Somebody Like You

by Lynnette Austin

  The killer Texas heat spiked another twenty degrees.

  Chapter Six

  Hot enough under the collar to ignite a brush fire, Cash stalked toward the big house. Damn Vivi all to hell. This latest fiasco was her way of getting back at him for last night. He knew it as surely as he knew his own name.

  So now he had to take time out of the middle of the workday to smooth things out with Rosie. The Fourth of July was coming up fast, and the little league ball team he coached, along with their families and half the rest of the county, would be here expecting to eat and celebrate their country’s independence. It took a lot of planning and organization to pull off the annual event. If Rosie, his housekeeper and cook, wasn’t happy, that wasn’t gonna happen.

  One thing about Vivi, her timing was spot-on. She knew exactly when to throw her little snit fits to cause the most damage.

  His boots thudded loudly on the wooden porch steps. Without stopping to knock, he barged through the door, the screen banging shut behind him.

  “Vivi!”

  “What?” His grandfather’s widow poked her head out of the living room. Every hair in place, her makeup applied perfectly, she’d no doubt expected him. The short white shorts showed off miles of tanned legs, and the neon-pink tank top hugged a perfect pair of breasts.

  Cash guessed he could see what had tempted his grandfather. But at seventy-two, the old codger should have had the sense not to buy the cow—especially with a forty-four-year age difference between himself and that cow. Unfortunately, Gramps hadn’t been using the head on his shoulders and had rushed headlong into matrimony, creating one hell of a mess.

  If he’d waited, even a little while, he’d have seen through the façade to the wicked witch inside that showgirl’s body.

  Maybe. He hadn’t really been himself the last year or so. He got confused easily, forgot things. They’d never have let him go to Vegas alone if they’d known that’s what he’d planned to do.

  They’d been frantic when he disappeared, then reassured when he’d called to tell them he was fine. Too damn bad one of them hadn’t hopped in the plane and flown to Vegas after his call because, while he’d claimed he simply needed to get away for a couple of days, he hadn’t run nearly fast enough. Vivi, damn her hide, caught him.

  Gramps had been an easy target. Lonely and disoriented.

  They’d buried him three months ago. A fist of pain squeezed Cash’s heart. God, he missed the old man.

  “I see your girlfriend’s here again.”

  “Annie’s not my girlfriend.”

  Vivi rolled her eyes. “Um-hmm. Could’ve fooled me.”

  “Don’t start, Vivi.”

  “Where’d you find her?”

  “She’s new to town.”

  His grandmother curled a strand of highlighted blond hair around a finger. “She looks awfully familiar. I could swear I know her from somewhere.”

  “I seriously doubt that. Don’t think you two run in the same social circle. Besides, it doesn’t matter. As long as Annie does her job, there’s no problem.”

  “Exactly which job are you talkin’ about, Cash? Her nine-to-five one here at the ranch or her nighttime job takin’ care of you?” She tipped her head to one side. “Doesn’t it strike you strange she just happened to show up needin’ a job when you’re countin’ down to the big three-oh? When you’re runnin’ out of time to—”

  “Stop. Right now.” Anger flared.

  “Ah,” Vivi purred. “You’ve already wondered about it. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “What? You worried about your inheritance, Vivi? Think Annie knew exactly when I’d be in town so she could lure me in?”

  “Maybe. Maybe that part was luck. But I’m telling you, Cash, the lady has her line in the water, and she’s trollin’ for you.”

  “Well, you’d certainly be the expert on that, wouldn’t you?”

  Vivi simply smiled at him.

  “What in the hell was Gramps thinking when he got mixed up with you?”

  “Oh, come on, Cash. You know the answer to that. It’s the same thing you’re thinkin’ every time you look at Annie.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “I already have. It’s called Maverick Junction, Texas.”

  Cash kneaded his forehead and took a long, slow breath. “What’s going on between you and Rosie?”

  “She’s lazy.”

  “Lazy?” He rocked back on his heels. “The woman’s sixty-eight and can work rings around you. And does.”

  “She won’t take direction.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “She’s stubborn. She won’t do as she’s told. I made a couple itsy-bitsy changes in the menu, and the way she took on, you’d think I committed the crime of the century.”

  He kept his eyes on hers. “Itsy-bitsy changes?”

  Vivi stomped her sandaled foot. “I don’t see why, just because something’s been done a certain way in the past, it has to be sacrosanct.”

  “Ooh, big word, Ms. Vegas. You been studying up at night?”

  “Damn you to hell and back, Cash Hardeman.”

  “Thank you.”

  “’Sides, what else have I got to do at night, hmmm? All alone in that big old king-size bed.” She pulled a pout.

  A muscle twitched in Cash’s jaw. “I’m going back to the kitchen to talk to Rosie. See if I can settle her down.” He pointed a finger at Vivi. “And you stay the hell away from her.”

  Vivi threw him an icy smile. “She’s my cook.”

  “Thank you for reminding me.” Frustration seeped into him. His hands fisted. “You don’t want to be here on this ranch any more than I want you here. What’ll it take, Vivi, to buy your half out?”

  “We’ve already been through this, darlin’. The ranch isn’t for sale.” She stepped to him, laid a hand on his cheek. “Marry me, Cash, and the ranch is all yours.”

  “I’d rather eat glass.” He removed her hand from his face.

  “Well, if that’s the case, I’m sure Rosie will be only too happy to fix it for you.” Vivi turned and flounced up the highly polished oak staircase, her hips swiveling in her tight shorts.

  Cash blew out a breath and headed to the kitchen, his boots loud on the shiny hardwood floors. He avoided the thick accent rugs in blues and orange that Vivi’d added. Too fancy by far, for his taste.

  The minute he stepped into the bright, cheerful room, Rosie hustled to him, shaking the wooden spoon in her hand. As wide as Hank was thin, she looked practically apoplectic in her tomato-red housedress. “Cash, you’ve gotta do somethin’ about her.” Dark eyes snapping with anger, she nodded her head in the direction of the front of the house. “It’s her or me. One of us has to go.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “You know I’d send her packing if I could.”

  “You can. You know what you gotta do.”

  “Rosie—”

  “Never mind. Have you had lunch?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then wash up and let me feed you. Like I used to do before she moved in.” Again, she jerked her graying head toward the front of the house.

  Cash went to the sink to lather up, scrubbing away the morning’s dust and letting Rosie vent before turning the conversation to the upcoming barbecue.

  “That’s the problem. Look at this.” She dug a list out of her mammoth apron pocket and slapped it on the table.

  He turned it around so he could read it. The menu. The one they’d used for as many years as he could remember. Whispering Pines’ Fourth of July barbecue was legendary. Angry red lines slashed through most of the items on the list. New dishes had been scrawled beside them. His eyes widened.

  “Ah, Vivi told me she’d made a few small changes.”

  “A few small changes?” Her stubby finger came down on the scratched-out barbecue pork. “We’re supposed to have prime rib instead. And see here? No apple pies. Instead, I’ve been told to make Baked Alaska.”

  “Well—”

&nbs
p; “Ain’t gonna happen. Baked Alaska,” she grumbled. She rested both hands on her hips. “Not in this lifetime. And potatoes au gratin instead of corn on the cob? At a Whispering Pines’ barbecue? Humph! The menu stays as it’s always been. Ms. Fancy Pants will have to make do.”

  “That’s more than fine with me,” Cash said.

  “Yeah, well, that’s real easy for you to say. You’re not cooped up with her here, day after day after day. She can get nasty. Real nasty.”

  “I know she can, and I’m sorry, Rosie.”

  “I know you didn’t make this mess. Mr. Leo’s responsible for it, bless his soul. But one more thing you’ve got to know. I’ve already talked to Hank, and he’s agreed. If that woman fires me because of all this, he’s gonna retire a little earlier than he’d planned. We’ll both be done.”

  Hank retire? Rosie leave? Cash’s stomach burned, and it wasn’t from the extra coffee he’d had with breakfast.

  “She won’t do that, Rosie. You and I both know she’d starve to death if you left.”

  “We’ll see. The woman’s crazy. Like this here new floor. White tile in a ranch house kitchen? What’s wrong with her brain? Can’t keep it clean, but then she doesn’t much care about that. Ain’t her down on her hands and knees scrubbin’ it.”

  “You shouldn’t be, either, Rosie. That’s what we hire the cleaning girls to do.”

  “Uh-huh.” With that Rosie changed the subject. “Your mama and daddy will be here?”

  She set a mammoth sandwich down in front of him, a pile of thinly sliced roast beef cradled between two thick slabs of homemade bread with juicy tomato slices nestled amongst the meat. His stomach rumbled.

  “Yes, they will. I’m making an airport run to pick them up later today.” He lifted one slice of bread, saw the horseradish sauce she’d slathered on it, smiled, and took a bite. “Mmmmm. Good stuff, Rosie.”

  “’Course it is. Made it, didn’t I? Here’s a glass of cold milk to go with it. Drink it like a good boy.” She plunked it down on the table in front of him, poured a cup of coffee for herself from the old percolator on the stove, and sat down across from him. “It’ll be good to see your folks. It’s past time for them to come home.”

  She sneaked a sidelong glance at him. “Maybe they can talk some sense into you.”

  “Rosie,” he warned. “We’ve already covered this ground. I’m not gonna do it.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know.”

  “You’ve got a lot to take care of in the next couple days. Anything I can do?”

  “Yeah. You can gag and bind that woman upstairs and lock her in a closet.”

  He grinned. “Anything else?”

  “Nope. I’ve got the rest under control. Estelle and Mary are coming in the next couple days to help. They’ll be back early on the Fourth to finish things up. I’m making the apple pies myself, though. Can’t be trusting anybody else with those. Baked Alaska,” she muttered. “In a pig’s eye.”

  He smiled and wiped his face with the napkin Rosie handed him. Leaning across the table, he kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

  “Ain’t no need to thank me. I’m just doin’ my job.”

  “We both know you do more than that.” He hesitated. “Has Hank said anything about the new help I hired?”

  “The old coot was madder than a banty rooster when she showed up. Thought I was gonna have to double up on his blood pressure meds. But after that first day, he settled down. Said even though the girl looked like some pampered princess, she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or too good to put her back into what needs doing.”

  “That’s pretty high praise, coming from your husband.”

  “Yeah, it is. So I figure this Annie of yours must be okay.”

  “She’s not my Annie,” he said quickly.

  “Hmph.” She arched her brow. “Maybe she should be. Now get out of here and let me do my work.” She swatted him with a dish towel.

  “Yes, ma’am.” As he let himself out the back door, he thought about what Rosie had said. His Annie. Somehow, the idea of that didn’t put him off nearly as much as it should.

  And Vivi’s accusations about Annie? Absolute rubbish. Good move on her part, though, he admitted reluctantly. Make him doubt Annie, her intentions. Drive a wedge between them. The woman would do whatever it took to protect her interests.

  Well, he wouldn’t think about it anymore. She was wrong.

  Barbecue crisis averted, for now anyway, he meandered over to the barn. He’d check on Hank, make sure he was indeed taking things easier. He refused to admit his trip had anything to do with catching a glimpse of Annie.

  Sticky hot and feeling more than a little grouchy, he stepped into the barn. Annie was nowhere in sight. Bathed in shadows, the building was a good ten degrees cooler than outside. It smelled of horse and fresh hay, familiar and comforting.

  Crouched in a stall, Hank wrapped one of the mare’s legs. Cash leaned against the wood railings. “Annie around?”

  “She’s out in the paddock.”

  “Okay.”

  He straightened to leave, but Hank, madder than a hornet, said, “You gotta do something about this mess.”

  “There’s nothing I can do, Hank. You know I would if—”

  “Don’t go givin’ me that, boy. You gonna stand back and watch everything your grandfather worked for go down the drain?”

  “He did that himself.”

  “No, by damn. You and I both know the old man wasn’t in his right mind.”

  Cash sighed, took off his hat, and raked his fingers through his hair. “This whole thing is beyond ludicrous. I don’t think any of us understood how jumbled Gramps’s mind had become.”

  “Rosie tried to tell me,” Hank said. “Even before Vivi. I didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to believe Leo’s mind was going.”

  “None of us did.”

  “You know,” Hank said, “in some twisted way that must have made sense to him, he was only givin’ you a nudge.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be nudged.” Cash jammed his hands in his pants pockets. “And this is a hell of a lot more than a nudge. A hard shove off a rocky cliff is more like it.”

  “Your grandpa was right about one thing. Time you settle down. Start a family.”

  “Did you put this stupid idea in his head?”

  “No, sir, I did not. Wouldn’t do anything to give the new missus a bit of ground. Your grandpa might have been willin’ to bet with the ranch, but not me. No siree.”

  “I won’t get married, Hank, not even to keep the ranch. Marriage shouldn’t be a bargaining chip.”

  “I understand that, but I sure as hell don’t want to work for Vivi. That gal wouldn’t know a stallion from a heifer! And you. What’re you going to do?”

  Cash rubbed his chest. “She’ll have half interest. That’s it. You’ll still be working for me.”

  Hank muttered something under his breath.

  Cash ignored it. “I’m gonna tell it to you straight, Hank. Stipulating I had to be married by the time I’m thirty or I share the ranch with Vivi? Big mistake. I’m not gonna be manipulated. I’m not getting married. End of discussion.”

  “So you’re gonna turn your back and let that gold digger steal the homestead?”

  “No.” Cash shook his head. “I’m gonna let my grandfather’s widow inherit the house she’s living in. If she leaves, according to the will, she walks with two hundred thousand. She knows her half interest is worth way more. So I offered her three times that, but still no dice.”

  “Over half a million. Not bad for eight months with one of the nicest men God ever put on Earth. Too bad about all of it. You, your Gramps,” Hank groused.

  “I’d have to agree. On all counts.”

  Hank let loose with enough curses to turn the air blue. “She hates it here. Why doesn’t she take the money and run?”

  Cash shrugged.

  “It ain’t right!” Hank spit tobacco juice into a can, then shot a glance at Cash. �
�Don’t tell Rosie I’m chewin’ out here.”

  “What happens in the barn—” Cash spread his hands.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Not done yet, Hank said, “It ain’t only the house, and you know that. If that was all she’d get, maybe I could stomach it. But you’ve worked your ass off on this ranch. Ever since you finished that degree of yours, you’ve devoted yourself to Whispering Pines. Hell, even before that, you spent every weekend your daddy didn’t need you over here helping Leo.”

  “Yes, I did. And it seems that was a mistake.”

  “You could contest the will.”

  “We’ve been through this, Hank. I’m not going there.”

  “Whispering Pines is your birthright.”

  “Gramps owned it. He could do what he wanted with it.”

  “Yeah, and if he’d been in his right mind, he’d have left it to you. Wouldn’t have married Vegas in the first place.”

  “But he did.”

  “What about that new house you built for yourself down by the lake?”

  “I’m gonna dicker with Vivi a little. See if maybe she’ll sell me the piece of land it’s on free and clear. Separate it from the rest of the package.”

  “Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.”

  “There’s nothing else I can do.” His voice rose in frustration, and several of the horses shifted uneasily, including the one Hank worked with.

  Hank ran a hand over the mare’s flank. “Easy, girl.” His face tightened. “Never took you for a quitter.”

  Cash’s own face darkened. “Careful.”

  “You got options.”

  “I’m not marrying Vivi, not taking my grandpa’s leavings.”

  “No. Don’t expect you to do that. She does, though.”

  “Yeah, I know. She’s made that crystal clear.”

  “Still, I’ll repeat, you got options.” The old hand spit another stream of tobacco.

  “Sometimes, the fight’s simply bigger than a fellow should take on.”

  “Yeah, and sometimes a fella flat-assed doesn’t know what’s good for him.” Hank tossed the end of the leg wrap into the corner and stormed out of the barn.

  “Shit.” Cash kicked a wooden stool beside him and sent it skittering. It hit the wall, and the mare snickered.