She headed for the barn to see what chores she’d tackle first.
One step inside and her stomach twisted. Rawhide hadn’t hung up a piece of leather or forked old straw out of the horse stalls in what looked like weeks. He probably hadn’t done it since Rylan had been hurt. She’d have her work cut out for her tending all this while also herding and sorting cattle and choosing the best pasture, but it wouldn’t do for ranchers to ride in for a sale and see a poorly run outfit. They’d wonder if the black cattle had been tended well. And Maizy was beginning to doubt they had been, at least not on Rawhide’s watch.
Rylan had talked about his ranch a lot, so Maizy had a fair idea of what needed doing, though she couldn’t be sure of much until she rode out and saw how the grass was holding up.
As she forked dirty straw out of the milk cow’s stall, the familiar mindless work settled her. She finally prayed for the first time since she’d been kissed. If she did this for Rylan, she could forgive herself and leave his ranch.
She worked through half the barn then went striding toward the house. She could feel how different she was in britches. She hadn’t minded wearing the dress really, not once she got used to it. She might even take to wearing one regularly when she got away from here, at least after work. Maybe she’d make herself a dress that felt less like a noose.
Bracing herself for what was sure to be trouble, she swung the door open and faced Rylan. He was dressed. He had his Stetson on and was on his feet. He looked like a man heading for work . . . with a broken leg.
“Get back to bed.”
It was humiliating how easily a man could be pushed around when he had a broken leg.
Rylan found himself tucked back in bed and Maizy was making breakfast before he really knew what had happened. It didn’t help that he was dizzy.
He wasn’t sure if that was from his injuries, or did a man who’d laid around for a month have to get back to standing upright a bit at a time?
“I want you to fetch the doctor out. My leg isn’t hurting. I’m going to get this cast off and tend my ranch myself.”
Maizy peeled a potato so fast he could barely follow her hands. She attended to her cooking as if he hadn’t spoken.
With her usual impressive efficiency, she cooked up a storm, and she did it so quickly he wasn’t sure what all the woman was doing. She had a big pot simmering on the stove, and she fried up some eggs and scooped them onto his plate, dropped a couple of biscuits on the tin plate, added a side of pork, and brought the food to Rylan’s bedside table. She slapped it down with a loud crash.
“You think you’re so ready to work, then sit yourself up and get to eatin’. I’ll bring you milk and a cup of coffee.” She bustled about as she talked, wearing those blasted britches that drew a man’s eye, or at least drew his when it was Maizy wearing them. “You look lively enough to get yourself around and find a meal. I’ve got a stew simmering, and it should be done for dinner and last for supper. After you eat, slide it to the back of the stove so it won’t dry out. Plenty of biscuits too. I won’t be back to dish either meal up. I’ve got work.”
She stalked toward the door and as she swung it open, she turned back and said, “You’re not even steady on your feet. You wouldn’t last two minutes on the back of a horse, and I sure as shootin’ ain’t riding to town for the doctor. So you can just forget gettin’ that cast off today. The doctor wouldn’t agree to that fool notion anyway.”
She slammed out of the cabin, going out to run his ranch. And whether he thought it was proper or not, she’d probably do a good job of it. The girl was a mighty fine cowpoke.
He didn’t see her again until the next morning when she came in and cooked for the whole day.
Maizy no longer let her pa escort her, which left Rylan with little choice but to figure out how to dress and undress himself. He had plenty of time for it because Maizy left him almost completely on his own.
Maizy rode over and back on her own schedule. A woman shouldn’t ride the countryside alone, but this corner of New Mexico had gotten downright peaceable and he knew she was probably fine. If she did run into trouble, she wore a gun on her hip and could protect herself as well as any man.
At the end of the first week of her having little to do with him, she came in one evening long after Rylan had finished his supper.
“We need to settle a few things before tomorrow.” She was filthy. It wasn’t a hot day but she was soaked in sweat. She had a milk bucket in one hand and a basket of eggs in the other, and she sat them with a thump on the kitchen floor.
“We sure do.” Rylan suspected they wanted to talk about different things.
“I brought the smallest herd up to the canyon pasture. That’s nice grass, but not a whole lot of it. There’s good grass along the spring, and you said you wanted the biggest herd there, so I moved them. There are two more herds of cattle—”
She sketched out what she’d done with his herds as she strained the milk and washed up the eggs. Then she cleaned up the rest of his house.
Rylan felt himself flush, and he was glad she had her back to him. He could have cleaned up after himself and not left that for her. He’d declared he was going back to work, but he hadn’t thought of working in here. He could ease her load, but it’d be tricky. Heating and pouring water while standing on one leg was a nuisance. But it was time to prove he could handle a small job before he tackled a big one. He didn’t run her off though. He kept quiet and let the little spitfire tidy up one more time. He’d start taking care of himself tomorrow, right after she fixed him breakfast and left him a dinner and supper. He was no hand to cooking even on his best day.
“Maizy, I’ve got one more week. That’ll be a full six weeks in this cast.”
Maizy kept scrubbing, working on a big pot that Rylan realized he’d left to sit until the food had dried on. If he could have reached it, he’d have kicked his own backside.
“Maizy!” He swung his legs out of bed. He’d been practicing. When he was alone, he got up and hobbled around, trying to get past the dizziness whenever he stood.
He lurched toward her.
Rinsing the pot as if he hadn’t yelled, Maizy set it upside down to drain, then turned to him. “What is it?”
He’d yelled and it hadn’t even fazed her, not one little bit. It struck Rylan hard that this was a woman who could tolerate his short temper and the long hours of ranching. And she was a woman to work hard alongside a man, pull her own weight and a whole lot more.
A perfect wife for a rancher. She was going to save his ranch. He had hope for the future for the first time since he’d signed that bank loan.
And no amount of trousers and sweat-soaked shirts could change the fact that she was about the prettiest thing he’d ever seen.
Now that he had her attention, he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to say. All he could think of was that kiss he’d stolen, how she’d seemed to respond, and how she’d never gotten near him again.
Probably because she was afraid she’d respond again.
A smile teased at his lips, but he fought it. “Can you come over here and sit down please? I’d like to ask you a few questions.” He made his way to the table and sat.
Her eyes were mighty wary, but she clomped right over to him in her boots. She pulled the chair a nice, safe distance away from him, then flipped the chair around and straddled it, deliberately behaving in the least ladylike way she could manage.
“All right. Let’s talk.”
Talking wasn’t what Rylan wanted to do at all. He had to get her to scoot that chair closer. He knew one place he could start. “Thank you, Maizy.”
She blinked and sat straighter. Well, he’d surprised her at least. “Uh . . . um . . . you . . . you’re welcome.”
“You’ve done so much for me and what’s more, I’ve had time to think. You’re right. I did cause most of the trouble between us. I tore into you right from the first for no better reason than I’m a stubborn, bullheaded man. Where I come fro
m, the women stayed to the house and the menfolk went out to work.” He’d also noticed just how well her britches fit, and it had affected him in a way he didn’t want anyone to know.
“But out here things are different. A man is just as likely to end up cooking his own food and washing his own clothes, so why shouldn’t a woman work at what I was fool enough to think of as a man’s job? I’m sorry.”
Maizy’s mouth opened and closed. For a time words seemed to be beyond her. Rylan decided to make his move. With what he hoped was a reasonable lack of awkwardness, he stood. That put Maizy well within reach. He lifted her straight off that backward chair and pulled her into his arms.
She squeaked once before his lips silenced her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WHEN RYLAN SET MAIZY DOWN, HE TURNED HER CHAIR around. It was a good thing he did, because if that chair hadn’t been right behind her, she’d have slumped all the way to the floor.
“Now, Maizy MacGregor, I want to tell you one more thing.” Rylan smiled at her in a way that made her feel things that honestly shocked her. He stood there, his leg encased in plaster. He’d been laid almost as low as a man could be—by her. And yet he looked strong and in control.
“Um, all right.” She swallowed hard and saw his eyes flicker to her throat, then her lips.
“I may have saved your life, but you’ve saved this ranch. Your hard work has”—Rylan’s voice broke and he cleared his throat, then cleared it again—“has saved me. And being forced to spend time with you has opened my eyes. Maizy, I want to marry you.”
“What?” Maizy almost toppled off the chair. She gripped the seat beneath her to stay upright.
“I have depended on you more than anyone I’ve ever known. What’s more, I need you. And not just to save the ranch but for the rest of my life. I need your strength, your determination, your kindness.”
He needed her just as she was. He cared for the woman she truly was.
“But once I do, I promise I’ll let you go back to caring for my house. I’ll let you do womanly things and never ask such unladylike behavior of you again.”
Maizy’s joy plummeted. “Wh-what?”
He sank down so he sat on his chair facing her and reached across to hold both her hands. His pain was mostly gone. He was well and he’d soon be fit and whole again.
“I’m saying you can stop wearing the britches for good after I’m well. You won’t have to shame yourself with manly ways ever again.” He smiled as if he were offering her a bunch of posies instead of his usual judgmental arrogance. So he needed her and he’d use her, even though he considered it shameful.
To her way of thinking that made him a low-down sidewinder. She remembered now exactly why she’d gone to war with him when they’d first met. He’d seen her in her britches and before he’d opened his mouth, she’d been riveted on his handsome face and masculine form. The woman in her, which had been sleeping all her life, woke up and wanted him.
Every soft and feminine part of her heart was exposed and vulnerable . . . and he’d sneered.
The female side of her had lived just long enough to be terribly hurt. Maizy had dug deep to keep that hurt from showing and found anger.
The same thing was happening now, and she reacted in the same way.
It took all her courage because the earlier hurt had been about her pride. But this time her feelings were involved. She’d learned he was a good man and she’d respected him, and with the kiss just now and his proposal, she knew she loved him.
But how could she love someone who was ashamed of her?
In the sweetest voice she could manage, considering she was on the verge of strangling him, she said, “So you never have to be shamed by me if I give up my cowboy ways, is that right?”
He nodded, smiling. “You can make yourself dresses that fit and leave off the wrangling. You’re a beautiful woman, Maizy, and a fine housekeeper and cook. You can do all those things while I work the ranch.”
The lunkhead looked so happy with his generous offer she knew he expected her to thank him.
“I can think of another way that will keep you from ever having to be ashamed of me.” Maizy kept her voice calm and chipper. She’d clenched a fist though, in the hand Rylan wasn’t holding. But she wasn’t going to punch him.
“We don’t need another way. Marrying me will solve everything.” The man wasn’t even scared, which proved Maizy had good control of herself.
Surprising what a woman could do at the same time her heart was breaking. “I’ve learned something really important in this month we’ve spent together, Rylan.”
“Good. I’m glad.” He reached forward as if to press a hand to her cheek. She couldn’t bear for him to touch her so she stood, paced away, then turned back, her hands shoved in the back pocket of her britches.
“I’ve learned that there’s nothing to be ashamed of in the way I am.”
The smile shrank off Rylan’s face, replaced by confusion.
“And I’ve learned that no man who considers me shameful is worthy of being my husband.”
“Wait—” Rylan struggled to his feet, but Maizy had no doubt she could outrun him.
“I reckon I’m going to spend the rest of my life alone, because I will never . . .” Her voice rose but she couldn’t stop it. She’d meant to be very calm, but she wasn’t going to be able to do that. “I will never be with a man who doesn’t love who I am. Exactly who I am. I have served you well this last month, Rylan, and by way of thanks you tell me I have to change to be someone you approve of. You propose marriage with the same breath you tell me you’re ashamed of me.”
“Maizy, I didn’t mean—”
A harsh, furious laugh tore out of her throat. “I’ll stay to get through the sale. I said I would and I’m a woman of my word. But after the sale, I’m leaving. I’m sure I will find many people who will sneer at me, but at least they won’t be people I care about. Here, with you and Pa, it hurts.”
She sweetened her voice to molasses. “So no, thank you. I won’t marry you. And I’d say you’re well enough to tend your own house and feed yourself, even though that’s women’s work.” She whirled and stormed out, slamming the back door so hard it shook the house.
She was halfway to the barn when the door behind her banged.
Rylan roared, “Maizy!”
A shout of fear and a dull thud whirled her around. He lay on the ground, struggling, pushing to sit up and try to stand, but he was helpless.
“Maizy, come back. Please.” He was facedown, as if prostrate with grief.
Disgusted but helpless to stay away, she walked back and crouched beside him. “Lie still before you re-break your bones. How am I going to get you back inside?”
He managed to roll over so he could look her in the eyes. “Maizy, I’m sorry.”
Shrugging to cover up how much she hurt, she studied him, all but his eyes. “Just be quiet while I figure out how to get you up.”
Rylan sat up, grabbed her arm, and dragged her forward until she landed on her knees and nearly fell on top of him. “I won’t be still, not when I’ve hurt you so badly.”
Their eyes met.
Maizy ripped herself loose and fell backward onto her seat, then rolled onto her knees and crawled until she could be sure of avoiding his strong hand.
But she’d made the mistake of catching his eyes, and he held her that way. “When that door banged, it was like my life was slamming shut on me. Maizy, don’t go. Don’t leave me. I don’t want you to be anyone but yourself.”
It was a plea she heard all the way to her heart. “You said that before. Or at least I thought you did. When you needed me. But I won’t tie myself to a man who is ashamed of me. Even if you say now that you accept me as I am, how can I trust you to mean it?”
“I do mean it.”
“Right now, I reckon you mean it. But deep inside I suspect you really are ashamed of me.”
“No, I think you’re wonderful. I was trying to make you happy.
Your pa has always worked you like a cowhand. I thought giving that up would make you happy. I thought you liked it in the house.”
“Which just means you think I’m wrong to live like I do. And maybe I am a shameful woman.”
“You’re not. I’m sorry.”
Maizy ignored him. “I was raised to work hard, to love the land and cattle, and to know how to handle them. I don’t want to change. Truth is, I doubt I can. And I’m not going to. Not for anyone.”
Silence fell between them. Maizy saw Rylan sitting there, helpless. She wanted to help him in every possible way. Help him get into the house. Help him run his cattle. Help any way he needed. A helpmate. She could be that for him, but she’d do it as she was, and if Rylan didn’t accept her, the real her, then when she was done helping him and he was back on his feet, they were done.
“You’re wonderful, Maizy. You can help me outside all you want. But I’m going to give you a choice. Once I get the Angus sold, I’ll be able to afford to pay some cowpokes good wages. It seemed to me like your pa never gave you much choice. There’s no denying you’re as strong and able as any hired hand, but you won’t have to be. I am not ashamed of you. Just the opposite. I’m so proud of you I could burst.”
Maizy had never heard such sweet talk before and, oh, how she wanted to believe it.
“It like to broke my heart when you walked out. And that pain is a hundred times worse than a broken leg. If you won’t forgive me, then I’ll be left broken inside and out.”
Breathing deep, Maizy knelt there, and as long as she was on her knees, she prayed. Not daring to believe him but wanting to so badly.
Finally, because the indecision was ripping her up, she set it aside. “Let’s try and get you up.”
Rylan got a stubborn mule look, like he was going to demand she accept his apology and his proposal before he agreed to move. Then he looked around and said, “I think I can get up on my own. I’ll boost myself up on the back steps, then I should be able to stand from there.”
Four Weddings and a Kiss Page 6
