by Marla Monroe
Thorne walked out of the office and met Lamar returning from outside. He thanked the other man for loading it for him and jumped in the truck to head back to the ranch. He had a lot to talk to Rollan about. At the top of the list was one sassy golden-haired beauty with the prettiest green eyes he’d ever seen.
Hopefully his friend would be open to the possibilities. Thorne was pretty well set on courting the pretty green-eyed Sierra. There was just something about her that hit him in a vulnerable spot, and though his cock was onboard with the idea, it wasn’t entirely sexual. She made him feel protective and taller, especially when he’d stopped to help her on the side of the road and then again at the bank.
What sort of bad news had she gotten at the bank that upset her so? He frowned. She’d probably been turned down for a loan, but wouldn’t her dad or one of her brothers have handled that? Surely she wasn’t trying to run a ranch all by herself. She had to have family to help her.
As much as Thorne loved ranching and everything that went with it, he never would have undertaken buying a ranch to run by himself. Besides there being way too much for one person even with ranch hands, there needed to be someone to celebrate the good times and tough out the bad times with or you’d burn out, maybe even go insane, within a year.
The drive back to the ranch passed much faster than it normally did with thoughts of Sierra and all the possibilities concerning her circling in his head. When he drove through the front gates, Thorne felt the peace of having a ranch of their own settle deep in his soul like it did every time he pulled down the drive. Rolling down the window, he inhaled the fresh air with a hint of fresh-cut grass from somewhere.
After circling the drive, he backed up to the barn to unload the newly welded gate. He wasn’t surprised to see Rollan heading his way from the second bar they were working on to house the horses they planned to buy for breeding.
“Figured you’d be back over an hour ago. Trouble in town?” Rollan asked as he helped Thorne lower the tailgate and lift the stall door down.
“Naw, I stopped and helped a lady who had a flat tire and drove her into town. Stopped by the diner for some coffee, and the machine shop had our gate finished.” He carried the heavy metal door into the barn and leaned it against the stall where it belonged.
“Who did you stop to help?” Rollan asked as he followed Thorne inside.
“Sierra Wensel. Didn’t find out much more about her. Just gave her a ride into town since her spare was flat, too. Pretty woman. Long, honey-gold hair and the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen.” He didn’t look at his partner to see what he was thinking.
Rollan didn’t say anything as he held the gate up so that Thorne could pound the hinge pin into place. Thorne continued talking as if he were talking about mucking a stall.
“I looked at the flat tire on her truck. It had been cut on the inside wall. Someone planned for her to have a flat tire.”
“Why would they do that? Are you sure it was cut?” Rollan was paying attention.
“Yeah. I’m sure. Don’t know why, except that she was headed to the bank, so maybe it had something to do with that.” Thorne checked the swing on the door.
“Looks good. They did a bang-up job on welding it together. I can’t see it breaking lose anytime soon.” He brushed his hands off on his jeans and started back to the truck. “I’m gonna unload the supplies at the house.”
“Did you tell her that her tire had been cut?” Rollan asked, following on his heels.
“Of course. She was surprised but seemed to take it in stride. Either she’s used to crap like that, or she was a hell of a lot more practical than I am. I’d have cursed a blue streak and stomped around for a while before I calmed down.”
Rollan’s mouth lifted in a slow half smile. “Thorne, you’d have done a lot more than that. Either we’d be heading to the emergency room to see about your broken hand or we’d be fighting over the dent you put in the truck.”
Thorne chuckled. Rollan knew him better than anyone. Most times they could finish the other’s sentences and guess what the other was thinking. Having grown up together, they knew everything about each other, from their dreams to their fears. There wasn’t anything Thorne wouldn’t do for his friend, and the same went for Rollan.
“Seems like she needs someone to look out for her if her tire was cut and you had to give her a lift. I would think she’d have called for help if she’d had anyone to call,” Rollan said as he leaned over the bed of the truck.
Thorne leaned on the opposite side so that they stared at each other. “Yeah, I sort of thought the same thing. Pretty thing like that shouldn’t be stuck on the side of the road with no one to call,” Thorne agreed.
“You give her our numbers?” Rollan asked.
Thorne winced. “No. Didn’t think about it at the time. Did later, but didn’t see her or the truck on the way back.”
“Where does she live? Is she from Sagebrush or Riverbend?”
“Not sure. She didn’t elaborate, so I didn’t press for details. I’ll do some digging when I go back to town for more supplies,” he said. “Oh. Brody and Lamar from the machine shop are going to come out Saturday around four if they can get away. Otherwise, it will be Wednesday.”
He’d climbed up into the cab of the truck and was about to turn the key when Rollan slapped the roof of the truck and leaned in the passenger-side window. He had something more to say, and it looked to be important by the line between his brows that always happened when he was thinking too hard.
“What?” Thorne asked.
His friend opened his mouth then closed it again. Shaking his head and waved him off. “Nothing. I’ll talk to you tonight at dinner.”
Thorne smiled to himself as he pulled away from the barn. Rollan was interested enough that he was fighting himself. The good part was that he hadn’t even seen her yet. Once he saw her and then talked with her, Thorne had no doubt the other man would cave and agree that courting her was a necessity. She smelled like fresh honeysuckle. He wondered if she’d taste that way, too, or would she have an even more distinct taste? No matter what happened, he prayed he’d get the chance to rock her world, because anything else just wasn’t an option at this point.
Chapter Three
Sierra finished forking hay over the stall doors to the horses and milking the cow they had. Her shoulders ached, but she wouldn’t trade the feeling for all the tea in Boston. Annie, the milk cow, voiced her agreement, followed by a series of neighs from the three horses they still had. At one time, there had been fifteen horses and over a thousand head of cattle. Those days were long gone.
The barn door eased open, and Sedona walked inside before closing the door behind her. She walked over to where Sierra was putting away her tools and wrapped her arms around her in a fierce hug.
“What’s that all about?” Sierra asked, looking into her sister’s eyes.
“Just because I love you. You take care of all of us and work your fingers to the bone. I just want you to know that I appreciate it and wish I could help more is all.” Sedona shrugged and stepped back. “Dinner will be ready in another thirty minutes.”
“Can’t wait. What are we having tonight?” she asked as she followed the young woman to the door.
“Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I know they’re your favorites,” Sedona said with a grin.
“We’ll look over what you’ve gotten back from the colleges you submitted applications to. I bet you’re getting excited about it,” she said as they pushed through the barn door together.
“I guess. I wish you’d let me stay and help here for a year. One year isn’t going to hurt anything, Sis.”
“Sedona, we’ve been over this.” She stopped and stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “You’re too smart not to go to college and get an education. If you want to come back after that, you know I’d be happier than a pig in a designer mud bath. You have the entire world at your fingertips, honey. Take advantage of it and give yourself an a
dvantage to doing whatever you want to do.” It took all of Sierra’s strength not to cry. She wanted Sedona to have what she’d never had a chance at—real freedom.
“Okay. I was thinking about majoring in animal medicine. I could open a practice here and take care of our animals, too,” she said with a smile.
“Sounds perfect to me,” Sierra said. “Now, finish up dinner while I knock some of this dirt off of me. Have you heard from Bethany today?”
“No, but she usually calls after seven,” Sedona said as she hurried toward the house.
Bethany, her twenty-year-old sister, had decided to take advantage of an additional scholarship opportunity and extra credit hours by working as an intern for one of the major computer security firms in Dallas. Her room and board was paid for, and she got a small salary to help with expenses. Sierra had been thrilled for her sister but worried that she was pushing herself too hard to finish up as early as possible. She seemed to think she was going to come back home to help with the ranch. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that by the time they returned, the ranch would probably be reduced to bare bones.
After their mom had died six years before of ovarian cancer, her Pa hadn’t been himself. He’d tried to keep things going but just didn’t have his heart in it anymore. The love of his life was gone, and though he had the four children to provide for, he depended more and more on Sierra to pull the weight where the younger ones were concerned. She’d done her best but finally quit her job at the general store to work the ranch full-time. She was determined that the others were going to get a college education even if she hadn’t. She’d been too busy taking care of their mom.
Now with Bethany secure in college and Sedona getting ready to start, she prayed that what she was thinking about doing would take care of the rest of the problems. Her only brother, Buddy, or Bud as they called him, had finished at Texas A&M the year before and taken a position with a major hotel chain in their management division, handling budgets for one of the chains. She was so proud of him, but they weren’t talking much these days.
Bud felt like she’d taken the ranch away from him when all she had wanted was for him to get his education. She’d have been more than happy to step back and let him have it when he finished school. Instead, he’d accepted the job offer and never even mentioned it until they’d all been congratulating him after the graduation ceremony.
Sierra had been devastated. Not only had she hoped he’d return to help, but she’d realized that he’d resented her the entire time he’d been at college. That was why he never came home for more than a week or two over the summer break.
As she cleaned up in the mudroom, Sierra figured that the five years she’d be Dexter’s mistress would assure that Bethany and Sedona would be able to finish college and still have a home to return to if they wanted it. If not, she’d sell it off and give them the money. After five years of misery with Dexter, Sierra figured she’d be happy to move off where no one knew her and start over.
“That sure smells good. Did you hear my stomach growling while I was washing up?” she asked, teasing her sister.
“I think I might have. Have a seat and dig in. I’m just going to get the rolls out of the oven,” her sister said.
“So, do you have a preference on schools figured out yet?” she asked.
“Texas A&M has the best vet school, I think. It’s just that College Station is on the other side of Texas. I hate being that far away from home,” she said.
Sierra could see the tears in her sister’s eyes but pretended not to. It would be good for her to be away from home and not able to spend every weekend at home. She needed to build a life outside of there. As much as it hurt, Sierra knew it wasn’t going to be there for much longer.
“Sis. Why were you at the bank today?” Sedona caught her off guard with that question.
“I–I was ordering more checks for the ranch. We’re almost out.” It wasn’t entirely true, but they were nearly out of checks.
“Did you see Dexter?” her sister asked.
“Um, yeah. He was there.” She looked up from her plate and frowned at her sister. “How did you know I was at the bank today?”
“A friend of mine said she saw you get out of a strange truck with someone she didn’t know and go inside the bank. I figured she was wrong, but I guess she wasn’t. Who is he?” Sedona asked, cocking her head to one side. “Are you finally pulling away from Dexter the disease?”
“Sedona. Don’t say things like that. Dexter isn’t all that bad.” She had to cross her fingers under the table at that blatant lie. “I had a flat tire on the way into town, and the spare was flat, too. Thorne Barringer and his partner bought the old Reed place and was on his way into town for supplies.”
“Good Lord! That place was in a hell of a mess by the time Mr. Reed died. They’ve got their work cut out for them. Hey! Since he was so nice and gave you a ride to town, we should take a pie or cake over to them. I bet they’d like that. Do you know anything about his partner?” Sedona smiled with enough enthusiasm that it lifted Sierra’s spirits for a few seconds.
“That’s really nice of you to think about that. We used to do that every time someone new moved into the community,” she said, remembering her and her mom baking cookies and fixing plates to take to people. “We took food when there was a death in the family, a birth, or an illness. No one really does that anymore, do they?” she said.
“No, and it’s a shame. If this had been ten or fifteen years ago, everyone would have known they’d bought the place before the ink was dry on the loan papers,” Sedona said with a laugh. “Let’s do it, Sis.”
Sierra didn’t have the heart to say no, but she didn’t think it was a good idea. They might not take to having strangers showing up uninvited, no matter how nice he’d been to her that morning. Still, she would go along with her sister just to see her smile. She’d been so depressed with Buddy’s desertion and Bethany deciding to take the internship for the summer.
“Okay. Let’s plan to do it Saturday. I really need to catch up on some things around the ranch tomorrow. One more day won’t hurt.”
Sedona laughed and clapped her hands. “So, what are we going to cook?”
* * * *
Rollan Metcalf stretched his aching body then sighed. It was already dark. Where the hell had the day gone? There weren’t enough hours in the day to get things done.
Good thing we don’t have any major bills to pay for another six months. This is going to take longer than we thought it would.
“Hey Rollan! Dinner is ready. Go wash up.” Thorne’s voice carried to where he stood next to the back porch.
“Coming. Keep your dick in your pants,” he yelled back.
He’d been repairing the steps off the porch when it finally got too dark to see what he was doing. Once he finished the last step in the morning, he’d start on replacing the rotten wood along the eaves of the house. As soon as they had all the issues outside taken care of, they had hired someone to come in and paint while they worked on the inside.
The old house was solidly built, and the foundation and skeleton of the house was in great shape. Most of what he’d been working on had been cosmetic and not major fixes. The huge five-bedroom farmhouse was two stories with a nicely finished basement. They had a lot of plans for the place, but most importantly, they wanted to get the house up-to-date and the ranch going. They could work on the more frivolous plans, like an entertainment room in the basement along with a sixth bedroom suite, once everything else was done.
The one good thing about the house outside of being solidly built was the fact that the plumbing and electrical had all been recently updated. With the five bedrooms, there were four bathrooms. The master bedroom had a huge bathroom since the washer and dryer had been in it. They had part of the back porch taken in to make a mud and laundry room out of it. The master bath would be renovated to include a huge walk-in shower and a massive tub built for three.
Stepping over the l
ast step that wasn’t finished, Rollan climbed onto the porch and opened the door to their newly finished laundry and mud room. He pulled off his boots and left them by the door. Then he went ahead and stripped down to nothing and stuffed the new washing machine with his and Thorne’s clothes then turned it on.
It didn’t bother him in the least to walk through the kitchen stark naked. Thorne just chuckled and added ice to the two glasses on the counter.
“If I believed in reincarnation, I’d swear you were a nudist in another life, man.”
Rollan waved his middle finger at him as he rounded the corner and walked toward the stairs. As soon as he made it to the bathroom, he turned on the shower and stepped in without worrying if it was warm yet. As hot as it had been outside lately, he’d just as soon take a cool shower as a hot one.
Fifteen minutes later, he bounded down the stairs in nothing but jeans. His hair was still wet but would dry in no time in the heat. Thorne had already poured the tea and was sitting at the table reading over the paper while he waited for him.
“Something smells tolerable,” Rollan quipped. Neither one of them could cook worth a damn. If they could grill it outside, they were fine, but domestication didn’t sit well with either of them.
“Shut the fuck up and eat. It won’t kill you, so it’s bound to be fine.” Thorne took a bite of the spaghetti and grimaced.
“Too much garlic,” Rollan ground out as he grabbed for his tea.
“Here, add some ketchup. That will smother some of the garlic,” Thorne told him.
Rollan grunted but added a generous amount to his plate and stirred it up. His next bite wasn’t nearly as bad as the first, but he sure wished they could find someone to cook for them. One day something one of them cooked just might kill them.
“Got the rest of the master bath cleared out. I’m down to the bare walls now. Plumbing looks solid, and the way we’ve designed the locations of the tub and shower, we won’t have to add much pipe,” Thorne told him.
