Читать книгу Certified Cowboy - Rita Herron - Страница 11

Chapter Two

Johnny gritted his teeth at the sight of the bruises on the woman’s throat. Her long, curly black hair, which looked dyed, swirled around her neck, and she’d tied a scarf around it to hide the worst, but the purple-and-black marks were still visible and looked stark against her pale skin.

Someone had hurt her, bad.

Her husband? Boyfriend? Lover? Or a stranger?

His temper rose, his protective instincts kicking in. Having a younger sister had done that to him. Taught him to respect women, not to use his physical power to get what he wanted.

No matter what the press might have said.

He opened his mouth to ask her who had tried to choke her, but the wary look in her eyes and the way she quickly tried to cover up the bruises made him pause.

“My name is Rachel Simmons, and this is my son Kenny. I saw the ad in the paper,” she said, straightening her spine.

He sensed she wanted to look tough, but he towered over her, and soaking wet, she probably didn’t weigh a hundred and ten pounds.

“Right, a job,” Johnny said, collecting himself. He glanced down at the little boy and immediately checked for bruises but didn’t see any, so he breathed a sigh of relief. Still, the kid looked scared and kept his head bowed.

“Come on in.”

Rachel nodded, and she and her little boy followed him through the entryway into one of the offices adjoining Brody’s. Because all of the contributors had their own ranches to run and needed to keep in touch while they volunteered at the BBL, he’d designated several smaller offices for them to use, complete with state-of-the-art computer systems, faxes and phones.

Rachel looked surprised at the office furnishings. “Wow, I thought this was going to be a working ranch.”

“It is,” Johnny said. “Don’t let this setup fool you. Outdoors, it’s all ranching. But running an operation like the BBL requires organization, funding, volunteers, employees.”

“Of course it does,” she said. “It’s a wonderful idea. The concept of helping kids in need through hard work and counseling, of giving them role models, is very admirable.”

Finally, the little boy looked up at him, his curiosity overcoming his fear. But his voice sounded timid. “Are you a real cowboy?”

Johnny smiled at the kid and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been riding since I was born.”

“You own all these horses here?” Kenny asked.

Johnny shook his head. “No, they belong to the Bucking Bronc. But I have horses and cattle on my ranch at home.” He almost spouted off the impressive number of cattle he owned and the champion horse breeding he was so proud of, but decided now was not the time to brag.

Kenny’s eyes widened. “I seen you before. You was on TV.” He moved closer, tipping his head back and looking up at Johnny with starstruck eyes. “You’re famous.”

Johnny slanted a look toward Rachel and wondered what she’d heard. Judging from her wary expression, obviously the rumor mill had made its way around, including the good, the bad and the ugly. “Fame’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he muttered, but the kid scrunched his nose as if he didn’t understand.

Rachel didn’t give him time to say more. Instead, her look turned chilly. “The ad said to contact Brody Bloodworth. Is he here?”

Johnny shook his head, sensing she didn’t want to talk to him. Dammit. Maybe his reputation had preceded him. It bothered him more than he wanted to think.

“Afraid not. Brody had business in town.” He gestured toward a comfy leather couch facing an oak coffee table loaded with horse and ranching magazines along with brochures about the services, accommodations, camps, trail rides and other programs the BBL offered. “We’re just getting set up now, so there’s a million things to do. But I can get you an application.”

Through the window, Kenny noticed Kim working with a quarter horse in the pen and tugged at Rachel’s hand. “Can I watch the horses, Mommy?”

“Of course, buddy.” Rachel squeezed his shoulder and gave him such a tender, motherly smile that something moved inside Johnny’s chest.

The apprehension the little boy had had earlier seemed to dissipate slightly as he raced over and looked out the window.

When Johnny glanced back at Rachel, he had to swallow hard. Earlier, all he’d seen was a bruised and frightened woman, one who was likely running scared.

Now he realized how attractive Rachel Simmons really was, and his gut tightened. He’d sworn off women after that fiasco in Durango, and the last thing he needed to do was get tangled up with a filly in trouble. For all he knew, she might have pulled a con on some poor Joe, run off with his money, and the bruises were a sign that she’d been caught in the act.

But more likely, she’d been victimized and needed a helping hand. Wasn’t that the goal of the BBL?

“What kind of job are you looking for?” he asked.

Rachel twisted her hands together. “I can do anything—cook, clean houses or cabins, work with the kids, muck stalls, groom horses.”

“Have you worked on a ranch before?”

A nervous flitter entered her eyes. “Not exactly, but I’ve done lots of odd jobs.”

“What kind of jobs?”

She sighed. “Waitressing. Dishwasher. Factory work. Cleaning. Retail sales. Receptionist—”

He held up his hand. “Okay, I get the point.” She sounded educated, but all those odd jobs…

“Where are you from?”

She curled her fingers tighter inside her palms, another sign that she was trying to hide a case of nerves. Or lies.

“Here and there. We’ve moved around a lot.”

Uh-huh. Definitely sounded like someone running from trouble.

He lowered his voice, “And the boy’s father?”

She quickly glanced at her son, then back at him. “It’s just the two of us.”

“I see.” He reached inside the desk and removed an application for employment. “Here, fill this out and list your references. Then we’ll see what we can do.”

Her hand trembled as she took the application, then she cast a worried look at her son.

“I…don’t have any references to offer,” she said quietly. “Like I said, we haven’t stayed in one place very long this last year.” She drew a deep breath, making her chest rise and fall, and drawing attention to how thin she was. It looked as if she hadn’t had a good meal in days. The little boy looked a little on the lean side, too.

“But I’m a hard worker and a fast learner. And…” She gestured toward the brochure. “I’d like to be a part of what you’re doing here.”

He clenched his jaw so hard that it ached. Those protective instincts that had kicked in earlier roared off the charts.

“All right.” He made a snap decision and hoped to hell he wouldn’t regret it. “You can cook?”

She nodded a little too eagerly. “I’ve been cooking since I was born,” she said as if mirroring his earlier comment about riding.

“She makes the bestest blueberry pancakes on the planet,” Kenny said as he inched back to her side.

Rachel ruffled his hair with an affectionate hand, and Johnny’s reservations faded. He couldn’t turn her and this little boy away. He would give her a job.

At least temporarily.

“I’m afraid the salary’s not great, but we have a small cabin near the dining hall, where you and your son can stay, that’s included with the job. And Kenny can also participate in the camps as a perk.”

Rachel gave him such a relieved and appreciative smile that his chest clenched.

“That sounds wonderful.” She hugged Kenny to her, her smile deepening to reveal dimples. “Thank you so much.”

Johnny amended his earlier thought. She wasn’t attractive. The woman was downright drop-dead gorgeous.

But hell, that didn’t mean he trusted her.

Or that he would get close to her.

As soon as he showed her around and got her settled in a cabin, he’d run a background check and find out just exactly who she was. And if she was a criminal or dangerous, he’d send her packing.

RACHEL HOPED HER DESPERATION didn’t show, but she’d read the pitch for the BBL, with its promises, wide stretches of open land and location miles and miles away from San Antonio, and realized it was a perfect hideaway for her and her son.

And the type of place Rex might never think to look for her.

Rex liked city life, fancy shows, expensive restaurants and the glitzy nightlife. He wouldn’t be caught dead riding a horse, cleaning a stall or touching a cow, and had adamantly refused Kenny any kind of pet.

That had been another sign that he wasn’t the man she’d thought she’d married.

Besides, she and Kenny both needed to breathe some fresh air, take a break from the city hopping they’d been doing for months, and have some semblance of a normal life.

But Kenny would start school in the fall, and then what? She supposed she could homeschool, but their life had been difficult enough. Kenny needed friends his own age. Here, there would be other children and animals and land. At least for a little while…

“I can show you around and then take you to the cabin to settle in,” Johnny said.

“Thank you. I can start anytime.”

“Tomorrow’s good enough. We don’t have kids here tonight, but in the morning a group of teens from an orphanage are coming in, and we’re starting our first camps.”

Rachel tried to ignore the way her stomach fluttered at the sound of his rugged voice. He sounded excited at the prospect of the children’s arrival.

But she’d been fooled by Rex at the beginning, by his charm. She’d never make that mistake again.

Johnny led her and Kenny outside to his pickup truck, a big, shiny, red vehicle with a gigantic cab, backseat and a truck bed nicer than any car she’d ever owned. As he drove them across the property, he gave a running monologue describing the size of the ranch, pointing out the stables, pens, creek, river, pastures and rolling hills where they would eventually expand and add to the herd.

“We’re planning to teach the kids to ride, how to groom and take care of the animals—responsibility will be part of their discipline and therapy,” he clarified, “and we’ll organize trail rides, camps, shows and competitions.”

His enthusiasm seemed so genuine that the man intrigued her. And Kenny was staring out the window of the backseat in awe.

“We’ll also teach the boys how to rope and do tricks and maybe even help on a cattle drive. But in exchange they’ll have to work the ranch. Help clean stalls, mend fences, build pens, feed the animals.” Johnny paused. “Hard work builds character.”

Rachel nodded. Rex’s theory had been that money built character.

Instead, Johnny was a hands-on guy. And he had big, broad, callused hands… Sexy hands. No wonder all the women had found Johnny Long so irresistible.

But she had to be immune.

Not that he was interested in her or ever would be.

For God’s sake, she had a child and a dangerous ex. And she was certainly not his type.

No, the news had shown photo after photo of him with voluptuous young blondes and redheads who followed him on the road. Rodeo groupies whose names were Candy and Brandi with an i, women who didn’t have dishpan hands or tired, lank hair or nails chewed down to the quick from worrying about money and a son she needed to care for and protect.

Her throat thick with emotions and exhaustion, she massaged her temple, battling an unexpected rash of tears.

“There are the bunkhouses for the campers,” Johnny pointed out. “They’re set up like dorms and divided into quadrants according to ages. We hired some college students as camp counselors. Hopefully, as the camp and our reputation grow, we’ll have returning youth who will assume that role.”

“It’s impressive,” Rachel said, and meant it. “But I’m surprised your investors are actually physically working with the program themselves.”

Johnny shifted, looking uncomfortable. When he parked at a long building with a wooden sign that read Dining Hall and looked up at her, pain flashed briefly across his face.

“Not all of us were born with money or had things handed to us on a silver platter.” His voice held a defensive hint. “Some of us…had problems of our own. Now we want to give back.”

Rachel’s heart stuttered at the lost-little-boy look in his eyes as his gaze met hers. She hadn’t meant to sound condescending, but she must have pushed a button.

She tried to remember what she’d read about him. Something about a woman making accusations against him.

But Kenny released a squeal of excitement, halting her thoughts, and threw open his door. “Mommy, look, there’s a dog! A real dog!”

Rachel glanced at the mutt and nearly choked on a laugh. Cleo was a mixed mutt of some kind, a cross between a basset hound and a beagle and God knew what else.

Johnny’s troubled look faded at her son’s outburst, and he turned to Kenny with a smile. “That’s Cleopatra, but we call her Cleo,” Johnny said. “Come on, Kenny. She’s been lonely and needs a friend.”

Rachel sensed he wasn’t just talking about the dog. That he had figured out more about her from their initial meeting than she’d intended to reveal.

No…that wasn’t possible.

Not unless Rex had followed her or somehow discovered she’d been checking out this ranch. If he had, he could have already contacted the people here. Maybe he’d called Johnny and spouted off his book of lies.

What if he’d asked Johnny to play nice to her, to lull her into a sense of safety until Rex could show up?

Her head was churning with suspicions, her panic-voice urging her to run again, so loudly that she hadn’t noticed that Johnny had helped Kenny down from the truck and they were playing with the dog.

The pathetic, bony-looking animal had sprawled on the ground and was salivating as Kenny scratched between her floppy ears.

Rachel climbed down to join them, the joy on her son’s face deflating her earlier worries. She was just being paranoid. There was no way Rex could know she was here.

“Mom, Cleo and I are gonna be best friends.”

She knotted her hands, ready to deny him. But Johnny stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. A gentle hand that made her look up into his eyes. Eyes that were usually flirty but eyes that looked soulful now, as if he saw too much.

The realization made her shift uncomfortably.

“Cleo was a stray I found on the side of the road,” he said quietly. “She’d been abandoned and abused. She needs someone to love her.”

Tears burned Rachel’s throat. He sounded so sincere.

And somehow he’d sensed the fact that her son needed stability. Peace. Normalcy.

The BBL offered all those things. The kind of comfort and home neither of them had had in a very long time.

She let him guide her toward the dining hall. They would stay, she decided.

But at the first sign of trouble, that Rex had followed them, they’d hit the road and never look back.