Arriving back home mid-afternoon, she pulled up at the house to see a cowboy sitting on the porch swing. As she walked up the porch steps, the stranger stood and grinned at her. A hay stem hung out of his mouth and he looked the part of a cowboy from his dusty boots and snug fitting Wranglers to his snap-front western shirt and straw hat.
Staring at him a moment, Maggie felt a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Standing before her was none other than her partner Danny.
“Hello,” Maddie said sticking out her arm. “I’m Maddie.”
“I’m Dan, the cowboy man,” Danny whispered, giving her hand a shake and sending her a wink. Speaking louder he nodded his head toward the door. “The nice lady inside invited me to wait in the kitchen for you to get home, but I told her I’d sit out here. I heard from a friend in town that ya’ll were hiring some help and I thought I’d mosey on out and apply for the job. They said to speak with you directly.”
Maddie was biting her cheek to keep from laughing. She knew Danny grew up in a small town in central Oregon, but he was acting like he’d been born and raised in Texas, complete with a twang.
“Come inside,” Maddie said, opening the door. “You have to complete an application and my dad and brother will need to give their stamp of approval.”
Walking into the kitchen, Maddie set her bag on a chair, poured Danny a glass of tea and instructed him to wait at the table. Aunt Lena was nowhere to be seen, which immediately caused Maddie to panic.
“Aunt Lena, I’m home. Where are you?” Maddie called as she walked down the hallway to the office. Removing an application from a file, she walked back toward the kitchen, calling for her aunt. “Aunt Lena? Are you here? Aunt Lena?”
Ready to give in to her fear, Maddie turned when she heard Lena stomp down the stairs. “Good gravy, kiddo. I was changing the bedding upstairs. You were shouting loud enough a deaf man could hear you a mile away. Did you see the handsome cowboy on the porch?”
“I did, indeed,” Maddie said, hugging her aunt as they walked in the kitchen where Danny sat, looking charming and quite like a rodeo star from his handsome smile to the hat tipped back on his head. Sliding the application across the table, Maddie handed Danny a pen. “You need to fill this out then I’ll discuss the possibility of you filling the job with my brother and dad.”
“Sure thing, lil’ lady.” Danny’s twang seemed to be intensifying. “That sure was tasty tea, Miz Lena. I don’t recollect ever having any quite as delicious as that.”
Flattered, Lena poured him another glass and put some cookies on a plate for him. “I’m glad you enjoyed it Mr… What did you say your name was again?”
“Danny, Ma’am. Danny Johnson.”
“Well, you take your time filling out the paperwork and enjoy your tea,” Lena said, then turned her attention to Maddie. “So, what did the doctor say? I see you came home without your sling.”
Maddie poured herself a glass of tea and sat across from Danny. “The doc said I can slowly start using it again. He gave me a list of dos and don’ts so I’ll get started tomorrow on getting it back into shape.”
Lena leaned over and patted Maddie on the back. “That’s great news, kiddo. If you need help with anything, you just let me know.”
“Thanks, Aunt Lena.”
Danny finished up the simple application form and slid it over to Maddie with a wink. Picking up the paper, she took a drink of tea and nearly spewed it all over Danny and the table at his responses.
Name: Dan the cowboy man
Address: Somewhere in the Sticks
Alternate Address: Still in the Sticks
Phone: Call me anytime, partner
Position Sought: Cowboy and Farmer Dude
Available to Start: Right this minute
Desired Pay Range: You don’t even want to know
Are You Currently Employed: What do you think?
Education: Yep – I got one.
Special Skills or Other: I’ll select other.
References: I like you, does that count?
Giving him a hard glare and a shake of her head, she got up from the table. “Mr. Johnson, why don’t you come with me and I’ll show you around the place.”
“Sure thing, lil’ lady.” Danny swaggered to the door and held it open for her before tipping his hat at Lena. “Thank you for the tea and cookies, Ma’am. Much appreciated.”
“You’re very welcome,” Lena said, smiling broadly before turning back to her dinner preparations.
As Danny and Maddie walked toward the machine shed where Zach was likely to be found, they compared notes on the case. Before they went in the shed, Maddie leaned toward Danny and whispered. “I’ve got to hear all about this act, buster. It is too much.”
Danny just grinned.
Walking into the shed, Maddie called for her brother and heard him grunt from the far corner of the building where he was working on the baler.
“You back already, Maddie?”
“Yep, and I’ve got someone for you to meet.”
Zach looked up from his work and gave the stranger with Maddie a cool glare. Danny raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.
“This is Danny. He’s going to be our new hired hand for a while,” Maddie said. Stepping close to Zach, she whispered, “Danny is my partner. We couldn’t ask for any one better to keep Aunt Lena and Dad safe.”
Zach nodded, grateful for the protection for his family. Whether Maddie accepted the fact or not, she was in as much danger as anyone and he wanted to keep her protected, too.
Wiping his hand on a rag, Zach extended it to Danny. “Nice to meet you, Danny. Looks like you are used to being a cowboy more than a farmer.”
Danny laughed. “Well,” he stretched the word out on a twang, “I know my way around a farm, too. I grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch. Although I preferred riding horses and chasing cows to riding the tractor, I think I can handle whatever you need help with.”
“Fair enough,” Zach said. “You can stay in the bunkhouse with Erik. He’s pretty quiet, seems to be a bit of a loner, but if you need help with anything farm related, he’s your man.”
“Sounds good. Where would you like me to start?” Danny asked, rolling up his shirt sleeves.
“Sure you don’t want to change your shirt. You’re likely to get it all greasy out here,” Zach said, looking at Danny’s nice shirt and jeans.
“It’s fine. I’m not afraid of a little grease or dirt.”
“Great. Then grab that wrench and help me get this thing back in place,” Zach said, pointing the screwdriver in his hand toward the toolbox.
“I’m heading back to the house,” Maddie said, leaving the men to the baler. She knew Danny wore a gun and would keep on the alert. She didn’t want to leave Aunt Lena alone for any length of time.
Walking back into the cool of the house, she found her aunt busy rolling out pie crust.
“Looks like we need to add another plate to the dinner table,” Maddie said, washing up at the sink and rinsing off the blueberries her aunt had set out to make filling.
“Zach gave Mr. Johnson the okay, then?”
“Yep. They are down in the machine shed right now, working on the baler.”
“Good. I keep trying to convince your dad to slow down a bit. With the extra help, maybe he will.”
“Maybe,” Maddie said, cocking her head to study her aunt. “But we both know it won’t happen.”
Lena laughed and finished rolling the crust. “Nope. It won’t. He’s got farming in his blood. Always has, always will. Just like your brother, and Erik. That one is a born farmer as well.”
Her aunt’s mention of Erik brought visions of the hard-working, quiet man spinning through Maddie’s thoughts. Images of strong, tanned fingers and thick, solid muscles made Maddie’s cheeks warm as she wondered what it would be like to feel those fingers touching hers. To run her hand across his chest. To be held in his arms.
“I don’t know what you are thinking about, but yo
u’re face is about the color of a beet,” Lena teased. “Care to share?”
“No, I don’t.” Maddie fanned her face with a nearby magazine, chagrined.
Lena laughed. “That new hand you hired is really something, isn’t he? If I was thirty years younger, I might be fanning my face, too.”
Maddie smiled. She’d just let Lena think she was loopy over Danny. That way it kept her from being suspicious of her real feelings about Erik. It had been more than two years since Devin died and the same amount of time since she’d felt anything for any man. The overwhelming sensations created just by being near Erik were almost more than Maddie could bear. Of all the times and places to be interested in a man, now was not ideal. In her crazy life, there was never an ideal time for anything beyond focusing on work, especially with Zeus stalking her family.
Even knowing all that, Maddie felt helpless to control the tugging of her wayward heart toward one very appealing farmer.
Chapter Seven
Erik wanted to hate the new hand Danny. He was good looking in a way that made women follow him with a look of wanting in their eyes. Tall and athletic, of course he had to be charming, funny, and a cowboy.
Unfortunately, he was also a really nice guy and impossible to dislike, no matter how much Erik wanted to.
It wasn’t so much how he looked or acted that had Erik turning green with envy. It was what Lena had said about Maddie being quite taken with him. He got the idea Maddie didn’t lightly turn her affections toward anyone and the fact that she was interested in Danny was almost enough to make him pack up and hit the road.
Until Danny showed up and he and Maddie started spending time together, Erik hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge his growing attraction to Maddie. Now that there was some very real competition, he knew he didn’t have a chance.
The fact that he cared made him realize he was finally ready to leave the past behind him and move forward with his life. A good first step would have been a date with Maddie, but now he was uncertain if she would consider going out with him. She and Danny seemed pretty cozy. He’d seen them talking on more than one occasion with their heads close together. All this thought about “will she or won’t she” made Erik feel like a junior in high school.
Watching Maddie walk out behind the barn, Erik wondered what she was up to, then heard the distinctive pop of a gun. Target practice? That definitely surprised him. Finishing up the work he was doing, he headed her direction.
Maddie decided if she did need to use her gun for protection, she was going to have to get in some practice. In the weeks she was waiting for her shoulder to heal she hadn’t shot her gun once.
Setting up targets behind the barn pointing toward a fallow section of a field where no one could get hurt, she decided to see if she could shoot one-handed, since her shoulder was still on the mend. She didn’t want to do anything to possibly reinjure it because a fast recovery was what she needed.
She was glad to have her Glock with her, the feel of the grip in her hand like the touch of an old friend.
Bracing herself, she tried to get a feel for it in one-hand before she sighted in on the paper target. Taking her time, she shot at it and deliberately missed. If anyone was watching her, she wanted them to think she couldn’t shoot.
She was actually picking dirt clods behind the targets and shooting them. So although she wasn’t hitting what appeared to be her targets, she was nailing her real targets with complete accuracy. Pleased with her progress, she was congratulating herself on a job well done when Erik walked up behind her.
“Getting in some target practice?” he asked, standing behind her.
Looking over her shoulder she smiled then caught her breath. He was bronzed from the summer sun and his golden eyes burned into hers with intensity unlike anything she had ever experienced. His T-shirt molded to his muscles and caused her to temporarily lose the ability to think, let alone speak.
Coming to stand close enough she could inhale the scent of hay, after shave, and man, he brushed her arm, sending electrical currents zinging through her. “I didn’t know you liked to shoot.”
“Oh, I used to. I haven’t done it for a while,” Maddie said. That much was true. Erik, as of yet, still didn’t know what Maddie did for a living. For his safety, and that of her family, she knew she needed to be honest with him about what she did as well as the danger he was in.
“Could be challenging to relearn with one hand,” Erik said, looking at her gun. Pointing to the weapon, he asked “May I?”
“Be my guest,” Maddie said, handing him the gun and taking a step to the side.
After admiring the Glock, Erik adjusted his stance, raised the gun and fired five shots in rapid succession. Maddie was caught off guard. Erik blasted five holes in one target in a pattern that was intentional.
Looking at him with wide eyes, he smiled at her, reloaded the gun from the box of ammo sitting on a fence post and handed it back to her
“I like to shoot sometimes,” Erik said, by way of an explanation.
“Sometimes? I think you must have had a little practice at it,” Maddie said with a grin.
“Maybe, a little. I used to shoot a lot with my friends when I was younger.”
“Oh, well, that was pretty impressive.”
“If you want, I could help you.”
For the first time in her life, Maddie felt pulled into the vortex of her feminine charms and decided to give them free reign.
“Could you? I mean, I’m just not sure the best way to go about this. Maybe you could show me,” she looked up at Erik through her thick eyelashes, but stopped short of batting them at him.
Erik moved behind her and put both arms around her. Bringing up the gun, he placed his hands over hers on the weapon, careful not to bump her injured shoulder, and leaned down so close his jaw touched her cheek. She could feel the hint of stubble rub on her skin and the sensation made her tingle from head to toe.
“If you just hold it like this,” Erik said, inhaling the scent that was all Maddie. He shouldn’t be here with her like this. Shouldn’t have put his arms around her. But it would take a force of nature to make him step back at this point. Maddie felt too good in his arms. He felt his heart pick up speed as he leaned nearer, the heat from her back seeping into his chest and making him feel things he thought he’d buried more than two years ago.
Turning her head slightly, her lips dangerously close to his, she whispered, “Like this?”
Erik tried to speak, but found he couldn’t, so he nodded his head. Swallowing hard, he helped her steady her hand, “Then set your sight like this.”
“Okay,” Maddie let out her breath. She could outshoot just about anyone she wanted to with a handgun. She no more needed instruction on how to handle a gun than she needed step by step instructions on how to tie her shoes, but she was playing this for all she was worth. Being this close to Erik was just too tempting. And wonderful. And it felt so right to be in his arms. So much for her tough cop, need-no-man reputation. It was about to go up in smoke. “Am I doing it right?”
When she raised her baby blues to Erik, he thought his knees might buckle. He wanted so badly to kiss her, he could barely focus on anything but her lips and how soft and inviting they looked.
“You’re doing everything just right,” he said, his voice growing husky and low. Inhaling a steadying breath, he tried to focus on her shooting. “When you’re ready, pull the trigger.”
Maddie purposely missed the target she was supposed to be aiming at by several feet.
“Oh, that one didn’t go very well,” she said, trying to pout. She wasn’t good at this girlie stuff, but to keep Erik close, she was willing to try anything. “Maybe you can help me try again.”
“I’d be happy to,” Erik said, stepping just a little closer, putting his arms just a little tighter around her. The electrical current sparking between them would surely combust soon.
When Maddie’s second, third and fourth shots went wild, Erik s
miled down at her. “You’re a good sport, Maddie. Keep practicing and you’ll get there.”
“Thanks,” Maddie said, grasping for ideas to keep Erik’s arms around her and not coming up with any. “Maybe you could help me practice.”
Erik smiled a warm, genuine smile that started at his generous lips and went all the way to his eyes. Maddie knew she was about to break her promise to herself to never get involved with another man. Instead of getting lost in the look Erik was giving her, she turned, carefully loading the gun.
Lifting it up and aiming at one of the targets, she buried five shots into it, all dead center.
When Erik looked at her in disbelief, she grinned. “I can shoot a gun just fine, but I think I’d like more of your lessons. Are you game?”
Erik laughed, placing his hands on her waist. “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“More than you can imagine,” she said, quite pleased at catching Erik by surprise.
“Where did you learn to shoot like that? And don’t tell me it was out here just shooting in your spare time.”
Maddie decided now was the time to tell Erik the truth about who she was and what she did. Taking his hand, she led him over to a couple of hay bales and sat down. He sat beside her, waiting.
“Erik, there’s something I need to tell you.”
He placed his hand on top of hers and gave it a gentle pat. “Sure, Maddie. What’s up?”
“I… um… wanted to tell you about my job. About where I learned to shoot like that.”
“Okay. What about your job? Zach said you work in Seattle.” Erik didn’t like the fact that Maddie’s face was so unreadable. It was like she had pulled a shutter over her eyes and closed herself off to any emotion. That was definitely not a good sign.
“I do work in Seattle. I love my job. Some people say I’m even pretty good at it,” Maddie said, still hesitant to tell him everything.
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