Rubies And Boots (Country Brides & Cowboy Boots)

by Danni Lee Nicholls

  Ruby cleared her throat as she tried to distance herself from that poverty of the heart and the small disturbance of longing for Jonah that threatened to grow into a full-fledged storm. Yes. She owed Jonah an apology, or maybe a word of gratitude. That was all. It didn’t mean she had to let him get close. Self-sufficiency was the best way to keep clear of the rising tide of desire for his company.

  Nine

  Two days later, Ruby closed up the coffee shack at the usual time. The early July heat rose with the afternoon, and Ruby longed to go home and jump in the lake. But she was determined to get her apology to Jonah out of the way.

  Ever since her conversation with her sister, Ruby had tried to put off meeting with Jonah, but the thought would not turn her loose. Every morning, it was the first thing that lodged itself in her mind as she woke to the surrounding quiet of her bedroom and the lake that gently lapped at the shore outside her bedroom window.

  Locking the back door to the coffee shack, Ruby hurried to her car, throwing a wave in Bert’s direction. He returned her gesture. Yesterday, he’d been at the window for his usual cup of coffee, eager to talk about Lexie and Joshua.

  Ruby had been ready for him. As soon as he’d started sharing his opinion of the evening, Ruby held up her hand. “If you’re going to gossip about my family, kindly do it out of my hearing range.” Ruby’s tone had been firm as she’d handed Bert his regular cup of black joe.

  Bert had stopped, his mouth still forming the words of his story. “Fair enough,” he’d said as he plunked on the counter the money for the coffee and his usual fifty-cent tip before sauntering off toward his shop.

  As soon as he’d turned his back, Ruby had looked heavenward and clenched her fists, letting out an exasperated breath before her next customer rolled up to the window in a rented Mazda. She hoped she had shut Bert’s verbal gossip column down for good, but she doubted it. Today, he’d talked about the weather.

  Folding herself into the driver’s seat of her old Ford Escape, Ruby headed toward the Triangle 4 as growing apprehension clamped a vise around her lungs, making it hard to breathe.

  During the drive, she practiced several sincere apologies under her breath.

  “Look, Jonah. I’m really sorry for how I reacted during Lexie and Joshua’s appearance, but really, you shouldn’t have been there.”

  No.

  “Hey, Jonah, I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for coming unglued during Curtis’s party. I mean, the whole thing was such a big mistake …”

  That didn’t sound right.

  “I know I was really angry that night. If you only knew …”

  Nope.

  Exasperation filled Ruby. All of these apologies required some sort of explanation, and Ruby didn’t want to give one.

  She clicked on the radio, letting the noise fill her head. She’d have to wing it. It might turn out okay, if she could just breathe!

  Slowing the Escape, she turned down Curtis’s long drive and immediately let off the gas. Soon, she was crawling at ten mph. This was silly! She needed to drive up to the house, find Jonah, tell him she was sorry, and then get back in the car and go home.

  Stepping on the gas, she made her way to the house and switched off the radio before turning off the engine. Dust from her drive settled around her, and she moved out of the car, hurrying to the house. She wanted to get this finished.

  Knocking, she was greeted by Linda.

  “Hey, Ruby! What a pleasant surprise!” Linda reached to hug Ruby.

  Ruby’s breath rushed into her lungs as relief coursed through her veins and she gratefully accepted Linda’s embrace. At least there weren’t any bad feelings from Curtis’s family around Lexie’s drama with Joshua. “Hi, Linda. I was wondering if Jonah was around.”

  Linda’s smile widened. “As a matter of fact, he just came in from the field,” she said. “You can find him in the barn. He’s probably unsaddling his horse.”

  “Thanks,” Ruby said as she backed off the porch.

  The hot afternoon sun followed Ruby to the barn, where it left her as she stepped into the shaded overhang. Ruby paused and blinked as she moved into the shadowed recess of the outbuilding, allowing her eyes to adjust.

  “Ruby?” Jonah called.

  Ruby turned to her right. Jonah was standing inside the half-open stall door, brushing the sweaty back of the gelding he’d ridden that day. His Wrangler jeans fit nicely over muscled legs, and his white T-shirt was tucked in, showing a strong torso and arms.

  Ruby blinked again. “Yeah. Hi.” Heat returned to Ruby that didn’t come from the sun. Her legs grew weak, and the surprising sensation of vulnerability knocked around body and soul like a loose cannon. She wasn’t sure if it was the appearance of Jonah that caused her heart to push the fever through her, or the apology she was trying to create as she closed the gap between them.

  Reaching Jonah, she looked at the floor, focusing on his boots as she tried to form the right words. She expected him to sport Lucchese or some other brand worth over a thousand dollars. Instead, he was wearing common store-bought boots, sturdy and well-worn. There was nothing special about Jonah’s attire. Everything about him spoke to the work he did and not his bank account.

  She looked up into his midnight-blue eyes and bright smile, and all of her efforts at her apology fled.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I-I—um. Well—” Did he have any idea of the power he held over her in this moment? Ruby swallowed hard and gathered her wits. “I’m here to apologize,” she started before the rest of the conversation fell out of her like a tumbleweed. “I was rude that night—you know, the night of the party—and I shouldn’t have been like that. I’m not like that all the time. I mean, I’m not always rude. I shouldn’t have been rude.” Ruby clamped her teeth onto her tongue. Stop making words! She had said enough. She swallowed the rest and stood still.

  “Ruby,” Jonah whispered softly. “It’s all right. I can understand how you might be protective around your family. I hope you know I was trying to help. I didn’t want anything to happen to you, and that Josh McPherson looks like he could do some damage.”

  Ruby took a shaky breath. “Yeah. He’s a piece of work, all right.”

  “Let’s not worry about it anymore, okay? Maybe now we can be friends.”

  Friends with Jonah? The idea was both frightening and inviting.

  Jonah pushed wide the stall door. “Want to meet my horse? Well, he’s not really mine. My boy is still in Texas. I’m riding Nex here while I’m in Montana.”

  The grip of apprehension that held Ruby’s lungs in a vise fell away, and her breath stole into her as soft as a morning summer breeze. She stepped inside the stall. “I know Nex,” she said softly as she rubbed the horse’s nose and caressed his face. “I’ve ridden him plenty of times, haven’t I, boy?” she whispered as she leaned her face against the horse’s, breathing in his animal scent while he offered her support in her effort to recover her strength.

  She pulled away from the horse and turned toward Jonah. The horse nickered.

  “Thanks for understanding,” she said quietly.

  “I’m glad you told me.”

  Jonah stepped near and Ruby stood still, her heart quaking with each breath as Jonah reached for her hands, rubbing her palms gently between his strong, dry fingers.

  The heat spread throughout her body. The smell of Jonah’s clean sweat mingled with the aroma of hay and horses for an intoxicating rush that settled in her belly, turning her into a rag doll. Jonah was so near, closer than she’d been to any man since Cooper. All she had to do was reach up and place her hands on his chest, and the circle of desire between them would be complete.

  The interruption came in a sudden rush, its shock reverberating in her head. “Hey, Jonah! Have you seen Curtis? I was thinking—” Jim stopped. “Oh! Ruby!” The older man blushed deep red, and Ruby’s emotions followed with the heat from her belly suddenly rushing up into her face.

 
Jim continued, “I saw your car and thought you were here to see Linda.”

  Ruby recovered as the blush left her. “Oh, no. It’s fine, Jim. I was here because …” She momentarily forgot her reason for standing in Nex’s stall with Jonah. “I came by to apologize. That’s why I’m here. I’m really on my way out.” Stepping away from the stall, she hurriedly closed the door before Jonah could follow. “I’ve got to get home,” she said. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.” She faced Jonah as she began stepping away. “So, yeah. Thanks for understanding.” She turned from Jonah and hurried out the open barn door. “Good to see you, Jim,” she murmured as she rushed past him.

  Jogging to her car, she pulled open the door. Jonah called after her.

  She turned and tried to swallow, her mouth as dry as the surrounding dust.

  Jonah jogged to her. “Ruby. Thanks for coming by.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Ruby brushed off his words like she was swatting a gnat. “Well, look. I need to get home. Make sure you tell Curtis I said hello.” She popped in the car and started the engine, and with a bright, pasted smile, she waved at Jonah and pulled away.

  Once on the road toward home, Ruby collapsed into her seat. What happened? What would’ve developed if Jim hadn’t serendipitously shown up? Thank goodness for clueless parents!

  Jim’s presence probably saved her from kissing Jonah, and that was the last complication Ruby needed. Jonah was a newcomer. He was everything she didn’t want in Sunrise Creek.

  Taking a deep, shaky breath, Ruby tried to calm herself, making room for new reasoning. She’d known Jonah for almost a month, and so far, he had not talked about building a lakefront monstrosity, and he wasn’t shopping around for large tracts of land that would become run-down shacks while he partied with his moneyed friends. He wanted to make a home in Sunrise Creek, a life.

  Ruby pulled onto the shoulder and got out of the car. Looking over the valley, she watched the wind as it flirted with the high grass, creating its own ocean of waves through the meadow in the slanting sun that turned the land to gold.

  She took another breath. This one settled deeply into her lungs. Maybe she didn’t need to protect Sunrise Creek from Jonah. Maybe she didn’t need to protect herself. Fear rose to do battle with this fresh idea, but she let the newness and discomfort of it stay as her body stilled in this fragile place of unknowing. A benevolent breeze rippled through her hair and cooled her skin, giving her peace. Was it easy to unlock her guarded heart?

  No. It would not be easy, but she could start by remembering that Jonah was not Cooper, and she was not the same high school girl Cooper had left standing in the driveway all those years ago. Maybe that was the key that could open her heart.

  Ten

  The following week, Ruby sat at the kitchen table and studied Lexie’s note for the fifth time. Lexie was out with Joshua, and she wasn’t sure when she’d be home. She told her family not to wait up. Ruby knew her parents wouldn’t sleep until Lexie was safely with them.

  Turning from the note, Ruby tried to focus on the spreadsheets for work. The numbers were small and the construction noise from the next-door neighbor’s mammoth home pounded into Ruby’s head, making her brain throb. Her thoughts turned back to Lexie.

  Anxiety spilled through Ruby every time she thought of her sister. She no longer trusted Lexie to take an occasional shift at the Jumpin’ Bean. Would she offer Josh free coffee, or maybe more? If Joshua asked Lexie for money, would she open the till? Ruby didn’t know, but she was determined that he wouldn’t get so much as a free cup of drip coffee from her. That left Ruby with few options for time off, as Emmie was often busy as the bookkeeper for Dr. Carson Forbes, the veterinarian.

  Ruby drew breath in through her nose as she tried to quell the rising tide of angst from Lexie and focus on the spreadsheet for work. When Emmie walked through the kitchen door, Ruby was grateful for the distraction.

  Ever since she and Curtis had started dating, a new blush of happiness warmed Emmie’s cheeks, and her smile had become even more luminescent. It was obvious that Emmie was happily in love. Ruby was pleased for her.

  Emmie sat down at the table. “I came back from Curtis’s place, and they’ve asked if we’d be willing to work the next three days vaccinating calves.”

  Ruby sat up in her seat as some quiet and hopeful desire jumped at the idea, even as the leading part of her shrank from the notion of spending any more time in Jonah’s company. “I don’t know, Em. I haven’t seen Jonah since I apologized, and it might feel a little weird.”

  “Why? I mean, it seems as if you guys have come to a good place. Didn’t he say he wanted to be friends?”

  “Yeah, but then he …” Ruby blushed. “I don’t know. The look in his eyes and the way he took my hands seemed more than friendly.” A pleasant shiver ran through Ruby. She tried to forget it.

  “Do you like him?” Emmie asked.

  Ruby looked down at her hands, and the admission stuck in Ruby’s throat. She nodded before turning back to look at Em. “I can’t like him. I’m not supposed to like him. What if he up and leaves? You know how these newcomers are.”

  “No. I don’t really know how they are, and neither do you. We know how Cooper is, and he’s from Sunrise Creek! He started acting like a newcomer after he’d been away for a while.” She sat back in her chair. “I’m so glad his parents moved.”

  Ruby’s breath slammed against her ribs at the mention of Cooper. In spite of her efforts to move on from his careless forsaking, his abandonment still danced along the jagged edges of her heart, priming her for the next desertion. “How do we know that Jonah won’t take off one day?” Ruby whispered.

  Emmie covered Ruby’s hand with her own. “We don’t,” she replied. “But if you decide to let him in, whatever happens, you won’t have to face any of it alone. We’re always here with you, Ruby.”

  Ruby skirted the subject of Jonah and asked, “What’s going on at the Triangle 4 that they need us to help with the calves this year?”

  “They’ve had a couple of hands quit. Curtis, Jonah, and Jim have been working the calves, but Jim needs to deal with a broken irrigation pipe. And he wants the haying equipment ready to go as soon as the calves are finished so they can get the first cut of alfalfa. It’ll be ready in another week. They want to get the calves done now so they can cut the hay while it’s at its peak. Hopefully, the weather will hold.”

  Ruby sucked in her breath. So much of ranch life was based on things for which there was no human control, with weather being the primary action that made most of the decisions.

  Emmie leaned forward, her elbows on the table. “They always pay us. This is no different.”

  Ruby was torn between wanting to help Curtis’s family and wishing to avoid feeling like a fool in front of Jonah and Jim again. But if Curtis was asking for help, he needed it. Ruby looked at Emmie. “I can’t come until I close up the Jumpin’ Bean, but they can count on me in the afternoon.”

  Emmie smiled with relief. “I’ll let Curtis know. I think the plan is for the boys to herd the calves into the chute. That’s the hardest part. Then, one of us will give them the ear tag while the other gives the shot.”

  Ruby mulled over her schedule. “If business is slow, I’ll try to close at two instead of three. What time will you be there?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I’ll check with Carson and see what his schedule is at the vet practice. I’m headed there now.” She rose from the table and gave Ruby a hug before walking through the door, leaving Ruby alone in the kitchen.

  As she turned her gaze to the lake, Ruby’s anticipation at seeing Jonah again was already causing her nerves to flare. She tried to laugh at herself. If she could face Joshua McPherson in the middle of a drunken rage, working with Jonah shouldn’t be that hard. She became serious. Maybe it was a different kind of hard.

  Moving to the back deck, Ruby drank in the silence of the late afternoon. The construction crew from the neighbor’s home was finished for the
day, giving voice to the warm summer wind that caressed the lake, pushing it toward the shore.

  Ruby walked to the edge of the water, the grass of the summer lawn tickling her bare feet. Sunrise Lake was so clear, she could see the pebbled bottom as it stretched past the shore in its greenish-blue hue.

  Folding her arms over her chest, Ruby raised her eyes to look over the vast body of water. In the distance, kayakers were lazily paddling along the surface. Their laughter traveled over the water like a distant echo. Her thoughts settled on Jonah.

  Even in the midst of such calm, a worrying reality weighed her down like a sinker on a fishing line. Maybe it wasn’t seeing Jonah that caused her to fear. Maybe it was her own feelings of awakening attraction that paralyzed her, locking her up tight.

  Eleven

  Jonah shielded his eyes and squinted into the afternoon sun that spilled over the green meadows of the Triangle 4. The sound of bawling calves and bellowing mothers filled his ears as he offered a little prayer of hope that the weather would hold long enough for him and Curtis to get the calves vaccinated and bring in the hay.

  He and Curtis had spent all morning rounding up fractious and belligerent cattle with the calves corralled at the opening of the chute. The cows were milling around in the fenced area where the chute would eventually produce their baby after they were tagged and vaccinated.

  A dust cloud coming down the drive caught his attention. It was Ruby, her car bouncing along the dusty drive. Jonah knew he should be in the barn, pulling up syringes of the vaccines, but he stayed rooted to his spot, waiting for Ruby. He hadn’t seen her since her apology. That afternoon had pleased Jonah until Ruby left him as if her hair were on fire. She’d even gone so far as to shut the stall door behind her as he stood with Nex. Had he read her emotions incorrectly as he’d reached out and taken her hand?