Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Brody shoved the last coffee mug into the dishwasher before practically slamming it shut.
“Hey, son. Don’t break it. What’s your hurry?”
He looked behind him to discover his father in his wheelchair at the entry between the kitchen and what used to be the den, but was now his dad’s therapy room. His dad wheeling himself around the house was new. “Hannah Kingsley, the granddaughter of the Harpers, is coming this morning to see what a real ranch is like. I’m hoping to show her how hard it is living out here, so she sells us her property.”
“Why? Does she want to build a house on her land? If she does, she’d only need an acre near Mesquite Road, and we could buy the rest. Tell her we’ll even pay for the subdividing.”
Before he could explain why his dad was completely off target, his father had rolled himself past the kitchen and living room and was halfway down the hall. It was just as well, since he didn’t have time. Hannah would be arriving soon, and he wanted to roll the ATV out before she did. He very much doubted she’d ever ridden a horse, so taking Chaos and Havoc, his brother’s horse, was out of the question.
Grabbing up his hat, he left the house and strode to the barn. He drove the ATV around in time to see a Jeep making its way over the ranch’s very rocky driveway. He halted in the middle of the dirt parking area and watched as all four tires left the ground before the front ones came down. He grinned, quite sure she wouldn’t be excited about her own driveway either. It had to be as rocky as his.
When she pulled in, he swung his leg over the machine like he was getting off a horse before striding forward, ready to assure her that desert roads weren’t so bad when taken slow.
The door opened and she jumped out of the Jeep in a pair of blue jeans, brown boots, a white button-down shirt tied at her pale waist, and a straw cowboy hat atop her head. “Hey, Brody. Your driveway is a blast. Do you think mine will eventually turn that rocky?”
He halted in his tracks. What happened to her? He’d just seen her two days ago, and now she looked like she could rope a calf in seven seconds. The woman had gone from being a city-dweller to a hot cowgirl in hours. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
She strode forward looking as at home on the ranch as any rancher’s daughter he knew, including his sister-in-law. “I asked if you think my driveway to the casita will get as rocky as yours. That was fun.”
“Fun?”
She stopped in front of him. “Yeah. Is something wrong, Brody?”
He shook his head as much to clear it as to answer her. “No. It’s just that usually people complain about our driveway.”
“Then I guess no one has driven it in a Jeep before. It’s better than a roller coaster.”
“Roller coaster. Right.” He needed to get his equilibrium back and stop staring at the button on her shirt that seemed to be straining to keep it closed between her breasts. He forced his gaze back to her face. “I see you’ve been shopping.”
“Oh, yes. Everyone in town is so lovely. No wonder you enjoy living out here. People are super friendly and really go out of their way to be helpful. I didn’t realize when we met that you were just the tip of the iceberg for Four Peaks.”
He really shouldn’t be proud of her vision of him, but he still was. “It’s just how we all are out here. Are you ready to see the ranch?”
“I am. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep last night for thinking about seeing your operation and how it all works. It must be so wonderful, waking up every morning knowing you get to work right here at home. I only get to do that sometimes. I would love to be able to do it all the time. I’m not sure I’d ever leave.”
He held his hand out toward the ATV. “Then let’s get started, unless of course, you know how to ride a horse.”
She stopped in her tracks. “Oh, I’d love to ride a horse. Can we?”
He widened his eyes. Had she been holding out on him? “You know how to ride?”
Her shoulders lifted in a short shrug. “Don’t you just sit on the horse and pull the reins to the right and left?”
“And how do you get it to gallop or slow down?”
Her smile disappeared. “I don’t know. I imagine that would be important to learn.”
She imagined? “Riding a horse starts with taking care of a horse. You need to feed it, give it water, rub it down, give it medicine, trim its hooves, and a million other things to ensure it stays healthy as long as possible.”
“That sounds fitting and you know all that, plus you take care of cattle, right? Is it just your family working here or do you hire ranch hands?”
“Come, I’ll explain everything.” They settled onto the ATV, and he waited for her hands to come around his waist before he put the machine in motion. As soon as they passed the barn, one hand let go of him and she pointed to the guest bunkhouses. “Is that where your ranch hands live?”
He slowed the ATV to explain. “No. Our ranch hands live in town or in the area. This is actually the guest bunkhouses for when we open up Rocky Road as a dude ranch. We have to because we don’t have enough land to compete with the bigger ranchers in the area.”
“So that’s why you want to buy my land. Would it be enough to help you compete?”
“That’s really a question for my brother, Tanner. But my guess is yes, because he wanted to do anything else but turn us into a dude ranch to save the Rocky Road.”
Her hand came back around his waist as he accelerated again. “Really? I think becoming a dude ranch is a great idea. Of course, you’ll need people who know how to run one. I imagine you’ll hire food service workers and a cleaning service and even entertainers. I may just have to come when you open and be a guest.”
His sister-in-law liked the idea as well. Maybe they should market it to women more than families. They could even come up with a creative name for it instead of just Rocky Road that would appeal to ladies. It was definitely something to think about. If the dude ranch was successful, he’d feel a lot better about leaving the ranch.
He slowed the ATV and brought it to a stop. “This is what we call the birthing enclosure. When a number of cows are from seven to eight months pregnant, we move them in here. There are always a few stragglers, but we add them as they get further along.”
“Is it too dangerous for them to be roaming the land at that stage?”
That thought had never occurred to him. “Not really. We just move them here to be able to keep a better eye on them as they get closer to birthing. We had cameras up, but a monsoon came through and wreaked havoc with our roof and wires. We had tarps up, but after one of our cows pulled one down, we decided to take them down after all the calves were born. You can see the lumber and metal we’ll be using to rebuild over there.” He pointed to the pile on the right. It had been sitting there for two months now, but like everything else, was on the back burner. He probably should bring it up to Tanner.
“Why do you need to keep an eye on the pregnant cows? Do they need help with their babies being born?”
“Sometimes. We hate losing a calf, so if we know a dam is struggling, we’ll help.” He felt her hand on his shoulder before she spoke.
“So you must know a lot of veterinary science as well.”
“I don’t know about that. We send for a vet when we need to, but some situations we’ve had over and over, so we just know what to do. We have to, because by the time a vet gets here, it could be too late.”
“Oh, how sad. I couldn’t imagine losing one of your baby cows.”
He was about to remind her that all the cows were slaughtered for meat, but decided not to. “We haven’t lost one in over five years, so we’re doing well.” He started the ATV moving forward again, and when he felt her hands around his waist once more, he accelerated. He took her down to the south field to explain how they let the grasses grow, keeping the cows in the north and why they did that. Then he took her to where the cows were in the north range.
As he pulled up, he found Nash and their oldest ranch hand, Layne, with ropes around one of their bulls. He turned off the ATV and jumped off. “What happened?”
Layne kept his eye on the bull as he answered. “He decided to pick a fight with Old Glory. We got him this far, but if you could open the gate, that’d be real helpful.”
“Damn. Glad I pulled up when I did.” Quickly, he ran over to the gate and opened it. Stepping inside, he used his presence to keep the other cows from exiting. It wasn’t easy keeping an eye on the cows and the approaching bull, who was not happy about being escorted out of the range area. Once the men had the animal outside the fencing, he closed the gate then walked toward the bull.
“You keep the tension on until I say, got it?”
Once he had agreement, he stepped up to the bull. Luckily, it was one of their younger ones and his horns weren’t that long. “Okay, buddy. I’m going to let you loose, so be nice.” Grabbing the ropes where he could pull them quickly, he readied himself. “Now!” As the tension left the ropes, he pulled them free and the bull bounded forward before stopping and turning to face him, its head lowering. Well, shit.
“Hey, sweetie.”
At Hannah’s voice he spared her a glance. What the heck? “Hannah, don’t draw attention to yourself. He’s pissed.”
“Oh, sorry.” She still smiled at the bull as if he were a puppy.
When the bull turned toward her, he swore. “Shit. Hannah, don’t move.”
She ignored him and leaned back against the ATV.
His heart started to pound as the bull began to walk toward her.
Slowly he turned toward her as well, preparing to run interference.
“Brody, wait.”
He didn’t dare look over his shoulder at Layne. If the man thought to keep him from Hannah, he had another thing coming, so he just shook his head.
“Look at the bull. He’s not a threat.” Layne’s words were quiet, but they all heard him. “Miss, go ahead and talk to the animal.”
Brody wanted to shove his fist into Layne’s face at that, but the man was behind him and on a horse, while a bull stood no more than three yards from Hannah.
“Hello Mr. Bull. I’m Hannah Kingsley. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I haven’t met a bull before. You’re quite handsome.”
The animal walked forward slowly, a soft grunt issuing forth.
Now he didn’t move because he was in shock. He could count on one hand how many times he’d heard a happy grunt from a bull the entire year.
Hannah clasped her hands together in front of her. “You have such a beautiful place to live and such knowledgeable cowboys taking care of you. You must be very happy here.”
The bull stopped and sniffed the air, then turned and ambled down the dirt road between the north and south pastures.
Dropping the rope from his sweaty fingers, he strode to Hannah. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. After all the activity of getting him out of the gate, he was agitated. He just needed a calming presence and a non-threatening one. That’s why I made myself appear as small as possible.”
A hand clapped him on the shoulder from behind before he could respond.
“See, Brody, this young lady is smarter than you.” Layne walked forward. “Howdy, Miss Kingsley. I’m Layne, the head ranch hand under Tanner.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Layne. I thought Brody would be in charge.” She looked past Layne’s broad shoulders at him.
He quickly strode forward and waved off the assumption. “Absolutely not. I’m the youngest, and don’t plan on having that kind of responsibility here on the ranch.”
Her brow furrowed for a moment, but then Nash had to step up and introduce himself. It was if they were at a barbeque and the band was going to start up again.
Hannah gave Nash a beautiful smile. “Do you have a specific rank as well?”
His best friend laughed. “Not me, miss. I’m just a simple cowboy, happy to do what I’m told. That and keeping him out of trouble is plenty of work.” Nash hooked a thumb at him.
“Really? I think I need to hear more.” Her tone was far too enthusiastic.
Nash looked about ready to launch into a good long story, obviously bent on charming Hannah.
That wasn’t happening. “Sorry, Nash. I still have a lot to show our new neighbor. Hannah, are you ready to move on?”
Damn if her brown eyes didn’t twinkle with mischief. “And here it was just getting interesting.” She favored Nash with a wink before facing him. “Where to next?”
“The peaks.” He straddled the ATV and waited for her to settle in behind him.
“See you later, gentlemen.”
He started up the ATV before Layne or Nash could respond, and headed down the same road the bull had wandered. When they caught up to the animal, it was holding court through the fence with three heifers.
“What will happen to the bull?”
He waited until they were a safe distance past before stopping to answer her. “The men will round him up and put him in a different section. This guy has been a royal pain, but he’s good for, um, good for the cows, so we put up with his shenanigans.” He accelerated again, more determined than ever to show her the dangers of living in the desert.
Finally, he brought them to the gate at the north range and stopped. He spoke over his shoulder. “Would you like to open the gate?”
“Sure.” She climbed off and walked to the gate. Lifting the latch, she pulled and it moved about a foot. “These are heavier than they look.”
His instinct was to help, but he was hoping to show her how hard living was in such an unforgiving climate. She didn’t give up, but it took her longer than he usually had patience for. Once it was open, he drove the ATV through then got off. “I’ll close it.”
She didn’t say anything, but she definitely looked relieved, which lightened his mood, especially after all the flirting that had been going on before with the ranch hands. After latching the gate, he returned to the ATV and drove them to the spot where the boulder had come down earlier in the summer and where Lulabell’s calf escaped. He and Nash had added more wire as a quick fix, but they really needed to get the wood out to the spot and permanently fix it. He turned off the machine and waited for Hannah to get off before joining her.
“Wow, this is a huge boulder.” She examined it and the space around it, walking completely around the large rock that was far taller than her. “How long ago did this roll down here? It can’t have been that long.”
He had to acknowledge she was observant and quick at assessing the situation. “Early in the summer. My sister-in-law convinced Tanner that we should leave it here to make it more interesting, so we strung wire until we can rebuild the fencing it took out.”
She looked up at the rocky side of the mountain where the boulder had been for who knew how many centuries. “Does that happen often?”
“Boulders rolling down? Yes. A lot. Do they usually hit our fence? No. They get stuck in the small valley at the bottom of this rocky area, but this one had so much steam, it just kept coming. I’m glad no one and no cows were in the way.”
She shivered at that. “Me, too. I imagine I have similar areas on my property. That must be why the fence is so far from this part of the mountain, while where we were earlier, it was right at the base. Does everyone fence their property? I mean, even if they aren’t ranching?”
That was a good question. “I don’t know. Most people who have this amount of land are using it for ranching.”
She shrugged off his answer. “I’ll just ask in town when I get back to the hotel. Everyone is so willing to share their knowledge.”
He had to ask. “Is that how you learned about facing a bull?”
“Oh no, that never came up. No, I did research on ranching in Arizona on the internet. There are some amazing videos that show what it’s like, but being here is so much more impressive. Thank you for having me.”
He wasn’t sure if her good impression was exactly what he’d hoped for. “I’m glad you enjoyed your visit.”
Her face sobered. “We’re done? But what about the horses?”
“You want to see the horses?”
“If it’s not too much trouble. I know I’ve kept you from your work for half the day already.”
He could imagine her walking into the barn and petting his horse and a few others like a child at a petting zoo, which would just make life on the ranch seem even more idyllic. He needed something else to prove that the city life was better—of course. “Actually, I do have to get the fencing materials out here. How about if next time you visit Four Peaks, we care for the horses?”
Her smile lit up her entire face. “I would love that. Thank you. I’m coming back next Friday, but I have a few items being delivered. Can we do it on Saturday?”
All he could picture was cardboard boxes showing up at the hotel for her, but that was fine. As long as she helped with mucking out the stalls, he was sure she’d re-evaluate life in the desert. “That will work. Now we best get back to the house. I do need to get that lumber loaded up.” He walked to the ATV and straddled it, waiting for her to get on and wrap her hands around his waist, but when she didn’t, he looked behind him. “You okay?”
“I am. I just can’t believe how impressive these mountains look from here. They really are amazing.”
He had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. If she reacted like that, then the dude ranch would be a huge success. For himself, the mountains were simply part of a familiar scenery that he noticed once in a while when the sun set.
As soon as her hands came around him, he set the machine in motion. By time they arrived back at the house, they were hot, sweaty, and dirty from their ride. He felt rather good about that as he waited for her to get off the machine.
Once she was off, she came to stand next to him. “I’ve learned so much today. I can’t wait to help care for the horses next weekend. This week is going to crawl by. I really can’t thank you enough.” She leaned forward and brushed a kiss on his cheek.
Two impressions hit him in those few seconds. One, she smelled damn good, and two, her lips were soft. “It was my pleasure.”
“No, really. It was mine. See you next week.” With that, she twirled around and walked to her Jeep, her hips swaying. She opened the door and swung herself inside, then waved before closing the door.
He waved back out of habit, trying to wrap his mind around who Hannah Kingsley really was. Not that it mattered, as he just needed her to sell her land, but knowing her better definitely would help. He’d thought he’d figured her out, but now…
The Jeep backed up then pulled forward. She honked the horn then stuck her arm out to wave again. Finally, she headed down the Rocky Road drive just as fast as she’d arrived.
He got off the ATV. Next weekend might be helpful to his cause, but just in case, he needed a backup plan. That, and to talk to Nash about flirting with Hannah.
The last thing he needed was for her to have a relationship with anyone in Four Peaks, especially with his best friend.