The Detective's 8 lb, 10 oz Surprise (18 page)

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Her Rugged Rancher

by Stella Bagwell

Chapter One

O
f all the damned luck!

Noah Crawford muttered the words under his breath as he rounded a curve of the narrow dirt road and spotted a slender young woman with long dark hair walking in the same direction he was traveling. A saddled bay mare followed close on her heels.

He jammed on the brakes and dust billowed as the truck and trailer came to a jarring halt. Up ahead, the woman quickly took herself and the horse off to the side, then with a hand shading her eyes, turned to see who'd made the untimely stop behind her.

Bella Sundell.

Her name shivered through him like an unwanted blast of cold wind. Hell's bells, what was she doing out riding in the middle of the afternoon? Why wasn't she in Carson City, practicing law with her brother?

He'd worked on this Nevada ranch for seven years and during that time he'd never seen this woman on horseback. Nor had he spoken more than two dozen words to her. In fact, he often went out of his way to steer clear of her.

Too bad there wasn't some way to dodge her now, he thought, as he snatched up his gloves and climbed out of the truck. But she was his boss's sister. Besides, he wouldn't ignore anyone who needed help.

Striding across the hard packed dirt, he called out to her, “What's wrong?”

“Thanks for stopping, Noah.” She pointed to the horse's front right foot. “She slipped on a rock and jerked a shoe loose when we were riding in the canyon. I thought I'd better lead her the rest of the way home. I didn't want to take the chance of damaging her hoof.”

Trying to look anywhere other than her lovely, smiling face, he sidled up to the mare, then bent over to examine her foot.

“Riding in the canyon,” he remarked. “That's a little risky for a woman alone, don't you think?”

Silence followed his question, but that hardly surprised Noah. She didn't have to answer to him. He was just the ranch foreman of the J Bar S, hardly her keeper.

Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a Leatherman tool and quickly went to work jerking out the remaining nails of the loose shoe.

Behind him, he could hear Bella clearing her throat. “In case you hadn't noticed, it's the middle of May and the weather is already hot. It's shady and cooler down in the canyon. Especially along the creek bed.”

“It might be cooler,” he reasoned. “But it's rough terrain and a fair distance from home. Anything could happen to you.”

“Anything could happen to me right here on the road,” she politely pointed out. “A cowboy not watching where he's driving could run over me and Mary Mae.”

Like him? To argue the point with her would only end up making Noah look like a fool. A lawyer's job was to give advice, not take it. And this one was clearly no exception.

Turning his attention to the loose shoe, he levered off the piece of iron, then lowered the mare's foot back to the ground.

“Hang on, girl,” he spoke softly to the horse. “We'll get you fixed.”

After giving Mary Mae an affectionate pat on the shoulder, he forced himself to turn and look directly at Bella. The result was a familiar wham to his gut. The first time he'd met this woman, he'd been bowled over by her appearance. Creamy skin, long hair just shy of being black, warm brown eyes and soft expressive lips all came together to make one hell of a sexy woman. So much of a woman, in fact, that the passing years hadn't dimmed his reaction to her.

“When we get to your place I'll see about putting her shoe back on.” He gestured to his truck and trailer. “Climb in. I'll get the mare loaded.”

She hesitated and he realized she must have sensed his reluctance to become involved in her problem. Even though, to Noah, the loose shoe was a reasonably small problem. Bella was the big one.

“I'm sorry to put you out like this, Noah. If you're in the middle of doing something I can walk Mary Mae on home. It's not all that far.”

“She doesn't need to keep walking on that bare foot. And I'm not in the middle of anything, except helping you,” he said curtly.

Not waiting for her permission, he snatched up the mare's reins and led the animal to the back of the long stock trailer. Once he had the mare loaded, he returned to the cab to find Bella already seated on the passenger side.

Climbing behind the wheel, he fastened his seat belt and started the engine. “Better buckle your seat belt.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Are you kidding? Here on the ranch?”

He slanted a glance in her direction, but the brief look was enough to take in her lush curves hidden beneath a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a white shirt left unbuttoned to a tempting spot between her breasts.

He let out a long breath. “That's right. Anything—”

“Can happen,” she finished for him. “You've already said that. Is that your motto or something?”

Noah shoved the truck into gear. “If we had a wreck before we got to your place, you might be inclined to sue me for damages. With you being a lawyer and all,” he added dryly.

The sound she made was something between a laugh and a groan. “Jett's a lawyer, too. Are you worried he might sue you if you ruin a piece of equipment or lose a calf?”

“No. Just making a point. It's better to be safe than sorry.”

When Noah had first come to work on the J Bar S, Bella had been living up in Reno with her husband. But the marriage had fallen apart and Jett had convinced her to move in with him here on the ranch. She'd been working as a paralegal, but that job apparently hadn't been enough to suit her. In the past few years, she'd gone on to finish her education and pass the bar exam. Now she shared an office with her brother, Jett, in downtown Carson City. He could say one thing for the woman, she certainly didn't lack ambition.

“Okay. To make you happy.” Shrugging, she stretched the belt across her shoulder and locked it in place.

Noah let out a silent groan. He wouldn't be happy until he was finished with this woman and out of her sight. Just being this close to her bothered the hell right out of him.

“You're probably wondering what I'm doing out riding instead of practicing law,” she said.

Was he that transparent? “It's none of my business.”

She went on as though she hadn't heard his curt reply, “It's all Jett's doing. He urged me to take the day off and go shopping.” She let out a dreary little laugh. “He thinks I've gone to Reno to buy dresses. I decided I'd rather go riding.”

She probably had five or six closets stuffed with dresses and all the other fancy things a woman like her considered necessary. Noah figured she spent more money on one dress than his whole month's salary. But that was none of his business, either.

“I see.”

She turned a curious glance on him. “Do you? I doubt it. Jett has this silly notion I'm sad because my old boss got married last weekend. He thinks I need to get out and get my mind off Curtis. Ridiculous. I'm not sad. And I never had my mind on Curtis in the first place. Not like that.”

So what man do you have your mind on now, Bella?

The question was so heavy on Noah's tongue it was a struggle to bite it back. Hearing about her personal life was the last thing Noah needed or wanted. Of all the women he'd encountered since he'd left Arizona, she was the only one he'd ever given a second thought about. And though Jett sometimes casually mentioned his sister in conversation, Noah had never used the opportunity to ask his boss anything directly about Bella. No, Noah had learned the hard way that it was best to keep his distance from women and his thoughts to himself.

She said, “I suppose you never just ride for the fun of it. Your job forces you to spend a lot of time in the saddle.”

His job was his fun, he thought. It was his whole life. With his eyes fixed on the narrow road, he asked, “Do you ride often?”

“Every chance I get. That's why I begged Jett to let me keep Mary Mae and Casper at my place instead of stalling them back at the ranch. Whenever I get the urge, I can saddle up and ride without having to drive back to the ranch yard.”

Four years ago, Noah had been the only man working for Jett on the J Bar S. At that time his boss had owned only a small herd of cows, and a few using horses. But then Jett had met and married Sassy Calhoun and everything had changed. The couple had immediately started adding to the herd and purchasing adjoining land to support more livestock. In a matter of a few short months, the ranch had quickly grown to be too much for Noah and Jett to handle themselves. Especially with Jett still working as the Calhoun family lawyer and doing part-time private practice in town. Since then, five more ranch hands had been hired and Noah had been elevated to the position of ranch foreman.

“Yeah, Jett asked me about taking the two horses out of the working remuda. I told him we could manage without them.”

From the corner of his eye, he could see her head turn to look at him and the smile on her lips struck a spot so deep inside Noah, he hardly knew what had hit him.

“Hmm. When I first came to live with Jett, he only owned two horses. My, how things have changed,” she said with wry fondness. “Now he has a whole string of horses, herds of cattle, and a wife and three kids.”

When Bella had moved into the J Bar S ranch house with Jett, her brother had been single and trying to recuperate from a failed marriage of his own. The situation had worked well for the siblings until Jett had married Sassy and started a family. After the third baby arrived last year, Bella had decided her brother and his family needed their privacy. She'd had her own house built about a half mile from the main ranch house and almost within shouting distance of Noah's place. A fact that he tried to forget, but couldn't.

“Things around here have been growing all right,” he finally replied.

The road grew steeper as it wound up the side of the mesa. Noah shifted the truck into its lowest gear and the motor growled as it climbed the switchback curves. Behind them, the trailer gently rocked as the mare braced her legs for the rocky ride.

When the vehicle finally crested the last rise, the land flattened and they entered a deep forest of ponderosa pine. After traveling a hundred yards under the thick canopy of evergreens, they reached the turn off to Bella's house.

A graveled drive circled in front of a two-story structure made of rough cedar and native rock, shaded by more pines. Since she lived alone, Noah had often wondered why she'd wanted so much space. To fill it with a bunch of kids, or was the huge structure just to impress her friends?

Pushing away both annoying questions, Noah parked the truck and trailer in a favorable spot to unload the mare, then killed the engine. “I'll fix Mary Mae's shoe and unsaddle her for you. Do you keep her stalled at the barn?”

She pushed aside the seat belt and reached for the door handle. “No. I have a little paddock fenced off for her and Casper. I'll show you.”

He opened his mouth to assure her that he could handle the task alone, but before he could utter a word, she was already climbing out of the cab.

Cursing to himself, he left the truck and quickly strode to the back of the trailer. Bella was already there, shoving up the latch on the trailer gate.

Instinctively, he stepped next to her and brushed her hands aside. “That thing is heavy. Let me do it.”

Thankfully, she moved back a few steps and allowed him to finish the task. But even that wasn't enough space to give Noah normal breathing room. Something about Bella made him forget who he was and why he'd turned his back on having a woman in his life. That was reason enough for him to get Mary Mae fixed as fast as he could and get the hell out of here before he started staring at her like a moonstruck teenager.

She stood watching, her hands resting on her hips. “Just because my job requires sitting at a desk doesn't mean I'm helpless and weak. I have muscles and I know how to use them, too.”

“You can use them when I'm not around.” He let the trailer gate swing open and immediately the mare backed up until she was standing safely on solid ground.

Bella immediately snatched a hold on Mary Mae's reins and Noah realized she had every intention of hanging around until this job was finished. So much for losing her company, he thought hopelessly.

“Do you have tools with you to deal with her shoe?” she asked.

“I have tools. Just not a big assortment of shoe sizes. This one I just took off still looks pretty straight. I can reset it,” he told her.

“I didn't realize you were a blacksmith.”

His gaze fixed safely on the mare, he said, “I'm not.”

“What are you then, a farrier?”

“No. Just a guy who's taken care of horses for a long, long time. But if you'd feel better about waiting on a real farrier to fix Mary Mae, that's fine with me. He'll be coming by the ranch in a couple of weeks to deal with the remuda.”

She didn't answer immediately and Noah glanced around to see she was looking at him with surprise. “Why would you think I'd want to wait?” she asked. “I don't want her going without a shoe for that long. Besides, I trust you.”

She said the words so easily, as though she didn't have to think about them, as though she considered Noah worthy of handling any task she could throw his way. The idea caused a spot in the middle of his chest to go as soft as gooey chocolate.

“I'll get my things.” He gestured to a flat piece of ground a few feet away. “If you'd like, you can take her over there in the shade of that pine.”

Because he'd been helping the other ranch hands brand calves today, his shirt was still soaked with sweat while his caramel-colored chinks and blue jeans were marked with dirt and manure. No doubt he stunk to high heaven, but there was nothing he could do about sparing her the unpleasant odor. Except keep his distance. Something he'd do even if he smelled as fresh as a piece of sweet sage.