Ruining the Rancher (Masterson County Book 3)

by Calle J. Brookes

  Levi waited until filming was done and headed toward the small bungalow that had once housed the foreman of the ranch before the Masterson brothers had purchased it to expand their neighboring spread. Rowland Bowles was renting it for the duration of his filming in Masterson.

  Levi knocked with clear purpose. He and Bowles had some business to take care of.

  The door swung open.

  A petite strawberry blonde stood in front of him.

  It wasn’t Pan.

  This little redhead had green eyes behind thick glasses. She wasn’t quite as pretty as Pan, but close.

  Just as fiery. He’d learned that over the last two months.

  She worked as Bowles’ right hand assistant, along with a real prick Andrew, but Levi didn’t think she liked her boss much. She certainly spoke to him with a snip in her tone on a frequent basis.

  He wondered why she was even with Bowles. But she was extremely smart—no doubt she had her reasons.

  She and Pan and the Tyler sisters were becoming good friends. No wonder, with the way they were always together now.

  “Levi, what can I help you with today?”

  “I need to see Bowles. He around?”

  “He’s taking a shower.” There was ire in the girl’s tone, and disgust. “He’ll be out in a minute.”

  “I haven’t gotten in…yet. Jenny, don’t you have things to do?” The other man came up behind her, dressed only in a towel. He smirked at his assistant. “Mousy type things?”

  “Yes, Mr. Bowles, right away, Mr. Bowles. I live to serve, Mr. Bowles…” She left the front porch, muttering as she went.

  “Hard to find good help these days,” Bowles said, watching her go. “And I don’t think Jenny likes me much anymore. She hasn’t since the barn burned.”

  “Uh. Could it be that you’re walking around practically naked in front of her?” He looked at Bowles. The guy was a few years older than Levi, and looked like the sleek Hollywood type. Pan had certainly mentioned how attractive she found him. Repeatedly. “Aren’t you worried about her complaining?”

  “Of course I am. But I’m not ever going to touch her that way. I just want her to go back to Hollywood and leave me be.” Bowles growled out his frustration. “Before I do something completely stupid.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You have to know what I mean. I’ve seen you with Pandora. There she is, right in front of you. And you want to touch. You’d change your whole world for her. In an instant, just to make her smile, make her look at you like she’s proud of you. And she just doesn’t see. But the difference between you and I, Mr. Masterson, is that I know I am not the kind of a man a woman like Jenny needs in her life. She belongs in a place like this, not my world.”

  “Uh...didn’t you bring her with you, from your world?” Poor schmuck. He looked pitiful. All over that girl.

  But Bowles was right. Levi felt the exact same way.

  “That’s beside the point. Jenny needs to leave before she ruins everything. Why are you here?”

  To break the guy’s fingers for touching Pan today. But after Bowles’ confession, how could he do that?

  He understood the guy, after all.

  It sucked to be in love with a woman who just refused to see it.

  He made some lame excuse to Bowles about needing the back barn in two days and hurried away.

  Levi needed to find Pan. Just like always. He spent more time hunting his housekeeper than he did running the biggest spread in Masterson County. What did that say about his mental state again?

  He was losing it, and he knew it.

  4

  She wasn’t stupid. Just because she hadn’t ever slept with a man—or even kissed one—didn’t mean she was clueless when one was attracted.

  And when that man was staring—again—it was hard to miss.

  Levi was interested; and that meant that he thought he had the right to control what she did. She had no idea where he'd gotten his archaic notions. The rest of his brothers weren’t that barbaric, or chauvinistic. They were good, kind, compassionate, loving and wonderful men—even Nate who tended to give Perci fits every chance he could.

  She really liked all of the Masterson brothers, Levi included.

  Pan just didn't know what she wanted to do about him.

  It didn't help that he was right there—everywhere—every time she turned around. Between the work she was juggling as his housekeeper, the movie and all that it required, and still trying to keep her bookkeeping business afloat, she was getting worn out.

  But Pan wasn't about to complain. Of course not; Tylers never complained. Tylers just dealt.

  She finished cleaning the kitchen and putting all the dishes away. They’d had everyone over from her father's house tonight. It had been one of Perci's rare nights off.

  Pan winced.

  Somehow, Perci and Nate were working the same schedule again. Talk about mood killing. The two of them were getting ridiculous. Perci should just kiss him already, or something. Get it over with.

  She understood her sister’s hesitation.

  Perci still lived with their father, and Pan didn't see that changing anytime soon. Someone had to help with the boys, especially with Perci's limited schedule. Phoebe spent her days over there, tending to her goats and the children; Pip would drive her over daily. Pip would spend most of her daylight hours helping their father run the ranch, along with Pete, their sixteen-year-old brother.

  When Pip wasn't doing that, she was in town at Matt's vet office, helping him where she could. Or just being with him because she loved him.

  Or making that damned movie. No one had expected Pip's part to be quite as large as it was. And her extremely introverted sister was wearing down. Everyone could see that. Pan was worried. And so was Matt. It was in his eyes.

  He'd scooped Pip up into his arms right after dinner and carried her off to the room just off the back hall that they now shared. They would be moving out to their new home—Matt had had to remodel it first—within the month. They had managed to meld their lives together seamlessly.

  As if it had been easy for them.

  The way their mother had always promised it would be.

  Just like Joel and Phoebe had somehow made things fit, easily. It was supposed to be easy.

  But nothing about Levi Masterson was ending up easy at all. Not for her.

  "Are you thinking about me?" He came up behind her after the last of his brothers left the kitchen. She fought a shiver as the scent of the mountains and Levi hit her.

  Yes; she was thinking about him. But Pan wasn't about to tell him that. It might do him some good to stew a while longer; she wasn’t about to give into his Levi Masterson charm.

  Levi stepped into her path and grinned. She resisted rolling her eyes; it wasn't fair that men like him were free to walk around without a warning sign.

  She could see why so many women in Masterson County found a reason to stop by whenever Levi was home. He wasn't the tallest of the brothers—Nate towered over the rest of them—but he was still well over six feet tall, maybe six-three or six-four, had linebacker shoulders that he often had encased in soft looking flannel shirts, and the man was just made for jeans and cowboy boots. Add in the face that was too perfect for a woman’s sanity, and it just wasn't fair.

  Sometimes when he smiled at her she turned into an idiot and forgot what it was she was thinking. Well, most times. Levi had a way of making her forget every plan she had ever made. "Of course not, I have better things to do with my time. I'm just… Going over my lines for tomorrow. I think I'm supposed to seduce a mortal. Maybe that's the day after. I may get to kiss Hunter. I'm not sure yet it all depends on what Rowland thinks."

  She bit back a smile, knowing that that was sure to goad him. Levi did not like Rowland Bowles—or Hunter Louis Clark. She knew exactly why. And it wasn’t because of their ridiculously pretentious names.

  "Really?" Levi took the clean plates from her and lifted them into the cabinet. P
an tried to step aside, but that didn't work. Two strong arms came down on the countertop next to her, trapping her between them. "You sure you want your first kiss to be on camera?"

  "What…what makes you think it will be my first kiss?" Damn those sisters of hers. One of them had definitely squealed.

  But she would plot revenge against her sisters later. Right now she had an even bigger threat to worry about.

  Levi smelled like he always did, that fate minty-and-wood and man scent that she would always associate with him. Until him, she had never really paid much attention to how a man smelled before—unless he needed an obvious shower. Not until Levi.

  Sometimes when she wasn't paying attention and he got too close she would just breathe him in like a total idiot, like one of those fawning goobs from town.

  And good for them. She hoped one of them finally caught him and took him off her hands quickly. With all the changes that had been going on in her life lately, Pan wasn't sure what the future was going to hold for her; she didn't like it when she didn't know the plan.

  Not knowing left too much too chance, too many ways things could go so horribly wrong. Not having a plan drove her nuts.

  And she had no doubt that Levi could make a woman go far, far too wrong.

  "Well, am I wrong? Family rumor has it that you've been too smart to get involved with some random man. Speculation is you've never even been kissed before. So you're going to let some strange actor that you don't really know be your first?"

  "Why is it any of your concern?" No, she hadn't exactly been too fond of the idea. But there was no way she was going to tell someone that she was twenty-two years old and hadn't ever been kissed.

  It just hadn't happened.

  After her sister Pip had been sexually assaulted at the community center parking lot when Pan wasn't even seventeen, it had left a lasting impression. Everything that had happened since that night had just made it impossible for her to get involved with a man.

  At least not enough to trust him well enough for any type of physical feelings to develop. Or to let him close enough to kiss her, anyway.

  Well, she was certainly close to a man now.

  Pan trembled. She had to admit, there were definitely some physical feelings between them.

  Damn Levi Masterson; he had a real way of ruining her plans.

  5

  Levi knew what he was doing was a big gamble. He was pushing the boundaries between them, and he knew it. She hadn't exactly asked him to kiss her.

  Of course, she hadn’t moved away from him, either. Pan rested her hands on his chest and he could feel them trembling. He bit back a smile, knowing he had his girl exactly where he wanted her. Finally. Pan was attracted to him. He knew it. She was just so damned afraid.

  Just like her sisters had been with his brothers. Tylers had a lot of reasons to be fearful. Matt and Joel were helping their wives heal. Like he intended to do for Pan. If she would just let him in.

  "Pan, baby girl. I really don't like the idea of some other man kissing you before I get to. What if you like him better than me? I’m…self-conscious." He deliberately grinned at her and toyed with the edge of her apron.

  "It's highly likely that I will. What are you doing? Levi…"

  He brushed a thumb over her lips, marveling again at how soft she was. This woman did something to him in ways he'd never be able to explain. "Pretty girl, I'm not ever going to hurt you. I want you to know that I'll never hurt you. Let me kiss you, Pandora Claire."

  6

  Pan knew what she was doing was crazy; letting him kiss her was one of the worst mistakes she could ever make. This guy was dangerous to every plan she could possibly create, and she knew it. But that didn't help. She knew the truth—she wanted him to kiss her.

  She wanted Levi Masterson to be her first kiss. His mouth was right there. Pan struggled not to stare at it.

  Levi dropped his hands to her waist. Pan squealed when he lifted her off her feet and sat her on the countertop. It put her much closer to those lips of his. Too close.

  Damn him. He was just too good at all of this. Far better than she could ever hope to be. She wished she could pause him right where he was, just long enough to run to one of her sisters and find out what it was she was supposed to do now.

  They were around all the rest of the time, getting all up in her business. But now that she needed them…

  Where were they when she needed them?

  This was something she would never understand. She just wasn't any good at understanding men.

  She didn't think she ever would be.

  "What are you doing?" Why did she have such a stupid question? She knew exactly what he was doing. Her hand slipped over his shoulder, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

  "You know exactly what I'm doing. I'm going to kiss you, baby."

  Levi leaned in. Before Pan even realized it, she was leaning in toward him, too. His lips brushed hers, once. Lightly.

  He pulled back slightly, and looked at her out of those Masterson eyes of his. Almost as if he was questioning. When she didn't protest, he leaned in again. Brushed his lips a little bit more firmly against hers.

  It tickled; she hadn't expected that. Pan gasped; Levi took advantage.

  His mouth opened over hers and for the first time in her twenty-two years, she was getting a real kiss from a man she couldn't stop thinking about.

  7

  Levi deliberately kept things a simple as possible. He didn't want to frighten her, and for all her sass, it would be entirely too easy to do just that. So even though he wanted to devour her—she tasted just as sweet as he had always known she would—he didn't. He kept the kiss brief and unthreatening. When he pulled away, she stared up at him. Her lips were pinker now, swollen from his, and trembling.

  He forced himself to take a deep breath before he dove into her the way he wanted. He had had it bad for this woman since the moment he had first seen her—Levi wouldn't risk losing her by acting like a damned caveman the first time he truly got his hands on her.

  "There, now you've had your first kiss. And honey, when you're ready for the next one… I'll be right here waiting. You have ruined me, Pandora Claire; ruined me for any other woman. I can't think straight when you're around. I don't want to think straight when you're near. So, when you're ready, I'm going to be right here. You keep that in mind." Turning from her at that moment and walking away was one of the hardest things he had ever done, but Levi did just that.

  Pandora was far too important to him for Levi to screw everything up. And he knew it.

  8

  She couldn’t get him out of her head. Pan tried as she got ready for bed in her tiny little apartment over Levi’s garage. She brushed one hand against her lips like an idiot.

  He’d just been so good at it. She thought. How was she supposed to know differently?

  She could still feel him pressed up against her. Could smell him all around her. Damn him.

  She was not going to let Levi Masterson do this to her. He was not going to change everything.

  Pan snuggled in her bed and thought about him, and thought about him, and thought about him like lovesick teenage girl.

  He was not going to do this to her no matter how good he was at it.

  Still, as far as first kisses went—in her limited experience— kissing Levi Masterson hadn't been all that bad. In fact, it hadn't been bad at all.

  No wonder she was so darned confused.

  Pan flipped in the bed again, trying to ignore the fact that the sheets were the exact same color as that dork’s eyes.

  Mastersons were apparently really good at driving Tyler women nuts. She fought the urge to text Perci; her unmarried sister would understand, would commiserate, at least.

  But Pan didn’t.

  She wasn’t ready to share that she’d had her first kiss—and was now completely tied up in knots. Pan brushed a finger against her lips again. Let herself remember how it had felt, confusion aside. How it had f
elt. She fought a smile.

  Levi was a really good kisser. She was glad he’d been her first.

  Pan had a big day tomorrow. She had to be playing her A-game for this entire movie thing to work. Too much rode on it. She couldn’t let him distract her. Kissing him would definitely distract her. He already had—she was supposed to be sleeping, not wondering about Levi Masterson.

  Damn him. That man could so ruin all her plans.

  Pan was just going to have to not let him.

  9

  Levi watched the filming again the next day. He wasn't about to stand by and let her kiss just any old guy. Not his girl. For all her bravado yesterday, he'd known she was nervous. She thought he didn't get it, but he did.

  Levi knew she wasn't fully enjoying what she was doing. But for Pan, her family came first. She was doing this to help her family; no one else saw it, but he did.

  Pan had a streak of family loyalty a mile wide. It was one of the things that he'd first noticed about her and her sisters. There wasn't nothing they wouldn't do for each other. Kind of like him and his brothers. How could a guy not fall for a woman like that?

  Levi was no saint, and he’d never claimed to be. He'd kissed more than his fair share of the women in Masterson County. He knew he had a reputation, but he also knew kind of girl he'd been searching for over the last decade.

  He’d taken one look at her that day they'd gone looking for Joel and Phoebe, when those damned Rutherfords had threatened his brother and the tiny woman who had become his first sister-in-law. And he'd known.

  Pandora had been clutching a rifle, willing to protect the little brothers still inside their home. She had looked so young, so beautiful, and so brave…

  And terrified. Something had gone straight through his gut and he'd known that it was his job to take care of this woman for the rest of their lives. This was his girl, and there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her.