Austin (New Horizon Ranch Book 8) Read online

  There was the tiny kitchen area with oak cabinets, a coffee maker, and even a dishwasher. She hadn’t had a dishwasher other than herself in a very long time. The bedroom wasn’t small and it wasn’t huge but it had a queen-sized bed with a wooden headboard and a matching dresser and side table. There was a handmade quilt on it and thick pillows. It looked like heaven. She’d been sleeping on a lumpy, thin mattress in the overhead space of the trailer. It was stuffy and cramped.

  She strode into the bathroom and stopped. Instead of the serviceable single-stalled shower, she found a tiled shower with ample room to accommodate a tall, large built man—which meant there was more than enough room for a small-framed gal like herself. She couldn’t wait to get into it later that night. She just might stay under the hot spray of water all night.

  Walking back into the bedroom, she was tempted to fall out on the bed and just test out that big mattress but she didn’t. Tonight would be soon enough. Right now she had work to do. Because she wanted more than anything for this job to work out.

  Austin walked into the small sheriff’s office in town and went straight for the coffee pot.

  “Everything okay?” Brady Cannon, the sheriff, looked up from the papers he was reading.

  “Yeah, quiet day in the neighborhood.” Austin poured his coffee and took a sip. “Had one runaway cow, a traffic stop, and a flat tire today.”

  Brady picked up his pen and tapped it on his desk. “It’s different being a cop in a rural area like this than on the streets of a bigger town or city. Don’t get it in your head that it’s just about herding cows and fixing flats. These folks rely on you, on me, and the other officers to keep it safe.”

  “Oh, I’m not taking it for granted. Just telling you how the day went.” He liked his job here in the quiet community, though he sometimes felt guilty about his fellow officers in the cities and the heavy burdens they carried to keep citizens safe. He liked being part of the law enforcement community and being able to ride his horse when he felt like it.

  “You’ve got the weekend off—you working at New Horizon Ranch tomorrow? Or are you going to actually have a day off for a change?”

  “I’m working. This is a big roundup for them.”

  “Okay. I know you have a lot on your plate with your sister and all, but Austin, you might think about getting a little rest every once in a while.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “If you say so. Go on home now and get some sleep. Or at least eat a decent meal and sit on your porch.”

  “But I still have an hour on my shift.”

  “Go home. That’s an order. You worked your shift and Caleb’s last night. This may be a laid-back job most of the time but I still need you to be somewhat alert.”

  Austin took a draw of coffee and then set it on the counter. “Fine, boss. I’ll go.”

  Brady looked at him firmly. “And don’t find something else to do in between your place and here unless you’re getting dinner at Sam’s then hitting the hay.”

  Austin just laughed. “Okay, papa bear. Geesh, you’d think I didn’t know how to take care of myself.”

  “With the way you’ve been working, I sometimes don’t think you do. Now go on.”

  Austin exited the building and passed up the department SUV and headed to his black Chevy. In minutes, he was leaving the colorful town behind him and driving the short distance to the rental he’d moved into three months ago when he’d arrived. He’d taken the job to be closer to Sydney after her husband had been killed. She and Julie lived about two hours away but this was the closest opening he could find on short notice and he’d grabbed it.

  He was tired but too wound up to sleep, so when he got home, he worked out with the free weights he had set up in the stable stall next to his horse. His mind was stuck on the blonde in the traffic stop. She’d been something. He’d told himself it was a normal traffic stop, just like the hundreds he’d made before, but he knew he hadn’t ever made a traffic stop like that one.

  Something about Jolene Bartee had his attention. Her sassiness and her big, blue eyes were part of it but something kept telling him that meeting her was an important moment in his life.

  And that was an odd feeling to have.

  His muscles burned and sweat dripped down his back when he set the weights down after an hour of hard lifting. He wiped his face with the towel, slung it over his shoulder, and then stretched his shoulder. The old wound always screamed a little louder than his other muscles after a workout. That was all the more reason to keep the shoulder loose. He felt restless tonight. More so than he had in a long time. Deciding against going for a ride, he headed inside and took a shower and then stretched out on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He had so much on his mind these days, sleep was as elusive as the bobcats he knew roamed the woods.

  He closed his eyes and immediately saw pretty blue eyes and a pair of sassy full lips.

  She’d been something. And he would see her in the morning on the roundup at New Horizon Ranch… He drifted off to sleep with images of her on his mind.

  Chapter Three

  The sun came up early and Jolene had been up long before it peeked over the horizon. Saddled and ready before everyone else, she felt a sense of anticipation as she headed to breakfast with the other hands. They were a great group. There were four of them that were mid-twenties and one who was almost thirty. Derek Bravo had recently taken the job after he was released from the military. Turned out that Treb, whose apartment she’d taken, was ex-military and Derek was part of his combat patrol.

  Quiet and with eyes that seemed to see everything, he kept his back turned to the wall and his face turned to everything else. He had arms the size of tree trunks and a chest the size of a redwood, tapering down to a waist with washboard abs most men would give an arm for. She couldn’t help wondering what his story was.

  Ty met her at the steps of the bunkhouse. “Mornin’, Jolene. You make it okay last night?”

  “Are you kidding me? That bed was like a feather. I slept like I’d been drugged.”

  He grinned. “CC, our boss who built this place, believed in good beds for his hands. He said if his hands gave a hard day of work, they deserved for him to provide them with a top-notch mattress.”

  “He did right by me, that’s for certain.”

  “Good. Let’s head down here, to the chow hall. We haven’t used it that much until recently when we finally hired George. He’s a retired rodeo clown with a way with a skillet. Works great for the ranch. Rafe’s wife Sadie filled in for a while till we found a real cook.” Ty paused and a deep burgundy stained his neck. “I didn’t mean that to be disrespectful. Sadie tried really hard but George can cook without having to try.”

  She found out what Ty was talking about soon enough. George was stocky, with a grizzly beard and a big barrel chest that was covered with a red apron and the slogan Chow’s Ready.

  The man made biscuits so fluffy she thought they might be marshmallows. And homemade grape jelly. The eggs and thick slabs of bacon were delicious too but Jolene was in love with the biscuits.

  She was tossing her cleaned plate in the trash when the door opened and the deputy she’d met yesterday strode into the building. She almost didn’t recognize him because he wore a faded red chambray shirt with long sleeves and a pair a well-worn chaps the soft, buttery tone of the golden edges of George’s biscuits. The combination was mouthwatering. Darn it, she had thought about that lawman all night and it hadn’t made her a happy camper. And now, here he was, looking better than breakfast.

  His green eyes caught hold of hers the moment he walked in, almost as if drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Or was that how she felt toward him? It was ridiculous.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked after he’d nodded at a few fellas and came straight to her. As if she wanted to see him. Ha.

  “Good morning to you too.”

  His voice was husky just like she remembered it, just like she’d heard it in her dreams all
stinkin’ night long. “Mornin’,” she managed, not wanting to lie now that she wasn’t sure whether it was a good morning or a bad one. “Well, why are you here? I haven’t broken any laws, I can assure you.” He chuckled and her insides curled up like kittens ready to cuddle.

  “I work here on my days off when they need extra help.”

  She frowned. “You didn’t tell me that yesterday.”

  “Didn’t know I was supposed to.”

  That had her snapping her lips shut.

  He grinned. “You always this testy or do I just bring out the best in you?”

  “I’m not testy.”

  He hitched a brow. “Thought you told me yesterday you didn’t lie.”

  “Okay, okay, maybe I’m a little testy. I just wasn’t expecting to see the law walk in.”

  “You got a problem with the law then, not me per se.”

  Oh, she wanted to tell him to take a hike with all his comebacks but Ty and Dalton walked up.

  “See you’ve met Jolene.” Dalton shook Austin’s hand. Ty did the same and greeted Austin warmly.

  It was easy to see he fit here. Easy to see she was going to have to deal with the fact that he would be working here and she would be running into him on a regular basis. “If you fellas will excuse me, I’m going to make sure my gear’s ready.” She didn’t wait around but headed out as she tried to figure out why the man bothered her so.

  Other than the fact that he was gorgeous and quick-witted and had kept her up during the night, he should have been lumped into the category of all the men she worked with—purely business.

  Riding in the back of the roundup, Austin pulled his bandana up over his nose and mouth as he trailed in the dust of the large herd they’d gathered. It was the dirtiest part of the job but it afforded him a view of Jolene as she rode straight and graceful in her saddle, and yet was aggressive when she needed to be. When a runaway bolted and headed for the trees, Jolene wheeled her horse on its back legs and charged to block the cow’s path, and turned it back in to the herd and warded off a potential group that might have followed the runaway. Austin smiled as she loped her horse back to the edge of the herd and went back to work. By lunch, he was ready for a bath—which he wouldn’t get till that night—but would settle for a cold drink. As they moved the herd to the edge of the river, where they could drink their fill of water, the crew dismounted and headed to the chow area that George and his crew had set up under some shade trees.

  After dusting himself off as best he could, Austin went to the water canisters and pulled a clean bandana from his back pocket and wet it. He was wiping his face when Jolene walked up to get a cup of water.

  “You did a good job out there today,” he said, hoping he’d gotten most of the dirt off his face.

  “Thanks, I guess. Did you think I might not?” She filled her cup and took a long swig as she held his gaze. The air was thick with tension as they stared at each other.

  “You’ve got some chip on your shoulder,” he said at last. He ran the rag over the back of his neck, letting the coolness try to disperse the new wave of heat that hit him the minute those piercing blue eyes touched his. “I don’t know what to say except that I pulled you over yesterday because you were weaving. From my vantage point, you were a danger to yourself and to others on that road and it was my duty to pull you over. You just ran that cow down and turned it back to the herd. You were doing your job. So was I.” His blood pulsed hard through his veins as he picked up his cup of water and left her standing there with her bad attitude.

  The woman clearly had a problem. He joined the line of men as they took their plates and filled them with cold fried chicken and potato salad. After burning up all morning in the August heat, the simple cold meal was welcome.

  “What’s up between you and Jolene?” Ty asked when Austin sank to a log next to the horse trainer. “Looked to me like you two were not happy with each other. Did something happen out there today I missed?”

  Austin didn’t know why she was so aggravated at him but he also didn’t want to get her in trouble on her first day of work. “Nope. Nothing wrong on my end.”

  Ty looked less than convinced but picked up a fork of potato salad and made no other comment. Ty was quiet like that, but observant. Austin decided it would be for the best if he avoided Jolene for the rest of the day or more questions would be asked.

  But that didn’t stop his gaze from finding her all afternoon. The woman didn’t like him and yet he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

  By the time they got the cattle to the valley where they’d brand them and sort them the next day, he was madder than a trapped bull at himself for the fact that she’d been on his mind and in his line of vision all day. Trucks and trailers were waiting for them; they loaded their horses on the trailers and then loaded up into the trucks that would transport them all to the ranch and them bring them back out the next day for the branding and sorting. Just a few men would stand watch tonight and be relieved in the morning light.

  He climbed into the backseat of one of the trucks and waited as others loaded their horses and then climbed into the three trucks. He ended up moving to the middle of the backseat as one cowboy climbed in on the passenger side; almost immediately, two more moved in from the driver’s side. Jolene stared at him in shock as she climbed in and started to back out when she realized another cowboy was already squeezing in behind her. With no other place to go, she sank into the seat, her thigh and hip snug against his. BJ, the cowboy next to Austin, was a big ole boy, so Austin had to lean toward Jolene.

  He swallowed the tightness in his throat as she ended up nestled up against him. Her hat got knocked off in the shuffle of squeezing everyone into the too-small space and her soft hair ended up tickling his nose. Peaches. After a long, hot day when he was sure he probably smelled like the south end of the cattle he’d been herding, she smelled like fresh peaches. Sometimes life wasn’t fair, and right then he was sure with the truck stuffed with seven hot, sweaty cowboys that she was getting the raw deal and he had the best seat in the truck.

  They had a good twenty-minute drive through rutted pastures and down rough gravel roads before they reached the blacktop. Conversation was going on all around them but he couldn’t speak. All he could do was feel her up against his body and breathe in the soft scent of her shampoo. It was all he could do not to shift his arm so she’d be snuggled up closer. When they hit a bump, it so happened that she jostled next to him and had to grab his leg to steady herself. She looked up at him and in the dimming light of the evening, he saw a flicker of fire.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled and yanked her hand off his leg.

  Every muscle of his body had tensed. “Not a problem,” he grunted.

  He’d never been so tensed up in all his days as he was when the truck pulled to a halt in the ranch parking lot. BJ and Willie Ray took their ever lovin’ time getting out of the truck and all Austin could do was sit there and try not to move. Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer.

  “Willie Ray, I hate to break up you and Micha’s conversation but man, move it. We’re hot, tired, and ready to hit the hay—I mean the showers. We’re ready to go home. You, too, BJ. Unload.”

  “Hey, you don’t have to get so hot and bothered,” the big hulking cowboy drawled.

  Before Austin could make a comeback, Jolene rammed the cowboy in his meaty rib. “Either get out or I’ll kick you out,” she snapped. And on that note, the truck cleared and she escaped and stalked off.

  BJ had moved out of Austin’s way and scratched his head. “What’s your problem, man?”

  Austin didn’t even reply; he just headed after his horse. His entire body still burned from the feel of her next to him. And as he brushed Buckskin down in a back stall, the scent of peaches stayed with him.

  It was going to be one long night.

  Chapter Four

  Jolene took a long, cold shower that night. She’d behaved badly that day and she knew it. And then finding herself
practically in Austin Drake’s arms on the ride back to the ranch had her fully aware of the cowboy. She couldn’t help noticing how firm his chest was and how hard his thigh was against hers. And despite the fact that he’d had the worst job of the day trailing the herd, the man still managed to smell like saddle leather and aftershave. Willie Ray, on the other hand, was not so lucky and despite all her willpower, she’d been drawn to turn Austin’s way rather than the beefy young cowboy. It had been one long ride back to the ranch and her every nerve was still on high alert even as she climbed into bed and sank into the soft mattress.

  The day would start at five again, as they’d try to get the hot, gritty job of branding done before lunch while there was some semblance of coolness in the air. In August, cool was a word used lightly as the mornings began with the temps already crossing the eighty degree mark most mornings.

  Despite how tired she was, she did not sleep. Not at first anyway. She kept thinking about Austin, darn the man. And she wondered whether he was thinking about her too.

  And that curiosity did not sit well with her.

  By morning, she felt groggy and sore and wanted coffee. She got out of bed at four thirty, made a pot of stout coffee and moved out onto the porch to sit in a rocking chair while she waited for the rooster to crow and the ranch to wake up.

  The sun became blisteringly hot by midmorning. It was a hub of activity as they were broken down into several teams to administer vaccines, brands, and any medicines the animals needed. Austin was one of the cowboys who stayed in the saddle and sorted the calves out of the group; Jolene was down on the ground, helping administer vaccines. Austin was glad he wasn’t on the ground rubbing elbows with the ranch’s newest hire, though he now had the aggravation of trying to keep his eyes off her.