Mister Cowboy, page 4
“Really selling the place, huh?”
“That’s how it looks.” Tina’s voice lacked the surety it had held all morning, and January took note, wanting to ask if Tina didn’t think Brecken should sell. It wasn’t her place to ask, though, so she pressed her lips together as Timothy turned his smile on her.
“Pleasure to meet you, Miss Lyle, you can call me Timothy. I’ll come by after breakfast tomorrow. How’s six?”
“Six in the morning?” she asked with a grimace.
“Afraid so. After that, things pick up around here, and it’s harder to sneak away.” He paused and winked at Tina. “Don’t worry, the coffee around here is strong enough to get anyone up and ready to face the day.”
Tina stood. “Wonderful. Thank you,” she said in a hurried voice.
“Nice to meet ya,” Timothy said over his shoulder with a chuckle as Tina shut him out.
“Who was that?” January covered her mouth to stifle the laughter about to escape. Whoever that was had transformed Tina from professional to frenzy of nerves.
“Timothy Drado. He’s the ranch manager. This is a small ranch, so he oversees almost everything.” Tina fumbled through a stack of papers, and once she’d composed herself and was back to the professional January first met, she asked, “What questions do you have?”
“What is your job at the ranch?”
“Oh, I don’t actually work here. I’m the vice president of Blackstone Software.”
January chewed on the side of her lip, trying to figure out the dynamic here. “Do you often work here at the ranch, or are you only here to supervise me?” She wasn’t used to being supervised. Then again, packing up houses wasn’t something she’d been asked to do before. Couldn’t he have hired a moving service?
“No.” She shook her head and laughed as if the idea was crazy. “This is only the second time I’ve been to the ranch. A month back, we implemented Blackstone Software, and I oversaw the project. The entire ranch currently uses our new ranching software suite.”
“Ranching software? I didn’t realize ranches used software. I guess I pictured a bunch of cowboys on horses, making due with their bare hands and a whole lot of grit,” she admitted.
“Yes, I know the feeling. It loses a little something when you see for yourself that something as old school as a ranch is like any other business—successful only with efficiency and good record keeping.”
January nodded. “I’m surprised this ranch only recently started using Blackstone software. Hasn’t the company been around for a while?”
“It has, but this specific software is new. We implemented it here as a test case for the company.”
“This is a family ranch, right? Do Brecken’s mom and dad live and work here, too?”
Tina’s face was hard to read, professional to fault in most cases, but at the mention of Brecken’s family, she looked almost sad. “Both of his parents are deceased. He inherited the land recently when his father passed.”
“Oh.” She wished she’d done her own research on Brecken’s family. “What about siblings?”
Tina’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she stood, not saying a word until she reached the door.
“You seem like a lovely girl, and I have no doubt we are going to be a good team, but I don’t make it a habit of digging into Brecken’s personal affairs. I would advise you to do the same.”
January blinked, feeling a bit like a child who just got reprimanded “Of course. I didn’t mean to pry, I only want to understand the ranch and my job here. It helps me to wrap my brain around it when I know the people I’ll be dealing with.”
“I’ll be your point of contact. The people here at the ranch are good resources if you have questions about the house, but they won’t be able to guide you on the project. Most of them don’t even yet realize he’s selling.” She opened the door to leave. Her face softened again. “Look over the schedule, walk around the house and see everything for yourself. I have a few things to take care of before we leave.”
6
Brecken
Brecken took the squeaky steps to the second floor two at a time. The sight of January sitting in the office made a lump form in his throat. Her shoulders were slumped forward, and she had her eyes closed as she massaged her temples.
“Are you all right?” He approached her cautiously, cursing and running a hand through his hair.
She stopped rubbing her temples and straightened in the chair. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s been a long day, that’s all. I’m trying to make sense of all this.” She gestured to the table in front of her.
He picked up the papers and scanned them. “A schedule, huh?” He lifted his eyebrows and smirked.
“Yes, Tina said it might help keep us all on the same page.”
He couldn’t help but smile. Tina was thorough. Maybe too thorough in this case. “I don’t care how you do it, in what order, or anything else. My only requirements are that you get this place ready for me to sell. Take a couple of days and get a feel for the place. Judging by the look on your face this morning, I’m assuming you aren’t usually asked to clear out an entire house.”
“That obvious, huh?”
“A bit.” He set the papers down and held out his hand. “Come with me.”
She hesitated at his invitation, but with a look of reluctance, she did as he asked. The sight of his large hand engulfing her small fingers sent a warmth coursing through his body. Her cheeks pinked. She stood quickly and then released her hold. Her body language was cold, but she was not indifferent. She felt it, too. Whatever it was.
“Brecken, I didn’t know you were coming back today.” Tina appeared in the doorway and looked between them with a curious stare.
He moved his hand protectively to January’s lower back and ushered her out of the office, dismissing Tina with a nod and a curt response. “I’ll see that Miss Lyle gets home. I need to discuss a few things with her regarding the job.”
Tina’s smile was stiff, but she responded politely. “Of course.” She turned to look directly at January. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
What the hell was I doing?
A fair question, and one he had asked himself at least a dozen times since Friday night. Most of his actions in the past three days he could rationalize. She needed a job; he had an opportunity. He needed to sell the ranch; she could help. But as the wine goblets wavered in his hands, threatening to spill, Brecken knew there was really only one explanation. He liked January.
“Here we go.” The wine splashed over the edge of the glass, and he cursed. “Shit, sorry.”
She smiled at him, and this time it was one of her real ones, unmarred by stress or caution. She had at least three different kinds that he’d witnessed. A polite, closed-lip smile. A friendly one, lips slightly parted smile. And a full-on smile that would make any man drop to his knees. That one showed her pearly white teeth and made her brown eyes sparkle with a myriad of colors. Fuck. Sparkle? Yeah. He liked her.
“I didn’t expect to see you drinking wine ever again.” Her eyes closed as she took a sip of wine, and a little hum of appreciation escaped her lips. The sound shot straight to every muscle in his body, aching to hear it again.
“I never said I didn’t like wine. I like good wine.”
“It certainly is a step up from the swill I typically drink.”
The wind whipped through the wrap-around porch like a wind tunnel. The fire pit behind them was lit, but it did little to compete with the gusty, bitter wind. After reaching for a blanket in a basket next to his chair, he held the material out to her in a silent offering. She accepted it with a smile and unfolded it, covering her legs with the patchwork quilt. A lump formed in his throat at the image of her sitting on the front porch with his mother’s quilt draped over her lap, just as his mother had done a million times. If things were different, he might have brought a girl to this house and sat together with his parents, talking about everyday nothings and looking out over the land. But things weren’t different. Everyone he’d cared about then was gone.
“Tina liked you. She says you’re sharp.”
“She did? I’m not so sure she’s right. Today was a lot to take in.”
“Well, you handled it well. Would you like a tour around the grounds?” he asked, even though the last thing he wanted to do was traipse around the barn in his suit. He’d do about anything to ease her mind. Apparently, even ruin a perfectly good suit. There was no way he was letting her quit on her first day. Or the second. Shit, he was already wondering how long he could stretch this project out.
She checked her watch and hesitated before speaking, “Actually, I need to get home. I have to be at work in a few hours.”
“Work? I thought you were between projects?”
“I am, or I was. I also help Michael out at the bar a few nights a week.”
An awkward silence hung between them as he tried to find the right words. Having never been the jealous type, he stewed while picturing her serving drinks to drunk assholes. What was the appropriate way to respond without sounding like a jerk?
“Well, now that you have this job, maybe Michael can find someone else to help out.”
Her face tensed at his statement, but she didn’t speak. Without another word, she stood and folded the quilt. Shit, had he insulted her? She seemed so well put together, but her comment last week about a trip to the emergency room being expensive and the fact she was working two jobs meant she must need the money.
As she climbed into the old beater truck, he wished he’d risked bringing the Maserati down the dusty, gravel road. He was so off his game, it would have been easier if he had a familiar setting for the drive.
It wasn’t until they were on the freeway that he decided to try to backpedal out of the awkward silence he’d brought between them. Each mile marker they passed was making him more anxious that she was going to get out of the truck and disappear from his life forever.
“I’m sorry for this morning.”
“Yeah, what was that?”
He let out a low chuckle. Of course she wasn’t going to let him off so easily.
“I guess you could say being at the ranch puts me on edge.”
She opened her mouth, but he cut off what was sure to be her calling him on his lame excuse.
“I know that’s no excuse for how I acted. I’m sorry. Can we start over? Do you need a ride to the ranch tomorrow? I could arrange a driver for you,” he asked, pushing up his sleeves. He was sweating through his dress shirt but didn’t dare touch the heat control, which she had turned up to a scorching level. Hell. This was hell. Trapped in a hot truck with a sexy woman when every word out of his mouth felt wrong.
“That isn’t necessary. I’ll see if I can borrow Michael’s car or take a taxi.”
“It’s really no imposition. My driver can take you to the ranch and bring you back to the city at the end of the day. I often drive myself, so I’m sure he’d jump at the chance to actually do some driving.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” He turned, half-expecting her face to reveal the joke was on him.
“Yes, if you’re sure it’s no imposition.”
“I’m sure.”
She had him on edge. Thinking before speaking wasn’t something he did all that often, but he chewed carefully over each word before he spoke.
He let out a breath, feeling a bit more at ease as he drove through the familiar city. Her stiff body language had softened and she spoke more animatedly as she directed him to her neighborhood and then to her building.
“Take a right here,” January instructed.
Gawking, Brecken pulled into a beautiful high rise, complete with a doorman and valet parking.
She can’t afford a trip to the doctor, but she lives here?
“You live here by yourself?”
Laughing, she opened the door and stepped down from the tall cab. “Michael and I are roommates.”
Holding the frame of the door in one hand, she faced him and offered a faint smile, her small red gemstone earrings catching the sunlight. “I like the truck. I think it suits you.”
Her face transformed, and she flashed him a big smile that helped ease any remaining worries he had. Another real smile that had him eating out of the palm of her hand. He watched as she closed the passenger side door and walked to the building. Her lips moved in greeting to the doorman as he opened the door. Pulling away from the curb, Brecken couldn’t help the large grin that spread across his face.
I don’t think I know half of what there is to know about Miss January Lyle.
7
January
“Good morning, Miss Lyle. I’m Edward, Mr. Blackstone’s driver.” He opened the back door to a black town car. She tried to return his friendly smile, but between the cold and the dark, she wasn’t sure she managed. Did people really get up at this godforsaken hour? Her eyes burned from lack of sleep, and her head was in a fog. She was going to have to start going to bed a whole lot earlier.
Brecken’s driver reminded her more of someone who should be standing behind a bank teller window than someone who would work for a wealthy CEO. Her father’s drivers were all ex-military and sported the matching crew cut hairstyle. Nothing like Edward.
“Good morning, Edward. Thank you for driving me. Coffee?” She held out a second cup of coffee that she’d snagged from the cafe across the street.
Hesitating, seemingly surprised by the gesture and struggling to decide whether he should accept it, he finally reached to take the offered cup. “That is very nice of you, Miss Lyle. Thank you.”
Edward pulled away from the building, humming quietly. Would it be rude if she avoided pleasantries and slept on the ride?
“How long have you worked for Brecken?” she asked, her manners winning out.
“Three years, but I’ve known him for much longer. I was his professor once upon a time. When I retired, he offered me the job to keep me busy. My wife died around the same time, and I think he was worried about me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
A ring sounded from the dash and Edward punched a button on the steering wheel. “Good morning, Brecken,” he said into an earpiece she hadn’t noticed before. “I’ve picked up Miss Lyle, and we are pulling into the circle now.”
January looked out the window in time to watch as they pulled into a circle drive of a fancy downtown building. Brecken exited the building with such an easy confidence she envied him. He was a fashion icon walking across the parking lot, and he didn’t seem to be aware of it. He might as well have been wearing jeans and a t-shirt—he looked that comfortable.
Edward stopped at the curb, and the valet opened the door for Brecken, who flashed her a smile as he stretched out in the seat next to her.
“Good morning, January.”
“Hi. I thought—”
He waved her off before she could finish the sentence. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to be here, either, but I have business at the ranch this morning before I go into the office.”
She let her eyes drop to the impeccably tailored, dark purple suit he was wearing. “Nice suit.”
“The way you said that makes me think you don’t appreciate my style.”
“Actually, quite the contrary. I admire the suits very much. Who’s the designer?”
“Thank you.” He grinned proudly. “Victor Peach. He’s a local designer.” He pulled at the lapels and smiled. “One-of-a-kind suits with style.”
A giggle escaped her lips, and Brecken leaned in. “Like me.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” she whispered as his eyes locked with hers, and the energy in the car shifted.
“Have dinner with me?”
“What? No. I can’t—”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Hmmm.”
He was crazy. They couldn’t have dinner. Right? She may not be working directly with him, but he was still her boss and she needed this job.
When Edward pulled up to Blackstone Ranch, she practically jumped out of the car, eager to get to the sanctuary of the office and throw herself into the job. Focus on the work instead of the man who had her all twisted inside. She glanced at the clock on the wall, which told her she had ten minutes before she had to meet Timothy for the tour, and then dropped her purse onto the floor next to the desk.
She scanned through the project plan Tina had created. Yesterday, January had been too worried about the job to appreciate the amount of detail that Tina had managed to include in the plan. It was actually quite impressive. She’d just flipped to the third page when the sound of footsteps approached the room. Please be Timothy.
Not Timothy. Brecken lingered in the doorway, and her pulse quickened. “You ran off before we could confirm dinner.”
“I can’t have dinner with you. You’re my boss.”
“Fine. You’re fired.” He put his hands in his pants pockets and laughed. “I’m kidding, of course.” He walked into the room before pulling an envelope from one pocket. “Here. Maybe this will help ease your mind.”
“What is this?” she asked, taking the envelope and turning it over in her hand.
“It’s payment for the entire project. I assume you’re worried about me firing you or some other worst-case scenario, so I hope this will ease your mind.”
“So, you think paying me up front will get me to have dinner with you?” The shock and offense were clear in her tone.
“No.” His smile faltered and he took a step back. “I knew you were stressed yesterday and I wanted to let you know that I wasn’t going to fire you.” He cleared his throat. “This doesn’t have anything to do with dinner. It’s just, there’s still so much I don’t know about you, and you’re going to be spending some time here over the next couple of months and I thought we could get to know each other.”
“So, a date?” January completely understood what he was saying, but the opportunity to put him on the spot was too good to pass up.
