Читать книгу The Cowboy Meets His Match - Roxann Delaney, Roxann Delaney - Страница 9
ОглавлениеErin’s boots felt as if they were filled with cement as she walked across the neighboring pastures to the Morris ranch. Or the Canfield ranch, she corrected, since it now belonged to Jake, Carl Morris’s nephew. By Saturday night, after she’d told Jake she would work for him, she’d come to the conclusion that she’d made a dangerous error by accepting the job he’d offered her. Sunday found her feeling fifty-fifty about it, with half her time spent reminding herself that she hadn’t found work anywhere else and this was the best she could do for the time being. The other half had been spent wondering if she’d lost her mind. By this morning, when her alarm went off, she’d come to the point of not caring. She had a job. One she might even enjoy, in spite of her employer.
Now that she was halfway to the ranch, her nerves had stretched as tight as a size eight girdle on an elephant. She was crazy. Work for Jake? He’d always been her biggest weakness. She’d thought she’d outgrown that, but apparently she hadn’t. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t stop her from doing the best job she could, if only to prove to Jake that she was even better than he thought.
As she approached the ranch, she could see the other cowboys arriving. What would they think of working with a woman? Her apprehension grew with each step she took, until she found herself at the edge of the largest of the corrals, behind an obviously new barn. To the right of it was the sprawling two-story house with the wraparound porch, where Jake had spent his summers. Without thinking, her gaze moved beyond it to the big gambrel-roof barn that held the memory she’d put behind her. Or tried to. Everything that happened after that, except the accident that had taken her parents’ lives, had been affected by the decision she’d made that night he’d come back from college.
She took a deep breath and looked away to see several smaller, new corrals encircling the large ranch yard—strong indications that he planned to stay. If she gained nothing else from this crazy need to prove she could be strong and face down anything thrown at her—including working for Jake—at least she would earn the money she needed. He obviously had plenty.
Lost in her thoughts, she nearly jumped out of her boots when she heard him say her name. Slapping her hand over her suddenly racing heart, she spun around to find him standing only a few feet away.
“You made it,” he said, a hint of surprise in his gray eyes.
Proof, she thought, that he’d expected she wouldn’t show up. “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”
“No reason.”
He looked her over from top to bottom and back again, sending a warm flush through her, until her clenched teeth made her jaw ache. No one could affect her the way Jake did, and she wished he would stop.
“Come meet the others,” he said, turning around and leaving her to cool down and collect her wits.
She nearly had to run to keep up with his long strides. Ahead of them, she saw the other ranch hands greeting each other. “Is this all of us?” she asked. “Three men and me?”
“For now, it is. I could use one more. Maybe two,” he answered. “As the ranch grows, so will the crew.”
Impressed, she had to smile. “That business degree is paying off.”
They’d almost reached the others when he stopped and looked down at her. “There’s no degree.”
When he moved on, she stumbled as she hurried to catch up with him, her mind stuttering on what he’d said. “Why not?” she asked, curious why he hadn’t finished the college degree he’d seemed to want so badly. Badly enough to leave her behind.
“Why not what?” he asked, keeping his attention straight ahead.
“Why don’t you have that degree?”
Several steps later, he answered. “I quit school in the second semester of my sophomore year.”
This time she didn’t stumble. She came to a stop, unable to take another step. He quit school? But before she could say it aloud, he’d joined the others and stood waiting for her.
“Erin, these are your coworkers. That’s Bobby Ray,” Jake said, pointing to a tall, lean, forty-something cowboy, who tipped the brim of his hat with his finger.
“Ma’am,” he drawled.
“Hello, Bobby Ray.”
Jake barely gave her a glance, his focus on his employees. “That over there’s Gary. We’ve worked together for several years. And this here’s Kelly, our most recent employee.”
And the youngest, she thought. Mid-twenties, she guessed when Kelly smiled at her. Gary was close to Jake’s age, in his mid-thirties, with light blue eyes framed by deep crinkles at the corners.
“This is Erin Walker, boys,” Jake finished. “And before you think there isn’t a whole lot to her, I can assure you she not only knows what she’s doing, she’s a lot tougher than she looks.”
“It’s nice to meet you all,” Erin said, looking at each of them.
Before any of them spoke, Jake issued duties for the morning. The men hurried off to do their work, and he turned back to her. “Think you can handle it?”
“I don’t see why not.” None of the other hands had made her feel out of place, although she sensed they weren’t sure what to think of her. Not a new reaction. She’d lived most of her life in a man’s world, and it happened regularly. “I’m pretty sure that if you hired them, they know what they’re doing.”
“They do,” he answered.
“So what’s my job? What is it, exactly, that I’ve been hired to do?”
“We’ll talk about that later. After you’ve had a chance to see the operation, we can decide. Until then, why don’t you go observe each of them? You have a good eye, and I’d be interested to hear what you think.”
She noticed he’d said “we can decide” instead of “I will decide” and was surprised. Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t be. When they were growing up, he’d always shown interest in her riding and had constantly asked her and her brothers questions about horses, livestock and ranching in general.
“I can do that,” she answered, only a little nervous that she would be observing, not working, at least for now. “In the meantime, I look forward to getting to know my fellow employees.”
That brought a smile from him. “Just treating you like the others.”
“Thanks.”
He moved away, and then stopped. “If you have any questions, let me know. I have some other things to take care of, but I’ll be around.”
When he headed in the direction of the big barn where she’d seen Kelly disappear, she blew out a breath. So far, so good.
For the next few hours, she watched the other wranglers, making mental notes of how they handled the animals and of their strengths and weaknesses. What that had to do with the job she would be assigned, she didn’t know. But she guessed Jake would tell her before the day ended.
Leaning against the corral fence, she felt someone walk up behind her and she turned to see the object of her thoughts.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Good. Not that I know why I’m doing it, but you’re the boss.”
“You always were a fast learner.”
No way would she answer that. She couldn’t be sure what he was referring to, but it was better that she didn’t try to guess.
He must have picked up on what she was thinking, because she caught a ghost of a smile on his lips before he spoke. “What do you think of them?”
“As a whole?”
“Yeah.”
“They seem to get along with each other,” she said. “There aren’t any slackers, so nobody is forced to do anyone else’s job. They each do their own thing, but they seem friendly toward each other. It’s a good group, at least from what I’ve seen.”
“And individually?”
She didn’t know how to answer. “Do you want an honest assessment?”
“Nothing but.”
Nodding, she glanced around the big ranch yard, where the men continued working with the livestock and focused on what they were doing, not on Jake. “Bobby Ray is good. It’s easy to see that he has a lot of experience. But I also see a little weakness in his roping.”
“All right. Go on.”
“Gary seems to know what he’s doing and is doing it right. At least that’s my observation.”
“I expect that.”
He wasn’t giving her much to go on, but she continued. “I didn’t see much of Kelly.”
“Kelly’s helping me with some updates in the barn.”
“Have you given any thought to hiring a few high school boys to help with those kinds of things?”
“No, I haven’t. Should I?”
He was being far too reasonable and it made her nervous. “Glory hired a few last year to help with work on the house.”
“I’ll think about it.”
She waited for him to say more, and when he didn’t, she looked up at him. It was the wrong thing to do. He was watching her closely, his eyes smoky and half-lidded. She knew that look all too well. It had always made her feel as if her bones were turning to liquid. It still did.
She needed to get away, have a little time to herself. Thirty minutes. An hour, at the most. But how?
He blinked, clearing his eyes, and stepped back. “Lunch is at noon.”
Her knees weakened at the reprieve. “I’ll go home for that,” she answered, with effort. “What time do I need to be back?”
“We all go to the café. Together.”
So much for getting a little time to herself to put some space between them. But she’d insisted on being treated as one of them, so she couldn’t complain now.
* * *
JAKE STUDIED THE ice in his glass of tea, wondering if he’d done the right thing by hiring Erin.
The five of them were nearly finished with their lunch at the Chick-a-Lick Café. He’d noticed immediately when Erin chose the seat farthest away from him. She’d even insisted on sitting in the backseat of his crew cab pickup on the way into town. He reminded himself that this was only the first day. There would be plenty of time to fix things between them.
He heard her laugh and moved his chair a little more to the left, hoping to get a better view of her. As he did, Darla, their waitress and the café manager, placed the bill next to him. He looked up with a smile. “Great meal, as always, Darla,” he told her.
“Thanks, Jake,” she replied, and then turned to look down the table. “It’s good to see you again, Erin,” she said with a friendly smile. “You probably don’t remember me. I was finishing eighth grade when you graduated from high school.”
“Of course I remember you,” Erin answered. “You have three brothers. Patrick was in my class.”
Darla’s smile widened. “Yes, he was.”
“What’s he doing?”
“He moved to the city. He’s a doctor. My mother is thrilled.”
Erin laughed, and Jake wished she would laugh at something he said. She’d spent the morning staying out of his range, and he’d played it smart by keeping his distance, as much as possible.
“Eat up, boys,” he said, purposely not mentioning Erin’s name. After all, she wanted to be treated like them. “We need to be getting back soon.”
“Well, I’ll be danged!”
Jake looked down the table at Bobby Ray, sitting across the table from Erin and staring at her.
“I knew there was something about you,” Bobby Ray continued, “but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It just came to me like a lightning bolt. You’re Erin Walker.”
Putting her glass aside, she leaned back and crossed her arms, her face calm and straight. “That’s my name.”
Bobby Ray glanced at Jake, who smiled. He had an idea where this was going and knew it would be interesting.
Shaking his head, Bobby Ray leaned forward. “No. I mean yes, you are, but I mean the Erin Walker, the barrel racer. I’ve seen you compete.”
She didn’t say anything at first, then spoke directly to him. “Did you rodeo, Bobby Ray?”
His nod was short and quick. “I did, back in the day. Team roping. By the time I really got the hang of it, the younger cowboys were catching up. I decided it must not be for me.”
“He’s not being honest,” Jake said, from his end of the table. “He and his partner won several competitions.”
Bobby Ray shook his head. “Not enough to keep me in it. It’s a tough life. And an expensive one, if you aren’t on the winning side more than the losing.”
Erin didn’t respond at first, leaving Jake to wonder what was going through her head.
“It takes more than talent,” she finally said, giving Bobby Ray a smile Jake wished she’d bestowed on him.
“Well, you’ve got that, for sure,” the wrangler answered.
“What’s it like, Erin?” Kelly asked. “Traveling around the country.”
She gave a little one-shouldered shrug. “It’s like living life as a gypsy. Sometimes exciting. Sometimes just a lot of driving. This is such a beautiful country, and I’ve been lucky to see so much of it. But the rodeo circuit, like everything else, has its ups and downs, pros and cons.”
Jake had never thought her life had been easy, but this was the first time, except for when she’d talked about Firewind, that he’d caught a note of loneliness in her voice. Most of the time it was spit and fire. The years had changed her, at least a little.
Standing, he announced, “We’d better be getting back.”
The others started moving, and while he walked on to the cash register, they left the café. When he finished paying the bill, he found them waiting on the sidewalk in front of his truck and joined them.
“Maybe Erin should sit in front, this time,” Gary said, opening the front passenger door.
“I’m fine in the back,” she answered quickly. “You and Jake need the extra leg room.”
“Less crowded with you in the front,” Jake pointed out.
“Maybe another time,” she said, without looking at him.
His gaze lingered on her for a moment, and then he walked around the front of the truck and climbed in. “Let’s get a move on, boys.”
They’d reached the outskirts of town when Bobby Ray leaned forward. “Were you going to look into that cattle sale down in Wichita Falls?”
“I plan to,” Jake answered.
“I hear they’ll have some nice horses, too.”
“It’s two weeks away, so I’ll check into that more closely before I go. Can’t have too many horses,” Jake said, and glanced in the rearview mirror. Erin didn’t seem to hear him as she stared out the window. If only he knew what she was thinking. Or maybe it was best that he didn’t.
The rest of the ride back to the ranch remained quiet. As he turned the truck into the ranch yard, he tried to think of something he could have Erin do that would keep her nearby.
He’d just gotten out of the truck and closed the door, when he saw her catching up with Bobby Ray, heading for the large corral. The nearly windless day helped carry her voice, so he watched and listened.
“I noticed you were having a little trouble this morning, Bobby Ray,” she said, matching his stride.
“Slow reaction speed,” he answered.
“I think we can fix that.”
He turned his head to look at her. “You think so?”
“Yeah, I do. Would you mind if I gave you a few tips? I learned a lot doing ranch work during breaks.”
He stopped, still looking at her, and Jake waited. Bobby Ray was a good ol’ boy, and Jake wasn’t sure how the cowboy might take her offer.
“You’d do that?” Bobby Ray asked.
“Only if you want me to,” she answered.
He pulled off his battered cowboy hat and scratched his head. “Well, now, ma’am, I can’t say it would hurt me, if you know what I mean.”
“We all started at the beginning and had to learn,” Erin said. “Sometimes more than once.”
“That’s the truth.” He replaced his hat and then offered her his arm. “I’d be honored if you’d give me some tips on what will make my ropin’ better, Miz Walker.”
Her smile was bright, and she looped her arm through his. “Then let’s get to it. And it’s Erin.”
Jake watched them enter the corral and thought again about what she’d said at the café. He’d followed her career for many years and knew she’d had several good wins, almost making it to the National Finals a few times. But he also knew it took money to get from rodeo to rodeo. Considering the cost of gas, entry fees, food, feed and vet care for her horse, and everything else, it could get expensive. Was that why she’d come home? She’d admitted that her new horse was in need of more training. If she hadn’t been winning and had paid out more than she’d won, it made sense that she’d left. The question now was whether she intended to return to her rodeo life or if she’d left it behind and wanted to move on to something else.
He didn’t know if he wanted to hear the answer. When he did, maybe he would ask her. Until then, he would wait and see how things worked out—or didn’t work out—between them.
At quitting time, he stood in the yard, praising his men for a good day as they climbed into their vehicles. When they started their engines and began to drive away, he noticed that Erin had already started for home.
“Can I give you a ride?” he called to her.
Facing him, she walked backward and kept going. “I don’t mind the walk, but thank you.”
When she turned back, he lengthened his stride, catching up with her, before she’d gone too far. “More exercise?” he asked, stepping up to walk beside her.
“It can’t hurt.”
“You look fine to me.” As soon as it was out of his mouth, he regretted saying it and was thankful she didn’t have a quick comeback. “It was nice what you did with Bobby Ray today.”
“He strikes me as a good man,” she said, glancing up at him. “The talent is there. He just needs a little practice on some of the things I showed him.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
She stopped. “Isn’t that why you hired me?”
“Sure. Some of it.” He wouldn’t tell her that he’d also had personal reasons. Very personal. She would figure that out on her own, soon enough.
“Then there’s no need to talk about it,” she said, then hesitated. “All you have to do is tell me the job you want me to do, and I’ll do the best I can. That’s how I work.”
He knew that. She’d been born into ranching—one big reason he’d hired her. But he’d worked hard at it. Spent years on other people’s ranches, starting at the bottom. Things were different now. He was the boss. He just hadn’t adjusted to it yet.
“It’s only your first day.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “And I can’t keep wandering around, watching others. I need to work with the rest of them. It’s pretty clear you need me, or at least someone. And it wouldn’t hurt to hire another person, especially if you plan to add more livestock.”
He couldn’t argue with that, but it wasn’t as easy as she might think. He’d worked with Gary, so that had been easy. He’d found Bobby Ray through a friend, and Kelly had answered an ad.
“I intend to. There’s a flyer in the café, and I put ads in several ranching papers and magazines,” he explained. “It doesn’t happen overnight. Not with experienced men.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
When he heard a bark, he turned to see his dog and welcomed the interruption. “Looks like Sollie’s coming to tell you goodbye.”
“Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.” When she walked away, she moved fast.
“Same time in the morning,” he shouted as she gained ground.
She waved at him, without looking back.
Sollie stopped beside him, giving his hand a nudge. “Yeah, she’s gone for the day. But she’ll be back.” Scratching Sollie’s head, he watched her until she disappeared from his sight. He looked down at the dog. “We have to keep her here, Sollie. I know you don’t understand, but we have to.”
* * *
JONAH BUTTERFIELD WINCED at the beginnings of a blister on his heel, inside his nearly new boots. He’d done more walking in the past day than he had in half of his almost seventeen years. He hadn’t, really. It only felt as though he had. But it didn’t matter. He was on a mission.
Kicking up dust from the shoulder of the road, he looked again to see if the ranch he needed to find was close by. No house, yet, but he did spy a large, country mailbox set on a post and hoped his journey might be nearing its end.
Another dozen steps, and he could make out the name on the mailbox. JAKE CANFIELD, it said, in bright blue letters. He’d finally made it to his destination, and with nothing but the name of a town, some initials and that name.
He reached the box and stood staring at it for several seconds. No one knew him or knew why he was there. They would learn soon enough.
Taking a deep breath, he started up the long drive to a large two-story house. Nice. Not some old place like a few he’d seen. Behind it were what looked like a couple of barns and some white fences. Corrals. He’d seen them in pictures.
As he walked closer, he saw two cowboys, each leading a horse. He needed to find the one who owned the ranch.
No one seemed to notice him, so he had a chance to run through what he planned to say. He would just tell them he’d been traveling through on the way to visit a friend and stopped at the café in town, where he’d seen a help-wanted flyer. Not exactly the truth, but good enough. He had seen the flyer, but he’d already known to look for a guy named Jake at the Canfield ranch. That much he’d learned while thumbing through a ranching magazine at the library.
He felt pretty safe. No one would be looking for him yet. In a day or two, maybe, but he had some—
“Hey, kid.”
Jonah looked to his right and saw a sandy-haired man walking toward him. “Mr. Canfield?” he asked, hoping he had the right guy.
“Hang on,” the man said, and turned around. “Hey, Jake! Somebody’s here looking for you.”
“Send him over,” the man who answered to the name said.
So that was him, Jonah thought, as he thanked the first guy and walked over to where Jake stood talking to a woman. A cowgirl, he guessed, by the jeans, boots and hat. Jake’s wife?
“Mr. Canfield?” he asked again.
The guy looked at him. “Yeah, that’s me.”
No turning back now. “A man gave me a ride—”
“Are you here about the job?”
How lucky could a guy get? He didn’t even have to ask or anything. But he would have to wing the rest of it. He hadn’t thought much beyond this. “Yeah. Could you use another hand?”
The woman next to him started to move away, but Jake stopped her. “Stay. We’re not through.” Then he turned back to Jonah. “What’s your name?”
“Jonah. Jonah Butterfield.”
“How old are you, Jonah?”
“Eighteen, sir.” Okay, that was a stretch, but did it matter?
Jake looked him over. “You have identification?”
Heart plummeting, Jonah reached around to his back pocket, juggling the backpack he wore, while keeping a tight grip on his duffel bag. “Right here.”
“No, that’s okay,” Jake said, stopping him. “I can get that later. How much do you know about horses?”
“Not a whole lot,” Jonah answered, truthfully this time. “But I’m willing to learn.” When Jake started to shake his head, Jonah hurried on. “I’m a quick learner.” Even his dad said so, not that he cared what his dad said.
Jake glanced at the woman, who shrugged, and then he asked another question. “Do you live around here, Jonah?”
“No, sir. Up north.”
Jake looked at him, his eyes squinting a little. “Where, exactly, would that be?”
Jonah hoped he didn’t have to get too specific, or the whole thing might blow up. He wasn’t ready to walk away, not until he found who he’d set out to look for, got a few questions answered and then said what he’d come to say.
“I’m from Kansas,” he answered.
The woman took a small step back but didn’t say anything. He pretended he didn’t notice, but then she pinned him in place with a look that would have frozen anyone with half a brain.
