A Cowboy For Christmas (2 page)

She wouldn’t tell them, but
that was the problem. She didn’t have a job. “Do you think I’m not
capable?”

She’d directed the
challenge at Nick, but he looked down and shuffled his papers.
Brent sat down on the couch and answered as he linked his fingers
behind his head, “You’re not needed.”

“
Oh, so you’ll hire someone
to take on Ben’s share of the work?” The property seemed to be a
good size, but she hadn’t seen any other men who worked
it.

He let out a pent-up
breath.

Ha, got you, don’t
I?

“
Miss Nelson, could you
sign these papers now?” Nick stood and took them to the counter.
Brent’s insistent gaze kept her in her seat for a second. Thoughts
of fighting with him every day unnerved her . . . and made her feel
restless.

She broke their staring
contest when she stood, and left Brent to stomp around and swear in
his living room.

When she joined Nick at the
counter, she asked in a whisper, “How did Ben die?”

After glancing toward the
other room, he whispered, “A wreck on the freeway. He was pulling
an empty horse trailer.”

“
How awful.” She shivered
and wished she could push the feelings away.

“
Please don’t ask Brent
about it,” he said, sparking her interest. She gave him a look she
hoped would prompt him to explain, but Nick didn’t elaborate.
Instead he explained the papers and took her through page by page.
He pointed and she signed.

“
Thank you, Miss Nelson,
I’ll be in touch.” He nodded to her and met Brent by the door.
After he spoke with Brent, he waved and left. They stood next to
each other, two strangers facing off.

“
You obviously don’t want
me here. That’s okay, I’m used to that.” She folded her arms, and
kept a calm demeanor despite the fear that he could tell her to
leave at any moment.

He rubbed his chin, maybe
thinking, and she noticed the way his shirt pulled over his
muscles. He had a presence about him, like a graceful oak that
presided over an otherwise treeless field.

But his good looks didn’t
mean a thing. So, what if one more man thought he could brush her
aside? She had every right to stay. Ben had, after all, bought all
this with the inheritance money from their father. Her father
raised her, but he left everything to a son Missy had never even
met.

“
What do you know about
horses?” he asked, and it threw her out of her thoughts. She
pictured the horses she’d seen in parades. Maybe she shouldn’t show
off her expertise.

Brent sighed. “I see. So
you’ve never ridden, but you want to come out here and play
cowgirl.”

This wasn’t a game. “This
is the only way I have to know Ben now.”

He must have heard
something in her voice, because he studied her again, this time
with kinder eyes. “We have a lot of work to do around
here.”

“
So I’ll learn.” She’d end
up with every dirty job he didn’t want, but she’d settle for that.
“What else can we do?”

He didn’t have a choice,
and they both knew it.

“
We take boarder horses,
mostly in the winter.” He surprised her when he switched into
instructor mode. “We give lessons and take groups on rides over the
hills and down to the beach. You’ll have to learn how to ride and
care for the animals.”

“
Okay.” She’d adapted many
times in her life, and she could do it now. “I just have one
stipulation.”

He looked at her with
raised brows. “Go on.”

“
You can't stare at me like
that,” she said and folded her arms. His lips twitched and his cool
eyes lightened for a second before his hard look
returned.

He pulled her coat from the
closet and handed it to her. “So if I stare at you all day, you’ll
leave?”

“
Fat chance,” she said
before she slipped her coat on.

“
Did you bring any bags
with you?” he asked and actually looked away from her to open the
front door.

“
A suitcase.”

“
Well, I’ll show you to
Ben’s. I guess it’s yours now.”

* * * *

Brent grabbed his suede
jacket and headed out into the morning mist. The fog blocked his
view of Ben’s house farther down the road, but he still looked in
that direction as he pictured Missy. Obviously Nez Pierce like her
brother, she had reddish-cocoa skin and exotic brown eyes. They
were huge and slightly tilted. Did she ever use them to seduce
men?

More importantly, did she
care about her dead brother? Care that she came here and replaced
him?

What would a sweet little
city slicker do out here without her morning espresso? She didn’t
exactly talk like someone from the city, but she dressed like one.
He only knew she was from east of here.

He stalked down to the
horse stables, but froze mid-step at the entrance. His Appaloosa
gelding, Jeffery, nuzzled Missy’s hand.

Thoughts of that darn woman
had kept him up half the night. But she looked rested. What was she
doing here so early?

Her face wasn’t guarded. He
hadn’t realized just how snobby she’d looked the day before in her
nice clothes, but now she smiled at the animal. Her hair hung down
her back like a black, shinny mane. It’d been up yesterday, so he
hadn’t guessed it was so long.

Nick was wrong. She was
here to take over the stables, starting with his own damn
horse.

The traitor horse reacted
to Missy just like he had to Ben. She had the same natural ease
around them. They made a nice picture, for sure. That long body of
hers would look great riding on a horse.

She must have listened to
his suggestion that she go into town and buy some work clothes. Now
in jeans, insulated boots, and a thick, winter coat, she looked
like she could belong. On her own ranch, that was.

Wasn’t it his luck that she
was so hot? He loved long hair, and she had plenty. And huge brown
eyes in an oval face. Lips that just begged for a kiss. Darn it, he
didn’t need to waste his time with fantasies.

She saw him and stepped
back from the horse.

“
Morning,” he said as he
rested a hand on the stall. “I see you and my horse are on good
terms.”

“
What’s his name?” Her gaze
rested on the horse, then Brent, and then the horse again. A
teasing smile slipped onto her face.

“
His name’s Jeffery. And
what’s so funny?” He caught himself right before he returned that
enticing smile.

“
They say pets and their
owners start to look alike. Jeffery has your long face.”

One corner of her mouth
tilted up before she bit her lip. He saw her white teeth nibble on
her lower lip and thought of doing the same.
Whoa!

“
So does Dancer remind you
of Ben?” he asked, tilting his head to the black stallion that
watched her.

Missy looked back at the
wild-looking thing. “I don’t know.”

Yeah, he had her there.
Funny thing was, he felt bad that he'd made her face go all sad.
“So, you ready?”

She nodded, though she
couldn’t know what she agreed to.

“
Great, truck’s outside,”
he said and noticed how quiet she was. He waited until she slid in
and buckled up to start the engine. Her lavender scent smelled
strange mixed with the truck’s normal leather smell. “Not a morning
person?”

She shrugged.

“
Missy?” That made her turn
her face his way.

“
Sorry, I’ve got so many
things on my mind,” she said, still not focused on him.

“
Second thoughts about
being here, or worries about the life waiting for you?”

“
I’ll pull my weight, don’t
worry. And I’m sticking around, so get used to me.”

“
Yes, ma’am.” He turned the
truck off his gravel road, onto the highway, and sped
up.

“
It’s just being in Ben’s
house . . .” She looked down at her lap.

He felt guilty. Maybe he
shouldn’t have left her there alone. Too late now.

Or could he fix it? “I
wasn’t thinking. You can move over to my place if you need to.”
What in hell was he thinking now?
Her
in
his
house?

“
It's all right. Being
there just made me think about him more, wonder about him.” She
turned to her window, and a minute later, added, “The sky there
looks like the inside of a seashell.”

At her soft comment, he
glanced over. She was too pretty to be sitting in his dusty truck.
Something stirred in him at the sight of her hair, her hands
resting one on top of the other in her lap. Casual beauty, he
thought.

Darn it, her looks weren’t
his business.

A few days of hard ranch
work, and she’d hit the road for home. Just like Amanda had two
years before.

“
We need more hay for the
horses,” he said. Since she still gazed out the side window, he let
himself stare for a quick minute. Nice profile. Nice mouth, too. A
man could go crazy thinking about kissing her. But back to ranch
business . . . “There’s two guys working out here, Dale and Ivan.
You’ll run across them.”

“
They live on the
property?” she asked, and the hint of panic in her voice surprised
him. So far, she acted as if nothing could run her off.

He shouldn’t ask about it.
Besides, she seemed to be trying to cover for it now. “Dale does,
in a small house closer to the main road. You probably didn’t see
it through the forest over there.”

In his side vision, he saw
her flick a look over at him. She’d trailed her gaze over him a few
times the day before, but he couldn’t tell if she liked what she
saw or not. It didn’t matter, but he liked to think she
did.

“
Have you always been
around horses?”

“
My dad made his living
from horses, and I always have, too.” He felt his shoulders relax,
though he hadn’t realized before how stiff he’d been. Maybe they
could manage this. “When we finish today, you might want to go
check out some books on horses. I’ll go over everything with you,
but it’d help if you can tell a bridle from a stirrup.”

“
I’m not that
slow.”

“
I’m just saying, I’d like
you to know what everything is. Horse breeds, grasses, a little
about horse care. Check into trail horses, since that’s what we
have here.” He glanced over. “That is, if you’re serious about
this.”

“
I am.” Her voice wasn’t
haughty like before, but heavy. Maybe she did see what she was
getting into.

“
This is Jack’s farm coming
up.” He pulled down a long gravel drive. Ready for them, Jack waved
and swung open the barn door, but he scratched his thick, gray
beard as he looked at Missy. Hopping out, Brent told him, “Jack
Wilson, this is Ben’s sister, Missy Nelson.”

“
Ben had a sister?” At
Jack’s words, Brent gave her a look.

She narrowed her eyes as
she stepped back. He knew that she wouldn’t be much help. Her
petite frame couldn’t be more than five feet five, and the bales
were stinking heavy. Still, she needed to see what they
did.

Jack jumped up into the
truck bed and stacked the bales as Brent loaded them. He paused
after a minute to toss her a pair of gloves.

“
I noticed you don’t have a
pair.” He waited while she slipped them on. “Want to help
out?”

He threw another bale into
the bed to demonstrate and stepped back to let her try.

Bending, she grabbed the
strings and pulled. “Holy crap!”

He couldn’t stop the laugh,
but he managed to keep it silent. Too bad she caught him shaking
when she stood up.

“
Would you like to keep the
steering wheel warm?” He grinned with the comment so she’d know it
was in fun.

“
You jerk!” She glared.
“There are other ways I can help out on the ranch.”

He sobered because her eyes
grew smoldering with anger. They looked amber, and entrancing. He
felt his breathing quicken.

Turning, she walked to the
front of the truck and got back in the passenger seat. He went back
to work, shrugging at Jack’s puzzled look. They both looked in the
back window at her stiff shoulders and knew to keep silent as they
worked.

“
That about does it,” Jack
said when he stacked the last one.

“
See you, Jack,” Brent
waved and joined Missy in the cab to head back. With her arms
folded, she turned her body away and didn’t speak the entire trip
home.

This wasn’t so bad, he
thought with a glance her way. If they could stay angry at each
other, he wouldn’t have to wonder about her.

When they reached the
stables, he backed his truck up to unload the hay, but he didn’t
get out when he turned off the engine. “Listen, I’ll find you
something else to do.”

She nodded.

Trying not to grin again,
he asked, “It was funny, wasn’t it?”