by Marla Monroe
Beverly cleaned and oiled leather until her hands ached. She still needed to work on a few of the saddles that were showing signs of wear. The majority of the saddles were stored over barrel stands in front of the stall of the horse they normally went on. The ones that needed work were stored in the tack room where she was working. She’d start on them after lunch. Right now, she needed to clean up and head over to the restaurant.
The ranch’s restaurant was owned by Billy Jean, the wife to the two owners. She was an amazing chef. All of the ranch hands ate free. The guests ate as part of their stay, and anyone from the surrounding towns who came were paying customers. There were very few nights that they weren’t packed with a line waiting in the foyer.
Beverly could honestly say she’d never eaten meals that good in her life. The meals prepared by Billy Jean were masterpieces that made you want more.
“Ready to head out for lunch?” Luke stuck his head in the tack room with a smile tilting the corners of his lips upward.
“Um, yeah. I’ll be over in a few minutes. I want to finish what I’m doing first.” Beverly picked up a set of reins she’d just finished and fiddled with them.
“We’ll wait. No use in dribbling in at different times. Need some help?” Jeremy asked.
She felt crowded with the two big men in the little room. Heat seemed to burn her face and neck. She needed out. If that meant walking over to the other building to eat with them, then that’s what she’d do. Beverly was entirely too aware of the two men to remain in such close quarters with them.
“I’ll finish this after lunch. We can go.” She brushed past the two men and stepped outside into the slightly cooler air. June in the mountains could be deceptively warm but cool down fast at night once the sun had sunk behind the mountains. Yet at mid-day, the mountain air had heated up to the upper seventies.
“You’ve made good progress with the tack. We’ll help you with the saddles. Looks like several of them out in the barn need cleaning up and oiling,” Luke said.
“I can handle the two that need repairs.” She didn’t want them in the little room with her. She’d never be able to concentrate.
As they crossed the road to where the building housing the office and the restaurant stood, Jeremy placed a steady hand on the small of her back as if to be sure she didn’t try to veer away. Where would she go?
“Damn, something smells good.” Luke opened the door, and both men stood back so she could enter first.
“Billy Jean always has something good to eat.”
“It’s a wonder we aren’t all fat as pigs,” Jeremy said.
Beverly had to watch what she ate so that she didn’t do just that. The meals there were delicious, fattening, and plenty of it. The woman didn’t do anything halfway.
“I wonder what it is today. Smells like one of her quiche pies.” Beverly closed her eyes and inhaled.
“Here you go.” Jeremy pulled out a chair for her that once again placed her between the two men.
With a soft sigh, she sank into the chair and relegated herself to attempting to ignore their magnetic pull on her. The two men were hell on her nerves and weren’t going away. She needed to talk to Reed right after lunch.
“You were up early.” Jeremy cocked his head to one side. “Trouble sleeping?
“No, told you I slept fine. I had an early night, so I woke up early. Wanted to get a head start on chores is all.” She cursed that she seemed to have diarrhea of the mouth around the two men.
“Next time one of us is off the same day you are, we’re taking you somewhere to relax and enjoy yourself. Using your day off to work just wears you out, babe.” Jeremy leaned in closer. “I can guarantee we can do better than messing around here.”
“I like it here. I can’t think of anything I really would rather do than hang around on the ranch.” Beverly was afraid she was playing with fire, but didn’t know how to stop.
“Leave it up to us, and we’ll show you lots of things to do that aren’t on this ranch.” Luke leaned in from the other side.
Beverly thought of nothing else but what the two men might be insinuating if they had the same days off. She was sure they’d break through her defenses if she let one of them take her anywhere. The best thing she could do was stay on the ranch. Allowing them to take her out would be asking for her worst fears to come true. She had no doubt they would break her resolve to resist them. She was much too attracted to the two men.
Two men. She still didn’t understand how she could want both of them. It might be fine for Billy Jean or Shelby, but Beverly wasn’t like them. She didn’t date more than one man at a time. It just wasn’t possible for her to handle two men at the same time.
“Whatever you’re thinking, hon. Don’t. We’re not giving up.” Jeremy’s whispered words left her weak.
Beverly excused herself after finishing the meal, forcing herself to walk slowly out of the room. Once outside the building, she nearly ran to Reed’s office in the store and waited for him to return from lunch. She had to get him to rearrange her days and assignments. She wouldn’t be able to resist the two men for long if they spent too much time together. She was weak and needy. She had no doubt they’d break her heart into a million pieces once they finished with her. She had no hope in satisfying them, and once she’d had them all to herself, not having them would kill her.
“Beverly. If I’d know you were waiting, I wouldn’t have hung around talking. Is something wrong?” Reed unlocked his door and gestured for her to go on inside.
“No. Not really. I was wondering what the schedule was going to look like for the next week. I was hoping I could spend most of the time out on trail rides.”
“I have you on one each day, and you’ll be working the all-day one with Luke.”
“Ah, can I trade with someone on the all-day one?” she asked.
“What’s going on, Bev?”
“I really don’t want to be paired up with Luke or Jeremy. They make me nervous.”
Reed sat down. “Are they harassing you? We don’t allow that. Have they hurt you or bothered you somehow?”
“No. It’s nothing like that. They, um. They like me, and I’m not interested in them. That’s all. They haven’t done anything wrong. I just don’t want to encourage them.” Beverly didn’t want to get them in trouble. That wasn’t her intention at all.
“So, you’re afraid you’ll give in to them if you continue to work around them. Sounds like to me that you’re attracted to them. What’s the problem? Are you seeing someone else?” Reed steepled his fingers as he looked up at her.
“Reed. I’m not cut out to date two men. I left Boulder because my last relationship fell through, and I’m still dealing with that. I don’t need another one on the heels of that one.” Beverly really needed him to understand.
“That’s been about six months back, Beverly. You haven’t appeared to be moping around over it. I didn’t take you as a runner. You struck me as someone who met a challenge head on. Was I wrong about you?” Reed asked.
“No. But we aren’t talking about work. We’re talking about my sanity. I can’t handle their kind of relationship, Reed. Please keep us on different rotations.”
“I’m not going to make changes to the schedule, Bev. You’ve got to be able to work with everyone on the ranch no matter what your issues are. If you can’t, then we’ll have to discuss that. Do you understand?”
“I understand. Thanks anyway.”
“If they harass you or make inappropriate comments or approach you inappropriately, then talk to me. Otherwise, there’s no reason for me to make special concessions when I don’t do it for anyone else.”
Beverly walked out of Reed’s office feeling like a fool. Why had she thought he would help her? He was right. If he did it for her, he’d have to do it for everyone which would make scheduling a nightmare. Everyone had to get along and pull their weight. It didn’t make her feel any better knowing that. All it did was slam home the fact that she was stu
ck with fighting off her attraction to them.
Like that’s going to happen. My body is one huge hormone primed and ready for them. I might not want them on an intellectual plane, but my stupid body burns for them on a physical plane. I’m screwed. That’s all there is to it.
She returned to the barn and was relieved to find that Jeremy and Luke hadn’t returned yet. She closed herself up in the tack room and got to work on the saddles, praying the guys would leave her be the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter Five
Jeremy knew Beverly was in the tack room working. He’d seen her go inside while he’d been in one of the stalls crouched at the gate, repairing a hinge that had come loose. Knowing she was in there had his cock rock hard. It made bending and moving around painful. Damn, but he wanted her.
He and Luke had figured out that she’d been running when she signed on at Bear Mountain Ranch, so they’d given her time to get past whatever had made her Boulder. They were pretty sure it was over a man. The bastard had been foolish to let her go. Once he and Luke had her in their arms, they’d never let anything come between them. She was much too precious a woman to risk doing anything to upset her. It would be their pleasure to make sure she was always happy and satisfied.
Luke came in about thirty minutes after Beverly had shown up. By the grim expression on his face, the news wasn’t good.
“What did you find out?”
“She went to Reed to request that she not be put on the same rotations as we’re on.”
“Fuck. What did Reed say?”
“He told her he wasn’t going to make changes in the schedules to keep her from crossing paths with us. We all have to get along together.”
“Good.” Jeremy looked back toward the tack room. “Did he say anything to you about her?”
“Said if we weren’t serious to leave her alone. Said she was too good of a wrangler to risk losing her over a roll in the hay. I set him straight.”
“She’s going to be ours.”
“That’s what I told him,” Luke said.
“Did he have anything else to say?”
“Just not to hurt her.”
“Harming her is the last thing we’d ever want to do. She’s spooked though.”
Luke nodded. “We’ve got to be careful that she doesn’t run.”
“The barn is pretty much finished. Let’s go clean up the exercise circle and the training ring.”
“Give her some space.”
“Right.”
Jeremy carried the pitchfork with him as he led the way out to the exercise ring where they spent the next thirty minutes cleaning it and the training ring. Then they returned to their room to shower and dress for dinner.
Giving Beverly space was killing Jeremy. He wanted to find her and make sure she knew just how serious they were about her. Deep down he knew it wasn’t the time to put a lot of pressure on her, but keeping his distance wasn’t going to happen. He had her under his skin and needed her like a druggie needed his next fix. Her kisses were addicting.
“Let’s see if we can walk Beverly to the restaurant tonight.”
Luke winced but nodded. His friend knew how hard it was for Jeremy to resist the need he had to touch her. Jeremy knew it was difficult for Luke to resist, as well, but he had a little more control over it than Jeremy did. He wanted to hold her at night and wake up to her kisses in the morning. He wanted for them to be the ones to put the smile on her face and the color in her cheeks.
“We’d better go, or we’ll miss her.” Luke opened the door to their room and walked out into the common room of the bunkhouse.
Rusty sat on the couch watching TV. He looked up as they passed but didn’t say anything. They passed Dakota on the way out as the other man was coming in.
“Did a good job on those corrals, guys. Thanks.”
“Needed doing,” Jeremy said.
“Looks like Beverly took care of the tack.”
“Yeah. She was working on it before lunch today and the saddles this afternoon.” Luke glanced at Jeremy.
“Be careful with her, guys. She might spook if you come on too strong.” Dakota held the door for them.
“Don’t worry about her. We’ll take good care of her.” Jeremy nodded at the other man then walked out into the early evening.
“Looks like everyone knows our business now.” Luke settled his hat on his head.
“Knew they would once we moved her between us at the table last night,” Jeremy told him.
“Might make it harder to spend time with her if they decided to interfere.”
“I don’t think anyone will unless it’s the women. They tend to stick together.”
Luke chuckled. “If Billy Jean and Shelby talk to her, they might convince her to give us a try. They’re pretty damn happy.”
“Maybe.”
When they climbed up the stairs to the two apartments over the store, Jeremy worried that they’d waited too late since the light over her door was already on. He lifted his hand to knock, and the door opened to a startled Beverly.
“Oh. You scared me. I was just coming out.” Beverly took a step back.
“We came to walk you to dinner,” Jeremy told her.
“Oh, well, thanks, but I really don’t need someone to walk me to and from meals. I can find the place by myself.” She stood with the door open as if she wasn’t sure if she planned to go or not.
“Come on out and close the door, babe. You’re letting the night air into your room.” Jeremy reached out a hand to her.
She didn’t take it, but did step out just enough to close her door. “Um, you can go ahead. I’m coming.”
Jeremy realized that Beverly had made sure not to wear anything provocative, choosing instead to wear clean jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. It did nothing to hide her sexy curves, only made him want to strip her down, so he could touch her, feel how soft she was.
“We’ll walk you just the same, Bev.” Jeremy stepped back to allow her to proceed them down the stairs.
She didn’t say anything else as they walked on either side of her toward the restaurant. The tension in the air crackled between them. Each of them was well aware of the other as they entered the building.
Before Beverly could claim a seat next to Rusty, Jeremy held a chair across from Shelby for her. She frowned but sat down. He sat on her right while Luke sat on her left. The conversation around the table didn’t lull as Dakota and Bo argued about the bear population around the ranch.
“Beverly, did you finish the tack and the saddles today?” Reed asked.
“Everything’s in good shape. We’re going to need to get a couple of harnesses soon, two of ours are getting pretty weak.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Reed said.
“How many guests do we have this week?” Dalton asked.
“Ten. Four couples and two ladies from Florida.” Reed looked down at Shelby. “Has everyone signed up for what they plan to do tomorrow?”
“I put the list in your box. Looks like everyone wants to do the half-day ride tomorrow. So far everyone is planning to go to the Bear Discovery Zoo Tuesday. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
“Wow. It’s unusual for everyone to do the same thing on the same day. Makes it easier on us.” Luke handed off the bread plate to Beverly.
“With that many going on the half-day ride, Reed, do you need another set of hands?” Beverly asked.
“I’d feel better if at least two if not three went on the ride with Jeremy. Why don’t you and Luke go tomorrow? We’ll see how things go after that.”
Jeremy knew the instant it hit her that she’d be going on a ride with both he and Luke by the way her body went stiff next to him. He was that aware of her. Every hair on his body seemed attuned to her.
“That’ll work. Beverly, you can ride in the middle of the group. We’ll put Ginger in front of you so you can watch to be sure she doesn’t show any weakness after her week off.” Jeremy touched her hand and smiled when she jer
ked her head around to look up at him.
“Ah, yeah. That’s a good idea. I’m sure she’s fine, but she could easily reinjure that hoof. I’m glad we cleaned up the path last week.”
“There’s still a lot of loose rock and limbs they have to walk through and over. I’ll feel better with you watching Ginger.”
“Do we know if any of them have any experience around horses or not?” Luke asked.
“I put it on the list. All of the couples have ridden before. The two Florida ladies are new to horses.” Shelby took a bite of her meal. “They’re really excited but not silly. These are thirty-year-old women.”
“Good. It should be a pretty eventless week. We could sure use a few of those. That last group kept us on our toes. I like kids, but sometimes it helps to have an adults-only week now and again,” Beverly said.
“Have you had much experience with kids other than here?” Jeremy asked her.
“I spent a good bit of time with my nieces and nephews before I moved to Boulder. They’re great kids.”
“Luke and I love kids, as well. Spent a lot of time around my sister’s children until they moved to New Mexico for her husband’s job. Now I miss seeing them every weekend.” Jeremy saw it as one more plus that Beverly was the woman for them.
* * * *
“I promise I can walk back to my room without someone guiding me.” Beverly couldn’t get the guys to understand that she didn’t need an escort just because it had gotten dark.
“We like walking with you, Bev.” Jeremy took her hand and squeezed it. “We like being around you.”
“Look.” She stopped and turned to face Jeremy. “I like you guys, but I’m not interested in any sort of relationship right now. I just got out of one before I joined up here.”
“That’s been six months ago. We’re not pushing you to marry us, hon. We’re just wanting to spend time with you and get to know you.” Luke turned her to face him. “We like you, Beverly. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
