Chapter 9 A Good Ranch Hand
“You are loving this, aren’t you,” Luke stated rather than asked.
He had just been presented with his first task of the day: shoveling horse manure. Hallie couldn’t deny there was a certain enjoyment in watching the “sophisticated city guy” shoveling horse droppings.
“It’s a job just like any other,” Hallie said, making an indifferent expression. “We all do it, and today it’s your turn.”
“Aren’t you going to help?” he asked.
He had received some of his clothes and personal effects in the morning, hand-delivered from the city, and he was wearing a baby blue plaid shirt paired with dark-blue jeans.
Hallie wasn’t sure these fashionable clothes were going to stand up to a day of real ranch work, but they would have to do.
“I’m going to be supervising you,” Hallie said, giving him her most angelic smile. “Making sure you don’t get into any trouble.”
“I’ll help you,” Johnny said, coming over with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. “How much fun was mini golf last night?”
“It was amazing!” Luke crowed, “I never knew a tiny version of golf could be that much fun!”
Hallie bit her lip with sudden envy at how easily Luke made friends. She wished she had that quality, but somehow human relations didn’t come easily to her. Although she could fake confidence in some situations, she was much more comfortable around horses and other animals.
She figured it was her turn to rest after doing their work for them yesterday, and she went to sit on the porch while the guys worked in the yard and the stables.
Meanwhile, she could get caught up on texting Jessica. There was so much to tell, and she had only given her friend a very short summary of what had been happening with her new “beau.”
Jessica’s latest text read:
*I need more juicy details!!!*
Where should I start, Hallie thought. She tried to focus but was distracted by Luke’s voice as he traded jokes with Johnny.
Admittedly, she liked the sound of Luke’s voice. It had a compelling energy.
Right now it rang across the yard, boisterous and loud, but she suddenly recalled last night, when he softly beguiled her with velvet tones.
She shivered, thinking about that moment when she stood outside his bedroom. She could picture saying yes to his invitation, kissing him, letting him lead her inside and falling onto his bed as they clung to each other.
She felt short of breath, her imagination racing through images of Luke’s body on top of hers...
Hallie looked up, trying to make sure no one was watching her as she felt her cheeks grow hot.
Luckily, the boys were busy working. How did her mind get so out of control?
As she tried to calm her breath, Hallie saw a familiar brown truck cruising through the gates.
It was Eloise Onnerly—Hallie spotted her tidy brown hair clipped back and tied into a low pony tail, and her summer dress dotted with pink flowers.
She was probably wanting to talk to Vivian about the church fundraiser, but as the young woman stepped out of the truck, her head swiveled towards Luke.
Eloise seemed to think of herself as very busy and important, being the head of several church committees. Normally, she would head right for the house, not stopping to talk to Johnny or any other ranch hand. But this time, she went straight towards Luke, as if she was being pulled by a magnet.
And it was no wonder because for some reason Luke chose this very moment to take off his plaid shirt and hang it on the nearest post. The sight of his upper body made Hallie’s mouth hang open.
This was possibly the most graceful and sexy male body she had ever seen. His chest, his abs, and his arms were nothing but pure lean muscle that flexed and swelled with every dip of the shovel, moving with effortless power.
The new arrival came forward in her floral summer dress and offered her hand. “Hi, I’m Eloise. Are you new to the ranch? I haven’t seen you before.”
“Nice to meet you, Eloise,” Luke replied, taking off his work glove and shaking her hand with a gentle motion. “I’m only here as a guest, but I do enjoy working outdoors.”
“And they have you shoveling manure?” Eloise asked in a scandalized voice.
Luke shrugged. “It’s worth it, if I get to meet a lovely young lady like you.”
Hallie’s mouth opened even more, this time in outrage. Luke was definitely going off-script, or maybe he had a script of his own.
She needed to put a stop to this, fast. Putting on a polite smile, Hallie strode over to where Luke leaned on his shovel.
“Hi Eloise,” she said, “I see you’ve met my new boyfriend.”
“He’s very charming,” Eloise said without missing a beat. “I’m sure he’ll be a hit at the fall dance. Y’all are coming to that, right?”
“I don’t think so, thank you all the same,” Hallie said. It was bad enough trying to control the damage caused by Luke at home.
“You didn’t tell me there was a dance, darling,” Luke said, putting a taut, muscular arm around Hallie’s shoulders, “of course we’d love to come.”
“But you’re going to be quite busy that day, darling,” Hallie objected, “You know you have that thing at work.”
“Oh, work can wait. I want to experience the real Texas.”
“Great!” Eloise squeaked. “I’m so excited you’re going to be there. You’ll see the real Texas all right, for better or for worse.”
“Anyway, don’t let us keep you, Eloise,” Hallie said, “I’m sure you’ve got a lot to discuss with my mama.”
“Of course I do,” Eloise said, “You should join us, Hallie. We’ve got a lot of money to raise for the church charity drive, and we could use all the help we can get.”
“Uh... Thanks, but maybe not this time,” Hallie said.
“All right, I’ll see y’all soon,” Eloise said with a blindingly white-toothed smile before walking primly to the house.
Despite her prim walk, Luke seemed mesmerized by her figure.
“Hello, your ‘girlfriend’ is over here,” Hallie reminded him.
“Why don’t you want to help with the church fundraiser?” Luke wondered, finally taking his eyes off Eloise’s bottom.
“Why don’t you keep your mouth shut and not flirt with Miss Prissy-pants?” Hallie fired back, throwing his arm off her as soon as Eloise entered the house.
“Oh, I’m not allowed to be polite?”
“That was being way more than polite, and you know it!” Hallie whipped her head around to see if Johnny was watching, but the teenage ranch hand was heading for the stables with his wheelbarrow. He was too smart to get in the middle of this.
“Or maybe you’re just reading too much into it because you want me for yourself?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, you’re supposed to be with me, remember?”
“But not really,” he countered. “Maybe I’m just not good at pretending. Maybe I’m looking for a real relationship.”
“A real relationship, yeah right,” she said with disdain.
“What? You don’t believe I’d like to try it?”
“No, frankly, I don’t. We just met, and you don’t know a thing about me.”
He smiled cunningly. “Why don’t you let me get to know you?”
This might have worked when Hallie was just a na?ve college student looking for her first love, but certainly not now.
All the guys she met at the time only wanted one-night stands, and usually they were pretty honest about it. They didn’t even try to pretend they wanted to get to know her.
It was pretty typical of college students, of course, but she also knew of other girls who met their partner in college.
There was a particularly annoying couple who lived in her dorm.
They looked perfect together, the girl was blonde with a lovely symmetrical face, and the guy was almost equally pretty, with light brown hair and a gorgeous body.
They always seemed to have eyes only for each other, treating each other with ridiculously tender care.
So why was Hallie only seen as someone to have a good time with?
Maybe she’d been too much of a wide-eyed country girl.
Or it could have been just bad luck in not meeting the right person.
Anyway, she was over it. Luke was probably just pretending to be interested in a relationship with her, and even if he wasn’t, what chance did she have to keep his attention for very long?
After all, he seemed to think of himself as quite the catch, too good for the likes of her.
“Why are you so afraid of a real relationship?” Luke asked.
Hallie had a lot to say on the matter, but not to him. As the sounds of Johnny’s shovel scraping away reached them from within the stables, Hallie waited a few moments to compose herself.
“I have my reasons,” she said, “And I don’t have to tell you about them.”
“Maybe not now, but I hope you can tell me one day.”
She liked that he wasn’t pushy about it, but that he was interested. The way he spoke to her, it sounded like he truly cared.