A Rancher's Love (3 page)

“I’m in trouble now,” he mumbled more to himself than anybody else.

“Maybe she’s single,” Guy said; reminding him that he was in the truck and he could hear every word—maybe even every thought. Dean had never been good at completely masking his feelings, especially not from Guy. Guy had been with him since he started the ranch. He was more of a friend than just a worker. His sandy red hair had started graying on the sides, and he had a few wrinkles around the eyes, but he still held the strength and the energy of the young man he had hired on the spot. They were getting older yet somehow they had aged well. Guy was fifty-three to Dean’s fifty years of age and they both, as the other 14

A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery hands had said, looked closer to their mid forties at most. Jasper Glory, his cook, had said he was lucky because he had aged so well and she was cursed because she looked her sixty-two years of age. She actually looked a little older, but he had the brains, and the sense to use them, not to tell her that. She was a good cook. She spoke her mind without reserve, and at the end of the day she was like family too. They all were.

And suddenly he found himself wishing this woman would be a part of his family too.

“Yeah, maybe,” he mumbled. “But I’m too old for her anyway.”

“The hell you are.”

He shot him a crosswise look. “There’s a lady present,” he reminded him just in case he had forgotten that fact.

“She’s out like a light. She can’t hear me.”

He shook his head. “I am too old for her,” and that was a fact. “She’s probably twenty-three, twenty-four.”

“That’s legal,” he said. Guy wasn’t about to let him off the hook here. “And if you really want to know her age you can look through her things after I come back from getting them out of her car.” He chuckled.

“I wouldn’t do that and you know it.” Snooping was dishonest and wrong. He hated dishonesty with a passion and he would never allow himself to take on that character flaw.

“Curiosity gets the best of you and you will.”

“Remind me never to let you into my home,” he chuckled, knowing Guy had been in his home several times—more times than he could count actually. “After you get her stuff, see if you can hook up a tow to her car from the F250 and pull it out of the creek and to the other side of the fence. We’ll need to get that fence fixed before night.” That fence wasn’t just for decoration or to let people know where his property started. He needed to make sure he kept the animals he left out to roam inside his property line.

“Will do.” He acknowledged. “I’ll take a couple of the guys with me and leave the rest working on their present tasks.”

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“Thanks.” Sure it was Guy’s job to do what he asked, but a simple thank you wasn’t out of his character. His men worked hard, were loyal and were like family to him. After Daisy had died they were all the family he had left.

He walked up the steps to his home and through the front door. He could hear Jasper yelling at him already. “You dirty man you don’t get to track your filth through the house. You hose off outside and leave your boots at the kitchen…” Her voice trailed off as she caught sight at the woman in his arms. “My word, what happened?”

“She crashed through the fence, or more like her car did, with her in it. I’m going to take her upstairs to my room until Doc gets in here.”

“I guess I’ll forgive you for tracking in a mess just this once,” she tacked her hand to her hip and looked him up and down. His pants were dripping water all over the wood floors and he was sure she was on the verge of blowing steam because of the mess. She wasn’t just the cook, she cleaned too, and then she went back to her place on the other side of his property. That had been one of the benefits for her working for him. She had free housing, but not in his house. He liked his privacy. He liked being alone. After Daisy died all he wanted was to be left alone. Now…now, he wanted the woman in his arms to share his home with him. The feeling was frightening, alarming, and at the same time, comforting. His heart hadn’t frozen over solid; it was still beating. Right now it was beating in a triple allegro movement that he couldn’t seem to tame—and he didn’t want to.

When Doc did finally walked through the door Dean hadn’t missed the subtle exchange he and Jasper shared. She knew too much for her own good—or more like his own good. They all could see he felt something for this woman. No matter how much he didn’t want them to know it, they knew it. He sat in the corner, watching as Doc looked her over and made sure there wasn’t too much damage.

“She’ll live,” he brushed his hand through his short graying hair. “She’s got a nasty bump on her head, a concussion so you’ll need to wake her sporadically, but I think she’ll be fine.”

Dean approached the bed and leaned forward, slipping his fingers through her hair, pushing it back off her face and tracing the bandage on her forehead that Doc had placed there. She stirred. Her eyes fluttered open and there was a hint of what he thought might be a smile on her lips before her eyes closed again.

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A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery

“See, she’ll be fine.” Doc confirmed.

“So we don’t need to call the ambulance in?” He could hear the desperation in his own voice. He wanted her to stay there, to recover there. He wanted to be the one beside her when she woke up. And he didn’t want her waking up in a hospital bed alone, scared, lost and confused.

“She can stay,” he agreed. “If anything changes I’ll call in the ambulance, but honestly I think she’ll be more comfortable here.” He straightened up and chuckled. “You all have to stop calling me in for people.

I’m an animal doctor.” He shook his head.

“You’re the only doctor living on my property,” Dean said absently. “Double duty, Doc.”

He laughed. “Or triple sometimes,” he shook his head. “I have to check on the new foal, but I’ll come back later tonight before I turn in, just to make sure she’s still doing okay.” Dean figured Doc was giving him such an assurance because he was probably picking up on the sudden sense of panic Dean felt. If she needed to go to the hospital he would get the ambulance there—or maybe it would be better to take her himself.

“She’s fine, Dean. Trust me. She just needs to recover a bit. She’ll be up and chatting your ears off like any other woman by morning.”

Dean shook his head. Doc thought all women were chatterboxes just waiting for an opportunity to open up; “they start talking and never stop,” is what Doc always said.

“You know we don’t all talk incessantly,” Jasper snapped in a friendly banter way.

“You do,” Doc chuckled. They all knew Jasper could talk a man into the grave. The rest of them were just smart enough not to say it out loud, especially not in her presence. She cooked breakfast and dinner, and they enjoyed being able to eat it without wondering what went in it.

“Oh you just wait, Doc. You’re going to have to eat my food and I won’t promise that it won’t give you the runs for a week.”

“Ouch,” he shivered. “Is it too late to apologize?”

“Yes,” she pushed her shoulders back and stuck her nose up the air before walking out of the room.

Doc followed behind her, desperately trying to put himself on friendlier ground with the woman who 17

A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery prepared the meals on the ranch. Dean chuckled. “Good luck with that one, Doc.” He was sure Jasper wouldn’t forgive him. Jasper was a woman, and as his wife had once said, no matter how forgiving a woman was, she was still a woman and women never forget anything.

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A Rancher’s Love ~ Capri Montgomery Chapter Three

D
ean smoothed his hand over her forehead, brushing soft curls from her face. He remembered earlier when he had done the same action and she had stirred. Her eyes had fluttered open, and he could swear she smiled at him before her eyes drifted shut again. That brief moment gave him a connection deeper than the physical. It wasn’t the softness of her eyes, or the beauty of her face. He felt something; something that told him he might want forever with this woman. Could he convince her to give him that chance? He was going to try. Provided she wasn’t a stickler for age there shouldn’t be an issue. As Guy had pointed out, he wasn’t too old for her—at least he hoped he wasn’t. He was good looking, in great shape, smart; he wasn’t a bad selection. Although, he was probably a good thirty years her senior; maybe more. He was tempted to rifle through her purse and look at her identification, but he resisted that urge. If she weren’t consistently conscious by morning he would snoop freely because at least then he would be doing it for a good reason. It couldn’t possibly be dishonest if it was for a good reason; at least that’s what he told himself.

There was the possibility that she was dating. She wasn’t married—no ring or tan line on her finger.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t dating. She was too beautiful not to have men lining up. Suddenly he didn’t like that idea.

He had insisted on staying with her. He showered and changed out of his work clothes, but he was quick to return to her side. He wanted to be there when she became fully awake. He didn’t want her to face one moment where she felt alone, lost and afraid.

He slept in the chair all night and by morning he found himself hovering over her again. He was just about to call an ambulance to take her in when her eyes fluttered open. At least he knew she was still with him, but she didn’t stay awake for long. She drifted back off to sleep. She had been in and out of consciousness most of the day, so he thought maybe he really should get her to a people doctor instead of letting Doc keep tending to her. But just when he was about to do the one thing he had been desperately trying not to do, she opened her eyes again and this time he could tell she was up for the duration. She looked up at him, her big brown eyes clear, yet showing her bewilderment.

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“Hello there,” he gently placed his hand on her arm. “You had an accident that took you through the fence of my property.”

“I’m sorry,” the slight curvature of her lips downward conveyed the sincerity of her apology. “I have insurance. They’ll fix your fence.” She tried to sit up and he put his hand on her shoulder to gently hold her down.

“I’ve already had my ranch hands pull your car out the creek and take care of the fence. You don’t worry about a thing. Jimmy from the auto shop will be down later today to tow your car back to his body shop.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you. Where am I?”

“You’re on my ranch. Does South Dakota ring a bell?”

She laughed. The sound was like music to his ears. “I was on my way to Seattle.”

“You’re headed the wrong way,” his eyebrows rose inquisitively. “You’re about one hundred miles south of the freeway you should have been on.”

“Darn that GPS machine,” she slowly shook her head. “I have to be in Washington by Tuesday at eight in the morning for an interview.”

“I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it’s Tuesday, and it’s almost noon.”

“Oh no,” she sighed. “That was my future.”

“I’m sorry,” he wanted to make it right for her, but he knew he couldn’t.

“It’s not your fault. I swerved so I wouldn’t hit a deer, but I really should have been focusing on the road. If I had been I would have never had to swerve. It’s my fault.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his. She hadn’t pulled it away and for that he was thankful. He had spent a lot of time holding her delicate fingers in the palm of his hands, enough time to know he liked having her fingers there. He liked having her there. He didn’t want her to leave, but currently he didn’t have a right to ask her to stay. Unless…

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“You need to recover. Your car is going to take a while to fix. And you’ve already missed your interview. Stay here.”

“I can’t. I would totally put you out. I can get a room at a hotel.”

“There aren’t any near here. Not for another seventy miles.”

“Oh,” her eyes widened. “I’m in no man’s land,” she laughed. “I can work for my keep.”

“No. You need to recover.”

“I can bake and cook. That’s what I do anyway and I am darn good at it.”

“I have a cook. She makes sure the hands have breakfast and lunch.”

“Great that means I’ll be able to cook you dinner. I have to do something to repay your kindness.”

He smiled. If it would get her to stay he would let her have the kitchen whenever she wanted. “Okay, but first you recover, then you worry about cooking dinners.” He would be sure to tell Jimmy to take his time with the repairs, a few weeks, maybe more if need be. “I’m Dean Collins. What’s your name?”

“Zoe-Quinnlyn Starks. My friends call me either Quinn or Zo.”

“What do you prefer?”

“Zoe,” was her honest answer. “Mr. Collins…”

“Dean.”

“Dean,” the smooth silky feel of his name coming from her lips, as if her voice was like fresh honey, made him ache for more of her words, more of her delicious sounds that she made when she spoke, when she laughed, all of it. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he told her. “I’ll bring some food up for you, and Guy brought your suitcase from your car so you can take a hot bath and relax some of those sore muscles I’m sure you have.”

She nodded. “I am a little sore. And my head hurts.”

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“You hit your head on the steering wheel. I think there must have been something wrong with your seatbelt because it didn’t do much to halt your forward motion. I’m having Jimmy take a look at that too while he works on your car. I had my vet look you over. He said you were fine.”

Her eyebrows rose inquisitively. “The animal doctor looked me over?”

He chuckled. “We’re far away from everything. You’ll notice that once you get a chance to go outside.”