s back. “We gotta get back, Bullseye. I’m starving.” He glanced at Shannon. “You busy tonight? Want to go to dinner?”

  She liked his proximity, the way he gazed at her with softness in the edges of his eyes, the scent of the woods he carried in his skin. “Dinner sounds great. I could cook for us.”

  “You cook?”

  “Sometimes.” She laughed. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Making a meal for me is grilling asparagus or making a fruit protein shake.” She shook her head, unsure of where her brain had gone. She hadn’t gone this dumb over a man in, well, ever. “Forget I said that. Let’s order pizza or something though.”

  “You don’t want to go out?”

  “I have a great backyard,” she said. “You could bring Bullseye. He can play with my two dogs.”

  “You have two dogs? Where were they earlier?”

  “In the backyard.” She stood and glanced around for her horse. She couldn’t see either animal anywhere and blip of panic pinged through her.

  “I like pizza, and Bullseye loves other dogs.”

  “I have a nosy neighbor,” Shannon said, going for full disclosure.

  “Another flaw.” He slipped his hand into hers. “Now where have those horses got to?”

  A couple of hours later, Shannon pulled into her garage, Grant’s truck behind her. She couldn’t remember a more perfect day. She’d puttered around the house in the morning, even going so far as to clear the budding weeds from her flowerbeds. She paid a twelve-year-old boy to come mow her lawn, and he started next week.

  “Let’s go,” he said and Bullseye spilled out of the truck.

  Shannon went into the house and continued past the dining room table she rarely used and into the kitchen. She found both her dogs waiting for her at the sliding glass door, which she opened to wagging tails and slobbering tongues.

  “Hey, guys.” She scrubbed them and gave Bear a little extra hug. “Hey. Did you have a good afternoon without me? Where’s that tennis ball, huh?” She glanced into the backyard, but she didn’t see it.

  Bullseye joined the fray and the dogs circled and sniffed. Sniffed some more. Theo barked, and Shannon shushed him before saying, “Go on. Go run.” She nudged Bear back outside, and the other two dogs went with him.

  She turned to Grant, a bit self-conscious to have him here though he’d come last night. “So, pizza?”

  “I like the combo kind.”

  She called in the order, glad Grant liked the same kind of pizza as her. One of her past boyfriends insisted on ham and pineapple, and Shannon couldn’t stomach hot fruit. So they’d always order two pizzas for two people, and she’d hated that. She’d dated him for another three months before calling it quits.

  But at this moment, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she wouldn’t want to be with Grant. She hung up with the only pizza joint in town and went into the backyard, Grant right behind her.

  She picked up a ball and threw it to the dogs. Bear went nuts for a ball, but Theo didn’t seem to notice it. Bullseye frolicked around like he’d gone to doggy heaven.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Grant stepped to her side.

  “Sure.” Bear bounded back to her. “Drop it,” she said, and the dog dropped the ball at her feet. She picked it up, a pulse of anxiety soaring through her. She tossed the ball, sending Bear tearing after it.

  “Will you sit with me at church tomorrow?”

  Shannon laughed, the relief rushing through her too strong.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I thought you were going to ask something hard,” she said. “Church is easy.”

  “Oh, well, I wasn’t sure, you know, because you haven’t seemed interested in sitting by me before.”

  Shannon ignored Bear, who circled her with the ball clenched in his jaws. “I didn’t know you wanted me to.”

  “Where I come from, bringing a woman to church means you’re serious.”

  Shannon’s surprise lifted her eyebrows. “Really?”

  “That’s what my momma taught me. Otherwise, church is for worshipping God.”

  The only sound in the backyard was the labored breathing of dogs. Shannon stepped around Bear to get closer to Grant. “So if you sit by me, you won’t be able to worship?”

  “It’ll be harder,” he admitted, his hand landing on her waist and sending a tremor down her spine. “You distract me in the best way possible.” His throaty whisper and the emotion in his words half-terrified and half-excited her.

  She grinned up at him, wondering how they’d lived in the same town for three years and had never met. All she could think about was kissing him again.

  “So it’s okay for us to sit together?”

  “I don’t see why not.”

  “Wasn’t sure if the job had anything to do with it.”

  Shannon hadn’t exactly forgotten about the job, but she hadn’t thought about how that would look either. She’d submitted his hire paperwork just yesterday. But her supervisor didn’t live in Brush Creek, and Shannon could date whoever she wanted.

  What’s the right thing to do here? she thought, hoping the Lord would answer quickly. She didn’t feel much of anything, which for her, usually meant her own judgment was good enough.

  “It’s fine,” she said, thinking of snuggling up to him in a church pew. She definitely wouldn’t be able to focus much on the pastor’s sermon with Grant so close, his hand in hers or his arm around her shoulders.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this giddy about a relationship, and it felt nice. She felt for the first time since her falling out with Hannah that maybe she was worth something, that perhaps she would be able to find some measure of happiness.

  She hadn’t realized how deep Hannah’s accusations and silence had cut her until confronted with her empty house every night. Grant found her intimidating, sure. But not completely unapproachable. And Shannon had never thought she was a jealous person—but she’d been second-guessing herself for months.

  “Want me to come pick you up in the morning, or do you want to meet there?”

  She rather liked the idea of him coming to get her, so she said, “Come get me,” and tipped up onto her toes to kiss him, the three dogs watching.
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  At least until she heard the gasp and the squeak of the tool chest on the other side of the fence. Ruth had seen her, and a fair amount of panic pooled in her gut.

  Doesn’t matter, she told herself as Grant tucked her against his chest and chuckled at the dogs. Ruth would find out--along with the whole town--tomorrow when she strutted into the chapel with a new accessory on her arm.

  Chapter Eight

  “What’s goin’ on?” Emmett stood on Grant’s front porch, his arms folded, and his wife Molly in the truck idling in the lane.

  “Nothing.”

  “You haven’t come to church with us for three weeks.”

  “I’m going, just...by myself.” Until today, that was true.

  “What’s this about?”

  Emmett would watch him like one of those action comedies he loved so much. Grant couldn’t very well lie about it. Didn’t want to.

  “I’m picking up Shannon Sharpe.”

  The other cowboy’s eyes widened. “Oh yeah?”

  “It’s nothing,” Grant said though a smile spread his lips just thinking about the last kiss he’d shared with Shannon.

  “Yeah, I can see that by the way you’re smiling like you just won the lottery.”

  Grant’s smile faltered. Emmett couldn’t know that Grant had bought dozens of lottery tickets, trying to get the money he needed to pay his debts. He hated that a simple conversation could so easily remind him of his past mistakes.

  “It’s not nothing,” Emmett said while Grant reminded himself that he’d given up gambling when he’d come to Brush Creek. “With all the women you’ve dated, I’ve never known you to sit by them at church.”

  Grant shrugged. “That’s because…well, a lot of reasons.” Some of the women he’d dated had lived in neighboring towns, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have a working vehicle. Some of them hadn’t been terribly religious. Some of them he just didn’t want to parade around on his arm. “I’ll see you there, okay?” He nudged Bullseye to back up into the house, and he drew the door closed in Emmett’s grinning face.