Healing a Cowboy's Heart (Cowboy Dreamin' 2) (7 page)

Jeff
rolled his eyes.
Ah hell! This is gonna
be the most miserable two weeks of my life if I have to constantly be nice to
her.

He
glanced down at the end of the room to see Terri look his way. She was kind of
pretty in a nerdy sort of way with her glasses, her hair back in a ponytail and
those jeans. He frowned. At least she seemed to have gotten some jeans that
didn’t look like they just came off the rack at the western wear store or might
leave a blue streak should she fall down snow skiing. The thought brought a
smile to his lips. Imagining her with her butt in the middle of a snow bank
while her new jeans bled into the snow almost made him laugh.

Skiing
was one of his favorite pastimes and he hadn’t had a chance to go in forever or
at least since Ben had been born. Maybe this winter he’d be able to convince his
mom to watch Ben and he could take off for a weekend by himself.

He
shook his head. Getting involved with a guest was against the rules anyway you
sliced it, even if he wanted to. Terri was trouble with a capital T.

A
heavy sigh left his lips. He had
work
to do. “You stay
with Grandma, Ben. I’m headed to the barn, Ma. I need to inventory the feed and
see what we need to order.”

“Go
head, Jeff.” She grabbed Ben in a big hug and set him on her hip. “We got this
covered, right, Ben?”

“Yep.
You go on, Daddy.”

Jeff
rolled his eyes and laughed. His kid was growing up way too fast.

He
walked outside glancing around for what he wasn’t sure.
Liar.
You’re lookin’ for Terri.
He didn’t want to care about what she
might be doing right now, but he did. After he told himself he needed to keep
an eye out for her to make sure she wasn’t doing something she shouldn’t, he
felt like kicking his own ass for being stupid.

Why
he kept her real purpose for being in Bandera a secret from his family, he
wasn’t sure. Maybe he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Why? I know she works for the developers.
She told me she did.
“She’s up to no good. I know she is.”

He
headed to the barn with a sharp stomp to his step. His anger bubbled inside him
making him all the
more
pissy
as he grabbed the clipboard from the doorway on his way inside.
Damn meddling woman. She needs to go, but
how do I get her to leave?

“Maybe
if I make her time here miserable, she’ll leave on her own?”

“Jeff?”
Joey called coming into the barn.

“In
the back, Joe.”

“I’ve
got a horse I want to go look at over at the Marshall place.”

“So?
Why are you tellin’ me?”

“So
you can watch the horses.”

“Where
is Jacob or Jonathan?”

“Hell
if I know. It’s not my job to keep track of the rest of the bunch. I’m just
tellin’ you where I’m going so you can watch them. There’s a group out now with
Jackson on the trail. They just left and won’t be back for an hour.”

“Great.
Just great.
I have my own work to do and now I have to
do yours?”

Joey
grinned. “You can clean some tack while I’m gone.”

“Fuck
you, Joe. Cleanin’ the tack is your damned job.”

“Yeah
and so is
breakin
’ the horses so they don’t throw the
guests, but I don’t see you
helpin
’ with that either,
big man.”

“I
ain’t got time to do everyone’s fuckin’ job along with my own.”

“You
wanted the foreman job, buddy. You got it.” Joey waved and headed off toward
where the cars were parked. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“The
Marshall property is five goddamn minutes from here.”

“Yes
it is, but I still need to check the stock. See
ya
!”

“Fuckin’
son of a bitch.”
He threw the clipboard across the barn.

He
headed for the tack room so he could keep an eye on the horses in the corral.
Why, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like they were going anywhere, but a guest might
have questions so he needed to be there. He could clean tack.
Fuck that!

A
soft voice came from the doorway. “Jeff?”

Great.
Terri.
“What
do you want?” he asked with a snarl. He wasn’t about to make it easy on her.

She
twisted the end of her T-shirt between her fingers. He obviously made her a
little nervous. “I’m sorry things have gotten off on the wrong foot between
us.”

“We
aren’t on any damned foot, lady. You’re here under false pretenses and I don’t
like it.”

“I’m
not here to spy. I need to ask questions and the best people to ask are the
locals. I figured cowboys knew the lay of the land the best.”

“Why
us?”

“Because
your land is adjacent to the land the developers purchased for their housing
development. Your land is very similar to the land over there.”

“I’m
not
helpin
’ you.”

“Fine.
I’ll ask one of your brothers. Two of the triplets have been nice enough to me.
I’m sure I can get one of them to talk.”

“Leave
my brothers out of this. This is between you and me.”

“There’s
nothing between you and me, Mr. Young. You’re a self-centered bully who thinks
he can intimidate me because I’m a woman. Well forget it. You won’t drive me
away from doing my job. It’s all I’m trying to do and—”

Jeff
stepped closer, wrapped his hand around the back of her head, and slammed his
mouth against hers.

She
pulled back. “What the hell?”

He
did it again, but this time her lips softened under his, molding themselves to
the curve of his mouth. His hand tangled in her ponytail, pulling her head back
slightly so he could deepen the kiss. With the tip of his tongue tracing the
seam of her lips, he asked for her to open for him. Her lips parted on a moan.
He pulled her hair harder. Her moan deepened into a low growl in her throat.
Their tongues danced, tangling together from her mouth to his and back. His
hand left her hair to trace the curve of her neck.

Thinking
beyond how her mouth felt under his left his brain in a fog.

Her
hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer still.

The
clink of a horses bridle brought him out of the mist with a startled step back.
“I’m sorry. I…”

“You
what?”

“I
shouldn’t have lost control. You’re a guest.”

“So?”

“We
don’t mess with guests.”

“Well
apparently some of you do if your brother married a woman who was a guest here
at one time.”

“That’s
different.”

“Different
how?
You’re the one who kissed me.”

“Just
go back to your cottage and leave me the hell alone, would you please?”

She
fisted her hands on her hips. “No. I need your expertise to answer some
questions.”

“I’m
not telling you anythin’.”

“We
can go round and round about this for days, Jeff. If you help me, I’ll be gone
sooner.”

“Sooner?”

She
nodded as she swept her hair back and fixed her ponytail where he’d almost
pulled it out of its confinement. “Yes. I won’t stay the entire two weeks if I
get the information I need.”

Maybe
helping her would help him. Surely she didn’t need personal information about
the ranch, just general stuff. “What kind of information do you need?”

“How
many cattle do you run?” she asked, pulling out a pen and small pad of paper
from her pocket.

“I
can’t tell you that.”

Air
rush from between her lips in a heavy sigh as she tipped her head back on her
shoulders.
“What are the native trees to the
area?”

“Texas
Junipers and several other types of brush.
I can’t name
them all, but you could get samples I guess.”

“Rock
types?”

He
told her what he knew.

“Do
you have to supplement your cattle with feed often?” she asked, biting her lip.

Damn,
she was turning him inside out with her innocent gesture.
“During
dry summers, yes.”

“How
did the rainfall go this year in comparison to years previously?”

Their
conversation went on this way for over an hour while he sat with her in the
tack room. The guests who’d been out with one of his brothers on a run had come
and gone, but still she asked more questions than he could give her answers for
and some he wasn’t willing to. If it meant she’d go away, then so be it. He
could get on with his life if she wasn’t nearby.

Damn. Why did I kiss her?

He
shook his head as he remembered his dream from the night before. After she’d
given him a blowjob, he’d fucked her senseless in his bed. Now she stood in
front of him with her lips still red and swollen from his kiss. A kiss he
shouldn’t have given her on a good day, much less how they’d started off.

“Hello?”

“Sorry.
My mind wandered. What did you ask?”

“How
many guests do you all have in a good year?”

“I’m
not tellin’ you that either.” He stood up from his spot on the edge of the
metal desk. “Look. You should have all the information you need. You can go
now.”

“No,
I need to ride out to the property line between your ranch and the development
so I can see what types of rocks and plant life are there. Will you take me?”
she asked, chewing her lips again.

“You
can’t be serious.”

“Of
course I am. George got the measurements he needed for the survey, but I need a
more up close look at the landscape.”

“No,
I meant you can’t be serious about me taking you out there.” He folded his arms
over his chest. “Darlin’, I already helped you more than I should with what you
are
tryin
’ to do to this countryside.”

“Darlin’?”

“Never
mind.
We’re done here.”

“Please,
Jeff?” She placed her hand on his arm. He didn’t like the warmth spreading up
the appendage. Usually that kind of reaction meant trouble, especially when she
stepped close enough he could smell her shampoo.
Vanilla.
Damn, he loved the smell of vanilla. “It won’t take long.”

“Fine.
When Joey gets back from…”

A
honk sounded outside as Joey pulled up the ranch truck in front of the tack
barn.

“I
take it that’s Joey?”

“Sorry.
I hadn’t realized you didn’t already know all of my brothers.”

Joey
stepped out of the truck and slammed the door.
“Howdy,
ma’am.”

“Hi.”

“Joey,
this is Terri. Terri Kennedy, this is the youngest of the group, Joey.”

“Nice
to meet you, ma’am.”
He tipped his hat.

“You,
too.”
She nodded to the trailer. “What do you have in there?”

“A
new mare for the brood.
Want to take a look?”

“Sure.
I love horses.”

“She’s
a filly so I need to train her, but she’s a beauty.
Black as
the midnight sky with a pretty blaze on her nose.”
Joey popped open the trailer’s
back door and slid inside to unhook the horse’s lead rope.
“Such
a pretty girl.”
The filly’s ears flicked back and forth to the sound of
his voice. There was a good reason Joey took care of the animals. He had a way
with the ladies especially.

“Oh
my!
She’s beautiful.”

“She’ll
make some pretty colts, I bet,” Joey said, stroking her as he backed her out of
the trailer.
“Easy now.”
The horse’s withers shook as
she stepped out onto the solid ground.

“You
did
good
, Joe.” His compliment earned him a scowl.
Surely he hadn’t been so hard on his brothers lately they all hated him.

“Thanks,
Jeff.” Joey glanced between him and Terri with a raised eyebrow. “I’m gonna
take her into the barn. Since I’m back, you can go about doin’ whatever you
needed to do earlier, Jeff.”

“Actually,
I’m goin’ to take Terri out to one of the pastures. She needs to check some
things out over there.”

“Really?”
she asked, surprise written all over her face.

“Yeah.”

“Well,
the group is back, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”

“You
can take any of the horses then.”