Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
A fter Ry finished his phone call, he felt restless. He couldn’t start negotiating with the bankers until morning, although he itched to start putting the deal together. He called his lawyer about drawing up a partnership agreement, but he’d left the office and Ry decided not to bother him at home.
By consulting an activities schedule left on his pine dresser, he discovered dinner didn’t begin until six.
He had a couple of hours to kill. He walked back into the main room of the ranch house, which was deserted, and surveyed the pool and Jacuzzi.
Both were busy. He decided to postpone his soak until evening, when it was more likely nobody would be around.
Then he headed for the front porch, thinking he might take a walk down to the stables and check on Mikey.
Everyone else around here drove between the house and the stables, but the distance wasn’t any longer than between his office on Wall Street and Battery Park, where he sometimes walked on his lunch break to enjoy the sweep of the harbor and a view of the Statue of Liberty.
“Mr. McGuinnes,” a woman called.
He turned.
Leigh Singleton still sat on the far end of the porch. Dexter and his walker were gone, but the dog remained, curled across her feet. “Need a lift somewhere?” she asked.
He walked back in her direction. “Not really. I was headed down to the corrals. I can walk that.”
“I’m sure you can,” she said with an easy smile.
She wore her honey-colored hair caught back in a clip, as Freddy did.
Her faded jeans and work shirt spoke of practicality, but she wore silver hoop earrings decorated with an intricate design.
A small turquoise feather dangled from each hoop.
And her eyes, golden brown and almond-shaped, seemed exceedingly wise for a woman as young as Leigh.
“I would have thought you’d had enough exercise for a while, “ she added.
He flushed. “I’m a little tougher than you and your sister give me credit for.”
“Apparently. But if you were hoping to see Freddy down at the corrals, she’s not there. After she doctored Mikey, she rode out to check on one of the stock tanks which seems to be leaking.”
Of course he’d hoped to see Freddy, he admitted to himself. “I wasn’t going down to see her, specifically.”
Leigh waved a hand, cutting off his protest. “Any man who spent twenty-four hours with my sister and wasn’t interested in her would have something wrong with him, don’t you think?”
“Depends on whether he’s a masochist.”
She chuckled. “Freddy’s not usually like that. You’ve threatened her very existence. Our very existence, to be exact. Do you blame her for fighting back?”
“I’ll probably feel a lot more charitable when my backside returns to normal.”
“Yet you were headed down to the corrals because you thought she might be there, doctoring Mikey.”
He opened his mouth to deny it, but the all-knowing look in Leigh’s eyes made him close it again.
“Care to sit a spell, Mr. McGuinnes?”
“Ry,” he said, stepping up on the wooden porch and crossing to the chair next to her.
The dog raised his head, but at a word from Leigh he settled back down. “Ry?” Leigh asked, frowning. “I thought you went by initials. J.R., or TWA, or something.”
“Cute. It’s T.R.”
“I was close. So why the change?”
Then Freddy hadn’t told her everything, he thought, gratified.
Of course, Freddy might not want anyone to know all the intimate details of their outing.
Unless she was a liar, which he sensed she wasn’t, she’d have to admit he’d kissed her.
Brutal honesty would have required her to add that she’d enjoyed it.
“Your sister suggested calling me Ry,” he said. “She thought T.R. sounded stuffy.”
“Did she?” Leigh gave him an assessing look. “Sounds as if Freddy is somewhat interested, as well. She doesn’t assign nicknames to people she doesn’t like.”
Ry glanced away, afraid those knowing eyes would read too many things from his expression. “If the deal goes through and my partners and I buy the ranch, you and Freddy will become our employees. She and I both understand the politics of that.”
Leigh chuckled. “Loosen up, Ry. Out here on the ranch, we don’t worry about office politics. People are people. Besides, you don’t strike me as the kind who would fire an employee because a love affair didn’t work out.”
“No, I wouldn’t. But she might quit.”
“She wouldn’t leave the True Love over something like that. But suit yourself. Lord knows, I’m not trying to talk you into anything. I’m glad you decided to take the name she slapped on you, though.”
He shrugged and stretched out his legs. The gesture hurt like hell, but he was working hard to appear nonchalant.
“No big deal.” He wished he had on denim and boots.
Out here in the West, denim and boots seemed to telegraph nonchalance much faster than khakis and deck shoes.
“I’m pretty burned out with the big-city routine.
The new name felt right.” He looked over at her. “This ranch feels right.”
“You’re not the first person to think so. The True Love has been welcoming people home for generations.”
Ry straightened in his chair. “That’s going a bit further than I intended. I’m just talking about a change of pace. Nothing permanent.”
“Oh, I see.” She sat quietly, gazing out across the sparse crop of grass.
“What are those earrings supposed to be?” he asked. “They look like a special design.
She reached up to finger one of the silver hoops. “They’re called dream catchers. The Ojibwe up north invented them but many indigenous tribes have adopted the design. Legend has it that the web keeps bad dreams out and lets good ones through.”
“Interesting idea.” He wouldn’t mind trying that one out. “What’s your take on this curse business?”
She turned those incredible almond-shaped eyes on him.
“When something as terrible as that massacre happens, the land bears the mark of it, whether it was deliberately cursed or not. But I like to think the Singletons have been pumping good vibrations into the area for so many generations that the power of the curse is fading.” She smiled at him.
“After all, Thaddeus Singleton did name it the True Love. Think of the energy inherent in that.”
“Energy in a name? Come on, Leigh.”
She gazed at him, her sense of inner calm almost palpable. “I can’t believe you would doubt it... Ry.”
He gazed at her as a chill ran up his spine. He’d assumed he could buy this ranch, change its name, revamp its purpose and move on, a wealthier man. Why did that assumption seem suddenly naive?
Leigh nudged the dog from her feet and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to drive down to the corrals and saddle a few trail horses. We have a sunset ride scheduled tonight.” She glanced down at him. “Want to come on the ride?”
“ I… ah…”
She laughed. “Never mind. I was teasing you. Besides, you’d probably better stay here.
Last I heard, Freddy had called Eb Whitlock and invited him to have supper in our dining room with her and the other guests, as a gesture of thanks for his coming up to check on you two this morning.
You’ll probably want to hang around and protect your interests. ”
He lifted his eyebrows.
“In the ranch, of course,” she explained. Then, with a low whistle to the dog, she cut across the yard to yet another battered pickup with the ranch’s brand painted on the door panel. This truck boasted an added decoration, however. Over its dark blue fender curved an iridescent rainbow.
Freddy told herself she’d invited Eb out of courtesy. After all, he had gone out of his way this morning to make sure she was okay. But her pride still smarted from that dunking in the horse trough. She wasn’t above needling Ry a little with Eb’s presence at her dinner table.
With only eleven guests in residence and five of them out on a sunset trail ride and barbecue, the dining room seemed almost empty.
The six remaining guests had all been at the ranch for a week and had become friends, so they commandeered one of the longer pine tables.
Freddy ushered Eb to a table set for four with the traditional True Love heart-shaped place mats in red-and-white checks, red napkins and tin plates enameled in red with white flecks.
“I see you’ve kept the traditions alive,” Eb commented, pulling out a chair for Freddy.
“With difficulty.” Freddy kept glancing at the door to see if Ry would appear for dinner. “This tinware isn’t easy to find anymore.”
Eb leaned forward as he pushed her chair closer to the table, and she could feel his breath on her bare shoulders.
Her blouse, one Leigh had talked her into buying, had “cold-shoulder” cutouts.
The blouse, along with a tiered denim skirt, was her newest outfit, and she’d swept her hair on top of her head and added silver concho earrings.
She hadn’t been this dressed up in weeks.
But a woman who had last appeared climbing from a horse trough had to think of her image.
Of course, Ry might skip dinner. At this moment, he could easily be sound asleep in his room. At least he wasn’t in the Jacuzzi — she’d checked.
“I said, this sure brings back memories,” Eb said, a little too loudly and with a trace of impatience.
Freddy realized she hadn’t heard him the first time. “Yes, it does.” She smiled at Eb, who had seated himself at right angles to her. “Sorry I haven’t had you over sooner, but...”
“Never mind. I know you’ve had troubles. Seems like all sorts of things have been going wrong.”
Although he hadn’t touched her, Freddy felt crowded. She’d never realized how Eb seemed to gobble space. “Just a little bad luck is all, Eb.”
Manny, one of only two waiters they kept on during the summer months, came by the table with a trayful of salad plates. “Just the two of you at this table, Miss Singleton?”