Diamond in the Rough (Diamond J #2)

by Lori L. Robinett

  The two men worked hard checking and repairing loose and missing fencing. Much of the woven wire looked good, but they found a section along the north pasture that needed to be replaced. Within a couple of hours of working under the blazing sun, both stripped off their shirts and tossed them on the XRT.

  They stopped a couple of times to drink cold water from the thermos, but neither wasted time talking. Sweat slicked their backs, trickled down their faces, burned their eyes.

  Aidan swiped his arm across his forehead, then grabbed the post driver and slammed it down on the new t-post. Metal clanged against metal, drowning out his grunts. A loose group of cows gathered around, watching the men work.

  Aidan glanced at the animals, then at the fence. Keeping the herd secure was a full-time job. Like most ranchers, they occasionally had a cow get out — usually a young calf. But what worried him the most was the spate of thefts that had plagued the area recently. The entire tri-state area had been affected, but Cardwell County had been hit hard recently. Every animal was at least a thousand bucks on the hoof, probably more.

  Keeping the herd safe had become even more important to him since he’d invested in fifty head himself. Beau and Beth allowed him to run his cattle with the ranch’s herd, but he hoped to have a ranch of his own soon. Every time he saw one of his bright red ear tags on an animal in the pasture, he felt a surge of pride.

  With a grin, he turned back to the task at hand. The sun was hot, and the sooner they got the work done, the sooner they could get back to the house and drink a cold one.

  Finally, the last post was driven into the ground and the woven wire attached. The two men tossed their tools into the bed of the vehicle, slung their shirts over their shoulders and climbed onto the XRT, with Aidan driving and Joe in the passenger seat.

  Joe yawned loudly and raked his dirty blonde hair back from his face. “Dang, this beats the old days, don’t it?”

  Aidan looked sideways at his buddy. “Say what?” He peeled his leather work gloves off and tucked them between the dash and the windshield.

  “You know, the old days. ‘Member when we used to have to make a couple of trips to haul fencing supplies out here?”

  Aidan laughed. “I remember more than one flat from driving my pickup out here ‘cause you didn’t want to make more than one trip. Convinced me that we could drive the truck out here, no problem.” He pressed on the accelerator and the XRT lurched forward.

  Joe snickered. “Didn’t hurt your truck none.”

  “Guess not,” Aidan spun the steering wheel and headed for the barn. “But the thorns from all those danged locust trees did a number on my tires.”

  The vehicle bounced along the fence row. Joe said, “What’d ya have to do in town this morning?”

  Aidan felt heat warm his cheeks at the memory of his visit to the scrapbook store. “Ordered invitations for the Memorial Day party.” His mind immediately flashed to Gina, gorgeous, with curves in all the right places and thick, auburn hair that fell in waves past her shoulders. She was a firecracker, too. He touched her cheek with his fingertips, remembering her palm connecting with it.

  He grinned. She was a feisty one. Would she be interested in a ranch hand like him? Most women weren’t, unless they figured out who his family was.

  Then again, Gina was no ordinary girl. She was a business owner, all woman, with a sultry expression that drew him in. Sexy as hell. He hadn’t been on a date in ages, and the lack of action left him thirsty as a man crossing the Sahara. And Gina was the oasis shimmering in the distance.

  The XRT lurched to the right. The steering wheel jerked out of Aidan’s hand. A couple of t-posts rolled out of the bed of the ATV with a loud clatter. Hands grasped for purchase as Aidan aimed his foot at the brake and slammed down. The XRT ground to a stop.

  Aidan blinked and stared straight ahead into the stretched woven wire that had passed their inspection earlier in the day.

  Joe exploded, “What the hell was that?”

  Aidan’s mouth opened and closed. Finally, he got out, “I – I don’t know. Guess I wasn’t paying attention.” Damn it! He’d been daydreaming about Gina’s curves, her breasts, her hips, what it would feel like to run his hands over every inch of her body.

  “Damn right you weren’t paying attention. You knew that gully was there. I even warned you we was coming up on it and you flat out ignored me.” Joe slapped the dash in a show of exasperation.

  “I didn’t ignore you,” Aidan retorted angrily. He needed a night out worse than he’d realized.

  Joe faced him, glaring. “You sure enough did. Have been all afternoon.”

  “Have not.”

  “Have, too.”

  The two sat in silence. The engine of the XRT rumbled quietly beneath them. In the distance, a crow cawed and a horse whinnied. Joe pointed at the fence in front of them. “Looks like we are gonna have to replace this stretch of fence after all.”

  With a heavy sigh, Aidan reversed the XRT out of the wire, then slid out of the driver’s seat and scooped the t-posts up. He tossed them back onto the bed of the XRT with a grunt, then grabbed the fencing pliers and the fence post driver. Without a word, he worked loose the two fence posts that were leaning crazily, placed new t-posts and drove them into the hard ground with ringing ferocity. Joe sat in the XRT and watched, a grin playing the corners of his mouth, arms crossed over his sweat streaked chest.

  Aidan returned to the bed of the ATV and pulled a couple of tensioners out of the bed, affixed them and tightened the stretched woven wire. He gave it a few test tugs, wiggled the fence posts and, satisfied the fence was secure, hopped back into the driver’s seat of the XRT.

  He pulled away, watching his path more carefully this time. Joe held his tongue for nearly a minute. Judging from the muscles twitching in his jaw, that was all he could handle. “OK. Enough. What the hell is going on with you?”

  “Nothing,” Aidan snapped.

  Joe fired back, “Bullshit.”

  Aidan sighed. He could try to avoid it, but that wouldn’t work forever. It’s hard to hide something from someone you work and live with. His chest rose and fell again with another sigh. Jeez, he’d been sighing a lot lately. “Okay, here’s the deal. I tell you, but you tell nobody, got it?”

  Joe nodded.

  “I’m serious man. Just between you and me.” He punctuated his demand by pointing at Joe, then himself.

  Joe looked sideways at Aidan. One thick eyebrow rose. “Yeah, sure, cross my heart and all that stuff. What gives?”

  “I met a woman.”

  Joe hooted and slapped his knee, but Aidan held up his hand in the classic symbol for stop. He said, “When I say I met her, I mean just that. We just met. No date. No nothing. Just met.”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t close the deal, huh?”

  Aidan frowned and the ATV sped up. “It’s not like that. She’s a really nice lady.”

  “Then why would she go out with you?”

  Aidan started to sigh yet again, caught himself, and frowned. He gripped the wheel tighter, his knuckles turning white.

  Joe pressed on. “Who is she?”

  “Owns the scrapbook store in town.” And she has the most amazing blue-green eyes.

  Joe’s eyes widened at this, and he gave a low whistle. “She is hot.” He drew out the last word.

  Aidan smacked his buddy in the arm. “Don’t talk about her like that.” She was good-looking, but there was more to her than that. She was different than the rodeo bunnies he’d dated. “Say, do you know if she’s seeing anybody?”

  Joe shook his head. “Ain’t never seen her with nobody. Ask Charlotte, she’d know.”

  Aidan nodded, not willing to admit that he’d already talked to Charlotte. “Anyway, that’s it. She’s on my mind ‘cause I met her today. Guess I got a little distracted.”

  Joe hooked his thumb over his shoulder at the freshly repaired fence behind them and snorted, “I’ll say.”

  They reached the bar
n and Aidan nodded toward the bed, anxious to change the subject. “Make sure all the wire gets back to the barn? There’s been a lot of thefts in these parts lately.”

  As Joe hopped out of the XRT, he nodded. “Meth heads, probably. Taking scrap to the recycling depot for quick cash.”

  There was more to it than that. Aidan could feel it in his bones. This area used to be safe, but now anything metal had to be locked up and whole herds of cattle had been taken. Druggies wouldn’t be organized enough to pull off the thefts. Aidan left Joe to put the fencing supplies up while he headed for the barn to clean stalls.

  Maybe one of the boys playing poker tonight would know something. If the Sheriff had found any leads, somebody at the game tonight would know about it. Word traveled fast in a small town like Wilder.

  He pushed away thoughts of rustlers and turned to the task at hand. For once, he was glad that work didn’t stop at the Diamond J Ranch just because the calendar said it was the weekend. Beau, the ranch foreman, and Beth, the new owner of the ranch, wanted the ranch in top shape for the upcoming barbecue. The event was a kind of coming out for Beth, since she’d officially become the owner of the ranch earlier in the month. The party was only a week away, and a lot of chores remained to be done to get the grounds and stock ready.

  He worked his way methodically through the barn, raking up the old straw and laying down fresh. As he wheeled a cartload of manure out to the compost heap, he swept his arm across his forehead to clear the sweat.

  Working at the Diamond J was hard work, nothing like the job he would’ve had if he’d worked the family business like his father wanted, but he wouldn’t go back for anything. The heavy leather gloves were hot, his back ached with exertion, but this was honest work. Again, nothing like the family business.

  He emptied the cart and returned to the barn to start on the next stall. Would Gina be disgusted if she knew what he did every day? Or would she respect him for being a hard worker, earning an honest living? He thought about the trust fund his grandfather had left him. He had access to it now that he was thirty, but he hadn’t dipped into it yet and had no intention to do so. He was doing just fine on his own.

  His brow furrowed when he remembered Gina asked to bring someone with her to the barbecue.

  Even so, he couldn’t wait to see her again. If she had a boyfriend, so be it. But he wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He scooped a forkful of dirty straw, putting his back into it.

  The faster the weekend went, the sooner Monday would arrive.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Crop Gossip

  Gina placed an acrylic mask with a paisley design over her sheet of cardstock and spritzed a bit of purple ink with a metallic shimmer, then lifted the template. The resulting pattern was understated and elegant. As she examined the result and considered her next layer, a sharply dressed woman appeared from around the corner of the paper racks and gasped. “That is absolutely gorgeous!”

  Gina grinned as she admired her handiwork. “Thanks. Something so easy adds so much to the project.”

  “Indeed. I’ll have to remember that for my next card.” The woman scraped a folding chair back and sat down across from Gina. “You going to do a Christmas in July card class this year?”

  That class was still two months away, but was already filling up fast. Gina nodded and looked across the table at her customer. She would recognize Christine Dorman anywhere, and never ceased to be surprised at the woman’s appearance, which never changed. No matter where she was, what she was doing, or what time of day it was, she looked exactly like her billboards and for sale signs. Her dark hair was cropped close to her head, accentuating her high cheekbones and wide, toothy smile.

  Christine pursed her red-stained lips. “Put me down for that class then.”

  “Will do.” Gina held up the pink heat gun and raised her eyebrows. “Do you mind?”

  “Go right ahead.” Christine’s brow pushed together as she watched Gina wave the small gun across the paper.

  As Gina dried the spray, her thoughts turned to the good looking ranch hand from the Diamond J. A little tremor of excitement ran through her body at the memory of him.

  She glanced at Christine. That woman knew everything and everyone in the little town of Wilder. Before Gina allowed herself to think about him anymore, she wanted to know more about him. After all, she was a single mother and had more to think about than whether or not he made her tingle with desire.

  After she flipped the heat gun off, she cocked her head and looked at Christine. “You know a lot of people in this town.” She caught her lower lip in her teeth. She felt like a teenager with a crush.

  Christine’s whitened teeth gleamed when her lips split in a big smile. “Of course. I’m the number one real estate agent in Cardwell County. I make it my business to know the people in this town.”

  Gina glanced around to make sure no one was listening. Midge had taken the afternoon off since she was working late at the crop that evening. “We were visited by an employee of the Diamond J today, and I wondered if you might know him.”

  Christine’s eyes sparkled at the mention of the legendary Diamond J. “I know several of the folks out there. Charlotte is a dear. And Beau does such a good job of running that place. I thought for sure I’d have a shot at the commission on that place when Jonathan Jameson passed away.” She made a clucking noise. “And I hope if and when his daughter gets tired of living out in the sticks and moves back to Kansas City, she’ll give me a call.”

  Gina liked Christine, but the woman was too focused on money. One shoulder lifted in a half shrug. “This guy is just one of the ranch hands. His name’s Aidan.”

  Christine’s bright lips pressed together in a tight grin and her eyes slid left then right. She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, “You mean Aidan Brackston. He’s downright yummy, isn’t he?!”

  One corner of Gina’s mouth twitched up in a grin. Yummy was definitely a good descriptor of the cowboy. She made a rolling motion with her hand. “So, spill. What’s the scoop on him?” Please don’t let him have a girlfriend, please don’t let him have a girlfriend.

  One perfectly drawn eyebrow arched up. Christine whispered, “You understand, this is all just between you and me?”

  Gina nodded eagerly.

  “He’s had me looking for a place for him for ages. He’s very selective. Knows what he wants, and doesn’t want to settle. He’s not in a hurry. Wants just the right thing, not just whatever happens to pop up.”

  Gina blinked. “I thought the Diamond J provided room and board as part of the employment?” Why would anyone pay for a place when they had a place to live for free?

  Christine said, “They do, but that cowboy wants a ranch of his own.”

  “Oh?” After a beat, Gina sighed. Her shoulders drooped. “Oh. He’s getting married or something.”

  Christine shook her head and her dangly earrings swung. “Oh, no! I think this was just for him. Never any mention of a woman, girlfriend or otherwise, and he was always alone when I took him for viewings. No woman would ever move into a house without seeing it first.”

  That was true. “Maybe he’s surprising her?”

  Christine cocked her head as she considered that, then shook her head. “No. He never used the term ‘we’ - it was always ‘I’.”

  Gina turned her attention to the supplies in front of her, processing this new information. She placed her pictures on the layout, moving them to get the placement right. He was available. Single. That was a good thing.

  But how could he afford acreage on a ranch hand’s salary?

  Christine tapped her chin thoughtfully. “The thing that was surprising was what he wanted and what he chose. He was very particular about the architecture of the place. Said he’d really like to have something by Frank Lloyd Wright, but you know there just aren’t many of those here in Wilder. Closest I could find was the Sondern House in Kansas City. It went up for sale in 2003, so I thought the new owners might be p
ersuaded to sell, but no.”

  Gina blinked. Why would a cowboy be interested in Frank Lloyd Wright? How would he even know about an architect like that?

  Christine continued on, warming to the topic. “But when that sprawling Prairie style house on the west side of town came up for sale, I thought of Aidan immediately.”

  “Wait!” Gina looked up from her layout. “You mean the house on Grant Lane? With all the windows and the flat roof?”

  Christine nodded. “Precisely.”

  Gina frowned. “That place looks expensive.” It was all she could do to afford her little two bedroom, one bath house.

  Christine’s eyes flared and her head bobbed. “Yes, it is. The commission would’ve made Christmas very special for my grands this year.”

  Gina’s jaw dropped. That was odd, right? How could a cowboy who worked as a ranch hand make enough money to afford something like that? It made no sense at all.

  “Apparently, he’s come into some money recently, so I thought he might want to jump on something.” Christine sighed heavily and shook her head, then continued, “But he wasn’t interested. He’s dead set on owning land of his own. At least forty acres.”

  What was Aidan into that he could afford to buy a house like that? Gina pressed her lips together. She’d made one bad choice. She wasn’t about to make another. This called for caution.

  “I really need to get going.” Christine pushed away from the table and stood. “Wish I could stay for the crop tonight, but I have to show a house.”

  Gina blinked, still thinking about Aidan. She added absently, “I’ll put you down for the Christmas card class.”

  Christine waggled her manicured fingers at Gina and called out, “Sounds good! See you soon!”

  Gina didn’t have time to mull over how Aidan could afford a ranch. Not only did she have a hundred invitations to make for the Diamond J Ranch Barbecue, but the store hosted a crop on the third Friday of each month. Women started to arrive about 5:30 that evening, pulling their cars up in front to unload carts and bags and rolling totes.