by Marla Monroe
“That’s pretty damn generous of you. I can’t imagine no one wanting to work for you,” Marshall said.
“I’m a woman, and they don’t take orders from a woman. Kenny is here, and they don’t cotton to gays. He stays. He’s the only man who’s helped me since Mark died.”
“He’s a good man, then,” Jeb said.
They all sipped their coffee. Marshall and Jeb each grabbed a cookie. She figured she would spend more time cooking now with two strong men working the ranch. That was fine by her. She wasn’t a tomboy at heart. She’d just turned into one by necessity. She loved the outdoors and riding the range and wanted a garden, but she could do without the fence duty and branding and some of the other stuff. If they were experienced, she was going to be in a lot better shape this winter than the last few. It had been nearly four years since Mark had died. She’d had to deal with the ranch for a year before he finally passed, but the men stayed on until he died. Then, when she kept the ranch and didn’t marry again right away, they left. She’d thought herself lucky to find Kenny but soon found that he was a double-edged sword. His being gay kept more men from working for her. Still, she wouldn’t give him up for anything. He had helped her when no one else would.
There was a knock at the back door, and then it opened. “Drew? You okay?”
“Hey, Kenny, come on in.” She heard him stomp off his boots in the back on the mud tray before he emerged from the washroom that served double-duty as the mudroom.
“Kenny, I’d like you to meet Jeb and Marshall. They’re going to be working with us on the ranch.”
Kenny eyed them then her arm. “Hell, you need stitches again?” he asked, ignoring the two men.
“Marshall put three in. I’ll live.” She waited to see how he’d react. You’d never think Kenny was gay by looking at him. He was the epitome of cowboys everywhere. Slightly bowlegged, he chewed tobacco despite her fussing at him. He was a little over forty and wiry in size. He probably stood about the same height as Jeb.
“How long you two been out?” Kenny finally asked, standing a little in front of Drew. She rolled her eyes but let him have his moment.
“Going on six weeks now,” Jeb said.
“She knows the entire story. She thinks you need to know, we’ll tell you,” Marshall told him.
Kenny turned slightly and looked at Drew. “You okay with them?”
“I’m fine with them. They know the rules,” she told him.
“Okay then, who’s foreman?”
Jeb and Marshall looked at him.
“Figured you were. You’ve been here and know the place.” Marshall shook his head, bewildered.
“I’m not a foreman. Don’t want to be one. I hope one of you have experience enough to take that over from Drew. She’s going to kill herself out there if she keeps it up,” Kenny said.
Drew huffed out a breath and slapped him on the back of the head.
“Ow! It’s the truth, damn it.”
“Guess that’s you then, Jeb,” Marshall said.
“Hell, we all work together until I learn about the place. I can’t be making decisions on something I don’t know anything about.”
“Fair enough,” Kenny said.
“Now that all that is taken care of, we need to organize dinner and where you’re sleeping.” Drew stood up and rinsed out her mug. She sat it in the drainer by the sink.
Kenny pulled down a mug and poured coffee. “I’m going to tend to the horses before dinner.”
“Be back inside by seven. It should be ready by then.” She walked out of the kitchen and headed for the stairs. “Follow me.”
The two men looked at each other then followed her out of the kitchen and up a flight of stairs. She walked to the end of the hall and opened a door. “Kenny is on the opposite end of the hall. I’m in the middle. This is your room. It’s got two double beds. Linens fresh. Bathroom is next door. You don’t share it with anyone. Kenny and I each have one.”
“You’re saying we stay in the main house with you?” Jeb asked, clearly shocked.
“Yep. Don’t have a bunkhouse anymore. That was the first thing to get burned down.”
“Someone burned down your bunkhouse?” Marshall asked.
“Yep. Then they tried to get the barn, but we managed to put that out. Still, I built a new barn. We use the old barn for storage.” Drew turned away from the room and headed back down stairs.
“Why don’t you two settle in and wash up. I’ve got dinner already started, so it shouldn’t be more than an hour and a half ’til it’s time to eat. Take your time, and look around.”
She heard them talking as they walked back to the front door and then heard the door open and close. She was in all sorts of trouble. Between Jeb’s deep voice that turned her insides to jelly and Marshall’s easy way about him, she needed an ice-cold shower to cool her libido down. Maybe she shouldn’t have hired them. They weren’t just ex-cons. They were sex on a stick, and she was finding that she had a dormant sweet tooth.
Chapter Two
Jeb and Marshall looked at each other. Jeb nodded his head toward the door, indicating they should go outside. Marshall followed him down the stairs and out the front door. They leaned against the front of the truck where they could see if anyone came up on them. Marshall wasn’t sure what to make of all of it. It seemed too good to be true. Then there was the lady herself. Hot didn’t begin to describe her. She was everything he and Jeb liked in a woman.
Her rich auburn hair probably reached a little past her shoulders when it wasn’t pulled back. She had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. They reminded him of a spring sky. She stood around five feet four inches and had curves he could easily get lost in. Yeah, she meant trouble. Trouble they didn’t need, but the job, they did.
“What do you think?” he asked Jeb.
“I think she’s the best thing since sliced bread,” he said with a grin. “But fuck, man, you know she isn’t going to have anything to do with us. Not only are we her hands, we’re ex-cons as well.
“Doesn’t keep me from dreaming at night.” Marshall took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair then reseated the hat.
Jeb huffed out a breath and looked off toward the stable where Kenny would be working.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Marshall said. “Kenny probably guessed we’re interested in Drew just by the look in our eyes. He wasn’t too pleased we’re here.”
“I’m thinking Kenny is going to be watching out for her,” Jeb said.
“Someone seems to need to if she’s had trouble like the barn and the bunkhouse burning.”
“We might bring her more trouble just by being here,” Jeb said.
“What do we do then? Stay or leave?”
“Hell, we need the job, Marshall. I don’t think we have much choice if we want to eat.”
“Then we protect her the best we can,” Marshall said.
“Which means fighting, which will get us fired,” Jeb reminded him.
“Not if we make sure it’s in self-defense. I don’t think she’ll fire us over self-defense.” Marshall looked up as Kenny stepped out of the stable with a horse and tied it to the corral.
“Expect we’re going to get beaten up a lot then,” Jeb mused.
“Took it in prison. We can take anything we have to.” Marshall started walking to where Kenny had the horse tied up.
“What is it?” Jeb asked.
“Not sure, but something’s wrong.” Marshall got to the horse about the same time Kenny came back out with a bucket of feed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Kenny looked furious. “There’s weevils in the damn feed again. Think I caught it before Crooner here got any of it, but I want to walk him around some just in case.”
“This happen before?” Marshall asked.
“Yeah, second time. I know the feed was fine when we bought it.”
“You go tell Drew what’s going on,” Jeb said. “I’ll walk Crooner here.�
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Marshall took the bucket and looked in it. “I’ll check the rest of the feed.”
Kenny nodded and stomped off toward the house to talk to Drew.
“Seems like she’s already got trouble without our needing to help it along,” Jeb told Marshall.
“This feed looks in too good a shape for weevils to have been in it to begin with. Someone added the weevils.” Marshall walked into the stable, leaving Jeb to walk the horse.
He found five other horses in stalls. He checked each and every one of the buckets and found them all to have clean feed in them. He checked the open bag and found a small pile of weevils inside. There were some on the ground around it as well. He pulled the bag of feed out of the stack and stood it by the door to get rid of later. Then he double checked all the other bags for any sign of tampering. He didn’t find anything else to make him think another bag had been fooled with.
Marshall searched around the back door to make sure it was secured. He decided to move a few implements in front of the door as a deterrent. Leaving the stable through the front, he found Drew and Kenny talking to Jeb as he led the horse around the corral.
“I’m going to look out back of the barn for any sign of someone being there. Kenny, dispose of that bag of grain. I checked the others, and they all look to still be factory sealed. We’ll watch them, though.”
Kenny nodded and headed off to the barn.
Drew touched Marshall’s arm to stop him when he started to walk off. “This keeps up, I’m going to eventually lose a horse. I don’t want to lose even one animal because someone is pissed off at me for keeping the damn ranch.”
“Don’t worry. Jeb and I will be looking out for things now. Kenny is just one man. Now you have three to check on everything.”
“Thanks,” she said and headed back to the house.
“How’s he doing?” he asked Jeb.
“No problem that I can see, other than he’s a talker. Guess that’s why they named him Crooner.” Jeb chuckled.
Marshall walked around the barn, careful not to disturb any prints, if there were any. What he found was where someone had used a branch to try and erase the evidence that they’d been there. The dirt was disturbed, and he found a likely branch about fifteen feet away from the barn. Yep, someone was definitely trying to cause trouble. Why? If you don’t want to work for a woman, that’s one thing. Don’t do it. But why cause trouble for her? She’s got trouble enough trying to get people to work for her.
Guess Jeb and I are going to be doing a little sleuthing as well as protecting.
Kenny found him walking back around the side of the barn.
“Find anything?” he asked.
Marshall nodded his head but waited until he could tell Jeb as well. No use telling it twice, he decided. When they made it back around the corral, he motioned Jeb to come over. His friend tied off the horse and climbed up on the fence to sit while they talked. Marshall filled them in on what he’d found and what his plans were for the next few days.
“Kenny, I need you to bring me up to speed on everything that’s going on and how you normally run this place. We don’t have time for me to learn as I go.”
Kenny looked relieved and started talking.
At seven thirty, Drew called out that dinner was on the table. Marshall realized it had gotten dark while they had been talking. The outside lights had automatically cut on. He noticed a couple of dark spots that needed additional light and made a mental note to see about remedying that.
Inside, the smell of food filled the house. They each took turns stomping off their boots on the boot tray then washed up at the big double sink in the washroom. Jeb’s stomach growled loudly as soon as they walked into the kitchen. He looked a little embarrassed, but Drew just laughed and said to have a seat. She wouldn’t know they’d been living off canned meat and beans for the last few weeks.
Marshall’s mouth watered at the sight of the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls. Something else smelled even better. He hoped it was for dessert. They started passing the food around the table as they discussed the ranch. Marshall felt at home after only a few hours of being there.
He glanced over at where Jeb and Kenny were talking about the horses, and then at Drew, who had grown quiet. He caught her looking at him, and he could have sworn there was interest in her eyes before she averted them and offered Jeb some more mashed potatoes. Time would tell if they had a chance with her. Of course, even if they did, it would probably only be a brief fling. Would it be worth throwing away the only job they’d been able to find? Marshall took another look at her and knew, as far as he was concerned, it would be.
* * * *
Drew felt her face grow warm when Marshall caught her staring at him. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the two men. They were handsome men, and something about them pulled her toward them like a moth to a flame. The part that kept bothering her most, though, wasn’t that she was interested in them but that she was interested in both of them at the same time. The townsfolk are right, Drew. You’re a slut.
She sighed and told herself that they might be partners, as in gay partners. She had no idea and wasn’t about to ask. Eight years was a long time to be in prison. She knew what went on there whether she liked it or not. No, she best keep her thoughts, hands, and looks to herself. She had enough trouble with whoever was causing the problems around the ranch. With winter coming up, they would all have their hands full without adding a raunchy ranch romance in the mix. She forced herself to change the direction of her thoughts.
Kenny had a partner who lived in town. She had often tried to get him to move Robert there with them so he would be close by. Kenny said it was best that people not have it rubbed in their noses. They pretty much left Robert alone since he was the only blacksmith in the area. He traveled from ranch to ranch to tend to everyone’s horses. Drew had no doubt that if another man came in to set up shop, they’d run Robert out of town. Where Robert went, Kenny would follow. She hated that it had to be that way.
The little town of Mountain View, Montana, only had about twelve hundred folks living in the area, but they all kept up with everyone’s business. Kenny and Robert had been the main gossip for quite some time now. No doubt they would have another avenue to go down now that she had hired Jeb and Marshall. She grimaced.
“Is that chocolate pie I smell?” Kenny asked.
Kenny knew her pies well. Now she had Jeb and Marshall to cook for, so she had made two pies to be sure there would be plenty for everyone. Kenny could eat a half of a pie by himself.
“I suppose you’re ready for it now,” she groused good-naturedly and stood up.
“I’ll get it. You just relax. You worked too hard with fresh stitches as it is,” Kenny said.
“I’m not made of glass. I can bend a little,” she snapped then laughed. He always got her goat.
She watched with bated breath as Jeb and Marshall tasted her pie. She wanted them to like it as much as Kenny did. It was vain of her, but she couldn’t help it. When they both rolled their eyes heavenward and made appreciative noises, she knew they liked it.
“This is the best damn pie I think I’ve ever had,” Marshall declared.
“I agree,” Jeb said. “I can’t even remember the last time I had food as good as what you laid out tonight. I thank you.”
“Get use to it. Unless there is something major going on and she’s too busy, she always cooks great meals,” Kenny told them.
“I’m not that good of a cook. Robert is the cook. Maybe he’ll come out this weekend and cook for us,” she hinted.
Kenny smiled, with pride evident in his eyes.
“Who’s Robert?” Marshall asked with a hint of something in his voice.
Was it unease?
Kenny laughed. “He’s my partner and the town’s blacksmith.”
Evidently Kenny had heard it in Marshall’s voice as well.
“If he can cook better than this, I’ll make myself too sick to work,�
�� Jeb predicted.
Drew was tired and wanted to finish cleaning up so she could go to bed. She shooed everyone out of the kitchen with the promise of burnt eggs in the morning if they didn’t get out of her way. She made short work of washing up then wandered into the living area to find the men gathered around the TV, watching the weather. She made it just in time to hear that the weekend might produce some snow.
“What about tomorrow?” she asked no one in particular.
“Low fifties tomorrow with a slight chance for rain in the afternoon,” Jeb told her.
“I’m heading to bed. Breakfast is at six in the morning. I’ll see you guys then.” She nodded at their good-nights and headed up the stairs to her room. She had the master suite with a newly remodeled master bath. She’d used her first share of the profits to have it and the walk-in closet made out of the fourth bedroom.
Drew stripped almost as soon as she shut her bedroom door and dropped her clothes in the hamper by the bathroom. Then she turned on the shower with its multiple heads and adjusted the water to suit her. She loved a hot shower before slipping into a warm bath. She couldn’t stand to sit in a tub full of dirty water. Most people would think she was crazy, but then, they didn’t work outside in the dust and dirt like she did.
It was tricky getting clean without getting her arm wet, but she managed. As soon as she was clean, Drew turned off the water and ran a bath with some of her favorite bath salts. She didn’t always indulge in a bath, but tonight she felt like she needed it, with everything that had happened.
The subtle scent of honeydew filled the air as she slid into the deliciously warm water and leaned back with both arms on the side of the tub. It didn’t take long for the warm water to relax her enough to daydream. Naturally, she pulled her new ranch hand and foreman into her dream. In a perfect world, she would have them both as her lovers, and Kenny and Robert would live on the ranch in their own house. She’d have a house full of children, and her ranch would thrive with new ranch hands to manage it for her.
