Bronco

  “Looks great to me,” I said brightly as I straightened and gave her a smile. “I’ll set the table.”

  She looked up at me, defeat and disappointment covering her features. I wrapped my fingers around her elbow and turned her to face me, silently promising myself to not only eat the first helping but to also have seconds. “It’s fine, sugar butt. Rue probably had to start somewhere too.”

  She tried to smile and I dropped my hand from her arm as I turned around to gather everything for the table. The casserole-mess smelled amazing, strangely enough, and I was hoping to concentrate on that one redeemable feature long enough to get me through the meal. She set the lump of ugly stuff down between our plates and filled a huge jug of water, setting it next to our glasses.

  Never in my life had I played a part like this. Rue’s cooking was always wonderful. Furthermore, there was no way in hell I would have pasted on a happy face and eaten something God-awful for a woman I wasn’t going to try and sleep with after. What had gotten into me, I didn’t know but I was worried I was going soft.

  The first helping hit my plate with a slurpy, heavy sound and it was on. I ate with gusto, not even stopping long enough for chitchat. Summer moved hers around as though she had zero interest in tasting it.

  “Try it, Summer,” I said around a mouthful. With the intensely salty taste that was now pervading my entire mouth, the jug of water in front of me had never looked so good. And I could have sworn there was a raw potato stuck in my throat. But I wasn’t about to let her think I was trying to wash the hideous taste down so I left my water glass where it was and condemned my mouth and taste buds to a painful fate.

  I finished the first helping and took another even though it absolutely pained me to put it on my plate. Summer, meanwhile, nibbled the edge of a potato, making a face, and instantly set her fork down. “Jake, you don’t have to keep eating it just to make me feel better. It’s awful.”

  It was. Beyond awful actually, but it was food, I was hungry, and I kept telling myself I’d probably eaten worse. Couldn’t think of anything worse at the moment, but I was sure I’d had moments of desperation and hunger that would have made this look like a five-star dinner. Or not.

  She poured me a glass of water from the jug and set it beside my plate. “Please stop torturing yourself.” There was so much defeat in her eyes that it spurred me through the last forkful and I cleaned every last bite off my plate, even the raw bits of hamburger. Tomorrow was going to suck if I had food poisoning, but it was only raw beef and I thought I remembered that being a delicacy somewhere.

  I slid my plate back and wiped my mouth. “Did you make dessert?” I asked with a gulp as I wondered what other atrocities I’d have to down in the name of friendship.

  “Oh, um,” she started as she frowned.

  “Not that I wanted you to,” I interrupted, not wanting her to think I was disappointed. “A man’s got to watch his waistline anyway.”

  A strangled noise erupted from her mouth and after a few seconds, it turned to laughter, but it was rusty and caught in her throat, almost like she couldn’t remember how to laugh.

  I couldn’t help myself, so I joined in and we sat there, each of us facing the most abominable meal of either of our lives, laughing our asses off.

  Summer stood and picked up the casserole dish, still laughing. “Should I throw it out?”

  I tried to hold it together, but my cheeks hurt. “No! Save me some for lunch tomorrow!”

  That spun her off into another fit of laughter, which in turn, sent me off. I had no idea that making someone laugh could be so... enjoyable. I quickly stood and gathered our plates.

  She paused over the garbage can. “It’s a shame to waste it,” she said before facing me. “You don’t think Bob would eat it?”

  “Um, I really like my dog, Summer. I’d rather keep her around for the next however long she has.”

  She shook her head as a huge smile lit up her face. Her gaze flickered across my face, and finally, she ducked her head and looked away. “Thank you for eating it and having seconds. That was really nice of you.” Her voice was tiny and soft and I felt like maybe we had the smallest toehold on a truce.

  “Summer.” I reached out and wrapped my fingers around her upper arm. “I’m sorry I fed Aria without clearing it with you first. I was trying to help, but she’s your horse and I should have respected that.” My fingers tightened just a bit as I remembered touching her in the shower. “Forgive me?”

  I stared at her profile and when she turned, I was caught up in the pain in her eyes. Whatever the demons were that had chased her here, they were big ones. She didn’t need me adding to the pursuit. “It’s fine.”

  “It isn’t. And it was wrong of me.”

  “Well, it was wrong of me not to have thanked you for thinking you were doing me a favor. Instead, I just blasted you and I’m sorry for that.” I was surprised and it must have shown on my face because she laughed up at me. “Yes, it’s possible for me to apologize, Jake.”

  “Well, I appreciate that, Posh.”

  “I’d say that by the fact you ate seconds of that awful dinner, we’re even.”

  If this had been any other girl, and if this had been any other situation, I would have pulled her to me, then kissed the living daylights out of her. But this was Summer, with demons on her heels and a stash of secrets... And me, with more than enough of my own. And after what had happened in the shower and how awkward our “friendship” had become, I wasn’t about to risk it again.

  “I’ve gotta head over to Sharon’s now,” she said as she eyed the clock.

  “I will do the washing up,” I volunteered as she thanked me. “Will you come ride at lunch again tomorrow?”

  She smiled up at me and something weird and strange fired off in my chest, like I’d been waiting to earn that smile my entire life.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Summer

  When I walked in, Sharon was fixing her hair and reapplying her too-orange lipstick. It really didn’t go with that fire-red hair of hers, but I doubted she cared.

  “Hey, darlin’.”

  I smiled and hung up my purse. “Hi, Sharon.”

  “Ready for your first night?” She glided over and put an arm around my waist, pulling me close. “I was gonna teach you all the ropes.”

  I laughed. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

  “Nonsense!” She showed me the time clock with its archaic punch system and then gave me a quick tour of the restaurant, introducing me to cooks, and wait staff and dishwashers along the way. “We’re all like family,” she kept saying. Everyone was really nice and I couldn’t have asked for a better pool to be diving into, headfirst.

  The café was about half-full and Sharon gave me the run-down on how the hostess’ split up the tables. It was basically one for Sharon and one for the other waitress, Kenzy. “I’ll keep you close at my side for the first half of the night, then I’m turning you loose on customers.”

  The way she said it sounded like it was a huge treat, but I was already sweating, thinking about having to handle it all on my own. I really wanted to make her proud. I smiled and nodded even though my knees were trembling. Kenzy waved as she went by with drinks for one of her tables and I barely had time to respond before Sharon took off to tend to her section. We checked in with every table and she had me run drink refills while she put a new order of onion rings into the wheel above the cooks.

  Three hours flew by. I had no idea how many tables we handled, but it felt like a thousand. My feet were hurting and I was exhausted. Before I knew it, the closed sign was showing in the window. I started filling the salt and pepper shakers and rolling silverware so Sharon would be ready for the first customers the next day.

  Sharon brought over a giant chicken sandwich and a dripping-with-cheese bacon burger and sat down. “Which one ya want?”

  I bit my lower lip. God, they both looked so good. “Burger?”

  She slid it over. “Thank g
oodness! I was about burgered out.”

  I laughed and piled the last set of silverware in the big bucket.

  “So, you gonna come back or was that too much for you?” she asked with a laugh but I could tell she was hanging on my response.

  “Of course I’m going to come back!” I said incredulously.

  “That’s my girl!” she said with a big, relieved smile.

  I took a bite of the huge burger and a dribble of grease ran down my cheek. I dabbed at it and nodded, then swallowed. “For sure. This was great!” I really meant it. Life at Brady’s was awesome, but here, it was different, fast-paced. They both had a definite appeal, but there was something about the café that was just really welcoming. Plus, there was the whole making money aspect of it.

  ***

  “Good morning!” Rue opened the front door wide as our first guests arrived. She and I had been running around like crazies for the previous three hours making sure everything was perfect. I was kind of nervous and stood back from the door, trying to muster my best “hostess” smile. Rue said this family was from Manhattan and I was sick to my stomach as soon as I considered that I might have crossed paths with them at one of Daddy’s parties, or yachting events, or—God forbid—an eventing show. I’d spent my fair share of time in Manhattan…

  The mother appeared a bit rigid as she walked into the house, but I watched Rue work her magic and the tension and overwhelming need to be perfect melted off the woman as Rue pulled her into an embrace. The woman’s arms fluttered at her sides, then she lifted them to Rue’s waist.

  I know, I wanted to tell her. It’s like the tractor beam-pull of an alien mothership. The sooner you give over to it, the better life will be.

  Rue let her go and she straightened, then introduced us to her equally uptight family. “I’m Marlene and these are my children. The tall one here is Gracie. She’s headed into seventh grade next year and she helps me keep us all organized.” Her hand moved to the shoulder of Gracie’s younger sister, also equally beautiful in an almost porcelain doll like way. “Caitlyn is a year younger, and is working toward playing tennis at Wimbledon, and Sara is next and is our artist. She’s ten. And these two...” She squeezed the two boys at her sides. “These are my twins, Max and Marcus.”

  As to the kids’ ages, I quickly did the math in my head; twelve, eleven, ten and two six-year-olds. Wow. My mother couldn’t even handle one kid, and Marlene had five of them—three that were barely a year apart.

  The kids were magazine cover perfect and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and ruffle their hair, just to remind them they were kids. And maybe there was some part of me that wanted to reach deep inside myself and ruffle my own hair. Because I was these kids. I’d been raised exactly the same way—to be sophisticated with impeccable manners. Now, as I stood here in my mostly clean boots, starchless shirt and broken-in jeans, I realized what I’d been missing and what these kids were missing.

  Fun.

  Well, if I had anything to do with it, these kids wouldn’t wake up one day, twenty years later, and realize they’d wasted their lives away. I smiled and stepped forward to introduce myself to Marlene. “Hi, I’m Summer. Welcome to Springhill Ranch. We’re all really happy to have you here.”

  “Thank you.” She straightened her shirt and smoothed an invisible wrinkle off her son’s shoulder. “It’s just us,” she started, as if thinking I was wondering why there were only six of them. I wasn’t. “Their father won’t be joining us.” Her face fell but she quickly recovered. “He had something come up at work.”

  Don’t they always? I just smiled and nodded. “That’s no problem. We have lots of fun things planned for you.” I glanced over the children’s heads at Rue, who was standing there all content like a mother hen as she told Jake to go tend to their luggage.

  My gaze clashed with his and I abruptly turned away, feeling heat spreading across my cheeks. I hadn’t heard him come into the room and I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised to see him. “Let me give you a tour of the house. Then you can relax in your rooms and we’ll take the rest of your day at your pace,” I said.

  Marlene let out a tiny sigh. “That sounds wonderful. I think the children will be hungry in about an hour. Is it possible to have an early lunch? We’ve been traveling all day.”

  “Of course,” Rue piped up. “I’ll set out some snacks, and you just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll get you all fed.”

  There was something about this family that reminded me of my own. Well, except that they were nice to each other. But the way they talked, the look of them... it made me nostalgic, homesick even. But the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous I realized it was because I’d never really had a home. Not in the loving family sense. I’d had my dad. He’d been my home.

  I took the boys’ hands and turned away from the door. We quickly toured the house and they seemed equally interested in the cowboy look of the place but at the same time, they seemed nervous about all the dust. Yep, these kids needed a makeover and then some. They needed to learn what it meant to be kids and that meant they needed to learn how to get dirty.

  The kids started exploring their rooms once we reached them, picking up everything with an examining eye. As I watched the boys, Jake came around the corner with their suitcases. “Mom goes in that room there.” I pointed to her door. “And the kids, here.”

  Jake nodded and dropped off the suitcases. As he walked behind me, his fingertips brushed my spine and he whispered, “I was really looking forward to lunch.” I wasn’t sure if he was still making fun of the horrible dinner I’d made and the fact that we’d joked about leftovers for lunch but I had a feeling he wasn’t. He’d seemed earnest in the way he’d said it—like he was looking forward to seeing me.

  By the time I got my bearings straight and caught my breath, he was gone, off to grab cows with Brady.

  While the kids unpacked and changed, I wandered the small hallway, reliving the feeling of Jake’s touch like a complete fangirl. The twins burst out of their room, followed by the girls. They were all in matching cowboy outfits and they looked a lot more like kids. It was a look that suited them.

  “You guys ready?” I asked with a big smile as I tried to wrestle images of Jake out of my head. But, damn, there was something about that man that made it tough.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jake

  I made Brady push the first herd of cattle faster than we’d ever moved them so we could make it back to the house before lunch. He let me drive the pace and didn’t comment, but there was no way he didn’t pick up on the fact that I was obviously in a rush. He was preoccupied with something. I’d tried to engage him a couple of times, but we both ended up deep in our own thoughts.

  Thunder crackled overhead. The storm was rolling in fast, matching the same storm that blew inside me. That damn girl had me twisted into a hell of a mess. Me—a man who played the part of the eternal bachelor pretty damned well. And, yet, that little blond with the tight ass and the luscious breasts was making me feel things and think things I had no business feeling or thinking.

  We got the cattle moved and I put the horses away while Brady headed in to do some work before lunch. The rain was a light mist at first, but while I was double-checking the gates, the clouds let loose into a full downpour. I tugged my hat down and raced toward the garage door so I could avoid dripping all over the kitchen floor. Small rivers were already forming and racing toward the pastures. By the time I got inside, I was soaked straight through. I paused in the mudroom and borrowed one of Rue’s old towels to soak up what water I could.

  Laughter begged me to peek around the corner. Summer had the kids on one side of the table, and they each had a big rectangle of paper in front of them that they were coloring and gluing. It was a giant mess. There was glitter, leaves and pinecones everywhere but Summer didn’t seem too concerned. Instead, she laughed along with the kids, all of them appearing to be having a great time. Hmm, so another anomaly about this
woman. I wouldn’t have figured she was the maternal type but here she was, looking like a natural where kids were concerned.

  Which sucked.

  Because now I had one less reason to dislike her.

  “Here’s Mr. Brady.” One of the twins, either Max or Marcus—I couldn’t tell them apart—held up a picture of a crudely drawn cowboy.

  “That’s fantastic,” Summer beamed.

  “Lunch is ready,” Rue called from the kitchen.

  Summer hurried around the table and lowered her voice. “Just in time. Let’s clean up and you guys can help set the table.”

  I stepped back into the mudroom so Summer wouldn’t realize I’d been eavesdropping. Then I faced the issue known as how I was going to dry myself.

  ***

  Lunch was fast and frantic. At the twins’ request, Summer sat between them and I couldn’t say I blamed them. They flirted so much with her I couldn’t get a word in, so I settled for watching her be charmed—and charming.

  I was more than sure that she was aware I was mesmerized by her but somehow, I didn’t care. I just continued to watch her as she laughed and joked with the kids. And I felt my own lips breaking into a smile, even though I wasn’t involved. But it was impossible not to feel happy when she looked like she didn’t have a care in the world—like she didn’t have some secret burning inside of her that I was still eager to discover.