Ruining the Rancher (Masterson County Book 3)

by Calle J. Brookes

  He watched for the longest time, first as she argued with that rancher, then as that Masterson brother actually helped her with the laundry.

  Masterson must want in her pants real bad in order to do women’s work like that.

  John had never hung laundry out in his life.

  Masterson didn’t have any sense of pride, did he?

  John smirked as he wiped at the streak of dirt riding high on his own cheek. He hoped Viv got back real soon.

  32

  Hunter got the news that his scene had been rescheduled due to Pan being in an accident ten minutes after he arrived at the Masterson Ranch.

  Instead, Bowles was going to film using some of the extras he’d hired from around the county. From the sheer number of redheads in that group he suspected a lot of them were Tylers. Tylers were so distinctive, after all.

  One of them ran in front of him, practically tripping over his feet. She was taller than Pan and her sisters, but not by much. She may have only been a year or two older, but it was hard to tell. All the Tyler women were hard to figure out when it came to age. Bowles had certainly found a family that resembled the fairies that were so important in this damned script. Blue eyes looked up at him from behind thick glasses.

  Oh, this one was a sweet one. Hunter didn't remember her name. She wasn't the one he was working the closest with at the time, so he hadn't paid her much attention. And with a few minor differences, Tylers seemed to all look alike. "Sorry about that."

  She had tripped over him, but he didn't point that out. Part of his image was his charm with the ladies, all of the ladies. Snapping at one who apparently couldn't see where she was going wasn't something he wanted winding up in the papers. He wrapped his hands around her small waist and helped her right herself. She just blinked at him, a reaction he'd caused in women before. Hunter smiled.

  "I'm sorry… Mr.—I'm afraid I don't remember your name. You're the guy that's been working with Pan, right?"

  Hunter knew he gawked at the woman. But the expression on her face told him she was serious. This woman didn't know who he was. Why? How was that even possible?

  He didn't want to sound egotistical or arrogant, but he was a damned household name now. "Yes. I am Hunter Clark, the star of this little production. Which Tyler are you?"

  "I'm Nikki. Pan's cousin."

  "And what is it exactly you're doing for Bowles and this movie?"

  "I'm one of Perci's court, like Pan. I’m actually playing their younger sister. I'm not doing much, I got too much work of my own to do."

  "And what is it that you do?" He still had his hands on her, did she even realize that? He wasn’t in too big of a hurry to take them away, actually. She wasn’t quite as small as Pan, but was still more than a head shorter than he was. Hunter wanted to lean closer. But he didn’t. He knew how to control himself better than that.

  He wasn’t that hard up for a woman, after all. Not enough to mess with a woman like this one.

  "I run the Step in Time bookstore on Main Street." She wiggled, brushing against him. She was probably five-five and thin. He had a good nine inches on this woman. And probably at least that many years. She wasn't a librarian, but it was damned close. Quiet, bookish, thick glasses, but pretty. Very, very pretty, when a man looked close enough.

  Too bad he didn't have time to look closer. He needed to find his costar, and check on her for himself.

  33

  For the longest time John thought that the redhead standing with Clark was Pandora. If she turned, she’d probably be able to recognize him.

  He and Nikki Tyler had been in the same class all through school. She’d been a quiet little blind freak most of it though. Still, she was pretty enough behind her glasses. She did look a lot like that Pan one, though.

  He entertained himself for a moment imagining her naked. He didn’t have much else to do, after all. She was built a bit better than her cousins, at least. Still skinny, but at least she had some curves, too.

  The chest looked like she at least had a good handful for a man to grab onto. She hadn’t always been that way. He remembered her being kind of flat and plain, especially when compared to her cousins.

  He watched the great fancy actor talking to her and smirked. Did Hunter Clark really find that blind little loser hot or something? Seriously not. Maybe the guy was just desperate.

  John looked back toward the Masterson house. Pan had to be around somewhere.

  And he was being paid damned good money to watch every move she and Levi Masterson made.

  34

  Pan didn't have a lot of friends in the town—the few women she considered friends all lived in the next county south. It was only since first Phoebe’s marriage and then Pip’s that they’d socialized in Masterson again.

  They had good reason for it; her sister Pip had been attacked at the community center one night. She had narrowly missed being raped. The man who had attacked her had returned recently, and had nearly killed her and Matt.

  Pan would always be leery being in Masterson, but she loved spending time with the various cousins who populated the county.

  And after a week recuperating from the accident, she’d been more than ready to grab a ride with Pip when Pip had headed in to meet up with Matt.

  She needed to see people besides Levi and his brothers. Or Pip and Phoebe. She needed someone who could be objective.

  And she needed to talk to her insurance company about her car. Soon.

  But first—she needed someone to talk to. Her cousin Nikki had been working on the movie set several times over the last week—Rowland Bowles was using Nikki as a body double for Pan when needed. They’d do the shots of her face when they got a chance.

  Her four female cousins were some of the best friends she could claim. And she liked it that way.

  Tylers ran toward boys—there were twenty-two male cousins in her generation, and only she, her sisters, Maggie, and Nikki, Andrea and Maisy for the girls. A good deal of those male cousins were older. The eldest Tyler, Martin, was right around thirty-five or so.

  Having so many male cousins around did have its drawbacks. For her, her sisters and her female cousins.

  Tylers could be a little overprotective, especially of the women.

  Even more so after what had happened to Phoebe and Pip. And even Perci, she had been injured when Pip had. Perci had just gotten out of the cast three weeks ago, after all.

  None of the Tyler men were overjoyed at the prospect of the movie company that had flooded the town. It made it a little difficult for her to meet up with Nikki the way she had wanted. Nikki was actually closer to Pip and Perci's age, but since her two sisters rarely went into town by themselves, Pan was the one who saw Nikki, Maggie, and their cousins the most. If she had best friends, those two were it. Maggie had a job interview in the North corner of the county, so she wasn’t able to meet them today. But Pan timed things so that she could hit Nikki's bookstore just as her cousin was heading out to lunch.

  Nikki was one of the extras in the Rowland Bowles movie, but Pan did not think her quietest cousin was enjoying it. In fact, Maggie had pestered Nikki into doing it so Maggie didn’t have to do it alone. Nikki planned to funnel all of the money she earned—she had a few lines in the movie—into her struggling business. A bookstore in the middle of Masterson—well, it was going to be a struggle for very long time. Most people ordered what they wanted off the Internet these days. But Nikki's mother had opened the book store when Nikki was just a small girl; she and her brothers had a sentimental attachment to the place. Nikki ran it, while her brothers ran their ranch just south of town.

  Money was always tight. But money was always tight for the Tylers. Things had only marginally gotten better for her branch of the Tylers when her sisters had married the Mastersons, and her father and Levi had hatched this experimental line of cattle scheme that her father was pinning all of his hopes on.

  A small brush of worry Pan did not want to feel hit her.

  Le
vi and her father were investing so much hope into this experiment, she couldn't help but worry about them being disappointed.

  She waited for Nikki to lock the doors to the bookstore. They had at least a five block walk ahead of them. And Pan was still pretty achy from the still healing bruises.

  In the rain.

  Pan pulled the jacket she’d grabbed off the hook by the back door of the Masterson home tighter around her shoulders. She'd known when she slipped it on that it was his.

  Somehow, she didn't think Levi would mind.

  She didn't know why she’d grabbed his and not one of the others—Pip and Phoebe had both had jackets hanging right there that she could've borrowed easily. But she'd grabbed Levi's.

  Freudian slip? No doubt. The man was driving her crazy. She didn't know what to do about him. Still, his coat was warm and smelled just like him. It made her feel safe; for some reason, she needed that today. Joel waited outside the diner, and Pan stopped for a moment to speak with her brother-in-law. Joel was the one who had actually changed their world. He had certainly changed Phoebe's—but only for good. Joel and Matt were the best brothers-in-law she could have and she knew it.

  It was just their brother she couldn’t stop thinking about.

  Leave it to Levi to completely confuse her; she'd been thinking about nothing for two days. He’d left with her father to go to Texas again. He hadn’t wanted to leave her. Pan had seen that in his eyes when he told her goodbye just that morning. He hadn't known when he would be back, either.

  Pan missed him. Seriously missed him more than she ever thought possible. It was pathetic. What did that say about her? She was not going to fall for Levi Masterson. She wasn't about to just fall in line—it wasn't going to happen.

  She and Nikki headed inside the diner. Joel was waiting for someone, but he'd made a point of checking on her when she walked by. Her sister's husband seemed to think he had to assume the responsibility for her and her siblings. She like Joel but Pan needed to make her own way. Just to see if she could. She turned and followed her cousin inside the diner. It was time to put Levi away for now. At least until she figured out exactly how she felt.

  35

  Levi was exhausted, but he was glad to be back. And not just because it was good to be home. Levi just didn't trust that Pandora was behaving herself. He'd wanted to get someone in to help her with the house for a few days while she continued to heal; she hadn't exactly like that idea. And she had told him so. Fiercely independent, those Tyler women. Even little Pip would prove stubborn when she didn't agree with something her husband said. He never would've expected it from just looking at the four sisters. They looked so quiet and docile, those four. Until a man stepped close enough to realize they each had a very distinctive bite. Still, he loved Pan exactly the way she was. And Levi suspected he deserved the nips she gave him.

  He barely made it back for his two o'clock meeting at the diner with Viv Preston’s father. Vince Preston was dying—things needed to be settled between them. Vince had seen the writing on the wall before he’d reached out to Levi and Matt about them buying half his place. And Levi had wanted the neighboring spread for a long while. Vince wanted to leave his daughter a legacy, and Levi understood that. But working with Viv Preston was more than he wanted to contemplate. But…the Preston place was more than just strategic. It was a damned fine investment.

  That that daughter seem to think her father was trading the ranch to Levi for her was something he hadn't quite expected. He should have, though; the woman had hinted several times through the years that she wouldn't mind getting to know Levi better. But she’d always rather turned his stomach with her nasty attitude to others. He supposed she was beautiful enough, but there was something about the way she looked at other people that had always made him leery.

  Levi scooted his chair farther away from hers and turned back to her father. They had some serious negotiating to do.

  Levi looked up as a pair of strawberry blondes walked into the diner.

  It was official. He had Tyler radar, and he knew it.

  Every time he saw a redhead, he had to check to see if it was one of them.

  What was she doing in town already? How had she gotten there? The only logical explanation was that she’d borrowed one of his ranch trucks, or ridden in with one of her sisters.

  He didn't have a problem with that, of course. What he had a problem with was her doing too much too soon after what had happened. Levi looked at his dining companions quickly. He wished them anywhere but there, at the moment. What he wanted to do was cross the diner, grabbed the lapels of his denim jacket, and lift the woman wrapped in it right up off of her feet and kiss her. Make it clear to everyone everywhere, that he was hers. And she was his. But he couldn't do that.

  He had to be responsible, and spend his time building his empire. Levi hoped to have kids to one day inherit that empire, after all. Little blue-eyed stubborn girls—just like their mother.

  36

  "So," Nikki started as they took a seat at the small booth by the window. “He’s looking at you again. Even I can see that.”

  "He's always looking at me. I’m starting to get used to." She hadn't told her sisters about anything regarding her relationship with Levi. Not that she really had a relationship with Levi, of course. She sighed and stared out the window for a moment; that was a lie, and she knew it.

  There was something going on between her and Levi, and it was time she admitted it. Why couldn't this be easy? Why couldn't she sit down make a plan, and know exactly what to do or what not to do where he was concerned? Why did it have to be so darn confusing?

  She and Nikki left their stuff in the booth seats, knowing that no one would bother it. Other than placing their order at the counter she said nothing else at all. Not until they were almost ready to sit back down. She looked at her cousin, the one woman she had shared almost everything about regarding that man. "He's kissed me several times, Nik. And a few nights ago, after the wreck, he came into my room and held me. I…"

  "That's… Very romantic, Pan." Nikki blinked, her blue eyes the same shade and shape as Pan’s behind her thick glasses. Nikki didn't see all that well, and would never be able to even drive a car, but she was still one of the most observant people Pan knew. "But that's part of the problem, isn't it? You don't trust romantic. You trust facts and figures, pen-and-paper plans. You've always been that way. He scares you. Because he's going by gut and emotion, wild attraction and feelings, right?"

  37

  Coming into town had been risky, but the thought of five hundred grand for taking out one of those damned Tyler women was too good to resist; he needed the money. Viv was for damned sure not going to give him what he needed otherwise. At all.

  That money was going to get him out of the United States, for sure.

  But though John had hurt people before, he'd never killed one. He wasn't certain why Viv wanted the girl out of the way, either. Yes, that Masterson was all over her, but so what? Viv was hot enough—and rich enough—to grab any man in Masterson County she wanted.

  Levi Masterson obviously wanted Pan Tyler. Any jackass could see that.

  He had to admit she worked hard. Pan didn't seem to cause too much trouble. Unlike that ass-wipe brother of hers.

  Pan definitely wasn't hard to look at, either. That Masterson asshole certainly thought the same thing. Guy followed her practically everywhere. John took a moment to look around, pulling his hat down farther over his face. He ran his hand over the now reddish-brown beard covering his face. It was a lot different than his natural blonde. Between the hat, the beard, and the nondescript clothing he looked just like any other Amish man out for the day. There weren’t a lot of Amish in Wyoming yet, but there were a few. Enough so that no one in the town was looking too closely at him.

  He followed Pan right into town. She hooked up with that pretty little bookstore cousin of hers. John swiped at his nose again as he watched her for a bit. Nikki was a pretty one, now. In sp
ite of the thick glasses. John vaguely remembered asking her out once, but she’d blinked up at him and quietly told him that she wasn't allowed to date. That had been five or six years ago, when they were in high school, and he’d most likely been drunk at the time.

  He’d probably dodged a bullet there. Her brothers were intense where she was concerned—like his brother had been with him. He missed his brother, and the loss of Tom could be laid right at the feet of those damned Tyler women.

  John might as well do exactly what Viv wanted. Get Pan out of the way so Viv could have that Masterson. It would be simple to do.

  Might as well get it done. No Tyler bitch was worth passing up half a million dollars in cold, hard cash.

  He waited, and watched the diner. He grew angrier and angrier that he couldn’t just walk inside and order up a barbecue sandwich and home fries like he wanted. Because of Tylers and Mastersons. Though to be honest, it was really Pan and her sisters. And that brother of theirs.

  Phoenix had started it all when he’d killed Tom’s wife in that wreck. John would never forget how that had hurt his brother.

  Tylers had done it. Caused all of this.

  When he saw the two redheads at the front table, he smiled at his good luck. They had made it so easy for him.

  John lifted the rifle and sighted his target. And pulled the trigger.

  They had just made things far too easy.

  38

  Pan sighed, as what her cousin had said rang true. It was. That was the whole entire problem. "You'd make a killing if you ever got your psych degree, Nik." But her cousin was absolutely right. Levi terrified her in so many ways. "He scares me; you're right about that. I don't know what to do about it."