“Miss Walker?” a shrill voice demanded.
Tiana jumped off the sofa as a woman with an enormous girth, mean beady eyes and a scowl was waddling towards her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Tiana responded.
“Sit down, gal. I hear you responded to our ad?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And here you are, disturbing my day,” the old biddy muttered as she lowered herself into a seat.
“Uh, it was never my intention to disturb you, ma’am. I just responded like the ad said to do,” Tiana said uncertainly.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” the woman snapped. “What? You wearing a hearing aid or something? How old are you?”
“Twenty-six, ma’am.”
“It’s Rose Shirley! Alright, can you cook?”
“I can. It’s a hobby as a matter of fact.”
“Huh. You’re hired!”
Tiana blinked! Just like that? The woman had not asked for qualifications or references, just given her the job.
“Your salary will be $30 an hour, so you set your own time. We would prefer it though if you’re here in the evenings to help with meals for the men after work.”
Thirty dollars! Why at that rate, in a single day she could make a whopping one hundred and fifty dollars! Evenings would be perfect. She could just ask Tiny Tim to give her morning shift which would end when school let out and Jamal walked to the diner then she would bring him here with her.
She grinned. Unconsciously dimpling at the other woman as her entire face lit up, “That’s so perfect, Rose.”
“Mrs. Shirley!” the woman snapped.
“Uh, sorry. When do I start?”
The woman rose to her feet.
“This evening,” she ordered, her face cast in harsh lines.
As Tiana walked towards the exit, she heard the woman grumble, “Wonder why the boss insisted I interview the minx myself!”
The emphasis she placed on ‘the boss’ was telling; the woman was annoyed with him. But she was fairly certain she did not know who owned the Faraday ranch. Who had insisted that Rose interview her personally, she wondered?
Who was he?
CHAPTER FOUR
Christian grinned to himself as he watched Tiana shut the front door of the house behind her as she followed the maid in. He had almost lost control of the horse he was working in the corral when he spotted a familiar olive-skinned, wide-eyed temptress climbing out of a taxi in front of the ranch house. He had been so amazed, he had slackened his grip on the horse he was exercising and the high-spirited animal had begun kicking up dirt immediately as it tried to prance right out of the low fence of the ring.
He had handed the animal over to Joe Bolen and then ordered someone to inform Rose that she had to personally interview the next applicant and offer her the job. He rarely gave orders, preferring instead to treat everyone as equals but when he did give orders, they were seldom disobeyed.
Getting into his 4X4, he headed away from the stalls, towards Tiana, unable to hide his grin as surprise and, yes, alarm flared in her eyes when she saw him.
“What the hell?” she breathed the moment he was within hearing distance.
“What’s the problem?” he replied with sham innocence on his face.
“Please tell me you don’t work here?” she sighed.
Her frustration was telling. Evidently, she was as bothered by his presence as he was by hers. He must be a glutton for punishment though because the moment he had seen her entering the premises, he had wanted to make certain she got the job.
“It’s a ranch,” he pointed out, enjoying her rising temper as he pointed out the obvious. “And I’m a cowboy, you know.”
“Yes, Christian, I know you’re a cowboy,” she assured him, her voice colored with sweetness as she batted her big, brown eyes at him.
Christian steeled himself; mischief was spelled all over her beautiful, exotic features.
“One can tell you’re a cowboy from a mile away!”
Never mind that he was a cowboy with a tight fitting pair of jeans which was seriously starting to bother her.
“How do you mean?” he asked, goaded by the gleam in her eyes into asking the question he could tell she was just dying to respond to.
She didn’t disappoint him.
“Well let’s see,” Tiana began, her measuring gaze sweeping him from head to toe. “You’re wearing the customary cowboy hat, cowboy boots, faded shirt and hard jeans. You reek of horses, and you have a drawl unlike anyone else I have ever met!”
“Why, thank you, ma’am,” he said cheerfully with a low, mocking bow.
“Those were not compliments!” she grated, offended because she had not managed to get a reaction out of him. “You sound like a damn hick!” she added with uncharacteristic unkindness.
He paused, silence reigned as he regarded her thoughtfully from beneath bushy brows and a sexily slanted cowboy hat. Even the birds of the very air seemed to have stilled and in that moment, one could have heard a pin drop. Tiana writhed in embarrassment as Christian continued to simply regard her in silence.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, tears of distress filling her eyes even as she determinedly held them back.
“For what? It has always been my burning ambition to sound like a southern gentleman, Tiana, because that’s exactly who I am. If that spells hick to you then that’s just too damn bad. See you around,” he added dismissively, before turning on the heel of one boot and striding off.
Christian ground his teeth in anger as he strode away. How had he managed to let her get to him like that? He knew why though; he still carried the scars of the insults, ribbing, and rejection he had endured in college because of his origin. The rejection had been the most painful, he admitted to himself.
He didn’t want to dwell on that, he told himself. Tiana may have surprised him just now, but she was really not a mean person, or at least so he had thought. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore. He was usually a great judge of character but perhaps he had been wrong about her?
He remembered the distressed tears that had filled her eyes and paused in his rapid stride. He looked over his shoulder to find her still watching him, openly distressed and his steps faltered. She was a proud woman and while she was not given to rudeness like he could be on occasion, she definitely would not ordinarily let anyone see her tears.
He turned and retraced his steps, heading back to where she stood clutching her purse to her chest.
“It’s alright, Tiana. Come on, I’ll give you a ride to Tiny Tim’s,” he offered.
Tiana smiled her thanks and slowly climbed into the four wheel drive he had indicated.
“I’m sorry for what I said,” she repeated as he climbed into the truck.
“Don’t sweat it. Water under bridge,” he said quietly as he started the engine.
The short drive to Tiny Tim’s was fraught with tension; the good kind. She couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from his large, capable, masculine hands as he navigated the streets. His hand reached out to change the gear and Tiana’s breath hissed from between her lips as she fastened her gaze onto his hands. Images of his rough, hard, callused hands stroking her breasts flitted through her brain and she hurriedly reached over and cranked his air conditioner up a notch as heat swept through her.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
“Just getting a little hot is all,” she murmured breezily.
His eyes scanned her face for a brief minute before returning to the road. “What were you doing at the ranch?” he asked now.
“I applied for the job that was advertised.”
“The job?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
“Cooking assistant,” she supplied.
“Oh that. I hope you get it.”
“Why?” she asked surprised. “We’ll be working together and that’s no fun.”
“I was just being polite,” he retorted coolly.
He pulled into the parking lot at Tiny Tim’s and wai
ted without a word for her to get down.
Tiana hesitated, “Look, I seem to be doing nothing but apologizing but I’m sorry. You drove me here and you didn’t have to and I made another thoughtless comment.”
“It’s okay,” he said quietly, looking out over the steering wheel.
“No it’s not. I seem to have my foot permanently in my mouth,” she protested.
“Well that’s one way of looking at it. You’re just tensed up, is all.”
Tiana blinked at the sheer presumptuousness of the statement. Now he thought she was tensed up?
“Christian...” she began.
“Tiana there is something between us,” he blurted out. He straightened in his seat, flicking off his seat belt as he turned to face her.
“We can’t keep pretending there isn’t,” he added gently, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Tiana swallowed hard. He was not saying what she thought he was, was he?
“I don’t know what you mean,” she lied. Her face felt as though it was on fire as she swallowed.
“Yes you do. You feel it too and that’s why you’re so nervous you’re stickin’ your foot in your mouth every chance you get,” he drawled.
Tiana glared at him, “I feel nothing and I would appreciate if you didn't...”
The rest of what she was going to say was cut off as his mouth swooped down hungrily on hers. He slanted firm, surprisingly soft lips over her even softer ones and Tiana’s mouth fell open immediately to admit him; later, she would insist to herself that she only opened her mouth in surprise and not because she wanted his tongue to sweep into her mouth.
Christian wasted no time in deepening the kiss; the sensation was indescribable, like plunging down a steep hill on a half-broke mustang. His heart jumped straight into his throat as the wild exhilaration from the kiss made him light headed. He slowly and deliberately licked her lower lip, enjoying the exploding hunger that reflected in the brown depths of her eyes as they flew open. His hand gently cupped her left breast, savoring the incredibly soft feel of the breast through her thin, chiffon shirt.
She was addictive and if he didn’t release her in a hurry, he would try to do more than kiss her right in front of Tiny Tim’s. He craved her with a driving urgency that shot blood straight to his groin and made his jeans suddenly uncomfortable and horridly tight.
He wrenched his lips from hers, panting hard with every breath.
Tiana’s eyes were wild and shocked as she too floated back to earth. How could one kiss affect her so much, she wondered as her eyes flew to that of the man beside her. Once his lips touched hers, she could not breathe, could not think. If he had tried to take her right there in his truck in full view of the world, she may not have been able to stop him, she realized near panic. What if Tiffany had wandered past?
His eyes dropped to her lips again and, unbidden, her eyes fell to his crotch; his tented, swollen crotch.
“Um, I have to go,” she whispered uncomfortably and before he could even respond, she had thrust open the door and dashed from the car and straight into the diner running, without looking back.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tiana walked towards the huge, imposing gates of the estate. Other people may refer to the damn thing as a ranch, but to her mind, it was an estate.
She clutched Jamal’s hand in hers as she walked, her gaze dropping to her son’s curly brown head of hair as he scampered along beside her.
Tiana was a wreck; she was a bundle of nerves and she knew exactly why, no matter how much she tried to deny it. She was so nervous she was in danger of tossing her dinner as she walked past the gate and towards the ranch house. She was afraid she was going to see him, she mused, not bothering to clarify who he was. So far, there was only one person who was capable of making her as miserably nervous as she was right now.
She rang the doorbell and waited.
The same snooty maid she had met in the morning opened the door instantly, gave her a once-over from beneath haughty, comically carved brows and then swung the door wide.
“Welcome,” she trilled in her musical voice.
“Thanks,” Tiana said uncertainly as she began to guide Jamal past the threshold.
“And who is the little heartbreaker?” the woman cooed, stooping down to Jamal’s level.
Tiana’s own eyebrows lifted in surprise. The woman could be friendly?
“My son, Jamal,” she offered, softening towards the other woman.
“Hi, Jamal. I’m Tracy. Wanna go shoot some hoops out back while Mommy is busy in the kitchen?”
They had a basketball court? How strange for a ranch.
“Uh, that’s very generous,” Tiana said immediately just as Jamal was letting out a whoop of delight. “But this is my first day here and his too. I would like to get a lay of the land so to speak before I let him wander off.”
The maid’s grin vanished and then she shrugged, before turning away and striding off, her nose in the air.
Tiana shook her head. The other woman was a piece of work alright.
“Come on, Jamal. Let’s go find the kitchen ourselves,” she muttered as she reached for Jamal.
Several minutes and numerous diversions later, Tiana stumbled across the kitchen and her heart flew into her throat. The kitchen was an epitome of modern technology and was frankly everything any cook could ask for; the occupants however, left a lot to be desired.
One fat Frenchman stood, stirring at a dizzying speed the contents of one pot whilst sweating profusely. She watched in fascinated horror as a large glob of sweat plopped right into the pot and he kept right on stirring merrily.
Several other persons were scattered about the kitchen and it was complete chaos as everyone bumped into everyone else, while chattering a mile a minute. This was the place she was tossed into?
She turned to leave, tugging Jamal along when a familiar mocking voice, tinged with laughter drawled, “Don’t tell me you’re leaving so soon. I never pegged you for a quitter.”
All the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she turned to face her tormentor. He was clad in his trademark jeans and a white shirt with the ends tucked into the jeans, but for once, there was no hat to shield his eyes. A red bandanna was tied around his neck with the knot right under the Adam’s apple and his shirt was opened at the throat enough to reveal a tantalizing and jaw-dropping expanse of flesh lightly dusted with dark chest hair.
Mrs. Rose Shirley stood beside him, panting as she fixed the occupants of the kitchen with a wide eyed stare that was hard enough to have them all slow down and fall silent.
“I’m not sure what business of yours it is,” she began even as one of the kitchen workers gasped, “But I’m damned if I’m going to work amidst this chaos.”
“So make it what you want to be,” he suggested as though it was the easiest thing in the world.
Tiana rolled her eyes, “I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Alright! How about for today, you run the show,” he suggested, crossing his arms over a thick barrel of a chest as he spread his legs even wider where he stood.
“You can’t give me the power when you don’t have it yourself,” she scoffed trying not to notice how macho and deliciously attractive he looked. “Besides, shouldn’t you be off mucking a stall or something?”
Rose Shirley’s eyes seemed to be rolling back in her head as her fascinated gaze jumped from Christian’s amused face to Tiana’s increasingly irritated one.
“I’m sure the men will let me know when it’s time to muck out stalls,” he responded, a grin playing about his lips.
“Just don’t blame me if you get fired,” she said as she once more headed towards the exit.
“Never pegged you for a scaredy cat,” he crowed behind her, deliberately baiting her. He couldn’t have her walk out of here. He wanted her, he admitted silently to himself.
“I’m not scared.”
“Then why the hell are you thinking about leaving already.�
��
“I can’t work in this place, it’s too disorganized,” she said.
“Then fix it. I already said you could, didn’t I?”
Tiana looked questioningly at Rose; the woman didn’t flinch. She could do this then, she realized.
“Okay. What’s for dinner?” she asked the room at large.
Then she rolled up her sleeves and began to give orders, putting everyone where they ought to be. Jamal had gone upstairs with Christian and Rose. For some weird reason, she trusted him with Christian when she would not trust him with the maid.
***
Dinner had been a luxurious and wonderful affair, so much so that even the sour Rose Shirley had been impressed.
The lasagna had been extremely delicious, the broth just thick enough to be slurped greedily by the men after work and the beef tenderloin had been out of this world.
Christian was certain he had never, in all his years of existence on God’s green earth, tasted anything so wonderful. He said so too and was gratified to note the general assent from everyone in the dining room. He strolled into his library and relaxed against a sofa, shutting his eyes as he leaned back and waited for Rose to join him. He had decided to hire Tiana permanently. That would be pure torture for him yes, but in the meantime, she would feed his body good, delicious, homemade meals and he really needed that. At the ripe old age of thirty, the last thing he needed was the sort of nauseatingly rich French sauces Vanessa had been shoving down his throat for six months.
The door of the library banged shut, announcing Rose’s arrival but he deliberately remained with his eyes shut as she waddled towards him.
“Well the meal wasn't so bad, but I still say Vanessa is...”
His eyes flew open, “Let’s set some ground rules, Mrs. Shirley. No more talks about Vanessa for now okay? She’s gone and I’m damn well not going to talk about it again.”
Rose paused, regarding him through narrowed eyes and then she blurted the question in her mind since the morning, “Why did you want me to hire her?”
“I had a hunch she would be good,” he said. “And speaking of, I asked her to join us here. I’m going to offer her a full-time position.”
The Love Ranch (BWWM Romance) Page 3
