Efrem (4 page)

“It’s all right, darlin’. Don’t worry yer little head. Take it easy and let me get this saddle cinched and we’ll go running into that spooky old wind. You’ll forget you were ever afraid of it. Right? Believe me when I say I know women. Five minutes of petting and they’re putty in my hands. I’ll settle you down the same way,” he said, petting the now-calm mare’s neck.

Lisa remembered that overheard man-to-horse conversation more than once after he walked out of her life.

“I need to hit the road, darlin’. I get antsy staying in one place too long.”

“Well, I hope you found someone else to pet,
darlin’
,” she muttered.

“Excuse me?”

Lisa whirled. Efrem stood framed in the doorway.

“Quit doing that to me!”

“I’m—”

“Do not say you’re sorry.”
Lisa
,
she told herself
, you’re being unreasonable. And it’s my prerogative.
“You’ve said that about a hundred times too many.” She turned away and banged the mugs down next to the sugar bowl. The sugar spoon jumped, knocking a few granules across the tray.

Efrem cleared his throat. “Why don’t I just wait in the office?” She gripped the handles of the tray to keep from turning the tables on him by apologizing. She heard definite footsteps retreating from the kitchen and had to smile.
At least he doesn’t sneak
away
from me
. She put the coffee carafe on the tray—gently—and returned to the office.

She set the tray on the desk, fixed herself a cup, and leaned back. He watched her with a hint of a smile.

“Oh! I’m sorry.” She poured another cup and set it down. He was leaning back, a hand on his cheek with his fingers spread. She heard the rasp of his beard as his thumb absently traced the line of his jaw. At the sight, Lisa’s thought was that he literally exuded pheromones and she lapped them up like a dry sponge.

“That’s my line.”

She blinked to focus on his whole face. “Huh?”

“I say I’m sorry too much. But you talk to yourself.”

She shifted uncomfortably. “I, uh, I’m sorry about that. I was thinking of something else.”

“Obviously. Unless you were calling me darlin’?” His eyes sparkled mischievously.

“No!”

The sparkle winked out. “Didn’t think so.” He returned to the spreadsheet displayed on the computer screen.

Could I have hurt his feelings? Surely he doesn’t expect me to call him darling yet?
…Yet!

Lisa added one teaspoon of sugar and a good helping of whole milk to his cup. He glanced from her to the cup next to his elbow with a raised eyebrow.

“I just remembered the story you told me about your mother making your first cup of coffee. Too sweet and not enough milk, right?” She couldn’t live with herself if she hurt his feelings and ran him off when she needed him so much.

Uh, because I need him to teach me to use his company’s software.

“I told you about that, huh?” He lit up the room with a smile.

“I, uh, yes. Yes, you did. And about the girl who never got it right.” She could have kicked herself. First she yells at him, and then she brings up something that she knows will hit him hard. The megawatt smile dimmed to a mere hundred
-
foot
candles.

“She didn’t get anything right.”

“I’m sorry.”

The room lit back up with his tilted grin. “Thought we agreed that was my line.”

She grinned. She needed him.
For the computer stuff. Maybe I’ll believe it when I’ve said
it
a thousand or so times.

“Efrem. We got off to a bad start today. I don’t normally throw moldy cottage cheese at guests then make them clean it up.”

“I offered.”

Ignoring him, she went on. “I mistook you for a cowboy, yelled at you, and almost made you get your own coffee.”
How lame can I get?
She rolled her shoulders. “I haven’t felt this uncomfortable since…” She couldn’t tell him about that. “In a long time.”

“Why are you uncomfortable?” His words were as soft as a feather.

Disconcerted, she frowned. “I just told you.” She straightened in the desk chair. “I’d like to start over.”

Efrem looked at her, letting his gaze flicker over her from head to toes. It was a bit unnerving but exciting at the same time. Warmth pooled in her stomach.

“No, I don’t want to start over.”

She hadn’t expected that. “Why not?”

Efrem stood and walked around the desk to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and gazed at her hair, her eyes, and stopped on her mouth. He was going to kiss her. She read it in his stormy blue eyes.

“Because if we start over, I wouldn’t feel right doing this.”

He leaned closer, touching his lips to hers lightly. Feelings, hers and his, trickled between her lips, across her tongue, down her throat and into her belly. Confusion, attraction, hesitancy, desire, and questions tumbled in and out of her consciousness, leaving her trembling under the onslaught.

Okay. Lips work, too.

A hard knock, a loud “Hey, Boss Lady!” and the office door banging open, all at once, made them jump apart like a couple of high school kids caught necking in the school parking lot.

Dan stood in the doorway, another man behind him. He took in the scene, the guilty looks and the flush on Lisa’s face. He turned, and after letting the other man get a good look at the two of them, led him back into the hallway.

“Looks like the Boss Lady has her hands full right now, Jerry. Best we come back when she’s not so
busy
.” With that, he pulled the door shut with a bang.

She turned to look at Efrem, hoping she wouldn’t see a smug grin or the look of a man well pleased with himself. She didn’t. What she did see stopped her cold.

Efrem stood ramrod straight, his hands fisted at his sides, his eyes fixed on the closed door. His full lips compressed into two thin, white lines. Shocked at the anger that emanated from him, she stood up.

“Efrem?”

He slowly focused on her. “What is that guy’s problem?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Or is he more than your
foreman
?”

“No!” she said, a little ticked and a little hurt. “He’s worked on the ranch for years. My father hired him.”

Efrem’s anger faded. “Why do you take that from him?”

“Take what?”

“Everything. The way he talks to you, the way he talks about you. The man doesn’t show you an ounce of respect.”

She stared at him.
He was worried. About her.
He wasn’t mad that Dan caught them kissing, just Dan’s reaction to it. She wanted to get closer to her manly geek to...touch him again.

Warning bell!

Trey had always thought getting caught kissing her was funny. He loved to show off his relationship with the boss, especially around Dan.

“He does his job,” she said.

“There’s more to every job than the basics.”

She leaned her right hip against the front edge of the desk. He leaned his left hip against the desk and absently began stroking his thumb across the back of her hand.

“Do the basics include using a whip, Lisa?”

Even as distracted as she was by his touch, the question grabbed her attention. “A whip?”

He glanced at the door, then out the window before looking at her again. “He wanted to know if I had a quirt. He said if I did, I should make sure the ‘Boss Lady’ didn’t see it. But it was more than okay with him.”

Lisa’s mouth dropped open in shock, then anger. She’d fired cowboys she caught using a quirt on a horse. The only thing worse than a man whipping a horse was a man hurting a child. She started to move for the door, but he stopped her with a quick, light touch.

“He wants you
,
Lisa. But on his terms. And they don’t include you remaining ranch manager.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. Efrem cupped her elbows.

“You got all that from a question about a quirt?”

“No. We, well he, talked for a while before shutting down when he found out who I was.”

Dan had been a friend to her grandfather, and to her
,
she had thought, if a little smarmy. But she’d been wrong if Efrem was right. She had to admit Efrem didn’t have anything to gain by lying to her. She was trying hard to control her emotions in the face of a major betrayal. Not just of her, but her grandfather who trained horses with a soft voice and a softer touch. It was one of the few things she and Trey had agreed on. Now Trey
’
s animosity toward Dan became clear.

Kiss and cuddle the Boss Lady and rub it in Dan’s face. And keep his mouth shut. Job security. She was glad Trey wasn’t here right now because of what she felt capable of doing to him. Efrem watched her with a worried look. She was beyond worried.
Furious, betrayed, and enraged doesn’t cover what I’m feeling.

“What else did he talk about?” Proud that her voice didn’t break, she still heard shrill anger in her voice. She hoped Efrem didn’t misinterpret it but she had bigger polecats to fry right now.

“He said things around here would change when he became manager.” He looked into her eyes. “When you were no longer the Boss, just his lady.”

“His…?”

She saw the concern in Efrem’s eyes. It was nice that he was concerned, but this wasn’t his problem. Just the same, his grip tightened.

“Excuse me. I need to have a talk with Dan.” She pulled away but turned to face him when he started to follow. “No, please. I have to do this myself.”

He looked reluctant but nodded and sat down. “I’ll just look into the statistics part of the ranch management module.”

She nodded but kept going.

Efrem watched her stride from the office with her head held high. He sighed in frustration. All he wanted to do was kiss the daylights out of her, not send her on some life-altering mission.
And it is that serious.

Men like Dan made him ashamed to be a man.

He’d expected Lisa to want to deal with this on her own. But it was what he expected of Dan that made him follow her. If the man could whip a horse without remorse, who knew what he was capable of when confronted by an angry, hurt woman.

Staying out of sight, he followed her at a distance through the first barn, then the second, then she headed for a small building several hundred yards away. He was looking for a way to tail her without being seen when a voice stopped him.

“What are you doing?”

Efrem looked at the big, blond man and thought it was the new ranch hand who peered at him warily. Efrem had caught a glimpse of his face before Dan closed the door behind them.

“Jerry Price, right?”

The other man looked startled. “Yeah. And you are…?”

“Efrem. I’m doing some computer work for the ranch. Listen, I may need some help in a minute.” Efrem was getting anxious with Lisa out of sight but he wasn’t sure he should take on Dan alone, especially if there was backup around.

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly work here.”

“But I thought…”

“Me, too. But I don’t like the way they do things around here.”

Efrem breathed a sigh of relief. A like-minded ally was the answer to a prayer. He quickly explained the situation, much to Jerry Price’s satisfaction, and the two of them crept up on the outbuilding where Lisa was alone with Dan. Efrem gestured Jerry to one side of the single window and took up a position on the other.

They heard them before they saw anything. Lisa’s voice was just a soft murmur, but Dan was loud enough to be heard back at the house.

“What you don’t know don’t hurt you!”

Lisa said something in response.

“You have to put a little hurt on a horse to let him know who’s boss!”

Lisa replied.

“Hah! Not for long. I’m gonna be the manager as soon as my nephew gets back!”

Lisa hesitated then said something.

“Yeah, my nephew. I figured Trey could diddle around with you and get the goods on ya. He’s meeting with the owner right now, Hightower, telling him how soft you are, too soft to run a successful horse ranch!”

Inexplicably, Lisa started to laugh. Efrem and Jerry traded confused looks. Efrem could imagine the look on Dan’s face.

“What’s so funny?” bellowed Dan.

Lisa kept laughing. Efrem figured he’d better get in there before Dan blew his cork at being laughed at. Efrem and Jerry stepped through the door as Dan stepped toward Lisa with a hand outstretched.

“Hold it!” Efrem shouted. He stepped in front of Lisa and faced Dan, who was red with fury. Dan clenched and unclenched his fists. Efrem was very glad that Jerry Price was along for the ride because it promised to be a wild one.

Lisa finally got hold of herself but still sputtered and gasped for air. Efrem was glad she was having so much fun but wished she’d let him in on the joke. He didn’t care for her patting him on the arm, and was tempted to pat her on the ass but was afraid she’d start laughing again. She stepped up beside him, not in front of him. Maybe she wouldn’t break anything over his head for following her. Maybe she’d bust a gut laughing.

He glanced at her. “You okay?”

She smiled at him. “I’m fine.” She looked back at Dan with amusement. “I’m sorry I laughed, Dan. But you’re fired.”

Dan stood his ground. “We’ll see about that. I’ll just call my nephew and see what he has to say.”

“You do that. Because not only did I know Trey was your nephew, he told me about your plan.” She sighed. “I didn’t believe him
,
but…”

Dan didn’t react at all. He stood very still, leaning forward with his fists bunched. Efrem tensed but stayed where he was.

“Stanley Hightower is my uncle. Grandfather left the ranch to me, in trust, until my thirtieth birthday.”