I glanced over my shoulder as I slipped a pile of dishes beneath the water. “Okay then.”
Jake tipped his hat and disappeared with a smile. Rue didn’t say anything, thank God, but I could feel her curiosity about Jake and me all the same. I’d noticed the way she watched us during meal times and she’d joked with me more than once about how handsome Jake was and, also, how available. Of course, I never went for the bait but I was fairly sure that Rue knew enough to know that I couldn’t get Jake off my mind.
And that was the truth and then some. Over the last few weeks since I’d been here, my feelings for Jake continued to grow, even though I did my best to keep it from happening. There was just something about him that I found irresistible—something that continued to wear down my self-imposed walls.
The day seemed to fly by as we were knee-deep in chores and before I knew it, it was lunchtime.
“Why don’t you take something out to Jake?” Rue asked with a knowing smile. “Brady and I will grab a bite in town.”
I shifted uneasily as she handed me a stack of towels and I put them away. Bringing Jake lunch suddenly seemed so intimate, even though I cooked for him all the time now. But I’d never made a meal just for him alone. “What should I take him?”
She shrugged and tucked the laundry basket beneath her arm as we walked back down the hallway to the kitchen. “Make a couple of sandwiches maybe? Or take him that rosemary chicken from last night. It’s his favorite,” she continued. “He must ask me to make it every week.”
“Sounds good,” I answered but my nerves were still very much present and accounted for. I didn’t like being alone with Jake, not when my feelings for him seemed to be growing by the minute. With other people around, it was easier.
After she left, I grabbed the leftover chicken and mashed potatoes from the night before, and set them in a plastic bag along with a fork, napkin, and a jug of iced tea. Then I headed for the barn. Jake was down by Aria’s stall, and at first, I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, then it hit me as soon as I saw him toss a bright green, compact flake into her feeder.
Immediately anger began to well inside of me as I wondered just why this man thought it was okay to feed crap to other people’s horses. It wasn’t okay. Not one bit!
“What in the hell?” I stomped my foot as I yelled at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Jake turned toward me and smiled. “Hey, Posh. Just feeding your horse. Ready to ride?”
“What? No! You can’t feed her alfalfa! You know that! Why do you think I went to all that trouble to get her special hay? I can’t believe you!” I was so mad I could barely spit all the words out and my thoughts were a giant jumble. I couldn’t believe he’d gone behind my back and done this on purpose.
“Why not?” He tossed a flake to Breezy. “This keeps you from having to feed her so much of that expensive stuff. I fed a few of the other horses also.” He shrugged. “No big deal to do it for her too.”
“It’s not good for her and you should have checked with me before you started feeding her… that!” I finished as I looked at the bag in his hands with disgust.
“Who told you it wasn’t good for her?” he demanded, frowning at me.
I jammed my fists into my hips. “This isn’t my first horse, you know? Just because I didn’t grow up on a ranch doesn’t mean I haven’t been around horses my entire life. I know how to take care of Aria. I know what’s best for her.” I poked him in the chest. “Not you.”
“Yeah, well I’ve got news for you, honey, I’ve been feeding her since the day she got here. Maybe next time you could just say thanks.”
“I’m not going to say thanks because I’m pissed off!” I railed at him. “I can’t believe your impudence! How did you think it was okay to feed her without ever asking me first?”
“Impudence?” he asked with a laugh. “Big word.”
“I’m serious, Jake.”
“So am I.” He cocked his head to the side. “That’s like a .75 cent or maybe even a dollar word right there!” He pointed at the bag still dangling from my hand. “Did you bring that for me?”
I glared at him but didn’t answer. He strode up to me and raised his brows as if to repeat the question. I just nodded and thrust the bag at him. He took it, shrugged and, with a sigh, walked away.
“You’re impossible to please,” he called over his shoulder.
Tears stung my eyes and I wanted to scream, but then something started to dawn on me. If he’d been feeding Aria alfalfa since we’d arrived, I hadn’t noticed a single change in her behavior. She hadn’t gained weight, she wasn’t acting any different and she hadn’t developed one allergic symptom.
And that had to mean that Jake was right—there wasn’t anything about it that was damaging to her. But, damn it all, I didn’t want him to be right! Not after he’d been so brazen to feed my horse without ever first asking me! Regardless, I was more than sure he hadn’t meant any harm and he probably thought he was doing me a favor. I stood there until my blood pressure mellowed out and then I set off to find him, knowing I’d have to apologize for the second time now. It wasn’t a feeling that sat well with me but I’d have to do it all the same.
I had no idea where he went, so I strolled to the end of the alleyway of the barn and then found him sitting on a hay bale in the corner of the barn, chowing down on the leftovers I’d brought. He didn’t look up as I walked over.
“Are we going to ride, or not?” I demanded, thrusting my hands on my hips. No, my apology wasn’t off to a very good start.
He snorted and took another bite of chicken, then talked around it. “I don’t know, are we?”
I glared at him as a spike of pain shot down my jaw until I unclenched my teeth.
“You said we were.”
“Guess we are then.” He finished off the chicken and mashed potatoes without another word or glance in my direction. Obviously, he was pissed off. And his own anger suddenly sparked mine. Yes, I’d come here to eat humble pie and tell him I was sorry for going off on him but now my thoughts were taking a different direction. That direction being that I’d be damned if I was going to apologize for yelling at him! He was the one who needed to apologize for feeding my horse alfalfa without ever asking me if it was okay! And, regardless of whether or not the alfalfa had any effect on Aria, it wasn’t okay that he’d been feeding her all this time without my knowing about it! It was brazen of him and, yes, it was impudent!
He stood up and brushed past me. “Jenny is pretty solid. She’s not quite ready to be a guest horse, but she’s a good listener and tough to spook. She’d be good for you to ride if you ever have to come out with us.”
“Why would I need to ride Jenny? I have Aria.”
He laughed but frowned at the same time. “There’s always something happening on the ranch that requires extra hands. And I don’t know Aria’s temperament but I can tell you that our horses are bred to stay level-headed all the time, no matter what comes their way.”
Whatever. I just wanted to get this over with and go stew in private. We could stand here all day and debate whose horse was better suited to their tasks but I had other things I still needed to do. And now apologizing to Jake was definitely not one of them.
He pulled Breezy out of the stall and pointed toward Jenny. “Grab her and we’ll figure out which saddle fits you best.”
I did as he told me without comment and quickly brushed Jenny’s coat. She was so short and petite that I was done quickly. He waited for me in the tack room and handed me a simple leather strap with a ring snaffle. I held it up. “That’s it?”
“Figured you’d rather be two-handed.” He grabbed a simple shank snaffle. “Or you can do this one, but you’d have to ride her one-handed so I can train her for guests.”
I took the ring snaffle and hooked it over my shoulder, then scanned the wall full of clunky western saddles. “Which one?”
He leaned over like he was checking out my butt. “You’re wh
at, a fifteen and a half?”
I frowned and crossed my hands over my chest. “Fifteen.”
He pulled one down off the top rack. “Try this one. I think you’ll like it.”
It weighed a thousand pounds but I didn’t complain. Meanwhile, he grabbed a massively thick pad and tossed it on Jenny’s back.
“That’s it? One pad?”
“She’s fine. Put the saddle on.”
I frowned and tried to throw the saddle up and on Jenny but it was seriously a million times heavier than my English saddle. Jake arched a brow at me at the same time that he grabbed the saddle and put it on Jenny like it didn’t weigh a damn thing. Well, good for him!
I sighed and shook my head as I watched him get Jenny ready for me. “Now what?” I demanded.
“Get them bridled and climb on!” he said as he did exactly that.
I hesitated. “Right here? You’re getting on right here? Don’t you need to warm them up?” I strapped my helmet on, still frustrated that he wasn’t willing to wear one. Actually that wasn’t the only thing frustrating me. Jake just had a way of frustrating me in general. I should have changed his name to Generally Frustrating.
“They’re fine.”
I swallowed, not entirely sure I was ready, but he was turning Breezy and heading out of the alley, not seeming to care if I was behind him or not. I petted Jenny’s neck and talked softly to her. “Please don’t buck me off.”
Her ears flickered back and forth, and I took a deep breath as I swung up into the saddle. It felt so strange, especially when I shoved my boots into the clunky massive stirrups. I eased Jenny forward, delighted at her responsiveness. She jogged out of the barn and we caught up with Jake.
He reached over and stroked Jenny’s forelock. “I want to take you around the property instead of hanging in the arena so you can get a feel for how she works.”
“Fine.” I still wasn’t happy with him, but I didn’t want Jenny picking up on my anger, so I tried to let it go. I reached down and stroked her neck. “She seems nice.”
“She is.” He lifted his arm and pointed past the arena. “Let’s head out that way and we’ll work in the front pasture, ride the fence, check the irrigation ditch and then come back.”
I eased my fingers up on the reins, but he shook his head. “Just contact. I want her to neck rein.”
We rode this way for the next hour, me doing things like I ordinarily would have on Aria and him telling me I was doing it all wrong. It got really old really fast, but I understood that she was a different horse and this was a very different type of riding. Even so, I got the feeling that he was definitely picking on me, trying to make me feel like all the expensive training I’d had my entire life hadn’t amounted to much. And maybe when it came to ranch riding, it hadn’t. So, for now, I was playing the part of the student. Of course, he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it.
Bob bounded along with us but Jenny didn’t seem to mind or care that the dog was weaving around her legs or cutting her off. I could definitely see where that sort of chilled attitude would be important out here. And Aria didn’t have it, that was for sure.
We made a giant looping circle back to the barn and then Jake left me to go work on other things with Breezy while I unsaddled Jenny and then turned to getting dinner started. He never apologized for feeding Aria behind my back, but as I headed back to the house, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the alfalfa hadn’t had any sort of effect on her at all. Meanwhile, I was shelling out good money for something that—dare I think it—maybe she didn’t need?
Chapter Thirteen
Jake
I rode away because I couldn’t deal with Summer anymore. She drove me up a wall, irritated, frustrated and made me completely crazy. I had always heard about high maintenance women like her but I’d never met one… until now. Maybe the most annoying part about the whole damned situation was that no matter how uppity, privileged and spoiled the little brat was, I couldn’t help my attraction to her. Yeah, that was definitely the most exasperating part.
She made me question myself constantly—I just had always figured women like her were good for breaking in but not much else. Yet, the thought of breaking Summer in and then leaving her in the cold didn’t appeal to me at all. Yes she was superficial, yes she was spoiled and yes she was also completely out of touch with reality but she was also sweet and thoughtful and downright sexy when she was mad. She was just so damned set in her ways but, even so, I still couldn’t seem to get her off my mind. And she was a damn good little rider, to boot. A total natural.
Regardless, I couldn’t be around her because I was ready to blow a gasket, so I took off before I did something stupid like kiss the spoiled right out of her. I had no idea when Brady was coming back or even what he and Rue were doing in town, but I sure hoped they were back before dinner so it wasn’t just Summer and me working our way through another awkward conversation. Of course, I could always rely on Ned and Elliott to break the uncomfortable silence. Or not, considering neither one of them said much.
I kicked Breezy up into a lope and rode out to check the windmill and water trough in the north pasture. I spotted several herds of deer and a fox family, but they did nothing to quiet my mind. At this rate, it was going to be a long summer. No pun intended.
Everything looked fine and appeared to be working at the windmill, so I splashed some cold water on my face and neck and washed off a layer of dirt. Life here before Summer was so uncomplicated, but now she had me curious... beyond curious. There was a fire in me that was burning fast and furious. I wanted to know her secrets, why she was here, what her story was. I wanted to know what she was running from and, mostly, if it was a man.
I really wanted to know if it was a man because if it was, I was more than sure I could make her forget all about him. Nothing like getting over someone by getting under someone else, right?
I sighed, more than a little troubled that I was so caught up in a woman who was all kinds of wrong for me. And, furthermore, I had no idea how she felt about me. Sure I could tell I made her nervous but what did that really mean? Not a lot in my books. I was fairly sure she found me attractive because she seemed happy enough to look at me pretty often but that was where whatever attraction she might have had for me seemed to stop.
If she was attracted to me, she was definitely holding herself back. And I couldn’t blame her. Chances are she’d read me and knew what kind of man I was—that I wasn’t the settling down type. Hell, she might have even heard some rumors about me around town. Not all of them were true but not all of them were false either.
Yep, the girl was smart because she was playing it safe. And if I were in her shoes, I’d be doing exactly the same thing.
An afternoon thunderstorm rolled in while I was out in the pasture and I barely made it to the barn before it turned into a downpour. These springtime showers came on so damn fast.
“Whew.” I dismounted and slapped Breezy on the neck as soon as we were back at the ranch. She was a good mare and sure made work easier.
I slapped my hat against my thigh, then smashed it down on my head and stomped across to the house. Something smelled good and almost covered up the smell of something else that was burning. Summer wasn’t much of a cook, but her eggs were decent enough this morning so as to be edible and that was my only qualification. I was a simple man.
She looked up as I strolled into the kitchen, smiled, then turned back to the oven.
“Hi.” I headed to the sink and washed my hands, realizing for the first time how tight the space was in here.
“Hey.” She stepped away like she was just becoming aware of it too. Sighing, I decided I didn’t want this awkwardness to exist between us for a second longer. I’d thought we were at least working toward being friends again. And friends was better than this awkward crap.
“Something smells good.”
She snorted. “I thought Rue was going to be back an hour ago, so I put the chicken in and the
n accidentally burned it.”
“How bad can it be?” I asked with a shrug.
“Bad,” she answered with a shake of her head. “Like black and charcoaled bad.”
“Okay, so?”
“So, I’m starting over again. I started peeling some potatoes, when Rue called and said they were running way behind.”
I frowned. “That’s weird.”
She looked up, alarmed, a pot holder dangling off one hand. “It is? Should we be worried?”
I hoped not, so I shook my head and tried not to make a big deal of it. “I have no idea what they were doing, but I’m sure it’s fine.” I turned off the faucet and dried my hands on a towel then leaned my hip against the counter.
“Well, I wish I could say the same thing about your dinner.” She blew a puff of air that caught her hair and moved it across her forehead. There was a smudge of butter on her cheek and most of her hair had fallen out of her ponytail. She was downright gorgeous.
“I’m sure everyone will give you a break, considering Rue isn’t here to help you,” I offered.
“There is no everyone,” she answered. “Elliott took one look at my chicken and said he was fine with a peanut butter sandwich. Then Ned said he had a date in town with a lady friend.”
So that left the two of us. Just great.
Summer leaned over and slid something out of the oven that didn’t look exactly edible. It was black around the edges but still looked a little gooey in the middle. I coughed and leaned forward, feigning interest. “What’d you make?”
She set it on one of the oven racks and backed away. “Well, Rue said that you were a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I thought that meant I could just stick everything together, but... well...”
I scratched my neck and bit the inside of my cheek, careful to make sure my face wasn’t giving my thoughts away. I had no idea if what she’d made could even be considered meat and potatoes. It looked more like the gelatinous ooze I found at the bottom of the cows’ water trough. I leaned in a little closer and realized she’d just stuck an entire lump of hamburger meat in the middle of some raw potatoes and cooked them. This didn’t even qualify as a shepherd’s pie. Parts of it appeared crunchy and burnt and I’d bet my truck that the inside of that lump was still raw. It was like a strange meatloaf, but not. I guessed it could have been worse... could have been someone else’s beef. I fought the grin because this was just too priceless. When I glanced back up at her, I could tell her pride was hanging in there by its last thread, which meant her entire mood was awaiting my reaction. I could either crush her here or offer her a hand.