by Jeanne Allan
She’d never considered he might have a wife. Or a family. He needed to learn he couldn’t move a wife and a couple of kids onto her place without checking first with her. He seemed to think because he knew more about ranching than she did, he could do whatever he wanted.
That was her fault. She’d been too polite, wording her orders as requests. Not because he made her nervous or she was afraid or reluctant to give him orders. She’d never been the type to boss people around. Issuing curt orders wasn’t her style. He recognized she was the employer and he the employee.
That the situation amused him was only conjecture on her part.
And Lawrence had vouched for him. Well, not exactly for Jake, whom he’d never met. At Gwen’s request Jake had talked to Lawrence on the phone, and later Lawrence had allowed as how Jake seemed to know the cattle business. Lawrence had been Bert’s trusted right-hand man for years, and he ought to know.
The pickup passed between the huge stone pillars at the far edge of the ranch yard and pulled up by the house. Jake acknowledged Gwen’s presence with a slight smile. Unless he was smiling at the house which amused him so much. No matter what anyone else thought, she liked the way the two additions, one rustic log and one Queen Anne Victorian, reflected the eras and tastes of the builders. The house, like the Winthrops, had grown and settled into the land.
Jake stepped from the truck. His boots raised slight clouds of dust. “Hi. Where’s my little pardner?”
“Taking a nap.” He’d shaved. He looked less disreputable, but no less dangerous. Gwen couldn’t rid herself of the notion that Jake Stoner looked exactly as an outlaw from the Old West must have looked. An air of watchfulness about him forcibly reminded her of the way wild animals in documentaries scented the wind for danger. Jake turned, speaking across the pickup to his passenger, and Gwen studied his profile. His jaw was strong, the kind that proclaimed its owner a determined man, a man not to be trifled with.
Not that she wanted to trifle with him. Idly she wondered if any woman had ever caressed his jaw in an attempt to soften it. Now what put that stupid thought in her head? The answer came to her immediately. She’d been reading one of Bert’s family journals. One started in 1911 by a young woman as she’d set out on the train from Chicago to meet her sweetheart in Colorado. The woman’s romantic nonsense had seeped into Gwen’s brain.
“Someone to see you,” Jake said.
The wrinkled old man who climbed down from the truck turned intense brown eyes on her. “You the gal Bert left his place to?”
“Yes. I’m Gwen Ashton.”
The man cackled with laughter. “Bert leaving his place to a purdy little gal he barely knew shure set some people back on their heels. Specially that no-account nephew of Bert’s. Serves him right. Counting his chickens afore they was hatched.”
Gwen had had it with people speculating about Bert’s motives. “I wasn’t his mistress and he wasn’t my sugar daddy,” she snapped.
“Never said ya was. Bert was plenty tickled he found somebody who’d love the place the way he done. He thought about leaving it to Lawrence, but said Lawrence had the look a death on him.” The man spat on the ground. “Don’t know how Bert knew. Heard Lawrence’s up in Denver in the hospital with cancer eating away his guts. He’ll be ridin’ the range with Bert purdy soon.”
Leaning against the front of the pickup, his arms crossed over his chest, Jake gave Gwen a thoughtful look. She knew he’d taken the job on a temporary basis only. Crossing her fingers where Jake couldn’t see them, she said quickly, “Lawrence, Mr. Hingle, is being treated.” His daughter told Gwen the cancer had advanced beyond help. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Miracles happened.
“He won’t be back,” the old man said with finality before spitting again. “Heard ya need help, so I come over. Name’s Tom. Where do I bunk?”
Gwen opened her mouth and closed it again, struck dumb. The man was older than dirt, and if he stood one inch over five feet tall, she’d be amazed. Her eyes swung to Jake. He gazed blandly back. The old man wasn’t his problem.
“Uh, well, Tom, as you can see, I’ve already hired Mr. Stoner. While I appreciate your—”
“I hear tell Rod Heath done gone to Cheyenne.” The big lump in his cheek moved up and down with his words. “Not gonna hire him again when he comes crawling back, are ya?”
“No, that is...” She wanted to bite her tongue. She should have lied.
“Thought not. You look too salty for that.”
Gwen ignored the smothered choke of laughter from the direction of the pickup. She wondered how funny Jake would find it if she hired Tom as his assistant. Of course, she couldn’t hire a man of his age. Not for the kind of physical labor needed on a ranch. “I appreciate you taking the time and trouble to come way out here, but I’m not hiring another hand at present. Mr. Stoner will give you a ride back into town.” That didn’t sound too hospitable. “Would you care for a glass of iced tea before you leave?”
The man moved the lump to the other side of his jaw, giving her close study throughout the operation. “Ain’t you some kind a fancy numbers lady?”
So much for being a Certified Public Accountant. “I’m a CPA, yes.”
“Then ya otter be able to count. You had two ranch hands, now ya got one. You need anuther.”
“Uh, well, it might look that way, but, the thing is, it’s pretty slow around here right now. We don’t need to replace Rod for a while.”
“Slow. In August?” The man snorted. “She don’t know a damn thing about ranching, does she?” He directed the question to Jake who merely smiled.
Gwen gave the tail cowboy a look of entreaty. He could chime in anytime.
“Yeah, boss lady?”
She didn’t believe that artless look for one second. He was reminding her it was her ranch. Fine. She’d handled personnel matters before. She’d deal with this one. Firmly she said, “Thank you for applying for the job, Mr., uh, Tom. If we find we need help, we’ll certainly keep you in mind.”
The man gave her a disgusted look. “Yur jes like that young whippersnapper son of mine. Thinking I’m too old to do anything but set in a rocking chair. I aint dead yet.” He spit again before squinting up at Gwen. “Maybe I caint keep up with this young feller—” he nodded at Jake “—but you aint seen the day I caint outwork that no-account Rod you had. I’m of a mind to sue you for age discrimination.”
The old man had one foot in the grave, and he was threatening to sue her. Pure bravado. They both knew, even if he did sue her, he’d never win. He stared up at her with a proud, pugnacious look which almost hid the resignation in his eyes. He felt discarded before his time. Gwen sighed inwardly. Surely Jake could find something easy for the man to do. “All right,” she said, “I’ll hire you.” She couldn’t let him think she was hiring him out of pity. “I can’t afford to be sued, but I’m not a charity. I’m hiring you under the same conditions I hired Jake. A month’s trial period.”
Tom proudly adjusted a beat-up brown cowboy hat over his few strands of hair. “Ya won’t be sorry, Ma’am. Ya just done got yourself a top hand.” He hesitated, then a crafty expression narrowed his eyes. “Name’s Smith. Tom Smith.” The look on his face dared her to challenge the blatantly obvious lie.
Gwen only hoped he didn’t kill himself before the month was up. “Tom,” she called as he headed back to the pickup for his gear, “can I ask you one thing?”
“You can ask,” the old man said cautiously. “Mebbe I’ll answer and mebbe I won’t.”
“Just how old is your son?”
“Damn fool kid’s still wet behind the ears.” Tom spit at the truck’s front wheel. “Sixty-two last birthday. You let that be,” he snapped at Jake who’d reached into the back of the pickup. “I carry my own rig. Just point me.”
Jake pointed to the small stone house. “Bunk in any bedroom but mine.”
Gwen watched him disappear into the employees’ quarters, then turned on Jake. “
I don’t want to hear one word from you about me hiring him. I don’t care if he does slow you down. I don’t care if you do have to invent work for him. I’m the boss around here and I say he stays.”
“All right.”
“What does that mean?” she asked suspiciously.
He ambled over to the base of the porch steps, and shoved his hat to the back of his head. “It means you’re the boss.”
“Yes, I am the boss. And don’t you forget it.”
“Ma’am, a man’s not likely to forget anything about you.” One easy step with those long legs of his and he stood on the porch in front of Gwen. He gently touched her cheek with a glove-clad finger. “Tom was right about you.”
“I know, I don’t know anything about ranching.” Or outlaws, she thought nonsensically.
He shook his head, a faint smile on his lips. “About you being a ‘purdy little gal.’ You stir a man’s insides.” He backed her up against the stone porch pillar and tipped up her chin, his gaze settling on her mouth.
“I don’t want you to kiss me.”
“No, Ma’am.” He smiled, barely showing white, even teeth.
“You’re my employee,” she said stiffly.
His smile widened. “If you mean your cowhand, yes I am, boss lady.”
“I don’t believe in mixing business and pleasure.”
He laughed, deep in the back of his throat. “You’re right about that, Ma’am. Kissing you will be pure pleasure.”
She’d never been kissed by an outlaw. She didn’t intend to let one kiss her now. “You’re not still planning to kiss me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She ought to fire him. Maybe she should kiss him first. Out of curiosity. Then she’d fire him. Except she needed him. Even with Tom, she couldn’t operate the ranch alone. So she couldn’t kiss him. Because she couldn’t fire him.
She’d deliberated too long. He lowered his head. She expected a hard, forceful kiss to demonstrate his masculine superiority. His mouth settled gently on hers, a whisper of a kiss. He nibbled on her lips, tiny bites as if tasting her. Tingling little bites he slowly bathed with his warm, moist tongue. Which did nothing to calm the tingling. Nearby a grasshopper whirred. Cows mooed in the distance. If he’d panted and grabbed at her clothes, Gwen would have fought him off. His steady breathing gave her the courage to indulge a certain intellectual curiosity. She’d stop in a minute.
The gentle persuasion of his lips told her he wanted her to open her mouth. No wonder all those prim schoolteachers used to run off with outlaws, she thought an instant later. Cowboys, outlaws, knew how to kiss.
Lightly she touched his cheek. He’d shaved his heavy growth of beard, but that had been hours ago and fresh stubble rasped against her fingertips. She slid her hands down his neck, across his shoulders. His strength seemed to flow through his soft, weathered cotton shirt into her fingers. She tightened her grip, enjoying the flexing of his hard muscles.
He took away his mouth and stepped back. Her eyes shot open in protest. He gave her a lazy smile as he lifted his hand, caught a gloved finger between his teeth and yanked off the glove. Dropping it, he ran his fingers over the side of her face and closed the distance between them. A light breeze danced by, carrying a hint of dust and the smell of sage. Gwen pushed off his hat and threaded her fingers through his thick shaggy hair. She’d stop kissing him in a minute.
Sandwiched between his large, hard body and the sun-warmed stone pillar, her body molded itself to his hard thighs, the large belt buckle at his waist, his broad shoulders. Work-roughened fingers ran lightly over her jawline, trailed down her neck, and traced the neckline of her shirt.
The feel of a button slipping free brought Gwen to her senses. She stiffened and drew back, fighting for composure. And the courage to look him in the eye. What could she possibly have been thinking of? The man worked for her. She didn’t want him kissing her. She didn’t want the heat from his body coiling around her. If he made one arrogant, gloating, what-a-big-boy-am-I remark, she’d smack him.
A tanned finger lightly skimmed the tip of a breast straining against the fabric of her shirt. “Maybe I should have expected that.”
Gwen’s head snapped up even as she slapped aside his hand. “Expected what?” she demanded fiercely. “That I’d be an easy touch?”
“I wasn’t thinking about that, but since you ask, Ma’am, you are definitely an easy touch. I knew that even without the old man.”
His slow smile warmed her all the way to her toes. Or would have. If she wasn’t already boiling mad. Jabbing her finger into Jake’s chest, she forced him to retreat, yelling, “I was not Bert’s mistress.” She curled her fingers into a fist and followed Jake down the porch steps, pounding him in time with her angry words. “I did not manipulate him with sex. I did not sleep with Bert and I’m not going to sleep with you.”
Jake abruptly halted, brushing her fist aside as one brushed off a fiy. “Who’s talking about Bert? I’m talking about Tom.”
“Tom!” Gwen screeched. “You think I’m sleeping with Tom?” She hauled back her right arm to slug him.
Effortlessly Jake captured her arm. “What’s wrong with you? I’m talking about you taking in Tom, like you took in Mack.”
Gwen froze, her left arm halted mid-swing. “You’re talking about me hiring Tom?”
“Sure. What the hell were you talking about?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Let go of me.” She concentrated on brushing off her sleeve where he’d gripped her arm. “I’m a little sensitive about inheriting Bert’s property. His nephew Gordon has made a number of unsavory accusations.”
“Tom says he’s a no-account. No one’s going to pay any attention to his sour grapes.”
“About Tom.” She concentrated on the tanned skin in the vee of Jake’s shirt. “I know he’s old, but—” A finger pressed against her mouth stopped her.
“Tom’s going to work out just fine.”
“That’s sweet of you to say, but—”
“Honey, I haven’t been sweet since my ma weaned me.”
She decided to overlook what he’d called her. His drawl hinted of the South. She had the impression down there everyone called everyone “honey.” The issue here was Tom. “I’m glad you have no objection to my hiring him. I’m confident you can find something for him to do that won’t be beyond his capabilities.”
“Tom knows more about cows and horses than I’ll ever know.”
“Tom?”
“He’s a horse doctor, a veterinarian. Took his son and then his grandson into his practice, and they nudged him out. Thinking they were doing him a favor. Didn’t want him dropping dead in the office.”
“How do you know that?”
“Tom’d thumbed a ride with somebody partway here. I picked him up and brought him the rest of the way. We got to talking and he told me all about it.”
“And you believed him? He doesn’t talk like any veterinarian I’ve ever met.”
Jake chuckled. “Tom thought a city lady would be more likely to hire him if she thought he’d add a little local color. I could have told him that wasn’t necessary.”
“You should have told me who he was.”
Jake shrugged. “What difference would it have made? You’d still have hired him.”
Unwilling to argue the point, she switched tactics. “I expect the people who work for me to keep me informed. Is that clear, Mr. Stoner?”
“Sure, boss,” he said easily. “Didn’t I just tell you about Tom? I know you hired him because you felt sorry for him, but forget that. If you’re serious about this ranching business—”
“I’m serious.”
“Tom can teach you about the livestock.”
“That’s what I’m paying you for.”
A grasshopper landed near Jake’s boot. “Knowing about cows and horses and caring for the land takes a heap of studying on. You’ll need Tom when I’m gone.” He ground the insect under his toe. “I’m just passing through.”
“Jake, it’s none of my business, but... A man like you could do anything he put his mind to. Why don’t you settle down?”
He picked his hat up from the ground and carefully brushed the dust from it. “No, Ma’am, it’s not your business,” he finally said. “Besides, there’s no way to explain it. Settling down’s something I can’t do. I have to move on when I’m not needed anymore.”
“Who decides when you’re not needed? You? Like you decided about kissing me?”
He gave her a long look. “You telling me you didn’t want me to kiss you?”
“The question was, are you the one who decides you’re not needed anymore?”
“No.”
“All right, then. As long as we both understand how it is.”
“I understand. I doubt you do.” He settled his hat on his head. “One other thing, boss lady, be mighty careful about laying down the law around here, and saying what you will and won’t do, unless you’re damned sure you can back up your words.”
“That sounds very much like a threat,” Gwen said slowly. “I’m not sure why. I’m not so stupid I’d hire an expert on ranching and then disregard his advice.”
Cool gray eyes rested on her face. “Then take this advice, boss lady. Don’t be issuing any ultimatums about whether or not you’ll sleep with me. If I decide to sleep with you, I will.” A lazy smile crawled over his face. “And, honey, you’ll want me in your bed.” He turned and headed toward the pickup, sweeping his glove from the ground in passing.
He had the truck door open by the time Gwen found her voice. “You’re fired!”
He looked at her through the open window. “You can’t fire me.” The pickup engine roared to life, and Jake backed the truck away from the house.
“And don’t call me honey!”
The truck backfired, then bounced noisily around to the barn.
“I thought there was more in the air last night at the dinner table than the smell of roast beef.”
Gen looked over her shoulder at the housekeeper. “Maybe you smelled the carrots.”
Doris laughed, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked out on the porch. “It appears to me Crissie isn’t the only one with a crush on our handsome cowboy.”
