by Jeannie Watt
“Yes,” Ashley said, somewhat mollified. “It can be. I don’t plan on going to law school until I get some experience in the business world. I want to go into real-estate law.”
“Then you only work for Miranda during the summers.” Like three-fourths of her staff.
“Full-time during the summer, yes. I’ve been with the ranch for five summers now. I won the Cedar Creek Ranch scholarship.”
So you’re beholden to Miranda. How wonderful. “How long will you be here today?” Shae asked, pulling the tape measure off her belt.
“Until five or six.”
“I’m going back to Missoula early this afternoon. I have an appointment with a contractor.”
“I’ll leave when you leave.” She glanced over at the round pen, making it obvious that she didn’t want to be left alone with Jordan. Miranda had done a number on the girl and Shae wasn’t going to do anything to undo it, recognizing a lost cause. Ashley was probably hoping to move from part-time employment to full-time very soon. All she had to do was take over the High Camp.
Jordan worked his horses for about twice as long as usual and Ashley kept a close eye on him all morning long, asking questions that Shae either answered, hedged on or flat-out lied about. She was not going to give this woman any more ammo than necessary.
Unfortunately, a small amount of ammo was necessary, otherwise Ashley would have reported to Miranda that Shae wasn’t showing the proper amount of animosity toward Jordan.
“So it really doesn’t bother you, being here alone with him?” Ashley asked after they’d finally finished measuring the cabin and were walking back to Ashley’s truck.
“Should it?” Shae asked.
“Well, he does have post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Miranda,” Ashley said. “She told me to watch myself.”
“Always wise when you don’t know someone,” Shae murmured.
“Do you know him?” Ashley asked.
Did she? Excellent question. She knew that he hurt in ways he didn’t seem to be able to resolve. She knew he was at heart a decent man with some serious wounds. “We went to high school together. We weren’t close,” Shae said shortly.
Ashley drove away, leaving Shae standing in the driveway watching the dust settle. She tilted her head back and stared sightlessly up at the sky. Her job was slipping away from her. Miranda no longer trusted her. And she had a choice now: doing damage control and/or starting a new job hunt and hoping that Miranda hadn’t poisoned Shae’s professional reputation.
Jordan was still out on his last trail ride of the day and Shae wished he was back. Not because she would pour her guts out to him—she’d never been big on baring her soul, since it tended to clue people in to the fact that she did have worries, she wasn’t quite perfect—but just because she needed some company.
Standoffish, self-contained Jordan for company. That was something.
But it worked for her.
She smiled a little as she rubbed the back of her dusty neck and started for the bunkhouse. Never in a thousand years would she have dreamed her thoughts would drift toward him on a regular basis. Not in the way they were drifting now, which had little to do with empathy and a lot to do with how very attractive he was.
Yet another unknown to figure out before she left this place.
* * *
JORDAN WAS SO damned glad to see that the Cedar Creek Ranch truck was gone when he rode the buckskin through the far pasture gate, but he didn’t unsaddle his horse in the barn as usual, just in case the wench was still there. Instead he tied the dun to the corral fence, took off the saddle and then lugged the gear up to the house. Odd that he was thinking of protecting Shae.
Shae, who was nowhere to be found. Not in the bunkhouse, not in the barn. Not in the house, although he hadn’t expected to find her in his domain.
The ponds?
Had she gone for a swim after her assistant left? One of the cabin doors was open, the building airing out, and if she’d spent the day there, well, a swim was in order. He smiled to himself as he walked into the backyard, a can of iced tea in hand. He liked the idea of her working her new assistant in the dirtiest environment she had to deal with. Nothing like jumping in with both feet on the first day of a new job.
The pig was sitting in the backyard, staring down the trail, confirming Jordan’s suspicion of where Shae had gone. He wouldn’t have minded joining her after a full day in the saddle—except that then he’d have to bare everything that made him feel self-conscious. Even he didn’t like to look at his injuries or to touch the odd-feeling skin that had healed into thickened ridges in some places and was overly smooth and shiny in others.
Shae could have her swim. He’d catch up to her later. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to think about her in his pond, soaking wet.
When Shae eventually came back down the path toward the house, Jordan was sitting on his porch with Clyde. They had forgone the evening hike partially due to the previous night’s adventure and partially because Jordan wanted to talk to Shae.
“How’d it go with your new assistant?” he asked.
She came over to the fence and he noticed that although there was a towel around her neck, her hair was dry.
“Just great,” she said. “Can’t wait to get subtly interrogated tomorrow. How was your day?”
He wanted to ask more about Ashley, but decided to go a different route. “I kind of enjoyed the extra time with the horses. The palomino is coming along.”
“Finally.”
He raised an eyebrow and she said, “I’ve been watching you.” A beat of silence followed her announcement and then she clarified, “Not like a stalker.”
He laughed and she smiled back. “Your hair is dry.”
Shae lifted a handful and pretended to inspect it. “Yes. It is.”
“Didn’t you go to the pond to swim?”
“That was the plan.”
“Didn’t pan out?”
“That water is freaking cold,” she said with a shudder. “I couldn’t do it. If I didn’t feel fairly certain that Ashley will soon be taking my place here, I’d buy a solar shower.”
He didn’t like the thought of Ashley taking Shae’s place. Of battling it out all over again. But as long as Miranda was in the picture, that was how his life was going to be.
“You could go back to your place.”
“I could, if I wanted to drive an hour and half home, then an hour and a half back tomorrow morning to deal with Ashley.” She sent him a mock stern look. “Otherwise you get to deal with her.”
“Use my shower,” he said.
Shae’s eyebrows lifted and held for a moment, as if she was trying to figure out whether or not he was serious, and then a wide smile wiped all signs of caution away. “Thank you. I’ve been itching from cabin dust all day.”
“I only have one extra towel,” he said. “But maybe I could talk you into doing laundry on your next trip to town.”
“Or you can come to Missoula with me and do it yourself.”
“I hate laundry.” And he had a hard time picturing himself and Shae going anywhere.
“Me, too.” Shae smiled again and Jordan felt himself warm inside. “Besides, I have a towel,” she said, pulling it from around her neck. “So if you have the shower, I have everything else I need.”
And he was beginning to wonder if she didn’t have some of what he needed, too. It’d been a long, long time since he’d felt anything close to lighthearted and, like working the horses, talking to Shae just now had made him feel a touch more like his old self.
* * *
JORDAN STAYED ON the porch while Shae showered in his old-fashioned bathroom. She could hear him outside the window she’d cracked open, occasionall
y murmuring something to the dog about being a good boy. What was his life like, living here along with just the animals for company? What would it have been like if she hadn’t come up with her brilliant proposal at just the wrong time? Would Miranda still have sought him out, attempted to make his life miserable?
Shae ducked her head under the blessedly hot water. So much better than the pond. How on earth did Jordan swim there?
But maybe the cold water felt good on his damaged skin.
Would he go all silent if she asked him? He wasn’t exactly open to questions, but things were changing between them. Was it too personal? Perhaps, but Shae wanted to know more. She’d ask later, because at the moment she didn’t want to risk alienating the one person who had a glimmer of understanding as to what was happening here. So strange to think of Jordan as an ally.
Ashley showed up early the next morning, almost before Shae had finished rinsing her toothbrush at the old-fashioned pump. Jordan had offered her the use of his bathroom, but he’d done so with just enough hesitation that Shae wondered if he regretted letting her use his shower...or more likely that he regretted opening up to her.
He still didn’t trust her. And why should he? She worked for Miranda. But he was attracted to her. She was pretty damned sure about that, and equally unsure about how to handle it.
Ashley was wearing brown today. Good thing, because Shae was looking forward to another industrious day in the cabins. If Miranda was hell-bent on repairing them, then Shae was going to work Ashley hard. She was beginning to feel a lot like Jordan, battling what was probably inevitable, but refusing to go down without a fight.
Pride had always been Shae’s downfall and it was not an easy vice to part with.
“Good morning,” Shae called when Ashley got out of the truck. She stayed right where she was, next to the pump, towel around her neck.
Ashley frowned as she came closer. “You’re here early,” she said, casting a long look at Jordan’s house as if wondering if that was where Shae had spent the night.
“Yeah. I’m after that worm.” Ashley’s blank look told Shae what she’d started to suspect yesterday: irony was lost on the woman. “The early bird gets the worm?”
Another blank look and Shae finally shook her head, albeit with a polite smile. “I slept in the bunkhouse. Just give me a second to grab my coffee and I’ll be right with you. I hope we can get two cabins done today.”
“Yes, about that...the dust affected my asthma yesterday.”
“Then I can’t see that I have a whole lot for you to do today. As my assistant, I mean. It doesn’t make sense for Miranda to pay you to sit here and watch me.”
“She wants me to stay and help.”
And Shae was damned if she was going to clear out the cabin alone while Ashley watched.
“Here’s the deal,” she said matter-of-factly. “You’re my assistant, so you either help me or you leave. That’s that.”
Ashley’s mouth pursed for a moment, then she turned and walked back to her truck, started the engine and put it in reverse. Shae stood next to the pump, toothbrush still in hand, amazed that she’d gotten rid of her that easily.
“Whatever you said, say it to Miranda next time you see her,” Jordan said from behind her. Shae turned to see him walking toward her from the porch, holding a cup of coffee. He gestured toward the rooster tail of dust. “Gone for good?”
“Off to tattle,” Shae said, sticking her toothbrush in her shirt pocket as the brake lights of Ashley’s truck came on briefly before she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. The dust was still settling from where she’d first pulled out.
“Just what did you say to her?” Jordan asked as he came to a stop. Something seemed different in the way he looked at her. It took her a second to realize it was that he was looking at her...not through her, the way he did when he was angry.
Shae cleared her throat. “I just did what I always do when faced with conflict. I told her it was my way or the highway.”
“How wise was that?” he asked.
“Very, very foolish,” Shae said, holding his eyes, but very much wanting to look down. To his mouth, to be exact. That maddeningly firm mouth that she’d wanted to feel against her skin before he’d dumped her on her ass. The mouth that she’d then sworn would never get anywhere near her, even if he begged.
Shae was starting to think that never was too strict of a parameter.
She needed to come back to earth. Jordan might be loosening up toward her, but that was a long way from trusting her...or even kissing her.
Damn.
Shae looked away, toward the cabin. She’d had her way with a number of men, but Reed had been her one and only for over three years and toward the end, due to stress, things hadn’t been the greatest.
She’d been dumped. She was lonely. Her confidence had taken a hit and it was time to get back in the saddle.
Yeah.
But when she cut a quick sideways glance toward Jordan, took in the scarred skin stretched over his cheekbone, she was hit by the realization that maybe it was more than being lonely. Or getting her confidence back.
Maybe it was Jordan.
* * *
SHAE SPENT THE day cleaning the cabins and Jordan had halfway considered helping her—but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything that would ultimately benefit Miranda. The cabins were unique and not in too bad shape for enduring as many winters as they had, but they were so damned close to his house. Why would people pay money to stay in a setting that was basically in someone’s backyard?
There was no accounting for taste. He’d been on the Cedar Creek enough times since Miranda’s transformation of the place to know that vacationers didn’t mind being close to a residence, but if he was paying that kind of money, he’d want the place all to himself.
He’d never been a people person. Shae, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at home with people. Probably because she had so many years of practice getting them to do what she wanted. It was as much confidence as manipulation: she believed they were going to do what she wanted, so they did.
But it had all caught up with her.
Midafternoon, just after Jordan had caught the palomino, Ashley’s truck drove back in. Miranda might have the lease, but Ashley was parked on his part of the property and he was going to involve himself in this—if for no other reason than because she was bothering Shae. Jordan tied up the horse and headed for the house at the same time that Shae came out of the cabin, covered with dust. Jordan couldn’t hear the words, but he could read the body language as he approached. Ashley was trying to assert authority and Shae was basically looking down her nose at her.
Way to go, Shae.
As he approached he heard her say, “So you’re back, ready to help, now that I did the heavy lifting?”
In response, Ashley held out a piece of paper.
“A note?” Shae asked, unfolding it.
“The phones don’t work here,” Ashley said shortly.
Shae glanced over the paper, then back at Ashley. “Fine.”
Jordan stopped a few feet away from the two, touched his hat mockingly when Ashley looked his way. “What’s your business?” he asked.
“I’m assisting Shae.”
“She seems to be doing a great job of messing up my life by herself. Why does she need you?”
“Because I need the experience,” Ashley snapped, basically telling Jordan what was in the note.
“You will if you work for Miranda,” Jordan said. He caught Shae’s eye for a brief second, had no idea what he read there, then turned and headed back to the palomino.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE DAY DIDN’T go well for either of them. Shae swallowed her resentment toward Ashley and, on the off chance that she could salvage herself professionally,
after measuring the cabins and inspecting them, she showed Ashley some preliminary sketches she’d made of the interiors.
“We have to be careful about how much we do,” she said. “Otherwise it leaves the realm of repair and becomes capital improvement.”
“I’m familiar,” Ashley said.
“That’s right. Prelaw.”
“And a long conversation with Mrs. Bryan,” Ashley said with a touch of smugness.
Shae was about to reply when a commotion in the round pen brought her head around. She and Ashley turned in unison to see the palomino giving Jordan a serious test, head down, all four feet coming off the ground as she bucked hard.
Shae took a step forward, her hand pressed to her chest, then forced herself to stop. This was Jordan’s forte. He rode broncs. And he rode this one until she finally gave a few final hops and then came to a jarring stop. He instantly moved her forward into a trot and kept her trotting around and around the pen and then in figure eights.
“Something has to be done about that,” Ashley said once it was clear that the show was over. “He can’t do this with guests around.”
“I think people pay money to see things like that.”
Ashley gave a small sniff. “It’s dangerous.”
“We don’t control those corrals.” Shae swore she heard Ashley mutter, “Yet,” under her breath, but she ignored her, concentrating on getting her heart rate back to normal.
Twenty long minutes later Ashley got into her truck for the second time that day and headed back to the Cedar Creek Ranch to report to Miranda. Shae went down to the round pen, where Jordan lingered even though he’d released the palomino.
“Here to check on me?” he asked as she approached.
Shae shrugged. “I saw the mare test you.”
“It turned out better than the last time.” He leaned his arms on the fence, watching the mare, but Shae wondered if he even saw her. Everything about him read stand back, keep your hands off and she didn’t think the mare was responsible.
