Читать книгу Runaway Cowboy - Judy Christenberry - Страница 8

Chapter Three

Jim joined the early eaters for breakfast the next morning. He wasn’t surprised to see both Pete and Hank eating a hasty breakfast.

Jessica came in, and though Jim thought it would’ve been nice to have breakfast with her, she, as per his instructions, joined a table of guests. She greeted them with a smile.

Lucky them.

One of the guests at his table asked him a question at that moment, and, still distracted, he came up with an answer. “It takes a while to be able to relax on a horse. Most of the cowboys have been riding since they were little kids.”

“Did you start riding early?” one of the men asked.

“Yeah. I grew up on a ranch and I first started riding when I was three.”

“That soon? Wasn’t that a little early?”

“My dad had a pony for me to ride and I only rode when he was there to supervise.”

One of the ladies said, “But didn’t you ever fall off?”

“Sure. That’s part of riding. Won’t you excuse me?”

He got up to get seconds on scrambled eggs. An excuse, really. He wanted to get closer to Jessica. As he passed her, he said softly, “Good morning.”

He got a response but not a smile. Too bad.

He lingered over coffee. Activities didn’t start until eight or nine o’clock, depending on what people chose. Several of the guests sat and visited with him, telling him about things they’d done on the ranch.

When Alice and Miranda came down, he asked them how they were feeling.

“A little sore, but not too bad, after we soaked in Jessica’s secret potion,” Alice admitted.

“If you want to get better at riding, it would be good to go again today, only not for so long. Either Jessica or I could give you both private lessons.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful. What time?”

“How about two?”

“Thank you. We’d love it.”

“Good. What are your plans for this morning?”

Miranda gave a small smile. “We signed up to go shopping in Steamboat Springs. We thought that would be more fun than horseback riding.”

Jim laughed. “You might be right. Is anyone going with you today?”

“Oh, we don’t need someone to take us. We’re experts at shopping.”

Jim laughed and got up and went to Leslie’s area to check the schedule Jessica had posted there. It appeared Cliff was to drive the small bus to Steamboat Springs.

“What’s wrong?” Jessica asked from behind him.

He turned to look at her. “Nothing. I just wanted to see who was scheduled to drive to Steamboat Springs this morning.”

“Granddad volunteered. He’s a capable driver.”

“I’m sure he is. What are you going to do this morning?”

“One of our maids is sick. I’m filling in for her.”

“That’s your job, too?”

“Someone has to do it.”

“Don’t you have anyone to call?”

“No. And we can’t afford to hire an extra maid.”

“Okay.” He pushed his sleeves up. “Do you need some help?”

“You? I can’t see you making up beds and emptying trash cans.”

“Why not?”

“You just don’t strike me as a housekeeper.”

“Give me a chance and you’ll find out.”

She put out her hand. “You’re on.”

He shook it. “Where do we start?”

They headed out to the cabins. Jessica walked in front, pushing the supply cart. She was dressed in tight jeans today, and for Jim watching her walk in front of him was a delicious form of torture.

When they reached the first cabin, they worked side by side on the bed, then the bathroom.

They repeated the process until they had finished the four cabins.

“So, what do you think?” Jim asked her on the way back to the main house.

She turned to him. “It kills me to admit it, but you did a great job. I didn’t expect you to be so efficient. Thank you. I appreciate the help.”

He smiled. “I like working with you.”

“Me, too.”

As they walked, Jim sensed that the hostility he’d felt from her earlier had dissipated. That, at least, was a step in the right direction. Now he just had to get her to like him.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked when they reached the house.

“I need to put some more time in on the menu for next week.”

“You won’t serve the same menu every week?”

“Some things, maybe, but we want some variety. Mary Jo has a good repertoire.”

“I’ve certainly been impressed so far.”

“Told you she’s good.”

“Do you always serve dessert?”

“Yes. I believe a well-fed guest is a happy guest.”

“Good plan.”

“Do you want to join us?”

Her invitation was like music to his ears.

Mary Jo was waiting when they got to the kitchen. When she noticed Jim she gave him a smile. “Are you going to supervise?”

“I think I’ll do more listening, since food isn’t my area of expertise—except to eat it.”

Mary Jo laughed. “It’s always good to have an extra ear,” she said agreeably.

Jessica wasted no time launching into the ideas she had for the next week. For some reason it bothered her that Mary Jo and Jim seemed so friendly. But she didn’t want to analyze why.

After a few more minutes Jim stood up. “Sounds like you’ve got this taken care of. Now I need to talk to Jessica, if you can excuse us, Mary Jo.”

“Sure.”

Jessica sent him a worried look. “What do we need to talk about?”

He led her out of the kitchen. “Nothing that serious. I promised Alice and Miranda private riding lessons this afternoon at two. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes, if you want to do that. I certainly don’t have you scheduled for anything.”

“No, I meant both of us.”

Jessica gave him a blank look. “What?”

“I said we would both give them a lesson. That way we could take them out for an easy ride. I think they’d like that.”

“I—I guess so, if you promised them.”

“I think it’ll be great. Two o’clock, okay?”

“All right.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I thought I’d go see how the children’s roping lessons were going.”

“I’ll go along with you. I’d like to see that class.”

“Do you think we should both be in the same place? I mean, aren’t we supposed to spread out?”

“We will sometimes, but I think this first week in particular it will be all right.”

“Fine. The roping lessons for the kids are out in the pasture near the corral. We can watch from the top of the corral.”

“Great.”

They walked out the back door and around the corral until they were on the side that looked out on the roping lessons.

They climbed up on the fence and sat on the top row.

Jim watched as Mitch, the cowboy, taught the five boys and one girl the techniques of roping. Then they each tried to rope the fake calf, while two others pushed it around.

“He’s good with kids,” Jim observed.

“Yes. They’re having fun and learning something, too.”

“We’ll have to congratulate Pete on his choice.”

Jessica tried to hide her smile, but he caught sight of it. “You don’t think he chose Mitch because he’s good with kids?”

“No.”

“Then why did he choose him?”

“I don’t know for sure, but he probably did something to irritate Pete.”

“Well, I think we should have Mitch work with the kids every time. I think he’d be good at riding lessons for kids, too.”

“You’d better tell him instead of Pete. Pete will make it sound like he’s being punished.”

Jim chuckled. “Good point.”

Suddenly they both cheered when the smallest child got his rope around the neck of the fake calf.

The little boy ran over to tell his mother what he’d done.

Jessica smiled. “This is one of those moments you’d like to have a camera ready.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea.”

“What is?”

“Why don’t we hire a photographer to take pictures during the week, making sure everyone gets his or her picture taken. Could we do that?”

“I guess. I don’t know how much it would cost.”

“But you don’t have to worry about that now. That’s my problem.”

“Oh, yes. I forgot!” She jumped down from the fence and strode toward the big house.

“Damn,” he muttered under his breath. They’d been getting along just fine today. She’d even said her brothers were behaving better because of him. Then he had to remind her that he’d taken her job away from her.

He climbed down and walked toward the house. It wouldn’t be long until lunch. Maybe he could make amends when they gave Alice and Miranda their riding lessons. If she showed.

THE FAMILY WITH THE YOUNG roper ate at the table that Jessica chose for lunch.

“May I join you today?” she asked, nodding to the two empty chairs.

“We’d love for you to,” the mother said.

“I’m Jessica. I don’t think I’ve met you before. You must’ve arrived when I wasn’t at the front desk.”

“That’s right. Your grandfather registered us. But I got your letter when I wrote for information. This sounded like such an interesting place.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves.”

“Oh, we are. We’re having such a good time. Jack, my husband, and our older son rode horses this morning, and Timmy and I stayed here so he could learn to rope a calf. And you saw how he did!”

“Yes, I did. You were great, Timmy.”

“I wish I’d seen it,” Jack said.

“Well, you would have if you hadn’t decided to ride this morning.”

Jessica thought it would be good to break up their argument, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.

Then someone said, “May I join you?”

Jessica turned to glare at Jim.

“We’d be glad for you to join us,” Jack said, relief showing on his face.

“Thanks. We don’t have many people here today because of the trip into Steamboat Springs.”

“Oh, I wanted to go on that tour this morning, but I wanted to see Timmy rope.”

“And he did a great job,” Jim said, smiling at the little boy, who beamed back at him.

“I took my older son on the riding lesson this morning,” Jack said.

“And what did you think?” Jim asked.

“It was wonderful. The scenery was great, and we saw a bear!”

“You did?” Jim asked with a frown.

“Yeah. He was at the stream, farther up. We didn’t come close to him.”

“I didn’t realize bears were part of the scenery,” Jim said to Jessica.

“I’m sure the cowboy leading the ride carried a rifle that he would’ve used if the bear had gotten too close.” Jessica kept her voice calm. “But it must’ve been exciting to see one.”

“Yeah, it was.” Then Jack said, “But I’m sorry I missed seeing you rope, Timmy.”

“That’s okay, Dad,” the little boy said, oblivious to his parents’ argument.

“We’re just glad we can keep everyone happy,” Jim said.

“Yeah, and I like the food, too.” The older boy had his plate piled high.

“Be sure to save room for dessert,” Jessica told him.

“Don’t worry. He has an enormous appetite. He plays football,” his mother bragged.

“So if we played touch football tonight, you’d be one of the captains?” Jim asked.

The boy lit up. “Sure.”

“Unfortunately,” Jessica interjected, “we’re going to watch a film this evening instead. I hope you’ll like it.”

“What film are we watching?” Jim asked.

“Calamity Jane.”

“What’s it about?” the teenager asked.

“It’s a movie about a young pioneer woman who thought she could do anything a man could do.”

“Ha! As if,” the teenager said.

“Careful, son,” Jim advised. “Women can be a lot more capable than men, you know.” He shot Jessica a smile and a nod.

Another compliment? she thought. If Jim kept this up, her brain might agree with her body and she could be attracted to the new cowboy.