by Kate Pearce
“So, now it’s my fault?” He squared up to her.
“No!” She met his gaze. “I’m sorry!”
“You’re welcome.” He tried to fight the smile tugging at his lips, knowing it was going to infuriate her, and then let it go anyway. “Have a great day.”
She stepped forward, poked him in the chest, and recoiled, clutching her finger. “Ouch! Why are you so hard?”
“Can’t help being fit and hot, Julia.” He flexed his muscles and tried to look modest. “And please don’t touch what you can’t afford.”
She started to splutter and he stood back to enjoy the moment until she finally ran out of steam.
“I shouldn’t have touched you without your consent,” Julia said firmly as she made herself meet Kaiden’s amused gray gaze. She wasn’t going to let him wind her up again and say things she really didn’t mean. “If you truly are okay with my apology, and things are fine between us, then I’ll get out of your way.”
She stepped back and waited for him to walk the horse past her except he didn’t move.
“Have you been out on the ranch yet?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Julia asked suspiciously.
“I think you should saddle up a horse and walk me down to the boundary fence where you can make sure I get off your land.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re wound up tighter than a coiled spring. Sometimes things feel different from the back of a horse.”
“I’m not—” She went to deny it, and then sighed. “Okay.”
“Good woman.”
Julia raised her chin. “Just because I am agreeing with you doesn’t mean you’ve won or something.”
“Why would I ever think that?” Kaiden murmured as he walked his horse out to the yard. “I’ll wait for you out here.”
She saddled her old horse, sent a text to her father to tell him what she was doing, and went out of the barn to find Kaiden already mounted while he texted on his phone with his thumb. He looked great on a horse. All the Miller boys did. Legend had it that Jeff had thrown them up on horseback before they could walk.
He glanced up as she mounted and ran his eye over her. “Looking good, Ms. Julia. You ready to go? I’ll take it nice and slow.”
“You’d better,” Julia replied. “Or you’ll be fishing my ass out of Morgan Creek.”
His low laugh made her want to smile. How come he’d managed to talk her out of her anxieties so quickly? He specialized in making her spitting mad at one moment, and then disarmed her with his charm the next. The real question was why she was allowing herself to fall for it again?
Her attention was drawn to the ragged fence line along the drive up to the ranch.
“This all needs replacing.”
“I guess it does.” Kaiden cut across the sparsely graveled drive and out toward the open pasture. “Do you have any idea how many head of cattle your father has right now?”
“Not really,” Julia confessed. “I’ve spent the last three days reorganizing the house.”
“That’s a job in itself.” Kaiden angled his horse’s head toward the longer grass and the downslope.
“I’m expecting a truckload of deliveries I’ve ordered online to turn up tomorrow,” Julia added. “It was quite fun picking out all the new stuff.”
“I bet.”
They rode in companionable silence for a few minutes. Julia’s shoulders lowered, and her breathing slowed as the familiar scenery rolled past her. She’d always loved riding and she missed it in the city. She’d tried to keep it up, but there was nowhere to really let go and just ride for miles.
“Has your dad been out on the property recently?” Kaiden asked as the ground sloped toward the gentle curves of Morgan Creek.
“Only in the truck. Jose and Andy, the retired hands, have been keeping an eye on what cattle there are left. From what they’ve told me, we don’t have the manpower to round them up and make a proper count.”
“If your dad decides to get rid of them, let me know. I’ll tell Roy over at Morgan Ranch. He’s usually the person who helps round up the strays and redistributes them to other ranches rather than your dad having to sell them to market off season or too young.” Kaiden paused. “Or tell your dad to call Roy himself. I don’t want to get in the way.”
“Dad doesn’t want to change anything right now. I asked him.”
“Yeah?”
Julia waited for a follow-up question, but Kaiden seemed quite content to ride alongside her and study the view. She couldn’t believe she was suddenly willing to confide in him, but he knew her family almost as well as she did, and that was a big plus. Maybe it really was time to let go of their past and move forward, and she desperately needed a friend.
“Dad’s got this crazy idea that he can keep everything just as it is for Miguel,” Julia said.
“Does Miguel know about this?”
“Why do you think he won’t come home? He ran away for a reason. He’s never wanted to be a rancher.”
Kaiden nodded. “I can’t see him coming back and settling here right now.”
“Neither can I, which means my dad expects me to—” She abruptly stopped speaking and stared out at the ragged black line of the foothills below the Sierra Nevadas.
“Stay here until Miguel does come back?”
Julia glanced over at Kaiden, aware of the understanding on his face.
“It’s hard when your family have expectations, isn’t it?” Kaiden said softly. “After Ben crashed out of college, my dad expected me to stay on the ranch and work for him for the rest of my life. That didn’t sit well with me, and we fought about it a lot. Eventually, even though I knew I couldn’t go far from here, I at least made it to community college to study an outside trade.”
“Dad was happy for me to leave as long as he had Miguel,” Julia admitted. “Now that he’s relapsed, he somehow expects me to make it all right for him. I don’t think he’s accepted his new reality yet.” She made a hopeless gesture. “I don’t know if I can help him see that things have changed forever, Kaiden.”
“You can’t. He’s going to have to work it out for himself, and it’ll be hard for him.” Kaiden hesitated. “I talked a lot to Sam Morgan while I was building her new kitchen. She said it was really tough to learn how to walk again and adjust to a whole new world of limitations and endless expectations.”
“But Dad’s decided that if Miguel returns everything will suddenly be okay.”
“I’d say he’d just be opening up a whole new barrel of problems.” Kaiden grimaced. “What does he expect you to do in the meantime?”
“Live here full-time.” Julia realized the horses had stopped moving, and that they were next to each other, their knees touching. “I have a job in San Francisco.”
“A job that is probably going to be paying for all this work being done on the ranch.” Kaiden sounded grim.
“Miguel does send Dad money every month, but it doesn’t go far.”
“Damn, I feel bad about even mentioning the upgrade now.”
“Don’t be. I have enough saved to pay for everything.” Julia smiled. “And, I want to do it for Dad, not Miguel. He’s the one who wants to live here.”
It was Kaiden’s turn to hesitate. “Forgive me for asking, but how long can your father physically continue to do that with MS?”
Julia bit her lip. “I’m only just understanding how serious his condition is right now. He was in remission for several years, and we all stupidly thought the illness wouldn’t return to full strength.” She straightened her back. “All I know is that Dad wants to live out the rest of his life here. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”
Even if it meant dealing with Blaine and Melanie for the rest of her life . . . Just the thought of that depressed her, but what else could she do? Unless Chase Morgan suddenly decided he wanted a personal lawyer nobody in Morgantown could pay her the exorbitant salary she earned in San Francisco. An
d up until Blaine’s appearance, she’d quite liked her job.
“You okay?”
She jumped as Kaiden snapped his fingers in front of her nose. “You disappeared for a minute.”
“I was thinking.”
“Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be making you very happy,” Kaiden commented.
Julia gathered her reins. “Life can’t always be one big joke, Kaiden.”
“I get that.” He clicked to his horse. “You ready to cross over the creek? It’s not high at the moment so you shouldn’t have any difficulty.”
* * *
Prickly.
Kaiden glanced sideways at his companion, who was staring resolutely ahead as they waded through the rocky creek. Like one of those hedgehogs Daisy had always wanted as a pet. But despite her obvious weapons, Julia’s heart was in the right place, and she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her father happy. Kaiden could appreciate that. He could even admire it. He just wished he could get her to confide in him without having to fight it out. But maybe he was judging her wrong, and the spikes were just her armor, and the scars he got from fighting his way through were just part of the process. Why he was willing to put himself through such an ordeal was another conversation entirely.
“This ranch is a mess,” Julia commented as the horses began to move uphill at a much slower pace.
“It certainly needs some TLC,” Kaiden agreed. “We do our best to keep the boundary fences secure because it benefits us all, but none of the other ranchers have the bandwidth to take on the place full-time. You need someone like Rio Martinez to come in and buy the ranch.”
“I don’t think Dad would like that—although he is a big fan of Rio’s.”
“Rio and Yvonne bought the Cortez place from Ines with the proviso that she still gets to live there forever, and it seems to suit them well. My brother Ben’s managing the Gomez place. He and Silver will probably buy it when Pablo dies, which means we’ve saved two of the local ranches from big land developers.”
“Is that a problem around here?” Julia asked.
“It could be. And once a developer gets a foot in the valley you know what happens next. You’re surrounded by housing developments.”
Julia nodded. “I’ve seen it happen in the East Bay, so I understand your concerns.” She drew up her horse. “Is it true that Ben’s developing some kind of Morgan Valley preservation trust thing?”
“Yeah. Who told you about that?”
“Nancy.”
“How the hell does she know?” Kaiden raised his eyebrows. “It’s supposed to be family only at this point.”
“Then someone’s been indiscreet. Maybe you should tell Ben.”
“Nancy won’t tell anyone,” Kaiden said confidently.
“She told me.”
“True,” Kaiden considered. “I probably need to have a word with her, or I’ll ask Ben to do it. It’s his baby after all. Thanks for the heads-up.” He pointed at the upcoming boundary fence that was in way better condition than the others surrounding the Garcia Ranch. “You can leave me right here.”
“That’s not your land.”
“Nope, it’s the Lymond place. I don’t think Cauy and Jackson will mind if I cut across the bottom corner of their pastures. I’ll be back home in no time.”
He reached the fence, dismounted, and waited for Julia to join him. He watched her indecision as to whether to ride away, or get down and join him, and smiled invitingly.
With a sigh, she dismounted and immediately rocked back on her heels. Kaiden grabbed hold of her elbow to steady her.
“Hold on there. Riding’s a bit like being on a ship. You need to find your sea legs.”
She’d grabbed hold of his jacket and he looked down at her clenched fist.
“Speaking of touching me without my consent, I’m good with it, you know?”
He’d surprised her into looking up, and then he found he couldn’t look away.
“Sorry.” She uncurled her fingers and he took hold of them instead.
“It’s fine. Really.” He slowly bent his head, giving her plenty of time to exercise her own version of consent, and gently brushed his mouth against hers.
With a sigh, she kissed him back, and for a moment, he forgot everything but the taste of her. He was the first to draw back and smile.
“Wow, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kiss Julia Garcia, and now I know.”
She immediately bristled. “So, that was some kind of a dare for yourself?”
He fought a grin. “More like a promise.” He stepped back. “Let me know when you’ve made a decision on the plans, and have a great weekend.”
“I will.”
She stomped off toward her horse looking so adorably confused that Kaiden had to pretend to be busy straightening his Stetson so she wouldn’t see his triumphant grin. She’d let him kiss her, and he wasn’t going to let anything spoil that moment—especially her.
She mounted and he went over to her side.
“You good on the way back?”
“I think I can manage.” She nodded at the fence. “How are you going to get through that? There’s no gate.”
“Duh, how do you think? You’ve been living in the city for too long. Watch and learn, Ms. Garcia, watch and learn.”
He mounted his horse Indian style, rode back in a wide circle, set Domino in a lope straight toward the fence, and hopped over it. From the safety of the other side he hollered and waved his hat at Julia.
She gave him a slow handclap before turning away and riding off. Kaiden settled Domino down and set off home still smiling. Not bad for a morning’s work, which somehow made the thought of seeing his father so much easier to bear.
Chapter Five
Julia was still thinking about her last exchange with Kaiden when she arrived back at the ranch. She’d confided in him, she’d let him tease her out of her bad mood, and then she’d let him kiss her.
“Way to go, Garcia,” Julia muttered as she took Dolly’s saddle and blanket off and rubbed her down. “You’re a complete pushover.”
But Kaiden understood her current situation better than anyone else in the world. He knew all the players and didn’t have any qualms about speaking out about their particular issues. How could she not confide in him?
She lugged the saddle into the tack room, noting that everything in there needed to be cleaned, and mentally added it to her long to-do list. Her cell buzzed and she took it out of her pocket.
Hey! You around?
She typed back: Yes, what’s up?
Her phone rang and she accepted the call. “Hey, Scott.”
“Hey, babe. Are you available for dinner tonight?”
She grimaced. “Don’t you remember me telling you that I was going to stay with my dad in Morgantown for the next two weeks?”
There was a rather long pause. “You must have forgotten to ask my admin to put it on my calendar.”
Jeez, he was already sounding offended, and she really did not have the energy to deal with his hurt feelings right now.
“Maybe I’ll see you when I get back?” Julia offered.
“I’m off to Japan for a month. That’s actually why I wanted to see you.”
“Oh, okay. Have a great trip.”
“You don’t sound very bothered.”
Julia repressed a sigh. “Scott, you were the one who specified that we were just having fun with a no-commitment relationship. Why would you want me to be bothered?”
“Because I find that women usually do start to care for me despite their best intentions.”
Wow, the conceit of the man. Julia tried to think how to reply, but he saved her the bother.
“It’s okay, Julia, you don’t have to pretend you don’t mind. I was going to break up with you before I went away anyway. I thought I’d detected signs of you getting a mite too possessive of me last time we went out together.”
“You mean when I introduced myself to your boss as your date?”
“Yes, that. It was very presumptuous of you.”
“You’re right, it was.” Julia gave a fake sigh. “Oh, God, how am I ever going to live knowing that I am not your chosen one?”
“I’m sure you’ll get over it and find someone else. You are quite attractive, and you have a very good job.”
“But no one is as godlike as you, Scott. How will I survive?” she wailed. “My life is ruined!”
“Now, calm down, Julia . . .”
“How will I endure it?” Julia screeched. “My ovaries crumbling to dust, my skin to paper, my once straight limbs crooked and bent all because Scott Halton has rejected me!”
Her phone went dead and she laughed until her sides hurt. Who knew that bringing out her inner Kaiden Miller could be such fun? A text flashed on the screen.
I am blocking you now, Julia. Good-bye.
“Good riddance you jerk,” Julia muttered as she returned to the house.
Why she’d ever gone out with Scott in the first place was a mystery. He’d seemed okay, not pushy, and not interested in anything more than the limited time she had to offer. With the hours she worked, and his frequent trips abroad, she’d barely seen him more than once every couple of months.
When her cell rang again, she held it to her ear.
“I thought you’d blocked me.”
“I’d never do that while you continue to be useful to me, Julie.”
Julia grimaced. “Hello, Blaine. How can I help you today?” It seemed like it was her day to deal with over-entitled men.
“Miley gave me those files.”
“Great!” Julia opened the kitchen door and went inside enjoying the warmth and the sunlight streaming through the newly cleaned windows.
“But, I still can’t make any sense of what you’ve done, so I need you to walk me through everything before my presentation on Monday.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.” Julia set the new kettle on the stove. “As I’ve already stated, my father comes first, and the company is legally required to allow me to take my days off without interference from you or anyone at MZB.”
